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NOTES ON ELIZABETHAN DRAMATISTS.
NOTES ON ELIZABETHAN DRAMATISTS
WITH
CONJECTURAL EMENDATIONS OF THE TEXT
KARL ELZE.
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Max Niemeyer.
1880.
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PREFACE.
Part ot the following Notes and Emendations have al-
ready appeared in various Periodicals, both German and
English, and they have shared the fate incident to all ephem-
eral publications — they have been little heeded and soon
forgotten. 1 have therefore yielded to the temptation of
attempting to preserve in a more permanent shape, these
disiedi inembra critici, and of adding to them fresh matter
hitherto unpublished.
It is well known, that conjectural emendations are not
unfrequently written on the spur of the moment instead of
being as fully matured as other literary productions. At the
present day when scholars almost all over the world are busy
in translating, explaining, and revising the works of Shake-
speare and his contemporaries, critics are naturally apprehen-
sive lest they be anticipated in their emendations and there-
fore hasten to avail themselves of some one or other of the
numerous opportunities offered to them for publication. Sober
second thoughts and better wisdom are wont to come after
the fait accompli, when the critic awakes to the knowledge
that Goethe's beautiful line, —
Es irrt der Metisch, so lang er strebt,
is no less true of verbal criticism than of morals. Numerous
conjectures, therefore, have to be withdrawn, a penalty which
M78275
VI PREFACE.
all verbal critics, more or less, have had to pay, and always
will have; for verbal criticism neither can, nor will, be stop-
ped: it is essential to the advancement of learning. The
eminent philologist Gottfried Hermann, who stands in the
frontrank of verbal critics, in one of his lectures, delivered
it as his conviction that a verbal critic of the true stamp
should be willing like Saturn to devour his own offspring.
As one of his disciples, therefore, 1 cannot be blamed if,
following his precept and example, I hereby eat those conject-
ural emendations of Elizabethan dramatists which I have hither-
to published and which are not contained in my editions
of Elizabethan plays, in Messrs Warnke's and Prcescholdfs
Edition of 'Mucedorus', and in the present collection; at the
same time let me breathe the hope that the emendations
published in those editions and in this collection may not
need, at some future day, to be subjected to the same Satur-
nian process. My conjectural emendations in the text of
'Mucedorus', which appeared originally in the Shakespeare-
Jahrbuch XIII, 45 seqq., have been excluded from the present
collection merely on the ground that almost all of them —
and some fresh ones to boot — have been embodied in the
edition of that play by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt. The
emendations of * Mucedorus ' contained in the present volume
have not been published before.
Halle, November 1879. K. E.
CONTENTS.
Anonymous Plays.
Arden of Feversham, I i
The Birth of Merlin, II — VI ,
Edward III, Vn— XI 4
Fair Em, XH— XXX 6
Histrio-Mastix, XXXI ......... 20
The London Prodigal, XXXII— XXXV 20
Mucedorus, XXXVI— XL 22
No -body and Some -body, XLI 26
The Play of Stucley, XLII 26
Cliapman.
Alphonsus, XLin 26
Greene,
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, XLIV 27
Marlowe.
Tamburlaine, XLV— XLVII ....... 28
Edward II, XLVIII— XLIX 30
Shakespeare and Fletcher.
The Two Noble Kinsmen, L 31
Shakespeare.
The Tempest, LI — LVI 33
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, LVII 40
Vin CONTENTS.
Page
A Midsummer -Night's Dream, LVIII — LXI . . . .41
The Merchant of Venice, LXH— LXVI 44
As You Like It, LXVII 49
The Taming of the Shrew, LXVIH— LXXIII .... 50
Twelfth Night, LXXIV 55
King John, LXXV— LXXXII 56
Romeo and Juliet, LXXXIII 66
Timon of Athens, LXXXIV— LXXXV 76
Julius Casar, LXXXVI — LXXXVII 79
Hamlet, LXXXVITT— XCIX 81
Othello, C 123
Addenda.
Fair Em, XX. XXIV. XXVI. XXX ' 125
ANONYMOUS PLAYS.
I.
Then is there Michael, and the painter too,
Chief actors to Arden's overthrow.
Arden of Feversham, III, 5 (ed. Delius 45).
Is Chief to be taken as a so-called monosyllabic foot —
followed by a trochee ! — or are we to read : —
Chief actors both to Arden's overthrow?
II.
Toclio. Me, Madam ! 's foot ! I'd be loath that any man
should make a holy -day for me yet:
In brief, 'tis thus: There's here arriv'd at court.
Sent by the Earl of Chester to the king,
A man of rare esteem for holiness,
A reverend hermit, that by miracle
Not onely sav'd our army,
But without aid of man o'erthrew
The pagan host, and with such wonder, sir.
As might confirm a kingdom to his faith.
The Birth of Merlin, I, i (ed. Delius 5).*
* Both here, and in the passages taken from Edward III and
The London Prodigal, I have not quoted the Tauchnitz Edition of the
Doubtful Plays, since its text, as far as I have compared it, does not
differ from that of Delius.
2 THE BIRTH OF MERLIN.
These lines should be thus regulated: —
loclio. Me, madam! 'S foot! I'd be loth that any man
t Should make a holiday for me yet.
" In brief, 'tis thus: there's here arriv'd at court,
' /^Sen^ by the Earl of Chester to the king,
^'^ ' A 'man of rare esteem for holiness,
A reverend hermit, that by miracle
Not only sav'd our anny, but without
The aid of man o'erthrew the pagan host,
And with such wonder, sir, as might confirm
A kingdom to his faith.
The monosyllabic pronunciation of madam (in the first line)
is too frequent to call for any further remark. In the second
line a syllable is wanting; the regular blank verse might be
restored, if we were to read: —
Should make a holiday for my sake yet.
III.
Prince. Nay, noble Edol, let us here take counsel,
It cannot hurt.
It is the surest garrison to safety.
The Birth of Merlin, IV, 2 (Del. 71).
Arrange and transpose: —
Prince. Nay, noble Edol,
Let us take cowisel here, it cannot hurt,
It is the surest garrison to safety.
Some twenty lines lower down we meet with a striking paral-
lel, as far as versification is concerned: —
Prince. Hold, noble Edol,
Let's bear what articles he can enforce.
THE BIRTH OF MERLIN. 3
IV.
Prince. Look, Edol: Still this fiery exhalation shoots
His frightful horrors on th' amazed world.
The Birth of Merlin, IV, 5 (Del. 74).
Arrange: —
Prince. Look, Edol:
Still this fiery exhalation shoots &c.
Still to be considered as a so-called monosyllabic foot (cf.
Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, 482), or if this should be
deemed insufficient to meet the requirements of the metre,
the imperative look to be repeated: —
Prince. Look, Edol:
Look, still this fiery exhalation shoots
His frightful horrors on th' amazed world.
V.
Nor shall his conquering foot be forc'd to stand,
Till Rome's imperial wreath hath crown'd his fame
With monarch of the west, from whose seven hills
With conquest, and contributary kings.
He back returns —
The Birth of Merlin, IV, 5 (Del. 78).
Qy. read: —
With tK (or WitJi) vionarchy of tH ivest, &>c. ?
VL
Tenebrarum precis, divitiarum et inferorum deus, hunc
Incubum in ignis ceterni abyssum accipite —
The Birth of Merlin, V, i (Del. 82).
I*
EDWARD m.
Qy. read, — Tenebrarum princeps, divitiarum et inferorum
deus, &c.? Nash's Pierce Pennilesse is inscribed *To the High
and Mightie Prince of Darknesse,' &c.
VII.
Edw. WHiose lives, my lady?
Coun. My thrice loving liege,
Your queen, and Salisbury, my wedded husband.
Edward III, II, 2 (Del. 34 seq.).
The Countess of Salisbury has no occasion to lay stress on
the king's love for her; on the contrary she thinks it incumbent
on her to assure him of her own love, which is indeed no
guilty, adulterous love, but that true and noble afiection
which every vassal and subject owes his liege. It seems,
therefore, that the poet wrote : — My thrice lovki liege. (Shake-
speare-Jahrbuch XIII, 78 seq.)
VIII.
Next, — insomuch thou hast infring'd thy faith.
Broke league and solemn covenant made with me, —
I hold thee for a false pernitious wretch.
Edward III, III, 3 (Del. 48).
This, I presume, is the reading of the quartos. Capell, how-
ever, (Prolusions ; or. Select Pieces of Antient Poetry, London,
1760) reads a most pernitious wretch^ and, in fact, it does seem
that the two adjectives false and pernitious do not well agree
with one another, although they give an unexceptionable
sense. Qy. — a false perfidious ivretchl (Shakespeare -Jahr-
buch xm, 80.)
EDWARD in. r
IX.
And with a strumpet's artificial line
To paint thy vitious and deformed cause.
Edward III, III, 3 (Del. 49).
Read: — artificial lime. (Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XIII, 81.)
X.
Upon my soul, had Edward prince of Wales,
Engag'd his word, writ down his noble hand,
For all your knights to pass his father's land,
The royal king, to grace his warlike son.
Would not alone safe -conduct give to them.
But with all bounty feasted them and theirs.
Edward III, IV, 5 (Del. 75).
Grammar, 1 think, requires either: —
Had not alone safe -conduct given to them,
or: —
But with all bounty feast both them and theirs.
As, however, these alterations might be justly thought too
bold, a contraction may be suggested: —
But with all bounty d feasted them and theirs,
i. e. of course, bounty had.
XI.
Sec. at. The sun, dread lord, that in the western fall
Beholds us now low brought through misery,
Did in the orient purple of the morn
Salute our coming forth, when we were known;
Or may our portion be with damned fiends.
Edward HI, V, i (Del. 82).
II EDWARD in. FAIR E^L
One or two verses seem to be wanting between the fourth
and fifth line. The king thinks himself cheated, as he has
required the foremost citizens of the town to be delivered
to him, whereas, he says, only servile grooms or felonious
robbers of the sea are forthcoming; consequently he declares
his promise null and void. The second citizen, however,
denies this charge and solemnly assures the king that up to
that very morning he and his fellow hostages had been in-
deed the diiefest citizens of their town. The missing verses,
therefore, may have been to the following effect: —
when we were known
To he the chiefest men of all our town;
Of this, my sovereign lord, be well assured.
Or may our portion be \nth damned fiends.
(Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XIII, 83.)
xn.
Wm. Conq. Ah, Marques Lubeck, in thy power it lies
To rid my bosom of these thralled dumps.
Fair Em ed. Deous, 2. — Soipson, The School of
Shaksfere, n, 408.
