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      A carat character is used to denote superscription.
      The character(s) enclosed by curly brackets following
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THE SHAKESPEARE-EXPOSITOR:
AN AID TO THE PERFECT UNDERSTANDING OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.

by

THOMAS KEIGHTLEY,

Editor of the 'Plays and Poems of Shakespeare.'







London:
J. Russell Smith, 36 Soho Square.
1867.

Printed by Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.




PREFACE.


THE object of this volume is to form a manual for the use chiefly of
those who, not being possessed of a voluminous annotated edition, are
fain to content themselves with the simple text. But even those who
have a perfect Shakespeare library cannot well dispense with it; for my
original corrections, which are very numerous, are nowhere else to be
found.

It was originally intended to form the complement to my Edition of
the Plays, and as such I had announced its immediate appearance. Why
it did not appear has been explained in Notes and Queries (3 S. vii.
175), and the statement there made was incontrovertible; for it was
the simple truth. The delay, however, has been no injury, but rather
a benefit to it. Its relation to the Edition now is that, while it
is perfectly independent and suited to any edition, the Edition
without it is somewhat like what a Euclid would be without diagrams or
demonstrations, as the reader will meet with numerous alterations of
the text, and be quite ignorant of how or why they were made. Moreover
the errors and oversights which escaped me in it will be found here all
corrected.

To my own Edition I regard it, then, as indispensable; and if I were
to mention any other to which it is peculiarly adapted, I should say
that which is named the Globe; for it contains a copious and excellent
Glossary--that in mine, which is not by me, is scanty--which, with the
Notes and Index of this volume, will leave little unexplained.

It is certainly very disheartening to those who devote their time and
labour to the elucidation of our Classic authors to find how small the
number is of those readers who are at all anxious to understand them
perfectly. The great majority, in fact, are quite satisfied if they
can get at the general meaning of a difficult or obscure passage, and
so glide over it. Still I am not without hope that among the tens of
thousands who buy, and I presume read, these Plays, there may be found
a few, a very few, hundreds who may wish to understand what they read,
and will therefore possess themselves of this volume. Profit is not
dreamed of, but it is hoped that loss may not be incurred.

When I was preparing my Edition of Milton's Poems, I fell into the
habit of correcting the text of our old writers. Hence I have corrected
copies of Chaucer, Spenser, the dramatists and others, which mayhap may
prove useful to future editors. The corrections of Shakespeare proved
so numerous as to form the present volume; but the idea of editing his
works never entered my mind till it was proposed to me, when I fear my
vanity became interested. I had been confessedly the best editor of
Milton, I might perchance stand in the same relation to Shakespeare.
My wish had been to be to the Faerie Queen what I had been to Paradise
Lost; and I may yet, perhaps, communicate some remarks on it in the
pages of Notes and Queries.

It was on the first edition of Collier's Shakespeare that I made my
corrections, and of previous emendations, if not noticed there, I knew
nothing. I afterwards read the Variorum and later editions; hence I
shall often be found saying that I had been anticipated. This was
always a source of pleasure to me, as a proof of the correctness of my
emendation. Porson, we are told, actually shed tears of joy when on
meeting with a copy of Aristophanes with MS. notes by Bentley, he found
his corrections had so frequently been anticipated. His delight was
still greater when on the discovery of the Ravenna MS. he saw so many
of his readings confirmed.

I must confess that experience has given me a good deal of confidence
in my own critical powers, and I am apt to fancy that when I cannot
conquer a difficulty it is nearly insuperable. Hence I have been little
anxious about learning what has been written by late critics.

At the risk, or rather I should say with the certainty, of being
charged with egotism, I will here state the following fact; for why
should truth be concealed? As I was one day, many years ago, discussing
some points in my 'Tales and Popular Fictions' with the late Mr. Douce,
he suddenly exclaimed "Oh, that you had but _my_ knowledge! What
discoveries you _would_ make!" I believe he was right, and that, under
more favourable circumstances, I should have done much; but it was not
to be.

I have endeavoured to grapple with every difficulty, to leave, if
possible, no knot unloosed. Some of my corrections must (many, I think,
probably will) be admitted into the text. At the same time, I freely
confess that some of these emendations are merely desperate remedies
for desperate diseases; and it may be that future critics may have more
success than I have had. I have, I believe, advanced the criticism of
Shakespeare some stages; and if succeeding critics follow the path I
have traced, the Plays will perhaps be, ere long, brought as near their
original state as is possible.

I regard the Introduction to the Notes as the most valuable part of
this volume, as I have there endeavoured to reduce emendatory criticism
to rule and law. I would earnestly recommend the reader to make himself
master of it before using the Notes. It would also perhaps be well to
do the same with the Index. The chief object of the Life, I may add, is
to remove suspicion respecting the poet's private character.

The portions of the text given in the Notes are always that of the
original editions, unless when it is otherwise expressed. I have made
them as brief as possible, as this book will, of course, only be read
in conjunction with the Plays themselves. I have only occasionally
given the metrical arrangement; those who would enjoy the pleasure
of reading the Plays in perfect metric order must read them in my
Edition. Finally, in very obvious corrections I have not deemed it
necessary to state that I had been anticipated.

This is the last of my works; my literary life here terminates. I am
fast approaching the utmost limit set to human life by the Psalmist, my
powers are necessarily on the decline, and prudence counsels obedience
to the precept:

    "Solve senescentem mature sanus equum, ne
    Peccet ad extremum ridendus, et ilia ducat."

                                                                   T. K.

  _Belvedere, Kent_,
  _December 20, 1866_.

I have also contributed to English literature:--

The Poems of John Milton with Notes. Two vols. 8vo, 21_s._

An Account of the Life, Opinions, and Writings of John Milton, with an
Introduction to Paradise Lost. 8vo, 10_s._ 6_d._




CONTENTS.


                                                        Page

  Life of Shakespeare                                     1

  Editions, dates, and origins of Shakespeare's Plays     20

  THE TEXT CORRECTED AND ELUCIDATED.

  INTRODUCTION.

  I. The Text, 45. II. The Verse, 76.

  COMEDIES.

      The Comedy of Errors, 89--The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 96--Love's
        Labour's Lost, 101--All's Well that ends Well, 113--Midsummer
        Night's Dream, 130--Taming of the Shrew, 138--Merchant of Venice,
        148--As You Like it, 155--Much Ado about Nothing, 163--Merry
        Wives of Windsor, 168--Twelfth Night, 174--Measure for Measure,
        181--Winter's Tale, 197--The Tempest, 208.

  HISTORIES.

      King John, 220--King Richard II., 226--King Henry IV., Part I.,
        233--King Henry IV., Part II., 240--King Henry V., 244--King
        Henry VI., Part I., 251--King Henry VI., Part II., 255--King
        Henry VI., Part III., 259--King Richard III., 261--King Henry
        VIII., 266.

  TRAGEDIES.

      Romeo and Juliet, 274--Hamlet, 286--Othello, 298--Julius Cæsar,
        307--Antony and Cleopatra, 310--King Lear, 322--Macbeth,
        328--Troilus and Cressida, 338--Timon of Athens, 348--Coriolanus,
        359--Cymbeline, 373.

  ADDITIONAL NOTES,                                       384.

  EXPLANATORY INDEX,                                      385.




ERRATA.

Page 122, "If thou engrossest," etc. This note should come after the
two next.

Page 302, line 2, _for_ pulling _read_ putting.




LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE.


A FAMILY of the name of Shakespeare--pronounced, it would seem,
Sh[)a]ksp[)e]r--was numerous in Warwickshire during the middle ages.
About the middle of the sixteenth century John, the son of Richard
Shakespeare, a farmer residing at Snitterfield in that county, was
settled at Stratford-on-Avon, and was--though it appears he could
neither read nor write--a leading member of the Corporation. Various
accounts are given of his trade and occupation. We have proof that in
1556 he was a glover; he was afterwards a farmer or yeoman; Aubrey says
he was a butcher; and according to Rowe, he was "a considerable dealer
in wool." He would seem in fact to have been one who was ready to turn
to any honest occupation by which money might be made.

In 1557 John Shakespeare married Mary, the youngest daughter of Robert
Arden of Wilmecote, a man of good landed property, and belonging to a
family of no mean note in the county of Warwick. By her he had either
eight or ten children, of whom we need only notice William, the third,
who was baptized April 26th, 1564; but the exact date of his birth is
unknown. As his father was a member of the Corporation, it is highly
probable that, as Rowe asserts, he was sent to the Free School of the
town. How long he continued at it, and what he learned there, are
matters on which we have no certain information. He had probably an
ordinary English education, and he certainly, as his writings show,
had learned some Latin; but he does not seem to have got beyond the
elementary books, and of Greek, if it was taught in the school, he
learned nothing whatever. We are told by one authority that he acted as
an assistant in the school; by another that his father took him away
early to assist in his own business of wool-stapling or, as the former,
namely Aubrey, says, of butchering, who adds that "when he killed a
calf he would do it in a high style, and make a speech,"--of course
a mere figment. Malone conjectures--and in my opinion not without a
show of probability--from the frequent occurrence of law-terms in his
dramas, and his correct appreciation of their meaning, that he may have
been for some time in the office of an attorney in Stratford. This,
however, is all uncertainty; but at all events, judging from the turn
of his mind, I should be inclined to say that, beside his accurate
observation of men and manners, he read all the books he could obtain
in his native town.

In the registry of the diocese of Worcester is preserved a document
bearing date November 28, 1582, securing the Bishop against injury
in the case of his licensing certain persons to be married with once
asking of the banns. These persons are William Shakespeare, then in his
nineteenth year, and Anne Hathaway, then apparently aged twenty-six
years; for she died in 1623 at the age of sixty-seven years: she was
therefore about eight years her husband's senior. When their marriage
was celebrated we are unable to learn; but the baptism of Susanna,
their first child, took place on the 26th of May, 1583, just six months
after the date of the document quoted above. The natural inference is
obvious. Shakespeare, like Burns, knew his wife before the law had made
her his; and, like him, he acted honourably towards her.

This, perhaps the only imprudent act of Shakespeare's life, has been
variously judged. Nothing, we know, is more common than for young men
to fall in love with women older than themselves; and among the class
of society to which both parties belonged, instances were, and are,
not uncommon of the rules of prudence being transgressed in moments of
weakness, while the moral principle remains untainted. We know that
Burns's "Bonnie Jean" proved a most exemplary wife; and one of the
most truly virtuous and unaffectedly modest women I ever knew was one
who had acted thus imprudently. The bride of the future poet was Anne,
daughter of Richard Hathaway, a husbandman, or substantial yeoman, of
Shottery, a hamlet about a mile from Stratford, an intimate friend, it
would appear, of John Shakespeare's; and hence we may presume that an
intimacy prevailed also between the two families, and the not unlikely
result was what has been stated.

We now have Shakespeare, at the commencement of his twentieth year,
a married man, and the father of a child. On the 2nd of February,
1584-85, before he had completed his twenty-first year, were baptized
Hamnet and Judith, twins. We hear of no more children of William and
Anne Shakespeare; and soon after--most probably in 1586--Shakespeare
left Stratford, and set out to seek his fortune in the metropolis.
According to Rowe, he fled to escape from the persecution of Sir
Thomas Lucy, of Charlecote-park, near Stratford, from whose park he
and some other young men had stolen deer--a not unusual, and not very
discreditable practice in those days. The knight, we are told, was
indignant and vindictive, and the transgressor took his revenge by
writing and affixing to the gate of Charlecote-park a satirical ballad,
of which the first stanza has been preserved, and which, if genuine, is
mere doggrel and utterly unworthy of Shakespeare. He may, however, have
so written it on purpose. This is said to have added oil to the fire
of the knight's rage, and to escape from it the author fled to London.
His biographers in general are of opinion that his resentment against
his persecutor did not die out, and that after his death and the lapse
of many years he ridiculed him in the character of Justice Shallow in
The Merry Wives of Windsor. But this was little in the character of
"gentle" Shakespeare; and the whole theory is refuted by the fact that
the allusion to "the dozen white _luces_" in the Justice's coat-armour,
on which it is founded, does not occur in the original form of that
play. It may have been made afterwards by way of joke, and without any
malignity.

There is certainly no inherent improbability in this narrative; and it
may have had its effect in determining Shakespeare to quit Stratford.
But that it should have been the sole cause of his doing so is what I
am disposed to question. We must recollect that Shakespeare was a man
endowed with genius of the very highest order, and that he must have
aspired to a wider field for its exercise than his native town could
afford, that he had a family, and that his circumstances were very
slender, while those of his father, as we have sufficient evidence,
had been greatly reduced. Nor does it appear that he--who, as has
been already observed, except in the case of his marriage, was always
prudent--set out for London without having a definite object in view.

Now various companies of players, as we learn, were in the habit of
visiting Stratford, like other country towns, and performing there
in the Guildhall. It can be hardly doubted that Shakespeare, in
whom dramatic genius was inborn, must have been excited by these
performances, however low the merit of the pieces--perhaps even have
felt that he was capable of producing something superior to them of the
same kind. He probably then made the acquaintance of the players, one
of whom, Burbage, was, it is supposed, a native of the town, and some
others, natives of the county, and proposed embracing their profession.
He was young, handsome, of animated and even brilliant conversation.
There can be little doubt, then, that he met with encouragement, and
was readily received among them. This was, it is most likely, in the
year 1586, when he was two-and-twenty. Rowe says "he was received into
the company at first in a very mean rank;" and in 1693 the parish-clerk
of Stratford, a man eighty years of age, told a person named Dowdall,
that he "was received into the playhouse as a serviture." Of course,
like almost every other actor, he began at the bottom, having as it
were to serve his apprenticeship. This, then, seems to be all true
enough; not so another tradition, related by Johnson as coming from
Pope and Rowe, namely, that his first occupation in London was holding
gentlemen's horses at the door of the playhouse, in which business he
succeeded so well that he hired boys to act under him. How little like
Shakespeare this is need hardly be said.

A question which cannot be answered very satisfactorily is, What did
Shakespeare at this time do with his wife and children? The probability
would seem to be, that he left them at Stratford, and, as is most
likely, at his father's, till he should see what success he was likely
to meet with in London.

It would seem that for the first few years he was merely an actor; and
if the Ellesmere Papers, published by Mr. Collier, be genuine, he had
in 1589 become a sharer in the Blackfriars Theatre. Before this date he
may have begun to try his hand at making additions and alterations in
the plays of others. Of these we seem to have examples in the Second
and Third Parts of King Henry VI.; and there is a manifest allusion
to this practice of his in the following passage of Green's Groat's
Worth of Wit, bought with a Million of Repentance, published after
his death in 1592. Green is addressing his fellow dramatists Marlow,
Peele, and others; and he says, "There is an upstart crow, beautified
with our feathers, that with his _Tygre's heart wrapt in a player's
hyde_, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the
best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own
conceit the only _Shake-scene_ in a country." Here the allusion to
Shakespeare's name is quite plain, and the line in italics is a parody
on one in one of the plays which he appears to have thus treated. As
this allusion seems to have caused just offence, Chettle, who had given
Green's work to the world, took occasion shortly after in a work of
his own, his Kind-hart's Dream, to make an apology, in which he says
of Shakespeare, "Myself have seen his demeanour, no less civil than he
excellent in the quality he professes. Besides, divers of worship have
reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty, and his
facetious grace in writing that approves his art." We thus see that
Shakespeare was regarded as an excellent player (for _quality_ then
answered to _profession_ at the present time), as an elegant writer
(_facetious_ being employed in its classic sense), and as an upright
and honourable man, and further, perhaps, as moving in what we should
term good society.

Moreover this work of Chettle's, published at the end of 1592 or
beginning of 1593, furnishes what I regard as a proof that Shakespeare
had not at that time brought an original piece on the stage; for
speaking of Green he says, "He was of singular pleasance, the very
supporter, and--to no man's disgrace be this intended--_the only
comedian of a vulgar writer in this country_;" of which last words the
plain meaning is, that Green had as yet been the only tolerable writer
of English comedy. Now we have sufficient means for judging of Green's
comic powers; and surely no man in his senses would have ventured to
write these words, had he been ever so prejudiced, if Shakespeare had
already produced the Comedy of Errors or The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
We may therefore venture to assert that neither of these plays was
acted earlier than 1593.

We may here, by the way, notice some curious coincidences between
Shakespeare and the great comic poet of France, Molière. There is some
reason to suppose that both of them were originally connected with the
law; they both went on the stage at, we may say, the age of twenty, or
a little later. Shakespeare was in his thirtieth year when he produced
his first original play, Molière in his thirty-second when he wrote
L'Etourdi; but he had previously given some short pieces. Finally,
the former died at the close, the latter at the commencement of his
fifty-second year.

The allusion to the poet's literary character in Kindhart's Dream was
in all probability to his Venus and Adonis, which was published in
1593, but which may, as was the custom in those days, have previously
circulated in manuscript among his "private friends;" or it may have
been to his Sonnets, which, as we shall presently see, thus circulated
at this time. It is impossible to say when this poem was written; but
there certainly is no necessity for supposing, with Mr. Collier, that
it was composed at Stratford. Shakespeare's mind easily retained the
requisite rural imagery; and with his power of rapid composition and
command of language, a very few weeks would suffice at any time for
its production. This poem, which he terms his "unpolished lines," and
"the first heir of my invention," was dedicated to Henry Wriothesly,
Earl of Southampton. It met with general applause, and was followed,
in 1594, by Lucrece, also dedicated to the same accomplished nobleman.
The dedication, commencing with "The love I dedicate to your lordship
is without end," would seem to intimate some degree of friendship on
both sides; and as Shakespeare's private character, as we have seen,
appears to have been most respectable, and Southampton was a well-known
admirer of the drama, some kind of intimacy between him and the poet
is not by any means improbable. There is also nothing incredible in
what Rowe says had been "handed down by Sir William Davenant," of Lord
Southampton's having "at one time given him £1000 to enable him to
go through with a purchase which he heard he had a mind to." But the
amount must be much exaggerated; for none of Shakespeare's purchases
that we hear of ever came to so large a sum. Mr. Collier thinks,
with some probability, that, as it appears that the Globe Theatre on
the Bankside was built in 1594 by the company to which Shakespeare
belonged, Lord Southampton may have given him as much money as his
share of the cost came to, which could not well have been more than a
few hundred pounds.

It was probably also about this time that he wrote his very enigmatic
Sonnets, which Meres, in 1598, calls "his sugred sonnets among his
private friends," meaning perhaps which only circulated privately in
manuscript. I assign them this early date because their style and
language so strongly resemble those of his two poems and his early
plays, such as Love's Labour's Lost. They were not published till 1609,
and then not by the author himself. They seem to have been collected
from those who had the manuscripts by a Mr. W. H., whom therefore
the publisher in his dedication terms "the only begetter" of them,
"begetter" in the language of the time being getter, collector, &c. It
has been conjectured, with great probability, that many of them were
written in the person of Lord Southampton for the lady with whom he was
enamoured; and others may have been written for other persons, a usual
custom then of the poets of France and England. I feel almost convinced
that few or none of them were written in the poet's own person. Thus in
1598 he was only thirty-four years old, and yet some of them are in the
character of a man grey and advanced in years; even in 1609 he was only
forty-five.

Along with the Sonnets was published a poem named A Lover's Complaint,
of the genuineness of which I am rather dubious. There had already
appeared, in 1599, under the name of Shakespeare, a catchpenny
collection called The Passionate Pilgrim, in which are two of his
manuscript sonnets, and three of those published the preceding year in
Love's Labour's Lost, all of them with an altered text.

An account of the dates, &c., of Shakespeare's plays will follow this
Life. Here, therefore, it need only be remarked that they extended over
a space of less than twenty years (from 1592 to 1610?), during which
time he had an active share in the management of the two theatres,
and was also an actor for the whole or the greater part of it. He was,
as we may well suppose, with Jonson, Beaumont, Fletcher, and others, a
member of the club instituted by Sir Walter Raleigh, and which met at
the Mermaid Tavern in Bread Street, in which street, it may be observed
by the way, Milton was born during this period. Fuller has left us
some account of the wit-combats that used to take place at the Mermaid
between our poet and Ben Jonson.

The relations between Shakespeare and his family during this time
are in a state of ambiguity, which no conjecture can fully clear up.
There is not the slightest ground for supposing that he ever was
on ill terms with his wife; and surely we have no right to suppose
that, like La Fontaine, he left her in the country while he himself
lived in the metropolis; for Shakespeare was a householder, while La
Fontaine lived usually in the _hôtels_ of his patrons. The more natural
supposition is that he would have removed his wife and children to
London as soon as he had got a firm footing there. Certainly no entry
of the birth of any child of his is to be found in the register of any
London parish; but may not some physical change, with which we are
unacquainted, have caused his wife to cease from childbearing after
the birth of the twins? There is also no entry of this kind in the
register of Stratford; and yet it can hardly be that he, any more than
La Fontaine, abstained from the bed of his wife in the annual visits
which, according to Aubrey's very probable account, he was in the habit
of making to his native town. But the burial of his son Hamnet took
place in Stratford on the 11th of August, 1596, whence it might appear
that the family was living there at that time. To this, however, it
may be replied that the family, though usually resident in London, may
have been down at Stratford when Hamnet took ill, or that he may have
taken ill in London and have been ordered by the physicians to try
the effect of his native air, or that, finally, he may have died in
London, and his body have been taken down to Stratford for interment
with his family, an act quite in character with Shakespeare. The mist,
therefore, remains so far undispelled. But we are also to remember
that Shakespeare, as above stated, was a householder in London, which
might seem to intimate that he had a family there. It is to me a matter
of extreme difficulty to believe that he who created so many of the
loveliest female characters that the world has ever witnessed, should
have led, as, we may say, he otherwise must have done, an irregular
life with regard to the sex; for the effect of such conduct is almost
always a degrading view of female nature; and how pure on this
subject his ideas must always have been is strongly indicated by the
circumstance that three of his most lovely female characters--Perdita,
Miranda, Imogen--occur in the very last plays he wrote. We may here
note the difference between him and La Fontaine. On the whole, then,
my opinion is that Shakespeare had his wife and children with him in
London, and that his life there was as regular and domestic as his
profession permitted.

It has been argued, from a passage in Twelfth Night, in which a man is
advised always to marry a woman younger than himself, that Shakespeare
had felt the evil consequences of the opposite course. But surely we
should not press thus closely language resulting from the situation of
a character in a drama. And if Shakespeare was so convinced of the ill
consequences of such a procedure, how came it that only a few months
before his death he gave an apparently cheerful consent to the marriage
of his daughter Judith with Thomas Quiney, who was four years her
junior? This objection, then, also may be dismissed, and we remain as
uncertain as ever.

We may also venture to deal in a similar way with a passage in the
Tempest (iv. 1.), condemnatory of the conduct which he and his wife
had pursued before their marriage. Further, as the only mention
of his wife in his will is an interlineation, bequeathing her his
"second best bed, with the furniture," a want of due regard for her
comfort and independence has been inferred. But this in reality is
rather indicative of affection; for, as Mr. Knight was the first to
observe, as his property was mostly freehold, the law provided for her
by assigning her what it terms dower. Lastly, the desire which Mrs.
Shakespeare is said to have expressed to be buried with her husband is
surely some proof of mutual affection.

It would also seem to be a matter of which there can be little doubt,
that Shakespeare must have been an indefatigable reader during the
first years of his residence in London. It is strange how none of the
commentators appear to have been aware of this fact; for it is the only
way of accounting for the remarkable copiousness of his vocabulary.
Max Müller, following Professor Marsh, in his Lectures on the Science
of Language, having observed, on the authority of a country clergyman,
that some of our peasantry have not more than 300 words in their
vocabulary, proceeds as follows:--

"A well-educated person in England, who has been at a public school and
at the university, who reads his Bible, his Shakespeare, the Times,
and all the books of Mudie's Library, seldom uses more than about 3000
or 4000 words in actual conversation. Accurate thinkers and close
reasoners, who avoid vague and general expressions, and wait till they
find the word that exactly fits their meaning, employ a larger stock;
and eloquent speakers may rise to a command of 10,000. Shakespeare, who
displayed a greater variety of expression than probably any writer in
any language, produced all his plays with about 15,000 words; Milton's
works are built up with about 8000; and the Old Testament says all that
it has to say with 5642 words."

Now how else but by reading could Shakespeare have got such a store of
words? It could not be by conversation, and he surely did not invent
more than a few of them. This also tends to prove that Venus and Adonis
was not written at Stratford; for his rural vocabulary could hardly
have sufficed for such a poem.

But further, I think I am justified in asserting that during the
earlier years of his dramatic career Shakespeare acquired a competent
knowledge of the French and Italian languages. As we shall see, some
of his plays were founded on Italian tales and plays of which no
translation has ever been discovered; and the natural inference then
is, that he had read them in the original. As to the French, he must
have been able to write as well as read it. As a proof, in his Henry V.
there are scenes of mingled French and English, which scenes are, like
all the prose scenes in our old dramatists, in what I have denominated
_metric prose_; and this could only be caused by the whole scene having
been the production of the one mind. The French, too, is incorrect,
as it is also in the really prose French scene between Katherine
and Alice. It seems therefore probable in the highest degree that
Shakespeare was able to write French. In like manner Ben Jonson has
shown in his Alchemist and elsewhere, that he was able to write Spanish
and other languages.

Another curious question is, Was Shakespeare ever out of England? This,
too, cannot be determined; but it is clear to me, from various passages
of his plays, that he must have been familiar with the sea-shore; and,
from his correct use of nautical terms, we might suspect that he had
been at sea on board a ship once, if not oftener. I cannot see any
equal proof of his having been familiar with mountain scenery; and
from the comparative vagueness of his language respecting mountains in
Cymbeline and elsewhere, I rather suspect that he had never gazed on a
mountain-range.

In 1597, the year after he had lost his only son, Shakespeare began to
carry into effect his long-cherished project of acquiring property in
his native county. For the seemingly trifling sum of £60 he purchased
from William Underhill one of the best houses in the town of Stratford,
named New Place, built by Sir Hugh Clopton in the reign of Henry VII.,
consisting of one messuage, two barns, and two gardens, with their
appurtenances. It was situated in Chapel-street Ward; and as, in a
note taken of corn and malt during a dearth in the beginning of the
following year, we find him set down as the holder of ten quarters,
it would appear that his family, if not he himself, must have been
residing at that time in this place.

For some years subsequent to this date we find a few notices of
purchases &c. in which Shakespeare was engaged, but nothing that throws
any light on his personal history. Neither can we ascertain at what
time it was that he disposed of his theatric property; for that he
did so is plain, as he says nothing of it in his will. It would seem,
however, to have been subsequent to 1610. It would also appear that
he lived in Stratford in very handsome style, probably exercising a
generous hospitality; for we learn from the diary of the Rev. J. Ward,
vicar of that town in 1662, that he had _heard_ that Shakespeare "spent
at the rate of £1000 a-year." This sum, however, though not by any
means so large, relative to the present value of money, as is usually
supposed, is utterly incredible; but still it proves the tradition of
his housekeeping having been liberal.

On the 5th of June, 1607, Shakespeare's eldest daughter, Susanna, was
married to Dr. John Hall, a physician of some eminence, settled in
Stratford. They had but one child, a daughter named Elizabeth, who was
married first to Thomas Nash, and secondly to John (afterwards Sir
John) Barnard, of Abington, in Northamptonshire. She died in 1649,
having had no children by either husband; and with her ended the lineal
descent from the great Shakespeare; for Judith, his other daughter,
who married a couple of months before his death, though she had three
sons, outlived them all, as none of them attained to the age of twenty
years. Poetic genius seems fated never to found a family; it is above
the vulgar distinctions of human life.

We know not the exact date of Shakespeare's final departure from London
and settlement at Stratford; but it probably was not much later than
the year 1610. His life after his retirement was not destined to be
very long. We may picture him to ourselves as passing his days in
tranquil enjoyment, interesting himself somewhat in the affairs of the
borough, conversing with his neighbours, telling anecdotes of his life
in London, reading his Bible and Chaucer, Spenser, and other poets,
and no doubt his North's Plutarch, giving occasional play to his wit,
in short, leading the life of a wise and sensible man, contented with
the condition he had made his mature choice of as most productive of
happiness.

It is probable that in his fifty-second year he felt a decline in his
constitution which reminded him of the uncertainty of life; for on
the 25th of January, 1615-16, he made his Will, which was executed
exactly two months later; and on the 23rd of the following April he
breathed his last. He was buried in the church of Stratford, where his
grave and monument may still be seen. The disease of which he died is
unknown. The vicar, Mr. Ward, already referred to, says, "Shakespeare,
Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and, it seems, drank too
hard; for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted." This no doubt
is not impossible, but it is not very probable. If we may judge from
passages in his plays, Shakespeare was an enemy to deep drinking; and
it is hardly likely that he should, so late in life too, have committed
such excess (worthy only of a Burns) as is here supposed, even in the
company of Ben Jonson, a visit from whom to Stratford, if he had made
it, would with its consequences in all probability have formed part of
his communications to Drummond two years later. We may then, I think,
safely venture to reject this account of Shakespeare's death, and
acknowledge that its cause is utterly unknown, and will probably always
remain unknown.

It would appear from Shakespeare's Will that he had at the time of his
death but very little money; for, excepting a few trifling legacies,
the only sum mentioned is £300 which he left to his younger daughter
Judith, making apparently a very unequal division of his property; for
to his elder daughter Susanna he left all his lands, tenements, etc.,
in Stratford and elsewhere, the value of which must have been very far
beyond that of the sum devised to Judith. In fact we might suppose that
the property enumerated in a general way in his Will had cost more, and
were of greater value than would seem to be indicated.

It might be supposed that the cause of this unequal division was
displeasure at Judith's marriage; but, beside that we have no proof of
any such feeling towards her, the real cause lies evidently far deeper.
It was his passionate desire to be the founder of a family in his
native county. This it was that animated all his theatric exertions,
and he regarded the wonderful creations of his genius merely as means
to this one great end. We might have presumed that the death of his
only son in 1596 would have given a check to this passion; but, on
the contrary, it was, as we have seen, in the very next year that he
commenced purchasing property in Warwickshire; and we also find that
in that year, or more certainly in 1599, a grant of arms was made to
John Shakespeare by the Heralds' College, in which he was authorized
to impale the bearings of the Ardens, his wife's family, with his own;
and the probability would seem to be, that previously the Shakespeare
family had had no coat of arms. By a statute, however, of the later
Plantagenets every freeholder was to have his proper _seal_ of arms;
and that of the Shakespeares may have been the eagle and spear, whence
the Heralds easily formed the coat of arms used by Shakespeare. In
obtaining this, John Shakespeare must have acted under the influence
and at the expense of his son William.

In his Will, Shakespeare leaves his lands, tenements, &c. to his
daughter Susanna, and after her death to her eldest son and his heirs
male, and, in default of heirs male of him, to her second son, and so
on to the seventh son, and, in default of such issue, to his _niece_
(_i.e._ granddaughter) Elizabeth Hall and her heirs male, and, in
default of them, to his daughter Judith and her heirs male, and, in
their default, to the right heirs of the testator.

Every precaution we see was here taken, but all in vain; for, as we
have hinted, it seems to be the order of Providence that literary
genius should not be the foundation of worldly rank and greatness. Most
persons will here call to mind the parallel case of Sir Walter Scott,
who, too, as fondly and as vainly yearned to be the founder of a part
of the rural aristocracy of his native land, and in whose eyes it was
greater to be Laird of Abbotsford than the author of Waverley. But
the advantage was on the side of the bard of Avon; for _he_ sought no
literary fame, content with a life of peace and competence, while the
Scottish baronet would fain have had literary fame as well as wealth
and title. How different were the latter days of the two men!

       *       *       *       *       *

From what precedes--few, very few, as the circumstances are--some
faint idea may be formed of Shakespeare as a man. As a poet, his works
present him to us, in all his fulness, as the most wonderful dramatic
genius that ever the world has seen, ranging with equal ease from the
lowest to the highest point of the whole scale of the drama, from the
broad farce of the Comedy of Errors, through the enchanting light
and graceful comedy of As You Like It, and similar pieces, up to the
sublimest tragedy of Macbeth, Lear, Othello. Of him alone can this be
asserted. We have no reason to suppose that the great tragic poets
of Greece, any more than those of France, excelled also in comedy;
while the dramatists of Spain notoriously failed in tragedy, and their
comedy, gay, spritely and animated as it is, depends chiefly on plot
and intrigue, and is greatly deficient in variety of character.

Mr. Dyce has justly observed how absurd it is to say that Shakespeare
was, though the greatest, only one of a race of contemporary giants.
The poetic greatness of Jonson, Fletcher, and Massinger was doubtless
beyond that witnessed in most other ages of the world; but surely
they were but as the stars to the sun when compared with Shakespeare.
In like manner I apprehend few will agree with the following character
of Shakespeare as a poet, drawn by Gifford in his Introduction to the
Plays of Massinger.

"The claims of this great poet on the admiration of mankind are
innumerable, but rhythmical modulation is not one of them; nor do I
think it either wise or just to hold him forth as supereminent in every
quality which constitutes genius. Beaumont is as sublime, Fletcher
as pathetic, and Jonson as nervous. Nor let it be accounted poor or
niggard praise to allow him only an equality with these extraordinary
men in their peculiar excellencies, while he is admitted to possess
many others, to which they made no approaches. Indeed if I were asked
for the discriminating quality of Shakespeare's mind, that by which
he is raised above all competition, above all prospect of rivalry, I
should say it was WIT."

That Shakespeare possessed that _aroma_ of humour which we denominate
_wit_, beyond any of his contemporaries or successors, is a matter
about which, I think, there cannot be two opinions. I will not deny
that in nervousness Jonson may have equalled him, but I certainly know
not where to look for the sublime in Beaumont which rivalled that
of Macbeth and Lear; and unquestionably I should never even dream
of putting the morbid softness of Fletcher in comparison with the
genuine manly pathos of Shakespeare. There was however one thing in
which I must confess they all exceeded him--perspicuity; for though
in many, very many parts of his plays the language is most lucid
and unconstrained, there are others--in Troilus and Cressida for
instance--which task the intellect to understand them, and which never
could have been intelligible to an ordinary audience. But the fact
is, neither he nor any other of his brother dramatists ever seems to
have asked himself the simple question, Will the audience understand
this? I finally must assert, in opposition to Gifford, that, where
Shakespeare's verse is uninjured, we have abundant proof that no poet
ever excelled him in "rhythmical modulation," and that, when we would
produce the most melodious verse in our language, it is in his plays
that we shall find our best specimens. It seems to me quite idle to
say with Coleridge that Shakespeare's verse is peculiar in rhythm and
structure; for, from the nature of verse, it could not be so. It is
just as idle to say with Johnson that the blank verse of Thomson is
not that of Milton. The difference in such cases lies wholly in the
language; and that of Shakespeare _is_ peculiar. This is caused by
an excess of figurative expression, in which his metaphors are often
broken and confused and his similes imperfect, by inversions and
transpositions, and by the use of words in unusual and even incorrect
senses.

Shakespeare's power of observation must have been not merely extensive
but marvellous:--

    "He walk'd in every path of human life,
    Felt every passion, and to all mankind
    Doth now, will ever, that experience yield
    Which his own genius only could acquire."

Nothing, in fact, high or low, seems to have escaped him; he discerned
the nicest shades and varieties of looks, of manners, of language.
He had also, in a remarkable degree, that power--that clairvoyance,
as we may perhaps venture to term it--so requisite to the dramatist
and the novelist, of developing from the faintest sketch, the merest
outline, the entire of a character, with its appropriate sentiments,
action, and language. In the number and variety of characters no writer
ever equalled him, and all are fully and completely delineated, none
are, as in other dramatists, mere sketches. Some, such as his Clowns,
are peculiar to himself; we meet with no Clowns in the dramas of his
contemporaries and successors,--the Gracioso of the Spanish drama,
an independent creation, being the nearest approach to them. But of
all his creations what has always most astonished me are his women.
They are exclusively his own; Fletcher, Massinger, or any other, has
nothing like them. Perhaps the nearest approach is made in Spain also,
by Cervantes; in whom, however, as in the Spanish drama, they want
variety. They would seem to have been produced, if I may so express it,
by a projection of his own gentle and noble nature into female forms;
for he surely never met his Rosalinds, Mirandas, and Perditas in real
life, though he _may_ have had some faint sketches of some of them in
his own daughters. He seems to have shrunk almost instinctively from
portraying bad women. Goneril and Regan alone are unredeemed; for Lady
Macbeth is awful, not detestable, and even the Queen of Cymbeline is
but an Agrippina, for like her she is criminal but not selfish.

In fine, though I will not, with Mr. Buckle, term Shakespeare "the
greatest of the sons of men"--for I cannot give that preeminence to
imagination, observation, and language over the other mental powers,
so as to place him above Aristotle and Newton--I will say here of
him, as I have said in my 'Life of Milton' that "he was the mightiest
poetic mind that Nature has ever produced," and that, in his case,
statues and other memorials are utterly needless and superfluous. If
we are asked for his monument, we should simply point to his Plays and
say,--_Monumentum si quæris, inspice!_ and, in my opinion, he consults
best for the poet's fame who seeks to restore his works to their
pristine form.

The reader will see by this sketch how little is really known
concerning Shakespeare. I have endeavoured, as will be seen, to rectify
some points in his biography.




EDITIONS, DATES, AND ORIGINS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.


IN 1598 appeared a work, named Palladis Tamia, written by Francis
Meres, in which among other passages respecting Shakespeare we meet
with the following:--

"As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy and tragedy
among the Latines, so Shakespeare among the English is the most
excellent in both kinds for the stage. For comedy witness his Gentlemen
of Verona, his Errors, his Love Labour's Lost, his Love Labour's Won,
his Midsummer's Night Dream, and his Merchant of Venice; for tragedy
his Richard II., Richard III., Henry IV., King John, Titus Andronicus,
and his Romeo and Juliet."

Critics have hence inferred that these were Shakespeare's only plays
written before 1598; but they have not observed that, moved probably
by a love of symmetry and uniformity, Meres has given just half a
dozen of each; and as in reality there were only five of our author's
original tragedies then in being, he adds a play to which he could at
most have only given a few touches, omitting the two Parts of Henry
VI., for which he had done a vast deal more. In like manner he seems
in his list of comedies to have omitted The Taming of the Shrew, which
must be regarded as the least original of the comedies, and which the
language and verse prove to belong to this period of his plays. It is
generally agreed that Shakespeare never himself gave a play to the
press; those, then, of which there are editions published during his
lifetime, must have been printed from copies surreptitiously obtained,
perhaps from the prompter. Hence their inaccuracies and imperfections.
There is a theory indeed that they may have been taken down in
short-hand during representation; but this theory seems only tenable in
a single instance, Henry V., and the practice must have found a strong
obstacle in the metre, to speak of no other difficulty. My opinion
is that when once a copy of a play had been obtained and printed, it
became the groundwork of all the subsequent editions which were printed
from it, sometimes with corrections, made by the printer himself or by
some man of letters employed by him for the purpose--except in such
cases as Romeo and Juliet, or The Merry Wives, where the author had
himself "corrected, augmented, and amended" his play. I may add that
our forefathers, like the Orientals, had not our ideas about adhering
strictly to the text of an author. If they thought they could improve
it, they never hesitated to do so. I will now briefly state what is of
most importance respecting the editions, the dates, and the origins of
these immortal dramas.


COMEDIES.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ As it is mentioned by Meres it must be anterior to 1598. It was
probably Shakespeare's first original piece. From the plain allusion
(III. 2) to the civil war in France, it must have been written before
February 1594, in which year Henry IV. was crowned. I have shown above
that it could not have been acted earlier than 1593.

_Origin._ It is manifestly founded on the Menæchmi of Plautus; but
Shakespeare hardly went to the original. He may have merely got an
account of that piece from some learned friend; and there was a piece
named The Historie of Error, which was played at Hampton Court before
the Queen, on New Year's day 1576-77, which may have been formed on
the Menæchmi. The proper title of this play seems to have been simply
Errors, and The Comedy of Errors is like The Tragedy of Macbeth, &c.


THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Anterior to 1598 as it is in Meres's list. The critics have
not observed that the resemblance is so strong between Act III. Sc. 1
of this play, and Act I. Sc. 2 of Lyly's Midas, that the one must have
been taken from the other. In my opinion our poet was the borrower, as
his scene is so superior to Lyly's. Now Midas was printed in 1592; but
Shakespeare, it may be said, may have seen the play acted, or he may
have written that scene, and added it to his play after he had read
Lyly's; so the present comedy might have been written before 1592.
This, however, I have shown to be at the least very unlikely. Though in
my edition of the Plays I have given, as here, precedence to The Comedy
of Errors, I do not feel at all certain upon the point, and would by no
means assert that this is not rather "the first heir of his [dramatic]
invention."

_Origin._ The plot seems to have been, in the main, of our poet's
own invention; though what relates to Proteus and Julia may have
been suggested, mediately or immediately, by the story of Felix and
Felismena in the Diana of Montemayor. Indeed the points of resemblance
are such that I feel confident the poet must have been acquainted with
that part of the Diana; and yet it was not translated till 1598. Might
he not have learned it from some one who had read the work in Spanish?


LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST.

_Editions._ 4to, 1598; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ We have no means of ascertaining the exact time of its
composition; but from internal evidence we must regard it as one of our
author's earliest pieces, yet, I think, later than those I have placed
before it.

_Origin._ It is apparently wholly our poet's own invention, as no
novel, play, or anything else at all resembling it has been discovered.


ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Meres, as we have seen, terms one of Shakespeare's comedies
"Love Labour's Won." Among our author's extant comedies there is none
with that title, and we have no reason whatever for supposing any
original play of his to be lost; while on the other hand the subject
of the present play accords most accurately with that title. It has
therefore been conjectured, with great probability, that this is one
of Shakespeare's early plays, which he altered and improved at a later
period, giving it at the same time a new title. We can certainly
discern in it the style and mode of composition of two different
periods--the riming scenes, for instance, belonging to the earlier
one. It is to be observed of these riming scenes, that they only occur
in the three preceding plays, and in Romeo and Juliet, in all which
plays soliloquies, letters, &c. are in stanzas--like the sonnets in
Spanish plays; and the very same is the case in the present play, and
in it alone of the later ones; whence we may fairly conclude that it
belonged to the early period. The second act seems to retain, both in
the serious and the comic scenes, much of the original play unaltered;
and every one must be struck with the resemblance of the style in it to
that of Love's Labour's Lost.

_Origin._ The tale of Giletta di Narbona in Boccaccio's Decameron,
which Shakespeare may have read in the original, or in the translation
in Painter's Palace of Pleasure. The comic scenes are, of course, our
author's own, as usual.


A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM.

_Editions._ 4to (by Fisher), 1600; 4to (by Roberts), 1600; in the
folio, 1623.

_Date._ Anterior to 1598, as it is mentioned by Meres. I _do_ think
that in Act II. Sc. 1 there is an allusion to the state of the weather
in the summer of 1594, and that Shakespeare may have been writing this
play at that very time. I therefore incline to give that year, or
1595, as the date of its composition.

_Origin._ Purely and absolutely the whole the poet's own invention. He
was well read in Chaucer, in Golding's Ovid, and in North's Plutarch,
where he got the names of his characters and some circumstances.


THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ We have no means of ascertaining the exact date of this play;
but the style proves it to belong to Shakespeare's early period. The
reason of its omission by Meres has been already given.

_Origin._ It is a _rifacimento_ of an anonymous play, first printed
in 1594, though perhaps written and acted some time earlier, and
termed "The Taming of a Shrew," and it may be anterior to the
Midsummer-Night's Dream; the date 1594 would seem to have some
connexion with both plays. The incident of the Pedant personating
Vincentio was taken from The Supposes, a translation by Gascoigne of
Ariosto's I Suppositi.


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

_Editions._ 4to (by Roberts), 1600; 4to (by Heyes), 1600; in the folio,
1623. The two 4tos are in effect the same; for Heyes's was printed
by J. R., _i.e._ James Roberts, who probably had contrived to get a
transcript from the copy in the theatre, and then may have made some
arrangement with Heyes for the publication.

_Date._ It is in Meres's list, and it was entered by Roberts in the
Stationers' Registers 22nd July 1598; so that it was probably first
acted in that or the preceding year. It is, I think, certainly later
than any of the preceding comedies.

_Origin._ The remote origin of the incidents both of the bond and
of the caskets is the Gesta Romanorum portions of which had been
translated and published by Robinson in 1577. The incident of the bond
is also in Il Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, first printed in
1558, and which Shakespeare may have read. There was also a ballad
on the subject, in Percy's Reliques, with which he may have been
acquainted.


AS YOU LIKE IT.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ It is posterior to 1598, as Meres does not mention it, and
was entered in the Stationer's Registers, August 4, 1600, by the
booksellers Wise and Aspley; but for some reason, which we cannot now
discover, they did not print it.

_Origin._ It is founded on Lodge's novel of Rosalynde, of which the
chief origin was The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn, ascribed, but wrongly,
to Chaucer. The characters of Jaques, Touchstone, and Audrey, and of
course all the comic scenes, are Shakespeare's own.


MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

_Editions._ 4to, 1600; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Not being mentioned by Meres, it is posterior to 1598; and as
it is said, in the title-page of the 4to, that "it hath been sundry
times publicly acted," it may have been written in 1598, and may be
older than As You Like It; but we have no means of deciding.

_Origin._ The story of Ariodante and Ginevra in the Orlando Furioso,
which Shakespeare may have read either in the original or in Sir
John Harington's translation, published in 1591. The story had also
been translated by Beverley and Turberville; and there was a play
on it, performed before the Queen on Shrove Tuesday 1582-83; so
that it was well known. Shakespeare's other authority was the novel
of Timbreo di Cardona, &c., in Bandello, in which occur the names
_Pietro di Aragona_, _Messina_, and Felicia _Lionata_, and with which
therefore Shakespeare must have been acquainted. As there was no known
translation of it, save a French one in Belleforest's _Histoires
Tragiques_, I am of opinion that Shakespeare had read the original
Italian. It need hardly be added that all the comic scenes and
characters are our author's own.


THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

_Editions._ 4to, 1602; 4to, 1619; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ It was entered in the Stationers' Registers 18th January
1601-02, and was, consequently, written between 1597 (it is not in
Meres's list) and that date; but we have no means of ascertaining the
exact time. Mr. Dyce thinks it was written before 1600. It may be
observed that, though some of the characters are the same as those in
Henry IV. and Henry V., it is quite independent of these plays. I must
here remark that the play is so brief, and, as it were, elementary, in
the 4tos as compared with the folio, that it seems quite clear that the
poet revised and augmented it some time after its first appearance; and
this gives some probability to the tradition of its having been written
at the command of the Queen, and in a few days, possibly in 1598 or
1599. Further, as in the 4tos there is no allusion whatever to the Lucy
coat of arms, it is highly improbable that the poet showed in it any
ill feeling towards that family. Lastly, the occurrence in the 4tos of
numerous riming couplets which are not in the folio, completely upsets
Mr. Collier's theory of that edition having been made up from memory,
and from notes taken at the theatre. The expression "_king's_ English"
(I. 4) might seem to indicate that the enlargement of the play was not
made till after the accession of James. The change, however, of _queen_
to _king_ may have been made by the Editors; but surely Shakespeare
must have been aware that Falstaff lived in the time of the Henries.

_Origin._ Though some Italian and English tales are referred to as the
possible sources of the plot, we may, I think, regard it as, at least
in the greater part, Shakespeare's own invention. There is, however, a
strong resemblance in part of it to a German play by Duke Henry Julius
of Brunswick, who died in 1611. See on The Tempest.


TWELFTH NIGHT.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ We learn from the MS. diary of a barrister named Manningham,
that this play was performed in the Middle Temple, on the 2nd of
February 1601-02. It was therefore written between 1597 and that date;
but the exact time is quite uncertain.

_Origin._ The more remote origin of this play is apparently one of the
tales of Bandello, which Shakespeare may have read in the original,
or in a French or English version of it; for there were such. But the
Rev. Jos. Hunter directed attention to three Italian comedies, two
named "Inganni"--one of which is noticed by Manningham--and a third
named "Gl'Ingannati," or "Il Sacrificio;" and the resemblance between
this last and Twelfth Night is so strong that it is hardly possible
to suppose that Shakespeare was unacquainted with it. If so, as it
was never translated, as far as we know, he must have read it in the
original Italian, which was printed in 1537.

N.B. The reader will observe with respect to these last four comedies,
that all that we know with certainty respecting their date is that they
were written between 1597 and 1600 or 1602. The arranging of them is
little more than guess-work. I have placed first those that we _know_
to have been written before 1600.


MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ In the Accounts of the Revels at Court, we are informed
that this play was performed at Whitehall December 26, 1604. It was
therefore probably written in that or the preceding year.

_Origin._ "The right excellent and famous History of Promos and
Cassandra, a drama in Two Parts, by George Whetstone," published
in 1578. Whetstone's drama was taken from one of the tales in the
Hecatommithi of Cinthio, which Shakespeare may also have read. The
comic scenes are of course all his own.


THE WINTER'S TALE.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ It appears from the MS. diary of Dr. Forman, that he saw this
play performed at the Globe, May 15, 1611; it was also performed at
Whitehall on the 5th of November following. Its exact date cannot be
assigned; but the great probability is that it could not have been
written earlier than 1610. I am disposed to regard it as anterior to
The Tempest, which was probably the last play that ever Shakespeare
wrote. When we consider the probable date of this play, we see how
utterly untenable is the theory of some writers that it was an
indirect apology for Anne Boleyn, and a direct compliment to her royal
daughter. I may here observe that those ingenious persons who find
allusions (except in a very few plain instances) to public events and
public persons in Shakespeare's plays merely waste their own and their
readers' time. Thus Sir Philip Sidney died the very year the poet came
to London; and yet we are told that he is figured in Hamlet, a play not
written till many years afterwards!

_Origin._ With the exception of the comic scenes--which as usual are
wholly Shakespeare's own--it was founded on Green's popular novel of
Pandosto, The Triumph of Time.


THE TEMPEST.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ As it (II. 1) copies a passage from Florio's translation
of Montaigne's Essays, published in 1603, we may assume that it is
posterior to that year; and Malone has directed attention to the
shipwreck of Sir George Somers on the island of Bermuda in July 1609,
which may have suggested the scene of "The Tempest." We may therefore
venture to assume that it may have been written not long after the
account of that event reached England.

_Origin._ Collins, the poet, told Warton that he had seen a romance
called "Aurelio and Isabella," printed in Italian, Spanish, French, and
English in 1588, which was the original of the Tempest. But no such
romance has ever been discovered, and it may justly be questioned if
ever such a one existed. Still it is not improbable that Shakespeare
may have heard or read some story of people cast away on a desert
island. There is also a German play by Jacob Ayrer of Nuremberg, who
died early in the seventeenth century, named "Die schöne Sidea," which
in its plot and principal characters, bears so strong a resemblance to
The Tempest that it is very difficult to avoid supposing a connexion
between them; and it might thence appear that Collins was correct, for
Shakespeare could hardly have had any knowledge of a German drama. It
may, however, be said that he got his knowledge of the plot, &c., from
one of the English actors who, as it is now well known, used to go over
and perform in Germany.


HISTORIES.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Anterior to 1598, as it is in Meres's list.

_Origin._ It was founded on a play called "The First and Second Part of
the Troublesome Reign of King John of England," published in 1591.


THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING RICHARD II.

_Editions._ 4to, 1597; 4to, 1598; 4to, 1608; 4to, 1615; in the folio,
1623.

_Date._ The exact date cannot be ascertained; but from the style I
should be inclined to regard it as one of Shakespeare's earliest plays.

_Origin._ Hollinshed's Chronicle, and an older play on the same
subject.


THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV.

_Editions._ 4to, 1598; 4to, 1599; 4to, 1604; 4to, 1608; 4to, 1613; in
the folio, 1623.

_Date._ All we can say is, that it was anterior to 1598, and was most
probably written in 1597.

_Origin._ Hollinshed's Chronicle, and an anonymous play called
"The Famous Victories of Henry V." The comic scenes are entirely
Shakespeare's own, both in this and the two succeeding plays.


THE SECOND PART OF KING HENRY IV.

_Editions._ 4to, 1600; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Apparently in one of the years between 1597 and 1600. As has
been already observed, it could hardly have been in existence when
Meres wrote, or he would not have placed Titus Andronicus in his list.
It is an objection that before 1597 Shakespeare had changed the name
Oldcastle to Falstaff in the First Part, while in the 4to edition of
this play a speech (I. 2) has the prefix _Old._ instead of _Fal._
But surely that may have been a slip of the copyist's memory, in
consequence of _Oldcastle_ having been the original title.

_Origin._ The same as of the First Part.


THE LIFE OF KING HENRY V.

_Editions._ 4to, 1600; 4to, 1602; 4to, 1608; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ As in the chorus to Act V. there is an evident allusion to the
expedition of the Earl of Essex to Ireland, whither he went in April
1599, and whence he returned in the following September, it would seem
to be clear that the play was acted in the interval between those two
months. The insertion of this passage seems to be inexplicable on any
other hypothesis. This also proves that the choruses formed a part of
the original play, though they are not to be found in the 4to editions,
which, it is well known, are scandalously imperfect.

_Origin._ The same as that of the two preceding plays.


THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING RICHARD III.

_Editions._ 4to, 1597; 4to, 1598; 4to, 1602; 4to, 1605; in the folio,
1623.

_Date._ Anterior, of course, to 1597. I incline to regard it as
posterior to King John and to Richard II.; for it has no stanzas and
no riming passages. It is also very free from quibbles and plays upon
words, except in the unfortunate soliloquy of Richard in the last
act--a wonderful instance of want of taste, and even of judgment. The
same may be said of the scenes between Richard and Lady Anne and the
Queen.

_Origin._ Hollinshed, and probably More.


THE LIFE OF KING HENRY VIII.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ The following memorandum is in the Stationers' Registers:--"12
Feb. 1604[-5]. Nath. Butter. Yf he get good allowance for the Interlude
of K. Henry the 8th, before he begin to print it, &c." This has been
supposed to be the present play; but the style militates against this
supposition. I offer the following proof, which has never, that I am
aware of, been observed. In his early plays Shakespeare very rarely
puts the preposition or conjunction at the end of one line and the
noun or verb at the beginning of the next; in his succeeding ones he
does so more frequently, and in his latest he is rather profuse of the
practice. Now this construction is as frequent in Henry VIII. as in
Coriolanus, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and his other later ones,
whence it might seem that it should be referred to the same epoch. We
are told, indeed, that in 1613 the Globe Theatre was set on fire and
burned down by the discharge of chambers in a new play called "Henry
VIII.;" but it is hardly possible that it could be this play, as
Shakespeare had retired before that year.

_Origin._ Hollinshed's Chronicle.


TRAGEDIES.

ROMEO AND JULIET.

_Editions._ 4to, 1597; 4to, 1599; 4to, 1609; in the folio, 1623. There
is also an undated 4to issued by Smethwick, the publisher of that of
1609, in which many typographical errors are corrected.

_Date._ In Act I. Sc. 2, the Nurse says, "'Tis since the earthquake
now eleven years;" and, as Tyrwhitt justly observed, this could only
have been the earthquake which was felt in England on the 6th of April
1580. It was quite in Shakespeare's way to make the allusion; and this
would give 1591 as the year in which this play was first performed.
This, then, _may_ be the true date, though I greatly doubt of it; I
should rather say, entirely reject it; for it surely can hardly be
anterior to the first two comedies. The play, as appears from the 4to,
1597, was little more than a sketch of that which appeared, "corrected,
augmented, and amended," in 1599.

_Origin._ The remote original is the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in
Ovid's Metamorphoses, from which an Italian writer named Luigi da Porto
made a tale, printed in 1535. A tale formed from this was given by
Bandello in 1554; and in 1562 a poem of Romeus and Juliet, by Arthur
Brookes, taken from Bandello's, or rather from the version of it in
Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques, was published in London; in 1567
the same tale, also from Bandello, appeared in Painter's Palace of
Pleasure. Shakespeare chiefly followed Brooke; but he had also read the
Palace of Pleasure, and probably Bandello's tale in the original.


HAMLET.

_Editions._ 4to, 1603; 4to, 1604; 4to, 1611; 4to undated (probably in
1607); in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ On the 26th of July 1602, an entry was made in the Stationers'
Registers of "A Booke, The Revenge of Hamlett, prince of Denmarke, as
yt was latelie acted, by the Lord Chambelayn his servantes." There
can be little doubt that this was the present play. The text of the
4to, 1603, is in such a mangled, wretched condition, that it has not
unreasonably been conjectured that it was formed from notes made during
the representation. As in this the Polonius and Reynaldo of the present
play are called Corambis and Montano, it is probable that the play
received much addition and alteration; for the 4to, 1604, gives it
"enlarged to almost as much again as it was, according to the true and
perfect coppie." This play being so popular, it is not unlikely that
the author may have frequently retouched it. It is very remarkable that
it is by many degrees the most faulty of his plays, abounding, we may
say, in incongruities, contradictions, and improbabilities.

_Origin._ Apparently a novel called The Hystorie of Hamblet, translated
from Belleforest. There seems also to have been an older play on the
subject.


OTHELLO.

_Editions._ 4to, 1622; in the folio, 1623. There is also a 4to, 1630;
but it is of little value, as it was evidently made not from a MS.,
but from the two preceding editions with some conjectural emendations.
To the 4to, 1622, is prefixed--as to Troilus and Cressida--an Epistle
"from the Stationer [Thos. Walkley] to the Reader."

_Date._ From the Accounts of the Revels, we learn that this play was
performed at Court, November 1st, 1604; and if the Egerton Papers,
published by Mr. Collier, can be relied on, it had been performed
before Queen Elizabeth. In them we meet as follows:--"6 August, 1602.
Rewards to the vaulters, players, and dancers--of this x^{li} to
Burbidge's players for Othello--lxiiii^{li} xviii^{s} x^{d}." "The
part of the memorandum which relates to Othello," says Mr. Collier,
"is interlined as if added afterwards." Mr. Halliwell asserts that
Othello must have been written even before 1600; for in a MS. of that
date, entitled The Newe Metamorphosis, &c., is a passage evidently, he
thinks, imitated from "who steals my purse steals trash" in Othello.
But, though Mr. Halliwell thinks otherwise, this passage may have been
a later insertion; or it may be a mere coincidence, a thing much more
common than is usually supposed. At all events Othello was written,
at latest, in 1604. I know not if it has been observed that Voltaire
evidently had Othello in his mind when writing his Zaïre.

_Origin._ The only known source of this play is a tale in the
Hecatommithi of Cinthio; and as no English translation of it is known
to have existed, the obvious and natural inference is that Shakespeare
had read it in the original. There was, however, it seems, a French
translation: Paris, 1584.


JULIUS CÆSAR.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ The real date of this play is very uncertain, and I am very
dubious whether I am right or not in giving it this position. Mr.
Collier--with whom Mr. Dyce agrees--is positive that it appeared before
1603, for in that year Drayton published his Barons' Wars, in which is
a passage so like the character of Brutus given in this play (v. 5),
that one poet must have borrowed from the other; and it is inferred
of course that Drayton was the borrower. But this is not by any means
so certain, as the eagle did not always disdain to take a plume from
the smaller birds (see above, The Two Gentlemen of Verona). It is very
strange, however, that neither of these critics seems to have been
aware that the very same ideas, and even expressions, are to be found
in the character given of Crites in Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels
(ii. 1), which was performed in 1600, and which may therefore I think
justly be regarded as the real immediate original of the passages in
both poets; the germ, however, is to be found in Chaucer's Tale of
the Doctor of Physik. All, then, that we can venture to affirm is,
that Julius Cæsar is posterior to 1600. I incline to place it in
point of time before Shakespeare's other plays on Roman subjects. It
may be observed that his Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus are as
much Histories as those that are so entitled, the history being Roman
instead of English.

_Origin._ North's Plutarch, from the French of Amyot.


ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

_Edition._ Only in the folio 1623.

_Date._ From the language of this play I feel inclined to place its
date near that of Julius Cæsar. It is true that "A Booke called Anthony
and Cleopatra," which may have been this play, was entered in the
Stationers' Registers, May 20th, 1608; but it seems never to have
appeared, and that entry is no proof that the play may not have been
acted some years before that date.

_Origin._ Life of Antonius in North's Plutarch.


KING LEAR.

_Edition._ 4to, 1608; 4to, 1608; 4to, 1608; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Certainly posterior to 1603, in which year appeared Harsnet's
Discovery of Popish Impostures, from which Shakespeare evidently took
the names of the fiends mentioned by Edgar. There is an entry of it in
the Stationers' Registers, November 26th, 1607, in which it is stated
that it had been played before the King on the night of St. Stephen's
Day in the preceding year. The latest date of its composition, then,
that we can suppose is 1606.

_Origin._ Hollinshed, Mirror of Magistrates, and an old play on the
same subject. The episode of Gloster and his sons was taken from
Sidney's Arcadia, ii. 10.


MACBETH.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ Dr. Forman states in his MS. Diary that he saw this play "at
the Globe, 1610, the 20th of April, Saturday;" but it does not follow
by any means that it was then a new play. I agree with Mr. Collier in
thinking that the mention of "twofold balls and treble sceptres" should
induce us to place it not very far from the accession of James I. (Oct.
24, 1604), and therefore in 1605 or 1606. Malone thought there was an
allusion (in II. 3) to the state of the corn-market in 1606, and to the
conduct of the Jesuit Garnet on his trial in that year; but this is
little more than fancy.

_Origin._ Hollinshed's Chronicle.


TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

_Editions._ 4to, 1609; in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ It was entered in the Stationers' Registers, January 28,
1608-9. It had not been acted at that time; for the publishers state,
in an Address to the Reader, that it had never been "staled with the
stage, never clapper-clawed with the palms of the vulgar;" while in a
reissue of it in the same year the Address was suppressed, and it was
given "as it was acted by the King's Majesty's servants at the Globe."
It is therefore evident that it was first acted in 1609; but it might
have been written some years earlier. It is a very curious question,
and one to which I am unable to give a satisfactory answer, how it came
into the hands of the publisher. I entirely disagree with those critics
who think they discern in it the hand of another poet; for there is not
a play in the whole collection more thoroughly Shakespearian in every
scene. The conclusion certainly is huddled up in a way not elsewhere to
be met with in these plays; but that is no proof of this theory; for
if Shakespeare had taken up the work of another, the conclusion is the
very part he would have been most likely to develope. It is further
very remarkable, that though this play was not exposed to the wear and
tear of the property-room, it contains more imperfect lines than almost
any other. This I can only attribute to the haste and carelessness
of the transcriber, who, as working surreptitiously, was anxious to
hurry through his task in as short a time as possible. I will observe,
in fine, that, though it contains the death of Hector--which might
perhaps better have been omitted--it is in reality a tragi-comedy, as
much so as any of Beaumont and Fletcher's.

_Origin._ Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseida, Caxton's Recuyl of the
Historyes of Troye, and Lydgate's Historye, Sege, and Destruccyon of
Troye.


TIMON OF ATHENS.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ We have no means of ascertaining the exact date; but the
language and the use of rimes in the dialogue induce me to think that
it was near that of Troilus and Cressida.

_Origin._ The story of Timon in Painter's Palace of Pleasure, and life
of Antony in North's Plutarch.


CORIOLANUS.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ A little later, I think, than the two preceding plays; for
there is only one riming passage in it.

_Origin._ Life of Coriolanus in North's Plutarch.


CYMBELINE.

_Edition._ Only in the folio, 1623.

_Date._ From the style and the family resemblance--as appears to
me--between Imogen, Miranda, and Perdita, I should deem it to be
contemporaneous with the Tempest and the Winter's Tale. We may place
it, then, in or after 1610.

_Origin._ The tale of Bernabò da Genova in the Decamerone, which
Shakespeare had probably read in the original. There was an imitation
of it in a tract called Westward for Smelts, of which, however, no
edition earlier than 1620 is known. For the historical part, he, of
course, had resorted to Hollinshed.

       *       *       *       *       *

In these plays we may, I think, distinguish four different phases of
composition, in each of which the thoughts and the language of the
poet present a peculiar appearance.

The _first_ phase extends we may say from 1593 to 1598, and contains
the plays in Meres's list--except 1 Henry IV., and The Merchant
of Venice, and The Taming of the Shrew. It is distinguished by a
continual play on words and by frequent rimes--both in couplets and
in stanzas--while the blank verse, which is as yet unformed, is
harmonious and almost always decasyllabic. Richard III. seems to form
the connecting link between this and the next phase; for it is free
from both rimes and play on words, while the blank verse has not yet
acquired its appropriate form.

The _second_ phase would seem to extend from 1598 to 1603. It contains
The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, 1 and 2 Henry IV., Henry V.,
Hamlet, Othello, Julius Cæsar, Antony and Cleopatra. Here the dramatic
blank verse is perfect, trisyllabic feet being admitted, and the lines
running into each other, rimes only appearing in final couplets. There
rarely occurs a play on words, and the language is in general easy and
natural.

The _third_ phase may extend from 1603 to 1609. It contains Measure
for Measure, Lear, Macbeth, Troilus and Cressida, Timon of Athens,
and Coriolanus. In this the poet returned to the practice of giving
passages of several lines in rime, though not in stanzas, and his
language is obscured by periphrases, inversions, and ellipses to such
an extent that many places--the speeches of Ulysses, for instance, in
Troilus and Cressida--must have been perfectly unintelligible to an
ordinary audience. He had already, as in Antony and Cleopatra, begun to
place more frequently the preposition or conjunction at the end of one
line and the word connected with it at the beginning of the next, and
he continues to do so here, chiefly in Coriolanus, though hardly at all
in Troilus and Cressida, or in Timon of Athens.

The _fourth_ and last phase contains The Winter's Tale, The Tempest,
Henry VIII., Cymbeline. He here seems to have made a return to the
simpler language of the second phase. In Henry VIII. and The Tempest,
what has been said of prepositions and conjunctions goes on to a great
extent.

       *       *       *       *       *

The plays above noticed--thirty-two in number--are the genuine
productions of the poet. Two of them, King John and The Taming of the
Shrew, were founded on plays that are still extant, and we may see that
he used them precisely as he did the tales and chronicles on which he
founded so many of his other plays, taking the story, the incidents,
the characters, and, when it suited his purpose, the language which
they contained.

But beside these, we find in the folio four other plays of a different
kind, of which the most that any critic ventures to assert is that
they were retouched, improved, and enlarged by Shakespeare. Of two of
these, namely The Second and Third Parts of Henry VI. this would seem
to be the truth; for we have the two plays in their original form,
and there can be little doubt that it was them chiefly that Green
had in view in the passage quoted above from his Groat's Worth of
Wit, &c.; and upon examination it appears that in the first of them
Shakespeare's additions and improvements amount to a fifth, in the
second to only an eighth part of the text. Of the other two, The First
Part of Henry VI. and Titus Andronicus, after a very careful study of
them, my decided opinion, and apparently that of Mr. Dyce also, is
that, with an exception presently to be noticed, neither the one nor
the other contains a single speech or even a single line from the pen
of Shakespeare. How they got into the folio is a question not easy to
answer. Heminge and Condell, no doubt, may not have been critics, and
so may have fancied that he had had to do with The First Part of Henry
VI. also; or they may have merely inserted it as being connected with
the other Parts. As to Titus Andronicus, I have already given a reason
for its appearance in Meres's list. He had probably heard that it was
by Shakespeare, and he made no exact inquiry, and so ascribed it to
him; and the editors of the folio may have taken it on his authority,
or have followed the same tradition. I do not believe that it was at
any time in Shakespeare's nature to write the horrors of one of these
plays, or to treat the noble Maid of Orleans as she is treated in the
other, or even to labour on and improve the pieces that contained
them. Besides, there are nowhere to be found plays more entirely of
one single cast than these are. There is also displayed in them an
acquaintance with Horace and others of the ancient Classics which
Shakespeare did not possess. They may have been written by either Kyd
or Marlow, each of whom had this acquaintance, and also a taste for
horrors, and abundant talent for their composition. At the same time I
think it possible that, as there is a Clown in Titus Andronicus--the
only instance I believe out of the plays of Shakespeare--the two short,
trifling, and needless scenes in which he appears may be from our
poet's pen, and that hence the play was hastily ascribed to him.

The following plays also were published during Shakespeare's life-time
with his name, in full or in initials, on the title-pages: Locrine,
1595; The Life of Sir John Oldcastle, 1600--known to be by Munday,
Drayton, Wilson, and Hathway; History of Thomas Lord Cromwell, 1602;
The London Prodigal, 1605; The Puritan, or The Widow of Watling Street,
1607; A Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608. These, with Pericles, Prince of
Tyre--also published under his name in 1609--were printed in the 3rd
folio, 1664, and reprinted in the 4th, 1685, and finally by Rowe in his
edition of Shakespeare's Plays. The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Fletcher and
Shakespeare, was published in 1634.

Of the first six of these plays the opinion of the critics is tolerably
unanimous that Shakespeare had nothing whatever to do with them. Yet,
as in Locrine (printed so early as 1595) it is said, "newly set forth,
overseen and corrected, by W. S." it is possible, though most unlikely,
that it may be one of the plays on which he operated in the early part
of his dramatic career; and the fame of his Poems lately printed, may
have induced the publisher to place his initials in the title-page. As
to Pericles, it was rejected, with Locrine, &c., by Pope, Theobald,
and all the editors down to Malone, who printed all these pieces in
1780 in the Supplement to the edition of Johnson and Steevens; he did
not, however, include any of them in his own edition of 1790. Steevens
admitted Pericles into his edition of 1793 on the authority of Farmer,
but marked with an asterisk, as being only in part Shakespeare's, to
which opinion Malone, who at first thought it wholly his, acceded. It
finally was included in Reed's and in the Boswell-Malone or Variorum
edition, which succeeding editors have followed. From _mine_ it has
been excluded, as I am most firmly of opinion that it does not contain
a single line of Shakespeare's, and that it is an insult to his memory
to give it a place among his genuine works. In fact the deliberate
rejection of it by Heminge and Condell from the folio ought to outweigh
all conjectural proofs in its favour. These, we must recollect, were
not ordinary players, they were Shakespeare's _fellows_ or partners in
the theatres; and it was therefore utterly impossible that any play
could be acted there without their knowing who was the author. They
must, then, have _known_ that Shakespeare had had nothing to do with
it; for their admission of 1 Hen. VI. and Titus Andronicus proves that
evidence even of the slenderest kind would have turned the beam with
them. His name at full length in the title-page proves nothing; for it
is also in that of Sir John Oldcastle, 1600, which is _known_ not to be
his.

As to the Two Noble Kinsmen, it was published in 1634 as "written by
the memorable worthies of their time, Mr. John Fletcher and Mr. William
Shakespeare"--putting the greater last--an evident bookseller's
artifice; for surely Shakespeare at the zenith of his fame, and toward
the close of his dramatic career, would not join with a young poet in
the composition of a play, a thing that he never seems to have done,
even when he was a young poet himself. Mr. Dyce, who had rejected,
afterwards adopted the theory of its being in a certain sense a joint
composition; and he makes some strange hypotheses upon the subject,
which to me seem utterly devoid of probability. Surely, for example,
it is not to be supposed that a man of Shakespeare's business-habits
would, when winding-up, as we may term it, leave behind him, in the
hands of the House, an unfinished drama, and that what he left should
have been the beginning and the end of a play! It is pretty generally
agreed that the entire play, except the first and fifth acts, is by
Fletcher. To me it seems certain that the first act, though the work
of a superior poet, is not Shakespeare's; and I feel quite confident
that the first, as well as the second, scene of the last act is by
Fletcher; while the concluding scenes are by some other poet, different
from, and, I think, superior to, the writer of the first act. My theory
is, that Fletcher either obtained the commencement of a play by some
one else, or began to write in conjunction with some one, and, the
play being unfinished at his death, it was concluded by another poet,
possibly Massinger, who alone seems capable of writing such a noble
termination of so fine a drama.




                                THE TEXT

                       CORRECTED AND ELUCIDATED.

                             INTRODUCTION.

                      I. THE TEXT. II. THE VERSE.

                               COMEDIES.

                               HISTORIES.

                               TRAGEDIES.




INTRODUCTION.

I. THE TEXT.


1.

IN reading and criticising the plays of Shakespeare, we must always
bear in mind that they were written for the stage, not for the
closet, to be acted, not to be read. Shakespeare, as it would appear,
was utterly regardless of literary fame; he had, as we have seen,
one sole object in view, to acquire as much money as would enable
him to quit the hurry and bustle of London, and settle down in his
native Stratford-on-Avon as a man of independent property, and be, if
possible, the founder of a family. Pouring forth, therefore, his tragic
and comic strains, with as little apparent effort as the songsters
of the grove warble their native notes, he set no value on them but
as they filled the Globe and the Blackfriars and thus tended to the
realization of the great object of all his ambition; and he never gave
a single one of them to the press, as was done by Jonson and others
who sought for literary fame by their dramas. Hence, though the verse
is always melodious, we must not look in them for the finish and
perfection which we find in those of a Racine or a Molière; we must,
on the contrary, be prepared to meet with all the marks of haste and
carelessness, with contradictions and even with absurdities. It would
really dismay one to think of their being submitted to the ordeal
through which the pieces of the great Corneille have been made to pass
by Voltaire. Corneille, by the way, like Shakespeare, valued his plays
by the money they produced.

Copies of about one-half of his plays were surreptitiously obtained
by the booksellers, who printed them with more or less of care; but
of this he took no heed: and when he finally retired to Stratford, he
left in the hands of his fellowplayers the manuscripts of his plays,
published and unpublished. There is not the slightest ground for
supposing that he ever had any intention of collecting and publishing
his dramatic writings--a thing of which there had as yet been no
instance. In 1616, the very year of Shakespeare's death, Ben Jonson,
who, widely different from the great dramatist, set a high value,
and a just one, on his plays as literary compositions, collected all
he had written up to that date and published them, with his other
poetical pieces, in a folio volume. It may have been this that induced
Heminge and Condell, two members of the company to which Shakespeare
had belonged, to make a collection of _his_ pieces also, and give them
to the world in a folio volume. For this purpose they used the 4to
impressions of such plays as had been printed, making some corrections
and alterations in them from the playhouse copies; and adding to these
the manuscript plays which were in the possession of the theatre, they
put the whole into the hands of the publishers, one of whom, Edward
Blount, who was a man of some literary pretensions, is supposed, not
without probability, to have undertaken the task of seeing the work
through the press. Such was the origin of the celebrated folio of
1623, of which it was, in my opinion most justly, said by the late
Mr. Hunter, that "perhaps in the whole annals of English typography
there is no record of any book of any extent and any reputation having
been dismissed from the press with less care and attention;" while Mr.
Knight (who ought to have known a good deal about such matters) boldly
declares that "perhaps, all things considered, there never was a book
so correctly printed!" Such as it is, however, it and the previous 4to
impressions are the _only_ authority we have for the text of these
marvellous creations of the human intellect.


2.

Few, I should hope, will refuse to assent to the two following
postulates.

I. No eminent writer--however he might obscure his meaning by
metaphor, ellipsis, or other figures of speech--has ever written pure
nonsense.

II. No true poet ever wrote limping, imperfect, or inharmonious verses.

We may add to these the plain facts, that printers are not, and never
were, infallible, and that those works of which the authors themselves
read the proof-sheets are in general more correct than those of which
those sheets were read by others.


3.

Now the plays of Shakespeare are, as is well known, full of passages
of which it is nearly impossible to make any good sense, and they
abound in imperfect and inharmonious verses. On the other hand, the
poems of Venus and Adonis, and of Lucrece, which he himself probably
saw through the press, are almost entirely free from error, and do not
contain a single unmelodious verse. The natural inference, then, is,
that the defects of the plays are all owing to the transcribers and
printers, and that the correction of them and the restoration of sense
and melody, when possible, is the legitimate office of sound emendatory
criticism. The truth of this has been felt from the very beginning; for
in the 2nd folio, published in 1632, only nine years after the first,
there are numerous corrections, which must have been made by the editor
solely on his own authority, for, many of them being very bad, he could
not have derived them from any manuscripts. And the same is the case
in the subsequent folios, of all of which there are many copies in
existence, like that which Mr. Collier met with to his misfortune, and
which has excited such a storm in a puddle,--of which, by the way, my
own opinion is that the corrections in it were made between 1744, the
date of Hanmer's, and 1765, that of Johnson's edition; whence I only
cite it for the corrections later than the former date. These contain
manuscript corrections, some, like that copy, anonymously, others by
Southern and other men of repute. In the beginning of the last century
Rowe gave the first example of an annotated edition of Shakespeare's
works, and from that time to the present edition has succeeded edition
bearing the names of critics of various degrees of ability and
eminence, but all agreeing in the necessity of revising the text and
rendering it as correct as may be possible.

Of the early editors, Rowe and Pope made little more than the most
obvious corrections, Warburton, always ingenious and almost always
wrong, made notwithstanding some that were very good, as also did
Hanmer. But they were all eclipsed by Theobald, one of the acutest
emendatory critics that this country has produced, whose merits, though
long clouded through the malignity of Pope, are now fully acknowledged.
Capell, the next in order of time, also rendered good service; but
Johnson, Steevens, and Malone have done much less than might have
been expected. Of these the last was a native of Ireland, the only
emendatory critic that country has produced; and, in my opinion, he is
not at all inferior to his English rival Steevens. That true critic
Tyrwhitt should also be noticed as an emendator of a high order. It
is surprising how little has really been done in the present century;
and I was perfectly astonished to find what a number of passages still
remained in a corrupt or imperfect state when I ventured on the task
of emendation. It would seem as if critical sagacity, low in rank as
it may be, is one of those talents most rarely bestowed; and besides,
print appears to exercise almost a magic power over most persons; they
seem to think that what is in print cannot be wrong: it is in fact only
very few minds that can fully emancipate themselves from its influence.
It must, however, be remembered that alteration and critical emendation
are widely different. The former is in the power of almost any one; the
latter, as I said, requires a peculiar faculty. It is a curious fact
that in nothing does critical sagacity show itself more than in, as I
may say, seeing what is before the eyes. For an instance see the first
note on Henry V. Another curious fact is this, that poets (Coleridge
for example) are rarely good emendators. It is, in fine, the merest
folly, and a proof of the grossest ignorance, to sneer at such labours
and represent them as needless, if not mischievous. Editors, however,
ought to be very cautious about introducing their conjectures into the
text, and should place them only in notes, unless when they are such
as must almost command assent, and the place corrected had previously
yielded no tolerable sense or metric melody. It is a good rule to let
well alone, as we say, and not to alter what gives tolerable good
sense. I have, I believe, transgressed this rule only in a couple of
places.


4.

The following instance is a convincing proof of the evil consequences
of the proof-sheets not having passed under the author's own eye.
Sismondi, the celebrated historian of France, wrote an historic tale
named Julia Severa, which was of course written in French, and it was
printed at one of the best offices in Paris; but the author himself did
not see the proofs, whence, though it makes only two rather slender
duodecimo volumes, there are actually whole pages of _errata_! I
know, by the way, no better mode of weaning oneself from what I shall
presently describe as _printer-worship_ than a habit of examining
the _errata_ in books printed in the two last centuries. Further, in
good printing-offices, at least in this country, it is the practice
that the proofs, after they come from the compositor, should be read
in the office and corrected before they are sent to the author or
editor; while, even at the present day, in the Royal printing-office
in Copenhagen there are no readers, and the sheets are sent out just
as they come from the compositor, and what that state is must be known
to any one conversant with printing-offices. Now it is very possible,
or rather highly probable, if not certain, that such was the case in
England also in former times; and supposing that it was the editors,
and not Blount, that read the proofs, as the wretched state of the
punctuation might seem to indicate, we need not feel any surprise at
the very unsatisfactory state of the text of the folio of 1623. In
opposition, however, to this opinion, the Cambridge editors think that
"there were no proof-sheets, in those days, sent either to author or
editor," and that "after a MS. had been sent to press it was seen only
by the printers, and one or more correctors of the press employed by
the publishers for that purpose." But on this hypothesis how are we
to account for the great correctness of our author's Poems, Spenser's
Shepherd's Calendar, the Works of Jonson, Drayton, and others? The
following words on the title-page of Marston's Fawne, 2nd edition,
offer decisive evidence that authors _did_ read the proof-sheets of
their works:--"Now corrected of many faults, which, by reason of the
author's absence, were let slip in the first edition."


5.

