The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may
not be said in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that, in
Shakespeare's time, it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and
illusive predictions.
The passions are directed to their true end. Lady Macbeth is merely
detested; and though the courage of Macbeth preserves some esteem, yet
every reader rejoices at his fall.
Vol. VII
CORIOLANUS
1.i.19 (292,1) but they think, we are too dear] They think that the
charge of maintaining us is more than we are worth.
I.i.23 (292,3) ere we become rakes] It is plain that, in our authour's
time, we had the proverb, _as lean as a rake_. Of this proverb the
original is obscure. _Rake_ now signifies a _dissolute man_, a man worn
out with disease and debauchery. But the signification is, I think, much
more modern than the proverb. _Raekel_, in Islandick, is said to mean a
_cur-dog_, and this was probably the first use among us of the word
_rake_; _as lean as a rake_ is, therefore, as lean as it dog too
worthless to be fed.
1.i.94 (294,4) I will venture/To scale't a little more] [Warburton had
taken Theobald to task for emending to "stale't", offering two
quotations to prove that "scale" meant "apply."] Neither of Dr.
Warburton's examples afford a sense congruous to the present occasion.
In the passage quoted, to _scale_ may be to _weigh_ and _compare_, but
where do we find that _scale_ is to _apply_? If we _scale_ the two
criticks, I think Theobald has the advantage.
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