Wilb'am confesses to Marquess Lubeck that *the strength of
private cares subdues him more than all the world' and that
he, *a conqueror at arms', is now *thraird to unarmed
thoughts'. We may, therefore, well feel tempted to identify
William's dumps with these unarmed thoughts and to read
these thraUmg dumps L e. these dumps that are enthralling
me. But twelve lines ante the Conqueror says that he turns
his conquering eyes to 'coward looks and beaten fantasies*,
whence it would seem evident that beaieis fasUasies and
ihralkd dm^ are intended to denote one and the same
FAIR EM. ^
thing; William's fantasies and dumps have been beaten and
enthralled by the power of beauty, or, as the author quaintly
expresses it, by the flames of beauty blazing on Lubeck's
shield. Compare Shakespeare, Sonnet CXXIV:
It suffers not in smiling pomp, nor falls
Under the blow of thralled discontent.
Whereto the inviting time our fashion calls.
The Taming of the Shrew I, i, 224: —
And let me be a slave, to achieve that maid
WTiose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye.
Instead of rid Delius erroneously reads aid.
xm.
Marq, That same is Blanch, daughter to the king.
The substance of the shadow that you saw.
Fair Em, 8. — Simpson, n, 416.
S. W^alker, Versification, 206 seqq., has endeavoured to show
that daughter is sometimes used as a trisyllable, although in
some cases he is doubtfiil, whether the passage ought not
rather to be amended. In the present line the trisyllabic pro-
nunciation of the word would imply the admission of a
trochee in the third foot, which would produce a halting
and inharmonious verse. Simpson has added the article
ihe before daughter. I should prefer sole daughter; sole daughter,
sole son, sole childy and soU heir being, as it were, proverbial
phrases of ahnost daily occurrence. Lower do\\'n (Delius, 39. —
Simpson, U, 451) we are, in fact, told that Blanch is the king's
*only daughter*,
*The only stay and comfort of his life/
Compare No. XXX.
8 FAIR EM.
XIV.
Ill head, worse -featured," uncomely, nothing courtly.
Swart and ill-favour'd, a collier's sanguine sldn.
Fair Em, 8. — Simpson, II, 416.
What does /// head mean? We do not want a substantive
here, but an adjective that will serve, as it were, as a positive
to the comparative worse -featured. In a word, I think we
ought to read Ill-shaped. That the shape of the lady cannot
be passed over with silence becomes evident from William the
Conqueror's eulogy on the beauty of Mariana twenty lines
below. There he says: —
A modest countenance; no heavy sullen look;
Not very fair, but richly deck'd with favour;
A sweet face; an exceeding dainty hand;
A body, were it framed all of wax
By all the cunning artists of the world,
It could not better be proportioned.
By the way, it may be remarked that instead of framed all
of tvax Delius erroneously reads formed &c. The passage
from The Comedy of Errors, IV, 2, ig ^eqq. very aptly quoted
by Simpson speaks strongly in favour of my suggestion. It
is to the following effect: —
He is deformed, crooked, old and sere,
111 -faced, worse -bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind,
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.
XV.
W?n. Conq. Yes, my Lord ; she is counterfeit indeed,
For there is the substance that best contents me.
Fair Em, 9. — Simpson, II, 417.
FAIR EM.
Simpson proposes to read, either: —
For there is the substance that doth best content me,
or: —
For there is the substance best contenteth me.
I should prefer: —
For there the substance is that best contents me,
or (what would 'best content me'): —
For there s the substance that contents me best.
XVI.
Full ill this life becomes thy heavenly look,
Wherein sweet love and virtue sits enthroned.
Bad world, where riches is esteem'd above them both.
In whose base eyes nought else is bountiful!
Fair Em, io. — Simpson, II, 418 seq.
Is the third line perhaps to be classed with those Alexandrines
of which Abbott in his Shakespearian Grammar 499 gives
such curious instances? Or are we to admit an emendation
and read: —
Bad world, where riches is esteem'd 'bove both?
Chetwood, according to Simpson, reads: —
Bad world ! where riches 'bove both are esteemed most.
This would be getting out of the frying-pan into the fire.
According to Delius XI, however, the line, as altered by
Chetwood, seems to run thus: —
Bad world! where riches is esteemed most.
XVII.
Mowit. Nature unjust, in utterance of thy art.
To grace a peasant with a princess' fame
I
Fair Em, ii. — Simpson, II, 419 seQ-
40 FAIR EM.
For fame Chetwood writes fravic\ neither can be right. Per-
haps we should read face which would agree much better
with Mountney's subsequent praise of *her beauty's worthiness'.
Twelve lines below Simpson needlessly adds out —
And she thou seekest [out] in foreign regions.
Read seek'st (with Delias) and pronounce re-gi-ons.
XVIII.
Val, Love, my lord? of whom?
Mount. Em, the miller's daughter of Manchester.
Fair Em, 12. — Simpson, II, 421.
Em may be considered as a monosyllabic foot; by the
repetition of of, however, a regular blank verse might be
obtained: —
Of Em, the miller's daughter of Manchester.
XIX.
Man. Ah, Em! were he the man that causeth this
mistrust,
I should estem of thee as at the first.
Fair Em, 15. — Simpson, II, 424.
If verses of six feet are not to be admitted, the words Ah^
Em! may be easily placed in what is called an interjectional
line. Thirty eight lines below, however, the case is more
difficult; there we read: —
Ah, Em! faithful love is full of jealousy.
Simpson's proposal to expunge Em^ in order to restore the
metre, can hardly find favour, as it is customary with our
poet to add the name of the person addressed, especially
FAIR EM. J J
after an interjection which begins the verse. Thus, e. g.
Delius, 15. — Simpson, II, 424: —
Believe me, Em, it is not time to jest.
Delius, 16. — Simpson, II, 425: —
This, Em, is noted and too much talk'd on.*
Delius, 16. — Simpson, II, 425: —
Ah, Manvile, little wottest thou.
Delius, 17. — Simpson, II, 426: —
Nay, stay, fair Em.
Delius, 18. — Simpson, II, 427: —
Ah, Em, fair Em, if art can make thee whole.
It would, therefore, be in unison with this custom, if the
poet had written: —
Ah, Em!
All faithful love is full of jealousy.
The original reading might be defended on the usual plea
that the first syllable of faithful is to be considered as a
so-called monosyllabic foot.
XX.
Two gentlemen attending on Duke William,
Mountney and Valingford, as I heard them named,
Ofttimes resort to see and to be seen.
Fair Em, 15. — Simpson, II, 424.
Those critics who require regular blank verse to be restored
^ Thus the Hne stands in Delius's edition. Simpson prints talked
and repeats is before too\ he evidently reads noted as a monosyllable,
in accordance with the rule explained by Abbott, Shakespearian
Grammar, 472. The repetition of is, however, seems needless, since
the line might as well be scanned thus: —
This, Em, is not'd and too much talked on.
12 FAIR EM.
everywhere may readily correct the second line by enclosing
it in a parenthesis and expunging as: —
(Mountney and Vahngford I heard them named).
The name of Valingford, however, here and elsewhere seems
to have been used as a dissyllable by the poet; thus, e. g. on
p. 2-^ (II, 433) and p. 28 (II, 439), if I am not mistaken in
the conviction that these passages, now printed as prose,
were originally written in verse. The former passage, printed
as verse, would run thus: —
'Zounds! what a cross is this to my conceit!
But Valingford, search the depth of this device.
Why may not this be some feign'd subtlety
By Mounteney's invention, to th' intent
That I, seeing such occasion, should leave off
My suit, and not persist t' solicit her
Of love? ril try th' event. If I perceive
By any means th' effect of this deceit
Procured by thy means, friend Mounteney,
The one of us is like t' repent our bargain.
On p. 28 the following verses may be restored: —
Mount. Valingford, so hardly I digest an injury,
Thou'st proffer'd me, as, were 't not I detest
To do what stands not with the honour of my name.
Thy death should pay the ransom of thy fault.
Injury J in the first line, is to be pronounced as a dissyllable.
The second line is printed from Simpson's text; Delius
reads — As were it not that I detest. Which of the two
editions — if either of them — may represent the reading
of the quartos, I do not know. In regard to the third line
cf. Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, 499. It cannot be denied,
however, that another, and perhaps a safer, arrangement
might be devised, viz. —
FAIR EM.
in
Mount. Valingford,
So hardly I digest an injury,
Thou'st proffer'd me, &c.
XXI.
Ah me, whom chiefly and most of all it doth concern,
To spend my time in grief, and vex my soul, &c.
Fair Em, i6. — Simpson, II, 425.
Dele — chiefly and.
XXII. .if.
I speak not, sweet, in person of my friend,
But for myself, whom, if that love deserve
To have regard, being honourable love;
Not base affects of loose lascivious love,
Whom youthful wantons play and dally with,
But that unites in honourable bands of holy rites,
And knits the sacred knot that God's —
Fair Em, 17. — Simpson, II, 426 seq.
In5jtead of loose lascivious love read loose lascivious lust. Com-
pare anti (Delius, 6. — Simpson, II, 413): —
Let not vehement sighs.
Nor earnest vows importing fervent love.
Render thee subject to the wrath of lust —
which Chetwood has wrongly altered to the wrath of lave. —
For the faulty repetition of love cf. No. XXX and No. LXIX.
In the last line but one omit hojiourahle before bands', it is
likewise owing to faulty repetition.
t4 FAIR EM.
XXIII.
Em. Speak you to me, sir?
Mount, To thee, my only joy.
Em. I cannot hear you.
Mount. O plague of fortune ! O hell without compare !
.What boots it us, to gaze and not enjoy!
FAm Em, i8. — Simpson, II, 427.
I cannot agree with Simpson, who remarks on the fourth
line — 'Dele oh' [before hell\ — Instead of enjoy in the
fifth line Simpson suggests hear, which, he adds, would rhyme
with compare. Apart from this somewhat questionable rhyme,
hear cannot be right, since it is applicable only to Em. Accor-
ding to my conviction a verb or phrase is wanted which
applies to both Em and Mountney, for Mountney asks. What
boots it us? Qy. and not converse! Or a line to the following
effect may have dropped out: —
and not enjoy
The sweet converse of mutual love between us.
I ,11 ,Y.\^iU\r'. XXIV.
Val. But is it [Delius: it is] possible you should be
taken on such a sudden? Infortunate Valingford, to be thus
cross'd in thy love ! — Fair Em , I am not a little sorry to
see this thy hard hap. Yet nevertheless, I am acquainted
with a learned physician that will do anything for thee at
my request. To him will I resort and inquire his judgment,
as concerning the recovery of so excellent a sense.
Fair Em, 22. — Simpson, II, 432.
Val. No? Not the thing will do thee so much good?
Sweet Em, hither I came to parley of love, hoping to have
FAIR EM. ;j5
found thee in thy wonted prosperity. And have the gods
so unmercifully thwarted my expectation, by dealing so
sinisterly with thee, sweet Em?
