(Vol. vi., pp. 268. 296.)
Of this passage we might almost say _conclamatum est_; for really no good
sense has yet been made of it, except by bold alterations. For my own part,
I agree with A. E. B., that _no alteration is required_ except in the
punctuation, and not much even then. The text of the folios is given by MR.
SINGER (Vol. vi., p. 268.), and I would read it thus:
"Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now.
That sport best pleases that doth least know how,
Where zeal strives to content, and the contents
Dies in[5] the zeal of that which it presents.
Their form confounded makes most form in mirth,
When great things labouring perish in the birth."
The whole difficulty seems to lie in the word _dies_ in the fourth line,
and that I think may be removed by merely changing _i_ into _y_, and
reading _dyes_. The meaning then will be: That sport will yield most
pleasure in which, though the actors are devoid of skill, they are zealous
and anxious to give pleasure for their zeal in the endeavour, {137} _dyes_,
or tinges (_i. e._ communicates its own hue to) the _contents_ or
satisfaction of the spectators (_i. e._ makes them sympathise with the
actors). While on the other hand: My good lord, when, as in your late
attempt, great things labouring perish in the birth, _their_ confusion
causes laughter and derision instead of pleasure, like the former simple
effort.
I take, as will be seen, _contents_, in the third line, as the substantive
of the preceding verb _content_, and not, with MR. KNIGHT and A. E. B., as
"things contained." The poet put it in the plural evidently for the sake of
the rhyme. In the next line, _zeal_ may not be the word actually written by
the poet, but it makes a very fair sense; and I know no word that could be
substituted for it with certainty--we still use the phrase, _to dye in_. In
understanding the last two lines of the mask[6] of the king and his lords,
I think I am justified by the remark of Byron:
"A right description of our sport, my Lord."
Perhaps it is needless to add, that _labouring_ is i.q. _travailing_; and
that _most form in mirth_ means _the highest form in_ (i. e. _the greatest
degree of_) _mirth_.
In these, and any other remarks on Shakspeare with which I may happen to
trouble you at any time, I beg to be regarded as a mere _guerilla_ as
compared with regularly trained and disciplined Shakspearians like _Mr.
Singer_, MR. COLLIER, and others. I have never read the folios of 1623 or
1632. I do not even possess a _variorum_ edition of the poet; my only copy
being Mr. Collier's excellent edition. Finally, my studies have lain most
about the sunny shores of the Mediterranean; and I am most at home in the
literature of its three peninsulas, and the coasts of Asia.