"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,"