(1773)
II.ii.380 (219,8) It is not very strange, for mine uncle is king of
Denmark] I do not wonder that the new players have so suddenly risen to
reputation, my uncle supplies another example of the facility with which
honour is conferred upon new claimants.
II.ii.412 (220,2) Buz, buz!] Mere idle talk, the _buz_ of the vulgar.
II.ii.414 (220,3) _Then came each actor on his ass_] This seems to be a
line of a ballad.
II.ii.420 (221,6) For the law of writ, and the liberty, these are the
only men] All the modern editions have, _the law of_ wit, _and the
liberty_; but both my old copies have, _the law of_ writ, I believe
rightly. _Writ_, for _writing, composition_. Wit_ was not, in our
author's time, taken either for _imagination_, or _acuteness_, or _both
together_, but for _understanding_, for the faculty by which we
_apprehend_ and _judge_. Those who wrote of the human mind distinguished
its primary powers into _wit_ and _will_. Ascham distinguishes _boys_ of
tardy and of active faculties into _quick wits_ and _slow wits_.
II.ii.438 (221,8) the first row of the pious chanson] [It is _pons
chansons_ in the first folio edition. POPE.] It is _pons chansons_ in
the quarto too. I know not whence the _rubric_ has been brought, yet it
has not the appearance of an arbitrary addition. The titles of old
ballads were never printed red; but perhaps _rubric_ may stand for
_marginal explanation_.
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