'Brach' cannot be right; for brach was bitch (see Index _s. v._), and what sportsman would say Bitch Sweet lips, for instance, of one of his hounds? In the usual manner the printer was led away by the 'brach' in the following line. The original word must have been a verb, and, were we not aware of what critics usually are, we might wonder at Johnson's most simple and natural emendation, _Bathe_ not being universally adopted. In his whole speech the lord shows his affection for his hounds; for the charge about coupling Clowder with another hound is evidently owing to his being united to an ill-conditioned dog. Poor Merriman, it is plain, had got a swelling in the leg or elsewhere--for that is the only possible meaning of 'emboss'd' in this place; so when the Prince (1 Hen. IV. iii. 3) calls Falstaff an "_embossed_ rascal," he means swollen up--the proper remedy for which was _bathing_ or fomenting with warm water; and this he directs to be done. But Mr. Collier tells us that "a _dog_ or a deer is said to be _embossed_ when fatigue makes them foam at the mouth;" from which all that can be inferred is that Mr. Collier is no sportsman; for any one who has been out with hounds knows that when fatigued they pant and put out their tongues, but _never_ foam. Shakespeare, who apparently knew something of hunting, has correctly, "_Lolling_ the tongue with slaughtering" (Cymb. v. 3), alluding to hounds. On the other hand, Mr. Dyce most confidently reads _Trash_, _i.e._, put a "heavy collar, strap or rope dragging loose on the ground" on him to check his speed. I fear that Mr. Dyce is no sportsman either. At least at the present day hounds do not carry weight; for that, I suppose, is what he means. He probably understood 'emboss'd' in the same sense as Mr. Collier. I adopt Johnson's reading, though aware that in cases of this kind (Introd. p. 65) we should not look for any similarity of form (Mr. Dyce's _ductus literarum_) in the word to be substituted. (See on Othel. iii. 3.) Here, for example, we might read _Mind_, or some other word. * * * * * "And when he says _what_ he is say that he dreams." * * * * * SC. 2. "And not a tinker, nor Christopher_o_ Sly." * * * * * "Madam wife, they say that I have dreamed _here_." ACT I. SC. 1. "Pisa, renowned for grave citizens, Gave me my being, and my father first, A merchant of great traffic through the world, Vincentio[s] come of the Bentivoglii. Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence, It shall become to serve all hopes conceiv'd," etc.