I see before me, man, nor here, nor here,
Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them,
That I cannot look thro']
This passage may, in my opinion, be very easily understood, without any
emendation. The lady says, "I can see neither one way nor other, before
me nor behind me, but all the ways are covered with an impenetrable
fog." There are objections insuperable to all that I can propose, and
since reason can give me no counsel, I will resolve at once to follow my
inclination.
III.iii.5 (218,2) giants may jet through/And keep their impious turbans
on] The idea of a _giant_ was, among the readers of romances, who were
almost all the readers of those times, always confounded with that of a
Saracen.
III.iii.16 (218,3) This service it not service, so being done,/But being
so allow'd] In war it is not sufficient to do duty well; the advantage
rises not from the act, but the acceptance of the act.
III.iii.23 (219,5) Richer, than doing nothing for a babe] I have always
suspected that the right reading of this passage is what I had not in my
former edition the confidence to propose: Richer, than doing nothing for
a _brabe_.
_Brabium_ is a badge of honour, or the ensign of an honour, or any thing
worn as a mask of dignity. The word was strange to the editors as it
will be to the reader: they therefore changed it to _babe_; and I am
forced to propose it without the support of any authority. _Brabium_ is
a word found in Holyoak's Dictionary, who terms it a _reward_. Cooper,
in his _Thesaurus_, defines it to be a _prize, or reward for any game_.
(1773) (rev. 1778, IX, 248, 8)
III.iii.35 (219,6) To stride a limit] To overpass his bound.
III.iii.35 (220,7) What should we speak of,/When we are as old as you?]
This dread of an old age, unsupplied with matter for discourse and
meditation, is a sentiment natural and noble. No state can be more
destitute than that of him who, when the delights of sense forsake him,
has no pleasures of the mind.