Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  I.i.66 (10,5) if she be fair, ’tis the better for her; an she be not, she has the mends in her own hands] She may mend her complexion by the assistance of cosmeticks.

  I.ii.4 (12,1) Hector, whose patience/Is, as a virtue, fix’d] [W: Is as the] I think the present text may stand. Hector’s patience was as a virtue, not variable and accidental, but fixed and constant. If I would alter it, it should be thus:

  — Hector, whose patience

  Is ALL a virtue fix’d, —

  All, in old English, is the intensive or enforcing particle.

  I.ii.8 (13,2) Before the sun rose, he was harness’d light] [Warburton stated that “harnessed light” meant Hector was to fight on foot] How does it appear that Hector was to fight on foot rather to-day than on any other day? It is to be remembered, that the ancient heroes never fought on horseback; nor does their manner of fighting in chariots seem to require less activity than on foot.

  I.ii.23 (14,4) his valour is crushed into folly] To be crushed into folly, is to be confused and mingled with folly, so as that they make one mass together.

  I.ii.46 (15,6) Ilium] Was the palace of Troy.

  I.ii.120 (17,7) compass-window] The compass-window is the same as the bow-window. (1773)

  I.ii.212 (20,2)

  Cre. Will he give you the nod?

  Pan. You shall see.

  Cre. If he do, the rich shall have more]

  [W: rich] I wonder why the commentator should think any emendation necessary, since his own sense is fully expressed by the present reading. Hanmer appears not to have understood the passage. That to give the nod signifies to set a mark of folly, I do not know; the allusion is to the word noddy, which, as now, did, in our author’s time, and long before, signify, a silly fellow, and may, by its etymology, signify likewise full of nods. Cressid means, that a noddy shall have more nods. Of such remarks as these is a comment to consist?

  I.ii.260 (22,3) money to boot] So the folio. The old quarto, with more force, Give an eye to boot. (rev. 1778, IX, 25, 1)

  I.ii.285 (22,4) upon my wit to defend my wiles] So read both the copies) yet perhaps the author wrote,

  Upon my wit to defend my will.

  The terms wit and will were, in the language of that time, put often in opposition.

  I.ii.300 (23,5) At your own house; there he unarms him] [These necessary words added from the quarto edition. POPE.] The words added are only, there he unarms him.

  I.ii.313 (23,6) joy’s soul lies in the doing] So read both the old editions, for which the later editions have poorly given,

  — the soul’s joy lies in doing.

  I.ii.316 (23,7) That she] Means, that woman.

  I.iii.31 (25,2) With due observance of thy godlike seat] [T: godlike seat] This emendation [for goodly seat] Theobald might have found in the quarto, which has,

  — the godlike seat.

  I.iii.32 (25,3) Nestor shall apply/Thy latest words] Nestor applies the words to another instance.

  I.iii.54 (26,7) Returns to chiding fortune] For returns, Hanmer reads replies, unnecessarily, the sense being the same. The folio and quarto have retires, corruptly.

  I.iii.62 (27,8)

  both your speeches; which are such,

  As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece

  Should hold up high in brass; and such again,

  As venerable Nestor, hatch’d in silver,

  Should with a bond of air (strong as the axle-tree

  On which heaven rides) knit all the Greekish ears

  To his experienc’d tongue]

  Ulysses begins his oration with praising those who had spoken before him, and marks the characteristick excellencies of their different eloquence, strength, and sweetness, which he expresses by the different metals on which he recommends them to be engraven for the instruction of posterity. The speech of Agamemnon is such that it ought to be engraven in brass, and the tablet held up by him on the one side, and Greece on the other, to shew the union of their opinion. And Nestor ought to be exhibited in silver, uniting all his audience in one mind by his soft and gentle elocution. Brass is the common emblem of strength, and silver of gentleness. We call a soft voice a silver voice, and a persuasive tongue a silver tongue. — I once read for hand, the band of Greece, but I think the text right. — To hatch is a term of art for a particular method of engraving. Hatcher, to cut, Fr.

  I.iii.78 (28,1) The specialty of rule] The particular rights of supreme authority.