Fair Em, 22. — Simpson, II, 432.
These passages I take to be two more instances of metrical
composition that have degenerated into prose by the negli-
gence or ignorance of transcribers and compositors. With
the aid of a few alterations the first passage may be thus
restored: —
.V Infortunate Valingford, to be thus cross'd
l,iu In love! — Fair Era, I'm not a little sorry
To see this thy hard hap, yet ne'ertheless
I am acquainted with a learn'd physician
That will do any thing for thee
At my request; to him will I resort
And will inquire, his. judgment as concerning
Th' recovery of so excellent a sense.
After the third line a verse seems to be wanting. The
fifth line may be easily extended to a regular blank verse
by the addition of he can after any thing. The second passage
may have come from the poet's pen in the following shape : —
No? Not the thing will do thee so much good?
Sweet Em, I hither came to parle of love ,, ,..
Hoping t' have found thee in thy wonted state-;(v,ioj8oi
And have the Gods thwart'd so unmerc'fully ,
My hope, by dealing so sinisterly
With thee?
Em. Good sir, no more. It fits not me
To have respect to such vain phantasies &c.
The words Sweet Em in the sixth line (after thee) are an un-
questionable interpolation. Prosperity and expectation, on the
other hand, cannot be removed without some violence; but
j^ FAIR EM.
most of the so-called pseiido- Shakespearean plays have been
handed down to us in a state of such rank corruption, that
a critic who attempts to amend them, must be allowed to
walk *with a larger tether' than is granted elsewhere.
XXV.
Val. Yet, sweet Em, accept this jewel at my hand,
Which I bestow on thee in token of my love.
Fair Em, 23. — Simpson, II, 432.
The words of address should form an interjectional line and
the verses be regulated thus: —
Va/. Yet, sweet Em,
Accept this jewel at my hand, which I
Bestow on thee in token of my love.
Chetwood, who wants the words ^m and on thee to be ex-
punged, is evidently wrong.
A similar instance occurs a few pages farther on (Delius,
32. — Simpson, II, 443): — - '' '"' ' '
Em. Trotter, lend me thy hand; and as thou lovest
me, keep my counsel, and justify whatsoever 1 say, and 1*11
largely requite thee.
By a few slight alterations the following verses may be
restored: —
Em. Trotter,
Lend me thy hand, and as thou lovest me
Pray keep my counsel, and justify whatever
I say, and largely Pit requite thee.
Let me add a third passage (Delius, ^Z- — Simpson, II, 444): —
Em. Good father, let me not stand as an open gazing-
stock to every one, but in a place alone, as fits a creature so
miserable.
FAIR EM. 17
Arrange and read: —
Em. Good father,
Let me not stand an open gazing- stock
To every one, but in a place alone
That fits a creature that's so miserable.
XXVI.
Wm. Hence, villains, hence! How dare you lay
your hands
Upon your sovereign!
Sol. Well, sir; will deal for that.
But here comes one will remedy all this.
Fair Em, 35 seq. — Simpson, II, 447.
In the first line Simpson reads Dare you [to] lay, and in the
third line we will deal for that. The reading of the quartos
is nowhere given. The second and third line, in my opinion,
should be joined and corrected thus: —
Upon your sovereign!
Sol Well, we'll deal for that.
XXVII.
Soldier. My lord, watching this night in the camp
We took this man, and know not what he is.
Fair Em, 36. — Simpson, H, 447.
Is the first line to be scanned as a verse of four feet: —
My lord, watching this night in th' camp?
A trochee in the second place would be unusual, to say the
least. Or is lord to be pronounced as a dissyllable? Cf.
Mariow's Tragedy of Edsvard 11 ed. by the Rev. F. G. Fleay,
Ip, FAIR EM.
London, 1877, p. 117. Or are we to call in the aid of an
emendation and read: —
My lord, in watching this night in the camp?
Compare sixteen lines lower down: —
In knowing this, I know thou art a traitor.
XXVIII.
Wni, Conq. In knowing this, I know thou art a traitor;
A rebel and mutinous conspirator.
Why, Demarch; know'st thou who 1 am?
Fair Em, 36. — Simpson, II, 448.
Simpson adds the indefinite article before mutmous and thus
produces a verse of six feet. The line is quite right as it
stands, since rebel is to be pronounced as a monosyllable.
In the third line Simpson reads knowest, a trochee that
restores the metre of the verse. Why is, of course, to be
considered as a so-called monosyllabic foot.
XXIX.
Wm. Conq. Where's Lord Dirot?
De?n. In arms, my gracious lord.
Not past two miles from hence.
As credibly I am ascertained.
Fair Em, 37. — Simpson, II, 449.
Arrange and read: —
Dem. In arms, my gracious lord, not past two miles
From hence, as credibly I'm ascertain'd.
In the first line Simpson reads Where is, against the metre.
FAIR EM. i^
XXX.
Amd. Marry thus: the king of Denmark and my
Sov'reign
Doth send to know of thee, what is the cause,
That, injuriously, against the law of anus
Thou hast stol'n away his only daughter Blanch,
The only stay and comfort' of his life?
Therefore, by me
He willeth thee to send his daughter Blanch
Or else forthwith he will levy such an host,
As soon shall fetch her in despite of thee.
Fair Em, 39. — Simpson, II, 451.
Arrange and read: —
Amd. Marry thus:
The king of Denmark and my sovereign
Doth send to know of thee, what is the cause.
That thou hast stolen, against the law of arms,
Injuriously away his daughter Blanch,
The only stay and comfort of his life?
Therefore by me he willeth thee to send her,
Or else forthwith he'll levy such an host.
As soon shall fetch her in despite of thee.
The reiterations of on/}' in the fourth and fifth, and of /it's
daughter Blanch in the fourth and seventh lines are evident
'diplographies', if this technical term of German critics may
be introduced into English; it might, I think, conveniently
supersede the somewhat heavy and vague circumlocution of
S. Walker, Crit. Exam., I, 276. A similar instance of diplo-
graphy has occurred already in No. XXll. Critics of such
thorough -going conservatism as to shield even glaring diplo-
graphies, may perhaps prefer to read the third and fourth
lines thus: —
2*
20 HISTRIO-MASTIX. THE LONDON PRODIGAL.
That, 'gainst the law of arms, injuriously
Thou 'st stol'n away his only daughter Blanch.
The sixth and seventh lines have been contracted by Chet-
wood into the following : —
Therefore by me he wills thee send her back.
Needlessly bold and needlessly harsh.
XXXI.
Are not you Merchants, that from East to West,
From the Antarcticke to the Arctick Poles,
Bringing all treasure that the earth can yeeld?
HiSTRio - Mastix, apud Simpson, The School of
Shakspere, II, 44 seq.
Read: — Bring in all treasure. — Qy. Pole'^
XXXII.
Flow. Sen. V faith, sir, according to the old proverb:
The child was born, and cried.
Became a man, after fell sick, and died.
The London Prodigal, I, i. — Malone, Supplement,
II, 455. — Hazlitt, The Supplementary Works of
Wm. Shakspeare, 209.
After, in the last line, looks like an interpolation and should
be expunged. By the way, it may be remarked that in Mr
Carew Hazlitt's English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases this
'old proverb' is not to be found.
THE LONDON PRODIGAL. 4^
XXXIIL
Sir Lane. Where is this inn ? We are past it, Daffodil.
Daf. The good sign is here, sir, but the back gate
is before.
The London Prodigal, I, 2. — Mal., II, 462. — Haz., 212.
Qy. read, — The gate sign instead of The good sign. —
According to Malone, the folios as well as the modern editions
read the black gaie\ instead of which Malone has restored the
back gate from the quarto.
XXXIV.
Arii. Why, there 'tis now: our year's wages and our
vails will scarce pay for broken swords and bucklers that we
use in our quarrels. But I'll not fight if Daffodil be o' t' other
side, that's flat.
The London Prodigal, II, 4. — Mal., 11,480. — Haz., 222.
Read, — in your quarrels. The servants do not use their
swords and bucklers in their own quarrels, but in those of
their masters. 'Sir', says Artichoke to Sir Lancelot, his master^
towards the close of the scene, 'we have been scouring of
our swords and bucklers for your defence.'
XXXV.
M. Flow. Now, God thank you, sweet lady. If you
have any friend, or garden-house where you may employ a
poor gentleman as your friend, I am yours to command in
all secret service.
The London Prodigal, V, i. — Mal., II, 517- — Haz., 241.
Read: if you have any field or garden- house. Friend crept
in, by anticipation, from the following line.
^2 MUCEDORUS.
XXXVI.
Flying for succour to their dankish caves.
MucEDORUS Ed. Delius, 4. — Ed. Warnke and
Prcescholdt, 22. — Hazlitt's Dodsley, VII, 204,
My conjectural emendation dankish has been received into
the text by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt; the old editions
read Danish, a reading which cannot lay claim to a gentler
appellation than that of nonsense. Dankish occurs in the
Comedy of Errors, V, i, 247: —
And in a dark and dankish vault at home.
Another emendation may, however, be offered, viz. dampish,
Cf. The Birth of Merlin, IV, i (ed. Delius 69) : —
Then know, my lord, there is a dampish cave,
The nightly habitation of these dragons.
Vaulted beneath &c.
The Play of Stucley 668 (Simpson, The School of Shakspere,
1, 185): -
When we are lodged within the dampish field.
XXXVII.
Seg. [Aside] This seems to be a merry fellow.
Mucedorus, Del., 13. — W. and Pr., 32. — H's D., VII, 213.
A regular blank verse would be restored by the insertion of
very before merry. That very was frequently interpolated has
been shown by S. Walker, Crit. Exam., I, 268 seq. Cf. also
No. XLI. Here we meet with an instance of its omission.
XXXVIII.
Mouse. I think he was, for he said he did lead a salt-
seller's life about the woods.
MUCEDORUS. 23
Seg. Thou wouldst say, a solitary life about the woods.
MUCEDORUS, Del., 42. — W. and Pr., 64. — H's D., VII, 245.
Read: — a solitary s life about the woods.
XXXIX.
God grant her grace amongst us long may reign,
And those that would not have it so,
Would that by Envy soon their hearts they might forego.
Com. The council, and this realm, *
Lord, guide it still with thy most holy hand!
The commons and the subjects, grant them grace,
Their prince to serve, her to obey, and treason to deface :
Long may she reign in joy and great felicity,
Each Christian heart do say Amen with me! [Exeunt.
MucEDORUs, W. AND Pr., 77. — H's D., VIE, 260.
