PR 
 
 2892 
 
 G19gZ
 
 
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 LETT E R 
 
 T O 
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 A GLOSSARY 
 
 T O 
 
 The PLAYS of SHAKESPEARE, 
 
 On a more extenfive Plan than has hitherto 
 appeared. 
 
 To which is annexed, 
 
 A SPECIMEN. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for the AUTHOR: 
 
 And fold by T. DAViES.in Convent-Garden; and T. BfiCXET 
 and P. A. DE HONDT, in the Strand. 
 
 MI5CCLXVJJ1,
 
 [ 3 1 
 
 SI R, 
 
 *"""""* HE many favours received during 
 JL the courfe of a long, uninter- 
 rupted, and happy acquaintance, induce 
 me to take this opportunity of communi- 
 cating to you, and by your means to the 
 readers and admirers of our immortal 
 Sbakefpeare, a /cheme tending to make him, 
 if poflible, more generally read, at leaft 
 better understood. And indeed, to whom 
 could I addrefs fuch an attempt with fo 
 much propriety, as to yourfelf ; who are 
 fo familiarly acquainted with his writings, 
 and whofe inimitable performance of his 
 principal charadters, is, as has been with 
 the greateftjuftice obferved, the beft com- 
 ment on his works ? 
 
 " Whoever hath but dipped into Shake- 
 t( fpeare (fays a late author *) muft have 
 " obferved a certain obfcurity, which may 
 ' be confidered as one of the charaderif- 
 * tick peculiarities of his ftyle, arifing in 
 ** a great meafure from the grandeur, the 
 
 * Revifal of Sbsksftc&ris Text. 
 
 A 2 '' flrength, 
 
 i 
 
 123-8475
 
 4 ALETTERTO 
 
 " ftrength, and the exaclnefs of his con-? 
 *' ceptions, which he could not equal by 
 " the force of his expreffion, though his 
 " powers even of this kind were perhaps 
 " never excelled by any other writer." 
 His very frequent ufe, therefore, of words ob- 
 fcure, nowdifufed andobfolete, of technical 
 terms not univerfally known, and of words, 
 though ^common, yet made ufe of by 
 him in a fenfe uncommon, and fome- 
 times peculiar to himfelf, feems to give an 
 opening for a Gtoffary, on a different 
 and more extenfive plan, than any that 
 has hitherto appeared. 
 
 The firfl of the kind that we know of, 
 is in Dr. Sewell's edition of Shake/pear's 
 Poems in Quarto, and which makes the 
 feventh Volume of Mr. Pope's edition, 
 printed in the year 1725, and the tenth of 
 that in Duodecimo in 1728. This is faid 
 to be compiled by Mr. Gildon, and is added 
 to An Ejj'ay on the Art, Rife, and Progrefs 
 of the Stage in Greece, Rome, and England. 
 So far as it goes, it is well done; and the 
 few words properly explained : but, as 
 in the whole it contains fcarce two hundred, 
 it is very incomplete, and inadequate to 
 the purccfe it is intended to ferve. 
 
 The
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 5 
 
 The next, and for which this feems to 
 have laid the foundation, was compiPd by 
 Sir 'Thomas Hanmer, and added to his edir 
 tion printed at Oxford in fix volumes in 
 quarto, in the year 1744 ', and afterwards in 
 Condon, in the fame number of volumes in 
 pclavo, in 1745, and in nine volumes ia 
 fmall duodecimo in 1747. It is alfo an- 
 nex'd to an edition, printed at Edinburgh 
 1753, and with fome few additions. This, 
 as far as his plan extended, is an elaborate 
 and well-executed performance : but as it 
 is form'd for his own edition, in which he 
 has taken great liberties in varying from 
 the old ones ; and as he has infertcd many 
 words as his own conjectures into the text, 
 and altered many others ; it feems too con- 
 fin'd, and by no means calculated for ge- 
 neral ufe. Indeed, where a word is us'd 
 but once, or in a fenfe which is fingular, 
 the volume and page are referred to, where 
 fuch word js to be met with : but then 
 this regards only his own edition. Befides, 
 why of words us'd only once ? If ufeful to re- 
 fer to the place where they occur once, furely 
 it is as much fo where they occur oftner. 
 In bu Glofiary, the place only where the 
 yvord occurs is referred to : in fpine, the
 
 6 ALETTERTO 
 
 paffage will be quoted at length^ with fo 
 much of the context as ferves to make it a 
 complete fentence; but no farther. For 
 example, in explaining the word to affy, 
 which occurs in Titus Andronicus, Act. i. 
 Sc. i. the whole, paflage runs thus: 
 
 Marcus Andronicus^ fo I do affy 
 
 In thy uprightnefs and integrity, 
 
 And fo I love and honour thee and thine, 
 
 Thy nobler brother Titus and his fons, 
 
 And her, to whom our thoughts are humbled all, 
 
 Gracious Lavinia^ Rome's rich ornament ; 
 
 That I will here difmifs my loving friends, 
 
 And to my fortune's and the people's favour 
 
 Commit my caufe in balance to be weigh'd. 
 
 But the firft two, and the feventh line, 
 piaking a complete fentence, no more is 
 iiecefTary as thus 
 
 Marcus Andronicus , fo I do affy 
 
 In thy uprightnefs, ancl integrity, 
 
 * * 
 
 That I will here difmifs my loving friends. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Again Romeo and Juliet, Aft. i. Sc. j. 
 Three civil broils, bred of an airy word, 
 By thee old Capulet and Montague^ 
 Have thrice difturb'd the r^uit-t of our flreets ; 
 And n^ade Verona's ancient Citizens 
 VJalt by their grave, liffeeming ornaments,. 
 
 Now as befeeming is the word to be ex*- 
 pkir/d, and which occurs in the hit line, 
 
 in (lead
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. j 
 
 inftead of Jive lines, three feem to be fuffi- 
 eicnt. Thus 
 
 Three civil broils, bred of an airy word, 
 Have * * * 
 
 * * * made Verona's ancient Citizens 
 Caft by their grave befeeming ornaments. 
 
 The nature of a GlofTary form'd on this 
 plan will make it necefTary to have the fame 
 paffage often repeated. Thus in Timon, 
 Acl.iv. Sc. 3. 
 
 She whom the Spittle- Houfe, and ulcerous fores 
 Would caft the gorge at, this embalms and fpices 
 To th' April-day again. 
 
 Now as, in this paflage, there are three 
 words to be explain'd, viz. Spittle-*houfe 9 
 Gorge, and April-day^ it muft be repeated 
 three times, under thofe three refpective 
 articles. 
 
 In fcveral of his plays, particularly, The 
 Naming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, ancj- 
 fome others, you remember, Sir, Latin words 
 are introduced, and often whole fentences : 
 Thefe for the fake of the mere English rea- 
 der, will be taken notice of, the words ex- 
 plain'd and the fentences tranflated. The 
 lame alfo in regard to French, Italian, or 
 Spanifti words, where they occur. But 
 this is not all. He fometimes ufes foreign 
 
 words
 
 8 ALETTERTO 
 
 words abfolutely as Englifti ones, and in thd 
 fenfe they bear in their refpective languages.! 
 Thus for example : 
 
 That roan (hall be my throne 
 
 Well, I will back him ftrait. O Efperance I 
 
 i Henry IV. Aa ii. Sc. 6. Hotfpur. 
 Now Efperance t Percy ! and fet on 
 
 v. Sc. 5. - 
 
 Efperance is a French word, and fignifies 
 hope. But perhaps it may be faid, that 
 Efperance was Percy's word, when he went 
 to battle, as St. George was that of the 
 King. As Hall informs us in his Chroni- 
 cle-^" Then fodainly (fays he) the trum- 
 * pets blew, the kinges parte cried SainSl 
 * c George upon themj the adverfaries 
 c dryed Efperaunce Percie, and furioufly the 
 cc armies join'd" Henry HU.fol. 22. Take 
 then the following iriftances, where I think 
 it cannot but be allowed to be ufed as an 
 Englim word: 
 
 - To be the worft 
 
 The loweft moft dejeaed thing of fortune, 
 
 Stand {till in Efperance. 
 
 King Lear, Aa iv. Sc. i < Edgar; 
 Sith yet there is a credence in my heart, 
 An Efperance fo cbftinately ftrong, 
 That doth invert tli' atteft of eyes and ears 
 
 Troilus and Creflida, Aa v. Sc. 5. Troilus. 
 
 How
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 9 
 
 How far fuch in fiances are or are not 
 a proof of our author's undemanding thofe 
 languages, it is not necefTary here to en- 
 quire Mr. Farmer, in the very ingenious 
 efTay on the learning of Shakefpear, which 
 he has lately oblig'd us with, has with ma- 
 ny feemed to put it out of all doubt, that 
 all his allufions to ancient authors, he took 
 from tranilations: and Dr. Johnfon fays, 
 " his 
 
 " Redime te captum quam queas minimo, 
 
 " which is in the Eunuchus of Terence, 
 " A<5t i. Sc. i. muft not be brought as an 
 { argument of his learning, as he had it 
 " from Lilly' He might have had it from 
 thence, or he might not But wherever 
 he had it, it is plain he underftood it; he 
 could never elfe fo happily have applied 
 it. One pafTage indeed makes it probable 
 enough, he had it from the Grammar 
 In Titus Andronlcusy Adi: ii. Sc. 2. he in- 
 troduces the beginning of the 22d Ode of 
 book 1. of Horace : 
 
 What's here, a fcrowl, and written round about i 
 
 Let's fee 
 
 Integer vitse, fcelerisque purus, 
 Non eget Mauii jaculis nee arcu 
 
 B To
 
 io ALETTERTO 
 
 To which follows, 
 
 O! .'tis a verfe in Horact t I know it well : 
 1 read it in the Grammar long ago 
 
 Yet here too, his application of it (hews 
 he understood it. In the preceding fcene,. 
 there is another Latin fentence introduc'd : 
 Tamoras fons are difcovered to be the 
 perfons, who had abus'd Lavinia; on 
 which Titus makqs ufe of the following 
 exclamation, 
 
 Magne dominator Poli y 
 
 Tarn lentus audis fcelera, tarn lentus vides ! 
 
 This is taken from Seneca s Tragedies? 
 Act ii. ver. 671. of his Hippolytus but the 
 -words are altered it there ftands thus : 
 
 - Magne regnator 
 
 Tarn lentus audis fcelera ! tam lentus vides ! 
 
 Poffibly he might not have the author 
 by him, or might quote it from memory 
 at leaft it does not appear, that he had 
 this too from the grammar 
 
 Many have thought this play not to be 
 our author's Their chief argument feems 
 to be its inferiority in point of merit. That 
 it is much inferior, is readily granted yet 
 
 not with-
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. n 
 notwithftanding, it is not without many 
 and very great beauties. You recoiled:, 
 Sir, the 4th Scene of the ift Adi, and I 
 doubt not plainly difcover the hand of our 
 author in it, particularly in the fir ft fpeech 
 of Tamora It is indeed fo much in his 
 manner that every reader, I think, muft be 
 of the fame opinion ; and it is fo beautiful 
 in itfelf, and the images fo pidurefque and 
 ftriking, that you will, I am fure, excufe 
 my inferting it at length. 
 
 My lovely Aaron^ wherefore lookM thou fad, 
 When every thing doth make a gleeful boaft ? 
 The birds chaunt melody on every buflj, 
 The fnake lies rolled in the cbearful fun, 
 The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind, 
 And make a chequered fhadow on the ground : 
 Under their fweet fhade, Aaron, let us fit, 
 And whilft the babbling cfx> mocks the Hounds- 
 
 
 
 Replying ihrilly to the well-tun'd horns, 
 As if a double Hunt were heard at once, 
 Let us fit down, and mark their yelling noife: 
 And after conflict, fuch as was fuppofed, 
 The wandering Prince and Dido once enjoy'd, 
 When in a happy ftorm they were furprix'd, 
 And curtain'd with a counfel- keeping cave ; 
 We may, each wreathed in the other's arms, 
 (Our paftimes done) poflefs a golden ilumber; 1 
 Whilft hounds and horns, and fweet melodious birds 
 Be unto us, as is a Nurfe's fong 
 Qf lullaby, to bring her babe afleep. 
 
 B 2 To
 
 12 ALETTERTO 
 
 To argue then, that, becaufe it has not 
 the merit of a firft-rate play, Shakefpearc 
 did not write the whole, or indeed any part, 
 cannot, I think, be allowed fair pra&ice. 
 Do we fee in the Wild Gallant or the Mock 
 AJlrohger, the author of Amphitryon, Mar- 
 riage-a-la-mode^ and the Spanifo Friar? 
 Does the Indian Emperor or Tyrannick 
 Love, {hew the author of Don Sebaftian, 
 and All for Love? and yet was it ever made 
 a doubt, that Dryden wrote them all ? 
 The Orphan and Venice prefervd of Of way 
 have undoubted merit, and are defervedly 
 rang'd in the flrft clafs of tragedies, after 
 thofe of our author and yet was not the 
 fame Otway the author of Alcibiades and 
 Don Carlos ? The fame too may be (aid of 
 Ben Jonfon, and many other authors 
 
 I will not contend, that his ufe of words 
 nearer the Latin, as cognition for know- 
 ledge, mutation for change, and others of 
 the like fort, add much to the opinion of 
 his being at leafi not unacquainted with 
 Latin. Writers prior to or cotemporary with 
 him, might, and 1 believe did, make ufe 
 of the fame words; and it is probable, it 
 might be from thole fcurces he drew them. 
 
 Nor
 
 DAVID GARRIGK, Efq. 13 
 
 Nor will I lay much ftrefs on his feem- 
 ing imitation of paflages, that occur it) an- 
 cient authors; of fome of which 1 am 
 pretty confident there are ho tranilations, 
 at leaft into Englim, fo old as his time. 
 It is certain men of genius have hit upon 
 the fame fentiments, and very near the 
 fame manner of exprerTing them Wa,s 
 I to do fo, the following inftance from 
 Plautus, among others, feems to bid very 
 fair for the mark : 
 
 Phil, Jam pridem ecaftor frigida. non layi magis lu- 
 
 benter, 
 Nee unquam me rnelius, mea Scapha, rear efls 
 
 defaecatum. 
 Sea. Eventus rebus omnibus, velut horreo meffis 
 
 Fuit - 
 
 Phil. - Quid ea meffis ad meam lavationem ? 
 pea. Nihilo plus quarn layatio tua ad meffim 
 
 Phil. By Ca/Ior^s Temple now I fwear, my Scapha, 
 I've not this long time bath'd with greater plea- 
 
 fur e, 
 Nor ris'n more pure from the cold wave than 
 
 now. 
 
 Sea, Th' event of every thing with you fucceeds, 
 Like the rich Harveft of the year - 
 What's Harveft 
 
 To my cold Bath ? - 
 Sea. J'jft what your Bath's to Harveft. - 
 
 i Obferve
 
 14 ALETTERTO 
 
 Obferve now in what terms Shakefpear 
 has exprefs'd the fame fentiment. It is in 
 l Henry IV. AcT: i. Sc. 2. between Prince 
 Henry and Falftaff 
 
 FaL is not mine Hoftefs of the Tavern a moft 
 tweet wench ? 
 
 P. Hen. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the 
 Caftle ; and is not a buff-jerkin a moft fweet robe of 
 durance ? 
 
 FaL How now, how now, mad wag ? what in thy 
 quips and thy quiddities ? what, a plague ! have I to do 
 with a buff-jerkin ? 
 
 P. Hen. Why, what, a pox ! have I to do with my 
 Hoftefs of the Tavern , ? 
 
 This inftance was obferved alfo by Mr. 
 Theobald, in a note on this pafTage in his 
 oftavo edition of our author, but omitted 
 in the fubfequent ones in duodecimo. 
 
 Were I to attempt to fecure to him that 
 frnall {hare, of Latin his cotemporary and 
 rival in fame Ben Jonfon allows him (and 
 right fure I am he would not have allow'd 
 him more than he had), it (hould rather be 
 from his frequently making ufe of the Latin 
 idiom. The Line you, I dare fay, Sir, will 
 eafily recoiled. It is in the Commendatory 
 Veries prefix'd to his Plays. 
 
 And tho' them had ft fmall Latin and lefs Greek. 
 
 For
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 15 
 
 For example, 
 
 Madam, as thereto fworn, by your command, 
 Which my love makes religion to obey, 
 
 1 tell you this- 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, Aft v. Sc. 3. Dolabella. 
 
 I fee you have fome religion in you, that you fear. 
 
 Cymbeline, At i. Sc. 6. Jacbime* 
 
 Thus, in Terence, 
 
 Turn, quod dem ei, re&eeftr nam nihil efle mthi re- 
 Ifgio eft dicere. 
 
 Heautontimorumenos, Aft ii. Sc. i. Clitipko* 
 Nova nunc religio in te iftaec inceflit cedo. 
 
 Andria, A& iv. Sc. 3. Myjif. 
 
 And in Ad v. Sc. 4. of the fame play, 
 Cbremes fays, 
 
 At mihi unus fcrupulus etiam reftat, qui me mal 
 habet. 
 
 To which Pamphilus replies, 
 
 Dignus es 
 Cum tua religione y odio nodum in fcirpo quseris 
 
 Now in all thefe paflages, religio means 
 what is call'd in Greek ^gr*^t</*owa, in 
 Engliih, fcruple - of conference. 
 
 Now it does not appear that he found 
 out this ufe of the word religio in Lilly's 
 grammar or elfewhere: nor have I been 
 
 able
 
 i6 ALETTfiRTO, 
 
 able to find that religion has been us'd in 
 this fenfe either by prior or cotemporary 
 writers Is it not therefore at leaft proba- 
 ble, that he had it from Terence, in the 
 original * ? 
 
