That none know't but yourself; for, if you do,
He'll take't away by act of parliament.
Mar. There is my hand, and, whilst I live or breathe,
No living wight shall know I am a duke,
[55] I do not know if any individual is here levelled at. Shakespeare has had his critics in all ages, who, like the inexpert tinker, have generally made two holes in patching one. In the end of the seventeenth century, his plays were usually acted in a sophisticated state, as altered by Tate, D'Avenant, Crowne, Ravenscroft, and others. The last, in the preface to his alteration of "Titus Andronicus," has the impudence to say, "That if the reader will compare the old play with his copy, he will find that none in all that author's works ever received greater alterations or additions, the language not only refined, but many scenes entirely new, besides most of the principal characters heightened, and the plot much increased."
[56] Alluding to the vulgar proverb, "One who is born under a three-penny planet will never be worth a groat."
[57] There would probably occur to the audience of the period, some recollection of the manner in which King James had been treated by Sunderland.
[58] Meaning, that the courtiers, although their eyes be as fatal as those of basilisks, are not subject to the fate of that fabulous serpent, which died if a man beheld it first.
[59] Our author uses the same old word, for a scramble, in the prologue to "The Widow Ranter."
Bauble and cap no sooner are thrown down,