[No, if I mistake
In these foundations which I build upon,
The center is not big enough to bear
A school-boy's top]
That is, if the proofs which I can offer will not support the opinion
I have formed, no foundation can be trusted.
II.i.104 (286,8) [He, who shall speak for her, is far off guilty, But
that he speaks] [T: far of] It is strange that Mr. Theobald could
not find out that _far_ off _guilty_, signifies, _guilty in a remote
degree_.
II.i.121 (287,9) [this action] The word _action_ is here taken in the
lawyer's sense, for _indictment, charge_, or _accusation_.
II.i.143 (288,2) [land-damn him] Sir T. Hammer interprets, _stop his
urine_. _Land_ or _lant_ being the old word for _urine_.
_Land-damn_ is probably one of those words which caprice brought
into fashion, and which, after a short time, reason and grammar
drove irrecoverably away. It perhaps meant no more than I will
_rid the country_ of him; _condemn_ him to quit the _land_, (see
1765, II,259,2)
II.i.177 (290,5) [nought for approbation, But only seeing] _Approbation_,
in this place, is put for _proof_.
II.i.185 (290,6) [stuff'd sufficiency] That is, of abilities more
than enough.
II.i.195 (291,7) [Left that the treachery of the two, fled hence, Be
left her to perform] He has before declared, that there is a _plot
against his life and crown_, and that Hermione is _federary_ with
Polixenes and Camillo.
II.iii.5 (294,9) [out of the blank And level of my brain] Beyond the
_aim_ of any attempt that I can make against him. _Blank_ and _level_
are terms of archery.
II.iii.60 (296,1) [And would by combat make her good, so were I A
man, the worst about you] The _worst_ means only the _lowest_. Were
I the meanest of your servants, I would yet claim the combat
against any accuser.
II.iii.67 (297,2) [A mankind witch:] A _mankind_ woman, is yet used in
the midland counties, for a woman violent, ferocious, and mischievous.
It has the same sense in this passage. Witches are supposed
to be _mankind_, to put off the softness and delicacy of
women, therefore Sir Hugh, in the _Merry Wives of Windsor,_ says, of
a woman inspected to be a witch, _that he does not like when a
woman has a beard._ Of this meaning Mr. Theobald has given examples.