These verses, which conclude the play in the quarto of 1598,
have been transmitted to us in a state of such degeneracy
as cannot be laid to the author's door, however poor a ver-
sifier he may have been. The second line consists of four,
the third of six feet; the words Would that, which begin
the third line, have simply slipped down from the second to
the third line, or rather they were written in the margin and
inserted in the wrong place by the compositor. For realm
in the fourth line, however unexceptionable it may be per se,
land should be substituted, as with this single exception the
concluding speech of Comedy is in rhyme. This altera-
tion is, moreover, supported by the concluding prayer in The
Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (Dodsley ed.
Hazlitt, VI, 501 seq). There we read: —
Her council wise and nobles of this land
Bless and preserve, O Lord! with thy right hand.
24 MUCEDORUS.
Whether or not the line should be filled up, it is difficult to
decide, as it would, at the same time, involve the question,
whether, instead of guide ii in the following line, we should
not read guide them. Both may be easily done, if the
requisite boldness be conceded to the emendator. May not
the author have written, e. g.: —
The council and the nobles of this land
Lord, guide them still with thy most holy hand?
Of the two clauses Their prince to serve and her to obey in
the seventh line one — most probably the second — is cer-
tainly a gloss and must be expunged; and the last line but
one may be easily reduced to five feet either by the omission
of joy and or of great before felicity, in which latter case
felicity is to be pronounced as a trisyllable (flicity)'."* The
corresponding line in the concluding prayer of The Three
Lords and Three Ladies of London runs as follows: —
Lord! grant her health, heart's - ease , \and'\ joy and
mirth.
The whole passage, therefore, would seem to have come
originally from the author's pen in about the following
shape: —
God grant her Grace amongst us long may reign,
And would that those that would not have it so,
By Envy soon their hearts they might forego.
Com. The council and the nobles of this land,
Lord, guide them still with thy most holy hand!
* Felicity as a trisyllable occurs in Sir Thomas More's Utopia
ed. Arber 167: —
Wherfore not Utopie, but rather rightely
My name is Eutopie : A place of felicity.
See Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, 408.
MUCEDORUS. 26
The commons and the subjects, grant them grace,
Their prince to serve and treason to deface:
Long may she reign in joy and felicity,
Each Christian heart do say Amen with me!
XL.
My power has lost her might, and Envy's date's expired.
Yon splendent majesty has 'felled my sting.
And I amazed am.
MucEDORLS, Del., 55. — W. and Pr., 78. — H's D., VII, 259.
And before Envys has been added by the editors. The
second line is wanting in the quartos of 1621 and 1668 and
consequently in Delius's edition also. In my opinion, the three
lines should be thus arranged: —
iSly power has lost her might, and Envy's date
Expired is; yon splendent majesty
Has 'feird my sting, and I amazed am.
Or should we alter Env/s to my} A text so grossly cor-
rupted as that of Mucedorus cannot be healed without bold-
ness, although the less bold an emendation is, the greater
claim it possesses on our approval. Now, if we read my, not
only the addition of and would be spared, but also the divi-
sion of the lines would remain untouched: —
My power has lost her might, my date's expir'd,
Yon splendent majesty has 'felled my sting,
And I amazed am.
26 NO-BODY, AND SOME-BODY. THE PLAY OF STUCLEY.
XLI.
I thankt him, and so came to see the Court,
Where I am very much beholding to your kindness.
No-body and Some-body, apud Simpson, The School
OF Shakspere, I, 322.
Dele very in the second line. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam.
I, 268 seqq. See also No. XXXVII.
XLII.
Ens. Lieutenant, he 's a gallant gentleman,
We know it well, and he that is not willing
To venture life with him, I would for my part
He might end his days worser than the pestilence.
The Play of Stucley, apud Simpson, The School
OF Shakspere, I, 185.
Dele He in the last line and write ih' pestilence.
CHAPMAN.
XLUI.
Give me the master-key of all the doors.
Alphonsus ed. Elze, 43 and 133.
The old editions read: —
Boy, give me the master-key of all the doors.
Another instance to the same effect occurs on p. 52 (cf. p. 135)
where the old editions read: —
Madam, that we have suffer'd you to kneel so long.
In both cases I have thought myself justified by the metre
in expunging the words of address Boy and Madam y as no
ALPHONSUS. FRIAR BACON AND FRIAR BUNGAY. 27
doubt such words may frequently have been interpolated by
the actors. In the edition of Chapman's Works (Plays) by
Richard Heme Shepherd (London, 1874) where my text of
Alphonsus has been followed remarkably closely, without the
least acknowledgment. Boy has been omitted, whilst Madam
has been restored from the old edition. There are, however,
two other ways of satisfying the requirements of the metre;
one is, to place the words Boy and Madam in interjec-
tional lines: —
Boy,
Give me the master-key &c.,
the other, to restore the metre by contractions: —
Boy, give | me th' ma | ster-key | of dll | the doors,
and: —
Ma'am, that | we've siif | fer'd you | to kneel | so long.
I now feel convinced that this last way was the poet's own
scansion. (Anglia, herausgegeben von Wiilcker und Traut-
mann, I, 344 seq.)
GREENE.
XLIV.
K. Hen. He shall, my lord; this motion likes me well.
We'll progress straight to Oxford with our trains,
And see what men our academy brings. —
And, wonder Vandermast, welcome to me:
In Oxford shalt thou find a jolly friar,
Call'd Friar Bacon, England's only flower.
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, So. 4. — The Dramatic
AND Poetical Works of R. Greene and G. Peele
ED. Dyce, 159.
Dyce suggests wondrous Vandermast (he might have compared
wondrous Merlin, The Birth of Merlin ed. Delius, 75), where-
28 FRIAR BACON AND FRIAR BUNGAY. TAMBURLAINE.
as r*rof. Ward (Marlowe's Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
and Greene's Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar
Bungay, Oxford, 1878, 220) sees no reason to alter the text
and compares such compounds as A.-S, wtmdor-iverc, or
wonder storie (in The Knight's Tale [line?]) and wonder chance
(in The Man of Lawes Tale 5465) to which he might have
added wonder thyng in The Towneley Mysteries (Marriott, Col-
lection of English Miracle Plays 138). But is the present
case, where we have to deal with a proper name, to be classed
unhesitatingly with such compounds? Are we not reminded
involuntarily of Shakespeare's *so rare a wonder'd father'
(The Tempest, IV, i, 122) and tempted to write tvonderd
Vandei-niastl \\\i\. our doubts are not even here at rest.
Ferdinand when speaking of his rare -wondered father has
just witnessed Prospero's 'most majestic and charmingly har-
monious vision'. King Henry, however, has not yet seen the
slightest proof of Vandermast's magic art; what reason has
he to address him as a wonder, or a wondered artist? The
Emperor, in presenting Vandermast to the king, has indeed
praised his accomplishments, but he has been still more elo-
quent on the travels which the learned doctor has undertaken.
Would it not, therefore, be much more to the purpose to read
wandered Vandermast! Compare Henry VIII, I, 3, 19: —
The reformation of our travell'd gallants,
That fill the court with quarrels, talk, and tailors.
MARLOWE.
XLV.
Myc. Well, here I swear by this my royal seat —
Cos. You may do well to kiss it then.
I TAMBURLAliNE, I, I (WORKS ED. DYCE 8a).
TAMBURLAINE. 29
The second line, in my opinion, should be completed by
the addition of Mycetes'. —
You may do well to kiss it then, Mycetes.
XLVI. .
Tamh. Stay, Techelles; ask a parle first.
I TAMBURLAINE, I, 2 (WORKS I la).
The metre, I think, requires parley. The first foot of the
line [Sta^) is monosyllabic. Compare No. IV.
XLVII.
And made a voyage into Europe.
2 TAMBURLAINE, I, 3 (WORKS 49a).
*A word', says Dyce, 'dropt out from this line.' I think
not, but am persuaded, that Marlowe wrote Europa. Cf.
R. Chester's Loves Martyr ed. Grosart (for the New Shakspere
Society) 24: —
Welcome immortal Bewtie, we will ride
Ouer the Semi -circle of Europa,
And bend our course where we will see the Tide,
That partes the Continent of Affrica,
Where the great cham gouernes Tartaria:
And when the starr}^ Curtaine vales the night,
In Paphos sacred He we meane to light.
The shortening of the penult in Europa will not seem
strange when we compare Euphrates (i Tamburiaine V, 2;
Works 36b) and Sdrmata (Marlowe, First Book of Lucan,
Works 377a), beside the wellknown Hyperkm, Titus Andrd-
nicus and others. False quantity in classical proper names
30 EDWARD II.
seems to be privileged. Cf. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus &c.
ed. A. W. Ward p. 271 seq. S. Walker, Versification, 172 seq.
XLVIII.
My lord, here comes the king, and the nobles,
From the parliament. I'll stand aside.
Edward II. — Works, 184 a. — Marloav's Edward II
p:d. Fi.eay, 51.
Although this is the reading of all the four quartos (1594,
1598, i6i2 and 1622), the text must nevertheless be pro-
nounced corrupt; the vocative Afy lord has no antecedent to
which it might refer, and the verse, moreover, consists only
of four feet. Dyce, therefore, transposes the words and reads
Here comes my lord the king, an emendation which is greatly
preferable to Cunningham's suggestion Bjr lord, here comes
the king', for Marlowe, as Mr. Fleay justly remarks, never
makes use of similar oaths and protestations, and if he
did, we should be prepared rather for Byr lady than for
Byr lord. Mr Fleay himself tries to heal the corruption
by a different arrangement of the lines: —
Here comes my lord
The king and th' nobles from the parliament.
I'll stand aside.
In my opinion this is far from being an improvement. Dyce's
reading is no doubt the most acceptable, and would meet
all wishes, if it did complete the verse, which might be
effected by the addition of a single monosyllabic: —
Here comes my lord the king and all the nobles
From th' parliament. I'll stand aside.
(Anglia, herausgegeben von Wiilcker und Trautmann I, 348.)
EDWARD 11. THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 31
XLIX.
But tell me, Mortimer, what's thy device
Against the stately triumph we decreed? &:c.
Edward II (Works 194 b). — Fleay, 69.
A very apt illustration of these and the following lines is
contained in the following passage from Neumayr von Ramssla,
Johann Ernsten des Jiingern, Hertzogen zu Sachsen, Reise &c.
(Leipzig, 1620) S. 179: 'Endlichen zeigete man I[hro] F[urst-
lichen] G[naden] eine kleine Galeria [viz. at Whitehall], etwa
20 Schritt lang, so hinauss auffm Fluss gebawet, darinn
hiengen auff beyden Seiten etliche hundert Schild von Pappen
gemacht, daran waren allerley emhlemata vnd Wort gemahlet
vnd geschrieben. Wann Frewdenfest seynd, pflegen die
Hoffischen solche inventiones zu machen, vnd damit auffzu-
ziehen. Wer nun was sonderlichs vnd denckwiirdigs erfunden,
dessen Schild wird zum Gedachtniis dahin gehengt. Hinden
am Ende dieses Gangs, ist der Gang etwas grosser, in sol-
chem hiengen auch dergleichen schilde.'
