Such errors, to which there is no temptation but idleness,
and of which there was no cause but ignorance, are in every page of the
old editions. This passage in the quarto stands thus: "They have got out
of the habit of encounter, a kind of misty collection, which carries
them through and through the most profane and renowned opinions." If
this printer preserved any traces of the original, our author wrote,
"the most fane and renowned opinions," which is better than fann'd and
winnow'd.
The meaning is, "these men have got the cant of the day, a superficial
readiness of slight and cursory conversation, a kind of frothy
collection of fashionable prattle, which yet carried them through the
most select and approved judgment. This airy facility of talk sometimes
imposes upon wise men."
Who has not seen this observation verified?
V.ii.201 (335,6) and do but blow them to their trials, the bubbles are
out] These men of show, without solidity, are like bubbles raised from
soap and water, which dance, and glitter, and please the eye, but if you
extend them, by blowing hard, separate into a mist; so if you oblige
these specious talkers to extend their compass of conversation, they at
once discover the tenuity of their intellects.
V.ii.216 (335,7) gentle entertainment] Mild and temperate conversation.
V.ii.234 (336,1) Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is't
to leave betimes?] The reading of the quarto was right, but in some
other copy the harshness of the transposition was softened, and the
passage stood thus: _Since no man knows aught of what he leaves_.
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