  I.iii.81 (29,2) When that the general is not like the hive] The meaning is, When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each particular resorts with whatever be has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage? The sense is clear, the expression is confused.

  I.iii.101 (30,5) Oh, when degree is shak’d] I would read,

  — So when degree is shak’d. (see 1765, VII, 431, 5)

  I.iii.103 (30,6) The enterprize] Perhaps we should read,

  Then enterprize is sick! —

  I.iii.104 (30,7) brotherhoods in cities] Corporations, companies, confraternities.

  I.iii.128 (31,8) That by a pace goes backward] That goes backward step by step.

  I.iii.128 (31,9) with a purpose/It hath to climb] With a design in each man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior.

  I.iii.134 (31,1) bloodless emulation] An emulation not vigorous and active, but malignant and sluggish.

  I.iii.152 (31,2) Thy topless deputation] Topless is that has nothing topping or overtopping it; supreme; sovereign.

  I.iii.167 (32,3) as near as the extremest ends/Of parallels] The parallels to which the allusion seems to be made are the parallels on a map. As like as East to West.

  I.iii.179 (32,4)

  All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,

  Severals and generals of grace exact,

  Atchievements, plots]

  The meaning is this, All our good grace exact, means of excellence irreprehensible.

  I.iii.184 (32,5) to make paradoxes] Paradoxes may have a meaning, but it is not clear and distinct. I wish the copies had given,

  — to make parodies.

  I.iii.188 (33,6) bears his head/In such a rein] That is, holds up his head as haughtily. We still say of a girl, she bridles.

  I.iii.196 (33,7) How rank soever rounded in with danger] A rank weed is a high weed. The modern editions silently read,

  How hard soever —

  I.iii.202 (33,8) and know by measure/Of their observant toil the enemies’ weight] I think it were better to read,

  — and know the measure,

  By their observant toil, of th’ enemies’ weight.

  I.iii.220 (34,1) Achilles’ arm] So the copies. Perhaps the author wrote,

  — Alcides’ arm.

  I.iii.262 (35,4) long continu’d truce] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very act it is said, that Ajax coped Hector yesterday in the battle.

  I.iii.270 (36,7) (With truant vows to her own lips he loves)] That is, confession made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves.

  I.iii.319 (37,1) nursery] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery.

  I.iii.341 (38,4) scantling] That is, a measure, proportion. The carpenter cuts his wood to a certain scantling.

  I.iii.343 (38,5) small pricks] Small points compared with the volumes.

  II.i (40,1) The Grecian camp. Enter Ajax and Thorsites] ACT II.] This play is not divided into acts in any of the original editions.

  II.i.13 (41,2) The plague of Greece] Alluding perhaps to the plague sent by Apollo on the Grecian army.

  II.i.15 (41,3) Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak] [T: unwinnow’dst] [W: windyest] Hanmer preserves whinid’st, the reading of the folio; but does not explain it, nor do I understand it. If the folio be followed, I read, vinew’d, that is mouldy leven. Thou composition of mustiness and sourness. — Theobald’s assertion, however confident, is false. Unsalted leaven is in the
old quarto. It means sour without salt, malignity without wit. Shakespeare wrote first unsalted; but recollecting that want of salt was no fault in leaven, changed it to vinew’d.

  II.i.38 (42,5) aye that thou bark’st at him] I read, O that thou bark’dst at him.

  II.i.42 (42,6) pun thee into shivers] Pun is in the midland counties the vulgar and colloquial word for pound. (1773)

  II.i.125 (45,1) when Achilles’ brach bids me] The folio and quarto read, Achilles’ brooch. Brooch is an appendant ornament. The meaning may be, equivalent to one of Achilles’ hangers on.

  II.ii.29 (47,2) The past-proportion of his infinite?] Thus read both the copies. The meaning is, that greatness, to which no measure bears any proportion. The modern editors silently give,

  The vast proportion —

  II.ii.58 (48,4) And the will dotes that is inclinable] [Old edition, not so well, has it, attributive. POPE.] By the old edition Mr. Pope means the old quarto. The folio has, as it stands, inclinable. — I think the first reading better; the will dotes that attributes or gives the qualities which it affects; that first causes excellence, and then admires it.

