l. 48. 'language of the Pleas and Bench.' See Introductory Note for legal diction in love-sonnets.
Page 152, ll. 62-3. but men which chuse
Law practise for meere gaine, bold soule, repute.
The unpunctuated 'for meere gaine bold soule repute' of 1633-69 and most MSS. has caused considerable trouble to the editors and copyists. One way out of the difficulty, 'bold souls repute,' appears in Chambers' edition as an emendation, and before that in Tonson's edition (1719), whence it was copied by all the editions to Chalmers' (1810). Lowell's conjecture, 'hold soules repute,' had been anticipated in some MSS. There is no real difficulty. I had comma'd the words 'bold soule' before I examined Q, which places them in brackets, a common means in old books of indicating an apostrophe. The 'bold soule' addressed, and invoked to esteem such worthless people aright, is the 'Sir' (whoever that may be) to whom the whole poem is addressed. A note in HN prefixed to this poem says that it is taken from 'C. B.'s copy', i.e. Christopher Brooke's. It is quite possible that this Satyre, like The Storme, was addressed to him.
ll. 71-4. Like a wedge in a block, wring to the barre,
Bearing-like Asses; and more shamelesse farre, &c.
These lines are printed as in 1633, except that the comma after 'Asses' is raised to a semicolon, and that I have put a hyphen between 'Bearing' and 'like'. The lines are difficult and have greatly puzzled editors. Grosart prints from H51 and reads 'wringd', which, though an admissible form of the past-participle, makes no sense here. The Grolier Club editor prints:
Like a wedge in a block, wring to the bar,
Bearing like asses, and more shameless far
Than carted whores; lie to the grave judge; for ...