Cannot contain, &c.——for affection.
that is, because they are so affected. These poor lines have been new-worded, new stopped, and all to find the meaning of as plain a passage as can be written. “Some men cannot abide this thing, others have an aversion to another, which sometimes produces strange effects on their bodies, because their imagination is so strongly affected. Masterless passion, suffering, or feeling, compels them to follow the impulse.” The not understanding affection and passion in Shakspeare’s quaint sense has occasioned the difficulty.
There are many other corrupted and misunderstood passages that require as little attention, to set them right, as what has been exerted on this occasion, by
Yours sincerely, &c.
LETTER XXIII.
SCARCE a year passes but our language has some new trick played with it.—But let the sufferers speak for themselves.
To the People of Great-Britain.
The Petition of To and The,
Humbly sheweth,