So holy writ in babes hath judgement shown, When judges have been babes. Great floods have flown From fimple fources; and great seas have dried, 6 So holy writ in babes hath judgement shown, 8 When judges have been babes.] The allufion is to St. Matthew's Gospel, xi. 25. "O father, lord of heaven and earth, I thank thee, because thou haft hid these things from the wife and prudent, and revealed them unto babes." See alfo 1 Cor. i. 27. I "But GoD hath chofen the foolish things of the world to confound the wife; and God hath chofen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty." MALONE. When miracles have by the greatest been denied.] I do not fee the import or connection of this line. As the next line stands without a correfpondent rhyme, I fufpect that fomething has been loft. JOHNSON. I point the paffage thus; and then I fee no reason to complain of want of connection: When judges have been babes. Great floods, &c. When miracles have by the greatest been denied. Shak fpeare, after alluding to the production of avater from a rock, and the drying up of the Red Sea, fays, that miracles had been denied by the GREATEST; or in other words, that the ELDERS of ISRAEL (who juft before, in reference to another text, were ftyled judges) had notwithstanding these miracles, wrought for their own prefervation, refufed that compliance they ought to have yielded. See the Book of Exodus, and particularly Ch. xvii. 5, 6, &c. HENLEY. So holy writ, &c. alludes to Daniel's judging, when " a young youth," the two Elders in the ftory of Sufannah. Great floods, i. e. when Mofes fmote the rock in Horeb, Exod. xvii. great feas have dry'd When miracles have by the greatest been deny'd. Dr. Johnfon did not fee the import or connection of this line. It certainly refers to the children of Ifrael paffing the Red Sea, when miracles had been denied, or not hearkened to, by Pharaoh. HOLT WHITE. 8 -and defpair moft fits.] The old copy reads-shifts. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. KING. I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid; Thy pains, not us'd, must by thyself be paid: HEL. Infpired merit fo by breath is barr'd: But know I think, and think I know moft fure, KING. Art thou fo confident? Within what space Hop'ft thou my cure? HEL. The greatest grace lending grace,* Ere twice the horfes of the fun fhall bring Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring; Ere twice in murk and occidental damp Moift Hesperus hath quench'd his fleepy lamp;' 9 Myfelf against the level of mine aim;] i. e. pretend to greater things than befits the mediocrity of my condition. WARBURTON. I rather think that fhe means fo fay,-I am not an impoftor that proclaim one thing and defign another, that proclaim a cure and aim at a fraud; I think what I fpeak. JOHNSON. The greatest grace lending grace,] I fhould have thought the repetition of grace to have been fuperfluous, if the grace of grace had not occurred in the speech with which the tragedy of Macbeth concludes. STEEVENS. The former grace in this paffage, and the latter in Macbeth, evidently fignify divine grace. HENLEY. 3 his fleepy lamp;] Old copy-her fleepy lamp. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. Or four and twenty times the pilot's glafs HEL. Tax of impudence,— A ftrumpet's boldnefs, a divulged fhame,Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name Sear'd otherwife; no worfe of worft extended, With vileft torture let my life be ended.+ a divulged fhame,— Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name With vileft torture let my life be ended.] I would bear (says she} the tax of impudence, which is the denotement of a ftrumpet; would endure a fhame refulting from my failure in what I have undertaken, and thence become the jubject of odious ballads; let my maiden reputation be otherwife branded; and, no worfe of worst extended, i. e. provided nothing worfe is offered to me, (meaning violation,) let my life be ended with the worft of tortures. The poet for the fake of rhyme has obfcured the fenfe of the paffage. The worst that can befal a woman, being extended to me, feems to be the meaning of the last line. STEEVENS. Tax of impudence, that is, to be charged with having the boldness of a ftrumpet:-a divulged fhame; i. c. to be traduced by odious ballads-my maiden name's feared otherwife; i. e. to be stigmatized as a prostitute-no worfe of worst extended; i. e. to be fo defamed that nothing feverer can be faid against thofe who are most publickly reported to be infamous. Shakspeare has ufed the word fear and extended in The Winter's Tale, both in the fame fenfe as above: for calumny will fear "Virtue itfelf!" And "The report of her is extended more than can be thought." HENLEY. The old copy reads, not no, but ne, probably an error for way, or the. I would wish to read and point the latter part of the paffage thus: my maiden's name Sear'd otherwife; nay, worst of avorst, extended KING. Methinks, in thee fome blessed spirit doth speak; His powerful found, within an organ weak: 5 In common fenfe, fenfe faves another way." i. e. Let me be otherwife branded ;-and (what is the worst of worff, the confummation of mifery,) my body being extended on the rack by the most cruel torture, let my life pay the forfeit of my prefumption. So, in Daniel's Cleopatra, 1594: the worst of worst of ills." No was introduced by the editor of the fecond folio, Again, in The Remedie of Love, 4to. 1600: "If the be fat, then fhe is fwollen, fay, "If browne, then tawny as the Africk Moore; "If courtly, wanton, worst of worst before." MALONE. 5 Methinks, in thee fome bleffed fpirit doth peak; His powerful found, within an organ weak:] The verb, doth Speak, in the first line, fhould be understood to be repeated in the conftruction of the fecond, thus: His powerful found speaks within a weak organ. HEATH. This, in my opinion, is a very just and happy explanation. 6 And what impoffibility would flay STEEVENS. In common fenfe, fenje faves another way.] i. e. and that which, if I trufted to my reafon, I fhould think impoffible, I yet, perceiving thee to be actuated by fome bleffed fpirit, think thee capable of effecting. MALONE. 7 in thee hath eftimate;] May be counted among the gifts enjoyed by thee. JOHNSON. Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, virtue, all-] The old copy omits virtue. It was fupplied by Dr. Warburton, to remedy a defect in the meafure, STEEVENS. 9-prime-] Youth; the fpring or morning of life. JOHNSON. Should we not read-pride? Dr. Johnson explains prime to mean youth; and indeed I do not fee any other plaufible interpre Thou this to hazard, needs must intimate And well deferv'd: Not helping, death's my fee; KING. Make thy demand. HEL. But will you make it even? KING. Ay, by my fceptre, and my hopes of hea ven.3 tation that can be given of it. But how does that fuit with the context?" You have all that is worth the name of life; youth, beauty, &c. all, That happiness and youth can happy call.”Happiness and pride may fignify, I think, the pride of happiness; the proudeft ftate of happiness. So, in The Second Part of Henry IV. Act III. fc. i. the voice and echo, is put for the voice of echo, or, the echoing voice. TYRWHITT. I think, with Dr. Johnson, that prime is here used as a fubftantive, but that it means, that sprightly vigour which usually accompanies us in the prime of life. So, in Montaigne's Effaies, tranflated by Florio, 1603, B. II. c. 6: “ Many things feeme greater by imagination, than by effect. I have paffed over a good part of my age in found and perfect health. I fay, not only found, but blithe and wantonly-luftful. That ftate, full of luft, of prime and mirth, made me deeme the confideration of sicknesses fo yrkfome, that when I came to the experience of them, I have found their fits but weak." MALONE. 2 in property-] In property feems to be here ufed, with much laxity, for-in the due performance. In a fubfequent paffage it seems to mean either a thing poffeffed, or a subject discriminated by peculiar qualities: "The property by what it is fhould go, "Not by the title." MALONE. Ay, by my fceptre, and my hopes of heaven.] The old copy reads: my hopes of help. STEEVENS. The King could have but a very flight hope of help from her, fcarce enough to fwear by: and therefore Helen might fufpect he |