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Ritson Joseph - Remarks critical
and illuitative on the Text. Quel
Notes of the last Edition Shaper-
peare. Lond. 1983. 8vo. There remarks
1983.8%.
was allacked in the St. James
Chronicle June 1983. by Alciphron "
(Sealy, Stevens:) and defended by
"Justice (Rition himself)- Field 15/-
Nallaw, with Pitton Quip Modest,
1988, and Cursory Criticism 1992,
₤1.15.0.
The Qup Modest. Lond 1988.800,
1016
Cursory Criticim. In 1992.800
Fulα-2016
Londra h. 2100
1
1
}
.
·
·
1
}
REMARK S,
CRITICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE,
ΟΝ ΤΗΕ
2-3-16
TEXT AND NOTES
OF THE
LAST EDITION
O F
SHAKSPEARE.
Ah, think not, Mistress, more true Dulneſs lies
In Follys Cap, than Wisdoms grave disguife.
Like buoys, that never fink into the flood,
On Learnings furface we but lie and nod.
For thee we dim the eyes, and ſtuff the head,
With all fuch reading as was never read :
For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it,
And write about it, Goddeſs, and about it.
Ritson
DUNCIAD.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON IN ST. PAULS CHURCH-YARD.
M D C C L X X X II I.
i=
70
T
;
P.
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17
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{
7 a
PREFACE.
It
F a variety of editions, and innumerable
comments can be ſuppoſed to perfect and
correct the inaccurate text of a celebrated au-
thor, fufficient, one would think, has been
done to leave that of Shakspeare without a
blemish. So flow, however, or fo inefficaci-
ous, is the progrefs and exertion of verbal
criticiſm, when moiling in the duft and cob-
webs of antiquity, fo much is to be demo-
liſhed, ſo much to be rebuilt, that it will
not, except to thoſe who place implicit confi-
dence in the intereſted and unqualifyed affer-
tions of every publiſher, be a matter of much
ſurpriſe to learn, that, after all that has been
done by the labour of Shakspeares numerous
editors and commentators, after all that has
been urged or affumed in favour of the laſt
A
CAICT
edition,
ii PREFAC E.
edition, — as much more ftill remains to be done
to bring his text back even to the ftate of correct-
neſs in which it was left by his firſt editors. A
reader of heſitation and reflection will hear this
with perfect calmnefs; he will be no ftranger
to the fluctuating ftate of former editions; he
will have noticed the boldneſs and affurance,
the legislative and dictatorial manner in which
every fucceeding editor has ufhered hisfelf into
the world; and will not eafyly forget the con-
fidence of each in affuring the public that no-
thing further could poffibly be done to his
author: Is not this the language of Rowe,
and Pope, and Theobald, and Warburton, and
Hanner, and Capell? And where are they
now? Where
Where even dr. Johnfon and mr.
Steevens may, in the courſe of a few revolving
years, be fent to accompany them :-the re-
gions of oblivion or disgrace.
The chief and fundamental bufinefs of an
editor is carefully to collate the original and
authentic editions of his author. It is other-
wife impoffible for him to be certain that he
is giving the genuine text, becauſe he does not
know what that text is. There have been no leſs
than eight profeſsed editors of Shakspeare; and
yet
PREFACE.
iii
yet the old copies, of which we have heard fo
much, have never been collated by any one
of them: no, not even either of the two firſt
folios, books indifferently common, and
quoted by every body. And yet, ftrange as
it may feem, not one of the eight but has
taken the credit of, or actually afferted, his
having collated them. One may be well al-
lowed to paſs by the pretenfions of thoſe prior
to dr. Johnſon without particular notice; their
falfehood is fufficiently apparent in the margin
of the late edition. Surely, men who thus
proudly expofe and feverely reprobate the crimes
of their neighbours fhould effectually guard
theirfelves againſt fimilar accufations.
66
"collated fuch co-
I," fays dr. Johnfon,
pies as I could procure, and wifhed for
more (1):" "I collated... all [the folios] at
the beginning, but afterwards ufed only the
firſt (2)." He muſt be very hardy, indeed, that
dares give a flat contradiction to ſuch poſitive
aſſertions as theſe from ſo reſpectable a cha-
racter. But the caufe of Shakspeare and truth
obliges one to fay that the learned writer iş
certainly mistaken. The text of his own edi-
(1) Preface, p. 59.
•
A 2
(2) Ibidem, p. 49.
tion,
iv
PREFACE.
tion, the notes of mr. Steevens, and, in fome
reſpect, the remarks in the following ſheets,
will prove that he never collated any one of
the folios, no not for a fingle play,- or at
leaſt that of his collations he has made little or
no uſe. That he picked out a reading here and
there from the old editions, is true: all his
predeceffors did the fame : but this is not colla-
tion. So much for dr. Johnfon.
66
With regard to the laſt edition, mr. Steevens
explicitly tells us that "it has been conftantly
compared with the moſt authentic copies, whe-
ther collation was abfolutely neceffary to the
fenfe, or not (3).” "Would not any one,
from this declaration," to ufe the ingenious
critics own words, fuppofe that he had at
leaſt compared the folios with each other (4) ?”
But he has been deceived, no doubt, by the
perfon employed in this laborious but neceſſary
work. What an abuſe of that confidence and
credit which the public naturally place in an
editor of rank and character, to tell them, that
(6
by a diligent collation of all the old copies hi-
therto discovered, and the judicious reſtoration
(3) Advertiſement, p. 69.
3
(4) Ibidem, p. 68.
of
PREFACE.
of ancient readings, the text of this author
ſeems now finally fettled (5)!" To what bet-
ter cauſe can we afcribe fuch unfounded af-
fertions than to indolence and temerity? fince,
had the ingenious writer compared the old and
preſent editions through a ſingle play, he muſt
neceffaryly have perceived, that all the old
copies had NOT been diligently collated, that
ancient readings had NOT been judiciously re-
ſtored, and that the text is no more finally
fettled at preſent than it was in the time of
Theobald, Hanmer, and Warburton: nay,
that it is, at large, in the fame ſtate of inac-
curacy and corruption in which it was left by
mr. Rowe.
Thefe, it may be objected, are merely nega-
tive and unproved affertions. It is very true.
And they who do not think them confirmed in
the courſe of the following pages, and will
not give theirſelves the trouble to investigate
their truth, are at liberty to disbelieve them.
To publiſh the various readings of the old edi-
tions would be a bufynefs of fome labour, and
little utility.
(5) Malones pref.ce to his Supplement.
As
vi PREFACE.
As to the notes and conjectures here offered
to the public, very little need be faid. Shak-
fpeare is the God of the writers idolatry, and
fhould any one of theſe remarks be thought
pertinent or uſeful in the
opinion of a ſingle
individual who, like him, admires the effu-,
fions of this darling child of nature and fancy,
whom, age cannot wither, and whoſe infinite
variety custom cannot ftale, it will be a fuffi-
cient gratification to him for the pains be-
ftowed in drawing them up. And if there
ſhould be a future edition of this favourite,
this inimitable author, the writer is not with-
out vanity to hope that the following ſheets may
ftimulate the editors care and attention to give
his text with integrity, judgement, and cor-
re&neſs,
a confummation
Devoutly to be wifn'd;
and, which muft of confequence follow, to re-
duce the number of exuberant and impertinent
notes (6).
The freedom with which every editor has
treated his predeceffors precludes the neceffity
(6) From a republication of the last edition nothing is to be expected.
The work will continue, like the editions of Warburton and Hanmer, to
dishonour critic'fh and to infult Shakspeare.
of
PREFACE.
Vil
of an apology for the liberties taken in the en-
fuing pages, with the fentiments of fome of
our moſt eminent literary characters. The fu-
periority of a commentators rank, however,
does not intitle his blunders to refpect. It
were to be wiſhed that dr. Johnſon had fhewn
ſomewhat lefs partiality to pride of place; for,
though he profeſses to have treated his prede-
ceffors with candour, Theobald, the beſt of
Shakspeares editors, experiences as much feur-
rility and injustice at his hands, as Hanmer
and Warburton, the worst of them, do defe-
rence and respect. For this, however, the
learned critic might have his private reaſons,
which, as they could ſcarcely have justifyed
his conduct, he did right to conceal.
To controvert the opinions, or disprove the
affertions of mr. Steevens, dr. Farmer and mr.
Tyrwhitt, men no lefs remarkable for their
learning and genius than for their obliging
dispofitions and amiable manners, has been a
painful and odious taſk. But whereever the
writer has been under the neceffity of differing
from any of thefe gentlemen either in point of
opinion or in point of fact, he will not be
found
viii
PREFACE.
found to have exprefsed hisfelf in a manner
inconfistent with a due ſenſe of obligations and
the profoundeſt refpect. Such, at leaſt, was
his intention, fuch has been his endeavour,
and fuch is his hope.
ERRAT A.
P. 17. 1. 13. for might read might have.
P. 28. 1. 9. dele it.
P. 39.
1. 15. for wyffyves read wyffves.
P. 62. l. 11. for is, not as-read is not, as◄◄
P. 128. 1. 14. for latte read latter.
P. 145. 1. 14. for the read due.
15. for due read the.
P. 221. 1. 26. dele and apologiſe for.
5
REMARKS
RE
M AR
C
K S
ON THE
LAST EDITION OF SHAKSPEARE.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
(PROLEGOMÉNA.)
p. 199.
(SHAKSPEARES WILL.)
The flighteſt alteration in the name of this great writer
is a circumftance of fo much importance to the public,
that, although the editors may not have been too hafty
in preferring SHAKSPEARE to SHAKESPEARE, it might
be wiſhed that a more decifive and lefs equivocal au-
thority than his WILL had been produced to justify and
enforce the change. This will, it should feem, the poet
made in his laft fickneſs, when he appears to have been
fo incapable of paying that attention to the writing of
his name which a man in health ufually does, that he has
actually ſubſcribed it two different ways: SHAKSPERE, and
SHAKSPEARE. So that we are ftill uncertain which mode
to adopt. How negligent, therefor, have the editors been,
and how much are they to be blamed, for not procuring
better and more pofitive evidence, if it were to be come at, as
B
2
PROLEGOMEN A.
1
it certainly was! Mr. Garrick, as they must have known,
though they did not think it neceffary to notice the fact,
had then in his poffeffion a leafe or mortgage from Shakspeare
of a houfe in Blackfriars, fubfcribed (as we learn from mr.
Colmans preface to Beaumont and Fletcher) with his own
hand, WM. SHAKSPEARE; which, very luckyly, confirins
the alteration made, with leſs authority, by the prefent editors.
This deed was discovered among fome old writings by mr.
Wallis, of Norfolk-ftreet, who prefented it to mr. Garrick,
in the poffeffion of whoſe widow it, most probably, ftill re-
mains. Mr. Colman likewife informs us, that the name is,
in the poets own county, pronounced with the firft a fhort (1),
and, in the register of Stratford church, uniformly entered:
SHAKSPERE.
P. [294].
(ATTEMPT TO ASCERTAIN THE ORDER IN WHICH
THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE WERE WRITTEN [BY MR.
MALONE].)
One Hamlet (or Hamnet) Sadler, being a witneſs to, and
mentioned in Shak fpeares will, mr. Malone takes it for granted
that he acquired this name from the testators tragedy of Ham-
let; and thence infers, at leaft gives it as one reafon, that the
play muſt have been written in 1596; that he might be of
what the critic thinks a competent age for a witneſs. In
fact, however, the name of Hamlet was in common uſe long
before Shakspeare was able to write a line; fo that the gentle-
mans preſumption muſt, in this inftance, ncceffaryly fall to
the ground.
"Here under lyeth buried Eleanor Wife of HAMLET
Clarke. She dyed on Sunday the 14th of January 1626.
(1) This pronunciation is right. Twice in the body of his will, and once
in the margin, that is, except the fignatures, whereever his name occurs,-
it is written SHACKSPEARE; and the inftrument itsfelf is, by two different
indorſements, called MR. SHACKSPERES Will.
After
TEM PES T.
3
After they had been married 33 years and about two months.”
Stows Survey, by Strype. I. iii. 39.
46
P. [307].
Whenever the Merry Wives of Windfor may have been writt-
en, it is certain, as well from the enquirers quotations and
remarks, as from the play its felf, that the time of action is
in the reign of king Henry the fourth. But if it ſhould
be placed," fays he, as dr. Johnſon obſerves it fhould be
read, between the Second part of K. Henry IV. and Henry V.”
(where, however, it cannot be introduced without the meft
flagrant impropriety)" it muſt be remembered that mrs,
Quickly, who is half-bawd, half-hoftefs in K. Henry IV.
is, in the Merry Wives of Windſor, Dr. Caius's houſekeeper,
and makes a decent appearance; and in K. Henry V. is
Piſtols wife, and dies in an hofpital; a progreffion that is
not very natural." It is ftrange enough that the critic
ſhould not perceive that Dr. Caiuses houſekeeper and the land-
lady of the Boars-head are totally diftinct characters; and
have not, if we except their name, fex, fentiments, and
loquacity, a fingle circumftance in common between them.
Shakspeare could have been at no lofs for one of the fame
name and family in any town in England.
TEMP ES T.
p. 6.
•
Boatf.-If you can command theſe elements to filence, we
will not handle a rope more.
This is a very early, though not the most favourable, fpe-
cimen of the integrity and corre&tnels of the prefent text
Both the fulios read-" we will not hand a rope more;"
Ba
which
TEM PES T.
which is evidently right; that being the proper fea-term in
ufe at this day.
Mira.
p. 10.
More to know
Did neyer meddle with my thoughts.
To meddle, fays mr. Steevens, in this inftance, fignifies
to mingle. Hence, adds he, the fubftantive medley. But it
fhould rather mean to interfere, to trouble, to bufy its felf, as
ſtill uſed in the North: e. g. Don't meddle with me: i. e.
Let me alone; Don't moleft me.
Medley can fcarce be
formed of meddle: it is, moft likely, a corruption of the
French word, mesleé.
Pro.-being transported,
And wrapp'd in fecret ſtudies.
p. 13.
And could this bald and threadbare phrafe have passed
the examination of judicial collaters and correctors of Shak-
fpeares text? Would not rapt have been a fair and proba-
ble conjecture, even if it had not been, as it is, the reading
of the old editions? And could it, poffibly, have efcaped the
obfervation of any perfon who had made a confiant compa-
rison with the most authentic copies?
Pro.- - urchins
P. 28.
Shall, for that vaſt of night that they may work,
All exercife on thee.
Spirits, perhaps, in the shape of urchins, or hedge-hogs;
which, as Caliban elfewhere complains, would fometimes.
Lie tumbling in his' bare-foot way, and mount
Their prickles at his' foot fall.
In
TEMPEST.
In the Merry Wives of Windſor, however, it ſeems to imply
a ſpirit or fairy of a peculiar appearance,
Nan Page my daughter, and my little fon,
And three or four more of their growth, we'll drefs
Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white,
With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,
And rattles in their bands.
P. 30.
Pro.when thou didst not, favage,
Know thy own meaning, but wouldft gabble like
A thing more brutiſh.
More brutish than what? The old edition reads-" 2
thing most brutish;" and fo fhould this; as the quotation
to dr. Warburtons note might have led the editors to ſuſpect.
p. 38.
Mira. Make not too rafh a trial of him, for
He's gentle and not fearful.
That is Do not rafhly determine to treat him with feve-
rity: he is mild and harmleſs, and not in the leaft terrible os
dangerous.
P. 47.
Gon. You are gentlemen of brave metal,
What metal? Drafs or copper? Read mettles
P. 59.
Stc. If I can recover him and keep him tame, I will not take
too much for him; he fhall pay for him that hath him, and that
foundly.
means, any fum, ever ſo much.
Stephano evidently propofes
Too much, fays mr. Steevens,
But this can hardly be right.
to fell his monſter for a good round price; which it would
have been rather difficult for him to do, if he were deter-
2
mined
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
mined not to take any fum, ever ſo much, for it. He means that
he could not rate his purchaſe too high:-Let me, fays he, get
ever ſo much for him, it fhall not be more than enough.
Cal. Nor fcrape trencher.
P. 64.
The old copy, mr. Steevens obſerves, reads trenchering
and one might naturally have expected a reaſon why this did
not, as the word is, certainly, not ſo very improper. Houfing
is one of the fame kind. Rightly, trencheren, houſen; trenchers,
houfes. The participle beholden is, by a fimilar mistake, every
where, in the old editions, beholding.
P. 74.
Ste. Lead monfter; we'll follow.-I would, I could fee this
taborer he lays it on.
:
Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano.
Is it not evident that the words Wilt come fhould be the
laft of the preceding ſpeech?
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA,
p. 139.
Pro, Oh, how this fpring of love refembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day;'
Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away!
Refembleth, mr. Tyrwhitt fays, is here uſed as a quadri-
fyllable, as if it was written refembeleth. And in fupport of
this affertion he inftances the two following lines: the one
from the Comedy of Errors, the other from As you like it:
And theſe two Dromios, one in femblance.
The parts and graces of the wrestler.
“ And it ſhould be obſerved," continues he, "that Shake-
ſpeare takes the fame liberty with many other words, in
which
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
which or r are [is] ſubjoined to another confonant. Se
Com. of Errors:
"Thefe are the parents to theſe children."
Mr. Steevens, in a note immediately preceding mr.
Tyrwhitts, has obſerved, that when a word was not long
enough to complete the meaſure, our early writers occafio-
nally extended it. Thus, fays he, Spenfer in his Faery Queen:
"Formerly grounded, and faft fettelod."
Again:
"The while fweet Zephirus loud whifteled,
His treble, a ſtrange kind of harmony;
"Which Guyon's fenfes foftly tickeled," &c.
From this practice, he ſuppoſes, the author wrote reſem-
beleth, which, though it affords no jingle, completes the
verfe. The old ballad of Titus Andronicus," adds he, "is
written in this meaſure, where the fecond and fourth lines
only rhime." Whether this be a fact or not "let the foreft
judge." The ballad is printed by Percy, and begins thus:
(the ftanza being the fame throughout :)
You noble minds, and famous martiall wights,
That in defence of native country fights,
Give eare to me that ten yeeres fought for Rome,
Yet reapt difgrace at my returning home.
There is much greater and more important matter in
thefe obfervations than either of the ingenious commenta-
tors was aware of. Neither Shakspeare nor Spenſer ap-
pears, from the above inftances, at leaſt, to have taken the
fmalleft liberty in extending his words: neither has the in-
cident of or r being fubjoined to another confonant any
thing to do in the matter. But that great authors and great
critics ſhould not be better acquainted with the orthography
and grammatical ſtructure of their native tongue, is a circum-
ftance which, if not to be wondered at, is, furely, very much
to
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
to be regretted. The truth is, that every verb in the Engliſh lan
guage gains an additional fyliable by its termination in eſt, eth,
ed, ing, or (when formed into a ſubſtantive) in er: and the
above words, when rightly printed, are not onely unexception-
able, but moſt juft. Thus, refemble makes refemble-eth; wrestle,
wrestle-er; and fettle, whistle, tickle, make fettle-ed, whistle-ed,
tickle-ed.
Semblance, indeed, cannot properly be written as three
fyllables; neither, perhaps, is it altogether neceffary to
pronounce it fa. Childeren, however, would be certainly
right.
Another inftance of this fort occurs in K. John:
That were embattcled and rank'd in Kent :
which ſhould now be written embattleed; though the verb was,
probably enough, in Shakspeares time, ufually ſpelled embattel.
Again, in Butlers panegyric on fir John Denham :
No poet jeer'd for ſcribbling amifs,
With verſes forty times more lewd than his.
Here fcribbling fhould be printed fcribbleing: the metre
evidently requiring three fyllables, which are neceffaryly
articulated in the pronunciation.
Thefe ideas, had they been more germane to the object
of the preſent ſheets, or more likely to experience a favora-
ble reception, might have been much expanded and further
purfued; but, indeed, our orthographical fystem is ſo tho-
roughly corrupted, and the principles and formation of the
language are, even by thoſe who have profeſsedly treated the
fubject (2), fo little investigated or underſtood, that a writer,
hardy enough to attempt a reform, will naturally expect to
find many of his cleareft axioms confidered as the offſpring.
of fingularity, affectation, and caprice.
(2) Johnſon, Prieſley, For
P. 149.
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
9
P. 149.
Launce. I am the dog:-no, the dog is himſelf, and I am
the dog,-oh, the dog is me, and I am myfelf; ay, fo, fo.
This paffage, dr. Johnſon very gravely remarks, is much
confuſed, and of confufion, fays he, the prefent reading makes
no end. There is not, however, the leaft room for altera-
tion; Shakspeare has evidently intended to make honest.
Launce puzzle and confound hisfelf in the arrangement of
his dramatis perfona; and, it ſhould feem, he has tolerably
well fucceeded.
A fimilar thought, mr. Steevens obferves, occurs in a play
of an elder date than this: A Chriftian turn'd Turk, 1612.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is mentioned by Meres in
1598; and, in the opinion of mr.. Malone, "bears ftrong
internal marks of an early compofition." He therefor
refers it to the year 1593. Surely then the play quoted
by mr. Steevens can hardly be fuppofed to be of an elder
date.
Launce.
Ibi.
Now come I to my mother; -oh that he could
fpeak now like a wood woman!
Mr. Steevens was not certain that he understood this paf-
fage; and, indeed, the contrary does not appear by his expla-
nation of it. Now, fays Launce, I come to my mother (i. e.
to the old fhoe with the hole in it, which he has just told us
was to repreſent her); oh, that the (i. e. the old ſhoe) could
now ſpeak like a wood woman that is, like a woman
craz'd, mad, out of her fenfes, with grief for my departure.
And where's the difficulty of this?
P. 159.
Pro. Is it mine eye or Valentino's praife.
The word eye was fupplyed by dr. Warburton, who fays
that in ALL the old editions, we find the line printed thus:
It is mine, or Valentino's praiſe,
C
But
IO
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
But this, to uſe his own "warm language (3)," is a lye.
The line is fo printed in No old edition.
The firft folio reads:
It is mine or Valentines praife.
The fecond:
Is it mine then or Valentineans praiſe?
There is no quarto.
p. 165.
Jul. Out, out, Lucetta! that will be ill-favourd.
Out, out, Lucetta! means no more than fie, fie!
P. 187.
3. Out. Know then, that fome of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
Thruſt from the company of awful men.
That is, fays dr. Johnfon, reverend, worshipful, fuch as
magistrates, &c. Sir John Hawkins propoſes lawful, which
mr. Steevens and mr. Tyrwhitt feem half-inclined to admit.
But awful men is certainly right; and means men well-
governed, obfervant of law and authority; full of, or fubject to
awe. In the fame kind of fenfe as we uſe fearful.
p. 188.
3 Out. Myfelf was from Verona baniſhed,
For practifing to ſteal away a lady,
An heir, and niece ally'd unto the duke.
Niece mr. Theobald altered to near: as the poet he
thought, "would never have exprefsed himſelf ſo ſtupidly,
as to tell us, this lady was the duke's niece and allied to
him." And, indeed, if he had done fo, the remark and
alteration might have been juſt: but he does not ſay ſhe
was the dukes niece, any more than he does that ſhe was his
(3) See dr. Johnſons Prefaces. Life of Broome. fmall edition. p. 5.
heir.
TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
II
beir. She was the niece and heir of fome body elſe, and a
distant relation of the duke.
p. 194.
Sil. I am very loath to be your idol, fir;
But fince your falfhood, fhall become you well
To worſhip ſhadows, and adore falſe ſhapes,
Send to me in the morning, and I'll ſend it.
Dr. Johnſon fays that this is hardly fenfe. He might have
faid more. It is nonfenfe. We might, he thinks, read
thus:
But fince you're falfe, it fhall become you well.
Mr. Tyrwhitt, however, will have no alteration: he fup-
poſes the word it to be understood: i. e. But, fince your
falíehood, it fhall become you well, &c. Or, that To
worship shadows, &c, is the nominative cafe to shall be-
come.
How far any of theſe oppofite conjectures would rectify
or elucidate the text, it is not now propoſed to examine, as
the omiffion of a fingle comma will reſtore ſenſe to the
whole paffage.
I am very loth, fays Silvia, to be your idol ; but, fince
your falsehood to your friend and mistress fhall well be-
come you to worſhip fhadows and adore falſe fhapes (i. e.
will be properly employed in fo doing), ſend to me, and
you ſhall have my picture.
Ibi.
Hoft. By my ballidom, I was faft fleep.
i. e. By my holydame; our lady.
p. 199.
Ful. It feems you lov'd not her to leave her token.
Protheus, fays dr. Johnſon, does not properly leave his
away: he, therefor, propofès a
ladys token, he gives it
C 2
different
I
12 MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
different reading. But what puerile quibbling this is! To
leave is to quit, abandon, forfake, part with, &c. To leave
her token, is, properly, to give it away.
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR,
Shal. The council fhail know this.
Fal. 'Twere better for you, if 'twere known in council;
you'll be laughed at.
Dr. Johnſon confiders this as a broken and abrupt fpeech,
and alters the paffage accordingly. Mr. Steevens ſays, the
modern editors read-if 'twere not known in council; and
believes Falstaff quibbles between council and counſel (ſecrecy).
But the prefent reading is juft; neither is there any fuch con-
ceit in the fpeech, which is quite in Falſtaffs infolent,
fneering manner. It would be much better for you, indeed,
fays he, to have it known in the council, where you would
onely be laugh'd at!
p. 230.
Slen. Two Edward Shovel-boards, that cost me two fhillings
and two-pence a-piece.
"Edwad fhovel-boards," dr. Farmer thinks, "were the
broad fhillings of Edw. VI." But why Edward the Sixths
fhillings for the Shovel boards of Henry the Fourths time? Can
it be imagined, that theſe fhillings, in Shakspeares time, not
fifty years after their coinage, and when they were in com-
mon circulation, could be poffibly ever fold for two and
two-pence? It may likewife be doubted, if Edward the
Sixths fhillings ever were, or, indeed, could be, uſed at
fhovel board, as they appear much too light for that
diverfion. Master Slenders "Edward fhovel-boards" have
undoubtedly been broad fhillings of Edward the Third.
ļ
Sim.
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 13
$
Ibi.
Sim. I combat challenge of this latten bilbo.
One could well wish that the greater part of the long.
notes on this paffage had been omitted. Latten is certainly
tin. But whether the allufion be to Slenders foftness, rather
than to his thinness, is not quite fo clear,
P. 244.
Fal. Hold, firrah, bear you theſe letters tightly.
This is nonfenfe. The quarto and fecond folio read rightly,
for which tightly, the reading of the first folio, is onely a
misprint,
p. 248,
Sim. No, forfooth: he hath but a little wee face.
Wee, fays mr. Steevens, in the northern dialect, figni-
fies very little. But, though he is fo near the true meaning,
he hints that on the authority of the quarto, 1619, we
might be led to read whey face. Little wee, however, is
certainly the right reading; it implies fomething extremely
diminutive; and is a very common vulgar idiom in the
North. Wee, alone, has only the fignification of little.
Thus Cleveland:
A Yorkſhire wee bit, longer than a mile.
The proverb is, A mile and a wee bit; i, e. about a league
and a half.
P. 250.
Quic. We fhall all be ſent.
i. e. (according to Mr. Steevens) folded, roughly treated.
The word has, indeed, a variety of fignifications in old au-
thors, and theſe are two of them; but, in modern lan-
guage, mrs. Quicklys exclamation would have been:-1
fhall be all murder'd, ruin'd, undone!
Piſt.
14
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
P. 261.
Pift. Hope is a curtail'd dog in fome affairs.
The tail, fays dr. Johnſon, is counted neceffary to the
agility of a grey-hound; and one method, he obſerves, of
disqualifying a dog, according to the foreft-laws, is [was]
to cut his tail, and make him a curtail. A curtail-dog, adds
mr. Steevens, was the dog of an unqualifyed perfon, whoſe
tail, by the laws of the foreft, was cut off.
But it does not appear that there either is, or could be
any fuch regulation in the Foreft-laws; as greyhounds, which
alone would be disqualifyed by excauditation, could never
have been the objects of laws made folely for the pre-
fervation of the kings deer. By thoſe modern forest-laws,
however, the acts of parliament for the prefervation (i. e.
deftruction) of the Game, as expounded by that learned
and reſpectable body ycleped Justices of the Peace; an unqua-
fyed perfon is allowed to keep a curtailed greyhound, without
incurring the penalties of the aforefaid ftatutes, in which
it is difficult to fay whether Justice or Humanity be moft
apparent. A curtail dog, fimply, is one of that inferior ſpecies
of thoſe animals, now called curs, from the prevailing ufage
of cutting their tails. A piece of wanton barbarity which
(though, by no means, fingular, even in this country) can
onely be perpetrated by unfeeling wretches who ſeem to
enjoy no more reaſon than is juft fufficient to plunge them
into a more degraded and brutal ftate than that of the poor
animal they fo inhumanly mangle.
p. 279.
Quic. But Mrs. Page would delire you to fend her your little
page, of all loves.
4.
1814
This, which, mr. Steevens thinks, fignifies no more than
all means, is an expreffion of kindnefs, and an earneſt de-
fire
1
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 15
fire that the perfon would comply with the requeſt out of
affection and regard.
p. 310.
Fal.-I fee what thou wert, if Fortune thy foe were not.
He alludes to a very old, and formerly very popular fong,
beginning:
Fortune, my foe, why doſt thou frown on me?
It is, more than once, mentioned by Beaumont and
Fletcher, and from a paffage in The Rump or Mirrour of
the Times, an old comedy by John Tatham, it ſhould
ſeem to have been a common dance tune; which may
ferve to fhew that the old dances were much more grave
and folemn than thofe now in ufe, the tune being a very
flow movement; as the reader will immediately recollec
when he is informed that it is the identical air, now known
by the fong of Death and the Lady, to which the metrical
lamentations of extraordinary criminals have been uſually
chanted for upwards of theſe two hundred years.
P. 335.
Mrs. Ford.—It is my maids aunt of Brentford
Ford. A witch, a quean &c.-le works by charms &.c.
Concerning fome old woman of Brentford, ſays mr. Steevens,
there are ſeveral ballads; among the reft, Julian of Brextfords
laft will and teftament, 1599. The learned commentator
has in this affertion, perhaps, been misled by the vague ex-
preffion of the ftationers book. Iyl of breyntferds teftament, to
which he ſeems to allude, was written by Robert, and
printed by William Copland, long before 1599. But this,
the only publication, it is believed, concerning the above
lady at preſent known, is certainly no ballad.
3
Sim.
16 MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
P. 347.
Sim. May I be fo bold to fay fo, fir?
Fal. Ay, fir Tike; like who more bold.
"In the firſt edition the latter fpeech ftands: I Tike, who
more bolde.And fhould plainly be read here, Ay fir Tike,
&c. FARMER."
The word recommended by this ingenious critic is indeed
inferted; but, doubtlefs, by the printers overfight, the cor-
rupt one, which it was intended to fupplant, has been
likewife continued.
P. 363.
Eva. But, ftay; I fmell a man of middle earth.
Spirits, fays dr. Johnfon, are fuppofed to inhabit the ethes
real regions, and fairies to dwell underground, men therefor
are in a middle ftation. Yes; but to make the explanation.
confistent, we muſt fuppofe fpirits to inhabit a higher carth,
and fairies a lower; otherwife the ftation of man cannot,
with respect to them, be called middle earth. The truth is,
that the phraſe, which is a very common one, fignifies nei-
ther more nor less than the earth, or world, from its imagi-
nary fituation in the midft or middle of the Ptolemaic fys-
tem, and has not the leaft reference to either fpirits or
fairies.
VOLUME THE SECON D.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
Enter Clown.
P. 16.
As this is the firft clown who makes his
appearance in the plays of our author, mr. Steevens thought
it not amifs, from a paffage in Tarltons News out of Pur-
gatory.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
17
gatory, to point out one of the ancient dreſses appro-
priated to the character. "I faw one attired in ruffet,
"with a buttoned cap on his head, a great bag by his fide
" and a ſtrong bat in his hand; fo artificially attired for a
"clowne, as I began to call Tarlton's wonted fhape to re-
"membrance."
This may, probably enough, have been the dreſs ap-
propriated to fuch a character as the clown or fool in As you
like it, All's Well that Ends Well, Twelfth Night, and King
Lear; but the clown of this play is a different perfonage,
the tapfter to a bawdy-houſe, and reſembles the above cha-
racter no more than Launce, Speed, Castard, or Launclot
Gobbo, the note and quotation, therefor, which might
had their uſe elſewhere, are here certainly misplaced.
P. 20.
Claud.-Upon a true contract,
I got poffeffion of Juliettas bed;
You know the lady; &c.
This fpeech, as mr. Steevens well obferves, is too inde-
licate to be ſpoken concerning Juliet, before her face; for
The appears to be brought in with the reft, though he has
nothing to fay. The clown points her out as they enter;
and yet, from Claudios telling Lucio that he knows the lady,
&c, one would think, he fays, he was not meant to have
made her perfonal appearance upon the ftage.
That Julietta enters at the fame time with Claudio ;~
that ſhe is not prefent during his converſation with Lucio;
-and that he is afterwards in the custody of the pro-
voft ;-are evident and certain. The little feeming impro-
priety there is will be entirely removed by fuppofing, that,
when Claudio ftops to fpeak to Lucio, the provofts officers
depart with Julietta.
D
Duke
18 MEASURE FOR MEASURE,
P. 24.
Duke. We have ſtrict ſtatutes and moſt biting laws,
Which for theſe nineteen years we have let fleep.
It was four teen years in all the editions prior to Theobald
who made the alteration. The reafon of which, he, in his
note upon the place, fays, will be obvious to him who recollects
what the duke has faid in a foregoing fcene. But the duke
had not before uttered a fyllable about the matter; he muſt
therefor mean Claudio, who mentions
- the enrolled penalties
Which have, like unfcour'd armour, hung by the wall,
So long, that nineteen zodiacks have gone round,
And none of them been worn.
Theobald fays, the author could not fo disagree with him-
felf; and that it is neceſſary to make the two accounts corre-
ſpond. But there is no reaſon to charge the author with incon
fistency, neither is it neceffary that the two fpeakers fhould
agree in their calculation. If it were, the dukes account
fhould moft certainly be preferred, as he was doubtless
much better acquainted with the exact time of the disuſe
of thoſe laws than Claudio can be reafonably fup-
poſed to have been. For, though he may not be too young
a man to have a perfect recollection of the circumftance,
(and it ſhould rather appear he is) yet it must be obſerved
that he is about to fuffer by the revival of theſe very penalties,
which, both his intereft and inclination would naturally
lead him to repreſent as much more obfolete than they ac-
tually were. The old reading fhould, in all events, be re-
ftored.
•
P. 28.
Ifab. Sir, make me not your ſtory.
i. e. do not make a jeft of me.
deceiving me, make me fubject for a tale.
Dr. Johnfon do not by
Mr. Steevens: de
not
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
19
not divert yourſelf with me as you would with a flory, de net
make me the ſubject of your drama.
P. 40.
Elb. [Efcal.] Which is the wiſer here? Justice or iniquity?
Thefe, fays dr. Johnſon, were, I fuppofe, two per-
fonages well known to the audience by their frequent ap-
pearance in the old moralities. The words, therefor, con-
tinues he, at that time produced a combination of ideas,
which they have now loſt.
Justice or iniquity, i. e. the conſtable or the fool. Efcalus
calls the latter iniquity in allufion to the old Vice, a nécef-
fary character, it is faid, in the ancient moralities or dumb
ſhews; and the Harlequin of the modern ftage. Justice may
have a fimilar allufion to his fuppofed antagoniſt, into whoſe
hands, after a variety of elufions, he was always made to fall.
P. 45.
Enter Lucio and Ifabella.
Prov. Save your honour!
Ang. Stay yet awhile-[To Ijab.] you are welcome: what's
your will?
It is not clear, dr. Johnſon thinks, why the provoft is
bidden to ſtay, nor when he goes out.
The entrance of Lucio and Ifabella ſhould not, perhaps,
be made till after Angelos fpeech to the provoft, who had
only announced a lay, and feems to be detained as a wit-
nefs to the purity of the deputys converfation with her.
His exit may be fixed with that of Lucio and Ifabella. He
cannot remain longer, and there is no reaſon to think he
departs before.
Stay yet a while.] The old copies, which dr. Johnſon
pretends to have collated, read Stay a little while.
D 2
Ang.
20
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
P. 51.
Ang. [Afide.] She ſpeaks, and 'tis
Such fenſe, that my ſenſe breeds with it.
That is, fays dr. Johnfon, new thoughts are ftirring in
my mind, new conceptions are hatched in my imagination.
So, adds he, we ſay to brood over thought. But can this
be right? Does not the deputy plainly mean, that her wis-
dom raiſed his defires?
P. 66.
Ang. As thefe black maſks
Proclaim an enfield beauty ten times louder
Than beauty could displayed.
Theſe maſks, in mr. Tyrwhitts opinion, mean the
masks of the audience; an indecorum, he thinks, of which
Shakspeare would hardly have been guilty to flatter a com-
mon audience; he therefor concludes that the play may
have been written to be acted at court.
The remark is ingenious, but not decifive. It is hardly
generous or candid to make the author abfurd, when his
language or fentiment will obviously bear a different` and
rational interpretation. The idea in Angelos fpeech might
be eafyly communicated by the mafk which Iſabella held in
her hand. And thefe black mafks will, in that cafe, onely
be fuch moses as thefe, or this kind of masks. Which
doubtless is Shakspeares meaning. Enfield is certainly put
by contraction for enfhielded, and not by corruption for ins
Shell'd, as mr. Tyrwhitt would ſuppoſe.
p. 88.
Duke. And here, by this, is your brother faved,and the
corrupt deputy ſcaled.
To fcale is certainly to reach (as dr. Johnſon explains it),
as well as to diſperſe or ſpread abroad, and hence its appli-
cation
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
21
cation to a routed army, which is ſcattered over the field:
further than this it feems nothing to the purpoſe of mr,
Steevenses note. The dukes meaning appears to be, either,
that Angelo would be over-reached, as a town is by the
ſcalade; or, that his true character would be ſpread or lay'd
open, fo that his vilenefs would become evident. Dr.
Warburtion thinks it is weighed; a meaning which dr. John-
fon affixes to the word in another place:
Scaling his preſent bearing with his paſt.
p. 89.
Coriolanus.
Duke. I will preſently go to St. Lukes; there at the moated
grange refides this Mariana.
A grange does not properly mean any ſolitary farm houſe,
as mr. Steevens explains it. It implies fome one particular
houfe, immediately inferior in rank to a hall, fituated at a
fmall distance from the town or village from which it
takes its name; as Hornby-grange, Blackwell-grange; and is,
in the neighbourhood, fimply called the Grange. Originally,
perhaps, theſe buildings were the lords granary or ftore-
houſe, and the refidence of his chief bailiff. (Grange, Fr.
Granagium, Lat.) This note may likewife ferve to correct
mr. Wartons misinterpretation of the word in vol. x.
P. 436.
P. 100.
Efcal. Double and treble admonition, and ftill forfeit in the
fame kind? this would make Mercy fwear, and play the tyrant.
Certainly right. We ſtill ſay to fwear like an em
peror; and, from fome old book, of which the writer
unfortunately neglected to copy the title, he has noted, to
fwear like a tyrant. To fwear like a termagant is quoted
elic where
22
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
elſewhere. Dr. Warburton would read mercy fwerve, and
dr. Farmer fevere. A fimilar paffage occurs in As you like it.
Patience herſelf would ſtartle at this letter,
And play the fwaggerer.
|
p. 101.
Duke. I am a brother
Of gracious order, lately come from the fee,
In ſpecial buſineſs from his holineſs.
The folio, as dr. Johnſon obferves, reads, from the fea.
And this feems the more probable reading. For, without
it could be proved, that the fee was used by way of emi-
nence and distinction for the papal court, one may be fatis-
fyed that Shakspeare intended to repreſent the friar as
having come from his Holyneſs to Vienna by fea; and ſo,
no doubt, Shakspeare might imagine he did. If it were
not from the mention, which occurs, of Poland and Ruffia,
one might ſuppoſe the Vienna of this play to be not the ca-
pital of Auſtria, but rather Vienna (now Vienne) in Dau-
phiné: which was anciently a city of great fame, go-
verned by a duke.
Duke.-volumes of report
P. 108.
Run with theſe falfe and moft contrarious quefts.
That is, fays dr. Johnfon, reports running counter to each
other. But falje and contràrious quests, in this place, rather
mean lying and contradictory meſſengers, with whom run
volumes of report.
An explanation which the line quoted
by mr. Steevens will ferve to confirm.
P. III.
Abhor. A bawd, Sir? fie upon him, he will discredit our
mistery.
#
"I think
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
23
"I think it juft worth while to obferve," fays dr.
Warburton, "that the word mystery, when uſed to fignify a
trade or manual profeffion, ſhould be fpelt [fpelled] with an
i, and not a y, becauſe it comes not from the Greek μvsńgia,
but from the French mestier."
If it were worth the learned prelates while to make this
obfervation, it may be worth the while of an inferior per-
fon to contradict it. For, ingenious as the distinction may
feem, and implicitly as it has been adopted, there is not
the ſmalleſt authority for it, unleſs the great critics dogma-
tical affertion may be termed fo. He doubtless thought that
the word mystery was too fublime and facred to be mixed
with the profane and vulgar ideas of baſe mechanicals; and that
fuch vile objects as trades and manual profeffions ought not to
participate in the uſe of a name fet apart for the inexpli-
cable folemnities of Christianity. But the truth is, that
the word, in its higheſt or loweſt acceptation, means no
more or leſs than the ſecret or arcana of any CRAFT, civil or
religious; in faith or in works; and whether we are talking
of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, or the mystery of the
Barber-Surgeons, we mean one and the fame word, from
mystere, Fr. (of which mestier is only a corruption) myste-
rium, Lat. µusngior, Gr. Mystery ſhould, therefor, be re-
ftored to the text; whence it was the more unwarrantably
ejected, even according to the right reverend fathers hypo-
thefis, as it there fignifies neither trade nor manual profef-
fion.
p. 122.
Clown.-Mafter Forthright the tilter.
