I.i.66 (228,9) [four of his five wits] In our author's time wit was the general term for intellectual powers. So Davies on the Soul.
Wit, seeking truth from cause to cause ascends.
And never rests till it the first attain;
Will, seeking good, finds many middle ends,
But never stays till it the last do gain.
And in another part,
But if a phrenzy do possess the brain,
It so disturbs and blots the form of things,
As fantasy proves altogether vain,
And to the wit, no true relation brings.
Then doth the wit, admitting all for true,
Build fond conclusions on those idle grounds;—
The wits seem to have reckoned five, by analogy to the five senses, or the five inlets of ideas.
I.i.79 (229,4) [the gentleman is not in your books] This is a phrase used, I believe, by more than understand it. To be in one's books is to be in one's codicils or will, to be among friends set down for legacies.
I.i.82 (230,5) [young squarer] A squarer I take to be a cholerick, quarrelsome fellow, for in this sense Shakespeare uses the word to square. So in Midsummer Night's Dream it is said of Oberon and Titalia, that they never meet but they square. So the sense may be, Is there no hot-blooded youth that will keep him company through all his mad pranks?
I.i.103 (231,6) [You embrace your charge] That is your burthen, your incumbrunce.
I.i.185 (233,7) [to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder] I know not whether I conceive the jest here intended. Claudio hints his love of Hero. Benedick asks whether he is serious, or whether he only means to jest, and tell them that Cupid is a good hare-finder, and Vulcan a rare carpenter. A man praising a pretty lady in jest, may shew the quick sight of Cupid, but what has it to do with the carpentry of Vulcan? Perhaps the thought lies no deeper than this, Do you mean to tell us as new what we all know already?
I.i.200 (234,8) [wear his cap with suspicion?] That is, subject his head to the disquiet of jealousy.