Is fashion'd for the journey, dull and heavy."
Timon, ii. 1.
We have elsewhere (Mer. of Ven. ii. 7) "dull lead." Moreover lead is not pale, and the Nurse would seem to have been rather a jolly, rubicund sort of woman; if fare be the right reading, it would almost require dull. On the other hand, we have in Chaucer (Tr. and Cr. ii), "With asshen pale as lede," and (Dream) "That pale he wax as any lede."
"They'll be in scarlet straight at any news."
I had been anticipated by Hanmer in reading 'straightway' and 'my'. Sidney Walker, too, I find, read 'at my next news.' In the errata of a work printed in 1754 I have met "for my r. any." I, however, read in preference,
"They will be straight in scarlet at my news."