The old copy, fays dr. Johnſon, reads Forthlight, but
this he conjectured fhould be Forthright, alluding to the
line in which the thruft is made. And, as he had it in
his
24
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
his power to alter the text,-ſo the text was altered. Forth-
light may, nevertheless, be the true reading; certainly, it
ſhould not have been fo haftyly displaced. It, probably
enough, contains an allufion to the fencers threat of making
the light fhine through his antagoniſt.
Barnar.-
p. 123.
What are you ?
Clown. Your friends, fir; the hangman.
This ſhould be, either-your friend, fir; the hangman; or
-your friends, fir; the hangmen.
P. 124.
Duke. Unfit to live or die: oh, gravel heart!
After him fellows; bring him to the block.
The duke is wonderfully confistent: not three lines be
low he calls the prifoner;
A creature unprepar'd, unmeet for death;
and ſays, that
to transport him in the mind he is
Were damnable.
p. 130.
Ang. But that her tender fhame
Will not proclaim against her maiden lofs,
How might ſhe tongue me? Yet reafon dares her? no:
For my authority bears a credent bulk,
That no particular ſcandal once can touch,
But it confounds the breather.
Though all the editors and commentators differ about
the meaning of this paffage, and even dr. Johnſon is not
afhamed to fay that he has nothing to offer worth infertion,
yet, furely, there is no fuch amazing difficulty in it.
3
Mr.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
25
mr. Upton, and mr. Upton onely, has given the true
and apparent fenſe. The following are his own wordɛ,
which dr. Johnfon, as he did not understand the paſſage,
and, confequently, their value, has been pleaſed to muti-
late: Were it not for her maiden modesty, how might the lady
proclaim my guilt? Yet (you'll fay) ſhe has reafon on her fide,
and that will make her dare to do it. I think not; for my au-
thority is of fuch weight, &c.
p. 170.
Duke.-I'll limit thee this day,
To feek thy help by beneficial help.
Thus, indeed, the old editions; but we fhould certainly
read life.
p. 199.
Bal. For flander lives upon fucceffion;
For ever hous'd where 't gets poffefſion.
On confulting the first folio, fays mr. Steevens, I found
the ſecond line had been lengthened out by the modern edi-
tors, who read :
For ever hous'd where it once gets poffeffion.
I have therefore, adds he, referred it to its former meaſure.
If this ingenious gentleman had confulted the fecond folio
he might have perceived that the line had not been length-
ened, nor, indeed, touched, by the modern editors.
P. 203.
S. Ant. Let love, being light be drowned if he fink.
The old editions read he. But "I know not," fays
mr. Steevens," to whom the pronoun he can be referred.
I have made no fcruple to remove a letter from it."
It would not, however, have been amifs, if the in-
genious critic had been fomewhat more fcrupulous on the
F
occafion :
26
COMEDY OF ERRORS.
1
occafion: as there need be little doubt to whom the
pronoun ſhe can be referred. i. e. to Love (Venus). Thus,
in the old ballad of The Spaniſh Lady :
I will ſpend my days in prayer,
Love and all her laws defy.
COMEDY OF ERROR S.
p. 218.
Adr. Tell me was he arreſted on a band
S. Dro. Not on a band but on a stronger thing.
A chain, a chain.
Band is here rightly preferved, but it is pleaſant enough
to mark the confistency of the editors, who make a merit.
of reſtoring it from bond, which, they obferve, is in the
old editions, and was formerly fpelled band. The word
porpentine appears throughout all the old copies, and in
many contemporary writers; but this they have moder-
nifed to porcupine. The affirmative I, always uſed by Shak-
fpeare and others, has been likewife changed to ay, and fre-
quently to the injury of both fenfe and rime. A number of
words in every play are in the fame predicament. And
even this identical word band is elſewhere turned into
bond. Happy Shakſpeare !
A band, Mr. Steevens obferves, is likewife a neckcloth;
and on this circumftance, he believes, the humour of
the paffage turns. But the ingenious gentleman is un-
der a double mistake. A band is not, nor ever was, a neck-
cloth, though, certainly, an appendage to the neck. Nei-
ther does the humour of the paffage turn upon any ſuch al-
lufion; for there would be very little humour in it, if it
did.
COMEDY OF ERRORS.
27.
did. Adriana means a written band, and Dromio quibbles
upon a hempen one.
P. 223.
Cour.-Will you go with me? we'll mend our dinner hete.
S. Dro. Maſter, if you do expect ſpoon-meat, or beſpeak a
longer spoon.
Or, fays Mr. Steevens, which modern editors have thrown
out of the text, fignifies before. But the paffage is wrong
pointed. And the or is a mistake for and. We fhould read
thus:
Cour.-We'll mend our dinner here
& Dro. Maſter, if you do, expect ſpoon-meat, and beſpeak
a long ſpoon.
Mr. Steevenses remark does not ſeem much to the purpoſe.
Abb.
p. 233.
What doth enfue,
But moody and dull melancholy,
Kinsman to grim and comfortleſs deſpair
And at her heels, a hunge infectious troop,
Of pale distemperature, and foes to life?
Shakspeare, fays dr. Warburton, could never make me-
lancholy a male in one line, and a female in the next, he
therefor boldly pronounces the line the fooliſh infertion of
the firſt editors; as if fuch fools could write as well as Shak-
fpeare.
Mr. Heath, in his fancyful way, propoſes a different
reading, while mr. Steevens is contented with ridiculing the
precifeneſs and affectation of master Capell.
But, after all, the text is very clear and intelligible, and
certainly right. Kinsman means no more than near relation.
Many words are ufed by Shakspeare with much greater
latitude.
E 2
Meſſ
{
28
COMEDY OF ERRORS.
p. 238.
Me. Mistress,
He cries for you, and vows, if he can take you,
To fcorch your face, and to disfigure you.
Dr. Warburton would read fcotch. But mr. Steevens
defends the prefent reading (which is certainly the true one),
and ſays that Antipholis would have puniſhed her as he
had puniſhed the conjurer before. He had finged the con-
jurers beard off: Mr. Steevens fhould have informed us how
he it was to punifh his wife in the fame manner.
P. 242.
Egcon. Oh! grief hath chang'd me, fince you faw me laft;
And careful hours, with times deformed hand,
Have written itránge defeatures in my face.
Defeature, fays dr. Johnſon, is the privation of feature.
The meaning, adds he, is, tine hath cancelled my features.
It is no uncommon thing to find the author and his com-
mentator of different opinions; What fays Ægeon? Why
that Time had written defeatures in his face, i. e. given
them to him. As to the commentators theirfelves, it is
fo very rarely we meet them agreeing, that it is no
wonder to find mr. Steevens explaining defeatures by un-
doings, miscarriages, misfortunes, from defaire, Fr. So that
the meaning, according to this ingenious gentleman,
will be, Time hath written in my face strange undoings.
But defeatures are certainly neither more nor less than
features; as demerits are neither more nor lefs than merits.
Time, fays #geon, hath placed new and ftrange features
in my face; i. e. given it quite a different appearance;
-no wonder therefor thou do' not know me.
5
Ascon
COMEDY OF ERRORS.
29
Ageon. I am fure thou doft.
E. Dro. Ay, fir?
Ibi.
But I am fure I do not; and whatſoever
A man denies you are now bound to believe him.
In the two old folios the paffage ftands, and rightly, thus:
Egcon. I am fure thou doft.
E. Dro. I, fir?
But I am fure I do not, &c.
I is here-not the adverb, but-the perfonal pronoun.
One great excellence of modern commentators con-
fifts in the art of discovering neglected puns. It is fome
wonder therefor that this of Dromio fhould eſcape them.
The reader will remember that Ægeon is a&ually in bonds.
P. 244.
Duke. Befides her urging of her wreck at ſea.
This, mr. Steevens obferves, is one of Shakſpeares over-
fights. The abbefs has not fo much as hinted at the ſhip-
wreck. Perhaps, indeed, adds he, this and the next
fpeech fhould change places.
That however would fcarcely remove the difficulty: the
next ſpeech is Egeons. Both it and the following one ſhould
precede the dukes; or there is, poffibly, a line loft.
P. 266.
Bene. Let him him be clap'd on the fhoulder, and call'd
Adam.
"Adam Bell," fays dr. Johnfon, "was a companion of
Robin Hood, as may be feen in Robin Hoods garland; in
which, if I do not mistake," adds he, "are theſe lines :
"For
30
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
"For he brought Adam Bell, and Clim of the clough,
"And William of Cloudeflee,
To fhoot with our forefter for forty mark,
"And our forefter beat them all three."
In anſwer to this it may be obferved, 1. That Adam
Bell was not a companion of Robin Hood; 2. That it can-
not be feen in Robin Hoods garland; 3. That the lines
quoted prove neither the one nor the other, as they do not
relate to Robin Hood. It is peculiarly unfortunate that the
leraned critic fhould be moft mistaken where he is moſt
confident.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
P. 271.
John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge; than a rofe in his
grace.
A canker, dr. Johnfon tells, is the canker-rofe, dog-roſe,
cynobaftus, or hip. But the word canker ſhould rather
feem to be uſed here, as it is in various other places, for
the worm which preys upon flowers; a metamorphofis
fuited to the malignancy of the ſpeakers dispofition.
Thus in the Two Gentlemen of Verona:
as in the sweetest bud
The eating-canker dwells
Again, in the fame play:
as the moſt forward bud
Is eaten by the canker, ere it blow.
"Mallet alias Malloch," in his beautyful ballad of Wil
liam and Margaret, has made a fine ufe of this idea.
But
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
31
But love had, like the canker-worm,
Confum'd her early prime;
The rose grew pale, and left her cheek;
She dy'd before her time.
It occurs likewife in the Midsummer Nights Dream:
Some to kill cankers in the musk-roſe buds.
Again, in the fame play :
O me! you jugler! oh! you canker-bloſſom !
Upon which mr. Steevens obferves, that canker bloffom is
not, in this place, the bloffom of the canker or wild-roſe,
which our author alludes to in Much ado about Nothing,
at I. fc. vi. [the prefent text] but a worm that preys on
the leaves or buds of flowers, always beginning in the
middle." And the ingenious critic is certainly right in
his expofition of the words canker-bloſſom; but it may be
fafely affirmed that if they mean not the wild-rofe, canker,
neither in the text, nor any where elfe, does.
We meet with it again in the First Part of Hen. IV.
O that this good bloffom could be kept from cankers.
And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke.
In this laft paffage it undoubtedy means what mr. Stee-
vens explains it to be; the wild-role; which it does not in
the following:
Hath not thy rofe a canker, Somerſet ?
I Hen. 6.
P. 293.
Pedro. See you where Benedick hath hid himſelf?
Claud. O very well, my lord; the mufick ended,
We'll fit the kid-fox with a pennyworth.
i. e. fays dr. Grey, we'll be even with the fox now discovered.
So, adds he, the word kid, or kidde, fignifies in Chaucer.
To
32
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
:
To which mr. Steevens does not diffent; except by hinting
that if any future editor fhould chooſe to read hid fox, he
may obferve that Hamlet has faid-" Hide fox and all
after."
A kid-fox feems to be no more than a young fox, or cub.
P. 329.
Dogb. Go, good partner, get you to Francis Seacoal, bid him
bring his pen and inkhorn, &c.-here's that fhall drive fome of
them to a non-com.
Master Seacoals name, in act III. fc. iii. is George. By
non-com Dogberry means to fay non-plus.
P. 345.
Dogb. Mafters, it is proved already that you are little better
than falfe knaves, and it will go near to be thought fo fhortly;
how anſwer you for yourſelves?
Cour. Marry, fir, we ſay, we are none.
Dogb. A marvellous witty fellow, I affure you; but I will go
about with him. Come hither, firrah; a word in your ear, fir;
I ſay to you, it is thought you are falſe knaves.
Bora. Sir, I fay to you, we are none.
Dogb. Well, ftand afide.-'Fore God they are both in a talt;
-have you writ down they are none
te?
"This is an admirable ftroke of humour: Dogberry lays
of the priſoners that they are falfe knaves, and from that
denial of the charge, which one in his wits could not but be
ſuppoſed to make, he infers a communication of counſels, and
records it in his examination as an evidence of their guilt.”
SIR J. HAWKINS.
It is with infinite reluctance that the writer finds hisfelf
obliged to differ in opinion from the learned magistrate,
who, from his having fo long and fo ably prefided upon
fimilar
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
33
fimilar occafions, muſt, no doubt, be perfectly acquainted
with the nature of a judicial proceſs.
;
That there is infinite humour in the paffage is very true;
and that the ingenious commentator has not discovered
it is equally fo; the fentiments and conduct of master
Dogberry being the direct reverfe of what he fuppofes them
to be. We clearly perceive that in this examination Dog-
berry takes all the precaution poffible to come at the truth
he charges them feverally with being falfe knaves; he takes
the utmoſt care that they fhall have no communication of counfels,
in order to concert a joint defence, by onely whiſpering to
one, what he had before afked in the hearing of both; he is,
therefor, aftoniſhed to find them both in a tale, and directs
it to be recorded, as a proof of their innocence,-that they
are no knaves :—becauſe they had both told bim jo.
This is the more evident from the behaviour of the fex-
ton; who, in mr. Steevenses opinion, and he ſeems per-
fectly right, fhews as much good fenfe on the occafion as
any judge upon the bench could do, and who immediately
tells Dogberry, that he goes not the way to examine, and
that he must call the watch, &c.
If the learned annotator will amend his comment, by
omitting the word guilt, and inſerting the word innocenc», it
will (except as to the fuppofed inference of a communica-
tion of counfels which fhould be likewife omitted or cor-
rected) be a juft and pertinent remark.
P. 349.
Leon. If fuch a one will finile and ſtroke his beard;
And, forrow wag! cry; hem, when he ſhould groan.
By the two full pages of note-work upon this paſſage
there fhould feem to be fome difficulty in it. Be it what
it will, however, it is left juft as it was found. Every
editor
F
34
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
1
editor and commentator has offered his proper lection, and
therefor here's a new one to increaſe the number.
And, furrow waggery, hem when he ſhould groan.
i. e. forrow becoming waggery; or, converting forrow into
waggery, hem, &c.
Surely this is at leaft as good as-hallow wag, forrow
wage, forrow gagge, forrowing, forry wag, &c. or even as
the preſent text. The old editions uniformly read,
And forrow, wagge, cric hem, &c. when he fhould groan.
p. 356.
Bene. Queflion?-why, an hour in clamour, &c.
i. e. favs bishop Warburton, "what a queftion's there,
or what a fooliſh queſtion you afk." The learned prelate,
one may ealyly fuppofe, would not have heſitated to call
a fine lady fool to her face: Benedick, it is to be hoped,
had rather more politenefs. The phrafe occurs fre-
quently in Shakspeare, and means no more than you aſk «
queftion, or that is the queftion.
p. 367.
Song. Pardon goddeſs of the night,
Thofe that flew thy virgin knight,
}
Knight does not mean either follower or pupil, as dr.
Johnfon fays it does. The lady being a virgin, and her
name Her?, fhe is metonymically called one of Dianas
knights; and what occafion was there for a note upon this?
LOVES
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
35
મ
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
P. 387.
Coft. The manner of it is, he was taken with the manner.
Biron. In what manner.
Coft. In manner and form following.
Dr. Warburtons note certainly proves the neceffity of
reading in the manner. With the manner, though undoubtedly
the law phrafe and often made ufe of, is mere nonfenfe.
P. 391.
Arm. Why, fadneſs is one and the ſelf-fame thing, dear imp.
This is fpoken to his boy or page. Dr. Johnſon ob-
ferves that Imp was anciently a term of dignity. Lord Crom-
well, he fays, in his laſt letter to Hen. VIII. prays for the imp
his fon. And what does that prove? The word literally
means a graff, flip, feion or fucker: and, by metonymy,
comes to be uſed for a boy or child. The imp his fon is
no more than his infant fon. It is now fet apart to fignify
young fiends; as, "the devil and his imps."
P. 397.
Jaq. Fair weather after you.
Dull. Come, Jaquenetta away.
"Maid. Fair weather after you. Come Jaquenetta away.]
Thus all the printed copies: but the editors have been
guilty of much inadvertence. They make Jaquenetta and
a maid enter; whereas Jaquenetta is the onely maid intended
by the poet, and is committed to....Dull, to be conveyed....
to the lodge in the park. This being the cafe, it is evi-
dent to demonſtration, that-Fair weather after you-muſt
be ſpoken by Jaquenetta; and then that Dull fays to her,
Come
F 2
36
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
Come, Jaquenetta, away, as I have regulated the text.
THEOBALD."
Mr. Theobald has endeavoured here to dignify his own
industry by a very flight performance. The folios ALL
read as he reads, except that inſtead of naming the per-
fons they give their characters, enter, Clown, Conftable, and
Wench. JOHNSON.”
There was no great occafion for this evidence to
prove the last learned commentator very little acquainted
with the editions of which he ſpeaks with fo much fami-
liarity and confidence. The affertion in the note is un-
true : NONE of the folios read as Theobald does: in the
firft of them the paffage ftands thus:
Maid. Fair weather after you!
Clo. [i. e Clown, Costard, not Conftable.] Coine Jaque-
etta away.
In the ſecond and fubfequent folios, thus:
Maid. Fair weather after you.
Come Jaquenetta away.
Mr. Theobald does not appear to have infpected the firft
folio: dr. Johnſon has, evidently, looked neither into that
mor into any of the reft.
P. 417.
Caft. My fweet ounce of man's fleſh! my incony Jew!
He
Incony or kony, as dr. Warburton fays, in the North,
Lgnifies fine, delicate, as a kony thing, a fine thing.
would therefor read my incony jewel. But the truth is,
that there is no fuch expreffion in the North as either kony
or incony. The word canny, which the people there uſe,
and from which dr. Warburtons mistake may have arifen,
bears a variety of fignifications, none of which is fine, de-
licate,
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
37.
licate, or applicable to a thing of value. Dr. Johnſons
quotation by no means proves Jew to have been a word of
endearment.
P. 444.
Hol.-Trip and go, my fweet.
Theſe words are certainly part of an old popular fong.
There is an ancient mufical medley beginning Trip and go,
hey!
- P. 457.
King. My love, her miſtreſs, is a gracious moon;
She an attending far, fcarce feen a light.
"Something like this is a ftanza of Sir Henry Wotton, of
which the poetical reader will forgive the infertion:
Ye ftars, the train of night,
That poorly fatisfy our eyes.
More by your number than your light.
re common people of the ſkies,
What are ye when the fun fhall riſe?
JOHNSON."
The paffage is certainly worth quoting, but one may
venture to doubt whether the poetical reader will eafyly
pardon the inſertion of it in the inaccurate and corrupted
ftate in which the learned critic has been pleaſed to give it.
For let us read what fir Henry hisſelf ſays ?
You meaner beauties of the night,
That poorly fatisfy our eyes,
More by your number than your light:
You common people of the fkies,
What are ye when the moon ſhall rife?
Pageant
38
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
p. 503.
Pageant of the Nine Worthies.] This fort of proceffior:
was the ufual recreation of our ancestors at Chriftinas, and
other festive feafons. Such things, being chiefly plotted
and compoſed by ignorant people, were feldom com-
mitted to writing, at least with the view of preſervation,
and are, of courſe, rarely discovered in the reſearches
of even the moſt industrious antiquaries. And it is cer-
tain that nothing of the kind (except the fpeeches in this
fcene, which were intended to burlefque them) ever ap-
peared in print. The curious reader will not, therefor,
be displeafed to fee a genuine fpecimen of the poetry and
manner of this rude and ancient drama from an original
manuſcript of Edward the Fourths time. (MSS. Tanner.
407.)
Fator de troye.
Alifander.
Julius Cefar.
Jofus.
Dauit.
Judas macabeus.
IX. Wurthy.
Thow achylles in bataly me slow
Of my wurthynes men fpeken J now.
And in romaunce often am J leyt
As conquerour gret thow J feyt.
Thow my cenatoures me slow in collory
Fele londes by fore by conqueft wan J.
In holy Chyrche ze mowen here & rede
Of my wurthynes and of my dede.
Aftyr yt slayn was golyas
By me the sawter than made was.
Of my wurthyneffe zyf ze wyll wete
Seche the byble for ther it is wrete.
The round tabyll J sette wt knyghtes ftrong
Zyt shall J come azen thow it be long.
With me dwellyd rouland olyvere
Arthour.
Charles.
In all my Conqueft fer and nere.
Godefrey
LOVES LABOUR LOST. 39
Godefrey de Bo- | And J was Kyng of Jherufalem
leyn.
'The crowne of thorn J wan fro hem.
In another part of the fame MS. are preferved different
fpecches, for three of theſe worthies, which have moſt
pro-
bably, belonged to a distinct pageant.
Arto.
Charlys.
Davyd.
Lo Kyng Arto² ful manly and ful wyſe
Whan he flow gurnard & alle his cheff ches
ccc was flayne as J vnderſtonde
And yet is he levand in a nother londe.
Charlys the cheeff of Romannys and empor
Kyng of paynemnys and conquerour
iij. relekys he browte into frauns
for ihūs love fufferyd penanns
I am Kyng Davyd that in my lyff
LV maydenys & wyffyves J had at my wylle
And afterward whan golyas was ſtyntyd of
ſtryff
I made the sawter my mercy to full fyll.
Sometimes, it fhould feem, that theſe things were in a
more dramatic form (i. e. dialogue-wife); and, indeed, it
is here that we muſt look for the true Origin of the English
Stage. Behold a champion, who gives a univerfal defiance;
(MSS. Harl. 1197. very old.)
I ame a knigh [t]c
And menes to fight
And armet well ame I
Lo here I ftand
With fwerd ine hand
My manhoud for to try.
The
40
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
The challenge is inftantly accepted:
Thow marciall wite
That menes to-fight
And fete vppon me fo
Lo heare J ftand
With fwrd in hand
To dubbelle eurey bloue.
Here would neceffaryly enfue a combat with the back-
fword or cudgel, to the great entertainment, as well as in-
ftruction of the applauding croud. Poffibly it ferved to
conclude the pageant inftead of an epilogue, and not impro-
perly. Such exhibitions, however rude and fimple they
may appear to the more refined taſte of the preſent age,
were admirably adapted to that warlike and manly ſpirit in
our uncultivated ancestors, which procured them the glories
of conqueft abroad, and the blessings of freedom at home.
Boy. They
Like, Muscovites, or Ruffians.
P. 480.
are apparel'd thus,
"The fettling commerce in Ruffia was, at that time, a
matter that much ingrofsed the concern and converfation of
the publick. There had been feveral embaffies employed
thither on that occafion; and feveral tracts of the manners
and ftate of that nation written: fo that a mark of Mus-
covites was as good an entertainment to the audience of that
time, as a coronation has been fince. WARBURTON."
All this may be very true, but the learned commentator
might have discovered that a maſk of Muscovites was no un-
common recreation at court long before our authors time. In
the firfl year of king Henry the eighth, at a banquet made.
for the foreign ambaffadors in the parliament chamber at
Weftminſter, "came the lorde Henry, Erle of Wiltshire,
I
and
LOVES LABOUR LOST.
41
and the lorde Fitzwater, in twoo long gounes of yelowe
fatin, trauarſed with white fatin, and in euery ben of white,
was a bend of crimoſen ſatin after the faſhio of Ruffia or
Ruflande, with furred hattes of grey on their hedes, either
of them hauyng an hatchet in their handes, and bootes
with pykes turned vp." Hall. Hen. VIII. fo. 6, b. This
extract inay ſerve to convey an idea of the dreſs uſed, upon
the prefent occafion, by the king and his lords, at the per-
formance of the play.
P. 523.
Dr. Warburtons note upon the old Romances.] The
learned prelate has received fuch a complete dressing,
from the hand of a master, in the Supplement, that there is
neither occafion nor opportunity for any further remark.
At the foot of this page, however, there is a note, by the
celebrated dr. Percy, which feems to deferve fome little
attention; and the more fo, as it is countenanced by the
very ingenious gentleman alluded to, who has either not
been aware of its fallacy, or, from private motives, forborn
to expoſe it.
Dr. Warburton," fays this redoubted critic, "is quite mis-
taken in deriving Oliver from (Palmerin de) Oliva, which
is utterly incompatible with the genius of the Spaniſh lan-
guage." So that, from his thus recurring to etymology, he
clearly appears to be not a whit better acquainted with
the history than dr. Warburton was. "The old ro-
mance," continues he, "of which Oliver was the hero, is
entitled in Spaniſh, "Historias de los nobles Cavalleros
Oliveros de Caftilla, y Artus de Algarbe, in fol. en Va-
ladolid, 1501, in fol. en Sevilla, 1507;" and in French
thus, "Hiftoire d'Olivier de Castille, & Artus d'Algarbe
fon loyal compagnon, & de Heleine, Fille au Roy d'An
G
gleterre,
42
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
gleterre, &c. tranflatée du Latin, par Phil. Camus, in fol.
Gothique."
From fo much feeming knowlege, from the annotators
great credit, and from his very confident affertions, who
would be foreward to fufpect his ignorance, or doubt his
veracity? But it is even fo; he knows no more of the
history which he quotes with fo much parade, than biſhop
Warburton knew of Amadis or Palmerin; with either of
which the ftory of Oliver the Paladin has juft as much con-
nection as it has with the history of Oliver of Castile and
Arthur of Algarbe. With reſpect to the above French and
Spaniſh titles, they are literally tranſcribed from Frefnoy.
And fo much for dr. Percys acquaintance with old ro
mances.
VOLUME THE THIRD.
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM,
P. 26.
Puck. A lovely boy, ftol'n from an Indian king,
She never had ſo ſweet a changeling.
Changeling, fays dr. Johnſon, is commonly uſed for the
child fuppofed to be left by the fairies, but here for the
child taken away.
And it is here properly uſed, and in its common accepta-
tion; that is, for the child got in exchange. Dr. Johnſon will
recollect that a Fairy is now fpeaking.
p. 30.
Puck. The wifeft aunt telling the faddeft tale,
Some time for three-foot ftool mistaketh me.
4
Aunt,
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
43
Aunt, mr. Steevens fays, is a procureſs, and the wifeft
aunt, adds he, may mean the moſt ſentimental bawd.
But this conjecture is much too wanton, and injurious
to the word aunt, which, in this place at leaſt, certainly
means no other than an innocent old woman.
P. 35.
Ob. The human mortals want their winter here.
Shakspeare, fays mr. Steevens, might have employed
this epithet (human mortals), which, at firſt, appears re-
dundant, to mark the difference between men and fairies.
Fairies, adds he, were not human, but they were yet fub-
ject to mortality. This however does not by any means
appear to have been the cafe. Oberon, Titania, and
Puck never dye; the inferior agents muſt neceſſaryly be
ſuppoſed to enjoy the fame privilege; and the ingenious
commentator may rely upon it, that the oldeſt woman in
England never heard of the death of a Fairy. Human mor-
tals is, notwithstanding, evidently put in oppofition to
Fairies, who partook of a middle nature between men and
Spirits. Puck in a fubfequent ſcene ſays,
Lord, what fools theſe mortals be.
p. 68.
Puck. The fhalloweſt thick-fkin of that barren fort,
Who Pyramus prefented in their ſport,
Forfook his ſcene and enter'd in a brake:
When I did him at this advantage take,
An afs's now I fixed on his head;
Anon his Thisby must be answered,
And forth my minnock comes.
Minnock, dr. Johnfon fays, is the reading of the old
quarto, and, he believes, right. Minnekin, adds he, now
G 2
ming
1
44
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
minx, is a nice t'ifing girl! The folio, according to mi.
Steevens, reads mimmick; perhaps for mimick, a word
more familiar than that exhibited by one of the 4tos, for
the other reads minnick. After all minnock, mimmick, and
minnick, are onely, perhaps, misprints for mammock, which
comes nearly to the fame letters, and fignifies a huge
misshapen thing; and is very properly applyed by a Fairy to
a clumfy over-grown clown. Minnekin is evidently a cor-
ruption of mannekin or manikin, properly mankin (4), a little
man. Dr. Johnſon is fo very imperfely acquainted
with the nature and derivation of the English language
(and, in that refpect, his dictionary, how' valuable foever
it may be on account of the explanation and ufe of Eng-
lifh words, is beneath contempt; there being fcarcely
ten words properly deduced in the whole work), that
it is no wonder to find him making minnekin and minx
the fame word. But minnekin does not mear a nice trifling
girl: and, though a fubftantive, is oftener ufed adjectively
than otherwiſe ſo in Midas (not John Lylies): "My rai-
nikin mifs (5)." The ſmalleſt fized pins are likewife
called minnekin or minikin pins. So Jerry Sneak, citizen
and pin-maker, in the Mayor of Garrat :—“ as if I had been
Seeking for one of my own minikins (6).” As mankin got
changed into minnekin, a little man, fo they formed minne-
kineſs a little woman, a girl; which has fince, by corrup-
tion, become minx. Thus Ladd:fs (Ladefs), from Lad,
has, by a fim.lar progrefs, become Laſs.
p. 69.
'
Puck. And at our ftamp here o'er and o'er one falls.
Dr. John on labours hard to prove this to be a vicious
readin: "Fairies, fays he, are never reprefented ftamp-
(4) MANNIKEN. [[man and klein, German.] JoHNSONS DICTIONARY!!!
(5) MINIKIN. a. fmall; diminutive. Shakespeare. 1BI.
(6) MINIKIN.
a fmall fort of pins. Iв1.
ing,
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
45
·
ing, or of a fize that ſhould give force to a ftamp, nor
could they have distinguifhed the ftamps of fuch from
thofe of their own companions." He, therefor, reads:
And at a ftump here o'er and o'er one falls.
To prove, however, that Fairies could stamp, mr. Stee-
vens produces a paffage from Olaus Wormius. He need not
have gone fo much out of his way: honeft Reginald Scot
could have informed him, that our "grandams maides.
were woont to fet a boll of milke before Incubus' and his
coufine Robin good-fellow, for grinding of malt or muſtard,
and ſweeping the houfe at midnight: and....that he would
chafe exceedingly, if the maid or good-wife of the houſe,
hauing compaffion of his nakednes, laid anie clothes for
him, beefides his meffe of white bread and milke, which
was his ftanding fee. For in that cafe he faith; What haue
we here? Hemton hamten, here will I neuer more tread
nor flampen. Discouerie of witchcraft. 1584. p. 85.
p. 70.
Her. If thou haft flain Lyfander in his fleep,
Being o'er Shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me toɔ.
“An allufion to the proverb, over ſhoes, over boots. JOHN-
SON.”
“Excellent i'faith! Why this is the beft fooling after all !”
P. 78.
Hel. We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our neelds created both one flower.
All the old editions, it ſeems, read needles. But mr.
Steevens has altered it to neelds, as, he fays, "it was proba-
bly written by Shakspeare.'
""
The
46
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
The learned critic has made the fame innovation in
another place, and quoted this very paffage, as genuine, to
justify the change: and yet, where the word candlesticks was
a fyllable too much, and the old editions read canflicks,
which rendered the meaſure perfect, and was fupported by
the authority of many ancient authors, he has continued
candlesticks in the text!
Puck. Ho, bo, ho! coward, why comeft thon not?
It may be remarked that this exclamation is peculiar to
Puck. In the old fong, printed by Peck, in which he re-
lates all his gambols, he concludes every verſe with Ho,
ho, ho! He here forgets his affumed character.
Hel. So me thinks:
P. 100.
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel
Mine own, and not mine own.
Inftead of jewel, dr. Warburton would read gemel, a twin ;
which dr. Johnſon calls an ingenious emend.tion that de-
ferves to be true. But dr. Warburton is in evident confu-
fion about the paffage. He makes Helena compare her lover
to ſomething which had the property of appearing one thing
when it was another: not the property fure, he cries, of a
jewel! In reality, however, Helena makes no ſuch compari-
fon, and the learned critic wilfully misftates her words to
found his ingenious emendation (as every foolish and im-
pertinent propoſal is, by the courteſy of editors, intitled):
She fays that he has found Demetrius, as a perſon finds a jewel,
or thing of great value, in which his property is fo precarious
as to make it uncertain whether it belongs to him or not.
Bot.
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
47
p. 101.
Bot. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream :
-and I will fing it in the latter end of a play, before the duke:
Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I fhall fing it at ber
death.
Inſtead of a play, we fhould certainly read the play (i. e.
that which they were about to perform). At her death is
very judiciously corrected by mr. Theobald to after death;
and fo fhould have been here printed.
The.
p. 105.
Call Philofirate.
In the folio, 1623, fays mr. Steevens, it is-Call Egeus,
and all the ſpeeches ſpoken by Philoftrate, are there given
to that character. If the ingenious commentator will take
the trouble to look into either folio, at the fpeech be-
ginning,
No, my noble lord,
It is not for you,
he will find that all the fpeeches here fpoken by Philoftrate
are not there given to Egeus.
P. 107. n.
Mr. Steevens is, certainly, mistaken in affigning Spen-
fers death to Dublin. He dyed in King-fireet, Westminster,
and was buryed in Weſtminſter-abbey.
P. 110.
Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, &c. There is an old pam-
phlet, containing the history of this amourous pair, in
lamentable verſe, by one Dunftan Gale, which appears
to have been printed in 1596; and may, not improbably,
befound the but of Shakspeares ridicule in fome parts of
this interlude.
Lion.
48
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
1
P. 116.
Lion. Then know, that I, as Snug the joiner, am
A lion fell, nor elfe no lions dam.
The folio reads:
Then know that I one Snug the joiner am
A lion fell nor elſe no lions dam.
This (i. e. A lion fell), fays mr. Steevens, not agree-
ing with the remainder of the fpeech, the modern editors.
have altered it into-no lion fell. Had they, continues he,
confulted the quarto, 1600, it would have fet them right.
Then know that I, as Snug the joyner, am
A lion fell, nor elfe no lyons dam.
A reading which this ingenious gentleman has accord-
ingly adopted. It is, nevertheless, certainly wrong, and that
of the folio is certainly right.
At the rehearſal of the play, left "the ladies fhould be
afear'd of the lion," being, as Bottom obferves, "the moſt
fearful wild fowl living," it was fettled, that there ſhould
be a prologue to tell, that Snug, who was to perform this
terrible part, was not a lion; his name was, likewiſe, to
be named, and half his face feen through the lions neck;
through which he was, moreover, to ſpeak, "faying thus,
or to this defect,-Ladies, &c. If you think I come hither as
a lion, it were pity of my life: no, I am no such thing;
I am a man as other men are :"-and there, indeed, he was
❝to name his name; and tell them plainly he was' Snug
the joiner." This prologue he is now delivering; but the
paſſage muſt be read and pointed thus; the fenfe and mean-
ing being ſtrangely misconceived and misrepreſented by the
prefent editors:
Then know, that I one Snug the joiner am;
A lion fell nor elſe no lions dam :
For if I fhould as lion come in ftrife
Into this place, 'twere pity of my life.
3
That
MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM.
49
That is, I am neither lion nor lioness, I am Snug the joiner.
The text makes him declare that he is a lion, or comes as
a lion, which is utterly inconfistent with the reft of his
ſpeech; defeats the very end and deſign of his prologue;
and would have been enough ("God fhield us !") to
fcare the ladies out of their wits. The ufe of the fing e
negative with a double afpect is common with our authɔ
and other ancient writers. Thus Fletcher, in his animated
apostrophe to the memory of Spenfer:
O may that man that hath the Muſes ſcorn'd,
Alive nor dead be ever of a Mufe adorn'd (7).
·
The conclufion is, that "the modern editors," who real
no, were perfectly right, in point of conſtruction, thoug
the alteration was unneceffary and improper.
Hi.
Dem. He dares not go there [i. e. into the lantern] for you fe
it is already in ſnuff.
Snuff, fays dr. Johnſon, fignifies both the cinder of a
candle, and hafty anger.
So, in a Voyage to the Weſtern Islands :
"The bedges near Montroſe are of stone.
So, likewife, in a note upon the First part of Hen. IV.
"The cuckows chicken.”
(7) Inftead of ever, a late editor of Spenfer, not ſo intimate, perhaps, with
the language of his author, and his contemporaries, as he ought to have been,
propofes to read never.
H
MERCHANT
50 MERCHANT OF VENICE.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
1
P. 149.
Shy. Signior Anthonio, many a time and oft,
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my monies, and my ufances.
Uſe and ufance, mr. Steevens fays, are both words anci-
ently employed for ufury. And, to justify the explanation,
he quotes the two following paffages from an old play :
Give me my ufe, give me my principal.
A toy; the main about five hundred pounds,
And the ufe fifty.
But, after all, is he not mistaken? Ufe and ufance mean
nothing more than intereft. And the former word is
ſtill uſed by country people in the fame fenfe. His own
authorities prove this to be the ancient meaning. Give me
my intereſt, give me my principal. The main (i. e. the
principal) five hundred pounds, and the ufe fifty; i. e.
intereft at ten per cent, the legal rate in Shakspeares time:
when, perhaps, the word ufury itsfelf had a much more
innocent meaning than has been fince annexed to it. In
the old fong of Neptunes raging fury, or the gallant feamans
Sufferings, it fignifies onely a fcrivener :
The lawyer and the ufürer,
That fits in gowns of fur, &c.
P. 150.
Antho. For when did friendship take
A breed of barren metal of his friend.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
51
The quartos (mr. Steevens fays) read-a breed of-the
folio--a breed for.-The ingenious commentator has
not, it ſeems, paid his uſual attention to the folios,-both
which affuredly read of
P. 159.
Laun. I am Launcelot, your boy that was, your ſon that is,
and your child that ſhall be,
The distinction between boy and fon, dr. Johnſon
fagaciously remarks, is obvious, but child, adds he, ſeems
to have had fome meaning which is now loft. Mr. Stee-
vens ſuppoſes that, by your child that ſhall be, he means that
his duty to his father fhould in future fhew him to be his
child. There is not the leaft difficulty in the paſſage.
Launcelot is talking nonfenfe, or, as the vulgar have it,
putting the cart before the horſe; but whether defignedly
or not is left to the contemplation of the critics.
means, however, to fay, I was your child, I am your boy,
and fhall ever be your fon.
Shy.
p. 167.
- thou shalt not gormandize
As thou hast done with me.
He
"The word [gormandize] is very ancient, and took its
rife from a Danish king. The Danes, towards the latter
end of the ninth century, were defeated by king Alfred at
Edendon in Wiltshire; and as an article of peace, Guth-
rum their king, commonly called Gurmond, fubmitted to
be baptized, king Alfred being his godfather, who gave
him the name of Athelſtan, and took him for his adopted
H 2
Lone
52
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
fon. During the ftay of the Danes in Wiltſhire, "they
confumed their time in profufenefs, and belly-cheer, in
idleness and floth. Infomuch, that as from their lazinefs
in general, we, even to this day, call them Lur-Danes; ſo
from the licentiousness of Gurmond, and his army in par-
ticular, we brand all luxurious and profufe people, by the
name of Gurmondizers." And this luxury, and this lazi-
nefs, are the fole monuments, the only memorials by
which the Danes have made themſelves notorious to pos-
terity, by being encamped in Wiltshire. Vide, A Vindi-
cation of Stone-Heng restored, by John Webb, efq. p. 227.
Jen Jonfon in his Sejanus, a&t I.
That great Gourmond, fat Apicius.
G."
After fuch a pompous display of learning, fo ftrangely in-
troduced into the margin of Shakspeare, how will this
mr. G. (who has certainly fhewed, if not judgement, at leaſt
prudence, in concealing his name) be furpriſed to hear that
there is not a fingle jot either of fenfe or of truth from the
beginning to the end of his laborious differtation! Gour-
mand, a glutton, and Gourmandife, gluttony, whence Jon-
ions Gourmond, and our gormandize are immediately taken,
are common French words to be found in every dictio-
nary; and Lurdane, properly lourden, is derived from lourdin,
or falourdin, a word of the fame fignification, in the fame
language, equally common. Either Gourmond or Lurdane,
therefor, has no more (poffibly, much lefs) connection
with the ancient Danes, than it has with this fame mr. G.
the ftructor of the above ingenious, but, alas! too eafyly
demolished fabric.
P. 183.
Serv. Where is my lady?
Por. Here; what would my lord?
< Would
1
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
53
"Would not this fpeech to the fervant be more proper
in the mouth of Neriffa? TYRWHITT.”
No; very impertinent, in the prefence of her lady.
p. 293.
Sal. I would it might prove the end of his loffes!
Sala. Let me fay amen betimes, left the devil croſs thy prayer.
All the old copies read my prayer; but, ſays Warburton,
the prayer was Salanios. The other onely, as clerk, ſays
amen to it; he therefor changed it to thy prayer. The old
reading, however, may be very right: Is not amen a
prayer?
p. 207.
Por. I could not do with all.
"For the ſenſe of the word do in this place, fee a note on
Meaſure for Meaſure, act I. Collins.”
The converfation of even the highest ranks, was not,
perhaps, in Shakspeares time, over and above remarkable
for its delicacy. But does the (real) commentator believe
that a lady of Portias good fenfe, high ftation, and elegant
manners, could speak (or even think) fo grossly? It is im-
poffible!
This obfervation, and others of the like nature, from the
fame hand, are, however, as the reader will perceive,
ftrictly within the canon.
"He (i. e. the profeſsed critic) may find out a bawdy,
or immoral meaning in his author, where there does not
appear to be any hint that way." Canon XII.
P. 214.
Shy. And others, when the bagpipe fings i'the nofe
Cannot contain their urine; Fer affections,
Masters
54
MERCHANT OF VENICE,
Masters of paffion fway it to the mood
Of what it likes or loaths.
The reading of all the old editions is 40
And others, when the bagpipe fings i'th' noſe,
Cannot contain their urine for affection.
Masters of paffion ways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loaths,
Which is, furely, defenfible, though our candid editors
have not been pleafed to notice it. The meaning is that
fome men when they hear the found of a bagpipe are ſo affected
therewith that they cannot retain their urine. For thoſe things
which are masters over paffion, make it like or loath whatever
they will.
If ſways be objected to, it may be eafyly altered to ſway,
But there are above fifty inftances in Shakspeare, where a
verb of the fingular number is made to agree with a noun
of the plural.
P. 216.
Shy. Why he a woollen bagpipe,
It is not unufual to fee the large fkin or bladder of a
bagpipe covered with flannel; and, it is poffible that Shak-
ſpeare onely uſed the word as a defcriptive epithet.
Dr. Johnſon fuppofes he wrote wooden ;-fir John Haw-
kins ſwelling or ſwollen. But any meaning is preferable to
fuch arbitrary violations of the text.
P. 228.
Por. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.
fanio, indeed, in anſwer to Portias question, if Anthonic
were not able to discharge the money, fays,
Where, or by whom, is any fuch offer made? Baf
Yesa
ง
MERCHANT OF VENICE. $3
Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;
Yea twice the fum.
But nobody offers thrice the money. Either Portia mistook
Baffanios propoſal, or this is one of thoſe inaccuracies of
the text which are now irremediable.
P. 228.
Duke. For half thy wealth it is Anthonios;
The other half comes to the general ſtate,
Which humblenefs may drive unto a fine.
Anth. So pleaſe my lord the duke, and all the court,
To quit the fine for one half of his goods;
I am content; fo be will let me have
The other half in uſe,—to render it,
Upon bis death, unto the gentleman,
That lately ſtole his daughter.
The terms propoſed, fays dr. Johnſon, have been misun-
derftood. Anthonio declares, that as the duke quits one
half of the forfeiture, he is likewiſe content to abate his
claim, and defires not the property but the uſe or pro-
duce only of the half, and that only for the Jews life, un-
lefs we read, as perhaps is right, upon my death.
How others have misunderstood Anthonios terms, does
not by this edition appear, and it might be policy in dr.
Johnſon to fupprefs the account, for it is very clear that
they are not underſtood by HIM. Anthonio tells the duke,
that, if he will abate the fine for the ftates half, he (An-
thonio) will be contented to take the other, in truſt, after
Shylocks death, to render it to his daughters husband. That
is, it was, during Shylocks life, to remain at intereſt in An-
thonios hands, and Shylock was to enjoy the produce of it. The
preſent reading is perfectly right, clear, and intelligible.
And
56
AS YOU LIKE IT.
And theſe trifling mistakes might teach even the greateſt
critic fome little diffidence upon fimilar occafions.
+
P. 234.
Laun. Tell him there's a poſt come from my mafter, with his
horn full of good news; my master will be here ere morning,
Sweet Soul.
Lor. Let's in, and there expect his coming.
[Exit.
Theſe two words, mr. Tyrwhitt obferves, fhould cer-
tainly be taken from the end of Launcelots fpeech, and
placed at the begining of the following ſpeech of Lorenzo.
An excellent and happy remark. No alteration was ever
more neceſſary, or more obvious. The two fyllables thus
misplaced, and which are utterly abfurd and inſenſible as
they ftand, are just wanting to make up the metre of the
first line of Lorenzos fpeech. The emendation is therefor
unpardonably neglected.
p. 256.
P. 111. The Merchant of Venice.]" A ballad is ftill re-
maining on the ſubject of Romeo and Juliet, which by the
date appears to be much older than Shakspeares time. It is
remarkable that all the particulars in which that play dif-
fers from the story in Bandello, are found in this ballad."
Where is this fame ballad to be found? Or who ever
faw it? The information is-MR. WARTONS!
AS YOU LIKE IT.
p. 263.
Orlando. As I remember, Adam, it was on this fashion be
queathed me by will, but a poor thouſand ducats; and as thou
fay 'it, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well.
Dr. War-
AS YOU LIKE IT.
57
Dr. Warburton would fubftitute my father in the place
of fashion. Dr. Johnfon allows that the nominative my
father is left out, but fays it is fo left out that the auditor
inferts it in ſpite of himſelf. An auditors underſtanding the
intent of a ſpeech will not, however, fupply the defects of its
grammatical conftruction. There is no neceffity for omitt
ing the word fashion, but either my father, or (which is
perhaps much better) the pronoun he fhould be inferted be-
tween faſhion and bequeathed. The paffage ought, therefor,
to be read and pointed thus: As I remember, Adam, it
was on this faſhion he bequeathed me, by will, but a poor
thousand ducats, &c. The reader will perceive that it is
onely the fequel of a converfation which has commenced
before the play.
P. 274.
Le Beau. What colour, madam? how fhall I anfwer you
Rof. As wit and fortune will.
Clo. Or as the destinies decree.
Cel. Well faid, that was laid on with a trowel.
?
Laid on with a trowel, dr. Johnſon fuppofes to mean,
"too
too heavy a maſs of big words, laid upon a flight ſub-
ject." But mr. Steevens will have it to be a proverbial
expreffion, generally ufed to fignify a glaring falfhood."
The doctor is not right, and the gentleman palpably wrong.
It means a good round hit, thrown in without judgement
or defign. So, in Tony Lumpkin in Town, 1780.
"Tim, that was a dash with the pound brush.
p. 270.
Oli. Yet he's gentle;-of all forts enchantingly beloved.
Sorts, in this place, means ranks and degrees of men.
I
Aud.
58
AS YOU LIKE IT.
P. 336.
Aud. Well, I am not fair; and therefore I pray the gods.
make me honest.
Clo. Truly, and to caft honesty away upon a foul flut, were to
put meat into an unclean diſh.
Aud. I am not a fut, though I thank the gods for my
foulness.
Clo. Well, praiſed be the gods for thy foulness, fluttishness may
come hereafter.
By foul, fays Hanmer, is meant coy or frowning. Mr
Tyrwhitt rather believes it to be the rustic pronunciation
of full, as if ſhe thanked the gods for a belly-full.
She
Audrey ſays ſhe is not fair (i. e. handſome), and therefor
prays the gods to make her honeft. The clown tells her
that to caſt honesty away upon a foul flut (i. e. an ill favoured,
dirty creature) is to put meat in an unclean diſh.
replies, ſhe is no flut (no dirty drab), though, in her great
fimplicity, the thanks the gods for her foulness (homely-
nefs); i. e. for being as he is. Well, adds he, praiſed be
the gods for thy foulness, fluttishness may come hereafter.
Where can be the difficulty?
p. 361.
Rof. How fay you now? Is it not paſt two o'clock, and here's
much Orlando.
Thus, fays mr. Steevens, the old copy. The modern
editors, adds he, read, but without the leaft authority:
I wonder much, Orlando is not here.
This is fenfe, however, which the old and prefent read-
ing is not, though there was no neceffity for ſo great an
alteration to make it fo. One might propofe the follow-
ing:
Is it not past two o'clock? and here's no Orlando.
Cle
TAMING OF THE SHREW.
59
P. 378.
Clo. We found our quarrel was upon the ſeventh caufe.
So, fays dr. Johnſon, all the copies; but it is apparent,
adds he, from the ſequel, that we muſt read, the quarrel was
not upon the feventh caufe.
The propriety of this remark is very doubtfull. Jaques,
a few ſpeeches after, afks the clown, How he and his anta-
gonist found the quarrel was upon the feventh cauſe. The
clown fays, upon a lye feven times remov'd; and thus ex-
2. The
plains it: 1. His dislike of the courtiers beard.
courtiers retort courteous. 3. The quip modeft. 4. The re-
ply churlif. 5. The reproof valiant. 6. The countercheck
quarrelfume. 7. The lye circumftantial. This
This may indeed
be called the ſeventh caufe, but it certainly is not a lje, fa̸-
ven times removed. Touchſtone is rather inaccurate in his
calculations, but dr. Johnſons propofal feems inadmiſſible.
After all, it is not eafy to conceive, how either the lye cir-
cumflantial, or the lye direct could be a greater affront than
the countercheck quarrelfome, which was fimply thus:-
YOU LYE!
TAMING OF THE SHREW.
P. 409.
Į
Sly. Am not I Christopher Sly, old Slys fon of Burton-heath;
Aſk Marian Hacket the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if ſhe know me not,
&'c.
Mr. Steevens fufpects that we ſhould read Barton-heath.
Barton and Woodmancot, vulgarly Woncot, being both in
Glousterſhire, near the refidence of Justice Shallow. (The
ingenious obferver might have recollected William Viſor
I 2
of
60
TAMING OF THE SHREW.
of Woncot.) But the matter is fully cleared up by the cele-
brated mr. Warton, who pofitively affures us, that Wilne-
cotte is a village in Warwickshire, with which Shak peare
was well acquainted, near Stratford. That the houfe kept
by our genial hoftefs, ftill remains, but is at preſent a mill,
A ftranger to the chronology of mr. Wartons life would
be apt to conclude, from this fatisfactory information, that
Shakſpeare and he had had many a merry meeting over a
cup of our genial hoftefses Warwickshire ale; or how ſhould
he fuppofe him to have come by fuch a perfect knowlege
of the houſe, our authors intimate acquaintance with it,
and the character of its mistress? Burton Dorfet is a village
in Warwickshire,
P. 421.
Hør. Sweet Bianca !—Happy man be his dole !
A proverbial expreffion, mr. Steevens tells us, Dole being
any thing dealt out or distributed. But what fort of an
explanation is this? The meaning is, let his portion or lot
in life be that of a happy man.
P. 426.
Hor. Alla noftra caſa·ben venuto,
Molto honorato fignor mio Petruchio,
Surely the editors are fufficiently acquainted with Italian
to know that this name fhould have been here printed Pe-
truccio. Or do they intend it to be pronounced Petroukio?
P. 436.
Tra. Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readieſt way
To the houfe of fignior Baptista Minola ?
Gre. He that has the two fair daughters.
"This [aft] fpech, in the old copy, is given to Trania.
STEEVENS."
A mis ake:
TAMING OF THE SHREW. 61
A mistake: both folios give it to Biondello; and make
Tranio answer him thus:-Even he Biondello. The text,
however, feems properly corrected.
p. 438.
Gru. O excellent motion! fellows let's be gone.
Gru. (Grumio) is here, perhaps by a misprint, put for
Gre. (Gremio.)
p. 469.
Tra. But, fir, our love concerneth us to add
Her fathers liking.
The firſt folio, as mr. Tyrwhitt obſerves, reads;
But, fir, love, &c.
Which he thinks ſhould be thus corrected:
But, fir, to her love, &c.
This, however, is fcarce grammar or even common
fenfe. The word her is alone fufficient, and is, moſt likely,
Shakspeares own.
P. 483.
1
Pet. Where is the life that late I led
A fcrap of fome old ballad. Ancient Pistol elſewhere
quotes the fame line. In an old black letter book intitled
A gorgious Gallery of galiant Inuentions. Lon. 1578. 4to.
is a fong To the Tune of Where is the life that late I led.
P. 507.
Luc. And what of all this?
Bion. I cannot tell; expect they are bufied about a counterfeit
affurance, &c.
"I can
62 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
"I can make no ſenſe of expect. I rather believe this
paffage fhould be read thus I cannot tell; except thus
much; they are bufied, &c. TYRWHITT."
The fecond folio confirms the propriety of this judicious
emendation. The editors are perfectly inexcufable for their
negligence in not confulting the old copies.
VOLUME THE FOURTH.
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
P. 50.
Clo. As fit as Tibs rush for Toms forefinger.
It behoveth me here to remark that this abridged nomi-
native, Tib, is, not as the great mufical knight opineth, a
contraction of Tabitha, but is the diminutive of Ifabel.
Moreover, the forefinger is not, as master Tollet conceiveth,
the thumb, but that finger which is ufually placed next or
nearest thereunto. Mefeemeth, likewife, that our author
hath here one of thoſe covert allufions, divers of which
my fingular good friend M. Collins and myfelf have hereto-
fore noted, and fhall, Deo juvante, perfever to remark in
our future lucubrations. AMNER.
p. 102.
Dia. If I ſhould ſwear by Joves great attributes.
"In the print of the old folio, it is doubtful whether it
be J.ve's or Love's, the characters being not distinguiſh-
able. JOHNSON.”
It is no wonder that the learned critic fhould not have
been able to distinguish between an I and an, where he
could not perceive the variation of whole words, and even
lines
TWELFTH NIGHT.
63
at
lines and ſpeeches. No one befide hisfelf, however, could
poffibly have had a doubt about the matter, the two cha-
racters being as clearly different in the old editions as they
are any where elſe.
But this is not the onely inftance in which the ingenious
commentator could not determine whether the word were
love or Jove. He is at the fame lofs in Troilus and Creffida,
(x. 87.) where the / is equally confpicuous.
P. 127.
Clo. O madam, yonder's my lord your fon with a patch of
velvet on's face; whether there be a fcar under it, or no, the
velvet knows, &c.
Count. A fcar nobly got,-is a good livery of honour.
The old editions give the latter ſpeech to Lafcu; from
whom it has been taken without either acknowlegement or
neceſſity.
TWELFTH NIGHT.
P. 160.
Mar. My lady takes great exceptions to your ill hours.
Sir To. Why, let her except before excepted.
This, fays dr. Farmer, ſhould probably be, as before ex-
cepted: a ludicrous ufe of the formal law-phraſe. But the
ingenious critic might have ſpared his remark, the formal
law-phrafe being more ufually as in the text.
p. 185.
Vio. She made good view of me; indeed ſo much,
That, fure, methought her eyes had loft her tongue.
" Sure,
64
TWELFTH NIGHT.
"Sure, fays mr. Steevens, has been added to complete
the verſe." It is very true: it was added by Shakspeare.
P. 188.
Sir To. -- a floop of wine.
i. e. a cup.
So in Othello.
"Come lieutenant, I have a foop of wine.
STEEVENS.
4.)
Compare the following paffage, and note (Hamlet, x.
King. Set me the ftoups of wine upon the table.
"A ftoup is a flaggon or bowl. STEEVENS."
This explanation may be right: Cup is certainly wrong.
p. 210.
Mar. My purpoſe is, indeed, a horfe of that colour.
Sir And. And your horse now would make him an aſs.
Mar. Afs I doubt not.
Mr. Tyrwh tt thinks that the conceit given to fir Andrew,
fhews too quick an apprehenfion for him. He would there-
for transfer it to fir Toby. But does the ingenious critic
imagine it probable that Maria would call fir Toby an ass?
P. 216.
Sir To. Marry hang thee, bruck.
A brock is certainly a badger; but Malvolio is not fo
called becauſe he is likely to be hunted and perfecuted like
that animal (which, by the way, is never hunted). Neither
is to badger a man, a phraſe for making a fool of him. Sir
Toby ufes the word as a term of contempt, as if he had
faid, bang thee, cur!-Out filth! to ftink like a brock, be-
ing proverbial. To badger a man is to be perpetually plague-
ing him the badger, from that fpirit of humanity ſo pre-
valent in the English vulgar, being always baited to death.
Sir
TWELFTH NIGHT.
65
Sir To.
P. 211.
How now my nettle of India.
The old copy, mr. Steevens fays, reads-mettle of India,
which, he thinks, is probably the true reading. The change,
he tells us, was made by mr. Rowe.
Nettle, however, as the learned commentator ought to
have known, is the reading of the fecond folio, and is
indisputably right.
P. 231.
Sir To. Challenge me the counts youth to fight with bim.
This, mr. Tyrwhitt pronounces to be nonfenſe: he
would have us read,-challenge me the counts youth; go, fight
with him. But if any alteration be neceffary, it fhould be
thus : ·Challenge me the counts south to fight with you. The
text, however, is neither nonfenfical, nor difficult.
p. 247.
Sir To. Why man he's a very devil; I have not feen fuch a
virago.
The word virago is certainly inapplicable to a man, a
blustering hectoring fellow, as Sir Toby means to repre-
fent Viola; for he cannot poffibly entertain any fufpicion
of her ſex: but it is no otherwife fo, than Rounceval is to a
woman, meaning a terrible fighting blade; from Ronceval,
or Roncesvalles, the famous fcene of that fabulous combat
with the Saracens,
When Charlemagne and all his Peerage fell,
By Fontarabia.
p. 249.
Sir To. Nay if you be an undertaker, I am for you.
This, mr. Tyrwhitt believes a touch upon the times, in al-
lufion to certain perfons who in the reign of king James
K
the
66
TWELFTH NIGHT.
the firft, undertook to carry all the government meaſures
fmoothly through parliament. But what has Antonio faid
or done that Sir Toby fhould take him for a bufy member of
the houſe of commons ? 'He onely means to tell him that if he
be an undertaker of, or intermeddler in other peoples quar-
re's, he (Sir Toby) is ready to take him up.
P. 261.
Clo. What fay you, fir? I am fent for fpeaking to you.
Shent, i. e. rated, fcolded, abufed. The two inftances
adduced by mr. Steevens give it a meaning quite foreign to
the text.
p. 240.
Sir Toby. Ay, biddy, come with me.
This feems to be a fcrap of fome old fong, and fhould
be printed as fuch. Did the editors underſtand it, that they
have given us no annotation upon it? Biddy is the dimi-
nutive of Bridget.
P. 241.
Sir To. --we will.....crown thee for a finder of madmen.
Dr. Johnſon thinks this phrafe an allufion to witch-finders.
But mr. Steevens pronounces it, a fatire on thofe coroners
who ſo often bring in felf-murder, lunacy, to which title,
he fays, many other offences have to the full as juſt pre-
tenfions. The obfervation is, however, fcarcely pertinent,
as it is not the officer, but the inqueft that makes the return.
And, perhaps, while fuch inhuman, fuch diabolical laws
as the brutality of the most barbarous ages has annexed to
the coinmiffion of the above act, continue to disgrace the
judicial fystem of this country, even perjury itsfelf becomes a
3
virtue.
1
TWELFTH NIGHT.
virtue. Finders of madmen are thoſe who formerly acted
under the writ De Lunatico inquirendo.
P. 246.
Sir To.
meddle you muſt, that's certain.
Meddle, mr. Steevens explains, mix; but it means
to interfere, have to do with, concern ones felf, &c. as
before explained.
p. 267.
Clo. The bells of St. Bennet.
What neceffity is there for accufing Shakspeare of any
impropriety in this place. There muſt have been churches
in Illyria, and how does dr. Johnſon know that none of
them was dedicated to St. Bennet?
P. 278.
Oli. A moftextracting frenzy of mine own,
From my remembrance clearly baniſh'd his.
i. e. fays dr. Warburton, a frenzy that drew me away
from every thing but its own object. But mr. Malone,
t
ever ftudious to preferve his authors text, till fome
example is produced of the word being ufed in the above
fenfe, fhould wish to read distrading, which he very mo-
deftly conjectures to have been the original word. If dr.
Warburton hd confidered his explanation a fingle moment,
he would undoubtedly have given it right, i. e. a frenzy
that drew every object but one out of my memory.
Ibid.
Clo. An your ladyship will have it [i. c. Malvolios letter] as it
ought to be, you muit allow vox.
K 2
"I am
68
WINTERS TALE.
"I am by no means certain," fays mr. Steevens, "that
I underſtand this paffage." The learned editors diffidence
mut, therefor, apologife for his having mistaken it: the
meaning is, nevertheless, very fimple.
If your ladyship, fays the Clown, will have this letter
read as it should be, you muſt allow me the full and proper
ufe of my voice. She had just checked him for bawling too
loud, which he tells her is the right method of reading a
madmans letter.
WINTERS TALE.
p. 305.
Leo.
lover meſses
Perchance are to this bufinefs purblind.
A
Mefs, fays dr. Johnſon, is a contraction of master, as Meſs
John, master John; an appellation ufed by the Scots, to
thoſe who have taken their academical degree. Lower messes,
therefor, adds he, are graduates of a lower form. Mr.
Steevens, however, believes that lower messes is onely uſed
to fignify the lowest [lower] degrees about the court.
conjecture in which he feems to be as right, as dr. Johnſon
is certainly wrong: the word mess, as Mefs John, neither
being any contraction of master, nor having the remoteſt
allufion to academical degrees. It is merely the Scotifh
pronunciation of Mafs, and is only applyed, in vulgar lan-
guage, to the priest or minister.
p. 311.
Cam. I have low'd thee
Leo. Make that thy question, and go rot,
Nothing
WINTERS TALE.
69
Nothing can be more obvious than that the words here
put into the mouth of Camillo really belong to Leontes,
whom he neither does nor could addreſs with ſo much fami-
liarity. But we are under no neceffity to agree with mr.
Tyrwhitt that they would come in more properly after rot.
If the meaſure be thought to need emendation, it would
be lefs violence to adopt that propofed by mr. Theobald.
p. 326.
Ant. I have three daughters; the eldeft is eleven,
The ſecond, and the third, nine, and fome five.
"This," fays dr. Johnfon, "is mr. Theobalds correc
tion; the former editions read fans five.'
If the critic mean to fay onely that fome editions prior to
Theobalds read ſans, the aſſertion may probably be true;
but if his note imply that Theobald firft introduced the
word fome, nothing can be lefs fo: it is the reading of the
firſt folio, and the fecond does not read fans.
The ſpeaker tells us that one of his daughters was eleven,
the fecond nine, and the third about five.
Leo, I ne'er heard yet,
P. 345.
That any of theſe bolder vices wanted
Leſs impudence to gain-ſay what they did,
Than to perform it firſt.
"It is apparent," dr. Johnſon ſays, "that according to
the proper, at leaſt according to the prefent ufe of words,
lefs fhould be more, or wanted fhould be had."
-
It is a pity that the learned critic ſhould not better un-
derftand the language upon which he profeſses to com-
ment. There is not the flighteſt difficulty or impropriety
in the paffage. I never heard, fays Leontes, that any of
thefe
70
WINTERS TAL E.
theſe greater offenders wanted (i. e. were deficient in) lefs
impudence to deny their crime than to commit it. You,
therefor, he means to tell the queen, who have had fuffi-
cient impudence to do what I charge you with, can be at
no lofs for impudence to deny it.
p. 375.
Flo.
the gods themſelves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The ſhapes of beaſts upon them;-their transformations
Were never for a piece of beauty rarer;
Nor in a way ſo chaſte.
In what way? We ſhould certainly read (in the margin
at leaſt):
Nor any way fo chaſte.
p. 381.
Flo. Your hand my Perdita: ſo turtles pair,
That never mean to part.
Per. I'll fwear for 'em.
For whom or what? This is fheer nonfenfe.
And dr.
Johnfon, by giving the line to Polixenes, rather increaſes
the abſurdity than lefsens it. We ſhould, doubtless, read
thus:
I'll fwear for one.
i. e. I will anſwer or engage for myfelf. Some altera-
tion is abfolutely neceffary. This feems the esfyeft; and
the reply will then be perfectly becoming her character.
P. 394.
Shep. Leave your prating, fince thefe good men are pleaf'd,
let them come in.
Here a dance of twelve fatyrs.
Pol.
MACBETH.
71
Pol. [Afide.] O father, you'll know more of that hereafter.
This, fays dr. Warburton, is replied by the king in an-
fwer to the shepherds faying fince thefe good men are
pleaſed.
This is very unlikely. The dance, which has intervened,
would take up too much time to preferve any connection
between the two fpeeches. The line fpoken by the king
feems to be in reply to fome unexprefsed question from
the old fhepherd, and fhould not be uttered afide.
M
ACBETH.
P. 473.
Mach. The prince of Cumberland! —
The crown of Scotland, mr. Steevens obferves, was
originally not hereditary. When a fucceffor was declared
in the life time of a king, (as was often the cafe) the
title of prince of Cumberland was immediately beftowed on
him as the mark of his defignation.
The propriety of this note is not very apparent.
The crown of Scotland had been hereditary for ages before
Duncan,-nay, from the very foundation of the Scotifh
monarchy. The apparent or prefumptive heir was always the
known and declared fucceffor; as in England and every other
hereditary government. The kings eldest fon, or grandſon
(i, e. the heir apparent for the time being) alone was prince
of Cumberland, as the king of Englands is prince of
Wales;
72
MAC BET H.
Wales; or the king of France's, the Dauphin. And it
ſhould ſeem, from the play, that Malcolm was the first who
had this title.
Macb.
P. 505.
No; this my hand will rather
The multitudinous feas incarnadine,
Making the green-one red.
Whoever was the author of this emendation, as it is
called) (for mr. Sheridan has likewife taken the credit of
it, Lectures on Elocution. 4to. p. 65.); it ſeems to have been
adopted with too much hafte, and without either neceffity
or advantage. The old reading is much more in the man-
ner of Shakspeare, and of courfe more likely to be the
true one eſpecially if we read fea.
Mac.
P. 523.
There is none, but he,
Whoſe genius I do fear and, under him,
:
My genius is rebuk’d; as, it is ſaid,
Mark Antonys was by Cafar. He chid the fisters,
When, &c.
"Though I would not often affume the critics privi-
lege of being confident where certainty cannot be obtained,
nor indulge myſelf too far in departing from the eftablifhed
reading; yet I cannot but propoſe the rejection of this paf-
fage, which I believe was an infertion of fome player,
that having ſo much learning as to discover to what Shak-
fpeare alluded, was not willing that his audience fhould be
lefs knowing than himſelf, and has therefore weakened the
authours
MAC BET H.
73
authours fenfe, by the intrufion of a remote and uſeleſs image
into a ſpeech burſting from a man wholly poffefsed with
his own prefent condition, and therefore not at leiſure to
explain his allufions to himſelf. If theſe words are taken
away, by which not only the thought but the numbers are
injured, the lines of Shakeſpeare clofe together without any
traces of a break.
My genius is rebuk'd. He chid the fifters.
JOHNSON."
This note, dr. Johnſon tells us, was written before he
was fully acquainted with Shakſpeares manner, and he does
not now think it of fo much weight: why did he then reprint
it? becauſe the words which he once thought interpolated
by the players, he now thinks to have been interpolated
by the author. But there never was furely fuch a number
of words wafted to fuch an idle purpoſe. Whether Mac-
beth would have made ufe of the image is not the question:
the words are as evidently Shakspeares as any others in
the play. And where was the neceffity of fo much learning
to discover the allufion? The idea was perfectly familiar
to him. He got it from the old translation of Plutarch,
and has particularly dwelled upon it in Antony and Cleopatra,
act II. fcene iii.
P. 531.
Mach.
Better be with the dead,
Whom we to gain our place have fent to peace.
The old copy, according to mr. Steevens, reads:
Whom we to gain our peace have ſent to peace.
The change, he ſays, was made by mr. Rowe. It is,
however, the reading of the fecond folio.
❤
L
Mach.
74
MACBETH.
P. 532.
Mach. Ere
The hard-borne beetle, with his drowſy hum,
Hath rung nights yawning peal, &c.
The hard-born beetle is, perhaps, the beetle born among
ſhards, i. e. (not cows-dung, for that is only a fecondary
or metonymical fignification of the word, and not even
fo, generally, but) pieces of broken pots, tiles, and fuch
like things which are frequently thrown together in corners
as rubbish, and under which theſe beetles may uſually
breed, or (what is all the fame) may have been fuppofed
to do ſo.
Thus, in Hamlet, the prieſt fays, of Ophelia,
Shards, Aints, and pebbles, ſhould be thrown on her.
Would mr. Tollet fay that cows-dung was to be thrown
into the grave? The fpelling of born can have no weight
any way. It is true, however, that harded beetle ſeems
fcarcely reconcilable to the above explanation. Mr. Stee-
vens may be right, but dr. Warburton and mr. Tollet, are
certainly wrong.
P. 535.
Enter three murderers.
t Mur. But who bid thee join with us?
3
Mur. Macbeth.
2 Mur. He needs not our mistrust; fince he delivers
Our offices and what we have to do
To the direction juft.
The meaning of this abrupt dialogue, dr. Johnfon ob-
ferves, is this: the perfect spy, mentioned by Macbeth in
the foregoing ſcene, has, before they enter upon the ſtage,
given them the directions which were promifed at the time
of their agreement; yet one of the murderers fuborned,
4
fufpects
{
MACBETH,
75
fuſpects him of intending to betray them; the other ob-
ferves, that, by his exact knowlege of what they were to do,
he appears to be employed by Macbeth, and needs not be
mistrusted. A comment which there are few beſides the
learned author that would not have been afhamed to re-
peat.
In the preceding ſcene, Macbeth fays to the two firſt
murderers.
I will advise you where to plant yourſelves;
Acquaint you with the perfect ſpy o'the time,
The moment on't.
i. e. the very time when you are to look out for him.
But dr. Johnſon has changed it to
A perfect ſpy o'the time,
and ſeems too confident or too careleſs to perceive the ab-
furdity he introduces. For, if Macbeth had made the two
first murderers acquainted with this perfect spy of dr. John-
fon, and they had received their directions from him,
how could the first murderer poffibly afk him who bid him
join them ?-O, but, fays the learned critic, he ſuſpects
him of an intention to betray them. Betray them!
To whom? To Banquo? To be fure they had wonderful
cauſe to be afraid of one whom the king hisſelf had
appointed them to kill!-The fact plainly is, that
this additional or fupernumerary villain is fent from Mac-
beth, by way of reinforcement, after the others had taken
their fland. He has told them that he was acquainted with
the defign, but one of them, being unwilling, it ſhould
feem, to admit a third to participate in the reward, and
therefor defirous to fhuffle him off, very naturally afks,
who bid him join them.
L 2
Macd
76
MAC BET H.
P. 575.
Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country!
Great tyranny, lay thou thy bafis fure
For goodneſs dares not check thee! wear thou thy wrongs,
His title is affeard!
His (i. e. Macbeths) title is affier'd, i. e. eſtabliſhed
or affirmed, fince he whofe duty and intereft it is to en-
deavour to dethrone him refuſes to join in the attempt.
This kind of exclamation feems natural to Macduff; for,
a little after, when Malcolm ftrives to comfort him on
the flaughter of his wife and children, he breaks forth
in the fame manner:
H. (8) has no children!-all my pretty ones?
Mal. 'Tis call'd the evil:
ftrangely vifited people,
p. 581.
All fwoln and ulcerous, be cures,
Hanging a golden ftamp about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis fpoken,
To the fucceeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction. With this ſtrange virtue,
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, &c.
"It must be owned," fays dr. Warburton, "that Shak-
fpeare is often guilty of fome ftrange abſurdities in point
of history and chronology: yet here he has artfully avoided
one, He had a mind to hint, that the cure of the evil was
to defcend to the fucceffors in the royal line in compliment
to James the firft. But the Confeffor was the firſt who pre-
tended to the gift: how then could it be at that time ge-
nerally fpoken of, that the gift was hereditary? this he has
folved by telling us that Edward had the gift of prophecy
along with it."
(8) i. e. Malcolm, and not Macbeth, as mr. Steevens fuppofes.
" The
MACBETH.
77
that the
"The ingenious editor of the Houshold Book of the Fifth
Earle of Northumberland, dr. Percy," adds mr. Steevens, "very
acutely obferves on the fubject of cramp rings,
miraculous gift of curing the evil was left to be claimed by
the Stuarts; our ancient Plantagenets were humbly con-
tent to cure the cramp."
There may be a vaſt fund of acuteness, but there is not a
tittle of truth or knowlege in this ingenious obfervation. It
is fo well known that not onely the Tudor family, but their
predeceffors, for many ages, exerciſed this real or imaginary
power, that, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, who touched
often, as any old history, and many other books, will
inform us, one William Tooker, a learned divine, pub-
liſhed a laborious Latin treatiſe upon the fubject, in which
he enumerates a number of cures performed by that princeſs,
and others of our ancient Engliſh monarchs (9). With re-
fpect to dr. Warburton, one would be glad to know,
how he became fo certain that Edward the Confeffor
was the first who pretended to this gift. Shakspeare
may be fometimes chargeable with great abfurdities,
but he rarely, if ever, commits fuch a one as his over-
learned commentator would here force upon him. If
Edward the Confeffor had been the firſt Engliſh monarch
poffefsed of this hereditary faculty, it muft neceffaryly have
dyed with him, for he not onely was a ufurper, but left no
iffue. So that king James neither did, nor poffibly could
either claim or get it from him. And his real titles were too
(9) See much curious information on this fubject in the reverend dr.
Douglases Criterion, or Miracles examined. London, 1757. p. 191, 2, 3, &c.
Henry VII. and Edward I. are proved to have touched for the evil, by
contemporary writers; and the notion of fuch an inherent power in our kings
appears, by indisputable authority, to have been as thoroughly eſtabliſhed in
the reign of Henry II. as it was in that of Charles II. or Queen Ann.
good,
78
MACBETH.
good, and he was too well acquainted with them, to per-
mit him to accept ſuch a compliment; even if Shakſpeare in-
tended it, which he, undoubtedly, did not.
Roffe.
P. 583.
But I have words,
That would be howl'd out in the deſert air
Where hearing fhould not catch them.
The folio, it ſeems, read latch, which appears to be the
proper word, and certainly fignifies catch. Thus in Piers
Plowman, fo. 26.
As who fo layeth lynes for to latche foules.
As mr. Steevens elſewhere tells us, that he made it his
bufyneſs to reſtore ancient readings, one might naturally
have expected to fee latch in the text.
p: 592.
Macb.
Then, fly, falſe thanes,
And mingle with the English epicures.
"It appears," fays mr. Steevens, in a note upon this paf-
fage," from dr. Johnſons Journey to the Western Islands of
Scotland, that the natives had neither kail nor brogues, till
they were taught the arts of planting the one, and making
the other, by the foldiers of Cromwell; and yet," adds he,
"king James VI. thought it neceffary to form an act
"againſt fuperfluous banquetting."
It is a pity that the ingenious commentator has omitted
the very candid and liberal inference which the great tra-
veler draws from the above circumftance of the kail, i. e.
that, "when they had not that, they had nothing."
But under the favour of this ingenious critic, it does not
appear:-dr. Johnſon, indeed, is pleaſed to ſay ſo, and
they who would have believed him if he had given a rela-
tion
MACBETH.
79
tion of his voyage into the moon, may, if they chooſe,
believe this. It is very feldom that we find people teach-
ing to others arts of which they are ignorant theirſelves,
and yet this muſt have been the cafe with Cromwells fol-
diers; who were accustomed neither to eat kail, nor to wear
brogues. The truth is, that both articles have, in all
probability, been known to the Scotifh ever fince the
country was inhabited. So that they may ſafely admit the
truth of the above very candid travelers good-natured pofi-
tion.
Mr. Steevens feems to think it altogether needleſs to re-
ftrain luxury in diet, where people could get neither kail nor
brogues; which, to be fure, are the very effence of a fump-
tuous feaſt.
P. 596.
Macb. And with fome ſweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanfe the foul bofom of that perilous ſuff
Which weighs upon the heart!
Stuff'd, mr. Steevens tell us, is the reading of the old
copy; but, for the fake of the ear, which must be shocked
by the recurrence of ſo harſh a found, he is willing to read
foul; foul is accordingly read. And fuch is the method
taken to preſerve the authors genuine text. Alas! poor
Shakspeare.
VOLUME
80
KING JOHN.
VOLUME THE FIFTH.
KING JOHN.
P. 5.
K. John. Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report, I will be there;
The thunder of my cannon fhall be heard.
.
"This fimile," dr. Johnſon obferves, " does not fuit
well the lightning indeed," adds he, appears before the
thunder is heard, but the lightning is deftructive, and the
thunder innocent." The allufion may, notwithſtanding,
be very proper fo far as Shakspeare has applyed it, i. e.
merely to the ſwiftness of the lightening, and its preceding
and foretelling the thunder. But there is fome reafon to
believe that thunder was not thought to be innocent in our
authors time, as we, elſewhere, learn from hisfelf. Thus
in King Lear :
You fulphurous and thought executing fires
Vaunt couriers to oak-rending thunder-bolts.
Again, in Anthony and Cleopatra :
Some innocents ſcape not the thunderbolt.
Again, in Julius Cæfar :
I have walk'd about the streets,
And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you fee,
Have bar'd my bofom to the thunder-flone.
And ſtill more decifively in Meaſure for Meaſure:
Merciful heaven! ·
Thou rather with thy fharp and fulphurous bolt
Split'ſt the unwedgeable and gnarled-oak,
Than the foft myrtle.
This
KING JOHN.
81
This old fuperftition is ftill prevalent in many parts of
the country.
P. 30.
K. John. Bedlam, have done.
Surely this ſhould be Beldam, a word frequently uſed in
this play.
P. 56.
Conft. Thou wear a lions hide! doff it for ſhame,
And hang a calfs fkin on thy recreant limbs.
It does not appear that Conftance hereby means to call
Auftria fool, as fir John Hawkins would have it; but ſhe
certainly means to call him coward, and to tell him that a
calfs ſkin would fuit his recreant limbs better than a lions.
They ſtill fay of a dastardly perſon that he is a calf-hearted
fellow, and a runaway ſchool-boy is ufually called a great
calf.
p. 64.
Pand. For that, which thou haft fworn to do amifs,
Is't not amifs when it is truly done?
And being not done, where doing tends to il',
The truth is then moft done not doing it.
For this nonfenfe the reader is indebted to dr. Johnfons
emendation; the old copies have it thus:
Is not amifs when it is truly done.
Which dr. Warburton calls the conclufion de travers: he
therefor reads:
Is yet amifs.
Sir Thomas Hanmer:moft amifs.
M
But
82
KING JOHN.
But all theſe objections to, and propofed alterations of
the old reading, arife entirely from its not being under-
ftood. If the reader will confider the paffage a moment,
he will perceive that it has fenfe and meaning,-is quite in
the ſpirit of the cardinals quibbling logic,-and infinitely
fuperior to any of theſe pretended emendations. Pandulf,
having conjured the king to perform his firſt vow to hea-
ven, to be champion of the church,-tells him, that what
he has fince fworn is fworn against hisfelf, and therefor
may not be performed by him: for that, fays he, which
you have fworn to do amifs, is not amifs (i. e. becomes
right) when it is done truely (that is, as he explains it, not
done at all); and being not done, where it would be a fin
to do it, the truth is moſt done when you do it not.
So, in Loves Labour Loft:
It is religion to be thus forfworn.
There is no difficulty in this, but what the over buſy
critic chooſes to make.
"It is ftrange that, when the fenfe is fo clear, any
commentator ſhould thus laboriously obfcure it, to intro-
duce a new reading; and yet ftranger that he ſhould ſhew
fuch confidence in his emendation as to infert it in the
text. JOHNSON."
The learned critic feems to think hisfelf intitled to
an exclufive privilege of corrupting the authors lan-
guage (9).
Faulc.
(9) It is not with this writer alone that fuch injudicious freedoms have been
taken. Beaumont and Fletcher are equally indebted to the fenfe and judgement
of their friendly editors. One inftance, out of fome hundreds, may ferve as a
Epecimen. In the Faithful Shepherdefs, Perigot, defcribing a delightful bank,
(ays,
Here never durf the babbling cuckow spit;
Which
KING JOHN.
83
p. 70.
Faulo. Bell, book, and candle, ſhall not drive me back.
The curfe by bell, book, and candle, is the folemn
anathema pronounced by the prieſt at the time of Mafs,
the book being laid open before him, the candles lighted,
and the facring bell rung.
p. 80.
Pand. For he that ſteeps his fafety in true blood
Shall find but bloody fafety and untrue-
True blood, fays dr. Johnſon, is the blood of him that
has the just claim. But the expreffion feeins to mean no
more than innocent blood in general.
Lewis-John hath made.
P. 113.
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I, by the honour of my marriage bed,
After young Arthur, claim this land for mine.
In a preceding fcere, Pandu'ph tells Lewis, that, in
cafe of Arthurs d. ath, he,
in the right of lady Blanch his wife,
Might then make all the claim that Arthur did.'
Which laft word the ingenious critic who unfettled the text in the late edi
tion, to ſpit not being as he believed a property of the cuckow, very readyly
changed to fit. A variation, which, flight as it is, entirely deſtroys the
harmony of the paffage, and could onely have proceeded from a perfon
equally ignorant of the authors language, and inattentive to his ideas. The
whole defcription is confined to the purity of the turf, and its freedom from
every thing foul and venemous. And left the next editor of thefe poetical bro-
thers fhould know no more of his duty than his immediate predeceffor has
done, he is here told that, in the North of England, the white froth, frequently
obferved on bushes, plants, and graſs, is believed by the vulgar to have a
poiſonous or venemous quality, and is univerfally called the Cuckows SPIT.
M 2
This
84
JOHN
KING
This claim the dauphin now afferts, and it is poffible
that Shakspeare imagined him to have the right he pre-
tended. But the fact is, Arthur had left an infant fister
(Eleanor of Britain), who was then right heir to the
crown, and de jure queen of England; and who, to the
everlaſting disgrace of this country, languiſhed all her
days in obfcurity and confinement; and, even ſuppoſing
her out of the question, John, and his fon Henry, had
a better title than Blanch, who was onely that kings
fisters daughter; unless, indeed, he might be faid to
have forfeited all right, by his unnatural cruelty to his
nephew, whom he is believed to have murdered with
his own hands: yet ftill, even on that idea, would
young Henrys title remain unimpeached; for neither then,
nor in our authors time, was it understood, that the per-
fonal misconduct of the ancestor, could, in any cafe, bar
the fucceffion of the innocent iffue. A humane and righte-
ous principle, reſerved for the discovery and practice of a
more refined and liberal people, in a more enlightened and
politic age!
Sal.
New flight,
P. 120.
And happy newness, that intends old right.
"Happy innovation," quoth dr. Johnfon, "that pur-
poſed the reſtoration of the ancient rightful government."
What rightful government? Does the good old conſtitu-
tionaliſt ſuppoſe it to have been in John, a murderer, and
a villain, one who had not the leaft right to the poffeffion of
the crown, and whom it would have been praiſe-worthy in
any man or ſet of men to have put to death?
RICHARD
RICHARD THE SECON D.
85
RICHARD THE SECON D.
ச
P. 151.
Boling. Norfolk,-fo far as to mine enemy.――
Dr. Johnſon does not (he fays) clearly fee the fenſe of
this abrupt line. It is not, therefor, much to be wondered
that he has not given a meaning which he could not
find. The old copies reading-ſo fare (10), mr. Tollet
makes the ſpeaker wifh Norfolk to fare like his enemy.
A conſtruction than which nothing can be more irrational
and abfurd. Bolingbroke onely uſes the phrafe by way of
caution, left Mowbray fhould think he was about to ad-
drefs him as a friend: Norfolk, fays he, fo far as a man
may ſpeak to his enemy, I, &c.
