Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies by Samuel Johnson
page 35 of 398 (08%)
page 35 of 398 (08%)
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emendation. Suppose we read,
_If trembling I_ evade _it_. III.iv.110 (476,9) Can such things be,/And overcome us, like a summer's cloud,/Without our special wonder?] [W: Can't] The alteration is introduced by a misinterpretation. The meaning is not that _these things are like a summer-cloud_, but can such wonders as these pass over us without wonder, as a casual summer cloud passes over us. III.iv.112 (477,1) You make me strange/Even to the disposition that I owe] You produce in me an _alienation of mind_, which is probably the expression which our author intended to paraphrase. III.iv.124 (477,2) Augurs, and understood relations] By the word _relation_ is understood the _connection_ of effects with causes; to _understand relations_ as _an angur_, is to know how these things _relate_ to each other, which have no visible combination or dependence. III.iv.141 (479,5) You lack the season of all natures, sleep] I take the meaning to be, _you want sleep_, which _seasons_, or gives the relish to _all nature_. _Indiget somni vitae condimenti_. III.v.24 (480,8) vaporous drop, profound] That is, a drop that has _profound_, _deep_, or _hidden_ qualities. III.v.26 (480,9) slights] Arts; subtle practices. III.vi (481,1) _Enter Lenox, and another Lord_] As this tragedy, like the rest of Shakespeare's, is perhaps overstocked with personages, it is |
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