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Table of Contents
  • MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH 1745
  • DEDICATION TO MRS. LENNOX'S SHAKESPEAR ILLUSTRATED 1753
  • PROPOSALS FOR PRINTING, BY SUBSCRIPTION, THE DRAMATICK WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1756
  • PREFACE 1765
  • AN ADDITION TO ROWE'S ACCOUNT OF SHAKESPEARE 1765
  • THE TEMPEST
  • A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM
  • THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
  • MEASURE FOR MEASURE
  • THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
  • AS YOU LIKE IT
  • LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
  • THE WINTER'S TALE
  • TWELFTH NIGHT
  • THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
  • THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
  • THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
  • MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
  • ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
  • KING JOHN
  • RICHARD II
  • 1 HENRY IV
  • 2 HENRY IV
  • THE LIFE OF KING HENRY V
  • 1 HENRY VI
  • 2 HENRY VI
  • 3 HENRY VI
  • RICHARD III
  • HENRY VIII
  • KING LEAR
  • TIMON OF ATHENS
  • TITUS ANDRONICUS
  • MACBETH
  • CORIOLANUS
  • JULIUS CAESAR
  • ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
  • CYMBELINE
  • TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
  • ROMEO AND JULIET
  • HAMLET
  • OTHELLO
  • [NOTES ON SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS cont.]
  • APPENDIX TO SHAKESPEARE, 1765
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TWELFTH NIGHT
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By Johnson, Samuel

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TWELFTH NIGHT1
I.i.1 DUKE. If musick be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.
[Warburton had objected that the appetite does not sicken and die through a surfeit, and so proposed “surfeiting/The app'tite, love may sicken.”]
It is true, we do not talk of the “death of appetite,” because we do not ordinarily speak in the figurative language of poetry; but that “appetite sickens by a surfeit” is true, and therefore proper.(II.353)
I.i.19 DUKE. O, when my eyes did see Olivia first, Methought, she purg'd the air of pestilence; That instant was I turn'd into a hart
This image evidently alludes to the story of Acteon, by which Shakespeare seems to think men cautioned against too great familiarity with forbidden beauty. Acteon, who saw Diana naked, and was torn in pieces by his hounds, represents a man, who indulging his eyes, or his imagination, with the view of a woman that he cannot gain, has his heart torn with incessant longing. An interpretation far more elegant and natural than that of Sir Francis Bacon, who, in his Wisdom of the Antients, supposes this story to warn us against enquiring into the secrets of princes, by showing, that those who knew that which for reasons of state is to be concealed, will be detected and destroyed by their own servants.(II.355)


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I.ii.25 CAPTAIN. A noble duke in nature, as in name.
I know not whether the nobility of the name is comprised in “duke,” or in “Orsino,” which is, I think, the name of a great Italian family.(II.357)
I.ii.41 VIOLA. O, that I serv'd that lady, And might not be deliver'd to the world
I wish I might not be “made publick” to the world, with regard to the “state” of my birth and fortune, till I have gained a “ripe opportunity” for my design.
Viola seems to have formed a very deep design with very little premeditation: she is thrown by shipwreck on an unknown coast, hears that the prince is a batchelor, and resolves to supplant the lady whom he courts.(II.357)
I.ii.55 VIOLA. I'll serve this duke
Viola is an excellent schemer, never at a loss; if she cannot serve the lady, she will serve the Duke.(II.358)
I.iii.70 SIR ANDREW. I am not such an ass, but I can keep my hand dry.
What is the jest of “dry hand,” I know not any better than Sir Andrew. It may possibly mean, a hand with no money in it; or, according to the rules of physiognomy, she may intend to insinuate, that it is not a lover's hand, a moist hand being vulgarly accounted a sign of an amorous constitution.(II.361)
I.iii.130 SIR ANDREW. Taurus? that's sides and heart.
Alluding to the medical astrology still preserved in almanacks, which refers the affections of particular parts of the body, to the predominance of particular constellations.(II.363)
I.iv.33 DUKE. And all is semblative—a woman's part.
That is, thy proper part in a play would be a woman's. Women were then personated by boys.(II.364)
I.v.8 MARIA. A good lenten answer
A “lean,” or as we now call it, a “dry” answer.(II.365)