Notwithstanding all this, there are editors of Shakespeare who,
rejecting the evidence of sense, grammar, and logic, obstinately adhere
to the printed text, terming that alone _authority_, and even holding
the second and later folios to be such; and it is really pitiable to
see them superstitiously retaining for instance _'tis_ or _it's_ when
the metre requires _it is_, and syncopated forms as _lov'd_, _own'd_,
etc., when the verse has need of the complete word, and _vice versâ_.
These I denominate _Printer-worshipers_; for it is in reality to the
authority of the printer, not of the poet, that they bow. The most
extraordinary instance of this propensity in existence is the retention
of "strain _at_ a gnat" in our authorized version of the New Testament,
a most manifest printer's error; for no schoolboy could have made it
in translating, and in all the previous English versions the word is
_out_. Yet there it has stood uncorrected for two centuries and a half!
Hardly inferior as a piece of printer-worship is the following. A
stanza of a song in Fletcher's Spanish Curate (ii. 5) ends thus:

    From that breath, whose native smell
    Indian odours far excel,

thus expressing the very contrary of what was meant! Theobald, a true
critic, therefore most properly added _doth_--in the wrong place,
however, as it should begin the line; yet Mr. Dyce says, "the old text
is doubtless what the poet wrote"!!

To conclude, then, if the printed text cannot be made to yield sense
the fault _must_ lie, not with the poet, but with the transcriber or
the printer, and a correction, made in conformity with the language
and mode of thinking of the poet and his time, as it _may_ give what
he wrote, or may have written, should be admitted into the text. I
must here, _en passant_, impress it on the reader as a maxim, that no
word should be used in correction that is not to be found in the poet
himself, or in his contemporaries.


6.

A printer is a transcriber or copyist, with the only difference that he
uses type instead of a pen. He looks at the _copy_, as it is termed,
and takes up the whole or part of a sentence in his mind, and then goes
on composing or setting up the type. Meanwhile he is very possibly
engaged in conversation, or he is listening to that of others, or he
is thinking of something else. His mind being thus distracted, errors
will naturally arise in what he is composing. Besides, he has very
often to contend with the difficulties caused by illegible writing in
the manuscript. There is another source of error--and one in which
the printer is perfectly blameless--which I have never seen noticed.
It is this, that in speaking and reading we often slur over, elide
or suppress the final consonant if the following word begin with a
consonant; and this is not peculiar to the English, but is to be found
in the French, German, and other languages, being in fact a law of
nature, the result of our organization. The most usual case is when,
as in the following example, the first word ends and the next begins
with the same consonant. Thus in one of the Irish Melodies of Moore, a
poet more devoted to euphony than to sense, we have

    Thou would_est_ still be adored as this momen_t_ thou art,

where it will be seen that the letters in italics are not, and cannot
be pronounced, without making a pause between the words. In another
song of the same poet we have

    Mary, I believed thee true,
    And I was blest in thus believing.

Here, if it were not for the second line, no one, on only hearing the
first, could tell whether the word was _believed_ or _believe_; for the
sound is exactly the same: see on Much Ado, iv. 1; M. N. D. ii. 1. We
surely then cannot blame the printer who makes a mistake in such cases,
but we should not hesitate to correct it. We should also remember that
this suppression or clipping is more frequent with the classes to which
the printer probably belonged than with the educated.

It is chiefly the dentals _t_ and _d_ that are thus suppressed before
words commencing with a mute consonant; and it is surprising what a
number of words there are in common use that have been thus curtailed.
Thus in _and_ the _d_ is rarely sounded, even before vowels; _of_ is
so generally pronounced _o'_ that it were needless printing it so, as
is usual in the dramatists, were it not that _o'_ represents _on_ as
well as _of_; we all say "_Who_ did you see?" though we should write it
"_Whom_ did you see?" Instances, in fine, are numberless; but we should
keep the principle constantly in mind. See the note on _sly-slow_,
Rich. II. i. 3; and on _by peeping_, Cymb. i. 7.

On the other hand, there is sometimes a transference of a consonant
from the end of one word to the beginning of the next, which injures
the sense,--_ex. gr._,

    Thence forth descending to that perilous porch
    Those dreadful flames she also found _delayed_.
                                                      F. Q. iii. 12. 42.

Here the poet probably wrote _allayed_, and the printer transferred to
it the _d_ of _found_. See on Temp. iv. 1.

While treating of elision, it may not be useless to remark that when
a word beginning with _h_ is monosyllabic, or is not accented on its
first syllable, the _h_ is not sounded. Any one who will observe will
find that _his_, for example, is usually pronounced _is_; so that there
is no occasion for the _'s_ of the dramatists. So we should write
and pronounce _a history_, but write _an historian_ and pronounce
_an 'istorian_; for _a historian_, as it is too often written and
pronounced, makes a most unpleasant _hiatus_. We may observe how
constantly the aspirate is suppressed in the poetry of Greece and Rome.

The errors of transcribers and printers are _Omission_, _Addition_,
_Transposition_, _Substitution_. Of these I will now give instances,
chiefly from my own experience. I must, however, previously notice the
rather curious fact, that these four sources of error, which I had
traced out in our printed works, are all, and no other, acted upon by
that, in my mind, most able of the German critics, J. Olshausen, in
that _chef d'oeuvre_ of criticism, his Comment on the Book of Psalms,
thus showing how universal they are.


7.

_Omission._--If any one will examine a proof-sheet as it comes from
the hands of a compositor, he will find abundant instances of this
source of error. One would think that such could hardly escape the
author's eye; and yet, in the edition of Ben Jonson's plays corrected
by himself, almost the only errors detected by the editors have been
those of omission; and a few more have, I think, escaped _them_. I may
add that the words supplied by them seem to me to be almost invariably
the very words which had been omitted. In Notes and Queries (3 S.
vii.) there is a list of the principal _errata_ in the reprint of the
First Folio, in 1808; and the far larger portion of them are omissions
which can easily be supplied. From my own experience in the case of
reprints, I can further assert that corrections of this kind are by
no means a matter of hap-hazard; for where I have supplied the words I
supposed lost or altered I have almost invariably found, on referring
to the original edition, that I had hit on the exact word. As an
instance, in a late reprint of Akenside's Poems, the following line
occurs in the Hymn to the Naiads:

    Your _sultry_ springs, through every urn.

Here I at once corrected _salutary_, and on looking at the original
edition I found I was right. Yet, had this correction been made in
Shakespeare, we know how it would have been disputed. As to omissions
I can give the following instances. In a reprint (Lond. 1816) of
Fletcher's Purple Island, we find (xii. 74, 85) the following lines:

    Thus with glad sorrow did she plain her.

    In th' own fair silver shines and borrow'd gold.

Each line being short, I read in the first "_sweetly_ plain her," and
in the second _one_ and "_fairer_ borrow'd gold," and on looking at the
original 4to I found I had supplied the poet's very words. In Chaucer's
Romaunt of the Rose, the following line is in all the MSS. and editions,

    She hadde a gay mirrour,

which is evidently a foot short. I read 'She had _in hand_,' and on
looking at the original I found _en sa main_.

It is not often that proofs have been read more carefully than were
those of my edition of Milton's Poems, both by myself and by others;
and yet, in the reprint of the text, in one place (Par. Lost, x. 422)
it will be found that the word _to_ is missing, thus destroying the
metre; and yet none of us perceived it.

A far stronger case is the following. Never apparently was a work
edited with greater care than Mr. Panizzi's edition of Bojardo and
Ariosto; and yet in the Orlando Innamorato, II. xxiv. 54, the
concluding couplet of the stanza is printed thus:

    Persa ho mia gioia, e'l mio bel Paradiso,
    Per lui che tardo giunse a darmi.

Here a reader, who has even but the slightest knowledge of Italian,
will see at once that the word _avviso_ has been omitted at the end
of the second line; and yet this escaped not merely the printer's
reader, who, even if ignorant of the language, might be supposed to
have missed the rime, but the lynx-eyed editor himself, not only in
the proof, but in the fair sheets which he was evidently in the habit
of examining most carefully. The more I think of this error the more I
feel astonished at its occurrence, a thing for which I cannot in any
manner account; the following, however, is nearly a parallel. In a most
carefully edited Greek Testament (Lond. 1837), in 1 Cor. xi. 23, three
important words are omitted! Need we, then, wonder at omissions in
Shakespeare?

The omission is generally, as in these cases, of single words, from
noun to interjection, all parts of speech included, and also of single
letters or syllables. It is rather curious, too, that when a word has
been repeated by the poet it is sometimes omitted by the printer. Thus
"What wheels? what racks? what fires?" W. T. iii. 2, is printed, "What
wheels? racks? fires?" There is another instance in the same play,
and many in the other plays. In Chaucer the instances are numerous.
Addresses, as _sir_, _my lord_, etc., are sometimes left out, as
also are _pray_, _now_, _only_, and others which are not absolutely
necessary for the sense--and even two or more words; in all which cases
the omission is indicated by the defect of metre. This the reader
will do well to keep constantly in mind. For an example see on Tam.
of Shrew, i. 1. It is surprising how often the negative particle is
wanting in these plays of Shakespeare's. I have discovered its absence
in between twenty and thirty places, not one-half of which had been
observed by preceding editors. But not merely single words have been
left out by printers; want of rime or want of connexion shows that
entire lines have been omitted. Mr. Collier observes that three lines
are wanting in various places of the Variorum Shakespeare; and such
being the case in the present century, we need not wonder at so many
having been passed over by the original printers. The reader will find
about two dozen such cases noticed in my Edition and in the following
pages, not one-half of which had been observed by preceding editors.
Shakespeare himself furnishes the following remarkable instance. In
Com. of Err. ii. 2, the three last folios omit the two lines beginning
with "Wear gold and no man," etc. Nares gives in his Glossary (_v._
Portingall) a curious instance of the omission of a line, which escaped
the author's own notice in the proof-sheet. So also in Massinger's
Unnatural Combat, lines are wanting in two places, though he himself
must have read the proofs. In 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1, there is a line wanting
in the folio, to recover which we are actually obliged to go to the
original play of The Contention, etc.

Parts of lines, generally the latter part, are also often wanting, but
not so often as it may seem; for short lines, and also over-long lines,
generally are caused by malarrangement of the text. The main cause,
however, of these losses is the ill-usage to which the manuscripts seem
to have been subjected in the part of the theatre in which they were
kept, and the careless treatment of them by those who had occasion to
use them. Hence in some places the writing may have been obliterated
by ink-blots, in others effaced by friction, or by damp or dust; while
sometimes a part of a leaf may have been torn away. We must remember
that a large number of Shakespeare's plays were lying thus exposed to
ill-usage, probably in the property-room of the Globe or Blackfriars,
for a space of from twenty to thirty years.

The parts most likely to have thus sustained injury must have been
those nearest the edges of the page; and hence the part effaced would
be the beginning of the line or the end of it; and as the lines run
evenly at the beginning, while they are of irregular length, the
effacement at the beginning would be in general of mere monosyllables,
as _I_, _in_, _with_, _and_, &c., while that at the end might be of
several words, at times even of half a line. In the beginning, too--as
will be seen in the notes on Merchant of Venice, iv. 1, As You Like It,
ii. 7, and elsewhere--more than one word has been sometimes effaced.
In the case of entire lines or large parts of lines, the cause may
have been their position at the top or bottom of the page, and their
consequent proximity to the edge.

It is rather strange that I should have been--as I believe I am--the
first to notice this very simple and natural mode of accounting for the
losses in the text. The number of these losses which I have, or seem
to have, detected in the beginnings is over seventy, those at the ends
more than double that number. As they are all supplied in my Edition,
and noted in the following pages, the reader will have ample occasion
for ascertaining whether my theory is correct or not. I will here,
however, give a couple of instances.

    In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame.
                                                      1 Hen. IV. iii. 1.

Here the critics are perplexed with "wilful-blame," which is a
compound without example; but let us suppose that the poet wrote
"wilful-blameable," and that the final letters had been effaced, we get
a compound term of which examples are numerous. The other is,

    And made him stoop to the water. 'Tis wonder_ful_.
                                                            Cymb. iv. 2.

In the following pages it will be seen that occasionally I attempt to
supply the losses of lines and parts of lines. It will not, I hope,
be supposed that I am so presumptuous as to expect my productions to
be admitted into the text. My object has merely been, by showing how
easily and naturally something could be supplied, to make the reader
see more clearly that something had been lost. In three places, however
(All's Well, i. 1, Tr. & Cr. ii. 1, Cor. ii. 3), I have ventured to
place them in the text of my Edition.

I must, in fine, request the reader most earnestly not to pooh-pooh
this principle of effacement, but to keep it steadily in mind in
reading the other dramatists, as well as Shakespeare; for he will find
it a most valuable aid. Among the instances of effacement at the end
is to be noted that of compound words of which the last part has been
lost. In five places I have thought myself justified in supplying the
missing word, namely, Winter's Tale, i. 2, Rich. III. v. 3, Ham. iii.
4, Tim. i. 2, ii. 2; for it is almost only at the end of a line that we
ever find reason to suspect this kind of effacement.

In editing the Plays, the additions made to the text should always be
marked, so as not to mislead the reader. In _my_ edition, and in this
volume, they are always printed in italics.


8.

_Addition._--Of this also we meet with instances; but, as might
naturally be expected, they are not so numerous as those of omission.
In the following pages I place between brackets such words as I regard
as additions made by the compositor or transcriber. As proofs of such
additions being made I give the following, from the reprint of the text
in my own edition of Milton's Poems.

    But swollen with [the] wind and the rank mist they draw.
                                                               Lyc. 126.

    Which after [this] held the sun and moon in fee.
                                                               Son. xii.

    To stand approved in [the] sight of God though worlds.
                                                           P. L. vi. 36.

    From Heaven-gate not [distant] far, founded in view.
                                                           Ib. vii. 618.

    With Hallelujahs; thus was [the] Sabbath kept.
                                                           Ib. vii. 634.

    Nor [is] this unvoyageable gulf obscure.
                                                             Ib. x. 366.

    Against a foe to doom express assigned [to] us.
                                                             Ib. x. 926.

To which I add the following:--

    And out of sight escaped at the least;
    Yet not [of sight] escaped from the due reward
    Of his bad deeds.
                                                       F. Q. iii. 5. 14.

So it is printed in the edition of 1750.

I may here add that printers have a wonderful propensity to add or
omit--the former much more frequently--the letter s at the end of
words. I remember having one time had to strike out in a single page
no less than five of these ss thus liberally bestowed upon me. So
also--but whether owing to the poet or the printer is dubious--we meet
in Shakespeare with _whom_ used as a nominative. See on Winter's Tale,
v. 3, _ad fin._ In making corrections relating to these finals, our
only guides therefore must be grammar, logic, and poetic melody.


9.

_Transposition._--Of all modes of restoring the melody, and at times
the sense, of verses this is perhaps the most legitimate and the most
certain. I have therefore had recourse to it without scruple; and it
will be seen that in my Edition and in this volume I have thus restored
the sense or the melody of about sixty lines, of which not quite a
fourth had attracted the attention of preceding editors. In my Life of
Milton (p. 286) will be found a very curious instance of transposition
and omission combined in the poet's own reprint of Comus, neither of
which he notices, though he made two corrections in one of the lines.

In Chaucer's Romaunt of the Rose, the transpositions in the latter
part are so numerous that it was necessary to have recourse to the
original poem for the proper arrangement; and I suspect that this
source of error will be found in most languages. Mr. Brandreth, in
his very curious and interesting edition of the Ilias, has made many
transpositions, and they are well deserving of attention. His note on
Il. i. 18, is "Verborum transpositio tutissimum remedium est, cum
saltem, quoad grammaticam, ita dixisse potuerit poeta. Recitatores sæpe
verba retinent, dum ordinem obliviscuntur." This most exactly accords
with what we find in Shakespeare. I think also that many might be,
as some have been, made in the poetic and prophetic books of the Old
Testament--_ex. gr._,

    "Ye mountains of Gilboa, no dew nor no rain be upon you, and fields
    of offerings; for there" &c.--2 Sam. i. 21.

Now surely the royal poet must have written,

    Ye mountains of Gilboa, and fields of offering!
    No dew and no rain be upon you:

and it appears still more certain when we look at the original Hebrew.

A chief cause of errors of this kind seems to have been the addition,
by the author, of one or more lines to a place which he had previously
deemed complete, and this addition, having been made in the margin,
was taken in by the printer in the wrong place; as such I regard the
transposition in M. N. D. ii. 1. Another cause was the omission of
something by a transcriber, who, when he detected his error, wrote
what he had left out in the margin, and the next transcriber or the
printer carelessly inserted it in the wrong place. Of this we have very
striking instances in the Chorus to Hen. V. ii., 2 Hen. VI. iii. 1, and
Rom. & Jul. iii. 3. As in these cases, entire lines or even couplets
get out of place, sometimes parts of lines (King John, iii. 3, Rich.
II. v. 3), at other times single words. Thus adjectives change places
(Temp. i. 1. iv. 1), and substantives do the same (All's Well, ii. 3,
M. N. D. ii. 1, L. L. L. iv. 3). The following is a notable instance.
In Massinger's Maid of Honour (i. 1), a play of which the proofs were
probably read by the poet himself, we read, "A gentleman and yet no
lord," where the context shows that the very opposite is meant. Gifford
saw this, but he did not see the cause, namely, that _a_ and _no_ had
changed places in the printer's mind.

I have remarked several errors of this kind in Chaucer, in whom, in
fact, they are most numerous--_ex. gr._,

    And eke in his hert had compassioun.
    _And in his hert eke had compassioun._

    And pitous and just and alway y-liche.
    _And just and pitous and alway y-liche._

    That it was a blissful noise to here.
    _That it a blissful noise was to here._

In the Faerie Queene, we have

    Was like enchantment, that through both his _eyes_
    And both his _ears_, did steal his heart away.
                                                               vi. 2. 3.

Here, as the riming line ends in _appears_, we must transpose "eyes"
and "ears." Again, in all editions of Parnell's poems, from the first
(edited by Pope), we read in the Hermit,

    Then with the sun a rising journey went,

where both the context and common sense show that "rising" properly
belongs to "sun." The original printer, however, joined it with
"journey," and he has been, of course, duteously followed by his
successors, while editors never seem to have discerned the incongruity.

In the edition of Akenside above mentioned, I met with

    Of triangle or circle, cube or cone,

where it is quite plain that the two first substantives had changed
places in the printer's mind.

Surely Wordsworth did not write

    I did not hunt after nor greatly prize.
                                                      Prelude, ed. 1858.

In a proof-sheet of my Edition, I found

    And leave your brother speed to gos elsewhere.
                                                       3 Hen. VI. iv. 1.

In Troilus and Cressida, v. 2, there is a passage to which
transposition, and it alone, gives sense. It is difficult to see how
the printer could have made such a jumble; and yet it is manifest that
he must have done so. There is, however, as I have shown in my note
on the place, just such another in the play of The Two Noble Kinsmen,
which the editors have made no attempt at correcting. In the following
passage of Chaucer,

    Tooke my horse and forthe I went,
    Oute of my chaumbre; I never stent.
                                                   Book of the Duchesse.

I would read

    Oute of my chaumbre forthe I went,
    And tooke my hors; I never stent.

In the same poet's Romaunt of the Rose, we have the following passage,
unnoticed by any editor,

    Thine armys shalt thou sprede abrode
    As man in warre were forweriede,

where in the first line we should read "abrode sprede," and in the
second reject "were" as an addition of the copyist. An exactly similar
transposition occurs in a later part of that poem.


10.

_Substitution._--"He who has not repeatedly observed how a copyist,
from inattention, sets down a word which his mind has presented to
him instead of that which is before his eyes, must have seen little
of copies of print or manuscript." These are the words of a Spanish
writer, and they are of universal application. I remember myself once,
with Herodotus before my eyes, writing _Sestos_ for _Abydos_; and the
changes I have made in copying passages for this work have amazed me.
In Corneille's play of Rodogune (i. 1), we read _enlever_ where the
proper word is _élever_, and Voltaire justly suspected that it was an
error of the original printer. Further on the reader will meet with a
similar error in the original edition of Tasso's Gerusalemme.

The most ordinary case of substitution seems to be that of synonyms; at
least there is none to which I have been so subject myself. In giving
examples I will commence with Spenser.

    A yearly solemn feast she wonts to _make_.
                                                        F. Q. ii. 2. 42.

Now, as the rimes are _hold_, _told_, the poet must have written, or
have intended to write, _hold_.

    That doth against the dead his hand uprear.
                                                          Ib. ii. 8. 29.

Here the word must have been _upheave_, the rimes being _leave_,
_cleave_, _bereave_.

    When walking through the garden them she _spied_.
                                                         Ib. iii. 6. 40.

As the rimes are _law_, _draw_, we must of course read _saw_.

    Of finest gold. The fifth game was a great new standing _bowl_,
    To set down both ways. These brought in, Achilles then stood up.
                                            Chapman, Iliads, xxiii. 249.

The right word, it is quite plain, is _cup_.

    Or painful to his slumbers; easy, _sweet_,
    And as a purling stream, thou son of Night.
                                              Fletch. Valentinian, v. 2.

Here, as it has been shown, the proper word is _light_; yet Mr. Dyce
has not ventured to receive it.

    Mi si scoperse; onde mi nacque un _ghiaccio_
    Nel core, ed evvi ancora,
    E sarà sempre, fin ch'io le sia in braccio.

My late friend Rossetti, in copying out this passage of Petrarca in his
Amor Platonico, etc., wrote _gelo_ for _ghiaccio_, and never saw the
error, even in reading the proof; and so it is printed.

On the other hand, the adjacent or riming lines sometimes terminate in
the same word. There are many instances in Shakespeare, and I have met
with the following in Italian.

    Ciascun de' cavalieri ebbe _e sergenti_
    Ed al servizio suo donne _e sergenti_.
                                            B. Tasso, Amadigi, xxii. 67.

where, as the rimes show, the first line should end with _una stanza_.

    Bears in his boasted fan an Iris _bright_,
    When her discoloured bow she spreads through heaven _bright_.
                                                      F. Q. iii. 11. 47.

We meet also with places where the sense or the metre, unaided by rime,
must be our guide in correcting--_ex. gr._,

    The round earth, heaven's great queen and Pallas to whose bands.
                                                Chapman, Iliads, i. 395.

Here the metre shows that the right word is _Minerva_, not _Pallas_.

There is one most remarkable case of substitution to which sufficient
attention has never been given by the critics. It may be termed
_reaction_ or _repetition_, and arises from the impression made by some
particular word on the mind of the transcriber or printer, or even of
the writer himself.

Thus in a proof-sheet of my Milton I found

    A _furnace_ horrible on all sides round,
    As one great furnace flamed.
                                                       Par. Lost, i. 61.

while the word before the compositor's eyes was _dungeon_.

    To me _most_ fatal, me most it concerns.
                                     Par. Reg. iv. 205: Todd's 4th edit.

Here, again, the true reading is _so_; yet, as _most_ makes good
sense, if the error had been in the original edition it would in all
probability never have been detected. Opening by chance Bloomfield's
pretty poem of The Farmer's Boy (ed. 1857), I met with

    Till when up-hill the destined _hill_ he gains.
                                                            Winter, 173.

We may find in Chaucer--

    What ladies fairest ben or best _dauncing_,
    Or which of hem can _daunce_ best or sing.
                                                             Knt's Tale.

Here for _dauncing_ we should probably read _loking_.

    Of his _gladnesse_ he _gladed_ her anone.
                                                          Tr. and Cr. i.

The poet probably wrote _goodnesse_.

    For though a man _forbide_ drunkenesse,
    He not _forbides_ that every creature
    Be drunkeles for alway, as I gesse.
                                                                 Ib. ii.

We should read _commaundes_ in the second line.

    Witness the daily libels _almost_ ballads
    In every place, _almost_ in every province,
    Are made upon your lust.
                                            Thierry and Theodoret, i. 1.

We should for the first _almost_, which must be wrong, probably read
_and the_. Mr. Dyce seems never to have seen this; for he had no
conception of this source of error: yet I wonder common sense did not
suggest that something must be wrong.

    The things that grievous were to do or bear
    Them to renew, I wote, breeds no delight;
    Best music breeds _delight_ in loathing ear.
                                                         F. Q. i. 8. 44.

For _delight_ in the last line we might read _dislike_, but I think
we should rather read _annoy_; for in these cases, as we may see, no
resemblance in form or sound is to be sought. I therefore in Othel.
iii. 3, reject the emendation of Pope and 4to 1630 of _feels_ for
_keeps_, because it was evidently suggested by the slight similarity of
form, and does not perfectly suit the context. The reader will find an
excellent instance in As You Like It, ii. 3.

    My news shall be the _news_ to that great feast.
                                                             Ham. ii. 2.

So the folio reads; the 4to has more correctly _fruit_.

Surely Shakespeare never wrote

    To seek thy _help_, by beneficial _help_.
                                                      Com. of Err. i. 1.

             He that they cannot _help_ him,
    They that they cannot _help_.
                                                       All's Well, i. 3.

As this error _never_ occurs in Jonson and Massinger, and only, I
believe, in the instance given above in Beaumont and Fletcher, and has
no æsthetic advantage or beauty to recommend it, it seems quite absurd
to suppose that Shakespeare, whose vocabulary was the largest of all,
and whose ear was so fine and correct, should have found pleasure in
it. Surely a just critic will sooner lay the blame on the printer and
the careless editors, very different in this respect from those of
Beaumont and Fletcher, who seem never to have hesitated to correct an
error when they discovered it.

The resemblance in form above alluded to is of great importance, under
the name of _ductus literarum_, in the eyes of Mr. Dyce, and it should
always be attended to; for it is usually caused by the attempt of the
printer to make out illegible writing. The following are striking
instances:--

In Peele's Edward I. these lines occur.

    To calm, to qualify, and to compound,
    _Thank England's_ strife of Scotland's climbing peers.

That the last line is nonsense was clear to every one; but no critic
ever could emend it. The true reading, however, is doubtless _The
enkindled_, which flashed suddenly on my mind one time when I was
considering the passage. It was probably the resemblance of sound
chiefly that misled the printer.

At the end of Marston's Insatiate Countess we meet the following
unmeaning line,

    Like _Missermis_ cheating of the _brack_,

which Steevens corrected most happily thus--

    Like _Mycerinus_ cheating of the _oracle_,

having discerned the allusion to Herod. ii. 133.

It is very curious that the word substituted is often the very
opposite of the right word. I myself once wrote--and so it is
printed--_diameter_ for _circumference_. In Mrs. C. Clarke's most
valuable Concordance we have "humorous _plebeian_" for "humorous
_patrician_." I have met with _next_ for _last_ and _none_ for _some_;
so in The Mer. of Ven., ii. 2, where the folio has "Is sum of
_no_thing," the 4tos read "Is sum of _some_thing." In Lear v. 3, the
folio reads

    The gods are just, and of our pleasant _vices_
    Make instruments to plague us;

while the 4tos have "pleasant _virtues_."

In All's Well, iii. 2, and Taming of the Shrew, iii. 1, we have _old_
for _new_. In a proof-sheet which I lately saw there was a quotation of

    The paths of glory lead but to the grave;

and the printer had substituted _life_ for "grave," though, as the
entire stanza was given, he had the rime to guide him. Many instances
of this practice will be found in Love's Labour's Lost. In La
Giovanezza, a poem of the Italian poet Pindemonte, I have just met with
_brutte_ where the rime and the sense require _belle_.

It does not seem to have been observed that printers will actually
insert words, for the sake of sense or metre, when they have made a
mistake. In my Life of Milton, I had occasion to quote a passage from
his prose works containing "with a conscience that would _retch_;" and
of this the printer made "with a conscience that _he_ would _relish_;"
and so, I am sorry to say, it is printed. See on Mer. of Ven. iv. 1.

    And stones did cast, yet he for nought would swerve.
                                                        F. Q. v. 12. 43.

As the rimes are _deserved_, _preserved_, _observed_, the poet must
have written _e'er swerved_ or _nothing swerved_.

    In her right hand a fire-brand she _did toss_.
                                                      F. Q. iii. 12, 17.

The rimes are _embost_, _lost_, so that Spenser must have written
_tost_, making, as usual, a dissyllable of _fire_. That it was not the
poet himself that made the mistake is clear; for in

    Till Arthur all that reckoning defrayed (ii. 10, 49)

the edition of 1750 has _did defray_.

A contrary error to this is where the printer has made one word of two,
caused either by sound or by illegible writing. For instances, see
on Com. of Err. iii. 1, Tw. Night, i. 1, Mer. Wives, v. 5, Ant. and
Cleop. iv. 9, Macb. iii. 4.

The fact of effacement in the manuscript, on which I have laid
such stress in the section on _Omission_, has also been a cause of
substitution; for, the original word having become nearly or totally
illegible, the transcriber or compositor, in order to make sense, used
to give some term of his own. Thus we have _yes_ for _I will_, Meas.
for Meas. iii. 1, _yea_ for _even so_, Rich. II. iii. 1, _ay_ for _I
will_, Ham. iv. 7, as is proved by the metre. These are all at the
beginning of the line, and hence their liability to effacement. See
also on All's Well, ii. 1, Twelfth Night, iv. 3, Rich. II. i. 3, and
elsewhere.

Finally, substitutions are often quite capricious, making no sense
whatever. For "he went circuit," where my manuscript was perfectly
legible, I once got "_the local_ circuit;" so also "_the merits_"
for "there an echo;" "_establishment_" for "established government."
In Alison's Life of Lord Castlereagh, one of the pall-bearers at
the funeral of the Duke of Wellington was Sir Peregrine _Pickle_
(Maitland); in all editions of Joseph Andrews we have in one place "Sir
_John_" for "Sir Thomas" Booby.

It is to be observed that _to unto_, _till until_, _on upon_, _though
although_, _e'er ever_, &c., were frequently confounded. It is
therefore the merest printer-worship to hesitate at altering them
when the metre requires it. A further observation is, that even down
into the eighteenth century, it was the custom to write _y_ for _th_
in monosyllables beginning with this last (þ, A. S.), as y^{e} the,
y^{n} then, y^{t} that, y^{u} thou; y^{r} your was another abridgment;
and hence confusion has often arisen. In these plays we have _that_
for _then_ in four places (see on Tr. and Cr. i. 2); and in Paradise
Regained (i. 137) we have _then_ for _thou_, and also, I think, in Tw.
Night, v. 1.


11.

Such, then, are the various sources of error in the original editions
of Shakespeare's plays, the correction of which and restoration of the
poet's real sense are, as I have said, the task of the genuine critic,
and one in which, except in a very few instances, success is not to be
by any means despaired of.

As a means of obtaining it, I would, as I have done, lay it down
as a rule that no word or phrase should be employed in restoration
which is not to be found in the poet's own works, or at least in
those of his contemporaries. It is obvious that by so doing we shall
greatly diminish the risk of failure. It is a curious fact, that not
unfrequently two or even three corrections are so equally good, that
it is exceedingly difficult to choose between them, and that the final
choice thus becomes a matter of mere chance. In such cases I think the
critic should select the one which is the most poetic and most worthy
of the poet. The coincidence of two or more independent critics in a
correction is, in general, a proof of its truth; yet even this is not
infallible. See on Merry Wives, ii. 3.

For correction, then, the first requisite is a thorough knowledge of
the poet's language, the acquisition of which is a work demanding
both time and close attention. Shakespeare's vocabulary, as we have
seen, is extremely copious, and from his not having had the advantage
of a regular education his plays present more anomalies, and offer
more difficulties to the modern reader than those of the contemporary
dramatists.

In his early pieces there is an incessant play on words; and in
his later the language is often very elliptical and the sentences
greatly involved. These difficulties are enhanced by the ignorance of
punctuation, or neglect of it, with which the editors are chargeable.
Thus it is only in very plain cases that they notice the break in sense
caused by the aposiopesis, the anacoluthon, or an interruption, of
which the reader will find so many examples in my Edition and in the
following pages, marked for the first time, and designated by the sign
(...). I would particularly direct his attention to Temp. iii. 1, 2
Hen. IV. iv. 1, Ham. i. 2, i. 4.


12.

In the dramas and other works of those days we may observe the
following peculiarities.

The infinitive mood is used with or without _to_ differently from the
present usage--prefixed where we omit, omitted where we prefix. It is
also employed, like the Hebrew infinitive absolute, where we use the
present participle active, sometimes with a preposition, _ex. gr._,

    Copious in words, and one that much time spent
    _To jest_.
                                                  Lydgate, Book of Troy.

Even in Cowley we meet with

    The sun himself, although all eye he be,
    Can find in love more pleasure than _to see_.
                                                             The Gazers.

Here it is plain we should use the participle _in seeing_.

In "He is grown too proud to be so valiant," Cor. i. l, "to be" seems
to be _i. q._ being; _too_ being apparently used in the sense of
_trop_, Fr., _i.e._ excessively.

The passive participle was continually used in the place of the present
or past participle active or of the future. Chapman, for instance, is
profuse in his use of it in his Homer. Of this, as of the former, we
have some remains among us still, but few indeed compared with what our
forefathers had. The perfect was also frequently used as a part. past,
and of this also we have still some remains.

In imitation of the Latin and French, the writers of the sixteenth
century--for we do not meet with it in Chaucer or Gower--used the verb
as a noun, as _dispose_ for _disposal_, _suspect_ for _suspicion_.

A further peculiarity was the use of what grammarians call collectives,
_i.e._, the singular noun used for the plural. We still retain this
in _sheep_, _swine_, _fowl_, and partially in _year_, _day_; but in
our older writers we meet with it in _horse_ (Much Ado, i. 1, Hen. V.
iv. 1, and in Chapman's Homer continually), _pearl_ (Macb. _ad fin._),
_tree_, _corpse_, _witness_, _business_, _subject_, _princess_ (Temp.
i. 2), and other words.

Writers of those days--and Shakespeare more than any--were fond of
using verbs in a causative sense, as _fall_ for cause to fall, let
fall, _fear_ for make fear. In these plays we meet, in a causative
sense, with _cease_, _linger_, _neglect_, _silence_, _faint_, _perish_,
&c. Thus _learn_ became _teach_, _take give_. It is only thus that
"_smiles_ his cheek in years" (L. L. L. v. 2) becomes sense.


13.

There was a peculiarity of the grammar of those days which is now
confined to the vulgar, namely, that of joining a plural nominative
with a singular verb, _ex. gr._,

    That in this spleen ridiculous _appears_,
    To check their folly, passions solemn _tears_.
                                                          L. L. L. v. 2.

The rimes here and in several other places prove that this is no
printer's error; and this construction is actually most frequent in
Peele, Marston, and Fletcher--all University men! Editors, Mr. Dyce for
example, are in the habit of taking the most unwarrantable liberty of
altering this construction, except where restrained by the rimes. This
practice is highly reprehensible and should be avoided; for we should
give the text as it came from the poet's pen.

The origin of this structure is very simple. In the Anglo-Saxon the
verbs made their plural in _th_, not in _n_, as afterwards became the
usage. This plural of the verb occurs continually in the Vision of
Piers Ploughman, and we find it not unfrequently even in the State
Papers of the early Tudor period, in its later form; for, as in the
singular, the _th_ was gradually changed to _s_.

In the more artistic compositions of Chaucer and Gower, however, it is
very rare. The following line in Chaucer,

    As _flakès fallès_ in grete snowes,
                                                          House of Fame.

shows that even in his time the _th_ had been converted into _s_. The
present practice, then, we may see is merely a change of fashion, and
our ancestors' mode of forming the plural was perfectly correct and
grammatical, with one exception--of which we still meet instances--that
of using _is_ and _was_ as a plural. In my Edition of our poet's plays,
I have therefore very generally preserved this structure; for we may
alter orthography and punctuation, but not grammar.

On the other hand, I must maintain, in opposition to Mr. Dyce, that
the union of a single noun with a plural verb was _never_ a rule of
the language, but _always_ an error of the copyist, or a slip of the
writer. Of this I can give positive instances.

I one day met in my own History of England the following words, "The
_blood_ of Catesby and two others alone _were_ shed;" and on looking
at the first edition I found of course that my word had been _was_.
In Mr. Lloyd's Critical Remarks on Measure for Measure, in Singer's
Shakespeare, we may read "the five _acts_ of the first part of Promos
and Cassandra _concludes_ the iniquity of the deputy." Nor is this
confined to English; in the Gerusalemme Liberata, and unnoticed by any
editor, we find

    Non si conviene a te, cui fatto _il corso_
    Delle cose e de' tempi _han_ si prudente.--x. 41.

In all cases it will be found to be the consequence of a noun of a
different number having intervened between the nominative and the verb.
Mr. Dyce, however, tries to make a rule of it by saying that "our early
writers" did it when a genitive plural intervened; but that will not
apply to passages like these--

    Whose _youth_, like wanton boys through bonfires,
    _Have_ skipt thy flame.--Two Noble Kinsmen, v. 1.

                                          _The sea_,
    With his proud mountain-waters envying heaven,
    When I say 'still!' _run_ into crystal mirrors.
                                                     Valentinian, iv. 1.

    Of others' voices, that my adder's _sense_,
    To critic and to flatterer stopped _are_.
                                                 Shakespeare, Son. cxii.

This last is the error of the poet, who probably had _ears_ in his
mind; yet _sense_ may be a collective: all the others are perhaps to be
ascribed to the original printers.

The intensive particle _be_ was prefixed to verbs much more frequently
than at present. There was also a frequent ellipsis of the first
personal pronoun before such verbs as _cry_, _beseech_, _beshrew_, &c.;
and finally the habit--still retained by the vulgar--of cutting away
the first syllable of a word prevailed to some extent.


14.

The pronunciation of Shakespeare's time of course differed in many
points from that of the present day. Thus _aspect_ and many other
words were accented, and properly, on the last syllable; we also
have _obdúrate_, _árchbishop_, _cónfessor_, &c. In words such as
_case_, _pace_, _lace_, the French sound of the _a_ seems to have
been partially retained--Chaucer writes these words _cas_, _caas_,
_paas_, _laas_--along with the ordinary English sound. Chaucer also
writes 'made' _maad_, Raleigh 'safe' _sauf_; and as the Master of the
Revels wrote Shakespeare's name _Shaxberd_, we may suppose that _shake_
and terms of a similar form were pronounced _shak_, &c. If we do not
pronounce _lac'd_ as _last_ in "lac'd mutton" (Two Gent. i. 2), we lose
the humour of the passage. When Spenser therefore makes _prepar'd_,
for example, rime with _hard_, he was probably doing nothing very
unusual; for these double sounds--as we may see by the example of _shew
show_, _shrew shrow_, _lese lose_--were by no means uncommon. I suspect
that _sea_ may have been one of these, and that besides riming with
_see_, as indeed Chaucer always writes it, it retained the sound of
the Anglo-Saxon [sæ]; for F. Beaumont in his Poems almost invariably
makes it rime with such words as _day_, _lay_, _ray_. Waller, followed
by Pope, Gay, and other poets, most improperly made _ea_ rime with
_ai_, _ay_, as _tea_ with _obey_, &c. As _haste_, _chaste_, _waist_,
&c, constantly rime with _fast_, _last_, &c, they were probably, I
think certainly, pronounced as they were written, like them; or they
may have had a double pronunciation like the words just quoted. As
the more usual orthography was _chaunge_, _raunge_, &c, these words
would seem to have been pronounced as in French, and as we still
pronounce _daunt_, _haunt_, _avaunt_. In words chiefly from the French,
terminating in _ci_, _si_, _ti_ followed by a vowel, as in _nation_,
_fashion_, _passion_, &c.--to which we may add _ocean_--the usual sound
was _s_, not _sh_ as at present. On the whole, the language seems to
have been more euphonious than that of the present day.

While on the subject of euphony, I must direct attention to one point.
Our ancestors probably pronounced _my_, _thy_ (mín, þín, A.-S.), _mee_,
_thee_, with a short sound also, when not emphatic, as in _by_, _to_,
&c. Owing to its falling out of familiar use, and its employment in
the Bible and Liturgy, _thy_ has long--except by the Quakers and the
peasantry--been pronounced so as to rime with _fly_, _try_; but _my_
retained its proper sound till within the last few years; Walker, for
instance, knew nothing of a change. But now our ears are constantly
dinned with an egotistic _my_ like _thy_. I mention this because this
new-fangled pronunciation is ruinous to both euphony and humour in our
elder writers.

I shall conclude with some remarks upon _its_, a word of which
Shakespeare may almost be regarded as the originator; though Spenser,
no doubt, had used it _once_ (F. Q. vi. 11. 34) before him. Singer
says it "occurs but twice or thrice" in Shakespeare; and Archbishop
Trench and others say "three or four times;" while the fact is that its
occurs _twelve_, and _it_, as a genitive, no less than _fifteen_ times.
We meet _its_ only nine times in the numerous plays of Beaumont and
Fletcher, and but half a dozen times in those of Jonson or Massinger.

The Chinese language makes the genitive by merely prefixing the
substantive; thus _houe jin_ (_houe_ kingdom) is "man of the kingdom."
The same is the structure of the Teutonic and Scandinavian languages,
ex. gr., _day light_, &c.; but while all the others make the two
substantives form one word, the English sometimes keeps them separate,
sometimes unites them by a hyphen, and at other times makes them into
one word. Hence we may observe, by the way, that it is needless, as
well as cacophonous, to add an '_s_ to a substantive ending in that
letter; even the simple turned comma is superfluous, the position alone
indicating its genitive sense.

It appears that not only nouns but pronouns were so employed. In the
first page of the Canterbury Tales we have--

    And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
    Of _which_ vertue engendred is the flour.

Here _which_ is a genitive, for which we should now use _whose_ (the
genitive of _who_), a pronoun that our forefathers used of things as
well as persons.

In like manner, though _his_ was the usual genitive of _it_ as well as
of _he_, it was not uncommon to make the genitive by simply prefixing
_it_, as in

    Lord, how it could so prettily have prated with _it_ tongue!
                                                Romeus and Juliet, 1562.

and other passages. I do not think it ever occurs in Chaucer, Gower, or
Piers Ploughman.

I am therefore of opinion that Shakespeare may be regarded as the chief
agent in introducing _its_ into the language. It is to be noticed that
it never occurs in the Bible, only thrice, or rather only twice, in
Milton, and but once in Waller. Chatterton used it twice in the very
first page of his Poems of Rowley; yet the critics of the time did not
discern this plain proof of forgery!

On the disputed question of the use of _his_ for the genitive, I
will only observe that the fact is that the preceding noun is used
absolutely. Thus, as we have "The king, he is hunting the deer," so we
have "the king, his palace." The same structure precisely is to be met
with in Dutch and German--we meet with it, for instance, in Schiller's
Wallenstein; and Captain Burton informs us that in the Kariri language
of Eastern Africa, "The Kazi's brother," for example, is _Kazi-ih-zo_,
literally "The Kazi, his brother."




II. THE VERSE.


15.

Chaucer introduced into English poetry the iambic verse of five feet,
formed by the Provençals in imitation of the Classic Phaleucian and
Sapphic hendecasyllables, and adopted from them by the Italian poets.
These last, however, though they held the principle of admitting but
five _ictus_ in a line, did not limit themselves to eleven syllables,
as the following examples will show:--

    Che passa i monti, e rompe i muri e l'armi.
                                                    Dante, Inf. xvii. 2.

    L'oro, e le perle, e i fior vermigli, e i bianchi.
                                                        Petr. Son. xxxi.

    Non danno i colpi, or finti, or pieni, or scarsi.
                                               Tasso, Ger. Lib. xii. 55.

So the Greeks in their dramatic iambics admitted trisyllabic feet,
Æschylus admitting one foot, Sophocles two, Euripides three; while the
comic poets, both Greek and Latin, used these feet still more freely,
not, however, exceeding the limit of three.

Chaucer did not allow himself the same licence as his masters. He
sometimes admits one such foot, rarely two, and three, I believe, only
once. He also uses at times the Alexandrine or verse of six feet.

The first who used this verse for the drama in England was Bishop Bale,
who in 1538 published three Interludes, as he termed them, or dramatic
pieces on Scriptural subjects. Here are a few lines from the one named
God's Promises:--

    In the begynnynge, before the heavens were create,
    In me and of me was my sonne sempyternall,
    With the Holy Ghost, in one degre or estate
    Of the hygh godhed, to make the Father coequall,
    And thys my Sonne was with me one God essencyall,
    Without separacyon at any tyme from me,
    True God he is of equall dignytè.

The feet, it will be seen, are here of two or three syllables
indifferently; and the same is the case in the couplets which occur
also in these plays.

About the same time Nicholas Udall wrote his comedy of Ralph Roister
Doister--not printed till 1566--in which we have the earliest specimen
of the verse afterwards chiefly used for comedy, namely, one of four
feet, the foot of two, three, and even four syllables. It commences
thus:--

    As long lyveth the mery man (they say)
    As doth the sory man, and longer by a day,
    Yet the Grassehopper for all his Sommer pipyng
    Sterveth in Winter wyth hungrie gripyng.

This measure may be seen in Damon and Pitheas, New Custom, Gammer
Gurton's Needle, and other plays, in which we shall find it admitting
lines of five and even six and seven feet,--_ex. gr._,

    That state is most miserable. Thrise happy are we
    Whom true love hath joined in perfect amity.
    Which amity first sprung, without vaunting be it spoken that is true,
    Of likeliness of manners, took root by company, and now is
      conserved by virtue.--Damon and Pitheas.

Contemporary with Bale and Udall, the illustrious Earl of Surrey had
introduced into English a new species of verse--blank verse. This was a
five-foot iambic measure without rime, and admitting of verses of six
feet. His version of two books of the Æneis in this measure was printed
in 1557; and five years later, Jan. 18, 1561-2, a play written in it
and named Gordebuc, by Norton and Sackville, was performed before Queen
Elizabeth at Whitehall, and it was given to the press in 1566. But more
than twenty years elapsed before blank verse made its first appearance
on the public stage in the Tamburlain of Marlow. From its inherent
superiority, it at once became the established form for the drama,
still mingled, however, with riming couplets and stanzas.


16.

I have already expressed my opinion that the earliest among the extant
dramas of Shakespeare _may_ have been The Comedy of Errors. This is
in blank verse, in general strictly decasyllabic, mingled with the
riming measures above noticed. His next play would seem to have been
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, much of the same form, but differing from
it, and from its immediate successors, by admitting in its blank verse
trisyllabic feet, as in

    A virtuous gentlewoman, mild and beautiful.--iv. 4.

It might seem as if the poet were hesitating about the adoption of a
freer kind of verse such as came afterwards into use. Love's Labour's
Lost, and the other plays in Meres' list--to which, as may be seen,
The Taming of the Shrew is to be added--are all of the same kind. As
he advanced in his career, he gradually discarded rime, and admitted
the trisyllabic foot more frequently. He also learned to run his verses
into each other, thus forming a system; the preposition, for instance,
ending one line, and the word it governed beginning the next line.

The blank verse of Surrey and of the authors of Gordebuc--admitting,
as we have seen, verses of six feet--may be regarded as strictly
decasyllabic. But when it became the standard verse of the theatres it
gradually relaxed from its strictness, and admitted trisyllabic feet
more and more as it advanced, so that in Fletcher we actually meet
with lines containing fifteen syllables, though of no more than five
feet. It is most strange that, with these facts staring them, as I
may say, in the face, editors, almost without exception, seem to have
been haunted by a spectre of five decasyllabic feet. "How often," says
Gifford, "will it be necessary to observe that our old dramatists never
counted their syllables on their fingers!" They also seem to be unaware
of the existence of Alexandrines, or verses of six feet. The play of
Othello, for instance, is as full of them as Dryden's riming couplet
verse; and yet Mr. Dyce--whom I generally notice as being usually
regarded as a leading critic--writes frequently as if such a line were
not admissible in dramatic verse.

Again, there are critics who regard a verse as good if it contains ten
syllables, no matter how made or how arranged.

Thus Malone gives as good verses,

    What wheels, racks, fires, flaying, boiling.--W. T. iii. 2.
    Curs'd be I that did so. All the chärms.--Temp. i. 2.
    Poürs into captains' wounds? banishment.--Timon, iii. 5.

Mr. Collier regards as a good verse,

    To yond generation you shall find.--M. for M. iv. 3.

"Doth comfort thee in _thy_ sleep. Live and flourish" is the usual
reading in Rich. III. v. 5; mine is at least more euphonious.

It has never to my knowledge been sufficiently noticed that Shakespeare
makes occasional use of the seven-foot verse of Golding's Ovid
and Phaer's Virgil, works in which it is evident he was extremely
well-read. Such are the following lines:--

    For often have you writ to her, and she in modesty,
    Or else for want of idle time, could not again reply;
    Or fearing else some messenger, that might her mind discover,
    Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto her
                                                lover.--Two Gent. ii. 1.

    A cherry-lip, a bonny eye, a passing-pleasing tongue.
                                                        Rich. III. i. 1.

    My visor is Philemon's roof; within the house is Jove.--
    Why then your visor should be thatch'd.--
    Speak low, if you speak love.--Much Ado, ii. 1.

    Convey the wise it call: steal! foh! a fico for the phrase!--
    Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels.--
    Why, then, let kibes ensue.--Mer. Wives, i. 3.

    As many devils entertain, and To her, boy! say I.--Ib.

    Thou art the Mars of malcontents. I follow thee, troop on.
                                                                     Ib.

    Die men like dogs; give crowns like pins; have we not Hiren
                                                here?--2 Hen. IV. ii. 4.

    Rouse up Revenge from ebon den, with fell Alecto's snake.
                                                               Ib. v. 5.

    A damned death! Let gallows gape for dogs, let man go
                                                  free.--Hen. V. iii. 6.

These last six, we may see, all belong to Ancient Pistol. We possibly
might add:

    He's ta'en, and, hark! they shout for joy.--
    Come down, behold no more.--Jul. Cæs. v. 3.


17.

I will now make a few general observations on the dramatic verse of
Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In the first place, as observed
above, we may lay it down as a general rule that their verse--I may
perhaps include even that of Marston--is never rugged or inharmonious,
but that when it appears to be so it is owing to the copyist or the
printer, or to the fact of the manuscript having been damaged, and not
unfrequently to want of skill in the reader.

An apparent cause of imperfection in lines is the reader's ignorance
of the poet's mode of pronunciation. Thus it was then the custom--one
not quite lost yet--in prose as well as in verse, if two words came
together, one ending, the other beginning, with an accented syllable to
throw back the former accent: hence Shakespeare said, for example, "the
dívine Desdemona." If critics kept this fact in mind, they would not
reject Tieck's excellent emendation of "the précise Angelo" for "the
prenzic Angelo" in Measure for Measure, on account of the accent, when
in the very same play we have "a cómplete bosom," i. 4; "O just, but
sévere law!" ii. 2; "Will bélieve this," _ib._; "Our cómpell'd sins,"
_ib._ 4, &c.; we have actually "précise villains," ii. 1. How would
they read

    Might córrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt (Hen. VIII. v. 1)?

In fine, it must be remembered that _ion_, _ien_, and other double
vowels were pronounced dissyllabically, as _oceän_, &c.

Again, neither editors nor readers are in general aware that poets
like Shakespeare, who were born in those parts of England where the
_r_ at the end of words or syllables has the light sound peculiar
to the English language, frequently pronounce as dissyllables those
monosyllables, such as _fire_, _hour_, _more_, _where_, &c., ending in
_r_ after a long vowel or diphthong, as in

    I know a bank, where the wild thyme blows.--M. N. D. ii. 1.

Here "where" is to be pronounced nearly _wheaa_; for so the English
really do pronounce it, though they may fancy such not to be the case.
Malone, as being an Irishman, seems to have been the first to notice
it. Of these monosyllables there are upwards of thirty in Shakespeare,
and as many in Fletcher; while in the learned Jonson we only meet
with _fire_, _hour_, _our_, _your_, _wear_. In my Edition, and in
this work, I have marked them with a diæresis, as _whëre_, _heär_,
&c. It is rather remarkable that it is almost solely to his higher
characters, such as Hamlet and Coriolanus, that Shakespeare gives this
pronunciation. We also find this dissyllabic pronunciation in such
words as _born_, _morn_, _horn_, &c.

As in French poetry the _e muet_ in words forms a distinct syllable,
_ennemi_, for example, being read as a trisyllable; so we find _angry_,
_entrance_, _children_, _mistress_ (often written _misteris_),
_country_, _witness_, _juggler_, _wondrous_, &c., forming three,
_remembrance_ four syllables. _Captain_ was sometimes _capitain_, as
in French. Many of these cases, we may observe, are mere solutions of
contractions, _angry_, for example, being simply _angery_ contracted.


18.

In opposition to the commonly received theory, I will venture to lay
it down as a fixed principle that the dramatic poets rarely, if ever,
used short lines, except in speeches of a single line, or in the first
or the last line of a speech. This will be apparent to any one who
examines the pages of Jonson and Massinger, who printed their plays
themselves, or those plays of Shakespeare, Fletcher, and others which
are the most correctly printed. Wherever a line of less than five feet
occurs, it will be found to have been produced by omission of words
or by malarrangement of the text. In plays such as Timon, Troilus and
Cressida, or Fletcher's Sea Voyage, of which the original copy was
in bad condition, lines of this kind are of course most numerous. I
may here observe that in this last-named play, the metre of which Mr.
Dyce has pronounced to be "_incurably_ defective," I have, by simple
rearrangement of the text, rendered it as correct as in any other of
Fletcher's plays.

Even in this also Shakespeare took liberties in which his brethren
did not venture to indulge. _He_ began and ended not only speeches,
but paragraphs of speeches, with short lines. Nay, he even made the
concluding short line of one paragraph and the incipient short line of
the next form a single line, thus--

    It hath the primal eldest curse upon it:
    A brother's murder.--Pray can I not?--Ham. iii. 3.

    Of greatest justice.--Write, write, Rinaldo.
                                                     All's Well, iii. 4.

    Splitted the heart.--This is the sword.
                                                   Ant. and Cleop. v. 1.

In the case of final riming couplets the first line may be short, but
_never_ the second.


19.

Nothing is more common in the works of our old dramatists than
malarrangement of the text, some lines being too long, some too short;
but among them they are sure to contain the requisite number of feet.
Editors have often taken the most justifiable liberty of rearranging
the text; but on other occasions they have exclaimed against those who
have followed their example. In this case, however, the only limit to
the discretion of an editor is that of not putting--except in the cases
above mentioned--more or less than five or six feet in a line. I must
not omit to observe that editors have done injury to many passages, by
the decasyllabic superstition which I have already noticed.

I will give one instance of a place where a most slight rearrangement
gives perfect harmony to what has been a stumblingblock to editors:--

    And sandy-bottom'd Severn have I sent him
    Bootless home, and weather-beaten back.
                                                      1 Hen. IV. iii. 1.

The last line, it will be seen, is the merest prose, but transfer "him"
to it from the preceding line, and we at once get harmonious verse.

The following passages are thus arranged in the original editions:--

    The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling; doth glance
    From heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
    And, as imagination bodies forth the forms of things
    Unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shapes,
    And gives to airy nothing a local habitation
    And a name. Such tricks hath strong imagination, &c.
                                              Mids. Night's Dream, v. 1.

    It seldom visits Sorrow; when it doth, it is a comforter.
    We two, my lord, will guard your person,
    While you take your rest, and watch your safety.--
    Thank you. Wondrous heavy.
                                                            Temp. ii. 1.

Those, then, who would refuse an editor the right of rearrangement are
bound, if they would be consistent, to retain such passages as these
unaltered. I may here make the boast that mine is the _only_ edition of
these plays in which the text is strictly metrical throughout.


20.

Beside all those forms of verse, the plays of our old dramatists
contain a large quantity of prose. But it is only prose to the eye;
for it is in reality as metrical as what is printed in separate metric
lines, consisting of lines of five or six feet, each of two or three
syllables, but printed continuously like prose. I therefore denominate
it "_Metric Prose_" as being metric in substance, prose in form, and
as, moreover, it is termed _prose_ both by Chaucer and Shakespeare,
probably from its less elevated character and from its being written
continuously and without rime or alliteration. I am disposed to regard
the former as being its inventor; and perhaps his reason for writing it
continuously may have been merely the wish to save paper. We know, from
M. de Maucroix's letter to Boileau, that the French poet Racan, whose
poems were of course in rime, also wrote them continuously, and, as it
would appear, for the same reason, though paper must have been less
valuable in his time. As, however, the Anglo-Saxon and early English
alliterative verse was written continuously, Chaucer may have been only
following an established mode. It may be remarked that the poetry of
the Hebrew Scriptures is also written and printed continuously.

Surely it is no egotism to state a plain truth! I therefore say that,
as far as I know, I am myself the very first who, for the last century
or more, has discerned the existence of this metric prose. My discovery
was very gradual. I first recognized it in the plays of Beaumont
and Fletcher, and, advancing step by step, I at length arrived at
the certainty that for three centuries and a half, from Chaucer and
Wickliffe to Dryden and Tillotson, almost every work claiming to be
regarded as a literary composition is in this form. Such are histories
from Sir T. More to Clarendon, translations, controversial and
philosophical works, as those of Hooker, Brown, Taylor, and Cudworth,
versions of the Scriptures from Wickliffe to the authorized one
inclusive, sermons, inclusive of those of Barrow, South, and Tillotson,
the Liturgy, except the Creeds, Te Deum, and Catechism, all prefaces,
dedications and letters of compliment, &c. The chief exceptions were
Hall and the other chroniclers, Purchas, Hakluyt, Fuller, Bunyan,
Ludlow, L'Estrange, and Mrs. Hutchinson. The Ecclesiastical Policy,
The Liberty of Prophesying, and The Areopagitica, for example, are
as decidedly metrical as The Paradise Lost, only admitting more
trisyllabic feet, and being printed continuously. Hence, too, in a
great measure, arises the charm which we find in the prose of our old
writers, and of which we have been ignorant of the secret source; as
when Cowper styles Sidney "warbler of poetic prose."

I do not, however, say that this prose was read as verse, with a slight
elevation of tone at the end of each metric line. It was, I think,
read as prose, as Cowper of course read the Arcadia; but the metre
diffused a secret charm through it, which could be felt even by those
who were ignorant of the cause. How easy, by the way, must this mode of
writing prose have made verse-making to the writers of those days! and
how rapidly that prose could be written is proved by the assertion of
Sir Kenelm Digby, who says that in the space of twenty-four hours he
sent out and bought the Religio Medici, read it through, and wrote his
Observations on it, which fill upwards of seventy printed pages, and
are metrical--a fact almost inconceivable.

The only writer of the last century who, as far as I am aware, used
this metric prose--for we seek it in vain in Addison, Pope, Johnson,
Gibbon, &c.--is the historian Robertson, of which fact Mr. Buckle
seems to have had a dim conception; for he speaks of his "_measured_
style." It is a question where Robertson got it; for he could hardly
have invented it, and I think it must have been in Knox, Spottiswoode,
and the Scottish writers of the two preceding centuries, who all
wrote like their English contemporaries. At the same period, however,
his countryman Macpherson invented a new kind of metric prose for
his 'Poems of Ossian.' Even the present century presents us with an
instance in Mr. Lecky's eloquent 'History of Rationalism,' which is as
metrical as the Areopagitica of Milton. Possibly my own remarks on the
subject in 'Notes and Queries' may have directed his attention to it.

Gascoigne's comedy of The Supposes, performed in 1566, a translation
from the Italian of Ariosto, appears to have been the first play
written in this metric prose; Lyly also, somewhat later, wrote in it
his courtly comedies; and it gradually, combined with blank verse, got
entire possession of the scene. The last, I believe, to use it was
Dryden. Ordinary prose--probably in imitation of the French and Italian
comic drama--seems to have been first used after the Restoration, in
the comedies of Killigrew, Shadwell, Wycherley, Etheridge, Sedley, and
other dramatists of that period.

It is rather remarkable that a union of verse and prose, similar
to this union of regular and irregular verse of our drama, occurs
also in that of India. Sir William Jones tells us, in his preface to
Sacontala, that the Hindoo plays "are all in verse where the dialogue
is elevated, and in prose where it is familiar." Coleridge, who had
not the slightest suspicion of the existence of metre in the dramatic
prose, makes the following just remarks in a note on Fletcher's Custom
of the Country:--"In all comic metres the gulping of short syllables
and the abbreviation of syllables ordinarily long, by the rapid
pronunciation of eagerness and vehemence, are not so much a licence as
a law--a faithful copy of nature." This I think completely justifies
the frequent use of the syncope and synæresis in metric prose.

The same critic again says of Milton's noble conclusion of his treatise
'Of Reformation in England,' "Written in the fervour of his youthful
imagination, in a high poetic strain that wanted metre only to become a
lyrical poem." He felt, but did not see, that the metre actually _was_
there.

The fact of this prose being metric causes us sometimes to doubt
whether a passage should be printed as verse or as prose; and sometimes
what is verse in one edition is prose in another. Thus Mercutio's
celebrated account of Queen Mab, in Romeo and Juliet, which is most
perfect decasyllabic verse, is properly printed as such in the 4to,
1597, while in all the subsequent early editions it is made prose;
and prose it would probably have been at this day had no copy of that
edition remained. On the other hand, most modern editors have most
improperly printed the Nurse's speeches in the preceding scene as
verse, while they are, and rightly, prose in all the original editions.
An editor is, I think, at perfect liberty to use his judgement in this
matter.

The following extracts, in which the termination of each line is
marked, will enable the reader to judge of the truth of my theory. I
must at the same time remind him that such contractions as _I'll_,
_I've_, are rare in these prose scenes, such being left to the
knowledge and skill of the actor or reader.

    "As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion. | _He_ bequeathed
    me by will but poor a thousand crowns; | and, as thou sayest,
    charged my brother on his blessing | to breed me well; and there
    begins my sadness. | My brother Jacques he keeps at school, and
    report | speaks goldenly of his profit; for my part he keeps me |
    rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, | stays me here
    at home unkept; for call you that keeping | for a gentleman of my
    birth, that differs not from the stalling | of an ox? His horses
    are bred better; for besides that | they are fair with their
    feeding, they are taught their manage, | and to that end riders
    dearly hired; but I, his brother,| gain nothing under him but
    growth, for the which | his animals on his dunghills are as much |
    bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he | so plentifully
    gives me, the something that Nature gave me | his countenance seems
    to take from me. He lets me feed | with his hinds, bars me the
    place of a brother, and as much as | in him lies mines my gentility
    with my education. | This it is, Adam, that grieves me; and the
    spirit of my father, | which I think is within me, begins to mutiny
    | against this servitude. I will no longer endure it, | though yet
    I know no wise remedy how to avoid it."--As You Like It, i. 1.

    "I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation | prevent your
    discovery, and your secresy | to the king and queen moult no
    feather. I have of late |--but wherefore I know not--lost all my
    mirth, | foregone all custom of exercises, and indeed | it goes so
    heavily with my disposition, | that this goodly frame, the earth,
    seems to me a sterile | promontory, this most excellent canopy,
    | the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, | this
    majestical roof, fretted with golden fire, | why, it appeareth
    nothing to me but | a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. |
    What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! | how infinite
    in faculties! in form and moving | how express and admirable! in
    action how like an angel! | in apprehension how like a god! | the
    beauty of the world! the paragon | of animals! And yet to me what
    is | this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; | no, nor
    woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so."--Hamlet,
    ii. 2.

    "Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo.--Without his roe, | like a
    dried herring. O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified! | Now is
    he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in; | Laura to his lady
    was a kitchen-wench; | marry, she had a better love to be-rime
    her; | Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gypsy; | Helen and Hero hildings
    and harlots; Thisby | a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose.
    | Signior Romeo, _bon jour_. There's a French salutation | to
    your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit | fairly last
    night."--Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4.

    "Nay, sure, | he's not in hell. He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever |
    man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, | and went away
    as it had been any christom child. | 'A parted even just between
    twelve and one, | even at the turning of the tide. For after I saw
    him | fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile |
    upon his finger's end, I knew there was but one way; | for his
    nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields. | How
    now, Sir John! quoth I. What, man! be of good cheer! | So 'a cried
    out God, God, God! three or four times. | Now I, to comfort him,
    bid him he should not think of God; | I hoped there was no need
    to trouble himself | with any such thoughts yet. So 'a bade me
    lay | more clothes on his feet. I put my hand into the bed, | and
    felt them, and they were as cold as any stone. | Then I felt to
    his knees, and so upward and upward, and all was | as cold as any
    stone."--King Henry V. ii. 3.




COMEDIES.


COMEDY OF ERRORS.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Yet that the world may witness that my end
           Was wrought by Nature, not by vile offence."

It was surely wrought by _Fortune_ rather than by Nature, and so the
poet may have written it. Collier's folio makes the same correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And by me, had not oür hope been bad."

The editor of 2nd folio read 'me _too_,' not being aware of the
dissyllabic form of 'our.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A _poor_ mean woman was delivered."

The editor of 2nd folio added _poor_, which was probably the poet's
word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unwilling I agreed. Alas! too soon
    We came aboard * * * * * *
    A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd."

We might supply '_our ship. Somewhat more than._'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which being violently borne up_on_,
    Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst."

It was the mast, not the ship; but the text is probably as the poet
wrote it.

    "At length another ship had seiz'd on us."

We should surely read '_the_ other.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That by misfortune was my life prolong'd."

It might be better to read _Thus_ for 'That.'

    "That his attendant--for his case was like."

For 'for,' the judicious correction of 2nd folio, the 1st has
_so_.--See on L. L. L. i. 1; 1 Hen. IV. i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To seek thy help by beneficial help."

See Introd. p. 61. For the first 'help,' Pope read _life_; I read
_ransom_, a word already used by the Duke. If the error should be in
the second 'help,' we might, with Malone, read _means_; which, however,
is rather feeble.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And live, if no thou then art doom'd to die."

For 'no' we should surely, with Rowe, read _not_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Who falling there to find his fellow forth."

Mr. Barron Field proposed _failing_, which may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your clock,
    And strike you home without a messenger."

'Clock' is Pope's correction for _cook_ of the folio, which, however,
may be right after all; for the cook used to _strike_ on the dresser to
give notice that the dinner was ready.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Will you come _home_? quoth I."

Hanmer properly added _home_, which was plainly omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I see the jewel best enamelled
    Will lose his beauty, yet the gold bides still,
    That others touch.--And often touching will
    Where gold; and no man that hath a name
    By falsehood and corruption doth it shame."

To give sense to this passage I read in the second line _bide_; in the
fourth, with Warburton, _wear_, with Heath _so a_ for 'no'; in which
two I had thus been anticipated. The punctuation given here is my own.
I am dubious of 'others' in the third line, for which we might read
_fingers_, or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Your sauciness will jest upon."

For 'jest' Mr. Dyce reads _jet_, referring to Rich. III. ii. 4, Tit.
Andron. ii. 1; and "It is hard when Englishmen's patience must be thus
_jetted_ upon by strangers."--Play of Sir T. More, p. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And what he hath scanted them in hair he hath given them in wit."

For the first 'them' Theobald properly read _men_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The one to save the money that he spends in trying."

For 'trying' Pope read _tyring_ by simply transposing, Rowe _trimming_.
I rather prefer the former, as _tyring_ is attiring, and 'attire' is
head-dress; but whether used of a man or not I am not certain.--See my
note on Milton's On Time, _v._ 21.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I live distain'd, thou undishonoured."

Quite the contrary; for she would rather "live an unstain'd life." R.
and J. iv. 1. Theobald read _unstain'd_, but I prefer _un_distain'd.
The printer was more likely to omit _un_ (see on Cymb. i. 7) than
to change it to _di_. There is also an agreeable effect on the ear
produced by the accents falling on _un_ in both words. In all these
plays lines frequently begin with an anapæst.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll entertain the freed fallacy."

For 'freed,' which can hardly be right, Pope read _favour'd_, Capell,
much better, _offer'd_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We talk with goblins, owls, and sprites."

To complete the measure, the editor of 2nd folio inserted _elves_, and
before 'sprites'; from which Rowe made _elvish_ 'sprites.' For 'owls'
Theobald read _ouphes_; but that term occurs only in The Merry Wives. I
read--

    "_For here_ we talk with goblins, elves, and sprites."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am transformed, master, am not I?"

Theobald also made this obvious and necessary transposition of 'I not.'


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "By the wrongs _that_ I suffer, and the blows _that_ I bear."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ay, to a niggardly host, and _a_ more sparing guest."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I thought to have ask'd you * * * *
            * * * * * and you said, No."

Malone also saw that something was lost. We might read--

    "I thought to have ask'd you, _had you brought a rope.--
    I ask'd you to let us in_, and you said, No."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Once this. Your long experience of her wisdom."

'Her' is Rowe's correction of _your_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And in despite of mirth mean to be merry."

To be merry in spite of mirth is like laughing in spite of laughter,
dying in spite of death, living in spite of life--pure nonsense. With
great confidence I therefore made the correction _my wife_, and so
gave it in my Edition. Meeting, however, in the Cambridge Edition with
Theobald's correction _wrath_--for Editors had ignored it--I saw at
once that the poet must have written _my wrath_ (see Introd. p. 67),
which resembles 'mirth' both in form and sound, and I have therefore
adopted it without hesitation. Like a similar correction in Twelfth
Night, i. 1, I regard it as absolutely certain.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Shall love in building grow so ruinous?"

So Theobald, in accordance with the rime, read for _ruinate_ of the
folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Alas, poor women! make us but believe."

Here again we have Theobald's correction of 'but' for _not_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Spread o'er the silver-waves thy golden hears,
    And as a bed I'll take them and there lie."

I have printed 'hears' for the 'hairs' of the folio, as it rimes
with 'tears,' and was the constant pronunciation of Chaucer, and
frequently of Spenser; and in his early plays Shakespeare indulged
in riming archaisms of this kind occasionally. We are to recollect
that this play was not printed till thirty years after it had been
written, and by that time _hair_ had been established as the sole
orthography. The matter is, however, put out of dispute by the Poems,
in which Shakespeare himself spells it _hear_ when riming with _tear_
and _ear_. 'Bed' is the correction of 2nd folio for _bud_. Mr. Dyce
proposed _bride_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Call thyself sister, sweet, for I am thee."

For 'am' Capell read, I think rightly, _aim_, and Singer quotes "I make
my changes aim one certain end."--Drayton Leg. of Rob. Duke of Normandy.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well, sir, but her name and three quarters."

The folio has _is_ for 'and'; the correction is Thirlby's.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Belike you thought our love would last too long
           If it were chain'd together."

For 'it' I think we should read _we_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "First she denied you had in him no right."

This structure seems strange, but it was in use:--

    "You may deny that God was not the cause."
                                                        Rich. III. i. 3.

    "Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her."
                                                   Twelfth Night, ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Here go. The desk! the purse! Sweet, now make haste."

For 'Sweet,' which is rather free in the mouth of Dromio, Collier's
folio reads _Swift_; we might also conjecture _Speed_. The truth,
however, seems to be that _mistress_ has been omitted after 'Sweet.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A devil in an everlasting garment hath him."

There is something evidently lost here, riming with 'steel.' It may
have been _by the heels_, or _laid by the heels_, alluding to 'Tartar
Limbo'; but _still_, or _at his will_, seems preferable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough."

For 'fairy' Theobald proposed _fury_, and we have "O, my good lord,
deliver me from these _furies_" (_i.e._ bailiffs).--Massinger,
Fatal Dowry, v. 1. "Fiends, _fairies_, hags that fight in beds of
steel."--Peel, Battle of Aleazar, where Mr. Dyce reads _furies_. In
Jonson's Poetaster (iii. 1) the Lictors are termed _furies_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat, or bespeak a long
           spoon."

For 'or' we should read _and_, as usual. Mr. Dyce reads _so_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "In verity you did; my bones bear witness
           That since have felt the vigour of his rage."

The change of pronouns is so frequent that I think it would be simpler
to read _your_ for 'his' than as is usually done make 'my bones,' etc.
an _aside_.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "And much different from the man he was _before_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In company I often glanced _at_ it."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But _only_ moody and dull melancholy."

See Introd. p. 55. In my Edit. _only_ is at the end.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And at her heels a huge infectious troop."

We should probably read _his_ for 'her,' as kinsman is the antecedent.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hath scar'd thy husband from the use of _his_ wits."

As 'his' was probably written _'s_, it escaped the printer's eye.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The place of death and sorry execution."

I would read _sore_ or _sour_ for 'sorry'; Collier's folio proposes
_solemn_. The 1st folio has _depth_ for 'death.' The correction was
made in the 3rd.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To scorch your face and to disfigure you."

Mr. Dyce properly reads _scotch_; for, as he observes, the very same
misprint occurs in Macb. iii. 2, and Knt. of Burning Pestle, iii. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "On the way we met * * * _as we were going along_"(?)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "These left me and my man, both bound together."

For 'These' we should perhaps read _They_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Besides her urging of her wreck at sea...."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And thereupon these Errors are arose."

Editors ought to be ashamed of themselves for not seeing that 'arose'
is the same as 'arisen.' See Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail,
    Of you, my sons; and till the present hour
    My heavy burthen are delivered.
    The Duke, my husband, and my children both,
    And you, the calendars of their nativity,
    Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me,
    After so long grief such nativity!"

I read this passage thus:

    "Thirty-three years have I _been_ gone in travail
    Of you, my sons, _until_ the present hour.
    My heavy burthen _here_ delivered,
    The Duke, my husband, and my children both,
    And you, the calendars of their nativity,
    _Come_ to a gossip's feast, and go with me.--
    After so long grief such _felicity_!"

All the corrections here made are my own; and yet in all but one I
had been anticipated! in _been_ by 2nd folio; in _until_ by Boaden;
in _here_ by Grant White; in _felicity_ by Hanmer. In my Edition of
these plays I have printed "Go ... _come_ with me." The difference
is unimportant. In the first line Theobald, followed by succeeding
editors, read _twenty-five_; but such alterations are not to be allowed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Master, shall I fetch your stuff from ship-board _now_?"




THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "I leave myself, my friends, and all for love."

The folio has 'I _love_.' Pope made the obvious correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But what said she? _did she nod?_"

These last words are an addition by Theobald, and the context shows
they had been lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Yet he of all the rest I think best loves ye."

'Lov'_d_ ye' would rime better with 'mov'd me.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That I might sing it, madam, to a tune."

As _time_ and 'tune' were synonymous, perhaps the poet used the former,
which would accord with 'rime.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Let's see your song. _Why_, how now, minion!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You do not _like it_!--No, madam, it is too sharp."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I see you have a month's mind to them."

A syllable is wanting. Some read _moneth_, but that is not a
Shakespearian form. We might also read '_un_to' for 'to' but I prefer
'I see _that_ you'; as I have given it in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And be in _the_ eye of every exercise."


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "And now you are _so_ metamorphosed with a mistress."

A just and necessary addition of Collier's folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And you, being in love, cannot see to put on your hose."

For 'hose,' apparently suggested by what went before, I should incline
to read, with the Cambridge editors, _shoes_; or _clothes_ might be
better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nay, take them _again_--Madam, they are for you."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Oh, that she could speak now like a wood woman!"

For 'she' Blackstone proposed _shoe_; better _the shoe_, as I have
given it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "_Come_, go with me. Once more, new servant, welcome."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "She is alone.--Then let her _be_ alone."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So the remembrance of my former love
    Is, by a newer object, quite forgotten."

It seems to me that the best way to give sense to this passage is to
take 'by' in the sense of beside, near. See Index _s. v._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It is mine or Valentine's praise?"

So it stands in the original. It need hardly be observed that the
two first words must be transposed. It is also plain to me that a
substantive has been lost after 'mine,' and none seems so likely to be
the right word as _eye_, the conjecture of Warburton, and which seems
to be omitted in the same manner in the last line of Son. cxiii.

    "As love is full of unbefitting strains
           * * * * *
    _Form'd by the eye_, and therefore like the eye."
                                                          L. L. L. v. 2.

                       "I know there is no beauty,
    Till our eyes give it 'em, and make 'em handsome."
                                             Fletch. Maid in Mill, i. 2.

See also his Love's Pilgrimage, ii. 3. Steevens and others read '_her_
mine,' taking the latter as _mien_, a term not Shakespearian. (See
on Mer. Wives, i. 3.) As there is still a syllable wanting, I would
read 'Valentinès,' a mode of forming the genitive not unusual in our
author's early plays.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Launee, by mine honesty, welcome to Padua."

That 'Padua' was the poet's word is proved by the metre, and the
editors had no right to change it to _Milan_. 'By mine honesty' occurs
in exactly the same manner in the play of Damon and Pitheas, with which
Shakespeare was familiar.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If thou wilt go with me to the ale-house, _so_; if not."

The 2nd folio added _so_, which is required both by sense and metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "And instances of infinite of love."

The 2nd folio reads '_as_ infinite,' which may be right, but 'infinite'
seems to be made a substantive here.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "There is a lady in Verona here."

Here again 'Verona,' the poet's word, has been altered by the editors.
Pope, who is usually followed, read '_sir_, in _Milan_,' and Mr. Dyce
adopts the unheard-of term _Milano_ of Collier's folio! We have no
right to make such changes.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For 'get you gone,' she doth not mean 'away.'"

Perhaps the poet's word was _By_ not 'For'; or there may be an omission
of _by_ after 'For.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I fly not Death, to fly his deadly doom."

For 'his' Singer read _is_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As ending anthem of my endless dolour."

For 'anthem' Singer very plausibly read _amen_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Item_, She is not to be _kissed_ fasting on account of her breath."

Rowe added _kissed_, which, though generally received, is not
absolutely necessary.

                      "Nor does your nostril
    Take in the scent of strong perfumes, to stifle
    The sourness of our breaths as we are fasting."
                                            Massinger, Very Woman, i. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Now will he be swinged for reading _of_ my letter."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "But say this weed her love from Valentine."

The context seems to require _wind_ for 'weed,' and I have so given it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That may discover such integrity."

Though in my edition I have made here an aposiopesis, I think it more
probable that a line has been lost.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "_O_ sir, we are undone; these are the villains."

So Capell read also.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "An heir, and near-allied unto the Duke."

The folio has "And heir and niece." Theobald made the corrections.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come, go with us; we'll bring thee to our crews."

As in v.1 we have

    "Come, I must bring thee to our captain's cave,"

we should probably read here _cave_ or _caves_ for 'crews.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Vain Thurio whom my very soul abhorred."

'Abhorreth' is probably what the poet wrote.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Madam, I pity much your grievances,
    Which since I know they virtuously are placed."

This is mere nonsense; 'grievance' never had any meaning but that
which it has at present. A line has evidently been lost; something
like this:--"_And sympathize with your affections_." The corrector of
Collier's folio, who first saw the loss, added--"_And the most true
affections that you bear_," which seems wanting in ease and simplicity.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When will you go?--This evening coming _on_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "It seems you loved not her, not leave her token."

For the second 'not' we should read _to_. See on All's Well, v. 3. For
'leave,' see Index _s. v._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why dost thou cry Alas?--I cannot choose
    But pity her.--Wherefore should'st thou pity her?"

This is the proper arrangement; that of the editions, my own included,
is wrong.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well, give _to_ her that ring, and therewithal."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From whom?--From Sir Proteus, my master, madam."

So I should have given it in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Aye, but her forehead's low, and mine's as high."

The sense might seem to require 'mine _is_ high,' as Pope also saw; but
her meaning may be, so is mine also. A high forehead was, however, a
part of beauty. See Fletcher, Woman-hater, iii. 1.

            "She hath a freckled face,
    A _low forehead_, and a lumpish eye."
                                           Marston, Ant. and Mel. I. iv.


ACT V.

    SC. 2. "Which of you saw _sir_ Eglamour of late?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "And I mine _too_.--A prize! a prize! a prize!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come let us go. We will include all jars
    With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity."

'Include' here evidently signifies _conclude_; and as there is no
instance of its use in that sense, it might be better to read the
latter word with Hanmer.




LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "And then grace us in the disgrace of death."

The usual confusion of _then_ and _there_. We should read the
latter. The contrary occurs in: "In summer _where_ the ways are fair
enough."--M. of Ven. v. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why should I joy in any abortive birth?"

A line is certainly lost. It may have been like this:--"_Among the
offspring of the teeming earth._"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So you, to study now it is too late ...
    That were to climb o'er the house to unlock the gate."

This, except the punctuation, is the reading of the folio; that of the
4to, 1598, is:

    "So you, to study now it is too late,
    Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate."

