The issue by the Shakspeare Society of an edition of the _Notes and
Emendations to the Text of Shakspeare's Plays from early MS. Corrections in
a Copy of the Folio 1632, in the Possession of J. Payne Collier, Esq._,
affords an opportunity, of which we gladly avail ourselves, to recall
attention to a volume which is unquestionably the most important
contribution to Shakspearian literature which has issued from the press for
many years. Although we have no evidence of the authority upon which these
_Notes and Emendations_ were made, an examination of them must, we think,
convince even the most sceptical, that they were made upon _authority_, and
are not the result of clever criticism and happy conjecture. The readers of
"N. & Q." know well what discussions have been raised upon such phrases as
"Prenzie Angelo," "Whose mother was her painting," "Ribaudred nag," "Most
busy, least when I do it," &c. The writer of the _Notes and Emendations_,
now first published, has given in these, and hundreds of other difficult
and disputed passages, corrections which are consistent with Shakspeare's
character as the poet of common sense. He converts the "_prenzie_ Angelo"
into the "priestly," and the "_prenzie guards_" into "_priestly garb_." So
that the passage now reads--
"_Claud._ The priestly Angelo.
_Isab._ O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In priestly garb."
In the passages to which we have referred above, "whose mother was her
painting," is changed into "who smothers her with painting;" "ribraudred
nag" into "ribald hag;" and the passage from _The Tempest_ is made plain--
"Most busy blest when I do it."
We think these examples are sufficient to make all lovers of Shakspeare
anxious not only to examine the present volume, but to see the promised new
edition of his works, in which Mr. Collier proposes to give the text as
corrected by this great, although unknown authority.
The meeting for the establishment of the Photographic Society, held on
Thursday week at the Society of Arts, was most numerously attended. The
Society was formed, Sir Charles Eastlake elected president for the first
year, Mr. Fenton honorary secretary, and Mr. Roslyn treasurer. The
subscription was fixed at one guinea, with an admission fee of the same
amount.
At a recent meeting of the _Surtees Society_, it was announced that the
works in progress for this year are the _Pontifical of Egbert_, Archbishop
of York (to be edited by the Rev. W. Greenwell), and a volume of _Wills and
Inventories from the Registry at Richmond_, by Mr. Raine, Jun. The books
for 1854 are to be the Northumbro-Saxon translation of _The Gospel of St.
Matthew_, to be edited by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, and the _Inventories
and Account Rolls of the Monasteries of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow_ until the
Dissolution, which will appear under the editorship of the Rev. James
Raine.
The Corporation of London Library is being thrown open to all literary men;
the tickets of admission being accompanied by letters expressive of a wish
that the holders should make frequent use of them. This is an act of
becoming liberality, worthy of imitation in other quarters.
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace
of Versailles, 1713-1783_, by Lord Mahon, vol. i. This is the first volume
of a new and revised edition of this history of a most important period in
our national annals, by the noble President of the Society of
Antiquaries.--_The Ethnology of the British Islands_, by R. G. Latham, M.D.
The value of all Dr. Latham's researches, whether into the history of our
language, or of the races by which these islands have been successively
inhabited, is so fully recognised, that we may content ourselves by merely
calling attention to the publication of this able little volume.--_On the
Lessons in Proverbs: Five Lectures, &c._, by the Rev. R. C. Trench. Those
who know the value of Mr. Trench's admirable lectures _On the Study of
Words_, will find in this companion volume, in which he attempts to sound
the depths and measure the real significance of National Proverbs, a book
which will give them a pleasant hour's reading, and subjects for many
pleasant hours' meditation.
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