1800.] P. 8. to the Ajpendix to the Supplement to the, &e. 319 
<¢ Ghofts to Richard. Let us be /ead within 
thy bofom, Richard, 
And weigh thee down to ruin, fhame, and 
death.” : 
Richard III. A&. v. Scene 3. 
«¢ This Richard III. although one of the 
predeceffors of his prefent majefty, was a 
wicked and nefarious charaéter. The 
ghofts threatening him with /ead was 
probably the fevereft punifhment they 
could think of, or rather Shakefpeare for 
them, who appears to have confidered the 
paflage of lead from a gun in no very fa- 
vourable light. This was the fameRichard, 
too, in whofe defence Mr. Horace Wal- 
pole publithed his Hiftoric Doubts, as he 
calls his work, by a ftrange mifnomer, 
for it was bona fide an apology, and, like 
other apologies, was followed by a. /up- 
plement and anfwers. Thefe works were 
his amufement while refiding at Straw- 
berry hill, in the county of Middlefex, near 
Twickenham, where Pope had a houfe, 
and which is often pronounced and fome- 
times {pelt Twwit’zam. Norden mentions 
it thus, ** Neere the town enter into the 
Thamis, for Twicknam is as much as 
Twynam, quafi inter binos amnes fitum, a 
place {cytuate between two rivers.” When 
Mr. Malone enters into another difcufien 
on ancient fpellings, he will fee the necef- 
fity of ftudying this paflage. It is evi- 
dent from it, that the ancient Englifh 
writers had no certain mode of {fpelling, 
or ratlter mifpelling; for, if they had, 
how comes it that they can fpell the La- 
tin language better than their own ? 
€© Marcius. He that depends upon ye, 
Upon your favours, fwims with fis of lead.” 
; ( _Coriolanus. 
<*On fwimming we have an excellent lit- 
tle treatife from the pen of Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin, whilfta printerin London ; but 
afterwards an American Jacobin, and a 
polt-matfter *. 
6¢ Romeo. Feather of /ead.” 
Romeo and "fuliet. 
s¢At what time feathers werefirft intro- 
duced in beds is not certain. Had they 
been entered, like other light compofitions, 


quam-fera eft, anda book publifhed in 1553, 
beginning, ** Marie by the Grace. of God, 
‘Muene of England, &c.” I have already 
_ proved that experience is not to be purchafed 
for a trifle. , 
*® The revenue of the Poft-office has great- 
ly increafed of late years. The mails are 
Mow conveyed in coaches drawn by horfes. 
See the Duke of Newcaftle’s Treatife on 
 Borles. 
in Stationer’s-hall, I fhould have been able 
to trace their origin Very fatisfactorily. 
_That they came from birds is generally 
believed, and there is one fpecies which 
projects from the pofterior or hinder part 
of the anfev, or goofe, which has been 
found of great fervice in the purfuits of 
literature, and appears to be the “¢ feather 
of lead,” alluded to by Shakefpeare. The 
beft method of curing feathers is to lay 
them in a room, expofed to the fun; and 
when dried, to put them in bags, and 
beat them well with poles to get the dirt 
off. 
‘¢ Biron. For when would you, my liegey 
or you, or you, 
In /eaden contemplation, have found out 
Such fiery numbers ?”? 
Love's’ Labour Loft, AG. iv. Scene 33 
‘¢ Brutus. To you our fwords have leaden. - 
points.” |  Fulius Cefar, Ag. iii. Scene 6. 
“<The ufeof the broad-fword hath been 
brought to great perfection in the pro- 
grefs of the prefent war. Swords were 
among the moft ancient weapons of offence 
or defence. In what manner the /eadex 
points operated may be learned from what 
I have already written on the fubjecst of 
the MSS. Swords are now called by fo 
many various names that a Nomenclature 
Gladiofa is become a defideratum. The 
ufes of the new chemical nomenclature 
are univerfally acknowledged, although it 
appeais to have been invented by French- 
men}. 
6 Talbot. Then /eaden age, 
Quickned with youthful {pleen, and warlike 
rage.” 
Hirft Part Henry V1. Ad. iv. Scene 6. 
«Tt is remarkable that’none of the com- 
mentators on Shakefpeare have noted the 
impropriety of the epithet, youthful in 
this paflage, as if Jeaden age had not 
fpleen enouch of its own without borrow- 

ing that of youth, or as if the-fpleen of _ 
age was not as aétive and vifible as that 
of youth. Many perfons, indeed, are 
doubtful as to what time youth ceafes and — 
age begins. The manners of the prefent 
age have introduced much confufion on 

+ The London DireGory is a modern fpe- 
cies of nomenclature, but not very correé, 
which feems to be alluded to in the follow- 
ing lines from The Caftle of Knowledge ¢ 
‘<Though faultes oftetimes do mucheabounde, 
When men do leaft fuche chaunce fufpeéte : 
Yet good redrefle maye foone be founde, 
If faultes bee fpied and full detecte.” 
Imprinted at London by Reginalde Wolfe, 
1556, penes me. 
this 
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