[43] The word spirit in our old poets was often pronounced as one syllable, and hence, in fact, the corruption sprite. This line is not measure without so reading it.
[44] This is the first line of Scudmore's answer; but in the old copy that and the eighteen lines following it are given to Nevill.
[45] [Old copy, then.]
[46] See note to "Hamlet," act i. sc. 2, for a collection of instances in which resolve means dissolve. Probably the latest example is to be found in Pope's "Homer"—
"The phantom said, then vanish'd from his sight,
Resolves to air, and mixes with the night."
—"Iliad," b. ii.
In some recent editions it has been thought an improvement to alter resolves to dissolves.
[47] [Old copy, under-born fortunes under their merits.]
[48] [Old copy reads—
"Or in strange arguments against ourselves,
Foul bawdry, and stark," &c.]