 That Shakefpeare was not what the 
 world calls a fcholar I readily admit. But 
 is there no medium ? muft he, with Mr, 
 Upton and fome others, be as much matter 
 of the Greek language as perhaps they them- 
 felves were ? or muft he, with the inge- 
 nious author of the EfTay on his Learning 
 before-mentioned, be fuppofed juft " to -j-re- 
 *' member enough of his fchool-boy learn- 
 " ing to put the Hig, bag, bog into the 
 " mouth of Sir Hugh Evans ?" As on the 
 one hand, I cannot by any means raife his 
 learning to the firft pitch, fo, neither can 
 I bring it down fo low as that gentleman 
 would have it. His EfTay is a very ingeni- 
 ous one ; and he has put it beyond doubt, 
 
 * Though I have not met with them, I doubt not 
 but there may be tranflations of Terence into Englifh, 
 as far back as our Author's time, and probably before it. 
 The earlieft I have feen is without a name, and printed 
 1629. It is only- of And>ia and Eunucbus ; and in the 
 firft inilance retigio is render'd by the word devotion^ aud 
 in the other ,fupt:r/1 it ion. 
 
 f ad Edition, p. 93. 
 
 that
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 17 
 
 that our author might, and undoubtedly 
 did, take many things, perhaps all, from 
 tranflations ^but this neither is or can 
 be a proof, that he might not have taken 
 them from originals at lead, if it is, it 
 can be only proof prefumptive -, I can by no 
 means allow it to be proof pofitive. When 
 ftyle is not concern'd, but only mere mat- 
 ters of fact from hiftory, or information 
 concerning antiquities or cuftoms of par- 
 ticular nations, there is fcarce an author, 
 let him be ever fo great an adept in lan- 
 guages, but might, in order to fave time 
 and trouble, confult a tranflation if he 
 had it at hand. Where a man profefTes him- 
 felf a tranflator, to -tranjlate from tranfla- 
 tions is, if he underftands the original, 
 inexcufable : to copy matters of faft, is 
 quite another affair: j^nd I will venture to 
 fay, there are few, if any authors, let them 
 underftand Greek ever fo well, who, if 
 they wanted in the courfe of their writing 
 to be inform'd of mere matters of fad: 
 in the lives of Julius Caefar, Antony, 
 and Coriolanus, would not lay afide their 
 Greek Plutarch, and turn to their Latin one, 
 if they read that language with more flu- 
 ency; nay even give up that, and have re- 
 C courfe
 
 i8 ALETTERTO. 
 
 courfe to one in French, or in Englijfli : 
 more efpecially if they wrote in as much 
 hafte as our author was obliged to do, and 
 rnoft evidently did. 
 
 Can we fuppofe that his natural genius, 
 his fire of writing, would fubmit to this, 
 when he had it in his power to evade it, 
 by making ufe of auxiliaries nearer at hand, 
 and to be come at with Icfs trouble ? 
 
 I will not however contend, that he 
 read Greek with any tolerable fluency -, I 
 moft fincerely beleive he did not. I really 
 think he underftood at leaft as much of 
 the language as a fchool-boy, never fup- 
 pos'd to be an idle one, might be allow'd 
 to have done; and as to Latin, if no better 
 authority can be produc'd, than his having 
 taken from tr (inflations, it is inadequate 
 to the point intended to be gain'dj and, 
 for what as yet appears, he might, or be 
 might not have had a tolerable at leafr, if 
 not a competent, knowledge of that lan- 
 guage. 
 
 The gentleman, whom I have not the 
 pleafure of being acquainted with, any far- 
 ther than by name and by character, will, 
 I truir, excufe the liberty I have taken, in 
 endeavouring to (leer a middle courfe, be- 
 tween
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 19 
 tween the profefs'd fcholar,and one abfolutely 
 unacquainted with the learned languages ; 
 and you, Sir, and through your means 
 the public, will impartially judge, what 
 grounds there are for admitting fuch a me- 
 dium. 
 
 Much too has been faid in regard to 
 our author's acquaintance with modern 
 languages I do not greatly contend the 
 matter I will allow that Davys Pro- 
 facet 2 Henry IV. Act v. Sc. 4. Much 
 good may do you! though original]y Italian, 
 profaccia, was in ufe at that time the 
 fame gentleman has mewn it, beyond con- 
 tradiction but a little farther in the fame 
 fcene, Shallow fays, 
 
 I'll drink to Matter Bardolph, and to all the Cjva- 
 leros in and about London. 
 
 Cavalero is undoubtedly a Spanifh word : 
 It looks at leaft as if our author knew the 
 import of it; elfe he might as well have 
 us'd his own country word Cavalier, at that 
 time, meaning a gay, airy, fprightly, ir- 
 regular fellow, ufually, as here, military; 
 it would have ferv'd his purpofe as well. 
 But his choice of the other word, not here 
 only, but in the Midfummer night's dream, 
 
 C 2 an
 
 20 ALETTERTO 
 
 and three times in the Merry Wives of 
 Windfor, from what has hitherto appear'd, 
 not known tq be the word in ufe at that 
 time, feems to (hew he underftood it ; and 
 made ufe of it out of choice, as putting it 
 into the mouths of characters of humour. 
 
 Not fo in the chorus to Henry V.- there 
 be ufes the Englifh word Cavalier. 
 
 For who is he, whofe chin is but enrich'd 
 With one appearing hair, that will not follow, 
 Thefe cull'd and choice-drawn Cavaliers to France. 
 K. Henry V. A6t iii. Sc. i. Chorus. 
 
 In the fame Effay, the ingenious Author 
 (2d Edition, page 22.) fpeaking of Mr. 
 Upton, fays, What elfe could induce this 
 man^ by no means a bad Jcholar, to doubt 
 whether 'Truepenny might not be derived 
 frcm TQUTTCIVOV ? That Gentleman, had he fo 
 pleafed, might have faid much more j he 
 was not only no bad fcbolar^ but one fupe- 
 rior to moft, equal to any; in his know- 
 ledge of the Greek language in particular, 
 of which his edition of Epictetus as pre~ 
 ferved by Arrian, will ever be a living 
 witnefs He was my fellow collegian, my 
 acquaintance, and my friend: and you will 
 excufe my paying this tribute of truth to 
 
 his memory; 
 
 His
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq, 21 
 
 His faltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani 
 
 Munere 
 
 Virgil. jEneid. B. vi. 1. 886. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hanmer's GlofTary (for the 
 other is fo incomplete it is fcarce worth 
 mentioning) explains only obfolete words, 
 words now out of ufe, and fuch as are not 
 eafily underftood by common readers I 
 propofe to go farther; and explain not on- 
 ly thefe, but technical terms, local words, 
 and common words us'd in an uncommon 
 fenfe. Firft Technical terms or terms 
 of art and here I (hall not think of ex- 
 plaining all the common one?, but thofe in 
 general, which feem to be not univerfally 
 known. Of thefe I mail trouble you with 
 an inftance or two. 
 
 Frieze or Prize is a term in architecture, 
 and part of the garniming of the upper 
 paft of a pillar, the round part of the enta- 
 blature which feparates the archit&fetSre 
 from the cornice. 
 
 No jutting frieze 
 
 Buttrice nor coign of vantage, but this bird 
 Hath made his pendant bed and procreat cradle. 
 
 Macbeth, Ad i. Sc. 8. Banqun. 
 
 Petar or Petard a kind of little can- 
 n fill'd with gun-powder, us'd in befleg- 
 
 ing
 
 2* ALETTERTO 
 
 ing towns, in order to break down the 
 gates, and in countermining. 
 
 'Tis the fport, to have the Engineer 
 Hoift with his own petar. 
 
 Hamlet, At iii. Sc. 10. Hamlet. 
 
 To ear is to plow, or till from the 
 Latin #r0---and we meet with it in this 
 fenfe in the following inftances. 
 
 He that ears my land, fpares my team, and gives 
 ine leave to in the crop. 
 
 All's well that ends well, Act i. Sc. 6. Clown* 
 That power I have, difcharge, and let them go 
 To ear the land, that hath lorne hope to grow. 
 
 King Richard II. A& iii. Sc. 4. K. Rich. 
 
 Oh ! then we bring forth weeds, 
 
 When our quick winds lye ftill ; and our ill, told us, 
 Is all our earing 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, Ab i. Sc. 3. Antony. 
 Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates, 
 Make the fea fervc them, which they ear and wound 
 
 With keels of every kind 
 
 Sc. 5. Mejfinger. 
 
 Fairfax often ufes the word in this fenfe, 
 in his Godfrey of Boulogne But 'tis pro- 
 bable our author had it from fcripture. 
 
 For the fe two years hath the famine been in the 
 land ; and yet there are five years, in the which there 
 Cull neither be earing nor harveft. 
 
 Genefis, xlv. 6. 
 
 In
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 23 
 
 In the firft inftance from All's well that 
 ends well you will obferve, Sir, the word 
 to In or Inn. That is alfo a technical term, 
 and means, to houfe, to put under cover, to 
 lodge corn or hay in barns at harveft-time. 
 In this fenfe it was us'd in our au- 
 thor's time, and has continued even to this 
 day. Take the following inftance. 
 
 Howfoever the laws made in that Parliament did 
 bear good fruit, yet the fubfidy bare a fruit that 
 proved harfh and bitter : Ail was inned at laft, into the 
 King's Barns. Bacon, Hiftory of Henry VII. 
 
 In the following paffage: 
 
 Thou haft talk'd 
 
 QtBafiliJkS) of Cannons, culverin 
 
 i Henry IV. Aft ii. Sc. 6. Lady Percy. 
 
 Bafilijk or Bafilifco is a piece of ordnance 
 or cannon made longer than ordinary, in 
 order to command at a farther diflance 
 and we find it mentioned by Bacon in his 
 New Atalantis. 
 
 There (fays he) we imitate and pra&ife to make 
 fwifter motions than any you have : and to make them 
 ftronger and more violent than yours are ; exceeding 
 your greateft Cannon and Bafdi/ks. 
 
 As to local words, they alfo will be taken 
 the like notice of, and explain'd, thofe of 
 his own county, Warwick/hire, in particu- 
 
 5 ^ ar *
 
 24 A LETTER TO 
 
 lar. Of thefe a remarkable one, is the 
 word Quat, ftill in ufe in general in moft of 
 the middle counties of England, in that 
 particularly, and means a kind of rifmg in 
 the fkin, like a pimple, with a blue head, 
 and which fometimes difcharges a little 
 matter. It occurs in the following paflage 
 in Othello 9 where lago, fpeaking oiRoderigo, 
 fays, 
 
 I've rubb'd this young >uat almoft to the fenfc, 
 
 And he grows angry 
 
 Othello, Aa v. Sc. i. 
 
 Again Brief far prevailing, abounding* 
 in the fame fenfe with rife (of which it is 
 perhaps a corruption) is at this day com- 
 mon in the South and Weft parts of Eng- 
 land and in this fenfe our author feems 
 to ufe it in the following inftances. 
 
 'o 
 
 A thoufand bus'neffes are brief at hand, 
 And heaven itfelf does frown upon the land. 
 
 King John, Act iv. Sc. 7. Faulconbridge. 
 
 In the North, when they would fpeak 
 of any thing fine, neat or delicate, they fay, 
 it is a Kony or Cony thing. This word too 
 our author ufes : as he does alfo the wor<J 
 Incony, which might in his time be as com- 
 mon as Kony is now, and mean the fame : 
 
 and
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 25 
 
 and I have fcarce a doubt that he intended 
 to ufe it in that fenie in the following paf- 
 fages. 
 
 My fweet ounce of man's -flefh, my incony Jew ! 
 
 L0ve's labour loft, A6t iii. Sc. 2. Coftard. 
 O' my troth, moft fweet jtfts, moft incony vulgarwit, 
 When it comes fo fmoothly off; fo obfcurely as it 
 were fit. 
 
 iv. Sc. i. - 
 
 Beams is now the conftant word in Scot- 
 land for children : Thus in a Poem called 
 Vertue and Vyce t addrefled to James V, 
 King of Scots, by the famous and re- 
 nowned Clerk, Mr. John Bellentyne, Arch- 
 dean of Murray. Stanza 32. 
 
 But brave Camil the valiant Chevalier 
 
 (When he the Gauls had dantint bi his ' Weir) 
 
 Of Heritage wald haif nae Rcccmpence ; 
 For gif his Bairns, his kin and Freinds maift deir 
 Were verteous, they could not fail ilk * Zeir 
 
 To half enough, bi Roman Providence. 
 
 Gif they were given to Vyce and fnfolence, 
 It was not need full he fould conqueifs 3 Geir 
 
 To be the caufe of their Incontinence. 
 1 War. a Year. 3 Wealth. 
 
 You will find it in a Collection of Scots 
 Poems wrote by the Ingenious before 1600, 
 published by Allan Ramfay, and called 
 
 Ever-green. 
 
 D It
 
 26 ALETTERTO 
 
 It is alfo flill in ufe in the North of Eng- 
 land We meet with it often in our Au- 
 thor. 
 
 They fay, learns are bleffings. 
 
 All's well that ends well, A61 i. Sc. 6. Clown. 
 What have we here ! Mercy on's, a beam! a very 
 brave beam ! a Boy or a Child I wonder ! 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iii. Sc. 7. Shepherd. 
 
 Proper names too of Mountains, Rivers, 
 Heathen Gods and GoddefTes, will be pointed 
 out, and as they occur explain'd You 
 may recollect, in The Tempeft, Caliban fpeak- 
 ing of Profpero fays, 
 
 his art is of fuch po\ver, 
 
 It would controul my Dam's God Setebes, 
 
 And make a vaffkl of him. 
 
 Act 5. Sc. 4. 
 
 And again he makes ufe of this exclamation, 
 
 O Settles, there be brave fpirits indeed ! 
 
 Aa v. Sc. 6. 
 
 Now none of the Commentators have 
 told us who or what this Setebos was. I 
 can perhaps introduce him to your ac- 
 quaintance. In a defcription of the coads 
 ot Nigritia or North Guinea^ by John Bar- 
 bor, printed in the fifth Volume of 
 Churchill's Voyages, page 59, we are in- 
 form'd, that the Patagons, a people of gi- 
 gantic
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 27 
 
 gantic ftature, about the Streights of Ma- 
 gellan, are reported to dread a great horned 
 Devil, by them call'd Setebos ; pretending 
 that when any of their people die, they fee 
 that tali Devil, attended by ten or twelve 
 fmaller, dancing merrily about the dead 
 corpfe. 
 
 Words obfolete and uncommon make up 
 a very great part of Sir Thomas Hanmer's 
 GJoiTary; I (hall therefore make ufe of it, 
 as far as it is adapted to my fcheme, except 
 in fbme few places where it relates to his 
 alteration of the text, and thofe in which 
 I think he is miilaken. Take the follow- 
 ing instances. 
 
 Since French n-'en are fo braid t 
 
 Marry that will, I'll live and die a Maid. 
 
 All's well that ends vveli, Act iv. Sc. 3. Diana. 
 
 " Braid or Brede ; fays that gentleman; 
 " is bred of a breede, of a certain turn of 
 (( temper, and conditions from the breed " 
 
 Dr.Jo&nJbn in his dictionary obferves, that 
 " Braid is an old word which fi^nihes de- 
 
 o 
 
 " ceitfuL To Brede in Chaucer, is to de- 
 <c ceive." 
 
 It is fo and we meet with the follow- 
 ing ufe of the word in that author. 
 
 D 2 Whan
 
 28 A LETTER TO 
 
 Whan that Crefeide unto her bed wente 
 Within her fatheris faire brighte tente, 
 
 .Retourning in her foule aie up and down 
 The wordis of this fodaine Diomede, 
 
 His grete eftate, and peril of the town ; 
 And that (he was alone, and hadde nede 
 Of friendis helpe, and thus began to brede 
 The caufis why, the fothe for to tell 
 That fhe took fully purpofe for to dwell. 
 
 Troilus and Crefeide, lib. v. 1027. 
 
 I am aware that in Urry's edition, the word 
 is drede: But it is undoubtedly an error of 
 the prefs. In two editions I have, the 
 one in black letter printed 1598, and the 
 other 1687, it is brede. And Junius iii 
 his Etymologicon quotes this very paifage 
 under the word Brede, which he explains, 
 by to contrive, or devifi crafty means to 
 abufe or cozen others he indeed in a note 
 mentions Urry's reading as being perhaps 
 right : but Brede agreeing in that fenfe 
 with the context, feems to be the right 
 reading, and the other an error of the prefs. 
 
 Matter, there are three Carters that have made them- 
 feivcs all men of hair, they call therafelves Sa/tiers, 
 2nd have a Dance, which the Wenches fay is a galli- 
 nibUiry of gambols. 
 
 Wiiuei's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 7. Servant. 
 
 Saltier
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 29 
 Saltier, he there tells us (referring to this 
 pafTage), is a term in heraldry, one of the 
 ordinaries in the form of St. Andrew's 
 crofs and Dr. Johnfon, in his dictionary, 
 adds from Peach am on blazoning, that it is 
 an honourable bearing. This is right; 
 but not at all applicable to the word here 
 us'd which means no more than Dancer, 
 from the French Salteur ; or, rather it is the 
 French word corrupted, not improper in 
 
 the character of a fervant. 
 
 if,' 1 i 
 
 I have a gammon of bacon, and two razes of ginger 
 to be deliver'd as far as Charing Crofs. 
 
 I Henry IV. Acl ii. Sc. i. 2 Carrier. 
 
 Here that gentleman in his Glofiary ob- 
 ferves that Raze is the Indian word for 
 Bale, and mufl be diftinguifhed from Race, 
 which figniftes a fingle root of ginger. 
 This he had from Mr. Theobald, who in 
 his note on this pafTage, lays, that, " 'tis 
 " obvious, two roots of this fpice would 
 < { hardly have been fent from Rochefter to 
 "London by the carrier." It might be 
 afk'd whether he thought two Bales of it 
 were probable to be brought on a pack- 
 horfe, unlefs the bundles fo pack'd up for 
 .carriage were very fmall indeed. The 
 
 ufual
 
 30 ALETTERTO / 
 
 ufual meaning of a Bale of goods, is a large 
 parcel; and, that Raze is the Indian word 
 for Ba/e, I have not met with any other au- 
 thority. Sir Hans Sloane, in the Intro- 
 duction to his hiftory of Jamaica, page 68, 
 fpeaking of the manner of cultivating ginger 
 there, fays, c They put into each hole a 
 <f fmali piece of a root, and cover it with 
 " earth : in twelve months it covers the 
 " ground, fo that a hough cannot be put 
 c where the Races or roots are not." 
 What we fee here, as brought from that 
 country, is net a root; but a ftnall piece 
 of 'root, broken off or feparated from the 
 whole Whoever has feen the manner of 
 Itsfgrowth, will find this to be the cafe, 
 and that two Razes or roots of ginger, 
 tict divided into pieces , might be no con- 
 temptible part of the load of a pack-horfe. 
 
 Where words of this clafs, I mean, ob- 
 iblete or uncommon, are omitted, I mall 
 endeavour to make up the deficiency, and in- 
 fert them accordingly. One in particular 
 I (hall mention, and that is Pilliccck. It 
 occurs in King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 6. and is 
 an expreftion of Edgar fin his affum'd mad- 
 nefs. 
 Piiiiicck fa: upon Pillnock hill Ico ! loo ! 
 
 It
 
 DAVID GAR RICK, Efq. 31 
 
 It is not improbable it was the burthen 
 of fome fong, and feems to be either from 
 the Italian, PelUcione or Pillicione, or the- 
 French Pendillocbe^ which word we find 
 in Rabelais j and therefore that might pro- 
 bably have been the word us'd by our 
 Author, which the Editors not knowino- 
 
 \3 
 
 the meaning of, might thus give it more 
 of an Engliih termination It being too 
 the word in Ozel/'s translation, (hews it 
 not unknown in that fenfe It is one of 
 thofe few words in our Author, which 
 though on my plan it muft be taken notice 
 of, yet I think mould not be explained. 
 The reader that is of a different CDI- 
 nion may confult that facetious Author 
 Book I. Chap. 2. or Cintbio Giraldi, De- 
 cad. IV. Novel, 4. 
 
 Hob-Nob is a word of late brought 
 into ufe, and familiar over a chearful glals 
 at every table In the fame fenfe, though 
 not taken notice of by any of our com- 
 mentators, cr gloffographers, you will find 
 it in our author, namely, to give and take, 
 or to take one's choice. 
 
 his inccnfement at this moment is fo implacable 
 
 that fati, faction can be none but by the pangs of death 
 
 and
 
 *"V< 
 
 32 ALETTERTO 
 
 and fepulcher. Hob, Nob is his word : give't or* 
 take't. 
 
 Twelfth night, Aa iii. Sc. 12- Sir Toby. 
 
 I pry'thee, Tom, beat Cutts's faddle, put a few 
 flocks in the point: the poor "jade is wrung in the wi- 
 thers out of all cefs. 
 
 i Henry IV. Acl ii. Sc. i. i Carrier. 
 
 ) Sir Thomas Hanmer alters to cafe; 
 fo confequently the word is not in his 
 gloffary : we meet with it in that prefix'd 
 to Dr. Sewell's edition of Shakefpeare's Po- 
 ems before mention'd, and it is faid to mean. 
 tax That is indeed one fenfe of the word, 
 but it cannot be the meaning here. We 
 are told in Arthur Collins's Letters and me- 
 morials of ftate in the reigns of queen Eli- 
 zabeth, king James I. &c. " That a flop 
 " was put to the hopeful beginnings of 
 " the Irifh, by the difturbances which foon 
 ' after broke out in Ireland, fomented 
 " with arms and money from Rome and 
 " Spain -, and efpecially by the recalling 
 " of Sir Henry Sidney, who by the levy- 
 <c ing. a Cefs with a itrit hand, and taking 
 <c away fome freedoms and privileges of the 
 " great Lords of the Pale, had ftirred up a 
 <c powerful iadtion againfl him" Now a 
 Ci'js '.Vv'.s a proportion of victuals Furnifhed by 
 
 the
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 33 
 
 the country to the foldiers, and to the lord 
 Deputy's houfehold, at a rate impos'd by 
 himfelf, with advice of the privy council, 
 and lower than the market price : fo that 
 out of all cefi feems here to mean, out of 
 all proportion, out of all meafure. 
 
 Sometimes our author makes ufe of 
 Words which have no meaning at all, but 
 are only introduc'd for particular purpofes: 
 Thus, 
 
 Tbroco movoufuS) cargo, cargo^ cargo. 
 
 All's well that ends well, A& iv. Sc. i. Lord. 
 
 are only made ufe of to frighten, and 
 impofe upon Parolles, and therefore will 
 have no place in the Gloflary. 
 
 I mall now, Sir, lay before you fome in- 
 ftances of common words, us'd in a fenfe 
 uncommon, little us'd, or fometimes not 
 at all, at this time. 
 
 To fetch) in its ufual acceptation of to 
 go and bring any thing, is well known. 
 But you find it in our author, in a fenfe lefs 
 common. 
 
 I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying 
 
 The pangs of barr'd affe&ions 
 
 Cymbeline, Adt i. Sc. 2.
 
 34 ALETTERTO 
 
 Congreve, in his Way of the World, Aft 
 iv. Sc. 4. ufes the word in this fenfe hdi- 
 'crovjly. by putting it into the mouth of 
 Sir Wilful Witwou'd, 
 
 I make bold to fee, to come and know if that how 
 you were difpos'd to fetch a walk this evening : if fo be 
 that I might not be troublefome, I would have fought a 
 walk with you. 
 
 But if Shakefpeare was not fufficfent au- 
 thority for the ufe of this word in that 
 fenfe ferioujly, that of Milton might be 
 added 
 
 When evening grey doth rife, I fetch my round 
 Over the mount, and all this hallow'd ground. 
 
 Arcades, Genius. 
 
 To write again/I, one would imagine an 
 expreflion not attended with any difficulty. 
 Yet, in the uncommon fenfe our author 
 ufes it in the following paflages, it merits 
 explanation. 
 
 Out on thy feeming ! I will write again/I it. 
 
 Much ado about nothing, A61 iv. Sc. i. Claudia. 
 I will write againjl them, 
 
 Detefl them, curfe them 
 
 Cymbcline, A& ii. Sc. 7. Po/lbumus. 
 
 I will write againilit " What?" (fays 
 
 Dr. Warburton) " a libel? we fhould read 
 
 I " Rate,
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 35 
 
 " Rate, i. e. rail, revile" But Dr. Johnfon 
 has very properly obferv'd, in his note on 
 the place, that, ' as to fubfcnbe to any 
 " thing, is to allow it ; fo to write againft is 
 " todifallow or deny it." 
 
 ^apkin is commonly known to fignify 
 a cloth to wipe the fingers with at meals. 
 But in our author's time, that and Hand- 
 kerchief were fynonimous terms : and the 
 word is ftill us'd to fignify a Handkerchief 
 in Scotland *, and in the North of England, 
 efpecially about Sheffield in Yorkfhire. 
 
 Thus in Othello, Defdemona's Handker- 
 chief is fometimes call'd by that name, and 
 at otfyer times Napkin, 
 
 I will in Caflio's chamber lofe this Napkin y 
 And let him find it: 
 
 - Adi iii. Sc. 7. Jago. 
 
 T Tell me but this, 
 
 Have you not fometimes feen a handkerchief 
 
 Spotted with ftrawberries in your Wife's hand ? 
 
 E 2 Now 
 
 * We meet with the word in that fenfe, in the Pro- 
 ceedings in Scotland in the Douglafs caufe. " Lady 
 " Jane never admitted any perfon to fee her till fhe was 
 " fully drefs'd : that (he was conftantly drefs'd in a 
 " hoop, with a large Napkin on her breaft."
 
 3 6 ALETTERTO 
 
 Now Handkerchief is a word moft cer- 
 tainly needs no explaining, but Napkin in 
 this lenfe does; and there are many other 
 paflages where it occurs, as will be feen in 
 the GlofTary. 
 
 The word Citizen, no one can be at a 
 Jofs to know the meaning of; but then 
 it is as a Noun fubjlanti've. The ufe of it 
 as a Noun adje&fae is, I believe, peculiar 
 to our author, 
 
 So fick I am not, yet I am not well } 
 But not fo citizen a wanton, as 
 
 To feem to die ere fick 
 
 Cymbeline, At iv. Sc. 2. Imogen* 
 
 Here, Sir, you fee it is us'd as fuch, and 
 means having the qualities or difpofitions 
 
 of a citizen. 
 
 You well know, Sir, the word Addition 
 often occurs. For inftance * 
 
 for an earneft of a greater honour, 
 
 He bad me from him call thee Thane of Cawder, 
 Jn which addition^ hail mqft noble Thane ! 
 
 For it is thine 
 
 Macbeth, Aft i. Sc. 5. Roffe. 
 
 For what he did before Corioli, call him 
 With all the applaufe and clamour of the Jioft 
 Caius Marcius Coriolanus 
 bear th' addition nobly ever. 
 
 Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. u. Cominius. 
 
 The
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 37 
 The common meaning of the word Ad- 
 dition is very well known. But hsre, and 
 in many other places of our author, it is 
 us'd as'a/tfw* term, and means, a title gi- 
 ven to a man over and above hisfirft or chri- 
 Jiian name and fur name, Jhewing bis ejlate, 
 degree, trade, occupation, age, place or dwel- 
 ling, Qr alluding to fame exploit or atcheive- 
 ment. And an authority for the ufe of the 
 word in this fenfe, in bur author's time, 
 we meet with in Sir Thomas North's tran- 
 Uation of Plutarch's lives, printed in the 
 year 1579. 
 
 f It appears (fays he, fpeaking of Caius 
 " JVIarcius afterwards Coriolanus), that 
 " the firft name the Romans have, as Caius, 
 " was as our chriflian name is now ; the fe- 
 " cond, as Marcius, was the name of the 
 " houfe and family they came of -, the third 
 <c was fome Addition, given either for fome 
 ** adt or notable fervice ? or for fome mar.lt 
 
 "on 
 
 ^' In every original writ of a&ions perfonal, appeals 
 and indi&ments, in which the exigent (hall be awarded, 
 to the names of the defendants Additions fhall be made, 
 of their eftate or degree or miftery, and of the towns 
 or hamlets, or places and counties, of the which they 
 were or be. 
 
 Burn's Juftice of the Peace.
 
 38 A LETTER TO 
 
 ?* on their face or body, or elfe for fome 
 " fpecial virtue they had : even fo did the 
 " Grecians in old time give Additions to 
 " Princes by reafon of fome notable aft 
 ' worthy memory." Life of Cpriolanus, 
 page 225. 
 
 Take another inftance or two To 
 ^ran/late ufually means, to metamorphofe 
 or change into another mape; this i 4 
 fenfe of the word every one is acquainted 
 with; and fo our author ufes it : 
 
 I led them on in their diftra&ed fear 
 And left fweet Pyramus tranjlated there. . 
 
 Midfummer-night's dream, A& Hi. Sc, 5. Puck. 
 
 But in other places it occurs in a lefs 
 common fenfe, and means to explain. Thus 
 for example : 
 
 There's matter in thefe. fighs, thefe profound heaves 
 You muft tranjlate j 'tis fit we underftand them. 
 
 Hamlet, At iv. Sc. i. King. 
 Thus fays ^Eneas, one -that knows the youth 
 Ev'n to his inches ; and with private foul 
 J)id in great Ilion thus tranflatt him to me. 
 
 Troilus and Creffida, Aa iv. Sc. 8. Vlyffis. 
 
 And, in The Merry Wives of Windfor, 
 A<ft i. Sc. 7. Piftol, fpeaking of Ford's 
 wife, fays, 
 
 He
 
 He hath ftudicd her well, and tranflatedter well, out 
 of honefty into Englifh 
 
 Tranjlated, i. e. explain'd, as one language 
 is txp'lain d by being tr (inflated in another. 
 
 In Hamlet* A<t i< Sc. i. Marcel/us, yoii 
 will recollect, fpeaking of the Ghoft, fays, 
 
 It faded at the crowing of the cock 
 
 To raae here means, to difappear, to va- 
 ni(h : and the ufe of the word, in this fenfe, 
 our author probably had from Spenfer : 
 
 Not all fo fatisfied, with greedy eye 
 He fought all round about, his thirfty blade' 
 To bathe in blood of faithlefs enemy, 
 Who all chat while lay hid in fecfet fhade f 
 He ftands amaz/ed how he thence did fade. 
 
 Fairie Queene, B. I. C. 5. St. i^. 
 
 In The Merry Wives of Windfir, Act iv, 
 Sc. 7. Mrs. Page, fpeaking of Herne the 
 Hunter, fays, 
 
 There he blafts the trees and takes the cattle. 
 
 And in King Lear, Adi ii. Sc. 1 1. Lear 
 thus execrates his unnatural daughter, 
 
 ftrikelier young bones, 
 
 You taking airs, with lamenefs 
 
 To
 
 4 o A LETTERTO 
 
 To Takej here, and in many other places, 
 means to Infeft ; and in this fenfe of the 
 
 */ 
 
 word his cotemporaries, Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, might give him an authority. 
 
 Come not near me, 
 
 For I am yet too taking for your company. 
 
 Falfe one, At iv. Sc. 3. Septimius. 
 
 In Love's Labour's Loft, Coftard (fpeak- 
 ing of himfelf ), Adi i. Sc. 2. fays, 
 
 The manner of it fs, I vtes taken in the manner. 
 
 Manner is a word well known by every 
 one; the meaning of the manner of it na 
 one can miftake but in the latter part 
 of the fentence, manner or manour, from the 
 French manier, is a law term, and * denotes 
 the thing that a thief taketh away or fleal- 
 eth. To be taken in or with the manner 
 means, to be taken in thefaft. And in this 
 fenfe we again meet with it : 
 
 Your worfhip had like to have given us one, if you 
 had not taken yourfelf with the manner. 
 
 Winter's Tale, A<St iv. Sc. n. Clown. 
 
 * See CeiuelPs Law Dictionary.
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 41 
 
 thou ftol'ft a cup of fack eighteen years ago, and 
 Wert taken with the manner^ and ever fince thou haft 
 blufli'd extempore. 
 
 I Henry IV. Ad ii. Sc. 10. P. Henry. 
 
 In the fame fenfe too Dr. Donne ufes it 
 in his letters : 
 
 " If I melt (fays he) into melancholy 
 '* while I write, IJhall be taken in the man- 
 " ner, and I fit by one too tender to thefe 
 " expreffions." 
 
 We all know that the word fecurely 
 means, in its common acceptation, fafely, 
 free from danger* But how will that fenfe 
 agree with the following paflage in Tra- 
 lus and Creffida ? 
 
 'Tis done like He&or, but fecurely done, 
 A little proudly, and great deal mifprifmg 
 
 The Knight oppos'd 
 
 Al iv. Sc. 8. Agamemnon. 
 
 Now jecurely here mufl mean, carelefsly, 
 negligently, without proper caution, in 
 the fenfe of the Latin fecurus famce y negli- 
 gent of fame. This feems a fenfe peculiar 
 to our author, for I have not been able to 
 trace it elfewhere. 
 
 To affitre likewife is a common word -, 
 
 yet when it is us'd to fignify, to affiance, 
 
 F to
 
 42 A LETTER TO 
 
 to betroth, it does not often occur; nor is 
 in that fenfe, fo well known : 
 
 This drudge or diviner laid claim to me, 
 Cail'd me Dromio, fvvore I was affitr'dto her. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Al iii. Sc. 3. Dromio. 
 
 And in the following paffage, it is us'd 
 in its ufual and unufual fenfe, in the fame 
 fen ten ce : 
 
 K. Philip. Young Princes, clofe your hands. 
 
 Jujlria. And your lips too; for I am well aj]urd t 
 That I did fo, when I was firft affur^d. 
 
 King John, A6t ii. Sc. . 
 
 You readily, I doubt not, recollect a fcene 
 in i Hen. IV. where Prince Henry is re- 
 lating his familiarity with a learn of draw- 
 ers at a tavern, and his having made 
 himfelf acquainted with their cuftoms and 
 language. It is the feventh of the fecond 
 Aft. 
 
 They (fays he) call drinking deep, dying fcarlet ; 
 and when you breathe in your watering^ they cry, html 
 and bid you play it off. 
 
 *Io breathe in ones watering, is an uncom- 
 mon phrafe : on a fuppofition that 'water- 
 ing here means drinking, the fenfe may be, 
 when you flop to take breath in your drink- 
 ing.
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 43 
 
 ing. But I rather think, it may poffibly 
 have an allufion, not very decent which, 
 if it is to be explain'd, let it be in the 
 words of the old adage ; 
 
 Mingere cum bumbis, res eflfaluberrima lumbis. 
 
 Where we meet with afferfion in its com- 
 "mon acceptation, calumny, detraction > C{M- 
 Jure, it wants no explanation. But Shake- 
 fpeare ufes it in its primary, its original 
 fenfe, fprinkling, from the Latin ajperfio, 
 as in the following pafTagc, 
 
 If thou doft break her virgin-knot, before 
 All fantimonious ceremonies may 
 With full and holy Rite be minifter'd, 
 No fweet afperfions fhall the heavens let fail 
 To make this contract grow c 
 
 Tempeft, Adi iv. Sc. i. Profpero. 
 
 Here then is room for explanation, and 
 we (hall accordingly find a place for it in 
 the GlofTary. It may not be amils too to 
 obferve ' that the metaphorical acceptation 
 of the word has prevailed over the origi- 
 nal one : it being more us'd, and much 
 better understood, when it means calumny 
 or cenfure, than when, as \\sxe, fprinkling. 
 
 The fame too may be faid of the word 
 
 Jombq/l: its metaphorical fenfe, big words 
 
 F 2 without
 
 44 ALETTERTO 
 
 without meaning, or fwelling ones unfup- 
 ported by folid fentiment, readily occurs. 
 But its original fenfe is not fo well known ; 
 and is, as Dr. Grey has obferv'd, that of 
 a kind of loofe texture, not unlike what is 
 now call'd wadding, us'd to give the drefles 
 of that time bulk and protuberance, with- 
 out much increafe of weight It is fome- 
 times wrote Bombafs, or Bombafe, as well 
 as Bombajl-y and you remember it in our 
 bard, in the following inftances : 
 
 Here comes lean Jack (fpeaking of Falftaff), here 
 comes bare-bone. How now, my fweet creature of 
 Bombaft ? How long is't ago, Jack, fince thou faw'ft 
 thy own knee ? 
 
