how? wilt not off? In the midland counties, upon any unexpected obstruction or resistance, it is common to exclaim an' how? Line 439. .complished. Line 446. Advertising and holy-] Attentive and faithful. JOHNSON. which consummate,] i. e. Which being ac JOHNSON. 453. be you as free to us.] Be as generous to us, -pardon us as we have pardoned you. . JOHNSON. Line 461. That brain'd my purpose:] We now use in conversation a like phrase, This it was that knocked my design on the head. JOHNSON. . Line 476. —even from his proper tongue,] Even from Angelo's own tongue. So above, In the witness of his proper ear To call him villain. JOHNSON. Line 481. denies thee vantage:] Take from thee all opportunity, all expedient of denial. WARBURTON. Line 509. Against all sense you do impórtune her.] The meaning required is, against all reason and natural affection; Shakspeare, therefore, judiciously uses a single word that implies both; sense signifying both reason and affection. JOHNSON. Line 525. Till he did look on me;] The Duke has justly observed, that Isabel is importuned against all sense to solicit for Angelo, yet here against all sense she solicits for him. Her argument is extraordinary. A due sincerity govern'd his deeds,. That Angelo had committed all the crimes charged against him, as far as he could commit them, is evident. The only intent which his act did not overtake, was the defilement of Isabel. Of this Angelo was only intentionally guilty. JOHNSON. Line 547. -570. after more advice,] i. e. After more reflection. for those earthly faults,] Thy faults, so far as they are punishable on earth, so far as they are cognisable by temporal power, I forgive. JOHNSON. Line 583. -perceives he's safe;] It is somewhat strange, at the sight of her brother. . Line 585. penses, requites you. that label is not made to express either gratitude, wonder, or joy, JOHNSON, -your evil quits you well:] Quits you, recomJOHNSON. Line 586. her worth, worth yours.] These words are, as they are too frequently, an affected gingle, but the sense is plain. Her worth, worth yours; that is, her value is equal to your value, the match is not unworthy of you. JOHNSON. Line 589. here's one in place I cannot pardon ;] After the pardon of two murderers, Lucio might be treated by the good Duke with less harshness; but perhaps the poet intended to show, what is too often seen, that men easily forgive wrongs which are not committed against themselves. JOHNSON. Line 592. One all of luxury,] Luxury here means, lewdness... 595. according to the trick:] To my custom, my habitual practice. JOHNSON. Line 612.thy other forfeits:] Thy other punishments. JOHNSON. END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON MEASURE FOR MEASURE. ANNOTATIONS ON MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. to express. Line 27. more sincere, ACT I. SCENE I. LINE 22. joy could not shew itself modest enough, without a badge of bitterness.] This is judiciously express'd. Of all the transports of joy, that which is attended with tears is least of fensive; because carrying with it this mark of pain, it allays the envy that usually attends another's happiness. This he finely calls a modest joy, such a one as did not insult the dication of happiness unmixed with pain. This is an idea which Shakespeare seems to have been delighted STEEVENS. observer by an inWARBURTON. -no faces truer- -] That is, none honester, none JOHNSON. Line 30. -is Signior Montanto returned—] Montante, in Spanish, is a huge two-handed sword, given, with much humour, to one, the speaker would represent as a boaster or bravado. WARBURTON. Line 32. there was none such in the army of any sort.] Not meaning there was none such of any order or degree whatever, but that there was none such of any quality above the common. WARBURTON. Line 38. He set up his bills, &c.] In Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, Shift says, "This is rare, I have set up my bills without dicovery." Beatrice means, that Benedick published a general challenge, like a prize-fighter. STEEVENS. Line 39. challenged Cupid at the flight;] The disuse of the bow makes this passage obscure. Benedick is represented as challenging Cupid at archery. To challenge at the flight is, I believe, to wager who shall shoot the arrow furthest without any particular mark. JOHNSON. To challenge at the flight was a challenge to shoot with an arrow. Flight means only an arrow. STEEVENS. Line 41. at the bird-bolt.] The bird-bolt is a short thick arrow without point, and spreading at the extremity so much, as to leave a flat surface, about the breadth of a shilling. Such are to this day in use to kill rooks with, and are shot from a crossbow. STEEVENS. Line 46. he'll be meet with you.] This is a very common expression in the midland counties, and signifies he'll be your match, he'll be even with you. STEEVENS Line 64. —four of his five wits- -] In our author's time wit was the general term for intellectual powers. JOHNSON. Line 66. -if he have wit enough to keep himself warm,] Such a one has wit enough to keep himself warm, is a proverbial expression; to bear any thing for a difference is a term in heraldry. STEEVENS. Line 73. —he wears his faith—] Not religious profession, but profession of friendship; for the speaker gives it as the reason of her asking, who was now his companion? that he had every month a new sworn brother. WARBURTON, Line 74. with the next block.] A block is a mould on which a hat is formed. The old writers sometimes use the word for the hat itself. STEEVENS. Line 76. --the gentleman is not in your books.] This is a phrase used, I believe, by more than understand it. To be in one's books is to be in one's codicils or will, to be among friends set down for legacies. JOHNSON. Thus Hamlet says, (6 -My tables, meet it is I set it down' when he pulls out his pocket-book. Probably the phrase was originally adopted from the tradesman's language. To be in tradesman's books, might formerly have been an expression in common conversation for a trust of any other kind. STEEVENS, Line 80. -young squarer- -] A squarer I take to be a cholerick, quarrelsome fellow, for in this sense Shakspeare uses the word to square. So in Midsummer-Night's Dream, it is said of Oberon and Titania, that they never meet but they square. So the sense may be, Is there no hot-blooded youth that will keep him company through all his mad pranks? JOHNSON. your charge-] That is, your burthen, your Line 101. incumbrance. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson here mistakes the meaning of the word, it must imply a ward, or any person committed to your protection. Line 181. -the flouting Jack;] A term of derision. Thus in Henry IV. Part I. 66 -the prince is a Jack, a sneak cup," Line 182. -to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder, &c.] That is, "Do you mean to tell us that love is not blind, and that fire will not consume what is combustible ?”-for both these propositions are implied in making Cupid a good hare-finder, and Vulcan (the God of fire) a good carpenter. In other words, would you convince me, whose opinion on this head is well known, that you can be in love without being blind, and can play with the flame of beauty without being scorched. ANONYMOUS. wear his cap with suspicion ?] That is, subject JOHNSON, Line 196. his head to the disquiet of jealousy. Line 199. sigh away Sundays.] A proverbial expression to signify that a man has no rest at all; when Sunday, a day formerly of ease and diversion, was passed so uncomfortably. WARBURTON. Line 232. -but in the force of his will.] Alluding to the definition of a heretick in the schools. WARBURTON. Line 236. -but that I will have a recheat winded in my forehead,] That is, I will wear a horn on my forehead which the huntsman may blow. A recheat is the sound by which dogs are |