To which editors have given the preference, not a little, I think,
moved by what seemed to them the metric regularity of the last line.
I prefer the reading of the folio, and explain it thus:--Berowne had
just been showing how he liked everything in its due time and season;
and youth being the proper time for instituting a course of study, it
was, he thought, as absurd for them who were full-grown men to set
about it, as it would be for a man who wanted to unlock the gate of his
court-yard to climb over the house to get to it. A couplet, however,
may have been lost; for 'So you,' &c., joins but awkwardly with what
precedes; but I believe the true solution of the difficulty is that
the poet wrote '_For_ you,' &c. We have instances of the confusion of
these words in Com. of Err. i. 1, 1 Hen. IV. i. 3, Macb. i. 2, Son.
xliv. 5. I have so given it in my Edition. There seems to be much more
humour in the reading of the folio, caused by the aposiopesis, than in
that of the 4to, where 'the _little_ gate' makes a difficulty; but the
meaning may be, they were giving themselves a deal of labour for a very
trifling result. I think the reading of the 4to may have arisen thus.
In the transcript from which it was printed "That were to" may have
been effaced or omitted, and then 'little' was added to complete the
metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yet confident I'll keep what I have sworn?"

As it rimes with 'more,' we must, with 2nd folio, read _swore_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A dangerous law against gentility."

The reading of Collier's folio, _garrulity_, would agree better with
the context; but it is not a Shakespearian term.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A high hope for a low heaven."

Theobald's reading _having_ has been generally, and I think rightly,
adopted; but Mr. Dyce adheres to the text.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To hear or forbear hearing."

Capell read _laughing_ for 'hearing,' which correction the next speech
shows to be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And Don Armado, _he_ shall be your keeper."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "For I am sure I shall turn sonnet."

Hanmer, who is generally followed, read 'sonnet_eer_'; but it is
doubtful if that term was then in use. In Hall's Satires we meet with
_sonnetist_; he also has _sonnet-wright_; and in Marston's Fawne (iv.)
and in the play of Lingua (ii. 2), we have _sonnet-monger_, which I
have adopted, as we have 'fancy-monger' in As You Like It, iii. 2.
Dr. Verplank, an American critic, proposed 'turnsonnets,' which Mr.
Staunton has adopted.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "_Lord_ Longaville is one."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well-fitted in arts, glorious in arms."

I read 'In arts well-fitted'; so also Grant White. The 2nd folio has
'in _the_ arts.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To the wide fields _is_ too base to be mine."

The metre requires a syllable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis deadly sin to keep that oath, my lord,
    And sin to break it."

Perhaps something may have been lost. It might be '_'tis no_ sin.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My lips are no common, though several they be."

'Several' is the very opposite of 'common.' "Truth lies _open_ to all;
it is no man's _several_."--Jonson, Discoveries. We should therefore,
I think, for 'though' read _for_, which is proved by the following
speeches. The printer might have taken _for_ for _tho'_, or have
supposed that 'be' was the conjunctive mood.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who tendering their own worth, from where they were glass'd,
    Did point out to buy them, along as you pass'd."

The 4to reads 'point you'; but neither reading makes sense. We might
read '_prompt_ you,' or '_tempt_ you.' I have adopted the former.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come to our pavilion; Boyet is dispos'd."

By 'dispos'd' here we are to understand--like _dispos_ Fr.--cheerful,
or rather gamesome; we have _undis_posed in Com. of Err. i. 2. It would
seem, however, to be simply inclined with an ellipsis of the object.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "And make them men of note?--Do you note men?--that most are
    affected to these."

I agree with the proposed reading of _me_ for the second 'men.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No salve in the male, sir."

Tyrwhitt's most happy emendation 'in them all' gives in my opinion, the
true reading.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And stayed the odds by adding four."

Collier's folio, which Singer follows, reads _making_, which may be
right, but is not necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sirrah Costard, _marry_, I will enfranchise thee."

Costard's reply shows that _marry_, added by Collier's folio, had been
omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I give thee thy liberty, set thee _free_ from durance."

The same folio supplies _free_. Singer received both corrections.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than whom no mortal so magnificent."

'So' should be _more_, or rather _moe_; but it may be as the poet wrote
it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid."

The original editions have 'This _signior Junio's_ giant-dwarf,' which
possibly may be right, there being an allusion to some poem or tale now
lost. The text is the correction of Hanmer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What, _I_! I love! I sue! I seek a wife!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A whitely wanton with a velvet brow."

Rosaline was dark, so Collier's folio reads _witty_ for 'whitely,' and
the Cambridge editors _wightly_; yet the poet may have been merely
oblivious.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well, I will love, _will_ write, sigh, pray, sue, groan."


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "That more for praise than purpose meant to kill."

The meaning of 'purpose' is not very clear; perhaps it should be
_purchase_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He came, saw ... saw two."

Both 4to and folio read 'see.' Rowe made the obvious correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

"A mark marvellous well shot; for they both did hit _it_."

It was the 4th folio that supplied _it_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "An if my hand be out, then, belike, your hand is in.--
    Then will she get the upshot by cleaving the pin."

'Pin' is the correction of the 2nd folio; both the 4to and 1st folio
have _is in_, as in preceding line, and possibly so the poet wrote it;
for it makes a kind of sense, and he may have had his reasons for using
it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Armado a' the tother side."

So I read, as the 4to has _ath toother side_, and the folio _ath to the
side_. The usual reading is "on the one side;" but we are not to look
for rigid consistency in Costard's language.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To see him kiss his hand! and how sweetly 'a will swear."

A line riming with this seems to be lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "So were there a patch set on learning to see him at school."

Misled by Singer, I gave in my Edition, _set_, the reading of Collier's
folio, for 'see,' which may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And to humour the ignorant I _have_ call'd the deer," etc.

Rowe was right, I think, in supplying _I have_. Singer reads _I will
call_; Collier's folio _I call_; he Cambridge editors _call I_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Makes fifty sores, O sore L!"

The reading of the Cambridge editors is _one soul_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    _"Of piercing a hogshead!"_

The poet, I suspect, wrote _Oh_! not 'Of'; and so I have ventured to
give it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Celestial, as thou art, oh! pardon Love this wrong,
    That _he_ sings heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue."

We might also read, with S. Walker, '_the_ heaven's; but I prefer what
is in the text. A syllable was undoubtedly omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where if, before repast, it shall please you to gratify the table
    with a grace."

For '_before_ repast' of the 4to, the folio has '_being_ repast' in a
parenthesis; and it may possibly be right, the school-master, in his
pedantic way, using 'repast' as a participle. The grace, then, would be
after dinner.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "The dew of night that on my cheeks down flows."

Both 4to and folio read 'The night of dew,' and so most editions; but
the context requires the transposition. The same is the case in the
last line but one of this sonnet, where 4to and folio read 'dost thou.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou makest the triumviry, the corner-cap of society,
    The shape of Love's Tyburn, that hangs up simplicity."

This is no rime; the poet must have written _sobriety_ in the second
line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Disfigure not his shop."

As 'hose' has just occurred, Theobald read _slop_, which both Singer
and Dyce properly adopt. The usual reading is _shape_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Oh, most divine Kate!
    Oh, most prophane coxcomb!"

Both rime and metre demand _pate_ in the second line (see Introd. p.
63). The whole dialogue, with this exception, is in rime.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By earth, she is not. Corporal, there you lie."

Theobald, who is usually followed, reads "By earth she is but corporal;
there you lie." I think, however, the text is right. In iii. 1 Berowne,
styling Love a "great general," adds, "and I to be a _corporal_ of his
field!" so he may well apply that title to Dumain. See Index _s. v._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That shall express my true love's fasting pain."

Capell read _lasting_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Of_ faith enfringed, which such zeal did swear?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To see a king transformed to a gnat."

For 'gnat,' of which it is not very easy to see the meaning, Mr.
Staunton would read _quat_, the conjecture of Mr. Becket, and surely
not better. We also meet _sot_ and _knot_, equally bad. In Pericles
(ii. 3), however, princes wanting in liberality are compared to gnats.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not you by me, but I betray'd to you."

Capell transposed 'by' and 'to'; which seems to be right. Yet 'to' may
have been suggested for _by_, by the preceding line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With men like men of inconstancy."

As something is evidently wanted, the 2nd folio read 'of _strange_,'
and that is the usual reading; Theobald '_moon_-like men.' I have read,
as I find S. Walker had done,

    "With men like _you_, men of inconstancy."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is ebony like her? O wood divine!
    A wife of such wood were felicity."

The 'wood' of the first line is Rowe's certain correction of _word_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The hue of dungeons and the school of night."

It is most certain that 'school' cannot have been the poet's word.
The usual reading is that of Warburton, _scowl_; but that substantive
is not used by Shakespeare, and it gives but an indifferent sense.
Theobald read _stole_, which also is not Shakespearian; I myself
_cloak_, as the "cloak of night" occurs in R. and J. ii. 2, Rich. II.
iii. 2. But the Cambridge editors seem to have hit on the exact word,
_suit_ written, as pronounced, _shoot_. In the Puritan (ii. 1), we have
a play on _suitor_ and _archer_, _i.e._ shooter; we retain this sound
in _sure_ and _sugar_. In Hamlet we have "suits of solemn black" and
"suits of woe" (i. 2), and "suit of sables" (iii. 2) for mourning, and
in Rom. and Jul. iii. 2,

                            "Come civil Night,
    Thou sober-_suited_ matron all in black!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Have at you then, Affection's men at arms."

Capell sagaciously saw that in this speech, from "For when would you"
to "From whence doth spring," and from "For where is any" to "And in
that vow," are passages which the poet had cancelled in the "corrected
and augmented" play. The same occurs in Rich. III. v. 3, and on a much
smaller scale, however, in Rom. and Jul. iii. 3, iv. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why, universal plodding prisons up."

There can be no doubt of this, the reading of Theobald--prisons for
_poisons_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For where is any author in the world
    Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye."

As beauty is not taught, we should perhaps read _wisdom_. Perhaps,
however, the error may be in 'Teaches.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods
    Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony."

Though this passage be very obscure, I doubt if it be corrupt. By
'voice' may be meant the assenting voice, the voices all sounding in
unison, which induces repose over heaven. Compare the opening of Gray's
Progress of Poesy. The original editions commit the usual error of
putting 'make' for 'makes.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And plant in tyrants mild humility."

The reading of Griffith and Collier's folio _humanity_ is, I think,
right. I have adopted it in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Allons, allons!_"

The correction of Theobald for 'Alone, alone!' of the originals. The
poet, however, does not use French words in this play, and I think
we should read _All on, all on!_ or rather _Along, along!_ (See on
Temp. v. 1.) "_Along_ my lords! Well, Cromwell is half dead."--Thomas
Cromwell, iv. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or for love's sake, a word that loves all men."

As a word cannot love, Hanmer, for 'loves,' read _moves_, Heath _joys_,
Mason _leads_. I read 'Love's' for 'love's' and _god_ for 'word.'


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Witty without affection."

The 2nd folio reads, and, I think, most properly, 'affec_ta_tion.' It
is much more likely that a syllable should have been omitted by the
printer, than that Nathaniel, who in general speaks correctly, should
blunder. We have the very same error in v. 2, where the rime leaves no
doubt on the subject.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Laus Deo, bone intelligo--Bone! bone_ for _bene_;
    Priscian a little scratch'd. 'Twill serve."      [_Aside._

This is Theobald's correction of _bene intelligo_.'--_Boone, boon for
boon prescian_, &c.; which has been universally received. The Cambridge
editors, however, partly anticipated by Capell, read '_Bon, bon fort
bon._ Priscian! a little scratcht, twill serve.' Ingenious as this is,
I still adhere to Theobald; for, as I have just observed, French does
not occur in this play; and when those critics say that "Sir Nathaniel
is not represented as an ignoramus who would be likely to say _bone_
for _bene_," I may remind them that he adds, 'Videsne _quis_ venit,'
which is nearly as bad. The printer, in fact, had spoiled the humour by
his _bene_, and Theobald restored it, as I think, most happily.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I do beseech thee, remember thy courtesy. I beseech thee, apparel
    thy head."

Malone read 'remember _not_' (see Ham. v. 2, M. N. D. iv. 1).
Dyce quotes "Pray you remember your courtesy.... Nay, pray, be
covered."--Every Man in his Humour, i. 1. But the negative may been
omitted here also.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Shall pass _for_ Pompey the Great, the page for Hercules."

These additions, I find, were made by Capell also.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. _Allons!_ we will employ thee.

Here, again, the original reading is 'Alone!'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Great reason; for past cure is still past care."

The old editions transpose 'cure' and 'care.' The correction was by
Thirlby. The old reading is retained, I know not how, in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And shape his service wholly to my device."

The rime proves 'device' to be wrong. See Introd. p. 63. The 2nd folio
read '_all_ to my _behests_.' I read, as S. Walker also had read, 'to
my _hests_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So portent-like would I o'ersway his state."

'Portent' is a correction of _pertaunt_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As Gravity's revolt to wantonness."

So the 2nd folio for 'wanton _be_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Oh! I am stabb'd with laughter."

Perhaps it should be _stuff'd_, not 'stabb'd.' We have, however,
"_stabs_ the centre."--W. T. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They do, they do, and are apparell'd thus."

A line has evidently been lost here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And every one his love-feat will advance."

For 'feat' Collier's folio, and S. Walker, followed by Singer and Dyce,
read _suit_, which I also have adopted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But while 'tis spoke each turn away her face."

Both 4to and folio read _his_ for 'her.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Bero._ Beauties no richer than rich taffeta."

It should evidently be _Boyet_, as in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yet still she is the moon and I the man."

The line riming with this is lost, as Malone also saw.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Oh!_ They were all in lamentable cases."

So also 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Till this madman show'd thee? and what art thou now?"

The editors omit 'mad,' as it is what they deem a superfluous syllable.
We should perhaps omit 'thou' and retain 'mad.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This jest is dry to me. _Fair_, gentle, sweet."

_Fair_ is an addition of 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which of the visors was it that you wore?--
    Where? When? What visor? Why demand you this?"

As the whole scene is in rime, there should be a couplet here. We might
then for 'this' read _more_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As precious eye-sight and did value me."

A line riming with this, before, or after, seems lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nay, my good lord, let me o'er-rule you now;
    That sport best pleases, that does least know how,
    Where zeal strives to content, and the contents
    Dies in the zeal of that which it presents."

The whole difficulty of this place lies in the word 'dies,' which has
two senses, now distinguished by the orthography, namely, _die_ and
_dye_, but which in Shakespeare's time were spelt indifferently. In
this place editors have invariably taken it in the former sense; and as
they regard 'contents dies' as a false concord--which, by the way, it
is not--they print 'Die,' and then change 'that' to _them_, and alter
the punctuation. The result, however, is anything but satisfactory. I,
on the contrary--and I believe I have been the first to do so--take
'Dies' in its second sense of tinging, colouring, imbruing, making
'zeal' the subject and 'contents' the object, and regarding this last
as being by metonymy--a figure Shakespeare uses so frequently--the
persons contented, or to be contented, just as in Ant. and Cleop. i.
4. "The Discontents" are the discontented. All then becomes plain, and
the passage is parallel to one in the speech of Theseus in M. N. D. v.
1. As to using 'Dyes' of mind, we may justify it by the employment of
_tinge_ and _tincture_ in the same way in our ordinary language; and
the following passages are very apposite:--

    "When my new mind had no infusion known,
    Thou gav'st so deep a tincture of thine own,
    That ever since I vainly try
    To wash away the inherent dye."
                                             Cowley, The Complaint, 122.

"For _dye_ a husband that has wit with an opinion that thou art
honest, and see who dares wash the colour out." (Killigrew, Parson's
Wedding, ii. 3.) "Ma ben di rado avviene che le parole affermative e
sicure d'una persona autorevole in qualsivoglia genere _non tingano dal
loro colore la mente di chi le ascolta_." (Manzoni, Prom. Sposi, ch.
xx.) The 'zeal' in the last line may have been produced in the usual
way by that in the preceding line, and the poet's word have been _hue_;
but a change is not absolutely necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Keep some state in thy exit, and _so_ vanish."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Speak _on_, brave Hector; we are much delighted."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A heavy heart bears not a humble tongue."

I conjectured _nimble_, in which I had been preceded, as usual, by
Theobald. "You have a _nimble_ wit." (As You Like It, iii. 2.) The
error, however, may be, and I think is, in 'not,' for which I read
_but_, as these words are so constantly confounded. Collier's folio
makes the same correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And though the mourning brow of progeny."

For 'And' I incline to read _Then_. (See on M. N. D. ii. 1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Full of straying shapes, of habits, and of forms."

Coleridge read 'stray,' which seems better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Suggested us to make _'em_. Therefore, ladies."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But more devout than this in our respects
    Have we not been."

This is the reading of Hanmer generally received. That of the folio
is 'than _these are_ our respects,' where, if we read 'than these our
respects are,' we get perhaps as good a sense. 'Devout' seems to mean
devoted, or serious, or in earnest; 'respects' _sc._ of you, behaviour
respecting you.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And what to me, my love?... of people sick."

This passage should certainly be omitted as a repetition. See on iv. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Call them forth quickly; _and_ we will do so."




ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "_It_ would have made nature immortal."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Hel._ If the living be enemy to the grief, the excess makes it
    soon mortal.

    _Laf._ How understand we that?"

In the folio the first of these speeches is given to the Countess;
but Tieck saw rightly that it could only belong to Helena. I have
transposed the next two speeches; for Lafeu must reply immediately;
metrically also his reply is the complement of the speech of Helena, in
which 'living' and 'grief' should perhaps change places.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Advise him.--He cannot want the best _advice_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And these great tears grace his remembrance more
    Than those I shed for him.... What was he like?"

For 'his' I read _this_, i.e. that of Bertram, whose departure has
caused her tears to flow. There is an evident aposiopesis of _graced
his_, arising from the perturbation of her mind, as is proved by the
falling of the metric _ictus_ on 'him,' and which also proves that
'his' could not have been the poet's word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Carries no favour in it but Bertram's _only_."

Bertram is _always_ a dissyllable. We might also read 'but _only_,' but
with less force.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He that hangs himself is a virgin."

This is sheer nonsense; 'virgin,' suggested by the following
'virginity,' should be _self-murderer_, as I have given it in my
Edition, or rather perhaps the legal term _felo de se_; for what
Parolles means is that as suicides were 'buried in highways,' Virginity
being such should be treated in the same manner.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Out with it; within ten years it will make itself two."

For 'two' Hanmer read _ten_, and Steevens for 'ten' _two_. The best
reading seems to be that of Singer's folio, _months_ for 'years,' which
I have given in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not my virginity yet."

This is complementary to the preceding speech, of which it completes
the metre. The emphasis is to be on 'my,' as her meaning is that her
virginity is not yet old and withered. She stops there, and enters on a
new subject, and it is evident that at least the first line is lost. It
may have been like this, "_Monsieur Parolles, you are for the Court_,"
which I have ventured to insert in my Edition; it seems so essential to
the sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A mother, and a mistress, and a friend."

None of the editors seem to have perceived that in this and the six
following lines Helena is enumerating the titles, mostly Euphuistic,
that lovers at that time used to give their mistresses (comp. L.L.L.
iii. 1 _ad fin._), "Christendoms," _i.e._ baptismal names, as she
styles them, to which Cupid stood gossip. As 'mother' could hardly
have been one of these, I feel almost certain that the original word
was _lover_, which being damaged and only _er_ remaining (see on ii.
1), the printer made 'mother' of it. There is, however, it seems a
term _mauther_ or _mother_ still in use in the Eastern counties, and
signifying young girl. In Fletcher's Maid in the Mill (iii. 2), the
miller says of his daughter,

    "A pretty child she is, although I say it,
    A handsome _mother_."

In the Alchemist (iv. 4) Kastrill says to his sister, "You talk like a
foolish _mauther_." Tusser has in his Husbandry,

    "No sooner a sowing but out by and by,
    With _mother_ or (and?) boy that alarum can cry;
    And let them be armed with a sling or a bow."

And again,

    "A sling for a _mother_, a bow for a boy."

But surely such a term could not be used of the ladies of the Court of
France. The context shows that it is not mother-in-law that is meant.
'Captain' in the next line may appear suspicious; but lovers were in
the habit of regarding their mistresses as commanders, whose orders
they were bound to obey. "She that I spake of our great captain's
_captain_," Othel. ii. 1. Steevens states that _guerrière_ is a
favourite term for a mistress in Ronsard.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Use him as he uses thee; _and_ so farewell."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2.                       "In his youth
           He had the wit, which I can well observe," etc.

I doubt if the editors have perfectly understood this passage. I
cannot, for example, see that they have been aware that the 'tongue'
and the 'hand' both belong to the metaphorical 'clock'--the former
being the bell which sounds, when the latter gives the signal by
arriving at the point of twelve, that is, when 'Exception,' _i.e._
contradiction, 'bids it speak.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In their poor praise he humbled. Such a man."

I would read _whose_ for 'their,' evidently suggested by 'them' in
the preceding line; and as the verb 'humble' rarely, if ever, occurs
without its object, we should perhaps read, as I have done, 'humbled
_him_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

              "Whose judgements are
    Mere fathers of their garments."

I incline to suspect that 'fathers' should be _children_--not
an unusual error. (See Introd. p. 66.) "A parcel of conceited
feather-caps, _whose fathers were their garments_."--Old Play quoted by
Steevens. "Whose mother was her painting."--Cymb. iii. 4.

                            "Believe it, sir,
    That clothes do much upon the wit, as weather
    Does on the brain; and thence, sir, comes your proverb,
    _The tailor makes the man_."
                                           Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1.

See, however, the character of Piso in Marston's Scourge of Villainy,
Sat. xi.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Fond done, done fond; _for only he_
           Was this King of Priam's joy."

    "And here fair Paris comes, the hopeful youth, of Troy,
    Queen Hecub's darling son, _King Priam's only joy_."
                                  Fletch. and Rowl. Maid in Mill, ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_I'_ faith I do; her father bequeathed her to me."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Extend his might, _save_ only where qualities were level."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Diana no_ queen of virgins, that would suffer her poor knight _to
    be_ surprised."

The words in _Italics_, absolutely necessary for the sense, were
supplied by Theobald.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I care no more for than I do for heaven,
    So I were not his sister. Can it _be_ no other?"

I can only make sense here by reading 'I'_d_ care _e'en_ more for
_it_.' The damp had probably effaced the _d_, _e'e_, _it_, or _t_,
and _be_. For a similar omission of _'d_, see on King John iv. 2. The
'no,' however, may have been a casual insertion of the printer's. In my
Edition of these plays, unaware of the rime, I placed _be_ at the end
of the line; but I corrected it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The mystery of your loneliness."

So Theobald properly corrected the _loveliness_ of the folio, the _n_,
as was so frequent, having been turned upside down.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Confess it, th' one to th' other, and thine eyes."

The folio has _'ton tooth to th' other_. The 2nd folio made the
necessary correction by rejecting _tooth_--a mere reduplication of 'to
th'. Knight, it would appear, was the first to correct _'ton_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
    I still pour in the waters of my love,
    And lack not to lose still."

For 'captious' we should certainly read, with Farmer, _capacious_. It
was, in fact, only the omission of a letter. (See on M. for M. iv. 2.)
_T_ and _c_ were often used indifferently before _e_ and _i_. _Reck_
might be better than 'lack.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And manifest experience had collected."

With Collier's folio I read _manifold_; "an epithet," says Mr. Dyce,
"which, I apprehend, can hardly be applied to 'experience.'" Why not?

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "He and his physicians
    Are of a mind; he that they cannot help him,
    They that they cannot help _him_."

One 'help' has evidently been suggested by the other; for the first I
would read _cure_. (See Introd. p. 65.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Embowell'd of their doctrine have left off
    The danger to itself?--There's something in't
    More than my father's skill."

The best correction of the passage is to supply _tells me_ after 'in
it.' This had evidently been effaced, as in Hen. VIII. i. 2.

    "There's something tells me,--but it is not love,--
    I would not lose you."--Mer. of Ven. iii. 2.

I arrange the passage thus:

    "Embowell'd of their doct_e_rine, have left
    The danger to itself.--There is something in it _tells me_."

In the first line I inserted in my Edition _all_; but it was needless;
for 'doctrine' was no doubt pronounced as a trisyllable. 'Off' was
evidently added by the printer to complete the metre. (See Introd. p.
67.) For 'in't' of the folio Hanmer read _hints_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And pray God's blessing into thy attempt."

_Unto_ or _upon_ would seem more correct; but no change is needed.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Let higher Italy," etc.

This passage has never been understood, yet it is perhaps plain enough.
By 'higher Italy' is meant the part more distant from France. "Will you
travel higher [_i.e._ go further south], or return again to France,"
iv. 3. In this place it is Tuscany that is termed 'higher Italy.' "But
then _up farther_, and as far as Rome," Tam. of Shrew, iv. 2, where
the speaker is at Padua. By 'bated' is meant abated, subdued, as we
_abate_ a nuisance; 'inherit' is, as usual, possess; and 'the fall of
the last monarchy' is the fallen final state of the Roman Empire, the
last monarchy according to the current interpretation of the Book of
Daniel. "The antique ruins of _the Roman Fall_."--F. Q. i. 549. "The
underseated deities that circle Saturn's fall."--Chap. II. xv. 208.
"Redeem'd him from his fall and made him mine."--Fletch. Kt. of Burn.
Pest. iv. 3. But perhaps we should read _pall_, as being still more
contemptuous, indicating that the symbol only and not the real power
had been inherited. By 'Those,' etc., I think are meant the Ghibelines
or Imperial party, to which Siena belonged, while Florence was usually
Guelf, the side which was always taken by France, out of opposition
to the German Emperor. There is, however, no mention of Guelfs or
Ghibelines either in the story in the Decamerone or in the Palace of
Pleasure; so that Shakespeare must have gotten his knowledge elsewhere,
which is to me one proof, among many, of the extent of his reading. I
regard this as the only explanation that gives sense to the passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And lustrous, _in_ a word good metals."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With his cicatrice, an emblem of war,"

The folio reads 'his cicatrice with.' As usual, Theobald made the
correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pardon, my lord, for me and for my tidings.--
    I'll see thee to stand up," etc.

This is the arrangement of the folio, which Malone altered needlessly.
For 'see' Theobald read _fee_, and in the next line _bought_ for
'brought.' These corrections most editors have adopted, but I see no
great gain in them. I confess I do not clearly discern the meaning
here of either 'see' or _fee_; and Mr. Staunton's _sue_ is not much
better, and I suspect that the poet's word may have been a different
one, which I think I can fix on with something like certainty. He wrote
then 'I _beseech_ thee,' but _ch_ being either blotted or rubbed out,
the transcriber or printer read _I be_ 'Ile,' the usual form of _I'll_.
In Ham. iii. 4, and Tim. i. 2, we have a similar effacement of two
letters. "Pardon, my lord.--I pray you all, stand up" (M. N. D. iv. 1),
is exactly parallel. See also Hen. VIII. v. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Quicken a rock, and make you dance canary."

We should, I apprehend, read _it_ for 'you.' There had been no allusion
yet to the king.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And write to her a love line."

It would be better to read, with Hanmer, as I have done, '_To_ write.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than I dare blame my weakness...."

We thus get some appearance of sense; but I still am suspicious of
'blame.' _Task_ might seem better. "I dare not task my weakness with
any more."--Othel. ii. 3. We meet, however, in the Faerie Queen with

    "Ne blame your honour with so shameful vaunt
    Of vile revenge," ii. 8. 16,

where _blame_ seems to signify blemish, or expose to blame.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With that malignant cause."

We might suspect 'cause'; but it is right.

    "Leave us to cure this cause. For 'tis a sore upon us."
                                                            Cor. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts
    A modest one, to bear me back again."

This would seem to mean that, notwithstanding her boldness, he would
still continue to think her modest. It would be derogatory to Helena to
read _sum_ for 'one.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When miracles have by the greatest been denied."

Johnson saw rightly that a line had been lost after this.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where hope is coldest and despair most shifts."

For 'shifts' Pope read _sits_, Theobald _fits_, which I think is right;
_fits_ occurs in the sense of suits in

    "The humble salve which wounded bosoms _fits_."
                                                               Son. cxx.

       *       *       *       *       *

              "Ne worse of worst extended
    With vilest tortures let my life be ended."

She means, be racked to death. Malone read, as I do, _Nay, worst of
worse_. 'Nay' was sometimes spelt _ne_. "Is't true? _Ne_, let him run
into the war."--Chapman, All Fools, i.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Youth, beauty, _virtue_, wisdom, courage all."

Warburton also supplied _virtue_, but _after_ 'wisdom.' In the next
scene but one, the King speaks again of her _virtue_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ay, by my sceptre and my hopes of heaven."

This is the correction of Thirlby; the folio has _help_ for 'heaven,'
regardless of rime.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What husband in thy power I will command."

The proper word would seem to be '_de_mand'; but see on As You Like It,
ii. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With any branch or image of thy state."

For 'image' Warburton, whom Singer follows, read _impage_, while
Steevens says (and, I believe, truly) there is no such word. By 'image'
may be meant child, offspring, which is its signification in

    "I have bewept a worthy husband's death.
    And liv'd by looking on his images."--Rich. III. ii. 2.

In the original tale she expressly excepts the _children_ and relatives
of the King.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "An end, sir, to your business. Give Helen this."

For 'An end' I feel almost certain we should read _Attend_, or possibly
_And now_. I have, however, made no change in the text of my Edition.
Some point 'An end, sir: to your business.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "_Mort de vinaigre!_ is not that Helen_a_?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And writ as little beard."

For 'writ' we should, I think, read _wore_ or _with_. Mr. Dyce,
however, says it was "the phraseology of Shakespeare's time." He
should, then, have given us examples of it; for _write man_ and such
like are not such. Perhaps this and the following speeches of Lafeu
should be _Asides_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Do they all deny her? An they were sons of mine," etc.

The folio reads, "Do all they."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From lowest place, whence virtuous things proceed."

So the folio reads and punctuates. The context shows that we should
read _when_, with Thirlby. Two lines further on we have 'additions
swell's,' which, reading 'swells,' is grammatically right; but the 2nd
folio read '_addition_,' and Malone, who is usually followed, _swell_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where dust and damn'd oblivion is the tomb."

For 'damn'd' we might feel inclined to read _dim_, _damp_, or _dank_.
"And in a dark and _dankish_ vault," Com. of Err. v. 1; or (as in Tr.
and Cr. iii. 2) _blind_. The text, however, is probably right, for
'damn'd' often merely meant what is odious, or hateful, was to be
condemned or simply was reprehensible. "Surfeits, impostumes, grief,
and _damn'd_ despair."--Ven. and Adon. (See on Othel. i. 1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My honour's at the stake, which to defeat."

I have read, with Theobald, _defend_. Farmer's explanation of 'defeat'
is untenable.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "Whose ceremony
    Shall seem expedient on the now borne brief,
    And be perform'd to-night."

By 'brief' I would understand the marriage-contract; for _brief_ is
used with great latitude. So in v. 3 we have "a sweet verbal _brief_,"
_i.e._ commission or address. The 'now borne' of the folio is, I think,
_now-born_, _i.e._ which has just come into being, been made. Possibly
we might read _new-born_, like "things _new-born_" (W. T. iii. 3),
"_new-born_ gauds" (Tr. and Cr. iii. 3). We have _now_ for _new_ (M. N.
D. i. 1). I read _come_ for 'seem.' (See on Macb. i. 2.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than the commission of your birth and virtue give you heraldry for."

Hanmer transposed 'commission' and 'heraldry'; and most editors have
followed him. They seem to be right, and I agree with them.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What, what, _what_, sweetheart?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To the dark house and the detested wife."

The folio reads _detected_; the correction is Rowe's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "When I should take possession of the bride ...
           And ere I do begin."...

For 'And' Mr. Collier found _End_ in MS. in a copy of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than you have or will deserve at my hand."

So the 2nd folio reads; the 1st has '_to_ deserve'; and perhaps a noun
may have been omitted after 'have.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I think _not_ so.--Why, do you not know him?"

Some would transfer 'not' to the former speech, but I think it more
likely that _not_ was omitted.

    _Ber._ "Where are my other men?--
    _Hel._ Monsieur, farewell."

The folio gives all this to Helena; while Theobald, followed by the
Cambridge editors, reads "_Ber._ Where are my other men, monsieur?
Farewell."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Upon your Grace's part; black and feärful
           _Up_on the opposer'_s_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But I am sure the younger of our nature."

Rowe's reading of _nation_ for 'nature' seems certain.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "_Who_ sold a goodly manor for a song."

Both the sense and the metre require this addition. 'Sold' is the
correction of 3rd folio for _hold_ of the 1st.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Your old ling and your Isbels of the court."

We should, I think, read '_new_ ling,' as 'old ling' had just been
mentioned.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine,
    Thou robbest me of a moiety."

No doubt _are_ gives sense, but I should prefer _as_. I have, however,
made no change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis but the boldness haply of his hand
    _To_ which his heart was not consenting to."

The folio reads "of his hand haply."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The fellow has a deal too much of that,
    Which holds him much to have."

The folio reads "of that too much." As yet no one has made sense of
the second line. Perhaps for 'holds' we should read _hurts_, _foils_,
or _soils_. I have adopted the first. 'To have' is, the having. (See
Introd. p. 70.)

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "Move the still-peering air
    That sings with piercing."

No sense in which _peer_ is used will answer here. I once thought that
'still' might be taken in the sense of quiet, tranquil; but I have
been unable to find an instance of its being so used in composition.
It seems, however, to have found favour in the eyes of Mr. Dyce.
The reading generally adopted is that of Steevens, _piecing_; and
though the usual meaning of this verb is, to eke, to add, it is also
used in the sense of closing, filling. Mr. Dyce doubts if "a poet
with a delicate ear would have written _piecing ... piercing_," not
recollecting that the latter was pronounced _percing_. I should,
however, prefer _fleeting_, which I have given in my Edition. In the
Third Part of The Seven Champions (ch. xiii.), the author of which
was more than once indebted to Shakespeare, or _vice versâ_, we read,
"Whose feathery arrows outrun the _piercing_ eye, and cut a passage
through the _fleetiag_ air." Spenser, too, has (F. Q. ii. 8. 2) "the
_flitting_ sky (_i.e._ air)." Elsewhere he says (vii. 7 22) that the
air is felt "to _flit still_," and in The Tempest (iii. 3) we meet with
the "still-closing waters." At the same time, as 'peering' may have
been suggested by 'piercing' in the next line, the poet's word may not
have resembled it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I met the ravin lion when he roar'd."

As 'ravin' only occurs as a verb, the poet probably used here the part.
_ravening_. "As a ravening and a roaring lion" (Ps. xxii. 13) was
evidently in his mind.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Enter old Widow of Florence, her daughter, Violenta, and
           Mariana, with other citizens."

This is the original stage-direction, in which Violenta--an evident
mistake for Violante--might appear to be the name of the daughter,
though she is always called Diana. Helen, however, at the end of the
scene, mentions a 'gentle maid' along with Mariana, whom she invites to
supper.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I write good creature: wheresoe'er she is,
    Her heart weights sadly."

Here, as in ii. 3, the verb 'write' makes no sense. The 2nd folio
has 'I (ay) right,' which, from the punctuation, would seem to have
been a mere makeshift; the ordinary reading is that of Malone, 'A
right good creature,' which we may be very sure is not what the poet
wrote. As in Hamlet (ii. 1) the 4to, 1604, has "a fetch of _wit_" for
"a fetch of _warrant_" of the folio, my first impulse was to read
_I warrant_--also that of the editors of the Globe Shakespeare; but
I then fixed on "_I wis_," and so it stands in my Edition. I am now
convinced that the reading of the 2nd folio, when properly pointed, is
the true one. I point it thus: "Ay, right.--Good creature! wheresoe'er
she is." The 'Ay, right,' expresses the widow's assent to the truth of
her daughter's observation; she then proceeds to speak of Helena. To
my great surprise and gratification, I found, after I had made this
natural and certain correction, that I had been completely anticipated
in it by Capell. How it does provoke one to think of the wilful
blindness or obtuseness of editors! For nearly an entire century they
have had the true reading before their eyes, and never could see it!
Singer has "Ay, right; good creature" etc.; but the punctuation shows
he did not understand the passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Oh, for the love of laughter let him fetch _off_ his drum."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This counterfeit lump of ore will be melted."

'Ore' is Theobald's correction of _ours_ in the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hinder not the honour of his design."

For 'honour' I, with others, have adopted Theobald's correction
_humour_; which, however, is not absolutely certain.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "That she'll demand. A ring the county wears."

As this is the only place in the play where 'county' occurs, and as we
have had 'the count he' twice already in this scene, I think we ought
to read so here also. (See on Twelfth Night, i. 5.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Herself most chastely absent. After _this_."

The 2nd folio added _this_, which had evidently been effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed,
    And lawful meaning in a lawful act."

If we were not aware of the abjectness of printer-worship, we might
wonder at Warburton's most certain correction _wicked_ for the last
'lawful' not having been adopted by every editor.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "And buy me another of Bajazet's mule, if you prattle me
           into these perils."

Warburton read _mute_ for 'mule,' and I think he was right. We have
"Turkish _mute_" (Hen. V. i. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Inform _them_ on that.--So I will, sir.--
    Till then I'll keep him dark and safely locked _up_."

In the first line Rowe read _'em_ for 'on.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "As you are now, for you are cold and stern."

Collier's folio reads _as stone_ for 'and stern,' which is very
plausible.

    "Who, moving others, are themselves _as stone_
    Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow."--Son. xciv.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To swear by him whom I profess to love,
    That I will work against him."

I read _to_ for 'by,' in which I had been anticipated by Johnson,
who was followed by Malone. 'Swear' naturally suggested 'by' to the
printer's mind. (See on Macb. i. 5, R. and J. i. 1.)

    "For what's more monstrous, more a prodigy,
    Than to hear me protest truth of affection
    Unto a person that I would dishonour?"
                                                Jonson, New Inn, iii. 2.

The same sentiment is expressed in "Yes, as I love the woman that
wrong'd him" (Meas. for Meas. ii. 3). In this speech of Diana's, Mr.
Staunton would give 'Then pray you ... love you ill' to Bertram; but
without any great advantage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I see that men make ropes in such a scarre,
    That we'll forsake ourselves."

This is evident nonsense. Rowe read _hopes_ and _affairs_ for 'ropes'
and 'scarre'; and to this emendation, or Mitford's of _case_ for
'scarre,' I see no very serious objection. We have "make envy" (Hen.
VIII. v. 2), "make doubt" (_Ib._), "make comfort" (Cymb. i. 2), "making
practice" (Meas. for Meas. iii. 2). Why then object to "make hopes?"
even though it is to be found nowhere else in Shakespeare. 'Scarre,'
however, is probably right; in Lingua (i. 6) we have, "Poets will write
whole volumes of this _scar_." It must be remembered that _scare_ was
written _scarre_, and so as a substantive 'scarre' may be fright,
alarm, flutter, perturbation. Finally, it is even possible that 'ropes'
may be right, a line being lost; something of this sort: "_Of oaths and
vows to scale our fort, in hope._"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Have the like oaths. He had sworn to marry me."

Here, as elsewhere, we have _has_ and _had_ confounded.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Merely our traitors, and, as in the common course of all
           treasons, we still see them reveal themselves, till they
           attain to their abhorred ends."

I think it would be better to read, as I have done, _is_ for 'in' (see
on King John, iv. 2), and _conceal_ for 'reveal,' unless for the latter
we should prefer reading _veil_. Perhaps also we might retain 'reveal,'
and read _when_ for 'till.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is it not meant damnable in us to be trumpeters of our unlawful
    intents?"

Malone's first thought was _most_ for 'meant.' Mr. Dyce proposes _mean
and_; I think he is right, and have followed him. (See on Rom. and Jul.
i. 3.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If I were to live this present hour."

The context seems to require _die_, not 'live'; so here, as elsewhere,
we may happen to have a substitution of the contrary term. (See Introd.
p. 66.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or whether he thinks it were not possible."

This would seem to be one of the places where 'or' is for _and_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Dear almost as his life; _for_ which gratitude."

Both sense and metre require this addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Our wagon is prepared, and time revives us."

As 'revives' seems to make no sense, we might read _reproves_, or
rather _invites_. "The _time invites you_. Go." (Ham. i. 3.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "But sure he is the prince of the world."

For 'sure' we should, I think, read _since_.


ACT V.

    SC. 2. "But I am now, sir, muddied in Fortune's mood."

Warburton's conjecture of _moat_ for 'mood' is very specious, but,
I fear, nothing more. 'Muddied' and 'mood' form what is termed a
paronomasia.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I do pity his distress in my smiles of comfort."

The Cambridge editors adopt Warburton's reading _similes_. I doubt if
either was the poet's word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You beg more than _one_ word then."

It was the 3rd folio that supplied _one_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Natural rebellion done in the blade of youth,
           When oil and fire," etc.

The context would suggest _blaze_ to any one, as it did to Theobald.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The nature of his great offence is dead."

He means Helena, but I do not see how 'nature' applies to her. Perhaps
we should read _motive_; or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am not a day of season."

Something seems evidently lost here; for the address to Bertram is
too abrupt. I would read 'season_able weather_.' We have, 'Like an
_unseasonable_ stormy day (Rich. II. iii. 2); and there was in the
Liturgy, at that time, "a prayer for _seasonable weather_." The phrase
'day of season,' I believe, occurs nowhere else. Lower down--probably
in the same page of the MS.--there appears to be an effacement of the
same kind, and the loss of an entire line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The daughter of this lord.--
    Admiringly, my liege. At first * * * _sight of her_. (?)
    I stuck my choice upon her. Ere my heart
    Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue,
    Where the impression of mine eye infixing," etc.

Is it not amazing that no one seems ever to have perceived that a line
must have been lost between the last two lines? It may have been of
this kind, "_Another object met my wandering fancy_." Capell, I find,
read 'At _the_ first _sight_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The last that ere I took her leave at court."

I read 'last _time_' and _e'er_ for 'ere.' Rowe read _e'er she_; but
the text is right.

                    "And that even here thou takest
    As from my death-bed, my last living leave."--Rich. II. 5.

    "He needs not our mistrust."--Macb. iii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I bade her if her fortunes ever stood," etc.

The proper word would seem to be _told_, not 'bade'; but _bid_ was used
in the sense of tell or say, as in "bid farewell," etc.

    "And _bade_ me if I had a friend that lov'd her;
    I should but teach him how to tell my story,
    And that would woo her."--Othel. i. 3.

    "Now I, to comfort him, _bid_ him 'a should not think of
                                                   God."--Hen. V. ii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I stood ingaged."

As 'ingaged' is usually the same as _engaged_, a sense which would be
absurd here, we might venture to read '_u_ngaged,' or '_un_ingaged.
(See on Com. of Err. ii. 2.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll _him_."

So Steevens also reads.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I wonder, sir, sir wives are monsters to you."

The second 'sir' is an evident error. The 2nd folio omits it, and reads
'are _such_.' I read, as Tyrwhitt had done, _since_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come hither, Count. Do you know these women _here_"?

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than in my thought it lies _now_.--Good, my lord."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He blushes, and 'tis hit."

For 'hit,' which is probably wrong, Capell read _it_; Pope, who is
generally followed, _his_. It is very hard to choose; as each makes
good sense, each is a natural printer's error.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Her insuit coming with her modern grace."

I accept without hesitation the excellent correction of Collier's
folio, and of Sidney Walker, _infinite cunning_. In Tr. and Cr. iii. 2,
we read '_coming_ in dumbness,' where Pope made the proper correction
_cunning_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You, that have turned off a first so noble wife,
    May justly diet me."

As I can make little sense of 'diet,' I read _deny_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Do you _not_ know he promised me marriage?"

The negative is required for both sense and metre.




MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "And when the moon, like to a silver bow
           New-bent in heaven."

'New' is the correction of Rowe; the 4tos and folio have _Now_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But I will woo thee in another key,
    With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling."

Collier's folio gives the right word, 'revel_ry_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This man hath [be]witch'd the bosom of my child."

The verse in this play is strictly decasyllabic. The 2nd folio omits
'man,' with Mr. Dyce's approval. In omitting _be_, I have been preceded
by Theobald.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
    My soul consents not to give sovereignty."

The 2nd folio needlessly reads '_to_ whose.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To fit your fancie[s] to your father's will."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have a widow aunt, a dowager,
    Of great revenue, and she hath no child,
    And she respects me as her only son.
    From Athens is her house remote seven leagues."

Common sense dictates the transposition made here of the last lines.
There is no note on this passage in the Cambridge Shakespeare; so
none of the known critics can have noticed it. The third line, it is
evident, had been an addition made by the poet in the margin.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
    By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves."

Singer transposes these lines. It is, by the way, surprising how many
transpositions there are in this play; but it was not necessary to
transpose here, and his doing so arose from his misunderstanding the
second line; in which the allusion is most probably to the _Cestus_ of
Venus.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sickness is catching; oh, were favour so!
    Your words I catch, fair Hermia; ere I go."

For 'your words' Hanmer read 'Yours would,' an excellent emendation,
and generally adopted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
    There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
    And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
    To seek new friends and stranger companies."

'Sweet' and 'stranger companies' are Theobald's corrections of
_swelled_ and _strange companions_. "More certain emendations," says
Mr. Dyce, "were never made."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "To tear a cat in _and_ to make all split."


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "But _make_ room, fairy; here comes Oberon."

The decasyllabic form _must_ be preserved. Pope read as I do.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What, jealous Oberon! Fairies skip hence."

In the 4tos and folio 'Fairy.' (See Introd. p. 52.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When thou wast stolen away from Fairyland,
    And in the shape of Corin sat all day."

This is the reading of the folio; the 4tos, which all the editors
follow, have _hast_. I prefer the former; for Shakespeare invariably
employs the verb substantive with 'stolen away,' except in the case of
a doubly-compound tense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The human mortals want their winter here."

Theobald proposed and then rejected 'winter-_cheer_.' I should prefer
_summer_ for 'winter' (see Introd. p. 66); for in Dr. Forman's Diary of
the year 1594--which year Shakespeare had certainly in view--we read,
"This monethes of June and July were very wet and wonderfull cold,
like winter, that the 10 dae of Julii many did syt by the fyer, yt
was so cold; and soe was it in Maye and June; and scarse too fair dais
together all that tyme, but it rayned every day more or lesse. Yf it
did not raine then was it cold and cloudye.... There were many gret
fludes this sommer."

    "The seasons change their manners, as the year
    Had found some months asleep and leaped them over."
                                                       2 Hen. IV. iv. 4.

It is possible, however, that the error may lie in 'want,' for which we
might read _have_, or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And on old Hiems' chin and icy crown
    An odorous chaplet."

For 'chin' Grey read _chill_; Tyrwhitt, whom some follow, _thin_. But
it is probably one of those inadvertencies so frequent in our poet.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me."

Thirlby's just correction of _stay_ and _stayeth_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.--
    Ay, there it is.--I pray thee give it me."

For 'there' in the second line, Mr. Dyce reads--and perhaps
rightly--_here_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I know a bank," etc.

I read and arrange the whole passage thus:

    "I know a bank whëre the wild thyme blows,
    Where violets and the nodding oxlip grows,
    Quite o'er-canopied with lusciöus woodbine,
    With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine,
    And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin
    Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
    There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
    Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight.
    Then with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes," etc.

In the second line I have transposed 'oxlip' and 'violet'; for the
former 'nods' and the latter does not, "With cowslips wan, that hang
the pensive head" (Lycidas, _v._ 14). In the third I give _o'er_ for
'over.' The transposition which follows is imperatively demanded by
the sequence of ideas, and we have other instances in this play. The
fifth and sixth lines may have been an addition made by the poet or
transcriber in the margin, and taken in in the wrong place by the
printer. (See on i. 1.) If 'And' be the right word in the last line,
something must have been lost, _ex. gr._ "Upon her will I steal there
as she lies;" but the poet's word may have been what I have given,
_Then_, strongly emphaticized, and written _Than_, the two first
letters of which having been effaced, the printer made it 'And.' The
very same thing seems to have taken place in L. L. L. v. 2. It may also
have been that _y_^{n}, then, was taken for &, and.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Pard or boar with bristled hair."

The rime demands the old form _hear_. (See on Com. of Err. iii. 2.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Transparent Helena, Nature shows her art."

The transposition 'her shows' of the folio is merely one of those of
which we have so many examples in these plays. The usual reading is
that of the 2nd folio, '_here_ shows.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So I being young, till now ripe not to reason."

It would seem better to read 'not ripe'; or 'ripe' may be a verb.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "If I were _so_, fair Thisby, I were only thine."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape."

This and the two following lines are transposed in Roberts' 4to and the
folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep
           And kill me too."

Mr. Dyce, with whom I agree, adopts the excellent reading of Coleridge
and Sidney Walker, '_knee_-deep.'

    "Once o'er shoes we are straight o'er head in sin."

    Woman Killed with Kindness.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And from thy hated presence part I _so_."

Pope added _so_, which is required by metre and rime, and yet is
wanting in all the old editions.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss."

For 'princess' Hanmer read _pureness_; Collier proposes _impress_; but
no change is needed. 'White' is whiteness, and 'princess of pure white'
is sovereign lady of whiteness, _i.e._, white in the highest degree. I
suspect that Chaucer wrote _emperes_ in

    "The _emprise_ and the flower of flowers alle."
                                                     Leg. of Good Women.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For parting us.--Oh! is _this_ all forgot?"

The 2nd folio read 'O _and_ is'; Malone added _now_; we might also add
_then_. A syllable certainly is wanting.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But miserable most to love unlov'd...
    This you should pity rather than despise."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers."

Here 'prayers' is the correction by Theobald of _praise_ of the
original editions.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Away you Ethiop.--No, no, sir, seem
    To break loose; take on as you'd follow _me_,
    But yet come not. You are a tame man, go."

This is the reading of the folio, which, with the addition of
_me_--evidently rubbed out at the end--gives excellent sense and metre.
For 'sir' the 4tos read _he'll_, which makes the passage abrupt.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Out loathed medicine! [O] hated potion, hence!"

The same omission was made by Pope.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hate me! wherefore? O me! What news, my love?"

For 'news' Collier's folio, followed by Singer, reads _means_. I think
they are right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I with the morning's love have oft made sport."

Rowe read _light_ for 'love,' and Johnson and Singer have followed him.
But it seems to be Cephalus that is meant.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Which straight she gave me and her fairy sent."

It should be 'fairie_s_.' (See on ii. 1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All may to Athens back again repair."

The reading hitherto has been 'May all,' but the transposition restores
the grammar.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower."

The 4to and folio read _or_. The correction is Thirlby's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Trip we after nightès shade."

Fisher's 4to has 'nights,' of which I have made a dissylable, as being
more Shakespearean than 'the night's' of the folio and Roberts' 4to,
which most feebly and inharmoniously throw the emphasis on 'the.' This
gen. occurs more than once in our poet's earlier plays.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear."

With Hanmer I incline to read _boar_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The woods, the fountains, every region round."

Here, too, I suspect that the poet wrote '_m_ountains.' 'Seem'_d_ in
next line is the reading of the 2nd folio; the originals have _seeme_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Was to be gone from Athens where we might
    Without the peril of the Athenian law...."

This is the reading of Fisher's 4to; Roberts' and the folio read 'might
be'; which does not suit the metre of this play. Egeus breaks in and
interrupts him.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Melted, _e'en_ as the snow, seems to me now."

    "It wasted and consum'd _even_ like ice
    That by the vehemence of heat dissolveth."
                                                      Green's Tu Quoque.

The ordinary correction is that of Capell, 'as _doth_'; an Anon. read
'_All_ melted.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia;
    But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food."

'Saw' is Steevens' correction of _see_; in L. L. L. iv. 1, we have "I
came, _see_ and overcame." 'In sickness' is Farmer's correction of 'a
sickness' of the originals.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mine own and not mine own.--_But_ are you sure
    That we are _yet_ awake? It seems to me."

The folio omits 'are ... awake.' Capell also added _But_ and an Anon.
_yet_. The poet's words may, however, have been, "Are you sure we
are awake? it seems to me." But that would make the preceding speech
terminate in a manner that does not occur in this play.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "That is hot ice, and wondrous strange snow."

'Strange' is a very feeble word here. If, as I have ventured to do,
we read '_sable_ snow,' we have a parallel to 'hot ice.' Upton read
_black_; Staunton _swarthy_; Hanmer _scorching_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
    Takes it in might not merit."

As there are no short lines in this play, I think a word has been lost
in the first line. I read _faltering_, Theobald read '_willing_ duty.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "His speech was like _unto_ a tangled chain."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This grisly beast, which lion hight by name,
    The trusty Thisby, coming first by night.
                               * * * * *
    Did scare away, or rather did affright."

A line riming with the first appears to be lost. Some read 'by name
hight,' making a triplet; but I cannot agree with them.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Here come two noble beasts in, A lion and a man."

Theobald reads _moon_ for 'man.' The correction is ingenious, but not
certain. I have, however, adopted it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A lion-fell, but else no lion's dam."

So Singer reads; others 'A lion'_s_ fell.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For by thy gracious, golden, glittering streams."

This is the reading of the 2nd folio; for the old editions repeat
'beams' from the preceding line. "Phebus of _gold his stremès_ down
hath sent" (Chauc. Merch. Tale), was probably in the poet's mind; or

    "Which erst so glistened with the _golden streams_,
    That cheerful Phoebus spred down from his sphere."
                                      (Induct. to Mir. for Magistrates.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Would go _well_ near to make a man look sad.--
    Beshrew my heart, but I _do_ pity the man."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "These lily lips
    This cherry nose."

Rime demands Theobald's 'lily _brows_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Now the hungry lion roars,
           And the wolf behowls the moon."

'Behowls' is Warburton's correction of _beholds_ of the originals. It
is proved to be right by the following passage of Marston's Antonio's
Revenge:--

    "Now barks the wolf against the full-cheek'd moon,
    Now lions' half-clamm'd entrails roar for food" (iii. 3).

As this play was not printed till 1602, this may be an imitation of the
passage of our text.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ever shall in safety rest,
    And the owner of it blest."

Singer and a friend of Mr. Staunton's very judiciously transposed
these lines, the third, or rather fourth transposition in this play.
We may observe that twice before it was the second line of the couplet
that commenced with 'Ever.' For a fifth transposition in the original
editions, see on iii. 1. By the 'owner' is meant the occupant of the
'chamber.' Malone read 'shall _it_,' which is the usual reading.




TAMING OF THE SHREW.


INDUCTION.

    SC. 1. "No, not a denier. Go by, S. Jeronimy!
           Go to thy cold bed and warm thee."

It is very strange that none of the critics should have seen that
_S._ is _Signior_, not _Saint_. The poet probably wrote it _Sr_; for
we shall find in the subsequent part of the play _sir_ twice used for
_signior_, the ordinary address in plays the scene of which lies in
Italy. The 4to edition of 1631 omits S., but it is of no authority. I
should feel inclined to read the next line, "_Humph_, Go to thy cold
bed, and wärm thee," which occurs again in Lear (iii. 4). It may have
been borrowed from some unknown play; but there is nothing like it in
Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, which is evidently referred to in what precedes.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I know my remedy; I must go fetch the head-borough."

Theobald, whom most editors follow, induced by the reply of Sly, read
_thirdborough_. But might not Sly have mistaken the word?

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Huntsman, I charge thee tender well my hounds.
    Brach Merriman,--the poor cur is emboss'd"--
    "And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach."

'Brach' cannot be right; for brach was bitch (see Index _s. v._), and
what sportsman would say Bitch Sweet lips, for instance, of one of his
hounds? In the usual manner the printer was led away by the 'brach' in
the following line. The original word must have been a verb, and, were
we not aware of what critics usually are, we might wonder at Johnson's
most simple and natural emendation, _Bathe_ not being universally
adopted. In his whole speech the lord shows his affection for his
hounds; for the charge about coupling Clowder with another hound is
evidently owing to his being united to an ill-conditioned dog. Poor
Merriman, it is plain, had got a swelling in the leg or elsewhere--for
that is the only possible meaning of 'emboss'd' in this place; so when
the Prince (1 Hen. IV. iii. 3) calls Falstaff an "_embossed_ rascal,"
he means swollen up--the proper remedy for which was _bathing_ or
fomenting with warm water; and this he directs to be done. But Mr.
Collier tells us that "a _dog_ or a deer is said to be _embossed_ when
fatigue makes them foam at the mouth;" from which all that can be
inferred is that Mr. Collier is no sportsman; for any one who has been
out with hounds knows that when fatigued they pant and put out their
tongues, but _never_ foam. Shakespeare, who apparently knew something
of hunting, has correctly, "_Lolling_ the tongue with slaughtering"
(Cymb. v. 3), alluding to hounds. On the other hand, Mr. Dyce most
confidently reads _Trash_, _i.e._, put a "heavy collar, strap or rope
dragging loose on the ground" on him to check his speed. I fear that
Mr. Dyce is no sportsman either. At least at the present day hounds do
not carry weight; for that, I suppose, is what he means. He probably
understood 'emboss'd' in the same sense as Mr. Collier. I adopt
Johnson's reading, though aware that in cases of this kind (Introd. p.
65) we should not look for any similarity of form (Mr. Dyce's _ductus
literarum_) in the word to be substituted. (See on Othel. iii. 3.)
Here, for example, we might read _Mind_, or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And when he says _what_ he is say that he dreams."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And not a tinker, nor Christopher_o_ Sly."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Madam wife, they say that I have dreamed _here_."


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Pisa, renowned for grave citizens,
            Gave me my being, and my father first,
            A merchant of great traffic through the world,
            Vincentio[s] come of the Bentivoglii.
            Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence,
            It shall become to serve all hopes conceiv'd," etc.

In the first four lines I have, with previous editors, given the
correct punctuation, and have omitted the superfluous _s_ after
Vincentio in the fourth. In the following line the metre shows that
something is wrong, and it may be that 'Vincentio's' should be
_Lucentio his_, for nothing is more common than this confusion of
proper names. (See on King John, ii. 1.) Hanmer I find also made this
correction. At the same time it is equally probable that something
has been omitted, and that we should read '_only_ son,' or 'son _and
heir_,' as in v. 1. It is one of those cases in which choice is
difficult. I have given the first in my Edition of the plays; but I now
greatly prefer the third.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or so devote to Aristotle's checks."

Undoubtedly _Ethics_, the correction of Blackstone and Collier's folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Balk logic with acquaintance that you have."

For 'Balk' the editors read _talk_, but it is right.

    "Her list in strifeful terms with him to _balk_."
                                                       F. Q. iii. 2. 12.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise,
    If Biondello thou wert come on shore."

Here and elsewhere in this play, and nowhere else, the printer seems to
have added an _s_ to 'Gramercie.' I follow Collier's folio in reading
_now were_ for 'thou wert.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Good_ gentlemen, importune me no further."

So I have printed it, but _Pray_ or _Now_ might be better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Now_, gentlemen, that I may soon make good
    What I have said ... Bianca, get you in."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gentlemen,
    Content ye; I am resolved. Go in, Bianca."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Their love is not so great, Hortensio."

The 3rd folio properly read _Our_ for 'Their.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Master, you look'd so longly on the maid."

As 'longly' occurs nowhere else, it is probably only a printer's error
for _longingly_, which I have given. This omission of a syllable is by
no means unusual. (See on M. for M. iv. 2; All's Well, i. 3.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors."

With Singer I read _he_ for 'she.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I will charm him first to keep his tongue."

We should perhaps read _charge_ for 'charm'; for it is the tongue that
is charmed. We have, however,

    "And by a pair of women of her own,
    Whom she had charm'd."
                                               A King and no King, v. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Verona for a while I take my leave _of_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll try how you can sol, _la_, fa, and sing it.--
    Help, masters, help!"

'Masters' is the correction of Theobald for _mistress_ of the folio.
_Master_ and _mistress_ are confounded also in v. 1, and in Mer. of
Ven. iv. 1, 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4, 2 Hen. VI. i. 3, Tim. ii. 2. _Mistress_
was frequently written _misteris_, which may have been partly the cause
of the confusion.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That gives not half so great a blow to hear."

For 'to hear,' which makes very poor sense, Warburton most happily read
_to th' ear_. He was equally happy in Tim. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For his own good and yours."

For 'yours' Thirlby most properly read _ours_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Bion._ He that has the two fair daughters?"

For _Bion._ I read _Gre._, in which I had been anticipated by Capell,
Tyrwhitt, and Heath; so that it is certain. In my Edition will be found
the correct punctuation of the whole passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And were his daughter fairer than she is."

There is either an aposiopesis or a line lost after this; I think the
latter.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What! this gentleman will out-talk us all."

There is apparently something wrong here. As 'what!' is almost
invariably followed by an interrogative, I would read 'will this
gentleman'; we might also insert an adj. before 'gentleman,' or read
_all of us_ for 'us all.' The speech, however, as it is a single line,
may be as the poet wrote it; I have therefore let it stand in my
Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No, sir, but hear I do that he hath two."

To avoid the jingle we might read 'I do hear.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If it be so, sir, that you are the man."

I have no doubt that for 'that' we should read _then_. (See Introd. p.
68.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And if you break the ice, and do this seek."

For 'seek' I read _deed_; Rowe read _feat_.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "As the other in music and _in_ mathematics."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But, gentle sir, methinks you walk like a stranger."

Perhaps for 'sir' we should read _signior_, and for 'walk' _look_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sirrah!
    Lead these gentlemen to my daughters, and tell them both."

So we should arrange the passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No such jade as you, if me you mean."

We might read 'Not such _a_ jade.' Mr. Dyce reads, after Collier's
folio, 'as _bear_ you,' which is better, and which I follow.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'_Tis_ in his tail.--'_Tis_ in his tongue.--Whose tongue?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The gain I seek is quiet me the match."

For 'me' Rowe properly read _in_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Myself am struck in years I must confess."

There must be a line at least lost after this.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_To_ set foot under thy table. Tut, a toy."

    "Do get their children; but in this case of wooing
    A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning."

Rime demands for 'cunning' the reading of Steevens, _doing_. _Wooing_
and _doing_ have already rimed in this scene. (See also Tr. and Cr. i.
2, _ad fin._)


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Spit in the hole, man, and tune _it_ again."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To charge true rules for old inventions."

All are agreed to read _change_ with 2nd folio; and as 'old' evidently
makes no sense, Theobald read _odd_. With Rowe I prefer _new_. (See
Introd. p. 66.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Make friends, invite, and proclaim the banns."

The 2nd folio adds _yes_, Malone _them_, Dyce _guests_ after 'invite';
my own conjecture was _aye_. Would it not be better, however, to read
as I have done, "Make friends _be_ invite_d_, and proclaim the banns"?
There is an exactly similar omission of _be_ in All's Well, i. 3, where
there can be no doubt. We might also read simply 'friends invite_d_';
but I doubt, after all, if it were not best to read "Make invite
friends _too_ and proclaim the banns," which would agree better with
the character of the speaker.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Master, master! news, and such news as you never heard of.--
    Is it new and old too? how may that be?"

Is it quite evident that _old_ has been omitted in the first line.
Rowe, who is followed, prefixed it to the first 'news.' I think it is
better with the second, as in Collier's folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Often burst, and now_'s_ repaired with knots."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And 'The Humours of forty Fancies.'"

Collier's folio reads "The Amours or forty Fancies."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Were it _not_ better I should rush in thus...."

Sense and metre demand the negative. There is, I think, a break in
sense at the end of the line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But, sir, _to her_ love concerneth us to add
    Her father's liking."

So I find Tyrwhitt also correctly completed the line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Signior Gremio, _how_ came you from the church."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll tell you, sir Lucentio. When the priest."

For 'sir' we should most certainly read _signior_. (See on Induction,
sc. 1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Having no other reason, etc."

This speech is prose in the 1st folio; in the 2nd it is arranged as
verse, but not well. In my Edition I have rearranged it, as I find Reed
also had done.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My household stuff, my field, my barn, _my granary_."

S. Walker conjectured _my grange_; the Cambridge editors _my garner_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Out, _out_ you rogue! you pluck my foot awry."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis burnt, and so is all the meat _that's here_."

I had also conjectured, like Capell, 'all _the rest of_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Is it possible, friend Licio, that [mistress] Bianca."

Pope also made this metric correction. _Master_ and _Mistress_ do not
occur in this play as titles.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Never to marry with her, though she would entreat _me_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Would all the world but he had quite foresworn _her_."

Rowe also added _her_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "An ancient angel coming down the hill."

If 'angel' be right, it must mean that he was an angel of deliverance
to them. Singer and Dyce quote from Cotgrave's Dictionary "_Angelot à
la grosse escaille_. _An old Angel_, and by metaphor a fellow of the
old, sound, honest, and worthy stamp." But how could Biondello know his
character? Some read _engle_, properly _ingle_; but this is rather,
comrade, bosom-friend. In Gascoigne's Supposes, from which this part
of the play is taken, he is termed "good soul," and it may be that the
poet's word here was _uncle_--the conjecture also of a Mr. Bubier, in
the Cambridge Edition--a term used of elderly persons. (See Index _s.
v._ Nuncle.) Just afterwards he is said to be "surely like a father"
and (iv. 5) Katherine says to the real Vincentio "Now I perceive thou
art a reverend father."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Master _he is_ a marcantant or a pedant."

'Marcantant' is the Italian _mercante_, _mercatante_, or _mercadante_.
It may be corrupt.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And what of him, Tranio?"

As this is so very abrupt and not very clear, we might conjecture an
effacement of _will you make_ or something similar.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That you are like to Sir Vincentio."

Here, again, the printer has put 'Sir' for _Signior_, and probably
added the 'to' to make up the metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Come_, go with me to clothe you as becomes you."

The 2nd folio reads 'Go with me, _sir_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Why then the mustard; _and_ without the beef."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I gave him no order; I gave him the stuff _only_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Ay, _ay_, what else? and but I be deceiv'd."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Twere good _that_ he were school'd--Fear you not him."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To have him match'd; and if you please to like _it_
    No worse than I, upon some agreement, _sir_,
    Me shall you find ready and willing _both_
    With one consent to have her so bestow'd."

Here is what seems to be a convincing proof of the effacement of the
ends of lines in the MS. In the second line the 2nd folio inserted
_sir_ in the middle, and in the third it read '_most_ ready and _most_
willing.' Lower down the ends of two lines more have been also effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The match is made and all is done;
    Your son shall have my daughter, with consent.--
    I thank you, sir, where then do you know best."

'Your son' belongs to first line; and as we have had (iii. 2) "And
marry sweet Bianca with consent," we might complete the metre by
reading 'with _my full_ consent'; but it is more probable, as this page
of the MS. appears to have been injured, that the loss was at the end.
I read of _me, Baptista_, as (v. 1) we have "mine only son and heir to
the lands of _me, signior Vincentio_." In the next line 'know' is most
probably a mere printer's error. I have in my Edition, given _hold_,
the reading of Collier's folio; but I think now that the right word
is _trow_, which occurs more than once in Shakespeare in the sense of
think, and which I find was also the conjecture of Hanmer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I cannot tell; except _while_ they are busied about."

The 1st folio has _expect_, which was rightly corrected in the 2nd.
_While_ was properly supplied by Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The priest be ready [to come] against you come with your appendix."

Both sense and metre counsel the ejection of 'to come' caused by the
following 'you come.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "She will be pleased, then wherefore should I doubt _her_?"

The rime evidently requires this addition, made also by Pope.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "And so it shall be still for Katherine."

'Still' is Ritson's correction of _so_ in the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But soft _you_! company is coming here."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "And then come back to my master."

This is the reading of Capell, which I have followed; _master's_, that
of Theobald, is perhaps better. The folio has _mistress_: see on i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I pray you tell signior Lucentio that his father is come from
    Padua."

Tyrwhitt, who has been followed by all succeeding editors, reads
_Pisa_, which is no doubt right; but the error was the poet's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Right son _un_to the right Vincentio."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Better once than never; for never _is_ too late."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And time it is when raging war is done,
           To smile at scapes and perils overblown."

The folio has _come_; but both sense and rime demand 'done,' Rowe's
correction. We might also, as Mr. Collier observes, read _gone_; and
this is perhaps the best.

    "_And_ how likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?"

So also Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_What!_ head and butt! a hasty-witted body."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Let us each one send _in_ unto his wife."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Oh!_ worse and worse; she will not come. O vile!"




MERCHANT OF VENICE.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am
           To learn; and such a want-wit sadness makes of me."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That courtesy to them, _and_ do them reverence."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And see my wealthy Andrew docks in sand."

For 'docks' the editors read, after Rowe, 'dock'_d_'; but it is simpler
to read 'dock,' the _s_ being the usual printer's addition. We might
even perhaps retain the text, reading 'see!'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If they should speak _'t_would almost damn those ears."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Come Nerissa. Sirrah, go before. Whiles we shut the gate
           upon one wooer, another knocks at the door."

Perhaps a rime and a seven-foot line were intended, in which case we
should arrange thus, as Knight has also done;

    "Come _in_, Nerissa. Sirrah, go before.
    Whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Will you pleasure me _in it_? Shall I know your answer?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mark you this Bassanio," etc.

This speech should be marked _Aside_. It is so in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hath a dog money? Is it possible?"

We should read 'monies,' the word Shylock always uses.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of usance for my monies, and you'll not hear me.
    This is kind _that_ I offer.--This were kindness."

So it should be arranged.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Then is Alcides beaten by his page."

'page' is Theobald's undoubted correction; 4tos and folio read _rage_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "First forward to the temple! After dinner
    Your hazard shall be made."

Surely 'temple' has no meaning here. Must not the poet have written
_table_. In Lucrece (st. 168), in the Var. Shakespeare, "Her sacred
_temple_" is printed "Her sacred _table_." I am not aware that any
critic has observed this palpable error. The term 'table,' it may be
observed, was much more used by our forefathers than by us. Thus in The
Elder Brother (iii. 4) Miramont says to his brother, "May be I'll see
your _table_ too," _i.e._ be of your dinner-party.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Certainly the Jew is the very Devil's incarnation."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Do you know me, father?"

Mr. Dyce thinks Shakespeare wrote '_not_ know,' which occurs again in
Lancelot's next speech. I have adopted his reading.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "If a Christian do not play the knave and get thee."

The 2nd folio properly read _did_. (See on Jul. Cæs. ii. 2.) This
change of tense was not unfrequent. We often meet _see_ for _saw_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Well thou shalt see; thy eyes shall be thy judge."

It might be better to read '_the_ judge.' Even at the present day
printers confound these words.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will be worth a Jewès eye,"

I prefer this, the reading of the old copies, to 'Jewess,' Pope's
reading, which is usually followed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "How like a younker or a prodigal."

Rowe's correction for 'younger.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Go draw aside the curtains."

So also at end of scene; but as in sc. ix. it is 'curtain,' I ascribe
the _s_ to the printer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But more than these in love I do deserve _her_."

See also Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gilded timber do worms infold."

Pope read _wood may_ for 'timber do' of the 4tos and folio; Johnson,
who is always followed, read _tombs_; I read _woods_. The meaning is
that gilded wooden work was often worm-eaten.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "And hindered me _of_ half a million."

So also Warburton.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where? in Genoa?"

'Where' is Rowe's correction; the original editions read _Here_, which
may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I speak too long, but 'tis to piece the time,
           To eke it, and to draw it out."

'Piece' is Rowe's correction for _peize_, and is, I think, right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There is no vice so simple but assumes."

The originals all have _voice_; 'vice' is a correction, and a true one,
of the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
    To a most dangerous sea, the beautious scarf
    Veiling an Indian beauty."

Unless we take it ironically--which is unworthy of the poet--'beauty'
here is nonsense. It plainly owes its origin to the preceding
'beautious.' Hanmer read _dowdy_; Sidney Walker _gipsy_--both bad. I
read, with the utmost confidence, _feature_ as the only word suited
to the place. (See Index _s. v._) Mr. Spedding, I find, conjectured
_visage_ or _feature_, apparently taking them to be synonymous.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge."

For 'pale' Farmer read _stale_, perhaps needlessly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence."

Warburton read _plainness_, of which Mr. Dyce approves, and perhaps
with reason. I have, however, made no change. Lead in fact never is
pale; for its surface is always oxydized. Shakespeare, moreover, would
hardly use the same term of two distinct substances. (See, however, on
Rom. and Jul. ii. 5.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "The Duke cannot deny the course of law,
           For the commodity that strangers have
           With us in Venice. If it be denied
           '_T_will much impeach the justice of the state."

I thus point and amend the passage, as Capell had done, followed only,
I believe, by Knight. I am rather dubious of 'justice,' and should
prefer _interest_ or _traffic_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "From out the state of hellish misery."

I prefer 'misery,' the reading of the first 4to, to _cruelty_, that of
the others and the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As I have ever found thee honest-true."

These compounds of two adjectives--the first being used
adverbially--are not by any means uncommon. They are frequent in
Shakespeare; in Fletcher's Hum. Lieut. (iii. 2) we have "serious-true,"
and in his Chances (ii. 1) "glorious-foolish." (See on 1 Hen. IV. iii.
1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In speed to Padua; see thou render this."

All the old editions read _Mantua_, but it is so certain that it must
have been a mere slip of the poet or the printer that Theobald's
correction has been universally and properly adopted. (See on Hen. V.
iii. Chor.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unto the Tranect, to the common ferry."

Rowe, I think properly, read _Traject_ (_tragetto_ It.).

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "And if on earth he do not mean it, then."

Here 'it' seems to mean 'to live an upright life'; rather a harsh
construction. It is not likely that the poet used 'mean' in the sense
of _mener_ Fr., yet it seems to be used so sometimes in Piers Ploughman.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Cannot contain their urine; for Affection,
           Masters of passion, sways it to the mood
           Of what it likes or loathes."

The original editions all read "Cannot contain their urine for
affection;" but that this cannot be right is proved by the context.
The only question then is, should we read _Master_ with Thirlby, or
_Mistress_ with the same and Capell. Nothing (see Introd. p. 59) is
more common than the addition of _s_, while _master_ and _mistress_ are
frequently confounded. (See on Taming of Shrew, i. 2.) On the whole, I
prefer _mistress_. In the last line I read _she_ for 'it,' evidently
caused by that in the preceding line. For the meaning of 'affection,'
see Index _s. v._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why he a woollen bag-pipe."

The bag of the bag-pipe is no doubt generally covered at the present
day with a piece of green baize, which is woollen; yet I incline with
Hawkins and Steevens to read _swollen_; the s might easily have been
lost, of which I think we have another example in the change of _sway_
to _wag_ (Much Ado, v. 1).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As to offend himself, being offended."

I prefer this punctuation.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I pray you think you question with the Jew."

Though by reading '_a_ Jew' we get sense, and Launce (Com. of Err.
ii. 3) makes a Jew the type of hard-heartedness, and we have the same
notion in Much Ado, ii. 3, I yet cannot but adhere to _stint your_ for
'think you,' as I have given it in my Edition. It seems to me so much
more forcible, and more suited to the calm resignation of Antonio;
while in the other reading there is something of sneer or irony that is
unpleasant. Nothing was easier than for the printer to read _stint_,
the more unusual term, as _think_, and then to make _your you_ for the
sake of sense (see Introd. p. 67), and as they are pronounced nearly
alike. However, _judicet lector_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You may as well use question with the wolf
    Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb."

This is the reading of the Bridgewater copy of Heyes' 4to, only reading
_bleak_ for 'bleat'; in the Devonshire copy of that 4to it is:

    "Well use question with the wolf
    The ewe bleat for the lamb."

In the folio:

    "Or even as well use question with the wolf
    ... The ewe bleat for the lamb."

So editions vary!

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of such _deep_ misery doth she cut me off."

A syllable is wanting, and _a_, the reading of the 2nd folio, is
feeble. We have "such _deep_ sin"(Rich. II. i. 1); "_deep_ grief" (Ham.
iv. 5); and many similar expressions. The omission of an adjective is
not unusual. (See on M. N. D. v. 1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As makes it light or heavy in the substance
    Or the division of the twentieth part
    Of one poor scruple."

By reading _Of_ for 'Or' we gain both in sense and energy. The
proof-sheets of my Edition have given me instances of this confusion of
_or_ and _of_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Be valu'd 'gainst your wife's commandement."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Full of good news. My master will be here ere morning."

By reading _morn_ we should get a rime.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My friend, Stephano, I pray you signify."

Both 4tos and folios read "signify I pray you."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is thick-inlaid with patens of pure gold."

The reading of the 2nd folio, _patterns_, the one usually followed, is
decidedly wrong. In Spanish _patena_ is a medal worn by country-women
about the neck.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By the sweet power of music; therefore the poets."

I think we should read this in the plural, as no particular poet was
regarded as the author of this mythe.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion."

In reading "ho!" for the _how_ of the original editions, I had been
anticipated by Malone.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That she did give me, whose--poësy was
    --For all the world like cutler's poetry
    Upon a knife--_Love me and leave me not_."

By punctuating thus, we need not read, with Steevens, '_to_ me.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or your own honour to contain the ring."

It might be better, with Pope, to read _retain_. (See on Two Gent. v.
4, _ad fin._)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In summer where the ways are fair enough."

The usual confusion of _where_ and _when_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well while I live," etc.

A waggish allusion to a story told by Poggio, Ariosto, Rabelais, La
Fontaine, and Prior. Our poet probably got it from Rabelais, with whom
he was familiar.




AS YOU LIKE IT.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion.
            _He_ bequeathed me, by will, but poor a thousand crowns,
            and as thou sayest," etc.

The 2nd folio reads 'a poor thousand,' but the metre is in favour of
the original reading, and we meet "What poor an instrument" (Ant. and
Cleop. v. 2). It is really surprising to see with what pertinacity
editors reject the necessary word _He_, first supplied by Blackstone.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or to speak more properly stays me here at home."

Warburton read _stys_, as in Temp. i. 2, which is certainly more
forcible; but Orlando could not be said to be 'sty'd,' like Caliban.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If Rosalind, the Duke's daughter, be banished."

Hanmer added _old_ to 'Duke,' which, however, is not necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "_Ros._ My father's love is enough to honour him enough."

_Ros._ should probably be _Cel._ (so also Theobald), and the second
'enough' be rejected.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sport? Of what colour?"

The princess here plays on the similarity of sound between _spot_ and
_sport_, pronounced with the _r_ nearly effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There is such odds in the _man_."

Hanmer properly read _men_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mounsieur the challenger, the princess calls for you.--
    I attend them," etc.

Celia had desired Le Beau to call him; Orlando, seeing two princesses,
says 'them'; so the corrections of the critics are needless.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If you saw yourself with your eyes, or knew yourself with your
    judgement."

Warburton ingeniously, but perhaps needlessly, read _our_ for 'your.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But justly, as you have exceeded all promise _here_."

Hanmer read '_here_ exceeded.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But yet indeed the taller, is his daughter."

For 'taller' Pope read _shorter_, Malone _smaller_, which is the usual
reading, as Rosalind was 'the taller.' I feel, however, almost certain
that the poet wrote '_less_ taller,' and have so printed it. We have,
"Against the envy of _less happier_ lands" (Rich. II. ii. 1), and no
one would object to _more taller_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Not a word!--No, not one to throw at a dog."

The 'No,' it will be seen, was transferred to the beginning of the next
speech, where it was not wanted; while both sense and metre require it
here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No, some of it for my child's father."

Rowe properly read 'father's child.' Sense, taste, and delicacy, alike
commend this simple and natural transposition. Some editors, however,
think otherwise.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste."

For 'safest' Collier's folio reads _fastest_; we might also read, with
Singer, _swiftest_, like "_swiftest_ expedition" (Two Gent. iii. 1);
"in all _swift haste_" (Tr. and Cr. i. 1). But it is not necessary to
alter the text; for _safe_ is, sure, certain, a sense which it retains
in the Midland counties. "To take the safest occasion by the front"
(Oth. iii. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which teacheth thee, that thou and I am one."

Such was the structure of the time. "My thoughts and I _am_ for this
other element" (Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1). It was the same in
French:

                      "Ni la mort ni vous-même
    Ne me _ferez_ jamais prononcer que je l'aime."
                                                 Racine, Bajazet, iv. 1.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,
           The season's difference," etc.

As the Duke proceeds to show that he _did_ feel this difference, the
text cannot be right. Critics, therefore, for 'not' read _but_, as
these words were frequently confounded by the printers. But then a
question arises, was 'the season's difference' any part of 'the penalty
of Adam.' In Scripture that penalty was "in the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread;" and this was the very penalty that the Duke and his
friends did not feel; for we have just been told of them (i. 1) that
"they fleet away the time carelessly, as they did in the Golden World."
Further, it does not appear that any writer anterior to Milton made
the Ovidian change of seasons a part of Adam's penalty. The text may
therefore be right, and a line, something like this, have been lost,

    "Here is no toil; we have only to endure"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I would not change it."

Upton, most properly, made this the conclusion of the Duke's speech.
(See on W. T. v. 1)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "First for his weeping into the needless stream."