P. 188.
Boling. Thanks gentle uncle.-Come, lords, away;
To fight with Glendower and his complices.
This laft line mr. Theobald thought an interpolation, and
therefor threw it out of his edition; and, in this, the edi-
tors have been weak enough to inclofe it in brackets.
Thefe proceedings are the more remarkable, as, fuppofing
it genuine, there does not appear any thing like a reafon
in mr. Theobalds note, for the charge he would make
againft Shakspeare, of forgetfulness and inattention to his-
tory (and a very ftrange charge it would be). For it is
evident, from the preceding ſcene, that there was a force in
(10) "All the old copies read: ſo fare. STEEVENS." A mistake: The fe-
cond folio reads-ſo farre.
Wales,
86
RICHARD THE SECOND.
Wales, which Bolingbroke might think it neceffary to
fupprefs; and why, dr. Johnſon, (for you think the emen-
dation juſt), might not Shakspeare call it Glendowers ?
When we next fee Bolingbroke, he is in Wales, and men-
tions his having received intelligence that the Welshmen
are difperfed.
p. 211.
Queen. Gardiner, for telling me thefe news of woe,
I would, the plants, thou graft'ft may never grow.
An execration, dr. Johnſon obferves, too ludicrous and
unfuitable to the queens condition; and it certainly ap-
pears fo. But, perhaps, (for Shakſpeares higheſt or loweſt
characters are never without a quibble) fhe means to wiſh
him chidllefs. It is to be remembered that the queen was
very young, dr. Johnſon will, therefor, the more readyly
pardon any puerilities of expreffion he may find her guilty
of.
P. 213.
Fitzw. -- my rapiers point.
Dr. Johnſon here takes an opportunity to cenfure Shak-
fpeare for deſerting the manners of the age in which his
drama is placed :—this weapon, he fays, not being ſeen in
England till two centuries aftewards. It would be as well,
however, though not quite ſo eafy, for the learned critic to
bring fome proof in fupport of this and fuch like affertions.
Without which the authority of Shakspeare is at leaſt equal
to that of dr. Johnfon. And, even if he could prove what he
afferts (which, however, it is believed he cannot), the poets
friends would ftill have an argument which would render
both his affertions and his proofs equally nugatory and ridi-
culous.
K. Rich.
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 87
P. 242.
K. Rich. My thoughts are minutes, and, with fighs they jar
Their watches to mine eyes
The firft folio, fays dr. Johnfon, agrees with the third
quarto, which reads:
My thoughts are minutes; and with fighes they jarre
There watches to mine eyes-
This is not true. The firft folio, which the learned
critic was too indolent to confult, reads
Their watches on onto mine eyes
Which he has already given as the reading of the quarto
of 1608.
P. 243.
K. Rich. Now, fir, the found, that tells what hour it is,
Are clamorous groans
Should we not read thus:
Now, fir, the founds that tell what hour it is,
Are clamorous groans?
FIRST PART
OF KING HENRY
THE FOURTH.
- P. 252.
K. Henry. No more the thirsty entrance of this foil
Shall daub her lips with ber own childrens blood.
Dr. Warburton calls thefe lines nonfenfe, and would
read trempe inſtead of daub, or, as it ftood then, damp.
Dr. Johnfon allows them to be abfurd, but objects to
trempe, and would change entrance to entrails, adding that
the relative ber is inaccurately uſed in both readings. He
is likewife willing to fuppofe a verfe loft, Mr. Steevens,
not
88 FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
not being fatisfyed with either alteration, propoſes entrants
inftead of entrance, and explains it by, "thofe who ſet
foot on this kingdom through the luft of power or con-
queft (which was the kings own cafe)." Never fure was
there fo much drumbleing, nor (except in this edition) were
there ever fo many wild and abfurd conjectures, as this
fimple paffage has given rife to. For fo fimple it cer-
tainly is, as that the little meaning it has may be eaſyly
discovered by the most ignorant; however doctors may
differ about it. The thirfly entrance of the foil is nothing
more or leſs than the face of the earth, parched and cracked
as it always appears in a dry fummer; and mr. Steevens
came nearer the mark than he was aware of when he men-
tioned the porous furface of the ground. As to its being
perfonifyed, it is, certainly, no fuch unuſual practice with
Shakspeare. Every one talks familarly of mother Earth;
and they who live upon her face may, without much im-
propriety, be called her children. Our author onely confines
the image to his own country.
The allufion is to the
Barons wars.
p. 261.
P. Henry. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle.
There is a very old and popular tradition that old lad of
the castle alludes to the name of Sir John Oldcastle, Fal-
ftaffs original furname, when this play was firſt performed.
This mr. Steevens will by no means allow. But it is no
matter; there is as much reafon, argument, and authority,
as can be well expected on one fide of the question, and his
bare opinion on the other. Fuiler, befide the woros cited
in the note, has, in his Worthies, p. 253, the following
paffage :
5
<< Sir
1
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 8g
"Sir John Oldcastle was firft made a thrafonical puff, an
emblem of mock valour, a make ſport in all plays for a
coward."
Speed, likewife, in his Chronicle, edit. 2. p. 178,
Lays:
"The author of the Three Converfions [i. e. Parfons,
the Jefuit] hath made Oldcastle a ruffian, a robber, and a
rebel, and his authority, taken from the ftage-players, is
more befitting the pen of his flanderous report, than the
credit of the judicious, being only grounded from the papift
and the poet, of like conſcience for lies, the one ever feign-
ing, and the other ever falfifying the truth." (11)
It is fomewhat extraordinary for mr. Steevens to affert
that Shakspeare was not the author of the old play of
Hen. V. in which Oldcastle appears to have been first intro-
duced upon the ſtage. No body ever ſaid or thought he was.
But the very ingenious critic knows, and allows, that this
fame play afforded Shakspeare feveral hints; among which
were the n me and character of Sir John Oldcastle, whom
he, afterwards, upon better advice, called Sir John Falſtaff.
P. 284.
Hot. But, foft, I pray you; did king Richard then
Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer
Heir to the crown?
North. He did; myfelf did hear it.
It was not, fays mr. Steevens, Edmund Earl of March,
the Mortimer of this play, whom K. Richard II. pro-
claimed heir to the crown; but his father Roger earl of
March, who was killed foon after in Ireland.
The learned commentator would have done well to
confult the history before he ventured to be ſo deci-
(11) Both thefe quotations are immediately taken from an old number of
the Gentlemans Magazine.
N
five.
go FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
five. Let us fee when Northumberland heard this procla-
mation. Why,
then it was when the unhappy king,
Set forth upon his Iriſh expedition.
That Roger Mortimer could not be then proclaimed heir
to the crown is evident, from this plain and fimple circum-
ftance-He was not then alive. He had been treache-
rously killed by the wild Irish; and it was chiefly to
revenge his death that the king fet out on this very expe-
dition. This proves it could not be Roger; and that it was
Edmund, is proved by Hall, who exprefsly fays, that HE,
("Edmond, fonne to erle Roger") "at kyng Richardes
goyng into Ireland was proclaimed heire apparant to the
crowne and realme."
P. 292.
1 Car. An't be not four by the day, I'll be hang'd: Charles'
wain is over the new chimney.
Charleses wain is the vulgar name given to the conftella-
tion called the Bear. But why Charleses wain? What
Charles? It is, in fact, a mere corruption of the Chorles, or
Churls wain (Sax. ceonl, a countryman). For this very in-
genious and judicious etymology the writer is indebted to a
earned friend.
P. 293.
2 Car. Your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.
Loach, fays dr. Warburton, is a loch (Scotch) a lake.
Mr. Steevens half-doubts the propriety of this explanation,
and ſuppoſes the expreffion may mean fleas reſembling a loach
(i. e. the fiſh ſo called). They muſt have been elephantine
lops, indeed, to do this, the loach being two or three
inches
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 91
inches in length. Befides, this conftruction neceffaryly re-
quires the paſſage to have been :-fleas like loaches. The
alluſion is doubtless to the above fish; and mir. Steevens, in
the courſe of his extenſive reſearches, may one day find that
it either has, or was formerly ſuppoſed to have, when dead,
the quality of producing fleas in abundance. Dr. Warbur-
tons explanation, if it may be fo miscalled, is almoft too ab-
furd to deferve contradiction. The Scotch or Irish word loch,
a lake, is a hard guttural found, which we have ſoftened
into laugh: c. g. lough. (vulgariter lop)-leeches, the phyfi-
cians or phlebotomiſts of the lake.
p. 300.
Gads. Give me thy hand: thou fhalt have a fare in our
purchaſe.
Purchaſe;-perquifitio, acquifition: Thus, in Hen. V.
They will ſteal any thing, and call it purchaſe.
Gads. Stand.
P. 303.
Enter Gadshill.
Fal. So I do, against my will.
Poins. O, 'tis our Setter, I know his voice.
Bard. What news.
Gads. Cafe ye, cafe ye; &c.
In all the copies, fays dr. Johnſon, that I have ſeen, Poins
is made to ſpeak on the entrance of Gadshill thus:
O, 'tis our fetter; I know his voice.—Bardolph, what news?
This he pronounces to be abfurd; and therefor alters
the paſſage as above; with very little reaſon, and againſt
all authority. The modern editors, noticing an omiſſion,
make Bardolph to enter with Gadshill. The learned critic
calls this a countenancing of the impropriety, and, therefor,
Ne
does
a
92 FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
does not bring Bardolph on at all. There is no abſurdity
in the paffage, except that of which the learned commen-
tator is guilty. Falſtaffs calling out for Bardolph is no
proof that he was within hearing. The latters entrance.
ſhould be marked, and the old reading reſtored,
P. 304.
Fal. Hang ye, gor-bellied knaves; are ye undone? No, ye
fat chuffs.
Mr. Steevens is under a ſmall mistake in fuppofing this
word a corruption of choughs. The name of the Corniſh
bird is pronounced, by the natives, chow. Chuff is the fame
word with cuff, both fignifying a clown, and being, in all
probability derived from a Saxon word of the latter found.
So Cotton, Virgil tavestie:
The wealthieſt carles thereabouts,
Rich cuffs and very ſturdy louts.
P. 321.
Fal. You rogue, there's lime in this fack.
Sack, the favourite beverage of Sir John Falſtaff, was,
according to the information of a very old gentleman, a
liquor compounded of Sherry, Syder, and Sugar. Some-
times it fhould frem to have been brewed with eggs,
i.
e. mulled. And that the vintners played tricks with it,
appears from Falftaff's charge in the text, &c. It does not
feem to be, at prefent, known; the fweet wine fo called
being, apparently, of a quite different nature.
P. 333.
Fal. He of Wales that fwore the devil his true lięgeman upon
the crofs of a Welsh book.
Mr. Steevens feems to be right in fuppofing a Welſh
hook to be a weapon of the fame kind with our old Eng-
lifh
1
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 93
lifh bill, or the Lochaber axe (with which, by the way,
mr. Steevens might have obſerved, colonel Gardiner was
killed (12)). The reprefen:ation, therefor, of the old ſword
from Speed could have been ſpared. It is more like the
feaxe or faulchion of our Saxon ancestors than any inftru-
ment of Henry the Fourths time. The fhepherds hook, in
the fong, is no warlike implement, but merely a crook he
uſed to catch his fheep withall,
p. 336.
P. Henry. Do thou ſtand
for my father.
Fal. Shall I content:
this chair fhall be my ſtate, this dag-
ger my fceptre, and this cufhion my crown.
P. Henry. Thy ftate is taken for a joint-stool, thy gollen fceptre for
a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich crown, for a pitiful bald crown.
This, fays dr. Farmer, is an apostrophe of the prince to
his abfent father; not an anſwer to Falſtaff.
The learned critics interpretation cannot be right. It
is certainly nothing more than a ludicrous deſcription of
Falstaffs mock regalia.
P: 339.
Fal. If the fruit may be known by the tree, as the tree by
the fruit, then there is virtue in that Falstaff.
Mr. Steevens is afraid that here is a profane alluſion to
the 33d verfe of the 12th chapter of St. Matthew. Alas!
(12) This gentlemans conduct at the battle of Preston-Pans, does not ſeem
to have proceeded fo much from the generous bravery of a noble and heroic
mind, as from a fpirit of religious enthufiafm, and a bigoted reliance on the
Fresbyterian doctrine of Predestination, which made it a matter of total indif-
ference to him whether he left the field, or remained in it. The Highlander
who flew him was, not many years ago, faid to be living in the town of
Perth.
and
94 FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH,
and if the allufion were intentional, where is its profune-
neſs ?
P. 343.
Fal. Thou art effentially mad, without feeming fo.
P. Henry. And thou a natural coward, without inſtinct,
Fal. I deny your major; if you will deny the Sheriff, fo; if not
let him enter: &c.
Falſtaff here intends a quibble, which the editors, indus-
trious enough, it muſt be confefsed, in pointing out fuch
like things (13), have fuffered to efcape their notice. Major,
which sheriff brought to his mind, fignifies as well one of
the parts of a logical propofition, as the principal officer of
a corporation, now called a Mayor.
P. 352.
Glend. For I was train'd up in the Engliſh court;
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp
Many an Engliſh ditty, lovely well,
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament ;
A virtue that was never ſeen in you.
The tongue, i. e. fays dr. Johnſon, the Engliſh language.
He is wrong. Glendower means that he graced his own
tongue with the art of finging.
(13) Dr. Johnſon has unfortunately been too much fo: what imagination but
his own would have discovered ſuch a pun as either of the following?
K. Henry. Indeed the French may lay twenty French crowns to one, they
will beat us; for they bear them on their fhoulders.
"This conceit, rather too low for a king, has been already explained as
alluding to the venereal diseafe."
And many fuch like as's of great charge.
"i.e. affes heavily loaded. A quibble is intended between as the conditional
particle, and as the beaſt of burthen.”
But, to be fure, the learned critic hath, as Falſtaff ſays, a ftrange alacrity in
fisking.
Glend.
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 95
P. 355. .
Glend, She's defperate here; a peevish felf-will'd harlotry.
Capulet, in Romeo and Juliet, ſpeaking of his daughter
has the fame expreffion :
A peevish felf-will'd harlotry it is.
p. 363.
K. Henry. The fkipping king he ambled up and down,
With fhallow jeſters, and raſh bavin wits,
Soon kindled, and foon burnt; carded his ftate;
Mingled his royalty with carping fools.
The metaphor carded his ftate is fuppofed, by mr. Stee-
vens (from a hint of mr. Tollet), and by dr. Farmer, to be
taken from mingling coarſe wool with fine, and carding
them together. But this explanation is by much too far
fetched; and the learned critics may be juſtly ſaid to have
fent their wits a wool-gathering in fearch of it. By card-
ing his fate, the ufurper means that his predeceffor fet his
confequence to hazard, played it away (as a man lofes his
fortune) at cards.
p. 366.
K. Hen. The archbishops grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,
Capitulate against us and are up.
Rather
i. e. fays mr. Steevens, make head againft us.
combine, confederate, indent. To capitulate is To draw up
any thing in heads or articles. Johnfons Dictionary.
Theſe things, 'tis true, you have articulated.
P. 396.
Hot. He came but to be duke of Lancaster,
To fue his livery, and beg his peace.
5
To
46 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
To fue his livery, mr. Steevens fays, is a law phraſe,
meaning to fue out the poffeffion of his lands from the
Court of Wards.
The Court of Wards did not exift till the 32d year of
king Henry the Eighth; before which time Wardſhips were
ufually granted, as court-favours, to thoſe who made fuit
for, and had intereft enough to obtain them.
p. 403.
Wor. And being fed by us, you uf'd us fo,
As that ungentle gull, the cuckows bird,
Ufeth the Sparrow.
That is, as dr. Johnfon very learnedly obferves, the
cuckows chicken, who, fays he, being hatched and fed by the
fparrow [r. the hedge fparrow], in whofe neft the cuckows
egg was laid, grows in time able to devour his nurſe.
Such, indeed, is the old popular fuperftition. But the
curious reader will find the honour and reputation of the
cuckow and her faid chicken (fo elegantly perfonifyed by
the learned commentator) ably defended by the ingenious
mr. Daines Barrington, in his late uſeful and entertaining
Mifcellany.
SECOND PART OF KING HENRY THE
FOURTH.
P. 417.
K. Hen. Stay and breathe awhile:-
Thou haft redeem'd thy loft opinion.
Should we not read-my loft opinion?
Morte
SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 97
P. 452.
Mort. And more, and lefs, do flock to follow him.
More and lefs, mr. Steevens fays, means greater and leſs.
Not in this place. It is, fimply, large and ſmall num-
bers.
P. 458.
Fal. You bunt-counter, hence! avaunt!
Hunt-counter, fays dr. Johnfon, that is, blunderer. Ra-
ther, you baſe tyke, you worthless dog. There can be no rea-
fon why Falſtaff fhould call the fervant a blunderer, but he
feems very anxious to prove him a rascal. Mr. Steevens s
quotations would have been more germane to the matter
if they had exhibited hunt-counter as a ſubſtantive. For it
is not impoffible that, after all, the word may be found to
fignify a catchpole or bumbailif. He was, probably, the
judge's tipſtaff.
P. 459.
Fal. Very well, my lord, very well.
In the quarto edition, printed in 1600, this fpeech, mr.
Theobald informs us, ftands thus:
Old. Very well, my lord, very well.
Mr. Steevens ftill remains unconvinced, and adds that Old.
MIGHT have been the beginning of fome actors name. An ob-
jection which would have ferved equally well, if the name of
Oldcastle had, in that edition, ftood at length, inſtead of
Falstaff, throughout the whole play. The learned critics
heterodoxical obduracy increaſes in proportion to the blaze
of goſpel evidence on the other fide, which muft enforce
conviction upon every mind not predetermined to think
otherwife,
O
Poins.
98 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
Poins.
P. 481.
the worst that they can fay of me is, that I am
a fecond brother, and that I am a proper fellow of my hands; and
theſe two things, I confefs, I cannot help.
A tall or proper fellow of his hands, fays dr. Johnfon,
was a tout fighting man.
Poins
In this place, however, a proper fellow of his hands,
means a good looking, well made, perſonable man.
might certainly have helped his being a fighting fellow.
P. 511.
Fal. [On fecing the prince and Poins disguised as waiters.]
Ha a baftard fon of the king's? and art not thou Poins, bis
brother?
His brother! whoſe brother? the kings, or his bastard
fons? Aftoniſhing, that the editors did not perceive the
abfurdity of printing, or, at leaft, pointing the paſſage
thus:
And art not thou Poins his brother (i. e. Poinses brother
or brother to Poins)? a vulgar corruption of the genitive
cafe!
P. 520.
K. Hen. We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.
Dr. Johnſon is very fond of giving the reader continual
information, that the play proceeds in one unbroken tenor
through the firſt edition;-that there is, therefor, no evi-
dence that the divifion of the acts was made by the au-
thour; and that, fince, every editor has the fame right to
mark the intervals of action as the players who made the
prefent distribution, he would propoſe, to change them ſo
and fo.
When
SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 99
:
When a divifion has been made by mr. Rowe any
of his fucceffors, an editor has certainly a good rigut, to
change it, if he can, for the better. But there is little
room to doubt that the paufes of action marked in the firſt
folio have been intended, or, at leaft, approved by the au-
thor. The player editors divided the different dramas juft
as they were broken in the reprefentation. And, moſt, if not
all, of Shakſpeares plays having been performed at his own
theatre, and under his own eye, it is very improbable that
hé fhould not have given directions about the divifion of
the acts. If there had been no distinction of acts in the
playhouſe copies, meffieurs Hemings and Condell would
never have troubled their heads about the matter. No edi-
tor has therefor any right to alter that divifion which is
eſtabliſhed by the two firft folios: unlefs in two or three
places where the misplacing of the actus is too glaringly
abfurd to admit a doubt of its impropriety.
Shal.
P. 521.
Will Squele a Cotswold man.
i. e. fays mr. Steevens, one verfed in the gymnastic ex-
erciſes, and confequently of a daring ſpirit, and an athletic
conftitution. I fuppofe, continues he, the following paf-
fage contains an allufion of the fame kind:
By my faith ye are wont to be as bold
As yt were a lyon of Cottyfold.
Again:
You old ftale ruffin, you lyon of Cotfel.
It is rather unlucky that the ingenious commentator did
not comprehend the force of this expreffion. A hon of Cots-
wold is a fheep.
P. 523.
Shal. The fame fir John.....I faw him break Skogans head at
the court gate.
02
Who
100 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
Who Scogan was, mr. Steevens fays, may be underflood
from a paffage in the Fortunate Ifles, a infque by Ben
Jonfon.
Scogan? what was he?
Oh, a fine gentleman, and a master of arts,
Of Henry the Fourths time that made disguifes
For the kings fons, and writ in ballad royal
Daintily well, &c.
And adds, that among the works of Chaucer is a poem.
called, "Scogan, unto the lordes and gentilmen of the
kings houſe."
But this is not the Scogan alluded to by Shallow. He
means the Scogan who was a jefter, mime, mimic, or
court-fool in Edward the Fourths reign. Mr. Steevens
knows Scogans Fels. That is the man. As to the point
of chronology, it is not worth confideration.
P. 530.
Fal. For you, Mouldy, Stay at home till you are paſt ſervice.
Dr. Farmer feems right in his conjecture that this paf-
fage fhould be read :
For you, Mouldy, you have flay'd at home 'till you are paſt
fervice.
The fame ingenious and learned critic (whom every lover
of hakspeare, literature, and truth must always regard with
the utmoft gratitude and refpect) obferves that there is fome.
mistake in the number of recruits: Shallow fays, that Fal-
ſtaff ſhould have four there, but he appears to get but three:
Wart, Shadow, and Feeble.-It is very true.-Falftaff, on
his entrance, afks the justices if they have provided him
half a dozen fufficient men. Shallow anfwers in the affirma-
tive. But onely five are produced. And, when Faif«ff
fays,
SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH. 101
fays, Is here all? Shallow tells him, there is two more called
than your number, you must have but four here. So that there
is certainly a man missing. Is this now irretrieveable lofs to
be charged upon Shakspeare, or the players?
Shal.
P. 581.
Yea, marry, William cook, bid him come hither.
It appears from this inftance, mr. Steevens thinks, that
anciently the lower orders of people had no furnames, but
in their ftead were content to adopt the tities of their ſeve-
ral profeffions. An inference and conclufion which may
with equal justice and propriety be made by fome critic,
commenting, a couple of centuries hence, upon the dramatic
pieces of the prefent period, on meeting with the titles of
Robin coachman, and John hofteler.
P. 588.
Ch. Juft. And firuck me in the very feat of judgment.
Sir John Hawkins fubjoins an account of the infult given
to the ſpeaker by prince Henry, from Sir Thomas Elyot.
But mr. Malone obferves that there is no mention in it of
the princes having ftruck him. " Speed, however," adds he,
"who quotes Elyot, fays, on I know not what authority,
that the prince gave the judge a blow on the face."
That this moft learned gentleman may, for the future,
know on what authority Speed made the affertion, he has an
opportunity to perufe the following extract.
"For imprisonmente of one of his [prince Henrys]
wanton mates and vnthriftie plaifaiers he trake the chiefe
Justice with his fifte on the face. For which offence he was
not onely committed to ftreyght prifon, but alſo of his fa-
ther put out of the preuy counfaill and banished the courte."
Hall,
102 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE FOURTH.
Hall, Hen. IV. It is more than probable that Hollinshed
has the fame ftory; and the commentator might have like-
wife found it,-where Shakspeare did,-in the old anony-
mous play.
P. 597.
Sil. [Singing.] Do me right, and dub me knight;
Samingo.-Is't not ſo ?
He means, according to Hanmer, to ſay San Domingo.
An obſervation highly applauded by the reverend mr.
Thomas Warton, who is, to be fure, from his extraordi-
nary ſkill in the tongues, perfectly well qualifyed to judge
of its propriety. But the truth is, that the Spaniards,
though they uſe San Pedro, San Juan, &c; never either
write or fay San Tomas, or San Domingo. Mr. Steevens has
very happyly quoted an old catch, ending:
do me right,
And dub me knight,
Domingo.
Which is the identical fcrap that Silence is finging; he
therefor certainly means to fay Domingo; but, being fap
(as Bardolph hath it), conclufions pafs the careires.
MU
VOLUME
K. HENRY THE FIFT H. 103
VOLUME THE SIXTH.
Cant.
KING HENRY THE FIFTH.
P. 18.
the lady Lingare
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the fon
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the fon
Of Charles the great.
But Charlemain and Charles the Great were one and the
fame perfon. Charlechauve was indeed the fon of Lewis the
emperor but who the lady Lingare was hath not been
discovered. Shakspeare, however, gives the information
juft as he found it in Hall and Hollinshed.
Ibid.
Cant.
alſo king Lewis the ninth
Who was fole heir to the ufurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his confcience,
Wearing the crown of France, till fatisfy'd
That fair queen Iſabel, his grandmother
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare
Daughter to Charles the forefaid duke of Lorain.
The worth ninth has been inſerted by fome of the mo-
dern editors. The old copies read tenth. No notice is, how-
ever, taken of any variation in the margin of the preſent
edition. And yet, ninth is certainly wrong, and tenth cer-
tainly right. Ifabel was the wife of Philip the Second,
father of Lewis the Ninth, and grandfather of Lewis the
Tenth.
K.Hen.
104
K. HENRY THE FIFTH.
P. 20.
K. Hen. May I, with right and confcience, make this claim?
Cant. The fin upon my head, dread fovereign!
Notwithſtanding the learned prelate is fo confident in his
opinion, and fo zealous to engage the king in a war with
France, and to caufe fuch a deluge of Christian blood, it
will not be improper for the readers of this play to reflect,
that he had no more right to the throne of that kingdom,
than Charles VI. had to the crown of England. Henry
propoſes the invafion and conqueft of France in profecu-
cution of the dying advice of the ufurping Machiavel his
father:
to buſy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels; that action, thence borne out,
Might waste the memory of the former days.
That his fubjects might have fufficient employment to
mislead their attention from the nakedneſs of his own title.
The archbishop and clergy, it appears, had a fimilar rea-
fon for urging it.
P. 29.
K. Hen. We never valu'd this poor feat of England ;
And, therefore, living hence, did give ourſelf
To barbarous licence; as 'tis ever common;
That men are merrieſt when they are from home.
But tell the Dauphin,-I will keep my ſtate;
Be like a king, and flew my fail of greatnefs,
When I do roufe me in my throne of France.
It is evident that the word hence implies here: Sir Tho-
mas Hanmer was, however, to blame for making it fo. No
one who reads Shakspeare, or, indeed, any other old writer,
can be ignorant in what ftrangely lax and arbitrary fenfes
many
K. HENRY THE FIFTH.
105
many other words are ufed. The king fays, that as he had
lived from home (i. e. his throne of France), in a place he did
not eſteem, he had been careleſs to obſerve the dignity and
behaviour of a great king.
Dr. Warburton explains it to be, living as if he were ab-
fent from England; mr. Steevens, with-drawing from court.
P. 35.
Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph.
It would be fome fatisfaction to learn how Bardolph ac-
quired his commiffion; he was no more than Falſtaffs cor-
poral when we laft parted with him and in act II. ſcene ii.
Nym addreſses him by the fame title; which, mr. Steevens
there fays, is a mistake for lieutenant. That gentleman,
therefor, is, perhaps, able to give the defired information.
Nym.
P. 36.
when time fhall ferve, there fhall be fmiles.
Dr. Warburton fufpects finiles to have been a ſtage di-
rection. Mr. Steevens explains it thus he ſhould be
merry even though he were to lofe Pistols friendſhip; or,
that his face would be ready with a ſmile as often as occa-
fion fhould call one out into fervice, though Pistol, who
had excited fo many, was no longer near him. It is not
always an eafy matter to discover the humour of Nyms ex-
preffions, but, from the tenour of his discourfe, one would
think he meant, that, when opportunity came, he would
take a pleaſant revenge; that he would, when he caught
Pistol fleeping, cut his throat, and ſmile.
P. 38.
Bard. Good lieutenant, good corporal, offer nothing here.
P
Mr.
106
K. HENRY THE FIFTH.
A
Mr. Steevens obferves, we fhould read-Good ancient,
for it is Pistol to whom he addrefses himſelf. It is very
true; and what is Pistol? Falftaff, whom one may fup-
poſe to have been at leaſt as well acquainted with his rank
as the ingenious commenator can be, has already ad-
dreſsed him by the fame title:
"Fear no colours; go with me to dinner. Come, lieutenant
Pistol; come, Bardolph."
And, in act III. of the prefent play, Fluellen calls him
-an ancient lieutenant.
Ibid.
Pift. Pifh for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of
Iceland!
The old reading was Island; and Island feems to be right.
It is the proper name of the country. The difficulty aroſe
from the commentators not underſtanding the right pro-
nunciation. And it may be here obferved, in paſsing, that
the common Engliſh word fhould be always written iland;
thes being not only expletive and uſeleſs, but unnatural
and abfurd. The fame obfervation will apply to the word
viscount, unleſs it ſhould be thought better to write and
pronounce it vicecount.
Quick.
green fields.
P. 53.
his noſe was as fharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of
Here is a number of profound annotations on this paf-
fage, of which the ufe is not very apparent. That note of
Theobalds, which, dr. Johnſon affects to ſay, he onits in
pity to his readers, is not onely a better but a more intereft-
ing one than any in the page; and was peculiarly necef-
fary, as it eſtabliſhed the adopted reading. A mnr. Smith
feems to write with a good deal of confidence; why do not
WC
K. HENRY THE FIFT H. 107
we meet him oftener? or, rather, why have we met him
at all?
p. 58,
Pift. Let houſewif'ry appear; keep clofe, I thee command.
Mr. Steevens (whofe note on this paffage it would not be
proper to tranſcribe) has elſewhere obferved, that, on fome
occafions, filence is lefs reprehenfible than information;
and it would, perhaps, have been as well, if he had ftill
continued of the fame opinion, and omitted to acquaint
us with the indecent reading of the old quartos, and ſpared
his equally indecent quotations and comments; more eſpe-
cially as every reader, ignorant of this precious piece of in-
formation, would take the text, to imply (as it does) no
more than a charge to keep within doors: and, further,
as it doth not appear, on looking into Philotus, that the word
adduced by the learned commentator, either has, or can,
by the utmoſt ſtretch of ingenuity, be made to bear, in
that play, any fuch meaning as he here ſeems ſo defirous of
forcing upon it.
p. 64.
Exe. He'll call you to fo hot an anſwer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your treſpaſs.
"Shall hide your trefpafs,-] Mr. Pope rightly corre&ed
it, Shall chide- WARBURTON.”
"I doubt whether it be rightly corrected. The mean-
ing is that the authors of this infult fhall fly to caves for
refuge. JOHNSON."
"Mr. Pope reſtored chide from the quarto. I have
therefore inferted it in the the text.....STEEVENS.”
P 2
All
108 K. HENRY THE FIFTH.
All theſe gentlemen have boafted of their fidelity and
care in collating the old editions. The two firft cannot at
preſent be ſpoke with. But one may, furely, venture to
afk dr. Johnſon and mr. Steevens, what the folios read?
Flu.
P. 70.
Up to the preaches, you rascals! will you not up to
the preaches ?
Pift. Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould!
Great duke! what duke? Fluellen? Indeed his grace
is infinitely obliged to the generofity of our editorial
Brentford Sovereigns, for the honour they have been ſo
graciously pleafed to confer upon him. A Welſh captain
created a duke! Good! It is not fit, however, that Shak-
ſpeares dignities fhould be thus proftituted at the mere motion
and Special grace of every ufurper. Perhaps the next Phys or
Uh that obtrudes hisfelf upon the dramatic throne may
take it into his head to create ancient Pistol a viscount. But
the peerage of Shakspeare muſt not be fo degraded. We fhall,
therefor, forthwith inftitute an enquiry into the dispofal
of the above dukɛdom.
Up to the preaches, &c.] Thus, fays mr. Steevens, the 4to.
The folio, adds he, reads up to the breach you dogges, avaunt
you cullions. But neither does this variation lefsen the ab-
furdity of Pistols calling Fluellen a duke.
The quarto reads Fluellens fpeeeh as in the text, and Nym
anfwers him thus:
Abate thy rage, Sweet knight, abate thy rage.
No mention is made of any duke.
The fact is, that, in the folio, it is the duke of Exeter,
and not Fluellen, who enters, and to whom Pistol addreſses
Bigfelf. Shakspeare had made the alteration, and the
player
3
K. HENRY THE FIFT H. 109
player editors inſerted it in the text, but, inadvertently, left
Fluellen in poffeffion of the margin. This was an incon-
gruity which might, one would think, have been eaſyly per-
ceived and quickly remedyed, but the prefent editors, by
taking Fluellens fpeech from the quarto, and Pistols from
the folio, have increaſed the confufion and abfurdity
of the text a thouſand fold; and thus it has come to paſs
that the former is created a duke.
Flu.
If fuch like kings be fit to govern, ſpeak.
p. 85.
Fortune is painted plind, &c.
This picture of Fortune, dr. Farmer tells us, is taken
from the old history of Fortunatus. But is dr. Farmer quite
certain that this history had made its appearance in an Eng-
liſh dreſs ſo early as Shakspeares time? Surely Fortune is
painted plind in many other books, much more ancient, and
equally common.
p. 87.
Pit. Die and be damn'd: and figo for thy friendship!-The
fig of Spain !
An allufion, mr. Steevens obferves, to the custom of
giving poifon'd figs to thofe who were the objects of Spa-
niſh or Italian revenge. But the expreffion both here and
afterwards is evidently uſed by Pistol as a term of contempt;
and cannot have any relation either to poiſoning or to re-
venge. Whether to the fico, indeed, explained in the
Merry Wives of Windſor, may be doubtful.
p. 103.
Cho. The poor condemned Engliſh
Sit patiently, and inly ruminate
The morning danger; and their gesture fad
Prefented them unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghoſts.
We muſt certainly read Preſenteth.
110
K. HENRY THE FIFTH.
Will.
P. 110.
Some, crying for a furgeon, &c. fome, upon their
bildren rawly left.
That is, fays dr. Johnſon, without preparation, haftily
fuddenly. He is wrong. Rawly left is, left young and
helpless.
P. 116.
K. Henry. O God of battles! ſteel my foldiers hearts!
Poffefs them not with fear; take from them now
The fenfe of reckoning, if the oppofed numbers.
Pluck their hearts from them!
The old copies read:
take from them now
The ſenſe of reck'ning of th' oppoſed numbers;
Pluck their hearts from them!
The poet, fays Theobald, might intend, "take from
them the ſenſe of reckoning thoſe oppofed numbers; which
might pluck their courage from them." But the relative,
adds he, not being exprefsed, the fenfe is very obfcure.
This change, according to dr. Johnſon, is rightly ad-
mitted by biſhop Warburton. Sir Thomas Hanmer, it
feems, reads:
the oppoſed numbers
Which ſtand before them.
This reading, dr. Johnfon fays, he borrowed from the
old quarto, which gives the paffage thus:
Take from them now the ſenſe of reckoning,
That the oppofed multitudes that ſtand before them
May not appall their courage.
Mr. Tyrwhitt allows that Theobalds alteration makes a
very good fenfe; but he thinks that we might read, with
lefs
K. HENRY THE FIFTH. ii
leſs deviation from the old edition, what is adopted in the
preſent text.
After all, the old reading appears to be right; though
none of the commentators has attempted to explain it. The
king prays that his men may be unable to reckon the
enemys force; that their hearts (i. e. their fenfe and paſ-
fions) may be taken from them: that they may be as brave
as a total abfence of all feeling and reflection can make them
(14). An explanation which feems to be countenanced
by the old 4to.
A learned friend inclines to think that, by-their bearts,
the king means the hearts of the oppofed numbers.
K. Hen.
P. 117.
More will I do ;
Though all that I can do, is nothing worth;
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon.
This reading is certainly right, though not properly ex-
plained by dr. Johnfon. It is fimply thus:-All that I can
do is of no avail; fince, when I have done every thing I
can, I muſt ſtill rely on my own penitence for obtaining
the pardon of my fathers misdeeds. The firft part of dr.
Warburtons note is fingularly juft. It is, indeed, a
mockery of Heaven in Henry to expect pardon for a crime
of which he continued to enjoy the benefit. And, certainly,
if ever the divine judgement ought to have interfered, or
did actually interfere in vifiting the fins of the fathers
upon the children, it was in this very cafe of the houſe of
Lancaster.
(14) Junius.
1
Pift.
112
K. HENRY THE FIFT H.
Pift. Yield, cur.
P. 129.
Fr. Sol. Je penfe, que vous eftes le gentilhomme de bonne qualité.
Pift. Quality, call you me? Conftrue me, art thou a gentle-
man ?
The old and evidently true reading is, quality, (calmie)
calmly, (cufture) conftrue me. The alteration was, it
ſeems, propofed by mr. Edwards; and has been too haftyly
adopted. For if it be not nonfenfe, it is very little better.
Pistol, who does not underſtand French, imagines the pri-
foner to be ſpeaking of his own quality. The line fhould,
therefor, have been given thus:
Quality!-calmly; conftrue me, art thou a gentleman ?
Boy.
&'c.
P. 133.
neantmoins, pour les efcus que vous l'avez promettez,
It is ftrange enough that the editors fhould print this
nonfenfe for French. The firft folio reads, layt a promets.
But the fecond gives it correctly,―lui promettez.
P. 145.
Flu. Stand away captain Gower; I will give treafon his pay-
ment into plows, I warrant you.
The Revifal, very plaufibly, according to dr. Johnſon,
reads, in two plows. Mr. Steevens would rather prefer, in
due plows. But what need of alteration? The Scotish, both
in fpeaking and in writing, frequently ufe into for in.
However, if it fhould ftill be thought neceffary to amend
the text, the readyeft way would be to omit a fyllable, and
read-in plows.
P. 146.
K. Henry. Give me thy glove, foldier; look, here is the fellow
of it.
4
It
!
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 113
It must be, fays dr. Johnſon, give me my glove; for of
the foldiers glove the king had not the fellow. The paffage
is, notwithſtanding, like moſt of thoſe the doctor objects to,
perfectly right. Give me thy glove, foidier, i. e. that
which thou haft in thy cap; and of that the king had cer-
tainly the fellow.
K. Henry.
P. 161.
fuch a plain king.
"I know not," fays dr. Johnſon, "why Shakspeare now
gives the king nearly fuch a character as he made him for-
merly ridicule in Percy." It would be much lefs difficult.
for the reader to remove the caufe of the learned commen-
tators ignorance, than it would be for him to point out the
paffage in which Percy is ridiculed.
FISRT PART
OF KING HENRY
THE
SIXTH.
p. 210.
Bur. Myfelf
Am fure, I fear'd the dauphin, and his trull.
Mr. Steevens believes that trull did not anciently bear fo
harsh an interpretation as it does at prefent. An opinion for
which the learned commentator does not feem to have fuf-
ficient authority. In Shakspeares time, and long before,
it fignifyed a ſtrumpet, a harlot, as it evidently does in the
text. Neither will the fingle inftance brought by mr.
a
Steevens
114 FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
Steevens prove the contrary. In the ancient morality of
The iiij elements, a fellow fays:
For to fatisfy your wanton luft
I fhall apoynt you a trull of trust,
Nor a fairer in this towne.
Again, in the old maygame of Robin Hode:
She is a trul of trust, to ferve a fryer at his luft.
It is to be regretted that Shakſpeare fhould have fo far fol-
lowed the abfurd and lying ftories of his time, about this
celebrated heroine, whom the French called the maid of
God, as to repreſent her not onely a ftrumpet, but a witch.
If we may believe the moſt authentic historians fhe was no
lefs diftinguifhed for virtue than courage. She was burnt,
indeed, by the barbarous Engliſh, whom he had ſo fre-
quently driven before her, and who, to excufe their want
of courage or policy, and to justify their inhumanity, pre
tended that he had dealt with the devil! But her memory
will, no doubt, be long held in deſerved veneration by her
gra eful countrymen, whom the fo largely contributed to
refcue from ufurpation and flavery. And it is not the leaſt
praiſe of our elegant historian, mr. Hume, that he has en-
deavoured to do justice to the much injured character of
this amniable, brave, wife, and patriotic female.
The dauphin, too, whom we are apt to look upon
as a traitor, a coward, and a fcoundrel, was, perhaps,
the greateſt character of the age he lived in. He was one
of the best kings France ever had, and England never had
a better.
p. 218.
Plant. He bears him on the place's privilege.
-
"The Temple," dr. Johnſon obferves, "being a reli
gicus hou´e, was an afylum, a place of exemption, from
violence, revenge, and bloodЛhed."
The
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 115
The learned commentator deals more in words than in
knowlege. The Temple was then, as it is now, the re-
fidence of ftudents in the law. And it is not unlikely that
the orders of the fociety prohibited quarreling and blows
under certain penalties.
P. 220.
A room in the Tower. Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair, and
jailors.
Mr. Edwards, in his MS. notes, fays mr. Steevens, ob→
ferves, that Shakspeare has varyed from the truth of his-
tory, to introduce this fcene between Mortimer and Richard
Plantagenet. Edmund Mortimer ferved under Henry V.
in 1422, and dyed unconfined in Ireland in 1424.
The truth of this charge fhould have been eſtabliſhed
by fome better authority than the dictum of mr. Edwards,
adopted by mnr. Steevens. In the third year of Henry the fixth
(1425), and during the time that Peter duke of Coimbra was
entertained in London, "Edmonde Mortymer," fays Hall,
“the laſt erle of Marche of that name (which longe tyme
had bene reftrayned fro hys liberty, and fynally waxed
lame) difceaſed wythout yffue, whofe inheritance difcended
to lord Richard Plantagenet, &c."
This authority, even if the fact were otherwife, is fuf-
ficient to protect Shakspeare againſt the charge of having
varyed from the truth of history to introduce the fcene.
p. 243.
K. Hen. When I was young, (as yet I am not old)
I do remember how my father faid
A ftouter champion never handled fword
116 FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
His majesty muſt have had a fine fprag memory, as fir
Hugh Evans fays, fince he frequently, in the courſe of
the play, mentions his having been crowned at nine months
old.