SHAKESPEARE AND FLETCHER.
L.
You most coarse freeze capacities; ye jane judgements.
The Two Noble Kinsmen, III, 5; ed. Littledale, 52
AND 144 SEQ.
Mr Harold Littledale, the latest editor of this play, extends
his note on the above line to an explanation of the much
discussed phrase Up -see Freeze', Freeze he thinks to be equi-
valent with Friesland Beer and up -see to mean drunk, half seas-
over. This explanation, however, has long been superseded.
After what has been said by Nares s. v. and myself in my
32 THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.
edition of Chapman's Alphonsus 138 seq. I should not revert
to the subject, if I were not able to bring forward some fresh
passages that go far to show that Upsee Freeze or Upsee
Dutch means *in the Frisian or Dutch manner/ The first of
these passages occurs in A Pleasant Comedie of Pasquil and
Katherine, A. II (Simpson, The School of Shakspere, II, 165): —
Pour wine, sound music, let our bloods not freeze.
Drink Dutch, like gallants, let's drink upsey freeze.
That is to say, the English gallants of the time used to drink
in the Dutch or Frisian fashion, i. e. with the German
drinking ceremonies, for Dutch, here as elsewhere, means
German, and it is a wellknown fact that the German drinking
ceremonies at that time had spread over Holland and even
reached England. John Taylor, the Waterpoet, in his account
of his journey to Hamburgh (Three Weeks, Three Daies &c..
Works, 1872, 3) says: 'and having upse-freez'd four pots ot
boon beer as yellow as gold' &c., which words I take to mean,
having drunk four pots of beer after the Frisian manner.
That ^ Upsee Frieze cross^ means to drink with interlaced arms
{^Briiderschaft trtnken), as I have conjectured, is confirmed
by Nash, Summer's Last Will and Testament (apud Dodsley,
1825, IX, 49): 'A vous, monsieur Winter, a frolick upsy
freese: cross, ho! super nagulum.' That is, let us cross or
interlace our arms, as the Germans do when drinking Bru-
derschaft, and let us * drench' our glasses *to the bottom'
so that what is left may stand on the thumb-nail. This, in
German, is called to this day die Nagelprobe viachen^ and still
forms part of the ceremony of drinking Briiderschafi. —
A fourth allusion to 'Upsy Freeze' is contained in a work of
much later time, viz. in Johann Georg Forstcr's Briefvvechsel
herausgegeben von Th[erese] H[uber], geb. H[eyne] (Leipzig,
1829) 1I» ^715 it is in an English letter dated Overberg's
THE TEMPEST. 83
Contrays, August 27, 1775, and addressed to George Forster
by the distinguished Swedish naturalist Andreas Sparrmann.
*Dear Sir', he writes, 'I'll have the pleasure by means of this
letter to shake hands with you 'op sein goede Africanse Boers^\
for, as I have now for some time been in quarters by the
Owerbergse peasants, you must give me leave to follow the
customs of these good folks, who, without any other rounda-
bout compliments, present their sharp hands, as the New
Zealanders their carved noses, when a cordial salute is meant.'
— There can be no doubt that op sein goede Africanse Boers
means, 'in the true manner of the African Boers.' (Anglia,
herausgegeben von Wiilcker und Trautmann I, 347 seq.)
SHAKESPEARE.
LI.
This wide-chapp'd rascal — would thou mightst lie
drowning
The washing of ten tides!
The Tempest, I, i, 60 seq.
I do not recollect whether or not any editor has already
remarked that these words contain an allusion to the singular
mode of execution to which pirates were condemned in Eng-
land. 'Pirats and robbers by sea', says Harrison (Description
of England ed. Fumivall, London, 1877, 229) 'are condemned
in the court of admeraltie, and hanged on the shore at lowe
water marke, where they are left till three tides haue ouer-
washed them.' According to Holinshed UI, 1271, seven pirates
were hanged on the riverside below London, on March 9,
3
34 THE TEMPEST.
1577 — 8. (Anglia, herausgegeben von Wulcker und Traut-
mann I, 338).
Prof. John W. Hales (in The Academy of Sept. i, 1877,
220) has corroborated the above remark by two passages
from Greene's Tu Quoque and from Stow, apud Dodsley
ed. Hazlitt XI, 188. He also refers to the description of the
Execution Dock at Wapping, in Murray's Handbook for Kent.
'Ten tides', he justly adds, 'are of course a comic exaggera-
tion, three tides being no sufficiently severe punishment for
"this wide-chapp'd rascal", the boatsman'.
LH.
This blue -eyed hag was hither brought with child
And here was left by sailors.
The Tempest, I, 2, 270 seq.
Staunton and Mr P. A. Daniel (Notes and Conjectural Emen-
dations 9) ingeniously propose blear-eyed. In favour of this
suggestion it may be added that Reginald Scot, in his Dis-
coverie of Witchcraft, B. I, Chap. 3 (apud Drake, Shakspeare
and his Times II, 478), writes indeed that witches 'are women
which be commonly old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and
full of wrinkles.' Mr Wright, on the other hand, in his
annotated edition of this play, sustains the reading of the
folio; ^bhie-eyed\ he says, 'does not describe the colour of the
pupil of the eye, but the livid colour of the eye -lid, and a
blue eye in this sense was a sign of pregnancy'; in proof of
which Mr Wright quotes a passage from Webster's Duchess
of Malfi. Nowhere indeed, if not in the passage under dis-
cussion, does Shakespeare mean the colour of the pupil, when
speaking of blue eyes, but the livid circles round the eyes
or the bluish eyelids; thus, e. g., in As You Like It, III,
THE TEMPEST. 55
2, 393' 'a blue eye and sunken'. This, I think, admits of
no doubt, and is corroborated by a passage in Spenser's
Faerie Queene I, 2, 45, where the poet ascribes 'blue eye-
lids' to Duessa when she has swooned and lies seemingly
dead: —
Her .eylids blew
And dimmed sight with pale and deadly hew
At last she gan up lift.
Here too the adjective 'blue' is to be taken in its old sense,
viz. 'livid'; see Mr Skeat's Etymological Dictionary s. v. Blue.
It would be of no common interest to know exactly
what Shakespeare meant by 'grey eyes' and what colour of
the eyes stood highest in favour with Elizabethan England.
Until some such information be exhumed a doubt may remain
concerning the 'blue -eyed hag', as a very different explana-
tion seems to be suggested by some passages in a living
American poet, from which it might be inferred that, in pop-
ular belief, blue eyes may possibly have been thought char-
acteristic of witches. Mr J. G. Whittier, who is evidently
conversant with the particulars of those persecutions for
witchcraft that so darkly fill the pages of early American
history, says (The Vision of Echard and Other Poems, Boston,
1878, 22): —
A blue -eyed witch sits on the bank
And weaves her net for thee;
and again on p. 26: —
Her spectre walks the parsonage,
And haunts both hall and stair;
They know her by the great blue eyes
And floating gold of hair.
I merely throw this out as a hint, but, as it seems to me,
the subject is deserving of further investigation.
36 THE TEMPEST.
LIII.
Pro. Goe make thy selfe like a Nymph o' th' Sea,
Be subiect to no sight but thine, and mine: inuisible
To euery eye -ball else: goe take this shape
And hither come in't: goe: hence
With diligence. [Fxii.
Pro. Awake, deere hart awake, thou hast slept well.
Awake.
The Tempest, I, 2, 301 seqq.
The above reading of the folio has been handled by the
editors in a somewhat strange and violent manner. In the
first line, Pope and almost all his followers have added to
before a Nymph\ this preposition is indeed taken from the
later folios and, as will be shown, cannot be omitted, on ac-
count of the metre. Those editors who do not agree to
its insertion transpose the words Be subject from the begin-
ning of the second to the end of the first line. In the
second line most editors have struck out thine and, partly in
order to reduce the line to six feet, partly because they
thought the word 'an interpolation of ignorance', as Steevens
terms it. Dyce goes so far as to stigmatise the poor words,
although contained in all the folios, as 'most ridiculous'.
Such high words, I regret to say, are no arguments; this
kind of criticism amounts to correcting the poet himself,
if correcting it be, instead of his copyists and printers. In
the fourth line Ritson and others have omitted goe before
hence, and, in consequence, have been obliged to write in it
instead of inU. After all these alterations it is no wonder
that modern texts read very differently from what has been
transmitted in the folio; in Dyce's third edition the passage
stands thus: —
THE TEMPEST. 87
Go make thyself like to a nymph o' th' sea,
Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible
To every eyeball else. Go take this shape,
And hither come in't: hence with diligence.
The last line is not exempt from the faults of weakness and
lameness and it speaks greatly in favour of the old text that,
the less it is altered, the better verses are obtained; there is
indeed no occasion whatever to depart from it, except in the
addition of the preposition to in the first line and in the
arrangement of the lines, which would appear originally to
have been this: —
Go, make thyself like to a nymph o' th' sea:
Be subject to no sight but thine and mine,
Invisible to every eyeball else.
Go, take this shape and hither come in't: go hence
With diligence. [Exit Ariel.
Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well;
Awake !
I do not know whether this arrangement has been already
given in some one or other of the innumerable editions of
the poet or not; all I can say is that 1 have never met with
it. Whether or not the second go, in the fourth line, is to
be divided from the following words by a colon may be left
to the reader's own judgment; it does not affect the arran-
gement proposed. With the words Go, take this shape Prospero,
of course, gives Ariel the garment which is to render him
invisible to everybody's eyes except his (viz. Ariel's) own
and those of his master. (Robinson's Epitome of Literature,
Philadelphia, March 15, 1879; Vol. lU, 48.)
38 THE TEMPEST.
LIV.
My prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid or no?
The Tempest, I, 2, 426 seqq.
Made in the fourth folio is an evident gloss; the sense is,
*If you be an (unmarried) mortal woman or a goddess?'
Compare The Birth of Merlin, II, 2 (ed. Delius 2^:^'. —
Aur. It is Artesia, the royal Saxon princess.
Prince. A woman and no deity? no feign'd shape,
To mock the reason of admiring sense,
On whom a hope as low as mine may live.
Love, and enjoy, dear brother, may it not?
Compare also Odyss. VI, 1 49 where Ulysses addresses Nausicaa
in the following words: —
yovvoifial Oe ava06a ' &e6g vv rcg tj ^Qorog eOOt x. r. X.
LV.
Be of comfort;
My father's of a better nature, sir.
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.
The Tempest, I, 2, 495 seqq.