  II.ii.60 (48,5) Without some image of the affected merit] The present reading is right. The will affects an object for some supposed merit, which Hector says, is uncensurable, unless the merit so affected be really there.

  II.ii.71 (48,7) unrespective sieve] That is, into a common voider. Sieve is in the quarto. The folio reads,

  — unrespective fame;

  for which the modern editions have silently printed,

  — unrespective place.

  II.ii.88 (49,9)

  why do you now

  The issue of your proper wisdoms rate;

  And do a deed that fortune never did,

  Beggar that estimation which you priz’d

  Richer than sea and land?]

  If I understand this passage, the meaning is, “Why do you, by censuring the determination of your own wisdoms, degrade Helen, whom fortune has not yet deprived of her value, or against whom, as the wife of Paris, fortune has not in this war so declared, as to make us value her less?” This is very harsh, and much strained.

  II.ii.122 (50,2) her brain-sick raptures/Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel] Corrupt; change to a worse state.

  II.ii.179 (52,3) benummed wills] That is, inflexible, inmoveable, no longer obedient to superior direction.

  II.ii.180 (52,4) There is a law in each well-ordered nation] What the law does in every nation between individuals, justice ought to do between nations.

  II.ii.188 (52,5) Hector’s opinion/Is this in way of truth] Though considering truth and justice in this question, this is my opinion; yet as a question of honour, I think on it as you.

  II.ii.196 (53,6) the performance of our heaving spleens] The execution of spite and resentment.

  II.ii.212 (53,7) emulation] That is, envy, factious contention.

  II.iii.18 (54,8) without drawing the massy iron and cutting the web] That is, without drawing their swords to cut the web. They use no means but those of violence.

  II.iii.55 (55,1) decline the whole question] Deduce the question from the first case to the last.

  II.iii.108 (57,6) but it was a strong composure, a fool could disunite] So reads the quarto very properly; but the folio, which the moderns have followed, has, it was a strong COUNSEL.

  II.iii.118 (57,7) noble state] Person of high dignity; spoken of Agamemnon.

  II.iii.137 (58,8) under-write] To subscribe, in Shakespeare, is to obey.

  II.iii.215 (60,2) pheese his pride] To pheese is to comb or curry.

  II.iii.217 (60,3) Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel] Not for the value of all for which we are fighting.

  II.iii.267 (62,6)

  Ajax. Shall I call you father?

  Nest. Ay, my good son]

  In the folio and in the nodern editions Ajax desires to give the title of father to Ulysses; in the quarto, more naturally, to Nestor.

  III.i.35 (64,1) love’s invisible soul] love’s visible soul.] So HANMER. The other editions have invisible, which perhaps may be right, and may mean the soul of love invisible every where else.

  III.i.83 (65,3) And, my lord, he desires you] Here I think the speech of Pandarus should begin, and the rest of it should be added to that of Helen, but I have followed the copies.

  III.i.96 (65,4) with my disposer Cressida] [W: dispouser] I do not understand the word disposer, nor know what to substitute in its place. There is no variation in the copies.

  III.i.132 (67,6) Yet that which seems the wound to kill] To kill the wound is no very intelligible expression, nor is the measure preserved. We might read,

  These lovers cry,

  Oh! oh! they die!

  But that which seems to kill,

  Doth turn, &c.

  So dying love lives still.

  Yet as the wound to kill may mean the wound that seems mortal, I alter nothing.

  III.ii.25 (69,1) tun’d too sharp in sweetness] — and too sharp in sweetness,] So the folio and all modern editions; but the quarto more accurately,

  — tun’d too sharp in sweetness.

  III.ii.99 (71,4) our head shall go bare, ‘till merit crown it] I cannot forbear to observe, that the quarto reads thus: Our head shall go bare, ‘till merit lower part no affection, in reversion, &c. Had there been no other copy, hov could this have been corrected? The true reading is in the folio.

