"I have made a modest choice of you, grave sir,
To be my ghostly father; and to you I fall for absolution."
288. The commencement of this Act is not marked in the original, although notice is given of its conclusion.—Collier.
289. This scriptural expression occurs very frequently in our ancient dramatic writers—
"Never this heart shall have the thoughtful dread
To die the death that, by your grace's doom,
By just desert shall be pronounc'd to me."
—Ferrex and Porrex, A. 4, S. 2.
"Either to die the death, or to abjure
For ever the society of men."
—Midsummer Night's Dream, A. 1, S. 1.
"Or else he must not only die the death,
But thy unkindness shall his death draw out
To lingering sufferance."
—Measure for Measure, A. 2, S. 4.
See Dr Johnson and Mr Steevens's notes on the two latter passages.
"Wert thou my bosom-love, thou dyst the death;
Best ease for madness is the loss of breath."
—Machin's Dumb Knight, A. 2.
290. Stir. Glossary to Mandevile's Voyage, 1725. It is a very common form.
291. Acknowledge.
292. Original has trade.