Or to the ftory of Balaam's afs, which was as humorously applied by a Divine to a ftammering Lord who was no friend to the clergy, and had a mind to fet it in a ridiculous light at his table, obferving, that Balaam's afs fpoke bebe--because he was prie-prie-priest Prieft rid, Sir, faid a valet de chambre (who stood behind his chair) my lord would fay; No friend, replied the clergyman, Balaam could not fpeak himfelf, and fo his afs fpoke for him. Id. ib. Pyr. But what fee I, no Thisbe do 1 fee, "And every daie this wal thei would it threte, "And wish to God, that it were doune ibete, "Thus would thei faine alas! thou wicked wal "Through thine envie thou us lettist al." 49. &c. Id. ib. Pyramus. I fee a voice, now will I to the chink, To spy, an I can bear my Thisbe's face.] In folio 1632. it stands thus. Pyr. "I hear a voice; now will I to the "chink "To fpy if I can fee my Thyby's face." The alteration is Mr. Warburton's, of which every reader muft judge as he thinks proper. Sc. 2. p. 164. Demet. No remedy my lord, when walls are fo Wilful to bear without warning.] Mr. Warbur ton's emendation, to rear, is propably right; as as Shakespeare seems to allude to the following incident in his own time. "Sir Thomas Gresham receiving the honour of a vifit from Queen Elizabeth at Osterley Park, (where she was magnificently entertained.) "She at her firft entrance found fault with the "court before his houfe, as being too large; " and faid, it would appear better if divided by a wall in the middle. He took the hint, " and to fhew his complaifance to her majesty, "immediately sent for workmen from London, "who in the night built up the wall with fuch privacy, and expedition; that the next morn"ing the Queen to her great furprise, found "the court divided in the manner the proposed "the day before. 66 Fuller's worthies of England. Middlesex. 177. Ward's Life of Sir Thomas Gresham. Hiftory of Gresham College. p. 18. Id. ib. Enter Thibe. Lion. ob bo. bo.] tion of 1632. .Sc. 2. p. 166. Pyramus. where is my love? Ho. bo. not in the folio edi Come tears confound; out fword and wound, the pap of Pyramus. Ay that left pap, where heart doth hop.] 'Twas the vulgar notion that the heart laid on the left fide of the thorax, or breaft; to which Shakefpeare feems to allude. It is fituated in the middle of the thorax between the two lobes of the the lungs, it is of a conic figure, whose basis is the upper end, and the apex or point, is the lower end, which is turn'd a little to the left fide, that the right auricle may be lower than the left. Id. ib. p. 167. Lyf. He is dead, he is nothing. The. With the help of a furgeon, he might yet recover, and prove an afs.] I think I have heard it obferved, as the opinion of a celebrated anatomift, who had a body deliver'd to him after execution, in which there appeared fome figns of life; that if he could recover him, he would prove no better than an idiot. But this will not always hold good, as appears from the remarkable story of (a) Anne Green, executed at Oxford December 14th, 1650. "Who was "hang'd by the neck near half an hour, fome "of her friends in the mean time thumping her on the breast, others hanging with all their weight upon her legs, fometimes lifting her up, and then taking her down again with a "fudden jirk, thereby the fooner to dispatch "her out of her pain. After fhe was in her "coffin, being obferved to breath; a lufty fel"low ftamp'd with all his force on her breast "and ftomach, to put her out of her pain. "But by the affiftance of Doctor Petty, Dr. "Willis, Dr. Bathurst, and Dr. Clerk, fhe was "again brought to life. I myself saw her ma 66 ny years after; after that she had (I heard) (a) Dr. Derham's Phyfico-Theology. Third edit. p. 157. See a fuller account in Heath's Chroniele. "born "born divers children." The particulars of her crime, execution, and reftauration, fee in a little pamphlet, called News from the Dead, written, as I have been informed, by Dr. Bathurft and publish'd in 1651, with verfes upon the occafion. Sc. 3. p. 170. Puck. Now the Hungarian lion roars, and the wolf bebowls the moon.] Shakespeare has an image like this in his play, intitled, As you like it. Pray no more of this, 'tis like the howling "Of Irish wolves againft the moon. In both, he probably alludes to the following lines of Virgil. Et alte Per noctem refonare lupis ululantibus urbem. Georgic. lib. i. 485, 486. And Butler may allude to one, or both of them, in the following lines. "Tell me but what's the natural caufe, Why on a fign no painter draws, "The full moon ever, but the half, "Refolve that by your Jacob's staff; "Or why wolves raise a hubbub at her, "And dogs howl when the fhines in water. Hudibras part 2. canto iii. p. 783, &c. Id. ib. Firft rehearse this fong by Roat.] The modern way of writing is by rote. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. ACT I. SCENE I. P. 176. AL. Coy looks with heart fore fighs, one fading moment's mirth.] This verse is too long for it's fellows by a foot. The word fad ing makes nothing to the fenfe, and may very well be difmiffed. Anon. Id. ib. I a loft mutton, gave your letter to her, a lac'd mutton.] Mr. Ray in his proverbial phrafes, fpeaking of a wencher, says, he loves laced mutton, he'll run at fheep, &c. Rabelais (vol. 5. p. 217.) after several remarkableepithets for ftrumpets, calls procurers muttonbrokers. Sc. 3. p. 182. Julia. What fool is fhe, that knows I am á maid And would not force the letter to my view Since maids in modesty say no to that, Which they would have the proffrer conftrue ay.] An allufion to the English proverb," that maids ૬૮ fay nay, and take it." 'See Ray's proverbs; that are entire fentences. M. Sc. 3. p. 182. Julia. Ist near dinner time? Lucetta. I would it were.] Read Is it near dinner time? and then Lucetta's an fwer makes up the verfe. Anon. Id. ib. |