MER. I am sorry now, that I did draw on him. ABB. How long hath this possession held the man?

ADR. This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad, And much, much different from the man he was; But, till this afternoon, his passion

Ne'er brake into extremity of rage.

ABB. Hath he not lost much wealth by wreck at sea?

Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye
Stray'd his affection in unlawful love?

A sin, prevailing much in youthful men,
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing.
Which of these sorrows is he subject to?

ADR. To none of these, except it be the last; Namely, some love, that drew him oft from home. ABB. You should for that have reprehended him. ADR. Why, so I did.

Авв.

Ay, but not rough enough. ADR. As roughly, as my modesty would let me.

ABB. Haply, in private.

ADR.

And in assemblies too.

ABB. Ay, but not enough.

ADR. It was the copy of our conference: In bed, he slept not for my urging it;

At board, he fed not for my urging it;

Alone, it was the subject of

my theme;

* And much, much different from the man he was;] Thus the second folio. The first impairs the metre by omitting to repeat the word-much. STEEVENS.

the copy-] i. e. the theme. We still talk of setting copies for boys. STEEVENS.

In company, I often glanced it;

Still did I tell him it was vile and bad.

ABB. And thereof came it, that the man was
mad :

The venom clamours of a jealous woman
Poison more deadly than a mad dog's tooth.
It seems, his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing:
And thereof comes it, that his head is light.
Thou say'st, his meat was sauc'd with thy upbraid-
ings:

Unquiet meals make ill digestions,

Thereof the raging fire of fever bred;
And what's a fever but a fit of madness?
Thou say'st, his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls:
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
(Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair;"

But moody and dull melancholy,

(Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair;)] Shakspeare could never make melancholy a male in this line, and a female in the next. This was the foolish insertion of the first editors. I have, therefore, put it into hooks, as spurious.

WARBURTON.

The defective metre of the second line, is a plain proof that some dissyllable word hath been dropped there. I think it therefore probable our poet may have written:

Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue,
But moody [moping] and dull melancholy,
Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair?

And at their heels a huge infectious troop. HEAth.
It has been observed to me that Mr. Capell reads:
But moody and dull melancholy, kins-

woman to grim and comfortless despair;

Yet, though the Roman language may allow of such transfers from the end of one verse to the beginning of the next, the custom is unknown to English poetry, unless it be of the burlesque kind. It is too like Homer Travesty :

On this, Agam

"memnon began to curse and damn." STEEVENs.

And, at her heels, a huge infectious troop"
Of pale distemperatures, and foes to life?
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturb'd, would mad or man, or beast:
The consequence is then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits.

Luc. She never reprehended him but mildly,
When he demean'd himselfrough, rude and wildly.-
Why bear you these rebukes, and answer not?
ADR. She did betray me to my own reproof.—
Good people, enter, and lay hold on him.

ABB. No, not a creature enters in my house. ADR. Then, let your servants bring my husband forth.

ABB. Neither; he took this place for sanctuary, And it shall privilege him from your hands, Till I have brought him to his wits again, Or lose my labour in assaying it.

ADR. I will attend my husband, be his nurse, Diet his sickness, for it is my office,

And will have no attorney but myself;

Kinsman means no more than near relation. Many words are used by Shakspeare with much greater latitude.

Nor is this the only instance of such a confusion of genders. In The Merchant of Venice, Portia says

66 -but now I was the lord

"Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
"Queen o'er myself." RITSON.

7 And, at her heels, a huge infectious troop-] I have no doubt the emendation proposed by Mr. Heath ["their heels"] is right. In the English manuscripts of our author's time the pronouns were generally expressed by abbreviations. In this very play we have already met their for her, which has been rightly amended:

"Among my

wife and their confederates

Act IV. sc. i. MALONE.

And therefore let me have him home with me.

ABB. Be patient; for I will not let him stir, Till I have used the approved means I have, With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers, To make of him a formal man again:

It is a branch and parcel of mine oath,
A charitable duty of my order;

Therefore depart, and leave him here with me. ADR. I will not hence, and leave my husband here;

And ill it doth beseem your holiness,

To separate the husband and the wife.

him.

ABB. Be quiet, and depart, thou shalt not have [Exit Abbess. Luc. Complain unto the duke of this indignity. ADR. Come, go; I will fall prostrate at his feet, And never rise until my tears and prayers Have won his grace to come in person hither, And take perforce my husband from the abbess.

MER. By this, I think, the dial points at five: Anon, I am sure, the duke himself in person Comes this way to the melancholy vale; The place of death' and sorry execution,' Behind the ditches of the abbey here.

→ a formal man again:] i. e. to bring him back to his senses, and the forms of sober behaviour. So, in Measure for Measure," informal women," for just the contrary. STEEVENS.

The place of death-] The original copy has-depth. Mr. Rowe made the emendation. MALone.

sorry execution,] So, in Macbeth:

"Of sorriest fancies your companions making." Sorry had anciently a stronger meaning than at present. Thus, in Chaucer's Prologue to the Sompnoures Tale, v. 7,283, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edition :

ANG. Upon what cause?

MER. To see a reverend Syracusan merchant, Who put unluckily into this bay

Against the laws and statutes of this town,
Beheaded publickly for his offence.

ANG. See, where they come; we will behold his death.

Luc. Kneel to the duke, before he pass the abbey.

Enter Duke attended; ÆGEON bare-headed; with the Headsman and other Officers.

DUKE. Yet once again proclaim it publickly, If any friend will pay the sum for him,

He shall not die, so much we tender him.

ADR. Justice, most sacred duke, against the abbess!

DUKE. She is a virtuous and a reverend lady; It cannot be, that she hath done thee wrong. ADR. May it please your grace, Antipholus, my husband,

"This Frer, whan he loked had his fill
"Upon the turments of this sory place."

Again, in The Knightes Tale, where the temple of Mars is described:

"All full of chirking was that sory place."

Again, in the ancient MS. Romance of The Sowdon of Babyloyne, &c:

"It was done as the kinge cōmaunde

"His soule was fet to helle

"To daunse in that sory lande

"With develes that wer ful felle."

STEEVENS.

Thus, Macbeth looking on his bloody hands after the murder of Duncan :

"This is a sorry sight." HENLEY.

Mr. Douce is of opinion, that sorry, in the text, is put for sorrowful. STEEevens.