Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The TragediesJohnson, Samuel
General
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies
Johnson, Samuel
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
IV.i.130 (473,1) Have you scar'd me? Have you made my reckoning? have
you settled the term of my life? The old quarto reads, _stored_ me. Have
you disposed of me? have you laid me up?
IV.i.150 (473,2) 'Tis such another fitchew! marry, a perfum'd one]
Shakespeare has in another place mentioned the lust of this animal. He
tells Iago, that she is as lewd as the _polecat_, but of better scent,
the polecat being a very stinking animal.
IV.i.244 (476,4) atone them] Make them _one_; reconcile them.
IV.i.256 (477,5)
If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile]
If womens tears could impregnate the earth. By the doctrine of equivocal
generation, new animals were supposed producible by new combinations of
matter. See Bacon.
IV.i.277 (478,7)
whose solid virtue
The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
Could neither graze nor pierce]
[T: of change] To _graze_ is not merely to touch superficially, but to
strike not directly, not so as to bury the body of the thing striking in
the matter struck.
Theobald trifles, as is usual. _Accident_ and _chance_ may admit a
subtle distinction; _accident_ may be considered as the _act_, and
_chance_ as the _power_ or _agency_ of fortune; as, _It was_ by chance
_that this_ accident _befel me_. At least, if we suppose all corrupt
that is inaccurate, there will be no end of emendation.
IV.ii.57 (482,1) garner'd up my heart] That is, _treasured_ up; the
_garner_ and the _fountain_ are improperly conjoined.
IV.ii.62 (482,2)
Turn thy complexion there!
Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubim;
Ay, there, look grim as hell]
At such an object do thou, _patience_, thyself _change colour_; at this
do thou, even thou, _rosy cherub_ as thou art, _look grim as hell_. The
old editions and the new have it,
_I here look grim as hell._
_I_ was written for _ay_, and not since corrected.
IV.ii.109 (484,4) The small'st opinion on my great'st abuse] The old
quarto reads [for "least misuse"],
_The small'st opinion on my_ great'st abuse.
Which I think is better.
IV.ii.140 (486,6) Some base notorious knave] For _gross_, not in its
proper meaning for _known_.
IV.ii.144 (486,7) Speak within door] Do not clamour so as to be heard
beyond the house.
IV.ii.146 (486,8) the seamy side without] That is, _inside out_.
IV.iii.27 (490,2) and he, she lov'd, prov'd mad,/And did forsake her] I
believe that _mad_ only signifies _wild, frantick, uncertain_.
IV.iii.31 (490,3) I have much to do,/But to go hang my head] I _have
much_ ado to do any thing _but hang my head_. We might read,
Not _to go hang my head_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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