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I.v.32 CLOWN.
Better be a witty fool than a foolish wit.
Hall, in his Chronicle, speaking of the death of Sir Thomas More, says, that he knows not whether to call him “a foolish wise man, or a wise foolish man.”2(II.366)
I.v.91 CLOWN.
Now Mercury indue thee with leasing, for thou speak'st well of fools!
[Warburton: pleasing]
I think the present reading more humourous. “May Mercury teach thee to lye since thou liest in favour of fools.”(II.367)
I.v.188 OLIVIA.
'tis not that time of the moon with me, to make one in so skipping a dialogue.
Wild, frolick, mad.(II.371)
I.v.192 VIOLA.
Some mollification for your giant, sweet lady.
Ladies, in romance, are guarded by giants, who repel all improper or troublesome advances. Viola, seeing the waitingmaid so eager to oppose her message, intreats Olivia to pacify her giant.(II.371)
I.v.292 OLIVIA. I do, I know not what; and fear to find Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind
I believe the meaning is; I am not mistress of my own actions, I am afraid that my eyes betray me, and flatter the youth without my consent, with discoveries of love.(II.375)
II.i.22 SEBASTIAN.
A lady, sir, tho' it was said she much resembled me, was yet of many accounted beautiful; but tho' I could not with such estimable wonder overfar believe that
“With such estimable wonder.” These words Dr. Warburton calls “an interpolation of the players,” but what did the players gain by it? they area sometimes guilty of a joke without the


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concurrence of the poet, but they never lengthen a speech only to make it longer. Shakespeare often confounds the active and passive adjectives. “Estimable wonder” is “esteeming wonder,” or “wonder and esteem.” The meaning is, that he could not venture to think so highly as others of his sister.(II.376)
II.ii.18 VIOLA.
That, sure, methought her eyes had lost her tongue
[Warburton emended to “crost,” as alluding to the effects of “the fascination of the eyes.”]
That the fascination of the eyes was called “crossing” ought to have been proved. But however that be, the present reading has not only sense but beauty. We say a man “loses” his company when they go one way and he goes another. So Olivia's tongue “lost” her eyes; her tongue was talking of the Duke and her eyes gazing on his messenger.(II.378)
II.ii.25 VIOLA. Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness, Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
“The pregnant enemy” is, I believe, the dexterous fiend, or enemy of mankind. 1773:(IV.171)
II.ii.27 VIOLA. How easie is it, for the proper false In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
This is obscure. The meaning is, “how easy is disguise to women”; how easily does “their own falshood,” contained in their “waxen” changeable “hearts,” enable them to assume deceitful appearances.
The two next lines are perhaps transposed, and should be read thus. For such as we are made, if such we be, Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we.(II.378)
II.iii.25 CLOWN.
I did impeticos thy gratility
This, Sir T. Hanmer tells us, is the same with “impocket thy gratuity.” He is undoubtedly right; but we must read, “I did impeticoat thy gratuity.” The fools were kept in long coats, to which the allusion is made. There is yet much in this dialogue which I do not understand.(II.380)


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II.iii.49 CLOWN.
“In delay there lyes no plenty”
[Warburton: decay]
I believe “delay” is right.(II.381)
II.iii.50 CLOWN.
“Then come kiss me, sweet, and twenty”
This line is obscure; we might read, “Come, a kiss then, sweet, and twenty.” Yet I know not whether the present reading be not right, for in some counties “sweet and twenty,” whatever be the meaning, is a phrase of endearment.(II.381)
II.iii.56 SIR TOBY.
But shall we make the welkin dance
That is, drink till the sky seems to turn round.(II.381)
II.iii.73 SIR TOBY.
Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey, and “Three merry men be we.” Am I not consanguineous? Am I not of her blood? Tilly valley, Lady!
“Peg-a-Ramsey” I do not understand. “Tilly valley” was an interjection of contempt, which Sir Thomas More's lady is recorded to have had very often in her mouth.3(II.382)
II.iii.86 MALVOLIO. squeak out your coziers catches without any mitigation
A “cozier” is a taylor, from coudre b to sew, part. cousu,c French.(II.383)
II.iii.113 SIR TOBY.
Go, Sir, rub your chain with crums.
I suppose it should be read, “rub your chin with crums,” alluding to what had been said before that. Malvolio was only a steward, and consequently dined after his lady.(II.384)


