deceive was
necessary, he thought a pretended verbal verity a double crime, equally
with the other a lie to the hearer, and at the same time an attempt to lie
to one's own conscience?

"Merry Wives Of Windsor."

Act i. sc. 1.--

"_Shal._ The luce is the fresh fish, the salt fish is an old coat."

I cannot understand this. Perhaps there is a corruption both of words and
speakers. Shallow no sooner corrects one mistake of Sir Hugh's, namely,
"louse" for "luce," a pike, but the honest Welchman falls into another,
namely, "cod" (_baccala_). _Cambrice_--"cot" for coat.

"_Shal._ The luce is the fresh fish--

_Evans._ The salt fish is an old cot."

"Luce is a fresh fish, and not a louse;" says Shallow. "Aye, aye," quoth
Sir Hugh; "the _fresh_ fish is the luce; it is an old cod that is the salt
fish." At all events, as the text stands, there is no sense at all in the
words.

_Ib._ sc. 3--

"_Fal._ Now, the report goes, she has all the rule of her husband's
purse; He hath a legion of angels.

_Pist._ As many devils entertain; and _To her, boy_, say I."

Perhaps it is--

"As many devils enter (or enter'd) swine; and _to her, boy_,
say I:"--

a somewhat profane, but not un-Shakespearian, allusion to the "legion" in
St. Luke's "gospel."

"Measure For Measure."

This play, which is Shakespeare's throughout, is to me the most
painful--say rather, the only painful--part of his genuine works. The comic
and tragic parts equally border on the {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~},--the one being disgusting,
the other horrible; and the pardon and marriage of Angelo not merely
baffles the strong indignant claim of justice--(for cruelty, with lust and
damnable baseness, cannot be forgiven, because we cannot conceive them as
being morally repented of); but it is likewise degrading to the character
of woman. Beaumont and Fletcher, who can follow Shakespeare in his errors
only, have presented a still worse, because more loathsome and
contradictory, instance of the same kind in the _Night-Walker_, in the
marriage of Alathe to Algripe. Of the counter-balancing beauties of
_Measure for Measure_, I need say nothing; for I have already remarked
that the play is Shakespeare's throughout.

Act iii. sc. 1.--

"Ay, but to die, and go we know not where," &c.