I.iii.77 (125,6) the tears/Belong to Egypt] To me, the queen of Egypt.

I.iii.90 (126,7) Oh, ny oblivion is a very Antony,/And I am all forgotten] [The plain meaning is, My forgetfulness makes me forget myself.  WARBURTON.] [Hanmer explained “all forgotten” as “apt to forget everything”] I cannot understand the learned critic’s explanation.  It appears to me, that she should rather have said,

  O my remembrance is a very Antony,
  And I am all forgotten.

It was her memory, not her oblivion, that, like Antony, vas forgetting and deserting her.  I think a slight change will restore the passage.  The queen, having something to say, which she is not able, or would not seem able to recollect, cries out,

  O my oblivion!—­’Tis a very Antony.

The thought of which I was in quest is a very Antony, is treacherous and fugitive, and has irrevocably left me,

  And I am all forgotten.

If this reading stand, I think the explanation of Hanmer must be received, (see 1765, VII, 122, 6)

I.iv.3 (127,9) One great competitor] Perhaps, Our great competitor.

I.iv.12 (128,1) as the spots of heaven,/More fiery by night’s blackness] If by spots are meant stars, as night has no other fiery spots, the comparison is forced and harsh, stars having been always supposed to beautify the night; nor do I comprehend what there is in the counter-part of this simile, which answers to night’s blackness.  Hanmer reads,

  —­spots on ermine
  Or fires, by night’s blackness.

I.iv.14 (128,2) purchas’d] Procured by his own fault or endeavour.

I.iv.21 (128,3) say, this becomes him, (As his composure must be rare, indeed, Whom these things cannot blemish] This seems inconsequent.  I read

  And his composure, &c.
  Grant that this becomes him, and if it can become him, he must
  have in him something very uncommon; yet, _&c._

I.iv.25 (128,4) So great weight in his lightness] The word light it one of Shakespeare’s favourite play-things.  The sense is, His trifling levity throws so much burden upon us.

I.iv.25 (129,5)

  If he fill’d
  His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
  Full surfeits, and the dryness of his bones,
  Call on him for’t]

Call on him, is, visit him.  Says Caesar, If Antony followed his debaucheries at a time of leisure, I should leave him to be punished by their natural consequences, by surfeits and dry bones.

I.iv.31 (129,6) boys; who being mature in knowledge] For this Hanmer, who thought the maturity of a boy an inconsistent idea, has put,

  —­who, immature in knowledge,

but the words experience and judgment require that we read mature; though Dr. Warburton has received the emendation.  By boys mature in knowledge, are meant, boys old enough to know their duty.