Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: ComediesJohnson, Samuel
General
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies
Johnson, Samuel
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
I.ii.115 (375,2) [that she shall have no more eyes to see withal
than a cat] It may mean, that he shall swell up her eyes with
blows, till she shall seem to peep with a contracted pupil like
a cat in the light. (1773)
I.ii.276 (381,9) [Please ye, we may contrive this afternoon] The
word is used in the same sense of spending or wearing out in the
Palace of Pleasure.
II.1.17 (382,2) [You will have Gremio, to keep you fair] I wish to
read, To keep you fine. But either word may serve.
II.i.26 (388,3) [hilding] The word hildlng or hinderling--a low
wretch; it is applied to Catharine for the coarseness of her
behaviour.
II.i.209 (389,7) [Ay, for a turtle; as he takes a buzzard] Perhaps
we may read better, Ay, for a turtle, and he take a buzzard.
That is, he may take me for a turtle, and he shall find me a hawk.
II.i.310 (393,9) [kill on kiss She vy's so fast] I know not that the
word vie has any construction that will suit this place; we may
easily read,
--kiss on kiss
She ply'd so fast.
II.i.340 (394,1)
[Tra. Grey-beard! thy love doth freeze.
Ore. But thine doth fry]
Old Gremio's notions are confirmed by Shadwell:
The fire of love in youthful blood.
Like what is kindled in brush-wood.
But for a moment burns--
But when crept into aged reins,
It slowly burns, and long remains,
It glows, and with a sullen heat.
Like fire in logs, it burns, and warms us long;
And though the flame be not so great,
Yet is the heat as strong.
II.1.407 (397,4) [Yet have I fac'd it with a card of ten] [W. quoted
Jonson for "a hart of ten"] If the word hart be right, I do not
see any use of the latter quotation.
II.1.413 (398,5)[Here the former editors add, Sly. Sim, when will
the fool come again? Steevens.] The character of the fool has not
been introduced in this drama, therefore I believe that the word
again should be omitted, and that Sly asks, When will the fool
come? the fool being the favourite of the vulgar, or, as we now
phrase it, of the upper gallery, was naturally expected in every
interlude.
III.1.37 (400,6) [pantaloon] the old cully in Italian farces.
III.ii.10 (403,1) [full of spleen] That is, full of humour, caprice;
and inconstancy.
III.ii.45 (404,3) [a pair of boots that have been candle--eases; one
buckled, another lac'd; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the
town armory, with a broken hilt, and chapeless, with two broken points]
Bow a sword should have two broken points, I cannot tell. There
is, I think, a transposition caused by the seeming relation of
point to sword. I read, a pair of boots, one buckled, another
_laced_ with two broken points; _an old rusty sword_--_with a broken
hilt, and chapeless_.
III.ii.109 (406,7) [to digress] to deviate from any promise.
IV.i.3 (412,9) [was ever man so ray'd?] That is, was ever man so
mark'd with lashes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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