Pope's change of 'into' to _in_ has been generally followed, but
without the slightest reason, by the decasyllabists. I am almost
ashamed to say that I have joined them from pure inadvertence.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The body of _the_ country, city, court."

The 2nd folio supplied _the_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Send to his brother's; fetch that gallant hither."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "When service should in my old limbs lie lame,
                     And unregarded age in corners thrown."

There is either a line lost after these, or we should read '_be_
in corners thrown,' as I have done. The omission of _be_ was not
infrequent.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The constant service of the antique world,
    When service sweat for duty not for meed."

The 'service' in the first line arose from that in the second (See
Introd. p. 64). I read _fashion_; Collier's folio has _favour_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From seventy years, till now almost fourscore."

Such is the reading of the folio--a convincing proof of how little the
old printers are to be relied on. Editors, without exception, read
_seventeen_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "O Jupiter, how weary are my spirits!"

'Weary' is Warburton's correction of _merry_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I pray you bear with me; I cannot go no further."

For 'cannot' the 2nd folio has _can_, the usual reading. Yet I doubt if
the change was needed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From whom I took two cods."

Johnson read, as every man of sense would read, _peas_ for 'cods.' I
have just shown the origin of the change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "And turn his merry note."

We still say _turn a tune_ and a _note_. Pope, then, was wrong in
reading _tune_ for 'turn.' "When threadbare Martial _turns his merry
note_" (Hall. Sat. vi. 1) was probably in the poet's mind.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
           _Not to_ seem senseless of the bob."

Both sense and metre demand this addition of Theobald's, whom all
editors follow. We have the very same omission in

    "Yet if it be your wills _not to_ forgive
    The sin I have committed, let it not fall," etc.
                                                       Philaster, ii. 4.

where none of the editors have perceived the loss.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why who cries out on pride."

There is something wanting here; for in this play the speeches never
begin thus with a short line. It is evident also that it is one
kind of pride, that of dress, that is spoken of. I therefore read
without hesitation 'pride of _bravery_,' and, three lines further on,
_wearer's_ for 'weary,' in which I had been anticipated by Singer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of what kind should this cock come of."

This seems to be a third instance of effacement in a single page of the
MS. I would add _I marvel_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And take upon command what help we have."

"And in his room not only to eat his fill, but _be the lord_ of the
feast." (Lodge, Rosalynde, p. 53.) "They covet not their neighbours'
goods; but _command_ all that is their neighbours' as their own." (MS.,
1559, _ap._ Froude, Hist. of Eng. viii. 3.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_And_ then the whining schoolboy."

This is a proper addition of Pope's.


ACT III.

    SC. 2. "Here comes young master Ganymede, my new mistress['s]
            brother."

Though it stands thus in the folio, metre and the usage of the time
reject the _s_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But the fair of Rosalind."

We might read 'fair _face_,' or, with Rowe, _face_ for 'fair'; which
last, however, is the same as fairness; so no change is needed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Winter'd garments must be lined."

The 3rd folio properly reads _Winter_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why should this desert be?"

Rowe read '_a_ desert'; Tyrwhitt '_silent_ be.' I rather prefer the
latter; but it is against it that, excepting in one of the following
and the six last lines, the first foot is always monosyllabic. I have
therefore followed Rowe.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or at every sentence end."

For 'Or' I read _And_. (See Note at end of Samson Agonistes in my
Edition of Milton's Poems.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It may well be called Jove's tree when it drops forth fruit."

The 2nd folio reads 'forth _such_; Capell read _such_ for 'forth.'
Perhaps the first is to be preferred; yet I find I have followed Capell
in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Make_ me believe it! You may as soon make her."

Surely the passage thus gains not only in metre, but in spirit.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "By so much is a horn more precious than to want."

There is apparently an aposiopesis here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Leave me not behind thee, _prythee_."

Both rime and metre require this addition; yet none of the critics has
made it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Breaks his staff like a noble goose."

Singer, very unnecessarily and most tamely, reads _notable_ for
'noble.' Printing from his edition, I have heedlessly followed him in
mine.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Bring us _un_to this sight, and you shall say."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops."

It is quite impossible that this line in its present form could have
come from the pen of the poet. He must have seen the absurdity of dying
before living, and he could have had no motive for departing from the
universal form "live and die," as in "I could live and die in the eyes
of Troilus" (Tr. and Cr. i. 2). If we then transpose, and take 'by'
in the sense of beside, near, in contact with (Index _s. v._), we get
excellent sense. 'Dies,' however, may be a printer's error for some
other verb--_sheds_ perhaps; and then 'by' may be taken in its ordinary
sense. I had also, like Heath, conjectured '_daily_ lives.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The cicatrice and capable impression."

For 'capable' Singer's and Collier's folio read _palpable_; I have
followed them.

    "Nor I am sure there is no force in eyes
    That can do hurt to any _one_.--O! dear Phebe."

For 'Nor' we might perhaps better read _And_. (See my note on Sam.
Agon., 1692.) Still no change is needed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That you insult and exult all at once
    Over the wretched? What! though you have no beauty."

The transposition in the first line removes all necessity for
correction. Strange that the critics should not have thought of it!
In my Edition the transposition is, "That you insult and all at once
exult," which is wrong; but it is there corrected. By reading 'What!'
the difficulty found here by critics is removed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That the old Carlot once was master of."

In the folio 'Carlot' is printed as a proper name, and it may be the
Spanish _Carloto_. No such substantive as 'carlot' is known.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He is fallen in love with your foulness, and she'll."

For 'she' we should, I think, read, as I have done, _you_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_I_ have more cause to hate him than to love him."

The _I_ was supplied in the 2nd folio.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "And the foolish chroniclers of the age found it was--Hero
           of Sestos."

The use of the word 'found' proves that Hanmer's reading _coroners_ is
right. In Twelfth Night (i. 5) the coroner is said to sit on a drowned
man.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That cannot make her fault her husband's occasion."

This seems to mean occasioned, caused by her husband. Or we may read,
with Hanmer, _accusation_. I find I have done so, but doubt if I was
justified in so doing.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll go find a shadow and sigh till he come.--And I'll _go_ sleep."

Both sense and metre seem to demand this addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "My gentle Phebe did bid me give you this."

Editors, myself included, follow 2nd folio, and omit 'did.' I think we
are wrong.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Art thou god to shepherd turn'd."

I think we should read '_a_ god.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Like a ripe sister, _but_ the woman low."

The necessary insertion was made in the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As how I came into that desert place."

There may have been, as Malone thought, a line lost here; but I rather
think it is an aposiopesis.


ACT V.

    SC. 2. "_Her_ sudden consenting, but say with me."

Rowe supplied _Her_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All purity, all trial, all observance."

As 'observance' is the word in the riming line, Collier's folio and
Malone read _obedience_; Heath _perseverance_; Harness and Singer, whom
I find I have followed, _endurance_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why do you speak too?"

I quite agree with those who read, with Rowe, _Who_ and _to_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Yet the note was very untuneable."

Theobald read _untimeable_, as the reply is "we kept time;" but, as
_time_ and _tune_ were synonymous, there seems to be no need of change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "As those that fear they hope and know they fear."

To give sense here, I read 'the_ir_ hope' and 'the_ir_ fear,' and for
'know' _hope_. In the change of 'they' to _their_ I find I had been
anticipated by Heath. The thought is the same as in "In these feared
hopes." (Cymb. ii. 4). The printer having made 'they hope,' in order
to get some sense, changed the following 'hope' to _know_, no unusual
practice. Yet Mr. Dyce says, "I believe that the line now stands as
Shakespeare wrote it." Coleridge thus expresses the same thought:

    "And Fears self-willed, that shunned the eye of Hope;
    And Hope that scarce would know itself from Fear."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That thou mightest join his hand in his
    Whose heart within his bosom is."

Editors read _her_ for 'his' in both lines. The first change, made in
the 3rd folio, is necessary; the second, made by Malone, not so.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And all their lands restored to him again."

For 'him' editors very properly, following Rowe, read _them_; in MS.
probably _'em_.

       *       *       *       *       *

EPILOGUE.

    "I make _my_ court_e_sy, bid me farewell."




MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Is it possible Disdain should die while she hath such meet
           food to feed it as Signior Benedick?"

For 'it' we should probably read _her_, or rather _on_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Scratching could not make it worse, or 'twere such a face as
      yours" [were].

The 'were' was probably suggested by the preceding ''twere.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "This be true. Go you and tell her of it."

The metre requires '_should_ be.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "There is no measure in the occasion that heeds _it_."


ACT II.

    SC. 1. _Bene._ "Well I would you did like me."

It should be _Balt._ here and in the next two speeches.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which I mistrusted not. Farewell, therefore, Hero!"

Collier's folio reads needlessly '_then_, Hero.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It is the base, though bitter disposition of Beatrice."

For 'though,' which can hardly be right, the usual reading is _the_,
the correction of Johnson, which is very good; the words were easily
confounded, especially when _though_ was written _tho'_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That I stood like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at me."

We should expect _him_; but 'me' may have been the poet's word. For the
first 'at' we might perhaps read _as_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All that Adam had left him before he transgressed."

There must certainly be an error either in 'left' or in 'before.'
For the latter we might read _after_; for the former perhaps _lent_
or _about_. I think the true reading is _lent_, in which I had been
anticipated by Collier's folio. _Lend_ was constantly used in the sense
of give. "I can _lend_ you letters to divers officers," etc. (Jonson,
Every Man out, etc. iii. 1.) It is not quite out of use yet.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "County Claudio, when mean you go to church?"

For 'County,' which occurs nowhere else in the play, I read _Count_,
which also suits the metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Hear me call Margaret Hero; hear Margaret term me Claudio."

The poet no doubt wrote 'Claudio' here; but from what precedes it
certainly should have been _Borachio_. These slips were not at all
unusual with him.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "We'll fit the hid fox with a pennyworth."

The originals read '_kid_-fox'; but his hiding had just been mentioned,
and the name of the game probably alluded to was Hide Fox. Warburton
made the correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Since many a lover doth commence his suit _thus_."

Something seems evidently wanting for the sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Notes, notes, forsooth, and noting!"

Theobald's correction; the old copies have _nothing_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "O, ay. Stalk on; stalk on; the fowl sits."

Perhaps for the sake of metre _yonder_ should be added.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Beats her heart, tears her hair, prays, curses, O sweet Benedick!"

I agree with Collier's folio and Singer in reading _cries_ for
'curses,' which was suggested by 'prays.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My lord, will you walk _in_? dinner is ready."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And virtuous; 'tis so, I cannot reprove it."

It would perhaps be better to read '_dis_prove it.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And choke a daw withal."

Collier's folio reads '_not_ choke'; but it is dubious.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Good Margaret, run thee _in_ to the parlour."

Pope read '_in_to.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Whisper her ear and tell her I and Ursula."

There has probably been an omission of _in_ before 'her.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No, not to be so odd and from all fashions."

The proper word is _nor_, as Capell also saw.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Well, every one can master a grief, but he that has it."

Both folio and 4to read 'can_not_' for 'can,' Pope's correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As a German from the waist downward all slops, and a Spaniard from
    the hip upward no doublet."

This is only in 4to, 1600. We should probably read, as Mason also did,
'_all_ doublet.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He is no fool for fancy as you would have it to appear he is."

For 'fool' we should perhaps read _food_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "She shall be buried with her face upwards."

That is, like everybody else. Theobald read _heels_ for face, quoting,

    "Whilst I have meat and drink love cannot starve me;
    For if I die of the first fit I am unhappy,
    And worthy _to be buried with my heels upward_;"
                                      (Fletcher, Wild-goose Chase, i. 3)

while Mason proposed _feet_. But Singer says, referring to Winter's
Tale, iv. 3, that the meaning is, she shall be buried _in her lover's
arms_; and I think there _is_ a waggish allusion to nuptial joys.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Out on thee, seeming! I will write against it,
           You seem to me as Dian in her orb."

For 'thee' we should, I think, read _thy_ or _this_, as they were
pronounced alike, and for 'seem' _seem'd_, for the same reason.' (See
Introd. p. 52.) Pope also read _thy_, and Hanmer _seem'd_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But if all aim but this be levell'd false."

I would read _in_; for 'but,' suggested by 'But,' makes nonsense. I
have, however, made no change in my Edition.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "And bid him speak of patience _to me_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And sorrow wag, cry Hem! when he should groan."

For 'wag,' which gives no sense, I would read _sway_, which gives most
excellent sense.

                         "For Affection,
    Mistress of passion, _sways_ it."
                                                     Mer. of Ven. iv. 1.

    "You _sway_ the motion of Demetrius' heart."
                                                          M. N. D. i. 1.

    "The will of man is by his reason _sway'd_."
                                                              Ib. ii. 2.

                "Our own stars all our fortunes,
    Which, as we _sway_ 'em, to abuse or bless us."
                                                 Fletch. Chances, ii. 3.

It seems evident that the initial _s_ of _sway_ was effaced, a thing
not unusual. As to the change of _y_ to _g_, I lately read a work on
South America, in which the well-known name _Almagro_ was invariably
printed _Almayro_. 'Cry Hem!' may mean, use the language of rakish
youths; "Our watch-word was, Hem boys!" (2 Hen. IV. iii. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Some of us would lie low.--Who _is it_ wrongs him?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gentlemen both, we will not wake your patience."

The meaning of 'wake' is not clear; perhaps we should read _task_.
Hanmer read _rack_; Talbot _waste_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I cannot bid you bid my daughter live."

A printer's error, probably caused in the usual way. We might better
read _make_, though 'bid' makes sense. 'Can I _make men live_ whe'r
they will or no?' (2 Hen. VI. iii. 3.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I do embrace your offer, and dispose
    From henceforth of poor Claudio."

It would seem that something had been lost at the end, the speech
terminates so abruptly. We might supply _at your pleasure_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Have you been deceived; _for_ they swore you did."

Mr. Dyce would read '_for_ they _did swear_'; but the two _did_s rather
offend the ear.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Brave punishments for him. _Come_, strike up, piper."




MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "The Council shall hear _of_ it; it is a riot."

The metre requires _of_, which makes the expression more idiomatic. Sir
Hugh naturally omits it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And I thank you always with my heart la!"

The folio reads '_love_ you'; the correction is Farmer's. So also in
Shallow's next speech.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "The good humour is to steal at a minute's rest."

As "_minim's_ rest" occurs in Rom. and Jul. ii. 1, Langton and
Collier's folio would so read here; but it may be, and probably is, a
mere blunder of Nym's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He hath studied her well, and translated her well."

The folio reads _will_; in both places the 4tos have 'well' in the
first, and omit it in the last.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hold, sirrah, bear you these _two_ letters tightly."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For the revolt of mine is dangerous."

For 'the' we must, with Pope, read _this_. We have, "For this revolt of
thine" (Hen. V. ii. 1). Theobald, whom some critics follow, read _mien_
for 'mine,' which I utterly reject. (See on Two Gent. ii. 4.) I do not
think 'revolt' occurs anywhere in the sense of mere change.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "What! have _I_ scaped love-letters in the holiday-time of
           my beauty?"

_I_ is the insertion of the 2nd folio; and is perhaps not absolutely
necessary, as we might put a (!) after 'beauty.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For though Love use Reason as his precision."

For 'precision,' which gives but poor sense, we should adopt, as I have
done, Johnson's conjecture, _physician_:

    "My reason the _physician_ to my love." Son. cxlvii.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll exhibit a bill in Parliament for the putting down of men."

Theobald's reading, '_fat_ men' has been generally and properly
adopted. There is a similar omission of _fat_ in 1 Hen. IV. ii. 2. In
the 4to she says, "Well, I shall trust _fat_ men the worse while I live
for his sake."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will you go, An-heires?"

This is mere nonsense. Boaden's conjecture, _Cavalieres_, adopted by
Singer and myself, seems to be very good; it might easily, with a
little effacement, have been mistaken by the printer. We might also,
and still better I think, read _on heróes_, as this last word was thus
pronounced at times by Spenser, Chapman, and others; and we have,
"Noble heróes, my sword and yours are kin" (All's Well, ii. 1). The
metre excludes _héroes_. Theobald, followed by Dyce, read _mynheers_,
not a Shakespearian term; Steevens _on hearts_; Malone _and hear us_.
The reading of the 4tos is 'Bully Hector!'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "On his wife's frailty."

Theobald read _fealty_, Collier's folio has _fidelity_. I prefer the
last; but I make no change.


ACT III.

    SC. 2. "Give fire, she is my prize."

Most certainly 'my' should be _thy_; the confusion is common.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Cried Game? said I well?"

Mr. Douce, Mr. Dyce, and myself, all independently corrected 'Cried
I _aim_?' and Warburton had proposed _Cry aim_. The correction might
therefore appear to be certain; and yet I am dubious of it. 'Cried
game' is the reading of the 4tos, as well as of the folio; and as the
first 4to and the folio were printed from independent MSS., it is not
at all likely that two transcribers or printers should have fallen into
the same error. 'Cried Game? said I well?' would suit the abrupt tone
of the Host, and signify, Did I intimate sport?

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou hast the right arched beauty of the brow."

The 4to reads _bent_ for 'beauty'; so the right word may be _bend_. I
have given 'bent'.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By the Lord, thou art a tyrant to say so."

For 'tyrant' the 4tos read _traitor_. I have adopted this reading,
though dubious of its being the best.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What thou wert if Fortune thy foe were not, Nature _is_."

So also Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I love thee, and none but thee."

The metre proves this to be the right text.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So, now uncape."

I think Hanmer was right in reading _uncouple_; for 'uncape,' as a
term of the chase, is unknown. The final letters of _uncouple_ had
probably been effaced in the MS.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Farewell, gentle Mistress _Page_. Färewell, Nan."

Both sense and metre gain, I think, by this addition. Policy, if
nothing else, should make Fenton return the farewell of Mrs. Page.
Capell read '_my_ gentle.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A fool and a physician."

We should certainly read with Hanmer _or_ for 'and.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "As they'd have drowned a bitch's blind puppies."

The original copies read 'a blind bitch's'; Hanmer made the obvious
transposition.


ACT IV.

    SC. 2. "Your husband is in his old _lunes_ again."

The folio has _lines_. Theobald made the correction. See W. T. ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Good gentlemen, let him _not_ strike the old woman."

The negative was added in the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "You say he has been thrown into the rivers."

It might be better to read _see_ for 'say.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That silk will I go buy. And in that time."

With Mr. Dyce, I adopt Theobald's reading of _tire_ for 'time,' as best
suited to the context.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And he my husband best of all affects."

If 'husband' be the subject to 'affects,' as I think he is, we should
read _him_. See Introd. p. 52.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Conceal them or thou diest."

Collier's folio for 'or' reads _and_; but the text is right. Simple had
used 'conceal' in the sense of reveal, and the Host repeats his word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "The mirth whereof_'s_ so larded with my matter."


ACT V.

    SC. 2. "Remember, son Slender, my _daughter_."

The word _daughter_, necessary both for sense and metre, was supplied
by the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

SC. 5. Among the characters given in the heading of this scene, we meet
Mrs. Quickly and Pistol; the 4tos have "Mrs. Quickly, like the Queen
of Fairies," and prefix _Quic._ to the following speeches, and it is
not said that Anne was to assume that character. The folio heads the
speeches with _Qui._ and _Qu._ We may therefore say that the poet was
oblivious when, in iv. 4. 6, he said that Anne should "present the
Fairy Queen;" for throughout she only appears as an ordinary fairy, as
is plain by the mistake made by Caius and Slender. The poet seems to
have confined the speaking to the elder persons.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You moonshine-revellers, and shades of night,
    You orphan-heirs of fixed Destiny."

No one has been able to make any sense of 'orphan-heirs,' which may
therefore be treated as a corruption. Warburton read '_ouphen_-heirs,'
which Singer adopts; but there is no such word as _ouphen_. My own
opinion is that the poet wrote _ouphes and_ heirs; and as in general
the _d_ in _and_ is not pronounced, even before vowels, and the _ou_
might easily be mistaken for _or_, the printer made _orphan_. The line,
we may see, thus forms a parallel to the preceding line. The poet seems
to have used 'heirs' in the sense of children. In Fletcher's Mad Lover
we have,

    "Coarse and base appetites, earth's mere inheritors,
    And _heirs_ of idleness and blood." (ii. 1.)

In favour of my reading, it may be observed that in iv. 4 and in the
following speeches the Ouphes occur, as well as the Elves and Fairies,
and nowhere else in Shakespeare.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Elves list your names. Silence, you airy toyès.
    Cricket to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap;
    What fires thou findest unraked and hearths unswept."

The rime shows that 'toyès' is a dissyllable. In 'unswept' the _t_
should not be sounded, and, I think, not be printed. _Unswep_ is
merely the apocopated part, of which examples are so numerous in our
language; it is like _kep_, _crep_, etc., which, though regarded now as
vulgarisms, are grammatically correct. Collier's folio, followed by Mr.
Collier and others, reads '_when_ thou_'st_ leap_'d_,' a mere result of
ignorance of grammar.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And turn him to no pain."

From what precedes, we might conjecture _burn_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To repay that money will be a biting affliction."

I have, after Theobald, added here from the 4tos the following lines,
of which, however, he did not give the last:--

    "_Mrs. Ford._ Nay, husband, let that go to make amends,
    Forgive that sum and so we'll all be friends.

    _Ford._ Well, here's my hand; all is forgiven at last.

    _Fal._ It hath cost me well. I've been well pinch'd and wash'd."

The play is thus made to end more agreeably, and Falstaff can accept
the invitation to supper with a better grace. These lines, it is true,
rime, and so are not quite in harmony with the other speeches, whence
it seems to follow that the omission was made by the poet. But his
judgement in this case must have fallen asleep; for Ford had no right
to be so hard on the poor knight, as he had given him the money, or
rather we might say forced it on him. As to the rime, we have two other
couplets toward the end of the play.




TWELFTH NIGHT.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Oh! it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
           That breathes upon a bank of violets."

As a sound breathing is pure nonsense, Pope read _south_ for 'sound';
and, with the exception of Mr. Knight and Mr. Staunton, all the
editors, I believe, have followed him. Yet even this correction does
not remove the difficulty, for _south_ alone, no more than _north_,
_east_, or _west_, is never used of the wind. It seems to me then that
the poet wrote _south wind_, and as the _th_ was usually suppressed
in _south_, _north_, etc., as _sou'-west_, _sou'-east_, the printer
pronounced _sou wind_ or, it may be, _sou 'ind_, which easily became
'sound' in his mind, and so he printed it. (See Introd. p. 67.) It is
rather remarkable that this very correction is made by an _Anon._ in
the Cambridge Shakespeare. The same idea, I may observe, occurs in the
Antonio and Mellida of Shakespeare's contemporary, Marston (Act I.):

          "Smile heaven and softest southern wind
    Kiss her cheek gently with perfumed breath."

Both were probably indebted to "Her breath is more sweet than a gentle
south-west wind, that comes creeping over flowery fields and shadowed
waters" in Sidney's Arcadia. For a similar omission of _wind_, see on
Temp. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So please _you_, my lord, I might not be admitted."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The element itself, till seven years heat _'em_,
    Shall not behold her face at ample view."

That is, not for seven summers, possibly with an allusion to racing,
as in Win. Tale, i. 2. As the element is the sky, the heaven, we might
also read _it_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Of_ her sweet perfections with one self-king."

That is with Love. We might also transpose, but, I think, with a loss
of force. We have an instance of this prefixing of the genitive in
Temp. iii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "They say she hath abjur'd the company
           And sight of men."

This is the judicious transposition of Theobald. The folio has 'sight'
in the first, 'company' in the second line, to the manifest injury of
the metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "_Castiliano vulgo!_ for here comes Sir Andrew Aguecheek."

Warburton's conjecture of _volto_ for 'vulgo' is ingenious, and may be
right, meaning putting on a grave countenance, like a Castilian.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "An thou let _her_ part so sir Andrew."

It was left to the 3rd folio to supply the needful _her_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou seest it will not curl by nature."

Theobald's indubitable emendation of 'cool my nature' of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In a flame-coloured stock."

This is Pope's correction of 'dam'd coloured' of the folio. Knight
reads _damask_; Collier's folio _dun_, which is very bad indeed. We
meet in other dramatists with _straw-_, _peach-_, _carnation-colour'd_
stocks. It is perhaps impossible to recover the right word, yet I
see little objection to _flame-colour_; for if we suppose _flame_
pronounced as in Latin and French (see Introd. p. 74), _flame-coloured_
might easily become 'damn'd (pr. _dam_) coloured' in the printer's
mind. In confirmation we have elsewhere in the folio '_scar_-crow,' not
'_scare_-crow,' and other like words.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound;
           And all is semblative a woman's part."

I have read '_in_ sound'; for _and_ and _in_ are perpetually
confounded. I also read 'semblative _to_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Of fools _to be_ no better than the fools' zanies."

So also Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "At your door like a sheriff's post, and be the supporter
    Of a bench."

For 'and' I read _or_, and so did Hanmer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If you be not mad, begone; if you have reason, be brief."

Mason omitted the negative, but perhaps needlessly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Oli._ "Tell me your mind.--_Vio._ I am a messenger..."

This is Warburton's arrangement, the folio giving the whole to Viola.
(See on Meas. for Meas. ii. 3.) I have added the sign of the break,
which seems necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Look you, sir; such one I was, _as_ this present.... Is it not
    well done?"

By reading and pointing thus we get most excellent sense, and increase
the vivacity and humour of the passage. Mason, whom Singer follows,
read "_as_ this presents," which no doubt may be right, but is far less
effective.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With adorations, _with_ fertile tears."

See Introd. p. 55.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The countes man, he left this ring behind him."

Capell, who is invariably followed, made it _county's_. I, however,
read, as in iii. 3, 'count _his_.' With one exception (Mer. of Ven. i.
2), _County_ is peculiar to Romeo and Juliet; formosissima in Much Ado,
ii. 1, we should, I think, read _Count_.


ACT II.

    SC. 2. "She took the ring of me; I'll none of it."

As it is evident from Malvolio's reply that this was not what Viola
said, the negative may have been omitted here, as in so many other
places; Malone read '_no_ ring.' Singer retains the reading of the
folio, saying that Viola fibs to "avoid betraying the weakness of
Olivia to her steward."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That methought _that_ her eyes had lost her tongue."

The 2nd folio read 'That _sure_ methought.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Alas! our frailty is the cause, not we;
    For such as we are made, if such we be."

For 'if,' which is undoubtedly wrong, Tyrwhitt, followed by Steevens
and others, read _of_, which would seem to be confirmed by,

    "For we are soft, as our complexions are."
                                                        M. for M. ii. 4.

    "Such as our atoms were, even such are we."
                                            Dryden, Wife of Bath's Tale.

I have printed my own conjecture _e'en_. Hanmer read _ev'n_, and yet
Tyrrwhitt probably was right, _frailty_ being meant.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
    And she, mistaken, seems to doat on me."

I quite agree with Mr. Dyce in reading _As_ for 'And' in the second
line. These words are confounded even at the present day.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "I had such a leg; and so sweet a breath to sing."

I suspect 'leg'; for what has it to do here? and Sir Andrew had already
praised his own leg.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "_Go_ seek him out, and play the tune the while."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn."

In Mer. of Ven. i. 4, the folio reads 'well-_worn_ thrift' for the
'well-_won_ thrift' of the 4to. Hanmer was therefore right in reading
here _won_, the usual concomitant of 'lost.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Give me now leave to leave thee."

As it is the Clown that goes away, we should perhaps transpose the
pronouns, 'Give' being I give. Mr. Dyce, however, says the text is
right, it being "a courteous form of dismissal," to which explanation I
see no objection.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It cannot be so answered.--Sooth, but you must."

The reply proves that 'It' should be _I_, as Hanmer corrected.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Wind up my watch or play with my ... some rich jewel."

This punctuation of Mr. Collier's is excellent.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Though our silence be drawn from us with cars."

For 'cars we might perhaps read 'car-' or 'cart-_ropes_.' In iii. 1. we
have drawing with "oxen and _wain-ropes_." Hanmer read _by the ears_,
S. Walker _racks_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Her _C_s, _U_s, and her _T_s, _and P_s! Why that?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Souter will cry upon it, for all this, though it be as rank as a fox."

We should probably read 'be _not_.' Hanmer read _ben't_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I will not give my part of this sport," etc.

It might appear better to read _would_; but all is right.

    "I will not lose the part I hope to share
    In these his fortunes for my patrimony."

    Jonson, Sejanus, v. 10.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "And fools are as like _to_ husbands as pilchards are to
           herrings."

It might be better to omit the second 'are.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And _not_ like the haggard cheek at every feather."

The negative is absolutely necessary. Collier's folio, Johnson, and
Dyce, read '_Not_ like'; but 'And' should be retained.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But wise men's folly fallen quite taint their wit."

So the folio reads; Theobald and Tyrwhitt 'wise men folly-fallen.' I
agree with them, and have so printed it. Some read 'taints.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I mean to go _in_, sir, to enter."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hideth my heart. So, let me hear you speak."

The usual reading is 'Hides my _poor_ heart'; but this simple change,
made also by Delius, fully restores the metre. The printer may,
however, have substituted 'Hides' for _conceals_ or _covers_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Do not extort thy reasons from this clause."

Perhaps for 'thy' we should read _my_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Did she see _thee_ the while, old boy?"

The 3rd folio first added _thee_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Challenge me the Count's youth to fight with him."

I think 'him' should be _thee_. Ritson read _you_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And thanks, and ever _thanks_. Good turns oft."

Here we have an instance of the advantage of transposition, for the
folio has "oft good turns." 'Turns' is a dissyllable. Theobald read
'_thanks, and_ oft.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For which if I be lapsed in this place."

We should surely read _latched_, i.e. caught, taken. See on M. N. D.
iii. 2. Mr. Hunter, I find, read as I do.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "He's coming, madam, but in _a_ very strange manner."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No dram of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple."

Surely the poet's word must have been _ounce_ for the last 'scruple.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He is a knight, dubbed with unhatched rapier."

Malone proposed '_an_ hatched,' and he was probably right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ay, is it, I warrant him. Do but read _it_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That, honour sav'd, _I_ may upon asking give."


ACT IV.

    SC. 3. "Yet there he was, and there I found this credite_d_."

So it is in the folio, with the omission of the last letter, which had
either been effaced in the MS. or was left out by the printer. Mason
seems also to have seen the truth: yet no one followed him!

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That my most jealous and too doubtful soul
    May live at peace. He shall conceal it,
    Whiles you are willing it shall come to note."

The second line is imperfect. In my Edition I added _still_ (printed,
or perhaps written, _till_), and we might also read _closely_ or
_truly_, i.e. faithfully. 'Whiles' is to be understood as till whiles.
(See Index _s. v._) We might also end the line with it, and begin the
next with _That_; as _while_ and _whiles that_ occur in Chaucer,
Golding, and others.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "A bawbling vessel was he captain of."

We should perhaps read 'bauble-vessel,' as in Tr. and Cr. i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Then he's a rogue and a passy-measures panyn."

The 2nd folio, which is generally followed, reads _pavin_, which is a
dance, and so could hardly be used of a man.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "First told me thou wast mad. Then cam'st in smiling,
    And in such forms which here were presuppos'd
    Upon thee in the letter."

For 'Then' I read '_Thou_.' (Introd. p. 68.) Theobald read 'cam'st
_thou_.' In the next line we should probably read _as_ for 'which.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of our dear souls. Meantime, sweet sister."

We might read '_In the_ meantime,' but there is no necessity whatever
for change.




MEASURE FOR MEASURE.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Since I am put to know that your own science
           Exceeds in that the lists of all advice
           My strength can give you."

I know of no meaning 'put' has in English that will make any sense
here. We must, then, regard it as a misprint; and as a negative
is plainly wanting, I read _not yet_, the negative being, as so
frequently, omitted, and 'put' printed for _yet_. "Why, brother Rivers,
are you yet to learn?" (3 H. VI. iv. 4.) Pope read _not_ for 'put.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But that to your sufficiency as
    Your worth is able * * *"

It is quite evident that part of a line has been lost. The numerous
corrections attempted here may be seen in the Cambridge Edition. I
supply _you add diligence_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hold therefore, Angelo, _thy deputation_."

Something was surely lost here; and as Angelo is constantly called the
Deputy, _deputation_ (which occurs a few lines higher) seems to be the
missing word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I grant as there may between the list[s] and the velvet."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And which is more, within these three days his head'_s_ to be
      chopped off."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Only for propagation of a dower
            Remaining in the coffer of her friends."

For 'propagation' Malone would read _prorogation_; but the text seems
to be right, as 'propagation' was used in the sense of extension,
increase.

                  "All kinds of natures
    That labour on the bosom of this sphere
    To _propagate_ their states."--Timon, i. 1.

    "Griefs of my own lie heavy in my breast,
    Which thou wilt _propagate_, to have it press'd,
    With more of thine."--Rom. and Jul. i. 1.

            "To give thanks to the gods of Rome,
    That for the _propagation_ of the empire
    Vouchsafe us one to govern it like themselves."
                                            Massinger, Rom. Actor. i. 3.

And portions--as we learn by Sir Moth Interest in Jonson's Magnetic
Lady--used to double in seven years. The same play would also justify
Malone's reading, as guardians were not always willing to part with
dowers in their hands. Perhaps for 'of _a_ dower' we should read 'of
_her_ dower,' for the _h_ in _her_ not being pronounced, and the _r_
but slightly, the printer might easily make the mistake; so also
'coffer' should probably be 'coffers.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "For terror not to use, in time the rod
            More mock'd than fear'd, so our decrees
            Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead."

In the second line _Becomes_ was added by Pope, or rather by Davenant,
and it has been adopted by subsequent editors. Yet the poet may have
written, and I think did write, 'the rod _is_' and 'More mocked _at_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And yet my nature never in the fight _have_
    To do in slander."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How I may formally in person bear _me_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Only this one _now_: Lord Angelo is precise."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Sir, make me not your story."

For 'story' Singer would read _sport_; but 'me' may be '_to_ me,' and
her meaning be, seek not to impose on me.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As those that feed grow full; as blossoming time
    That from the seedness the bare fallow brings
    To teeming foison ... even so her plenteous womb," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The Duke, _who_ is very strangely gone from hence,
    Bore many gentlemen, myself being one,
    In hand and hope of action."

As _in_ and _and_ are so frequently confounded (see on iii. 2 _ad
fin._) I would read _in_ for 'and' in the last line.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Err'd in this point which now you censure him _for_."

       *       *       *       *       *

                           "What's open made
    To justice, that justice seizes. What know the laws?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Some run from brakes of ice and answer none,
     And some _are_ condemn'd for a fault alone."

We have a similar sentiment in Cymb. v. 1. As _of ice_ and _of vice_
are pronounced exactly alike, we may safely assume the latter to be
the true reading. The whole difficulty then lies in 'brakes.' A brake
was certainly, as we are told, a frame to confine restless or vicious
horses in when shoeing; but when it is added that it is also an
instrument of torture, I become somewhat dubious. At any rate no one
would say a rack or a gibbet of vice; so why a brake of vice? I incline
then, but with hesitation, to think that we should read _wreaks o'
vice_. We have "wreak the love" (R. and J. iii. 5); "wreak our wrongs."
(Tit. And. iv. 3.) I put the ambiguous _o'_, because _wreak_ takes _on_
rather than _of_ after it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I thought by the readiness in the office, you had," etc.

For 'by the,' the usual correction (which I have followed) is 'by
_your_.' Mr. Collier thinks 'by _this_' might be better; for _this_ and
_your_ were used promiscuously. Either might easily be confounded with
_the_. (See Introd. p. 68.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "But you might do it, and do the world no wrong."

This apparently necessary transposition was made by S. Walker. The
folio reads "But might you."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "May call it _back_ again. Well, believe this."

Here _back_ is the proper addition made in the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Becomes them not with half so fair a grace
     As mercy does. If he had been as you,
     And you as he, you would have slipped like him,
     But he, like you, would not have been so stern."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once."

As the first 'were' may have been caused by the second, I would, like
Warburton, read for it _are_. In "We cannot cross the cause why we were
born" (L. L. L. iv. 3), the folio reads '_are_ born.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If the first that did th' edict infringe."

So it stands in the folio, and Pope was, it may be, right in reading
'If the first _man_,' but we might also read, and perhaps better, as I
have done, 'the edict did.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Either now, or by remissness new-conceiv'd."

For 'now' I felt inclined to read _new_, with Pope, but I prefer 'now
_born_,' and so I have printed it. (See on All's Well, ii. 3.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Are now to have no successive degrees
     But here they live to end."

We should for 'here' either read _where_, or better, with Hanmer, _ere_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thunder!
     Merciful Heaven!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than the soft _yielding_ myrtle; but man, proud man!"

    "That soft and _yielding_ mind should not be in him."
                                                  Lyly, Campaspe, ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Most ignorant of what he's most assured _of_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not with fond sickles of the tested gold."

In all the English versions of the Scriptures anterior to the
Authorized one, _sicle_ is the word, from _siclus_ of the Vulgate,
by which the Hebrew _shekel_ is rendered. Shakespeare therefore knew
nothing of this last, and must of course have written _sickle_. Yet
all editors, the Cambridge and myself included, have adopted Pope's
correction, _shekel_, for which all are highly to blame. The word
'tested' proves that Gen. xxiii. 16 was in the poet's mind.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Would all themselves laugh mortal."

It would be simpler and better to read: "Would laugh themselves all
mortal."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For I am that way going to temptation,
     Where prayers cross.--At what hour to-morrow shall I
     Attend your lordship?--At any time fore noon."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Heaven_ save your honour!--From thee, even from thy virtue."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth,
            Hath blister'd her report."

Editors follow Warburton in reading _flames_ for 'flaws'; but as _flaw_
is defect, weakness, the text may be right. _Flaw_ is also gust, blast
of wind, which also might make some sense here. We should, then,
perhaps read 'flaw.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Showing we would not spare Heaven, as we love it,
     But as we stand in fear...."

For 'spare' Collier's folio reads _serve_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Jul. May_ grace go with you! _Duke. Benedicite_!"

So Ritson properly arranges. It is evident that the names and _May_,
which I and Steevens have added, were effaced in the MS. In Twelfth
Night (i. 5) we have a similar effacement of names of speakers. In the
following line 'love' should be _law_, a change made by Hanmer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Is like a good thing, being often read,
            Grown sear'd and tedious."

The folio has '_f_ear'd'; the correction is Warburton's. It is a most
unusual use of 'sear'd' in the sense of dry; _sear_ would seem less
strange. So Heath also thought.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To thy false seeming.--Blood thou art blood _still_!--
     Let us write 'Good Angel' on the Devil's horn,
     'Tis not the Devil's crest.... How now! Who's there?"

Pope read '_but_ blood'; Malone '_still_ blood.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As to put metal in restricted means."

It might be better to read, with Malone, _moulds_ instead of 'means.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Ha!_ say you so, then I shall pose you quickly."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Now took your brother's life or to redeem him."

Here 'or' is a correction by Davenant and Rowe of _and_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'_T_were equal poise of sin and charity."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If that be sin I'll make it my morn-prayer."

As Shakespeare has used 'morn' elsewhere but once in a compound, it
were better, as the metre requires, to read 'morn_ing_', as Hanmer also
read.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or seem so, crafty; and that is not good."

Editors read 'craft_ily_'; we might also read 'seem_ing_.' "Or seeming
so in skill" (Winter's Tale, ii. 1); but no change is necessary. The
folio has 'that's'; hence the reading of the editors, the Cambridge
included.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Proclaim an enshield beauty."

The word 'enshield' occurs nowhere else. It is of course, as Steevens
says, enshielded, covered with a shield. To this there is no very great
objection; but as elsewhere (Cor. iv. 6) the poet has 'inshell'd,'
_i.e._ covered with a shell, it might be better to read so here also,
as I find Tyrwhitt has done.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than beauty could display'd.--But mark me _now_."

So I think we should read, and not 'displayed' and with the metric
accent on 'me.' Perhaps also for 'beauty' we should read _itself_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But in the loss of question."

There is no need, with Johnson and others, to change 'loss'; it is
quite correct. (See Index _s. v._ 'Lose.')

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_No._ Ignomy in ransom and free pardon
     Are of two houses. Lawful mercy is
     Nothing _a_kin to foul redemption."

Sense and metre alike demand the negative, which had evidently been
effaced. Steevens also read '_a_kin.'

       *       *       *       *       *

              "Else let my brother die.--
    If not a fedary but only he,
    Owe and succeed thy weakness."

"A very obscure passage," says Mr. Dyce, "in which Rowe printed '_by_
weakness,' and Malone proposes '_this_ weakness.' (On 'fedary' see
Richardson's Dictionary, _sub_ Federal.)" And this is all this noted
critic has to say! For my part I do not regard this passage as by any
means past cure, and I think that Warburton came very near the true
sense. The main point is to ascertain the exact meaning of _fedary_.
"_Federy_ and _federary_," says Richardson, "in Shakespeare are the
same word differently written (having no connexion whatever with _Feud_
or _Feudatory_), and signify a colleague, associate, or _confederate_;"
and he refers to Minshew, _s. v._ Feodarie. Now Minshew's words are
"Feodarie _alias_ Feudaris _alias_ Feudatrie, Feudelarius, is an
office authorized by the Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries by
letters patent, and under the seal of that office," etc. Cotgrave has
"A feodarie, _feudal_, _feodal_, _feudataire_;" in both of which places
I think the "connexion with _Feud_ and _feudatory_" is very apparent;
and the last convinces me that a _fedary_ or _feodary_ was a vassal, a
liegeman; and that, I have no doubt, is its sense in this place? and
in Cymb. iii. 2, where it again occurs, as I shall there show. I do
not think Richardson was at all justified in making, as he seems to
do, _fedary_ a different word from _feodary_. There was also _feodar_
a vassal, "For seventeen kings were Carthage _feodars_." (Marston.
Sophon. Prol.) It must strike every one of taste with surprise that
Shakespeare should have written such a leonine verse as

    "If not a fedary, but only he."

And further, whether 'fedary' be vassal or confederate, the person
should be mentioned to whom he stood in that relation. In the former
sense--the only true one--that person must be either Heaven or the
Duke, which was omitted by the printer. I am in favour of the former,
both for metre-sake and because we have elsewhere, "The rest of your
_fees_, O Gods! the senators of Athens" (Tim. iii. 5); and "God's
_vassals_ drop and die" (Hen. V. iii. 2). I read thus:--

    "We are all frail.--_Isab._ Else let my brother die.--
    If not a fedary of _Heaven_, but only he,
    Owe and succeed this weakness.... _Ang._ Nay, women are frail too."

Isabella replies at once, fully assenting to Angelo's observation.
After a brief pause, she is proceeding to reason on the subject, when
he interrupts her. We may observe that 'owe' and 'succeed' are legal
terms, which here form a hysteron-proteron, like some other common
phrases. Perhaps, indeed, we might transpose them; for Isabella is
speaking quite calmly and composedly. The change of 'thy' to _this_ is
perfectly legitimate; and _to_ may have been omitted or effaced after
'succeed.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who would believe me? Oh! _these_ perilous mouths!"

The same addition was proposed by Mr. Seymour.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To such abhorr'd pollution _as this_."

Though this addition is not absolutely necessary, it gives such force
to the sentiment that I willingly believe it may have come from the
poet's pen.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Servile to all the skyey influences
            That dost this habitation, where thou keepest,
            Hourly afflict."

No doubt 'dost' may make some sense here, but _do_, or rather, as more
Shakesperian, _doth_, makes far better sense. In Son. xxxix. there is
the very same confusion of _dost_ and _doth_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For thy complexion shifts to strange effects."

Johnson read _affects_, which seems to be better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And Death unloads thee.--Friend hast thou none."

There might seem to be no need of adding anything here. But we may
see that there is not an end of a paragraph. (See Introd. p. 82.) I
therefore read, 'And Death _in fine_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

              "For all thy blessed youth
    Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms
    Of palsied Eld."

No sense has been made of 'as aged,' which may therefore be regarded
as corrupt. As in Tr. and Cr. v. 3, _as lawful_ should be _unlawful_,
I have here read in my Edition _engaged_ (also the reading of Mr.
Staunton) in the sense of dependent, in subjection, the ordinary state
of youth under the authority of parents and elders, depending on them
for money, etc. We might perhaps read _as gaged_ in the same sense, if
we had examples. The Cambridge editors propose _abased_, which is good,
and might easily have become 'as aged.' Possibly the poet wrote _an
abject_, as we have, "We are the Queen's _abjects_" (Rich. III. i. 1),
and "I will make thee stoop, thou _abject_" (Jonson, Ev. Man Out, etc.,
v. 3), "That thou wilt never let me live to be _An abject_" (Chapman,
Hymn to Venus, _v._ 312), "Yea, the very abjects" (Ps. xxxv. 15).

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "What is yet in this
    That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
    Lie hid moe thousand deaths; yet death we fear."

For 'Yet,' caused by the other two, I read _Yea_; for 'moe' _some_, not
_more_, as is usual, and which makes no sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Dear sir, ere long I'll visit thee again."

For 'sir' Mason, with whom I agree, reads _son_. Further on in the
scene the Duke calls him 'son.' (See on Cor. iii. 2.) It was perhaps
the following line that suggested 'sir' to the printer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Bring me to hear them speak."

So Steevens read, transposing the 'them' and 'me' of the folio; and
later editors have properly followed him.

       *       *       *       *       *

               "Now, sister, what's the comfort?--
    Why, as all comforts are, most good, most good indeed."

This is the proper arrangement. Editors usually omit the first 'most
good,' to get their favourite decasyllabic verse, heedless of the loss
of force.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Think you I can a resolution fetch
    From flowery tenderness?"

It appears to me that a negative is required to make the passage more
correct and natural; and we know how frequently it is omitted in these
plays. Here, however, I think, 'a' has been printed in its place (see
on Twelfth Night, ii. 2), for the compositor probably did not pronounce
the _t_ in 'cannot,' and so made it 'can a.' I therefore read, 'I
cannot resolution fetch.' Heath takes 'Think you' as imperative, not
interrogative, like _Bethink you_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou art too noble to preserve a life
    In base appliances."

It might seem better to read _By_ than 'In'; but it is not safe to
meddle with prepositions. See on iv. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nips youth in the head, and follies doth enmew
    As falcon doth the fowl."

It is the falcon, not the fowl, that is enmewed. Would that every
correction were as certain as that which I have made here! I read, with
the fullest confidence, _enew_. (See Index _s. v._) It is a most curious
circumstance that in this place of the MS. I unconsciously wrote _bud_
for 'head,' a correction which was afterwards given in Notes and
Queries (3rd S. v. 229), and had, I believe, been previously proposed
by Grey. If 'head' be the right reading, it may signify the state of
bloom. "That unmatch'd form and feature of _blown_ youth" (Ham. iii. 1).

       *       *       *       *       *

                   "The prenzie Angelo!--
    Oh! 'tis the cunning livery of Hell
    The damnedst bodie to invest and cover
    In prenzie gardes."

So the passage stands in the folio. As there is no such word known in
English as 'prenzie,' the 2nd folio read _princely_, Hanmer _priestly_,
which Mr. Dyce adopts. I think, however, that the German Tieck hit on
the right word, _precise_, and I have so printed it without hesitation.
We have had already, "Lord Angelo is precise" (i. 4), "is severe" (ii.
1), and "well-seeming" (iii. 1); but it is nowhere said that he was
_princely_ or _priestly_, and surely the guards or bindings of a dress
could hardly be so termed. As to the change of accent, which Mr. Dyce
makes an objection, a reader of our old poets should be ashamed to urge
it, it is of such frequent occurrence, and it occurs more than once
in this very play. In i. 2 we actually have "précise villains," and
"A sort of sober, scurvy, precise neighbours" (Jonson, Alch. i. 1).
(See Introd. p. 80.) I further think we should read 'bodies,' and with
Collier's folio _garbs_, which being spelt _garbes_ differs only in
one letter from 'gardes.' As the latter were mere bindings, edgings,
facings, they could hardly be said to cover a body. The infinitives
'invest' and 'cover' are used (as so frequently) where we now use a
participle with an article. See Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yes.--Has he affections in him?"

For 'Yes' the metre demands _I will_, as I have printed it. See Introd.
p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That age, ache, penury, or imprisonment."

The folio reads _perjury_; 'penury' is the correction of the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Stead up your appointment, _and_ go in your place."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I drink, I eat, array myself, and live."

The folio reads _away_. Theobald's correction, 'array,' is self-evident.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You will not bail me then, sir? _Neither_ then, Pompey, nor now."

Both metre and sense require _Neither_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ha, what sayest thou, trot?"

I adopt Grey's reading, _to't_ for 'trot.' He has just asked a
question, and he is repeating it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I know _of_ none. Can you tell me of any?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And that he is a motion generative."

With Theobald I read '_un_generative.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yes, _with_ your beggar of fifty, and his use was."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And knowledge with dearer love."

The folio has _deare_; the obvious correction is Hanmer's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He's now past it, yet."

With Hanmer I read _not_ for 'now.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_My lord_, so please you, this friar hath been with him."

The metre requires this addition, which also relieves the Provost's
speech from abruptness.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of gracious order, late come from the See."

The folio reads _Sea_. This wrong spelling was not unusual. In King
John (iii. 1) we have 'holy Sea' used of Canterbury. As 'See' never
occurs thus alone, we might read 'the _Holy_ See,' or rather, as I
have done, "the See _of Rome_;" "I Pandulph ... Legate from the See of
Rome." (Old Play of King John.) For a similar effacement see Ant. and
Cleop. ii. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He who the sword of Heaven will bear
    Must be as holy as severe;
    Pattern in himself to know,
    Grace to stand and virtue go."

The last line is evidently corrupt. I would read,

    "_In_ grace to stand, in virtue go,"

in which I had been anticipated by Johnson. We have more than one
instance of _in_ being effaced in the beginning of a line; and such
having been the case here, the printer, to get some appearance of
sense, converted the remaining 'in' to _and_--also a usual change. 'To
know,' 'to stand,' 'to go,' are equivalent to _knowing_, etc. (See
Introd. p. 70.) For 'know,' I, as well as Mr. Staunton, had conjectured
_show_; but no change is needed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How may likeness made in crimes,
    Making practice on the times,
    To draw with idle spider's strings
    Most ponderous and substantial things!"

"A passage," says Mr. Dyce, "in which it seems hopeless to ascertain
what the poet really wrote." At all events, by omitting 'To' in the
third line we get excellent sense, and what more need we require? After
I had made this simple emendation, I learned, to my great surprise--for
the editors gave no heed to it--that I had been anticipated in it by
Theobald. 'Draw' in the third line connects with 'may' in the first;
but the printer, taking 'practice' for a verb, added 'To' to try to
make sense. For 'making practice,' see on All's Well, iv. 2. 'Likeness'
is simulation: "Do not assume my likeness," _i.e._ pretend to be like
me. (Tim. iv. 3.) "Thou simular of virtue." (Lear iii. 2.) The poet
probably wrote 'crime' and 'time.'


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "There have I made my promise upon the
    Heavy middle of the night to call upon him."

Capell, I think rightly, arranges thus:

    "There have I made my promise to call upon him
    Upon the heavy middle of the night."

Transpositions of this kind, made by the printers, are not uncommon.
(See on Tr. and Cr. v. 2.) Capell read 'on him.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Good Friar, I know you do, and _I_ have found it."

So Pope also conjectured.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Run with these false and most contrarious quest."

I incline to read _their_. The 2nd folio added _s_ to 'quest.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Our corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to sow."

Warburton properly read _tilth_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "If it be too little for your thief," etc.

I quite agree with those who make this part of Abhorson's speech.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is a gentle Provost. Seldom when."

Mr. Singer reads 'seldom-when' as one word, and quotes in defence of
it _seldom-time_, _any-when_, _seldom-what_; and he might have added
_seld-when_, from Gower's Conf. Amantis. In any case, _'Tis_ seems
wanting before it, as in "'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb"
(2 Hen. IV. iv. 4).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That wounds the unsisting postern with those strokes."

The printer, by a most common error, omitted _re_ in _unresisting_.
Surely the critics in general should have seen this, as Rowe did.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is his lordship's man."

The folio reads 'lord's man'; but both sense and metre require the
correction adopted by the editors, after Pope.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is it now apparent?"

So Pope. The folio transposes 'Is' and 'It.' (See on Two Gent. ii. 4.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_As_ a man that apprehends death no more."

So I should have printed it, but did not.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Perchance of the Duke's death, perchance _his_ entering
    into some monastery, but, by chance, nothing
    of what's _here_ writ."

Hanmer also added _here_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And to transport him in the mind he is _in_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And how shall we continue, Claudio."

Persons are not continued. Perhaps we should read 'continue _to keep_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greeting
    To the under generation, you shall find
    Your safety manifested."

I adopt Hanmer's emendation, 'under' for 'yond' of the folio. "The
under-generation," says Mr. Dyce, "is the human race that dwells
_under_ heaven." In Timon (i. 1) we have "this _beneath-world_," _i.e._
this world under heaven.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Quick, _quick_, despatch, and send the head to Angelo."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By cold gradation and weal-balanc'd form."

Surely the correct reading is _well_. So also Rowe.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mark what I say, which you shall find _to be_
    By every syllable a faithful verity."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There to give up their power. If you can, pace your wisdom
    In that good path, that I would wish it go _in_
    And you shall have your bosom on the wretch."

The punctuation of the first line, which is that given by the editors,
while aiming at sense, makes it unreadable. We should read "Pace, if
you can, your wisdom." Or, retaining this line unaltered, we might in
the third line read _Then_ for 'And.' (See on M. N. D. ii. 1.)

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am combined by a sacred vow."

As 'combined' makes no good sense, we might read _constrained_. "But
other _vows constrain_ another course" (Marston Ant. and Mel. II. v.
6). Perhaps the word was _confined_, in the sense of limited, held in.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no;
    For my authority bears of a credent bulk,
    That no particular scandal once can touch,
    But it confounds the breather."

There is evidently something wrong here. What is the meaning of
'dares?' Mr. Singer says overawes (as larks?), and in proof of 'no'
being crying No, he quotes: "I wear a sword to satisfy the world no"
(Fletch. Chances, iii. 4). "I am sure he did it for I charged him no"
(_Id._ Wife for Month, iv. 3). In the next line Mr. Dyce reads _so_,
others _such_, for 'of.' My own decided opinion is, that in the first
line the poet wrote _saies_ (says), which of course, being written with
a long _s_ in the beginning, might easily be taken for 'dares.' 'Says
her no,' then, is forbids her, as in "Who shall say me Nay?" (1 H. IV.
iii. 1); "God defend his Grace should say us Nay" (Rich. III. iii. 7);
and in this play (ii. 2), "Did I not tell thee Yea?" In the second line
I would omit 'of.' See on Rich. II. v. 1; Cymb. iii. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Might in the time to come have ta'en revenge
    By so receiving," etc.

For 'By' we should apparently read _For_; yet in Jeronimo (ii. 1) we
have:--

    "Kneel by thy father's loins, and thank my liege
    _By_ honouring me, thy mother, and thyself,
    With this high staff of office."

Either, then, the printers made the same confusion in both places, or
_by_ was used in the sense of _for_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "To Valentius, _to_ Rowland, and to Crassus."

In 'Valentius' an _n_ may have been omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "He says to veil _his_ full purpose."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The generous and gravest citizens
    Have hent the gate; and very near upon _this time_
    The Duke is entering. Therefore, hence away."

Something had evidently been lost at the end of the second line.
Perhaps also we should read 'The _most_ generous.'


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me here!"

For 'here' we might read _hear_; but no change is needed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nay it is ten times true."

Perhaps it should be 'true_r_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As _n_e'er I heard in madness."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_He did_, my lord, most villainously. Believe it."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "First let her show _her_ face."

It is _your_ in the 1st folio; the correction was made in the 2nd.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No, my lord.--Are you a maid _then_?--No, my lord."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not that I know _of_.--No! you say your husband."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And punish them, _unto_ your height of pleasure."

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "We'll touze you
    Joint by joint, but we'll know his purpose. What!
    Unjust!--Be not so hot, _sir_; the Duke dare," etc.

For _his_ in the second line we should certainly read _your_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Your well-defended honour, you must pardon _him_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A due sincerity govern'd his deeds, till he
    Did look on me. Since it is so, let him not die.--
    My brother had but justice, in that he did
    The thing for which he died. For Angelo."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which is that Barnardine?--This _is_, my lord."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Look that you love your wife; her worth'_s_ worth yours."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Wherein have I deserved so of you?"

In the folio 'so deserv'd.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There's more behind that is more gratulate."

The poet may have written 'gratulat_ing_,' and the final letters have
been effaced. The meaning, however, is the same.




WINTER'S TALE.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Their encounters, though not personal, have been _so_
           royally attornied."

Both sense and metre require _so_, given in Collier's folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2.          "When in Bohemia
           You take my lord, I'll give him my commission
           To let him there a month behind the gest
           Prefix'd for his parting."

The third line has apparently no sense. The critics say 'let' is
detain; but no instance of its use in that sense is to be found. We
might read _sit_, which occurs in the sense of stay, dwell, live,
as "I sit at ten pounds a week" (Mer. Wives, i. 3); and we have "and
_sit him_ down and die" (2 Hen. IV. iii. 1). We might also, and still
better, read _set_, which has nearly the same sense, settled, seated:
"Being unarm'd and _set_ in secret shade" (F. Q. vi. 3, 8). "Whoever
shoots at him, _I set him there_" (All's Well, iii. 2). In Fletcher's
Nice Valour (iv. 1) Heath, followed by Dyce, reads _sets_ for 'lets'
in "That lets it out, only for show or profit." 'Gest' (from _giste_,
_gîte_, Fr.?) is used of the halting-places on a royal progress. Singer
quotes from Strype a request from Cranmer to Cecil, "to let him have
the new-resolved upon _gests_ from that time to the end, that he might
know from time to time where the king was." Hence it would appear
that there was a program of the gests, stating the time of arrival at
and departure from each of them. I have therefore read 'gest-day,'
supposing the last word, as usual, to have been effaced. See Introd. p.
58.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What lady she her lord."

I read _soe'er_ for 'she.' "What bloody work _soe'er_" (Othel. iii. 3).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The doctrine of ill-doing nor dream'd _we even_."

The usual reading is '_no_ nor,' that of the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of my young play-fellow.--_Good_ grace to boot!"

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "You may ride us
    With a soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere
    With spur we heat an acre."

The phraseology here is evidently that of the race-course, where a
_heat_ is a race. I read 'we heat _us_.' The phrase is elliptic, the
full phrase being 'We heat us by running over an acre of ground.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "May it be?--
    Affection! thy intention stabs the centre."

So I would point, with Steevens; in the folio it is "May it be
affection?" The whole passage is rather obscure. 'Affection' is
imagination, fancy (see Index _s. v._); and the meaning seems to be
that it stretches to (expressed by intention), and stabs, or pierces,
even the centre of the earth.

       *       *       *       *       *

                      "Looking on the lines
    Of my boy's face methought I did recoil
    Twenty-three years."

The folio reads 'methoughts,' and a MS. correction, followed by Mr.
Collier, _my thoughts_; but 'recoil' is always a neuter verb in
Shakespeare.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He makes a July's day short as December'_s_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With all the nearest things to my heart as well _as_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Resides not in that man that does not think _it_."

This is the reading of the 2nd folio also.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why he that wears her like her medal hanging
    About his neck."

    "That like a jewel has hung twenty years
    About his neck."
                                                       Hen. VIII. ii. 2.

With Collier's folio, I read _a_ for 'her.' The error, suggested by the
preceding 'her,' is an ordinary one with printers.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With the pin and _the_ web, but theirs, theirs only."

In Florio a cataract in the eye is termed "a pin and _a_ web."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is goads, _is_ thorns, _is_ nettles, tails of wasps."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am appointed _by_ him to murder you."

The 'appointed him' of the folio is a strange expression.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That e'er was heard or read _of_. Swear his thought over
    By each particular star."

This, if correct, would seem to mean exorcise his thought, try to
banish it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Profess'd _love_ to him, why his revenges must
    In that be made more bitter. Fear o'ershades me.
    Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
    The gracious queen."

How could his expedition or haste to depart comfort the queen? It would
seem to have the contrary effect, as tending to prove her guilt. For
'and' in the third line we might, with Singer, read _God_, or, as I
have done, with Hanmer, _Heaven_. The insertion of _love_ in the first
line seems necessary.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "And why so, my _dear_ lord?--Not for because."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or a half-moon made with a pen.--Who taught _you_ this?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All's true that is mistrusted."

For 'is' it might be better to read _was_. The change was not unusual.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Has made thee swell thus.--But I'd say he _had_ not."

_Has_ might seem to have been the poet's word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "More, she's a traitor; and Camillo is
    A federary with her, and one that knows _her_
    _To be_ what she should shame to know herself,
    But with her most vile principal."

'Federary' is an unknown word. It may be a printer's error for
_federate_; but I rather think--as I find that Malone, followed by
Singer and Dyce, reads, and which is also more metrical--that the right
word is _fedary_, to be taken in the same sense as in Meas. for Meas.
and Cymb. As Polyxenes is styled 'her principal,' the meaning may be
that she (and Camillo 'with her') had transferred her allegiance to him.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You did mistake,--_No_, no, if I mistake."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I would land-damn him."

As 'land-damn' seems to be an unknown term, it might be better to read,
with Collier's folio, _lamback_, derived perhaps from _lambiccare_, It.
There is also a vulgar term _lambaste_. 'Damn' was probably suggested
by the same word in the preceding line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "We have always truly served you and beseech _you_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They have been absent. 'Tis good speed, _and_ foretells."

We might also read _it_; or, with Pope, '_This_ good speed.'


ACT III.

    SC. 2. "This sessions--to our great grief we pronounce _it_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To prate and talk for life and honour 'fore
    Who please to come and hear."

We might be inclined to read _plead_ for 'prate'; but no change is
required.

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "Since he came
    With what encounter so uncurrent I
    Have strain'd to appear thus."

I read 'have I Strain'd to appear thus?' in which I had been
anticipated by Hanmer. An 'uncurrent encounter' was an unusual kind of
meeting; and 'strain'd' signifies pulled against the line of my duty as
a wife--a metaphor taken from dogs in a leash--

                                 "What I was I am,
    More _straining_ on for plucking back, not following
    My leash unwillingly" (iv. 3).

It might also signify, acted indecorously, "Unless he know some
_strain_ in me that I know not myself." Merry Wives, ii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You will not own it.--More than _I am_ mistress of."

So also Hanmer corrected.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thy brat hath been cast out, like to itself,
    No father owning it."

If we read '_left_ to itself' we might get better sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But yet hear this; mistake me not. No! life--
    I prize it not a straw.... But, for mine honour."

So we may best punctuate, with Hanmer. We might perhaps read '_For_
life,' as above.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which you knew great, and to the hazard _boldly_."

The 2nd folio reads '_certain_ hazard.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What studied torments, tyrant, hast _thou_ for me?
    What wheels? _what_ racks? _what_ fires? what flaying, boiling,
    In leads or oils?"

See above, i. 2. Introd. p. 55.

       *       *       *       *       *

"Who is lost too. Take your patience to you, _sir_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Which may, if Fortune please, both breed thee, pretty _one_."

So Rowe also.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A boy or a child, I wonder."

I think we should read '_maid_-child', a term we meet with in Pericles,
v. 3. We have _man-child_ in Cor. i. 3, and in the Bible. I made the
correction without being aware of the passage in Pericles.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You're a made old man."

In the folio it is _mad_; but this correction, given by Theobald, is
indubitable.


ACT IV.

    "_Chorus._ To the effects of his fond jealousy, so grieving."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If never yet, that Time himself doth say,
    He wishes earnestly you never may."

This is evidently one of the cases in which 'that' has taken the place
of _than_, _then_. See Introd. p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 1. "but I fear the angle, that plucks my son thither."

I adopt Theobald's reading of _and_ for 'but.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Within a mile _of_ where my land and living lies."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3.                        "I should blush
           To see you so attired; sworn, I think,
           To show myself a glass."

For 'sworn' Theobald, followed by Singer and Dyce, reads _swoon_; but
the text is right; 'myself' is simply me:

    "Upon my life she finds, although I cannot,
    _Myself_ to be a marvellous proper man."
                                                        Rich. III. i. 2.

    "He will the rather do it when he sees
    _Ourselves_ well-sinewed to our defence."
                                                        King John, v. 7.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Burn hotter than my faith _does_.--Oh! but, sir."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "One of these two necessities must be."

So also Hanmer read. (See on Temp. ii. 1.) The folio has 'must be
necessities.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "On his shoulder and _on_ his, her face of fire."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As your good flock shall prosper.--Sir, welcome."

A syllable is lost apparently. We might add _hither_ or _to us_ at the
end, or, as I have done,'_you're_ welcome.' Malone would read 'welcome,
sir,' which sounds rather flat. Mr. Collier observes that "Shakespeare
[_i.e._ the printer?] was a better judge of verse than Mr. Malone."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From Dis's waggon! daffodils."

An epithet, probably _yellow_, which I have given, has evidently been
lost here. All the other flowers, we may see, have epithets. Coleridge
also saw the want, and supplied _golden_. How ill-qualified he was for
emendatory criticism! Hanmer's _early_ was much better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nothing but that, _but so_ move still, still so."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And the true blood that peeps fairly through it."

Collier's folio makes a natural and obvious correction, reading '_so_
fairly.' The usual reading is that of Steevens, a transposition of
'peeps' and 'fairly,' and I have retained it.

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "Nothing she does or seems
    But smacks of something greater than herself."

Here again the same folio makes the correction _says_ for 'seems'; yet
it is not very necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "He tells her something
    That makes her blood look on it."

This is probably the genuine text; but '_w_akes her blood. Look on it!'
the reading of Collier's folio, is very plausible. It is strange that
neither Singer nor Dyce notice this reading. They read with Theobald
'look _out_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pray _you_, good shepherd, what fair swain is this,
    That dances with your daughter?--
    They call him Doricles, and _he_ boasts himself
    To have a worthy feeding. I have it but
    Upon his own report, and I believe it."

Steevens, quoting passages from Drayton, explains 'feeding' in the
sense of pasture, and Mason explains 'worthy' as valuable, substantial;
but neither is convincing. I would, with Hanmer, read 'breeding:'

    "A gentleman, I do assure myself,
    And of a _worthy breeding_, though he hide it."
                                        Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, i. 1.

In reading 'I have it but' for 'but I have it' of the folio, I am
supported by Hunter and Singer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who loves another best."

Hanmer and Mason would read '_the_ other,' and so we should say now;
but there is no need of change. It was, in fact, the language of the
time; we should still say, "they love one another."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come, buy of me, come _buy_, come buy, come buy!
    Buy lads, or else your lasses cry. Come buy!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Clamour your tongues and not a word more."

Grey proposed _Charm_ for 'Clamour,' and in Othello (v. 2) we have
the very phrase, "charm your tongue." But, as far as I have observed,
_charm_ in this sense is used only by characters of the educated
class. Singer says 'clamour' here is a mere corruption of _chamour_,
_chaumer_, or _chaumbre_, from the French _chômer_, 'to refrain,'
and he adds, "Mr. Hunter has cited a passage from Taylor, the
water-poet, in which the word was thus again perverted:--'_Clamour_ the
promulgation of your tongue.'" For my own part I think that, except in
orthography, the text is right. The real word was probably _clammer_
or _clemmer_, the same as the simple _clam_ or _clem_, to squeeze or
press, and the phrase answers to _Hold your tongues_. "To _clam_ a
bell," says Johnson, "is to cover the dapper with felt, which drowns
the blow and hinders the sound." As for the extract from Taylor, I
attach little importance to it, as he probably adopted the word from
this very passage. See on Rom. and Jul. iii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why, sir, they stay at door."

The folio places 'sir' at the end of the speech; but the metre requires
the transposition, which also makes the reply run more naturally. I
neglected to make it in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

                           "Can he speak? hear?
    Know man from man? dispute his own estate?"

In Romeo and Juliet (iii. 3) we have, "Let me dispute with thee of thy
estate;" but in Jonson's Fox, iii. 2,

    "Read you the principles, argued all the grounds,
    Disputed every fitness, every grace."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Far than Deucalion off."

'Far' is an old form for _farther_, as _near_ is of _nearer_. (See
Rich. II. iii. 2, v. 1.) We need not then read _farther_, nor, with
Johnson, 'Far _as_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or hoop his body more with thy embraces."

The folio has 'hope,' the orthography of the time.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Looks on _it_ alike. Will't please you, sir, begone?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To die upon the bed my father died _on_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And most opportune to our need I have."

For 'our' the folio reads _her_, probably from the preceding line.
Theobald made the correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "His welcomes forth; asks thee, the son, forgiveness."

The folio has _there_ for 'the.' The correction was made in the 3rd
folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "She is as forward of her breeding as
    She's in the rear _of_ our birth."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And then your blood had been the dearer by I know _not_ how much
    an ounce."

Hanmer added the negative.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Besides the King to effect your suits, here is _the_ man shall do."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Destroyed the sweetest companion that e'er man
           Bred his hopes out of.--True, too true, my lord."

The folio gives 'True' to the King. See on As You Like It, ii. 1. Ant.
and Cleop. ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Was like to be the best.--_My_ good Paulina."

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "Would make her sainted spirit
    Again possess her corpse, and on this stage,
    Where we offenders now appear, soul-vex'd,
    And begin, Why to me?...--Had she such power
    She had just such cause."

In the third line I adopt, with Mr. Dyce, the certain, as I think,
emendation of Mr. Spedding, 'Where we offend _her_,' and I join 'now'
with it. _Offender_ and _offend her_ are pronounced exactly alike, and
'we' caused the printer to add _s_. In the last line 'such,' caused by
that in the preceding line, is superfluous, and should be omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will have your tongue too. This is a creature _who_."

       *       *       *       *       *

                             "Whose daughter
    His tears proclaim'd his, parting with her."

I would read, as I find Thirlby read, _her_ for the second 'his,'
caused probably by the first.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Give you all greetings that a king at friend."

The 2nd folio reads needlessly '_as_ friend.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which lames Report to follow it, and undoes Description to do it
    _justice_."

This last word, added by Singer, is required both by sense and metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That she might no more be in danger of losing _her_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_And_ caught the water, though not the fish."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And himself little better, _and_ extremity of weather continuing."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "On those that think it is unlawful business."

Hanmer properly read _Or_ for 'On.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Strike all that look upon _you_ with marvel. Come."

       *       *       *       *       *

                   "This is your son-in-law,
    And son unto the king, who, heavens directing,
    Is troth-plight to your daughter."

So it should be punctuated. The folio reads 'whom,' confounding, as
usual, _who_ and _whom_; of which there are other instances in this
play. See Introd. p. 59.




THE TEMPEST.

ACT I.


    SC. 1.           "Mercy on us!
           We split, we split! farewell, my wife and children!
           Farewell, _my_ brother! we split, we split, we split!"

This is, beyond question, "the confused noise within," and not the
exclamation of Gonzalo, of whose family we hear nothing. Speaking
behind the scenes was not unusual.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Long heath, brown furze."

As the epithets are here most inappropriate, we should probably
transpose them, as I have done (see on iv. 1); for heath is brown,
and "they were in a clump or cluster of _tall furze_," says Scott
(Redgauntlet, ch. xvi.). We might also transpose the substantives (see
on Twelfth Night, i. 2, and on M. N. D. ii. 1). Hanmer proposed to read
"_Ling_, heath, _broom_, furze;" and this reading Mr. Dyce adopts; but
_ling_ was probably a word unknown to the poet, and it is only another
name for heath.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Who had no doubt some noble creature in her."

If 'creature' is not a collective, it is a misprint for 'creature_s_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Was duke of Millaine, and his only heir
    And princess, no worse issued."

Pope read, I think correctly, "_A_ princess." We have, "_And_ marriage"
for "_A_ marriage" (Hen. VIII. ii. 4). See also on Jul. Cæs. v. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And to my state grew stranger."

We should perhaps read '_a_ stranger.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate[d]."

So also Ritson. See Rom. and Jul. i. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Was dukedom large enough _for_; of temporal royalties."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Than other princess can, that have more time
    For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful."

As the plural of 'princess' does not occur in Shakespeare, and a plural
seems required here, I suspect that 'princess' may be a collective.
(See Introd. p. 70.) For 'hours' we might read _joys_, i.e. enjoyments.
Still the passage may be as the poet wrote it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I find my zenith doth depend upon
    A most auspicious star."

I am not sufficiently versed in astrology to determine whether 'zenith'
be right or not.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yea, his dread trident shake.--_That's_ my brave spirit!"

Like the subsequent "Why, that's my spirit!" and "That's my noble
master!" So also Hanmer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Some trick of desperation. All but _the_ mariners."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Bound sadly home for Naples, supposing that
    They saw the king's ship wrack'd, and his great person perish."

This is undoubtedly the proper arrangement.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of the salt deep, to run upon the sharp
    Wind of the north, to do me business in
    The veins of the earth, when it is bak'd with frost.--
    I do not, sir.--Thou liest, malignant thing!
    Hast thou forgot the foul witch, Sycorax,
    Who with age and envy was grown into a hoop?
    Hast thou forgot her?--No, sir.--Thou hast. Where was she born?"

So we should arrange the whole passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come _forth_, thou tortoise! When?"

Steevens made the same addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Drop on you both! a south-west _wind_ blow on ye!"

As _north_, _south_, etc., were not used alone of the wind, I have
added _wind_, which also gives energy to the expression, which is tame
and feeble, if the metric accent fall on 'ye.' See on Twelfth Night, i.
1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Oho! oho! _I_ would it had been done!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The wild waves whist."

Steevens properly made this a parenthesis. 'Whist' is whisted, hushed.
"The moisting air was _whist_, no leaf ye could have moving seen."
Golding, Ovid, p. 81.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of his bones are coral_s_ made."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Make the prize light. One word more, _sir_. I charge thee."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The wrack of all my friends, nor this man's threats,
    To whom I am subdued, are but light to me."

For 'nor' Steevens read _or_; we might also read _and_ or _nay_; but
perhaps it is as it was written. For 'are,' too, the proper word would
be _were_.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause
           Of joy:--so have we all; for our escape," etc.

I make the transposition of "So have we all--of joy," in the second
line boldly; for surely neither Shakespeare nor any other writer would
put a parenthesis between a noun and its genitive. Gonzalo is speaking
quite calmly, and without any perturbation. We have an exactly similar
printer's error in

                         "Add more,
    From thine invention, offers."
                                                Ant. and Cleop. iii. 10.

    "One of these two must be necessities."
                                                      Wint. Tale, iv. 3.

See also Hen. VIII. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "Every day some sailor's wife,
    The master's of some merchant--and the merchant
    Have just our theme of woe."

The word 'merchant' occurs here in two different senses; and when
this play was written Shakespeare had long since abstained from such
practices. One of them, therefore, must belong to the printer; if the
first, then we might, and I think should, read _vessel_, if the second,
_owner_. 'Merchant' certainly occurs in the sense of merchantman. See
B. and F. Coxcomb, i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Ant._ Ha, ha, ha! So you're paid."

Theobald's arrangement; the folio gives 'So,' etc., to _Seb._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To the shore that o'er his wave-worn basis bow'd,
    As stooping to relieve him."

Possibly the poet wrote _receive_, which seems more appropriate.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Weigh'd, between loathness and obedience, at
    Which end o' the beam should bow."

The editors in general read, with Malone, _she'd_ for 'should'; but
surely she was not the balance. We get very good sense by omitting
either 'at' or 'o'; in my Edition I have, as Pope had done, omitted the
latter; for _o_', or _of_, was sometimes added by the printers. (See on
M. for M. iv. 4.) 'Weigh'd' is pondered.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Boürn _or_ bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none."

Editors have taken strange liberties with the whole of this passage.
Here they omit 'Bourne.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will you laugh me asleep? for I am very heavy.--
    Go sleep, and hear us _not_."

It is very strange that none of the editors should have seen that the
negative had been effaced or omitted. Surely the very last thing that
Antonio could have wished was that he should hear them; and how could
he if he went to sleep? _Not_, we may also see, is required by the
metre. The latter part may be a half-aside.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am more serious than my custom, you
    Must be so too; if _you_ heed me; which to do."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim_s_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which throes thee much to yield.--Thus, sir."

Perhaps to complete the measure and improve the sense we should add, _I
say_. The folio spells 'throes' _throwes_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Be rough and razorable; she that from whom
    We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again--
    And by that destiny--to perform an act."

Though in my Edition I have not altered the text, I think we should
read 'from whom _coming_' with Singer; 'we were all,' and 'cast _up_.'
Musgrave proposed 'destin'_d_,' which is probably right. Rowe, followed
by the other editors, omitted 'that' in the first line.

       *       *       *       *       *

                             "Twenty consciences
    That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be they
    And melt ere they molest!"

I must confess I do not clearly understand this passage. Surely as he
was, as he had just said, in actual possession of Milan, his conscience
could not 'stand' between him and it. Perhaps, however, we are to view
'stand' as in the conjunctive mood, and expressing a condition. Neither
do I see clearly the meaning of 'candied' and 'melt' in this place.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That's verily. 'Tis best we stand upon our guard."

Pope's reading, _verity_, is most certain. "'Tis _verity_, I assure
you" (Mass. New Way, etc. i. 1).

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And another tempest _a_ brewing."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Young scamels from the rock."

Theobald, in my mind most properly, proposed _sea-mells_, of the
existence of which term Malone and Reed have given abundant proofs;
by the usual change of _l_ to _w_ we have _sea-mew_, the term now in
use. Yet some editors persist in retaining the old printer's error, as
limpets are in some places called _scams_ or _scammels_, not reflecting
that old limpets are to be preferred. Mr. Dyce reads _staniels_, after
another conjecture of Theobald's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nor scrape trencher nor wash dish."

In the folio it is 'trenchering,' caused by the participles in the
preceding line.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Point to rich ends. This my mean task
           Would be as heavy to me, as odious; but."

The first line here is short, which it should not be, as it does not
begin or end a paragraph. (See Introd. p. 82.) We should therefore
arrange thus:

    "Point to rich ends. This my mean task would be
    As heavy to me as '_tis_ odious; but."

It is very remarkable that I never noticed this until after my Edition
had been printed. However, I rectified it in the corrections.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,
    Most busy, lest when I do it...."

This punctuation removes all difficulty. The entrance of Miranda causes
him to break off.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So perfect and so peerless are created."

The folio reads _peetiesse_. It escaped the Camb. editors.

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "And would no more endure
    This wooden slavery, than to suffer
    The flesh-fly blow my mouth."

Though, as Malone has shown, this construction is quite correct, still,
as Pope also saw, the metre demands 'than _I would_ suffer.' In the
Maid's Tragedy (iv. 2) we have

    "'Tis fit an old man and a counsellor
    To fight for what he says,"

where we must either read 'fit _for_,' or '_should_ fight,' to make any
sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Beyond all limit of what's else in the world."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Much business appertaining _to my project_."

    "Now does _my project_ gather to a head."--v. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "As you like this give me the lie another time."

Perhaps for 'As' we should read _An_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Trin._ Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano."

The first sentence here belongs, I think, to Stephano's last speech.
See on As You Like it, ii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "If I should say I saw such islanders."

The folio has 'islands.' So in the Queen of Corinth (iii. 1), "Our
neighbour islands would make of us." In both places sense and metre
alike require _islanders_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                          "I cannot too much muse ...
    Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing--
    Although they want the use of tongue--a kind
    Of excellent dumb discourse."

       *       *       *       *       *


    "They vanished strangely.--'_Tis_ no matter, since."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Each putter out of five for one."

We should perhaps read _on_ for 'of'; or, with Thirlby and Malone,
transpose 'five' and 'one,' of which both Gifford and Dyce approved.
Yet it may be that no change is necessary, for _of_ and _on_ are
constantly used interchangeably, and _o_' stands for both. The 'of' of
the text may, however, have been caused by the initial letter of the
following word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I will stand to and feed," etc.

Mason arranged thus:--

    "I will stand to and feed, although my last.
    No matter, since I feel the best is past.
    Brother, my lord the duke, stand to and do as we."

Mr. Dyce properly rejects this arrangement, but on the last line he
observes "They cannot with any propriety be reduced to a single line."
Was Mr. Dyce unaware of the existence of six-foot lines in these
plays? The true reason for rejecting this arrangement is, that in this
play Shakespeare does not employ couplets.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hath caused to belch you up, and on this island."

The first folio has 'up you'; the necessary and obvious transposition
was made in the fourth. Some editors, most unjustifiably, throw out
'you.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "One dowle that's in my plume."