}
P. 251.
War. My lord of York, I promiſe you, the king
Prettily methought, did play the orator.
York. And fo he did; but yet I like it not,
In that he wears the badge of Somerſet.
War. Tufh, that was but his fancy, blame him not ;
I dare prefume, fweet prince, he thought no harm.
York. And, if I wift he did-But let it reft;
Other affairs muſt now be managed.
[Exeunt.
Exe. Well didft thou, Richard, to fupprefs thy voice;
For had the paffions of thy heart burst out,
'I fear we ſhould have feen decypher'd there
More rancorous fpight, more furious raging broils,
Than yet can be imagin'd or ſuppoſ❜d.
Theobald, who thought that, by what he calls the point-
ing reform'd (i. e. corrupted), he had reſtored the text to its
purity, reads,—And if I wis, he did-Nay, if I know any
thing, he did think harm. Dr. Johnſon thought this plau-
fible enough, but wou'd rather have the fpeech (corrupted
further) broken thus:- And if I wish he did, or, per-
haps: And if he did, I wish. Such nonfenfe as no one but
dr. Joh. fon would have been confident enough to pro-
duce; and which not even dr. Johnfon could underſtand,
To mr. Steevens we are certainly indebted for a very
ufeful additional letter; the old copies, onely reading I
wis. But it is really aſtoniſhing that men of ſo much learn-
ing, fenfe, and fagacity, or they certainly have in many
places displayed a great deal of each, fhould fo grofsly
misconceive the meaning of fo plain and fimple a paſſage.
York fays, he is not pleafed that the king fhould prefer
the
FIRST PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 117
Warwick
the red rofe, the badge of Somerſet, his enemy;
defires him not to be offended at it, as he dares lay the
king meant no harm. To which York, yet unfatisfyed,
haftyly adds, in a menacing tone,-If I thought he did
-but he inftantly checks his threat with-let it reft. It
is an example of a rhetorical figure which every one knows,
and which our author has elſewhere uſed. Thus, in Cr
riolanus:
An 'twere to give again—But 'tis no matter.
Mr. Steevens is too familiar with Virgil not to recollect
-bis
Quos ego-Sed motos præftat componere fluctus.
If the paffage would not have explained itsfelf, one
ſhould think that Exeters foliloquy, immediately following
Yorks fpeech, might have ferved to do it.
It is but justice to ſay that the truely ingenious author of
the Revifal underſtood this paffage in the fame manner;
and the neglect he has received at the hands of the late
editors who have made little other ufe of his book than
nerely to pick out a few conjectures to savil at, does no
more credit to them, than it has done fervice to their
author,
P. 255.
York. And I am lowted by a traytor villain.
A lout is a country fellow, a clown. He means that So-
merſet treats him like a hind. Dr. Johnſon had better let
fuch words alone, as he does not underftand. Lowted, in
his dictionary, is overpowered.
SECOND
118 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
SECOND PART OF KING HENRY THE
SIXTH.
P. 318.
Spirit. The duke yet lives that Henry fhall depofe,
But him out live aud die a violent death.
The meaning of this perplexed and ænigmatical reply
feems to be: The duke is living who fhall depofe the
king; but the king fhall outlive him, and dye by vio-
lence. The plain conftruction is: the duke fhall depofe
Henry, but ſhall outlive him, and dye a violent death ;-
which was not the cafe.
Simp.
P. 326.
being call'd
A hundred times, and oftner, in my fleep,
By good Saint Alban; who ſaid,-Saunder come.
Inftead of Saunder the old copies have Simon: mr. Theo-
bald made the change, as Saunder, elſewhere, appears to
be the impostors Christian name. Correction is certainly
neceffary: but it would feem better to read Simpcox; for
which Sim has, in all probability, been put by contraction
in the players MS.
P. 331.
give me leave,
York.
In this cloſe walk, to fatisfy myfelf,
In craving your opinion of my title,
Which is infallible, to Englands crown.
" I know
SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 119
"I know not well," fays dr. Johnfon, "whether he
means the opinion or the title is infallible." Does the
learned commentator, whofe knowlege and want of know-
lege feem equally ferviceable to Shakspeare, imagine that
any other perſon could have conceived fuch a doubt, or
would have written fuch a note ?
P. 332.
Sal. This Edmund, in the reign of Bolingbroke,
As I have read, laid claim unto the crown;
And, but for Owen Glendower, had been king,
Who kept him in captivity, till he dy’d.
This is very extraordinary. In act II. fcene v. of the
laft play, York, to whom this is fpoken, is prefent at the
death of Edmund Mortimer in priſon; and the reader will
recollect him to have been marryed to Owen Glendowers
daughter in the First part of king Henry IV. Is it poffible
that the authors memory fhould have fo much deceived
him that he could not remember in one play what he had
already written in another ?
2. Mar.
P. 335.
two pulls at once,
His lady baniſh'd, and a limb lopp'd off.
This ſtaff of honour raught:-There let it ſtand.
The word raught feems to have fome other meaning in
this place, than reached; e. g. reft, or violently torn from
him. The point at the end of the fecond line ſhould be a
The limb lopp'd off certainly alludes to the lofs
of his office. The full ftop fhould be after raught.
comma.
P. 348.
Suff. My lord, theſe faults are caly, quickly anſwer'd,
Eaſy₂
120 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
}
Eafy, dr. Johnfon fays, is flight, inconfiderable, as in
other paſſages of this author. It would have been well to
have produced one or two of thofe other paffages; but that,
perhaps, might have been difficult. The word, no doubt,
means eafyly.
Saf.
P. 353.
that is good deceit,
Which mates him first, that firſt intends deceit.
Mates him, fays bifhop Percy, means that firſt puts
an end to his moving. To mate, adds he, is a term in
chefs, ufed when the king is ftopped from moving, and an
end put to the game. The learned prelate follows Dog-
berrys advice, and lets his writing and reading appear when
there is no need of fuch vanity. Mates him, in the text,
means-confounds him; from amatir or mater, French. To
mate is no termir chefs; with which one would have fup-
pofed the ingenious annotator more intimate. Check-mate,
the term he alludes to, is a corruption of the Perfian Schah
mat; the king is killed. There can be no better evidence
that Shakspeare was entirely unacquainted with the game
of chefs than his not having (at leaſt to the writers remem-
brance) the most distant allufion to it. As he does not
appear to have read a fingle book, or known a fingle art or
feience, or, indeed, any thing elfe, from which he did not,
fome how or other, contrive to introduce into his plays all
the information, images, or ideas they had fupplyed him
with. Chefs would have been an inexhauftible fund: and
Lings and warriors would have been check-mated in every
play.
P. 359.
K. Henry. I thank thee: Well, theſe words content me much.
The old copics read:
I thank thee, Nill, thefe words content me much.
This,
SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 121
This, fays mr. Theobald, is king Henrys reply to his
wife Margaret. There can be no reafon, adds he, why
the king fhould forget his own wifes name, and call her
Nell inſtead of Margaret. As the change of a fingle letter,
he thought, fet all right, he was willing to fuppoſe it came
from his pen thus:
I thank thee. Well, thefe words content me much.
And this the editors have adopted without further en-
quiry. That the queens name was Margaret and not
Eleanor is an allowed fact. But that the king fhould for-
get it is not at all furpriſing, as, in the progrefs of the
ſcene, we find, that the forgets it herself, calling herfelf
Eleanor no less than three times in one fpeech. Of this,
however, it should feem that mr. Theobald has not takeń
any notice at leaft none is taken of it in this edition,
which every where reads Margaret. The change in the
three inftances alluded to was certainly requifite: and the
fame neceffity and the fame reaſoning which displaced
Eleanor and inſerted Margaret, muft, in the paſſage under
confideration, displace Nell and inſert Meg.
p: 376.
Suf. Obfcute and lowly fwain, king Henry's blood.
The quarto, mr. Steevens obferves, reads loufy fwain.
From which we are, doubtleſs, to infer that the preſent
edition agrees with the folio. But, unfortunately for the
inference, the folio does not differ from the quarto.
p. 382.
Suff. Than Bargulus, the ftrong Illyrian pirate:
$
Mr. Tollet is accurate in his reference to Cotgrave; but
Cotgrave is mistaken. The name of the giant alluded to
R
was
122 SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
was Fierabras. Cotgrave had fomewhere found ce fierabras,
which he ſuppoſed to have been three words, ce fier Abras.
Don Quixotes miraculous elixir was the balfam of Fie-
rabras.
P. 392.
Cade. The Lent fhall be as long again as it is, &..
Lent fhall be as long as it is] Methinks, fays dr. John-
fon, it might be read more humorously, Lent ſhall be as
long again as it is.
"This emendation, thus imprefsed with all the power
of his eloquence, dr. Johnfon' found in the" old quarto and
two firft folios, all which he profeſses to have feen" (15).
P. 412.
Cade. Iden farewell; and be proud of thy victory: tell Kent from
me, ſhe hath loft her beſt man, and exhort all the world to be
cowards; for I that never fear'd any, am vanquiſh'd by famine,
not by valour.
Iden. How much thou wrong'st me, heaven be my judge.
That is, fays dr. Johnſon, in ſuppoſing that I am proud
of my victory. Certainly not; becaufe Cade does not tell
him he is proud of his victory, but onely bids him be fo.
He wrongs him in attributing his own death to famine,
and not to Idens valour.
(15) This is far from being a fingular inftance of the learned critics pro-
ducing the reading of the old copies as his own conjectures. So in Henry
act V. fcene ii.
like a married wife about her husbands neck,] Every wife
is a married wife. I fuppofe we fhould read new-married; an epithet more ex-
preffive of fondnefs. JOHNSON."
The folio reads a new-married wife. STEEVENS."
Fields
SECOND PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 123.
P. 413.
Fields near Saint Albans.] But why Saint Albans? Hall,
who, it may be fuppofed, knew as much about the matter
as the editors, and Hollinshed after him, exprefsly fays,
that the duke of York was encamped on "brēt-heath a
mile from Dertford [in Kent] and .x. miles from Londō;"
and that the kings army lay upon Blackheath. And there
is no reaſon to believe that Shakſpeare meant, in this in-
ſtance, at leaſt, to deviate from the history; though he has
certainly fo, either by inadvertency or defign, in making
Buckingham the neffenger: he was, indeed, fent to York,
on a different occaſion (i. e. immediately before the battle
of Saint Albans); but the bishops of Winchester and Ely
were the ambailadors on this,
P. 418,
1ork. Call hither to the ſtake my two brave bears;
Bid Salisbury and Warwick come to me.
"The Nevils, earls of Warwick," fays fir John Haw-
kins, "had a bear and a ragged ſtaff for their cognizance, but
the Talbots who were formerly earls of Shrewsbury, had a
lion; and the prefent earl of Talbot, a defcendant of that
family, has the fame."
All this, fir John Hawkins, may be very true, but will
you just give us leave to afk-what it is to the purpoſe ?
R 2
1
THIRD
124 THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
THIRD PART OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH
P. 432.
Fork. Lord Clifford, and lord Stafford all abreaft,
Charg'd our main battles front, and, breaking in,
Were by the words of common foldiers flain.
It is the more extraordinary that York ſhould be made
to fay this, as in the laft fcene but one of the immediately
preceding play, he kills Clifford upon the ftage, with his
own hand.
P. 437.
K. Henry. Richard, in the view of many lords,
Refign'd the crown to Henry the Fourth.
York. He rofe againſt him, being his fovereign,
And made him to refign the crown perforce.
War. Suppofe, my lords, he did it unconſtrain'd.
Think you, 'twere prejudicial to the crown?
Exc. No, for he could not fo refign the crown,
But that the next heir fhould fucceed and reign.
Dr. Johnfon thought we ſhould rather read prejudicial ta
his fon, to his next heir: which is ftrangely abfurd. Mr.
Steevens fays prejudicial to the crown means to the prerogativa
of the crown; an expoſition in which he is certainly right,
if, by prerogative of the crown, he mean, its indefeasible here-
ditary defcent. The reader will recollect that this was a
Revolution parliament, though diametrically oppofite in its
principles and practice to one Shakspeare never heard of;
which, unhappyly for this country! contributed as much
to deſtroy the conftittuion, as that he here defcribes did to
preſerve it.
Gab.
THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 125
P. 445.
Gab. The queen, with all the northern earls and lords,
Intend here to befiege you in your castle.
This intelligence is given to York juft after he has de-
termined, from the arguments of his fons Edward and
Richard, to break his oath of peace to the king, and obtain
immediate poffeffion of the crown by force.
"I know not," fays dr. Johnfon, "whether the au-
thor intended any moral inftruction, but he that reads this
has a ſtriking admonition againſt that precipitancy by which
men often uſe unlawful means to do that which a little de-
lay would put honeftly in their power. Had York ſtaid
but a few moments, he had faved his caufe from the ſtain
of perjury."
It will be no more than justice to York if we recollect
that this fcene, fo far as refpects the oath, and his refolu-
tion to break it, proceeds entirely from the authors imagi-
nation. Neither the earl of March nor Richard was then
at Sandal: the latter being likewife a mere child, fcarcely
more than (if, indeed, fo much as) nine years old. His
appearance, therefor, and actions in this and the laſt acts
of the prefent, and, at leaft, the two firft of the following
play, are totally unfupported by history and truth.
P. 446.
Enter Rutland, and his tutor.] "A prieſt called fir Res
bert Afpall." Hall, Hen. VI. fo. 99.
P. 448.
Rut. I never did thee harm, why wilt thou flay me ?
Ṛut.
Clif. Thy father hath.
Rut. But 'twas ere I was born, --
1
Rutland
26 THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. ·
Rutland is under a mistake. The battle of St. Albans,
in which old Clifford was flain, happened in 1455; that
of Wakefield in 1460. He appears to have been at this
time above feventeen years old.
P. 453•
York. Oh, tygres heart, wrapp'd in a womans hide.
This is a remarkable inftance of the editors diffidence.
The word appears in the fame fhape in the old editions;
and the prefent editors, not knowing whether it was in-
tended for tygers or tygress's, durft not venture to change it,
and have therefor left it as they found it. We ſhould,
however, certainly read tygrefs.'
Edw.
War.
P. 462.
when came George from Burgundy to England ?
he was lately fent
From your kind aunt, duchess of Burgundy,
With aid of foldiers to this needful war.
This circumftance is not warranted by history. Clarence
and Gloucester (as they were afterwards created) were fent
into Flanders immediately after the battle of Wakefield,
and did not return untill their brother Edward got poffef-
fion of the crown. Befides, Clarence was not now more
than twelve years old.
Ifabel dutchess of Burgundy, whom Shakspeare calls
the dukes aunt, was daughter of John I. king of Portugal,
by Philippa of Lancaster, eldeſt daughter of John of Gaunt,
They were, therefor, no more than third coufins.
p. 469. 470.
Rich. Whoever got thee there thy mother ſtands.
Rich. Iron of Naples, hid with Engliſh gilt.
The
THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 127
The firſt of theſe ſpeeches is, in the folios, by an evident
blunder, given to Warwick. The latter, which is there
given to Richard, feems more properly to belong to War-
wick.
P. 473.
A field of battle, at Ferrybridge in Yorkshire.] We ſhould
read near Towton, Shakspeare has here, perhaps inten-
tionally, thrown three different actions into ore. The lord
Fitz-water, being ftationed by king Edward to defend the
paſs of Ferrybridge, was affaulted by the lord Clifford,
and immediately flain," and with hym," fays Hall," the
bastard of Salisbury, brother to the earl of Warwycke, a
valeaunt yong gen:elman, and of great audicitie. When
the earl of Warwycke," adds he, "was informed of this
feate, he lyke a man deſperated, mounted on his hackeney,
and came blowing to kyng Edwarde faiyng: fyr praye
God haue mercy of their foules, which in the beginning
of your enterpriſe hath loft their lyfes, and becauſe I fe no
fuccors of the world I remit the vengeaunce and puni-
ment to God our creator and redemier, and with that lighted
doune, and flewe his horfe with his fwourde, faiyng: let
them flye that wyl, for furely I wil tary with him that
wil tary with ine, and kifsed the croffe of his fwourde."
Clifford in his retreat was befet with a party of Yorkiſts,
when, "eyther," fays the historian, "for heat or payne
putting off his gorget fodainly with an arrowe (as ſome
fay) without an hedde [he] was ftriken into the throte, and
incontinent rendered his fpirite, and the erle of Weſtmerlandes
brother, and almoft all his company were thare flayn, at a
place called Dinting-dale, not farr fro Towton." In the
afternoon of the next day (Palm Sunday eve, 1461), on a plain
held between Towton and Saxton, joined the main battles,
which
7
128 THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
which continued engaged that night and the greater part of
the following day: upwards of 30,000 men, all Engliſh
(including many of the nobility and the flower of the gentry,
efpecially of the northern parts) being flain, on both fides.
This battle, fays Carte, " decided the fate of the houſe
of Lancaster, overturning, in one day, an ufurpation
ftrengthened by fixty-two years continuance: and efta-
bliſhed Edward on the throne of England."
P. 489.
A wood in Lancashire.] Why Lancashire? The king
fays,
From Scotland am I ftol'n, even of pure love,
To greet mine own land with my wishful fight.
Which proves that he can neither have been long out of
the former country, nor have got far into the latte. In-
deed, that this was the fact appears from Hall, who tells
US: "He was no fooner entered, but he was knowen and
taken of one Cantlow, and brought towarde the kyng.
A future editor will, therefor, do well to read Northhum-
berland.
p. 499.
Glo. And yet, between my fouls defire and me.
(The luftful Edwards title buried)
Is Clarence, Henry, and his fon young Edward,
And all th' unlook'd for iſſue of their bodies;
To take their rooms ere I can place myſelf.
Gloucester ſeems onely to enumerate the branches of the
houfe of Lancaster from his natural defire to have a ſpe-
cious pretence for the murders he intended to commit:
Henry and his fon and their unlook'd for iffue could no more
THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH. 129
(of right) place theirſelves between Clarence and him than
between Edward and Clarence.
P. 504.
This noble-
Enter Warwick (at the French court).]
mans embaffy and commiffion, the infult he receives by
the kings hafty marriage, and his confequent refolu-
tion to avenge it, with the capture, imprifonment, and
eſcape of the king, Shakſpeare, it is true, found in Hall
and Hollinshed; but later, as well as eariyer writers, of
better authority, incline us to discredit the whole; and
to refer the rupture between the king and his political
creator to cauſes which have not reached posterity, or to
that jealoufy and ingratitude fo natural, perhaps, to thofe
who are under obligations too great to be discharged.
Beneficia, fays Tacitus, eo usque læta funt, dum videntur
exfolvi poffe; ubi multum antevenere, pro gratiâ quium red-
ditur.
P. 541.
Som. Somerfet, Somerfet, for Lancaster. !
Glo. Two of thy name, both dukes of Somerset,
Have fold their lives unto the houſe of York ;
And thou shalt be the third, if this ſword hold.
The firft of thefe noblemen was Edmund, flain at the
battle of St. Albans, 1455 (Part I. act v. fcene ii.) The
fecond was Henry his fon, beheaded after the battle of Hex-
hain, 1463. The prefent duke, Edmund, brother to Henry,
was taken priſoner at Tewksbury, 1471, and there beheaded,
(infra, fcene v.) his brother John lofing his life in-the
fame fight.
S
A lift
130 THIRD PART OF K. HENRY THE SIXTH.
A list of the feveral battles fought between the houſes of
York and Lancaster may, poffibly, be thought no incu-
rious addition to the notes on this play.
1. The battle of St. Albans, between Richard duke of York
and K. Henry; in which the latter was defeated and made pri-
foner: 23d May 1455.
3.
The battle of Blore-heath (in Shropshire), between
Richard earl of Salisbury (for York) and James lord Audley (for
Lancaster); in which the latter was defeated and flain: 234
Septem. 1459.
3. The battle of Northhampton, between the earls of March
and Warwick and king Henry; in which the king was again
defeated and made prifoner: 10th July 1460.
4. The battle of Wakefield, between Richard duke of York
and queen Margaret; in which the former was defeated and
flain: 30th Decem. 1460.
5. The battle of Mortimers crofs, between Edward duke of
York and Jasper earl of Pembroke; in which the latter was de-
feated: . . . . 1460.
6. The (fecond) battle of St. Albans, between queen Mar-
garet and the earl of Warwick; in which the latter was de-
feated: (Shrove-Tuesday) 17th Feb. 1460.
7. The action of Ferrybridge, between the lord Clifford (for
Lancaster) and the lord Fitzwater (for York); in which the
latter was furpriſed and killed, Clifford and almoſt all his party
being flain in their retreat: 28th March 1461.
8. The battle of Towton, between king Edward and king
Henry; in which the latter was defeated, and 36,000 were flain :
(Palm-Sunday eve) 29th March 1461.
9. The
K. RICHARD THE THIRD. 131
9. The battle of Hedgeley-Moor (in Northhumberland), be-
tween the lord Montacute (for York) and the lords Hunger-
ford and Roos, fir Ralph Percy and others (for Lancaster); in
which the Lancastrians were defeated, and Percy flain: 25th.
April 1463.
}
10. The battle of Hexham, between the lord Montacute and
king Henry; in which the latter was defeated: 15th May
1463.
11. The battle of Hedgecote (Banbury or Cotswold), between
the earl of Pembroke (for king Edward) and the lords Fitz-
hugh and Latimer and fir John Conyers (for the earl of
Warwick, on the part of Lancaster); in which the former
was defeated: 29th July 1469.
13. The battle of Stamford (Lofecoatfield), between fir Ro-
bert Wells (for Warwick) and king Edward; in which the
former was defeated: ... 1469.
14. The battle of Barnet, between king Edward and the earl
of Warwick; in which the latter was defeated and flain:
(Eafter-Sunday) 14th April 1471.
15. The battle of Tewksbury, between king Edward and
queen Margaret; in which the latter was defeated and made
prifoner 3d May 1471.
7
VOLUME THE SEVENT H.
KING RICHARD THE THIRD
p. 30.
Queen. So juft is God, to right the innocent.
"6
Q. Mar. So just is God, &c.] This line fhould be
given to Edward IVth's queen. WARBURTON."
S 2
It
$32
K. RICHARD THE THIR D.
It is given to her in both folios. Where was the occa-
fion for a Lote?
P. 33.
2. Mar. Why ftrew'ſt thou ſugar on that bottled ſpider.
“A ſpider,” ſays dr. Johnfon," is called bottled, be-
cauſe, like other infects, he has a middle flender, and a
belly protuberant.”
A moft rational and fatisfactory explanation, very
little worſe than none at all. A bottled ſpider is the large
bloated ſpider with a deep black ſhining ſkin, generally
efteemed the inoft venemous.
P. 34.
2. Mar. And turns the fun to fhade;-alas! alas! .
Witneſs my fun, now in the fhade of death;
Whoſe bright out-fhining beams thy cloudy wrath
Hath in eternal darkneſs folded up.
The folios read:
Witneſs my Sonne
Her distress cannot prevent her quibbling.
It may be here remarked that the introduction of Mar-
garet in this place is againſt all historical evidence. She
was ranfomed and fent to France ſoon after Tewksbury
fight, and there pafsed the remainder of her wretched
life.
p. 61.
2 Cit. Hear you the news abroad?
I Cit. Yes, that the king is dead.
2
Cit. Il news by'r lady; ſeldom comes a better.
This is noted by Ray as a proverbial faying.
Arch.
K. RICHARD THE THIRD. 133
p. 63.
Arch. Laft night, I heard, they lay at Northampton;
At Stony-Stratford they do reit to-night.
Thus the prefent editors. The folio reads:
Laſt night I heard they lay at Stony-Stratford,
And at Northampton they do reſt to-night.
Much to the metrical advantage, one would think, of the
firſt line. But the gentlemen who took upon them to make
the transpofition (of which they have not, by the way, been
pleaſed to give the flighteft intimation) juft knew that
Stony-Stratford was a ftage nearer London than North-
hampton; and that was all. Had they condefcended.
to confult the history, they would have found that
the prince and his company did, in their way to London,
actually lye at Stony-Stratford one night, and were the next
morning taken back, by the duke of Gloucester, to North-
hampton, where they lay the following night. See Hall."
Ed. V. fo. 6.
P. 64.
Queen. A parlous boy:-Go to, you are too fhrewd.
Dutch. Good madam, be not angry with the child.
The queen
Parleus, mr. Steevens fays, is fhrewd. It is a corruption
of perilous, dangerous; the fenfe it has here.
evidently means to chide him. het perhap:
Leerten! I is still uns
in the worthe for
ya haorstuary or semantotie &
Dut. Who hath committed them?
Mef. The mighty dukes, Gloster and Buckingham.
Queen, For what offence?
The the Wittion is doubly with th
L
from the proper puse if in was
an to pression of acmuuration
and not
134 K. RICHARD THE THIRD.
Mef. The fum of all I can, I have disclos'd;
Why, or for what, the nobles were committed,
Is all unknown to me, my gracious lady.
"For what offence?] The question is given to the arch-
biſhop in former copies, but the meffenger plainly fpeaks
to the queen or dutchefs. JOHNSON."
The learned critic has therefor made the change. And
thus are the words and meaning of Shakspeare altered,
corrupted, and injured, through the indolence and prefump-
tion of his editors and commentators. The old editions not
onely give the question to the archbishop, but make it
plain that the meffenger fpeaks to no other perſon. They
read:
J
Is all unknown to me, my gracious lord.
p. 94.
Glo. Touch'd you the bastardy of Edwards children?
Buck. I did; with his contract with lady Lucy.
The king had been familiar with this lady before his mar-
riage, to obſtruct which his mother alledged a precontract
between them; "whervpon," fays the historian, "dame
Elizabeth Lucye was fente for and albeit fhe was by the
kyng hys nother and many other put in good comfort to
affirme yt fhe was affured to the kynge, yet when ſhe was
folempny fworne to fay ye truth fhe confefsed fhe was
neuer enſured. Howbeit fhe fayd, his grace ſpake ſuche
louing wordes to her, that the verely hoped that he would
have maried her, and that yf fuch kynde woordes had not
bene, fhe woulde neuer haue fhewed fuch kindneffe to
him, to lette hym fo kyndely gette her wyth chylde." Hall.
Ed. V. fo. 19.
Enter
K. RICHARD THE THIRD. 135
P. 97.
Enter Gloster above, between two Biſhops.] It ſhould ſeem,
mr. Steevens fays, from a former paffage that theſe two cler-
gymen, here called bifhops, were Dr. Shaw, and Friar
Penker.
Gloucester tells Buckingham:
you fhall find me well accompanied,
With re-vercud fathers, and well learned bishops,
And Catesby has juſt informed him, that the duke is
within, with two right reverend fathers:
i. e. the two bishops between whom he appears above,
Dr. Shaw and friar Penker were the reverend fathers.
P. 115.
K. Rich. The fon of Clarence have I pen'd up cloſe.
In Sheriffhutton caftle: where he remained till the com-
ing of Henry VII. who, immediately after the battle of
Bosworth, fent him to the Tower, and, fome few years
after, moft treacherously and barbarously put him to
death; being, from a total want of education and com-
merce with mankind, fo ignorant that he could not, ac-
cording to Hall, discern a goofe from a capon. With
this unfortunate young nobleman ended the male line of
the illustrious houfe of Plantagenet.
his daughter meanly have I match'd in marriage.
To fir Richard Pole knight. This lady, at feventy years
of age, without any legal procefs, and for no crime but
her relation to the crown, was beheaded in the Tower by
that fanguinary tyrant Henry VIII. Her fon lord Mon-
tague had been put to death a few years before, in the fame
manner, and for the fame crime, And the famous cardinal
Pole,
136 K. RICHARD THE THIRD.
Pole, another of her children, onely eſcaped the fate of
his mother and brother by keeping out of the butchers
reach.
p. 132.
Queen. Heaven's wrong is most of all.
If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by him.
" Thus ali the old copies.
}
with Heaven.
The modern ones read?
I have reftored the old reading, becauſe him (the ob-
lique cafe of he) was anciently uſed for it, in a neutral
fenfe. STEEVENS."
The reſtoration was certainly juft, though it is very
doubtfel that the reafon here given in fupport of it is ſʊ.
The truth is that Shakspeare makes Heaven a perſon.
p. 136,
K. Rich. What heir of York is there alive, but we?
What heir of York; i. e. What fon of Richard duke of
York?
p. 149.
Richm. O Thou! whofe captain I account myfelf, &c.
They who read Halls account of this adventurer will be
apt to attribute the fervency of his prayers rather to
cowardice than to piety.
K. Rich.
P. 161.
a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Britțaine at our brother's coſt?
which mr. Theo-
The old reading is our mothers cof,
bald would alter to-his mothers cof. Dr. Farmer fays,
that Hollinshed, whom Shakspeare clofely followed, has-
66
" brought
K. RICHARD THE THIRD.
137
ડ
* brought up by my mothers means and mine." That Hollinshed
copies verbatim from Hall, but by an error of the preſs,
gives moother inſtead of brother as it is in Hall, and ought
to be in Shakspeare. The learned commentatofs ingenuity
is unquestionable, though it has involved him in fome little
inconfistency. For, if mother, which Shakspeare certainly
wrote, fhould be changed to brother, becauſe he was misled
by the blunder of Hollinsheds printer, why is the word
præclariffimus to be justifyed by the identical principle on
which mother is condemned? (Hen. V. volume v. p. 169.)
P. 168.
*
Rich. O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true fucceeders of each royal houſe,
By God's fair ordinance conjoin together!
Shakspeare is not fingular in fuppofing Henry to be the
true repreſentative of the line of Lancaster. The tyrannous
and bloody dispofition of this monarch, and his immediate
fucceffor (neither of whom was at all inferior in cruelty,
and the firſt of them far fuperior in craft and cunning to
the monſter he dethroned), joined to the goodness of their
title under the houſe of York, made it unſafe, and perhaps
unneceffary to canvas his defcent. So that fear, flattery,
neglect, and ignorance, feem to have eſtabliſhed the opi
nion which moft of our historians, and people in general
hold of Richmonds being what he here pretends to be.
But he is an impostor: his great grandfather, John duke
of Somerſet, from whom he derived the little title he had,
was bastard fon to John of Gaunt, and, though legitimated
by act of parliament as to other purpoſes, utterly incapable
of inheriting the crown. The right heir of the houſe of
Lancaster, which, indeed, as oppoſed to the line of York,
had not the fmalleft legal pretenfions to the throne, was
T
then
138
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
then, and ftill is, in the royal family of Portugal, in virtue
of its deſcent from the lady Philippa, eldest daughter
to John of Gaunt,
KING HENRY THE EIGHT H.
P. 186.
Buck.
his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,
Muſt fetch in him he papers.
"Council not then fitting. JOHNSON."
"All mention of the board of council being left out of
his letters. STEEVENS."
Neither, neither. Without adviſing with or conſulting
the council: not fuffering them to have any concern in the
bufyneſs.
P. 212.
Anne. You are a merry gamefter,.
My lord Sands.
Sands. Yes, if I make my play.
That is, fays mr. Steevens, if I make my party.--Rather,
if I may choose my game.
P. 231.
Old L. Our content
Is our beſt having.
"That is, our beft poffeffion......In Spaniſh, hazi-
enda. JOHNSON."
People
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
139
1
People generally introduce fcraps of a foreign language to
fhew their knowlege: the learned commentator brings
this merely to display his want of it. For, let the word
hazienda fignify what it may, what has it to do here?
Indeed, "the profefsed critic, in order to furniſh his quota
to the bookfeller, may write notes of nothing, that is notes
which either explane things which do not want explanation,
or fuch as do not explane matters at a 1, but merely fill up
fo much paper:" a canon, of which dr. Johnfon has availed
hisfelf pretty much in the manner of his predeceffor
dr. Warburton, who fagaciously obferves, that friends of
my foul is a Spanish phraſe: Amigo de mi alma. Query,
which of theſe two professed critics has displayed the moſt
learning and acuteness?
Queen.
p. 240.
I do believe,
Induc'd by potent circumftances, that
You are mine enemy; and make my challenge,
You fhall not be my judge.
One would think it impoffible to find a fentiment ex-
pressed with greater accuracy. But hear dr. Johnfon :
"Challenge is here a verbum juris, a law term. The
criminal, when he refufes a juryman, fays, I challenge
him. I think there is a flight errour which deftroys the
connection, and would read:
Induc'd by potent circumftances, that
You are mine enemy, I make my challenge.
You fhall not be my judge."
Alas; how very eafy it is for a great fcholar to convert
a fine expreffion into downright nonſenſe !
T ?
Grif.
3
140
CORIOLANUS.
P. 287.
Grif. Noble madam,
Mens evil manners live in brafs; their virtues
We write in water.
Sir John Harrington, in his translation of Ariosto, has a
fimilar fentiment:
Men fay it, and we fee it come to paſs,
Good turns in fand, fhrewd turns are writ in braſs.
The Latin proverb, he fays, is, Scribit in marmore læfus.
CORIOLANUS.
P. 352.
Mar. All the contagion of the fouth light on you,
You fhames of Rome, you! Herds of boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er.
Herds of boils and plagues, to ſay the beft of it, is a very
ftrange fort of expreffion. The old editions read:
You fhames of Rome: you heard of byles and plagues.
Which, thus regulated, is certainly right:
You ſhames of Rome! you herd of Boils and plagues
Plaister you o'er.
'P. 374.
за
Men. A letter for me? It gives me an eſtate of ſeven years
health; .... the moſt fovereign preſcription in Galen is but em
piric, and, to this prefervative, of no better effect than a horfe-
drench.
The old copy, mr. Steevens tells us, reads-is but em-
pirickqutique-of which, he fays, the reader muſt make
what he can.
I
This,
{
CORIOLANUS.
X4t
This, to be fure, is one way for an editor to get rid of
difficulties-by transferring them to his readers. The pre-
fent inftance, however, fortunately happens to be none.
The moſt fovereign prefcription in Galen, fays Menenius,
is, to this news, but empiricutic-an adjective evidently
formed by the author from empiric (empirique, F.) a
quack.
Com. Ever right.
P: 378.
Cor. Menenius, ever, ever.
Mr. Tyrwhitt would rather read :
Com. Ever right, Menenius.
Cor. Ever, ever.
But will not the change of a fingle point have a more
patural and ſpirited effect ?
Com. Ever right.
Cor. Menenius? ever, ever.
Bru.
P. 379.
The kitchen malkin pins
Her richeſt lockram 'bout her reechy neck.
«
❝ A maukin or malkin," fays one P. " is a kind of mop
made of clouts for the uſe of ſweeping ovens: thence a
frightful figure of clouts dressed up: thence a dirty
wench."
Malkin is properly the diminutive of Mal, (Mary); as
Wilkin, Tomkin, &c. In Scotland, pronounced Maukin, it
fignifies a hare. Grey malkin (corruptly, Grimalkin) is a
çat. The kitchen malkin is juft the fame as the kitchen
'
Madge or Befs: the fcullion. Master P. has exhibited her
pedigree reverſed, and mistaken the effect for the cauſe.
Cor.
542
JULIUS CÆSAR.
P. 395.
Cor. You know the caufe, firs, of my ſtanding here.
2 Cit. -- tell us what hath brought you to't.
Cor. Mine own defert.
2 Cit. Your own defert?
Cor. Ay, not mine own defire.
"The old copy-but mine own defire. If but be the
true reading, it muft fignify, as in the North-without.
STEEVENS."
But is onely the reading of the firft folio: Not is the
true reading.
Men.
P. 479.
I have been blown out of your gates with fighs;
and conjure thee to pardon Rome, and thy petitionary country.
men.
Your cannot be right. If the ſpeaker mean to call the
gates Coriolanuses, which would feem very abfurd, he ought
to fay thy gates. It must be either our or their.
VOLUME THE EIGHT H.
JULIUS CÆSAR.
P. 5.
Flav. What trade, thou knave ?
Cob. Nay, I beseech you, fir, be not out with me: yet if you
be out, fir, I can mend you.
Mar. What meaneft thou by that? Mend me, thou faucy
fellow ?
Mr.
JULIUS
143
CÆSAR.
Mr. Theobald thinks it plain that this laſt ſpeech muſt be
given to Flavius. But dr. Johnfon replaces Marullus, who,
he fays, might properly enough reply to a faucy fentence di-
rected to his colleague. The cobler tells Flavius that, if he
be out, he can mend him. Can any thing, therefor, be more
abfurd than for Marullus to abuſe the cobler for faying
what he had not faid; that he could mend HIM? And yet
does the critic pronounce his reply to be made properly
enough! The hint, however, in the latter part of the note
may incline one to give the firft fpeech to Marullus inſtead
of transferring the laſt to Flavius.
P. 6.
Mar. That Tyber trembled underneath his banks.
"The old copies read-her banks. As Tyber is always
repreſented by the figure of a man, the feminine gender is
improper. STEEVENS."
This may be true, but it is the duty of an editor to
give what his author actually wrote, and not what he
fhould have written.
P. 25.
Caf. And the complexion of the element,
It favours like the work we have in hand,
Moſt bloody, fiery, and most terrible.
The old editions read-Is Favors-of which fome preced-
ing editor made-Is fev'rous;—a much more ingenious and
probable emendation furely than that adopted in the text.
P. 46.
Cal. And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead.
I am afraid here is a profane allufion to the following
text of holy fcripture (Goſpel according to St. Matthew,
xxvii. 52.)
" And
144
1
JULIUS CÆSAR.
"And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the
faints which flept, arofe, and came out of the graves;
.... and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."
It is fomewhat remarkable that neither St. Luke nor St.
John fhould take the leaft notice of this prodigious event.
Even St. Mark, who onely copies or abridges St. Matthew,
feems to have been fearful of trufting, in this particular,
to his readers faith. COLLINS.
Caf.
p. 48.
Danger knows full well,
That Cæfar is more dangerous than he.
We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible.
The old copies read heare, which Theobald changed
into were. Upton, fays mr. Steevens, would read we are:
an emendation, which common fenfe, as well as gramma-
tical conftruction, requires us to adopt. The pointing,
likewiſe, demands a flight improvement.
We are two lions, litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible.
p. 82.
On a ſmall island near Mutina.] In whatever place the
triumvirs actually met, it is evident that Shakspeare in-
tended to place the fcene in Rome.
p. 90.
Caf. You wrong me every way, you wrong me, Brutus:
The ſpirit of Caffiuses expostulation would be, perhaps,
better preſerved, if we were to point it thus :
You wrong me; every way you wrong me, Brutus.
Brü
JULIUS CESAR.
145
Bru.
P. 95.
With this he fell diftract,
And, her attendants abfent, wallow'd fire.
Mr. Steevens, after obferving that this circumftance is
taken from Plutarch, and that it is alfo mentioned by Va-
lerius Maximus, fays: "It may not be amifs to remark,
that the death of Portia wants that foundation which has
hitherto intitled her to a place in poetry, as a pattern of
Roman fortitude. She is reported by Pliny, I think, to
have died in Rome of a lingering illness while Brutus
was abroad."
This, indeed, though a rather extraordinary, is a tole-
rably eaſy method of overturning the credit of historians,
and the exiſtence of an historical fact. But, furely, with all
the fubmiffion to the learned and ingenious commentator,
due authority of Plutarch and Valerius Maximus is fome-
what better than a vague idea of its being contradicted by
Pliny,
p. 103.
Octa. Upon the right hand I, keep thou the left.
The tenour of the converfation evidently requires us to
read-you.
p. 119.
"Of this tragedy," dr. Johnfon fays,
CC many parti-
cular paſſages deſerve regard . . . .. but I have never been
ftrongly agitated in perufing it, and think it fomewhat cold
and unaffecting, &c."
This is a ftrange charge. If nature have denyed to this
great critic the ordinary feelings of humanity, is he there-
for to accuſe the poet? Surely, dr. Johnſon is the onely
perfon living who would not be afhaned to declare hisfelf
infenfible
U
}
146
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
infenfible to the interefting and pathetic fcenes of this ad-
mirable drama. So far from Shakspeares adherence" to
the real ſtory and to Roman manners" having "impeded
the natural vigour of his genius," he ſeems to have riſen
with the grandeur and importance of his fubject; and, if
there be any one play in theſe volumes which affects the
heart more than the reft it may be ſafely averred to be this
of Julius Cæfar. And he who is not agitated in perufing
it" may defy the powers of poetry to move him.
66
The characters or dogmatical criticisms fubjoined by the
above learned philofopher at the end of each play are genc-
rally (as in the prefent inftance) as unjuft in theirfelves, as
injurious to the immortal author; and, in many cafes,
could onely proceed from one who either had not read the
drama reviewed, or, from fome natural defect, was infen-
fible of its beauty and merit.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA,
p. 130.
Char. Pr'ythee, how many boys and wenches muſt I have?
Sooth. If every of your wishes had a womb,
And foretel every wifh, a million.
7
That is, fays dr. Johnfon, if you had as many wombs as
jou will have wishes, and I fhould foretel all those wishes, I
The text, as dr. Warbur-
and this explanation is as
เร่
Should foretel a million of children.
ton justly obſerves, is nonfenfe,
bad. She asks the foothfayer how many children fhe is to
have: why, ſays he, if all your wishes had wimbs, and [I
fhould]
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
147
ſhould] foretel every wish, you would have a million. Ridicu-
lous! Is that any anfwer to her queftion? He does foretel
how many the will have. Dr. Warburton reads fertil,
which reftores fenfe and fpirit to the whole paffage,
Cleo.
p. 142.
Can Fulvia die?
Notwithstanding the ingenious comment upon this paf-
fage by mr. Steevens, one may be ſtill inclined to think
that Cleopatra means no more than-Is it poffible that
Fulvia ſhould dye? I will not believe it.
P. 153.
Alex.
So he nodded,
And foberly did mount an arm-gaunt fteed,
Who neigh'd fo high, that what I would have spoke,
Was beaftly dumb'd by him.
Mr. Seyward, fays dr. Johnfon, in his preface to Beau-
mont, has very elaborately endeavoured to prove that an
arm-gaunt fteed is a ſteed with lean-fhoulders. Arm, adds he, is
the Teutonic word for want, or poverty.
"Arm gaunt may
be therefore an old word, fignifying lean for want, ill-fed.