 I Henry IV. A# ii. Sc. n. P. Henry. 
 We have received your letters full of love j 
 Your favours, the ambaffadors of love: 
 And in our maiden council rated them 
 At courtfhip, pleafant jeft and courtefy ; 
 As bombaft) and as lining to the time. 
 
 Love's labour's loft, Adi v. Sc. 10, Princefi. 
 
 Take an authority for this ufe of the 
 word, from 'Tom Coryafs Crudities, printed 
 1 6 1 1 , two years before the firft edition of 
 I Henry IV. 
 
 " All of them (fpeaking of the Venetians}^ 
 *' ufe but one and the lame forme of ha-t 
 ? bite, even the flender doublet made clofe 
 
 ' to
 
 <c 
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 45 
 
 to the body, without much quilting or 
 " bombafe^ and long hofe plaine, without 
 " thofe new fangled curiofities and ridi- 
 " culous fuperfluities of panes, plaites, and 
 " other light toyes, ufed with us Englifh- 
 " men." 
 
 Buxom, when it means gay, lively, 
 brifk, jolly, wanton, is readily known : 
 not fo much fo, when it is us'd for yield- 
 ing, obfequious, obedient to the commands 
 of fuperiors ; as thus : 
 
 Bardolph, a foldier firm and found of heart, 
 And buxom valour, hath by cruel fate, 
 And giddy fortune's furious fickle wheel, 
 That Goddefs blind that ftands upon the rolling reft- 
 lefs done. 
 
 K. Henry V. Aa iii. Sc. 7. PiJlsL 
 
 And this ufe of the word our author had 
 both from Chaucer and Spenfer Take 
 an inftance from the latter : 
 
 - - - as it falleth, in the gentleft hearts 
 Imperious love hath fet his higheft throne, 
 And tyrannizeth in the bitter fmarts 
 Of them, that to him buxom are and prone : 
 So thought this maid - 
 
 How long the ufe of this word conti- 
 nued, it may not be neceffary to enquire j 
 you find it however in Milton : 
 
 Be
 
 46 A LETTER TO 
 
 Be this, or aught 
 Than this more fecret, now defign'd, I hafta 
 To know ; and this once known, (hall foon return, 
 And bring you to the place where thou and Death 
 Shall dwell at eafe, and up and down unfetn 
 Wing filently the buytom air, imbalm'd 
 
 With odours 
 
 Paradife loft, B. ii. ver. 837. 
 
 Here too you may obferve, that the de- 
 rivative or fecondary fenfe of the \yord 
 has got the better of the primary one. 
 For that obedient was the original fenfe, we 
 may infer from the old office of matrimo- 
 ny us'd before the Reformation, where 
 the woman promifes to be " obedient and 
 " buxom at bed, and at board" and from 
 Higden's Polychronicon, who tells us, that 
 in " the year 1214, the Pope's legate, Pan- 
 " dulphus, came in to Englonde, and fpake 
 ?' to Kynge John, and charged highly that 
 * he fhould be buxom and obedient to the 
 " chyrch of Rome." 
 
 The fame too may be faid of To adul- 
 terate. In its common acceptation, to cor- 
 rupt, it is obvious enough : But when it 
 {ignifies, in its original fenfe, fi commit 
 adultery, it mould find a place in a Glofla- 
 ry fo extenlive as this is intended to be. 
 In the following inilance it does fo :
 
 DAVID GARRIC&, Efq. 47 
 
 Fortune, oh! 
 
 She is corrupted, chang'd, and won from thee, 
 Adulterates hourly with thy Uncle John, 
 And with her golden hand hath pluckt on France 
 To tread down fair refpedl of fovereignty, 
 And make her majefty the bawd to theirs. 
 
 King John, A& iii. Sc, i. Con/lanei* 
 
 The word modern, as oppos'd to ancient, 
 needs no explanation. But when it is 
 us'd forfoottjh, trifling^ vulgar* common, or 1 
 fpoken of any \h\ngjlight and inconfidera- 
 ble y it mould there be taken notice of. 
 And in thefe fenfes it is us'd in the follow- 
 ing inftances : 
 
 when violent forrow feems 
 
 A modern ecftafie < 
 
 Macbeth, Ad iv. Sc. 6. Roffe. 
 then the Juftice 
 Full of wife faws and modern inftances 
 
 As you like it, Acl ii. Sc. 9. Jajues, 
 
 with a paflion I would (hake the world 
 
 And rouze from deep that fell Anatomy, 
 Which cannot hear a feeble lady's voice, 
 And fcorns a modern invocation - 
 
 King John, A& iii. Sc. 6. Con/lance. 
 
 Santtity, in its ufual acceptation, we all 
 know the meaning of: we need not be told 
 it means holinefs : but when it is us'd for 
 a holy being, a faint, it deferves to be ta- 
 ken notice of. It is fo in the paflage fol- 
 lowing.
 
 4* A LETTER TO 
 
 lowing. Prince John ofLancafter, fpeak- 
 ing to the Archbifhop of York, who was 
 at the head of the rebellion againft the 
 king his father, expreffes himfelf thus : 
 
 Who hath not heard it fpoken, 
 
 How deep you were within the book of heaven ? 
 To us the fpeaker in his parliament, 
 To us, th* imagin'd voice of heaven itfelf, 
 The very opener, and intelligencer^ 
 Between the grace, the Sanftities of heaven, 
 And our dull workings 
 
 2 Henry IV. Aft iv. Sc. 4. Lanca/fer^ 
 
 I have not yet been able to trace the word 
 in this fenfe, in any of our author's prede- 
 ceflbrs, or, indeed his cotemporaries, Mil- 
 ton alone excepted, if he may on this oc- 
 cafion be call'd one; for he was but nine 
 years of age, when Shakefpeare died. 
 The place where it occurs is in his Para- 
 dife loft, B. iii. 1. 55. 
 
 Now had the Almighty Father from above, 
 
 From the pure Empyrean where ha fits 
 
 High thron'd above all height, bent down his eye, 
 
 His own works and their works at once to view : 
 
 About him all the Sanftities of heaven 
 
 Stood thick as ftars, and from his fight receiv'd 
 
 Beatitude paft utterance 
 
 Even at this time the word is perfoni- 
 
 fy'd. In Italian, the Pope is call'd vo/tra 
 
 I fantita.
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 49 
 
 Jantita, in French votrefainfet/, in EngliCh, 
 Tour holinefs. 
 
 I ought to mention, that Milton's ufe of 
 the word in this fenfe has been obferv'd by 
 Dr. Johnfon. 
 
 Tofofpire, in its common acceptation, 
 is to Jigh^ to fetch the breath hard, in. the 
 fame fenfe as fvfpirare in Latin, from 
 whence it is taken. But our author ufes it 
 m the fenfe we now ufe to refpire> (imply, 
 to breathe: 
 
 Forfince the birth of Cain, the firft male-child, 
 To htm that did but yefterdayy^/r^, 
 There was not fuch a gracious creature born. 
 
 King John, Act iii. Sc. 6. Conflance t 
 - By his gates of breath 
 There lies a downy feather, and it ftirs not ; 
 Did hefufpire, that light and weightlefs down 
 Perforce muft move . 
 
 2 Henry IV. At iv. Sc. 10. P. Henry, 
 
 And, in the fame manner, we meet with 
 fujpiration, limply for breathing : 
 
 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother j 
 
 % % % 
 
 Nor windy fufpiration of forc'd breath 
 
 ^F" * "^ 
 
 That can denote me truly 
 
 Hamlet, Act i. Sc, 2. 
 
 OuarJ-
 
 
 50 ALETTERTO 
 
 Guard and Guard want no explana- 
 tion, yet when they are us'd for lace, fringe* 
 hem, or border , by way of ornament , and To 
 ornament 'with fringe or /ace, it then be- 
 comes proper to take notice of them. And 
 in thefe fenfes we find them in the following 
 pafTages : 
 
 Oh ! 'tis the cunning livery of hell, 
 The damned'ft body to inveft and cover 
 
 In princely guards 
 
 Meafure for Meafure, A& iii. Sc. 2. Ifabctta-. 
 O, rhimes are guards on wanton Cupid's hofe. 
 
 Love's labour's loft, A<St iv. Sc. 4.. Biron. 
 The body of your difcourfe is fometiraes guarded 
 with fragments, and the guards are but fligjitly bafied 
 on neither. 
 
 Much ado about nothing,. Ac~l i. Sc. 4. Benedkk; 
 
 Give him a livery 
 
 More guarded than his fellows - 
 
 Merchant of Venice, A61 ii. Sc. 2. Bajfaniv, 
 
 to be pofTefs'd with double pomp, 
 
 To guard a 'title that was rich before, 
 To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 
 Is waft 1 ul and ridiculous excefs. 
 
 King John, Act iv. Sc. i. SalL/lw)'. 
 
 The word Jitggfftion is a common one * 
 and often occurs in its ufual fenfe, of bint, 
 iKfmuation. But there are fome patlages, 
 where, with Dr.Warburton, which is agreed' 
 
 to
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 51 
 
 to by Dr. Johnfon, I think it means more, 
 and is us'd for pernicious counfel or advice. 
 Among others, take the following exam- 
 ples : 
 
 Learn this, Thomas, 
 
 And them {halt prove a {belter to thy friends, 
 A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in ; 
 That the united vefiel of their blood, 
 Mingled with venom of fuggejtion^ 
 As force- per- force the age {hall pour it in, 
 -Shall never leak, though it do work as ftrong 
 ,As aconitum or raih gunpowder, 
 
 2 Henry IV. Ad iv. Sc 8. X, Htnry. 
 when I {hould deny, 
 As this I would, although thou didft prod-uce 
 My very chara&er, I'd tarn it all 
 To thyfugge/iion) plot, and damned practice. 
 
 King Lear, A& ii. Sc. i. Edmund, 
 I tell thee, man, 'tis better with me now, 
 Than when thou met'ft me laft where now we meet : 
 ^Then was I going prifoner to the Tower, 
 By the fuggfftion of the Queen's allies ; 
 But now 1 tell thee, (keep it to thyfelf) 
 This day thofe enemies are put to death, 
 And 1 in better ftate than e'er I Wi,s 
 
 K. Richard ill. Aa iii. Sc. 3. Hajlingt. 
 
 He was a man 
 
 Ot an unbounded ftomach, ever ranking 
 ttimfelf with Princes ; one that by f^gejiion 
 
 |'y*d all the kingdom- 
 
 K. Henry VIII. Al iv. Sc. 2. Katharine. 
 G 2 You
 
 52 A LETTER TO 
 
 You flnll have your defines with intereft, 
 And pardon abfolute for yourfelf and thefe, 
 Hereinmifled by yourfuggfflion. 
 
 I Henry IV. A& iv. Sc. 5. Blunt. 
 
 Corinthian, when us'd for an inhabitant of 
 Corinth^ is obvious. But in the following paf- 
 fage it is quite another thing, and in cant 
 language means an impudent, harden'd, bra- 
 zen -fac'd fellow. Corinthian brafs was 
 famous among the antients; of which, 
 among others, we find this inftance in Mar- 
 tial, Book ix. Ep. 60. 
 
 Confuluit nares, an olerent sera Corinthon* 
 
 and from hence, it is probable, we have 
 this fenfe of the word, 
 
 They take it already upon their confcience, that 
 though I be but Prince of Wales, yet I am the King 
 of courtefie : telling me flatly, I am no proud Jack, like 
 Falftaff, but a Cc"intbian y a lad of mettle, a good boy, 
 j Henry IV. Aa i. Sc. 7. P. Henry. 
 
 There are many fenfes in which the 
 v/ord profane is commonly us'd, and as 
 commonly known; fuch as, irreverent to 
 ficred names or things, not facred or fecu- 
 )ar, polluted or not pure, not purified by 
 holy rices : but our author makes ufe of it 
 in a ienfe not taken notice of in the dictio- 
 
 naries,
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 53 
 
 haries, that of free offyeech, ujing graft lan- 
 guage. Thus for example ; 
 
 What prophane wretch artthou ? 
 
 Othello, A& i. Sc. 2. Brabantio. 
 How fay you, Caffio, is he not a moil profane 
 And liberal counfellor- 
 
 A& H. Sc. 5. Defdemona. 
 
 I have long dream'd of fuch a kind of man, 
 So furfeit-fwell'd, fo old and fo profane. 
 
 2 Henry IV. Aft 5. Sc. 8. X7. 
 
 In the following fpeech, the fenfe of the 
 word occupy is remarkable : 
 
 A Captain ! thefe villains will make the word Cap- 
 tain, as odious as the word occupy, which was an ex- 
 cellent good word, before it was ill forted ; therefore 
 
 Captains had need look to it 
 
 2 Henry IV. Aft ii. Sc. IQ. Do!. 
 
 Dol Tear-meet is not the only one that 
 has complain'd of this abufe of the word. 
 The author of The Gloflary to Gawin 
 Douglas's Tranflation of The ,/Eneis of 
 Virgil printed 1553 has obferv'd the fame. 
 " Occupy t fays he, fignifies to employ, 
 " to be bufy or taken up with any thing, 
 " toufe. So in our verfion_of the Bible; 
 If they bind me faft with new ropes that never were 
 tccypy'd, then fhall I be weak and be as another man. 
 
 Judges, xvi. j j. 
 
 It alfq fignifies to trade or merchandize :
 
 54. A LETTER TO 
 
 The merchants of Sheba and Raatnah they were thy_ 
 merchants : they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all 
 fpices, and with all precious ftones and gold. 
 
 Ezeckiel, xxvii. 22. 
 
 jv . he called, his ten fervants, and delivered them 
 ten pounds, and faith unto them, occupy till I come 
 
 Luke, xix. 13. 
 
 " Hence occupation for a trade : 
 
 It (hall come to pafs, when Pharaoh (hall call you, 
 and {hall fay, what is your occupation? 
 
 That ye {hall fay, thy fervants trade hath been about 
 catde. 
 
 Genefis, xlvi. 33, 34.. 
 
 " But this fignification of the word, con- 
 " tinues he, is much worn out, and a very 
 ** bad one come in its place." 
 
 Ben Jonfon alfo mentions the fame. 
 Speaking of ftyle; " In picture, fays he, 
 "light is required no leffe than fhadow ; 
 " fo in ilile, height as well as humblenerTe. 
 ' But beware they be not too humble, as 
 " Pliny pronounc'd of Regulus's writing. 
 "You would thinke them written not on a 
 ee child, but by a child. Many, out of their 
 " obfcene apprehenfions, refufe proper and 
 " fit words ; as cccupie y nature, and the like : 
 * fo the curious induftry in forne of ha- 
 " ving all alike good, hath come nearer a 
 
 '-' vice
 
 D&VID GARRICK, Efq. '55 
 ** vice than a virtue." -Difcoveries, 'Folio 
 'Edition, 1-640, page 112. 
 
 Sir John Harrington, the ingenious tran- 
 flator of Ariofto's Orlando Fu-riofo, hints at 
 it Hkewife; and fpeaks of Chaucer's ha- 
 ving alfo abus'd the word occupyer and us'd 
 it in the_ fenfe he himfelf alludes to, viz. 
 that of Bawd, Procurefs. He wrote in the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth, and towards the 
 end of it. It is in one of his epigrams, the 
 eighth of his firft book ; I fhall tranfcribe 
 it, and then you will not be at a lofs for 
 the odious fenfe of the word, the virtuous 
 Mrs. Dol Tear-fheet complains of : 
 
 Of Ltfiia, a great Ladie. 
 -Lefbia doth laugh to hearc fellers and buyers 
 . Call'd by this name, fubftantial occupyers : 
 Lefbia, the word was good, whi'e good folk us*d it ; 
 You mar'd it, that with Chaucer's jeft abus'd it : 
 But good or bad, how e'er the ward be made, 
 Lcfbia is loth perhaps to leave the trade. 
 
 You will, Ithink, Sir, acqulefce in this : but 
 if you defire further authority, the follow- 
 ing epigram of Ben Jonfon will abundant- 
 ly confirm what has been hereobferv'd: 
 
 On Groyne* 
 
 Groyne, come of age, his 'ftate fold out of hand, 
 ''Fur's" whore : Groyne ftill doth occupj his land, 
 
 By
 
 56 A LETTER TO 
 
 By to reafon, we ufually underftand, to 
 argue rationally \ to deduce eonfequences juftly 
 from premifes. But in our author it often 
 does not go fo far, and means nothing more 
 than limply, to talk with. Among other 
 inftances take the following : 
 
 Our griefs and not our manners reafon now. 
 
 King John, Adt iv. Sc. 5, Salifbury. 
 Reafon with the fellow 
 Before you punifh him, where he heard this. 
 
 Coriolanus, Adi iv. Sc. 6. Menenius* 
 I reafon'd with a Frenchman yefterday, 
 Who told me, in the narrow feas that part 
 The French and Englilh, there mifcarried 
 A veflel of our country richly fraught. 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Acl: ii. Sc. 9. Salanio. 
 
 Inhabitable is a known word. But in the 
 following paflage, it is us'd in a fenfe quite 
 contrary to its ufual acceptation, and means, 
 not habitable, uninhabitable, incapable of in- 
 habitants. In the fame fenfe, the French 
 ufe their word inhabitable, and * the Latin 
 inhabit abilishzs fometimes the famemeaning: 
 
 * Atqui terrae maxumas regiones inkabitabiles atque 
 incultas videmus, quod pars earum adpulfu folis ex- 
 arferit, pars obriguerit, nive pruinaque, longinquo foils 
 abfceflu Cicero de natura Deorum. 1. i. c. 10. 
 
 I would
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 57 
 
 1 would allow him odds, 
 
 And meet him, were I ty'd to run a foot 
 Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps, 
 Or any other ground inhabitable^ 
 Where never Engliftiman durft fet his foot. 
 
