he modern text?"--_Specimen_, &c., p. xxiv.

The impression one would receive from Mr. Knight's note upon Theobald is,
that Shakspeare had his notion of _the shoes_ from "our old poets," while
_the learned_ had _theirs_ from _ex pede Herculem_; but where the analogy
lies, wherein the point, or what the application, is not explained.
Steevens' original note was superior to this, in so much that he quoted the
words of these old poets, thereby giving his readers an opportunity of
considering the justness of the deduction. The only set-off to this
omission by Mr. Knight is the introduction of "ex pede Herculem," the merit
of which is doubtless his own.

But it so happens that the size of the foot of Hercules has no more to do
with the real point of the allusion than the length of Prester John's;
therefore _ex pede Herculem_ is a most unfortunate
illustration,--particularly awkward in a specimen sample, the excellence of
which may be questioned. {29}

It is singular enough, and it says a great deal for Theobald's common
sense, that _he_ saw what the true intention of the allusion must be,
although he did not know how to reconcile it with the existing letter of
the text. He wished to preserve _the spirit_ by the sacrifice of _the
letter_, while Mr. Knight preserves the letter but misinterprets the
spirit.

Theobald's word "shows," in the sense of externals, is very nearly what
Shakspeare meant by _shoes_, except that _shoes_ implies a great deal more
than _shows_,--it implies the assumption of the character as well as the
externals of Hercules.

Out of five quotations from our old poets, given by Steevens in the first
edition of his note, there is not one in which _the shoes_ are not provided
with _feet_. But Malone, to his immortal honour, was the first to furnish
them with _hoofs_:

"Upon an ass; _i.e._ upon the hoofs of an ass."--_Malone._

But Shakspeare nowhere alludes to feet! His ass most probably _had feet_,
and so had Juvenal's verse (when he talks of his "satyra sumente
cothurnum"); but neither Shakspeare nor Juvenal dreamed of any necessary
connexion between the feet and the shoes.

Therein lies the difference between Shakspeare and "our old poets;" a
difference that ought to be sufficient, of itself, to put down the common
cry,--that Shakspeare borrowed his allusions from them. If so, how is it
that his expositors, with these old poets before their eyes all this time,
together with their own scholarship