This would imply, that Prospero generally made a less favour-
able impression by his speeches than by his actions, which,
of course, is not what Miranda means to say. It is, on the
contrary, only this one speech just uttered that shows him to
disadvantage, and this speech, as Miranda assures Ferdinand,
is unwonted. Read therefore: —
Than he appears bys speech: &c.
THE TEMPEST. 39
In order to 'make assurance double sure', it may be added
that by's occurs in John Taylor the Waterpoet's pamphlet entitled
The Water -Cormorant his Complaint &c. (London, 1622) at
the end of the 'Satire on A Figure flinger, or a couzning
cunning man': —
And though the marke of truth he neuer hits,
Yet still this Cormorant doth Hue by's wits &c.
(Shakespeare -Jahrbuch VIII, 376).
LVI.
Gon. All three of them are desperate: their great guilt,
Like poison given to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits.
The Tempest, III, 3, 104 seqq.
Mr P. A. Daniel corrects their spirits \ compare however
A Warning for Fair Women X. II, 1. 1381 (Simpson, The
School of Shakspere II, ^22): —
The little babies in the mothers' arms
Have wept for those poor babies, seeing me.
That I by my murther have left fatherless.
In my humble opinion, this use of the article instead of the
possessive pronoun is no corruption of the text, but a loose-
ness of speech on the part of the author, which it is not the
office of the critic to correct ; all critics, however, know from
their own experience how extremely difficult it is always to
keep clear from errors and mistakes in distinguishing be-
tween the peculiarities and inaccuracies of a writer and the
lapses of his transcribers and printers.
40 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.
LVII.
Come, shadow, come, and take this shadow up,
For 'tis thy rival. O thou senseless form,
Thou shalt be worshipp'd, kiss'd, loved and adored!
And were there sense in his idolatry.
My substance should be statue in thy stead.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, IV, 4, 202 seqq.
The word statue cannot be right, and the attempts that have
been made to amend it (Hanmer conjectured sainted^ and
Warburton statued) are still less satisfactory. I think we
should read shadow^ on which word Julia is evidently playing.
Shadow, in Shakespeare, is usually opposed to substance,
so that also in the above line it seems to be almost neces-
sitated by the preceding substance. This conviction is still
strengthened when we recall the verses in A. IV, Sc. 2,
where Proteus asks for Silvia's picture and Silvia promises to
send it: —
Pro. Madam, if your heart be so obdurate
Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love,
The picture that is hanging in your chamber;
To that ril speak, to that I'll sigh and weep:
For since the substance of your perfect self
Is else devoted, I am but a shadow;
And to your shadow will I make true love.
Jul. [Aside'] If 'twere a substance, you would, sure,
deceive it.
And make it but a shadow, as I am.
Sil. I am very loath to be your idol, sir;
But since your falsehood shall become you well
To worship shadows and adore false shapes.
Send to me in the morning and I'll send it:
And so, good rest.
A MIDSUMMER -NIGHT'S DREAM. 41
Compare also: —
Love like a shadow flies, when substance love pursues.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, n, 2.
He takes false shadows for true substances.
Titus Andronicus, III, 2.
That same is Blanch, [sole] daughter to the king
The substance of the shadow that you saw.
Fair Em ed. Delius, 8. — Simpson, The School
OF Shakspere, II, 416.
It need scarcely be remarked that shadow, in the last-quoted
passage, stands for the picture of Lady Blanch. (Robinson's
Epitome of Literature, March 15, 1879; Vol. Ill, 48.)
Lvm.
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green
For lack of tread are undistinguishable :
The human mortals want their winter cheer;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest:
Therefore the moon, &c.
A MmsuMMER- Night's Dream, n, i, 99 seqq.
There is not much less confusion in the order of these lines
than in the altered seasons themselves. The arrangement,
proposed by Dr Johnson, however, contains no improvement
commensurate with its violence. 1 think an easier way of
healing the corruption may be found. The lines: —
The human mortals want their winter cheer;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest,
should be placed after: —
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose.
42 A MTDSUMMP:R- NIGHT'S DREAM.
Theobald's ingenious suggestion cheer instead of here, although
withdrawn by its author, has been rightly taken up by Dyce;
indeed, we cannot do without it. The sense is, *we see the
seasons alter; we have "snow in the lap of June" and sum-
mer in winter, so that we can enjoy neither summer nor
winter; the mortals are deprived of their usual winter enjoy-
ments, and no night is blessed with Christmas hymns or
carols.' (The Athenaeum, Oct. 26, 1867, 537. ">
LDC.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do.
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
A Midsummer -Night's Dream, III, 2, 149 seq.
The second line, although Dyce is silent about it, is certainly
corrupt. Hanmer conjectured in flouts^ Mason, in soul\
Tyrwhitt, /// sonls] Warburton, but must join insolents. Accor-
ding to my conviction Shakespeare wrote: —
But you must join in taunts to mock me too?
The usual abbreviation 'tauts', if the stroke were obliterated, or
altogether left out, could be easily misread for 'fouls'. (The
Athenaeum, Oct. 26, 1867, 537.)
LX.
Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!
That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
A Midsummer -Night's Dream, V, i, 58 seq.
Hanmer proposed and wondrous scorching snow, Warburton,
a wondrous strange shew', Upton, and Capell, and wondrous
strange black snow ; Mason, and wonder ous strong snow ; Collier,
A MIDSUMMER -NIGHT'S DREAM. 49
and Grant White (Shakespeare's Scholar 220), and wondrous
seething snow, Staunton, and zvondrous swarthy snow\ Nicholson,
and wondrous staining snow. The Editors of the Globe Edi-
tion have prefixed their well-known obelus to the line. There
can be no doubt that the epithet must refer to the colour,
and not to the temperature, of the snow; for as ice is the
symbol and quintessence of coldness, so is snow of whiteness
and purity. Compare, e. g. , Psalm 51, 7: Purge me with
hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and 1 shall be whiter
than snow. Hamlet, III, i, 140: be thou as chaste as ice,
as pure as snow. Hamlet, III, 3, 46: —
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow?
The incongruity, with the ice, therefore, lies in the tempera-
ture; with the snow, in the colour. In so far, Staunton's
conjecture swarthy highly recommends itself; it is, indeed, the
only one that is acceptable among those that have been published
hitherto. I imagine, however, that Shakespeare wrote: —
That is, hot ice and wondrous sable snow.
To a transcriber or compositor of Shakespeare's works, the
words wondrotcs strange, from their frequent occurrence, were
likely to present themselves even when uncalled for. (The
Athenaeum, Oct. 26, 1867, 537.)
LXI.
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon, take thy flight;
Now die, die, die, die, die. [Exit Moonshine.
A Midsummer -Night's Dream, V, i, 309.
This nonsense can never have come from Shakespeare's
pen. The word tongtie is entirely out of place here and
44 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.
has evidently crept in from Thisbe's next speech (the anti-
strophe): —
Tongue, not a word:
Come, trusty sword;
Come, blade, my breast imbrue.
Mr HalliwellrPhillipps has conjectured sun for tongue', but
Pyramus has nothing to do with the sun, and such an ad-
dress to sun and moon would be too truly pathetic in his
mouth. Besides, Pyramus does not address the moon, but
rather Moonshine and his Dog, and tongue, in my opinion,
is nothing but a mistake for dog. This granted, we have
only to transpose the words Dog and Moon, and the natural
flow of thoughts and words seems fully restored: —
Moon, lose thy light.
Dog, take thy flight.
Now die, die, die, die, die. [Exit Moonshine.
(The Athenaeum, Oct. 26, 1867, 537).
LXII.
My wind cooling my broth
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great at sea might do.
The Merchant of Venice, I, i, 22 seqq.
Wind is here understood by the commentators and trans-
lators to mean 'breath'. The repetition of the word, however,
first in this unusual and immediately after in its customary
sense, must 'give us pause', since no pun is intended; it seems
natural, to take the word in both places in the same sense.
Besides, nobody is able to blow himself to an ague by his
own proper breath; on the contrary, that which produces an
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 45
ague must come from somewhere else, it must be a wind,
in the ordinary sense of the word, and not a breath. The
pronoun 'my' does not subvert this explanation; it is used
colloquially and redundantly in the same manner as 'me' or
'your'. Thus, e. g., King John I, i, 189 seqq.: —
Now your traveller,
He and his toothpick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd.
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechize
My picked man of countries.
Or Ben Jonson, Volpone, IV, i : —
Read Contarene, took me a house.
Dealt with my Jews to furnish it with moveables &c.
Abbott, Shakespearian (xrammar 220 seq., has omitted to
mention this redundant use of 'my'. (Shakespeare - Jahr-
buch XI, 275.)
LXIII.
How like a fawning pubUcan he looks.
The Merchant of Venice, I, 3, 42.
Messrs Clark and Wright in their annotated edition of this
i lay take exception to the above line. 'A "fawning publican",
they say, 'seems an odd combination. The Publicani or far-
mers of taxes under the Roman government were much more
likely to treat the Jews with insolence than servility. Shake-
speare, perhaps, only remembered that in the Gospels " publi-
cans and sinners" are mentioned together as objects of the
hatred and contempt of the Pharisees.' — The learned editors
have overlooked that the poet evidently alludes to St. Luke
18, 10 — 14, where the publican fawns — not indeed on
men, but — in Shylock's opinion — on God. Such a
46 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.
prostration before God, proceeding from a humility which
is a characteristic of Christianity rather than of Judaism does
not enter into Shy lock's soul. Shy lock lends a deaf ear to
Portia's glorious panegyric of mercy; he will neither show,
nor accept mercy. He 'stays on his bond' not only in his
relations to his fellow -men, but also in his relations to his
Creator. 'What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?'
and 'My deeds upon my head!' he exclaims, in the true
spirit of Judaism. Marlowe's Barabas (A. I) speaks in the
very same key: —
The man that dealeth righteously shall live;
And which of you can charge me otherwise?
But Shylock is not only incapable of sympathizing with the
publican that prostrates himself in the dust and cries for
mercy, he is even averse to what he deems an abject behaviour;
he hates such a man and brands his humility as fawning.
(Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XT, 276.)
LXIV.
Shy, Signior Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances.
The Merchant of Venice, I, 3, 107 seqq.
Roger Wilbraham (An Attempt at a Glossary of Some Words
used in Cheshire, London, 1836, under 'Many a time and oft')
says: *A common expression and means, frequently. — —
With which colloquial expression, though common through
all England, Mr. Kean, the actor in the part of Shylock, being
unacquainted, always spoke the passage, by making a pause
in the middle of it, thus: "Many a time — and oft on the
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 47
Rialto", without having any authority from the text of Shake-
speare for so doing.' Compare also Forby, Vocabulary of
Fast Anglia s. v. Many -a- time -and- often: *a pleonasm or
rather tautology, sufficiently ridiculous, but in very familiar
LXV.