Edwards's obfervation, that a worn out horfe is not propèr
for Atlas to mount in battle, is impertinent: the horſe here
mentioned feems to be a post-horſe, rather than a war-
horfe."
It is fomewhat remarkable that when this great
critic is defirous to introduce his own note on a paſſage
whereon a much better has been already written, he ge-
nerally begins his obfervation by ridiculing that of
his predeceffor. Mr. Seward, (not Seyward as dr. John-
fon, mr. Steevens, and mr. Malone, have every where
throughout
U 2
1
148
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
throughout this edition corrupted his name) explains the
word arm-gaunt by thin fhoulders, which, he fays, is known
to be one of the principal beauties of a horfe. And he adds
that the epithet has, from the uncommon ufe of either part
of the compound word in this fenfe, an antique dignity and
grandeur in found that poets much delight in. (The reader
will obferve the difference between thin shoulders and lean
Shoulders; the former being a beauty, the latter a defect.)
And this dr. Johnfon calls an elaborate endeavour to prove.
Not recollecting that his own attempt is more elaborate, and
much lefs ingenious and fucceſsful. Arm may be the Teu-
tonic word for want; and yet one would like to have ſome
better proof of its exiftence than the bare dictumn of one fo
little acquainted with ancient languages as dr. Johnſon is.
And even when that is given we fhould ftill be glad to
know how Shakspeare came by it. Dr. Johnſons obfervation
that this ſteed was a poft horfe is "impertinent ;" as a poſt-
horfe would ſcarcely have made any distinction between
Antony and his groom: and yet the author reprefents it fo
proud of its burthen that its neigh filenced the by-ftanders.
P. 190.
Pomp. I have fair meaning, fir.
Ant. And fair words to them.
The laſt word makes it evident that we ſhould read
meanings.
p. 197.
Eno. There's a ſtrong fellow, Menas.
He bears
[Pointing to the attendant who carries of Lepidus.
The third part of the world..
Menas's
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
149
Menas. The third part then he is drunk would it were all,
That it might go on.wheels.
This fhould have been corrected to
:
The third part then is drunk: would it were all.
P. 216.
Mec. And gives his potent regiment to a trull.
Tull, dr. Johnfon fays, was not, in our authors time,
a term of mere infamy, but a word of flight contempt, as
winch is now. It may be difficult to know what the
learned commentator conceives to be a term of mere infamy.
But thus much is certain, that trull, in the age of Shak-
ſpeare, fignifyed a ſtrumpet, and ſo he uſes it.
p. 227.
Ant. Yes, my lord, yes ;-He, at Philippi, kept
His fward even like a dancer.
Sword-dances at Chriftmas are not peculiar to North-
humberland; they are common to the adjoining counties;
and are, not without the greateft probability, fuppofed to
have defcended from the Romans (17). In theſe dances the
fword-points are generally over the ſhoulders of the per-
formers. Antony means that Cæfar ſtood inactive with his
fword on his fhoulder.
p. 266.
Ant. Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o'the moon.
Shakspeare, mr. Steevens thinks, might have taken part of
this imagery from Heywood's Silver age, 1613. If the Silver
(17) Pyrrby (Pyrrhic)-dancers is a name ftill given in the North to the
freamers or Northern lights: doubtlefs, from the imaginary reſemblance
between their figure and motion, and thoſe of the Sword-dancers or Plough-
fots, who always exhibit in their fhirts.
agty
150
TIMON OF ATHENS.
age, however, were not printed before that year it is more
likely that Shakspeare furniſhed Heywood.
Cleo.
P. 277.
not the imperious fhew
Of the full-fortun'd Cæfar ever fhall
Be brooch'd with me.
Brooch, fays dr. Percy, is properly a bodkin or fome fuch
inftrument, originally a fpit; and ladies bodkins, adds he,
being headed with gems, it fometimes ftands for an orna-
mental trinket or jewel in general; in which fenfe, he
fays, it is, perhaps, uſed at prefent, or as probably in its
original one for pinned up, &c.
A brooch is always an ornament; whether a buckle or pin
for the breast, hat, or hair, or whatever other ſhape it may
may affume.
A broach is a fpit: the fpires of churches
are likewiſe ſo called in the Northern couuties ; as Darn-
ton-broach. Brooch'd, in the text, certainly means adorn'd,
as it has been properly explained by mr. Steevens.
TIMON OF ATHENS.
P. 323
Pain. How this lord is follow'd!
Poet. The fenators of Athens ; -Happy men!
Mr. Steevens would readHappy man! thinking it
the happineſs of Timon, and not that of the fenators, upon
which the poet means to exclaim. But the text is right.
The poet envies or admires the felicity of the fenators in
being
TIMON OF ATHEN S. 151
being Timons friends, and familiarly admitted to his table
to partake of his good chear, and experience the effects of
his bounty.
Poet. Apemantus
P. 324.
even he drops down
The knee before him, and returns in peace
Moft rich in Timons nod.
Either Shakspeare, mr. Steevens fays, meant to put a
falfehood into the mouth of his poet, or had not yet
thoroughly planned the character of Apemantus; for in the
enfuing fcenes his behaviour is cynical to Timon as to his
followers.
The behaviour of Apemantus is justly reprefented, and
yet the note might have been ſpared; the authors confis-
tency being liable to no charge. The poet, ſeeing that
Apemantus paid frequent vifits to Timon, naturally con-
cluded that he was equally courteous with his other gueſts.
The critic, indeed, knows the contrary, but the fpeaker
did not.
p. 326.
Timon. I am not of that feather to fhake off
My friend when he must need me.
The fenſe would be certainly improved by reading thus:
I am not of that feather to flake off
My friend when he most needs me.
P. 361.
Tim. Purchance, fome fingle vantages you took.
When my indispofition put you back;
And that unaptnefs made your minister,
Thus to excufe yourſelf.
7
This
152
TIMON OF ATHENS.
This is perfectly unintelligible. "So, however," fays
the original." The later editions, he tells
dr. Johnſon,
us, have all:
made you minifter.
Which is right. It is the reading of the fecond folio.
Flav,
P. 362.
My dear lov'd lord,
Though you hear now, yet now's too late a time.
The old editions read
Though you hear now (too late) yet now's a time.
That is, according to dr. Warburton, "Though it be
now too late to retrieve your former fortunes, yet it is not
too late to prevent, by the affiftance of your friends, your
future miferics." Sir T. Hanmer, it feems, made the al-
teration, which, though undoubtedly wrong, dr. Johnfon
thought right, and admitted into his text. The old read-
ing, however, is not p.operly explained by dr. Warburton.
Though I tell you this, fays Flavius, at too late a period,
perhaps, for the information to be of fervice to you, yet late as
it is, it is neceffary that you ſhould be acquainted with it. It
is evident that the fteward had very little hope of affistance
from his masters friends.
P. 380.
Var. Yes, mine's three thouſand crowns: what's yours?
Luc. Five thouſand mine.
:
Var. 'Tis much deep and it fhould feem by the fum,
Your masters confidence was above mine;
Elje, furely, his had equall’d.
Dr. Johnfon, whofe underſtanding frequently ſtarts at
the plaineft paffage, and makes thoſe who have little of
their
TIMON OF ATHENS.
153
their own, imagine difficulties where there are nonė, aſks
if this fhould not be, elfe, furely, mine bat equal"'d. The
anſwer is eaſy it ſhould not. Mr. Malone has, indeed,
undertaken to justify the text; and given a long note upon
it, which He may poffibly understand. Without taking
further notice, however, of his fee-faw conjectures, the
meaning of the paffage is evidently and fimply this: Your
master, it ſeems, had more confidence in lord Timon than
mine, otherwife, his (i. e. my masters) debt (i. e. the money
due to him from Timon) would, certainly, have been as great
as your masters (i. e. as the money which Timon owes to
your master);—that is, my master, being as rich as yours,
could and would have advanced Timon as large a fum
as your master has advanced him, it he (i. e. my master)
had thought it prudent to do ſo.
P. 397.
Tim.
maid, to thy masters bed;'
Thy mistress is o'the brothel!
The fenfe, according to mr. Steevens, is, Go, maid with
fecurity to thy masters bed, for thy mistress is a bawd to thy
This is not altogether fo clear.
One would
amours.
rather fuppofe it to mean that the mistrets frequented the
brothel; and fo fir T. Hanmer understood it.
Tim.
P. 411.
thoſe milk-paps,
That through the window-bars bore at mens eyes.
The folios read barne, and not improperly. Ex is a com-
mon termination of a Saxon plural;
beriefs inftances, retain to this day.
X
which we, in num-
The word is to be
explained
154
TIMON OF ATHENS.
explained by bars, but fhould not (though dr. Warburton
calls it strange nonfenfe) have been femoved from the
text.
p. 429.
Apemantus retreats backward.
Would not this ingenious remark be much improved by
reading,-Apemantus advances backward? Like the exer-
eife of the city militia : "Advance three paces back-
wards!"
The editors have, here and there, indulged us with a
few of theſe little marginal pleafantries, which would not
make a bad figure together. The reader may take a ſpe-
cimen :
Exit Com, and Men. (vii. 465.)
Exit Worcester and Vernon. (V. 405.)
Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair. (v. 120.)
Exit Clown, Autolycus, Dorcas, and Mopſa. (iv. 392.)
Exit the queen, and Hamlet dragging in Polonius. (x. 332.)
Exit &c. (x. 509.)
P. 440.
Scene II. Enter Poet and Painter.] "The Poet and
the Painter were within view when Apemantus parted
from Timon, and might then have feen Timon, fince
Apemantus, ftanding by him could fee them: But the
fcenes of the thieves and feward have passed before
their arrival, and yet pafsed, as the drama is now con-
ducted, within their view. It might be fufpected, that
ſome ſcenes are transpofed, for all thefe difficulties would
be removed by introducing the Poet and Painter firſt,
and the thieves in this place. Yet I am afraid the ſcenes
must keep their prefent order; for the Painter alludes to
1
the
TIMON OF ATHENS.
155
the thieves when he fays, he likewife enriched poor firag-
gling foldiers with great quantity. This impropriety is
now heightened by placing the thieves in one act, and
the Poet and Painter in another: but it must be remem-
bered, that in the original edition this play is not divided
into feparate acts, fo that the prefent distribution is arbi-
trary, and may be changed if any convenience can be
gained, or impropriety obviated by alteration. JOHNSON."
Had the learned critic peruſed the ſmall remainder of the
Painters (peech, he would have perceived another incongruity,
of which he does not feem to be aware. In the immediately
preceding ſcene (the firſt of the fifth act) Flavius, Timons
fteward, has a conference with his master, and receives gold
from him. Between this and the prefent fcene, a ſingle
minute cannot be fuppofed to pafs; and yet the Painter tells
his companion:-'tis faid, he gave his fteward a mighty jum.
Where was it faid? Why in Athens, whence, it muſt
therefor ſeem, they are but newly come. Here then ſhould
be fixed the commencement of the fifth act, in order to
allow time for Flavius to return to the city, and for rumour
to publiſh his adventure with Timon. But how are we, in
this cafe, to account for Apemantuses announcing the
approach of the Poet and Painter in the laft fcene of the
preceding act, and before the thieves appear? It is poffible
that, when this play was abridged for repreſentation, all be-
tween this paffage and the entrance of the Poet and Painter,
may have been omitted by the players, and theſe words put
into the mouth of Apemantus to introduce them and that
when it was publiſhed at large, the interpolation was un-
noticed. Or, if we allow the Poet and the Painter to fee
Apemantus, it may be conjectured that they did not think
his prefence neceffary at their interview with Tinon, and
had therefor returned back into the city.
X 2
Soi
x56 TIMON. OF ATHENS.
P. 452.
Sol. By all defcription this fhould be the place,
Who's here? fpeak, ho!-No anfwer?-What is this?
Timon is dead, who hath out-ftretch'd his fpan:
Some be At read this; there does not live a man.
Dead fure; and this his grave. What's on this tomb?
1 cannot read; the character I'll take with wax.
Dr. Warburton propofes rear'd for read, and ſays, that the
foldier had onely feen the rude heap of earth. But dr. Johnſon,
who ſeems to have thought, that the chief part of his bufy-
nefs confifted in a totis viribus oppofition to the moſt judi-
cious improvements of preceding commentators, and that
there is as much honour to be got by the demolition, as by
the erection, of an elegant ftructure, obferves that the
foldier had evidently feen fomething that told him Timon
was dead; and what could tell that but his tomb? The
tomb he fecs, and the infcription upon it, which not being
able to read, and finding none to read it for him, he ex-
claims peevishly, feme beaft read this, for it muſt be read,
and in this place it cannot be read by man.'
Now with all proper deference to the inisunderstanding
and confufion under which the learned critic labours in the
above note, it is evident that the foldier, when he firſt ſees
the heap of earth does not know it to be a tomb. He con-
cludes that Timon muſt be dead, becauſe he receives no an-
ſwer:
It is likewife evident that when he utters the words
fome beft, &c. he has not feen the infcription. And dr.
Warburtons emendation is therefor not onely juſt and happy,
but abfolutely neceffary. What can this heap of earth be?
fays the foldier. -Timon is certainly dead, fome beast muft
have erected this, for here does not live a man to do it.-Yos
he is dead, fure enough, and this muft be his grave.
is this writing upon it?
What
Dr.
TITUS ANDRONICUS.
I
Dr. Johnſon is not content with reprefenting the foldier
as peevish; he makes him a perfect fool. For thus, ac-
cording to the fagacious commentators expofition, will his
foliloquy ftand:-1 cannot read thefe letters; I must get fome
beaſt to read them for me; for, read they must be; and read,
in this place, they cannot be, by man! But, firft, where was
the ſo urgent neceffity of the infcription being read at all ?
and, fecondly, why could no man read it where it was ?
TITUS ANDRONICU S.
P. 477.
Mar. The Greeks upon advice did bury Ajax
That flew himſelf, &c.
This paffage convinces mr. Steevens, that this play was
the work of one converfant with the Greek tragedies in
their original language; and, therefor, not of Shakſpeare.
"We have here," fays he, "a pl.in allufion to the Ajax of
Sophocles, of which no translation was extant in the time
of Shakspeare." If the fact were true, of which, however,
neither mr. Steevens, nor any man now living can be cer-
tain (18), numbers of printed tracts, and even large vo-
lumes, having perished fince that period, as accidents and
:
(18) Theobald has fuppofed a paffage in this play to have been gleaned
from the Hecuba of Euripides. But, fays mr. Steevens, upon that occafion,
mr. Theobald ſhould firſt have proved to us that our author understood
Greek, or elſe that this play of Euripides had been translated. In the mean
time becauſe neither of theſe particulars are verified, we may as well ſuppoſe
he took it from the old story book of the Trojan war, or the old translation of
Ovid." Why should mr. Steevens require a proof from Theobald of a cir-
cumftance which he hisfelf here affumes as a matter of fact?
the
158
eval
TITUS ANDRONICUS.
the refearches of antiquarians dayly prove, ftill Shakspeare
might have been indebted for the circumftance to fome
manuſcript verfion, or the information of a more learned
friend. Or (as is very probable) the fame allufion may be
contained in other old books. There are many expreffions
in the courſe of the play which do not prove the author to
have been very familiar with the ancients. Among other
inftances which might be adduced, Marcus praifes Lavinia
for her excellent performance on the lute. And it will not
be
very eaſy to decide whether the characters, or, at leaſt,
the times are Christian or Heathen.
P. 483.
Chi. Not I; till I have fheath'd &c.
The editors have here adopted a transpofition made by
dr. Warburton, for which there is not the leaft reafon.
Onely the matter is not of fufficient confequence to dwell
upon.
P. 484.
Dem. She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore may be won.
Suffolk, in the Firft part of king Henry VI. makes uſe of
almoft the fame words:
She's beautiful; and therefore to be woo'd:
She is a woman, therefore to be won.
How much or how little foever this may ferve to prove, if
facts and evidence be to determine our judgement, there
cannot remain a doubt that this play of Titus Andronicus is as
much Shakspeares as any other in this collection. It is not
onely given to him by Meres, but is printed as his by the
editors
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
159
editors of the firſt folio, his fellow comedians and intimate
friends, who neither could have been deceived theirfelves,
nor could or would have deceived the public.
VOLUME THE NINTH.
Cre.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
P. 26.
Women are angels, wooing;
Things won are done, joy's foul lies in the doing.
So, fays dr. Johnſon, read both the old editions, for
which, adds he, the later editors have poorly given :
the foul's joy lies in doing.
Whatever may be the poverty of the expreffion, it did
not originate with the later editors. It is the reading of the
fecond folio.
P. 51.
Patr. No more words, Therfites; peace.
Ther. I will hold my peace when Achilles' brach bids me,
Quall I?
The folio and quarto editions, it feems, read brooch,
which leads dr. Johnfon to think the meaning equivalent to
one of Achilles' hangers-on. Mr. Malone, who, it muſt
be confessed, generally comes foreward to a very good or
ufeful purpoſe, obferves that Brooch had fome meaning at
prefent unknown. For, fays he, in the following pallage
in
160 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
in Lodges Rofalynde, 1592, it feems to fignify fomething
very different from a pin or a bodkin: "His bonnet was
green, whereon ftood a copper brooch with the picture
of St. Dennis." A brooch is an ornament; likewiſe a buckle
of uncommon workmanfhip, for the hat or breaſt. Such
a one as had an image or figure of St. Dennis upon it,
would probably conceal the pin or prong, which kept «
it faft to the hat or girdle. K. Lewis the eleventh of
France generally wore a leaden figure of St. Andrew in his
hat, which, perhaps, anfwered the purpoſe of a brooch or
buckle.
Thus, in Loves Labour Loft (ii. 509):
Biron. St. George's half cheek in a brooch.
Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.
Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-drawer.
Brach is certainly the true reading.
17
Troi.
P. 55.
the remainder viands
We do not throw in unreſpective ſieve.
Sieve, it feems, is in the quarto. The folio, according
to dr. Johnſon, reads
unrefpective fame [fame];
for which, he fays, the modern editors have filently
printed,
-unrefpective place.
The learned commentator is fo perfectly acquainted with
the old copies that it is wonderful to find an ancient read-
ing eſcape him! Place, however, cannot well be the filent
interpolation of a modern editor, as it is to be found in the
fecond folio.
Patro
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 161
- p. 62.
Patr. Why am I a fool?
Ther. Make that demand of the prover.
So, fays dr. Johnſon, the quarto. The folio, adds mr.
Steevens, profanely reads,―of thy [to the] Creator. This
would be intelligible, however, which the adopted reading
is not. And as to any profaneness there may be in the
words rejected, which every perſon may not fo readyly dis-
cover, the author is anſwerable for it, not the editor.
P. 73.
Pan. What exploit's in hand? where fups he to night?
Helen. Nay, but my lord,-
Pan. What ſays my fweet queen? My coufin will fall out
with you.
Helen. You must not know where he fups.
Par. I'll lay my life, with my dispofer Creffida.
Pan. No, no, no fuch matter, you are wide; come, your
dispoſer is fick.
Dispofer dr. Warburton thinks fhould in both places be
dispoufer; he that would feparate Helen from Paris. Dr.
Johnfon does not underſtand the word, nor know what to
fubftitute in its place. He fays, there is no variation in the
copies. Mr. Steevens fufpects that you must not know when
he fups, fhould be added to the fpeech of Pandarus; and
that the following one of Paris fhould be given to Helen.
He thinks that dispofer fhould be changed into depofer; and
fuppofes that the addrefses herfelf to Pandarus, and, by de-
pofer, means-fhe who thinks her beauty (or, whofe
beauty you ſuppoſe) to be ſuperior to mine.
Mr. Steevenses conjecture is very ingenious and happy,
but the propriety of his explanation is very doubtful. The
dialogue fhould, perhaps, be regulated thus:
Y
Par.
162
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
Par. where fups he to night ?
Helen. Nay, but my lord
Pan. What fays my fweet queen?
Par. My cousin will fall out with you. [To Helen.]
Pan. You must not know where he fups. [To Paris.]
Helin. I'll lay my life with my depofer Creffida.
She calls Creffida her depofer, not for either of the rea
fons affigned by mr. Steevens, but becauſe ſhe had depoſed
her in the affections of Troilus, whom Fandarus, in a pre-
ceding fcene, is ready to fwear fhe lov'd more than Paris.
Dr. Johnſon mistakes in aſſerting the uniformity of the
the copies. The ſecond folio reads the fifth ſpeech thus:
Pan. With my dispofer Creffida.
P. 75.
Pan. Oh! oh! groans out for ha! ha! ba! Hey ho!
Hey ho.] This exclamation is thus added in the folio to
the preceding line :
✪ ho grones out for ha ha ha-hey ho.
But the interjection is certainly no part of the fong: and
confequently ſhould not appear in the fame character: it
is uttered by Pandarus after he has done finging. This is
evident from Helens obfervation:
In love, i'faith, to the very tip of the noſe.
P. 106.
Ene. Good, good, my lord; the fecrets of neighbour Pandar
This reading was firft introduced by mr. Pope from the
old quarto. The folio reads,
the fecrets of nature:
which is, furely, preferable; neither the fenfe nor the
meaſure feeming to be much improved by the words adopted.
Ent.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
163
p. 114.
Ene. The prince muſt think me tardy and remiſs,
That ſwore to ride before him to the field.
Par. "Tis Troilus' fault: Come, come, to field with him.
Dio. Let us make ready ſtraight.
Ene. Yea, with a bridegrooms freſh alacrity,
Let us addrefs to tend on Hector's heels.
But why ſhould Diomed fay, Let us make ready ftraight?
Was HE to tend with them on Hectors heels? Certainly not.
Dio. has, therefor, crept in by mistake; the line either is
part of Parises fpeech, or belongs to Deiphobus, who is in
company. As to Diomed, he neither goes along with them,
nor has any thing to get ready :-he is now walking, with
Troilus and Creffida, toward the gate, on his way to the
Grecian camp.
Acbil. 'Tis but early days?
p. 115.
Should not this be—early day?
P. 117.
Uh May I, fweet lady, beg a kifs of you?
Cre. You may.
Ulf. I do defire it.
Cre. Why, beg then.
Uly. Why then for Venus' fake give me a kifs,
When Helen is a maid again, and his.
Cre. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due.
Uly. Never's my day and then a kiſs of you.
For the fake of rime, dr. Johnfon fays, we fhould read:
Why beg two.
44 If you think kifses worth begging beg more than one."
Y 2
Neither
164
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.
Neither rime nor reafon requires the alteration.
Ulyffes
afks her if he may beg a kifs; fhe fays, he may; he then
dfires it: fhe bids him beg, which he does. The conftruc-
tion is plain enough; and if the rime be thought worth
preferving by a violence to the text we may read :
Why beg too.
The remainder, upon which the fame learned commen-
tator has given an unintelligible note, might be regulated
thus:
Uly. Why then for Venus' fake give me a kiſs.
Cref. When Helen is a maid again, and his,
I am your debtor; claim it when 'tis due.
Uly. Never's my day, and then a kifs of you.
p. 124.
Hect. Whom muſt we anſwer ?
Men. The noble Menelaus.
This is rather a blunt way for a man to announce his-
felf. Menelaus, indeed, does not appear to have been over
and above well off in the article of friends, but, ftill, he
was not reduced to the neceffity of being his own puffer,
The ſpeech belongs to Eneas.
>
p. 126.
Achil. I fhall foreftall thee, lord Ulyffes, thou!
"Should we not read-though ?-TYRWHITT."
"The repetition of thou! was anciently uſed by one
who meant to infult another. STEEVENS."
Yes; but what has Ulyffes faid or done, that Achilles
fhould mean to infult him. Befides, the ingenious critic
never faw the word thou! thus ufed after a proper name.
Mr. Tyrwhitts propoſal ſhould certainly have been adopted.
Troi
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 165
Troi. Hence, broker lacquey!- ominy and fhame
Purſue thy life, and live aye with thy name!
"Hence brothel, lacquey !—] For brothel, the folio reads
brother, erroneously for broker, as it ſtands at the end of the
play, where the lines are repeated. JOHNSON."
Let us turn to the end of the play, and fee what the critic
ſays there.
"Hence, broker lacquey! -] So the quarto. The folio
has brother. JOHNSON."
The concordance of the two comments is ſurpriſing.
After all, however, brothel lacquey feems the best reading;
though broker is certainly (in this place) the reading of the
folio.
P. 155.
Neft.
like ſcaled Sculls
Before the belching whale.
Sculls and foals have not only one and the fame mean-
ing, but are, actually, or at leaft originally, one and the
fame word. A feull of herrings (and it is to theſe fiſh that
the ſpeaker alludes), fo termed on the coaft of Norfolk and
Suffolk, is elſewhere called a ſhoal.
P. 162.
Achil. The dragon-wing of night o'erſpreads the earth,
And, fickler-like, the armies feparates.
A fickler, mr. Steevens tells us, was one who ftood by
to part the combatants, &c. They are called ticklers, he
fays, from carrying Aicks or flaves in their hands. It is not
here meant to question the propriety of mr. Steevenses ex-
planation of the word; but the nature of the Engliſh lan-
guage cannot poffibly allow the derivation of flickler from
tick, with which, as a word, it has not the remoteft con-
nection.
166
CYMBELINE.
nection. Befides, the giving flicks or flaves to the feconds
or fidefinen ſeems a mere gratis-dictum, for which the in-
genious critic can have no authority, but fuch as he may be
able to produce from the practice of Paris-garden. Stickler
is, fimply, from the verb fickle, to interfere, to take part
with, to bufy ones felf on either fide.
CYM BEL IN E,
p. 175,
2 Gent. You fpeak him far.
1 Gent. I do extend him, fir, within himſelf.
Surely we ſhould read fair. It is the found which the
other takes occafion to play upon,
P. 176.
1 Gent. A glass that feated them.
Dr. Johnſon, in his note upon this paffage, is certainly
wrong in ſaying that Mirrour of Knighthood does not give the
idea of a glass, but of an example. Miroir de Chevalerie,
Specchio di cavalleria, Espejo de cavallerias, are all a looking-
glass for chivalry. And fo is the word properly rendered in
our English verfions of the history of Don Quixote, who
is called "a looking-glafs, in which all the valiant knights
of the world may behold themfelves." But one might be
glad to know who ever ftiled Don Bellianis the Mirrour of
Knighthood before dr. Johnfen.
J.
Jack.
CYMBELIN E.
167
p. 306.
Jack.
could this carle,
A very drudge of nature's, have ſubdu’d me.
"Carle is uſed by our old writers in oppofition to a gen-
tleman. See the poem of John the Reeve. PERCY."
;
It is a very common, but, at the fame time, a very
unreasonable practice in commentators and others, to bid
their readers fee this or that ſcarce book, of which it is,
as they well know, frequently impoffible for them to pro-
cure a fight. But never was this abfurdity carryed to fuch
an extent of mockery as it is in the preſent inftance
where the learned prelate very coolly orders us to inſpect a
poem, onely extant, as he is well affured, and has elfe-
where told us, in a certain FOLIO MS in his own poſſeſ-
fion, which, perhaps, no one ever faw, and which (if it
really exift) he will, for his own fake, take effectual care
that no one ſhall fee.
Carl or churl (Ceopl, Sax.) is a clown, or husbandman.
KING LE A R.
P. 365.
France. Is it no more but this? a tardineſs in nature.
Theſe two words (no more) feem to be introduced or
preſerved merely to fpoil the meafure. They are not in
either folio.
P. 372.
All this done
Glo.
Upon the gad.
7
Te
168
KING LEA R.
To do upon the gad, fays dr. Johnfon, is, to act by the
fudden ftimulation of caprice, as cattle run madding when
they are ftung by the gad-fly.
This indeed is a mode of explanation which requires
very little knowlege of ones author. It ſhould not feem that
cattle, ftung by the gad-fly, are actuated by caprice. But
whether or not is a circumftance foreign to the purpoſe.
A thing done upon the gad is-done fuddenly, or (as be-
fore) while the iron is hot. A gad is an iron bar. So in
I'll never leave thee, a Scotifh fong, by Allan Ramfay:
Bid icefhogles hammer red gads on the ftuddy.
p. 415.
Kent. You.... take vanity the puppets part againſt the royalty
of her father.
"Alluding," fays dr. Johnfon, "to the mysteries or al-
legorical fhews, in which vanity, iniquity, and other vices
were perfonified."
The deſcription is applicable onely to the old Moralities,
between which and the mysteries there was an effential dif-
ference, of which the learned commentator does not ſeem
to have been aware,
Edg.
P. 427.
Poor Turlygood poor Tom!
That's fomething yet ;-Edgar I nothing am.
This dr. Johnſon explains: "As Edgar I am out
lawed, dead in law; I have no longer any political exis-
tence." And, furely, nothing can be more completely
ridiculous. Outlawry is the effect of many legal pro-
ceedings in the ordinary courſe of justice, and neither the
1peaker, nor the author can have the leaft allufion to it.
The
1;
KING LEA R.
169
དོ་
The critics idea is both too complex and too puerile for
one in Edgars fituation. He is purſued, it ſeems, and pro-
claimed, i. e. a reward has been offered for taking or kill-
ing him. In affuming this character, fays he, I may pre-
ferve myſelf; as Edgar I am inevitably gone,
P. 479.
Edg. Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me,
We ſhould certainly read burn. The fools reply does
not ſeem to have been any part of the original fong;
which is here given from an ancient MS. in the writers.
poffeffion, where it is attended with the mufical notes for
three voices.
Come ou' pe burn beffe
Flytyll p❜ty befſe
Come ou' the burne beffe to me.
The burne ys pis world blyde.
& beffe ys mākynd
So Ppyr J can none fynd as fle
She daunch & lepys
& criſt ſtōd? & clepys
Cũ ou' the burne beffe to me.
*
P. 480.
Fool. Sleepeft, or wakeft thou, jolly Shepherd?
Thy Sheep be in the corn;
And for one blast of thy minikin mouth,
Thy Sheep hall take no harm.
Mr. Steevens thinks that minikin has been a term of en-
dearment. But it onely means fmall, little, flender, as has
been already obſerved (p. 44). Thy minikin mouth implies,
thy little (and, therefor, perhaps, pretty) mouth.
Z
Edy.
170
KING LEAR.
P. 482.
Edg. Hound or fpaniel, brache, or lym.
A lym feems to have been a large dog of the ſpaniel
kind.
His cofin had a Lyme bound argent bright.
Again:
Harrington, Or. Fu, xli. 30.
His Lyme laid on his back, he couching down.
See the portrait of fir Johns faithful and favourite fer-
vant Bungay at the bottom of the engraved title. The
word differently spelled, occurs again, p. 349.
Oliuero whofe deuife is the Spaniell, or lyam hound.
P. 483.
Edg. Selly; come, march to wakes and fairs,
And market towns:-poor Tom, thy horn is dry.
Mr. Stevens feems rather to ftrain this laft expreffion in
explaining it to be a private addrefs from Edgar to hisſelf:
“I can no more: all my materials for fustaining the cha-
racter of poor Tom are now exhaufted." His horn was
what he carryed his liquor in. And there is no neceſſity
either for making him fpeak the words afide, or for giving
them an allegorical fignification. And even fuppofing
the latter probable, they need onely mean I can no more,
or I have nothing left to fay; the company, if they attended
to him, would take the phrafe in its moft obvious and
fimple fenfe, i. e. that he had nothing to drink.
Dr. John'on is, ſurely, right in fuppofing that fefsy is a
corruption of ceffez, be quiet, ftop, hold, let alone. It is
fo uted by Christofero Sly, the drunken tinker, in the
Taring of a Shrew and by Edgar hisfelf, in a preceding
fcere.- Dolphin, my boy, Seffy; let him trot by. But it
•
does
KING
171
LEAR.
1
does not feem equally clear that it has been corrupted into
fo, fo. Mr. Steevens would have it to mean Siffy (Cecilia)
which is certainly wrong.
p. 506.
Gon. [Afide.] One way I like this well.
"Goneril," dr. Johnfon obferves, is well pleaſed that
Cornwall is deftroyed who was preparing war againſt her
and her husband, but is afraid of lofing Edmund to the
widow."
It does not appear that Cornwall was making any hos-
tile preparations against Albany. On the contrary, in
act III. fcene viii. Goneril is on a vifit to Cornwall,
who diſpatches her with amicable letters to her husband.
She is glad to hear of Cornwalls death, becauſe, by her
fisters, now rendered lefs difficult to compafs, fhe could
poffefs the whole kingdom.
P. 513.
Reg. Lord Edmund fpake not with your lady at home?
Stew. No, madam.
The folio reads your lord; but, fays dr. Johnfon, lady is
the firſt and better reading. If the learned critic had not
been too indolent to look back, a few pages, to the ſecond
fcene of this act, he would have found that, though lady
may be the fiſt and better reading, lord is the true and right
one. For Goneril not onely converfes with lord Edmund, in
the ſtewards prefence, but prevents him from ſpeaking to, or
even feeing her husband.
P. 535.
Gent. Ay, madam; in the heaviness of his fleep,
We put freſh garments on him.
1
Z 2
Phyl
172
KING LEA R.
Phyf. Be by, good madam, when we do awake him;
I doubt not of his temperance.
The folio, mr. Steevens obferves, gives theſe four lines
to a gentleman. The quartos, it feems, distribute them very
differently. But the ingenious critic will recollect that in
the folio, the gentleman and. (as he is here called) the phyfician
is one and the fame perſon: a circumftance he does not
appear to have at all attended to.
P. 547.
The goujeres fhall devour them, &c.
"The refolute John Florio," dr. Farmer fays, "has fadly
mistaken theſe goujeers. He writes with a good yeare to
thee!" and gives it in Italian, "Il mal' anno che dio ti
dia."
But does the ingenious commentator really fuppofe that
John meant a blessing inſtead of a curfe? In fact, the pedant
is guilty of no mistake:-that he intended thefe very gou-
jeers is evident from the folio of Shakspeare, where it is
ſaid,
The good yeares fhall devour them.
And this was the ufual ſpelling of that age.
P. 550.
Gos. Mean you to enjoy him?
Aib. The let alone lies not in your good will,
"Whether he [who?] fhall not or fhall [what?] de-
pends not on your choice. JOHNSON."
This ingenious and occult annotation is grounded on
and ſupported by CANON XV. which allows the profeſsed
critic to explane a difficult paffage by words abfolutely
unintelligible."
(6
There
KING LE A R.
173
There is not, it may be here obferved, one of the Ca-
fons which could not be properly illuftrated and fupported
by numerous examples from the margin of the laft edition.
Albany means to tell his wife, that, however ſhe might
want the power, fhe evidently did not want the inclination,
to prevent the match.
P. 555'
Edg, Let us exchange charity.
"Our author," fays dr. Johnfon, "by negligence gives
his heathens the fentiments and practices of christianity."
Does the learned critic mean to infinuate that benevolence,
or a forgiveneſs of injuries could not fubfift without a be-
lief in christianity? That heathens could not act like men?
The contrary, it is believed, is fo much a fact, that it
would be no paradox to affirm, becauſe it might be very eaſyly
proved, that all the moral virtues were better underſtood, and
more regarded by Heathen Greece, and Pagan Rome, than
they have been by any Christian ftate fince the invention r
introduction of that fystem. And what would the great philo-
fopher think, if it were to be made appear that the first Chris-
tians borrowed (or, rather, ftole, for they took without ac-
knowlegement) all their morality from the profeffors of Pa-
ganifm? Indeed it must be abfurd to fuppofe for a fingle
moment, that they who had more fenfe than their fucceffor
had not, at leaft, as much virtue.
F. 564.
Kent. I have a journey, fir, fhortly to go;
My master calls, and 1 muft not fay no.
The modern editors, mnr. Steevens fays, have fuppofed
that Kent expires after he has repeated theſe two lines;
but
174
ROMEO AND JULIET.
but the fpeech, he thinks, rather appears to be meant for a
deſpairing than a dying man; and, adds that, as the old
editions give no marginal direction for his death, he has
forborn to infert any.
The conftruction mr. Steevens puts upon Kents fpeech
is not meant to be disputed. But, it might have been as
well, if, before he had charged his death upon the modern
editors, and afferted that the old editions give no direction
about it, he had confulted thoſe editions. For nothing can
be more certain than that the fecond folio, at the end of
this fpeech, has the word Dyes in the margin:
The folios give the couplet thus:
I have a journey, fir, fhortly to go:
My master calls me, I fluft not ſay no.
VOLUME THE TENTH.
ROMEO AND JULIE T.
Ben.
P. 14.
What fadnefs lengthens Romeo's hours?
Rom. Not having that, which, having makes them fort,
Ben. In love?
Rom. Out
Ben. Of love?
Rom. Out of her favour, where I am in love.
"I," fays dr. Percy, "take out not to be an imperfect part
of a ſentence cut off by apofiopefis; but rather the interjec-
tion
ROMEO AND JULIE T.
175
tion ftill uſed in the north, where they fay Out! much in
the ſame ſenſe as we now fay fye !"
Mr. Steevens very pertinently aſks the doctor why
Romeo fhould fay fye! on being aſked if he were in love.
But mr. Steevens gives no opinion.
It is evident that this word out (which is neither an in-
terjection, nor cut off by apofiopefis) would, in cafe
Romeo had not been interrupted, have been, as it is, the
firit of his following ſpeech :
Out of her favour, &c.
P. 18.
Rom. Theſe happy maſks that kifs fair ladies brows.
i. e. fays mr. Steevens, the mafks worn by female ſpec-
tators of the play. But this is by no means fo certain.
And there is little reafon for thus forcing improprieties
upon the author, of which he may not be guilty. Thefe or
thofe merely refers to the maſks worn by ladies: Shakſpeare
knew it to be a custom in London, and fuppofed it to be
one in Verona.
p. 21.
Cap. Such comfort, as do lufty young men feel
When well-apparel'd April on the heel
Of limping winter treads
:
Dr. Johnſon reads yeomen: which, though mr. Steevens
does not agree with him, feems, at least, to be the interpre-
tation of young men as thefe words are, perpetually, ufed
for yeoman, in old writings. See particularly the legends of
Robin Hood and Adam Bell. So, in a fubfequent ſcene of
this very play, yew trees are, in the old editions called, yong
trees.
I
Rom.
176
ROMEO AND JULIE T.
P. 34.
Rom. I'll be a candle-holder, and look on.
The game was ne'er fo fair, and I am done.
66
An allufion to an old proverbial faying which adviſes to
give over, when the game is at the faireft."
P. 40.
Merc. This is that very Mab
That`.... cakes the elf-locks in foul fluttish hairs.
If all the old copies read bakes, which mr. Steevens fays
they do, what authority had mr. Pope to make the altera-
tion and why is it followed?
7
P. 44.
Cap. Nay, fit, nay, fit, good coufin Capulet.
This coufin Capulet, dr. Johnfon obferves, is unkle in the
paper of invitation; but as Capulet is defcribed as old,
couſin is probably, he fays, the right word in both places.
Each reading is right in its place. Coufin was a com-
mon expreffion from one kinsman to another, out of the de-
grees of parent and child, brother and fister. Thus, in
Hamlet, the king, his uncle and ftep-father, addrefses him
with,
But now my coufin Hamlet, and my fon.
And in this very play, act III. lady Capulet fays,
Tybalt my confin!-O my brothers child.
So, in As you like it :
Rof. Me, uncle?·
Duke. You, coufin !
And Olivia, in the Twelfth Night, conftantly calls her uncle
Toby cousin.
Enter
ROMEO AND JULIET. 177
P. 50.
Enter Chorus.] The uſe of this chorus, dr. Johnſon
thinks, is not eaſyly discovered as it relates nothing but what
is already known or what the next ſcene will fhew. In-
deed it ſeems to have been brought out merely to fill up
part of the vacancy of time between the acts, inſtead of a
piece of mufic. The groundlings of that age, like the
rooflings of the prefent, would, doublefs, be ever impatient
to know what was to come next.
P. 52.
Ben. Come, he hath hid himſelf among thoſe trees,
To be conſorted with the humorous night.
Mr. Steevens brings fome inftances from other authors
to prove that Shakſpeare means humid: and mr. Malone,
who is remarkable for the pertinence, propriety, and real
importance of his learned and ingenious remarks, adds the
following note:
"Again, in Meaſure for Meaſure :
"The vaporous night approaches."
To prove, no doubt, that Shakspeare, as he has here uſed
humorous for humid, there uſes vaporous for vapid.
P. 53.
Mer. And wiſh his mistress were that kind of fruit,
As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.
As maids, &c.] "After this line," fays mr. Steevens, "in
the quarto 1597, I find two other verfes, containing ſuch
ribaldry, that I cannot venture to infert them in the text,
though I exhibit them here as a proof that either the post
or his fris knew fometimes how to blot." Surely the
poet
A a
178
ROMEO AND JULIET.
poet and his friends are under very little obligation to the
ingenious commentator for producing an indecent paffage
which he fuppofes one or other of them to have already fup-
preſsed. But, after all, the learned editor is mistaken: for,
defpicable as the lines are, they were NOT blotted either by
the poet or by his friends :-and if he will take the trouble
of turning to either of the folios he will THERE find them.
P. 54.
Rom. He jefts at ſcars, that never felt a wound.
That is, fays dr. Johnfon, Mercutio jefts (who has juft
left the fcene and) whom he overheard. But, with all due
fubmiffion, it does not appear that Romeo either did, or
could, nor is there any occafion that he ſhould, hear Mer-
cutio. He (that perfon) jefts, &c. is merely in allufion to
his having conceived hisſelf ſo armed with the love of Ro-
faline, that no other beauty could make any impreffion on
him. This is clear from the converfation he has with Mer-
cutio juft before they go to Capulets.
P. 56.
Jul. 'Tis but thy name, that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? &c.
There is, certainly, fome obfcurity in this paffage;
which might, poffibly be remov'd by reading:
Thou art thyself, though yet a Montague.
Or, thus:
Thou art thyſelf, although a Montague.
At least, Juliets meaning feems to be, that though he
was a Montague by name, and, therefor, her enemy, yet
for his perfon and mind, i. e. as a man, fhe might ftill be
allowed
ROMEO AND JULIET.
179
allowed to love him. Either of the above propoſed read-
ings (which yet are only for the margin) feem as good as
this, which dr. Johnfon thinks the true one;
Thou art thyself, then not a Montague,
And certainly much better than this of Hanmer:
Thou 'rt not thyself fo, though a Montague.