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II.iii.116 MALVOLIO. you would not give means for this uncivil rule
“Rule” is, method of life, so “misrule” is tumult and riot. II.384
II.iii.130
SIR TOBY. Possess us, possess us
That is, “inform us, tell us,” make us masters of the matter. II.384
II.iv.5 DUKE. More than light airs, and recollected terms
[“Recollected,” studied. WARBURTON]
I rather think that “recollected” signifies, more nearly to its primitive sense, “recalled,” “repeated,” and alludes to the practice of composers who often prolong the song by repetitions. II.386
II.iv.24 VIOLA. A little, by your favour.
The word “favour” ambiguously used.(II.387)
II.iv.32 DUKE. Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, Than women's are.
Though “lost and worn” may mean “lost and worn out,” yet “lost and won” being, I think, better, these two words coming usually and naturally together, and the alteration being very slight, I would so read in this place with Sir Tho. Hanmer. II.387
II.iv.44 DUKE. And the free maids that weave their thread with bones
“Free” is, perhaps, “vacant, unengaged, easy in mind.” II.388
II.iv.45 DUKE. it is silly sooth
It is plain, simple truth.(II.388)
II.iv.47 DUKE. Like the old age.
The “old age” is the “ages past,” the times of simplicity. II.388


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II.iv.56 SONG. “My part of death no one so true Did share it.”
Though “death” is a “part” in which every one acts his “share,” yet of all these actors no one is “so true” as I. II.388
II.iv.84 DUKE. But 'tis that miracle, and queen of gems, That nature pranks her in, attracts my soul.
[Warburton: pranks, her mind, attracts]
The “miracle and queen of gems” is her “beauty,” which the commentator might have found without so emphatical an enquiry. As to her mind, he that should be captious would say, that though it may be formed by nature it must be “pranked” by education.
Shakespeare does not say that “nature pranks her in a miracle,” but “in the miracle of gems,” that is, “in a gem miraculously beautiful.”(II.390)
II.v.12 SIR TOBY.
how now, my nettle of India?
“Nettle of India” means, I believe, nothing more than “precious nettle.”d(II.393)
II.v.36 MALVOLIO.
the Lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe.
[We should read “Trachy,” i.e., “Thrace.” WARBURTON]
What we should read is hard to say. Here is an allusion to some old story which I have not yet discovered.(II.394)
II.v.55 MALVOLIO.
wind up my watch
In our authour's time watches were very uncommon. When Guy Faux was taken, it was urged as a circumstance of suspicion that a watch was found upon him.(II.395)
II.v.59 FABIAN.
Tho' our silence be drawn from us with cares, yet, peace.
[Hanmer proposed the reading “be drawn from us by th' ears” but Warburton defended the reading “with cares.”]


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I believe the true reading is, “Though our silence be drawn from us with carts, yet peace.” In the Two Gentlemen of Verona, one of the clowns says, “I have a mistress, but who that is, a team of horses shall not plucke from me.” So in this play, “Oxen and wain-ropes will not bring them together.” II.395
II.v.81 MALVOLIO.
and thus makes she her great P's.
[In the direction of the letter which Malvolio reads, there is neither a C, nor a P, to be found. STEEVENS]
There may, however, be words in the direction which he does not read. To formal directions of two ages ago were often added these words, Humbly Present.(1773: IV.193)
II.v.105 SIR TOBY.
And with what wing the stannyel checks at it?
“Stannyel,” the name of a kind of hawk, is very judiciously put here for “stallion,” by Sir Thomas Hanmer.(II.397)
II.v.120 FABIAN.
And O shall end, I hope.
By “O” is here meant what we now call a “hempen collar.” II.397
II.v.170 SIR TOBY.
Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip
The word “tray-trip” I do not understand.(II.399)
III.i.49 CLOWN.
I would play Lord Pandarus
See our authour's play of Troilus and Cressida.(II.401)
III.i.61 VIOLA. And, like the haggard, check at every feather That comes before his eye.
The meaning may be, that he must catch every opportunity, as the wild hawk strikes every bird. But perhaps it might be read more properly, Not like the haggard.
He must chuse persons and times, and observe tempers, he must fly at proper game, like the trained hawk, and not fly at