For 'dowle' I read with confidence _down_, believing it to be a
printer's error for _dowlne_, a mode of spelling _down_:

    "There lies a _dowlney_ feather, which stirs not.
    Did he suspire, that light and weightless _dowlne_
    Perforce must move."
                                                2 Hen. IV. iv. 2, _fol._

Singer refers to dictionaries, etc., of the 17th century for the use of
_dowle_; but they all probably found it only in this place.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Have given you here a third of my own life."

For 'third,' which might easily have been a printer's error for
_thrid_, i.e. _thread_, editors in general follow Theobald in reading
this last word. It is easy to conceive how Miranda might be regarded
as a thread or integral portion of her father's life, but not how she
could be a _third_ of it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Do not smile at me that I boast her of."

Of course Shakespeare wrote 'of her.' The editors, without, I believe,
an exception, have 'boast her _off_'--a phrase unknown to the
poet--introduced by the editor of the 2nd folio, who had little or no
idea of emendation by transposition.

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "The strongest suggestion
    Our worser Genius can, shall never melt
    Mine honour into lust."

As it is difficult to make any good sense here of 'can' alone, we
should perhaps read 'can _make_,' or 'can _give_,' making 'Genius' a
trisyllable, and the line of six feet.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or night kept chain'd below.--_'Tis_ fairly spoke."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims."

'Banks' may be either the margins of streams or hillocks, or slight
elevations of land; but 'brims,' which can only be the edges or margins
of hollows, shows that it is the former that is meant. 'Pioned'
seems to be a word of Shakespeare's own creation; for, finding the
word _pioneer_ in common use, and _pyonings_--a word of Spenser's
coinage--in the Faerie Queen (ii. 10. 63) signifying defences, the work
of pioneers, he thought himself at liberty to form a verb _pion_. This
is generally taken to mean _dig_; and 'twilled' is supposed to be a
term transferred from cloth, etc., and signifying _ridged_; and so the
passage is made to mean dug, and laid out in ridges, which, however,
hardly accords with the context. Steevens, on the other hand, read
'pioned and _lilied_'; but neither the piony nor the lily can properly
be regarded as a wild flower (though the former is said to grow on the
Severn), and such only could be meant here. Others again for 'twilled'
read _tilled_, or give strange meanings to 'twilled.' My own opinion
is, that the sense which Shakespeare gave to his 'pioned' was fenced,
and that 'twilled' was a printer's error. We may observe that 'and
twilled' is pronounced _an twilled_, which differs very slightly in
sound from '_and willow'd_.' (See Introd. p. 52.) By reading, then,
"Thy banks with pioned and willow'd brims" we get most excellent sense,
the idea in the poet's mind being the bank of a stream, fenced, as it
were, and secured against overflow, with a range of willows along its
edge, and 'betrimmed,' _i.e._ adorned, with primroses, violets, and
other wild flowers; for "April showers bring forth May flowers." I have
not hesitated to make this correction in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To make cold nymphs chaste crowns."

In my Edition I have here transposed the adjectives (See on i. 1).
We are to take 'cold,' as so frequently, in the sense of cool, which
agrees well with flowers growing on the edge of a stream, while it
seems absurd to term them 'chaste.' 'Nymphs' is evidently maidens; for
if the Naiades were meant there would be an article.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Summon'd me hither to this short-grass'd green."

This must be the right reading, as the folio has _gras'd_. Some would
read _graz'd_, which can hardly be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "And the broom groves
    Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves."

For 'broom' Hanmer read _brown_, which I have adopted; though contrary
to my rule (see Introd. p. 51), as I have met no earlier authority for
this use of _brown_ than Milton. The poet's word may have been _broad_
or _trim_. The broom never attains a height to justify the terming it
a 'grove.' Dyer, a good authority, has in his Fleece "_low-tufted_
broom," and Bloomfield (Rural Tales) "_tufts_ of green broom," both
using the proper term. I doubt if 'grove' is ever used of any but
forest-trees.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Spring come to you at the farthest,
    In the very end of harvest."

No one has ever made, or can make, sense of this. For 'Spring'
Collier's folio reads _Rain_--no great improvement. The fact is, as
the context plainly shows, that the poet's word was _Shall_. With this
simple change the whole passage becomes clear and grammatical, and
forms a parallel to the fairy-blessing at the end of Mids. Night's
Dream.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So rare a wonder'd father and a wise."

Some copies of the folio read 'wife' for 'wise'; which has become the
general reading, even that of the Cambridge Edition. I prefer, as
more Shakespearian, the other reading, which is also that of all the
succeeding folios.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Makes this place paradise--_O_ sweet, now silence."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You nymphs, called Naiads of the winding brooks,
    With your sedg'd crowns and ever harmless looks."

The word in the folio is _windring_; so it is doubtful whether we
should read _winding_ or _wandering_. 'Sedg'd' may have been _sedge_;
for the sound is exactly the same in this place.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You do look in a mov'd sort, my son."

The folio reads "my son, in a moved sort."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Leave not a wrack behind."

This is undoubtedly the true reading. The folio has _racke_, but
instances of this error are common. See my note on Milton's Par. Reg.
iv. 452. We have _wrack_ for _rack_ in

    "Even like a man new-haled from the _wrack_."
                                                       1 Hen. VI. ii. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Humanly speaking all, all lost, quite lost."

With Malone, I read _are_ for the second 'all.' In the same way we have
"sir, sir," in All's Well, v. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_O_ good my lord, give me thy favour still."

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "Let us alone,
    And do the murder first."

With Theobald I read 'Let us along,' which connects so well with what
follows: we have this very expression in Wint. Tale, v. 2; and see on
L. L. L. iv. 3. Hanmer read 'Let _it_ alone.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Make us strange stuff ..."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Hey_, Fury, Fury! there, Tyrant, there! hark, hark!"


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Just as you left them. All _are_ prisoners, sir."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A solemn air and the best comforter
    To an unsettled fancy cure thy brains, _that_,
    Now useless, boil within thy skull."

It is better, I think, to correct thus than, with the editors, to read
'boil_'d_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My true preserver, and a loyal sir
    To him thou followest."

    "That _sir_ that serves and seeks for gain."
                                                            Lear, ii. 4.

    "A lady to the worthiest _sir_ that ever
    Country call'd his."
                                                             Cymb. i. 7.

Still I think that the final syllable of _servant_ may have been
effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You, brother mine that entertain ambition."

This is the reading of the folio, and I see no need of reading with
editors 'entertain_'d_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That yet looks on me, or would know me."

With Collier's folio I read _e'er_ for 'or.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since
    Were wrack'd upon this shore."

This is a remarkable instance of the use of _whom_ for _who_ in the
nominative. See W. Tale, _ad fin_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where we in all our trim freshly beheld
    Our royal, good, and gallant ship."

For 'our' in the first line we must of course read _her_ with Thirlby
and Theobald. It was probably caused by the 'Our' of the next line; but
from similarity of pronunciation _our_ is sometimes confounded with
_her_ and _a_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ever in a dream were we divided from them."

For 'them' we should perhaps read _her_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is a strange thing as e'er I look'd on."

With Capell I read '_as_ strange a.' We have just had

    "This is as strange a maze as e'er men trod."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That is thy charge; then to the elements."

I confidently read 'element,' that is air, his return to which had been
already promised him.




HISTORIES.


KING JOHN.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "It would not be Sir Nob in any case."

The 2nd folio properly read _I_ for 'It.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Kneel thee down Philip, but _to_ rise more great."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis too respective and too sociable
    For your conversion."

In the only other place where 'conversion' occurs in these plays it
signifies change; but it may be conversation.

    "As at his next _conversion_ with your Grace
    He will relate the circumstance at full."

    Ham. 1603.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sir Robert could do well; marry, to confess _the truth_;
    Could _he_ get me? Sir Robert could not do it."


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "It hangs as sightly on the back of him
           As great Alcides' shoes upon an ass."

This, and all that has been written upon it, is sheer nonsense. As
'shoes' and _shews_ are alike in sound, Theobald proposed this last
word; but as there was neither picture nor tale existing on the
subject, I prefer _shew'd_ in the conjunctive mood. We might also, and
better perhaps, read _should_. After 'Alcides'' 'lion's robe' is of
course to be understood. The allusion to the ass in the lion's skin is
manifest.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "King Lewis determine what we shall do straight."

By an ordinary error (Introd. p. 66) 'Lewis' is substituted for
_Philip_, both here and in the heading of the next speech.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Comfort your city's eyes, your winking gates."

Rowe read _Confront_, Capell _Confronts_, Collier's folio _Come 'fore_,
which last is, I think, the best.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In that behalf _in_ which we have challeng'd it."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And Victory, with little loss, doth play
            Upon the dancing banners of the French,
            Triumphantly displayed; who are at hand."

I have, it will be seen, made a necessary transposition in the last
line. It is strange that no one seems to have observed the error.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Say shall the current of our right roam on."

The 2nd folio for 'roam' reads _run_, and _ronne_ might easily become
_rome_. See on Ham. i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Kings of our fear; until our fears resolved."

Tyrwhitt proposed 'King_'d_.' We should punctuate 'Kings of our fear!'
_i.e._ Kings whom we fear.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch,
    Is near to England."

Collier's folio reads _niece_. In the Two Gent. (iv. 1) we have, "An
heir and _niece_ allied unto the Duke," where all the editors read
_near_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Left to be finished by such as she."

Thirlby proposed _a_ for 'as.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "Here's a stay
    That shakes the rotten carcass of old Death."

'Stay' is hindrance, impediment.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say."

Capell properly read _shall_ for 'still.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen'_s_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid."

For 'aid' Mason and Collier's folio read _aim_.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "As true as I believe you think them false."

The poet probably wrote 'you_'ll_' think.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;
    For Grief is proud, and makes his owner stoop."

Hanmer reads _stout_ for 'stoop,' but I see no need of change. We talk
of a person being bowed to the earth with grief, and this is what the
poet meant. 'Owner' was used of one who simply had, as "But like the
_owner_ of a foul disease" (Ham. iv. 1).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But as we under Heaven are supreme head,
    So under Him that great supremacy."

Collier's folio reads _Heaven_ for 'Him,' which is very good.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In likeness of a new, untrimmed bride."

This would seem intended to express the indecent haste of the wedding,
the bride having, as it were, no _trousseau_, but being married in her
ordinary clothes. In ii. 2 it was termed an "unlook'd-for, unprepared
pomp." Theobald proposed '_and_ trimm'd' and '_be_trimm'd'; Dyce reads
'_up_trimm'd.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A cased lion by the mortal paw."

As 'cased' is skinned, it can hardly be right. I read, as Mitford, I
find, had done, _caged_.

    "So looks a _pent-up_ lion, o'er the wretch
    That trembles under his _devouring paws_."
                                                        3 Hen. VI. i. 3.

As Shakespeare had re-made this play not long before, the image may
have remained in his mind. We might also read _raged_, i.e. enraged--

    "In war was never lion rag'd more fierce" (Rich. II. ii. 1);

or, with Theobald, _chafed_--

                         "So looks the _chafed_ lion
    Upon the daring huntsman that ha gall'd him"
                                                    (Hen. VIII. iii. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st."

I rather think that the second 'swear'st' should be _swor'st_.
Possibly _to_ or _by_ was lost at the end of the line; but we have,
"Thou swear'st thy gods in vain." Lear, i. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Some airy devil hovers in the sky."

Warburton proposed _fiery_, needlessly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Here_, Hubert, keep this boy.--Philip, make up."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Of hoarding abbots; imprison'd angels
            Set at liberty: the fat ribs of peace."

Never was a more happy and a more certain correction than S. Walker's
transposition of 'imprison'd angels' and 'Set at liberty,' which
restores the metre of two lines.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sound on into the drowsy race of Night."

As Shakespeare had read, in the Faerie Queen, of Night "To run her
timely _race_" (i. 5. 45), the attempted corrections of 'race' are all
superfluous. So also is Warburton's reading of _one_ for 'on'; for
'Sound on' is keep sounding.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Then in despight of brooded, watchful day."

As 'brooded' is brooding, no just objection can be made. Pope proposed
_broad-eyed_, Mitford _broad and_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "So by a roaring tempest, on the flood
            A whole armado of convicted sail," etc.

For 'convicted' I read _conflicted_, i.e. dashed, or dashing together.
We have "_conflicting_ wind and rain" (Lear, iii. 1), "_conflicting_
elements" (Tim. iv. 3). It seems more probable than any of the various
corrections proposed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No scope of Nature, no distempered day."

I adopt Pope's reading, _'scape_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Strong reasons make strong actions."

So 2nd folio properly reads; the 1st has '_strange_ actions.'


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Can you not read it? is it not fair_ly_ writ?"

The reply proves that we should read so.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And quench this fiery indignation."

The context shows that 'this' should be _his_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Doth make a stand at what your Highness will_s_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And more, more strong then lesser, is my fear."

I read '_in_ my fear.' We have _Is_ for _In_ also in Jul. Cæs. i. 3;
the same confusion of these words occurs more than once in Chaucer.
I have often met with it in books printed in the last century; and I
myself, in writing these Notes, have frequently confounded these words.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If what in rest you have in right you hold,
    Why then your fears--which, as they say, attend
    The steps of wrong--should move you to mew up
    Your tender kinsman," etc.

As it is plain, from what went before, that they should not have that
effect, editors have made a transposition of 'then' and 'should.'
It seems to me, however, that here, as in so many other places, the
printer omitted the negative after 'should.' I do not perfectly
understand 'rest' in the preceding line, but it may be tranquillity,
tranquil, undisturbed possession, a sense it bears in Scripture. See
Ps. xcv. 11, cxvi. 7.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That you'_d_ have bid us ask his liberty."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
    Makes ill deeds done!"

So also Capell and Collier's folio have transposed in the last line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As bid me tell my tale in express words."

For 'As' Pope read _Or_, Malone _And_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou art a murderer.--Do not prove me so;
    Yet am I none."

For 'not,' which makes no sense, we should read _you_ or _but_. I
prefer the latter.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Send fairplay orders and make compromise."

For 'orders' Collier's folio reads _offers_, which I have adopted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "That we the sons and children of this isle
            Were born to see so sad an hour as this."

For 'Were' the folio has _Was_, produced by 'isle.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And grapple thee unto a pagan shore."

'Grapple' is Pope's correction; the folio has _cripple_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars."

Capell read 'coals of war.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Vive le roy!_ as I have bank'd their towns."

As there is mention of cards in the next line, I think that in 'bank'd'
there may be an allusion to card-playing. The same is the opinion of
Mr. Staunton. In Ant. and Cleop. (ii. 2) we have "she _pursed_ up his
heart."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This unheard sauciness and boyish troops."

For 'unheard' Theobald read _unhaired_; and we have in Venus and Adonis
'_hairless_ face.' I, however, prefer _unbeard_, i.e. unbearded,
beardless. We have already had in this play 'heat' for _heated_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Even at the crying of your nation's crow."

For 'crow' I read _cock_; Collier's folio reads _cock_, and _crowing_
for 'crying.' In the next line I read, with Rowe, _his_ for 'this.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Unthread the rude eye of rebellion."

Theobald reads _untread_ and _way_. A little further on we have, "We
will untread the steps of damned flight;" but no change is needed here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For if the French be lords of this loud day,
    He means to recompense," etc.

Here 'He' can only refer to John, while it is evidently the Dolphin
that is meant. I have therefore, as I find Mr. Lloyd also has done,
read _Prince_ for 'French,' and of course _lord_ for 'lords.' But as in
this play _Prince_ alone is never used of the Dolphin, it may be that a
line is lost. It might have been something of this sort: "And Fortune
smile upon the Dolphin's arms."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Unkind Remembrance! Thou and endless Night."

For 'endless' Theobald read _eyeless_; but there is no need of change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "I have a kind soul that would give _you_ thanks."




KING RICHARD II.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "_May_ many years of happy days befall."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And free from other misbegotten hate."

We might read _any_, perhaps, for 'other'; Collier's folio has _wrath
or_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Upon remainder of a dear account."

Collier's folio reads _clear_; and _d_ and _cl_ might be confounded.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms."

This is the merest prose. Ritson for _ask_ repeats 'demand of'; but
it seems to me that the simplest way is to read 'ask _of_,' making
'Marshal' a trisyllable, as the King of course speaks in a solemn,
majestic tone. In 1 Hen. VI. iv. 7, an envoy says: "Great märshal to
Hen_e_ry the Sixth." In Hen. VIII. v. 4, the herald speaks in the same
manner.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Stay _them_; the King hath thrown his warder down."

       *       *       *       *       *

        "To wake our Peace, which in our country's cradle," etc.

From what follows, in which she is said to "fright fair Peace," we
might suspect that for 'Peace' the poet had written _Strife_, or some
such word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The sly slow hours shall not determinate."

Pope read _fly_, and he has been generally followed. I have little
doubt that the poet wrote _slide_ (_i. q._ glide) _slow_.

    "So sholdestow endure and latten _slyde_
    The _tyme_ and fonde to be glad and light."
                                                   Chauc. Tr. and Cress.

In Albumazar we have, "How _slow_ the day _slides_ on!" The _d_ was not
sounded in _slide-slow_. Introd. p. 52.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It boots thee not to be compassionate."

Theobald proposed 'become passionate'; Singer 'be so passionate.' No
change seems to be needed, though the expression is singular.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To plot, contrive, or complot any ill."

It might be better to read _compass_ for 'complot,' as the preceding
'plot' may have been in the printer's mind; or _plan_ for 'plot.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Norfolk, so fare as to mine enemy...."

There is here, I think, an aposiopesis, which removes all difficulty;
_far_ is usually read for 'fare,' the reading of the 4tos and folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Wherefore_ think not the king did banish thee."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "We did observe _it_. Cousin Aumerle."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where lies he?--At Ely-house, _my lord_."

By reading 'where' a dissyllable, and thus throwing a metric accent
on 'he,' we have the expression of the proud unfeeling character of
Richard in the early part of the play. Propriety--to say nothing of
metre--demands _my lord_.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "The setting sun, and music at the close,
           As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,
           Writ in remembrance more than things long past."

So this place is pointed in the original and subsequent editions,
making little or no sense. I punctuate--'As the last taste of sweets
is sweetest--last'; in which I find I had been anticipated by Mason.
The passage is one of the poet's obscurest. His meaning is that the
concluding part of any impression on the senses is the most permanent
in its effect on the mind; but how strangely expressed!

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As praises of his state. Then there are found
    Lascivious metres," etc.

The two earliest 4tos read: "As praises, of whose taste the wise are
_found_;" and by reading, as we should, _fond_, this also gives us very
good sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Against the envy of less happier lands."

Pope read _happy_, which is doubtless more grammatical, according to
the language of later times; but the text is probably as the poet wrote
it. See on As You Like it, i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For young hot colts being rag'd do rage the more."

There seems hardly to be any doubt that 'rag'd,' to which it is
impossible to give any tolerable meaning, was suggested by 'rage.' We
might read _curb'd_ or, with Ritson, _rein'd_, as in Cor. iii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I do beseech your majesty, impute
    His words to wayward sickliness and age."

So I read, omitting 'in him,' introduced by the printer, at the end of
the second line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What says he _now_?--Nay, nothing; all is said."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or else he never would compare between _you_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Tends that _that_ thou would'st speak to the Duke of Hereford?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And quite lost their hearts; the nobles hath he fin'd,
    For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts _too_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore be bold."

Collier's folio needlessly reads _Our_ for 'Thy.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That Harry Duke of Hereford, Reginald lord Cobham,
    That late broke from the Duke of Exeter,
    His brother, late Archbishop of Canterbury."

From Malone's note it would seem quite plain that a line has been lost
after the first; yet the poet may have fallen into error. The person
who escaped was Thomas Arundel, the nephew, not the brother, of the
'late archbishop.' I transpose here in agreement with the text of
Holinshed and the laws of metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Thus thrust disorderly into my hands."

The 4tos and folio read 'Thus disorderly thrust.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is my _near_ kinsman, whom the king hath wronged."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The hateful commons will perform for us."

The 4tos and folio read "Will the hateful," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "To take advantage of the absent time."

It means probably of the time of absence; but it is very awkwardly
expressed. Perhaps for 'time' we should read _king_, which Theobald
also proposed. We have "the absent King" (_i.e._ Rich. II.) in 1 Hen.
IV. iv. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And ostentation of despised arms."

I can see no sense in 'despised' here; Singer reads _disposed_. I
prefer _displayed_, which he also had conjectured.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "The other _in hope_ to enjoy by rage and war."

So also Theobald completed sense and metre.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Thanks, gentle uncle. Come, _my_ lords, away,
           To fight with Glendower and his complices."

With Theobald, I am dubious of the last line. The scene would end
better with the couplet, and Glendower is not mentioned anywhere
else in the play. A little higher up in the scene, however, a line
intervenes between two rimes.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Barloughly Castle call they this at hand?--
           Yea, my lord. How brooks your grace the air."

For 'Yea,' we should read _Even so_. Introd. p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In murders and in outrage bloody here."

As 4to 1597 reads _bouldy_ for 'bloody', the reading of the other 4tos
and the folio, the right reading would seem to be _boldly_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Strive to speak big and clap their female joints
    In stiff unwieldy arms."

Pope reads _clasp_ and Collier's folio _feeble_, which seem to be
better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Your Grace mistakes _me_; only to be brief,
           Left I his title out."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Had been so brief with you to shorten you,
    For taking so the head, your whole head's length."

We should read _off_ for 'so' suggested by that in the preceding line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That any harm should stain so fair a show."

The folios of both Collier and Singer read _storm_ for 'harm.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "And I could sing, would weeping do me good,
           And never borrow any tear of thee."

We should either read _weep_ for 'sing' or _singing_ for 'weeping.'
Pope, who is generally followed, read _weep_. I prefer _singing_; so
also does Staunton.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But stay, _girl_, hëre come the gardeners."

She had already called her 'girl' twice.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As we this garden. At time of year _we cut_
    And wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees."

In the first line something is wanting at the end in both 4tos and
folio; in the second the 4tos read 'Do wound,' and those who follow
them read '_We_ at time of year.' I prefer the reading of the folio,
adding _we cut_. If we follow the 4tos, we should read perhaps 'year
_we still_.' The expression 'time of year,' _i.e._ spring (?) occurs in
one of the Sonnets of Thomas Watson (1581?): "And time of year reviveth
everything."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Their fruits of duty. _The_ superfluous branches."

So also S. Walker; 2nd folio reads _All_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "I heard you say that you had rather refuse
           The offer of an hundred thousand crowns
           Than Bolingbroke's return to England."

This is nonsense, and the last line is unmetrical. A verb is evidently
lost; if we read 'Than _to see_,' or 'Than _see proud_,' all becomes
clear.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of good old Abraham. _My_ Lords Appellants."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Give me the crown. Here, cousin, seize the crown.
    Here cousin, on this side my hand; and on that side yours."

Some reject, as a needless repetition, which destroys the metre, the
'Here cousin' in the second line; but it serves to mark the impatience
of the King.


ACT V.

    SC. 1.        "Hath Bolingbroke depos'd
              Thine intellect? hath he been in thy heart?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For why, the senseless brands will sympathize
    _With_ the heavy accent of thy moving tongue."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_And_ he shall think that thou, which knowest the way."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sent back like Hallowmas, or shortest [of] day."

As, on account of the rime, we must read 'day,' it is evident that 'of'
is a superfluous addition made by the printers. We have just the same
in Meas. for Meas. iv. 4, and elsewhere.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "If God prevent _me_ not, I purpose so."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yea, lookest thou pale? Let me see the writing, _sir_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Thy overflow of good converts to bad."

What follows might lead us to read '_the_ bad.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But makes one pardon strong.--With all my heart
    I pardon him.--A god on earth thou art."

This natural--I might almost say inevitable--transposition did not
escape Pope; yet many subsequent editors have clung faithfully to the
old printers!

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Uncle, farewell, and, cousin _mine_, adieu."

This addition of Collier's folio is better than Theobald's of _too_,
which makes an unpleasant jingle.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "My brain I'll prove the female to my soul."

It might be better to read _will_ for 'I'll.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Against the Word, as thus: _Come, little ones_, and then again."

The 'and' is most probably a printer's addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar
    Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch."

As this is nonsense, and 'watches' was evidently suggested by 'watch,'
I read _motions_ for 'watches on.' "To a minute, to a second; thou
shalt set thy watch, and the bridegroom shall observe its _motions_"
(Congreve, Love for Love, iii. 9).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What art thou? and how camest thou _in_ hither?"




KING HENRY IV.--PART I.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Forthwith a power of English shall we levy."

We might incline to read _lead_; but the text is right. Gifford quotes
"Scipio before he _levied_ his forces to the walls of Carthage," from
Gosson's School of Abuse, and other passages in its defence.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
    Balk'd in their own blood did sir Walter see."

The explanations given of 'Balk'd' do not satisfy me. Steevens has
given some good authority for _Bak'd_, the conjecture of Grey; but
on the whole I incline to Heath's _Bath'd_. Still I have made no
alteration.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mordake, _the_ earl of Fife, and eldest son
    To beaten Douglas, and the earls of Athol,
    Of Murray, _and_ of Angus and Menteith."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "If thou darest not stand for ten shillings."

Pope also read, as I do, '_cry_ stand.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And you have found me; for accordingly
           You tread upon my patience."

I read 'have found me _so_. Accordingly.' In Com. of Err. i. 1. and
elsewhere we have _so_ for _for_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I will from henceforth rather be myself,
    Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition."

What is the difference between 'myself' and 'my condition,' _i.e._
natural disposition? I read 'my condition _past_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Out of my grief and my impatience
    To be so pestered with a popinjay."

So Edwards and Johnson properly transposed these lines.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, _from_ henceforth."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By Richard that dead is, the next of blood."

It is so printed in both 4tos and folio; but we surely should read 'is
dead.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud."

Perhaps the poet used the more forceable term, _torrent_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But not the form of what he should attend _to_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own."

Perhaps 'Tying' was not the poet's word. It may have been _Turning_, or
some other.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will easily be granted. You, my lord," etc.

Such is the proper punctuation, also proposed by Thirlby.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer."

There is evidently a line lost after this.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "But with nobility and tranquillity."

To all appearance, _gentility_ would be more correct; but he may be
playing on the ignorance of the Chamberlain, to whom the word was
unknown. He then says 'great-onyers' for great-ones.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Away, good Ned. _Fat_ Falstaff sweats to death."

So also Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "One horse, my lord, he _hath_ brought even now."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Ned, prythee come out of that fat room."

I suspect we should read _hot_ room.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pitiful-hearted Titan, that melted at the sweet tale of the son's."

So I read, with the two earliest 4tos; the others and the folio have
_sun_ for 'son's'; and, with Malone, I see a reference to the Tale of
Phaethon. Of the double genitive there are many instances. Theobald,
who is followed by Singer, read _butter_ for 'Titan,' thinking there
was an incongruity. But the Prince, in the exuberance of his spirits,
spoke rather at random, heedless of the unconnectedness of his
discourse.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If thou didst, then behold that compound."

It may be that _never_ has been omitted before 'didst.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Away, you starveling, you elf-skin."

Hanmer and Warburton were right, I think, in reading _eel_ for 'elf.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You dried neat's tongue, _you_ bull's pizzle, you stock-fish."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There is virtue in that Falstaff; him keep with."

The poet probably wrote 'him keep with _thee_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Misleader of youth, Falstaff, that old, white-bearded Satan."

It would be better, both for emphasis and metre, to read '_that_
Falstaff.'


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "The arch-deacon hath divided it _for us_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And then he runs _you_ straight and even_ly_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll _in and_ haste the writer and withal."

So I think we should read with Steevens and Malone. "I'll in, to urge
his hatred more to Clarence" (Rich. III. i. 1).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He held me last night at _the_ least nine hours."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As a tired horse or _as a_ railing wife."

So Pope also. The usual correction is that of Capell, 'as _is_ a tired
horse.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame_able_."

We have "wilful-opposite" (K. John, v. 2), "wilful-negligent" (Wint.
Tale, i. 2), "wilful-slow" (Son. li.), and "wilful-ignorant" (Fletcher,
Woman-hater, v. 2). For my part, I regard it as a convincing proof of
the truth of my theory of effacement (Introd. p. 57).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which thou pourest down from those swelling heavens."

The Cambridge editors and myself have independently transposed in
'pourest down.' We might also read "Which from those," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nay, _nay_, if you melt, then will she run mad."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come, Kate, _come_; thou art perfect in lying down."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish."

So, after all the editors, I have printed it, in accordance with the
4tos; the folio applies 'Lady' to Lady Percy. I, however, strongly
suspect that we should read 'my lady-brach,' as in Lear, i. 4, which
would also accord better with the metre. See Index _s. v_. Brach.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come sing.--I will not sing.--'Tis the next way
    To turn tailor or be redbreast-teacher."

So it should be arranged.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By this our book is drawn; we'll but seal and then
    To horse immediately. With all my heart."

As this is preceded by a couplet, and the scenes generally end with
one, I would read 'then _start'_ for 'and then.' _Start_ being probably
effaced, the printer added 'and' to complete the measure. See Introd.
p. 67.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "As in reproof of many tales devis'd--
    Which oft the ear of Greatness needs must hear--
    By smiling pick-thanks and base news-mongers."

The two last lines should, I think, be transposed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mingled his royalty with carping fools."

The 4to, 1598, reads _capring_, i.e. capering. The choice is difficult.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Go, Poins, to horse, to horse!"

Both 4tos and folio have _Peto_. Johnson made the change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "At two o'clock in the afternoon."

Something seems wanting here. I have added _precisely_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "He writes me hëre that _an_ inward sickness."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It were not good; for therein should we read
    The very bottom and the soul of hope."

I can make no sense of 'read'; we might read _reach_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All plum'd like estriches that with the wind _are fann'd_."

It is plain that something has been lost here; it may be a line, but
I think the slight addition I have made, and in the very place where
the loss was most likely to occur, removes all difficulty. "The air
of Paradise did _fan_ the house" (All's Well, iii. 2). The poet had
in his mind the Prince's plume, which he supposes to have been worn
by his companions also; and it is quite evident--or else there is no
force in the comparison--that he also supposed that it was on his head
the ostrich carried his long bending feathers. So Drayton also: "The
Mountfords all in plumes, like ostriches were seen" (Polyolb. xxii.).
The following line of Tasso gives us the exact image:--"E _ventolar_
sui gran cimier le penne" (Ger. Lib. xx. 28). Hanmer read '_and_ with
the wind.' Rowe, who has been generally followed, read _wing_ for
'with'; but the verb _wing_ has but one sense in the poets, to fly, and
the ostrich no more flies than the greyhound. Mr. Dyce, however, adopts
this reading, which, he says, "affords a clear and good meaning," and
he quotes in support of it these lines of Claudian, who, he thinks may,
as a native of Egypt, be speaking as an eye-witness:--

    "Vasta velut Libyæ venantum vocibus ales
    Cum premitur calidas cursu transmittit arenas,
    Inque modum veli sinuatis flamine pennis
    Pulverulenta volat."
                                                     In Eutrop. ii. 310.

But surely this is sailing with, not winging the wind; and what has it
to do with 'plum'd'? I very much doubt if Claudian ever saw an ostrich
running; for that was only to be seen in the desert, which Egyptians
rarely visited at any period.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Baited like eagles having lately bath'd."

I know no sense of the verb _bait_ that will give any tolerable meaning
here. To read 'Bated,' as is usually done, from _bate_, to flap the
wings, gives merely a ridiculous sense. I have a strong persuasion that
the poet's word was _Beated_, a term which he also uses in Son. lxii.,
where, by the way, the critics seem not to have understood it. _Bete_,
_beat_, _beath_, is to kindle, heat, dry; and the idea in the poet's
mind seems to have been that of eagles, after refreshing themselves
by bathing, sitting on rocks for the sun to dry their plumage. To
these he likens the young knights, fresh and vigorous, sitting on
their war-steeds, under the beams of the sun. Hence he goes on to say
"Glittering," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "There's not a shirt and a half in all my company."

For 'not,' Rowe, who is usually followed, read _but_. In my Edition I
have given here and in v. 3 'not _but_' as more forceable. See Index,
But.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Into his title, which we find _to be_
              Too indirect for long continuance."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "So tell your cousin, and bring me word _again_
              What he will do."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Suspicion, all our lives, shall be stuck full of eyes."

The word in 4tos and folio is _Supposition_, which may be right; the
correction is Pope's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so."

This is so abrupt and prosaic that I think we should read '_pray_ go
you.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Up_on his follies; never did I hear
    Of any prince so wild a liberty."

So the 4tos. The folio reads '_at_ liberty'; Capell _libertine_, which
is the reading usually adopted, even by the Cambridge editors. In Com.
of Err. (i. 2) we have "such like _liberties_ of sin" of persons.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If life did ride upon a dial's point,
    Still ending at the arrival of an hour ...
    An if we live, we live to tread on kings."

The aposiopesis here is in character with Hotspur, but there may be a
line or more lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "What is thy name that in _the_ battle thus."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The King hath many marching in his coats."

_March_ is here, as so frequently in Spenser and others, simply the
French _marcher_.

    "In which the Majesty of buried Denmark
    Did sometimes _march_."
                                                              Ham. i. 1.

Collier's folio reads _masking_; but it was only the face that was
masked. Gifford, without hesitation, read _march'd_ in

    "Let fury then disperse these clouds, in which
    I long have _mask'd_ disguised."
                                                    Mass. Bondman, v. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I will assay thee, and _so_ defend thyself."




KING HENRY IV.--PART II.

ACT I.

    SC. 2. "Well, I cannot last _for_ ever."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And so both the degrees prevent my curses."

Collier's folio has _diseases_ for 'degrees.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Yes, if this present quality of war...."

There may be a line lost here; I make in preference an aposiopesis.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The plot of situation, and the model."

I read _draw_ or 'and _draw_' for 'and.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In fewer offices, at least desist."

Capell proposed 'at _last_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gives o'er, and leaves his part-created cost."

For 'cost' we should perhaps read _house_ or some such word; yet in
Son. xiv. _cost_ seems to be used in the sense of costly edifice.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They that, when Richard lived, would have him die,
    Are now become enamour'd on his grave."

It might be better to read '_Thou_, would_est_,' and 'Ar_t_,' to accord
with the rest of the speech.


ACT II.

    SC. 3. "Threw many a northern look, to see his father
              Bring up his powers, but he did long in vain."

I suspect that the poet wrote _look_, not 'long.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Feel, masters, how I shake."

From Doll's reply, and the fact of Falstaff's being the only man
present, I incline to think that we should read _mistress_ for
'masters.' See on Tam. of Shr. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Se fortuna me tormenta, _ben_ sperato me contenta."

By simply adding _ben_ we get rid of all difficulty without altering
the text, as is usually done.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And, sweetheart, lie thou there."

So Cavalier Shift in Jonson's Every Man out, etc. iii. 1, says to his
rapier "No, _my dear_, I will not be divorced from thee."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds."

What the poet seems to mean is, that the billows though hung in the
clouds, would not adhere to them, on account of their slippery nature,
but fell back into the sea. _Shrouds_, the reading of Collier's folio,
seems poor and trivial.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Then, happy low, lie down."

For 'low, lie down,' Warburton read _lowly clown_. But it is of a
ship-boy the poet is speaking, and he would hardly make so sudden a
transition.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage
              And countenanc'd by boys and beggary."

There may be some doubt about 'bloody'; for 'rage' Sidney Walker and
Collier's folio read _rags_, which seems confirmed by the following
line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood."

For 'graves' Warburton and Hanmer read _glaives_, Steevens, _greaves_.
Neither of these words occurs in Shakespeare, and I rather suspect that
the poet's word was _braves_, _i.e._ bravadoes, boasts. "I will not
bear these _braves_ of thine" (Tam. of Shr. iii. 1). "Now where's the
Bastard's _braves_?" (1 Hen. VI. iii. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And are enforc'd from our most quiet there."

For 'there' Warburton read _sphere_; perhaps we might read _haven_.
But, as in Lear (i. 1) we have "Thou losest _here_ a better _where_ to
find," 'there' is probably the poet's word, both it, _here_ and _where_
being used as nouns signifying place.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My brother-general the commonwealth ...
    To brother-born a household cruelty
    I make my quarrel in particular."

The second line is not in the folio, and there may be, as some critics
think, a line lost; but my punctuation removes all difficulty. We have
only to understand _makes his quarrel_; yet how strangely critics have
puzzled over this not very difficult passage! We should perhaps read
'generals'; for Hastings and Bardolph seem to have equal authority with
Mowbray. Lord Scroop had been put to death at Bristol, 1 Hen. IV. i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And bless'd and grac'd, and did more than the king _affect_."

Thirlby conjectured _indeed_ for 'and did.' I rather think there was,
as usual, an effacement at the end of the line.

       *       *       *       *       *

                      "Every thing set off
    That might so much as think you enemies."

This is a strange use of 'think'; we should perhaps read _hint_, were
it not that this verb does not occur in Shakespeare.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And present execution of our wills
    To us and to our purposes confin'd."

For 'confin'd' Hanmer read _confirm'd_; Johnson, _consign'd_. I confess
I do not clearly understand the passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That were our royal faiths martyrs in love."

Hanmer and Johnson read _loyal_; but Malone makes a good defence of
'royal.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No, no, my lord. Note this, the king is weary of
    _Such_ dainty and such picking grievances."

I think it was thus the poet wrote, but that _such_ was effaced and
then 'of' transposed on account of the metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    Sc. 2. "You have taken up
    Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
    The subjects of his substitute, my father."

I would read _seal_, in which I am supported by Sidney Walker and
Collier's folio. In iv. 1 we have

    "That you should seal this lawless bloody book
    Of forged rebellion with a _seal_ divine."

       *       *       *       *       *

    Sc. 4. "As he, whose brow with homely biggin bound."

For 'whose,' I read without hesitation, _who_, _his_, probably written
_who's_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Changes the mode; for what in me was purchas'd."

Collier's folio reads _purchase_, which is very plausible.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And all thy friends whom thou must make thy friends."

This is nonsense, produced in the usual way (Introd. p. 64). Tyrwhitt
proposed '_my_ friends,' _i.e._ those who are regarded as such. For the
first 'my friends,' we may read _my_, _thy_, or _the foes_.

    "True: those that were _your father's enemies_,
    Have steep'd their galls in honey and do serve you
    With hearts create of duty and of zeal."
                                                          Hen. V. ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I cut them off."

Mason's reading _some_ seems to be certain.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "And never shall you see that I shall beg
            A ragged and forestall'd remission."

This last line is difficult. By 'ragged' seems to be meant mean,
unworthy, paltry; or it may be the same as _rugged_, and denote
the roughness with which his application would be received; and by
'forestall'd' what has been anticipated, prevented by the efforts of
his enemies. Massinger uses _forestall'd remission_ twice apparently in
this sense: Duke of Milan, iii. 1, Bondman, iii. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis all in every part."

I think Warburton may have been right in reading "'Tis _all in all_,
and all in every part." "Some say she's all in all, and all in every
part" (Davis, Nosce Teipsum); "she's all in all, and all in every part"
(Drayton, Mortim. 1596); "tota in toto, et tota in qualibet parte"
(Phoenix Nest, 1593)--all of the soul. Shakespeare may have read most
or all of these passages.




THE LIFE OF HENRY V.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "_Cant._ The King is full of grace and fair regard,
            And a true lover of the Holy Church.

            _Ely._ The courses of his youth promis'd it not.

            _Cant._ The breath no sooner left his father's body," etc.

It is really marvellous that for two centuries and a half no
critic--not even Theobald or Tyrwhitt--should have discerned that this
was the true distribution of the speeches. See Introd. p. 48.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Upon our spiritual convocation."

This is no doubt metrical; but it is not easy to make sense of it. I
suspect that the poet may have written 'Upon _the part of_,' the verse
still being metrical.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "They know your Grace has cause and means and might ..."

There is an evident aposiopesis.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner-kings,
    And make their chronicle as rich with praise," etc.

Collier's folio reads (I think, well) _train_ for 'fame,' and _his_ or
_her_ for 'their.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To tear and havoc more than she can eat."

'Tear' is Rowe's; the 4tos have _spoil_, the folio _tame_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For government, though high and low and lower."

It might seem that 'though' was a misprint for _through_. In M. for M.
iii. 1, the folio has _through_ for _though_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They have a king and officers of _all_ sorts."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And therefore living hence did give ourselves
    To barbarous licence."

We should surely read _thence_ or _here_ for 'hence.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Be like a king and show my sail of greatness."

Perhaps 'sail' should be _full_; or 'my sail' _me full_.


ACT II.

    "_Chor._ Linger your patience on, and we'll digest
    The abuse of distance, force a play."

Here 'Linger' is a causative verb. (Introd. p. 71). Editors, in their
ignorance of the meaning of 'digest,' to regulate, arrange, read
_well_. By 'abuse of distance' is meant the abuse we make of it by
transporting the audience from one country to another. For 'force a
play,' which makes no sense, and to complete the measure, I read '_as
we_ forge our play,' _as we_ being, I am almost certain, the omitted
words; _forge_ is frequent in the sense of shape, form. The confusion
of _our_--the _r_ being hardly sounded--and _a_ was natural; it occurs
again, I think, in 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1. At the end of this Chorus we have
"We'll not offend one stomach with _our play_," where, by the way, the
allusion is to sea-sickness.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The sum is paid, the traitors are agreed."

This line is out of place. In my Edition I have put it after "Confirm'd
conspiracy," etc., evidently its right place.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But till the King come forth--and not till then."

For the first 'till,' caused in the usual manner, I read _ere_; for it
is just before the King appears that the scene changes.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 1. "There shall be smiles."

Farmer and Collier's folio read _smites_. "Norfolk, we must have
knocks" (R. III. v. 3). In Ant. and Cleop. iii. 2, we have also _smile_
for _smite_. See also Tr. and Cr. v. 11.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And there's an end."

The 4tos read "And there's the humour of it," which is perhaps better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "O well a day, Lady, if he be not hewn now."

Theobald reads _drawn_ for 'hewn,' but no change seems necessary; for
'hewn' is _i. q._ hewing. It may also have been meant to show her
ignorance of language.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will you shog off _now_? I would have you _solus_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And on his more advice we pardon him."

Collier's folio properly reads _our_ for 'his.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who are the late commissioners?"

As they were future, 'late' can hardly be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To furnish _him_ with all appertinents."

The 2nd folio supplied _him_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And other devils that suggest by treasons."

He may have written _bye-treasons_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd."

It might be better to omit 'being.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why so didst thou; _or_ seem they grave and learned."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For me, the gold of France did not seduce _me_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which I, in sufferance, heartily will rejoice _at_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And 'a babbled of green fields."

The folio reads 'and _a table_ of green fields'; the text is the
correction of Theobald, which has been universally accepted; yet
_talkt_ would come nearer to _table_ than 'babbled,' and it also better
suits the metre; in which I find I had been anticipated by an Anon.
_ap._ Theobald. The Dame afterwards says he "_talked_ of the Whore of
Babylon." Collier's folio reads 'for his nose was as sharp as a pen
_on_ a table of green _freeze_,' which is ingenious, but nothing more.
The nib of a pen in such a situation is usually black, and so does not
strike the eye. 'A table of green _fells_' has also been conjectured.
It has been supposed that Falstaff's mind was wandering, and so may
have reverted to his youthful days in the country. But may not he, who
must have been a man of some education, have been repeating the 23rd
Psalm (so well suited to one in his condition), in which are the words
"He maketh me to lie down in _green pastures_"?

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Whiles that his mountain sire--on mountain standing."

We have already had (i. 2), "Whiles his most mighty father on a hill;"
and 'mighty' might be the word here also, instead of the almost
oriental 'mountain,' suggested by what followed.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
            Or fill the walls up with our English dead."

Johnson thought that a line was lost here. I would add _In, in!_ at the
end of the first line, and read 'to' for 'unto,' the printer's word.
Introd. p. 67.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters."

'Defile' is Pope's correction of _desire_ in the folio; and it probably
is right. It makes very good sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5.         "Can sodden water
              A drench for surrein'd steeds, their barley broth," etc.

For 'surrein'd' the 4tos read _swolne_. Steevens quotes from Jack
Drum's Entertainment, 1601:--

    "Writes he not a good cordial sappy style?--
    A _surrein'd_ jaded wit, but he rubs on."

'Surrein'd' may mean overriden. In Massinger we have,

    "Let passion work, or, like a _hot-rein'd_ horse,
    'Twill quickly tire itself."
                                                     Unnat. Comb. iv. 2.

Shakespeare may, however, have written _surbeat_, or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Poor _may_ we call them in their native lords."

Sense and metre seem to require _may_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They bid us _go_ to the English dancing-schools."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And for achievement offer us his ransom."

Mr. Staunton proposes '_fore_ achievement'; but no change need be made.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Which they trick up with new-tuned oaths."

For 'tuned' Pope read _turned_; Collier's folio _coined_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "The Dolphin longs for _the_ morning."

The metre requires a syllable.


ACT IV.

    _Chor._ "Thawing cold fear. Then, mean and gentle all."

'Then' is Theobald's correction, and a true and good one, of _that_ of
the folio. See Introd. p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 1. "Subject _un_to the breath of every fool."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What is thy soul of adoration?"

It would seem better to read _source_. Johnson read '_O_ adoration!'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_He_ ne'er sees horrid Night, the child of Hell," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The sense of reckoning of the opposed numbers.
    Pluck their hearts from them not to-day, O Lord!
    Oh, not to-day!--Think not upon the fault," etc.

So I punctuate. Many editors follow Tyrwhitt in reading '_if_ the' for
'of the' in the first line. Theobald read _lest_ for 'of.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And doubt them with superfluous courage."

For 'doubt' Pope read _daunt_; Rowe, followed by Dyce and Cambridge
editors, _dout_. As the 'superfluous courage' seems to be the blood
spun out, the word may be _daub_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I stay but for my guard. On to the field!"

A most happy emendation was that made by Dr. Thackeray, and by an Anon.
_ap._ Rann: "I stay but for my _guidon_.--To the field!" This is amply
confirmed by the following line, and by this passage of Holinshed, "The
Duke of Brabant, when his standard was not come, caused a banner to be
taken from a trumpet and fastened to a spear, the which he commanded to
be borne before him instead of a standard." _Guidon_ is a term still in
use in the cavalry service.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "He that shall see this day and live _to_ old age."

Pope, who has been usually followed, transposed 'see' and 'live.' I
rather think _to_ was omitted, and see no necessity for transposition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They'll be in fresher robes; for they will pluck," etc.

The 4to and folio both, which all the editors follow, read 'or they';
my own and Hanmer's conjecture is 'for they,' which alone gives sense,
by explaining how they would be 'in fresher robes.' How easily might
the _f_ have been lost or omitted!

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "_Calitay! Callinó castorè me!_"

I have ventured to change the 'Qualtitie' of the folio to _Calitay_,
the English mode of pronouncing _qualité_, with the accent on the last
syllable; which suggests _Callino_, etc., for which see Index _s. v._
The French _qualité_ would never suggest _quality_ to an illiterate
Englishman.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Let us die in ... Once möre back again."

By this punctuation the reading of the folio becomes clear. Knight,
whom late editors follow, reads 'in _honour_,' which occurs in the 4to.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "To book our dead and then to bury them."

Collier's folio reads _look_, which might seem preferable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 8. "Now, Herald, are the dead _all_ numbered?"

It might be better to read 'the dead on _both sides_.'


ACT V.

    _Chor._ "_And_ the Emperor's coming in behalf of France."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 1. "I eat and eat I swear...."

I read, with Johnson, 'eke' for the second 'eat,' as more Pistolian.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "So happy be the issue, brother Ireland."

I retain this reading of the folio; for I cannot see what should make
the printer change England to Ireland, while the Queen may have done so
to vary the title.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is be full of deceits; dat is de princess _say_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Wanting the scythe all uncorrected, rank."

The folio reads 'withal' for 'all.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges."

The folio has '_all_ our,' which the context rejects. 'As' is the
reading of Capell.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Sauf votre honneur_, me understand _not_ well."

Sense and metre seem to demand the negative.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And I _of_ thine most truly falsely must needs."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my visage."

I think we should read _untempting_, with Warburton.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "His daughter first, and in _the_ sequel all."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And thereupon give _unto_ me your daughter."




KING HENRY VI.--PART I.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Than Julius Cæsar or bright ..."

Johnson proposed _Berenice_; and, though it was her hair and not
herself that was stellified, he may have been right. The punctuation
here given, however, removes all difficulty.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans, and _Roan_."

A little lower we have, "Is Paris lost? is Roän yielded up?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A third thinks _that_ without expense at all."

The 2nd folio reads 'A third _man_ thinks.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He being in the vaward, placed behind."

Most certainly 'vaward' should be '_rear_ward'. Introd. p. 66.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Otherwhiles the famish'd English like pale ghosts."

Collier's folio reads '_The_ whiles.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Villains, answer you the Lord Protector so?"

The folio has 'answer you so.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gloster, we'll meet, _and_ to thy cost, be sure."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For I intend to have it _off_ ere long."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf."

For 'treacherous,' which must be wrong, Pope read _timorous_, Collier's
folio _tremulous_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "_For_ rescued is Orleans from the English."

The 2nd folio reads 'English _wolves_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Divinest creäture, Astræa's daughter."

The 2nd folio reads _bright_ Astræa's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Before the kings and queens of France _for aye_."


ACT II.

    SC. 3. "_Lady_, that will I show you presently."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error?"

It should apparently be _right_, not 'error'; as it is a few lines
lower.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Was for that--young _King_ Richard they remov'd."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Un_to King Edward the Third, whëreas he."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I doubt not but with honour to redress _'em_."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Am I not _Lord_ Protector, saucy priest?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Rome shall this remedy.--Roam thither then."

The folio reads "Rome shall remedy this."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And Henry born in Windsor _should_ lose all."

The 2nd folio added _should_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "As looks the mother on her lowly babe."

For 'lowly' Collier's folio reads _lovely_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "This dastard at the battle of Patay."

The folio reads Poictiers; Steevens made the correction. The error must
have been the printer's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But always resolute in most extremes."

I adopt the correction of _worst_ for 'most.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And now, _my_ Lord Protector, view the letter."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My lord, how say you? Are you not content?"

The folio reads "How say you, my lord?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To wilful disobedience and rebel_lion_."

The end had certainly been effaced. Introd. p. 57.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "An if I wist he did ... but let it rest."

So Steevens corrected the _wish_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But that it doth presage some ill event."

For 'that' we should read _sees_, or some other verb.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Swearing that you withhold his levied host."

For 'host' Hanmer read _horse_, which the next speech would seem to
prove to be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "But if I bow they'll say it was for fear."

For 'bow' I read _do_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Great Märshal to Hen_e_ry the Sixth."

So Lucy must have pronounced it, in a slow measured tone. See on Rich.
II. i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For God's sake let him have 'em."

For ''em' the folio reads _him_ here, and five lines lower down.


ACT V.

    SC. 3. "And lay them gently on thy tender side.
           I kiss these fingers for eternal peace."

I approve of this transposition made by Malone.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hast not a tongue? is she not here?"

The 2nd folio, which all follow, adds _thy prisoner_; _alone_ might be
better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Confounds the tongue and makes the senses rough?"

Various attempts have been made to amend 'rough,' but with little
success. We might perhaps read _dull_; but 'rough' may have been used
in the sense of rugged, insensible.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And here I will expect thy coming _down_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mad natural graces that extinguish art."

For 'Mad,' which makes no sense, Capell read _And_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Used intercession to obtain a league."

I think we should read _truce_ or _peace_ for 'league.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide."

I incline to read _Propels_ for 'Provokes.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yes, my _good_ lord, her father is a king."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_The_ most of all these reasons bindeth."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Whëreas the contráry bringeth bliss."

The 2nd folio reads 'bringeth forth.'




KING HENRY VI.--PART II.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "They please us well. Lord Marquess, kneel _thee_ down."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And hath his Highness in his infancy
    _Been_ crowned in Paris, in despight of foes?"

Capell also added _Been_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "That my mistress was? No forsooth."

For 'mistress' Malone very properly read _master_. (See on Tam. of Shr.
i. 2.) In the Contention the only word used here is _master_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "God and King Henry govern England's realm.
    Give up your staff, sir, and the King his realm."

One of these 'realms' must be wrong. (Introd. p. 60.) Johnson proposed
_helm_ for the first; I make that change in the second. "And you
yourself shall steer the happy _helm_" (i. 3).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "She's tickled now; her fume _now_ needs no spurs,
    She'll gallop fast enough to her destruction."

The 2nd folio reads '_can_ need'; 'fast' is Pope's correction for _far_
of the folio.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "_For_ with such holiness you can do it."

In 'The Contention,' etc., 4to, it is _dote_ for 'do it'; the folio
reads 'can you.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_For_ to present your Highness with the man."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How cam'st thou so?--A fall _from_ off a tree."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Then, Saunder, sit _thee_ there, the lyingest knave."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And would you not think it to be great cunning?"

The folio reads "it cunning to be great."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Alas_, alas! sir, we did it for pure need."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Un_til they come to Berwick, whence they came."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "My lord, I long to hear it at full _length_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Father, the Duke has told the truth _in this_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Despatch; _for_ this knave's tongue begins to double."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Go, _and_ take hence this traitor from our sight."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "And in his simple show he harbours treason."

The proper place of this line is at the end of the speech, where I have
placed it in my Edition. It then, it will be seen, refers to the fox,
and the preceding line to the brook.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That you will clear yourself from all suspense."

Capell and Collier's folio read _suspect_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I thank thee, Nell; these words content me much."

So the name was written evidently by the poet, and _Elianor_ in a
following speech of the Queen's. As _Margaret_ had only occurred in the
beginning of the play, and she is always simply _Queen_, Shakespeare,
when making the additions, had probably forgotten her real name.
Editors are therefore not justified in making alterations.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless,
    Being all descended to the labouring heart."

There is evidently a line lost between these.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Madam, be still! with reverence may I say _it_."

So it is given in The Contention.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Myself no joy in nought, but that thou livest."

For 'no' Collier's folio reads _to_, which seems to be right.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Yes, Poole.--Poole?--Poole, sir Poole, lord _Poole_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Jove sometime went disguis'd, and why not I?"

This line, so essential to the sense, is not in the folio; to obtain it
recourse has been had to The Contention.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As hating thee, are rising up in arms."

For 'are,' Rowe's correction, the folio has _and_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Advance our half-fac'd sun, striving to shine."

For 'our' we should read _a_ or _an_; for the Captain does not seem to
have had any connexion with the House of York. See on Hen. V. ii. Chor.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Exempt is true nobility from fear."

The folio reads 'True nobility is exempt.' We might also, with a loss
of force however, read '_For_ true,' etc. Still the choice is difficult.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I'll make myself a knight _here_ presently."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Trust nobody for fear you _be_ betray'd."

The 2nd folio supplied _be_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "And the help of hatchet."

For 'help' Farmer read _pap_. "Pap of hatchet" was a common phrase. In
the preceding line there is in the folio a misprint of _candle_ for
'caudle.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 8. "Or let a rabble lead you to your deaths."

Both Collier's and Singer's folio properly read _rebel_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 9. "Of Gallowglasses and stout Kernes _he_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I pray thee, Buckingham, _to_ go and meet him."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 10. "Contenteth me and _is_ worth a monarchy."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_And_ as for words whose greatness answers words."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Alexander Iden, that's my name, _my liege_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They may astonish these fell lurking curs."

We should perhaps read _lurching_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who being suffered with the bear's fell paw."

For 'being' it might be better to read _having_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And so to arms, _my_ victorious father!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "To cease! Wast thou ordained _O_ dear father."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Of Salisbury, who can report of him?"

I have followed Collier's folio in reading _Old_ for 'Of.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Aged contusions and all brush of time,
    And like a gallant in the brow of youth."

For 'brush' and 'brow' Collier's folio reads _bruise_ and _bloom_.




KING HENRY VI.--PART III.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Prove it _so_, Henry, and thou shalt be King."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Before I would have granted to that act."

This use of 'granted' is unusual; we might read _assented_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will cost my crown, and like an empty eagle
    Tire on the flesh of me."

I do not understand 'cost' here. Singer reads _coast_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Thou, Richard, shalt _unto_ the duke of Norfolk,
              And tell him privily of our intent.
              You, Edward, shall unto my lord _of_ Cobham."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Courteous, witty, liberal, full of spirit."

The folio reads 'Witty, courteous.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The Queen with all the Northern earls and lords
    Intend here to besiege you in your castle."

We might incline to read 'Intend_s_'; but see Jul. Cæs. iv. 3, and Hen.
VIII. i. 3.


ACT II.

    SC. 2. "And this soft courage makes your followers faint."

For 'courage' M. Mason gave from the original play _carriage_, which
perhaps is right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "So minutes, hoürs, days, _weeks_, months, and years."

The printer evidently omitted _weeks_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And so obsequious will thy father be
    Men, for the loss of thee."

For 'Men,' which makes no sense, I read _Son_; Rowe has _Lad_, Collier
_Man_, Dyce _E'en_. It is possible also that a prep., as '_fore_ or
_to_, may have been effaced before 'Men.'


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Let me embrace the sour adversaries."

I read, with Pope, _adversities_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We charge you in God's name and _in_ the King's."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Saying he'll lade it dry, to have his way."

We should probably read _lay_ or _ladle_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Queen Margaret, prince Edward, and _lord_ Oxford."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, _peace_!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou and _lord_ Oxford, with five thousand men."


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "_Ay_, but the safer when 'tis back'd by France."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Go tell false Edward thy supposed King."

The folio has _the_ for 'thy.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "While he himself keeps in the cold field _here_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll follow you, and tell _him then_ what answer."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "And all his lands and goods confiscate_d_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "_I' faith_, a wise, stout captain, and soon persuaded."


ACT V.

    SC. 5. "Take that, the likeness of this railer here."

For 'the' I incline to read '_thou_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Men for their sons, wives for their husbands,
           _And_ orphans for their parents' timeless death."

In the first line the 2nd folio adds _fate_, as it does _And_ in the
second line. For _fate_ we might perhaps better read, as I have done,
_mourning_.




KING RICHARD III.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Antony Woodeville, her brother there."

Here we must read 'Woodeville' as a trisyllable, like Catesby sometimes
in this play, and Colleville in 2 Hen. IV. iv. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Even so, an'_t_ please your worship, Brackenbury."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well struck in years, fair, and not jealous."

The folio has _jealious_, which may be read as a trisyllable, of which
Sidney Walker has given examples, though none from Shakespeare. I,
however, prefer reading 'yeärs' and 'faïr,' as more suited to the slow
_chaffing_ tone of Gloster: "Of foür hoürs long. I must endure all."
Fletch. Chances, i. 6.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which I must reach unto by marrying her."

This transposition seems necessary; for he is speaking simply and
without involution.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "The bleeding witness of her hatred by."

This is the reading of the 4tos; the folio has _my_, but _her_ hatred
had been mentioned only two lines before. Still the point is doubtful.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "The slave of nature and the son of hell."

So in The Honest Whore (Part I. i. 6) we have,

    "You [harlots] are the miserablest creatures breathing,
    The very _slaves of nature_."

But that expression may have been taken from this very place.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why strewest thou sugar on that bottel'd spider?"

This is the orthography of the folio; the 4tos read here _botled_, but
in iv. 4 as the folio. Now as _bottled_ has, as far as my knowledge
extends, but one sense, and one which would give no meaning here, it
may be intended to show that the verb comes from _bottel_ or _bottle_
in the sense of truss, bundle, as a bottle of hay or straw, a sense
which it retains in various compounds in the provincial dialects.
'Bottel'd spider' would then answer to 'bunch-back'd toad' a few lines
further on. If this should not satisfy, we might read _bloated spider_,
as in Cowper, Task. v. 442.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Nay, I pr'ythee, stay a little; I hope my holy humour will
    change."

This is the reading of the 4tos, which I prefer. The folio has
'passionate humour of _mine_.' The change, as Mr. Dyce says, was made
by the editors on account of the statute 3 Jac. I. 21.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If two such murderers as yourselves came to you
    Would not entreat for life? As you would beg
    Were you in my distress...--
    Relent! no, _no_; 'tis cowardly and womanish."

This punctuation gives, I think, the sense of the poet; and I am happy
to find I had been anticipated in it by Singer.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "And more to peace my soul shall part to heaven."

It might be better, though the meaning is the same, to read '_at_
peace,' as in the following line. The second 'to' was probably in the
printer's mind. The usual reading is '_in_ peace' which may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "To his new kingdom of ne'er-changing night."

The more appropriate term, I think, would be _light_. Editors follow
the reading of the 4tos, 'of perpetual rest.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And may direct his course as _it_ please himself."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Too late he died, that might have kept that title."

Surely it was too _soon_ or too _early_. This may, perhaps, be regarded
as an instance of the substitution of a contrary term. In the Faerie
Queen, however, we have "Saying, that harlot she _too lately_ knew" (i.
3. 25). "And knightly worth which he _too late_ did try" (Ib. iii. 9.
25). See Index, _s. v._ Too.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I pray you, _gentle_ uncle, give me this dagger."

We might also read 'give _to_ me'; but it would sound rather stiff. The
usual reading is 'uncle _then_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My lord, will it please you _to_ pass along?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "My lord, I hold my life as dear as you do yours."

The folio omits 'you do' which is necessary for the sense, and is in
the 4tos.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Make haste, the hour of death is expiate."

In Sonnet xxii. 'expiate' is also used in the sense of expired, ended.

    "And whëre one sad truth may _expiate_
    Thy wrath."
                                                       Donne, Elegy xiv.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Because, my lord, we would have had you heard."

Grammar requires 'hear.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "To be spoke to, but _only_ by the Recorder."

_Only_ is often omitted after 'but.' We might also read 'spoke_n_
_un_to.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He is not lulling on a lewd day-bed."

A 'day-bed' was a couch or sofa. The folio has '_love_-bed.' 'Lulling'
and _lolling_ are only different orthographies, like _justling_ and
_jostling_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 4. "That excellent grand tyrant of the earth,
           That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls."

So Capell judiciously transposed these lines.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nay, then indeed she cannot choose but hate thee."

For 'hate,' Tyrwhitt read _love_; Mason _have_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Sir Gilbert Talbot _and_ Sir William Stanley."


ACT V.

    SC. 2. "That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful vines."

The context requires _spoils_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Fill me a bowl of wine. Give me a watch-_light_."

As he required a light, for he was going to write, and 'watch' alone
never has this sense, I think _light_ may have been effaced. Introd. p.
58.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Bid my guard watch. _Now_ leave me."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Harry, that prophesy'd thou shouldest be king,
    Doth comfort thee in sleep _now_. Live and flourish."

There is evidently a syllable wanting after 'sleep'; and _now_ seems,
being as it were opposed to the preceding line, to be the most likely
word. We might, perhaps, but with loss of force, read _slumber_ for
'sleep,' or 'Flourish and live'; but everywhere else it is 'Live and
flourish.' The usual reading is 'in _thy_ sleep,' thus setting metre at
defiance. Introd. p. 79.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The lights burn blue. It is now dread midnight."

This passage down to the line 'Find in myself,' etc., is perhaps the
worst in all Shakespeare. Steevens was, I think, right in supposing
that, though it is undoubtedly the poet's, he cancelled it; and I am of
opinion that he substituted the three last lines of the speech--which,
it may be seen, do not cohere with what precedes--and that the
cancelled passage was retained by the copyist or printer, as was done
in L. L. L. iv. 3, and v. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They thus directed, we will follow _then_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "But tell me, _pray_, is young George Stanley living."

The omission of _pray_ is here as in 1 Hen. IV. v. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All this divided York and Lancaster--
    Divided in their dire division--
    Oh! now let Richmond and Elizabeth," etc.




KING HENRY VIII.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Out of his self-drawing web. Oh! gives us note,
    The force of his own merit makes his way."

So the folio reads. Steevens and Malone read 'he gives us note,' and
Singer 'Oh, _it_ gives us note.' Mr. Collier says, very plausibly, that
the 'Oh' arose from '_a_ being written for _he_. I read "Out of his
self-drawing web--Oh, give it note!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A gift that Heaven gives for him, which buys."

Perhaps 'for' should be _to_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A new hell in himself _now_.--Why the Devil."

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "And his own letters,
    The honourable board of Council out,
    Must fetch in him he papers."

'Papers' is here evidently a verb, as Pope saw, in the sense of 'puts
on paper'; but we have no other instance of it. Mr. Staunton proposes
_paupers_, a verb equally unknown and still more devoid of meaning
here. I cannot regard 'papers' as right; yet I know not what to propose
in its place. Possibly the original may have been _puts there_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                       "A beggar's book
    Outworths a noble's blood."

Collier's folio reads _brood_ for 'book,' and a rime may have been
intended.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "To you that chok'd it."

'Chok'd' is a very bold term in this place; perhaps the word was
_check'd_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am solicited, not by a few, _to tell you_--
    And those of true condition--that your subjects
    Are in great grievance."

It is quite evident something has been lost here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That tractable Obedience is a slave."

For 'That' the folio has _This_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There is no primer business."

'Business' is the correction of both Southern and Warburton for
_baseness_ of the folio, and is deservedly adopted by most editors.

       *       *       *       *       *

                             "What we oft do best,
    By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
    Not ours, or not allow'd."

'By' would seem to be here the same as _apud_ or _bei_, Germ., a sense
it sometimes bears (see Index _s. v._). Steevens gives instances of
'once' in the sense of sometimes; but I should incline to read _or_ or
_and_, with those whom he terms "the modern editors." I suspect that
'sick' may have been _such_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "State statues only.--Things done well."

Perhaps _my lord_ or _lord cardinal_ has been effaced at the end.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Almost with listening ravish'd, could not find."

The folio has 'ravish'd listening.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This dangerous conception in this point."

The first 'This' should be perhaps _His_ or _The_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins."

The folio has _Henton_, the name of his convent, for 'Hopkins.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Whom after under the confession's seal."

The folio reads _commission's_; the correction is Theobald's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The monk might be deceiv'd, and that 'twas dangerous for him."

In the folio it is 'for _this_'; Rowe corrected it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As he made semblance of his duty _he_ would."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3.                        "The spavin,
    A springhalt reign'd among them."

For 'A' Collier's folio reads _Or_; I read _And_. See on Temp. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For I was spoke to, with Sir Henry Guildford ...
    This night to be comptrollers."

I think we should punctuate thus to get rid of the grammatical
difficulty. We have precisely such another in 3 Hen. VI. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "My lord Sands.--Yes, if I _can_ make my play."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Because they speak no English, thus they prayed _me_."


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Whither away so fast?--Oh! God save you, _sir_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To have brought, _vivâ voce_, to his face."

For 'have' the folio has _him_. The correction was made in the 4th
folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

                          "No black envy
    Shall mark my grave."

This is the reading of Warburton, generally followed. The folio has
_make_ for 'mark.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yet are the King's; and till my soul forsake."

We may, with Rowe, read 'forsake _me_' making 'vows and prayers' the
subj. to 'Shall cry'; but a line may have been lost, as 'my soul' is a
more suitable subj. to 'cry.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I know your Majesty has always lov'd her
           So dear in heart, not to deny her that."

It would seem that 'So' should be _Too_; but then the negative may make
a difficulty. 'Not' is, as not.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "To leave's a thousand times more bitter than."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yet if that quarrel, _by_ fortune, do divorce."

I think the passage thus gains sense: "I found _by fortune_" (Othel. v.
2). "And shalt, _by fortune_, once more resurvey" (Son. xxxii.). Hanmer
read 'quarrel_er_,' and Warburton said 'quarrel' was arrow. 'It' is the
'pomp' just mentioned.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You'd venture an emballing."

Warburton read _embalming_; Steevens _empalling_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Commends his good opinion of you [to you] and
    Does purpose honour to you."

The first 'To you' was evidently caused by the second. See Introd. p.
59.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "Would I had no being
    If this salute my blood a jot. It faints me."

'Faints' is here a causative. (See Introd. p. 71.) For 'salute,' which
is used in a rather unusual connexion, Collier's folio reads _elate_,
not a Shakespearian word. We have, however, "It _greets_ me, as an
enterprise of kindness" (Peric. iv. 4), which is similar, and

    "For why should others' false adulterate eyes
    Give _salutation_ to my sportive _blood_?"
                                                              Son. cxxi.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4.              "What friend of mine,
    That had to him derived your anger, did I
    Continue in my liking? Nay, gave notice
    He was from thence discharg'd."

I think we should read 'gave _not_ notice.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My father, King of Spain, was reckoned one
    The wisest prince that there had reigned."
        "For he is one the truest knight alive."
                                                         F. Q. i. 3. 37.

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "It shall be therefore bootless
    That longer you desire the court. * *"

It is difficult to make any good sense of 'desire' here; and a foot
is wanting. The 4th folio, for 'desire,' reads _defer_. We might add
_deferr'd_ or _delay'd_ at the end.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sir ... I am about to weep."

This seems to be the right punctuation.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As you have done my truth. If he _then_ know."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where powers are your retainers; and your words,
    Domestics to you, serve your will."

For 'words,' which certainly makes no sense, Tyrwhitt read _wards_. I
doubt if either be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And marriage 'twixt the Duke of Orleans and."

For the first 'And' Pope properly read _A_, as above, i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

                          "This respite shook
    The bosom of my conscience."

For 'bosom' Theobald read _bottom_. In Holingshed the King's words are,
"Which words conceived within the secret _bottom of my conscience_,"
which I think settles the question. We have also, "Twill purge the
_bottoms of their consciences_" (Fletch. Span. Cur. iv. 5).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yea with a splitting power, and made to tremble."

The folio has _spitting_; the correction was made in the 2nd folio.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Seek me out, and _in_ that way I am wife in."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am sorry my integrity should breed
    So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant,
    And service to his Majesty and you."

This transposition of the last two lines was made by Edwards, and is
right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And comforts to your cause."

The folio reads _our_, with the usual confusion of these pronouns. The
2nd folio made the correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But Cardinal Sins and hollow hearts I fear ye'_re_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Better, both for your honour and your cause."

The folio reads "Both for your honour better."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least _not_
    Strangely neglected."

Here the negative is absolutely necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "May you be happy in your wish, my lord;
    For I profess you have it.--Now all my joy
    Trace the conjunction!"

I hesitate not to read with Collier's folio, 'Now _may_ all joy.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_In_to his own hand, in his bed-chamber."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Was in his countenance. You he bade _then_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_And_ strikes his breast hard; and anon he casts."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yet filed with my abilities. Mine own ends."

The folio reads _fill'd_. I adopt the usual correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That for your Highness' good I ever labour'd
    More than mine own, that am, have, and will be...."

There is an evident aposiopesis here, which the editors have not
perceived.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What sudden anger's this? how have I reap'd it?"

As 'reap'd' makes no sense, we might read _riped_, _raised_, or
_roused_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Toward the King, my ever royal master, _I_
    Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Now, if you can, blush and cry Guilty, Cardinal."

So it should be pointed. "Then, if you can, be pale." Cymb. ii. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Chattels and whatsoever, and to be."

The folio reads _Castles_. Theobald made the change, as Holingshed has
_cattels_. Perhaps we should read _else_ after 'whatsoever.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou fallest a blessed martyr. Serve the King and ...
    Pr'ythee lead me in," etc.


ACT IV.

    "You're well met once again, _sir_.--So are you."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A bold brave gentleman. _And_ that should be."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2.            "One that by suggestion
    Tied all the kingdom."

I do not understand 'Tied' here. Hanmer proposed _Tith'd_; the word
might also be _Tir'd_; or perhaps _task'd_. "And in the neck of that
_task'd the whole state_" (1 Hen. IV. iv. 3). We, however, meet in B.
and F.'s Four Plays in One, Triumph of Time, Sc. 1:--

    "And greedy Lucre at a serious conference
    Which way to _tie_ the world within their statutes."

Holingshed's words are, "By crafty suggestion got into his hands
innumerable treasure."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unwilling to outlive the good that did it."

We must either read _he_ for 'that,' or, what is more likely, suppose a
word lost at the end of the line. We might read _cherish_, as we have.
"This juggling witchcraft _with reverence cherish_" (King John, iii.
1). I have, however, read _nourish_, though I see no advantage in it.
"Kings shall be thy nursing-fathers" may have been in the poet's mind.
'Good' is goodness, as _fair_ is fairness.

       *       *       *       *       *

                      "How pale she looks,
    And of an earthly cold_ness_! Mark her eyes!"

So Collier's folio also reads. Mr. Staunton proposes _Her hand_ for
'And,' or 'And _feels_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Say to _him_ his long trouble now is passing
    Out of the world."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Have broken with the King; who hath so far
    Given ear to our complaint, _that_ of his great grace
    And princely care--foreseeing those fell mischiefs,
    Our reasons laid before him--_he_ hath commanded."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The good I stand on is my truth and honesty."

For 'good' Johnson and Collier's folio read _ground_, which may be
right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "'Mong boys _and_ grooms and lackeys."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In our own natures frail and capable
    Of our flesh."

For 'capable' Malone read 'incapable.' Perhaps the right word would
be _culpable_, and it and 'frail' should be transposed, as 'frailty'
follows.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A man that more detests, more stirs against."

For 'stirs' I read _strives_, as Shakespeare nowhere uses 'stirs' in
conjunction with 'against.'

       *       *       *       *       *

          "And in my presence,
    They are too thin and base to hide offences."

For 'base' Malone read _bare_, which may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "_Be't_ he or she, cuckold or cuckold-maker."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He stands there like a mortar-piece to blow us _up_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "And you_r_ good brethren I am much beholding."




TRAGEDIES.


ROMEO AND JULIET.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
           Or dedicate his beauty to the same."

This is the reading of all the old editions; but the correction of
Theobald, _sun_ for 'same,' is so obvious and so natural that I had
made it long before I was aware I had been anticipated.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why, _gentle cousin_, such is love's transgression."

I make this insertion with confidence; for this is the only speech in
this play beginning with a short line not complementary to the end of
a preceding speech. In our poet's plays of this period speeches never
began with a short line, unless when complementary, and at no time was
the second line of a couplet short. (Introd. p. 82.) Lower down (i. 5)
we have "Content thee, _gentle coz_, let him alone," where the 4to,
1597, omits all but "let him alone."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Being vexed, a sea nourish'd with lover's tears."

As Johnson also saw, a line is lost here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Tell me, in sadness, who she is you love."

This is the reading of 4to 1597, which, however, has 'whom' (see
Introd. p. 59). The other 4tos and the folios read "who is that you
love."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But sadly tell me who _she is you love_."

These words seem evidently to have been lost; and the repetition is
very agreeable. Moreover in this play speeches do not thus end with a
short line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From Love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd."

A correction of Rowe's for _uncharm'd_ of the originals.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                "Only poor,
    That when she dies with beauty dies her store."

The plain meaning of this is, that beauty was 'her store,' she had
nothing but it, poor praise indeed from a lover! I would read, with
Theobald,

    "That when she dies with her dies beauty store."

The meaning would then be that, as the whole store of beauty lay, as
it were, in her, by not marrying and transmitting it to her children,
she would cause it to die with her, and would thus be poor as leaving
nothing after her. The same idea is expressed in the poet's first and
following sonnets: in Venus and Adonis we have--

    "For he being dead, with him is beauty slain,"

and other passages of a similar nature. See also Twelfth Night, i. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                "'Tis the way
    To call hers, exquisite, in question more."

This is not very intelligible. We might read 'her exquisite,' or rather
'_to_ question.' To "call in question," in Shakespeare always means, to
express a doubt of. 'Question' is examine, a word just used.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she,
           She is the hopeful lady of my earth."

Here a rime is lost, in consequence of the 'earth' of the first line
being in the printer's mind. There can be little question, I should
think, that the original word was not 'earth,' but _fee_, feud, fief,
landed property, as in _knight's fee_, _in fee_, etc., with which alone
'lady' accords. '_The_ earth' has long been the reading the first line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which on more view of many--mine being one,
    May stand in number, though in reckoning none" ...

This is the reading of both 4tos and folio, except 4to of 1597, which
reads "_Such amongst_." I should feel inclined to read "Such _as on_
view." By 'more' must be meant more extensive. The aposiopesis, so
suited to the hasty, impetuous character of the speaker, makes all
clear.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But in that crystal scales, let there be weighed
    Your lady's love against some other maid."

This is very oddly expressed; for it was the lady herself, not her
love, that was to be weighed. Theobald proposed _lady-love_; but I
doubt if that phrase was then in use. I read '_lady and love_,' the
& of the MS. having been made s by the printer, as it became _t_ in
'meant' for 'mean _and_' in All's Well, iv. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Oh! then, I see, Queen Mab has been with you.
           _Ben._ Queen Mab! What's she?
           _Mer._ She is the fairies' midwife, etc."

I think it best to read thus with 4to, 1597, adding _Mer._ before 'She
is.' Benvolio's question is evidently wanted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of healths five fathom deep."

It seems almost incredible that such a glaring absurdity as this should
have escaped a long succession of critics; and yet I am not aware that
any have noticed it. What is a _health_? a wish, a moral idea, and
how could that be 'five fathom deep'? or be an object of terror to a
soldier? It may be said that it is the cup that is meant, but of this
we have no instance; and even if we had, Master Silence, who was a man
of peace, sings--

    "Fill the cup and let it come;
    I'll pledge you a mile to the bottóm."

So, as we may see, he was not, and why should a soldier be, afraid
of it? Malone quotes from Westward Hoe, 1607, a passage in which we
have drinking _fathom deep_, and it is apparently drinking healths;
but there is nothing about terror in it, and it seems, no unusual
circumstance, to have arisen from the present line. In fine, something
must have been named that was a real object of terror to a soldier; and
I know no word so likely to have been used as _trenches_, which might
easily have been mistaken for 'healths.' In that case the metric accent
falling on 'five' would augment the terror.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is she _that_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "His son was but a ward two years ago.--
           Good youths, i' faith!--Oh! youth's a jolly thing."

The last line is only found in 4to 1597. It is so natural and so
pleasing, that I could not refrain from adopting it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It seems she hangs upon the cheek of Night,
    Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear."

This is the reading of both 4tos and folio; yet editors have adopted
the far inferior reading of the 2nd folio '_Her beauty_ hangs!' We have
the same idea in

    "Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
    Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
    Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new."
                                                             Son. xxvii.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So shews a snowy dove, trooping with crows,
    As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows."

The 4to 1597 reads in the first line _shines_; and the first 'shews'
has every appearance of having been, as usual, suggested by the second.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this."

So Warburton, for _sin_ of 4tos and folio.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so trim."

Mr. Dyce reads auburn, and he gives undoubted instances of _Abraham_
or _Abram_ being used for this word. Still I incline to the general
reading, first given by Upton, of _Adam_, with an allusion to Adam
Bell, the great archer; and I think there may be another to Adam, the
first man; for Shakespeare may have known that in classic mythology
Love was the first of beings. There would be humour, then, in 'young
Adam' denoting the union of youth and age.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Her vestal-livery is but pale and green."

The reading of 4to 1597; the others and the folio have 'sick and green.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As glorious to this night being o'er my head."

Theobald most tastelessly read the _sight_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds."

The reading of 4to 1597; the others and the folio read '_puffing_,'
caused, as has been observed, by _passing_ spelt with long _s_s in the
MS.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To cease thy strife, and leave me to my grief."

The undated 4to reads _suit_ for 'strife,' which has been generally,
and rightly, adopted. In the poem of Romeus and Juliet, the latter uses
the very expression _cease your suit_ on the same occasion.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Romeo!--My dear!--At what o'clock to-morrow?"

For 'My dear,' the reading of the undated 4to, that of 1597 has
_Madam_; the others and the folio _My niece_; the 2nd folio _My sweet_,
the usual reading.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "She will indite him to some supper."

The 4to 1597 has _invite_; but Benvolio was probably anticipating the
nurse's language.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Bid her devise some means to come to shrift
    This afternoon." * * * *

There is something lost here; perhaps _to the Franciscan convent_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "R is for the ... no; I know it begins" etc.

Editors in general read, after Tyrwhitt, 'R is for the _dog_.' Mr.
Collier has 'R is for thee? no.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
            And his to me. * * * *
            But old folks many faine as they were dead,
            Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead."

In the second line we might add _would bandy her again_. 'Many faine'
in the next is nonsense; for 'many,' _marry_ has been proposed, and
I adopt it, reading _fare_ (to go, to move along, a Spenserian term)
for 'fame.' In Cor. ii. 2 we have again _ain_ for _ar_. For 'pale' we
should probably read _dull_.

    "And nature, as it grows again toward earth,
    Is fashion'd for the journey, _dull and heavy_."
                                                           Timon, ii. 1.

