cumftances of our cafe are fuch, that fhe will ne ver venture to contradict me: dares her to reply No to me, whatever I fay.' But this gentleman did not confider, that Angelo in the prefent cafe was the defendant, not the plaintiff; that he confequently had no ftory to tell, which might give Ifabel an opportunity of contradicting, or faying, No, to it; and that her proper province was, not to contradict, or fay No, to a ftory, which from the very nature of the thing fhe might be fure would never be told by Angelo, but to complain, to charge, and to accufe. Befides, the peculiaf propriety of the expreffion leads us to a quite different. meaning. The adverb, yet, implies an objection made to what had been just before said, and fignifies the fame as, however, or, fuppofing it should So happen that, and confequently is utterly inconfiftent, with Mr. Warburton's interpretation. I am convinced therefore that Mr. Upton, Critic. Obfery. p. 182. has, by a small alteration in the pointing, given us the true reading and fenfe of this paffage, thus,

Yet reafon dares her. No:

That is, Yet the reafon and juftice of her caufe may poffibly furnish her with boldnefs enough to furmount even her regard for her own honour, which muft neceffarily fuffer by the difcovery. No, upon better confideration, neither can this motive have any influence: For how can fhe hope to be believed in contradiction to fo established a character as mine?

P. 439. He fays, to vail full purpose.

This is the common reading, which Mr. Warburton defends by telling us, that, full, fignifies the the fame as, beneficial; and that the meaning of the whole is, He fays, it is to kide a beneficial pur

* pafe.

pofe. But furely fuch English is not to be found in any English writer. An Englishman would at leaft have faid, a full purpose,' or; fome full purpose,' or, bis full purpofe. Befides, in truth full is never ufed in the English language to fignify beneficial, further than that every thing which is full and compleat is in the nature of the thing, if it be not in itself evil, better than that which is imperfect and defective. I have therefore not the leaft doubt of the truth of Mr. Theobald's correction, t' availful purpose; unlefs perhaps the reader should, with Mr. Upton, Critic. Obferv. p. 326. prefer, vailful purpose, by an aphærefis of the first fyllable very frequent in our language, and of which he produces many fimilar inftances.

P. 443. Oh, that it were as like, as it is true!

Ifabella wanted only to perfuade the Duke of the truth of her accufation. She therefore wifhes that the probability of it were equal to its real truth, having then no doubt of her obtaining all the credit fhe could defire. This natural fentiment could not fatisfy Mr. Warburton, but he muft needs make a quibble of it; though he hath unfortunately mifcarried even in this attempt. For, like, doth not fignify the fame as, Seemly, as he would fain perfuade us; and, if it did, the expreffion would be. ftill mere nonfenfe, fince the wifh, that Angelo's crime fhould appear feemly, is a contradiction to the very purpose of her accufation. See the Canons of Criticism, p. 144.

P. 444. Whenever he's convented. First, for this woman. This is the reading of the first folio, which Mr. Warburton upon another occafion, p. 390. ftiles 'the old blundering folio;' but as the metre apparently fuffers from this reading, all the fubfequent

editions have given us, convened, a correction which Mr. Warburton rejects, with a very fharp reprimand to one of the editors only who has adopted it, though it muft equally reach every other of them, and his friend Mr. Pope among the reft. He peremptorily affirms it to be nonfenfe, because, as, convented, fignifics cited, or fummoned, fo, convened, fignifies, affembled together. But doth, convened, never fignify, cited, or fummoned? We muft fuppofe him to affert this, otherwife his objection is frivolous, and his charge groundless. I appeal now to every one but moderately converfant with English writers, especially those whose subject leads them to mention the proceedings in the ecclefiaftical courts, whether the verb, convene, is not as frequently ufed as, convent, to fignify citing, or caufing to appear. I own I cannot readily quote examples of this ufe, having never had the precaution to provide myself with a common-place book to anfwer fuch a purpose. I am therefore obliged to have recourse to an authority, which I think not a bad one, of Mr. Ainsworth in his English Latin Dictionary, who gives a double fenfe to the verb, convene, one of which he renders by the Latin verbs, cito, cieo, which anfwer exactly to the English ones of citing, or caufing to appear. The obfervation our critick makes on this occafion, that Shakefpear entirely neglected the metre of his verfe,' is fo injurious to the character of the prince of our dramatick poets, that it ought not to be paffed over in filence. He hath not indeed confired himself, like our modern tragick poets, to metre of one kind only. His is very various, and of very different. kinds, but it is in general regular, with very few exceptions, unless where it is interrupted by the alternative interpofition of the feveral fpeakers in the dialogue; in which cafe the incompleat verfes ought to be regarded with the fame indulgence as the

hemiftichs of Virgil; and in this liberty he hath been followed both by Otway and Dryden.

P. 445. In this I'll be impartial.

Mr. Theobald hath offered very convincing, and I think unanswerable, reasons to fatisfy us that this reading is corrupt, and that we ought to fubftitute in its place,

In this I will be partial.

P. 455. Her worth works yours.

This is a conjecture of Sir Thomas Hanmer adopted by Mr. Warburton. The construction of it is, Her worth works your worth,' the meaning of which is, I must confefs, much above my comprehenfion. The common reading was, 'Her worth worth yours,' which it was obvious to restore by the infertion of a fingle letter, 'Her worth's worth yours; that is, You can have now no pretence of refufing her for inequality of fortune, fince he hath brought you no less a dowry than your own life; or poffibly the fenfe intended might be, You can certainly have no objection to her which will not recoil more strongly on your felf; fhe is in all refpects as good and worthy as you have fhewn your felf to be.

Ibid. I spoke it but according to the trick.

That is, I meant no harm, but spoke it only in consequence of an ill habit I have unluckily acquired.

VOLUME the SECOND.

Much Ado about Nothing.

P. 4. Even fo much, that joy could not shew itself modeft enough, without a badge of bitterness.

See the Canons of Criticifm, p. 122.

Ibid. He fet up his bills here in Messina, and challenged Cupid at the flight; and my uncle's fool, reading the challenge, fubfcrib'd for Cupid, and challenged him at the bird-bolt.

See Mr. Theobald's Shakespear reftored, p. 174. where this emendation, bird-bolt, or, but-bolt, for the nonfenfical reading of the common editions, burbolt, is established from parallel paffages of our poet. I apprehend however Mr. Theobald is mistaken, in understanding Benedict's challenge to Cupid to have been to fly with him. I imagine the flight to mean the flight of an arrow, and the purport of the challenge to Cupid to have been, which of the two thould throw the arrow fartheft; and accordingly the fool, who took up the challenge, chofe for his weapon that particular kind of arrow called the bird-bolt.

P. 5. So that if he have wit enough to keep himfelf from harm, let him bear it for a difference between bimfelf and his borse.

There is no fault to which criticks are more prone, and none at the fame time which hath more contributed to the fpoiling their credit with the world, than their intemperate licentioufnefs in altering the text of their author, upon the flighteft, and even