preceding stanza, demands another field; i. e. the ground or surface of a shield, or escutcheon armorial. STEEVENS.

Other copies read :-

owe.

"Rather than triumph in so false a foe."

P. 60, 1.0. Therefore that praise which Colatine doth Praise here signifies the object of praise; i. e. Lucretia. To owe, in old language, means to possess. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 22. With stranger eyes. Stranger is here used as an adjective. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 27. Nor could she moralize. To moralize, here signifies to interpret, to investigate the latent meaning of his looks. MALONE.

P. 61, 1. 12. Till sable night, sud source, &c. The first editions read---Till sable night, mother of dread, &c.

Ib. 1. 4. Shuts the day. In the first editions---stows the day, which Mr. Malone thinks the true, though the least elegant reading.

Ib. 1. 16.

Intending weariness.

put for pretending.

Intending is here

Ib. 1. 17. He questioned; i. e. held a long conver

sation. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 20 and 21.

And every one, &c. In the first

editions we read :--

"And every one to rest himself betakes,

"Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds that wakes."

The false concord in the second line was corrected in the above manner in the octavo of 1600, but the other

line consequently rendered defective of grammar; were we to substitute a noun of multitude, (i. e. And all the world to rest themselves, &c.) the reading would then be accurate. Mr. Malone says the first copy was right; but surely no one can say that it is right. EDITOR.

P. 62, l. 1 and 2. Are of gain so fond, &c. Thus the edition of 1616; but in the quarto of 1594 we read: "Are with gain so fond,

"That what they have not (that which they possess)

The alteration is plausible, but not necessary. If it be objected to the reading of the first copy, that these misers cannot scatter what they have not, (according to the original text) it should be observed, that the same objection lies to the passage as regulated in the latter edition; for here also they are said to "scatter and unloose it," &c. although in the preceding line they were said, "oft not to have it." Poetically speaking, they may be said to scatter--What they have not; i. e. what they cannot be truly said to have; what they do not enjoy, though possessed of it. Understanding the words in this sense, the old reading may remain. Ma

LONE.

Ib. 1. 14. Altogether. Read---All together. Ib. 1. 15. Venturing all. The old copy reads---venturing ill---which means, from an evil spirit of adventure, which prompts us to covet what we are not possessed of. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 27. Himself confounds; i. e. destroys.

Ib. 1. 28. The wretched hateful lays. Thus the modern editions, which Mr. Malone thinks unintelligible: the first copy reads---and wretched hateful days.

P. 63, l. 13. Doth too oft betake him to retire. That is-Fear betakes himself to flight. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 27. Armour of still slaughtered lust ; i. e. still slaughtering; unless the poet means to describe it as a passion that is always a killing, but never dies. STEEVENS.

P. 64, 1. 7. Snow-white weed.
guage, is garment. MALONE.
Ib. 1. 11. Soft fancy's sluve.
MALONE.

affection.

Ib. 1. 13.

from virtue.

Weed, in old lan

Fancy for love, or

Then my digression; i. e. My deviation
MALONE.

Ib. 1. 17. Some loathsome dash the herald will contrive. In the books of heraldry a particular mark of disgrace is mentioned, by which the escutcheons of those persons were anciently distinguished, who "discourteously used a widow, maid, or wife, against her will." There were likewise formerly marks of disgrace for him that revoked a challenge, or went from his word; for him who fled from his colours, &c. In this present instance our author seems to allude to the mark first mentioned. MALONE.

This distinction was called, in ancient heraldy, a blot or difference. STEEVENS.

P. 65, 1. 11. Mine eyes forget. Read---forego. Ib. 1. 22. If once the fact. The first editions read ---ay, if the fact be known.

own.

Ib. 1. 24. It is not her own. Read---She is not her These exclamations---Shameful it is! Hateful it is! and But she is not her own! are supposed to be spoken by some airy monster. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 28. Shall, by a painted cloth, &c. In the old repertories, or painted cloths, many moral sentences

were wrought.

P. 66, l. 6.

MALONE.
All pure effects.

read--affects. STEEVENS.

Perhaps we should

P. 66, 1. 10. Fearing some bad news. The first edi❤ tions read-hard news.

reads---this gaudy banner. The preceding editions make the rhyme pleadeth, dreadeth, and leadeth; but pleads, dreads, &c. is certainly more uniform with thrives and fights, in the same stanza. EDITOR.

P. 67, 1. 2. Respect. Respect means cautious prudence, that weighs all consequences. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 4. Sad pause, &c. Sad formerly signified grave; and deep regard is profound meditation or consideration. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 5. My purt is youth, and beats these from the stage. The poet seems to have had the conflicts between the devil and the vice of the old moralities in his thoughts. In these the vice was always victorious, and drove the devil roaring off the stage. MALONE. Ib. 1. 9. Is almost cloak'd. Thus the modern editions, which Mr. Steevens says is erroneous. The old

copy reads" chok'd by unresisted lust."

Ib. 1. 28. Doth march. The quarto edition of 1594 has it marcheth; but doth march, as the accent falls on the second word or syllable, reads better. EDITOR.

P. 68, 1. 2. Recites his ward. Thus the modern editions, which Mr. Malone pronounces unintelligible. The first editions read---retires his ward; i. e. draws back his ward.

Recites his ward, I think, more poetical than retires; each lock forc'd back, repeats, expresses, or resounds, the motion of the wards withdrawing; and this adds to the beauty of the following line---" They all rate his ill." EDITOR.

P. 68, 1. 4. Which drives the creeping slave to some regard. Which makes him pause and consider what he is about to do. MALONE.

See Note, p. 67, 1. 4.

Ib. 1. 5. To have him heard; i. e. to discover him; to proclaim his approach.

Ib. 1. 6. Night wand'ring weasels shriek. The property of the weazel is to suck eggs. Perhaps the poet meant to intimate, that even animals, intent on matrimonial plunder, gave the alarm at sight of a more powerful invader of the nuptial bed. But this is mere idle conjecture. STEEVENS.

Ib. 1. 7. Pursues his fear ; i. e. the cause of his fear. Conscious of his evil design, and alarmed at every noise he hears, still he prosecutes that design which is the cause of his fear. EDITOR.

Ib. I. 12.

Conduct--for conductor.

Ib. 1. 16. The needle. Read---her needle.