SIL. How tall was fhe? JUL. About my ftature: for, at Pentecost, When all our pageants of delight were play'd, Our youth got me to play the woman's part, And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's gown; Which served me as fit, by all men's judgement, As if the garment had been made for me: Therefore, I know the is about my height. And, at that time, I made her weep a-good, For I did play a lamentable part: Madam, 'twas Ariadne, paffioning For Thefeus' perjury, and unjuft flight;" Sil. How tall was be?] We fhould read-" How tall is she ??' For that is evidently the queftion which Silvia means to ask. RITSON. 3-weep a-good,] i. e. in good earneft. Tout de bon. Fr. So, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, 1633: "And therewithal their knees have rankled fo, 9-'twas Ariadne, paffioning STEEVENS, For Thefeus' perjury, and unjust flight;] The hiftory of this twice-deferted lady is too well known to need an introduction here; nor is the reader interrupted on the bufinefs of Shakspeare: but I find it difficult to refrain from making a note the vehicle for a conjecture which I may have no better opportunity of communicating to the public.—The subject of a picture of Guido (commonly fuppofed to be Ariadne deferted by Thefeus and courted by Bacchus) may poffibly have been hitherto miftaken. Whoever will examine the fabulous hiftory critically, as well as the performance itself, will acquiefce in the truth of the remark. Ovid, in his Fafti, tells us, that Bacchus (who left Ariadne to go on his Indian expedition) found too many charms in the daughter of one of the kings of that country. "Interea Liber depexos crinibus Indos "Flebat amans conjux, fpatiataque littore curvo SPEED. What then? LAUN. Why, then will I tell thee,-that thy master stays for thee at the north gate. SPEED. For me? LAUN. For thee? ay; who art thou? he hath ftaid for a better man than thee. SPEED. And muft I go to him? LAUN. Thou muft run to him, for thou haft ftaid fo long, that going will scarce ferve the turn. SPEED. Why didft not tell me fooner? 'pox of your love-letters! [Exit. LAUN. Now will he be fwing'd for reading my letter: An unmannerly flave, that will thrust himself into fecrets!-I'll after, to rejoice in the boy's [Exit. correction. SCENE II. The fame. A Room in the Duke's Palace. Enter DUKE and THURIO; PROTEUS behind. DUKE. Sir Thurio, fear not, but that she will love Now Valentine is banish'd from her fight. DUKE. This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched in ice; which with an hour's heat 4 Trenched in ice;] Cut, carved in ice. Trancher, to cut, French. JOHNSON. So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592: "Is deeply trenched in my blufhing brow." STEEVENS. Diffolves to water, and doth lofe his form. DUKE. My daughter takes his going grievously." PRO. A little time, my lord, will kill that grief. DUKE. So I believe; but Thurio thinks not so.Proteus, the good conceit I hold of thee, (For thou haft shown some sign of good defert,) Makes me the better to confer with thee. PRO. Longer than I prove loyal to your grace, Let me not live to look upon your grace. DUKE. Thou know'ft, how willingly I would effect The match between fir Thurio and my daughter. PRO. I do, my lord. DUKE. And alfo, I think, thou art not ignorant How the opposes her against my will. PRO. She did, my lord, when Valentine was here. DUKE. Ay, and perverfely fhe perfévers fo. What might we do, to make the girl forget The love of Valentine, and love fir Thurio? PRO. The beft way is, to flander Valentine With falfhood, cowardice, and poor defcent; Three things that women highly hold in hate. DUKE.Ay, but she'll think, that it is spoke in hate. PRO. Ay, if his enemy deliver it; grievously.] So fome copies of the firft folio; others have, heavily. The word therefore must have been corrected, while the fheet was working off at the prefs. The word laft, p. 243, 1. 2. was inferted in fome copies in the same manner. MALONE. Therefore it must, with circumftance," be fpoken By one, whom she esteemeth as his friend. DUKE. Then you muft undertake to flander him. PRO. And that, my lord, I fhall be loth to do: 'Tis an ill office for a gentleman; Efpecially, against his very friend. DUKE. Where your good word cannot advantage him, Your flander never can endamage him; PRO. You have prevail'd, my lord: if I can do it, As DUKE. And, Proteus, we dare truft you in this kind; 7—with circumftance,] With the addition of such incidental particulars as may induce belief. JOHNSON. 8 his very friend. Very is immediate. So, in Macbeth: "And the very ports they blow." STEEVENS. —as you unwind her love -] As you wind off her love from him, make me the bottom on which you wind it. The housewife's term for a ball of thread wound upon a central body, is a bottom of thread. JOHNSON. So, in Grange's Garden, 1577, " in answer to a letter written unto him by a Curtyzan :" "A bottome for your filke it seems My letters are become, "Which oft with winding off and on "Are wafted whole and fome." STEEVENS. Becaufe we know, on Valentine's report, And cannot foon revolt and change your mind. And, for your friend's fake, will be glad of you; For Orpheus' lute was ftrung with poets' finews; 2 —you may temper her,] Mould her, like wax, to whatever fhape you pleafe. So, in King Henry IV. P. II: " I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb; and fhortly will I feal with him." MALONE. 3 lime,] That is, birdlime. JOHNSON. Ay, much the force of heaven-bred poely.] The old copy reads→→→ 66 fuch integrity:] Such integrity may mean fuch ardour and fincerity as would be manifefted by practising the directions given in the four preceding lines. STEEVENS. I fufpect that a line following this has been loft; the import of which perhaps was— "As her obdurate heart may penetrate." MALONE. For Orpheus lute was ftrung with poets' finews;] This fhews Shakspeare's knowledge of antiquity. He here affigns Orpheus his true character of legislator. For under that of a poet only, or |