We have elsewhere (Mer. of Ven. ii. 7) "_dull_ lead." Moreover lead
is not pale, and the Nurse would seem to have been rather a jolly,
rubicund sort of woman; if _fare_ be the right reading, it would almost
require _dull_. On the other hand, we have in Chaucer (Tr. and Cr. ii),
"With asshen _pale as lede_," and (Dream) "That _pale_ he wax as any
_lede_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They'll be in scarlet straight at any news."

I had been anticipated by Hanmer in reading 'straight_way_' and '_my_'.
Sidney Walker, too, I find, read 'at _my next_ news.' In the errata of
a work printed in 1754 I have met "for _my_ r. _any_." I, however, read
in preference,

    "They will be straight in scarlet at my news."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Or reason calmly of your grievances."

'Or' for _and_, as Capell also saw.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears?"

Singer reads _pitcher_. I think the right word is _pilche_, a leathern
coat. In v. 1 the sheath of a dagger is termed its _house_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This day's black fate on more days doth depend."

We should perhaps transpose, and read "On this day's," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "O prince! O [cousin] husband! O, the blood is spilled."

So Mr. Dyce also reads.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Spread thy close curtain, love-performing Night!
           That runaway's eyes may wink, and Romeo
           Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen."

Of 'runaway,' which cannot possibly be right, the Cambridge edition
enumerates no less than twenty-nine various corrections! Warburton
understood by it the sun; Steevens, the night; Douce, Juliet; and a Mr.
Halpen, Cupid. Jackson, followed by Collier, read _unawares_. Mr. Dyce
conjectured _roving_, _soon day's_, and _rude day's_, which last he
has placed in the text, but which seems to me to be too young-ladyish
for the ardent and _naïve_ Juliet; and moreover she had already called
for the winking of day's eye, _i.e._ for sunset. Some sense might also
be made of _runagates_, as persons wandering about by night, and still
better of _runabouts_, a word used by Marston (What you Will, iii. 1),
and which I have placed in the text, as making tolerable sense and
bearing resemblance to 'runaways.' Mr. Singer read _rumourers_, against
which little objection can be made. My own opinion--to which I was
led by Singer's reading, and in which I find I had been anticipated
by Heath and Mr. Grant White--is, that the poet's word may have been
_Rumour's_. In the poem on which this play is founded, Juliet, when
pondering, before her marriage, on what might be the consequence of
admitting Romeo to a lover's privilege, says:--

    "So, I defil'd, _Report_ shall take her trump of black defame,
    Whence she, with puffed cheek, shall blow a blast so shrill
    Of my dispraise, that with the noise Verona she shall fill."

Now Shakespeare may have wished to preserve this imagery, and have
substituted _Rumour_ for _Report_ for euphony's sake and other causes.
Rumour in effect seems to have been the same as the classic Fame. In
Sir Clyomen and Sir Clamydes, a piece with which he was probably well
acquainted, we meet "Enter Rumour running," and this may have been in
his mind when he was writing the Induction to 2 Hen. IV. In his other
plays also he personifies both _rumour_ and _report_, as in

    "That pitiful Rumour may report my flight,
    To consolate thine ear. Come night, end day;
    For with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away."
                                                     All's Well, iii. 2.

He may also have had these lines of Phaer's Virgil in his mind:--

    "At night she [Fame] walks, nor slumber sweet doth take nor never
      sleeps,
    By day on houses' tops she sits, and gates or towers she keeps,
    On watching-towers she climbs, and cities great she makes aghast,
    Both truth and falsehood forth she tells, and lies abroad doth cast."

We may, then, fancy Juliet to suppose that Rumour was on the watch to
detect and expose her, and she wishes that the gloom may be so intense
that her eyes must wink perforce, and so Romeo may leap to her arms
unseen, and their union remain undivulged. There may also have been
intended a play on the names Rumour and Romeo, like "My conceal'd
lady to our cancell'd love" (iii. 3). As Shakespeare undoubtedly knew
French, he may have had these lines of Marot in his mind:--

    "Car noire Nuict, qui des amants prend cure,
    Les couvrira de sa grand robbe obscure;
    Et si rendra cependant endormis
    Ceux qui d'Amour sont mortelz ennemis."
                                                               Eleg. xi.

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "Till strange Love grow bold,
    Think true love acted simple modesty."

Rowe, who has been followed by all, reads 'grow_n_,' and he probably
was right. Still, when we consider the joyous perturbation of Juliet's
mind, there may be an asyndeton, and she may be speaking _allo
staccato_. I have therefore, in my Edition, left the text unaltered.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "A gentler judgement vanish'd from his lips."

I have never met with any sense of 'vanish' but its ordinary one,
which certainly will not suit here. We should therefore, I think, read
_issued_, or some word of similar meaning. It is curious that Massinger
seems to have taken 'vanish'd' on Shakespeare's authority. "Upon those
lips from which those sweet words _vanish'd_" (Reneg. v. 5). We have,
however, in Lucrece:--

    "To make more vent for passage of her breath,
    Which thronging through her lips, so _vanisheth_
    As smoke from Ætna, that in air consumes."

But the breath is material.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Taking thy part he rush'd aside the law."

Would not _push'd_ be better? as in

    "But that the scambling and unquiet time
    Did _push_ it out of further question."
                                                           Hen. V. i. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But Romeo may not: he is banished.
    This may flies do, while I from this must fly;
    And sayest thou yet that exile is not death?"

The folio, which gives the best text here, erroneously puts the first
of these lines after the third. The 4tos of 1599 and 1609 add most
unnecessarily:--

    "Flies may do this, but I from this must fly;
    They are free men, but I am banished,"

which seems to have been an earlier form of the two preceding lines.
See on L. L. L. iv. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Art thou gone so? my lord, my love, my friend."

So the first 4to, which, with Mr. Dyce, I follow. The other editions
read:--

    "Art thou gone so? love, lord, ay husband, friend."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which you _do_ weep for.--Feeling so the loss."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Villain and he be many miles asunder!
    God pardon _him_! I do with all my heart."

I have placed a (!) at the end of the first line; for Juliet is
evidently speaking here in the ambiguous manner of her subsequent
speeches. She means an indicative, but wishes her mother to understand
her in the optative mood. The editors of the last century, not
understanding this, have without any authority changed 'be' to _are_.
In the next line _him_ was added in the 2nd folio. I should be inclined
to make an _Aside_ of 'I do with all my heart,' as she pretends to plan
his death. In the Globe Shakespeare the first line is made an _Aside_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My poor heart is so for a kinsman vex'd."

Both 4tos and folio--followed by all the editors--read 'Is my poor
heart,' connecting it with the preceding 'dead.' It is manifest they
did not understand the ambiguous language of Juliet.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To wreak the love I bore my cousin _Tybalt_."

The necessary addition was made in the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When the sun sets the earth doth drizzle dew."

The undated 4to reads _air_, and to talk of the earth drizzling dew
appears no doubt to be absurd; but expressions as incongruous occur in
these plays, and we have in Lucrece "But as the _earth_ doth _weep_,
the _sun being set_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next."

I cannot conceive why the editors all read _settle_; for 'fettle,'
_i.e._ prepare, make ready, is the reading of the 4tos and folio.

    "But sells his team, and _fettleth_ to the war."
                                                       Hall, Sat. iv. 6.

    "They to their long hard journey _fettling_ them."
                                              Silvester, Maiden's Blush.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "God's bread! it makes me mad; day, night, hour, tide [time],
    Work, play, alone, in company, still my care
    Hath been to have her match'd, and having now provided
    A gentleman of noble parentage."

So I arrange this passage, in accordance with the old editions, except
the first 4to, the reading of which is different, and is not verse at
all. I omit 'time' as injurious to the symmetry of the language; for
the words in the first two lines run, as will be seen, pairwise. It may
have been a marginal note explanatory of 'tide.' As to the last line
but one being of six feet, three such have already occurred in this
scene.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Oh! he's a lovely gentleman, _in sooth_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or else beshrew them both.--Amen!--What to?"


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "And I am nothing slow to slack his haste."

Collier's folio, mistaking the sense, reads '_some_thing.' 'To' is, so
as to, that I should. Editors have not understood it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Be borne to burial in thy kindred's grave."

This line, which is superfluous, is in all the old editions. See on
iii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee."

This is the reading of the 4to 1597; the other editions read,

    "Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here's drink. I drink to thee."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "_Nurse._ Go, go, you cotquean, go."

Singer was most certainly right in giving this speech to _Lady Cap._;
for the Nurse was hardly present.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Dead art thou, _dead_--alack! my child is dead."

In this I find I had been as usual preceded by Theobald.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Peace, ho, for shame! confusion's cure lives not."

All the old editions read _care_. Theobald made the correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For though some nature bids us all lament."

For 'some' the 2nd folio reads _fond_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Faith, we may put our pipes up and be gone."

The originals read 'put up.'


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep."

The 4to 1527 reads thus; the others and the folio '_truth_ of sleep,'
in which I can see no sense, while the former seems to be justified by

    "Full many a glorious morning have I seen
    _Flatter_ the mountain-tops with sovereign _eye_."
                                                            Son. xxxiii.

In both places _flatter_ seems to mean cheer, enliven. 'Eye' is, as
in "eye of green" (Temp. ii. 1), look, glance; "Yon grey is not the
Morning's eye" (iii. 5).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes."

Pope read _stareth_, after Otway; rightly, I think.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Under yond' yew-trees lay thee all along."

The 4to 1597 reads 'Under _this_ yew-tree'; the others 'Under yond'
_young_ trees. Further on they all read 'As I did sleep under this
_young_ tree here.' There can be little doubt that _yew_ was the poet's
word; it is not so easy to decide between _tree_ and _trees_; but I
prefer the former.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And in despite I'll cram thee with more food."

Perhaps the poet's word was _requite_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why art thou yet so fair? I will believe,
    Shall I believe that unsubstantial Death is amorous?"

We have here plainly two various readings got in by mistake. (See
above, iii. 3.) I agree with those who reject the first.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is thy sheath; there rest and let me die."

The reading 'rest,' for _rust_ of the editions, is deduced from 4to
1597.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What fear is this which startles in _our_ ears."

So I read with Johnson for _your_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Look and thou shalt see."

'Look _here_' would have more melody.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while."

The reading of Collier's folio, _outcry_, seems preferable. It occurs a
little before in this scene.




HAMLET.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "_With_ what we two nights have seen."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of unimproved mettle hot and full."

I prefer 'inapproved,' of the 4to 1603.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets
    As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
    Disasters in the sun."

One line at least, as Malone also saw, has been lost after the first.
Perhaps for 'disasters' we might read _distempers_: "distemperature of
the sun" (1 Hen. IV. v. 1).

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio?"

I suspect that here and in a following line, and in ii. 2, we should
read 'makes,' with an ellipsis of _be_. The answers seem to indicate it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Take thy fair hour, Laertes. Time be thine,
    And thy best graces; spend it at thy will."

I think we should read '_my_ best' for the sake of sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Mine_ do I impart toward you. For your intent."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He was a man, take him for all in all....
    I shall not look upon his like again."

There is an evident aposiopesis here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Forward not permanent, sweet _but_ not lasting."

The metre requires the addition of a syllable. In the next line the
folio omits 'perfume and'--a clear proof of the omissions made by
printers.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried."

The more appropriate term would seem to be _adaption_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Are of a most select and generous chief in that."

This is not sense; so some read

    "Are most select and generous, chief in that."

Steevens read _choice_ for 'chief'; and I have adopted his reading. The
more appropriate term, however, would have been _taste_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase
    _To_ wrong it thus--you'll tender me a fool."

This--with the omission of _To_, which had probably been effaced in the
MS.--is the reading of the 4tos, and is most probably correct. (Introd.
p. 79.) The editors of the folio, not seeing any sense in 'Wrong,' read
'Roaming,' which makes no sense at all; neither indeed does 'To wrong'
make a very good one. We might read--supposing the allusion to be to
a horse--_To run_, as in "You run this humour out of breath" (Com. of
Err. i. 1). In King John (ii. 1) we have 'roam' for _run_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds."

Theobald, who is usually followed, read _bawds_ for 'bonds'; but surely
_bawds_ could not with any propriety be called 'sanctified and pious.'
The truth is, the poet's word was 'bonds,' but the editors have not
understood it, Singer, for example, calling it _nonsense_. The whole
passage is merely a poetic periphrasis of seduction under promise of
marriage; and had the word been _Sounding_, not 'Breathing,' there
would probably have been no mistake.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Have you so slander any moment leisure."

Collier's folio reads _squander_, which may be right; but we have
"She slanders so her judgement" (Cymb. iii. 5), and "To slander music
any more than once" (Much Ado, ii. 3). In 'any moment leisure' the
structure is perfectly correct.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "The King doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse,
           Keeps wassail, and the swaggering upspring reels."

Here 'wake' is like _watch_ (see Macb. ii. 2), sits up late. In the
next line I would for 'swaggering' read _staggering_. 'Upspring' is
probably used collectively for the risers from the table, a mode of
expression not yet obsolete. "The space was filled by the _in-rush_
before he had time to make his way out."--Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's
Lovers, ch. xii.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "The dram of eale
    Doth all the noble substance, of a doubt
    To his own scandal....--Look, my lord! it comes."

This passage is not in the folio. As in 4to 1604, where it occurs, we
have in ii. 1 'a deale' for 'a devil,' I here read _evil_ for 'eale';
in both cases _vi_ may have been written like _a_; and for 'of a
doubt,' which is to be found nowhere else, _out o' doubt_, or perhaps
'_out_ of a doubt:' some read _often dout_. The sentence, we may see,
is not complete, and it should also be recollected that the language of
the whole of the speech is involved, as if the speaker was thinking of
something else, and merely talking against time.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Making night hideous and we fools of nature."

Grammar would require _us_ for 'we.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "_Hear_ what?--I am thy father's spirit."

The repetition of _Hear_ from preceding line seems necessary. Omissions
of this kind are not unfrequent.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And for the day confin'd to fast in fires."

Heath proposed _lasting_ for 'fast in,' but, I think, with a loss of
vigour, if a gain of correctness. 'Confin'd' may here signify limited,
restrained. See on M. for M. iv. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf."

The folio reads _rots_, which Mr. Dyce adopts.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch'd."

So the originals read, except 4to 1603, which has _depriv'd_, perhaps a
better reading. 'Despatch'd,' which seems to be more forceable, is to
be taken in the sense of _dépêché_, Fr., hurried away, and 'of' in its
original sense of from.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin."

Better to read 'blossom' and 'sins.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "O horrible! O horrible! most horrible."

Beyond question, as Johnson saw, this exclamation belongs to Hamlet.
_Ham._ and _Ghost_ had been effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But come; _swear_ here, as before, never, so help you Mercy."

The sense demands _swear_.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "That they do know my son, come you more nearer;
           Than your particular demand will touch it."

By punctuating thus, and recollecting that 'Than' is _then_, we remove
all difficulty.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You must not put another scandal on him,
    That he is open to incontinency."

For 'That' we must read _Than_. Introd. p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To speak of horrors--he comes _in_ before me."

The addition of _in_, besides improving the metre, adds greatly to the
force and vivacity of the passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As he would draw it. Long _time_ stay'd he so."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Pleasant and helpful to him.--Ay, amen."

The folio omits 'Ay'; I read '_Amen_, amen,' as the metre requires.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Both to my God, one to my gracious King."

So the folio reads; the 4tos, more simply, have _and_ for 'one.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My news shall be the fruit to that great feast."

So the 4tos properly read; the folio has _news_ for 'fruit.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If I had play'd the desk or table-book."

Perhaps _ply'd_, as pretending to be occupied. In Tit. Andron. v. 2,
the 4tos read '_ply_,' the folio '_play_ my theme.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And we all wail for.--Do you think 'tis this?"

The originals read 'all we.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_To_ mark the encounter. If he love her not."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Being a good kissing carrion.--Have you a daughter?"

Warburton for 'good' read _god_, which alone makes sense. We have
"common-kissing Titan" (Cymb. iii. 4). Malone also quoted from King
Edward III.:--

    "The freshest summer's-day doth soonest taint
    The loathed carrion that it seems to kiss."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But not as your daughter may conceive."

The 4tos omit 'not,' which was supplied by the folio, and is
indispensable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Little eyases that cry out on the top of question."

This is hard to understand; but there is no reason to suspect any
corruption of the text. The allusion seems to be to the loud shrill
tones of the children in acting.

    "Like to some boy, that acts a tragedy,
    Speaks burly words and roars out passion."
                                       Marston, Ant. and Mel. II. iv. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I know a hawk from a handsaw."

The proper word is _hernshaw_; but the phrase may, as was not unusual,
have undergone a change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The first row of the _Pons Chanson_ will show you more."

What '_Pons Chanson_' is, no one has divined. Editors therefore read
'pious chanson,' meaning the ballad of Jephtha and his daughter.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "May be the devil and the devil has power."

For the first 'the devil,' 4to 1604 reads _a deale_; so the reading was
probably 'a devil,' which is best.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Niggard of question; but of our demands
            Most free in his reply."

Warburton transposes 'niggard' and 'most free'; and certainly, unless
the poet forgot himself, he was by no means 'niggard of question';
and 'niggard' would also accord better than 'free' with 'of demands.'
It might be better to read _to_ for 'of,' as these words were often
confounded.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Good gentlemen, give him a further edge."

Here 'edge' seems used in a peculiar sense, as the substantive of
_egg_, to urge, incite.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Affront Ophelia. Her father and myself [lawful espials]."

As 'lawful espials' is only in the folio, injures the measure, and is
not necessary, I would omit it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or to take arms against a sea of troubles."

Though we meet in Shakespeare with incongruities as great as this,
I incline to read for 'sea' _siege_, my own conjecture, as well as
Pope's. We have "All sores lay siege" (Tim. iv. 3), "Sickness did lay
siege" (M. N. D. i. 1), and several other expressions; and this is
almost a solitary instance of the figurative use of 'sea' by our poet.
_Assay_, or _assays_, for 'a sea,' has also been proposed, "Galling the
gleaned land with hot _assays_" (Hen. V. i. 2); and it may have been
the poet's word. If so, I should incline to read _the assay_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With a bare bodkin? Who would these fardels bear."

This is the reading of the folio, which I retain. 'These,' which
gives much force to the expression, refers either to the evils he had
enumerated, or is, as is so frequently the case, used in a general
indefinite sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_In_ the undiscover'd country from whose bourne
    No traveller returns."

If any one refuses his assent to this very slight addition to the text,
and which for the first time gives it sense, I must leave him to his
own devices. Introd. p. 57.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Ye_ heavenly powers, restore him!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And the very age and body of the time his form and pressure."

As 'age of time' seems not to be a very correct expression, we might
feel inclined to read _world_ for 'time,' but no change is required;
_time_ is the age, the world, and so 'age of the time' may signify
period of the world, the then state of society. M. Mason read _every_
for 'the very.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee."

I see not what 'pregnant' can mean here. It might be better to read
_pliant_, or some such word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Even with the very comment of thy soul."

So the 4tos properly read; the folio has _my_ for 'thy.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So long? Nay, then, let the Devil wear black; for
    I'll _not_ have a suit of sables."

When the critics shall have proved--which they have not done yet--that
a dress trimmed with sable was called 'a suit of sables,' I will
grant that Hamlet did not mean mourning, and that the negative is not
needful. The passage, as I now give it, answers to the vulgar phrase,
"The Devil may wear black for me."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Marry, this is miching malicho."

For 'miching malicho,' which is nonsense, I read _mucho malhecho_ Sp.,
_i.e._ very ill-done.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For women fear too much; even as they love."

A line riming with this is lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So you must take your husbands."

So the 4to 1603 reads, with an evident allusion to the Marriage
Service. The others and the folio have _mistake_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "On my rais'd shoes."

So Steevens read. The folio has _rac'd_, the 4tos _raz'd_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A very, very paiock."

For 'paiock' Pope read _peacock_ (the usual reading), Theobald
_paddock_, Blakeway _puttock_. I agree with Theobald, as the King is
afterwards called a paddock, and there is probably an allusion to the
poisoning. _Puttock_ is favoured by "I chose an eagle and did avoid a
puttock" (Cymb. i. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly."

Tyrwhitt proposed 'be _not_ too bold.' I read, 'If my duty be too bold,
my love [is] too unmannerly....'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Govern these ventages with your fingers and your thumb."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And do such bitter business as the day
    Would quake to look on."

The 4tos, followed by editors in general, join 'bitter' with 'day.' See
Introd. p. 61.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Though inclination be as sharp as _it_ will."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "I'll silence me e'en here."

The 4to 1603 reads, "I'll _shrowd_ myself behind the arras." Hanmer and
Hunter read '_sconce_ me,' and we have, "I'll _ensconce_ me behind the
arras" (Mer. Wives, iii. 3). Still no change is required.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A slave that's not _a_ twentieth part the tithe."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Enter_ Ghost _in his night-gown._"

I have given this stage-direction from the 4to 1603, as it is quite
incongruous to suppose that the Ghost appeared in armour in a room of
the palace; and as Hamlet says, "My father in his _habit_ as he lived!"
As the Ghost makes but one short speech, I think, if it could be so
managed, it would be more psychologic and effective for him to remain
invisible, except to Hamlet mentally, and his voice only be heard by
the audience.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Lest with this piteous action you convert
    My stern effects."

I read, with Singer, _affects_. See on Meas. for Meas. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That monster Custom, who all sense doth eate
    Of habits, devil is angel yet in this."

The verb 'eate' here could never have come from the poet's pen; for
it makes pure nonsense. I read _create_ with the greatest confidence,
of which the two first letters must have been effaced in the MS. We
have an exact parallel in _smell_, 'all' (Tim. i. 2). See also on
All's Well, i. 1, ii. 1. 'Sense' seems here, as in M. for M. iv. 4, to
signify kind, manner, way.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And either master the Devil or throw him out."

So 4to 1604, but omitting 'master'; while 4to 1600 and the undated omit
'either.' Malone read _curb_ for 'master'--a most needless alteration.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "One word more, good _my_ lady."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib."

I read gib-_cat_, as 'gib' never occurs alone. We surely would not say
_a tom_ for a tom-cat, _a jack_ for a jackass, a jackdaw, etc. See
Introd. p. 58.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1.          "_So haply Slander_,
              Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter," etc.

The happy suppliance of Theobald, universally adopted with the change
of his _for_ to _so_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Pays homage to us--thou mayest not coldly set _by_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "I'll be with you straight. Go _on_ a little before."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But greatly to find quarrel in a straw."

'But' here is somewhat ambiguous. We may take it as yet, nevertheless,
or in its original sense of save, except; in which last case 'to find'
would be finding.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Which bewept to the grave did not go."

Pope, who has been generally followed, struck out 'not'; but though the
printers often omitted the negative (as once already in this play) they
rarely added it. We have, however, an instance in Much Ado, iii. 2, and
it might be better to suppose the same to be the case here. We might
also read '_un_wept,' which occurs in Rich. III. ii. 2, or, as I have
done, '_un_bewept,' as the initial _un_ is at times omitted. See on
Cymb. i. 7.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All from her father's death. And now, behold....
    O Gertrude, Gertrude!"

'And now behold' is added from the 4tos. Punctuated as here it seems
effective.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "And not _gone_ where I had aim'd them."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As how should it _but_ be so? how otherwise?
    Will you be ruled by me?--Ay, my lord."

It is manifest that _but_ or _not_ had been omitted. For 'Ay' we should
read _I will_. See Introd. p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But that I know love is begun by time."

I cannot make any good sense of this, and I suspect that 'time' may be
owing to the same word lower down. The love spoken of seems to be that
of children for parents, and possibly the word was _childhood_, _birth_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And then this 'should' is like a spendthrift sigh
    That hurts by easing."

All the original 4tos read 'spendthrifts' (the passage is not in the
folio); but this reading must be wrong, for the allusion is evidently
to the popular belief, not yet extinct, that every sigh consumes a drop
of the blood, and so is injurious to life; 'spendthrift' is therefore
to be taken in the sense of _wasting_. "With sighs of love that cost
the fresh blood dear" (M. N. D. iii. 2), "Look pale as primrose, with
blood-drinking sighs" (2 Hen. VI. iii. 2), "And stop the rising of
blood-sucking sighs" (3 Hen. VI. iv. 4).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As make your bouts more violent to that end."

It might be better to read _And_ for 'As.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How _now_, sweet queen!"

This, the reading of 2nd folio, makes the line more euphonious.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There with fantastic garlands she did come."

The 4tos, followed by the editors, read:

    "Therewith fantastic garlands she did _make_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or like a creature native and indued."

Perhaps it should be _inured_, as 'indued' takes _with_, not _unto_.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Woo't drink up Esil? eat a crocodile?"

Those who maintain that 'Esil' is the acid of that name have not
observed that 'drink up' means drink the whole of, and so could hardly
be used of any liquid in the abstract. It is also to be observed that,
at that time, eysel was used as a medicine:--

    "Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
    Potions of _eysel_ 'gainst my strong infection."
                                                               Son. cxi.

and further that, by association of ideas, 'crocodile' presupposes the
mention of a river. The Yssel, a river of the Low Countries, runs by
Deventer and Zutphen, near which last place Sir Philip Sidney received
his death-wound, and so the name Yssel may have been familiar to the
English mind. I therefore have placed it in the text.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_In_ an hour of quiet thereby shall we see."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "_I_ folded up the writ in form of the other."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For by the image of my cause I see
    The portraiture of his. I'll count his favours."

It is best to read, with Rowe, 'I'll _court_ his favour.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You will do it, sir, really."

I incline to read _readily_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And yet but yaw neither."

So 4to 1604. The others have _raw_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The most _fond_ and winnowed opinions."

I quite agree with those who read _fann'd_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_As_ that I have shot an arrow o'er the house."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Stick fiery off indeed."

In my Edition I most rashly read _Strike_ for 'Stick.' In the language
of the time _stick off_ meant set off, show off, display:--

    "Nor virtue shines more in a lovely face,
    Than true desert is _stuck off_ with disgrace."
                                       Chapman, Dedic. of Batrach., etc.

    "His lute still touch'd to _stick_ more _off_ his tongue."
                                                Id. Hymn to Hermes, 766.

Yet Chapman, in whom alone I have found it, may have adopted it from
one of the 4tos of this play. See on Rom. and Jul. iii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I do not fear it; I have seen you both.--
    But since he's better'd, we have therefore odds."

If he (_i.e._ Laertes) was bettered, in the ordinary sense of the
word, how could the odds lie against him? _You're_ would give better
sense than 'he's'; but it does not satisfy me. A line has evidently
been lost, and the latter part may be addressed to the Queen. The lost
line may have been something like this: "'Tis true he did neglect his
exercises." Hamlet had said (ii. 2) he had "foregone all custom of
exercises." In my Edition I have made an _Aside_ here to the Queen, who
may have made a sign of dissent; but a speech of the Queen's to the
same effect may have been what is lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come.--Another hit.--What say you?
    [A touch a touch] I do confess."

With the 4tos I omit the bracketed words, as needless to the sense and
injurious to the measure.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Good madam ...--Gertrude, _Gertrude_, do not drink."

This repetition of the name, which is required by the metre, adds, I
think, much energy. The name is repeated in the same manner in iv. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "As thou'rt a man!...
    Give me the cup; let go; by Heaven I'll have it."

This appears to me to be the true punctuation.




OTHELLO.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife."

The attempts made to give sense to 'wife' here are utterly ridiculous.
I cannot see any objection to _life_, the reading of the sagacious
Tyrwhitt. Here, as elsewhere, it may be observed 'damn'd' is merely to
be damned, _i.e._ condemned, be odious, as a person of fair regular
life must be in the eyes of an Iago, who in fact says of Cassio's (v.
1) "He hath a daily beauty in his _life_, That makes me ugly." If the
allusion be to the person of Cassio, we might read _face_, _skin_, or
some such word, as denoting effeminacy.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Plague him with flies. Though that his joy be joy."

Perhaps the second 'joy' was suggested by the first instead of _high_,
_bright_, or some other adjective.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Abus'd her youth with drugs or minerals
           That weaken motion."

I read with Hanmer _waken_, for that was the object of philtres.
'Motion' is emotion, desire. In the next scene we have "To cool our
raging _motions_, our carnal stings," and "mixtures powerful o'er the
_blood_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "As in these cases, where the aim reports,
              'Tis oft with difference."

The 4tos read 'they aim'; but the reading of the folio gives a more
simple sense. 'The aim' is conjecture.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And prays you to believe him."

It has been proposed to read _relieve_, which seems to make better
sense, and which I adopt.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sans witchcraft could not _be_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I won his daughter _with_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Duke._ "To vouch this is no proof," etc.

The folio makes this part of Brabantio's speech.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That I have passed." * *

We might add _with his demands complying_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The rites for which I lov'd him are denied me."

Is not this--whether we read 'rites' or 'rights'--rather indelicate
coming from the lips of Desdemona?

    "Lovers can see to do their amorous _rites_
    By their own beauties."
                                                   Rom. and Jul. iii. 2.

    "The great prerogative and _rites_ of love,
    Which as your due time claims, he does acknowledge."
                                                      All's Well, ii. 4.

    "And with lascivious petulancy [she] sew'd
    For hymeneal dalliance, marriage _rights_."
                                         Marston, What You Will, iii. 1.

Juliet might, to herself, speak of the "amorous rites," but for
Desdemona to do so before the Senate of Venice! impossible. Would it
not, then, be better to read _parts_? She had just said that it was
"for his honours and his valiant _parts_" she loved him.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not to comply with heat the young affects
    In my defunct, and proper satisfaction;"

The reading of Upton, Gifford, Singer, Dyce, etc., is

    "Not to comply with heat (the young affects
    In _me_ defunct) and proper satisfaction,"

and in proof of the validity of this punctuation Gifford quotes from
Massinger:

                 "And though the _youthful heats_,
    That look no further than your outward form,
    Are long since _buried in me_."
                                                          Bondman, i. 3.

I have no doubt that Massinger had the present passage in view, and
understood it in the same way as these critics; and still there
might be a printer's error in it of which he was not aware. (See on
Rom. and Jul. iii. 3.) But can any one produce a single instance of
Shakespeare's thus interposing a parenthesis between two substantives
connected by a _copula_, or forming a sentence like that in the
parenthesis? and what can be more rugged and disjointed than the whole
passage as thus arranged? Would not the following not very violent
corrections make the whole more Shakespearian and more harmonious?

    "Not to comply with heat _of_ the young affects,
    In my _distinct_ and proper satisfaction."

'Affects,' as Johnson rightly observed, is _passions_, not affections,
and Othello styles them 'young,' either as they were new in him, and
had not been gratified, or as belonging chiefly to youth.

                      "For herself she's past
    These _youthful heats_."
                                              Fletch. Sea Voyage, ii. 2.

'_Distinct_ and proper' means separate and peculiar. _Distinct_, the
correction of 'defunct,' I regard as nearly certain. Its meaning here
is separate.

    "Sheds stuff'd with lambs and goats, distinctly kept,
    Distinct the biggest, the more mean distinct,
    Distinct the youngest."
                                                 Chapman, Odyss. ix. 34.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He has a person and a smooth dispose
    To be suspected."

I do not clearly see the sense of 'dispose' here, perhaps we should
read _discourse_.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "A Veronesè, Michael Cassio."

This is another instance of the poet's negligence or forgetfulness; for
in the first Act he had called him a Florentine. Though the metre is
perfect, it might be better to insert _nam'd_ or _one_. As in the old
copies 'Veronese' is spelt _Veronessa_, Malone thought it was the ship
that was so called; but that is not likely.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thanks you, the valiant of this warlike isle."

The reading of the folio, with 'this' for _the_ from the 4tos, which
read '_worthy_ isle.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And in the essential vesture of creation
    Does bear all excellency."

This is the reading of the 4to; the folio reads in the second line,
'Does tyre the ingenieur,' of which it seems almost impossible to make
any good sense. 'The essential,' etc., means person, body, form.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trace
    For his quick hunting, stand the putting on."

This is the reading of the folio; the 4to 1622 has _crush_ for 'trace';
and Warburton, followed by Steevens, Singer, and Dyce, read _brach_ for
'trash.' These last-named critics read the whole line thus: "If this
poor _brach_ of Venice whom I _trash_." "The jingle," Steevens says,
"being in Shakespeare's manner." Now to this I object--first, that this
was not Shakespeare's manner, for the apparent instances of it are
mostly printers' blunders; and secondly, that Roderigo did not require
to be _trashed_ or checked 'for his quick hunting,' for he was always
hanging back and ready to give up the chase till urged on by Iago.
This last objection also applies to 'trace' in the sense of follow or
accompany.

    "Can _trace_ me in the tedious ways of art,
    Or hold me pace in deep experiments."
                                                      1 Hen. IV. iii. 1.

It would also apply, though in a less degree, to _train_, which would
yield a tolerable sense. On the whole, I think that Iago's words may
have been _praise_, which would suit his sneering ironical tone. As to
'brach,' though we frequently find it used of a woman, I believe it was
never applied to a man.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And passion having my best judgement collied."

The reading _quelled_, approved by Collier, is not so absurd as Singer
thinks it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In night and on the court and guard of safety."

This is the reading of all the old copies. Malone read 'of guard and
safety,' making the necessary transposition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Probal to thinking."

As I have never met with the word 'Probal' elsewhere, I think it may be
a mere misprint for _probable_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As the free element[s]."

It is the air that is meant, which was called 'the element.' See on Tw.
Night, i. 1, and on Temp. v. _ad fin_.


ACT III.

    SC. 3. "Save that they say the wars must make examples
              Out of her best."

There is an error either in 'wars' or in 'her,' and perhaps the
simplest correction is to read _war_. For 'her' Rowe, who is usually
followed, read _their_. Singer reads _the_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My lord, for aught I know....--What dost thou think?
    Think, my lord?--Think, my lord! By Heaven he echoes me."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
    The meat it feeds on."

This is the reading of the old copies. Southern and Hanmer read _make_
for 'mock,' which appears to me to be indubitable; for this is the very
thing which jealousy does--witness Ford and Leontes--while I cannot see
how jealousy, which is given to anything rather than mockery, should
mock its food. Singer and Dyce, however, retain 'mock,' but without
giving any explanation.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I slept the next night well, was free and merry."

So the 4tos and the editors read; the folio inserts _fed well_ after
'well,' which may be right, as six-foot lines abound in this play. With
Singer I have therefore retained it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If it be that or any that was hers."

Both 4to and folio read 'it was hers'; the 2nd folio '_if_ it was
hers.' It has been justly observed that the printer took _y^{t}_ (the
abbreviation of _that_) for _it_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "Like to the Pontic sea,
    Whose icy current and compulsive course
    Ne'er keeps retiring ebb, but keeps due on."

The first 'keeps' was plainly produced, in the usual way, by the
second. Pope read _feels_, which was afterwards found in 4to 1630,
and is now generally received. Southern had read _knows_, which seems
equally good; and the same is the reading of Collier's folio. I doubt
much, however, if the original word was not _makes_, which I have
given, corresponding with 'keeps' in not personifying. _Feels_ is
evidently a conjecture in 4to 1630, as well as by Pope, as having
some resemblance to 'keeps'; but in these cases no resemblance need
be sought. (See Introd. p. 65.) For 'icy' Singer reads _yesty_, most
needlessly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "A frank one.--You may, indeed, say so."

I have given it in my Edition 'A frank one _too_'; but no addition
was necessary. I made an error for the sake of metre, and, I think,
weakened the passage.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Fetch me that handkerchief; my mind misgiving _me_...."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For let our finger ache, and it indues
    Our other healthful members even to that sense
    Of pain."

Perhaps the word the poet wrote was _induces_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Who having, by their own importunate suit
    Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
    Convinced or supplied them cannot choose
    But they must blab."

In the third line I think that for 'convinced or' we should read
'convinc'd _her and_'; the confusion of 'or' and _her_ was easy: _and_
must of course be added to get sense. See Introd. p. 6

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I never knew _a_ woman love a man so."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Nor send you out of the way?--Never, _my lord_."

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "Had it pleased Heavens
    To try me with afflictions, had they rained."

The 4to reads 'had _he ruin'd_.' 'Heavens' is frequently used instead
of Heaven.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A fixed figure for the Time of scorn
    To point his slow unmoving finger at."

This is the reading of the 4to; the folio has 'The' for 'A,' and '_and_
moving' for 'unmoving.' For 'Time' Rowe, who is generally followed,
read _hand_; for 'slow unmoving' Mason read 'slow_ly_ moving'; Hunter
read '_of_ the Time for scorn.' I, however, see no need of change.
'The Time of scorn' is the scornful age or world, a frequent sense of
'time'; and we should print "To point his slow--unmoving finger at,"
the latter term being a correction of the former.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Made to write whore upon? What _sin_ committed?"

So also in two succeeding lines of this speech, and in all a syllable
is wanting. It is really amazing how such an omission--destructive
alike of energy and of metre--could not only have been made by the
printer, but remain unnoticed by all the editors. As _sin_ is wanting
in both 4to and folio, it is clear that the former was printed from the
latter, and not from a MS. In the last line I read 'hear _of_ it.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And bade me to dismiss you.--_To_ dismiss me!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "She was in love, and he she lov'd prov'd mad
    And did forsake her."

For 'mad,' which is certainly wrong, Theobald read _bad_, and I think
he was right. 'Proved bad' answers to our present _turned out bad_.
Regarding _bad_ as rather low and trivial, I read in my Edition
_false_, as that is the term in the ballad. I thought 'mad' might have
been suggested by 'maid' in the preceding line.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "And your unblest fate hies; strumpet, I come."

As 'hies' is always, as far as I am aware, followed by some qualifying
term, I add _on_ or with the 4to, 'apace.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Put out the light, and then ... put out the light!"

I adopt this punctuation of Warburton's. He was going to say something
further, but he stops, and contents himself with repeating his words.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Should I repent me: but once put out thine."

So the 4to; the folio for 'thine' has 'thy light,' which is far less
effective.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Oh, falsely, falsely murdered!"

It would not be possible, in the whole compass of poetry, to find a
more glaring absurdity than this of making Desdemona speak after she
had been smothered.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Like the base Indian threw a pearl away
    More worth than all his tribe."

The folio reads 'Iudean,' and there has been great controversy on the
subject. In any case the allusion is unknown.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Their medicinal gum."

The reading of the 4to; the folio has 'medicinable.' Mr. Dyce doubts if
at that time 'medicinal,' with the accent on the penult, was in use;
but this place might seem to prove it, and it may be so pronounced also
in W. Tale, ii. 3. (See my note on Milton's Sam. Ag. 627.) In it the
French and not the Latin accentuation was followed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk."

Perhaps here, as elsewhere, 'Where' has taken the place of _When_.




JULIUS CÆSAR.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "But if you _should_ be out, sir, I can mend you."

For a similar omission, also injurious to the metre, see on Twelfth
Night, ii. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "That her wide walls encompass'd but one man."

The folio has _walks_; the obvious correction is from Collier's folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What you would work me to I have some aim _of_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From that it is disposed _to_; therefore 'tis meet."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "In favour's like the work we have in hand."

'In' is the necessary correction of _Is_ of the folio. See on K. John,
iv. 2.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Is not to-morrow, boy, the first of March?"

The correction of Theobald, _Ides_, has been universally and properly
adopted; for 'first' _must_ have been a printer's error.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Brutus, thou sleepest: awake! Such instigations
    Have been often dropped where I took them up."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Speak, strike, redress!_--Am I entreated _then_?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sir, March is wasted fifteen days."

Theobald read _fourteen_, which was the exact number; but the error was
the poet's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No, not an oath. If not the face of men."

Warburton read _fate_, which Singer justifies; Mason _faith_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When Cæsar's head is off.--Yet I _do_ fear him."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Fierce fiery warriors _did_ fight upon the clouds."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Horses do neigh, and dying men did groan."

The context demands the past tense here also. The 2nd folio properly
therefore read _did_ for 'do.' See on Mer. of Ven. ii. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We were two lions, litter'd in one day."

'Were' is Theobald's correction of _hear_ of the original. Upton read
equally well, _are_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizances."

I am rather dubious of 'stains'; as the meaning is not clear.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "The heart of woman is. O Brutus, _Brutus_!"


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "These couchings and these lowly courtesies
           Might fire the blood of ordinary men."

As, so far as I know, the subs. _couching_ does not occur anywhere
else, we might read, with Hanmer, _crouchings_; for nothing is more
common than the omission of a letter by the printer. Singer, however,
quotes from Huloet, "_Cowch_ like a dogge, Procumbo;" and we may see
a reference to the dog in the whole speech. For _fire_ I would read
_stir_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony;
    Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts
    Of brother's temper do receive you in _them_."

As the second line does not make sense, we may either, with Capell,
read _no_ for 'in,' or, deeming the error to lie in 'malice,'
substitute _friendship_, or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "A curse shall light upon the limbs of men."

Johnson, followed by Dyce, prefers _lives_. I do not see much to be
gained by the change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Passion I see is catching; from mine eyes."

For 'from' the 2nd folio properly read _for_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Cæsar has had great wrong.--Has he, _my_ masters?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Read the will. We will hear it Antony;
    You shall read us the will. _Read_ Cæsar's will."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For I have neither writ, nor words, nor worth."

The 2nd folio properly read _wit_, i.e. mental power.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1.                        "One that feeds
              On objects, arts, and imitations," etc.

I see no objection to this line; but Theobald read, and Dyce approves
of, '_abject_ arts.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Our best friends made, our means stretch'd _to the utmost_."

I most willingly adopt this excellent addition of Malone's, which is
every way to be preferred to the usually adopted reading of the 2nd
folio, "_and_ our _best_ means stretched _out_." Of Malone's reading
Mr. Collier says, "which is not only a bad verse, but is supported by
no authority," as if the 2nd folio was an authority! And "a bad verse!"
Mr. Collier has strange ideas of metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "_Yet_ let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself."

Some read '_And_ let me'; but 'Yet,' in which I had been anticipated,
seems preferable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Brutus, _bay_ not me."

Theobald's judicious correction; the folio has _baite_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Set in a note-book, learn'd and conn'd by rote
    To cast into my teeth."

The proper word is _his_, not 'my'; but it may be one of the poet's
usual slips.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Cicero one!--_Yes_; Cicero is dead."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Came on refresh'd, new-aided, and encourag'd."

The reading of the folio is 'added.' Both Singer and Dyce agree in the
correction.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "_You_ flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank thyself."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is my birthday; as this very day."

For 'as' we should, I think, read _at_, as I have done.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "And sudden push gives them the overthrow."

It might be better to read 'And _a_,' or rather _A_. See on Temp. i. 2.




ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "To weep; whose every passion fully strives."

The 1st folio reads 'who'; the correction was made in the 2nd.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Must change his horns with garlands."

Both Southern and Warburton read _charge_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And, fertile every wish, a million."

Warburton's correction of 'foretel' of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Saw you my lord?--No, lady."

So 2nd folio; the 1st has _Save_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Extended Asia from Euphrates, _and_
    His conquering banners shook from Syria."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Antony thou would'st say.--Oh, _no_, my lord."

       *       *       *       *       *

                 "Oh! then we bring forth weeds
    When our quick minds lie still, and our ills told us
    Is as our earing."

'Minds' is Warburton's correction of 'winds.' This confusion of _m_ and
_w_ is not unusual. In King John (v. 7) we have, "And the siege is now
against the _wind_;" and in Cymb. (ii. 4) "Now _w_ingled with their
courages."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And get her love to part."

The usual correction, _leave_, is right. Two Gent. i. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Tempt him not so too far. I wish forbear."

'Wish' here signifies recommend, advise. I think we should read 'wish
_you_,' as it is always followed by its object when used in this sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "One great competitor."

The proper word is _Our_. See on Cor. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
    Call on him for it."

Collier's folio reads _Fall_. I agree with it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As we rate boys; who being mature in knowledge."

I read '_im_mature,' for the negative is required.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love,
    Comes fear'd by being lack'd."

Warburton, who has been generally followed, made the correction
_dear'd_. But there is no such verb. I read _dear_. "I shall be lov'd
when I am lack'd" (Cor. iv. 1). _Come_ for _became_ occurs also in "so
_came_ I a widow" (2 Hen. IV. ii. 3).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Goes to and back lacking the varying tide."

Theobald read justly _lackeying_. I read _fro_ for 'back.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Both what by sea and land I shall be able
    To 'front the present time."

I read '_With_ what both.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To let me be partaker of."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "For so he calls me--Now I feed myself
              With most delicious poison--thinks on me," etc.

It is thus I would give force to the passage. The appeal to those
present is feeble.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed."

There can be no doubt that 'arm-gaunt' is a printer's blunder. The best
correction seems to be that of Boaden and myself, _arrogant_; we might
also read _ardent_, as we have "a hot and fiery steed" (Rich. II. v.
2); or _angry_, as in F. Q. i. 1, 1. I had, like M. Mason, conjectured
_termagant_; but that term is never applied to an animal. In favour of
_arrogant_, Singer quoted from the Arauco Domado of Lope de Vega

    "Y el _cavallo arrogante_, en que subido
    El hombre parecia
    Monstruosa fiera que seis pies tenia."

In Spanish, I may observe, _caballo arrogante_ is simply a gallant,
spirited horse. See Calderon, La Niña de Gomez Arias. II. There is not,
as far as I know, any instance of the use of _arrogant_ in this sense
in English; and it would be a curious circumstance if Shakespeare had
learned the Spanish sense of it.

       *       *       *       *       *


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wand lip."

I see no sense in in 'wand.' Some editors read _wan'd_, taking perhaps
the image from the moon. I have read _wanton_, in the sense of soft,
yielding like "the wanton rushes" (1 H. IV. iii. 1), "the wanton air"
(L. L. L. iv. 3), which would also suit the metre better. I, however,
strongly suspect that the poet's word may have been _tann'd_, spelt
of course _tand_, so that a printer's error was very obvious. She is
more than once called _gypsy_; she has "a _tawny_ front" (i. 1); and
she says of herself (i. 5.) that she is "with Phoebus' amorous kisses
_black_." In Son. cxv. we have "_tan_ sacred beauty;" and in Son. lxii.,

    "But when my glass shows me myself indeed,
    Beated and chopp'd with _tann'd_ antiquity."

'Salt' is wanton, lascivious; perhaps from _salax_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I should do thus.--Welcome to Rome.--_I_ thank you."

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "Your wife and brother
    Made wars upon me, and their contestation
    Was theme for you."

I am not satisfied with this passage. Perhaps for 'their' and 'you' we
should read _your_ and _them_, as I have done.

       *       *       *       *       *

                      "If you'll patch a quarrel.
    As matter whole you have _not_ to make it with."

The negative was properly inserted by Rowe.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Go to them; your considerate stone _am I_."

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "Truths would be tales _only_,
    Where now half-tales be truths."

Hanmer read '_but_ tales'; Steevens '_as_ tales'; Capell '_then_ be
tales.' We might also read '_mere_ tales.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or else he seeks us out.--Where lies he _now_?--
    About the Mount Misenum.--What's his strength?--
    By land great and increasing; but by sea
    He is an absolute master."

I give 'By land' to Cæsar. See on As You Like it, ii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In her pavilion (cloth of gold of tissue)."

With Collier's folio I read _and_ for 'of.' See Final Note to Comus in
my Milton.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "The silken tackle
    Swell with the touches of the flower-soft hands,
    That yarely frame the office."

'Swell' (_sc._ with pride, _i.e._ are elate) no doubt makes good sense;
but the words of North's Plutarch are "Others tending the tackle and
ropes of the barge, out of which there came a wonderful sweet savour
of perfumes, that perfumed the wharf's side." _Smell_, the reading of
Collier's folio, is therefore probably right. In the last line 'the'
should, I think, be _their_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Would I had never come from thence nor you
           _Come_ thither."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I see it in my motion, have it not in my tongue."

We should probably read _notion_, i.e. idea, mind.

       *       *       *       *       *

                      "But near him thy angel
    Becomes a fear."

Upton read _afear'd_, and, I think, rightly; a Fear was a source of
terror, not an object of it. In the corresponding place of North's
Plutarch the word is _afraid_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4.                        "We shall,
              As I conceive the journey, be at Mount _Misenum_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Tawny-finn'd fishes."

Theobald's correction of 'tawny-_fine_' of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears,
    That long time have been barren."

I adopt without hesitation the excellent correction of _Rain_ for
'Ram.' "Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear" (Tim. i. 1). "In
measure rain thy joy" (Mer. of Ven. iii. 2).

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5.                           "If Antony
              Be free and healthful, so tart a favour _suits_ not
              To trumpet such good tidings."

We might also read, as is usually done, '_why_ so tart a favour?'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Made _the_ all-honour'd honest Roman Brutus."

The _the_ was properly inserted in the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "The third part of the world, man? Seest _thou_ not?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The holding every man shall bear as loud
    As his strong sides can volley."

'Bear' is, as usual, one of Theobald's excellent corrections for 'beat'
of the folio; 'holding' is burthen.


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Than gain which darkens him * * *"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Without the which a soldier and his sword
    Grants scarce distinction."

For 'Grants' we might read _Gains_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "_Ever_ think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, ho!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This is to horse. Adieu, _most_ noble Agrippa."

       *       *       *       *       *

                               "Be the ram to batter.
    The fortress of it _down_; for better might we," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Believe it till I weep too."

Theobald, who is always followed, read _wept_, but, it seems to me,
from not understanding the passage: what is meant is, accept this
explanation till you see _me_ weep from pure feeling, which Antony was
no more capable of doing than I am.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "This creature's no such thing.--_No_, nothing, madame."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Shall stain your brother."

The critics give examples of 'stain' in the sense of eclipse, throw
into the shade.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Then would thou hadst a pair of chaps, no more."

The critics properly read _world_ and _hast_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They'll grind _the one_ the other."

It is strange that _the one_, required both by sense and metre, was
first added by Johnson.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Being an abstract 'tween his lust and him."

For 'abstract,' which makes no sense, Warburton read _obstruct_, which
has been generally adopted; but as this subst. occurs nowhere else, I
prefer to read _obstruction_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Up to a whore; who now are levying."

As no good sense has been made of 'who,' I read _they_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "King Malchus of Arabia, _the_ King of Pont."

It is, however, I think, probable that a proper name has been lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Till we perceived both how you were wrong-led."

For 'wrong-led' Collier's folio reads well _wronged_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                            "And the high gods
    To do you justice make his ministers."

I would read _God_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "And as the president of my kingdom will _I_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have sixty sails, Cæsar none better _hath_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 8.    "Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt."

For 'ribaudred' Steevens and Malone read _ribald-rid_, and Tyrwhitt
_hag_ for 'nag.' There is no need of change. 'Ribaudred' is vile,
obscene; and 'nag,' like _hackney_, etc., was used of unchaste women.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When vantages, like a pair of twins, appear'd."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hoists sails and flies.--That I beheld _myself_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis easy to it; and therefore I will attend."

It should perhaps be ''Tis easy _way_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 9. "Which has no need of you; begone, _I pray_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By looking back _on_ what I have left behind."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Obey it on all cause.--_Oh_, pardon, pardon!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 10. "As is the morn-dew on the myrtle-leaf
              To his grand sea."

I think we should read '_morning_,' and _this_ for 'his.' It is the
adjacent Mediterranean that is meant.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Offers from thine invention."

The folio reads "From thine invention offers." See on Temp. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 11. "To lay his gay comparisons aside."

Mr. Singer and myself have both conjectured '_ca_parisons.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hear it apart.--_Here's_ none but friends; say boldly."

Hanmer also added _Here_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thus then, thou most renowned! Cæsar entreats _thee_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Farther than he is Cæsar['s]."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And put yourself under his shroud, _who is_
    The universal landlord."

Collier's folio adds _who is_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Say to great Cæsar this. In disputation
    I kiss his conquering hand."

Warburton's reading '_de_putation,' is not to be disputed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Dissolve my life! The next Cæsarion smite!"

'Smite' is the proper correction for 'smile' of the folio. See on Hen.
V. ii. 2.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Enough to fetch him in. See it _be_ done."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou,--and thou,--and thou.--You have _all_ serv'd me well."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Haply you shall not see me more, or, if
            _You do_, a mangled shadow."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Come, _my_ good fellow, put mine iron on."

The folio has _thine_ for 'mine'; Rowe also added _my_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Alexas did revolt, and went to Jewry
            On affairs of Antony's; there did dissuade
            Great Herod to incline himself to Cæsar."

Malone has shown from North's Plutarch that _persuade_, not 'dissuade,'
was the poet's word. In the first line for 'and' I read _He_, which may
have been written _A_'.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Cæsar himself has work, and our oppression
            Exceeds what we expected."

The right word is 'opposition,' also the reading of Hanmer and
Warburton.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And let the Queen know of our guests."

He had no guests. Theobald read _gests_, which must be right, though
Shakespeare uses it nowhere else.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Each man's like me; you have shown _yourselves_ all Hectors."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 9.                 "Hark! the drums
            Demurely wake the sleepers."

It is rather remarkable that Mr. Dyce and I should have simultaneously
conjectured _Do merrily_, of which I think there can be little doubt.
See Introd. p. 67.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 10. "_And_ they have put forth the haven * *"

Rowe proposed _Further on_; Capell _Hie we on_; Tyrwhitt _Let us go_;
and Malone _Let's seek a spot_. I read "_We'll take our stand_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But being charg'd we will be still by land."

Here both 'But' and 'still' may cause some difficulty. The former is to
be taken in its original and proper sense, except, unless; the latter
in the sense of quiet.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                 "The hearts
    That spaniel'd me at heels."

The folio has _pannell'd_; Hanmer made the correction.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Oh! this false soul of Egypt! this grave charme."

In my Edition, yielding to an impulse I could not resist, I have
added a final _r_ to 'charme' both here and a few lines before; thus
making it accord with 'witch' and 'gypsy,' as he also calls her. But
he likewise terms her 'spell,' and Perdita (W. T. iv. 3) is called
'enchantment,' both, however, in the vocative. It is also rather
improbable that the last letter of the same word should have been
effaced in two places; but this may be explained by supposing an
effacement of the ends of many of the lines in a page of the MS.; and
while the others were restored, 'charme,' as making sense, was not
supposed to have been injured. By 'Egypt' is meant the Queen, so styled
elsewhere also. 'Grave' is heavy, powerful, oppressive; as in the
_gravibus Persis_ of Horace, Carm. iii. 5. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And hoist thee up _un_to the shouting plebeians."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 12. "That which is now a horse, even with a thought
            The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct."

It might be better to read _dislimbs_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pack'd cards with Cæsar['s]."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unarm _me_, Eros; the long day's work is done."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The courage of a woman; less noble-mind_ed_."

It is evident that the final syllable had been effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 13. "His death's upon him, but _he is_ not dead."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in! darkling stand _on_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No more, but e'en a woman."

The folio has _in_ for 'e'en'; the correction is Johnson's.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks _us by_
           The pauses that he makes."

I adopt Malone's excellent addition, which has everything in its favour.

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "His taints and honours
    Wag'd equal with him."

We should perhaps read, as has been proposed, _Weigh'd_ for 'Wag'd.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                  "For Cæsar cannot live
    To be ungentle."

'Live' is the correction of Southern and Pope of _leave_ in the folio.
'To be' is being. See Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung,
           The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's."

With Mr. Dyce I would read _dug_, the correction of Warburton. _Of_ may
have been lost in the beginning of the last line. Still 'dung' may be
right, denoting earth; so I have retained it in my Edition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He gives me so much of my own, as I
    Will kneel to him in thanks _for_."

For 'as' Mason would read _and_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If idle talk will once be necessary."

Hanmer read '_ac_cessary'; but perhaps without need.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And he hath sent _me_ for thee."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There was no winter in it; an autumn 'twas."

So Theobald; the folio has _Antony_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                  "His delights
    Were dolphin-like; they showed his back above
    The element they lived in."

For 'his' we should read _their_ or _the_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "By the rebound of yours; a grief that suites
    My very heart at root."

'Suites' is _shoots_ (see on L. L. L. iv. 3). Some read _smites_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To one so meek, that my own servant should," etc.

The poet may have written _weak_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With one that I have bred. The gods! it smites me."

For 'The' we should read _Ye_, as in Cor. i. 6.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of eyes again so royal! your crown's away;
    I'll mend it, and then play...."

Pope most properly read _awry_ for 'away,' which was caused probably by
the rime with play.




KING LEAR.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "What shall Cordelia do? love and be silent."

For 'do' the folio reads _speak_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Only she comes too short _in_ that I profess."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Although the last not least."

The folio reads '_our_ last _and_ least.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I crave no more than what your highness offer'd."

So the 4tos; the folio reads 'than _hath_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness,
    No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step."

How could the pure and gentle Cordelia suppose herself to be suspected
of murder? which, moreover, accords not with the other charges she
enumerates. Collier's folio reads _or other_ for 'murder or.' I feel
strongly persuaded that the poet's word was _misdeed_, which, if a
little effaced, might easily be taken for 'murder.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Shall to the legitimate ... I grow, I prosper."

By pointing thus, as Rowe also did, we obviate the necessity of
adopting Edwards' ingenious reading of _top_ for 'to.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Though the wisdom of Nature can reason it thus and thus."

We should surely read _man_. 'Nature' is in the following line, and
hence the error.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Banishment of friends, dissipation of cohorts."

Johnson read _courts_. 'Cohorts' is not a Shakespearian term.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "With checks; as flatteries, when they are seen, _are_ abused."

It is only thus I can make sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Remember what I have said _to you_.--Well, madam."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To hold my course.--Prepare for dinner _now_."

The usual reading is, To hold my _very_ course.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "How now _our_ daughter! What makes that frontlet on?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As you are old and reverend _you_ should be wise."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Woe's _him_ that too late repents ...--O sir, are you come?"

So perhaps the poet wrote.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To the great love I bear you.--Pray you _be_ content."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Though I condemn _it_ not ... yet under pardon."


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "How in my strength you please. For you, _good_ Edmund."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Corn._ You know not why we came to visit you.

    _Reg._ Thus out of season threading dark-eyed night.
           Occasions, noble Gloster, of some poise,
           Wherein we must have use of your advice."

It is strange that the editors have not seen that _Reg._ is out of
place. It belongs to the third line. (See on Hen. V. i. 1.) In her
usual forward impatient manner she takes, as we say, the words out of
Cornwall's mouth. There is evidently a line lost after the fourth. We
might read "Have been the cause of this our sudden visit."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Knowing nought _else_, like dogs, but following."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Smile you _at_ my speeches, as I were a fool?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "They have travell'd hard to-night. Mere fetches _these_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For the sound man.--Death on my state!
    Wherefore should he sit here? This act persuades me."

This is the proper arrangement.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thy tender-hefted nature shall not give
    Thee o'er to harshness."

Neither _hefted_ nor _hested_, the other reading, makes sense; the
conjecture _hearted_ may, then, be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To wage _war_ against the enmity of the air."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You heavens, give me that patience [patience] I need."

Malone made the same omission.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_He_ hath put himself from rest, and must needs taste his folly."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. "Who have--as who have not, that their great stars _have_?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Hast thou _too_ given all unto thy daughters?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Dolphin, my boy, my boy!
    Cessè, let him trot by."

As these seem to be the words of the French King to his son in a ballad
quoted by Steevens, I have given the French _cesse_ instead of the
Spanish _cesa_ for the _cease_ of the 4tos, _sessy_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Child Rowland to the dark tower came."

Capell saw that a line was wanting here; for what follows must be the
words of the Giant. He would read with the 4tos _come_; but there was
no necessity, for in these ballads the first and third lines rarely
rimed. The lost line may have been something like this: "The Giant saw
him, and out he ran."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "A horse's heels," etc.

The originals read _health_, which is wrong beyond question, as is
proved by the proverb in Fordun and Ray, cited by the critics.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What store her heart is made of."

'Store' an obvious error for _stone_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken sinews."

For 'sinews' Theobald read _senses_, which has been generally received,
but perhaps without necessity.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Might I but live to see thee in my touch I'd say I had eyes
    again."

The proper word of course is _feel_, not 'see'; but the text may be
right. We have elsewhere, "I see it feelingly." We might also read _by_
for 'in.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Sirrah, _thou_ naked fellow!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "It will come _that_ humanity must perforce."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With plumed helm thy slayer begins _his_ threats."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But _she_ being widow, and my Gloster with her."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Ay, sir, she took them, read them in my presence."

The original is _I so_. Theobald made the change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not to a rage; Patience and Sorrow strove."

Pope gave 'strove' for the original _streme_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                           "You might have seen
    Sunshine and rain at once ... her smiles and tears
    Were like it--a better way."

For 'way' Theobald read _May_. Warburton proposed _wetter May_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Tis so they are afoot."

We should, with Warburton, read _said_ not 'so.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Pull off my boots; _pull_ harder, harder; so!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who by the art of known and feeling sorrow."

We should certainly read _knowing_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Got 'tween the lawful sheets."

We might supply '_were unto me_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What! with the case of eyes?"

With Rowe I read _this_. Case is pair.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Your eyes are in a heavy case, your purse in a light _one_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Madam _he_ sleeps still."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Be so good, madam, when we do awake him."

The folio has "Madam, be so good."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Fourscore and upward [not an hour more or less] and to deal
    plainly _with you_."

I agree with the 4tos, and with the more judicious critics, in omitting
the bracketted words. (See on Ham. iii. 1. v. 2.) The addition seems
requisite.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To make him even _go_ o'er the time he has lost."

The poet's word may not have been _go_, but a verb is lost. Its place
may have been taken by 'even.'


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "_Yet_ I am doubtful that you have been conjunct."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "_But_ if it be man's work I'll do it."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And Fortune led you well. You have the_m_ captives."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Make instruments to plague us * * *"

We might add '_in their time_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As he'd burst heaven, threw me on my father."

So all the 4tos--the place is not in the folio. Editors most properly
read _him_ for 'me.'




MACBETH.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. "_1 W._ I come, Graymalkin.--_2 W._ Paddock calls.--_3 W._
           Anon."

I adopt this arrangement of Mr. Hunter's instead of that of the folio,
usually followed.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Say to the King the knowledge of the broil."

Here 'the' is evidently an error for _thy_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Doubtful it stood * * *"

We might add, _For the two armies were_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And Fortune on his damned quarry smiling."

Holinshed, treating of this very matter, says, "to assist him in that
rebellious _quarrel_." Hence the usual correction of _quarrel_ for
'quarry' seems to be justified. In the old writers _quarrel_ in the
sense of cause, party, is frequent. It was in ordinary use at that
time, alike in French and English.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Like Valour's minion, carv'd out his passage,
    Till he fac'd the slave * * *"

We might add, _with Vengeance at his side_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Shipwrecking storms, and direful thunders _break_."

So Pope, from _breaking_ of the 2nd folio.

                             "Like _tempests
    Broke_ from the raging North."
                                               Fletch. Hum. Lieut. i. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This oür captains, Macbeth and Banquo?--Yes."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks, so they."

We might, but not so well perhaps, read 'o'ercharg'd' (see on M. N. D.
ii. 1). 'They so,' though it makes a rime, would give energy.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who comes here _now_?--The worthy thane of Rosse."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So should he look that seems to speak great things."

Collier's folio, I think rightly, reads _comes_ for 'seems' (see on
All's Well, ii. 3). We can hardly take 'to speak' in the sense of about
to speak.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From Fife, great king, where the Norweyan banners
    _Did_ flout the air, and fan our people cold.
    Norway himself with terrible numbers _there_."

Both sense and metre require _Did_. The battle was over, and the enemy
defeated.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3.                "As thick as tale
    Came post with post," etc.

Though 'tale' makes good sense, it might be better to read, with
Rowe, _hail_, of which Mr. Dyce gives many examples. _Came_ is Rowe's
correction for 'Can' of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Promis'd no less to them?--That trusted home."

Beyond question we should read, with Malone, _thrusted_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Give _me_ your favour; my dull brain was wrought."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_I'_ the interim having weigh'd it."

The _I'_ is not absolutely necessary, but I think Shakespeare wrote it.
See on Hamlet, iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Is execution done on Cawdor? or not
           Those in commission yet returned?"

There is every reason to suppose that the poet wrote '_are_ not,' the
reading of the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "That which cries "Thus must thou do, if thou'_dst_ have it."

       *       *       *       *       *

                     "The raven himself is hoarse
    That croaks the fatal enterance of Duncan
    Under my battlements. Come you spirits."

It is strange that our critics have not seen that the raven is
figurative, and means the man. I find that the German Delius had also
perceived it. In the third line I think we should read 'spirits of
_evil_'; for a foot is wanting, and good as well as evil spirits 'tend
on mortal thoughts.' The ordinary correction, 'Come, _come_,' is a mere
make-shift, and is tame and feeble.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And take my milk for gall."

Perhaps we should read _with_ for 'for,' taking 'take' in the sense of
tinge, infect, a sense it often bears.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark."

The word 'blanket' certainly seems too familiar and even vulgar an
expression, especially as the more dignified 'pall thee' had just
been used. Malone quotes from Drayton's Mortemeriados, 1596, "The
sullen night in misty _rug_ is wrapp'd." But even this is not so low
as 'blanket.' Collier's folio reads _blankness_, but that surely is
whiteness. Perhaps we might venture to read _blackness_, as in Ant. and
Cleop. (i. 4) we have "Night's _blackness_." At that time 'peep' was
to gaze earnestly and steadily at anything; not furtively, as now. 'To
cry' in the next line may be crying. See Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath
            Smells wooingly here; no jutty, frieze,
            Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird _on't_
            Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle."

The second line here is short by a foot; and as it does not end a
paragraph, there must be something wrong. The defect, however, is
easily remedied; we have only to read,

    "By his lov'd mansiönry that the heaven's
    Breath smells wooingly here."

The structure of the last line is like that of "Thy knee bussing the
stones" (Cor. iii. 1). "The mind is its own place" (Par. Lost, i. 254),
and similar places. There can be little doubt, I think, that _on't_
was effaced at the end of the third line; for the poet could hardly,
even in his most careless moment, have termed solid parts of a building
'pendent nests,' etc. Wordsworth, with this very place in his mind,
wrote: "_On_ coigns of vantage _hang_ their nests of clay" (Misc. Son.
34). It is also in favour of this reading that it throws the metric
accent on _this_, thereby adding force. 'Coign of vantage' would seem
to be _coin d'avantage_, Fr., and denoting a projection of some kind.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well
            It were done quickly. If the assassination
            Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
            With his success surcease; that but this blow
            Might be the be-all and the end-all here;
            But here--upon this bank and shoal of time--
            We'd jump the life to come.... But in these cases," etc.

So the passage should be pointed. The first 'done' in the first
line is, finished, ended; from 'If' in the second line to 'life to
come' in the seventh is one sentence, with the same idea repeated in
three several forms, and not completed; common sense dictates the
transposition of 'surcease' and 'success,' the latter signifying
accomplishment; 'but' in lines four and six is, only; 'the life to
come' is not the future state but the remaining years of his own life,
as is manifest from what follows. In scene 5 we have had, "Which shall
to all our _nights and days to come_." We also meet with, "True swains
in love shall in the _world to come_" (Tr. and Cr. iii. 2). "Thus all
his _life to come_ is loss and shame." Cowley, Davideis, ii. 616.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself,
    And falls on the other _side_.--How now! what news?"

Hanmer also supplied _side_, which metre and sense demand alike. He
had completed what he intended to say, and was pausing when his wife
entered.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "At what it did so freely? From this time
    Such I account thy love."

A line or more must have been lost between these lines.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I dare do all that may become a man;
    Who dares do more is none."

For 'do' in the second line, the correction of Southern and Rowe,
generally adopted, the folio has _no_, which Mr. Hunter retains, giving
the line to Lady Macbeth. But her reply, "What _beast_ was it then?"
shows that _do_ was the poet's word.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "Sent forth great largess to your officers."

The correction of Malone for 'offices' of the folio, which also makes
good sense. In a following line 'shut up' seems to apply to Duncan,
as denoting the pleasure he felt. The expression is similar to "I am
wrapp'd in dismal thinkings." All's Well, v. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis
    It shall make honour for you."

I cannot make sense of 'consent.' I had thought of _content_, also the
conjecture of Malone; but it does not quite _content_ me.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The curtain'd sleepe; witchcraft celebrates."

Something is evidently lost here. Steevens and Collier's folio read
'sleepe_r_.' (See on Temp. iii. 1.) The usual reading has been that of
Davenant, '_now_ witchcraft.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
    Moves like a ghost.--Thou sure and firm-set earth
    Hear not my steps which way they walk."

Here 'strides,' 'sure,' and 'way,' are corrections of _sides_, _sowne_,
and _may_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "These deeds must not be thought _on_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I am afraid to think _on_ what I have done."

Here the addition is not absolutely necessary, but it makes the
language more forcible and more idiomatic.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "To countenance this horror. Ring the bell.--
    What is the business?"

Theobald regarded 'Ring the bell' as a stage-direction; but a direction
follows, and Macduff, in his anxiety and impatience, reiterates his
order.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Let's briefly put on manly readiness."

A very awkward way of expressing Let us make haste and put on our
clothes (see Index _v._ Ready), for they must have been in their
nightgowns. (Ham. iii. 4.) I greatly doubt if the editors have
understood it; for they have no note on it; and Singer quotes it as a
parallel to "Put on the dauntless spirit of resolution" (K. John, v. 1).


ACT III.

    SC. 1.                "Let your Highness'
    Command _be_ upon me, to the which my duties," etc.

This insertion removes all difficulty very simply. _Be_ is omitted
constantly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Till supper-time alone; while then God be with you."

This line cannot be as the poet wrote it, for the metric accents fall
on 'be' and 'you.' We might read _good bye_, but it would be somewhat
too familiar. On the whole, I think that _mean_ has been omitted before
'while.' By supplying it, the language becomes dignified and king-like.
See Index _s. v._ While.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To make them kings, the seed[s] of Banquo kings!
    Rather than so come Fate into the lists."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Now, if you have a station in the file,
    Not in the _most_ worst rank of manhood, say it."

A syllable is wanting; we have "_most_ worst" in Winter's Tale, iii. 2,
and double comparatives and superlatives are common.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Whom we to gain our peace have sent to peace."

The first 'peace' was probably suggested, in the usual manner, by the
second. We might read _seat_, or some such word (see Introd. p. 64).
The 2nd folio has _place_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond."

We should read _band_, riming with 'hand.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                   "Light thickness and the crow
    Makes wing to the rooky wood. * * *"

We might add, _on earth below_. We have, "In all designs begun _on
earth below_" (Tr. and Cr. i. 3).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill."

It might be better to read 'themselves strong.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "'Tis better thee without than he within."

The 'he' had better probably be _him_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We'll hear _thee_ ourselves again."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If trembling I inhabit, then protest me
    The baby of a girl."

Neither 'inhabit' nor Pope's 'inhibit' makes sense. I would read
_evitate it_. "Since therein she doth _evitate_ and shun" (Mer.
Wives, v. 5; Introd. p. 67). The printer might easily make _inhab_ of
_evitate_ badly written. We might also read _evade_ or _avoid it_.
'Baby' is doll.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I hear it by the way; but I will send."

We should of course read 'hear_d_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "Who cannot want the thought how monsterous," etc.

This is evident nonsense; "yet," says Mr. Dyce, "I believe the text is
not corrupt. Shakespeare was sometimes incorrect in these _minutiæ_."
Shakespeare, however, never wrote nonsense; and if we read _We_ for
'Who,' we have the very word he wrote, and most excellent sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is gone to pray the holy king [up]on his aid."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hath so exasperate their king that he."

For 'their' we must of course read _the_.


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Toad that under cold stone."

A syllable is lost. Pope read '_the_ cold'; Steevens 'cold_est_.' I
read 'under_neath_,' as in Jonson's line, "Underneath this stone doth
lie."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Rebellious head rise never."

This is Theobald's reading for _dead_ of the folio. Hanmer
reads 'Rebellions,' which may be right, but 'head,' often means
insurrectionary forces.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "But cruel are the times when we are traitors
            And do not know _it_ ourselves."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_It_ shall not be long but I'll be here again."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou liest thou shag-ear'd villain."

Both Singer and Dyce read _hair'd_, and I think rightly. _Hair_ was
originally pronounced _hear_, under which form it occurs in two of
Shakespeare's older plays; so _shag-heared_ and 'shag-eared' would
sound exactly alike.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "You may deserve of him, and wisdom _'twere_."

A syllable has plainly been lost. For 'deserve,' the correction of
Theobald, the folio has _discern_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I would not be the villain that thou think'st _me_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Of aid_ of goodly thousands; but for all this."

The foot which is wanting may be thus supplied.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty."

For 'Convey,' which hardly makes sense, Singer reads _Enjoy_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Uproar the universal peace, confound
    All unity on earth."

As it may be doubted if there is such a verb as 'Uproar,' and as it
makes little sense, I would read _Uproot_ or _Uptear_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_Then_ Heaven forgive him too.--This time goes manly."

This is the reading of the folio; but editors read _tune_ for 'time.'
The terms were synonymous. See Gifford on Massinger's Roman Actor, ii.
1.

    "About him fairies, sing a scornful rime,
    And, as you trip, still pinch him to your _time_."
                                                       Mer. Wives, v. 5.

ACT V.

    Sc. 1. "Aye, but their sense are shut."

Editors read _is_ for 'are,' but I rather think we should read
'senses.' Yet 'sense' may be a collective. Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now."

Percy and Collier's folio read _chair_ for 'cheer.' This may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                 "My way of life
    Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf."

For 'way' Johnson proposed _May_, and this reading has been generally
adopted; but there is no need of change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That keep her from her rest.--Cure _her_ of that."

The last _her_ was supplied by 2nd folio. See Introd. p. 55.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff."

In the usual way, 'stuff' seems to have arisen from 'stuff'd.' I read
_matter_.

                                         "Shall expel
    This something settled _matter_ in his heart."
                                                            Ham. iii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What rhubarb, cymè, or what purgative drug."

For 'cymè,' an uncommon word, Rowe read _senna_, and he has been
universally followed. Yet it may not be the right word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "For where there is advantage to be given
           Both more and less have given him the revolt."

The 'given' of the first line was produced, in the usual way, by that
of the second. I read _taken_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Hang out our banners! On the outward walls
           The cry is still _They come!_"

So I think we should punctuate. It was from the keep, not the walls,
that the banner (as perhaps we should read) was hung. We have, no
doubt, "Advance our waving colours on the walls" (1 Hen. VI. i. 6); but
Orleans was a city, not a mere castle.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The time has been my senses would have cool'd."

Collier's folio, which I follow, reads _quail'd_ for 'cool'd.' "That so
to see him made her heart to quail." F. Q. iv. 3, 46.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Gracious my lord, I shall report that which [I say]
    I saw, but know not how to do't.--Well, say, sir."

'I say' is needless, and spoils the measure. It arose from 'say' in the
next line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Seems _to be_ bruited. Let me find him, Fortune."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl."

I may observe that 'pearl' is here a collective term--a singular, with
a plural sense. This word was often so used.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We shall not spend a large expense of time."

With Singer, I read _make_ for 'spend.'




TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.


ACT I.

    _Prol._ "To Tenedos they come."

This should be a single line, and is a sort of proof that the Prologue
is by Shakespeare (see Introd. p. 82). N.B.--In the beginning of the
Address prefixed to this play I read '_that_ brain' for "your brain."
See Introd. p. 68.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 1. "I have--as when the sun doth light a storm."

Rowe's correction of _scorn_ of the 4tos and folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "What were you talking of when I came _up_?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_In his right_ condition, I had gone barefoot to India."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Hector shall not have his wit this year."

Rowe's correction again, 'wit,' for _will_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "So, traitor!--when she comes!--when is she thence?"

This is Rowe's correction of "So, traitor, then she comes, when she is
thence?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And a proper man of _his_ person."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice."

For 'gifts' the Var. edit. has _griefs_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing."

For 'lies' Mason read, and perhaps with reason, _flies_. We might, but
less probably, conjecture _dies_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Achievement is command; ungain'd beseech."

Nothing can be more correct than this; yet some approve of Mr.
Harness's correction, _Achieved men_. 'Ungain'd' sc. men, are those who
have not gained, achieved. In Corneille's Polyeucte (i. 3), Pauline
makes the very same remark.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear."

For 'Then' of the 4tos the folio reads 'That,' another instance of the
confusion of these words. (See note on Prol.) The folio also reads
'contents.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Princes * * * * * *"

The remainder of the line has evidently been omitted or effaced; for
speeches never begin thus abruptly. We might read _and leaders of the
Grecian host_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With those of nobler bulk * * *"

We might add, _and greater strength_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And flies fled under shade," etc.

Here 'flies' is either a verb or a noun; if the former, we have the
grotesque image of the wind running and hiding itself after doing
mischief; if the latter, as in the folio, alluding to 'the brize,' we
have a bathos unworthy of any poet. Something, then, must have been
lost between 'flies' and 'fled.' I read thus:--

    "And flies _along the sky, while bird and beast are_
    Fled under shade;"

and I fancy I have made a near approach to what the poet wrote. As he
was reading Chaucer at that time, he may have had in his mind:--

    "Ne how the _beestes_ and the _briddes_ alle
    _Fledden_ for feare when the wood was falle."
                                                            Knt's. Tale.

If nothing is lost, we should read '_have_ fled.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Retires to chiding Fortune."

For 'Retires' Pope, whom I have followed, read _Returns_, Hanmer
_Replies_, Dyce _Retorts_. Yet the text may be right, and 'Retires' be
the French _retire_, shoots again, returns the shot.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Speak, Prince of Ithaca, and be it of less expect."

This is not sense. I read _'we_ it less.' The superfluous insertion of
_of_ was not infrequent (see on Meas. for Meas. iv. 4). Here, however,
it was manifestly introduced to make some kind of sense. See Introd. p.
67.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But for these instances * * *"

We might add, _which now I'll show you_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And look! how many Grecian tents [do] stand hollow
    Upon this plain so many hollow factions.
    When that the general is not as the hive."

'Do' was evidently introduced to eke out the verse. We should perhaps
read 'general'_s_' sc. tent.

       *       *       *       *       *

                            "Degrees being vizarded,
    The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask."

As what? A line seems to be lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
    Amidst the others."

Mr. Singer read _ether_ for 'others.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The enterprise is sick."

Hanmer read _Then_ for 'the.' See Introd. p. 65.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This chaos, when degree is suffocate,
    Follows the choking."

I have added in my Edition _of the common weal_; but we might also read
_as his consequence_, which I think better.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Breaks scurril jests * * * *"

I would add _on thee and all of us_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To weaken _us_ and discredit our exposure."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To overbulk us all.--Well, and how _then_?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And in the publication make no strain."

Perhaps we should read _doubt_ for 'strain.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And think, perchance, they'll sell; if _they do_ not."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What glory our Achilles shares from Hector,
    Were he not proud, we all should share with him."

We should read _wins_ or _gains_ for 'shares.' See Introd. p. 64. It
is remarkable that for the 'share' of the second line the folio reads
_wear_, thus correcting the error of the 4tos.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "When Achilles' brach bids me."

'Brach' is Rowe's correction; the originals have _brooch_, which--as
being an ornament hung round the neck--may be right. See Win. Tale, i.
2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Wrinkles Apollo's, and makes stale the Morning'_s_."

So the folio reads, followed by Singer and Dyce; the 4tos read _pale_
for 'stale'--a reading I incline to prefer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As you must needs; for you all cried--Go, Go."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The issue of your proper wisdoms rate."

Perhaps some word, such as _thus_ or _low_, has been lost after 'rate,'
or we should read '_under_rate.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have a roisting challenge sent amongst."

As I have not met with the verb 'roist' anywhere else, I suspect that
the poet may have written _roistering_, and the transcriber or printer
have omitted a syllable, as in Meas. for Meas. iv. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Virgins and boys, mid-age and wrinkled eld."

'Eld' is an excellent correction of Ritson's; the 4tos read _elders_;
the folio _old_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Which short-arm'd Ignorance itself."

Mr. Dyce reads 'short-_ai_m'd.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Their massy irons _out_, and cutting the web."

The metre requires this natural addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He sent _back_ our messengers, and we lay by
     Our appertainments, visiting of him."

The 4tos read 'He _sate_'; Theobald, who is generally followed, reads
'He _shent_; but this verb is never active in Shakespeare. Collier
reads '_We_ sent.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "His pettish lunes, his ebbs and flows, as if."

Here 'lunes' is Hanmer's emendation of _lines_. See Mer. Wives, iv. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As amply titled as Achilles is
     By going to Achilles."

We might perhaps add _in his tent_. See preceding speech.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_I_ would he were a Trojan--What a vice."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And give him half, and for thy vigour _let_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Fresh kings are come to Troy; to-morrow _morn_."


