take the bridge quite away Of him, that his particular to foresee Smells from the general weal] [W: to forefend] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense is good. To _foresee his particular_, is _to provide for his private advantage_, for which _he leaves the right scent of publick good_. In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for some of the hounds _to smell from the general weal, and foresee their own particular_. Shakespeare, who seems to have been a skilful sportsman, and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps, alludes here to hunting. To the commentator's emendation it may be objected, that he used _forefend_ in the wrong meaning. To _forefend_, is, I think, never to _provide for_, but to _provide against_. The verbs compounded with _for_ or _fore_ have commonly either an evil or negative sense. IV.iii.182 (361,8) eyeless venom'd worm] The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the _blind worm_, and the Latins, _caecilia_. IV.iii.183 (361,9) below crisp heaven] [W: cript] Mr. Upton declares for _crisp_, curled, bent, hollow. IV.iii.188 (361,1) Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!] [W: out to ungrateful] It is plain that _bring out_ is _bring forth_, with which the following lines correspond so plainly, that the commentator might be suspected of writing his note without reading the whole passage. IV.iii.193 (362,2) Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough torn leas] I cannot concur to censure Theobald [as Warburton did] as a _critic_ very _unhappy_. He was weak, but he was cautious: finding but little power in his mind, he rarely ventured far under its conduct. This timidity hindered him from daring conjectures, and sometimes hindered him happily. This passage, among many others, may pass without change. The genuine reading is not _marrows, veins_, but _marrows_, vines: the sense is this; _O nature! cease_ to _produce men, ensear thy womb_; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them; _dry up thy marrows_, on which they fatten with _unctuous morsels_, thy _vines_, which give them _liquorish draughts_, and thy _plow-torn leas_. Here are effects corresponding with causes, _liquorish draughts_ with _vines_, and _unctuous morsels_ with _marrows_, and the old reading literally preserved. IV.iii.209 (363,3) the cunning of a carper] _Cunning_ here seems to signify _counterfeit appearance_. IV.ii.223 (364,4) moist trees] Hanmer reads very elegantly, --moss'd _trees_. IV.iii.37 (364,5) _Tim._ Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Dost please thyself in't? _Apem._ Ay. _Tim._ What! a knave too?] Such was Dr. Warburton's first conjecture ["and know't too"], but afterwards he adopted Sir T. Hanmer's conjecture, _What a knave_ thou!