In thews, and bulk; but, as this temple waxes, Grows wide withal. Perhaps, he loves you now; 5 In thews,] i. e. in finews, muscular strength. So, in King Henry IV. Part II: "Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature," &c. See Vol. IX. p. 137, n. 7. STEEVENS. * And now no foil, nor cautel, doth befmirch The virtue of his will:] From cautela, which fignifies only a prudent forefight or caution; but, paffing through French hands, it loft its innocence, and now fignifies fraud, deceit. And fo he ufes the adjective in Julius Cæfar: " Swear priests and cowards, and men cautelous." WARBURTON. So, in the second part of Greene's Art of Coneycatching, 1592: and their fubtill cautels to amend the ftatute." To amend the ftatute, was the cant phrafe for evading the law. STEEVENS. Cautel is fubtlety or deceit. Minsheu in his Dictionary, 1617, defines it, "A crafty way to deceive." The word is again used by Shakspeare in A Lover's Complaint: " In him a plenitude of fubtle matter, Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives." MALONE. Virtue feems here to comprise both excellence and power, and may be explained the pure effect. JOHNSON. The virtue of his will means, his virtuous intentions. Cautel means craft. So, Coriolanus fays: be caught by cautelous baits and practice." M. MASON. For he himself &c.] This line is not in the quarto. MALONE. 8 The safety and the health of the whole state;] Thus the quarto, 1604, except that it has this whole state, and the second the is inadvertently omitted. The folio reads: The fanctity and health of the whole state. This is another proof of arbitrary alterations being fometimes And therefore must his choice be circumfcrib'd Unto the voice and yielding of that body, Whereof he is the head: Then if he says, he loves you, It fits your wisdom so far to believe it, May give his saying deed; which is no further, Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; 3 made in the folio. The editor, finding the metre defective, in consequence of the article being omitted before health, instead of supplying it, for safety substituted a word of three syllables. MALONE. 9 May give his faying deed ;) So, in Timon of Athens: "-the deed of saying is quite out of use." Again, in Troilus and Cressida: Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue.” 2 3 unmaster'd-] i. e. licentious. JOHNSON. MALONE. keep you in the rear &c.] That is, do not advance so far as your affection would lead you. JOHNSON. • The chariest maid-] Chary is cautious. So, in Greene's Never too Late, 1616: "Love requires not chastity, but that her foldiers be chary." Again, "She liveth chaftly enough, that liveth charily." STEEVENS. 1 Be wary then: best safety lies in fear; OPH. I shall the effect of this good lesson keep LAER. O, fear me not. I stay too long;-But here my father comes. Enter POLONIUS. A double blessing is a double grace; POL. Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame; The wind fits in the shoulder of your fail,s recks not his own read.] That is, heeds not his own lessons. POPE. So, in the old Morality of Hycke Scorner: Again, ibidem: 1 -I reck not a feder." " And of thy living, I reed amend thee." Ben Jonfon uses the word reed in his Cataline : " Against a publick reed." Dif Again, in Sir Tho. North's tranflation of Plutarch: " old proverb, in the Two angry Women of Abington, 1599: "Take heed, is a good reed." i. e. good counfel, good advice. STEEVENS. So, Sternhold, Pfalmi: - that hath not lent "To wicked rede his ear." BLACKSTONE. - the shoulder of your fail,) This is a common fea phrase. STEEVENS. And you are staid for: There,-my blessing with you; [Laying his hand on LAERTES' head. And these few precepts in thy memory And these few precepts in thy memory 8 Look thou character.] i. e. write; strongly infix. The same phrafe is again used by our author in his 122d Sonnet: -thy tables are within my brain " Full character'd with lasting memory." Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: I do conjure thee, "Who art the table wherein all my thoughts MALONE. 1 Grapple them to thy foul with hooks of steel ;) The old copies read-with boops of steel. I have no doubt that this was a corruption in the original quarto of 1604, arifing, like many others, from fimilitude of founds. The emendation, which was made by Mr. Pope, and adopted by three subsequent editors, is strongly fupported by the word grapple. See Minsheu's Dictionary, 1617: "To book or grapple, viz. to grapple and to board a ship." A grapple is an instrument with several books to lay hold of a ship, in order to board it. This correction is also justified by our poet's 137th Sonnet: Why of eyes' falfhood hast thou forged hooks, "Whereto the judgement of my heart is ty'd?” It may be also observed, that books are fometimes made of steel, but boops never. MALONE. We have, however, in King Henry IV. P. II: "A boop of gold to bind thy brothers in." The former part of the phrafe occurs also in Macbeth : Grapples you to the heart and love of us." STEEVENS. • But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each nerw-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade.) The literal sense is, 1 Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, ment. Coftly thy habit as thy purse can buy, Do not make thy palm callous by shaking every man by the band. The figurative meaning may be, Do not by promiscuous conversation make thy mind infenfible to the difference of characters. JOHNSON. 9 each man's censure,] Censure is opinion. So, in King Henry VI. P. II : "The king is old enough to give his cenfure." STEEVENS. * Are most felect and generous, chief in that.] I think the whole defign of the precept shows we should read : Are most select, and generous chief, in that. Chief may be an adjective used adverbially, a practice common to our author: chiefly generous. Yet it must be owned that the punctuation recommended is very stiff and harsh. I would, however, more willingly read: And they in France, of the best rank and station, Let the reader, who can discover the flightest approach towards sense, harmony, or metre, in the original line, Are of a most felect and generous chief, in that, adhere to the old copies. STEEVENS. The genuine meaning of the passage requires us to point the line thus: " Are most select and generous, chief in that." i. e. the nobility of France are select and generous above all other nations, and chiefly in the point of apparel, the richness and elegance of their dress. RITSON. Are of a most felect and generous chief, in that.] Thus the quarto, 1604, and the folio, except that in that copy the word chief is spelt theff. The substantive chief, which fignifies in heraldry the upper part of the shield, appears to have been in common use in Shakspeare's time, being found in Minsheu's Dictionary, 1617. He defines it thus: "Eft fuperior et fcuti nobilior pars; tertiam partem |