[_Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter pale_]
Dr. Thirlby reads, perhaps rightly, certainly with much more
probability, and easiness of construction;
_For the red blood_ runs _in the_ winter _pale._
That is, _for the red blood runs pale in the winter._
Sir T. Banner reads,
_For the red blood reigns_ o'er _the winter's pale._
IV.iii.7 (326,1) [pugging tooth] Sir T. Hammer, and after his,
Dr. Warburton, read, _progging tooth_. It is certain that _pugging_
is not now understood. But Dr. Thirlby observes, that this is the cant
of gypsies.
IV.iii.28 (327,7) [Gallows, and knock, are too powerful on the highway;
beating and hanging are terrors to me] The resistance which
a highwayman encounters in the fact, and the punishment which he
suffers on detection, withold me from daring robbery, and determine me
to the silly cheat and petty theft. (1773)
IV.iii.99 (330,4) [abide] To _abide_, here, must signify, to _sojourn_,
to live for a time without a settled habitation.
IV.iv.6 (331,7) [To chide at your extremes, it not becomes me] That
is, your _excesses_, the _extravagance_ of your praises.
IV.iv.8 (331,8) [The gracious mark o' the land] The _object_ of all men's
_notice_ and expectation.
IV.iv.13 (332,9) [sworn, 1 think, To shew myself a glass] [Banner:
swoon] Dr. Thirlby inclines rather to Sir T. Hanmer's emendation,
which certainly makes an easy sense, and is, in my opinion, preferable to
the present reading. But concerning this passage I
know not what to decide.
IV.ii.21 (333,1) [How would he look, to see his work, so noble, Vilely
bound up!] It is impossible for any man to rid his mind of his profession.
The authorship of Shakespeare has supplied him with a metaphor,
which rather than he would lose it, he has put with no great
propriety into the month of a country maid. Thinking of his own
works, his mind passed naturally to the binder. I am glad that he
has no hint at an editor.
IV.ii.76 (335,2) [Grace and remembrance] _Rue_ was called _herb of grace.
Rosemary_ was the emblem of remembrance; I know not why,
unless because it was carried at funerals. (see 1765, II,300,5)