Who, in his circumstance, expressly proves— (Though in and of him there be much consisting,) Till he communicate his parts to others: Nor doth he of himself know them for aught) The voice again; or like a gate of steel The unknown Ajax 3. Heavens, what a man is there! a very horse; Most abject in regard, and dear in use! 9 — in his circumstance,] In the detail or circumduction of his argument. JOHNSON. I -WHICH, like] Old copies-who, like. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. The folio and quarto concur in reading "who like an arch reverberate;" i. e. They who applaud reverberate. This elliptick mode of expression is in our author's manner. BOSWELL. 2 a gate of steel Fronting the sun,] This idea appears to have been caught from some of our ancient romances, which often describe gates of similar materials and effulgence. STEEVENS. 3 The unknown Ajax.] Ajax, who has abilities, which were never brought into view or use. JOHNSON. 4 Now shall we see to-morrow, An act that very chance doth throw upon him, Ajax renown'd.] I once thought that we ought to read renown. But by considering the middle line as parenthetical, the passage is sufficiently clear. MAlone. While some men leave to do! How some men creep in skittish fortune's hall 5, 6 While pride is fasting in his wantonness! By placing a break after him, the construction will be :-' Now we shall see to-morrow an act that very chance doth throw upon him-[we shall see] Ajax renown'd.' HENLEY. 5 How some men CREEP in skittish fortune's hall,] To creep is to keep out of sight from whatever motive. Some men keep out of notice in the hall of fortune, while others, though they but play the idiot, are always in her eye, in the way of distinction. JOHNSON. I cannot think that creep, used without any explanatory word, can mean to keep out of sight. While some men, says Ulysses, remain tamely inactive in fortune's hall, without any effort to excite her attention, others, &c. Such, I think, is the meaning. MALONE. 6 - fasting] Quarto. The folio has feasting. Either word may bear a good sense. JOHNSON. I have preferred fasting, the reading of the quarto, to feasting, which we find in the folio, not only because the quarto copies are in general preferable to the folio, but because the original reading furnishes that kind of antithesis of which our poet was so fond. One man eats, while another fasts. Achilles is he who fasts; who capriciously abstains from those active exertions which would furnish new food for his pride. MALone. 7 And great Troy SHRIEKING.] Thus the quarto. The folio has, less poetically,-shrinking. The following passage in the subsequent scene supports the reading of the quarto: 66 Hark, how Troy roars; how Hecuba cries out; "How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth; I prefer the reading of the folio. That the collective body of martial Trojans should shrink at sight of their hero's danger, is surely more natural to be supposed, than that, like frighted women, they would unite in a general shriek. As to what Cassandra says, in the preceding note,-it is the fate of that lady's evidence-never to be received. STEEVENS. Cassandra's prophecies were not believed, but they were nevertheless true. MALONE. ACHIL. I do believe it: for they pass'd by me, As misers do by beggars; neither gave to me, Good word, nor look: What, are my deeds forgot? ULYSS. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion, A great-sized monster of ingratitudes : Those scraps are good deeds past: which are devour'd As fast as they are made, forgot as soon In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; Where one but goes abreast: keep then the path; That one by one pursue: If you give way, Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank, 8 Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,] This speech is printed in all the modern editions with such deviations from the old сору, as exceed the lawful power of an editor. JOHNSON. This image is literally from Spenser : 9 "And eeke this wallet at your backe arreare "And in this bag, which I behinde me don, BOADEN. - to the abject REAR,] So Hanmer. All the editors before him read-to the abject, near. JOHNSON. 1 O'er-run, &c.] The quarto wholly omits the simile of the horse, and reads thus: "And leave you hindmost, then what they do at present —." The folio seems to have some omission, for the simile begins, 66 Or, like a gallant horse -." JOHNSON. Though less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours: That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand; Remuneration for the thing it was; For beauty, wit3, High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service, To envious and calumniating time. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,—That all, with one consent, praise new-born gawds, Though they are made and moulded of things past; And give to dust, that is a little gilt, More laud than gilt o'er-dusted*. The construction is, 'Or, like a gallant horse, &c. you lie there for pavement;' the personal pronoun of a preceding line being understood here. There are many other passages in these plays in which a similar ellipsis is found. So, in this play, p. 347: - but commends itself," instead of "but it commends itself." MALONE. 66 2 Welcome ever smiles,] The compositor inadvertently repeated the word the, which has just occurred, and printed-the welcome, &c. The emendation was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 3 For beauty, wit, &c.] The modern editors read: 1 "For beauty, wit, high birth, desert in service," &c. I do not deny but the changes produce a more easy lapse of numbers, but they do not exhibit the work of Shakspeare. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson might have said,-the work of Shakspeare, as mangled by theatres, ignorant transcribers, and unskilful printers. He has somewhere else observed, that perhaps we have not received one of our author's plays as it was originally written. STEEVENS. 4 And GIVE to dust, that is a little gilt, More laud than GILT o'er-dusted.] [The old copies-goe to dust.] In this mangled condition do we find this truly fine observation transmitted. Mr. Pope saw it was corrupt, and therefore, as I presume, threw it out of the text; because he would not indulge his private sense in attempting to make sense of it. I owe The present eye praises the present object : Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late, Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves, the foundation of the amendment, which I have given in the text, to the sagacity of the ingenious Dr. Thirlby. I read : "And GIVE to dust, that is a little gilt, "More laud than they will give to gold, o'er-dusted." THEOBALD. This emendation has been adopted by the succeeding editors, but recedes too far from the copy. There is no other corruption than such as Shakspeare's incorrectness often resembles. He has omitted the article-to in the second line: he should have written : "More laud than to gilt o'er-dusted." JOHNSON. Gilt, in the second line, is a substantive. See Coriolanus, Act I. Sc. III. Dust a little gilt means, ordinary performances ostentatiously displayed and magnified by the favour of friends and that admiration of novelty which prefers "new-born gawds" to "things past." Gilt o'er-dusted means, splendid actions of preceding ages, the remembrance of which is weakened by time. The poet seems to have been thinking either of those monuments which he has mentioned in All's Well that Ends Well: "Where dust and damn'd oblivion is the tomb or of the gilded armour, trophies, banners, &c. often hung up in churches in monumental mockery." MALONE. 5 66 went ONCE on thee,] So the quarto. The folio-went out on thee. MALONE. Made emulous MISSIONS] The meaning of mission seems to be dispatches of the gods from heaven about mortal business, such as often happened at the siege of Troy. JOHNSON. It means the descent of deities to combat on either side; an idea which Shakspeare very probably adopted from Chapman's translation of Homer. In the fifth book, Diomed wounds Mars, |