O, my Antonio, I do know of these, 3 For saying nothing; who, I am very sure 3, If they should speak, would almost damn those ears', Which, hearing them, would call their brothers, fools. I'll tell thee more of this another time: LOR. Well, we will leave you then till dinnertime: I must be one of these same dumb wise men, GRA. Well, keep me company but two years more*, Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue. *First folio, mo; quartos, moe. sion. So, in Acolastus, a comedy 1540: " dogge barke at mine ententes." STEEVENS. - nor there shall no 3-WHO, I am very sure,] The old copies read: " - when, I am very sure." Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. 4 — would almost DAMN those ears,] Several old editions have it dam, damme, and daunt. Some more correct copies, damn. The author's meaning is this: That some people are thought wise, whilst they keep silence; who, when they open their mouths, are such stupid praters, that the hearers cannot help calling them fools, and so incur the judgment denounced in the Gospel. THEOBALD. It is dam (which is merely the old spelling for damn) in the first folio and both the quartos; damme, in the second folio. BOSWELL. s I'll end my EXHORTATION after dinner.] The humour of this consists in its being an allusion to the practice of the puritan preachers of those times; who, being generally very long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their sermon called the exhortation, till after dinner. WARBUrton. GRA. Let me play the Fool": Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice 9 Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond; With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion *So quartos; first folio, an oracle. "A worldling here, I must hie to my grave; Again, in Sidney's Arcadia, book ii.: "She found the world but a wearisome stage to her, where she played a part against her will." STEEVENS. Let me play the Fool:] Alluding to the common comparison of human life to a stage-play. So that he desires his may be the fool's or buffoon's part, which was a constant character in the old farces; from whence came the phrase, to play the fool. 9 There are a sort of men, whose visages WARBURTON. DO CREAM] The poet here alludes to the manner in which the film extends itself over milk in scalding; and he had the same appearance in his eye when writing a foregoing line: "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." So, also, the author of Bussy d'Ambois : "Not any wrinkle creaming in their faces." HENLEY. - a wilful STILLNESS] i. e. an obstinate silence. MALONE. let no dog bark!] This seems to be a proverbial expres O, my Antonio, I do know of these, For saying nothing; who, I am very sure3, If they should speak, would almost damn those ears1, Which, hearing them, would call their brothers, fools. I'll tell thee more of this another time: Come, good Lorenzo :-Fare ye well, a while; LOR. Well, we will leave you then till dinnertime : I must be one of these same dumb wise men, GRA. Well, keep me company but two years more*, Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue. *First folio, mo; quartos, moe. nor there shall no sion. So, in Acolastus, a comedy 1540: “ - when, I am — would almost DAMN those ears,] Several old editions have it dam, damme, and daunt. Some more correct copies, damn. The author's meaning is this: That some people are thought wise, whilst they keep silence; who, when they open their mouths, are such stupid praters, that the hearers cannot help calling them fools, and so incur the judgment denounced in the Gospel. THEOBALD. It is dam (which is merely the old spelling for damn) in the first folio and both the quartos; damme, in the second folio. BOSWELL. 5 I'll end my EXHORTATION after dinner.] The humour of this consists in its being an allusion to the practice of the puritan preachers of those times; who, being generally very long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their sermon called the exhortation, till after dinner. WARBURTON. ANT. Farewell*: I'll grow a talker for this gear. GRA. Thanks, i'faith; for silence is only commendable In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendible. [Exeunt GRATIANO and LORENzo. ANT. Is that any thing now?? His BASS. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them; and, when you have them, they are not worth the search. ANT. Well; tell me now, what lady is the same To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, 6 *So quarto R. the folio and quarto H. fare you well. for this GEAR.] In Act II. Sc. II. the same phrase occurs again : "If fortune be a woman, she's a good wench for this gear." This is a colloquial expression perhaps of no very determined import. STEEVENS. So, in Sapho and Phao, a comedy by Lyly, 1591: "As for you, Sir boy, I will teach you how to run away; you shall be stript from top to toe, and whipt with nettles; I will handle you for this geare well: I say no more." Again, in Nashe's Epistle Dedicatory to his Apologie of Pierce Pennilesse, 1593: "I mean to trounce him after twenty in the hundred, and have a bout with him, with two staves and a pike for this geare." MALONE. 7 Is that any thing Now?] All the old copies read,—is that any thing now? I suppose we should read—is that any thing new? JOHNSON. The sense of the old reading is-Does what he has just said amount to any thing, or mean any thing? STEEvens. Surely the reading of the old copies is right. Antonio asks: Is that any thing now? and Bassanio answers, that Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing,-the greatest part of his discourse is not any thing. TYRWHITT. So, in Othello: "Can any thing be made of this?" The old copies, by a manifest error of the press, read-It is that, &c. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. 8 That you to-day promis'd to tell me of? ANT. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it; And, if it stand, as you yourself still do, Within the eye of honour, be assur'd, My purse, my person, my extremest means, Lie all unlock'd to your occasions. BASS. In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the self-same flight a more swelling PORT, &c.] Port, in the present instance, comprehends the idea of expensive equipage, and external pomp of appearance. Thus, in the first Iliad, as translated by Chapman, 1611: "all the gods receiv'd, "(All rising from their thrones) their sire; attending to his court "None sate when he rose; none delaid, the furnishing his port, "Till he came neare: all met with him and brought him to his So, in Sidney's Arcadia: "My port and pomp did well become a king of Argos' daughter." MALONE. 9 - when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow, &c.] This thought occurs also in Decker's Villanies discovered by Lanthorne and Candlelight, &c. 4to. bl. 1. : “And yet I have seene a Creditor in Prison weepe when he beheld the Debtor, and to lay out money of his owne purse to free |