_Shakspeare Emendations._--As this is the age of Shakspeare emendations, I
beg to propose the following for the consideration of the numerous readers
of "N. & Q." I am the more emboldened to do so, as I find several marginal
corrections made from time to time are verified by the manuscript
corrections in MR. COLLIER'S folio of 1632. These proposed are not,
however, there, or I would not have troubled you, though it is many months
since I first altered the reading of my copy. {52}
_Taming of the Shrew,_ Act V. Sc. 2.--On the exit of Katharina to "fetch"
in the disobedient wives, Lucentio remarks:
"_Luc._ Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.
_Hort._ And so it is. I wonder what it bodes.
_Pet._ Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,
_An awful_ rule, and right supremacy;
And, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy."
For "an awful rule" I propose to substitute _and lawful rule_, as agreeing
better with the text and context; indeed, the whole passage indicates it.
Petruchio means that the change in Katharina's temper and conduct bodes
love, peace, law, and order, in contradistinction to awe or fear. The
repetition of the conjunction _and_ also makes the harmony of the language
more equal; "and love, and quiet life, and lawful rule, and right
supremacy," rings evenly to the ear. Considering the number and character
of the emendations in MR. COLLIER'S volume, I have the less hesitation in
proposing this one. The language of Shakspeare is, as we know it, for the
most part so clear, harmonious, distinct, and forcible, that I think we are
justified in considering any obscure, inconsistent, or harsh passage, as
having met with some mishap either in hearing, transcribing, or in
printing. Some months ago, and certainly before MR. COLLIER'S volume of
corrections appeared, I forwarded to "N. & Q." (it never appeared) a
correction from _Antony and Cleopatra_, Act V. Sc. 2., where Cleopatra,
contemplating suicide, says it is--
"To do that thing that ends all other deeds,
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung.
The beggar's nurse and Caesar's."
The word "dung" ending the third line, was so evidently _dug_, or nipple,
that I thought no man to whom it was pointed out could have a doubt about
it. MR. COLLIER remarks in his recent volume, "This emendation may, or may
not, have been conjectural, but we may be pretty sure it is right." I doubt
if MR. COLLIER would have accepted any authority other than that of his own
folio, although Shakspeare has frequently used the word _dug_ as a synonym
for nipple, as see _Romeo and Juliet_, Act I. Sc. 3.:
"_Nurse._ And she was wean'd,--I never shall forget it,--
Of all the days of the year, upon that day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug.
. . . . . .
--but, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool,
To see it tetchy, and fall out with the dug!"
This quotation proves clearly, I consider, that dug was meant by Cleopatra,
and not _dung_; and so I considered before the old manuscript correction of
MR. COLLIER'S appeared. The words "an awful" are as clearly to my mind _and
lawful_. I doubt, however, if they will be so acknowledged, as the use of
the words "an awful," it may be contended, are countenanced by other
passages in Shakspeare; I quote the following.
_Two Gentlemen of Verona_, Act IV. Sc. I.--
"_3rd Outlaw._ Know then, that some of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
Thrust from the company of _awful_ men."
The word "awful" is surely, in this place, _lawful_; an outlaw would be
little inclined to consider men as "awful," but the contrary. Read the last
line as under--
"Thrust from the company of _lawful_ men,"
and the meaning is simple and clear. The outlaws were thrust from the
company of _lawful men_, that is, men who obeyed the laws they had broken
in "the fury of ungovern'd youth."
In _King Richard II._, Act III. Sc. 3., the following use of the words
_lawful_ and _awful_ occurs:
"_K. Rich._ We are amazed; and thus long have we stood
To watch the fearful bending of thy knee,
[_To Northumberland._
Because we thought ourself thy lawful king;
And if we be, how dare thy joints forget
To pay their awful duty to our presence?"
The meaning in this case is no doubt clear enough, and the words "awful
duty" may be the right ones; but had they stood _lawful duty_ in any old
copy, he should have been a bold man who would have proposed to substitute
_awful_ for _lawful_.
_Second Part of King Henry IV._, Act IV. Sc. 1.--
"_Arch._ To us, and to our purposes, confin'd:
We come within our _awful_ banks again,
And knit our powers to the arm of peace."
The use of the word "awful" in this passage may be right, but, as in the
preceding case, I think, had _lawful banks_ stood in any old printed copy,
or had it even been found in MR. COLLIER'S volume, the fitness would have
been acknowledged.
Shakspeare used the word "lawful" in many instances where, no doubt, it may
with reason, strong as any given here, be changed to _awful_. In the
historical plays, _lawful_ king, _lawful_ progeny, _lawful_ heir, _lawful_
magistrate, _lawful_ earth, _lawful_ sword, &c., may be found. These
suggestions, like the pinch of sand thrown on the old woman's cow, if they
do no good, will, I trust, do no harm.