The young gentleman, is indeed deceased, or, as
you would say in plain terms, gone to heaven.
The Merchant of Venice, II, 2, 64 seqq.
Launcelot Gobbo delights in saying things by contraries; he
advises his father to 'turn down indirectly to the Jew's house'
and assures Bassanio that the suit is 'impertinent' to himself.
May he not be speaking here in the same style, so much the
more so as the 'plain term' in question is to go to hell rather
than to go to heaven'^ He does not, however, pronounce the
ominous word, but after some hesitation corrects himself.
The actor therefore should make a significant pause before
'heaven', and we should write, or, as you would so)^ in plain
terms, go?te to — heaven. A similar humorous innuendo is
contained in the well-known poem of Burns 'Duncan Gray',
St. 3: —
Shall I, like a fool, quoth he,
YoT a haughty hizzie die?
She may gae to — France for me!
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.
I quote from Allan Cunningham's edition (London, 1842,
in I vol., 450). In the second line, I think, we should write
dee for die. (Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XI, 277 seq.)
48 THE MERCHANT OI^ VENICE.
LXVI.
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?
The Merchant of Venice, III, 2, 242.
The distinguishing title here given to Antonio is repeated in
IV, I, 29: — Enow to press a royal merchant down. It is
by no means to be considered as a mere cpithcton ornans^ by
which the poet wishes to define the social position and
princely magnanimity of Antonio, but it is also a genuine
terminus techiiicus for a wholesale merchant or rather for what
was formerly called a merchant adventurer. This is shown
by a passage in Thomas Poweirs pamphlet Tom of all Trades;
or. The plaine Pathway to Preferment (1631), which is reprin-
ted in Mr Furnivall's edition of Tell-Trothes New-Yeares
Gift (Publications of the New Shakspere Society, Ser. VI, No. 2,
164 seq.). 'I admit', says Thomas Powell, 'the Merchant Royall
that comes to his Profession by travaile and Factory, full
fraught, and free adventure, to be a profession worthy the
seeking. But not the hedge -creeper, that goes to seeke
custome from shop to shop with a Cryll under his arme,
That leapes from his Shop-boord to the Exchange, and after
he is fame-falne and credit crackt in two or three other
professions, shall wrigle into this and that when he comes
upon the Exchange, instead of enquiring after such a good
ship, spends the whole houre in disputing, whether is the
more profitable house -keeping, either with powder Beefe, and
brewes, or with fresh Beefe and Porridge; though (God wot)
the blacke Pot at home be guilty of neyther: And so he
departs when the Bell rings, and his guts rumble, both to
one tune and the same purpose. The Merchant Royall might
grow prosperous, were it not for such poore patching inter-
loping Lapwings that have an adventure of two Chaldron of
Coles at New -castle; As much oyle in the Greeneland fishing
AS YOU LIKE IT. 49
as will serve two Coblers for the whole yeare ensuing. And
an other at Rowsie [i. e. Russia], for as many Fox -skins
as will furre his Longlane gowne, when he is called to the
Livorie.' (Anglia, herausgegeben von Wiilcker und Traut-
mann I, 340.)
LXVIL.
Bear your body more seeming, Audrey.
As You Like It, V, 4, 72.
In support of Mr P. A. Daniel's admirable emendation more
swimmings the following passages may be added to those
that have been quoted by Mr Daniel himself. Chapman,
The Ball, A. 11 (The Works of Geo. Chapman: Plays ed.
R. PL Shepherd, 494) : Carry your body in the swimming
fashion. — Ben Jonson, Epigrams No. LXXXII (Works, in i
vol., London 1853, 671): —
Surly's old whore in her new silks doth swim:
He cast, yet keeps her well! No; she keeps him.
From among modern writers the distinguished American poet
William Cullen Bryant may be cited as giving proof of the
sense in which the phrase is understood. In his poem
'Spring in Town' he says: —
No swimming Juno gait, of languor bom,
Is theirs, but a light step of freest grace.
Light as Camilla's o'er the unbent corn.
These quotations, I think, are sufficient to remove all doubts-
and to clear the way for the admittance of Mr Daniel's in-
genious correction into the text, so much the more as the
phrase 'to bear oneself or one's body seeming' can hardly
be supported by a single parallel passage. (Shakespeare- Jahr-
buch XI, 284.)
4
^ THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
LXVIIL
As Stephen Sly and old John Naps of Greece.
The Tamincx of the Shrew, Induction, II, 95.
For the private amusement of himself and friends the poet
has introduced in this Induction allusions to some well-known
inns and boon companions of his own county; recollections,
no doubt, of the haunts and acquaintances of his youth.
Such, probably, were old Sly and his son of Burton (or
Barton) -on -Heath, if they should not be meant for Edmund
Lambert and his son John (cf. Elze, William Shakespeare,
64 and 80); such also Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of
Wincot, i. e. Wilmecote, which, according to Staunton's note
ad loc, is to this day popularly pronounced Wincot. With
these I do not hesitate to couple old John Naps of Greece \
Greece being a palpable corruption, which is neither remedied
by Blackstone and Hanmer's old John Naps d tK Green, nor by
Mr Halliwell-Phillipps's old John Naps oj Greys or oj Greete,
which latter, Mr Halliwell-Phillipps says, was a place situated
between Stratford and Gloucester. On the map of Warwickshire
I find a place called Cleeve Priory, on the Avon, a few
miles below Stratford. Shakespeareans who are acquainted
from personal knowledge with the topography of W^arwickshire,
which I am sorry to say I am not, can decide whether this
be a place likely to have been the residence of old John
Naps; if so, I should propose to read: —
As Stephen Sly and old John Naps of Cleave.
This conjecture, I think, is strengthened by our poet's allusion
in Romeo and Juliet, II, 4, 83 seq., to 'bitter -sweetings',
a kind of apple which was, and is to this day, 'grown
especially at Cleeve and Littleton' and is still used as a
sauce, in complete accordance with Mercutio's words in
the passage cited. See John R. Wise, Shakspere: His Birth-
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 51
place and its Neighbourhood (London, 1861) 97. (The Athe-
naeum, Jan. 18, 1868, 95. Reply by Mr Halliwell - Phillipps
ib. Jan. 25, 1868, 133. — Shakespeare's dramatische Werke
nach der Uebersetzung von Schlegel und Tieck, herausgege-
ben von der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft VII, 120.)
LXIX.
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, i, 28.
S. Walker (Crit. Exam. I, 289) has rightly classed this line
among that species of corruption which he calls 'substitution
of words', where a particular word is substituted for another
'which stands near it in the context, more especially if there
happens to be some resemblance between the two'; in fact,
it is what in Germany is called a diplography, i. e. a faulty
repetition of the same or a similar word (see Nos. XXII
and XXX). Walker, however, has left the verse without cor-
rection, whilst an anonymous conjecturer, according to the
Cambridge Edition, proposes fair philosophy. The context,
I think, clearly shows the true reading to be: —
To suck the sweets of Greek philosophy.
(The Athenaeum, Jan, 18, 1868 p. 95).
LXX.
O yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face.
Such as the daughter of Agenor had.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, i, 172 seq.
In order to restore the rhyme Mr Collier's so-called manuscript-
corrector has substituted of Agenor s race for of Agenor had.
4*
52 • THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
Dyce, however, both in his Strictures on Mr Collier's New
Edition of Shakespeare, 72, and in his second edition of
Shakespeare's Works, has shown that by this alteration the
meaning is destroyed and the . grammar violated. Should the
line have rhymed originally, — and I am inclined to this belief,
— another, though still bolder, conjecture might serve the
purpose: —
O yes, I saw her in sweet beauty clad.
Such as the daughter of Agenor had.
LXXI.
Luc. Fiddler, forbear; you grow too forward, sir:
Have you so soon forgot the entertainment
Her sister Katharine welcomed you withal?
Hor. But, wrangling pedant, this is
The patroness of heavenly harmony: &c.
The Taming of the Shrew, IH, i, i seqq.
To complete the fourth line is no very difficult task, and it
has been performed by almost all editors; their conjectures,
however, are mere guesses and do not give us the least
explanation as to how the mutilation may have originated.
Not to speak of Theobald's and Hanmer's conjectures, nothing
less can be said of Mr Collier's / avouch this is or of W. N.
Lettsom's This is a Cecilia. The poorest expedient seems
to me S. Walker's arrangement (Versification, 85), which proves
that in criticism, as well as in poetry, even Homer may some-
times take a nap. Any attempt to heal this gap which should
lay claim to something better than an 'airy nothing' ought
of itself to indicate the way in which the beginning of the line
became lost; for, in my opinion, the loss took place at the
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 53
beginning, and not in the body, or at the end, of the line.
I imagine that Shakespeare wrote: —
Her sister — tut! But, wrangling pedant, this is &c.
The copyist or compositor omitted the first two words because
he had just written them or set them up in the same place in
the preceding line, and the third was overlooked through its
similarity to the following hut. The copyist or compositor
catching this hut, fancied that he' had already written or set
up the three preceding words. (The Athenaeum, Jan. i8, 1868,
p. 95).
LXXII.
Pet. Come, where be these gallants? Who's at home?
Bap. You 're welcome, sir.
Pet. And yet I come not well.
Bap. And yet you halt not.
Tra. Not so well apparell'd
As I wish you were.
Pet. Were it better, 1 should rush in thus.
But where is Kate? Where is my lovely bride?
How does my father? — Gentles, methinks you frown.
The Taming of the Shrew, III, 2, 89 seqq.
The arrangement and disposition of this passage is, no doubt,
corrupt. It is an unfit remark in Petruchio's own mouth
that he does not come well, nor does it harmonize with his
subsequent question — 'And wherefore gaze this goodly
company?' On the contrary he would have the company
believe that he comes quite well as he comes, and that he
gives no occasion for staring at him. This difficulty is, indeed,
removed by the ingenious conjecture of Capell; there are,
however, others still remaining. I do not think it likely that
64 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
Tranio should join in the conversation at its very beginning;
moreover, it is not his business to express a wish about
Petruchio's apparel. The words 'Not so well apparell'd as I
wish you were' evidently belong to Baptista; and in the old
piece, the corresponding words ('But say, why art thou thus
basely attired ? ') are in fact spoken by the father of the bride.
In so far I agree with W. N. Lettsom's arrangement, apud
Walker, Crit. Exam. Ill, 68. For the emendation of the
following verse, 'Were it better, I should rush in thus', a
number of conjectures have been offered. Its supposed cor-
ruption, however, merely arises from a misunderstanding, or
rather misconstruction. All the editors, whom I have been
able to collate, refer these words to the preceding lines;
their meaning, according to Dyce, being, 'Were my apparel
better than it is, I should yet rush in thus.' But the pointing
of the folio which has a colon after 'thus' shows that
the line is to be connected with the following verses; and
the position of 'thus' at the end of the line confirms this
construction. Petruchio, in answer to Baptista's reproaches,
here imitates an amorous coxcomb and asks if it were better
to have come in after this manner, and with these questions.
