[66] [Old copy, where her.]
[67] [Reward.]
[68] Alluding to the vulture that gnawed the liver of Titius. In "Ferrex and Porrex," act ii. sc. 1, is this line—
"Or cruell gripe to gnaw my groaning hart."
—Reed. The allusion is rather to the vulture of Prometheus. —Steevens.
[69] Vipeream inspirans animam. The image is from Virgil. Rowe likewise adopts it in his "Ambitious Stepmother"—
"And send a snake to every vulgar breast."—Steevens.
[70] i.e., The wretch. The word miser was anciently used without comprehending any idea of avarice. See note on "King Henry VI, Part I.," edit. of Shakespeare, 1778, vol. vi. p. 279.—Steevens.
[71] "A stoop, or stowp; a post fastened in the earth, from the Latin stupa."—Ray's "North Country Words," p. 58, edit. 1742.
[72] Not that she is careful or anxious about, or regrets the loss of this life. So in Milton's "Paradise Lost," Bk. ix. line 171—