15. Though examples of similar rant are quite unnecessary to support this opinion, let us nevertheless conclude by noticing those which the critics have adduced on this passage:
"This sort of hyperbole," says Malone, in his second edition, "was common among our ancient poets. So, in Eastward Hoe, 1609:
'Come drink up Rhine, Thames, and Meander, dry.'.
"So also in Greene's Orlando Furioso, 1599:
'Else would I set my mouth to Tigris' streames,
And drink up overflowing Euphrates.'
"Again, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta:
'As sooner shalt thou drink the ocean dry,
Than conquer Malta.'"
To which Boswell adds: