take the bridge quite away
Of him, that his particular to foresee
Smells from the general weal]
[W: to forefend] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense
is good. To _foresee his particular_, is _to provide for his private
advantage_, for which _he leaves the right scent of publick good_. In
hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for some of
the hounds _to smell from the general weal, and foresee their own
particular_. Shakespeare, who seems to have been a skilful sportsman,
and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps, alludes here to hunting.
To the commentator's emendation it may be objected, that he used
_forefend_ in the wrong meaning. To _forefend_, is, I think, never to
_provide for_, but to _provide against_. The verbs compounded with _for_
or _fore_ have commonly either an evil or negative sense.
IV.iii.182 (361,8) eyeless venom'd worm] The serpent, which we, from the
smallness of his eyes, call the _blind worm_, and the Latins,
_caecilia_.
IV.iii.183 (361,9) below crisp heaven] [W: cript] Mr. Upton declares for
_crisp_, curled, bent, hollow.
IV.iii.188 (361,1) Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!] [W: out to
ungrateful] It is plain that _bring out_ is _bring forth_, with which
the following lines correspond so plainly, that the commentator might be
suspected of writing his note without reading the whole passage.
IV.iii.193 (362,2) Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough torn leas] I
cannot concur to censure Theobald [as Warburton did] as a _critic_ very
_unhappy_. He was weak, but he was cautious: finding but little power in
his mind, he rarely ventured far under its conduct. This timidity
hindered him from daring conjectures, and sometimes hindered him
happily.
This passage, among many others, may pass without change. The genuine
reading is not _marrows, veins_, but _marrows_, vines: the sense is
this; _O nature! cease_ to _produce men, ensear thy womb_; but if thou
wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them; _dry up
thy marrows_, on which they fatten with _unctuous morsels_, thy _vines_,
which give them _liquorish draughts_, and thy _plow-torn leas_. Here are
effects corresponding with causes, _liquorish draughts_ with _vines_,
and _unctuous morsels_ with _marrows_, and the old reading literally
preserved.
IV.iii.209 (363,3) the cunning of a carper] _Cunning_ here seems to
signify _counterfeit appearance_.
IV.ii.223 (364,4) moist trees] Hanmer reads very elegantly,
--moss'd _trees_.