  III.ii.102 (72,5) his addition shall be humble] We will give him no high or pompous titles.

  III.ii.162 (74,6)

  but you are wise,

  Or else you love not; to be wise and love,

  Exceeds man’s might]

  I read,

  — but we’re not wise,

  Or else we love not; to be wise and love,

  Exceeds man’s might; —

  Cressida, in return to the praise given by Troilus to her wisdom, replies, “That lovers are never wise; that it is beyond the power of man to bring love and wisdom to an union.”

  III.ii.173 (74,8) Might be affronted with the match] I wish “my integrity might be met and matched with such equality and force of pure unmingled love.”

  III.ii.184 (75,2) As true as steel, as plantage to the moon] Plantage is not, I believe, a general term, but the herb which we now call plantain, in Latin, plantago, which was, I suppose, imagined to be under the peculiar influence of the moon.

  III.ii.187 (76,3)

  Yet after all comparisons of truth,

  As truth’s authentic author to be cited

  As true as Troilus, shall crown up the verse]

  Troilus shall crown the verse, as a man to be cited as the authentic author of truth; as one whose protestations were true to a proverb.

  III.iii.1-16 (77,5) Now, princes, for the service I have done you] I am afraid, that after all the learned commentator’s [Warburton’s] efforts to clear the argument of Calchas, it will still appear liable to objection; nor do I discover more to be urged in his defence, than that though his skill in divination determined him to leave Troy, jet that he joined himself to Agamemnon and his army by unconstrained good-will; and though he came as a fugitive escaping from destruction, yet his services after his reception, being voluntary and important, deserved reward. This argument is not regularly and distinctly deduced, but this is, I think, the best explication that it will yet admit.

  III.iii.4 (78,6) through the sight I bear in things, to Jove] This passage in all the modern editions is silently depraved, and printed thus:

  — through the sight I bear in things to come.

  The word is so printed that nothing but the sense can determine whether it be love or Jove. I believe that the editors read it as love, and therefore made the alteration to obtain some meaning.

  III.iii.28 (79,7)

  he shall buy my daughter; and her presence

  Shall quite strike off all service I have done,

  In most accepted pain]

  Sir T. HANMER, and Dr. WARBURTON
after him, read,

  In most accepted pay.

  They do not seem to understand the construction of the passage. Her presence, says Calchas, shall strike off, or recompence the service I have done, even in these labours which were most accepted.

  III.iii.44 (80,8) derision med’cinable] All the modern editions have decision. The old copies are apparently right. The folio in this place agrees with the quarto, so that the corruption was at first merely accidental.

  III.iii.96 (82,9) how dearly ever parted] I do not think that in the word parted is included any idea of division; it means, however excellently endowed, with however dear or precious parts enriched or adorned.

  III.iii.113 (82,2) but the author’s drift:/Who, in his circumstance] In the detail or circumduction of his argument.

  III.iii.125 (83,3) The unknovn Ajax] Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or use.

  III.iii.134 (83,4)

  How some men creep in skittish Fortune’s hall,

  While others play the idiots in her eyes!]

  To creep is to keep out of sight from whatever motive. Some men keep out of notice in the hall of Fortune, while others, though they but play the idiot, are always in her eye, in the way of distinction.

  III.iii.137 (83,5) feasting] Folio. The quarto has fasting. Either word may bear a good sense.

  III.iii.145 (84,6) Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back] This speech is printed in all the modern editions with such deviations from the old copy, as exceed the lawful power of an editor.

  III.iii.171 (85,2) for beauty, wit,/High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service] The modern editors read,

  For beauty, wit, high birth, desert in service, &c.

  I do not deny but the changes produce a more easy lapse of numbers, but they do not exhibit the work of Shakespeare, (see 1765, VII, 435, 2)

  III.iii.178 (85,3)

  And shew to dust, that is a little gilt,

  More laud than gilt o’er-dusted]

  [T: give to ... laud than they will give to gold] This emendation has been received by the succeeding editors, but recedes too far from the copy. There is no other corruption than such as Shakespeare’s incorrectness often resembles. He has omitted the article to in the second line: he should have written,