 King Richard II. A<5t i. Sc. 2. Mowbray. 
 
 And for this ufe of the word our Bard 
 has the authority of his cotemporary Ben 
 yonfon, who ufes it in the fame fenfe : 
 
 Who, in fuch a caufe, and 'gainft fuch fiends, 
 Would not now wifli himfelf all arm and weapon } 
 To cut fuch poifons from the earth, and let 
 Their blood out, to be drawn away in clouds^ 
 And pour'd on fome inhabitable place 
 Where the hot fun and flime breeds nought but 
 moifture ? 
 
 Catiline, Acl: v. Sc. I. Petreius* 
 
 To Complain, as a verb neuter, is com- 
 mon: not fo, when it is us'd as a verb 
 atti"oe, and means to lament, to bewail. In 
 that fenfe we meet with it in our Author : 
 
 Where then ?.las ! may I complain myfelf ? 
 
 King Richard II. Ad i. Sc. 3. Dutcbefs. 
 
 And this perhaps Dryden thought autho- 
 rity fufficient to ufe the word in the fame 
 fenfe; which he does in his Fables : 
 
 Gaufride, who couldft fo well in rhime complain 
 The death of Richard with an arrow (lain, 
 
 H Why
 
 58 A LETTER TO 
 
 Why had I not thy Mufe, or thou my heart, 
 To iing this heavy dirge with equal art ? 
 
 You will perhaps, Sir, think it a little 
 remarkable that leifure mould be us'd for 
 ivanf of leifure. And yet, in our Author's 
 time, it was fo; and occurs in that fenfe 
 in the following paflages : 
 
 The leifure, and the fearful time 
 
 Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love, 
 
 ^Vnd ample interchange of fweet difcourfe, 
 
 Which fc-long- fund red friends fliould dwell upon. 
 
 King Richard III. Acl v. Sc. 4. Darby. 
 More than I have faid, loving countrymen, 
 The leifure and enforcement of the time 
 Forbids to dwell on. 
 
 Sc. 6. Richmond. 
 
 And yet, harfh and uncommon as it may 
 feem, we have ftill, as Dr. Johnfon * ob- 
 ferves, a phrafe equivalent to this, and 
 make ufe of the word in the fame fenfe, 
 when we fay, 
 
 / would do fuJ) a thing //"LEISURE would permit. 
 
 To Retire, when a verb neuter, is alfo a 
 common word ; not Ib, when it is a verb 
 a&ive, and means to fetch or draw back, in 
 the fame fenfe as the French ufe their word 
 
 retirer ; 
 
 * Notes on this Play. 
 
 Then
 
 DAVID GARRIC&, Efq. 59 
 
 Then wherefore doft thou hope he is not ftiipt ? 
 That he, our hope, might have retired his power. 
 
 King Richard II. A& ii. Sc. 6. ^ueen. Green. 
 
 , Caitiff' is a word that often occurs, and 
 yet is not fo uncommon nor fo generally 
 known and underftood, as not to merit a 
 place in a Gloflary of this kind. It is from 
 the Latin captivus $ and, as Dr. Johnfon has 
 obferv'd, " originally fignified a captive or 
 " priforrer; next a flave, from the condi- 
 " tion of prifoners; then a fcoundrel, or 
 " low-bred perfon, from the qualities of a 
 " flave." In fome places in our Author it 
 feems to partake of all thefe fignifrcations : 
 
 Be Mowbray's fins fo heavy on his bofom, 
 That they may break his foaming courfer's back, 
 And throw the rider headlong in the lift, 
 A caitiff recreant to my coufin Hereford. 
 
 King Richard II. Aft i. Sc. 3. Dutchefs. 
 
 In the following fpeech, the word Tra- 
 dition (which mould be the true reading, 
 as it pofTelTes all the Copies) is us'd in a 
 fenfe uncommon and probably peculiar to 
 Shakefpeare, namely eftablifljed or cujlomary 
 homage paid to fuperiors : 
 
 Cover your heads, and mock not f|e(h and blood 
 With folemn reverence ; throw away refpect, 
 Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty j 
 
 H a For
 
 60 ALETTERTO 
 
 For you have but miftook me all this while ; 
 I live en bread like you, feel want like you. 
 
 King Richard II. Aa iii. Sc. 4. K. Rich. 
 
 You know, Sir, I am not fond of ad- 
 mitting alterations into the text, where the 
 word we find there can be explain'd. But 
 if you fhould think one neceffary, Addition 
 is not far from the traces of the letters, 
 and, in the fenfe before explain'd, will fuit 
 the context very well *. 
 
 In the language of cur Author's time, 
 a fort was us'd for a collection, a pack y a 
 company. And in this fenfe we meet with 
 it in the Pfalms, according to the old ver- 
 iion us'd in our Liturgy : 
 
 Ye fhall be (lain all the fort of you ; yea, as a totter- 
 ing wall fhall ye be, and like a broken hedge. 
 
 Pfalm, Ixii. 3. 
 
 In this fenfe it often occurs in our Au- 
 thor. Thus, in the fame Play: 
 
 Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot fee ; 
 And yet fait water blinds them not fo much, 
 But they can fee afcrt of traitors here. 
 
 iv. Sc. 3. K. Rich. 
 
 * See Roderick's remarks added to The Canons of 
 
 Cikiufm. 
 
 A ' Remember
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. $i 
 
 Remember whom ye have to cope withal, 
 A fort of vagabonds, of rafcal run-a-ways, 
 A fcum of Britons, and bafe-lackey peafants, 
 Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth, 
 To defperate adventures and deftru&ion. 
 
 ing Richard III. A& v. Sc. 7. K. Rich. 
 
 Demerit is generally us'd to fignify the 
 contrary to merit, as fault, or crime -, but in 
 Shakefpeare's time it meant the fame as 
 defert, deferring. So in Latin, mereo y and 
 demereo, both lignify the fame, to defer "ve. 
 ThusP/autus: 
 
 Meiius anno hoc mihi non fuit domi, 
 Nee quando efca una demeruerit magis. 
 
 Moftellaria, Acl: iii. Sc. 2. Simo, 
 
 Better I've not far'd this twelvemonth, 
 
 Nor better merited at home my dinner. 
 
 I am aware that the more modern edi- 
 tions read meruerit but Aldus, and moft, 
 if not all the older editions, read demeru- 
 erit > and the paffage is fo quoted in 
 Stephen's Thefaurus. Take another in- 
 Itance, from Ovid : 
 
 Die mihi quid feci nifi non fapienter amavi ? 
 Crimine te potui * demeruifle meo. 
 
 Epift. Heroidum. Phillis Demophoonti, I. 
 
 * DemeruiJJe^ id eft, vaide meruiffe^ as is obferv'd in a 
 
 note, in the Editio Variorum. 
 
 I What
 
 6$ A L E T T E R T O 
 
 What have I done, but lov'd to an excefs? 
 You'd well dcferrfd it, had I lov'd you lefs. 
 
 Thus, in the fame fenfe, in our Author : 
 
 if things go well, 
 
 Opinion that fo flicks on Marcius, {hall 
 Of his demerits rob Cominius. 
 
 Coriolanus, A& i. Sc. 4. Sicinius. 
 
 , -my demerits 
 
 May fpeak unbonneted to as proud a fortune 
 As this that I have reach'd. 
 
 Othello, Aa i. Sc. 4. Othello. 
 
 Had Mr. Theobald been aware of this, 
 he would not have feen any thing amifs in 
 the word unbonneted in this laft paflage ; 
 and made fuch a parade of altering it to 
 and bonnet ted $ which fuppos'd emendation 
 fubfequent Editors have adopted. 
 
 To Inherit, in its common accepta- 
 tion, is a word no one is at a lofs to 
 underftand ; but our Author fometimes ufes 
 it in a manner of phrafeology peculiar to 
 himfelf, for to make heir to, to tranfmlt as 
 it ivcre by inheritance. 
 
 For example : 
 
 What doth our Ccuiin fay to Mowbray's charge f 
 It mult ba great that can inherit us 
 So much as of a thought of ill in him. 
 
 King Richard II. Ad i. Sc. 2. K. Rich. 
 
 Faculty
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 63 
 
 Faculty is a word well known: but, in 
 our Author, it fometimes means, power* 
 authority \ office, exercife of authority: the 
 fame fenfe, as the Latin facultas : 
 
 - -This Duncatr 
 
 Hath born his faculties fo meek, hath been 
 So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
 Will plead, like Angels trumpet-tongu'd againff 
 The deep damnation of his taking off. 
 
 Macbeth, Ad i. Sc. 9; Macbeth 
 
 Not, for Not only, feems a ufe of the 
 word in an uncommon fenfe* And we 
 meet with it in the following paffage : 
 
 " He has 
 
 As much as in him lies from time to time 
 Envy'd againft the people j feeking means 
 To pluck away their power ; has now at laft 
 Given hoftile ftrokes ; and that not in the prefence 
 Of dreaded juftice, but on, the minifrers 
 That do diflribute it : in th' name o' th* people 
 And in the power of us the Tribunes, we, 
 Ev'n from this inftant, banifh him our city. 
 
 Coriolanus, At iii. Sc. 6. Sicinius. 
 
 Nor is this ufe of it peculiar to himfelf. 
 We meet with it in the New Teftament : 
 
 He therefore that defpifeth, defpifeth not man but 
 God, who hath alfo given us of his holy Spirit. 
 
 i ThclTalonianS; iv. 8- 
 
 it
 
 64 A LETTER TO 
 
 It may be obferv'd too, that in this and 
 fome other places of our Author, To envy 
 is us'd as a verb neuter, and fignifies, to 
 have malice or efivy, to feel ehvy at fight 
 of fhe felicity or excellence of others : and 
 in this fen fe it is us'd in Holy Scripture: 
 
 Mofes faid unto him, enviejl them for my fake ? - 
 
 Numbers, xi. 29. 
 
 In fome of his Plays, you need not be 
 informed that he makes ufe of the addition 
 of Sir to the names of fome of his Cha- 
 racters. Thus in The Merry Wives of 
 Windfor you have Sir Hugh Evans , in As 
 you like it Sir Oliver Martext ; in i Henry 
 IV. Sir Michel ; in King Richard III. Sir 
 Chriilopher Urfwick*; and in Twelfth-night 
 Sir Topaz the Curate, is mention'd, whom 
 
 * Mr. Theobald has obferv'd, " that the perfon here 
 " calFd Sir Ckrijiopber Urfwick, and who has been 
 ** ftyled fo, in the Dramatis Perfonce of all the Impref- 
 " fions, he. finds by the Chronicles to have been 
 *' Cbri/lopker Urfwick^ a Batchelor in Divinity, and 
 " Chaplain to the Countefs of Richmond, who had 
 * intermarried with the Lord Stanley." So that this is an 
 inftance, that his being ftyled Sir, was not, that he was 
 either Knight, or Baronet, but from his degree of 
 Batchelor in Divinity. 
 
 the
 
 DAVID GARRICK,Efq. 65 
 
 the Clown perfonates in order to teize 
 Malvolio. But the Reader of our Bard 
 will not imagine that it is the title of a 
 Baronet or Knight. No. It is an Univer- 
 fity term. At Oxford, when an Under- 
 graduate has taken his degree of Batchelor 
 of Arts, he is ftyled Dominus. In Cam- 
 bridge, Sir - y which is no more than Do- 
 minus in Englidi. And heretofore, " Gra- 
 " duates (as Dr. Johnfon has obferv'd) 
 " have ailum'd it in their own writings ; 
 " fo Treyfa the Hiftorian writes himfelf 
 " Syr John de Trevifa." 
 
 Further, this Glo(Tary will have another 
 advantage, and which has never yet been 
 attempted. Be/ides explaining the words, 
 and giving their derivations from Greek, 
 Latin, French, Italian, and Spanim, it will 
 be made alfo to ferve as an INDEX, as far 
 as thofe words are to be met with, in all 
 the Editions hitherto or which hereafter 
 may be publim'd, that are divided into 
 Acfls and Scenes, by referring, to the Play, 
 the Aft, the Scene, and the Speaker. This, 
 until a verbal Index, fuch as was fome time 
 fince publim'd to Milton's Paradife loll 
 and is annex'd to Dr. Newton's
 
 66 ALETTERTO 
 
 (hall be thought of (a thing much to be 
 wifh'd), may in fome fort fupply the place 
 of one; as very many lines occur in our 
 Author, that have fome one word at leaft 
 requiring to be explain'd. And this may 
 ferve as an Apology, mould fome words 
 be inferted, fuppos'd to be too generally 
 known to need explanation ; as it may 
 put the Reader in mind of a favourite 
 pafjage, and point out the place where it 
 is to be found. Thus, Phcenix, the bird fo 
 call'd, and Pioneer, one whofe bufinefs it is 
 to work under ground z\\&Jink mines in mi- 
 litary operations, may be thought words too 
 well underflood to find a place in a Glof- 
 fary. Yet inferting them may be a means 
 of pointing out fome favourite or remark- 
 able paflage : and when they are inferted, 
 there can be no great harm in adding the 
 explanation of them. For example: 
 
 Get you gone : 
 
 Put on a moft importunate afpc&, 
 A vifage of demand ; for I do fear, 
 When every feather flicks in his own wing, 
 Lord Timon will be left a naked Gull, 
 Who flafhes now a Phcenix. 
 
 Timon, Acl ii. Sc. \> Senator. 
 I hid been happy, if the general Camp, 
 
 and all, had tafled her fweet body, 
 
 So
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 67 
 
 So I had nothing known 
 
 Oihello, A& iii. Sc. 8. Othello.- 
 
 The word 'And if, as well as *An, a 
 contraction of it, fignifying, As tf t is no 
 very uncommon word, efpecially in old 
 writers ; but then, by occurring fo often in 
 our Bard, it refers to fo many paflages that 
 the reader may be deiirous of turning to, 
 that it may be thought worth while to in- 
 fert it, were it only on account of the 
 INDEX. The fame might be faid ofjootb, in 
 foothy aware, to ajfure, and many others. 
 
 Befides, as it is intended for general ufe, 
 what one perfon does not want to know 
 may be matter of information to another: 
 and, if I give more thanjbme may think ne- 
 ceflary, in order that all may be inftructed 
 as far as is in my power r I (hall hope in 
 that refpect for the indulgence of my 
 Readers. 
 
 Many words too occur, of which, to a 
 Reader who underftands Latin or French, 
 the meaning is obvious ; to a mere Englifli 
 one, by no means fo. Thus fuch a one 
 may know the meaning of the word muta- 
 tion, as he is acquainted with mutatio, in 
 I 2 Latin
 
 68 A LETTERTO 
 
 Latin, and mutation in French ; but how 
 fliould one, whofe knowledge in language 
 is confin'd to that of Englim, conceive, 
 that it means, change, alteration, victffitude? 
 a fenfe of the word our Author makes ufe 
 of in conjunction with his cotemporaries. 
 An inftance of it take from Lord Bacon 
 in his EiTays : " The viciffitudes or mu- 
 " tatlons of fortune (fays he), in the fupe- 
 ' rior globe, are no fit matter for this 
 " preient argument." 
 
 World, world, O world ! 
 
 But that thy ftrange mutations make us hate thec, 
 Luc would not yeild to ge. 
 
 King Lear, At iv. Sc. i. Edgar, 
 Though his honour 
 
 O 
 
 Was nothing but mutation^ ay, and that 
 
 From one bad thing to worfe 
 
 Cymbeline, A61 iv. Sc. 4. "Btlarius. 
 
 The fame may be obferv'd of cognition, 
 volition, multipotent, armipotent, and fuch 
 like. 
 
 Caiodle, as a noun fubftantive, is a word 
 much made ufe of, and its meaning well 
 known > yet when it is us'd as a verb, to 
 candle, it then I think fhould be taken 
 
 notice
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 69 
 
 notice of. Of this, take the following in- 
 ftance : 
 
 - Will thefe moift trees 
 That have out-Hv'd the eagle page thy heels, 
 And fkip where thou point'ft out ? Will the cold 
 
 brook 
 
 Candied with ice, cawdle thy morning taft 
 To cure thy o'er-night's furfeit ? - 
 
 Timon, Aft 4. Sc. 6. Apemantia, 
 
 Weaknefs is a word no one would think 
 of inferting in a GloiTary. But Debility, 
 us'd in the fame fenfe, from the Latin De- 
 bilitas, mould not, I think, be omitted. 
 Thus: 
 
 Though I look old, yet am I ftrong and lufty ; 
 For in my youth I never did apply 
 Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood ; 
 Nor did 1 with unbafhful forehead woo 
 The means of weaknefs and debility. 
 Therefore my age is as a lufty winter 
 Frofty but kindly - 
 
 As you like it, Al ii. Sc. 3. 
 
 Befides, in a GlofTary like this, not only 
 the prefent age, but poflerity are to be re- 
 garded. Words now but little us'd, may 
 probably ere long be lefs fo; and the time 
 may alfo come, when they too may be- 
 come obfolete. Jn this light, the word 
 7 clean,
 
 7 o ALETTERTO 
 
 clean, in the fenfe of quite, perfectly, fully* 
 compkatly^ may. be confider'd : common 
 indeed at this time in the Northern parts 
 of England, but in this fenfe by no means 
 generally known. It occurs, among others, 
 
 in the following inflances : 
 
 t 
 
 Five fummers have I fpent in fartheft Greece, 
 Roaming clean through the bounds of Afia, 
 And coafting homeward, came to Ephefus. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Adi i. Sc. i. JEgeon. 
 
 men may conftrue things after their fafliions, 
 
 Clean from the purpofe of the things themfelves. 
 
 Julius Caefar, A& i. Sc. 6. Cicere, 
 - famine, 
 
 Ere clean it o'erthrow nature, makes it valiant, 
 Plenty, and and peace breeds cowards j hardnefs ever 
 Of hardinefs is mother. 
 
 Cymbeline, A&iii. Sc. 7. Imogen. 
 
 And our Bard found the word us'd in 
 this fenfe in Scripture : 
 
 Is his mercy clean gone for evermore ? 
 