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large like the “haggard,” to seize all that comes in his way. 1773:(IV.200)
III.i.64 VIOLA. For folly, that he wisely shews, is fit; But wise men's folly fall'n, quite taints their wit.
Sir Thomas Hanmer reads, “folly shewn.”(II.402)
[The sense is, “But wise men's folly, when it is once fallen into extravagance, overpowers their discretion.” Revisal.]
I explain it thus. The folly which he shews with proper adaptation to persons and times, “is fit,” has its propriety, and therefore produces no censure; but the folly of wise men when it “falls” or “happens,” taints their wit, destroys the reputation of their judgment.f 1773:(IV.201)
III.i.73 SIR TOBY.
she is the list of my voyage.
The “list” is the “bound, limit, farthest point.”(II.402)
III.i.85 VIOLA.
My matter hath no voice, Lady, but to your own most pregnant and vouchsafed ear.
[“Pregnant,” for ready. WARBURTON]
“Pregnant” is a word in this writer of very lax signification. It may here mean “liberal.”(1773: IV.202)
III.i.108 OLIVIA. I did send, After the last enchantment, (you did hear) A ring in chase of you.
[Nonsense. Read and point it thus, “After the last enchantment you did here,” i.e. after the enchantment, your presence worked in my affections. WARBURTON]
The present reading is no more nonsense than the emendation. II.404
III.i.121 VIOLA. No, not a grice
“A grice” is a “step,” sometimes written “greese” from degres, French.(II.404)
III.i.155 VIOLA. I have one heart, one bosom, and one truth, And that no woman has


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And that “heart” and “bosom” I have never yielded to any woman.(II.405)
III.i.157 VIOLA. save I alone.
These three words Sir Thomas Hanmer gives to Olivia probably enough.(II.405)
III.ii.39 SIR TOBY.
Go, write in a martial hand; be curst and brief
“Martial hand,” seems to be a careless scrawl, such as shewed the writer to neglect ceremony. “Curst,” is petulant, crabbed—a curst cur, is a dog that with little provocation snarls and bites.(1773: IV.207)
III.iv.53 OLIVIA. Why, this is a very midsummer madness.
Hot weather often turns the brain, which is, I suppose, alluded to here.(II.413)
III.iv.70 MALVOLIO.
I have lim'd her.
I have entangled or caught her, as a bird is caught with “birdlime.” II.414
III.iv.72 MALVOLIO.
Fellow! not Malvolio, nor after my degree, but fellow.
This word which originally signified “companion,” was not yet totally degraded to its present meaning; and Malvolio takes it in the favourable sense.(II.414)
III.iv.111 SIR TOBY.
Hang him, foul collier.
The devil is called “collier” for his blackness, “Like will to like, says the Devil to the collier.” 1773:(IV.215)
III.iv.134 SIR TOBY.
crown thee for a finder of madmen
This is, I think, an allusion to the “witch-finders,” who were very busy.(II.416)
III.iv.158 SIR TOBY.
“Fare thee well, and God have mercy upon one of our souls: he may have mercy upon mine, but my hope is better, and so look to thyself.”


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We may read, “He may have mercy upon thine, but my hope is better.” Yet the passage may well enough stand without alteration.
It were much to be wished, that Shakespeare in this and some other passages, had not ventured so near profaneness. II.417
III.iv.198 OLIVIA.
Here, wear this jewel for me, 'tis my picture
“Jewel” does not properly signify a single “gem,” but any precious ornament or superfluity.(II.418)
III.iv.224 SIR TOBY.
He is knight, dubb'd with unhack'd rapier, and on carpet consideration
That is, he is no soldier by profession, not a knight banneret, dubbed in the field of battle, but, “on carpet consideration,” at a festivity, or on some peaceable occasion, when knights receive their dignity kneeling not on the ground, as in war, but on a “carpet.” This is, I believe, the original of the contemptuous term a “carpet knight,” who was naturally held in scorn by the men of war.(II.419)
III.iv.261 SIR TOBY.
Why, man, he's very devil; I have not seen such a virago
“Virago” cannot be properly used here, unless we suppose Sir Toby to mean, I never saw one that had so much the look of woman with the prowess of man.(II.420)
III.iv.357 VIOLA. Methinks, his words do from such passion fly, That he believes himself—so do not I.
This, I believe, means, I do not yet believe myself, when, from this accident, I gather hope of my brother's life.(II.423)
IV.i.12 CLOWN.
I am afraid, this great lubber the world will prove a cockney.
That is, affectation and foppery will overspread the world. II.425


