Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies by Samuel Johnson
page 51 of 292 (17%)
page 51 of 292 (17%)
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sense] Nym, I believe, is out of place, and we should read thus:
_Away, Sir corporal._ Nym. _Believe it. Page, he speaks sense._ II.i.135 (225,1) [I have a sword, and it shall bite upon my necessity.--He loves your wife] [V: bite--upon my necessity, he] I do not see the difficulty of this passage: no phrase is more common than--_you may_, upon a need, _thus_. Nym, to gain credit, says, that he is above the mean office of carrying love-letters; he has nobler means of living; _he has a sword, and upon his necessity_, that is, _when his need drives him to unlawful expedients_, his sword _shall bite_. II.i.148 (226,3) [I will not believe such a Cataian] [Theobald and Warburton had both explained "Cataian" as a liar.] Mr. Theobald and Dr. Warburton have both told their stories with confidence, I am afraid, very disproportionate to any evidence that can be produced. That _Cataian_ was a word of hatred or contempt is plain, but that it signified a _boaster_ or a _liar_ has not been proved. Sir Toby, in _Twelfth Night_, says of the Lady Olivia to her maid, "thy Lady's a _Cataian_;" but there is no reason to think he means to call her _liar_. Besides, Page intends to give Ford a reason why Pistol should not be credited. He therefore does not say, _I would not believe such a_ liar: for that he is a liar is yet to be made probable: but he says, _I would not believe such a Cataian on any testimony of his veracity_. That is, "This fellow has such an odd appearance; is so unlike a man civilized, and taught the duties of life, that I cannot credit him." To be a foreigner was always in England, and I suppose everywhere else, |
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