 Pfalm, Ixxvii. 8. 
 
 In the following paflage the ufc of the 
 word imperious is remarkable : 
 
 1 thank thee, moft imperious Agamemnon. 
 
 Troilus and Creflida, At iv. Sc. 9. Heflor* 
 
 The
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 71 
 
 The common meaning of it is haughty , 
 arrogant ', overbearing. Now we cannot 
 fuppofe, that at fuch a time, and on fuch 
 an occalion, when Agamemnon had been 
 bidding Hector welcome to his tent, and 
 all kinds of civilities were patting between 
 Trojans and Greeks, that he would reply 
 to his compliments and expreffions of 
 friendship, by giving him opprobrious 
 terms. Can we then make the leaft doubt, 
 but our Bard ufes the word for imperial t 
 that is royal, one of fupreme rule and autho- 
 rity ? * In which fenfe the Romans fbme- 
 times us'd their word, imperiofus. 
 
 Dr. Johnfon has with great propriety 
 obferv'd " that the licentious way of ex- 
 " preffing his thoughts, which our Au- 
 cc thor ufes, often forces him upon far- 
 " fetch'dexpofitions." The following paf- 
 fage is of that fort : 
 
 If I would broach the veflels of my love, 
 And try the arguments of hearts by borrowing, 
 
 * Cognofcat enim rerum geftarutn et memoriae ve-r 
 teris ordinem maxime fcilicet noftrae civitatis j ted et 
 
 imperioforum populorum et regum illuftriuin 
 
 Cicero. Orator ad M.Brutum, c. 120. 
 
 Men
 
 72 A LETTER TO 
 
 Men and men's fortunes could I frankly ufe 
 
 As I can bid thee fpeak. 
 
 Timon, Aft ii. Sc. 4. Timon. 
 
 Dr. Warburton fays arguments here 
 means natures. But this Gentleman fays 
 very properly, " that arguments may mean 
 " contents, as the arguments of a book 
 " are thence the contents of it; metapho- 
 rically the evidences or proofs/' 
 
 c 
 
 His edition, as the laft, and perhaps 
 the heft yet extant, I make ufe of; com- 
 paring it with the old Quarto's, as pub- 
 lifli'd by Mr. Steevens, in all the plays fo 
 printed; and, where there are no editions 
 of an earlier date, with thofe in Folio, 1623 
 and 1632. 
 
 Thus in the following paffage : 
 
 Now on, you noblef! Fngiifli 
 
 Whofe Mood is fit from i'.ithfs or v.-.ir proof; 
 Farhers, that, like fo many Ak-xanders > 
 Flave in thefe parts from motn fill even fought, 
 And iheatii'd their f words for Lck of argument. 
 
 King Henry V. A6t iii. Sc. 2. K. Henry. 
 
 This fpeech is not in the edition in 
 Quarto, 1608. But thus it flands in the 
 Folios; and Mr, Rowe, who in general is 
 pretty crutt copkr of them, reads the 
 
 fame.
 
 DAVID GARRICK, E%. jj 
 fame; Mr. Pope was the firft, that in- 
 ftead ofy>/gave usfetch'di and all the edi- 
 tors fince have maintained the fame read- 
 ing. But fety as Dr. Grey has well ob- 
 ferv'd, is right; and was the word in ufe 
 fory^ta&V in our author's time, and perhaps 
 later. 
 
 Of this take an inftance or two : 
 
 they came to Ophir, and f?.t from thence gold; 
 four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to 
 King Solomon. 
 
 I Kings, ix. 28. 
 
 Even the famous Britomart it was, 
 Whom ftrange adventure did from Britain _/*/ 
 To feek her lover, (love far fought alas !) 
 Whofe image {he had feen in Venus looking- glafs. 
 
 Spenfer, Fairie Queene, B. iii. C. i. Sc. 8. 
 The Poet prays you then with better thought 
 To fit ; and when his cates are all in brought, 
 Though there be none far-/*r, there will dear bought 
 Be fit for ladies : fome for lords, knights, Yquires ; 
 Some for your waiting- went h, and city-wires ; 
 Some for your men, and daughters of White- fryers. 
 Ben Jonfin, Silent woman, Prologue 
 
 Many like inftances might be given. And 
 I cannot but obferve, that if this method 
 fhould prevail, of changing the lacgu^gc 
 of the age into modern Engliih, cur ve- 
 nerable bard may, in time, be made to 
 look as aukward as his cotemporary Sir 
 K Phil-p
 
 7 4 A LETTERTO 
 
 Philip Sidney now does, as trick'd out by 
 the hands of his modern tire-woman Mrs. 
 Stanley. 
 
 I alfo follow that gentleman in his di- 
 vifion of the afts and fcenes. 
 
 And here it may be proper to take no- 
 tice, that where the old quarto and the 
 folio editions differ, I prefer in general the 
 reading of the quarto editions, as earlier, and 
 many of them printed in our author's life- 
 time. On which account many words in 
 the modern editions, and even in the folio 
 editions of 1623 and 1632, which are not 
 in the old quarto, will not be found in 
 the Gloffary. Thus, for example, in the 
 folio 1623, and all the fubfequent editions, 
 the following paflage ftands thus : 
 
 Wherein I fpake of moft difaftrous chances, 
 
 Of moving accidents by flood and field ; 
 
 Of hairbreadth 'fcapes in th' imminent deadly breach ; 
 
 Of being taken by the infolent foe 
 
 And fold to flavery j of my redemption thence, 
 
 And portance in my travel's hiftory. 
 
 Othello, Aa i. Sc. 8. Othello. 
 
 Now the word portance is not in the 
 edition in quarto 1622. The reading there 
 is: 
 
 And u-itb it all my travel's hiftory* 
 
 5 That
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 75 
 
 r That word therefore will not be found 
 in the Glofiary, as occurring in this place ; 
 though it will be inferted and explained, 
 as it occurs in Coriolanus: 
 
 Your loves, 
 
 Thinking upon his fervices, took from you 
 The apprehenfion of his prefent portance, 
 Which gibingly, ungravely, he did fafhion 
 After th* inveterate hate he bears to you. 
 
 Adi: ii. Sc. 8. Sicinius. 
 
 And will alfo probably be found in other 
 plays. 
 
 In the following paiTage : 
 
 Heav'n's face doth glow ; 
 Yea, this folidity and compound mafs, 
 With tr'iftful vifage, as againft the doom, 
 Ts thought fick at the act. 
 
 Hamlet, A&iii. Sc. 10. Ham/ft* 
 
 Inftead of triftful, the old quarto reads 
 heated: that word therefore will not be 
 explain'd as occurring here; but you find 
 it in the firft part of Henry IV. and that ra- 
 ther in a ludicrous fenfe ; there then it 
 will be attended to: 
 
 For God's fake, lords, convey my tnftful queen, 
 For tears do flop the flood-gates of her eyes. 
 
 Adii. Sc. II. FaJJJaf. 
 
 K2 In
 
 ?6 A LETTER TO 
 
 In the modern editions the folio whig 
 
 : 
 
 paflage ftands thus : 
 
 Jy,ay, Antipholis, look flrangeand frown, 
 Some other miflrefs hath thy fweet afpe&s : 
 I am not Adriana, nor thy wife. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Aft ii. Sc. 5. Adriana. 
 
 But the old ones have it, as was ufu.a.1 in 
 writers of that time: 
 
 /, 7, Antiphdlis, look ftrange, and frown. 
 So Syfoefter, the tranfiatorof Barf as: 
 
 /, but the tree of life the ftrife did ftay 
 
 Which th' humours caufed in this houfeofclay. 
 
 jft day of the Week, ift part, Eden. 
 
 Ben yonfqn too : 
 
 Peregrine. The gentleman you met at th* port tp-day, 
 that told you, he was newly arriv'd 
 
 Politick. / was 
 
 a fugitive punk ? - 
 
 Peregrine. No, Sir, a fpy fet on you. 
 
 The Fox, A& v. Sc. 4. 
 
 And in fome inftanpes, it is neceflary 
 to our author's fenfe that it fhould be fo. 
 Fcr example : in T-he two Gentlemen of Ve- 
 rona , Adt. i. fc. 2,. 
 
 Protbew. But what faid {he : did (he nod ? 
 - freed. I. 
 ffrotbau* Nodi: why that's noddy.
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 77 
 
 You miftook, Sir: I faid (be did nod : and 
 you aik'd me, if (be did nod j and I faid, I, 
 Protheus. And that fet together, is noddy. 
 
 Again, in Romeo andyuliet, A 61 iii. fc. 4. 
 
 'Juliet. Hath Romeo flain himfelf? fay them but 7; 
 And that bareww/ 7 fhall poifon more 
 Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice. 
 
 Now as ay can in no fenfe be called a 
 vowel, it is plain our author wrote it /; 
 and it will be fo inferted in the Gloffary. 
 
 And, though in general I fhall adhere 
 ftridlly to the old editions, for there muft 
 be fome flandard to go by; yet where there is 
 only the difference of a fingle letter, and 
 the modern ones give the better fenfe, in 
 this cafe, I think, it may not improbably 
 be fuppos'd to be a miftake of the printer, 
 and fo be confidered as an error of the prefs. 
 
 Thus '^Macbeth, Aft iii. fc. 3. 
 
 We hzvefcotcb'd the fnake, not kill'd it ; 
 She'll dofe and be herfelf. 
 
 The oldeft edition of this play is the fo- 
 lio 1623 ; and that, and the three fol- 
 Jowing folio's, 1632, 1663, and 1675, with 
 
 Mr.
 
 78 .-A LETTER TO 
 Mr. Rowc and Mr. Pope, in his edition in 
 quarto, read^fonr/^V. Mr. Theobald firft 
 faw we mould read fcotch'd: and as the 
 difference is only a / inftead of an r, I place 
 it, without hefitation, to the printer's ac- 
 count, and infert fcotcttd in the Gloffary 
 accordingly. Befides our author ufes the 
 word in other places : 
 
 Before Corieli hefeotcfrd him, and notch'd him like 
 a carbonado 
 
 S) At \v. Sc. 5. i Servant. 
 
 But perhaps it may be afk'd, where is 
 the nfe of this ? Are there not dictionaries 
 of the Englifh language, which a perfon 
 may confult when he is in doubt concern- 
 ing the meaning of a word ? The fame 
 may be faid with regard to the Greek and 
 Latin languages : and yet lexicons and 
 dictionaries, containing the words of par- 
 ticular authors only, have been long fincc 
 publim'd and favourably received. There 
 are fuch of Hefiod, Homer, Ariftophanes, 
 and the New Teftament, in Greek ; and of 
 Plautus and Virgil in Latin. Surely then 
 our bard well merits the like partiality to 
 be fhewn to him. Befides, it will be 
 found, that many words' will be explain'd 
 
 in
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 79 
 
 in this Gloffary, which are not in any di&io- 
 nary, at leaft, that I have met with. 
 
 Dr. Johnfon's notes to his edition of odr 
 author have been of no little fervice, and 
 his dictionary, of the greateft ufe to me* 
 His explanation I have in general followed, 
 and ufually, tho' not always, in his own 
 words. Yet in fome inftances, I differ 
 from him. Who is right, you, and the 
 reader, Sir, will determine *. 
 
 It 
 
 * I tell you, 'tis incredible to believe 
 How much (he loves me; oh ! the kindeft Kate ! 
 She hung about my neck, and kifs on kifs 
 Shevy'dfo faft, protefting oath on oath, 
 That in a twink, (he won me to her love. 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, Act ii. Sc. 5. Petruthiu. 
 ' That gentleman, in a note on this paflage, fays, " i 
 *' know not that the word vie has any conftruflion that 
 * will fuit this place ; we may eafily read, 
 
 kifs on kifs 
 
 She ply' J Co faft " 
 
 Yet in his dictionary, he makes one meaning of the 
 Word To vye to be, to add, to accumulate^ and gives this 
 very paffage as an inftance. Now, in my opinion, 
 there is no need either of the alteration, or of under- 
 ftanding the word in any fenfe different from the com- 
 mon one, which, as he explains it, is, to /hew ', or prac- 
 tice in competition. 
 
 Clamour your tongues and not a word more. 
 
 Winter's Tale, Ad iv. Sc. 6. Clown. 
 
 To
 
 86 A LETTER TO 
 
 It may in general be obferv'd, that in 
 Shakefpeare, ftridt grammar is not always to 
 be expected ; he deviates from it perpetu- 
 ally : 
 
 To Clamour here means, to ceafe, to put a JJop to, 
 to put an end to. " The phrafe, fa'ys Dr. Warburton, 
 4< is taken from ringing. When the bells are at the 
 " height, in order to ceafe them, the repetition of the 
 " ftrokes become much quicker than before j this is 
 " call'd clamouring them." 
 
 This judicious obfervation Dr. Johnfon adopts, and 
 has inferred it in his edition : and yet, in his di&iona- 
 ry, he gives this very paflage as an example for To cla- 
 mour^ in the common acceptation of the word, to make 
 cutaries, to exclaim, to vociferate, to roar in turbulence. 
 
 feu rvy knave, I am none of his flirt-gills, 
 lam none ofh\sjkains-mates. 
 
 Romeo and 'Juliet, Acl ii. Sc. 4. Nurfe. 
 
 " The word Jkaim-mate (fays the fame gentleman in 
 " a note on this paflage) I do not underftand, but fup- 
 " pofe, that Jkains was fome low play, and Jkains- mate, 
 *' a companion at fuch play." Yet in his dictionary, 
 he had told us, that it meant mefs-tnate, or a companion 
 at the fame mef$ or table; deriving it, from Jkain or 
 fkean, which in Dutch fignifies a knife, and mate. I 
 rather take it to mean one who aflifts another in wind- 
 ing off a fkein of filk, for it muft be done by two; and 
 I am told thefe are at this time, among the weavers in 
 Spttal-fields, look'd upon as the loweft kind of people. 
 
 To Capitulate, he fays, in his dictionary, is to draw 
 up any thing in heads or articles j and brings the fol- 
 lowing
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 8r 
 ally: the energy of his language, the 
 ftrength of his expreffion mount aloft, above 
 the comprehenfion of the mere verbal 
 
 critick j 
 
 Ipwing lines as an example of the ufs of the word in 
 that fenfe : 
 
 - Percy, Northumberland, 
 
 Th' Archbifhop's Grace of York, Douglafs and 
 
 Mortimer, 
 Capitulate againft us, and are up. - 
 
 j Henry IV. Aft ii. Sc. 4. K. Henry. 
 
 I rather think capitulate here means, make head 
 agalnjl us, rejt/lj oppofe us in a bojlile manner* 
 
 - - Behold, the Englifli beach 
 
 Pales in the flood with men, with wives and boy?, 
 Whofe ftiouts and claps out-voice thedeep-mouth'd fea; 
 Which, like a mighjty wbifffer 'fore the king, 
 Seems to prepare his way. -- 
 
 King Henry V. Aft v. Sc. i. Chorus. 
 
 The word wL'iffler Sir Thomas Hanrner very pro- 
 perly explains. "It is," fays he, " an Officer who walk? 
 ** firft in proceffions, or before perfons in high ftations, 
 '* on occafions of ceremony. The name is (till retain'd 
 " in London ; and there is an OlHcer fo call'd, that 
 * walks before their companies at times of publick fo- 
 " lemnity. It feems a corruption from the word Hu- 
 " jjjier, which fignifies a Gentleman Uflier." 
 
 This Dr. Johnfon agrees to, and inferts it as a note, 
 ffi his edition. Yet in his dictionary he takes no no- 
 ti^e pf this fenfe of the word, but explains it to mean,
 
 82 A LETTERTO 
 
 critick -, and this in great meafure accounts 
 for many of thofe anomalies, which his irre- 
 gular way of writing naturally leads him intp. 
 
 Authorities for Shakefpeare's ufe of 
 v/ords in a particular fenfe will be taken 
 from Authors, chiefly Poets, before or co- 
 temporary with him j and, where fuch can 
 be found, they will, in order if poffible. 
 to make them a little amuling to the reader, 
 confift of fhort Sonnets, little detach'd 
 Sentences, Maxims, Apophthegms, or Epi- 
 grams, of which Spenfer, Ben Jonfon, and 
 Sir John Harrington, the ingenious tranf- 
 lator of Ariofto's Orlando furiofo, will 
 afford fome inftances. 
 
 one that blows flrongly ; and produces this very paf- 
 fage as an inftance of it. 
 
 There are at this very time, on Lord Mayor's day 
 in the City of London, perfons appointed to walk in 
 proceffi:n, before each refpefttve company, adorn'd 
 with ribbons, and cockades in their hats, with wands 
 jn their hands, and thefe are call'd whifflers j poffibly, 
 becaufe they make a great noife, to keep people out of 
 trie way, and make room for the refpelive companies, 
 but to little purpofe ; and this is the meaning of wey- 
 feler, in Dutch, to which our word feems pretty evi- 
 flently to owe its original, 
 
 * ^T^ 
 
 To
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 83 
 
 for example : 
 To A/fay, to fry, to attempt, often oc- 
 curs. An authority I mall produce from 
 Spenfer. It is in his 75th Sonnet; fo beau- 
 tiful a one, you will excufe me, Sir, if I 
 prefent you with the whole of it : 
 
 One day I wrote her name upon the ftrand, 
 
 But came the waves, and wa&ed it away : 
 Again 1 wrote it with a fecond hand, 
 
 But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. 
 Vain man faid ftie, that dooft in vain aj/ay 
 
 A mortal thing fo to immortalize; 
 For I myfelf {hall like to this decay, 
 
 And eke my name be wiped out likewife. 
 Not fo, quoth I, let bafer things devife 
 
 To die in duft, but you fhall live by famei 
 My verfe your vertues rare fliall eternize, 
 
 And in the heavens write your glorious name : 
 Where, when as death fhall all the world fubdew, 
 Our love (hall live, and later life renew. 
 
 Quaint is a word often made ufe of by 
 our Author in the fenfe of Jlrange, odd, 
 and fometimes neat, delicate. Of this the 
 following Epigram of Ben Jonfon, (his 
 4 1 ft) fhall be our authority. 
 