The ſubſequent lines, which in the prefent edition ſtand
thus:
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part :
What's in a name, &c.
and in the folio thus:
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, O be fome other name
Belonging to a man.
What's in a name, &c.
fhould, perhaps, be thus regulated :
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face [nor any other part]
Belonging to a man. O be fome other name.
What's in a name? &c.
The words, nor any other part, which are in the quarto
editions, ſeem to have been omitted in the folio by iņad-
. vertency.
P. 57,
Rom. My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.
To prorogue, mr. Steevens obferves, has not, in this
place, its common fignification, but means to delay. And
what is its common fignification, but to delay? When
A a 2
the
180
ROMEO AND JULIET.
the king prorogues the parliament, he only defers or puts off
its meeting to a future day.
1
p. 65.
Fri. Holy St. Francis! &c.
"Old copy, Jefu Maria! STEEVENS."
And why not this?
P. 68.
Mer. A pox of fuch antick, lifping, affecting fantasticoes.
Thus the old copies, fays mr. Steevens, and rightly. The
modern editors, adds he, read phantafies.
The folio, however, which is generally looked upon as
an old copy, does NOT read fantasticnes; and Heminge and
Condell, who are not uſually ranked among modern editors,
read phantacics.
P. 78.
Nurſe. Doth not rofemary and Romeo begin with a letter?
Rom. Ay, nurfe; what of that? both with an R.
Nurfe. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the dog. No;
I know it begins with fome other letter.
The old reading appears to be-R is for the no, I know it
begins with fome other letter. The alteration adopted was
propoſed by mr. Tyrwhitt, and is certainly fuperior to
either dr. Warburtons (Thee? no) or dr. Johnfons (the
nonce) not but the old reading is as good, if not better,
when properly regulated, e. g.
Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the-no;
I know it begins with fome other letter,
In any cafe the long notes preceding mr. Tyrwhitts
might be well fpared, being now wholely impertinent to the
fext.
Friar
}
ROMEO AND JULIET.
181
p. 83.
Friar. Therefore, love moderately; long love doth fo;
Too fwift arrives as tardy as too flow.
Alluding to the vulgar proverb: The more hafte the worfe
Speed.
P. 84.
Jul. But my true love is grown to ſuch excefs,
I cannot fum up half my ſum of wealth.
The old copies, according to mr. Steevens, read:
And:
I cannot fum up sum of half my wealth:
I cannot fum up fome of half my wealth.
The following would, therefor, be nearer the original read-
ing, than the preſent text:
I cannot fum up th' ſum of half my wealth.
P. 99.
Juliet. Back, foolish tears, back to your native ſpring;
Your tributary drops belong to tuo,
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
Mr. Steevens thinks the words woe and joy ſhould change
places; otherwiſe, ſays he, her reafoning is inconclufive.
The learned critic does not feem to have paid his ufual at-
tention to the paffage. The text is certainly right. Juliet
ſays that ſhe has more reaſon to rejoice than to be ſorry at
Tibalts death, and that therefor her tears are egregiously
mistimed.
p. 100.
Jul. That-banished, that one word—baniſhed,
Hath fain ten thousand Tybalts.
"Hath
182
ROMEO AND JULIET.
"Hath put Tybalt out of my mind, as if out of being.
JOHNSON."
Out of being? why, where was he before? The true
meaning is: I am more affected by Romeos banishment than Į
bould be by the death of ten thousand fuch relations as Tybalt.
P. 109.
Jul. It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear:
Nightly he fits on yon pomegranate tree.
"This is not," mr. Steevens fays, "merely a poetical
fuppofition. It is obferved of the nightingale that, if un-
disturbed, he fits and fings upon the fame tree for many
weeks together."
It may be very true; but the learned critic will recollect
that it can only be ſo of the be, and not of the ſhe nightin-
as the latter never fings.
gale :
The discovery is not, in-
deed, of the age of Shakspeare-but what of that?
P. III.
Jul. Hunting thee hence with hunts up to the day.
The hunts up, mr. Steevens fays, was the name of the
tune anciently played to wake the hunters, and collect
them together. And, in proof of it, he quotes a number
of paffages; to which, if he pleaſe, he may add the fol-
lowing from Charles Cottons Virgil Travestie (which, in-
deed, it is fomewhat extraordinary he ſhould omit):
I'll play the rakehells ſuch a hunts up.
There was likewife a little rude fong, which, it is fup-
pofed was formerly in ufe on this occafion, as we learn
from
ROMEO AND JULIET.
183
from Puttenham, Art of English Poefie, 1589. “One Gray,
fays he, "what good estimation did he grow into with
king Henry [the eighth], and afterward with the duke of
Somerſet protectour, for making certain merry ballades,
whereof one chiefly was, The hunte is up, the hunte is up.'
Whether the following be the identical merry ballade, doth
not clearly appear; it is, however, very old:
The hunt is up, the hunt is up,
And now it is almoſt day;
And he that's a bed with another mans wife,
It's time to get him away.
Master Gray was, probably, author of both words and
mufic; and the tune may have remained in ufe, after the
words were forgot.
P. 128.
Ful.
-gentle nurſe,
I pray thee, leave me to myſelf to-night;
For I have need of many ofifons
To move the heavens to fmile upon my ſtate.
Perhaps, fays he,
If he had, we
Dr. Johnſon, with that candour and politeness for which
he is ſo remarkable, obferves, that Juliet plays moſt of her
pranks under the appearance of religion.
Shakspeare meant to punish her hypocrify.
ſhould, without doubt, have been, fome how or other, in-
formed of it. But Shakspeare would never have given the
little innocent excufes her virtue and conjugal fidelity
prompt her to make use of fo harfh a name.
Juliet! little did'ft thou dream, that, in addition to thy
misfortunes, the unfullyed purity of thy angelic mind
fhould, at this distance of time, be fubject to the rude
breath of criticiſm !-But reft in peace, fweet faint! thy
Sweet
fair
184 ROMEO AND JULIET.
fair untainted name fhall live-live in thy Shakspeares
page-when even the critics memory is no more.
p. 136.
Cap. O fon, the night before thy wedding day
Hath death lain with thy bride.
Mr. Steevens is willing to fuppofe that this paſsage may
have been coarſely ridiculed in Deckers Satiromastix :
"Dead: fhe's Death's bride; he hath her maidenhead."
The ingenious commentator, who purfues fuch objects.
with, perhaps, too much avidity, might have caught a
much more likely hint in another place, from Juliets own
mouth. The judicious reader, however, will find many
opportunities to remark, that numerous expreffions which
are now degraded by vulgar currency, were perfe&ly in-
nocent and polite in the age of Shakspeare.
Ibi.
Cap. Death is my fon-in-law, death is my heir;
My daughter he hath wedded! I will die,
And leave him all; life leaving, all is death's.
"Death is my fon-in-law, &c.] The remaining part of the
ſpeech I have reſtored from the quarto, 1609. STEEVENS."
It is unfortunate that the industrious editor did not know
that the lines reftored are in both the folios.
P. 139.
Muf. What will you give us?
Pet. No money, on my faith; but the gleek:
The uſe of this cant term is no where explained; and, in
all probability, cannot at this distance of time be recovered.
5
To
ROMEO AND JULIET.
185
To gleek, however, fignifyed to put a joke or trick upon a
perſon, perhaps, to jeft, according to the coarſe. humour
of that age. So Bo.tom, Midfummor Nights Dream, act III.
fcene i.
Nay I can gleek upon occafion.
Queen. Thou art as wife as thou art beautiful.
Dumps were heavy mournful tunes; poffibly, indeed, any
fort of movements were once fo called, as we ſometimes
meet with a merry dump. Hence doleful dumps, deep
forrow, or grievous affliction, as in the next page, and
in the lefs ancient ballad of Chevy Chafe. It is ftill faid
of a perfon uncommonly fad, that he is in the dumps.
p. 141.
Pet. It is-mufick with her filver found, becaufe fuch fellous as
you have no gold for founding.
Inftead of fellows, which is the reading of the old quarto
in 1597, later editions, mr. Steevens obferves, have mu-
ficians. "Ifhould ſuſpect," adds he, " that a fiuler made the
alteration."-But does the ingenious commentator really
imagine that fuch fellows were the editors of fubfequent
impreffions, or had even power to alter the language of
Shakspeare whenever they were displeafed at it? The
change was, lefs doubtfully, made by the author, out of
compliment to, or upon a remonftrance from, the Genth-
men of the orchestra.
!
Rom.
P. 145.
famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppreffion ſtarveth in thine eyes.
The first quarto, mr. Steevens informs us, reads:
“And ſtarved famine dwelleth in thy cheeks."
B b
The
186
ROMEO AND JULIET,
The quartos, 1599, 1609, and the folio, as in the
text.
The modern editors, without authority:
"Need and oppreffion ftare within their eyes.
The paffage might, perhaps, be better regulated thus:
Need and oppreffion ftareth in thy eyes.
For they cannot, properly, be faid to starve in his eyes ;
though starved famine may be allowed to dwell in his cheeks.
Thy not thine is the reading of the folio. And thoſe who
are converfant in our author, and eſpecially in the old co-
pies, will fcarcely notice the grammatical impropriety of
the propofed emendation.
P. 147.
Lau. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge
Of dear import.
That is, it was not a mere letter of compliment or cere-
mony.
P. 150.
Rom. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death.
Détestable is right. So Spenfer (Faerie Queen. I.
i. 26):
That detestable fight him much amaz'd.
Which mr. Church has not been afhamed to declare read
better," in his ear," deteftable. Such an ear totally disqua-
lifyed him for an editor of Spenfer.
:
The modern pronunciation has arifen from vulgarity and
ignorance the word being not formed of the verb deteft
but derived from detestable, F. detestabilis, L. Thus, ad-
mirable, comparable, &c.
The
ROMEO AND JULIE T.
187
The words perfevere [perfever] and perfeverance are in
the fame predicament: always right in Shakspeare; and
always wrong at preſent.
Rom.
P. 151.
I beseech thee, youth,
Pull not another fin upon my head,
By urging me to fury.
The
The quarto, 1597, it feems, has: heap not.
quartos, 1599 and 1609, and all the folios :-Put not.
Mr. Rowe first made the change, which mr. Stevens (and
we are much indebted both to his fagacity and friendſhip)
informs us, ઃઃ
may be discontinued at the readers pleaſure."
The editors duty, however, and not the readers pleaſure
ought to have determined the matter. The reader has it
not in his power to discontinue any thing, but the perufal
or the book,
Either of the other words would anſwer as
well.
P. 152.
1
Rom, How oft, when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry? which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning.
Dr. Johnſon thinks we fhould read:
O, now may I
Call this a lighting?
But how is certainly right and proper. Romeo had, juſt
before, been in high fpirits, a fymptom, which he obferves,
was fometimes called a lightning before death: but how,
fays he, (for no fituation can exempt Shakspeares characters
from the vice of punning) can I term this fad and gloomy
proſpect a lightning.
Bb 2
Rem.
188
ROMEO AND JULIET.
Rom.
P. 155.
O here
Will I fet up my everlasting reft.
This, again, is a quibble between the implement for-
merly used by foot foldiers, and the certain quiet of a
future ftate.
The writer of theſe notes will here take occafion to ob-
ſerve, as one of the many great excellencies of this im-
mortal bard, that no author, ancient or modern, ever fa-
crificed leſs to the reigning fuperftition of the time than
hisfelf. Whatever may be the temporary religion, Popish
or Protestant, Paganifin or Christianity, if its profeffors
have the flighteſt regard for genius or virtue, Shak fp: are,
the poet of nature, addicted to no fystem of bigotry, will
always be a favourite. There never was but one fet of men
who profefsed open enmity to his name and writings, and
they were, at the fame time, the declared and moſt virulent
enemies of literature and morality, in every fhape: It is
fcarcely neceffary to add the mention of the barbarous en-
thufiafts of the laft century; one, and perhaps the beſt
founded of whofe charges against that great and good mo-
narch whom they fo favagely murdered was-his intimacy
with the writings of WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE! ! !————The
circumftance would, at this time, at leaſt, paſs unnoticed in
fach a miscreant as Cooke, to whom a hatred of letters was
as natural as it was to his more illustrious predeceffor Jack
Cade:-but when we fee Milton-the fublime Milton-in-
fifting upon the enormity of this amiable trait in the cha-
racter of his murdered and libeled fovereign-our con-
tempt for and detestation of the act is equaled by our fur-
prize to find him the aſſaſſin !
Lau
ROMEO AND JULIET, 1.89
P. 163.
Lau. I will be brief, &c.] Dr. Johnſon thinks it "much
to be lamented that the poet did not conclude the dialogue
with the action, and avoid a narrative of events which the
audience already knew." It was neceſſary, however, that
the furviving characters should be made acquainted with
the circumstances which produce the catastrophe, and we
fhould have had more reafon to condemn the poet for being
brief than tedious. That our judicious author knew when
to tell his ftory behind the curtain, and when upon the
ſtage, is evident from the next play; and it was, perhaps,
to avoid a fameneſs between the conclufion of that and
prefent, that he has made the friar reveal the transaction
to the audience; which naturally introduces the reconcili-
ation of the two families and the moral reflections at the
end of the ſcene, which, whatever the critic may think,
are too valuable to be facrificed to his mere rule and com-
paſs abridgement of it.
p. 165.
Prince. And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have loft a brace of kinsmen.
What kinsmen? Mercutio, doubtlefs, is one, and Ben-
volio, we may prefume is the other. The line, therefor,
which communicated the tidings of the latters death to the
audience, p. 162.
And young Benvolio is deceafed too,
and which mr. Steevens rejects, as he fuppofes Shakspeare
to have done," as unneceffary flaughter," fhould be re-
ftored to the text. His death fhould feem to have been oc-
cafioned by grief for the death of one friend, and the ba-
niſhment
190
HAM LE T.
niſhment of the other: and we no where find that the
prince was any way related to either the Capulets, or the
Montagues.
HAM L
M LET (19).
p. 170.
Ber. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,
The rivals of my watch, bid them make haft.
By rivals the ſpeaker certainly means partners (according
to dr. Warburtons explanation), or thoſe whom he expected
to watch with him. Marcellus had watched with him be-
fore; whether as a centinel, a volunteer, or from mere
curiofity we do not learn: but whichever it was, it ſeems
evident that his ftation was on the fame ſpot with Bernardo,
and that there is no other centinel by them relieved. Pof-
fibly Marcellus was an officer, whoſe duty it was to viſit
each watch, and perhaps continue with it fome time. Ho-
ratio, as it appears, watches out of curiofity. But in
act II. ſcene i. to Hamlets queftion, Hold you the watch to-
night? Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, all anſwer, we
do, my honour'd lord. The folio, indeed, reads both, which
one may, with greater propriety, refer to Marcellus and
Bernardo. If we did not find the latter gentleman in ſuch
good company, we might have taken him to have been like
(19) Dr. Johnſons affertion, that "this play is printed in the folio of 1633
more correctly, than almoſt any other of the works of Shakespeare," could onely
proceed from his never having looked into it. If any one play is in that edi-
tion more incorrect than all the reft, it is Hamlet. Even the accuracy of mr.
Steevens has fuffered fome hundreds of its various readings to eſcape him.
Francifco,
HAI
HAM LE T.
191
Francisco, whom he relieves, an honeft, but common, fol-
dier. The ftrange indiscriminate uſe of Italian and Roman
names in this and other plays makes it obvious that the
author was very little converfant in even the rudiments of
either language.
P. 185.
King. But now, my coufin Hamlet and my for
Ham. A little more than KIN and less than KIND.
i. e. we are, indeed, fomewhat too nearly related, but
our relationſhip favours very little either of nature or af-
fection.
Why the page of Shakspeare fhould be loaded and dis-
graced with fuch a quantity of ill-founded and injudicious
notes, is a question that every reader will find frequent oc-
cafion to afk. To any one acquainted with the language
of Shakipeare and of nature, the fenfe of this paffage was
fufficiently clear. Biſhop Warburton and dr. Johnſon, out
of the abundance of their misunderstanding, have done
every thing in their power to confound it; and thoſe who
look upon them to be the moft intelligent and fagacious
of all poffible critics, are naturally led to conceive difficul-
ties which do not exift. Mr. Steevens has eftabliſhed the
true reading, and, if there be any neceffity for a note,
his, with a little alteration, fhould alone remain, and all
the others be configned to the oblivion they fo well merit.
King.
P. 188.
Let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne ;
And with no lefs nobility of love,
Than that which dearest father bears his fon,
Do I impart toward you.
5
6. The
#
192
•
HA M LET.
"The crown of Denmark was elective.
وو
STEEVENS.
Whereever the learned commentator acquired this piece of
knowlege, certain it is, that his quotation from Sir Clyo
mon proves no ſuch thing:
And me poffefs for fpoufed wife, who in election am
The words in election im-
To have the crown of Denmark here, as heir unto the ſame.
For it clearly appears, from this, that he was to take
the crown by hereditary right.
plying no more than that fhe had fuch right by the election,
the chofenness, the elevation of her rank and family. The
king tells Hamlet that he is the most immediate to the thrones
i. e. heir apparent, or, at leaft, prefumptive heir, which
would be abfurd, on an idea that the crown was elective.
(See alſo the converfation of Laertes with his fister, in
ſcene iii.)
Impart moſt affuredly means profefs myself, bear me to-
wards you; and not what dr. Johnſon fays, (i. e. communicaté
whatever I can beftow) whofe note,
whofe note, as well as mr.
Steevenses, fhould be entirely expunged.
P. 190.
Ham. Or that the everlafting had not fix'd
His canon 'againſt ſelf-flaughter.
A quibble between ordnance and ecclefiastical decrees. Mr.
Steevens is an advocate for the former fenfe; mr. Theobald
for the latter. What happyneſs, what immortal glory, to
be the conciliator of fuch contending chieftains in criti-
cifm!
p. 210.
Pol. For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France, of the beſt rank and ſtation,'
Are most felect, and generous chief, in that.
This pointing, which comes recommended by mr.
Steevens, makes the moſt ingenious and abfolute nonfenfe
of the whole paffage. The folios read:
HAM LE T.
193
Are of a moſt felect and generous cheff in that,
without any punctuation. The genuine meaning of the
paſſage requires us to point the line thus:
Are moſt ſelect and generous, chief in that.
i. e. the nobility of France are felect and generous above
all other nations, and chiefly in the point of apparel; the
richneſs and elegance of their dreſs.
Ham.
P. 208.
That theſe men,
Carrying, I ſay, the ſtamp of one defect;
Being nature's livery or fortune's ftar
One of the quarto editions (and the editors have not con-
deſcended to inform us that the paffage is, in confequence
no doubt of the authors own alteration, omitted in the
folios) reads fear, which dr. Johnſon thinks more proper.
But dr. Johnfon did not, perhaps, know, neither does it
appear that mr. Steevens could acquaint him, that the
word ftar, in the text, fignifies a fear of that appearance.
It is a term of farriery: the white far or mark fo common
on the forehead of a dark coloured horfe is, according to
another humane practice, peculiar, it is believed, to this
generous country, ufually produced by making a fear on
the place.
Ibi.
The dram of baſe
Doth all the noble fubftance of worth out,
To his own ſcandal.
This muſt be allowed a very difficult, and perplexed
paffage. But as mr. Steevenses propofed reading (doth all
the noble fubftance oft do out), or rather, indeed, mr. Holts
(Doth all the noble ſubſtance oft adopt), comes neareſt to the
traces of the original
C c
(-The
194
HAMLET.
The dram of eaſe
Doth all the noble ſubſtance of a doubt),
it ought to have been inferted in preference to Theobalds.
And the whole fpeech, from the fourth line, ſhould have
been thrown to the bottom of the page, or, perhaps, totally
omitted, as apparently rejected, by the author, upon a
revifion of his play.
Hor.
p. 214.
-To what iffue will this come?
Mar. Something is rotten in the ftate of Denmark.
Hor. Heaven will direct it.
"Perhaps," fays dr. Farmer, "it may be more appofite
to read, heaven will detect it.”
Horatio aſks to what iffue this ftrange bufynefs will come,
and not receiving any anfwer from Marcellus, at leaſt one
to his purpoſe, very naturally adds, Heaven will direct
or lead it. Dr. Farmer and Horatio ſeem to be thinking of
two distinct fubjects: the latter is reflecting upon the ap-
pearance of the ghost; the former upon the rottenness of the
State.
Gloft. I find thee apt,
p. 217.
And duller fhould't thou be than the fat weed
That rots itself in eaſe on Lethe's wharf,
Would'ſt thou not ſtir in this.
Rots itself, is the reading of the two firft folios; that of
the quarto, mr. Steevens informs us (but as there are more
quartos than one, we fhould have been more obliged to him
if he had told us to which he alludes, and what the others
read), is roots and mr. Pope followed it: though mr.
Steevens thinks the fuperiority of the prefent reading ap-
parent.
1
HAM LE T.
LET.
195
parent.
"To be in a quiescent ftate" he fays, "(i. e. to
root it/elf) affords an idea of activity." Very little activity,
one would imagine, is neceffary for the purpoſe of a weed
rooting itsfelf; and that little is made almoſt none, when it
roots it fef in cafe. To rot, he thinks, better fuits with
the dullness and inaction to which the ghoſt refers."
"And yet,” adds he, "the accuſative caſe itſelf may ſeem to
demand the verb roots." And with that reading the text
would certainly be better. For, fetting afide the impro-
priety of giving an active fignification to a neuter verb, it
is far from being either neceffary or even proper that the
ghoft ſhould have any allufion to rottennefs and decay: fat-
neſs and ſtupidity being generally attended, at leaſt in this
world, with a tolerable ſhare both of good health and of
good fortune.
P. 231.
Pol. Good fir, or fo; or friend or gentleman.
This is the reading of all the old copies; and there is
not a more plain, fimple, certain (20), and intelligible line
in thefe ten volumes; nor one that has more exercifed
the attention and ingenuity of the learned and fagacious
commentators. Such readers as are better acquainted with
Shakspeare than with the modern improvements upon him,
(20) That it is the true reading is fufficiently proved by what Reynoldo,
a few lines lower, fays to Polonius, who aſks,
Rey.
Where did I leave?
At clofes in the confequence,
At friend, or fo, or gentleman.
But this last line, though certainly ufeful,-though printed in the folios,-is
not taken the leaft notice of in this editorial fpecimen of accuracy and per-
fection.
Cc 2
will
196
HAM LE T.
will not be displeafed to fee a lift of their feveral emenda-
tions.
Dr. WARBURTON: Good fir, or fire, i. e. father.
Dr. JOHNSON: Good, fir, forsooth, or friend or gentle-
man.
Mr. STEEVENS: Good fir, or fo forth, friend or gentle-
man.
Mr. TYRWHITT: Good fir, or fir, &c.
Each of theſe propoſals is recommended by a long note;
and there is, befides, a memoir by the reverend and learned
dr. Percy, upon the word forfooth. Illustrious critics! how
much is the fpirit of Shakspeare indebted to your unpa-
ralleled generofity, and unexampled friendſhip!
Guil. But, we both obey,
p. 236.
And here give up ourſelves in the full bent
To lay our ſervice freely at your feet
Bent dr. Warburton would have to be endeavour, appli-
cation. He is wrong: it means, inclination, will, refo'ution,
defire.
p. 238
Volt. Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy,
Gives him threejcore thousand crowns in annual-fee.
Fee in this place, fays mr. Steevens, fignifies reward, re-
compence. The word annual, however, might have in-
clined him to find fome other meaning for it. The king
gave his nephew a feud or fee (in land) of that yearly value.
The folio reads the line thus:
Gives him three thoufand crowns in annual fee.
です
​But
HAM L E T.
197
But mr. Theobald, and the prefent editors after him,
thinking that too little for a prince, have very liberally
(upon the credit of fome of the old quarto editions) en-
larged his income to 60,000. To be fure the interpolation
fpoiled the meaſure: but as the critic has for this licence
the authority of one of the CANONS, nothing is to be objected
on that head.
Ham.
P. 247.
Conception is a bleſsing; but not as your daugh-
ter may conceive.
This reading is not explained. Conception (underſtand-
ing), fays Hamlet, is a bleſsing, but the conception (preg-
nancy) of your daughter would not be one.
Rof.
p. 255.
An aiery of little evafes
Mr. Theobald had no fuch mighty reaſon to plume his-
ſelf on having done wha. is juft equal to nothing at all:
for Yafes (the old reading), had he known how to pronounce
it, would not have been found to differ, in any very ex-
traordinary degree, from his moſt fagacious emendation.
P. 258.
Ham. Then came each actor on his afs.
This, fays dr Johnſon, ſeems to be a line of an old bal-
lad. He has, there for, caufed it to be printed in the
Italic character. But there appears no other ground for
the ſuppoſition, than the good doctors opinion, which is
not ſufficient in theſe matters to authoriſe an alteration in
the type.
Poi
7 9 8
HAM LE T.
LET.
Ibi.
Pol. The beft actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy,
history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, [tragical-
historical, tragical-comical, historical-pastoral] fcene undividable,
Sc.
"The words within the crotchets," fays mr. Steevens,
"I have recovered from the folio, and fee no reason why they
were hitherto omitted." But though the learned cominen-
tator could ſee no reaſon why the words were omitted »efore,
his readers can fee one why they ſhould be omitted now;
viz. that the words historical-pastoral may not be abfurdly
repeated. The truth is, that the industrious editor has en-
tirely loft the merit of his recovery, by the negligence of
his printer the folio properly reads :
:
- pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-histo-
rical, tragical-comical- historical-pastoral, &c.
P. 259.
Ham. Why, as By lot, God-wot, &c.] The original bal-
Jad, in black-letter, is among Anthony à Woods collections.
in the Ashmolean Muſeum.
P. 260.
Ham. O old friend! Why, thy face is valanc'd fince I faw
thee laft; com'ft thou to beard me in Denmark.
Valane'd fhould have been explained. It means over-
hung with a canopy or tefter like a bed. The folios read
valiant, which feems right. The comedian was, probably,
"bearded like the pard."
P. 262.
Ham. the play, I remember, pleaf'd not the million;
'twas caviare to the gencral.
The discordant accounts given in this page will fully jus-
tify the following quotation from a writer of fenfe and
veracity.
❝ Caviare
HAM LE T.
199
"Caviare is made at Aftracan of the rows of Sturgeon
and Belluga, a large fiſh, about twelve cr fifteen feet long,
without fcales, not unlike a fturgeon, but more luſcious
and large; his flesh is whiter than veal, and more delicious
than marrow. Of theſe two fiſhes they take great numbers
only for their rows fake, which they falt and prefs and put
up into cafks; fome they fend unprefs'd, and a little corn'd
with falt, being accounted a great dainty." Prefent ſtate of
Ruffia, by dr. Collins, 1671, 12mo.
:
Hamlet feems to mean, that the play, like the pickled
fturgeon, was a delicacy for which the multitude had no
relish and, hereby, pays the faid multitude a compliment
he did not intend; fince it is hard to fay, whether his tra-
gedy or his caviare were the more ftrange and unnatural
food.
P. 268.
Ham. What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he could weep for her?
Mr. Upton and fir John Hawkins think this expreffion
a plain allufion to a paffage in Plutarchs life of Pelopidas,
which the latter has here quoted at length. This ftory
Shakspeare had undoubtedly read in fir Thomas Norths
translation: but that he here alludes to it is not equally
apparent. Hamlets obfervation merely relates, as the players
grief did, to the bombaft ſtuff about Hecuba which the
latter had juſt done ſpouting.
P. 273.
King. Her father, and myſelf (lawful efpials).
"The words-lawful efpia's, are WANTING in the
FOLIO. STEEVENS”
This
200
HAM LET.
This is not altogether fo certain. At leaſt both the firft
and ſecond folios appear to read :
Her father, and my ſelfe (LAWFULL ESPIALS).
p. 278.
Ham.
Who would fardels bear,
To groan and ſweat under a weary
life;
But that the dread of ſomething after death,
The undiscover'd country, from whoſe bourn
No traveller returns-puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear thofe ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus confcience docs make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of refolution
Is fickly'd o'er with the pale caft of thought;
And enterpriſes of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lofe the name of action.
Groan.] Dr. Johnſon is for or againſt Shakspeares own
words just as it fuits his purpofe or inclination: if grunt
(the reading of all the old copies) be to be changed to grean
merely becauſe (as he fays) it can scarcely be borne by modern
ears, Shakspeare may be ſo transmografyed (how do your
ears bear that, dr. Johnſon?) and frittered away, by his
friendly editors, in the courſe of a few years, that, if he
were to rife from the dead, he could not poſſibly know his
own work.
The undiscover'd country from whoſe bourn
No traveller returns.
It may still be a question how far dr. Farmers note re-
moves the force or ground of lord Orrerys objection.
A very fimple perſon once obſerved, that it is rather ex-
traordinary for Hamlet to fay that no Traveler had ever re-
1
turned
HAMLET.
201
turned from this undiscovered country, when he has, a few
moments before, had a long converſation with the ſpirit of
his father, which had returned from it, for the fole pur-
poſe of ſpeaking to him.
Pith.] The quartos, it feems, have pitch, which is cer-
tainly the better reading. The allufion is to the pitching or
throwing the bar;—a manly exerciſe, uſual in country
villages.
P. 280.
Ham. You fhould not have believ'd me: for virtue cannot ſo
inoculate our old ſtock, but we ſhall reliſh of it.
Innocculate is the reading of the folios. The first quarto,
according to mr. Steevens, reads euocutat; the fecond,
euacuat; and the third cuacuate.
So that evacuate appears to
be the true reading. The word adopted renders the paf-
fage abfolute nonſenſe.
p. 282.
Oph. Like fweet bells jangled out of tune and harſh
Would it not be better to read time, with the quarto?
p. 285.
Ham. I would have fuch a fellow whipp'd for o'er-doing
Termagant; it out-herods Herod.
Dr. Percy (who has been long ſuſpected to deal a little
too much in creatures of his own imagination) fhould, at
leaft, have pointed out fome one of the old Moralities in
which this Saracen Deity of his is fo clamorous and violent.
Grennyng upon her lyke Termagauntes in a play”
(Bales Acts of English Votaries. Reliques, I. 77.), which is,
65
Dd
very
202
HAM LÉ T.
very probably, all the authority the learned dignitary had
for his aſſertion, feems to mean no more than the behavi-
our of thoſe fiends or imps, fo frequently to be met with
in the ancient Mysteries.
Ham. Doft thou hear?
p. 289.
Since my dear foul was mistreſs of her choice,
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath feal'd thee for berfelf.
Though this be the reading of the two firft folios, it is
certainly much inferiour to the following, which mr.
Steevens gives us from an old quarto:
And could of men distinguish her election,
Sh' hath feal'd thee, &c.
Distinguifh her election, is no more than make her election;
Distinguish of men is exceeding harfh, to fay the beſt
of it.
P. 292.
Ham. O, your only jigmaker.
Mr. Steevens has clearly proved that jig in the authors
time fignifyed a ludicrous dialogue in metre, or a common
vulgar ballad; but he is as clearly wrong in afferting
that it did not, at that time, fignify a dance. He may
be fatisfyed of the fact, by onely turning over the next
leaf, from his own note:
Ham.
tumbling dauncing of gigges
P. 292. b.
let the devil wear black, for I'll have a fuit of fables.
That
HA
203
MLE T.
That a ſuit of fables was a very rich dreſs, and that an
equivoque is hardly intended, will appear from the following
paſſage :
“I had rather," fays honeft Sancho, when he is taking
leave of his government, "cover my felfe with a double
theepe skinne, then be clothed in Sables." Shelton,
P. 2. p. 359. e. 1620. 4to.
p. 300.
Ham. Gonzago is the duke's name; his wife, Baptista.
Mr.
thinks that Baptista is, in Italian, the
name always of a man. He is certainly right: Baptista,
Battista, or Giam-battista, means no more or less than
John the Baptift.
P. 302.
Hamlet. Would not this, fir, and a forest of feathers and two
provencial roſes on my rayed ſhoes.
After ſuch a conclufive noté in fupport of the old reading
(raz'd or rac'd), why is mr. Popes capricious alteration ftill
ſuffered to ufurp a place in the text?
P. 304.
Ham. For thou dost know, O Damon dear,
This realm dismantled was
Of Jove himſelf; and now reigns here
A very, very-peacock.
The first folio has paiocke, one of the quartos, it feems,
and the fecond folio pajecke, and another quarto paicocke.
Mr. Theobald, in a very long note, contends that we should
read paddock, which he interprets a Toad. As this is a
moft groundleſs and abfurd conjecture, mr. Malone-be-
lieves it to be thẹ true reading! Alas, poor Shakſpeare !
Dd2
Peacock,
204
HAMLET,
Peacock, however, is fo certainly right, that the very cor-
ruption of the old editions ferves to confirm it :—the fur-
name Peacock, and, moft probably, the bird itsfelf, is ftill,
in many parts of the country, called Paike. A paddock is
a frog. Hamlets ufing that word afterwards is nothing to
the purpoſe here. A peacock means a creature of no value
but for its gawdy trappings: but Theobald is evidently right
inf uppofing that it is onely fubftituted for the word afs.
p. 316.
Ham. New might I do it, pat, now he is praying;
And now I'll do't ;-And fo he goes to heaven :
And ſo am I reveng’d?—That would be ſcann'd ;
A villain kills my father; and, for that
I, his fole fon, do this fame villain fend
To heaven.
Why, this is hire and falary, not revenge.
He took my father grofsly, full of bread
With all his crimes broad blown, as fluſh as May;
And, how his audit ftands, who knows, fave heaven?
But, in our circumftance and courfe of thought,
'Tis heavy with him: and am I then reveng❜d,
To take him in the purging of his foul,
When he is fit and feafon'd for his paffage?
No.
Up fword and know thou a more horrid hent
When he is drunk, afleep, or in his rage;
Or in the incestuous pleaſures of his bed;
At gaming, fwearing; or about ſome act
That has no relifh of falvation in't:
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven ;
And that his foul may be as damn'd, and black,
As hell whereto it goes,
" This
HAMLE T.
205
"This fpeech," fays dr. Jobnfon, "in which Hamlet, re-
preſented as a virtuous character, is not content with taking
blood for blood, but contrives damnation for the man that
he would puniſh, is too horrible to be read or to be
uttered."
How far it detracts from the virtue of Hamlet to be
reprefented as lying in wait for an opportunity to take an
adequate and complete revenge upon the murderer of his
father, is a question not, with fubmiffion to the great mo-
raliſt, quite ſo eaſyly decided. The late king has reported
hisſelf to have been deſtroyed in the moſt deliberate, horrid,
and diabolical manner;
Cut off ev'n in the bloffom of his fin,
Unhoufel'd, disappointed, unaneal'd,
No reckoning made, but fent to his account,
With all his imperfections on his head:
O horrible! O horrible! moft horrrible!
Under fuch aggravated circumftances, for Hamlet to be
content with having what dr. Johnfon calls blood for
blood, would have been taking an inadequate and imperfect
revenge, and, confequently, doing an act of injuſtice and
impiety to the manes of his murdered parent. But, indeed,
the reaſons Hamlet here gives for his conduct, as they are
better than any other perfon can make for him, will fully
justify both him and it, againſt all fuch hypercritical op-
pofition to the end of time.
P. 318.
Ham. A bloody deed;-almost as bad, good mother,
As kill a king, and marry with his brother.
Queen. As kill a king?
This exclamation, which mr. Steevens thinks may be
sonfidered as fome hint, that the queen had no hand in her
husbands
206
LE T.
HAM LE
husbands murder, is as likely to proceed from ſurpriſed guilt,
as confcious innocence. There is, indeed, no direct proof
before us, of her being acceffory to the late kings death:
but his referring her punishment
to Heaven,
And to thoſe thorns that in her bofom-lodge,
To goad and fting her;
and her own confeffion of the black and grained ſpots the fees
in her very foul, which will not leave their tina, do, ſurely,
render her ſhare in that fhocking transaction very ſuſpi-
cious.
Ham.
p. 321.
Senfe, fure you have,
Elfe, could you not have motion: but fure that ſenſe
Is apoplex'd.
This is, certainly, the true reading.
Hamlet means
that the queen muſt have ſome kind of fenfe, otherwiſe ſhe
could not walk about, uſe her eyes, hands, &c. as the
was every day ſeen to do. Mr. Malones note (in which he
explains motion by libidinous inclination), inſtead of throwing
light upon the paffage, does effential injury to it.
Ham.
P. 325,
A vice of kings.
The vice, fays dr. Johnſon, is a low mimick, the foo
of a farce, from whom the modern punch is deſcended. But,
with all proper deference to fo good a judge in theſe
matters, it is a much more probable conjecture that
the facetious in aster Punch and his wife Joan are the tru
repreſentatives of thofe distinguished characters, in the
old mysteries, Pontius Pilate and his dreaming lady. The
old vice, as we elſewhere read, had a dagger of lath (i. e,
a fword
L
HA M LET.
207
a fword of thin wood), and is very likely the genuine ances-
tor of our more modern Harlequin. The fool of the Chrift-
mas gambols, in the North of Yorkſhire, is yet called the
Vice.
Ham. For this fame lord
P. 328.
I do repent; but heaven hath pleas'd it fo,
To puniſh bin with me, and me with him.
This, dr. Johnſon tells us, is Hanmers reading; the
other editions have it,
To puniſh me with this, and this with me.
What thanks are due from every lover of Shakspeare to
thefe worthy editors for their conftant and fucceſsful edea-
vours to preſerve his genuine text !
Ham.
p. 329.
a pair of resechy kiſſes.
Reechy is, here, not ſmoky, as mr. Steevens interprets it,
but dirty and greaſy, like the appearance of a cook-wenches
face, or chimney-bacon. This is, likewife, its meaning
in Coriolanus:
— The kitchen Malkin pins
Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck.
King. The bark is ready,
i. e.
P. 338.
and the wind at help.
at hand, ready, ready to help or aſſiſl you.
Johnfon fuppofes it fhould be-the wind at helm.
Dr.
P. 240.
King. And thou muſt cure me: till I know 'tis done,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun.
2
" Howe'er
2
+
1
208
HAM LE T.
"Howe'er my haps, my joys will ne'er begin.] This being
the termination of a fcene, fhould, according to our authors
custom, be rhymed. Perhaps he wrote,
Howe'er my hopes, my joys are not begun. JOHNSON."
"The folio reads, in confirmation of dr. Johnfons re-
mark,
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. STEEVENS.'
This is true but is it not, at the fame time, a con-
clufive proof either that dr. Johnſon never looked into the
folio, or that he has afcribed what he there found to his
own fagacity?
Something of this nature has been before obferved. Dr.
Johnfons captious readynefs to question mr. Theobalds in-
tegrity on fimilar, though much more dubious, occafions
is a ſufficient justification of truth and candour to dwell on
circunftances which might, perhaps, otherwife have been
left unnoticed.
P. 346.
Oph. To-morrow is St. Valentines day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Without doubt, fays dr. Farmer,
Good morrow 'tis Saint Valentines day.
The young lady comes to her fweethearts window the
day before the choofing of Valentines is always the buſynefs
of the vigil or eve.
P. 347.
Oph. By Gis, and by Saint Charity.
Mou
&.6
Gis
HAMLET.
209
Gis is, likely enough, a corruption of Jefus. But furely
it cannot be imagined that the letters I. H. S. on book
backs, &c. could any way contribute to it.
P. 361.
King•
The other motive,
Is the great love the general gender bear him:
Who dipping all his faults in their affection,
Work, like the fpring that turneth wood to ſtone,
Convert his
gyves to
graces.
The folio, nr. Steevens obferves, inftead of work reads.
would. And fhould not the prefent edition have done fo? Dr.
Johnfon feeins not to underſtand the paffage: the king ſays
that the common people would turn Hamlets faults into
virtues, as ftrange a perverfion, adds he, as that produced
by the fpring which changes wood to ftone. The learned
and fagacious editor has a fimilar property; but his alchemy
only ferves to convert gold to lead: he has a very ready
knack at changing the most perfect fenſe to the moſt abſo-
lute nonfenfe.
King.
P. 367.
good Laertes,
Will you do this, keep cloſe within your chamber:
Hamlet, return'd, fhall know you are come home:
We'll put on thofe fhall praiſe your excellence,
And fet a double varniſh on the fame
The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, together,
And wager o'er your heads: he, being remifs,
Moft generous and free from all contriving,
Will not peruſe the foils; fo that, with eafe,
Or with a little fhuffling, you may chooſe
A fword unbated, and, in a pafs of practice,
Requite him for your father.
E e
Laɛr.
}
210
HAMLET.
Laer. I will do't:
And, for the purpofe, I'll anoint my fword.
I bought an unction of a mountebank,
So mortal that but dip a knife in it,
Where it draws blood, no cataplaſm ſo rare,
Collected from all fimples' that have virtue
Under the moon, can fave the thing from death
That is but ſcratch'd withal: I'll touch my point
With this contagion, that, if I gall him ſlightly,
It may be death.
It is a matter of furprife that neither dr. Johnfen, nor
any other of Shakspeares numerous and able commentators
has remarked, with proper warmth and detestation, the
villainous affaffin-like treachery of Laertes in this horrid
plot. There is the more occafion that he fhould be here
pointed out an object of abhorrence as he is a character we
are, in fome preceding parts of the play, led to refpect and
admire.
P. 379.
us.
Ham. We muſt ſpeak by the card, or equivocation will undo
:
To do any thing by the card, ſays dr. Johnfon, is to do it
with nice obfervation; the card, being, according to him,
the paper on which the different points of the coinpafs were
defcribed that is, the compafs-paper itsfelf. But it is not.
The card is a fea-chart, ftill fo termed by mariners: and
the word is afterwards ufed by Osrick in the fame fenfe.
Hamlets meaning will therefor be, we inuft fpeak directly
foreward, in a straight line, plainly to the point.
P. 397.
Ofr. The king, fir, hath wager'd with him fix Barbarý
horfes against the which he has impon'd fix French rapiers,
:
&c.
6
To
1
HAM LE T.