ACT III.

    SC. 2. "Love's thrice-repured nectar."

Mr. Collier found this excellent reading in one of the 4tos, 1609. The
reading of all the others and of the folio is _reputed_. Nothing is
more common than the confusion of _r_ and _t_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Lady, you have bereft me of all words."

The original editions put 'Lady' at the end of the line.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "But you are _not_ wise,
    Or else you love not; for to be wise and love
    Exceeds man's might. That dwells with gods above."

As far as I am aware, not a single critic has discerned the absolute
necessity for the negative in this place. "The gods themselves cannot
be wise and love" (Marston, Dutch Courtezan, ii. 1). Both dramatists
were probably indebted to Spenser:--

    "To be wise and eke to love
    Is granted scarce to gods above."
                                                       Shep. Cal. March;

and he to Publius Syrus "Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_With a bed_; which bed," etc.

Sense and metre demand this addition of Hanmer's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "That through the sight I bear in things to Jove."

For 'to Jove' most critics follow Mason in reading _to come_. Collier
hints at _above_. But the text is right; _to_ occurs constantly in the
sense of _at_, _chez_, _apud_: _ex. gr._ "Being a great favourite _to_
Queen Elizabeth" (Ashmole, Hist. of Berkshire, i. 249). "My heart _to_
her, but as guestwise sojourned" (M. N. D. iii. 2). "Lord Angelo
having affairs _to_ heaven" (Meas. for Meas. iii. 1).

    "But let determin'd things _to Destiny_
    Hold unbewail'd their way."
                                                 Ant. and Cleop. iii. 6.

It is to be observed that the word in the originals is _love_, not
'Jove,' and the very same error occurs in i. 3.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "In most accepted pain."

For 'pain,' which makes little or no sense, Warburton, who is generally
followed, read _pay_. I prefer _payment_, as effacement may have left
only a part of the _m_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "But this Antenor
    I know is such a wrest in their affairs."

I might incline to read _trust_ for 'wrest.' "Their tribune and their
_trust_" (Tit. Andron. i. 2). See also Ps. xl. 4, lxxi. 5. A _wrest_
was what we now term a tuning-key. "This small instrument, the tongue
being left in tune by the _wrest_ of awe." King James's Edict, etc.,
quoted by Singer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Good morrow, _Ajax_.--Ay, and good next day too."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For speculation turns not to itself
    Till it hath travell'd and is married there
    Where it may see itself."

I see no reason for adopting, as some do, _mirror'd_ of Collier's and
Singer's folios. There was, I believe, no such verb at that time.
I prefer _arrived_, which could easily have become _married_ in a
printer's mind.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where they are extended; who, like an arch, reverberate."

Rowe read _which_ and 'reverberate_s_,' of which the first is needless,
the second may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_By_ an act that very chance doth throw upon him."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As done. Perseverance, dear my lord _it is_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Where one but goes abreast. Keep then the path."

This line would gain both in perspicuity and melody if we were to read
'but one.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And leave you hindmost."

As this line is short, and as further on there is a line with two
superfluous feet, it is evident that there has been a misarrangement.
I have, therefore, in my Edition, rearranged this and the following
lines. I have there read, "Fallen in _the_ first rank;" but it might be
better, though less forcible, to read:--

    "Fallen in first rank, lies there for pavement to."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And give to dust that is a little gilt
    More laud than gilt o'erdusted _e'er is given_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves."

I incline to read _emulations_.

    "Whilst emulation in the army crept."--ii. 2.

    "When, for so slight and frivolous a cause,
     Such factious emulations shall arise."
                                                       1 Hen. VI. iv. 1.

Here one word appears, as elsewhere, to have become two in the
printer's hands. (See Introd. p. 67.) But as the poet was probably
familiar with Chapman's Iliads, the allusion may be to the various
missions of Apollo, Minerva, Hermes, and Iris.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles _laid_."


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "During all question of the gentle truce."

If 'question' be genuine here it must mean intercourse, conversation, a
sense of which I have met with no example.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We'll not commend what we intend to sell."

In Son. xxi. we have, "I will not praise that purpose not to sell."
Hence some would add a negative here; but it is not necessary. He means
that they would sell Helen dearly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "As infants empty of all thought."

Editors read 'infants' in the genitive. In either case I think _to_ has
been omitted before it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Beshrew the witch! with venomous wights she stays
     As tediously as hell."

No sense has been, or, I think, can be made of 'venomous wights.' I
think 'venomous' must be an error.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Good, good, my lord; the secrets of Nature have not
     More gift in taciturnity _than I_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "To shame the seal of my petition to thee
            In praising her."

We should read _zeal_, as is usually done.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "No trumpet answers.--'Tis but early day[s]."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That give a coasting welcome ere it comes."

There can be little doubt, I think, that 'coasting' is a noun; and I
regard it as the same as '_costing_ by aphæresis from _accosting_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, thou."--

Tyrwhitt's conjecture, _though_ for 'thou,' is a happy one, and should
perhaps be admitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him."

Perhaps 'odd,' which is so unusual, should be _at odds_.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and _thou_ idol."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet."

As he elsewhere, it might appear, calls him _brach_, Hanmer's reading
_harlot_ would seem to have been the poet's word. But on the other
hand, in the Honest Whore, _varlet_ is used as synonymous with _punk_,
of a woman in man's clothes. "'Tis a _male varlet_ sure, my lord, for a
woman's tailor never measured him."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "They say he keeps a Trojan drab, and uses the traitor Calchas'
    tent. I'll after _him_."

The word _him_, requisite for the metre, had been lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "A juggling trick, to be open secretly."

The 4tos and folio read 'secretly open.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And yet the spacious breadth of this division
    Admits no orifice for a point as subtle
    As Ariachne's broken woof to enter."

This is a curious instance of a copyist's or printer's transposition.
(Introd. p. 61.) It is downright nonsense; but read

    "As subtle as Arachne's broken woof,
    Admits no orifice for a point to enter,"

and what excellent sense emerges! 'Subtle' (or, as we should now write,
_subtile_), used also by Chapman (Odyss. x. 296) of Circe's web, is
_subtilis_, 'fine-spun'; and the 'broken woof' is the web torn by
Minerva; 'admits' is allows of, _i.e._ contains; for 'orifice' the
originals have _orifex_. As Shakespeare was a great reader of Golding's
Ovid, Ariachne could never have been _his_ word. A perfect parallel to
the embarrassed structure of this passage is offered by

    "That have sod their infants in--and after eat them--
    The brine they wept at killing 'em; then if."
                                                Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 3.

Which should be:

    "That have sod their infants in the brine they wept
    At killing 'em, and after eat them; then if."

(See on Cymb. i. 7.) The meaning of this very obscure passage is,
that there could not be now even the slightest doubt of Cressida's
infidelity, incredible as it might seem. 'Instance' in the following
lines is, proof.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3.                    "It is as lawful
           For we would count give much to as violent thefts."

This is pure nonsense. The first 'as' cannot be right, and it probably
gave origin to the second. I read with confidence,

                                   "It is unlawful
    For we would give much count to violent thefts."

In my Edition I read '_so_ to,' but it is needless. 'Count' is account,
importance, value.

    "Thieves for their robbery have authority
    When judges steal themselves."
                                                  Meas. for Meas. ii. 2.




TIMON OF ATHENS.


ACT I.

    SC. 1.         "My free drift
            Halts not particularly, but moves along
            In a wide sea of wax. No levell'd malice
            Infects one comma in the course I hold,
            But flies an eagle's flight, bold and forth on,
            Leaving no tract behind."

There is much here that seems dubious. _Holds_ might seem preferable to
'Halts'; yet I would make no change; for 'Halts not particularly,' I
think, may mean stops at, dwells on, no individual. For 'wax' we might
read, as has been proposed, _verse_; but the allusion may be to the
waxed tables on which the ancients wrote. We might also read _Which_
for 'But,' yet it is more probable that a line is lost before it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To those have shut him up; which failing _him_."

So Capell also; 2nd folio to _him_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My friend when he must need me."

Better, perhaps, with 3rd folio, _most needs_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Therefore he will be, Timon."

Something is lost after 'be,' and Timon is never addressed during his
prosperity by any one but Apemantus without Lord or some other title
of honour. I therefore read 'he will be _blest_, _Lord_ Timon.' In
ii. 2, we have an omission of 'Lord' by the printer. Singer proposed
_rewarded_ after 'be.' Possibly 'Timon' was a mere addition of the
printer's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That I had no angry wit to be a lord."

I cannot find a meaning in this. Perhaps 'no' should be _so_, and
'angry' _little_, _mean_, _poor_, or something of the kind. Warburton
read _hungry_. Singer's folio _an empty_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Traffic's thy god, and _may_ thy god confound thee!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Than my fortunes _are_ to me."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But yond_er_ man is ever angery."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Let me stay _here_ at thine apperil, Timon."

Timon had assigned him 'a table by himself.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Here's that which is too weak to be a sinner."

We should, of course, read _liar_ to rime with _mire_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Amen, _amen_. So fall to't."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus!"

This might seem to be a mere misprint of _do it_; but it is in reality
a mere corruption of it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Please you, my lord, there are certain ladies _who are_."

       *       *       *       *       *

                                       "The ear,
    Taste, touch, smell, pleased from thy table rise."

The admirable restoration of Warburton. The 4tos and folio had "There,
taste, touch, all pleas'd from thy table rise." The two first letters
of _smell_ had probably been effaced. See on Ham. iii. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You have added worth and lustre unto it."

In the originals 'unto't and lustre.' The 2nd folio reads 'and _lively_
lustre.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Vouchsafe me a word; it does concern you near.--
    Neär? Why, then, another time I'll hear thee.
    I pr'ythee let us be provided _now_
    To show them entertainment.--I scarce know how."

Metre and rime both seem to require this addition. Perhaps in the two
first lines we should read 'near_ly_,' thus making a rime, or omit
'thee.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "May it please your honour, _the_ lord Lucius."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Four milk-white horses, trapp'd in silver-_harness_."

                     "Thy horses shall be trapp'd,
    Their harness studded all with gold and pearl."

    Tam. of Shrew, Induct. ii.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And now I remember _me_, my lord, you gave."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I doubt _me_ whether their legs be worth the sums."


ACT II.

    SC. 1.         "It cannot hold; no reason
            Can sound his state in safety."

If 'sound' be the right word, it must be a nautical metaphor. Editors
in general read _found_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Plays in the right hand thus;--but tell him _that_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Ay go, sir.--Take the bonds along with you,
    And have the dates in. Come...."

This is the reading of the folio, and is perfectly intelligible;
perhaps we should read 'in _mind_.' Editors in general follow Theobald
in reading for 'Come' _compt_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2.                "Never mind
            Was to be so unwise, to be so kind."

Here 'to be' is being. See Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What shall be done? He will not hear till _he_ feel."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He humbly prays your speedy payment _of_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With clamorous demands of [debt] broken bonds."

I think 'debt' was introduced from the next line. Malone reads
'_date_-broken.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Look you, here comes my master's page."

For 'master's,' both here, and in the following speech, Malone very
properly read '_mistress'_.' See on Tam. of Shr. i. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have retired me to a wasteful cock."

By 'cock' here can only be meant a cockloft, and perhaps, as it is at
the end of the line, _loft_ may have been effaced. See Introd. p. 58.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This night englutted! Who is not _Lord_ Timon's?"

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "Canst thou the conscience lack
    To think I shall lack friends?"

As to lack conscience is to be unconscionable, and would sound here
rather ironically, I think 'lack' has been suggested by the following
line for _have_, or some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Men and men's fortunes could I _as_ frankly use."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And in some sort these wants of mine are crown'd."

Here also 'crown'd' seems to occupy the place of some other word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_I_ pr'ythee, man, look cheerly; these old fellows."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I would I could not [think it]. That thought is bounty's foe."

Several of the editors concur in this proper omission.


ACT III.

    SC. 1.                         "This slave
            Unto his honour has my lord's meat in him."

As this is not sense it requires emendation, and the simplest, I think,
is _dishonour_ for 'his honour.' I had also conjectured _this hour_, in
which I had been anticipated. Collier's folio reads _humour_. Mr. Dyce
thinks the error is in 'slave,' for which he reads _scandal_, quoting
"This _scandal_ of his blood" (R. II. i. 1). "Thou _slander_ of thy
heavy mother's womb" (R. III. i. 3). It must be observed that neither
_slave_ nor _scandal_ is followed by _unto_ elsewhere in Shakespeare.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_In him_ when he is turned to poison? Oh, may."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Yet had he mistook him and sent to me."

I do not see the meaning of 'mistook' here, and I have no probable
emendation to offer. For 'so many talents' here and elsewhere in this
scene some read '_fifty_ talents.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The more beast _I_, I say."

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "And just of the same piece
    Is every flatterer's sport."

Theobald's reading, _spirit_ for 'sport,' should be received.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And kept his credit, with his purse, _upright_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He does deny him, in respect of his _want_."

It is quite plain that this or some such word was effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Has Lucullus and Ventidius denied him?
            And does he send to me? Three ... humph! It shows
            But little love or judgement in him. Must I
            Be his last refuge? His friends, like physicians,
            Thrice give him over."

For 'Thrice,' the correction of Johnson, the folio reads _Thrive_,
which Steevens and Malone retain. It also reads 'Ventidius and
Lucullus.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I _may_ be thought a fool."

The 2nd folio added _I_; the _may_ seems also necessary.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Save the gods only. Now his friends are dead."

So also Hanmer; the folio has 'only the gods.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "We cannot take this for _an_ answer, sir."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Lucius, Lucullus, and Sempronius, Ullorxa, all."

The barbarous term 'Ullorxa' is, I suspect, a mere corruption of _all
on 'em_. How it _has_ perplexed the critics!

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "He did behave his anger, ere 'twas spent."

'Behave' is Warburton's reading for 'behove' of the folio. It is
generally followed, but I am dubious of it. Jackson and Singer have
proposed _behood_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And not endure all threats? sleep upon't."

With Hanmer, I read threat_nings_, for the sake of the metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Without repugnancy? if there be _then_."

Hanmer read '_But_ if.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                                   "The fellow
    Loaden with irons wiser than the judge."

For 'fellow' Johnson read _felon_, which I adopt.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why, _I_ say, my lords, he has done fair service."

This is the reading of the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "He has made too much plenty with him_self_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If there were no _other_ foes, this were enough."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Only in bone, that none may look _up_on you."

For 'in bone,' which is not very clear, Mr. Staunton would read _at
home_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pours into captain's wounds?--_Ha!_ banishment!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "The swallow follows not summer more willing_ly_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who stuck and spangled _by_ you with flatteries."

Hanmer reads 'with you_r_ flatteries.'


ACT IV.

    SC. 1. "Thy mistress is o' the brothel."

I read without hesitation '_at_ the brothel.' The _t_ in _at_ was not
sounded. See Introd. p. 52.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pluck the lin'd crutch from thy old limping sire."

In its ordinary sense, and I know no other, 'lined' cannot be applied
to a crutch. I therefore read _lean'd_, with an ellipsis, in the usual
manner, of _on_, which would give a tolerable sense. See Tr. and Cr. v.
3.

    "Rise mov'd, and _gravely leaning on one crutch_,
    Lift the other like a sceptre."
                                           Fletch. Beggar's Bush, ii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And yet confusion live!"

I prefer _let_; Hanmer did the same.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2.     "As we do turn our backs
    From our companion thrown into his grave,
    So his familiars to his buried fortunes ...
    Slink all away, leave their false vows with him," etc.

If we read _Upon_ or _On_ for 'From,' and point as I have done, all
seems simple enough. M. Mason ingeniously transposed 'From' and 'to.'
After all, however, 'From' may have been the poet's word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And we, poor mates, stand on the dying deck."

A 'dying deck' is an odd expression; _sinking_ would apparently make
better sense. Yet _dying bed_, i.e. death-bed, may still be heard.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who would be so mock'd with glory? or to live
    But in a dream of friendship, _and survive_
    To have his pomp and all what state comprehends
    But only painted, like his varnish'd friends?"

I have ventured on these corrections, as this part of the speech is in
rime. The folio reads 'com_pounds_.' Collier's folio and Sidney Walker
also propose _comprehends_. For 'or to live' we might read 'or _would_
live.' See Temp. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll follow and enquire him out, _and then_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "The greater scorns the lesser; not _even that_ nature,
           To which all sores lay siege, can bear great fortune
           But by contempt of nature. Raise me this beggar,
           And deny't that lord, the senator shall bear
           Contempt hereditary, the beggar native honour.
           It is the pasture lards the rother's sides,
           The want that makes him lean."

The excellent correction of 'rother' for _brother_ of the folio is
due to Mr. Singer, and to Collier's folio. _Rother_-(_hryther_ A.S.)
_beast_ is _juvencus_; there was a _rother_-market in Stratford.

    "A thousand herds of _rother_-beasts he in his field did keep."
                                                   Golding, Ovid. p. 52.

For 'lean' the folio has _leave_, an evident misprint. With respect to
the addition to the first line, it is demanded by the metre, and the
meaning is that even a diseased beggar, a Lazarus as it were, would
have to change his nature to be able to bear prosperity with equanimity.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Black, white; foul, fair; wrong, right; * * *"

Perhaps the lost words may have been _guilt, innocence_, or _guilty,
innocent_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pluck stout men's pillows from below their heads."

Hanmer read '_sick_ men's,' alluding to a practice of hired nurses.

       *       *       *       *       *

                          "This, _this_, it is
    That makes the wappen'd widow wed again."

For 'wappen'd' Singer read _wapper'd_, worn out, debilitated, of the
use of which word he gives examples.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With man's blood paint the ground gules, gules; _for if_."

A foot has certainly been lost. Sense seems to require this addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_For_ that by killing
    Of villains thou wast born to conquer my country."

       *       *       *       *       *

                          "For those milk-paps
    That through the window barne bore at men's eyes,
    Are not within the leaf of pity writ,
    But set 'em down horrible traitors. Spare not the babe."

This is a difficult passage. 'Milk-paps' seems to mean tender young
maidens, and editors are probably right in reading _bars_ for 'barne.'
The 'bars,' as Mr. Staunton observes, seem to mean the cross-lacing
on the bosom, still to be seen in Switzerland. We should perhaps omit
''em,' not 'But,' as the editors do, in the last line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And be no turn-coats. Yet may your pains six months _thence_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nor sound his quillets shrilly; hoar the flamen."

Singer adopts Upton's reading of _hoarse_ for 'hoar'; but though it
would agree with what follows, I know of no such verb. We might read
'_make_ hoar,' or '_make_ hoar_se_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Derive some pain from you. Plague all _of them_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Men daily find it _so_. Get thee away."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Teems and feeds all; whose self-same _forming_ metal."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yield him who all the human sons doth hate."

Here again, as so often, we have 'the' for _thy_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas."

For 'marrows' Mr. Dyce reads 'marrow_y_,' Collier's folio _meadows_. I
read _married_ sc. to the elms, etc. The marriage of the elm and the
vine is noticed in Com. of Errors, ii. 2, Cymb. i. 7.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Whereof ungrateful man, with liquorish draughts,
    And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind."

As 'pure' is rather an odd expression in the mouth of Timon, we should
perhaps read '_im_pure.' The negative is often thus omitted. See on
Com. of Err. ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "From change of fortune. Why this spade? this place?"

The folio has 'change of future'; the correction was made independently
by Southern and Rowe.

       *       *       *       *       *

                          "Will these moist trees
    That have outliv'd the eagle."

Hanmer's emendation of _moss'd_ for 'moist' has been generally and
justly received.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                "Willing misery
    Outlives incertain pomp, is crown'd before _it_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "At duty, more than I could frame employment;"

There is evidently a line lost here.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If thou wilt curse thy father, that poor rag."

For 'rag' Johnson read _rogue_, which is also in Singer's folio, and is
probably right, as he afterwards terms him "poor rogue hereditary."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "First mend my company. Take thyself away."

The folio reads _thy_ for 'my.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "'Twixt natural son and sire."

The folio reads _sun and fire_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Do villainy, do, since you profess to do it."

The reading of the folio is 'protest,' and also 'villain.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Break open shops; _for_ nothing can you steal
    But thieves do lose it. Steal _not the_ less for this."

Rowe also added _not_, which was indispensable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It almost turns my dangerous nature wild."

The context plainly shows that for 'wild' we should, with Warburton,
read _mild_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No more I pray _you_--and, he is a steward."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If not a usuring kindness, and, as rich men deal gifts."

It was the opinion of the sagacious Tyrwhitt that 'If not' is a mere
insertion of the printer's, suggested by 'Is not' in the preceding
line. I have, however, little doubt but it should be, as I have printed
it, "_Is it_ not a usuring kindness?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Exchange _it_ for this one wish, that you had power."


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "To load our purposes, with what they travel for."

Collier's folio reads _purses_. In that case 'they' should be _we_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "When the day serves, before black-corner'd night."

For 'corner'd' some read _coned_, _crowned_, _cover'd_. Singer and Dyce
_curtain'd_. I have given _cover'd_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Know his gross patchery, love him, feed him, _and_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "You have worke_d_ for me, there is payment. Hence!"

Malone, who is usually followed, reads '_done_ work.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "To stop affliction let him take his haste."

Perhaps 'take' should be _make_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "On those that are revenges; crimes like lands
            Are not inherited."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But shall be remedied to your public laws."

For 'remedied' Singer read _remitted_. I adopt _render'd_, the reading
of M. Mason.




CORIOLANUS.


ACT I.

    SC. 1. _2 Cit._ "Our business is not unknown to the Senate."

So it stands in the folio here and in the subsequent speeches; but as
Malone rightly saw, it should be _1 Cit._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture To scale it a
    little more."

All attempts to make sense of 'scale' having been most complete
failures, it only remains to read, with Theobald, _stale_.

                      "I'll not _stale_ the jest
    By my relation."
                                          Massinger, Unnat. Comb. iv. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Our disgrace with a tale. But an't please you deliver _it_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Even to the court _of_ the heart, to the seat of the brain."

So perhaps it were better to read.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With every minutes you do change a mind."

The _your_, for 'a,' of Collier's folio seems preferable.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of their own choice. One's Junius Brutus, _another_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The present wars devour him! He is grown
     Too proud to be so valiant."

Such also is the punctuation of Warburton. 'To be' to be _in being_.
See Introd. p. 70.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "What ever have been thought on in this state."

We should either read _hath_ for 'have,' or _we_ for 'been.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "At Grecian sword contenning ..."

So the folio reads; an evident misprint for _contemning_. The
aposiopesis removes all need of alteration. The usual reading is
_contending_, that of 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Catched it again; or whether his fall enraged him."

The usual substitution of _or_ for _and_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "No, nor a man that fears you less than he,
            That's lesser than a little."

I read, with Johnson, _but_ for 'nor.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Fool-hardiness! not I.--Nor I.--_Nor I._"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And, when it bows, stands up. Thou art left, Marcius ...
     A carbuncle entire, as big as thou art,
     Were not so rich a jewel."

A line at least has, I think, been left out after the first; or there
may be an aposiopesis.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6.                       "The Roman gods
            Lead their successes," etc.

It is evident from the context that the poet wrote _Ye_, not 'The,' as
in Ant. and Cleop. v. 2. They were written alike.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The mouse ne'er shunn'd the cat as they did budge
     From rascals worse than they."

'Budge' in its present sense seems to be a very feeble term; but in
Cole's Dictionary we have "To budge, _pedem referre_;" and in 3 Hen.
VI. i. 4,

    "With that we charg'd again; but out, alas!
     We _bodg'd_ again."

There seems to be an allusion to deer in 'rascals.' We had the same
allusion above in

    "Thou rascal, that art worst in blood to run,
    Leadest first to win some vantage."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And four shall quickly draw out my command
    Which men are best inclined."

I read _forth_ for 'four'; 'command' is the nom. to 'draw.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Hence, _then_, and shut your gates upon us."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 8. "That was the whip of your bragg'd progeny."

Here 'bragg'd' is, bragged of, that you brag of; 'progeny' progenitors,
and 'whip' the implement with which they scourged their foes. Chaucer
(Tr. and Cr. ii.) terms Hector the "Grekis _yerd_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 9.                  "When steel grows
            Smooth as the parasite's silk, let him be made
            An overture for the wars."

By 'him' in the second line can only be meant the parasite, and what is
the meaning of his being an 'overture for the wars'? I feel convinced
that it is a printer's error for a noun; and I read _pipes_, which
might be thus mistaken. The meaning then would be, when things are so,
let pipes and tabors, not trumpets and drums, be used in our armies,
grown thus effeminate.

                "My throat of war be turn'd,
    Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
    Small as a eunuch's," etc.--iii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "At a poor man's house; he used me _very_ kindly."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 10.        "Where I find him, were it
           At home, upon my brother's guard, even there,
           Against the hospitable canon, would I
           Wash my fierce hand in his heart."

With the fullest conviction I read for 'brother's guard' _household
hearth_; for that was the very place where he _did_ find him. "He got
him up straight to the _chimney hearth_, and sate him down" (North's
Plutarch, p. 232). Besides, we never hear that Aufidius had a brother;
and it should be _under_, not _upon_, the guard; a man is, or stands,
on his own not on another's guard. In Rich. II. iv. 1 we have "under
his _household roof_;" and _household hearth_ occurs in Campbell's
Gertrude of Wyoming, iii. 17.


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "What harm can your beesome conspectuities glean out of this
           character?"

Regarding 'beesome' as a corruption, the editors have all adopted
Theobald's reading, _bisson_, which occurs in Hamlet (ii. 2) in the
sense of blinding. Mr. Singer, however, quotes from Huloet's Dictionary
"Blynde or _Beasom_borne, cæcigenus," which proves the text to be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_For_ these in honour follows Coriolanus."

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "I have lived
    To see inherited my very wishes,
    And the buildings of my fancy * * *"

We might supply _turn'd to sense_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Whiles she chats _of_ him. The kitchen malkin pins."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "At some time when his soaring influence
    Shall teach the people."

There is perhaps an aposiopesis here; otherwise I should incline to
read _touch_, as Mr. Knight and Collier's folio also read.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The blind to hear him speak. Matrons flung _their_ gloves."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "We met here, both to thank and to remember."

Editors in general read _meet_. I read 'We _are_ met.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "We shall be blest to do, if he remember."

Collier's folio read _prest_, i.e. ready; but no change is needed. "And
then _we shall be bless'd_ To do your pleasure" (King John iii. 1). It
is the same as _happy_ of the present day.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "Alone he entered
    The mortal gate of the city, which he painted
    With shunless destiny."

I do not see the meaning of 'painted' here. Perhaps the right word is
_parted_, i.e. burst open, as it had been closed on him, i. 5. In Rom.
and Jul. ii. 5 we have the same change of _ar_ to _ain_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Some brown, some black, some auburn."

For 'auburn' the folio has _abraham_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The price _of it_ is to ask it kindly.--Kindly?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Why in this woolvish tongue should I stand here."

As, in Othello (i. 1), the folio reads "_tongued_ consuls" for "_toged_
consuls" of the 4to, editors here properly read _toge_ for 'tongue';
the 2nd folio has _gown_. As 'woolvish' offers very little sense, we
should, with Collier's folio, read _woolless_; for it has been already
(ii. 1) termed "the _napless_ vesture of humility."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have seen and heard of; for your voices _I_
    Have done many things, some less, some more. Your voices."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That our best water brought by conduits hither,
    And nobly nam'd so, twïce being Censor."

That a line has been lost here is beyond doubt. Pope, who is generally
followed, added, "And Censorinus, darling of the people." But as the
words in North's Plutarch are "so surnamed because the people had
chosen him censor twice," it might be better to read "_And Censorinus,
he that was so nam'd_."


ACT III.

    SC. 1. _Com._ "You are like to do such business."

With Malone I read _Cor._, to whom it is better suited. The names are
often given wrong in this play.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Which we disdain'_d_ should tetter us."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "O good, but most unwise Patricians!"

The folio reads 'O God!' the judicious alteration is Theobald's, as
usual. See on Ham. ii. 2.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "They know the corn
    Was not our recompense, resting well assured
    They ne'er did service for 't."

For 'our' Southern read _their_, which seems to have been the poet's
word.

       *       *       *       *       *

                    "Could never be the native
    Of our so frank donation."

As I have never met with 'native' in the sense of origin, source, I
think, and so did Mason, that the right word is _motive_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "How shall this bosom multiplied digest
    The senate's courtesy."

I do not think that the text is, in any place in these plays, more
certainly correct than it is here; yet some late editors adopt without
hesitation _bisson multitude_, the reading of Collier's folio. By
'bosom multiplied' the poet means the union or complex of the bosoms,
_i.e._ hearts, affections, of the people. In his next speech Cor.
uses in a similar manner "multitudinous tongue;" and in ii. 2 we meet
"multiplying spawn." In Lear (v. 3) we have "the _common bosom_;" and
in our poet's Lover's Complaint "That he did in the _general bosom_
reign."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To jump a body with a dangerous physic."

For 'Jump' Pope read _vamp_, Singer _imp_. 'Jump' is risk, hazard, and
the verb seems, like so many others, to be here causative.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Go call the people; in whose name _I_ myself."

       *       *       *       *       *

    _2. Sen._ "Weapons, weapons," etc.

So the speech is given in the folio. In the Globe Shakespeare it is
given _Senators, etc._, and what follows as the discordant cries of the
various parties, which certainly seems to be more effective.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come, try upon yourselves what you have seen me _do_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Lay hands upon him.--Help Marcius, help, _help_!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Com._                    "Stand fast
    We have as many friends as enemies."

I think this should be _Cor._, and I have so given it.

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Cor._ "Come, sir, along with us."

This speech evidently belongs to _Com._

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Leave us to cure this cause.--For 'tis a sore upon us,
    You cannot tent yourself."

I think we should either omit 'upon us,' or for 'us' read _you_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Cor._ "I would they were barbarians, as they are,
          Though in Rome litter'd, not Romans, as they are not,
          Though calv'd in the porch o' the Capitol!...

    _Men._                                    Begone,
          Put not your worthy rage into your tongue."

So, I think judiciously, Tyrwhitt arranges, and he has been generally
and properly followed. The folio gives the whole to Menenius, to whom
it is not at all suited.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or Jove for 's power to thunder. His heart 's his mouth."

I would read '_in_ his mouth.' "My voice is in my sword" (Macb. v. 7).
"He wears his tongue in his arms" (Tr. and Cress. iii. 3).

       *       *       *       *       *

                            "To eject him hence
    Were but one danger, and to keep him here
    Our certain death."

I read _our_ for 'one,' as Theobald also proposed. In Ant. and Cleop.
(i. 4) we have "_One_ great competitor," where the sense demands _our_;
and in Son. xcix. "_Our_ blushing shame," where editors read, as sense
requires, _One_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Form [in peace] to his utmost peril."

I omit 'in peace,' as it had just occurred, is needless, and disturbs
the metre.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "I talk of you."

Here Collier's folio places the entrance of Volumnia, and I think
rightly.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "O sir, sir, sir!"

The _son, son, son!_ of Collier's folio is much better. She never
elsewhere says _Sir_ to him. See on Meas. for Meas. iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The thwartings of your dispositions."

'Thwartings' is the emendation of Theobald for _things_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have a heart as little apt as yours,
    But yet a brain," etc.

There is, I think, either an aposiopesis at the end of the first line;
or a line is lost, as Volumnia is speaking quite calmly; or, _to
stoop_, _to yield_, or something of that sort is omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Before he should thus stoop to the heart."

Here again Theobald emended, _herd_ for 'heart.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "You are too absolute;
    Though therein you can never be too noble.
    But when extremities speak ... I have heard you say."

So I think we should point to make sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you _with_."

The metre requires a syllable; the 2nd folio reads _to_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "But with such words that are but roated in."

'Roated' is probably _roted_; but no such verb occurs elsewhere as
_rote_. Boswell proposed _rooted_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Not _only_ what is dangerous present but
    The loss of what is past."

There can be little doubt that _only_ was the word omitted.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Often thus; which correcting thy stout heart,
    Now humble as the ripest mulberry,
    That will not hold the handling, [or] say to them."

By these slight corrections this place gains sense--a thing it never
had before. All through the speech, it may be observed, Volumnia acts
the part she would have her son perform. The transposition he had made
in the first line--where the folio has 'Which often thus'--having
perplexed the printer, he took 'humble' for a verb, and so introduced
'or' to try to make sense. (Introd. p. 67.) Mr. Dyce says "the passage
now stands as Shakespeare wrote it." Why, then, has he not given us the
sense of it?

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Even as she speaks, why _all_ their hearts were yours."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Must I with my base tongue give to my noble heart."

It might be better to omit the first 'my' and 'to.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Well, mildly be it then; mildly _be it then_."

For an exactly similar effacement at the end of a scene see on Temp.
iii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3.     "He has been used
            Ever to conquer and to have his worth
            Of contradiction."

I do not well understand 'worth' here. Rowe read _word_; but I cannot
approve of it; _wreak_ would seem better. We have "a heart of wreak"
(iv. 5); also Tit. And. iv. 3, 4. See on M. for M. ii. 1.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Rather than envy _to_ you.--Well, well, no more."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Given hostile strokes, and that not _only_ in the present."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have been consul, and can show from Rome
    Her enemies' marks upon me."

The preposition should be _'fore_, _for_, or _to_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That won you without blows! Despising for you
    The City, thus I turn my back _upon it_.
    There is a world elsewhere."


ACT IV.

    SC. 1.            "You were used
           To say extremities was the trier of spirits."

The 2nd folio reads 'extremity,' and it is usually followed, and is
perhaps right; yet the text is not wrong. See Introd. p. 72.

       *       *       *       *       *

                               "_That_ Fortune's blows,
    When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves
    A noble cunning."

Though this may seem devoid of sense, it is, I think, what the poet
wrote. If so, we must take 'wounded' actively, like "Under my burden
_groan'd_" (Temp. i. 2). "It is twice _blessed_" (M. of Ven. v. 1)
etc.; and then 'gentle' will denote that the blows were open and
honourable ones. (See the parallel passage in Tr. and Cress, i. 3.) If
this should not satisfy, we might perhaps read _in the gentle-minded_.
Pope read 'gentle-_warded_.' 'Cunning' here is skill taken in a good
sense, as in "May my right-hand forget her _cunning_" (Ps. cxxxvii).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Like to a lonely dragon that his fen
    Makes feared."

Perhaps the right reading would be _den_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Will or _not_ exceed the common, or be caught."

The negative seems required to make sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "My first son,
    Whither wilt thou go?"

She had, according to herself, no other son (see i. 3); and again she
says of herself (v. 3), "While she, poor hen, fond of no second brood."
I have never met with 'first' in the sense of noblest, that given it
here by the critics. I would therefore read _fairest_. In Tr. and Cr.
we have "_fair_ Lord Æneas"(i. 3); "_fair_ Prince" (iii. 1, v. 1);
"_fair_ Diomed" (iv. 1); _fair_ beholders (Prol.).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "More than a wild exposture to each chance."

Southern read _exposure_, which probably the poet wrote.

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Cor._ "Oh, the gods!"

I give this speech to _Vir._, to whom it is better suited. Her only
other speech in this scene is "O Heavens! O Heavens!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "But your favour is well appeared by your tongue."

Steevens read _approved_, Singer _appayed_. The poet probably wrote
_has_, pronounced _as_, of which the printer made 'is.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "My birth-place have I, and my love's upon."

With Steevens, I read _hate_ for 'have.' This change of adjacent
letters is a common error with printers.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "All-noble Marcius. Let me _en_twine
    Mine arms about that body."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat,
    And waked half-dead with nothing."

A line is apparently lost here; or there is an aposiopesis.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Like a bold flood o'erbear _her_. O! come, go in."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To fright 'em ere destroy _'em_. But come in."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This peace is _good for_ nothing but to rust iron."

Steevens, without being aware of the metric requirement, made the same
addition.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "than War's a destroyer of men.--'Tis so, and as
    War[s] in some sort may be said to be a ravisher," etc.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "If he had gone forth Consul, _have_ found it so."

       *       *       *       *       *

                                      "And who resist
    Are mocked for _their_ valiant ignorance."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "Which he was lord of; or whether nature _in him_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And Power, unto itself most commendable,
    Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair
    To extol what it hath done."

I agree with Steevens in regarding this passage and the comments on
it as being equally unintelligible. The meaning seems to be one which
Shakespeare frequently expresses (see Tr. and Cr. i. 3, ii. 3, iii.
3)--self-praise is no praise. 'Unto itself commendable' is, then,
standing high in the possessor's estimation. The sense yielded by
'tomb' and 'chair' is most trivial, and I would therefore venture to
propose

    "Hath not a tongue so evident as a charmer's."

Charms and spells, we know, were murmured or muttered in a low tone
("wizards that peep and that mutter" Is. viii. 19); and if the final
letters of _charmer's_ had been effaced--like _in him_ a few lines
higher--and only _char_ left, the printer might easily have taken it
for 'chair,' and so have made 'tomb' to correspond. For 'chair' Singer
reads _hair_; Collier's folio _cheer_. _Charmer_ occurs in Oth. iii. 4,
and the poet had met with it in his Bible. I have introduced it again
in Ant. and Cl. iv. 8.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "One fire drives out one fire; one nail one nail;
    Rights by rights fouler, strengths by strengths do fail."

For 'fouler' Dyce reads _faulter_, Singer _foil'd are_. We might also
conjecture _fall, and_; the final _d_ in this last not being sounded.
_Fall_ and _fail_ come thus together in "Fall Greeks, fail fame;
honour or go or stay" (Tr. and Cr. v. 1). It seems, however, safest to
read, with Malone, as I have done, _founder_. We have "All his tricks
_founder_" (H. VIII. iii. 2). What is said of fire in the first line is
a favourite idea with our poet. We have it again in Two Gent. ii. 4, K.
John, iii. 1. It is an allusion to the homoeopathic mode of curing a
burn by holding it to the fire. By the fires, etc., he means Coriolanus
and himself.


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "It was a bare petition of a State
            To one whom they had punish'd."

I do not well understand 'bare' here. Mason read _base_, which is not
quite satisfactory.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pray you, go to him.--What should I do _there_?"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Unheard, what then? * * *
    But as a discontented friend, grief-shot."

I would supply _How, then, should I return?_

       *       *       *       *       *

                      "Good faith, I'll prove him.
    Speed how it will, I shall ere long have knowledge
    Of my success."

This is also the punctuation of Delius.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I tell you he does sit in gold."

For 'in gold' we might read _a god_: "He sits 'mongst men, like a
descended god" (Cymb. i. 7). But it may be his chair of state that is
meant.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "What he would do
    He sent in writing after me; what he would not
                                * * * *
    Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions."

A line is lost between the two last lines.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "For I have ever verified my friends--
            Of whom he's chief--with all the size that verity
            Would without lapsing suffer."

As 'verified' would seem to have been suggested by the following
'verity,' we might read, with Hanmer, _magnified_, or perhaps repeat
'amplified.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Out of your gates with sighs."

As 'your' seems utterly unsuitable here, we might read _our_ or _yon_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "That, if you fail in our request, the blame
            May hang upon your hardness."

Pope also saw that 'you' should be _we_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "_For_ the plebeians have got your fellow-tribune."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5.  "Holp to reap the fame
            Which he did end all his."

For 'end' Rowe read _make_; Collier's folio _ear_; Singer, after a
writer in Notes and Queries, reads _ear_ for 'reap,' and _reap_ for
'end.' I would read _inn_ for 'end.' "Give me leave to _inn_ the crop"
(All's Well, i. 3). "All was _inned_ at last into the King's barn"
(Bacon).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Flutter'd your Volscians in Corioli."

I think Malone was right in reading _Volsces_, and I have followed him.
Volscians is rarely a subst. in this play.




CYMBELINE.


ACT I.

    SC. 1.                           "Our bloods
           No more obey the heavens than our courtiers
           Still seem as doth the king's."

Tyrwhitt read 'king'; Coleridge _countenances_ for 'courtiers.' It is
better to suppose a word effaced at the end of the second line; so I
add _faces_. A few lines lower they are said to 'wear their faces to
the bent of the kings looks.'

    "Mais ceux qui de la cour ont un plus long usage,
    Sur les yeux de César composent leur visage."
                                                   Racine, Britan. v. 5.

       *       *       *       *       *

                               "To his mistress,
    For whom he now is banish'd ... her own price."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "My residence at Rome'_s_ at one Philario's."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And sear up my embracements from a next
    With bonds of death."

I approve of Singer's _seal_; there is no agreement between 'sear,'
_i.e._ burn, and 'bonds.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "Remain thou there
    While sense can keep it on."

I cannot avoid agreeing with those who read _thee_ for 'it.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That should'st repair my youth, thou heapest
    A year's age on me."

Metre requires a foot in the first line. Capell added _instead_. I
prefer _many_, which gives sense to 'A year's age.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_I_ pray you speak with me. You shall at least."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "It went out o' the backside _o'_ the town."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4.                  "'Twere a paper lost,
           As offer'd mercy is.... What was the last
           That he spake to thee?"

It is only thus that I can give sense to the second line.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "_O_ senseless linen, happier therein than I!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "As he could make me with his eye or ear
    Distinguish him from others."

I read _the_, which is so often confounded with 'his.' Warburton, who
is generally followed, read _this_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "A beggar without less quality."

Rowe read _more_, which alone gives sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Have confounded one the other or have fallen both."

We should apparently read here _and_ for 'or.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If I offend _not_ to say it is mended."

All agree in adding _not_, which is not in the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I could but believe she excelled many."

The folio has _not_ for 'but'; the correction is Heath's.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Or if there were wealth enough for the purchase, or merit."

I think the editors right in omitting the first 'or.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6. "But though slow, deadly.--I wonder, doctor, _that_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Think on my words.--And _so_ shall do."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 7. "As my two brothers, happy!" etc.

Mr. Staunton arranges this passage thus, which is most certainly an
improvement (See on Tr. and Cr. iii. 3):--

    "As my two brothers, happy! Blessed be those,
    How mean soever, that have their honest wills,
    Which seasons comfort; but most miserable
    Is the desire that's glorious," etc.

I regret that I did not recollect this correction when printing my
Edition, as I should probably have adopted it.

       *       *       *       *       *

                   "Change you, madam;
    The worthy Leonatus is in safety."

This is the punctuation of the folio, which I have retained, with
(;) for (:); the usual punctuation is (?) Imogen is agitated at the
announcement, and to reassure her, Iachimo says--subjoining the
reason--'Change you,' like _look you_, _hark you_, _soft you_. The
interrogation, however, may be right.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "According as you value your trust Leonatus."

Hanmer read _truest_. We might also read _trusty_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "Which can distinguish
    The fiery orbs above and the twinn'd stones
    Upon the number'd beach."

Theobald, I think, was right in reading '_un_number'd.'

                       "The murmuring surge
    That on the _un_numbered idle pebbles chafes."
                                                            Lear, iv. 6.

The joining it with 'beach' seems an instance of the figure called
Hypallage. The stones are called 'twinn'd' from their resemblance to
each other.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Beseech you, sir, desire my man's abode
    Where I did leave him. He is strange and peevish."

I think 'desire' should be _enquire_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "Join gripes with hands
    Made hard with hourly falsehood--_with_ falsehood as
    With labour--then by peeping in an eye
    Base and illustrious," etc.

Some critics read 'by-peeping'; but then a verb is wanting. We might
for 'by' read _be_, or, with Johnson, _lie_; but I rather suspect the
poet's word was _bide_; for 'bide peeping' would be pronounced 'bi
peeping,' and the printer went by his ear (see Introd. p. 52). A most
unhappy conjecture, though adopted and greatly admired by Mr. Collier,
is that of his folio '_bo_-peeping'; for there is no such verb.
'_Illustrous_' may be the right word, but Rowe's '_un_lustrous' has
been generally adopted.

       *       *       *       *       *

                       "With diseased ventures
    That play with all infirmities for gold
    Which rottenness can lend nature."

This supposes the diseases to be not in them, but in those who come
to them, which seems contrary to the course of Iachimo's reasoning.
Perhaps we should read _pay_ for 'play.'

           "In this sty, where since I came,
    Diseases have been sold, dearer than physic."
                                                             Per. iv. 6.

We might perhaps also make a transposition in the second line, and read
"That play for gold," etc., _i.e._ stake their diseases against gold.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Of rich and exquisite form. Their values great."

I should prefer to read 'value's.'


ACT II.

    SC. 1. "And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess! _Alas!_"

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 2. "Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
           May bear the raven's eye."

This is the reading of the folio; but Theobald read _bare_, and he is
generally followed. Collier's folio has _blear_ which I have adopted;
for nothing was more common than an omission, by the printer, of a
letter or even a syllable in a word. By 'raven,' the poet probably
meant the _night_-raven, of which he had already spoken in Much Ado,
ii. 3, and for his knowledge of which he was probably indebted to
Spenser, in "Here no _night-ravens_ lodge, more black than pitch"
(Shep. Cal. June, _v._ 23).

    "The ill-fac'd owl, death's dreadful messenger,
    The hoarse _night-raven_, trump of doleful drear."
                                                       F. Q. ii. 12. 36.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "With everything that pretty is."

As the riming line ends in 'begin,' and as 'every' is very generally
plural in our poet, and he uses obsolete terms at the end, though not
in the body, of lines for rime-sake, it is the merest printer-worship
to reject _bin_ for 'is,' the correction of Hanmer.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "It is a vice in her ear, which horse-hairs and calves-guts, nor
    the voice," etc.

The folio for 'vice' has _voice_. 'Calves-guts' should be '_cats_-guts.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Last night 'twas on my arm; _for_ I kiss'd it."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4.                     "In these fear'd hopes
           I barely gratify your love."

Tyrwhitt, whom some late critics follow, proposed _sear'd_ for
'fear'd.' The text is, in my opinion, right, 'fear'd' being one of the
numerous instances of the past part. for the present; 'fear'd hopes'
are hopes that are mingled with fear. See on As You Like it, v. 4.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Now mingled with their courage[s], will make known."

The 1st folio has '_w_ingled'; the correction was made in the 2nd.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "If I had lost it."

The folio has _have_; but the correction is certain.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Who knows if one _of_ her women, being corrupted."

The correction was made in the 2nd folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Must be half-workers? We are all _of us_ bastards."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "All faults that _men do_ name; nay, that hell knows."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "For even to vice." * * *

We might add _to which they are so prone_.


ACT III.

    SC. 2. "How! of adultery? wherefore write you not
            What monsters her accuse? Leonatus!"

The metre would require '_O_ Leonatus!' but as "What false Italian"
follows, it might be better to read 'monster's her accuse_r_,' the _r_
having been lost as in Macb. ii. 1. See on Ant. and Cleop. iv. 10.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Could not be so cruel to me as you, O the dearest of creatures,
    would even renew me with your eyes."

Of this, as far as I can perceive, no sense has been or ever can be
made. We should therefore read, with Pope, _but_ for 'as,' which may
have been suggested by the preceding 'so'; or 'would _not_ even,' with
Malone.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I see before me, man; nor here, nor here,
    Nor what ensues; but have a fog in them."

I think we should read _there_ for the second 'here,' and perhaps
_they_ for 'but,' or '_they_ have.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Richer than doing nothing for a baub_le_."

The folio has _babe_, which Rowe judiciously corrected as it is here
given. In the MS. 'bauble' was probably spelt _bable_ or, it may
be, _babel_; and the latter part may have been effaced. Hanmer read
_bribe_; Johnson and Singer _brabe_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Such gain the cap of him that makes 'em fine."

For ''em' the folio has _him_. If we retain the reading of the folio,
we must read 'gains.' 'Cap' is salutation.

       *       *       *       *       *

               "They took thee for their mother
    And every day do honour to her grave."

For 'her' we should read of course _thy_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4.                 "Ne'er long'd my mother so
            To see me first, as I have now ... Pisanio!"

       *       *       *       *       *

    "And thou _too_, Posthumus, that didst set up."

Posthumus is _always_ to be accented on the first syllable. It is usual
to read '_thou_ that'; but my reading I think more natural.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I'll wake mine eye-balls first.--Whërefore then?"

Hanmer read '_blind_ first'; I prefer _make_, with a (...); Collier's
folio has _crack_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Though peril to my modesty, not death on't
    I would adventure."

We should perhaps, with Johnson, read _Through_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "There's more to be consider'd, but we'll even
    All that good time will give us."

A verb seems lost at the end of the first line. Its place may have been
taken by 'even,' or we might simply add _do_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "Madam, all joy befall your grace and you."

I think Capell and Steevens were right in reading 'and you_rs_.' The
two last letters had probably been effaced.

       *       *       *       *       *

                             "She looks us like
    A thing more made of malice than of duty."

I think we should insert _on_, _at_, or _to_ after 'look.' The 2nd
folio read '_as_ like.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "That will be given to the loud_est_ of noise we make."

So I read, with preceding editors.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I have not seen these two days.--Go, look after _him_."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "The low Posthumus, _she_ slanders so her judgement."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 6.                      "When resty Sloth
           Finds the down-pillow hard."

Singer quotes Bullokar's Expositor to show that 'resty' is idle, inert.
Steevens proposed _restive_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Since Leonatus' false."

That is 'Since Leonatus is,' to avoid cacophony.


ACT IV.

    SC. 2.                           "Grow, Patience!
           And let the stinking elder, Grief, untwine
           His perishing root with the increasing vine!"

The folio reads _patient_. I incline to read '_from_ with,' and _thy_
for 'the' in the last line.

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "For defect of judgement
    Is oft the cause of fear."

For 'defect' Theobald read _th' effect_, while Hanmer read _cure_ for
'cause.' I see no great need of change.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Thou Divine nature how thyself thou blasonest."

'How' is Capell's correction for _thou_ of the folio.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "What does he mean? Since _the_ death of my dearest mother."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "To have turn'd my leaping-time into a crutch."

I feel almost inclined to read 'leaping-_pole_,' which was of course in
use then as now, as it was known to the ancients.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "With female fairies will his tomb be haunted
    And worms will not come to thee."

I agree with Steevens in reading _him_ for 'thee.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Yea and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none,
    To winter-ground thy corse."

"To winter-ground a plant," says Steevens, "is to protect it from the
inclemency of the winter-season by straw, dung, etc., laid over it."
This seems decisive; otherwise the mention of '_furr'd_ moss' would
lead me to read, with Warburton, 'winter-_gown_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Come on, away; apart upon our knees."

A line riming with this is evidently lost.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart
    And left this head on."

For 'this' we should probably read _thy_ or _the_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I fast and pray'd for their intelligence."

I think we should read 'fast_ed_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Try many, all good, serve truly, _and yet_ never
    Find such another master."

Some read '_and_ all good'; others 'serve _them_.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "And _he_ will, no doubt, be found."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "I heard no letter from my master since."

Hanmer properly read _have had_ for 'heard.'


ACT V.

    SC. 1. "Yea, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee; for I am wish'd
            Thou shouldest be coloured thus."

Pope omitted 'am,' and so his successors; but it must have been a
mistake for _'ve_; unless there be an error in 'wish'd.'

       *       *       *       *       *

                            "Gods, if you
    Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I never."

Possibly the poet wrote more correctly _Had taken_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                              "You some permit
    To second ills with ills, each elder worse;
    And make them dread it, to the doer's thrift."

A line must have been lost between the two last. 'Elder' is later.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 3. "Sweet words; or hath more ministers than we
            That draw his knives in the war."

This would seem an instance of the usual change of _or_ for _and_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 4. "Thy crystal window ope; [look], look out."

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Be not, as is our fangled world, a garment."

As 'fangled' never occurs without _new_, it is but reasonable to
suppose it was omitted here; and 'is,' which is not wanted, was
probably inserted for metre's sake.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "No more tavern-bills, which are _as_ often the sadness."

       *       *       *       *       *

    SC. 5. "O'ercome you with her show, and in _due_ time."

The 2nd folio has '_yes_, and in time.'

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Mine own.--I know not why, _nor_ whërefore."

_Nor_ is the necessary addition of Rowe.

       *       *       *       *       *

                                          "One sand
    Another not more resembles ... That sweet rosy lad."

This punctuation, I think, removes all difficulty. In the perturbation
of astonishment he stops short, and then tells whom he meant.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "This man is better than the man he slew."

For the first 'man' we had better read _youth_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Your pleasure was my meer offence."

So Tyrwhitt; the folio reads _neere_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                         "Beaten for loyalty
    Excited me to treason."

It would seem that _beating_ would be the proper word.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Rejoiced _at_ deliverance more. Blest may you be."

For 'may' the folio reads _pray_.

       *       *       *       *       *

                        "This fierce abridgement
    Hath to it circumstantial branches."

For 'fierce,' which yields no good sense, I read _first_. 'Abridgement'
is summary: "This brief abridgement of my will I make" (Lucrece).

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Is this most constant wife [TO POST.] who even now."

For 'this' we might read _thy_, or, as I have done, 'this _thy_.'
Without the stage-direction the place has no sense.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "My peace we will begin."

For 'My' Capell read _By_; others _This_.

       *       *       *       *       *

    "Have laid most heavy hand _on_."




ADDITIONAL NOTES.


THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

    ACT iv. 4. "And at that time I made her weep a good."

In English we have _good_ and _the good_ as nouns, but never _a good_.
A monosyllabic noun may, then, have been lost, and the poet may have
written 'a good _flood_,' as she "wept bitterly," and we have "_flood_
of tears" (Com. of Err. iii. 2); or 'a good _store_' as we have
"Sham'd their aspects with _store_ of childish drops" (Rich. III. i.
2). Finally, it may have been 'a _flood_,' and the _fl_ having been
effaced, the word was supposed to have been 'good.'


ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

    ACT v. 3. "Admiringly, my liege." etc.

The folio punctuates "Admiringly my liege, at first I stuck my choice
upon her." The usual reading is "Admiringly, my liege, at first" etc. I
would afterwards read

                        "_But_ ere my heart
    Durst make a too bold herald of my tongue."

We should thus, I think, increase the effect of Bertram's regretful
speech.


KING HENRY IV.--PART I.

    ACT v. 3. "I will assay thee, and _so_ defend thyself."

There was no need of correction here; the folio has not 'and,' and
reads 'so defend thyself.' The following has been omitted:--

    ACT v. 5. "Had been alive this hoür, _Worcester_."




EXPLANATORY INDEX OF ALLUSIONS, USAGES, WORDS, AND PHRASES.


_A_ (printed 'a or a') is used instead of _'e_ for _he_ when _h_ is
suppressed. Introd. p. 53.

_Able_ (Lear, iv. 6), enable, back, maintain, support. "Admitted! aye
into her heart. I'll _able_ 'em" (Chapman, Widow's Tears, ii); "You
might sit and sigh first till your heart-strings broke. I'll _able_ it"
(ib. iv.).

_Absey_ (K. John i. 1), the _a b c_ or alphabet. The _a_ was perhaps
pronounced as in continental languages.

_Accommodate_ (2 H. IV. iii. 2), to be provided, to be off, like
_accommoder_, Fr. "J'ai découvert qu'elles ne sont pas _fort
accommodées_" (_i.e._ not in very good circumstances) (Molière, Avare,
i. 2).

_Affection_ (Mer. of Ven. iv. 1, v. 1, W. Tale, i. 2), conceit,
imagination. "Lo, which a great thing is affectioun! A man may dye for
ymaginacioun" (Chauc. Miller's Tale).

_Aiery_, or _eiry_, the nest of a bird of prey; and hence (Rich. III.
i. 3), the contents of the nest, the young birds. It is the French
_aire_, which has the same signification, and which, being flat and
unformed, comes from _area_. See Notes and Queries, 3rd S. vi. 43.

_Aim_, in archery. There was a distinction between 'Cry aim' and 'Give
aim.' The former was merely to call on the archer to shoot; the latter
to tell him how his arrow had gone with respect to the aim or mark.

_Amaimon and Barbason_ (M. W. ii. 2, 1 II. IV. ii. 4, II. V. ii. 1),
names of fiends of which little is known. The dominion of the former
was said to be on the north part of the infernal gulf.

_Ancient_, ensign, ensign-bearer. It is the French _enseigne_ with the
usual paragogic _t_.

_And if_, _an if_, _an_. These are all used for _if_. The first is the
original form, framed perhaps after _etsi_.

_Anon._ Probably a corruption of _in one_, sc. minute.

_Aroint._ This unusual word is generally regarded as an interjection
equivalent to _avaunt!_ but it may be an indicative, with an ellipsis
of _I_, and so be a corruption of _averrunco_.

_Arras_ (so called from the town of that name), tapestry for covering
the walls of rooms. It was fixed on wooden frames a little distance
from the wall; hence people could go behind it. (Much Ado, i. 3, M.
Wives, iii. 3, 1 H. IV. ii. 4, _et alib._)

_Arthur's Show_ (2 H. IV. iii. 2), an exhibition of archery by a
toxophile society, whose members, fifty-eight in number, appeared in
the characters of the Knights of the Round Table. In it Sir Dagonet was
the King's Fool.

_Away_ i.e. _on way_. "She never could away with me" (2 Hen. IV. iii.
2) is, she could not go on the way (_i.e._ agree) with me.


_Backarè_ (Tam. of Shr. ii. 1). The phrase to which it seems to belong
is "Backarè, quoth Mortimer to his sow."

    "Ah, sir! _Backarè!_ quod Mortimer to his sowe."
                                               Ralph Roist. Doist, i. 2.

    "Shall I consume myself, to restore him now?
    Nay, _Backaré!_ quoth Mortimer to his sow."
                                                          Heywood, Epig.

    "_Backaré!_ quoth Mortimer to his sow;
    Went that sow back at his bidding, trow you?"
                                                                 Id. ib.

"The masculine gender is more worthy than the feminine; therefore,
Licio, _backarè_." (Lyly, Mydas, i. 2).

In all these places it is evidently assumed that the derivation is from
_back_; but it may be that _Bigarrée_, Brindle, was the name Mortimer
had given his sow.

_Baffle_ (_baffoler_, _bafouer_, Fr.), a part of the ceremony of
degrading a knight. It is described by Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7.27.

_Banquet_ or _Banket_. This in general answered to the present
_dessert_, and it was usually served in another room, or in an arbour
(2 H. IV. v. 3). It consisted of fruits, sweetmeats, etc. It also
answered to our supper after a ball (H. VIII. i. 4, R. and J. i. 5),
and was used sometimes for a feast in general. By a "running banquet"
(H. VIII. i. 4, v. 3) seems to have been meant a hasty meal, a snatch,
as it were, of food.

_Basilisco_ (K. John, i. 1), a character in the old play of Soliman and
Persida.

_Baked meat_ (Rom. and Jul. iv. 4), meat-pie. In Webster's White Devil
we have

                      "You speak as if a man
    Should know what fowl is coffin'd in a _bak'd meat_
    Afore it is cut up."

In Cotgrave's Dict. it is rendered by _pâtisserie_, Fr.

_Bate_ (T. Sh. iv. 1, R. and J. iii. 2), in falconry, flapping the
wings, apparently from _battre_, Fr. It is not easy to see the
difference between it and _beat_, with which it is joined in the first
of these passages. _Beat_, however, may be only a misprint for _bate_
repeated.

_Bat-fowling_ (Temp. ii. 1), taking birds by night with a light and a
net. It is fully described in Joseph Andrews, ii. 10.

_Bear in hand_, amuse with false hopes, and so keep in one's power. The
phrase seems taken from the _manége_.

_Benedicite_, the first word of the Canticle called The Song of the
Three Children, in the Liturgy. It was generally used merely as an
interjection.

_Bias_, a weight inserted in one side of a bowl, which of course would
sway it on one side, and prevent its going straight to the _mistress_,
or jack, at bowls.

_Bill on neck_ (As Y. L. i. 2), "With his sword by his side, a forest
_bill on his neck_, and a chopping-knife under his girdle" (Arcadia,
i.).

_Bird-bolt_ (M. Ado, i. 1), a short thick arrow with an obtuse head
used for shooting at birds.

_Bite the thumb_ (Rom. and Jul. i. 1) seems to have been making the
_figo_ or fig, by putting the thumb between the first and second
fingers, and then biting it. It was an expression of contempt or
defiance.

_Black Monday_ (M. of Ven. ii. 5), said to be Easter Monday, from the
severity of that day, April 4, 1360, by which Edw. III. lost numbers of
his men in France.

_Block_, the mould on which the crown of a hat was formed, hence the
hat itself (Lear, iv. 6, M. Ado, i. 1).

_Bob_, a sudden tap on the face; hence a stroke of satire (As. Y. L.
ii. 7). As a verb, to cheat, do out of (Othel. v. 1).

_Bolting-hutch_ (in a mill), the machine by which the flour is bolted
or separated from the bran.

_Bombast_, wadding, padding, from _bombax_ cotton, the usual material.

_Books._ To be in one's books (M. Ado, i. 1), to be in favour with. It
seems to be taken from the giving credit of tradesmen.

_Boots._ Give the boots (Two Gent. i. 1) seems to be equivalent to the
present _give the sack_, _i.e._ turn away.

_Brach._ "A mannerly name for all hound-bitches" (Gentleman's
Recreation, p. 27). "A _brache_ or _biche_, canicula, petite chienne,"
Baret, Dict. This seems to be its meaning everywhere in Shakespeare,
except perhaps Lear, iii. 6, and everywhere else that it occurs.
Jonson and Massinger use it, as _bitch_ is still used by the vulgar,
of a low common woman. Its substitution for that term may have been
caused by the similarity of sound. _Braque_, Fr. (_bracco_ It.), is
a setting-dog; and in the work just quoted we are told the Scotch
called a dog that ran by scent _rache_, "the female thereof in England
is called a _brache_." The Icelandic name of this dog at the present
day is _rakkr_. "Here is a leysche of _ratches_ for to run a hare"
(Skelton, Interl. of Mag.). Golding (Ov. Met. p. 33) uses _brach_ and
_bitch_ as synonymous and of hounds. A _lady-brach_ (Lear, i. 4, 1 Hen.
IV. iii. 1?) seems to have been what we now call a parlour-dog; females
being preferred, probably on account of their greater gentleness. The
above derivation of _brach_ is, however, not quite satisfactory.

_Break across_ (As Y. L. iii. 4), used of a spear, in tilting, when in
the charge its handle was broken by the awkwardness of the tilter. The
mode of doing it, however, is not easy to conceive. Perhaps _break_ was
not used in its usual sense.

_Break up_, carve. It is used (L. L. L. iv. 1) of a love-letter, called
in French _poulet_.

_Breast_ (Tw. N. ii. 3), voice--containing for contained.

_Bribed buck_ (M. W. v. 5), "a buck _cut up_ to be given away in
portions. In O. Fr. _bribes_ were portions of meat which were given
away." So Singer explains it; but I rather suspect it may be a _stolen_
buck. See Richardson, _v._ Bribe.

_Breathe in watering_ (1 H. IV. ii. 4), to take breath while drinking.
It seems to be taken from horses.

                             "We also do enact
    That all hold up their hands, and laugh aloud,
    Drink much at one draught, _breathe not in their drink_."
                                               Old Play of Timon, ii. 5.

_Brief_, letter, short writing of any kind, even a verbal promise,
contract, or agreement (All's Well, ii. 3). It may be an adj., with an
ellipsis of the subst.

_Brown paper_ (M. for M. iv. 3). This was one of the useless
commodities which usurers compelled unlucky borrowers to take in lieu
of ready money. Rosini, in his Monaca di Monza, notices it in Italy in
the 16th century; Molière, in L'Avare, in France; and it has continued
in England down to present times.

_Bucklers._ "Give the bucklers" (M. Ado, v. 2) seems to be a term taken
from prize-fighting, signifying to yield, give up. It is supposed that
the bucklers were the prize; but that is not likely. There may be a
use of the plur. for the sing., and the phrase may merely mean lay the
buckler down or aside in token of defeat.

_Budge_ (_bouger_, Fr). In Cor. i. 6 and elsewhere it means to give
back, retire.

_Bulk_, breast, chest, not body, as is usually given. In Spanish
_bulto_, a kindred term, is used in the same sense.

_But_ (A.S. _buton_, i.e. _be out_), without, unless, save, except.
It also (it is not easy to say how) took the place of A.S. _ac_, yet,
however; and it became a mere inceptive particle like _now_ and _why_.
When, as it often does, it signifies _that ... not_, as in "Not a man
_but_ was slain," there seems to be merely an ellipsis of the personal
pronoun. So when it signifies _only_ there is an ellipsis of the
negative; for "We have _but_ five loaves" (Matt. xiv. 17) is in A.S.
"We _n_abbð her _buton_ fif hlafas;" and at the present day a peasant
would say "We have_n't but_ five loaves." I therefore, in 1 H. IV. v.
3, read in my Edition for "There is not" "There is not _but_." To my
great surprise I have not been able to meet an exact parallel in any
play or other work. We say "There is _not_ a man _but_ one," etc., and
"I can_not but_ say," etc.; but these are not precisely parallel.

_Buttons._ "It is in his buttons" (M. W. ii. 2), seems to mean it is in
his doublet which is buttoned on him; _i.e._ it is in him, he is able
to accomplish it.

_By._ This prep. sometimes occurs (like _bei_, Germ.) in the sense
of beside, near, in contact with, a sense it still retains, chiefly
in poetry. But by the position given it in our poet it often causes
ambiguity. See Two Gent. ii. 4, As Y. L. iii. 5, and

    "If thou be found _by_ me thou art but dead."
                                                        2 H. VI. iii. 2.

    "To die _by_ thee were but to die in jest."
                                                                     Ib.

_Cade of herrings_ (2 H. VI. iv. 3), a barrel of _red_ herrings
containing 600, _i.e._ five hundreds of six score to the hundred. See
Notes and Queries, 3 S. ix. 324.

_Calipolis_ (2 Hen. IV. ii. 4), one of the characters in Peele's Battle
of Alcazar.

_Callat_, a term of reproach for a woman. Perhaps it is merely a
corruption of the Irish _cailleach_, old woman, learned from the Irish
costermongers in London.

_Callinó castorè me_ (Hen. V. iv. 4) misprinted _calmie custore me_;
but restored by Boswell from the Handful of Pleasant Delights, 1584,
where it forms the burden of a song beginning with

    "When as I view your comely grace,
    A callinò castoré me,
    Eva, eva, ee, loo, loo, loo, loo, loo, lee,"

of which the last line seems to be unmeaning, and the second to be the
Irish _A colleen óg, astore mo chree_ (A ca{i}lín ó{z} an{st}ó{r} mo
c{r}oiðe) 'Young girl, the treasure of my heart.' The last two words,
it will be seen, are conjectural; and were it good Irish we might read,
An mín 'the gentle one.'

_Camelot_ (Lear, ii. 2), a town in Somerset, where King Arthur was said
to have kept his court. Its site was on a hill, near South Cadbury.

_Candles' ends_, _buts_ of candles. It was rather a disgusting feat
of gallants to swallow them for flap-dragons in honour of their
mistresses. 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4.

_Canvas_ (2 H. IV. ii. 4, 1 H. VI. i. 3), to shake and toss in a sieve,
of which the bottom was then as now made of canvas. The use of it in
those places is figurative.

_Card_ (1 H. IV. iii. 2), to debase by mixture, as when fine and coarse
wool were _carded_ together, and so mingled in the cloth thence woven.
"You _card_ your beer--if you see your guests begin to get drunk--half
small, half strong," etc. (Green's Quip, etc.).

_Card of ten_, the ten of the suits in a pack of cards. To "face with
a card of ten" (T. Sh. ii. 1) seems to mean simply to turn up, play, a
ten, the highest except the coat-cards and aces.

_Careires._ "Pass the careires" (M. W. i. 1), a term of the _manége_,
signifying to go at full speed.

_Carouse_, a drinking-bout, a large draught. It is usually derived
from Germ. _gar aus_, 'all out,' which seems to be confirmed by "boire
_caraus_ et _alluz_" (Rabelais, iii. Prol.). In German _Rausch_ is
intoxication; and this _may_ be the origin of _carouse_.

_Carpet-knight_ (Tw. N. iii. 4), civilian knight, as opposed to the
military knight; so named probably from the _carpet_ which covered the
table--not the floor--in the room in which the ceremony of conferring
knighthood took place.

_Carraways_ (2 Hen. IV. v. 3) in the form of comfits, with apples, were
used at the dessert.

_Carry coals_, a term of reproach, because fetching charcoal, firewood,
etc., was the office of the lowest servants in a household.

_Carve._ This verb, beside its ordinary sense, seems to have that of
talking agreeably, jesting, etc. (L. L. L. v. 2, Mer. W. i. 3). In
Herbert's Prophecy of Cadwallader, 1604, we have

    "There might you Caius Marius _carving_ find,
    And martial Sylla courting Venus kind."

It may be only a form of the old _carpe_:--

    "In fellowship well could she laugh and _carpe_."
                                                      Cant. Tales, Prol.

    "So gone they forth _carpende_ fast
    On this and that."
                                                   Gower, Conf. Am. vii.

It is of constant occurrence in Piers Ploughman.

_Castle_ (Tr. and Cr. v. 2), a kind of strong helmet, "and break the
strongest _castle_ that thou hast upon thy head" (Hist. of Prince
Arthur, ch. clviii.).

_Cataian_ (M. W. ii. 1), a Chinese. It seems, however, to be used here
without any particular meaning.

_Ceremony._ Besides its ordinary sense of state, pomp, parade, this
word is used for a sacred pledge (Mer. of Ven. v. 1), ornament of state
(Jul. Cæs. i. 1), prodigy (ib. ii. 2).

_Chamber_ (2 H. IV. ii. 4), a kind of cannon. It was properly a small
mortar, hence its name; for it stood almost erect.

_Charact_ (M. for M. v. 1), an abbreviation of _character_. We meet it
in Piers Ploughman, _v. 7600 et alibi_.

_Chase._ See _Tennis_.

_Cherry-pit_ (Tw. N. iii. 4), a game played by children. It consisted
in throwing cherry-stones into a small hole.

_Christendom_ (K. John, iv. 1), baptism, (All's Well, i. 1) name given
in baptism. It answers to _halidom_, and to the Spanish _santiguada_.

_Christom-child_ (H. V. ii. 3). The proper word is _chrisom_; for it
was, says Blount, "the white cloth which is set by the minister of
baptism upon the head of a child newly anointed with _chrism_ after his
baptism." When the use of the chrism was abolished, it came to signify
"the white cloth put about or upon a child newly christened, wherewith
the women used to shroud the child if dying within the month," and such
was called a _chrisom-child_.

_Cinque pace._ See _Galliard_.

_Circumvention_ (Cor. i. 2). The only meaning this word can have in
this place is, apparently, secret information obtained by stratagem,
the enemy being, as it were, circumvented. A curious instance of the
liberties the poet took with language!

_Cling_ (Macb. v. 5), from _clingan_ A.S., to shrink, pine, wither. "Or
_clyngest_ for-drye" (Vis. of P. P. 9011). In this place of Macbeth it
is used in a causative sense, as in "_Clings_ not his guts with niggish
fare, to heap his chest withal" (Surrey, Eccles. ch. v.).

_Clock._ "A German clock" (L. L. L. iv. 1). Clocks, it appears, were
then, as now, imported from Germany, and were of a very inferior order.

_Cloud in his face_ (Ant. and Cl. iii. 2). This, we are told, was said
of a horse when he had a dark spot between his eyes.

_Clown._ This term for a licensed jester, and as such nearly synonymous
with _Fool_, is peculiar to Shakespeare. The Fool in Lear hardly
differs from the Clowns of the other plays. It probably comes from
_colonus_.

_Clubs_ (H. VIII. v. 3, As Y. L. v. 2), the cry to the London
apprentices to come forth with the clubs or bludgeons which they always
kept by them to keep, or as often to break the peace.

_Coast_ (H. VIII. iii. 2), to proceed cautiously, keeping, as it
were, along the shore, a figure taken from navigation. The Italian
_piaggiare_ is used in the same manner. So _hedge_ in this same passage
is figurative--keeping, as it were, inside of the hedge.

_Cock-a-hoop._ "You will set cock-a-hoop!" (R. and J. i. 5). By this
some understand taking the cock out of the barrel, and letting the
liquor run to waste. Nares quotes

                             "The cock on hoop is set
    Hoping to drink their lordships out of debt."

But perhaps the original expression may have been _Cock on heap_, i.e.
on his dunghill, boastful and triumphant.

_Cock-shut_ (R. III. v. 3), a large net stretched across a glade in a
wood, in order to catch woodcocks when flying in the twilight, thence
called "cock-shut time."

_Codpiece_, a cod (_i.e._ pouch or pocket) set in the front of the
hose. It seems to have answered to the present breeches-pockets.

_Colours._ "Fear no colours" (Tw. N. i. 5) would seem to have been a
military expression, denoting no fear of any banners, _i.e._ troops or
enemies.

_Concolinel_ (L. L. L. iii. 1), the commencement of a song, usually
supposed to be Italian. But there is nothing like it in that language.
It was mooted in Notes and Queries if it were not rather Irish, like so
many other airs at that time; and among the conjectures given, the best
was by "Eirionnach" that it may have been _Can colleen yal_ (Cán cailín
[z]eal). 'Sing, fair girl.' But no such song is known.

_Condition_ (Tim. i. 1), art, profession, as in French.

_Control_ (Temp. i. 2), confute, bring to order.

    "Stephano, is all this true that thou hast told me?--
    Sir, for lies hitherto you never _controll'd_ me."
                                                          Dam. and Pith.

    "A trespass that my father made in peace
    Is now _controll'd_ by fortune of the war."
                                                          Span. Tragedy.

As a subst. determination, decision.

_Cony-catch_, one of the terms for cheating or taking in. It was
evidently derived from the practice of catching rabbits by setting nets
before their holes, into which they were driven by ferrets.

_Cooling-card_ (1 H. VI. v. 4), a card so high as to cool the courage
of the opponent.

    "My lord, lay down a _cooling-card_; this game is gone too far."
                                          True Trag. of Rich. III. 1594.

_Copetain_, T. of Sh. v. 1 (from _cop_, i.e. top), high-crowned,
coned, or sugar-loaf. It seems to be a corruption of _coppletankt_,
_coppintank_, or _coptankt_, all signifying the same--"Galerus
acuminatus," Junius: "Upon their heads they wore felt hats
_copple-tanked_, a quarter of an ell high or more" (Comines, by Danet).

_Cophetua_ (L. L. L. iv. 1, 2 Hen. IV. v. 3), the name of an African
King, in the ballad, who married a beggar-girl.

_Coranto_ (H. V. iii. 5), a lively, gliding kind of dance, in which the
dancer had, as Davies says, "with best order all order to shun," and
"wantonly range everywhere."

_Corporal of his field_ (L. L. L. iv. 1). Singer remarks, from Lord
Strafford's Letters (ii. 199), that this was a kind of aide-de-camp
employed "in taking and carrying to and fro the directions of the
general or other higher officers of the field." The ordinary corporal
was, as now, the lowest officer. See Nares, _v._ Gentlemen of the Round.

_Cotsall_ (M. W. i. 1), Cotswold-downs in Gloucestershire, where there
used to be various sports at Whitsuntide. They were instituted by Mr.
Robert Dover, an attorney in the reign of James I., and continued till
after the Revolution. "The sports were football, skittles, quoits,
shovel-board, cudgel, and single-stick; bull-baiting, cock-fighting,
bowling, wrestling, leaping, dancing, pitching the bar, horse-racing,
ringing of bells, jumping in sacks," etc. See Notes and Queries, 3 S.
ix. 80, 100, 353.

_Counter_ (C. of Err. iv. 2). Hounds were said to run counter
(_contra_) when they ran back, instead of forward, on the scent.

_Counterfeit_, likeness, portrait; also same as _slip_, false coin: R.
and J. ii. 4, Tr. and Cr. ii. 3.

_Court-cupboard_ (R. and J. i. 5), a moveable state cupboard, on the
receding shelves of which the family-plate was arranged and displayed
on festive occasions, as on our side-boards.

_Court-holy-water_ (Lear, iii. 2), _eau bénite de la cour_, flattery,
or rather words without deeds, as plentiful and as lavishly used in
courts as holy water in churches.

_Cousin._ This word was used, in its primitive sense of
_consanguineus_, of any one that was akin.

_Creep._ Creeping to the Cross was an act of devotion in Popish times.
It is alluded to in Tr. and Cr. iii. 3.

_Cross-row_ (R. III. i. 1), _i.e._ Christ-cross-row, the alphabet,
because the sign of the Cross was placed at the head of it.

_Cuckoo-bud_ (L. L. L. v. 2), probably the cowslip, which Singer tells
us, from Lyte's Herbal (1578), was called in French _coquu primevère,
brayes de coquu, and Herbe à coquu_.

_Cue._ "Q., a note of entrance for actors; because it is the first
letter of _quando_, when, showing when to enter and speak" (Buller, the
English Grammar, 1634). This, however, seems a very forced and pedantic
derivation, and the ordinary one, from _queue_, Fr., seems preferable.
Florio, however, says, "a prompter, one who keeps the books for the
players and teacheth them, or scholars their _kue_."

_Cupid's flower_ (M. N. D. iv. 1). See _Love in Idleness_.

_Curate_ (_curé_, Fr.), the incumbent of a parish; not what is now so
termed.

_Curiosity_ (Lear, i. 2), scrupulousness, affected delicacy, or
niceness. _Curious_ (T. of Sh. iv. 4) has the same sense.

_Curst_ (T. of Sh. i. 1), shrewish, snappish, ill-tempered. It is
usually supposed to be _cursed_; and it may be so, taking this part
actively. But I rather think it is a metathesis of _cross_ with a
paragogic _t_, or of _crossed_.

_Curtal-axe_ (As Y. L. i. 3), a corruption of _cutlass_ (_coutelas_
Fr., _coltellaccio_ It.), a short strong sword: "His _curtlax_ by his
thigh, short, hooked, fine" (Fairf. G. of B. ix. 82), whence it might
be inferred that it was curved.

_Cut._ "Draw cuts" (Com. of Err. v. 1), to draw lots of paper or straws
cut in different lengths. He who drew the longest was the winner.

_Cut bowstrings_ (M. N. D. i. 2). When a match was made to shoot at
butts, each said that if he did not _hold_ his promise they might _cut
his bowstring_ and exclude him from their society.


_Damn._ This word had not its present restricted sense; like _damno_,
it meant simply to condemn, or even merely disapprove of. So _damned_
and _damnable_ often signified merely reprehensible.

_Dancing-horse_ (L. L. L. i. 2), a celebrated horse belonging to one
Bankes, who had taught him to dance, to count, and perform various
other feats. He travelled over the Continent exhibiting him; and it is
said, but probably with little truth, that both master and horse were
burnt at Rome for witchcraft.

_Dare_ (H. VIII. iii. 2) had the sense of terrify--whence derived it is
hard to say--when used of taking larks in a net, by means of a hawk, or
mirrors on a piece of scarlet cloth.

_Day-bed_ (Tw. N. ii. 5, R. III. iii. 7), a couch or sofa; for it was
not confined to bed-chambers.

_Day-woman_ (L. L. L. i. 2) is generally said to be a dairy-maid; for
a _day-house_, in the old dictionaries, is where cheeses are made.
As, however, _day-woman_ occurs only in this place, and _day's-man_
has quite a different sense, it may be only a printer's error for
'dai_ry_-woman.'

_Defy_ (K. John, iii. 4, 1 H. IV. i. 3), renounce, reject, cast off--as
_défier_, Fr., is distrust, put no trust in.

_Devil rides on a fiddle-stick_ (1 H. IV. ii. 4), a proverbial
expression denoting something strange, unexpected. Its origin is not
known.

_Dian's-bud_ (M. N. D. iii. 1), the flower of the Agnus castus. "The
virtue of this herb is that it will keep man and woman _chaste_" (Maur,
by Lynacre).

_Diffused_ (M. W. iv. 4), obscure, strange, as it were _confused_
and jumbled. "Speak Welsh to him. I doubt not but thy speech will be
more _diffuse_ to him than his French shall be to thee" (Cav. Life of
Wolsey).

_Dole_, share, part (_Theil_, Germ). "Happy man be his dole" (W. T. i.
2, 1 H. IV. ii. 2) is, Be it his part to be called Happy man.

_Dough._ "My cake is dough" (T. Sh. v. 1) means things are not going
well with me. It is a figure taken from bread baked on a girdle, still
in use in America.

_Drum._ "John Drum's Entertainment" (All's Well, v. 1). There was a
dramatic piece so named (1601), in which Jack Drum, a servant, was
continually foiled in his intrigues.

_Ducdamè_ (As Y. L. ii. 6) would appear to be meant for Italian (_duc
da me_, 'bring to me?').

