_In measure_ rein _thy joy_.
The words _rain_ and _rein_ were not in these times distinguished by
regular orthography. There is no difficulty in the present reading,
only where the copies vary some suspicion of error is always
raised, (see 1765, I,437,1)
III.ii.125 (168,1) [Methinks, it should have power to steal both his,
And leave itself unfurnish'd] I know not how _unfinish'd_ has intruded
without notice into the later editions, as the quartos and folio
have _unfurnished_, which Sir Tho. Banner has received. Perhaps it
might be
_And leave_ himself _unfurnish'd_.
III.ii.191 (170,4) [you can wish none from me] That is, none _away
from_ me; none that I shall lose, if you gain it.
III.v.70 (182,5) [how his words are suited!] I believe the meaning
is: What a _series_ or _suite_ of _words_ he has independent of meaning;
how one word draws on another without relation to the matter.
IV,i.21 (184,6) [apparent] That is, _seeming_; not real.
IV.i.22 (184,7) [_where_] for _whereas_.
IV.i.29 (184,8) [Enough to press a royal merchant down] This epithet
was in our poet's time more striking and better understood, because
Gresham was then commonly dignified with the title of the
_royal merchant_.
IV.i.42 (185,1) [I'll not answer that; But, say, it is my humour]
[Cf: By saying] Dr. Warburton has mistaken the sense. The Jew being
asked a question which the law does not require him to answer,
stands upon his right, and refuses; but afterwards gratifies his
own malignity by such answers as he knows will aggravate the pain
of the enquirer. I will not answer, says he, as to a legal or
serious question, but since you want an answer, will this serve
you?
IV.i.56 (187,4)
[For affection,
Masters of passion, sway it to the mood
Of what it likes, or loaths]
As for _affection_, those that know how to operate upon the passions
of men, rule it by making it operate in obedience to the notes
which please or disgust it. (1773)
[Woollen bag pipe] As all the editors agree with complete uniformity
in this reading, I can hardly forbear to imagine that they
understood it. But I never saw a _woollen bag-pipe_, nor can well
conceive it. I suppose the authour wrote _wooden_ bag-pipe, meaning
that the bag was of leather, and the pipe of _wood_.
IV.i.90 (189,5) [many a purchas'd slave] This argument considered as
used to the particular persons, seems conclusive. I see not how
Venetians or Englishmen, while they practise the purchase and
sale of slaves, can much enforce or demand the law of _doing to
others as we would that they should do to us_.
IV.i.105 (189,6) [Bellario, a learned doctor, Whom I have sent for]
The doctor and the court are here somewhat unskilfully brought
together. That the duke would, on such an occasion, consult a
doctor of great reputation, is not unlikely, but how should this
be forknown by Portia?
IV.i.214 (193,8) [malice bears down truth] Malice oppresses honesty,
a _true man_ in old language is an _honest man_. We now call the
jury _good men and true._
IV.i.382 (198,8) [I am content] The terms proposed have been misunderstood.
Antonio declares, that as the duke quits one half of
the forfeiture, he is likewise content to abate his claim, and
desires not the property but the _use_ or produce only of the
half, and that only for the Jew's life, unless we read, as perhaps
is right, _upon_ my _death._
V.i.63 (204,3) [Such harmony is in immortal souls] [W: sounds] This
passage is obscure. _Immortal sounds_ is a harsh combination of
words, yet Milton uses a parallel expression:
_Spiritus & rapidos qui circinat igneus orbes,
Nunc quoque sidereis intercinit ipse choreia_
Immortale melos, _& inenarrabile curmen._
It is proper to exhibit the lines as they stand in the copies
of the first, second, third, and fourth editions, without any
variation, for a change has been silently made, by Rowe, and
adopted by all the succeeding editors.
_Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But while this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grosly close_ in it, _we cannot hear it._
That the third is corrupt must be allowed, but it gives reason
to suspect that the original was,
_Doth grosly close_ it in.
Yet I know not whether from this any thing better can be produced
than the received reading. Perhaps _harmony_ is _the power
of perceiving harmony_, as afterwards, _Musick in the soul_ is the
quality of being _moved with concord of sweet sounds_. This will
somewhat explain the old copies, but the sentence is still imperfect;
which might be completed by reading,
_Such harmony is in_ th' _immortal_ soul,
_But while this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grosly close_ it in, _we cannot hear it._ (1773)
V.i.66 (205,4) [wake Diana with a hymn] Diana is the moon, who is
in the next scene represented as sleeping.
V.i.99 (207,6) [Nothing is good, I see, without respect] Not absolutely
good, but relatively, good as it is modified by circumstances.
V.i.129 (208,7) [Let me give light] There is scarcely any word with
which Shakespeare delights to trifle as with _light_, in its various
significations.