Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies by Samuel Johnson
page 43 of 292 (14%)
page 43 of 292 (14%)
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As you wind off her love from him, make me the _bottom_ on which
you wind it. The housewife's term for a ball of thread wound upon a central body, is a _bottom of thread_. III.ii.68 (160,2) [lime] That is, _birdlime_. III.ii.98 (161,4) [_Duke_. Even now about it. I will pardon you] I will excuse you from waiting. IV.i.36 (163,2) [By the bare scalp of Robin Hood's fat friar] _Robin Hood_ was captain of a band of robbers, and was much inclined to rob churchmen. IV.i.46 (163,3) [awful men] Reverend, worshipful, such as magistrates, and other principal members of civil communities. IV.ii.12 (165,1) [sudden quips] That is, hasty passionate reproaches and scoffs. So Macbeth is in a kindred sense said to be _sudden_; that is, irascible and impetuous. IV.ii.45 (166,2) [_For beauty lives with kindness_] Beauty without kindness _dies_ unenjoyed, and undelighting. IV.ii.93 (168,4) [You have your wish; my will is even this] The word _will_ is here ambiguous. He wishes to _gain_ her _will_; she tells him, if he wants her _will_ he has it. IV.ii.130 (169,5) [But, since your falsehood shall become you well] This is hardly sense. We may read, with very little alteration, But since _you're false_, it shall become you well. |
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