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IV.i.51 OLIVIA. Let thy fair wisdom, not thy passion, sway In this uncivil and unjust extent
“Extent” is, in law, a writ of execution, whereby goods are seized for the king. It is therefore taken here for “violence” in general.(II.426)
IV.i.54 OLIVIA. And hear thou there, how many fruitless pranks This ruffian hath botch'd up
[i.e. swelled and inflamed. A botch being a swelling or abscess. WARBURTON]
I fancy it is only a coarse expression for “made up,” as a bad taylor is called a “botcher,” and to botch is to make clumsily. II.426
IV.i.58 OLIVIA. He started one poor heart of mine in thee.
I know not whether here be not an ambiguity intended between “heart” and “hart.” The sense however is easy enough. “He that offends thee attacks one of my hearts”; or, as the antients expressed it, “half my heart.”(II.426)
IV.i.59 SEBASTIAN.
What relish is in this?
How does this taste? What judgment am I to make of it. II.427
IV.ii.46 MALVOLIO.
I am no more mad than you are, make the tryal of it in any constant question.
A settled, a determinate, a regular question.(II.428)
IV.ii.61 CLOWN.
Nay, I am for all waters
[A phrase taken from the actor's ability of making the audience cry either with mirth or grief. WARBURTON]
I rather think this expression borrowed from sportsmen, and relating to the qualifications of a complete spaniel.(II.429)
IV.ii.88 MALVOLIO.
They have here propertied me
They have taken possession of me as of a man unable to look to himself.(II.430)


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IV.ii.95 CLOWN.
Maintain no words with him, good fellow.—
Who, I, Sir? not, I, Sir. God b'w'you, good Sir Topas—
Marry, amen.—I will, Sir, I will.
Here the Clown in the dark acts two persons, and counterfeits, by variation of voice, a dialogue between himself and Sir Topas.—“I will, Sir, I will,” is spoken after a pause, as if, in the mean time, Sir Topas had whispered.(II.430)
IV.ii.109 CLOWN.
But tell me true, are you not mad, indeed, or do you but counterfeit?
If he was not mad, what did he counterfeit by declaring that he was not mad? The fool, who meant to insult him, I think, asks, “Are you mad, or do you but counterfeit?” That is, “You look like a madman, you talk like a madman: Is your madness real, or have you any secret design in it?” This, to a man in poor Malvolio's state, was a severe taunt.4(II.431)
IV.ii.119 CLOWN.
“In a trice, like to the old vice”
“Vice” was the fool of the old moralities. Some traces of this character are still preserved in puppet-shows, and by country mummers.(II.431)
IV.ii.127 CLOWN.
“Adieu, good man drivel.” [devil 73]
This last line has neither rhime nor meaning. I cannot but suspect that the fool translates Malvolio's name, and says, “Adieu, goodman mean-evil.” 1773:(IV.235)
IV.iii.11 SEBASTIAN. Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune So far exceed all instance, all discourse
[“Instance,” for sense; “discourse,” for reason. WARBURTON]
“Instance” is “example.”(II.432)


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IV.iii.14 SEBASTIAN. And wrangle with my reason that persuades me To any other trust, but that I'm mad
To any other belief, or confidence, to any other fixed opinion. II.432
IV.iii.28 OLIVIA. He shall conceal it, Whiles you are willing it shall come to note
“Whiles” is “until.” This word is still so used in the northern counties. It is, I think, used in this sense in the preface5 to the Accidence.g(II.433)
V.i.18 CLOWN.
so that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why, then the worse for my friends, and the better for my foes.
[Warburton: conclusion to be asked, is, if]
Though I do not discover much ratiocination in the Clown's discourse, yet, methinks, I can find some glimpse of a meaning in his observation, that “the conclusion is as kisses.” For, says he, “if four negatives make two affirmatives, the conclusion is as kisses”: that is, the conclusion follows by the conjunction of two negatives, which, by “kissing” and embracing, coalesce into one, and make an affirmative. What the “four” negatives are I do not know. I read, “So that conclusions be as kisses.” II.434
V.i.34 CLOWN.
the bells of St. Bennet
When in this play he mentioned the “bed of Ware,” he recollected that the scene was in Illyria, and added “in England”; but his sense of the same impropriety could not restrain him from the bells of St. Bennet.(II.435)
V.i.58 1 OFFICER.
Here in the streets, desperate of shame and state


