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Or as it were the pageants of the sea,-
Do over-peer the petty traffickers,

That curtsy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
Salan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture
forth,4

The better part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass,5 to know where sits the
wind;

Peering in maps, for ports, and piers, and

4

roads

And

-had I such venture forth,] For this word venture, Hanmer has substituted the plural, ventures.

E.

5 Plucking the grass, &c.] By holding up the grass, or any light body that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found.

"This way I used in shooting. When I was in "the mydde way betwixt the markes, which was "an open place, there I toke a fethere, or a lyttle light grasse, and so learned how the wind stood." Ascham. JOHNSON.

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6 Prying in maps,] One of the quartos reads peering. I have followed the other, because it prevents the jingle which otherwise occurs in the line. STEEVENS.

Peering in maps,] Thus the quarto printed by Hayes, that by Roberts, and the first folio. The quarto of 1637, a book of no authority, reads prying. MALONE.

To Peer-1. To come just in sight. 2. To look narrowly; to peep. JOHNS. DICTIONARY.

It is here obviously used in the latter of these senses, as an illustration of which, this passage is

found

And every object, that might make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt,
Would make me sad.

Salar.

My wind, cooling my broth, Would blow me to an ague, when I thought What harm a wind too great might do at sea. I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, But I should think of shallows, and of flats; And see my wealthy Andrew7 dock'd in sand, Vailing her high top lower than her ribs,8 To kiss her burial. Should I go to church,

And

found amongst the quotations in the Dictionary, Mr. Capell in his Glossary says likewise, "To peep 65 or peep out; to appear; shew itself:" and again, "the same as to pore, but less intensely." By Pope and Hanmer the same reading has been followed as by Mr. Steevens. E.

7 Andrew] The name of the ship. JOHNSON.

8 Vailing her high top lower than her ribs,] In Bullokar's English Expositor, 1616, to vail, is thus explained: "It means to put off the hat, to strike sail, "to give sign of submission." So, in Stephen Gosson's book, called Playes confuted in several Actions: They might have vailed and bended to the "king's idol."

66

Again, in Middleton's Blurt Master Constable, 1602: "I'll vail my crest to death for her dear sake." Again, in the Fair Maid of the West, 1613, by Heywood:

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it did me good

"To see the Spanish carveil vail her top "Unto my maiden flag."

A carveil is a small vessel. It is mentioned by Raleigh; and I often meet with the word in Jarvis Markham's English Arcadia, 1607. STEEVENS,

And see the holy edifice of stone,

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks?

Which touching but my gentle vessel's side,
Would scatter all her spices on the stream;
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ;9
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing? Shall I have the
thought

To think on this; and shall I lack the thought, That such a thing, bechanc'd, would make me sad?

But, tell not me; I know, Anthonio
Is sad to think upon his merchandize.
Anth. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune

for it,

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,

Nor

9 Enrobe the roaring waters, &c.] In this line there is a high degree of elegance in the expression, blended with a certain picturesque extravagance in the imagery, by which the fancy is very powerfully affected. E.

1 And, in a word, but even now worth this,] The construction in this place is strangely defective, nor is it easy to reduce it to any kind of grammatical order. It seems as if the adjective worth was to be referred to the pronoun " I," before the words " go "to church," as its substantive; and, even in that case, it will be necessary to make out the sense by a supplement of this sort, And, in a word, be, in imagination, but now worth this," &c. The speech, notwithstanding, abounds with beauties both of thought and expression. E.

66

66

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-and 'twere as easy, &c.] The implied effect of Salanio's reasoning seems to be of this nature;-Since you can be sad without any assignable cause, it would be well done to alter your conduct, and not suffer the want of an apparent motive to mirth, to prevent your being merry, as, for ought we are able to discover, the latter may be as easy as the former, and is certainly much more agreeable in its consequences. E.

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4

Now, by two-headed Janus,] By two-headed Janus is meant those antique bifrontine heads, which generally represent a young and smiling face, toge ther with an old and wrinkled one, being of Pan and Bacchus; of Saturn and Apollo, &c. These are not uncommon in collections of antiques; and in the books of the antiquaries, as Montfaucon, Spanheim, &c. WARBURTON.

He

Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time: Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,5

And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper;
And others of such vinegar aspect,

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,6

Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano. Salan. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,

Gratiano, and Lorenzo: Fare you well;
We leave you now with better company.
Salar, I would have staid till I had made you
merry,

If worthier friends had not prevented me.
Anth. Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own business calls on you,
And you embrace the occasion to depart.
Salar. Good morrow, my good lords.
Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we
laugh? say, when?

You

He chuses to swear by that divinity, whose image exhibited a representation of either kind of countenance, the laughing and the sad, according to what has been communicated in the foregoing note. E.

5 -peep through their eyes,] This gives us a very picturesque image of the countenance in laughing, when the eyes appear half shut. WARBURTON.

6 their teeth in way of smile,] Because such are apt enough to shew their teeth in anger. IDEm.

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