 On Gipfie. 
 Gipfie, new bawd, is turh'J phyfician, 
 
 And gets more gold than all the college can : 
 Such her quaint practice is, fo it allures, 
 
 For what (he gave a whore, a bawd (he cures. 
 
 L 2 Seld
 
 84 A LETTER TO 
 
 Sett for feldom y and in the fame fenfe, 
 we find fame inftances of. For this we 
 lhall produce an Epigram from Sir John 
 Harrington, Book I. Epigram 33. 
 
 Dames are inJu'd with virtues excellent: 
 What man is he can prove that they offend? 
 Daily they ferve the Lord with good intent : 
 Si la they clifpleafe their hufbands : to their end 
 Always to pleafe them well they do intend : 
 
 Never in them one {hall find (hrewdnefle much, 
 Such are their humours, and their grace is fuch. 
 
 You remember, Sir, the old obfcure 1 
 anlwer laid to be given to Pyrrhus by the 
 Oracle of Apollo : 
 
 Aio te /Kacida Romanes Sincere pcfle. 
 
 V/hich may be underftood two ways; 
 it may either mean, " I tell thee, Pyrrhus, 
 " thou may 'ft conquer the Romans," or,, 
 " the Romans may conquer thee." It was- 
 firil mention'd by Ennius in Book V. of his 
 Annals, ond is preierv'd among the frag- 
 ments of his works; and is alfo mention'd 
 by * Cicero, freaking of the obfcurity of 
 Oracles, and Quintilian. 
 
 This. 
 
 * Utrum igitur eorum accidifTet, verum oraculum 
 
 fuiilet. Cur autem hoc credam unquam editum Croeio? 
 
 I Aut
 
 GARRICK, Efq. 
 
 This our Author introduces into the 
 fecond part of Henry VI. Act i. Sc. 8. 
 where Mother Jordan the Witch, and Bo- 
 lingbroke the Aftrologer with their Aflb- 
 elates, are performing their Inchantments, 
 and railing Spirits for the information of 
 Eleanor ; and has imitated it accordingly : 
 
 M. 'Jordan. Jfmuth, by the eternal God, whofe name 
 And power thou trembleft at, tell what I afk j 
 For till thou fpeak, thou fhalt not pafs from hence^ 
 
 Spirit. Afk what thou wilt. That I had faid and done ! 
 
 Bolingbroke. Firft of the King. What (hall of him 
 become ? 
 
 Spirit. The Duke yet lives that Henry fhall depofe, 
 But him out-live, and die a violent death. 
 
 And 
 
 Aut Herodotum cur veraciorem ducam Ennio ? Nurn 
 minus ille potuit de Croefo, quam de Pyrrho fingers 
 Enriius ? Quis enirh eft, qui credat Apollinis ex oraculd 
 Pyrrho efle refponfum, 
 
 Aio te, ^acida, Romanes vinccre poiTe ? 
 Primum Latine Apollo nunquam locutus eft. De- 
 inde ifta fors inaudita Grsecis eft. Prseterea Pyrrhi 
 temporibus jam Apollo verfus facere defierat. 
 
 Cicero. De Divinatione. Lib. ii. 
 
 In conjun&is plus ambiguicati^ eft. Fit autem per 
 cafus : ut 
 
 Aio te ./Eacida Romanes vincere poffe. 
 
 Per collocationem, ubi dubium eft quid quo referr'i 
 oportear. 
 
 Quintilian. Ds Inftitutione Oratoria, Lib. vii. C. 10.
 
 8& A LETTER TO 
 
 And a little farther in the fame fcene, 
 after the Dukes of York and Buckingham 
 had fent them off with guards, to receiv^ 
 their fentence^ the former fays : 
 
 Now, pray, my Lords, let's fee the devil's writ: 
 What have we here ? 
 The Duke yet lives, that HEttRY./2><7// depafe, 
 But him out- live t and die a violent death* 
 
 Why this is juft 
 
 Alo te\ jEaciddy Romanes vincere poj/i. 
 
 Nor have you forgot that ambiguous 
 phrafe mention'd in our Englifh Chroni- 
 cles, faid to be invented by Adam de 'Torle- 
 ton Bimop of Hereford* and fent by jlfcr- 
 timer to Thomas de Gurney and John Mai- 
 tracers, in order to animate and ex- 
 cite them to the murder of King EDWARD 
 the Second : 
 
 Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum eft. 
 
 which has) in the laft century, been as am- 
 biguoufly tranflated thus : 
 
 To (bed King Edward's blood 
 Refufe to fear I hold it good. 
 
 But, by changing the pointing, it may mean 
 either " Fear not to kill King Edward, it
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 
 
 ff is a good things" or, t( Kill not King 
 " Edward, it is a good thing to fear.'* 
 
 The fame may be faid of this epigram, 
 which the author has managed by pointing 
 it thus : 
 
 Dames are indu'd with virtues excellent: 
 What man is he can prove that? They offend 
 Daily : they ferve the Lord with good intent 
 Seld: they difpleafc their hufbands to the end 
 Always : to pleafe them well they do intend 
 
 Never : in them one (hall find (hrewdneile much, 
 Such are their humours, and their graces fuch. 
 
 In King Henry V. Aft iii. Sc. 7. Piftol 
 tells us that Bardolph was fentenc'd to be 
 faang'd for ftealing a Pax or Ptx 9 a little 
 cheft, box, or veffel, in which the confe- 
 crated wafer or hoft is kept in Roman 
 Catholick countries. This our Bard found 
 in Hall's Chronicle folio 46 whofe ac- 
 count of it, which is in the following 
 terms, will ferve as an authority for the 
 faft, as well as for the ufe of the word in 
 that fenfe. " Yet in this great neceffitee 
 " (fays he) the poore folkes were not 
 " fpoyled, nor any thing without payment 
 ff was of them extorted, nor great offence 
 
 " was
 
 S3 ALETTERTO 
 
 " was doen, except one, which was, that 
 " a foolim foldier ftale a pixe out of a 
 " churche, and unreverently did eate the 
 " holy hoftes within the fame conteigned, 
 " For whiche caufe he was apprehended, 
 " and the kynge would not once remove 
 ' till the veflel was reflored, and the of- 
 ' fender ftrangled.'* 
 
 I will trouble you with but one more; 
 and that, though it is rather long, you may 
 perhaps not be difpleas'd to fee entire, as 
 it is a fort of curiofity : it is a conveyance of 
 Edward the ConfefTor's, who began his reign 
 in the year 1042, and has fomething in it 
 very fingular, both as 'tis written in verfe, 
 which feems a relique of the ancient Bri- 
 tifh Druids, and as affording a remarkable 
 inflance of the concifenefs and fimplicity 
 of law proceedings in thofe times. It 
 may alfo ferve as a fpecimen of the lan- 
 guage then in ufe. Take it as an autho- 
 rity for the ufe of the word Brack, % 
 bitch hound of the hunting kind. 
 
 1 Iche Edward * Koning 
 
 Have given of my forreft the keeping 
 
 1 I. * King.
 
 DAVID GARRICK, Efq. 89 
 
 Of the Hundred of Chelmer and Dancing, 
 To Randolph Peperkins; and to his ICyndling : 
 With Heorte and Hinde, Doe and Bocke, 
 Hare and Foxe, Cat and 3 Brocke. 
 Wild Fowell, Fefant~Hen, and Fefant-Cockc : 
 With green and wilde * ftob and ftocke. 
 To kepen and s to yemen by all her might, 
 Both by Day, and eke by Night: 
 And Hounds for to hold 
 Good, and fwifr, and bolder 
 Four Greahounds, and fix Braccbet, 
 For Hare and Foxe, and wild Cattes. 
 And therefore ich make him my Bjoke : 
 . Witnefle the Bifliop * Wolfton, 
 And Booke 6 ylered many one, 
 And Swein of Eflex or Brother 
 And taken him many other, 
 And our Stiward Howelin, 
 That by 7 fough me for him. 
 
 3 A Badger. 4 Stubble. 5 To till. 6 Learned. 7 Befought. 
 
 Where authorities cannot be found, 
 which will fometimes be the cafe, it is 
 hoped Shakefpeare will be accepted as an 
 authority for himfelf. Thus, for inftance : 
 
 I faw him break Schoggan's head at the Court- gate, 
 when he was a Crack, not thus high. 
 
 2 Henry IV. Ad ii. Sc. 3. FalJIaf. 
 
 * He was at that time Bifhop of London. See God- 
 win de Praefulibus Anglias. 
 
 M Indeed,
 
 90 ALETTERTO 
 
 Indeed, la, 'tis a noble child, 
 A Crack, madam 
 
 Coriolanus, A& i. Sc. 6. Virgilia. 
 
 Now it is plain Crack here muft mean, 
 %. f mart child* boy, or girl. But the word, 
 in this fenfe, is not to be found in any of 
 the dictionaries ; nor have I been able to 
 trace it in any other author. 
 
 To this I annex a few words of the 
 Glofiary, in the manner it is defign'd to be 
 printed, as a Specimen of the whole 3 and 
 which are taken from the firft letter of 
 the alphabet, as they occur, without any 
 particular choice -, ' as culling them out 
 from each letter would look like an in- 
 tention of exhibiting the moft (hiking fi- 
 gures by way of Specimen, in order |o 
 engage a more favourable attention to the 
 work ; which, fliould it be thought wor- 
 thy to fee the light, and be fo happy 
 to meet with approbation from the Pub- 
 lick, my end will be abundantly an- 
 fwer'dj and I mail have the fatisfadtion 
 pf haying thrown in my mite, towards the 
 further elucidation of our immortal Bard, 
 and making the reading him more fami- 
 }iar to the generality of his admirers. 
 
 The
 
 DAVID GARRICK/Efq. 91 
 
 The number of his Plays faid to be ge- 
 nuine (allowing Titus Andronicus to be 
 one) is thirty- iix. Of thefe I have gone 
 through upwards of thirty* with fome care, 
 and, I hope, with telerabte accuracy. In 
 thefe, I have met with upwards of fifty 
 words, the meaning of which, as they ftand 
 in our Author, I have not yet been able to 
 difcover with that precifion I could wifli. 
 Should I not be fo happy as to do it tims 
 enough to infert them in their proper 
 places, they (hall be printed by themfelves, 
 and the explanation, if I can trace it, in- 
 ferted accordingly. In a work of this 
 fort, and fo extenfive as it is intended to be, 
 miflakes will, I fear, happen* and omiffions 
 too often occur. All I can fay is, that I 
 mall, mould this v/ork ever fee the light, 
 think it a duty I owe the Publick and 
 yourfelf, to make it as accurate and corn- 
 pleat as my abilities, fuch as they are, 
 will enable me to do. 
 
 Thus, Sir, I have fubmitted to you an 
 account of my intended performance, and 
 the manner in which I prupofe to execute 
 it. A work, however {light and trifling 
 it may appear to thofe who read merely for 
 M 2 amufe-
 
 92 A LETTER, &e. 
 
 amurement, yet by the readers of our 
 Sbakcfpeare in general, and by yourfelf in 
 particular, I flatter myfelf may be look'd 
 on in a more favourable light. The inti- 
 mate acquaintance you have had with his 
 writings, the very minutta of which 
 you have made your ftudy ; the obligations 
 his admirers with the warmeft fenfe of 
 gratitude profefs to owe to you for your 
 repeated revivals on the Stage of moft of 
 his Plays -, the allow'd connexion of 
 your name with that of our immortal 
 Bard, as the Guardian of his Fame, 
 will, it is hop'd, induce you to give a 
 fanction to a work, not of Genius indeed, 
 but of her handmaid, Induftry; without 
 whofe affiftance, even your Genius, as 
 well as that of Shakefpeare, muft have ap- 
 pear'd with imperfect beauty. I am, Sir, 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 
 and obliged humble Servant, 
 
 Woodford-Row, Efiex, 
 January t, 1768.- 
 
 RICHARD WARNER.
 
 A 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 T O 
 
 THE PLAYS 
 
 O F 
 
 SHAKESPEARE, 
 
 In which are explained, 
 
 TECHNICAL TERMS, WORDS LOCAL, 
 
 OBSOLETE, and UNCOMMON, 
 
 OR SUCH AS ARE USED IN AN UN- 
 COMMON SENSE ; 
 
 The Pafiages are quoted ; 
 
 The Play, the A&, the Scene, the Speaker referred to. 
 Together with 
 
 AUTHORITIES, 
 
 As far as can be found, from ancient or cotem- 
 porary Authors, chiefly Poets. 
 
 " Qui de verbis multa clixerit commode, potius boni confulen- 
 dum, quam fi quid nequierit reprehendendum." 
 
 VARRO. 
 
 " Ut fylvae foliis pronos mutantur in annos, 
 " Prima cadunt ; ita veiborum vetus intent aetas, 
 " Et juvenurn ntu florent modo nata vigentque : 
 " Dcbcmur morti nos noftraque " 
 
 HORATIUS. De arte Poetica,

 
 E 95 1 
 
 A; 
 
 JL O ABY, ABIE, ABIDE. To fuffer for, to 
 pay dear for, to bear or fupport the confc* 
 quences of any thing. 
 
 Harrington. Orlando furiofo, B. ii. St. 3. 
 " Renaldo (full of ftately courage) cride, 
 ** Downe theefe from off my horfe, downeby and by. 
 " So rob'd to be I never can abide p , 
 But they that do it dearly (hall abye" 
 
 Difparage not the faith thou doft not know, 
 Left to thy peril thou abide it dear. 
 Midfummer night's dream. A& iii. fc. 6. Demetrius, 
 
 * If thou doft intend 
 
 Never fo little (hew of lore to her, 
 Thou (halt aby it. 
 
 To ABIDE. To wait for, to expeft. 
 
 Ads, xx. 23. 
 
 " Behold I go bound in the fpirit unto Jerufalem, 
 " not knowing the things that (hall befall me there, fave 
 " that the Holy Ghoft witnefleth in every city, faying, 
 * 6 that bonds and affli&ions abide me." 
 
 Abide me, if thou dar'ft 
 Midfummer nie^'* ^"'m A A i "i, Sc. 8. Demetrius.
 
 
 96 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Not any, but abide the change of time. 
 
 Cymbeline, A ii. Sc. 5. Pojlhumut. 
 This attempt 
 
 I'm foldier to, and will abide it with 
 A Prince's courage 
 
 - ; A& iii. Sc. 4. Imogen. 
 
 ACCORD. Agreement, union of mind or fend- 
 tfients. 
 
 Spenfer. Fame Queene, B. ii. C. 4. St. 21. 
 " At laft fuch grace I found, and means I wrought, 
 * c That I that Lady to my fpoufe had won : 
 ' Accord of friends, confent of parents fought, 
 " Affiance made, my happinefs begun j 
 '* There wanted nought but few rites to be done, 
 " Which marriage make.""- 
 
 Sweet maflers, be patient; for your father's remem- 
 brance, be at accord* 
 
 As you like it, A&. i. Sc. 2. Adam. 
 
 ACCORD. Aftion in fpeaking, correfponding 
 with the words. 
 
 This feems to be a ufe of the word in a fenfe 
 peculiar to Shakefpeare, fo probably there may 
 be no authority for it \ at leaft I have not been 
 able to find one. 
 
 Titus, I am come to talk with thee. 
 
 No, not a word: how can I grace my talk, 
 
 Wanting a hand to give it that accord? 
 
 Titus Andronicus, A61 v. Sc. 3. Tituf. 
 
 ADAMANT. A Stone on which the mariner's 
 
 compafs-needle is touch'd, to give it a direction 
 
 6 north
 
 GLOSSARY. 97 
 
 north and fouth, commonly calld, the Lead- 
 time. Alfo a ftone imagined by writers to be of 
 impenetrable hardnefs it fometimes alfo fignifies 
 a diamond. Lat. adamas. 
 
 Chaucer. The Romaunt of the Rofe, 1182. 
 " Whofo woll have frendis here, 
 '* He male not hold his trefour dere, 
 " For by enfample tell I this, 
 * c Right as an Adamant i-wis 
 " Can drawin to him fubtilly 
 " The Iron, that is laied therby, 
 " So draweth folkis hertes i-wis 
 " Silver and golde that yevin is." 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. Philafter, Acl ill. PhlLiJler. 
 " Here, by this paper (he doth write to me, 
 " As if her heart were mines of Adamant 
 *' To all the world befides ; bat unto me 
 " A maiden mow, that melted with my looks." 
 
 You draw me, you hard-hearted Adamant^ 
 But yet you draw not iron j for my heart 
 
 Is true as fteel 
 
 Midfummer night's dream, Acl: ii. Sc. 3. Helena. 
 So great a fear my name amongft them fprtad, 
 That they fuppos'd I could rend bars of fteel, 
 And fpurn in pieces pofts of Adamant. 
 
 I Henry VI. Adi. Sc. 9. Talbot. 
 
 AERIE, AIERY, or EYERIE. ~A Ned, but 
 peculiar to hawks, eagles, and other birds of 
 prey j fometimes us'd for the bird itfelf. Fr. 
 (lire, airie. 
 
 N MaJJinger.
 
 9? GLOSSARY. 
 
 Majjinger. Duke of Milan, Act ii. Marcelia. 
 
 " If thou would'ft work 
 
 " Upon my weak credulity, tell me rather 
 
 * c That the earth moves ; .the fun and ftars ftand ftill ; 
 
 " The ocean keeps nor floods nor ebbs ; or that 
 
 <c There's peace between the lion, and the lamb; 
 
 " Or that the rav'ncus eagle and the dove 
 
 " Keep in one Ayery^ and bring up their young." 
 
 There is, Sir, an Alery of little eyafes, that cry out 
 on the top of the queftion, and are mod tyrannically 
 clapt for it. 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 6. Rofencraus. 
 
 -Know the gallant monarch is in arms, 
 
 And like an eagle o'er his Alery towers, 
 To fome anoiance that comes near his neft. 
 
 King John, Act v, Sc. 4. Falconbridge, 
 
 ' 1 was born fo high, 
 
 Our Alery buildeth in the cedar's top, 
 
 And dallies with the wind, and fcorns the fun. 
 