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Unattentive to his character or his condition, like a desperate man.(II.436)
V.i.103 OLIVIA. It is as fat and fulsome to mine car, As howling after musick.
[Warburton: flat]
“Fat” means “dull”; so we say a “fatheaded” fellow; “fat” likewise means “gross,” and is sometimes used for “obscene”;h and “fat” is more congruent to “fulsome” than “flat.”(II.437)
V.i.158 DUKE. what wilt thou be, When time hath sow'd a grizzel on thy case?
“Case” is a word used contemptuously for “skin.” We yet talk of a “fox case,” meaning the stuffed skin of a fox.(II.440)
V.i.208 DUKE. One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons; A nat'ral perspective, that is, and is not!
A “perspective” seems to be taken for shows exhibited through a glass with such lights as make the pictures appear really protuberant. The Duke therefore says, that nature has here exhibited such a show, where shadows seem realities; where that which “is not” appears like that which “is.”(II.442)
V.i.288 CLOWN.
to read his right wits, is to read thus
Perhaps so,—“but to read his wits right is to read thus.” To represent his present state of mind, is to read a madman's letter, as I now do, like a madman. 1773:(IV.249)
V.i.305 OLIVIA.
One day shall crown th'alliance on't, so please you
[Revisal: an't so]
This is well conjectured; but “on't” may relate to the double character of sister and wife.(1773: IV.249)
V.i.325 MALVOLIO. To put on yellow stockings, and to frown Upon Sir Toby, and the lighter people
People of less dignity or importance.(II.445)


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This play is in the graver part elegant and easy, and in some of the lighter scenes exquisitely humorous. Ague-cheek is drawn with great propriety, but his character is, in a great measure, that of natural fatuity, and is therefore not the proper prey of a satirist. The soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comick; he is betrayed to ridicule merely by his pride. The marriage of Olivia, and the succeeding perplexity, though well enough contrived to divert on the stage, wants credibility, and fails to produce the proper instruction required in the drama, as it exhibits no just picture of life.(II.448)
Editorial Notes
1 The first edition of this play is in the Folio of 1623. The persons of the drama were first enumerated, with all the cant of the modern stage, by Mr. Rowe. JOHNSON.
This note follows the Dramatis Personae; by “cant” SJ appears to be referring to Rowe's descriptions of the characters, such as that of Sir Andrew Aguecheek as “a foolish knight, pretending to Olivia.”
2 Edward Hall (or Halle), The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre and York (1548), commonly known as Hall's Chronicle. The remark appears in the account of the 27th year of Henry VIII's reign.
a may be 73
3 SJ perhaps found this in Cresacre More's life of More: “She answering after her custom, 'Tilly vally, tilly vally.'” William Roper, Life of Sir Thomas More (1626), has “after her accustomed homely fashion,” affording a sense different from that in SJ's note.
b couser 65; corrected 73
c part. cousu added 73
d note om. 73
e draw 65; corrected 78
f Revisal's note and SJ's comment added 73
4 In the Appendix, perhaps in response to some communication, SJ wrote: “The reading may stand, and the sense continue such as I have given in the note.”
5 The Accidence refers to some form of William Lily's Grammar (1542), many times reprinted. While is so used in the fifth paragraph of “To the Reader,” although in some later editions until has been substituted for it.
g It ... Accidence added 73
h “fat” likewise ... “obscene” added 73
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Document Details
Document TitleTWELFTH NIGHT
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation DateN/A
Publ. Date1765
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorN/A
ClassificationGenre: Literary criticism; Genre: Commentary; Subject: Comedy
PrinterWilliam Strahan
PublisherJ. and R. Tonson, H. Woodfall, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes, Clark, and Collins, T. Longman, W. Johnston, T. Caslon, C. Corbet, T. Lownds
Publ. PlaceLondon
VolumeJohnson on Shakespeare
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TWELFTH NIGHT1
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