_Dudgeon_ (Macb. ii. 1), the handle of a dagger, properly a handle made
of the wood of the box-root, of which this is the name, as given by Bp.
Wilkins, Gerard, and others.

_Dun._ "To draw Dun out of the mire" (R. and J. i. 4). Gifford, who
says he had often played at this game, thus describes it:--"A log
of wood is brought into the midst of the room; this is _Dun_ (the
cart-horse), and a cry is raised that he is stuck in the mire. Two of
the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out.
After repeated efforts they find themselves unable to do it, and call
for more assistance. The game continues till all the company take part
in it, when _Dun_ is extricated of course; and the merriment arises
from the awkward and affected efforts of the rustics to lift the
log, and sundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one
another's toes."

_Dun's the mouse_ (R. and J. i. 4), an apparent allusion to the colour
of the mouse, which, however, is not dun. The phrase was probably made
for the sake of a play on _done_. It is similar to "The cat is gray"
(Lear, iii. 6).

_Durance._ "Robe of durance" (1 H. IV. i. 2). "The jerkin-man is come,
but your _robe of durance_ is yet not finished" (Letter of Thomas
Winter, of the Gunpowder Plot, in Notes and Queries, 3 S. i. 342).
"Let me live, but I will give thee a good _suit of durance_" (Westward
Ho!). "I refuse to wear _buff_ for the lasting, and shall be content to
apparel my brain in _durance_" (Cornwalleys, Essays). It thus appears
that _durance_ was a strong kind of cloth.


_Each._ "At each" (Lear, iv. 6), _i.e._ the end of one being joined to
that of the other. The text seems to be right.

_Eggs for money_ (W. T. i. 2) seems to mean cheating, bullying, giving
little or no value for money.

_Element_, _par excellence_ the air, as that by which we breathe and
exist (Tw. N. i. 1, J. C. i. 3, Temp. v. _ad fin._). It was believed
that man was composed of the four elements (Tw. N. ii. 3, Ant. and Cl.
v. 2).

_'Em._ This is not _them_ by aphæresis; it is the old _hem_ of Chaucer,
etc. In Marston's plays it is printed _'hem_.

_End._ This word was used in a variety of ways in conjunction with
others. Thus we have "there an end" (Two Gent. ii. 1, T. Sh. v. 2);
"still an end" (ib. iv. 4); "for an end," in fine (Cor. ii. 1); also
"word and end" (Chauc. Monk's Tale, Tr. and Cr. iii.); "tale and end"
(Gower, C. Am. v). "Most an end," perpetually (Mass. Very Woman, iii.
1), used also by Milton, and even by Warburton. See Gifford on Mass,
_ut sup._ In most of these cases _an_ is _and_.

_Enew_ (M. for M. iii. 1). "How presently upon the landing of the fowl
she [the falcon] came down like a stone and _enew'd_ it, and suddenly
got up again, and suddenly upon a second landing came down again, and,
missing of it in the downcome, recovered it beyond expectation, to the
admiration of the beholder, at a long flight" (Nash, Quaternio, etc.,
1633). _Enew_ is therefore to teaze, worry, terrify, and probably comes
from _ennuyer_, Fr.

_Entrance._ In 1 H. IV. i. 1, this word is most abusively employed for
_mouth_. A most remarkable instance of the liberties the poet took with
the Queen's English.

_Ephesian_ (M. W. iv. 5, 2 H. IV. ii. 2) apparently means jovial
companion, toper; but why, it is hard to say.

_Extent_ (As Y. L. iii. 1) "An _extent_ or _extendi facias_ is so
called because the sheriff is to cause the land, etc., to be appraised
to their full _extended_ value before he delivers them to the
plaintiff" (Blackstone).

_Eye_ (Temp. ii. 1), what we now call a shade of colour. "Red with an
_eye_ of blue makes a purple" (Boyle). As it elsewhere (R. and J. v. 1)
signifies glance, look, that may be a general sense of it.


_Fading_ (W. T. iv. 3), the name of an Irish dance, perhaps the _Rinka
fadha_ ({r}in{z}ce {f}aða), long dance. It was also used as the burden
of a song.

_Fan_ (M. W. ii. 2, R. and J. ii. 4). The fan of those times was
quite different from the present one. It was composed of feathers set
in a round handle of ivory, and even of silver or gold, so as to be
sometimes of the value of £40.

_Fancy_, love, as being frequently the creation of imagination. The
term _fancy-man_ seems to be a relic of this sense. It was also (2 H.
IV. iii. 2) the name of an air or tune, as Such a one's Fancy, _i.e._
favourite.

_Fashions_ (T. Sh. iii. 2), from _farcins_, Fr., the farcy in horses.

_Fast and loose_ (Ant. and Cl. iv. 11. L. L. L. iii. 1, K. John, iii.
1), the trick still played at fairs, and called _Prick in the garter,
the belt, the loop_. It was well known to the ancients, by whom it was
named [himanteligmos], under which name it is accurately described by
Julius Pollux (ix. 7); and that it was known in the Middle Ages is
proved by this line in the Roman de la Rose--which, by the way, none
of the critics have understood--"C'est li gieu de _boute-en-corroie_,"
6882.

_Feature_, form, person, make, _faiture_, O. Fr. It was very rarely, if
at all, restricted to the countenance as now, or used in the plural. In
As Y. L. iii. 3 there is perhaps a printer's error.

_Fern-seed_ (1 H. IV. ii. 1). As the seed of the fern is nearly
invisible, it was believed to render so those who carried it. As Brown
(Brit. Past. ii. 2) terms it _one-night-seeding_, it would appear that
there was a mystery and a difficulty about obtaining it.

_Fig_ (2 H. IV. v. 3, H. V. iii. 6). It was a mode of insulting to put
the thumb between two of the fingers, and hold it out to a person. It
was chiefly practised in Spain and Italy.

_Fights_ (M. W. ii. 2), "the waist-cloths which hang round about the
ship to hinder men from being seen in fight" (Phillips, World of Words).

_First._ "Two of the first, like coats in heraldry" (M. N. D. iii. 2).
The shield was divided in nine different forms; of which the _first_
was an equal division from top to bottom, as when the arms of a man and
his wife were united. In this case there was only one crest, that of
the husband.

_First-born of Egypt_ (As Y. L. ii. 5). This is supposed to mean
high-born persons. But as it only occurs in this place, it may be
nothing more than a humorous expression without any definite meaning.

_Fives_ (T. Sh. iii. 2), _avives_ Fr., the strangles in horses; "an
inflammation of the kernels, between the chap and the neck of the
horse" (Markham, Way to get W. i. 39).

_Flap-dragon_ (L. L. L. v. 1), "a small combustible body set on fire,
and put afloat in a glass of liquor" (Nares). "Raisins in hot brandy
were the commonest flap-dragons" (Id.). As raisins are not combustible,
I rather think it was the liquor that was set on fire, and the feat was
getting the flap-dragon out of the flame that enveloped it.

_Flaw_ (2 H. IV. iv. 4, 2 H. VI. iii. 1), a sudden blast of wind.
Warburton, who appears to be right, says it was the idea of some
philosophers that it was vapour condensed by the cold of night, which,
being liberated by the heat of the sun in the morning, caused the
_flaw_ or sudden burst of wind.

_Flibbertigibbet_ (Lear, iii. 4). This, and all the succeeding names of
fiends in this play, was taken by the poet from Harsnet's Declaration,
etc., 1603.

_Flights_ (M. Ado, i. 1), long light-feathered arrows for shooting at a
mark.

_Flirt-gill_ (R. and J. ii. 4), also _gill-flirt_. It is a compound of
Gillian, a very common woman's name at the time, and _flirt_, which was
perhaps a corruption of _fleer it_ or _fleer at_.

_Florentius_ (T. Sh. i. 2), the hero of a tale in Gower's Confessio
Amantis, similar to The Wife of Bath's Tale in Chaucer.

_Fool's Paradise_ (R. and J. ii. 4), a state of deceptive happiness.
The exact origin of the phrase is not known.

_Foot-cloth_ (2 H. VI. iv. 7), a cloth or housing covering a
saddle-horse, and reaching nearly to the ground at each side. Its
object was to protect the feet and legs from dirt and mire.

_For_ (Oth. i. 3, Cymb. iv. 2), with an ellipsis of _that_, because. It
was also used with an ellipsis of _fear of_.

_Forfeits in a barber's shop_ (M. for M. ii. 2). As barbers' shops were
places of common resort, to keep order in them rules were made and hung
up declaring the forfeit or penalty for each transgression, which,
however, could only be enforced by public opinion.

_Formal_ (C. of Err. v. 1, Tw. N. ii. 5, R. III. iii. 1), in form,
regular, ordinary, (T. of Sh. iv. 2, A. Y. L. ii. 7) precise.

_Fox_ (H. V. iv. 4), a name for a sword; possibly so called from the
maker's name, like Andrew Ferrara.

_French crown_ (M. for M. i. 2), the crown of a Frenchman's head; a
French coin; a bald head caused by the French disease. Hence, as in
this place, it is frequently played on.


_Galliard_ (Tw. N. i. 3, H. V. i. 2), a lively springing kind of dance.
Davies styles it "swift and wandering," with "passages uncertain to and
fro," and "with lofty turns and caprioles in the air." As it had "five
paces," it is said to have been the same with the Cinque Pace; but that
hardly accords with the mentions we have of the latter, also corruptly
called Sink apace (M. Ado, ii. 1, Tw. N. i. 3).

_Gallimaufry_ (W. T. iv. 3, M. W. ii. 1), _galimafrée_, Fr., a kind
of hash or ragout. In these places it is used abusively as applied to
persons, meaning mixture or jumble. Its origin is not known.

_Gallowglas._ See _Kerne_.

_Gaskins_ (Tw. N. i. 5), same as _gallygaskins_, loose breeches or
trousers. The derivation is uncertain.

_Generous_ (M. for M. iv. 6, Oth. iii. 3), noble-minded, _generosus_.

_Gentle_, noble, of good birth (_gentilis_); thence, brave, gallant,
worthy; and finally, courteous, kind, mild, sweet-tempered,--such
qualities being most usually found among the well-born. This last
sense is the least usual in the dramatists.

_Gentry_ (Ham. ii. 2), courtesy, good manners.

_Gig_ (L. L. L. iv. 3), a whipping-top.

_Giglot_ (M. for M. v. 1, 1 H. VI. v. 1, Cymb. iii. 1), a female
wanton. It is perhaps connected with _giggle_.

_Gillian_, the English form of Juliana, a name so common in former
times that _Jack and Jill_ was a usual phrase to denote two persons of
the opposite sexes. St. Juliana was a Florentine, who was not canonized
till 1729, so that the name could hardly have come from her. In Ireland
Julia (in Irish Sheelah--_Sila_) is a common name among the peasantry.
There was a Saint Julia, virgin martyr, who was put to death in the
fifth century.

_Gillyvor_ (W. T. iv. 3), of which _gillyflower_ is a corruption, is
the flower named _caryophyllum_, whence is formed the French _giroflée_.

_Gongorian_ (M. W. i. 3), supposed to be a corruption of _Hungarian_;
but that is uncertain.

_Good-night_ (2 H. IV. iii. 2), like _Fancy_, a kind of song or ballad.
Thus there was Johnny Armstrong's Good Night.

_Good year_ (Much Ado, i. 3, 2 H. IV. ii. 4), a more delicate form of
_gougère_, the French disease.

_Gourd and fullam_ (M. W. i. 3), names of uncertain origin for false
dice; called in the same place _high and low_, sc. men. They were of
course hollowed and leaded internally so as to turn up the numbers
required.

_Greek._ "Merry Greek" (Tr. and Cr. i. 2, iv. 4). In the Latin
Classics the Greeks were always represented as lively and cheerful
(see _Merry_), as compared with the more sombre Romans; and hence the
phrase "Merry as a Greek" may have come into use in England. Still the
original may have been "as merry as a grig," the grig or young eel
being so lively and vivacious.

_Green-sleeves_ (M. W. ii. 1, v. 5), a celebrated air. The song of
"Since laws were made for every degree" in the Beggar's Opera is to
this air.

_Groundling_ (Ham. iii. 2), one who stood on the ground in the pit of
the theatre, where there were no seats, and the price of admittance was
only a penny.

_Guard_ (M. Ado, iii. 4, L. L. L. iv. 3), an edging or binding on
clothes, so named, probably, as securing them from tearing. It then
came to signify any trimming etc. on dress.

_Guinever_ (L. L. L. iv. 1), the queen of King Arthur in the romances.

_Gull_ (1 H. IV. v. 1, Tim. ii. 1), an unfledged bird; still used of
goslings. It then came to signify a dupe, one imposed on (Tw. N. iii.
2, v. 1), also a trick, imposition (M. Ado, ii. 3).

_Gumm'd velvet_ (1 H. IV. ii. 2), velvet stiffened with gum, whence it
was apt to _fret_ or fray.


_Halcyon_ (Lear, ii. 2). "A little bird, called the king's-fisher,
being hanged up in the air by the neck, his neb or bill will be always
direct or straight against the wind."--_Book of Notable Things._

_Half-face_ (K. John, i. 1, 2 H. iv. iii. 1), in profile, as showing
but half the face.

_Halidom_ (Two Gent. iv. 2), and corruptly _holy dame_ (H. VIII. v. 1,
R. and J. i. 3), same as _christendom_, christening, consecrating by
the rite of baptism.

_Hall._ "A hall, a hall!" (R. and J. i. 5), a cry to clear the room,
and make a space for the dancers. _Ring_ is still used in a somewhat
similar sense.

_Hangers_ (Ham. v. 2), the short straps by which a sword was hung from
the belt.

_Hatch_ (Tr. and Cr. i. 3), adorn, ornament. It is properly to engrave
or work with lines--_hacher_, Fr.

_Have_, take. This sense is frequent in the Pilgrim's Progress, and we
still speak of _having_ a person before a magistrate. The expressions
_have at you_ and _have with you_ are elliptical; and _have_ is there,
I take me.

_Hazard._ See _Tennis_.

_Head_ (1 H. IV. iv. 3, v. 1, 2 H. IV. i. 3, ii. 2), army, forces. "To
make head," to raise an army.

_Hell_ (C. of Er. iv. 2), the worst part of a prison. Marot has a poem
on a prison, called _L'enfer_.

_Hermit._ In "We rest your hermits" (Macb. i. 6) the proper word would
be _beadsmen_; but as the speaker is a woman, the poet ventured to use
'hermit' in a sense it never has had before or since. See _Entrance_.

_Hide fox, and all after_ (Ham. iv. 2, M. Ado, ii. 3), a play of
children. It was probably what is now called Hide-and-Seek.

_Hip._ "Have on the hip" (M. of V. i. 3, Oth. ii. 1) seems to be taken
from wrestling, and to signify getting the opponent across one's hip,
and thus being able to give him a severe fall.

         "_To get_ the Pagan _on the hip_;
      And having caught him right, he doth him lift
    By nimble slight, and in such wise doth trip
      That down he threw him."
                                               Harr. Or. Fur. xlvi. 117.

_Hiren._ "Have we not Hiren here?" (2 H. IV. ii. 4). It is a corruption
of the Greek proper name of Irene, made by Peele in his play of The
Turkish Mahomet and the fair Greek Hiren.

_Hob._ This, like _Bob_, _Dob_, was merely a short form of Robert. It
and _Dob_ are still preserved in proper names, as in Hobbs, _Hobson_.
Hob-goblin answers to the German _Knecht-Ruprecht_.

_Hob-nob_ (Tw. N. iii. 4), is _hab-nab_, i.e. 'have or no have,' hit or
miss.

_Hobby-horse_ (L. L. L. iii. 1, Ham. iii. 2). This was an essential
character in the morris-dance. It was the figure of a horse fastened
round the waist of a man, whose legs were concealed by the horse's
long footcloth, outside of which hung a pair of artificial legs and
thighs. The man, of course, gave motion to the horse, prancing about,
neighing, etc. It may still be seen at the booths in fairs and at minor
theatres. The Puritans were bitter enemies to the Hobby-horse, which
was therefore frequently left out, whence the cry of

    "For oh! for oh! the Hobby-horse is forgot."

_Hoodman-blind_ (Ham. iii. 4). The game now called Blindman's-buff.

_Holla_ (As Y. L. iii. 2). See _Soft_.

_Hope._ This word is frequently used in the sense of mere expectation
of either good or evil, a sense it still retains in America. The
corresponding verbs in Greek, Latin, and some modern languages have the
same sense.

_Hot-house_ (M. for M. ii. 1), a bagnio, so named from the hot baths
which it contained.

_Humour._ This word, signifying moisture (_humor_), came by the
physiology of the time to mean character, idiosyncrasy. See Jonson's
Every Man out of his Humour, The Stage. In the character of Nym,
Shakespeare shows us how it was abused. It frequently occurs in the
sense of state of mind, inclination, but never in its present sense; we
still say _good_ and _ill humour_. The adj. _humorous_ occurs once (R.
and J. ii. 1) in the primitive sense moist; but its usual meaning is,
capricious. See _Wit_.

_Humour of Forty Fancies_ (T. of Sh. iii. 2), supposed to be a
collection of poems or tales. There is no copy of it remaining.

'_Hundred Merry Tales_' (M. Ado, ii. 1), name of a common jest-book at
that time.

_Hunts-up_ (R. and J. iii. 5), the name of an air used to rouse up
sportsmen in the morning. It began with "The hunt is up, the hunt is
up." Puttenham says it was composed by one Gray in the time of Henry
VIII., with whom it was a favourite.

_Hurricano_ (Lear, iii. 2, Tr. and Cr. v. 2), what is now called a
water-spout.


_I._ So they wrote what we now write _Aye_. As it was the same as the
first personal pronoun, there was often a play on it, as in Two Gent.
i. 1, R. and J. iii. 2.

_Iceland-dog_ (H. V. ii. 1), a shaggy kind of dog imported from
Iceland, a great favourite in England at that time.

_Idle_ (M. for M. iii. 2, Oth. i. 3), empty, void, of no force, _idel_,
A.S., _eitel_, Germ.: "And the earth was _idel_ and void" (Wicklif).

_Imp_, graft, hence child, young devil, by ellipsis of the devil. As a
verb it was a term of falconry, meaning to splice a broken feather of
the wing (R. II. ii. 1), which was effected by running a needle up the
broken feather, the other end of which was run up the feather that was
to be added.

_Incense_, properly Insense (M. Ado, v. 1, R. III. iii. 2, H. VIII. v.
1), inform, put sense, as it were, into.

_Incony_ (L. L. L. iii. 1, iv. 1). This is usually understood to mean
fine, delicate, pretty; but the following passage of the old play The
Shoemaker's Holiday gives the true sense and origin of it: "There they
shall be knit, like a pair of stockings, in matrimony; there they'll
be _in conie_." _Cony_, like _lamb_, _mouse_, etc., was in fact one of
the endearing terms then in use between married couples; so that _to
be in cony_ was to be in a state of matrimonial endearment. Thence _in
cony_ or _incony_ gradually came into use as an adj. of endearment in
general--just as _in life_ became _alive_ and _live_ (as an adjective).

_Index_ (R. III. ii. 2, Tr. and Cr. i. 3), what we now call the table
of contents in a book. It also (R. III. iv. 4, Ham. iii. 4, Oth. ii.
1) seems to mean the dumb show before the acts of a play.

_Inherit_ (Two Gent. iii. 2, R. II. i. 1), possess, cause to possess.

_Iniquity_ (R. II. iii. 1, 1 H. IV. ii. 4), a name of the Vice, or
buffoon, of the old moralities. He had asses' ears, a long coat, and
a dagger of lath, with which, leaping on the Devil's back, he used to
belabour him; but he was always carried off by him in the end.

_Inkle_ (L. L. L. iii. 1, W. T. iv. 3), a kind of tape. It came perhaps
by aphæresis from A.S. _rápincle_, cord.

_Instance_ (R. III. iii. 2, Ham. iii. 2), motive, cause, (Tr. and Cr.
v. 2) proof.

_Intrenchant_ (Macb. v. 7) seems to mean which cannot be cut so as to
remain divided. It is only found in this place.


_Jack._ From the universality of this familiar form of _John_, it
became the usual appellation of servants and others of the lower
orders, something like the _Jacques_ of the French. _Jack_ and _Jill_
(L. L. L. v. 2, M. N. D. iii. 2, T. Sh. iv. 1), therefore, represented
the two sexes in humble life.

_Jack-a-Lent_ (M. W. iii. 3, v. 5), a stuffed figure set up to be
thrown at in Lent, as cocks were on Shrove Tuesday.

_Jack-o'-the-clock_ (R. II. v. 5, R. III. iv. 2), figures of men that
used to strike the hours on clocks.

_Jade_ (possibly akin to Germ. _Gaul_), a name for a horse, indicating
sometimes a vicious ("_Jade_, a naughty horse," Baret), sometimes
a contemptible one, at other times expressing pity. It sometimes,
however, was equivalent to horse, steed, as in

                          "When Hyperion's son
    Shall couch in west his foam-bedabbled _jades_."
                                                           Fuimus Troes.

_Jesses_ (Oth. iii. 3), short straps of leather or silk fastened to the
legs of a hawk, with rings on them, through which passed a leash or
strap, which the falconer twisted round his hand. When the hawk was let
go, the leash was drawn out of the rings.

_Jewel._ "Wear this _jewel_ for me; 'tis my picture" (Tw. N. iii. 4).
We may hence see that jewel was any ornament in gold, enamel, etc.

_Jig_ (Ham. ii. 2), a lively poem or ballad, as well as a dance, its
only meaning at present.

_John-a'-dreams_ (Ham. ii. 2). This means evidently a stupid dreamy
person; but the origin of the phrase is unknown.

_Judas' hair_ (As Y. L. iii. 4). It was the popular belief that Judas
Iscariot's hair was red. It owed its origin probably to the dislike of
red hair, which still prevails.


_Kam_ (Cor. iii. 1), crooked, awry. This is one of the very few English
words borrowed from the Welsh or Irish language.

_Keech_ (1 H. IV. ii. 4, 2 H. IV. ii. 1, H. VIII. i. 1), the inside fat
of an ox rolled up in a lump.

_Keel the pot_ (L. L. L. v. 2), cool the pot, probably by adding cold
water to keep it from boiling over.

_Keep_ (M. for M. iii. 1, 1 H. IV. i. 3), dwell, reside. Hence the
provincial and American _keeping_-(_i.e._ sitting-) _room_.

_Kerne_ (R. II. ii. 1, 2 H. VI. iii. 1, Macb. i. 2), sometimes joined
with _Gallowglas_--the former denoting the light-, the latter the
heavy-armed soldier of the native Irish. Barnabie Riche terms the
kernes "the very dross and scum of the country, a generation of
villains not worthy to live." "The _Gallowglas_," says Stanyhurst,
"useth a kind of pollax for his weapon. These men are grim of
countenance, tall of stature, big of limb, lusty of body, and strongly
timbered. The _kerne_ is an ordinary foot-soldier, using for weapon
his sword and target, and sometimes his piece, being commonly good
marksmen."

_Kiln-hole_ (M. W. iv. 2, W. T. iv. 4). This is apparently the lower
part of the malt-kiln, where the fire was. It would seem from these
places that it was usual in those times to have private malt-kilns.

_Knave_, boy, lad, fellow, _cnâfa_ A.S., _Knabe_ Germ.

_Knife_ (2 H. IV. ii. 4, R. and J. iii. 1, Macb. i. 5). It appears
to have been the custom in those times for women to carry a
straight-handled knife in a sheath at their girdle, like a dagger. As
we meet the term _wedding-knives_, it would seem to have formed part of
the bridal array.

_Knot_, body, gang, party; a wavy bed in a garden.


_Lantern_ (R. and J. v. 3), a louvre, or turret full of windows for
admitting or transmitting light.

_Lavolta_ (H. V. iii. 5, Tr. and Cr. iv. 4), a quick bounding dance for
two persons. It would seem not to have been unlike the waltz of the
present day.

_Leave_ (Two Gent. iv. 3, M. of Ven. v. 1), to part with, give away.

_Leg._ "Make a leg" (R. II. iii. 3, T. Sh. iv. 1), to make a bow or
obeisance--from putting forward one leg and withdrawing the other.

_Leiger_ (M. for M. iii. 1, Cymb. i. 6), a resident ambassador,
apparently from _liggan_, _ligg_, to lie, _i.e._ reside.

_Leisure._ Shakespeare, and apparently he alone, uses this word (R.
III. v. 2) for brief time, and also (R. II. i. 1) for occupation,
engagement.

_L'envoy_ (L. L. L. iii. 1), lines terminating a French ballad and
conveying the moral, or an address to the person for whom the poem was
intended.

_Lightning before death_ (R. and J. v. 3), the temporary reviving of
the mental powers sometimes seen in sick persons a little before death.
It may be so named from an analogy with lightning; but it more probably
means relieving, easing.

_Light-o'-love_ (Two Gent. i. 2, M. Ado, iv. 3), the name of an old
tune for dancing; no words to it are known.

_Line._ "Under the line" (Temp. iv. 1), _i.e._ at stake, a phrase of
the tennis-court: "Let us keep the laws of the court--that is, stake
money under the line (_sotto la corda_). Is it not so?--Yea, sir, you
hit it right" (Florio, Second Fruits, ch. ii). Elsewhere in this play
(iv. 1) _line_ is lime- or linden-tree.

_Line of life_ (M. of V. ii. 2)--in fortune-telling, one of the lines
of the hand.

_Lipsbury pinfold_ (Lear ii. 2). Pinfold is a pound for cattle; but
no place of the name of Lipsbury is known. As Nares observes, this is
probably a coined name, like _Lob's pound_.

_Lock_ (M. Ado, iii. 3, v. 1), _i.e._ love-lock, a lock of hair plaited
and tied with ribbon, hanging on the left side down to the shoulder,
or even lower. It was greatly the fashion among the men of the poet's
time, and much later. Prynne wrote furiously against it.

_Loggat_ (Ham. v. 1), a small log of wood. Steevens, of his own
knowledge, describes the game of _loggats_ as played at sheep-shearing
feasts. A stake was stuck in the ground, at which they threw loggats,
and he that threw nearest to it was the winner; the prize was a black
fleece. This he gave to the farmer's maid to make her a petticoat, on
the condition of her kneeling down on it to be kissed by the company.

_Lord._ "Good lord" (All's Well, ii. 3; "dear lady," Temp. i. 2) is
patron or protector of any one.

_Lord have mercy upon us!_ (L. L. L. v. 2), the inscription put on
houses where the plague was, to warn people against entering them.

_Lord's sake._ "For the Lord's sake!" (M. for M. iv. 3). This was the
word of prisoners for debt from the prison window, calling on the
passers-by to give them some relief.

_Lose_ (H. V. iv. 1), waste, employ without gaining by it. So also
_loss_ (M. for M. ii. 4) is mere employment, or occupation--waste, as
it were.

_Lots to blanks_ (Cor. v. 2). Here _lot_ is used in the sense of prize
in a lottery.

_Love in Idleness_ (M. N. D. ii. 1), the pansy, _Viola tricolor_.

_Lover._ This word was sometimes used where we should now say friend,
as in Jul. Cæs. ii. 3, iii. 2, v. 1, Cor. v. 2.

_Luxury_ (Ham. i. 5, Lear, iv. 6, Tr. and Cr. v. 2), lechery, lewdness,
fornication, the _luxuria_ of the schoolmen, _lussuria_ It.


_Magnifico_ (M. of V. iii. 2, Oth. i. 2), a title given to the nobles
of Venice.

_Magot-pie_ (Macb. iii. 4), magpie. It is the French _Margot-pie_, just
like our Madge-howlet, Jack-daw, Tom-tit, etc.

_Mall._ By "Mistress Mall" (Tw. N. i. 3) is probably meant merely a
lady, without any particular allusion.

_Man_ (T. Sh. iv. 1)--in falconry, tame a haggard or wild hawk, by
making her submissive to the _man_ or keeper.

_Mammet_ (1 H. IV. ii. 3, R. and J. iii. 5), doll, puppet. It is
probably the same as _maumet_, idol, image (from _Mahomet_?).

_Mandragora_ (Oth. iii. 3, A. and C. i. v), the mandrake, a strong
narcotic or soporific.

_Mandrake_ (R and J. iv. 3, 2 H. IV. i. 2, iii. 2, 2 H. VI. iii. 2).
From its root being forked, and bearing some resemblance to the legs
and thighs of a man, some superstition was attached to it, such as its
groaning when pulled out of the ground, and causing madness or death to
the person who pulled it.

_Mankind_ (W. T. ii. 3, Cor. iv. 2), masculine (of a woman).

_Manner._ "Taken with the manner" (L. L. L. i. 1, 1 H. IV. ii. 4),
to be caught in the fact, with the stolen goods upon him. It was a
law-phrase, the proper term being _mainour_, from _manier_, Fr.,
derived from _main_.

_Manningtree-ox_ (1 H. IV. ii. 4). This town in Essex used to hold
fairs, by the tenure of exhibiting stage-plays; and there were great
festivities there at Whitsun-ales and other festal times, at which
probably--for we have no account of it--oxen used to be roasted whole,
etc.

_Mantuan_ (L. L. L. iv. 2), a Carmelite friar of the 15th century, who
wrote several works, among which were Latin Eclogues, in imitation of
those of Virgil. This last was a school-book in our poet's time; and
the words quoted are the beginning of the first Eclogue.

_Marchpane_ (R. and J. i. v), a confection of almonds, sugar, and flour
pounded, blended, and baked, so as to form a kind of biscuit. The name
occurs in most European languages, but its origin is uncertain.

_Mare._ "Riding the wild mare" (2 H. IV. ii. 4) is playing at the game
of see-saw or weighdy-buckety--_bascule_, Fr.

_Marian._ "Maid Marian" (1 H. IV. iii. 3) was in the ballads the bride
of Robin Hood. She was a character in the morris-dances, and was
frequently represented by a man, but more usually by a woman of ill
life.

_Martlemas_, i.e. _Martinmas_ (2 H. IV. ii. 2), Nov. 11, St. Martin's
day, the beginning of winter, the decline of the year.

_Maze._ "The quaint mazes in the wanton green" (M. N. D. ii. 2) may
perhaps have been merely the fairy rings; but there was in many places
what was called a Maze or Troy town, or Walls of Troy, in which young
people used to run for amusement. "They are generally," says Stukely,
"upon open green places by the sides of roads or rivers, upon meadows
or the like, near a town." For descriptions of them see Notes and
Queries, 3 S. x. 283, 398.

_Meacock_ (T. Sh. ii. 1), a tame, dastardly person. Its most probable
derivation is _meekock_, perhaps its original form (_-ock_ being a
diminutive, as in _hillock_, _bullock_, etc.).

_Measure_ (L. L. L. v. 2, As Y. L. v. 4), a stately, slow dance, like
the minuet of the last century.

_Meazle_ (Cor. iii. 2), leper (_mesel_, _meseau_ Old Fr.; from
_misellus_?).

_Medicine_ (All's Well, ii. 1, W. T. iv. 3), physician (probably
_médecin_, Fr.).

_Mephistophilus_ (M. W. i. 1), the well-known spirit or familiar in the
story of Dr. Faustus. In Marlowe's play on the subject he was probably
represented as very slender in person.

_Merchant_ (R. and J. ii. 4) was used as we now use _chap_ (_i.e._
chapman), in _my chap_, a _saucy chap_, etc.

_Merry_, cheerful, pleasant; the adj. of _mirth_. Hence _merry_ (_i.e._
pleasant) England.

    "That made hem in a cite for to tarie,
    That stood ful _mery_ upon a haven side."
                                            Chauc. Tale of Nonnes Prest.

    "I wol you telle a _mery_ tale in prose"
                                              (Id. Prol. Person's Tale),

where the "mery tale" is a sermon.

_Mess_ (L. L. L. iv. 3, 3 H. VI. i. 4), a set of four persons at a
meal, the party being arranged in fours. It is probably the Spanish
_mesa_, table.

_Milliner_ (1 H. IV. i. 3), a man who carried on the business now
appropriated to women; probably from _Milan_.

_Mobled_ (Ham. ii. 2), having the face covered. "The moon doth _mobble_
up herself" (Shirley, Gent. of Venice). Its derivation is uncertain;
but it may be connected with _muffle_.

_Mock-water_ (M. W. ii. 3) may allude to the usage of judging of
diseases by the urine; but it is uncertain.

_Modern_ (As Y. L. ii. 7, iv. 1, All's Well, v. 3, Macb. iv. 3),
common, trivial, such as we may meet with every day. _Modern_ comes
from _hodiernus_.

_Monarcho_ (L. L. L. iv. 1). "Monarcho the Italian" (Nash, Have with
You, etc.). "Monarcho that lived about court" (Meres, Pal. Tamia).

_Month's mind_ (Two Gent. i. 2). This was originally a service in the
church for the soul of a person deceased, performed a month after his
death, in mind, _i.e._ remembrance, of him. After the Reformation, when
such a usage ceased, the phrase still remained; and as _mind_ signified
inclination as well as memorial, it came to signify a great longing
which had, as it were, lasted a month. This seems to be the simple
explication.

_Mops and mowes_ (Temp. iii. 3, Cymb. i. 7), ridiculous distortions of
the face and body. _Mop_ may be only a corruption of _mock_, and _mow_
of _mouth_--we still say _make mouths_--or the French _moue_, which has
the same sense.

_Moral_ (T. Sh. iv. 4, M. Ado, iii. 4), meaning, as in the _moral_ of a
fable. In Tr. and Cr. iv. 4, it seems to be the same as _motto_.

_Morris_ (A. Well, ii. 2), _i.e._ morris-dance, as it were Moorish
dance, an amusement on May-day, which was long kept up, but confined to
the chimney-sweeps, in London. Its chief characters were Maid Marion,
Friar Tuck, the Clown, the Hobby-horse, etc.

_Mort of the deer_ (W. T. i. 2), notes blown on the horn on the death
of the deer.

_Motion_ (Two Gent. ii. 1, W. T. iv. 2), puppet, puppet-show, as being
_moved_ and put in action by strings.

_Motley_ (As Y. L. ii. 7), the dress of Fools, as formed of divers
colours.

_Mousehunt_ (R. and J. iv. 4), a name of the stoat; but here it seems
to be used ambiguously as a hunter of mice, _i.e._ women, for whom
_mouse_ was a term of endearment.

_Murdering-piece_ (Ham. iv. 5), a piece of ordnance placed in
loop-holes of a castle or fortress, or the port-holes of a ship's
forecastle, from which was discharged case-shot filled with bullets,
nails, pieces of iron, etc. _Meurtrière_ (Fr.) is, loop-hole.

_Mutton_ (Two Gent. i. 1, M. for M. iii. 2). The single term, and that
of _laced mutton_, mean a woman--in the opinion of critics in general,
a woman of bad life; and Cole in his Dict. has "_Laced mutton_,
scortum." Yet this may be questioned. In Molière's G. Dandin (iii. 14),
the maid says to her mistress, of whose virtue she is the maintainer,
_pauvre mouton!_ so that both in French and English _mutton_, i.e.
sheep, ewe, may have been, like _lamb_, a term of endearment. "There's
another goodly _mutton_ going" (Green's Tu Quoque), of a modest woman.

                            "A fine _lac'd mutton_
    Or two; and either has her frisking husband,
    That reads her the Corranto every week."
                                           Jonson, Mask of Nep. Triumph.

Here, we have no reason to suppose that they were women of bad
character. So also in Two Gent. it is of a lady of unblemished fame
that _lac'd mutton_ is used. Speed calls himself "a lost mutton," and
her "a lac'd mutton," where, by the way, we must pronounce "lac'd"
_last_, or we miss the humour. It may be observed, as Nares and others
have not seen it, that the allusion in _laced_ is to the lacing of the
dress in front. Hence the frequent cry, _Cut my lace!_


_Nettle of India_ (Tw. N. ii. 5), a zoophyte, it is said, called
_Urtica marina_, abounding in the Indian seas. "The flower of India,
pleasant to be seen, but whoso smelleth to it, feeleth present smart"
(Green, Card of Fancie), whence Shakespeare probably took it, would
rather seem to indicate a plant.

_Nice_ (T. Sh. iii. 1, R. and J. v. 2), silly, trifling, from _niais_,
Fr.

_Nicholas_ (Two Gent. iii. 1, 1 H. IV. ii. 1). This Saint appears
to have had a double office,--the one as the patron of schools and
learning, as he was celebrated for his piety and love of learning from
his infancy; the other, we know not how, as the patron of thieves and
highwaymen, who were called _St. Nicholas' clerks_.

_Night-gown._ This was the name of the night-dress of both women and
men (Macb. ii. 2, Ham. iii. 4). It is still used, at least in the
country, for night-dress. The night-gown was only used by persons of
some rank and consideration; people in general went to bed naked,
_buffing the blanket_, as it was termed in Ireland. It may be here
observed that _gown_ was, like _gonna_, It., whence it is derived, used
very extensively at that time. So we have _sea-gown_ (Ham. v. 1), for a
sailor's outer coat, a pilot-coat, as we should now say.

_Nine men's morris_ (M. N. D. ii. 1). "In that part of Warwickshire
where Shakespeare was educated, and the neighbouring parts of
Northamptonshire, the shepherds and other boys dig up the turf with
their knives to represent a sort of imperfect chess-board. It consists
of a square, sometimes only a foot in diameter, sometimes three or four
yards. Within this is another square, every side of which is parallel
to the external square; and these squares are joined by lines drawn
from each corner of both squares, and the middle of each line. One
party, or player, has wooden pegs, the other stones, which they move
in such a manner as to take up each other's _men_, as they are called;
and the area of the inner square is called _the pound_, in which the
men taken up are impounded. These figures are by the country-people
called _Nine Men's Morris_ or _Merrils_, and are so called because each
party has _nine_ men." (James, in Var. Shakespeare.) This, it must be
confessed, is not very intelligible, and it is rather remarkable that
Nares takes no notice of it. On the contrary, he says that Nine Men's
Morris is "evidently only another name" for Nine-holes. In this he
must be wrong, as the word _Morris_ shows; but Shakespeare may have
confounded the two, and have meant Nine-holes, as would seem to be
indicated by "filled up with mud."

_Nobody_ (Temp. iii. 2). "The picture of Nobody was a common sign.
There is also a woodcut prefixed to an old play of Nobody and Somebody,
which represents him" (Singer).

_Noddy_ (Two Gent. i. 1), a fool, or rather perhaps a nobody.
"Thersites, the glorious _noddy_" (Puttenham).

    "Ere you came here poor I was somebody,
    The king delighted in me; now I am a _noddy_."
                                                          Dam. and Pith.

It may be connected with _noodle_. It was also a game at cards,
something like cribbage, in which the knave was called _knave-noddy_,
to which last, it may be, Speed alludes.

_Nonce_ (1 H. IV. i. 2), or Nones, is simply _ones_, _once_, with the
paragogic _n_, and signifying that one time.

_Novum_ (L. L. L. v. 2), a game at dice, at which the full number of
players would seem to have been five. As the principal throws were nine
and five, it was named _Novemquinque_.

_Nuncle_, i.e. _uncle_ with the paragogic _n_, of which there were so
many instances. In Lear, it is the term used by the Fool to the King;
and in Fletcher's Pilgrim (iv. 1), Alinda uses it, when assuming the
character of a fool; but this may have been a mere imitation of the
Fool in Lear. _Uncle_ and _Aunt_ (M. N. D. ii. 1, W. T. iv. 2) may have
been originally only names for elderly persons: the former at least is
still used in this manner in Cornwall; and the American custom of so
styling elderly negroes of both sexes may be a remnant of it.

_Nut-hook_ (M. W. i. 1, 2 H. IV. v. 4), a hook for pulling down the
branches of nuts. It was, as in these places, used figuratively of a
bailiff.

_Nutmeg._ "A gilt nutmeg" (L. L. L. v. 2), was a common gift at
Christmas and other festivals.


_Object._ This word was used, of both persons and things, in the same
manner as we now use _subject_. Of persons we still employ it with
the ellipsis of _of pity_, as it seems to be used in Tim. iv. 3;
but Shakespeare uses it also with that of _of love_. (Two Gent. ii.
4, Cymb. i. 7.) The French also used it in this sense (see Molière
_passim_).

_One._ As this appears to be pronounced _on_ (Two Gent, ii. 1), it is
assumed that such was its sound, but it was in fact pronounced as at
present; for in the Contention, etc., the original of 2 H. VI., we
have "all's _wonne_ (one) to me." In Chaucer's time it was sounded like
_own_, for he always writes it _oon_, and it retains this sound in
_alone_, _atone_, _only_.

_Or ere._ This should be _or e'er_; for _or_ is ere, before, and we
have the full phrase _or ever_ in the Bible (Dan. vi. 24, Ps. lviii. 8)
and elsewhere.

_Osprey_ (Cor. iv. 7). This bird of prey was supposed to exercise a
kind of fascination over the fish which it captured.

_Out of God's blessing into the warm sun_ (Lear, ii. 2)--a proverb
signifying from good to bad, the origin of which has not yet been shown.

_Overscutched huswives_ (2 H. IV. iii. 2) seems to mean the harlots who
had been well whipped in the house of correction. _Scutch_ (same as
_scotch_), to beat, to scourge, is still used of flax, and in Ireland
of a mode of beating out wheat; _huswife_ or housewife, signified
_hussy_, a corruption of it.

_Owch_ (2 H. IV. ii. 4). This word, whose origin is extremely obscure,
seems to signify ornament, jewel, etc.

_Owl._ "The owl was a baker's daughter" (Ham. iv. 5). Douce says this
is a common tradition in Gloucestershire. "Our Saviour went into a
baker's shop, where they were baking, and asked for some bread to eat.
The mistress of the shop immediately put a piece of dough in the oven
to bake for him; but was reprimanded by her daughter, who, insisting
that the piece of dough was too large, reduced it to a very small size.
The dough, however, immediately began to swell, and presently became of
a most enormous size; whereupon the baker's daughter cried out, _Heugh,
heugh, heugh!_ which owl-like noise probably induced our Saviour to
transform her into that bird for her wickedness."


_Painted cloth_ (As Y. L. iii. 2), _i.e._ cloth or canvas painted in
oil, used like tapestry for hanging the walls of sitting-rooms and
bed-chambers. It was both cheaper and more lasting than tapestry, and,
like it, had stories and mottoes on it.

_Palabras_ (M. Ado, iii. 4) and _Paucas [pocas] palabras_ (T. Sh. Ind.)
Sp., words, few words.

_Parish top_ (Tw. N. i. 3). It was the custom to keep a large
whipping-top in each parish in the country parts for the peasantry to
use in frosty weather to keep them warm with exercise.

_Partlet_ (W. T. ii. 3, 1 H. IV. iii. 3), the name of the hen in
Chaucer's Tale of the Nonnes Prest--used in these places of a woman
who, like her, gave advice, etc., to her husband.

_Passy-measure_ (Tw. N. v. 1), the Italian _passo mezzo_. It was a slow
grave dance, correlative to the Galliard, but with only half the number
of steps. It may have been the same as the Pavin (from _pavo_?), which
is joined with it.

_Patch_ (C. of Err. iii. 1, M. of V. iii. 5, Macb. v. 3), fool. "Patch
was the name of a Fool kept by Cardinal Wolsey, and who deservedly had
the honour of transmitting his appellation to a very numerous body of
descendants, he being, as Wilson observes in his Art of Rhetorique,
1553, 'a notable fool in his time'" (Gifford on Mass. New Way, etc.
iii. 2). He may, however, have been so named from his dress.

_Path_ (J. C. ii. 1), to pace, walk, go along.

    "_Pathing_ young Henry's unadvised ways."
                                       Drayton, Duke Humphrey's Epistle.

    "Where from the neighbouring hills her passage Wey doth _path_."
                                                        Id. Polyolb. ii.

_Pax_ (H. V. iii. 6), a piece of wood or metal, with the picture of
Christ upon it, which was given to the people to kiss at the end of
divine service.

_Pensioners_ (M. W. ii. 2, M. N. D. ii. 1). The band of Gentlemen
Pensioners was instituted by Queen Elizabeth. It was composed of tall
handsome young men, of rank and fortune, who were splendidly attired.

_Pict-hatch_ (M. W. ii. 2) is said to have been a noted tavern or
brothel in Turnbull-street, Clerkenwell. The picked hatch or half-door
with spikes (whence the name) was a common defence of brothels.

_Piece_, one, individual. It was, and is, used in English, French,
and other languages, both of persons and things. So we say a piece of
cannon, a fowling-piece, pieces of money, so much a-piece, _i.e._ to
each, etc. A remarkable instance of this use of _piece_ occurs in the
Roman de la Rose (ver. 16099), where it denotes the individuals of the
various species formed by Nature.

    "Voyez la bonne _pièce_ avec ses révérences!"
                                            Corneille, Le Menteur, v. 5.

The critics are quite wrong in saying that when used of a woman it
denoted bad character; for it was merely with an ellipsis of _of
womankind_. Peele says of Helen before her elopement,

    "Here, gentle shepherd, here's for thee _a piece_,
    The fairest face, the flower of gallant Greece."
                                               Arraign. of Paris, ii. 2.

    "In hope to win that gallant flower of Greece,
    Fair Helena, that brave and peerless _piece_."
                                                            War of Troy.

We also have,

    "I had a wife, a passing princely _piece_" (Mirr. of Mag.);

    "Well, she was a delicate _piece_" (Hon. Whore),

of a princess;

                                "All princely graces
    That mould up such a piece as this is" (H. VIII. v. 5),

of Elizabeth, whom Wilson (Life of James I. p. 1) terms "a glorious
and most happy _piece_ of sovereignty." We also meet with "_piece_ of
virtue" (Temp. i. 2, Ant. and Cleop. iii. 2), "_piece_ of beauty, of
enchantment" (W. T. iv. 3). It was also used of men:

    "Of base and earthly _pieces_, like thyself" (Albumazar, iv. 7),

to a man;

    "You're both the loveliest _pieces_" (Fletch. Love's Pilg. i. 1),

to men.

_Pin_ (L. L. L. iv. 1)--in archery, the black peg with which the
_clout_ or _white_ was fastened in the middle of the butt.

_Placket_ (L. L. L. iii. 1, W. T. iv. 3). "_Torace_, the breast or bulk
of a man; also the middle space between the neck and the thighs; also
a _placket_, a stomacher" (Florio). This puts the meaning of this word
beyond dispute. In Winter's Tale it signifies the part covered by it.

_Point-device_ (L. L. L. v. 1, As Y. L. iii. 2), precise, exact in
dress and manners. It is said to be the French _point dévisé_; but
there is no such phrase in French. It may be _point de vice_.

_Pomander_ (W. T. iv. 3), probably, as Minshew says, from _pomme
ambre_. It was a ball, etc., often of silver, perforated, and
containing perfumes; so that it would seem to answer to the present
smelling-bottle. Perhaps it was the same as the pouncet-box (1 H. IV.
i. 3).

_Poor-John_ (R. and J. i. 1), dried hake, a coarse kind of food.

_Porpentine_, a corruption of _porcupine_. Always the form used by
Shakespeare; so Portingale for Portugal.

_Potatoes_ (M. W. v. 5). It is curious that this tuber, which had been
lately brought to England, should have been regarded, as it was, as an
incentive to venery.

_Pox_, i.e. pocks, were properly the pits or holes _poched_ or sunk in
the face by the disease now called the _small-pox_, then simply the
_pox_. Hence there was no indelicacy in its use by a lady (L. L. L. v.
2).

_Pride of place_ (Macb. ii. 4) seems to mean the greatest height to
which a falcon flew, previous to making the stoop. _Place_ seems
equivalent to _pitch_.

_Princock_, _princox_ (R. and J. i. 5), a pert forward youth. Perhaps
_prince-cock_, little prince; _cock_ is a diminutive.

_Priscian_, a celebrated Latin grammarian. Blundering in grammar was
termed breaking his head, hence "a little scratched" (L. L. L. v. 1).

_Prone_ (Cymb. v. 4), prompt, ready, unembarrassed.

    "With bombard and basilisk, with men prone and vigorous."
                                         Holme, Fall of Rebellion, 1537.

    "To delude your subtle father.--I am _prone_ to it."
                                                  Mass. New Way, iii. 2.

In M. for M. i. 3, _prone_ is, perhaps, prepossessing, that makes one
_prone_ or inclined to.

_Pun_ (Tr. and Cr. ii. 1), to pound, crush. It is the A.S. _punian_,
and has been changed to _pound_, just as _hoise_ has become _hoist_.

_Puppet._ "The puppets dallying" (Ham. iii. 2) seems to mean the
apparent motion of the babies in the eyes, _i.e._ the reflections of
objects on the outer part of the pupil.

_Putter-out_ (Temp. iii. 3), one who, on going on his travels, placed
in the hands of some one a sum of money, on condition of receiving
three, four, five, etc. times that sum in case of his safe return. It
was a very common practice in those days.


_Quail_ (Tr. and Cr. v. 1) is used figuratively of a loose amorous
woman, the quail being regarded as an amorous bird. _Bevy_ was used
alike of quails and of women.

_Quality_, profession, occupation (Ham. ii. 2), chiefly the dramatic;
the persons of it (Temp. i. 2).

_Quarry_ (_curée_, Fr., _curata_, It. See Bocc. Thes. vii. 76, Orl.
Inn. ii. 10, 60), properly the entrails of the game, the part given to
the hounds; a heap or pile of slaughtered game (Ham. v. 2, Macb. iv. 3,
Cor. i. 1). It was also used of the game itself even while afoot.

_Quern_ (M. N. D. ii. 1), a hand-mill; but in this place Shakespeare
evidently uses it for _churn_.

_Quiddit and quillet_ (Ham. v. 1). The first of this is a corruption
of the scholastic _quidditas_, and denotes a subtle distinction; the
second is the same as _quibble_, whence _quip_, and is a corruption of
_quidlibet_.

_Quietus_ (Ham. iii. 1), "a word used by the Clerk of the Pipe and
Auditors of the Exchequer, in their acquittances or discharges given to
accountants, usually concluding with _abinde recessit quietus_; which
is called _Quietus est_" (Reed, note in Dodsley's Old Plays).

_Quinapalus_ (Tw. N. i. 5). This and Pigrogromitus, etc., afterwards
(ii. 2) used by the Clown, are probably mere words invented by the
poet, like the foreign language in All's Well.

_Quintaine_ (As Y. L. i. 2). The quintaine here alluded to seems to be
the simpler one in use in the poet's time. It was formed by a cross
bar turning with a pivot on a pole, at one end of which was a figure,
at which the player was to run with his lance, and at the other a
sand-bag, which would give him a hard blow, if he struck so as not to
be out of the way when it came round by the revolution of the bar. A
quintaine is still to be seen at Offham Green, in Kent.


_Rabato_ (M. Ado, iii. 4), a kind of ruff or collar, _rabat_, Fr. from
_rabattre_, to throw back. It is said to have been originally merely
the collar of the shirt turned back, as was the case with boys' shirts
some years ago.

_Rascal_ (As Y. L. iii. 3, 1 H. VI. iv. 2) "is properly the hunter's
term given to young deer, lean and out of season" (Puttenham). This is
the sense in which this word is usually understood; but on the other
hand we have, in the Return from Parnassus, 1666, "I caused the keeper
to sever the _rascal-deer_ from the _bucks of the first head_. Now,
sir, a buck is in the first year a _fawn_; the second year a _pricket_;
the third year a _sorrel_; the fourth year a _soare_; the fifth a _buck
of the first head_; the sixth year a _complete buck_."

    "A new park is a-making there, to sever
    Cuckolds of antler from the rascals."
                                         Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 2.

It would therefore appear that the _rascal_ was simply the deer that
had not yet reached his fifth year, and perhaps the word was _raw_
(immature) _skull_. It was used metaphorically in our poet's time as
now. Fletcher uses it more than once of a woman.

_Ready._ This word frequently signifies dressed, and _unready_
undressed.

    "Bid my wife make her _ready_ handsomely,
    And put on her best apron."
                                                Queen of Corinth, ii. 4.

    "'Tis late; good aunt, to bed: I am e'en unready."
                                                Island-Princess, iii. 3.

In 1 H. VI. ii. 1 we have, "half ready and half unready," _i.e._ drest
and undrest; and in Macb. ii. 3, "manly _readiness_" for men's clothes.
To _ready_ the hair is still used in some places for combing and
arranging it.

_Recheat_ (M. Ado, i. 1), notes played on the horn to call off the dogs.

_Regiment_ (Ant. and Cleop. iii. 6), government, rule; (R. III. v. 3)
body of troops, separate command.

_Region_ (R. and J. ii. 2, Ham. ii. 2), the air. The space between the
lunar sphere and the earth was divided into the region of air and the
region of fire; the air was the region _par excellence_, as nearest to
the earth. See _Element_.

_Rest._ The phrase "set up rest" (All's Well, ii. 1, M. of V. ii. 2,
W. T. iv. 3, R. and J. iv. 5) in these plays is figurative, derived
from gaming, chiefly at the game of cards called Primero. As this game
came from Spain it brought, like Ombre, its terms with it, and _rest_
was the Spanish _resto_, which meant not, as is usually supposed, the
stake, but the bet or wager, which appears to have been made by the
players only. "What shall we play for?--One shilling _stake_ and three
_rest_" (Florio, Second Fruits). The Spanish phrase for laying a wager,
or making a bet at play, was _echar el resto_, put or throw down the
sum betted; and this became in English _set up the rest_. The reason
perhaps was because this phrase was already in use in a military sense,
as the matchlock guns, on account of their weight and the mode of
firing them, required a rest or support. The phrase was also used (R.
and J. v. 3, Lear, i. 1) for making one's abode.

_Restie_ (Cymb. iii. 6), "dull, heavy, idle, inert" (Bullokar).

_Revels_ (H. VIII. i. 4) seems in this place to be what was called
mixed dancing, in which both sexes partook. "Here they take forth the
ladies and the _revels_ begin" (Jonson, Masque of Lethe). Its general
signification, however, was sports and amusement of any kind. It comes
from _réveiller_, Fr.

_Riming rats to death_ (As Y. L. iii. 2). There is abundant evidence
of the belief that in Ireland rats could be killed by metrical charms.
This notion would seem to have been common to the whole Celtic race;
for M. Villemarqué (Barzaz Breiz, i. 1xx.) says that when some bad
verses were made relating to the cholera in Bretagne, an old peasant
observed "au fond, peu importe; l'essentiel était que le choléra fût
_chansonné_. Il l'est; la chanson fera fuir la peste."

_Roast._ "Rule the roast" (2 H. VI. i. 1) was probably used originally
of cocks, the proper term being _roost_, as it perhaps was here, where
it is printed _rost_. It would thus be similar to Cock of the Walk.

_Rosemary_ (W. T. iv. 3, Ham. iv. 5). This plant, for some unknown
reason, was held to be a symbol of remembrance, and was used at
weddings and funerals.

_Rouse_ (Ham. i. 4). See _Carouse_.

_Rue_ (W. T. iv. 3, R. II. iii. 4, Ham. iv. 5) was called _herb of
grace_, probably from its resemblance to _rue_, pity.


_Sack_ (2 H. IV. 1, _et alib._). There can be no doubt that this
celebrated wine was nothing else but what is now called _sherry_,
_sherris-sack_, as Falstaff terms it. _Sack_ is _seco_, Sp., as it was
a _dry_ wine; sherry is from the town of Xeres, the guttural _x_ being
as usual pronounced _sh_. See Naress' long article _Sack_.

_Sackerson_ (M. W. i. 1), a celebrated bear at Paris-garden, named, as
was the custom, after the bear-ward.

_Safe_ (Temp. iii. 1, M. for M. i. 1, K. John, iv. 2, Macb. i. 4),
secure, from which there is no danger, that may be relied on.

_Sanctify_ (Cor. iv. 6), to bless, make the sign of the cross.

_Seel_ (Oth. i. 3, Macb. iii. 1), to close the eye-lids of a hawk by
passing a fine thread through them, with a view to making it tame.

_Sennet_, _sinnet_, _cynet_, _signate_, a set of notes on the trumpet
or clarion, usually employed to denote the approach of a person of
rank. It is perhaps only a corruption of _sonata_, It.

_Servant._ In the gallantry of those days _servant_, as the correlative
of _mistress_, denoted the lover. It came from the French _serviteur_,
which occurs in this sense continually in the Nouvelles of the Queen of
Navarre. In Italian 'cavalier servente' is hardly yet out of use.

_Setabos_ (Temp. i. 2). "The giants [Patagonians], when they found
themselves fettered, roared like bulls, and cried upon their great
devil, Setabos, to help them" (Eden, Hist. of Travel, 1577).

_Shard_ (Ham. v. i), a piece of broken pot, tile, etc. This word has
also two other senses--namely, a piece of cow-dung, and a scale, the
latter only in these lines of Gower:

    "He mighte noughte that serpent dere;
    He was so _scherded_ all aboute."
                                                            Conf. Am. v.

    "She sigh her thought a dragon tho',
    Whose _sherdes_ shinen as the sonne."
                                                                 Ib. vi.

And it is a question in which of these senses Shakespeare understood
_shard_ (Ant. and Cleop. iii. 2, Macb. iii. 2, Cymb. iii. 3) when
speaking of the beetle. In the first "they were his _shards_ and he
their beetle," the cow-dung, though the beetle's natal place, could
hardly be meant, as he had then to do with only one shard; while
supposing the wing-cases to be meant, the sense is plain: in the
second "the _shard-borne beetle_" is ambiguous; for _born_ and _borne_
were the same word: in the third, "the _sharded_ beetle" can only
mean properly the beetle that has shards, and it is opposed to "the
full-wing'd eagle." The fact, then, seems to be that the poet took this
word from Gower, and applied it to the wing-cases of the beetle, which
he supposed to be the wings, a piece of ignorance in zoology not to be
wondered at in one who asserted (M. of Ven. v. 1) that the nightingale
does not sing by day.

_Sheriff's post_ (Tw. N. i. 5). It was the custom to have painted posts
at the doors of city magistrates, on which proclamations, etc. were put
up.

_Shove-groat_, a kind of game. "It requires," says Strutt, "a
parallelogram to be made with chalk, or by lines cut upon the middle of
a table, about 12 or 14 inches in breadth, and 3 or 4 feet in length;
which is divided latitudinally into nine equal partitions, in every one
of which is placed a figure in regular succession from one to nine.
Each of the players provides himself with a smooth halfpenny [formerly
a groat or shilling] which he places upon the edge of the table, and
striking it with the palm of his hand drives it towards the marks; and
according to the value of the figure affixed to the partition wherein
the halfpenny rests his game is reckoned; which generally is stated at
thirty-one, and must be made precisely. If it be exceeded, the player
goes again for nine, which must also be brought exactly, or the turn
is forfeited; and if the halfpenny rests upon any of the marks that
separate the partitions, or overpasses the external bounderies, the go
is void."

_Shrew._ This well-known word is used of men also in Chaucer,
signifying, a bad, a wicked person: in its later restriction to women
it is nearly synonymous with _scold_. It would seem to come from some
lost Anglo-Saxon verb--of which we have a trace in _beshrew_--akin to
the German _schreien_, to cry out, scream. _Shrewd_, now used only in
the sense of mental acuteness, signified (H. VIII. v. 2) ill, malicious.

_Side._ "Carry out a side" (Lear, v. 1), means win a game at cards, as
"pull down a side" was to lose it. It would seem that these phrases
were only used of games where there were partners. _Sides_ is still
used of athletic games where there are two parties.

_Sink-apace._ See _Galliard_.

_Skains-mate_ (R. and J. ii. 4). Perhaps the best interpretation of
this unusual term is common woman, whore, who, like Doll Tearsheet (2
H. IV. ii. 4), usually carried a knife. _Skain_ is the Irish _sgian_,
knife.

_Sleave, and sleave-silk_ (Macb. ii. 2, Tr. and Cr. v. 1), the soft
floss silk before it is twisted.

_Sleeve-hand_ (W. T. iv. 3), cuff or wristband. In the same place
_square_ is the part covering the bosom:

    "Her curious _square_, emboss'd with swelling gold,
    Between her breasts the cruel weapon rives."
                                              Fairf. G. of Bul. xii. 64.

_Slip._ See _Counterfeit_.

_Soft, soft you._ These expressions, which so frequently occur, are
verbs; _soft_ coming from _soften_, as _haste_ from _hasten_. The
meaning is relax, stop, hold back. It may be here observed that the
hunting-term _soho_ is a combination of _soft_ and _hold_, both
apocopated, meaning hold back, do not start the hare; and that
_tallyho_ is _tarry, hold_, let the fox get off, give him law. In like
manner _holla_ was a term used to a horse (Ven. and Adon., St. 48, As
You Like it, iii. 2), to make him stop, stand quiet, and formed from
_hold_ and, perhaps, _hard_.

_Span-counter_ (2 H. VI. iv. 3), a game played by boys with counters
or pieces of money; but it is not well known in what manner. The
span or distance between the thumb and the little finger when the
hand is on the stretch, had of course something to do with it, as in
_Three-hole-span_, a game at marbles.

_Speak_ (K. John, ii. 1, J. C. iv. 3, Cor. v. 3). Editors do not seem
to have observed that in these and other places _speak_ is synonymous
with _say_.

_Split._ "Make all split" (M. N. D. i. 2), was a common phrase,
denoting violence of action; but the allusion is not exactly known. We
say "split the sides" with laughter.

_Spoons_ (H. VIII. v. 3). It was the custom for the sponsors at a
christening to make a present of spoons, named Apostle-spoons, because
the handle was terminated with the figure of one of the Apostles. The
spoons were usually of silver. The wealthy gave the entire dozen,
others according to their means.

_Spy of the time_ (Macb. iii. 2). This most unusual phrase occurs only
in this place. The meaning of _spy_ in it must be, exact information.
It is very remarkable that Ariosto uses _spia_ in exactly the same
sense:--

    "Non ha avuto Agramante ancora _spia_,
    Ch' Astolfo mandi una armata si grossa."
                                                     Or. Fur. xxxix. 79.

See also vii. 34, viii. 68, ix. 14, xxxvii. 90, I Suppositi, v. 6.
Could Shakespeare have read Ariosto in Italian? _Spy_ does not occur
in Harrington's translation; but Gascoigne renders _ebbero spia_ in I
Suppositi by _had espial_. In Gower (Conf. Am. v.) we have

    "My sone be thou ware with all
    To seche suche micheries,
    But if thou have the better _aspies_
    In aunter."

_Stalking-horse_ (As Y. L. v. 4), either a real horse trained for the
purpose, or the imitation of one carried by the sportsman by means of
which his was enabled to get within shooting-distance of wild fowl.

_Statute_ (sc. staple, merchant) Ham. v. 1, a legal mode of securing
a debt on the debtor's land. _Recognizance_ in the same place is
an acknowledgment by the debtor for the same purpose; _fines_ and
_recoveries_ were legal modes of cutting off an entail; _double
voucher_ was connected with a recovery, two persons being required to
_vouch_ for the tenant's title.

_Stell_ (Lear, iii. 7). It is very doubtful in what sense this verb
is used here. It is usually supposed to be the same as _stellar_; but
there is no instance of its use in that sense, while in Lucrece, st.
207, and in Son. xxiv. we have it in the sense of _place_, of which
(except these passages of our poet) only the following instance has
been given, and that of the subst., not the verb. "The said _stell_ of
Plessis," Danet, Comines. _Stelle_ and _stel_ are the German and Dutch,
_stead_ the English, for place.

_Sticking-place_ (Macb. i. 7). The best explanation of this seems to be
that which supposes it to be the point to which the strings of musical
instruments are screwed up in tuning.

_Stickler_ (Tr. and Cr. v. 9), one whose office it was, at single
combats or trials of skill, to stand by and see fair play, and to end
the matter when he deemed it right to do so. He bore a _stick_, whence
the name. Like some other words it has somewhat changed its meaning,
for it now means one who _contends_ for something.

_Stint_ (R. and J. i. 3, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5, Tim. v. 5), cease, stop,
put an end to. "_Stint_ thy babbling tongue" (Jonson, Cynth. Rev.
i. 1). "_Stint_ thy idle chat" (Marston, What You Will). "_Lacrimas
supprimere_, to _stint_ weeping" (Baret, Alvearie).

_Strachy._ "The Lady of the Strachy" (Tw. N. ii. 5). What the allusion
is here, and the meaning of _Strachy_ are alike unknown. Payne Knight
conjectured that this word may be a corruption of _Stratico_, the title
of the Governor of Messina; but this is very dubious.

_Stuck_ (Tw. N. iii. 5, Ham. iv. 7), seems to be a corruption of
_stocco_, It., a rapier.

_Sword._ Swearing by the sword (W. T. ii. 3, Ham. i. 5), was in effect
swearing by the Cross, as the hilt and blade were separated by a cross
bar of metal.


_Take_ (M. W. iv. 4, Ham. i. 1, Lear, ii. 4), to strike, blast, infect.
Here it is used in a causative sense, with an ellipsis of the object,
as disease, etc.--_Take in_ (Ant. and Cl. i. 1, iii. 7, Cymb. iv. 2) is
the same as the simple _take_. It is a mere translation of the Dutch
_ennemen_, learned in the wars of the Low Countries.--_Take with_ (1 H.
IV. ii. 4, R. and J. iii. 5), cause to understand, keep, as it were, in
the same pace with.--_Take up_ (All's Well, ii. 3, 2 H. IV. i. 2), sc.
money or things on credit.

_Tawdry_ (W. T. iv. 3), a corruption of Saint Audrey (_i.e._ Ethelred),
the _t_ being, as was so frequently the case, transferred to the
following word. A fair was held, chiefly at Ely, on St. Audrey's day
(Oct. 17), at which toys, etc., were sold, among these a kind of silken
necklaces, much worn by the country-maidens. We should perhaps say
simply, lace; for Spenser has

                          "And gird your _waist_
    For more fineness, with a _tawdry-lace_."
                                                     Shep. Cal. iv. 135.

_Tawny._ This is simply tanned, _i.e._ of a brown colour like that
of tanned leather. Hence in 1 H. VI., the Bishop's men are in "tawny
coats," _i.e._ coats of some variety of brown colour.

_Tear a cat_ (M. N. D. i. 2), an expression of ranting violence of
which the origin is merely conjectural.

_Tennis._ The figurative expressions in these plays derived from
this game are:--_Bandy_ (R. and J. ii. 5, Lear, i. 4 _et alibi_), to
strike and drive the ball with the racket. _Hazard_ (H. V. i. 2) is,
says Steevens, "a place in the tennis-court into which the ball was
sometimes struck." _Chace_ (_ib._) is, says Douce, "that _spot_ where a
ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike the ball to gain a
point or _chace_. At long tennis it is the spot where the ball leaves
off rolling." Steevens quotes from Sidney's Arcadia, book iii. "Then
Fortune--as if she had made chaces enow on the one side of that bloody
tennis-court--went on to the other side of the line." Surely, according
to this, with which Shakespeare agrees, a chace was not a _spot_. The
_line_, it may be observed, ran along the court at right angles to the
wall against which they played.

_Tercel_ (Tr. and Cr. iii. 2), and _tassel-gentle_ (R. and J. ii. 2),
the male of the goss-hawk, _tiercelet_, Fr., so called, it is said,
from being a _third_ less than the female, or, some say, as being one
of three in a falcon's nest, the other two being always females. The
epithet _gentle_ denoted its docility.

_Termagant_ (Ham. iii. 2), an imaginary being, in the old mysteries and
moralities, usually associated with Mahound, _i.e._ Mahomet, and of a
furious violent character. The word still remains, but in a somewhat
different sense. It comes, it is said, from _Trivagante_, It., used
in the same manner. May not the remote origin be _Ter_-(i.e. _Tris_-)
_megistos_?

_Thewes_ (2 H. IV. iii. 4, Ham. i. 3, J. C. i. 3). In these places
Shakespeare uses this term in a corporeal sense of the sinews and
muscles, and he may have been the first who did so. It properly denotes
the qualities of the mind, from _theaw_, A.S., and is akin to _Tugend_
Germ.

_Thread and thrum_ (M. N. D. v. i). The _thread_ is the warp in a web;
the _thrum_, the tufts formed by the ends of the thread beyond the web.
The two taken together therefore form the whole.

_Three-farthings_ (K. John, i. 1), pieces of silver coin of that value;
of course extremely thin and liable to crack.

_Three-man song_ (W. T. iv. 3), a song for three voices. By way of a
joke derived from this we have "_three-man beetle_" (1 H. IV. i. 2).

_Three-pile_ (M. for M. IV. 3, W. T. iv. 2, L. L. L. v. 2), the finest
kind of velvet. The name alludes to something in its construction. From
_pilum_? _Terciopelo_ is the Spanish for velvet.

_Tick-tack_ (M. for M. i. 3), same as tric-trac, a game similar to
draughts. "This is the plain game of tick-tack, which is so called from
_touch and take_; for if you touch a man you must play him, though to
your loss" (Comp. Gamester, p. 113).

_Tide._ "A parted just at turning of the tide" (H. V. ii. 3). Here the
critics tell us of a superstition connecting death with the tide of the
sea. But as it is added "between twelve and one," I think we may take
_tide_ in its original sense of, time.

_Tire_, in falconry (from _tirer_, Fr.). The hawk or any other bird
of prey, was said to _tire_ on its food when it dragged or tore it to
pieces. Shakespeare uses the word metaphorically (Tim. iii. 6, Cymb.
iii. 4).

_To._ Like _zu_, G., _te_, D., this particle occurs continually in
Shakespeare in the sense of _at_. "_To_ Milan let me hear from you by
letters" (Two Gent. i. 1) is an instance generally not understood by
the editors. See above, p. 343. It is also used with an ellipsis of
_compared_ in Two Gent. ii. 4, Ham. iii. 1, and elsewhere.

_Toad_ (As Y. L. ii. 1). It was a notion in those times that the poor
innocent toad had in the interior of his head a stone endued with
great virtues, named _borax_ or _stelon_. See Fenton, Secret Wonders
of Nature, 1569, and other authors. Perhaps the notion originated in
the great brilliancy of the toad's eye, which may have been termed 'a
jewel.'

    "If I but once lay hands upon the slave,
    That thus hath robb'd me of my dearest jewel (his eye)."
                                                           Lingua, v. 6.

_Tokens_ (L. L. L. v. 2, Ant. and Cl. iii. 8), the spots on the body
denoting the plague. The house in which there was one or more persons
who had them was shut up, and _Lord have mercy upon us!_ put over the
door.

_Too._ This word occurs in the sense of _trop_, Fr., _i.e._
excessively, in Com. of Err. i. 2, L. L. L. ii. 1, Temp. ii. 2, and
other places. For the difference of _trop_ and _too_, _assez_ and
_enough_, see what I have written in Notes and Queries, 3 Ser. x. 430.

_Tray-trip_ (Tw. N. ii. 5), the name of some game, probably played with
dice; but of which we have no description.

_Tribulacion._ "The Tribulacion of Tower-hill or the Limbs of
Limehouse" (H. VIII. v. 3) are supposed to have been the names of two
Puritan congregations.

_Triple_ (All's Well, ii. 1, Ant. and Cl. i. 1), third, one of three, a
sense only to be found in Shakespeare.

_Troll-my-Dames_ (W. T. iv. 2), a corruption of the French
_Trou-madame_, a game also called _Pigeon-holes_, our present bagatelle.

_Trossers_ (H. V. iii. 7), the tight, close-fitting pantaloons worn by
the native Irish. Hence _trowsers_.

_Truckle-bed_ (M. W. iv. 5, R. and J. ii. 1), a bed on castors
(_trochlea_) for the use of the servant, who lay in the same room
with the master or mistress. During the day it was run under the
state-bed, and at night was drawn out at the foot. It was also called
_trundle-bed_.

_Truepenny_ (Ham. i. 5). Mr. Collier says he was informed that in
the mining-districts of the Midland counties this term signifies a
particular indication on the soil of the direction in which ore is to
be found.

_Try with main-course_ (Temp. i. 1). "To hale the tack aboord, the
sheat close aft, the boling set up, and the helm tied close aboord"
(Smith, Sea Grammar, 1627).

_Tub_ (M. for M. iii. 2, H. V. ii. 1, Tim. iv. 3). It was one of the
modes of curing the venereal disease to put the patient in a heated
tub, where he was sweated, being at the same time fed on mutton roasted
dry, etc.

_Tucket_ (H. V. iv. 2), the Italian _toccata_, a blast of the trumpet
for a charge or advance.

_Turk Gregory_ (1 H. IV. v. 3). In this are united two objects of the
utmost horror and fear, the Grand Turk and the famous Pope Gregory
VII., as depicted by Foxe in his Book of Martyrs.

_Turnbull-street_ (2 H. IV. iii. 2), a street in Clerkenwell, now
restored to its original name of _Turnmill-street_. It was the resort
of bullies, whores, _et id genus omne_.

_Two and thirty a pip out_ (T. of Sh. i. 2), _i. e_. thirty-one; the
allusion being, it is said, to a game of cards called _Bone-ace_ or
_Thirty-one_. A _pip_ is one of the spots on the cards.


_Utis_ (2 H. IV. ii. 4), or _Utas_, the eighth day after a festival, or
Saint's-day: from _huit_, Fr. As it was a holiday, it came to signify
sport, festivity, amusement in general.


_Veal._ "_Veal_, quoth the Dutchman" (L. L. L. v. 2). In Dutch _Veel_
is much, many, often. Here it seems to answer to _Much_!

_Veney_, _venew_ (M. W. i. 1, L. L. L. v. 1), an assault in
fencing--from _venue_, Fr., a coming-on. It was the Italian _stoccata_.

_Vice_ (Tw. N. iv. 2), same as _Iniquity_, which see.

_Vie_ (T. Sh. ii. 1, Ant. and Cl. v. 2), to bet, lay. The noun is the
French _envi_, the Spanish _envite_.

_Virginal_ (W. T. i. 2). The virginal was the first form of the
pianoforte. It was rectangular, differing in this from the spinnet,
the harpsichord, and grand piano. Nares, who had seen the instrument,
describes it exactly. It was sometimes called a _pair of virginals_, as
an organ was a _pair of organs_, in allusion probably to the set (pair)
of keys.


_Wanton_ (from _wendan_, A.S., turn, change?) seems to have originally
signified yielding, changeable. We have "the wanton green" (M. N. D.
ii. 2), "the wanton rushes" (1 H. IV. iii. 1).

_Water-work_ (2 H. IV. ii. 1) seems to mean work done on cloth in
water-colours, or distemper.

_Weaver_ (Tw. N. ii. 3, 1 H. IV. ii. 4). Weavers, from the sedentary
nature of their work, seem to have been much addicted to singing,
especially psalms. By the _three souls_ in the first of these passages
is meant the _vegetative, sensitive_, and _reasonable_ souls, which
were held to compose _the soul_.

_Weyard._ This is the way in which Shakespeare spells in Macbeth the
word which in G. Douglas and Holinshed is spelt _weird_.

_Wheel_ (Ham. iv. 5), the burthen in a ballad, a translation of _rota_,
probably on account of its coming round and round.

_Whiffler_ (H. V. v. Chor.), a fifer, who went first in a procession.
It then came to be used of any one who went before to clear the way.

_While, whiles, whilst._ The first of these words is a noun, signifying
time; the second is the adverbial genitive of it, and the third this
last with a paragogic _t_. _While_ is used adverbially, like _whiles_,
with an ellipsis of _in the_. It also occurs, as in the following
passages, with an ellipsis of _to the_, _till the_. "The Romans had a
law that every man should use shooting in peace-time, _while_ he was
forty year old" (Ascham, Toxoph. p. 16). "When the conjured spirit
appears, which will not be _while_ after many circumstances," etc. (K.
James, Demonol.).

    "I may be convey'd into your chamber. I'll lie
    Under your bed _while_ midnight."
                                      B. and F. Wit at sev. Weap. ii. 2.

    "Cleanthus, if you want money to-morrow, use me,
    I'll trust you _while_ your father's dead."
                                                   Mass. Old. Law, i. 1.

    "Blessings may be repeated _while_ they cloy."
                                               Waller, Ans. to Suckling.

In Lincolnshire _while_ is used at the present day for _until_. This is
evidently the sense in which _whiles_ is used in Twelfth Night, iv. 3;
for Macb. iii. 1 see the note.

_Whistling._ In falconry the whistle was, for the bird, the sign of
starting and of returning. The term of the former was _whistle off_
(Oth. iii. 3) against the wind after game, _down_ the wind if cast off
as worthless and untameable. "I have been worth the whistle" (Lear, iv.
2) seems to refer to the whistle of recall. "As a long-winged hawk,
when he is first _whistled off_ the fist, mounts aloft, and for his
pleasure fetcheth many a circuit in the air, still soaring higher and
higher, till he come to his full _pitch_; and in the end, when the game
is sprung, comes down amain, and stoops upon the sudden" (Burt. Anat.
of Mel. ii. 1-3).

_Who_ (M. of Ven. ii. 7, _et alibi_). This pronoun was often used, as
here, of things. Hence we still use the gen. _whose_.

_Wild-goose chase_ (R. and J. ii, 4) was something like our
steeple-chase. There were only two riders; and when one got the lead,
the other was obliged to follow wheresoever he went.

_Winchester goose_ (1 H. VI. i. 3, Tr. and Cr. v. 11). This is said to
be a swelling caused by a disease got in the stews. The latter passage,
however, might intimate that it was a denizen of them. The origin
of the phrase is supposed to be the circumstance of the stews being
chiefly on the Bankside, which was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop
of Winchester; the proximity of the river may have caused the use of
the term _goose_.

_Wish_ (M. Ado, iii. 1, M. for M. iv. 3, Ant. and Cl. i. 3), advise,
recommend; (T. of Sh. i. 1) to introduce.

_Wit._ This word was the same as _esprit_, Fr., and meant mental power,
talent. Thus we have _wit and humour_ still in use, but with changed
signification; for it meant talent and character (individuality), as
we have "wit and judgment" (Oth. iv. 2); or perhaps there may be an
ellipsis of _good_ with _humour_. The "five wits" (Tw. N. iv. 2) are
said to be the five mental powers, "common wit [sense], imagination,
fantasy, estimation [judgment], and memory" (Hawes, Bell. Pucel. ch.
xxiv. _ap._ Malone). They were probably originally the five senses; but
Shakespeare (Son. cxli.) clearly distinguishes them.

_With_ (T. Sh. iv. 2, Ant. and Cl. v. 2, _et alibi_), by, a sense it
still bears, but not as in these places.

_World._ "Go to the world" (All's Well, i. 3), "be a woman of the
world" (As Y. L. v. 3), be married, have, as it were, a place in the
world.

_Worm_ (Ant. and Cl. v. 2, _et alibi_), snake, serpent, _wyrm_, A.S.
Among Shakespeare's other errors in natural history seems to be that of
his supposing (M. N. D. iii. 2, R. II. iii. 2) the adder to sting with
its tongue. See, however, Ham. iii. 4, 3 H. VI. i. 4. Webster actually
says,

    "Repentance then will follow, like the sting
    Plac'd in the adder's tail."
                                                       Vitt. Coromb. ii.

J. Bunyan says of himself that having seized an adder, and "stunned her
with a stick, he forced open her mouth, and plucked out her _sting_
with his fingers," meaning probably her fangs.


_Yaughan_ (Ham. v. 1). This might be taken for a corruption of Vaughan;
but it is the Danish and German _Johan_ (_Y_ for _J_), John. Jonson has
(Ev. Man out, etc. v. 4) "a few, one _Yohan_." Shakespeare got Johan
along with the other Danish names--Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, Osric.


THE END.


Printed by TAYLOR and FRANCIS, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.




      *      *      *      *      *      *




Transcriber's note:

The author's corrections on page viii have been applied on the text.

Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained.

Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected.


Corrections.

The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.

p. 27:

  It was therefore written between 1697 and that date;
  It was therefore written between 1597 and that date;

p. 63:

  The right word, it is quite plain, is _c p_.
  The right word, it is quite plain, is _cup_.

p. 395:

  the incumbent of a parish; not what i now so termed.
  the incumbent of a parish; not what is now so termed.

p. 186:

  it it might be better to read so here also
  it might be better to read so here also

p. 421:

  a piece of ignorance in zoology not be wondered at
  a piece of ignorance in zoology not to be wondered at


Errata.

The first line indicates the original, the second how it should read.

p. 71:

  In the Anglo-Saxon the verbs made their plural in _th_, not in _n_,
  In the Anglo-Saxon the verbs made their plural in _th_, not in _s_,

p. 178:

  It might appear better to read _would_; but all is right.
  It might appear better to read _would_; but will is right.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45160 ***