 King Richard III. Aft i. Sc. 4. Glocefler. 
 "Your Aiery buildeth in our Alery* s neft: 
 O God, that feeft it, do not fuffer it : 
 As it was won with blood, fo be it loft. 
 
 To AFFRONT. To front, confront, to face, 
 to meet face to face, to encounter ; Fr. affronter. 
 
 AFFRONT, n. f. fronting, confronting, meeting 
 face to face, encounter. 
 
 Dray ton. Polyolbion, Song 4. 
 
 < c At fir ft \? affront the foe, in th' ancient Briton's fight., 
 ; With Arthur they begin, their moft renowned 
 
 knight." 
 
 we
 
 GLOSSARY. 99 
 
 we have clofely fent for Hamlet hither, 
 
 That he, as 'twere by accident, may here 
 
 Affront Ophelia - 
 
 Hamlet, At iii. Sc* I. King* 
 
 O, that I thought it could be in a woman, 
 
 *J|k jUs. jtfe 
 W ^f W 
 
 To feed for ay her lamp and flames of love 5 
 
 dfc ^fc ^& -^fc 
 "^ ^ ^ ^P 
 
 Or that perfuafion could but thus convince me, 
 That my integrity and truth to you 
 Might be affronted with the match and weight 
 Of fuch a winnow'd purity in love \ 
 
 How were I then uplifted. 
 
 Troilus and Creffida, Act iii. Sc. 5. Troitos. 
 
 unlefs another 
 
 As like Hermione as is her picture 
 Affront his eye 
 
 Winters Tale, Act v. Sc. I. Paulina. 
 Your preparation can affront no lefs 
 
 Than what vou hear of 
 
 Cymbeline, A iv. Sc. 8. Lord. 
 There was a fourth man in a filly habit, 
 That gave th' Affront with them 
 
 Act v. Sc. 2. 2 Captain. 
 
 AGLET. The tag of a lace, formerly us'd 
 m drefs, and which, for the greater finery, was 
 often cut in thefhape of little images j Fr. aiguil- 
 ktte. 
 
 Spenfer. Fairie Queene, B. vi. C. 2. St. 5. 
 ** AJ1 in a woodman's jacket he was elad 
 ** Of Lincoln green, bekid with filver lace, 
 
 N a " And
 
 ioo GLOSSARY. 
 
 " And on his head a hood with dglets fpread, 
 
 " And by his fide his hunter's horn he hanging had.* 
 
 < 1 never yet faw mart 
 
 "^ ^9fc ^ ^ffc 
 
 But file would fpell him backward - 
 
 * * # * 
 
 If low, an Aglet very vilely cur* 
 
 Much ado about nothing, A& ii. Sc. i. Hero. 
 Give him gold enough, and marry him to a puppet, 
 or an aglet-baby =* 
 
 The Taming of t,he Shrewj A6t i. Sc. 5. GrumiOi. 
 
 To AGNIZE. To acknowledge^ to avow, to 
 own. Lat. agnofco* 
 
 Spenfer. Mother Hubberd's Tale. 
 " Then 'gan this crafty eouple to devize, 
 " How far the court themfelves they might agnize$ 
 " For thither they themfelves meant to addrefsj 
 *' In hope to find there happier fuccefs." 
 
 1 do agnixe 
 
 A natural and prompt alacrity 
 
 I find in hardinefs 
 
 Othello, Aft i. Sc. 9. Othello. 
 
 \ 
 
 AIM. To CRY AIM. To confent, to approve^ 
 to encourage. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. The Falfe one, Ac~l v< 
 Sc. ult. Sceva. 
 
 " By Venus, not a kifs 
 
 " Till our work's done: The traytorsoncedifpatch'd, 
 ** To't, i.nd we'll cry aim " 
 
 Cry
 
 GLOSSARY. 101 
 
 Cry aim, faid I well ! 
 
 Merry Wives of Windfor, Act ii. Sc. 1 1. Ho/?. 
 Well, I will take him, then torture my wife * * * 
 and to thefe violent proceedings all my neighbours fhall 
 try aim. 
 
 A61 iii. Sc. 5. Ford. 
 
 It ill becomes this prefence to try aim 
 To thefe ill-tun'd repetitions. 
 
 King John, A& ii. Sc. 2. K. Philip. 
 
 To ALLOW* To be well pleas'd with, to 
 approve. 
 
 Fairfax. TafTo, B. ix. St. 13. 
 " When this was faid, he mufter'd all his crewj 
 ** Reprov'd the cowards, and allowed the bold." 
 
 O Heavens ! 
 
 If you do love old men, if your fweet fway 
 Allow obedience, if yourfelves' are old, 
 Make it your caufe ; fend down and take my part. 
 
 Kipg Lear, Al ii. Sc. 9. Lear. 
 
 To AMPLIFY. To exaggerate, to encreafe, to 
 ehlarge. 
 
 Bacon. Eflays. 
 
 " So when a great money'd man hath divided his 
 " chefts, and coins, and bags, he feemeth to himfeif 
 " richer'than he was : and therefore a way to amplify 
 " any thing is to break it, and to make anatomy of 
 " it in feveral parts, and to examine it according to 
 " the feveral circumftancjs." 
 
 This
 
 102 GLOSSARY. 
 
 - This would have feem'd a period 
 To fuch as love not forrow : but another, 
 To amplify too much, would make much} more* 
 And top extremity ! - - 
 
 King Lear, Act v. Sc. 8. Edgar. 
 - 1 tell thee, fellow, 
 Thy general is my lover : I have been 
 The hook of his good acts, whence men have read 
 His fame unparrallel'd, happily amplified. 
 
 Coriolanus, Aft v. Sc. 2. Menenius. 
 
 ANGEL. A piece of money, or gold eoin^ 
 with the figure of an angel ftamp'd upon it, 
 valued at ten fhillings. 
 
 Ben Jonfon. Alchemift, Act. i. Sc. 2. Face. 
 
 * l Another angel" - 
 
 - humour me the angels. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windfor, Act i. Sc. 7. Nyfn. 
 I had myfelf twenty angels given rne this morning; 
 but I defie all angels in any fuch fort, as they fay, but 
 in the way of honefty - 
 
 - Aft ii. Sc. 8. Qtickly* 
 here are the angels that you fent for to deliver yo |J 
 Comedy of Errors, Act iv. Sc. 5. S. Dronno. 
 Not that I have the power to clutch my hand, 
 When his fair angels would falute my palm ; 
 But that my hand, as unattempted yet, 
 Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich. 
 
 King John, Act ii. Sc. 6. Falconbridge. 
 Coufm, away for England ; hafte before 
 And, ere our coming, fee thou lhake the bags 
 
 Of
 
 GLOSSARY. 103 
 
 Of hoarding Abbots ; their imprifon'd angels 
 Set thou at liberty 
 
 King John, Act iii. Sc. 5. K. John. 
 
 To APPAL. To frighten, to ftrike with fud- 
 den fear, to deprefs, to difcourage, 
 
 Spenfer. The Ruines of Time. 
 " Much was I troubled in my heavy fpright 
 " At fight of thefe fad fpedtacles forepaft, 
 That all my fenfes were bereaved quight, 
 u And I in mind remained fore agaft, 
 " Piftraught 'twixt fear and pity j when at laft 
 " I heard a voice, which loudly to me call'd, 
 " That with the fudden ihrill I was appall'd." 
 
 How is it with me, when every noife appah me ! 
 
 Macbeth, Aft ii. Sc. 3. Macbeth. 
 L. Macbeth* Are you a man ? 
 
 Macbeth. I, and a bold one, that dare look on that 
 Which might appal the devil. 
 
 :Adliii. Sc. 5. 
 
 What would he do, 
 
 Had he the motive and the cue for paflion 
 That 1 have? he would drown the ftage with tears, 
 And cleave the general ear with horrid fpeech, 
 Make mad the guilty, and appall the free. 
 
 Hamlet, Act ii. Sc. 8. Hamlet. 
 Give with thy trumpet a loud note to 7roy y 
 Thou dreadful djax^ that th' appalled air 
 May pierce the head of thy great combatant, 
 
 And hale him hither. 
 
 Troilus and Creflida, Act iv. Sc. 8. dgamemnon. 
 
 the
 
 jo 4 GLOSSARY. 
 
 . the dreadful fagittary 
 
 sfppq/s our numbers 
 
 Troilus and Creflida, Ad v. Sc. n. jfgamemnon. 
 
 AQUA-VIT^E. Any kind of ftrong water. 
 JL,at. aqua- e vit<. 
 
 Benjonfon. Alchemift, Ad i. Sc. i. Subtle. 
 
 " I know yo* were one could keep 
 
 *' The buttry-hatch ftill lock'd,and fave the chippings, 
 " Sell the dole beer to aqua-vita men, 
 ** The which, together with your Chriflmas vails 
 tc At poft and pair, your letting out of counters, 
 " Made you a pretty ftock, fome twenty marks, 
 * x And gave you credit to converfe with cobwebs 
 " Here, fmce your miftrcfs' death hath broke up 
 *< houfe." 
 
 ? Give me fome aqua-vita. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, A& iii. Sc. 4. Nurfe. 
 
 well-a-day, that ever I was born, 
 Some aqua-vita ho ! my lord, my lady. 
 
 Ad iv. Sc. 5. 1 
 
 1 have bought 
 
 The oil, the balfamum, and aqua-vita. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, Ad iv. Sc. 2. 5. Drama. 
 
 JMaria. Does it work upon him ? 
 
 Sir Toby, Like aqua-vita on a midwife. 
 
 Twelfth-night, Ad ii. Sc. 9. 
 
 1 will rather truft a Fleming with my butter, Parfon 
 Hugh the Weljhman with my cheefe, or an Ir'ijhman 
 with my aqua-vita bottle, than my wife with herfelf. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windfor, Ad ii. Sc. 10. Mr. Ford. 
 I He
 
 G L, O S S A R Y r 
 
 He has a fon, who (hall be flay'd alive ; then 'nointed 
 over with honey, fet on the head of a wafp"s neft ; 
 then ftand till he be three quarters and a dram dead ; 
 then recovered again with aqua-vltef y or fome other hot 
 Infufion. 
 
 Winter's Tale 9 A& iv.Sc. 11. 
 
 ARGOSIE, or ARGOSY. A (hip of large bur- 
 then, fo call'd from Jafon's large ihip Argo^ 
 the fhip of the Argonauts \ not Improbably fuch 
 as the Spaniards ufe in the Weft India trade, and 
 are call'd Galleons* 
 
 Seattmont and Fletcher,, Philafter, Al v. Captain. 
 
 * " thefe are things that will not ftrike their 
 **- top-fails to a hoift : and let a man of war s an 
 *' Argofy, hull and cry cockles." 
 
 Your mind is toffing on the ocean, 
 
 There where your Argofies with portly fail 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Do over-peer the petty traffickers ... 
 
 Merchant of Venice, Adi i. Sc. i. Salania. 
 
 * he hath an Argofie bound to Tripolis, another 
 to the Indies. 
 
 - Sc. 3. SkjkcJt* 
 
 Anthonio * % % hath an drgifee caft away coming 
 from Tripolis. 
 
 - Ad iii. Sc. i. 
 - unfeal this letter foon ; 
 
 There you fhall find, three of yo 
 Are richly come to harbour fuddenly. 
 
 - A<5t v. Sc. i. Portia, 
 Two thoufand ducats by the year of land ! 
 
 land amounts to but fo much in all^ 
 
 O That
 
 lo6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 That (he (hall have, befides an Argofu 
 That now is lying in Marfeillis road. 
 What, have I choak'd you with an Argofie f 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, A& ii. Sc. 6. Gremia f 
 !j ' 'tis known, my father hath no lefs 
 Than three great Argofies 
 
 ARMIPOTENT. Powerful in arms, mighty in, 
 tyar. Lat. armipotens. 
 
 Fairfax. Godfrey of Boulogne, B. iii. St. 76. "-* 
 
 " If our God, the Lord armipotent, 
 
 C Thofe armed angels in our aid down fend, 
 
 *' That were at Dathan to his prophet fent, 
 
 te Thou wilt come down with them, and well defenej 
 
 Our hoft." 
 
 This is your devoted friend, Sir, the manifeft lin- 
 |;uift, and the srmipotent foldier - 
 
 All's well that ends well, Acl iv. Sc. 5. 2 Lord. 
 
 ASSINECO or ASSINEGO. An Afs-driver, or 
 Afs-keeper ; thence, a ftupid fellow, a blockhead, 
 Ital. afmaio. Span, afnerizo. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. Scornful Lady, A6t v. Welford. 
 
 ** If you could juggle me into my woman-hood again, 
 4< and fo cog me out of your company, all this wonld 
 ** be forfworn, and I again an Affinego^ as your filler 
 " left me." 
 
 - thou haft no more brain than I have in my elbows; 
 s|n djfirteco may tutor thee. 
 
 Troilus and Creffida, Act ii. Sc. i. Therjites* 
 
 ASPERSION.
 
 GLOSSARY. 107 
 
 ASPERSION. Sprinkling. 
 
 Bacon. Holy War. 
 
 " It exhibits a mixture of new conceits and old ; 
 ' whereas the inftauration gives the new unmix'd^ 
 <{ otherwife than with fome little afperfan of the old* 
 for tafte's fake." 
 
 If thou doft break her virgin-knot before 
 All fan&imonious ceremonies may 
 With full and holy rite be minifter'd, 
 No fweet afperftons (hall the heav'ns let fall 
 To make this, contract grow.- ' '" 
 
 Tempeft, A6t. iv. Sc. i. Profperd. 
 
 To ATONE. To be in concord, to agree, to" 
 accord, to make to agree, to come to a reconci- 
 liation, to reconcile^ to make or be at one. 
 
 Spenfer. Fairie Queene, B. ii. C. i. St. 29. 
 c * So been they both atone, and doen uprear 
 * c Their bevers bright, each other for to greet; 
 '' Goodly comportance each to other bear, 
 tf And entertain themfelves with court'fies meet." 
 
 - 1 would do much 
 T' atone them, for the love I bear to Caflio. 
 
 Othello, Acl: iv. Sc. 6. Defdemona* 
 He and Aufidius can no more atom 
 Than violenteft contrariety. 
 
 Coriolanus, Acl iv. Scj 6. Mensnius, 
 Then is there mirth in heaven, 
 When earthly things made even 
 Aione together. 
 
 As you like it, Acl v. Sc. 7. Hymen* 
 O2 I/-
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 If it might pleafe you to enforce no further 
 The griefs between you : to forget them quite 
 Were to remember that the prefent need 
 
 Speaks to atone you 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, A& ii. Sc. 2. 
 I was glad I did atone my countryman and you. 
 
 CymbeHne, A& i. Sc. 6. Frenchman. 
 Since we cannot atone you, you (hall fee 
 Juftice decide the vigor's chivalry. 
 
 King Richard II. A& i. Sc. 2. K. Rich. 
 
 AUBURN. Pale brown, tan colour. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. Two noble Kinfmen, A& ir. 
 
 Sc. 2. MeJJenger* 
 " he's white hair'd, 
 
 " Not wanton white, but fuch a manly colour 
 " Next to an auburn' 
 
 Her hair is auburn, mine a perfect yellow. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, At iv. Sc. 8. Julia. 
 We have been call'd fo of many ; not that our heads 
 are fome brown, fome black, fome auburn^ fome bald - 3 
 but that our wits are fo diverfly colour'd. 
 
 Coriolanus, A<51 ii. Sc. 7. 3 Citizen* 
 
 AVAIL, n. f. Profit, advantage, benefit. 
 
 Spenfer. Mother Hubberd's Tale. 
 " For all that elfe did come were fure to fail, 
 *' Yet would he further none, but for avail" 
 
 1 charge thee, 
 
 .As heaven (hall vvoik in me for thine avait t 
 
 To tell me truly. 
 
 All's well th;,t ends well, Ait i. Sc. ". Ceunttfs. 
 
 You
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 You know your places well, 
 When b,etler fall, for your avails they fell. 
 
 All's well that ends well, A<3 iii. Sc. i. Dukt. 
 
 AWARE. Cautious, vigilant, attentive. 
 
 Sidney. Arcadia. 
 
 ** Ere I was aware, I had left myfelf nothing buij 
 ** the name of a king." 
 
 He was 'ware of me 
 
 And ftole into the covert of the wood. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Ad i. Sc. 2. Btavofo* 
 
 AYE, or AY. Always, ever. 
 
 Sidney. Aftrophel and Stella. St. 24. 
 " that rich fool, who by blind fortune's lot 
 ' The richeft gem of love and life enjoys, 
 <s And can with foul abufe fuch beauties blot ; 
 " Let him, depriv'd of fweet but unfelt joys, 
 46 (Exil'd for aye from thofehigh treafures which 
 *' He knows not) grow in folly only rich." 
 
 Your doing thus 
 
 To the perpetual wink for ay might put 
 This antient morfel, this Sir Prudence, who 
 
 Should not upbraid our courfe. 
 
 Tempeft, A6t ii. Sc. i. Antonis. 
 
 1 am come 
 
 To bid my King and mafter aye good night. 
 
 King Lear, Acl v. Sc. 9. Kent* 
 For aye to be in fliady cloifter mew'd. 
 
 Midfummer night's dream, A 61 i. Sc. i. Thefeus. 
 Or on Diana's altar to proteft, 
 For aye, aufterity and fingle life. 
 
 ; Ibid. 
 
 5 Tfic/
 
 ito G L 6 S S A R t. 
 
 They wilfully exile themfelves from light ; 
 And muft for aye confort with black-brow'd night. 
 
 Midfummer night's dream, A& iii. Sc. 8. Prick. 
 O, that I thought it could be in a woman 
 * * * * 
 To feed for ay her lamp and flames of love. 
 
 Troilus and Creffida, A& iii. Sc. 5; Troil&n 
 To thee be worfhip, and thy faints for aye 
 Be crown'd with plagues that thee alone obey ! 
 
 Tirnon,- A6t v. Sc. 2. Timori* 
 
 THE EN ft* 

 
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