Act i. Speech of Melitus:—

Act i. Speech of Melitus:—

“Whose insolence and never yet match’d pride Can by no character be well express’d, But in her only name, the proud Erota.”

Colman’s note.

The poet intended no allusion to the word “Erota” itself; but says that her very name, “the proud Erota,” became a character and adage;—as we say, a Quixote or a Brutus: so to say an “Erota,” expressed female pride and insolence of beauty.

_Ib._ Speech of Antinous:—

“Of my peculiar honours, not deriv’d From _successary_, but purchas’d with my blood.”

The poet doubtless wrote “successry,” which, though not adopted in our language, would be, on many occasions, as here, a much more significant phrase than ancestry.

“The Little French Lawyer.”

Act i. sc. 1. Dinant’s speech:—

“Are you become a patron too? ’Tis a new one, No more on’t,” &c.

Seward reads:—

“Are you become a patron too? _How long_ _Have you been conning this speech?_ ’Tis a new one,” &c.

If conjectural emendation like this be allowed, we might venture to read:—

“Are you become a patron _to a new tune_?”

or,—

“Are you become a patron? ’Tis a new _tune_.”

_Ib._—

“_Din._ Thou wouldst not willingly Live a protested coward, or be call’d one?

_Cler._ Words are but words.

_Din._ Nor wouldst thou take a blow?”

Seward’s note.

O miserable! Dinant sees through Cleremont’s gravity, and the actor is to explain it. “Words are but words,” is the last struggle of affected morality.

“Valentinian.”