211
To impone is certainly right, and means to put down, to
ftake, from the verb impono. To depone, which dr. John-
fon perhapses it ſhould be, is the fame as to depofe, to ſwear,
or give evidence upon oath, as he might have concluded
from the very paffage he has quoted from Hudibras.
P. 398.
Ofr. The king, fir, hath lay'd, that in a dozen paſſes between
yourſelf and him, he shall not exceed you three hits: he hath lay'd
on twelve for nine.
This wager dr. Johnfon candidly profefses hisfelf unable
to understand. In a dozen países, he fays, one must exceed
the other more or less than three hits: nor can he compre-
hend how, in a dozen, there can be twelve to nine. Mr.
Malone, however, with the affistance of a "flight correc-
tion already made by fir T. Hanmer," thinks he has recon-
ciled all difficulties. By a dozen passes between yourself and
bin, he understands a dozen países for each. The mean-
ing then, fays he, is-"The king hath laid, that in a dozen
pa´ses a-piece between you and Lartes, he fhall not have
the advantage of you by three hits. He (viz. the king)
bath laid on the terms of Laertes making twelve hits for
nine wh ch you fhall make."-Or perhaps, he adds, the laſt
he means Laertes, and then it will run-" He (viz. Laertes)
hath laid on terms of making twelve hits for nine which you
fhall make." This, continues the ingenious critic, juft
exceeds Hamlets number by three. If therefor, fays he,
Laertes in his 12 países fhould make 12 hits, and Hamlet
in his 12 but 9, the king would lofe.-If on the other
hand, Laertes fhould make but 11 hits, and Hamlet 9, or
Laertes 12 and Hamlet 10, his majesty would win.
E e 2
Mr.
212
HAM LE T.
Mr. Malone has evidently beftowed great pains in the
above nice and accurate calculation. And great is his
praiſe as an ingenious commentator, and a dexterous arithme-
tician. It muft, therefor, be with no fmall diffidence after
fo laborious and mathematical a discuffien of this intricate
fubject, which he has, doubtless, moft fatisfactoryly ex-
pounded, and, in the ftile of his good old fchool-master, the
venerable mr. Cocker, made plain to the meaneſt capacity,
that any anonymous fcribbler fhould venture to question
the radix of his figurative fystem and if that fhould unfor-
tunately caufe a demolition of the whole fabric, alas the
day!
That a dozen passes a-piece were NOT intended, does evi-
dently appear from the enfuing feene, in which the king,
previously to the encounter, declares, that,
If Hamlet give the first or second bit,
Or quit in anfwer of the third exchange,
he will then drink his health. It is clear from this, that
Laertes might get these three hits. But, in cafe either party.
(no matter which) were to be the fole affailant for the firſt
twelve paſses, and the other ftand altogether on the defen-
five, as the ingenious commentators own idea allows one
to fuppofe, the kings.propofal would be ridiculous and ab-
furd; for, if Hamlet played his bouts first, Laertes could not
have a single chance out of 12 pafses, or, at leaft, 9: and,
on the contrary, if Laertes took the lead, there would be no
poffibility of Hamlets getting a fingle hit. The ingenious
citic takes it for granted that passes might be made without
a hit on either fide; a conjecture for which there is not
the flighteſt ground in the play: each pafs (or number of
países) feems to have been made for the purpoſe of getting
the hit, and did not end till the hit was given. But let us
fee
HAM LE T.
213
fee how the parties behave in the trial fcene. "Here they
play," each endeavouring, we find, to hit the other. Hamlet
gets the fit and fecond hits, and calls on his antagoniſt for
the third bout; praying him to paſs with his bift violence:
they play again: Laurtes wounds Hamlet: they become
incenfed, change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds Laertes,
There does not feem the leaft foundation for the ingenious
hypothefis and calculation in the note; the whole ftructure
muft, therefor, inevitably fall to the ground. Had they
played with coolnets, and fuppofing their ſkill equ:1, the
odds were (and fo we are to und rftard Osrick) 12 to 9 in
favour of Hamlet; for Laertes, to win, muſt have got 8
hits at the leaft; whereas Hamlet would have won if he had
onely got 5; fo that he had clearly the advantage of Laertes,
in point of number, three whole países or hits, and the odds
were 8 to 5, which is in the fame arithmetical proportion
as 12 to 9, in Hamlets favour, before they begun to play.
This is Shakspeares meaning, and renders the text clear and
confistent throughout. And it onely remains to be confi-
dered whether dr. Johnfen or mr. Malone has underfood
the paff ge beft?
P. 405.
Laert. I am fatisfy'd in nature,
Whoſe motion, in this cafe, fhould ftir me moſt
To my revenge: but in my terms of honour
I ftand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by fome elder masters, of known honour,
I have a view and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungor'd: But, till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.
This, mr. Steevens fays, was a piece of fatire on fantas-
tical honour. Though nature, adds he, is ſatisfyed, yet
he
214
HAMLET.
he will afk advice of older men of the fword, whether arti-
ficial honour ought to be contented with Hamlets fubmiffion.
But, in fact, the paffage is as little intended for a fatire,
as the honour Laertes alludes to, is artificial or fantastical.
The ingenious commentator does not, furely, mean to
contend that nature and honour are one and the fame thing?
The fentiments of Laertes, and almoft his very words,
would, one may venture to fay, be adopted by men of real
bonour, in fimilar circumftances, in any country or in any
age. He is, notwithftandig, a treacherous and diabolical
villain.
P. 406.
Ham. Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker fide.
Mr. Malone (for, un'uckyly, as he did not underſtand
the paffage, he found it would not, in its prefent ſhape, fuit
his ingenious hypothefis and curious calculations in a pre-
ceding page) would have us read:
Your grace hath laid upon the weaker fide.
But the text is perfectly right, and neither requires nor ad-
mits of alteration. The king had wagered, on Hamlets
part, fix Barbary horfes againſt a few 1apiers, poniards, &c.
i. e. about twenty to one. ODDS enough, in all confcience !
And yet is this fame mr. Malone, in another place, fo hardy
as to affert that no unequal ſtakes were laid.
P. 408.
Ham. I am afraid you make a wanton of me.
i. e. you trifle with me, as if you were playing with a
child. Dr. Johnfon onely obferves that a wanton was a man
feeble and effeminate. He might as well have ſaid it w.s
a horfe or an elephant.
I would
HAM LE T.
LET.
215
And
I would have thee gone,
yet no further than a wantons bird,
That lets it hop a little from his hand,
And with a filk thread pulls it back again.
Romeo and Juliet.
p. 411.
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart: Good night, fweet prince;
And flights of angels fing thee to thy rest.
Mr. Steevenses note on this paffage is fo interefting and
extraordinary that it becomes neceffary to infert it here at
large, left it might be thought to be partially or unfairly
repreſented in the remarks which it has occafioned.
"Let us review for a moment the behaviour of Hamlet,
on the ftrength of which Horatio founds this eulogy, and
recommends him to the patronage of angels.
"Hamlet, at the command of his father's ghoft, under-
takes with ſeeming alacrity to revenge the murder; and
declares he will baniſh all other thoughts from his mind.
He makes, however, but one effort to keep his word, and
that is, when he mistakes Polonius for the king. On ano-
ther occafion, he defers his purpofe till he can find an op-
portunity of taking his uncle when he is leaft prepared for
death, that he may infure damnation to his foul. Though
he affaffinated Polonius by accident, yet he deliberately
procures the execution of his fchool-fellows, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern, who appear to have been unacquainted
with the treacherous purposes of the mandate they were
employed to carry. Their death (as he declares in a fubfe-
quent converfation with Horatio) gives him no concern,
for they obtruded themfelves into the fervice, and he
thought he had a right to deftroy them. He is not leſs ac-
countable for the distraction and death of Ophelia. He
comes
A
216
MLE T.
HAM
comes to interrupt the funeral defigned in honour of this
lady, at which both the king and queen were prefent; and,
by fuch an outrage to decency, renders it ftiil more necef-
fary for the ufurper to lay a fecond firatagem for his life,
though the firft had proved abortive. He comes to infult.
the brother of the dead, and to boast of an affection for
his fister, which, before, he had denied to her face; and
yet at this very time must be confidered as defirous of fup.
porting the character of a madman, fo that the openness of
his confeffion is not to be imputed to him as a virtue.
He apologizes to Horatio afterwards for the abfurdity of
this behaviour, to which, he fays, he was provoked by
that nobleness of fraternal grief, which, indeed, he ought
rather to have applauded than condemned. Dr. Johníon
has obferved, that to bring about a reconciliation with
Laertes, he has availed himſelf of a dishoneft fallacy; and
to conclude, it is obvious to the moſt careleſs fpectator
or reader, that he kills the king at laſt to revenge himſelf, and
not his father.
"Hamlet cannot be faid to have purſued his ends by
very warrantable means; and if the poet, when he facri-
ficed him at laft, meant to have enforced fuch a moral, it
is not the worft that can be deduced from the play; for as
Maximus, in Beaumont and Fletchers Valentinian, fays,
"Although his justice were as white as truth,
"His way was crooked to it; that condemns him.”
"The late dr. Akinfide once obferved to me, that the
conduct of Hamlet was every way unnatural and indefen-
fible, unleſs he were to be regarded as a young man whoſe
intellects were in fome degree impaired by his own misfor-
tunes; by the death of his father, the lofs of expected fo-
vereignty, and a fenfe of fhame refulting from the hafty
and inccftuons marriage of his mother.
"I have
HAMLET.
317
"I have dwelt the longer on this fubject, becauſe Ham-
let ſeems to have been hitherto regared as a hero not un-
deferving the pity of the audience; and because no writer
on Shakeſpeare has taken the pains to point out the immoral
tendency of his character.”
There are very few, it is believed, at all acquainted with
this inimitable author, who would not be furpriſed, nay
aftoniſhed, at fuch a fevere and unexpected attack upon his
principal and moft favourite character: a character every
one has been hitherto led to admire and efteem, not more by
univerfal and long eſtabliſhed opinion, than by the fenti-
ments and feelings of his own mind. To find the amiable,
the injured, the distracted, and unfortunate Hamlet repre-
ſented as a worthlefs and immoral being, totally undeferv-
ing of the leaſt pity from thoſe almoſt numberleſs audiences
whom the united force of Nature, Shak fpeare, and Garrick
has compelled to weep for his misfortunes; and whofe
compaffion would not be lefs in the clofet than in the
theatre, feems the most extraordinary and irreconcilable
proceeding in a writer of genius and learning that can be well
imagined. However, as the heavy charges which are here
brought against him will, upon the flighteft examination,
appear to be groundleſs, unwarrantable, and unjuft, there
is little reaſon to fear that the confidence and ingenuity with
which they are advanced and fupported will answer the
purpoſe of the learned objector.
Hamlet, the onely child of the late king, upon whofe death
he became lawfully intitled to the crown, had, it ſeems, ever
fince that event, been in a ſtate of melancholy, owing to ex-
ceffive grief for the ſuddenneſs with which it had taken place,
and an indignant horror at his mothers fpeedy and incestu-
ous marriage. The fpirit of the king his father appears, and
makes him acquainted with the circumftances of his un-
Ff
timely
218
HAM LE T.
1
timely fate, which he excites him to revenge: this Ham-
let engages to do: an engagement it does not appear he
ever forgot. It behoved him, however, to conduct hisſelf
with the greateft prudence. The ufurper was powerful,
and had Hamlet carryed his defign into immediate execu-
tion, it could not but have been attended with the
worft confequences to his own life and farne. No one
knew what the ghoft had imparted to him; till he
afterwards made Horatio acquainted with it: and though
his interview with the fpirit gave him certain proof and fa-
tisfactory reaſon to know and deteft the ufurper, it would
fcarcely, in the eye of the people, have justifyed his killing
their king. To conceal, and, at a convenient time, to ef-
fect, his purpoſe, he counterfei's madneſs, and, for his
greater affurance, puts the fpirits evidence and the ufurpers
guilt to the teft of a play, by which the truth of each is
manifefted. He foon after eſpies the ufurper at prayers, but
refolves, and with great justice refolves, not to kill him
in the very moment when he might be making his peace
with heaven: inasmuch as a death fo timed would have
been rather a happyness than a puniſhment, and, by no
means, a proper revenge for his fathers murder.
We next
find him in the queens apartment, endeavouring to make
her fenfible of the ftate of vice and horror into which her
unnatural connection with the ufurper had plunged her.
At the beginning of this conference he mistakes Polonius,
who was behind the arras, and about to alarm the houſehold,
for the ufurper, and, under that apprehenſion, ſtabs him.
The ſpirit appears (not very neceffaryly, perhaps) "to whet
his almoft blunted purpofe." He is, immediately, ſent off
to England and, in his paffage, discovers the treacherous
and fatal purpoſe of the commiffion with which his compa-
nion and pretended friends were charged. Theſe men, he
-
knew,
}
HAMLET.
219
knew, had eagerly folicited and even thruſt theirſelves upon
this employment; and he had, of courſe, fufficient reaſon
to conclude that they were well acquainted with the nature
and purport of their fatal packet. That Shakspeare meant
to charge them with this knowlege, and to reprefent them
as participes criminis, is evident from the old black letter
Hystorie which furniſhed him with the ſubject, where they
are not only made privy to, but actually deviſe the ſcheme
to take Hamlets life. His own fafety depended on their
removal; and, at fuch a time, and under fuch circum-
ftances, he would have been fully justifyed in ufing any
means to procure it.
That he is " accountable for the distraction and death
of Ophelia" is a moft ftrange charge indeed. He had, to
be ſure, accidentally killed her father, whom he took for his
betters. This caufes her distraction; and her distraction
cauſes her death. A moft lamentable train of circumſtances!
and with which the moral character of Hamlet is as little
concerned at that of the ingenious, though uncandid, com-
mentator.
That " he comes to interrupt the funeral defigned in ho-
nour of this lady," is an affertion which has nothing but
the credit of the afferter to fupport it. Walking with his
friend Horatio through a churchyard, he enters into con-
verfation with a grave-digger; but, preſently, obſerving the
approach of a funeral proceffion, he fays to Horatio, to
whom he was then ſpeaking:
Soft, foft, afide. Here comes the king,
The queen, the courtiers: Who is this they follow?
And with fuch maimed rites? This doth betoken
The corfe they follow, did with defperate hand
Ff2
Fordo
4
220
HA M L È T.
Fordo its own life. 'Twas of fome eftate.
Couch we a while, and mark.
Does it appear from hence that he knew, or had the
leaft reafon to fufpect this to be the funeral of Ophelia ;
or even that he was apprifed of her distraction or unfortu-
nate death? The contrary is moft certain. He left the
kingdom before her infanity broke out, and does not re-
turn till after ſhe is dead: he has feen no one, except Ho-
ratio, who was certainly unacquainted with the latter cir-
cumſtance, ſo that it is next to an impoffibility that he
could have known what had happened to her. But to pro-
ceed: Laertes aſking what ceremony elfe? Hamlet obferves
to Horatio, That is Laertes; a very noble youth. Laertes
concluding his expostulation about the further honours
with the following beautyful lines:
lay her i'the earth;
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets fpring!I tell thee, churlifh prieft,
A miniftring angel fhall my fister be,
When thou lieft howling;
Hamlet exclaims: What! the fair Ophelia? His furpriſe
and aftoniſhment on hearing Laertes name his fister are
manifeftly apparent, and may ferve to convince the
learned critic, and every one who has been misled by
his ill-founded accufations, that Hamlet does NOT come
to interrupt the funeral, and is guilty of No outrage what-
He as little "comes to infult the brother of the
dead," or "to boaft of an affection for his fister, which
before he had [in a wild and carelefs manner when he was
under the neceffity of counterfeiting madness] denied to her
face." Laertes bids
ever.
Treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that curfed head,
Whoſe
HAM LE T.
321
Whoſe wicked deed thy moſt ingenious fenfe
Depriv'd thee of;
an execration Hamlet cannot but perceive to be pointed at
hisfelf. Having uttered this curfe, Laertes, haftyly, and in
direct violation of all decorum, jumps into the grave,
where he “rants and mouths it" like a player. This out-
rageous proceeding feems to infect Hamlet; who, forgetting
hisfelf, as he afterward, with forrow, owns to Horatio,
and, by the "bravery" of the others grief being worked up
"into a towering paffion," leaps in after him: and he who
thinks Hamlets madneſs or fincerity counterfeit here does
not appear to know ſo much of Shakspeare or of human
nature as every one who reads this play ought to do.
The affection Hamlet now boafts for Ophelia was ge-
nuine and violent; we find him with the very fame fenti-
ments in the beginning of the play, and he has never once
disowned it, except on a fingle occafion, when the facrifice
was required by his affumed character; a circumftance
which cannot, at leaſt ought not to, be imputed to him as
a crime.
The behaviour and language of Laertes is more ranting
and unnatural, than noble and pathetic, and, with his ex-
ecration upon Hamlet previously to his leaping into the
grave, and the violent fhock which Hamlet might feel on
learning the corfe to be Ophelias, might eafyly work up
to, and apologiſe for, a higher pitch of extravagance, a
ftronger and more compofed mind than that of which
Hamlet appears to have been then master.
Hamlets converfation with Laertes, immediately before
the fencing ſcene, was at the queens earneft intreaty, and
though dr. Johnſon be pleaſed to give it the harſh name of
a dishoneft fallacy," there are better, becauſe more na-
tural, judges who confider it as a moft gentle and pathetic
addrefs;
221
HAMLET.
addreſs; and cannot perceive it to be either dishoneft or
fallacious for, certainly, Hainlet did not intend the death
of Polonius; of conſequence, unwittingly, and by mere ac-
cident, injured Laertes, who, after declaring that he was
"fatisfyed in nature," and that he onely delayed his per-
fect reconcilement till his honour were fatisfyed by elder
masters, whom, at the fame time, (for he has the inftru-
ment of death in his hand) he never meant to confult,
Lays,
Till that time,
I do receive your offer'd LOVE LIKE LOVE,
And WILL NOT WRONG IT.
On which the truely virtuous, innocent, and unfufpecting
Hamlet replies,
I embrace it freely
And will this BROTHERS wager frankly play.
Let the conduct and fentiments of Laertes, in this inter-
view, and in his converſation with the ufurper, together
with his villainous defign againſt the life of Hamlet, be
examined and tryed by any rules of gentility, honour, or
humanity, natural or artificial, he muſt be confidered as a
treacherous, cowardly, diabolical wretch. Is fuch a cha-
racter to riſe on the fall of the generous Hamlet?
Things are fometimes obvious to very careleſs ſpecta-
tors or readers, which are not discerned by thoſe who play
cloſer attention to the fcene. Hamlet, in a trial of ſkill
with Laertes, receives an unexpected, a treacherous, and
mortal wound. Immediately before the company enter,
he appears to be much troubled in mind; his fpirits fore-
boding what was to happen: "If it be
now," fays he,
" 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now;
if it be not now, yet it will come; the readynefs is all."
He
}
HAML E T.
223
He does not appear to have fufpected Laertes of any unfair
practice (he did not know ſo much of him as we do), but
he had every reaſon to expect treachery and murder from
the ufurper; he might too have heared fomething of his ſecret
juggling with Laertes; and, doubtlefs, intended to revenge the
death of his father. Being thus wounded, and on the
threſhold of futurity, if he had not killed the ufurper im-
mediately, the villain would have efcaped unpuniſhed. But
he does not ftab him for his treachery toward hisſelf,—he
upbraids him with his crimes of INCEST and Murder,
and configns him to the infernal regions,
'
With all his rank offences' thick upon him.
So that he ſufficiently revenges his father, his mother (who,
by the way, dyes, if not deſervedly, at leaſt unpityed), and
hisfelf. As to his own fall, every reader or fpectator muft
ſympathife with Horatio, for the untimely lofs of a youth-
ful prince poffefsed of fuch great and amiable qualities,
rendered miferable by ſuch unparalleled misfortunes ;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have prov'd moſt royally;
and who falls a facrifice to the moſt baſe and infernal ma-
chinations. His death, however, is not to be looked upon
as a puniſhment; the moft innocent, as Shakspeare well
knew, are frequently confounded with the moft guilty;
and the virtues of Hamlet were to be rewarded among
thofe angels which his friend Horatio invokes to eſcort
him to everlaſting reſt.
Dr. Akenfide was a very ingenious, fenfible, and worthy
man: but enough has been faid to ſatisfy thoſe who doubt,
that the conduct of Hamlet is neither unnatural nor inde-
fenfible. That his intellects were really impaired by the
circumſtances enumerated by the above learned phyfician,
4
is
224
HAMLET.
is very probable; and, indeed, Hamlet hisfelf, more than
once, plainly infinuates it. See, in particular, the latter
part of his foliloquy at the end of the ſecond act.
The oppofing and refuting of general charges by proof
and circumſtance commonly requires much more time and
ſpace than the making of them. The writer is fenfible that
the arguments here adduced are neither arranged fo judiciously,
nor expreſsed fo well, as the objections of the learned com-
mentator; but from what has been faid, and as it is faid,
it will appear, that it has not been without ftrong and fuf-
ficient reaſons that Hamlet has
been hitherto regarded as
a hero not undeferving the pity of the audience;" and the
ingenious critic will not, perhaps, have much cauſe to con-
gratulate hisſelf, on being the onely perfon who has taken
pains to point out the immoral tendency of as noble, as
virtuous, and as interefting a character,
As e'er 'imagination' cop'd withall.
P. 414.
Hor.
So fhall you hear
Of cruel, bloody, and unnatural acts.
Thus, fays mr. Collins, the more modern editors. The
first quarto, and the folio, adds he, read-Of carnal, &c.
referring, he ſuppoſes, to the ufurpers criminal intercourſe
with the mother of Hamlet.
Carnal, is without doubt, the true reading but nothing
can be more indecent, ridiculous, and abfurd than the con-
ftruction here put upon it. Was the relationſhip between
the ufurper and the deceaſed king a fecret confined to Ho-
ratio? All the world muſt have been apprifed of it. The
word is ufed by Shakspeare as an adjective to carnage.
The
OTHELLO.
225
O THE L L O.
Iago.
P. 427.
Three great ones of the city,
In perfonal fuit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him.
Off-capp'd, in the folio, is certainly the true reading.
That of the text is nonſenſe.
P. 428.
Iago. One Michael Caffio, a Florentine,
A fellow almoft damn'd in a fair wife.
This paſſage is too ftubborn for any but a master critic
to attack; and thoſe who have hitherto attempted it have
little reafon to boast of their fuccefs. Sir Thomas Hanmer
reads fair phyz; which dr. Warburton calls a "White-
friers phrafe," and thinks Iago is repeating Othellos own
words, alluding to him. Mr. Steevens feems gently to in-
cline to Theobalds notion, that the fair wife was lagos.
Dr. Johnfon, according to his ufual custom when there is
real difficulty in a paffage, has nothing to propoſe. Mr.
Tollet thinks one might read falfe wife. Mr. Tyrwhitt be-
lieves the true reading is fair life. Mr. Steevens, in a fubfe-
quent note, obſerves, that almoſt damn'd in a wife can onely
be faid of a man who is near being marryed; thinking, it
fecins, that a man actually marryed is not almoſt, but alto-
gether damn'd. It is, however, fettled that Caffio is the Flo-
rentine, and evident that wife can never be the true word
fince he neither is marryed, nor, till fome time after, has
any connection with a woman, at least to our knowlege.
Gg
Mr.
226
OTHELLO.
Mr. Tyrwhitt feems to have come the nearest to what we
may conceive to be lagos meaning; and as his emendation
does fo little violence to the text, the editors would cer-
tainly have been justifiable in adopting it.
P. 436.
Bra. What tell'ſt thou me of robbing? this is Venice;
My houſe is not a grange.
That is, fays mr. Warton, you are in a populous city,
not in a lone houſe, where a robbery might cafily be com
mitted.
One is always glad to read the notes of this very ingeni-
ous and fancyful writer; fince, if one does not meet with
information, one may be fure of entertainment.
« You,"
he makes Brabantio fay to lago and Rodorigo, " are in a
populous City, not in a lone house."-They are ftanding in
the STREET. See, as to Grange, before, p. 21.
P. 440.
Bra. With the Moor, fay'ſt thou?-Who would be a father?
How did'st thou know 'twas fle?~O, thou deceiv'ft me
Paſt thought!-what faid fhe to you?—
Thus, fays mr. Steevens, the quarto 1622. The folio
1623, and the quartos 1630 and 1655, he adds, read,
O fhe deceives me
Paſt thought.
“I,” continues he, "have chofen the apoftrophe to his ab-
fent daughter, as the moſt ſpirited of the two readings.”
It may be the moft fpirited, but it is furely the leaſt na-
tural. It is not at all in Brabantios manner, and is with
as much probability an errour of the prefs as an apostrophe
to his daughter. Be that, however, as it may; the majo-
rity
OTHELLO.
227
rity and weight of evidence is in favour of the other read-
ing, which is more likely to be Shakspeares own, and
ſhould therefor be reſtored.
P. 446.
Lago. He's married.
Caf. To who?
lago. Marry, to-Come, captain, will you go?
Mr. Steevens thinks it fingular that Caffio ſhould aſk the
question, as it appears he knew of Othellos courtſhip from
firſt to laft. But it is very eaſy to imagine that Caffio
might wish to know if Iago were acquainted with the lady,
to prevent the latters fufpecting that he was.
P. 448.
Bra. That thou hast practif'd on her with foul charms;
Abuf'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,
That weaken motion.
Mr. Theobald reads-That weaken notion. HANMER-
That waken motion: a notion to which mr. Steevens in-
clines. Mr. Malone knows not which to prefer; he is for
both and neither.
To weaken motion is to impair the faculties. It was, till
very lately, and may, with fome, be ftill, an opinion that phil-
tres or love-potions have the power of perverting, and, of
courſe, weakening or impairing, both the fight and judge-
ment, and of procuring fondneſs or dotage toward any
unworthy object who administers them. And by motion
Shakſpeare means the fenfes which are depraved and weak-
ened by theſe fascinating mixtures.
Ggz
Bian
228
OTHELL Q.
1
P. 454.
Bre. She is abuf'd, ftol'n from me, and corrupted
Fy fpells and medicines bought of mountebanks.
Dr. Warburton cites a Venetian ftatute againſt thoſe
who fold love potions, of which mr. Steevens believes
Shakspeare knew no more than he does; he, however,
fuppofes him to have been "well acquainted with the edicts
u that fapient prince king James the firft, againſt
practiſers
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant."
But there is no doubt that Shakspeare had the fubftance
of Brabantios fpeech from Cinthios novel, however he
night come by it, and Cinthio, it may be fuppofed, knew
fomething of the Venetian ftatute. As to the edit againſt
thefe practices by James I. it may be fairly prefumed, that
his fapiency had juſt about as much concern in its fabri-
cation as (if wisdom and learning be as criminal as it is rare
in a great king) a fomewhat lefs fapient fucceffor of his
had in its repeal.
P. 460.
Oth. That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels fhe had fomething heard,
But not intentively.
!
Thus, fays mr. Steevens, the eldeft quarto. The folio,
he adds, reads inftinctively. Perhaps, continues he, it
fhould be distinctively: a word which, if he had looked
into the fecond, third, or fourth folio, or into any fubfe-
quent edition prior to dr. Johnſons, he would there have
found.
Lago
OTHELL Ò.
229
Iago.
P. 475.
If fanctimony and a frail vow, betwixt an er-
ving barbarian and a ſuper-fubtle Venetian, be not too hard for my
wits, &c.
Here is a collection of quibbles, By an erring Barba-
rian he means not onely a roving moor, but a fhallow, blun-
dering brute; and this character he fets in oppoſition to that
of a fuperfubtle Venetian woman. The vow, he concluded,
muft needs be frail that was made between two fuch unna-
tural extremes as brutal folly and the moſt refined female
cunning.
p. 485.
Des. O, fie upon thee, flanderer!
This ſhort ſpeech, mr. Steevens fays, is in the quarto
unappropriated; and may as well belong to Emilia, as to
Desdemona. It is given to Desdemona in both the folios;
and to her it moft certainly belongs.
P. 499.
Iago. What an eye fhe has! methinks, it ſounds a parley of
provocation.
Cas. An inviting eye; and yet, methinks, right modeft.
Tago. And when he ſpeaks, is it not an alarum to love?
The voice, fays dr. Johnſon, may found an alarm more
properly than the eye can found a parley.
The eye is often faid to speak. Thus we frequently hear
of the language of the eye. Surely that which can talk may,
without any violent ftretch of the figure, be allowed to
found a parley.
The folio reads-parley to provocation.
3
Pherre
230
OTHELLO.
Pheere or fere is as entirely different from peer as one
word can be from another: the former implying a partner,
companion, mate, fweetheart, husband, or wife. Peers
and compeers may fignify equals, and, in that ſenſe, fellows;
but this is not the language of a ballad-maker. The term
worthy fellow would be poorly explained by honest equal.
But why fhould we thus endeavour to make difficulties
where we find none? Every perſon, one may venture to
fay, who has hitherto read the line will underſtand it to
mean, by a very common inverfion of language,
King Stephen was a worthy lord,
The term is not confined to this paffage: we have it in the
Tempeſt:
O king Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano.
Spenfer ufes peer continually for lord, and one might quote
a multitude of fimilar inftances from old books; but to
what purpoſe ?
€5
lbi.
With that he called the taylor-lown.
Sorry fellow, paltry wretch. JOHNSON." Rather knave,
rascal.
P. 506.
lago. I do not know ;-friends all but now, even now,
In quarter and in terms like bride and groom.
In quarter, that is, according to dr. Johnfon, "in their
quarters, at their lodging." But it fhould rather mean at
peace, quiet, or, as the learned critic elſewhere explains it,
"in friendſhip, amity, concord." They had been on that
very ſpot (the court or platform, it is prefumed, before the
castle)
OTHELLO.
231
castle), ever fince Othello left them, which can ſcarcely
be called being in their quarters, or at their lodging. And,
indeed, they could not have left it without being guilty of
another offence, as they were directed by Othello to keep the
watch,
P. 515.
Clown. Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away;
go; vaniſh into air; away.
This muſt be wrong;-poffibly Shakſpeare wrote-fly
away.
Des.
P. 520.
What! Michael Caffio,
That came a wooing with you.
And yet in the firſt act, fays mr. Steevens, Caffio ap-
pears perfectly ignorant of the amour, and is indebted to
lago for the information of Othellos marriage, and of the
perſon to whom he is marryed.
The ingenious critic will, perhaps, find his obfervation
a little too hafty. Caffios appearing or pretending to be ig-
norant of the above circumftances is, in the firſt place, no
conclufive proof that he actually was fo: and, fecondly, if
the learned writer will take the trouble of referring to the
paffage he alludes to, he will perceive that Caffio is not
indebted to Iago for the information" of the perfon to
whom Othello is married."
p. 523.
Oth. They are clofe delations, working from the heart.
Dr. Warburton reading, and defending cold dilations, “I
know not," fays dr. Johnſon, "why the modern editors are
fatisfied
232
OTHELLO.
fatisfied with this reading. They might eafily have found
that it is introduced without authority. The old copies UNI-
FORMLY give, clofe dilations, except that the earlier quarto
has clofe denotements; which was the authors first expreſſion,
afterwards changed by him, not to cold dilations, for cold is
read in NO ANCIENT COPY, but to clofe delations, &c."
Now would any one fuppofe that, after this confidence,
cold dilations hould be the reading of the fecond, third, and
fourth folios? But it is actually the cafe. How naturally
does indolence produce errour!
lago. I do befeech you,
P. 525.
Though I-perchance, am vicious in my gueſs,
that your wisdom yet,
From one that fo imperfectly conceits,
Would take no notice, &c.
This paffage is printed and explained as if what ſhould
have followed after the words though I were broken off by
the fpeaker defignedly. But it is not. His words and
meaning are altogether plain and fimple. I beefeech you, fays
he to Othello, though I may be too fhrewd and vicious in my
guejs (i. e. as mr. Steevens well explains it, apt to put the
worſt conſtruction on this matter), that you would not, from
my imperfect furmifes, take further notice of it.
7
P. 527.
Iago. O, beware, my lord, of jealouſy,
It is the green-ey'd monſter, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
The term green-ey'd monfter feems to refer onely to Jealousy,
and mock, doubtless, in this inftance, fignifies to loath. Suf-
picion is the food which may be faid to fupport jealousy; and
this
OTHELLO.
2'35
238
this very food the jealous perfon loaths and detefts, though
he is not able to withſtand the anxiety with which his
mind purſues, and devours it. Dr. Smollet had, perhaps,
this very paſſage in his eye, when he made one of the cha-
racters in his Regicide fay
Oth.
let me rot
A loathfome banquet to the fowls of heaven.
P. 529.
'Tis not to make me jealous,
To fay-my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of ſpeech, fings, plays, and dances well;
Where virtue is, theſe are more virtuous.
"I know not," fays mr. Steevens, "why the modern
editors, in oppofition to the first quarto and folio, read
most inftead of more."
They had two reaſons :
1. The fenfe requires moft. And,
2. It is the reading of the fecond folio.
p. 532.
Iago. Foh! one may fmell, in fuch, a will moft rank.
Will, fays dr. Johnſon, is for wilfulness. A rank will,
adds he, is ſelf-will overgrown and exuberant. To SMELL
wilfulneſs, and an overgrown ſelf-will, is a faculty peculiar
to the learned critic. But with all imaginable deference to
him, the expreffion means,-inclinations or defires moft
foul, gross, and firong-fcented.
P. 553.
Oth. A liberal hand: the hearts, of old, gave hands;
But our new heraldry is-bands, not hearts.
H h
Without
236
SUPPLEMENT.
Without it can be proved that this play exiſted in its
preſent ſhape prior to the inftitution of the order of baronets,
one may, pretty fafely, admit that this paffage contains an
allufion to the arms allotted them. But that Shakspeare
intended to fneer at the eſtabliſhment, or had fuch a re-
fined and complex meaning as dr. Warburton would con-
tend, is not quite ſo obvious. As to the inconfistency of
Othellos acquaintance with an Engliſh honour of the writ-
ers own time, every play abounds with fimilar inftances.
SUPPLEMENT.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
p. 81.
Widow Dido.] Perhaps, fays the industrious editor,
there is here an allufion to fome old ballad. In the Pepy-
fian collection, adds he, is one to the tune of Queen Dido.
If the learned commentator had confulted that collection,
he might have found the ballad of Queen Dido itsfelf. But
it is rather extraordinary that he fhould not know that it
was printed in Percys Reliques.
This ballad appears to have been, at one time, a great favourite
with the common people. "Oh you ale-knights," exclaims
an ancient writer, "you that deuoure the marrow of the
Mault, and drinke whole Aletubs into confumptions; that
fing QUEENE DIDO ouer a Cupp, and tell ftrange newes
ouer an Ale pot, &c." Jacke of Douer, his Queſt of In-
quirie, or his priuy fearch for the verieft Foole in England.
Lon. 1604. 4to. (fig. 2.)
Nor
こ
​SUPPLEMENT.
p. 82.
237
Nor ſcrape trencher, nor waſh dish.] "It ſhould be
remembered," fays one of mr. Malones muſhroom affistants
in this notable piece of editorial cookry, "that trenchers,
which, in the time of our author, were generally uſed,
were cleanſed by ſcraping ONLY, and were never washed.
They were ſcraped daily," continues he, "till they were en-
tirely worn away."
An affertion as ridiculous as untrue.
The ſcraping of a trencher is merely preparatory and con-
ducive to its being thoroughly washed and ſcoured. If fcrap-
ing had been the fole and dayly proceſs, theſe laſting and fer-
viceable utenfils would not onely have been foon entirely
ſcraped away, but have ſcarcely been fit to eat off a ſecond
time. And if mr. White (the trencher-fcraper in the note)
have been uſed onely to ſcrape, and never to waſh his
trenchers, one cannot well envy his guefts the luxury of
fouling a plate with him.
p. 87.
Val. Not mine, my gloves are on.
Speed. Why then, this may be yours; for this is but one.
From this quibble mr. Malone conjectures that the word
one was anciently pronounced as if it were written on.
That this was the ancient and original pronunciation is
very probable, as appears from the word only (onely), and
the vulgar ufage in many counties at this day. But that it
was not the general practice in our authors time is evident
from the following paſſages :
Much ado about "Tothing, act V. fcene i.
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,
But fuch A ONE whofe wrongs do fuit with mine.
Macbeth, a& IV, ſcene iv.
Hh2
There's
238
SUPPLEMENT.
こ
​There's not A ONE of them, but in his houſe
I keep a fervant fee'd.
A love letter of Henry the eighth to Anna Bullen, printed
by Hearne at the end of Robert de Avesbury, will clearly
fhew the pronunciation of that period.
"As touching a lodging for you, we have gotten won by
my lord Cardinals means, &c." (20)
p. 88.
Thou common friend that's quithout faith or love.
That's, fays mr. Malone, is here ufed for id eft, that is to
fay. Seriously? And does not the ingenious critic think
there is almost as much reafon for fuppofing it to be uſed
inftead of-that art?
P. 360.
that young Hamlet was born. By this fcene,
judge Blackftone obferves, it appears that Hamlet was then
thirty years old. And yet, fays he, in the beginning of
the play he is ſpoken of as a very young man, one that de-
figned to go back to ſchool, i. e. to the univerfity of Wit-
tenberg. The poet in the fifth act, he thinks, had forgot
what he wrote in the firft.
In fact, however, the poet has forgot nothing; neither
is there any reaſon to ſuppoſe the leaſt inconfiftency in the
matter: men may ſtudy, or refide at the univerſity to any
age.
(20) Mr. Malone, on another occafion (v. 72.), obſerved to mr. Steevens,
"that one and on are perpetually confounded in the old copies of our author."
The learned gentleman, probably, made this obfervation before he had ever
looked into an old copy: or he has discovered a perpetual confufion of which
it would be difficult for any other perſon to find a fingle inftance.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
VOLUME THE SIXTH.
KING HENRY THE FIFT H.
P. 15.
K. Henry. Send for him good uncle.
"John Holland, duke of Exeter, was married to Eliza-
beth the kings aunt. STEEVENS."
It is very true; but the learned commentator ſhould
have added, that he had been deprived of the title, and be-
headed by Henry IV. The nobleman to whom the king
now addreſses hisfelf is Thomas Beaufort, earl of Dorſet,
who was, indeed, created duke of Exeter, but not till fome
years after the time of this conference.
THIRD PART OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH.
P. 452.
Queen. A crown for York ;-and, lords, bow low to him.-
Hold you his hands, whilſt I do fet it on.
[Putting a paper crown on his head.
Shakspeare, mr. Steevens obferves, has on this occafion
deviated from history. The paper crown, he fays, was not
placed on the duke of Yorks head till after it had been cut
off.
The ingenious commentator is moft certainly mistaken.
Shakspeare, ſo far from having deviated from history, has
followed
240
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
followed it with the utmost precifion. Whethamftede ex-
preſsly tells us that the Lancastrians, in direct breach of a
mutual agreement, and before the day appointed for the
battle, fell fuddenly upon the dukes army, and took him
and the earl of Salisbury priſoners; treating both, but
eſpecially the duke, in the moſt ſhameful manner. Nam,
fays he, ftatuentes eum fuper unum parvum formicarium colli-
culum, & quoddam fertum vile, ex palustri gramine confectum,
imponentes, per modum corona, fuper capud fuum, non aliter
quam Judæi coram Domino incurvaverunt genua fua coram ipfo,
dicentes illuforie: Ave rex fine regimine; Ave rex abſque
hereditate; Ave dux & princeps abfque omni populo penitus
& poffeffione. Et hiis una cum aliis variis, in eum probrofe
opprobriofeque dictis, coegerunt ipfum demum per capitis abſci-
fionem clameum relinquere fuæ justicia vendicacionis. (p. 489.)
Not a fingle circumftance is omitted or varyed in the ſcene.
It is not, however, imagined that Shakspeare had ever con-
fulted Whethamftede: he found the fame ftory, no doubt,
in fome old black letter chronicle, which it has not been
the writers fortune to meet with, or he might poffibly have
it from popular tradition,
THE END.
THE GENUINE TEXT OF SHAKSPEARE.
Preparing for the Prefs,
AN EDITION OF
THE
PLA A Y S
O F
WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE,
WITH NOTE S.
T
HIS edition will be compriſed in eight duodecimo
volumes; and will be carefully and accurately
printed from the onely copies of real authority, the
two first folios. But although thefe editions will be the
ſtandard of the intended work, fuch paffages in the old
quartos as may appear to have been omitted by accident,
or with a view to fhorten the reprefentation, and every
various reading, will be maturely confidered, and, if wor-
thy of inſertion, be adopted, either in the text or margin,
as their importance or merit may feem to require. No
variation, however, will be made from the ftandard edi-
3
tions
tions without apprifing the reader of it, unless the diffe-
rence fhould confift merely in a flight typographical error.
Nor is any difference between the various editions in other
refpects intended to be otherwife than occafionally re-
garded. The orthography will be reduced with the utmoſt
care to a modern and uniform fystem, except where a
change would be injurious to the authors fenfe and
meaning. Various or doubtful readings will be fettled
from an attentive examination of the fentiments of every
commentator. The notes, which will be very fparingly
introduced, and never but where they ſeem abfolutely ne-
ceffary, or peculiarly proper, will be chiefly extracted,
under the names of their refpective authors, from the edi-
tions of Theobald, Warburton, Johnfon, and Steevens;
but not to the, exclufion of better, though, perhaps, ano-
nymous, intelligence, if it can be given. It is, however,
no part of the editors defign to fill his margin with a view
of the corruptions, or a refutation of the errors of preced-
ing commentators.
The authors life, with the ufual documents (particularly
a more exact copy of his will than has been yet publiſhed),
and the prefaces of his various editors will be prefixed to
to the work which will, likewife, be attended with a new,
copious, and accurate gloffary. And, in an additional vo-
lume, it is propoſed to give a complete verbal index,
adapted to the intended edition.
This edition will, with regard to the correctneſs of the
text, be infinitely fuperior to any that has yet appeared. It
will poffefs all the advantages of every former edition, and
be as little liable, it is hoped, as poffible to the defects of
any.
18th April, 1783.
"
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