Sc. 3., Helena says to the Countess,
speaking of her love for Bertram,--
"I know I love in vain; strive against hope;
Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve,
I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still."
It is not without hesitation that I venture to oppose MR. SINGER on a point
on which he is so well entitled to give an opinion. But I cannot help
thinking that MR. SINGER'S explanation, besides being somewhat too refined
and recondite, is less applicable to the general sense and drift of the
passage than that of Steevens, which Malone and Mr. Collier have adopted.
What I think wanting to Steevens' interpretation, is an increase, if I may
so express myself, of intensity. He takes the word, I conceive, in its
right bearing, but does not give it all the requisite force. I should
suggest that it means not merely "_recipient_, capable of receiving," but,
to coin a word, _captatious_, eager or greedy to receive, absorbing; as we
say _avidum mare_, or a _greedy gulf_. The Latin analogous to it in this
sense would be, not _capax_, or MR. SINGER'S _captiosus_, but _captax_, or
_captabundus_; neither of which words, however, occurs.
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