Id. 1. 41. To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine.] To understand how the tawny prince, P. whose savage dignity is very well supported, means to recommend himself by this challenge,

it must be remembered that red blood is a traditionary sign of courage: Thus Macbeth calls one of his frighted soldiers, a lily-liver'd Joy; again, in this play, cowards are said to have livers as white as milk; and an effeminate and timorous man is termed a milksop. JOHNSON.

'd. l. 43. Hath fear'd the valiant,] i. e. terrify'd. To fear is often used by our old writers, in this sense.

Id. l. 78.

therefore be advis'd.] Therefore be not precipitant; consider well what you are to do. Advis'd is the word opposite to rash. P. 219, c. 1, l. 4. "Blest." MALONE.

SCENE II.

Id. l. 44. try conclusions] To try conclu-
sions is to try experiments.
Id. c. 2, l. 24. my thill-horse-] Thill, or
fill, means the shafts of a cart or waggon. Ma-
lone reads phill-horse.

P. 220, c. 1, 7. 9. more guarded-] i. e. more
ornamented.

Id. 1. 11. Well; if any man in Italy have a fairer
table,] Table is the palm of the hand extend-
ed. Launcelot congratulates himself upon
his dexterity and good fortune, and in the height
of his rapture inspects his hand, and congratu-
lates himself upon the felicities in his table.
Id. l. 18. --in peril of my life with the edge
of a feather-bed;] A cant phrase to signify
the danger of marrying.

Jd. 1. 44. Something too liberal;] i. e. gross,
coarse, licentious.

Id. l. 56.—— sad ostent-] Ostent is a word very commonly used for show among the old dramatic writers.

Id. l. 58. —your bearing.] Bearing is carriage, deportment.

P. 221, c. 1, l. 7.

SCENE V.

to feed upon. The prodigal Christian.] Shylock_forgets his resolution. In a former scene he declares he will neither eat, drink, nor pray with Christians. Of this circumstance the poet was aware, and meant only to heighten the malignity of the character, by making him depart from his most settled resolve, for the prosecution of his revenge. STEEVENS.

Id. l. 17. - then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding on Black-Monday last,] Black Monday is Easter-Monday, and was so called on this occasion: in the 34th of Edward III. (1360.) the 14th of April, and the morrow after Easter-day, King Edward, with his host, lay before the city of Paris: which day was full of dark mist and hail, and so bitter cold, that many men died on their horses' backs with the cold. Wherefore, unto

Id.

SCENE VII,

222, c. 1, 1. 35. To rib-] i. e. inclose, as the

1. 39. insculp'd upon;] To insculp is to engrave. The meaning is that the figure of the angel is raised or embossed on the coin, not engraved on it.

ribs inclose the viscera.

SCENE VIII.

Id. c. 2, l. 19. I reason'd with a Frenchman yes-
terday;] i. e. I conversed.

Id. 1. 31. Slubber not-] To slubber is to do any
thing carelessly, imperfectly.
Id. 1. 38. And even there, his eye being big with

Id.

tears,

Turning his face, he put his hand behind him, &c.] So curious an observer of nature was our author, and so minutely had he traced the operation of the passions, that many pas sages of his works might furnish hints to pain ters. It is indeed surprising that they do not study his plays with this view. In the passage before us, we have the outline of a beautife picture. MALONE.

1. 44. embraced heaviness-] The heavi ness which he indulges, and is fond of.

P. 224, c. 1, l. 53. it was my turquoise: I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor:] A turquoise is a precious stone found in the veins of the mountains on the confines of Persia to the east, subject to the Tartars. As Shylock had been married long enough to have a daughter grown up, it is plain he did not value this turquoise on account of the money for which he might hope to sell it, but merely in respect of the imaginary virtues formerly as cribed to the stone. It was said of the Turkey-stone, that it faded or brightened in its colour, as the health of the wearer increased or grew less; and other superstitious qualities