With the words, 'Gentles, methinks you frown', he resumes
his own manner and tone. Only on the stage can the truth
of this interpretation be made fully apparent. The passage
should accordingly be printed: —
Pet. Come, where be these gallants? Who 's at home?
Bap. You 're welcome, sir; and yet you come not well.
Pet. And yet I halt not.
Bap. Not so apparell'd as 1 wish you were.
Pet. Were it better I should rush in thus? —
[Imitating a coxcomb.
But where is Kate? Where is my lovely bride?
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 55
How does my father? {Resuming his own manner again.)
Gentles, methinks you frown.
In the first line, S. Walker (Crit. Exam. II, 144) proposes to
read Come, co7ne\ it may, however, as well begin with what is
called a monosyllabic foot. In the correction of the fourth line
W. N. Lettsom has led the way by expunging well before
apparelVd\ he also substitutes Nor for Not^ whereas in my
arrangement the original reading ig retained. (The Athenaeum,
Jan. 18, 1868, 95).
LXXIII.
Welcome; one mess is like to be your cheer.
Come, sir; we will better it in Pisa.
The Taming of the Shrew, IV, 4, 70 seq.
Capell's alteration has been conclusively refuted by Dyce.
The metre of the second line might be thus restored: —
Come, sir; we soon will better it in Pisa.
Or, if a verse of four feet should be thought admissible, we
imll may be contracted: —
Come, sir; well better it in Pisa.
(The Athenaeum, Jan. 18, 1868, 95).
LXXIV.
I frown the while, and perchance wind up my watch, or
play with my s6me rich jewel.
Twelfth Night, II, 5, 65 seq.
I regret that I cannot agree with Mr P. A. Daniel's inter-
pretation of this passage (Notes and Conjectural Emen-
dations, 43). For, if in fact persons of rank, apart from collars
of knighthood, and similar badges of honour, wore jewels
56 TWELFTH NIGHT. KING JOHN.
suspended from the neck (of which I am not certain), yet
these jewels could hardly serve as playthings. In ray opinion
the poet rather has in view a jewel hanging from the watch,
or worn in a ring. Compare, e. g., The Womanhater IV, 2
(Dodsley ed. Hazlitt IV, 358): —
Be full of bounty; velvets to furnish a gown, silks
For petticoats and foreparts, shag for lining;
Forget not some pretty jewel to fasten, after
Some little compliment.
Or Jeronimo, (Dodsley ed. Hazlitt IV, 358): —
Let his protestations be
Fashioned with rich jewels.
I should prefer therefore to read with some rich jewels al-
though the ingenious emendation proposed by Mr Daniel
might just as well be understood in the sense indicated by
me. The pointing by which the Cambridge Editors endeavour
to uphold the reading of the folio is too artificial to be taken
for Shakespeare's own punctuation.
LXXV.
Here's a stay
That shakes the rotten carcass of old Death
Out of his rags.
King John II, i, 455 seq.
This is the reading of the folio, of which W. N. Lettsom has
justly remarked, that ^stay is perhaps the last word that could
have come from Shakespeare.' Johnson has conjectured flaw
which S. Walker (Crit. Exam. II, 294) thinks 'is indisputably
right'; it bears, however, too little resemblance to the old
reading, and, besides, the idea of a gust of wind seems to be
KING JOHN. 67
foreign to the context. The same objections lie against
Mr Spedding's conjectures of storm and story. Beckett and
Singer propose say which is far too weak in the mouth of
the Bastard. I think we should read, — Here^s a bray. The
Heralds both of the besiegers and the besieged play a con-
spicuous part in this scene and have just opened the parley
with the blowing of their trumpets; King Philip says (II, i,
204 seq.): —
You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,
Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.
Under such circumstances the citizen of Angiers may be said
not inappropriately to 'bray out' his defiance to the kings
like a 'harsh -resounding' trumpet (see K. Richard II, I, 3,
135: With harsh -resounding trumpets' dreadful bray) and,
in the Bastard's language, by such a clang to shake 'the
rotten carcass of old Death out of his rags.' Compare
Hamlet, I, 4, 11 seq.: —
The kettledrum and trumpet thus bray out
The triumph of his pledge —
and Edward III, I, 2 (ed. Delius, 9) : —
How much they will deride us in the North;
And in their vile, uncivil, skipping jigs.
Bray forth their conquest and our overthrow,
Even in the barren, bleak, and fruitless air.
See also Milton's English Poems, ed. R. C. Browne (London,
1873) I, 228 and 367. (The Athenaeum, June 22, id>t)"/, 821.
— Shakespeare's dramatische VVerke nach der Uebersetzung
von Schlegel und Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft I, 235.)
58 KING JOHN.
LXXVI.
The grappling vigour and rough frown of war
Is cold in amity and painted peace.
King John, III, i, 104 seq.
Hanmer reads cooVd\ Capell, clad\ Staunton proposes coiVd,
and Mr Collier's corrected folio has faint in peace. Mr Collier's
manuscript corrector, whoever he may have been, has rightly
felt the want of symmetrical agreement between the two
clauses of the second line, but the remedy by which he has
meant to restore it, seems to be wrong. I rather incline to
the belief that Shakespeare wrote: —
Is scolding amity and painted peace.
Constance reproaches King Philip with perjury, and denounces
his warlike preparations as a sham; they are, she says, not
more dreadful than amity that scolds a friend or peace which
is painted to look like war. The required harmony of the
sentence is thus very naturally recovered; and I need not
dwell on the easy misapprehension by which the words Is
scolding, particularly when spoken, can be transmuted into
Is cold in. (The Athenaeum, June 22, 1867, 821. Shakespeare's
dramatische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von Schlegel und
Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen Shake speare-Gesell-
schaft I, 238).
LXXVIL
First Exec. I hope your warrant will bear out the deed.
Huh. Uncleanly scruples! fear not you; look to 't.
King John, IV, i, 6 seq.
According to Schmidt, Shakespeare-Lexicon s. v., uncleanly is
used by Shakespeare not only in its literal, but also in a mor-
al sense == indecent, imbecoming. This moral sense Schmidt
KING JOHN. 59
ascribes to the word in the following three passages, viz.
As You Like It, III, 2, 49; Othello, III, 3, 138 seqq.; and the
present line from King John. In the first -named passage
Corin and Touchstone are talking of 'good manners at the
court' as opposed to country manners. 'You told me', says
Corin, 'you salute not at the court, but you kiss your hands:
that courtesy would be uncleanly, if courtiers were shepherds.'
Being asked for his reason, he adds, 'We are still handling
our ewes, and their fells, you know, are greasy'. From the
context it is evident that uncleanly is here used in its literal,
not in its figurative, meaning; which latter is to be found only
in the other two passages. But this does not remove the
doubts that cling to those Uncleanly scruples, with which
Hubert reproaches the executioner, for the executioner's
scruples are cleanly and decent rather than otherwise; he
endeavours to keep clean from responsibility. Grey con-
jectured unmanly, but I have little doubt that we should
read: —
Unseemly scruples! fear not you! look to 't.
These scruples, says Hubert, do not beseem a man of so
low a station as you are. (The Athenaeum, June 22, 1867,
821. — Shakespeare's dramatische Werke nach der Ueber-
setzung von Schlegel und Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deut-
schen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft I, 242).
LXXVIII.
When your head did but ache,
I knit my handkercher about your brows.
The best I had, a princess wrought it me,
And I did never ask it you again;
60 KING JOHN.
And with my hand at midnight held your head,
And like the watchful minutes to the hour,
Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time,
Saying, 'What lack you?' and 'Where lies your grief?'
Or 'What good love may I perform for you?'
King John, IV, i, 41 seqq.
Arthur clearly means to say, 'Just as the watchful minutes
cheer up the long, slow hour, so did I cheer up the heavy
time by my repeated, sympathizing questions.' It seems, there-
fore, that we should read: —
And, like the watchful minutes do the hour.
Still and anon cheered up the heavy time.
That like was not unfrequently used in the sense of as, has
been shown by S. Walker , Crit. Exam. II , 115 seqq. * In
provincial English', says Mr Earle (The Philology of the
English Tongue, 214) Hike is still now used as a conjunction :
he behaved like a scoundrel would.' Compare Forster's Life
of Dickens (I, 263, Tauchnitz Ed.): 'Nobody shall miss her
like I shall.' Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar is silent about
this use of the word, although instances in point occur in The
Tempest, III, 3, 65 seq.: —
my fellow -ministers
Are like invulnerable —
and in A Midsummer -Night's Dream, IV, i, 170 seq.: —
But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;
But, as in health, come to my natural taste, &c.
The old editions, it is true, read like a sickness, but this
evident mistake was corrected by Farmer and all subsequent
editors have adopted his correction. Compare also the pas-
sage from Hugh Holland quoted farther on (No. XCII) : —
KING JOHN. 61
though my braines Apollo warmes;
Where, like in Jove*s, Minerva keeps a coile.
(Notes and Queries, Feb. 7, 1874, 116. — Shakespeare-Jahr-
buch XI, 284 seq.).
LXXIX.
If what in rest you have, in right you hold &c.
King John, IV, 2, 55.
Steevens conjectured in wrest) Jackson, interest; an anonymous
scholar, i7i rent', Staunton, If what in rest you have, not right
you hold. King John has nothing in rest, but, on the contrary,
every thing in unrest; he is full of fears and has to contend
with enemies both abroad and at home. Pandulph very justly
says (III, 4, 131 seqq.): —
It cannot be
That, whiles warm life plays in that infant's veins.
The misplaced John should entertain an hour.
One minute, nay, one quiet breath of rest.
To tell the king, that he has the kingdom in widest would ill
become the speaker, even if such an abbreviation for in your
ivrest or in your grasp, were Shakespearean, of which I do
not feel sure. These difficulties, I think, might be avoided
by reading: —
If what in trust you have, by right vou hold.
Government is entrusted to the king; he holds it for the
benefit of his country and subjects. This is by no means
a modern sentiment or foreign to Shakespeare's time.
Ilolinshed puts almost the very same words into the mouth
of the Archbishop of Canterbury at the coronation of King
John; 'a man', he makes him say of the king, *I doubt not
B2 KING JOHN.
that for his owne part will apply his whole indevour, studie
and thought vnto that onelie end, which he shall perceiue
to be most profitable for the commonwealth, as knowing
himself to be borne not to serue his owne turne, but for to
profit his countrie and to seeke for the generall benefit of
us that are his subjects.' In Richard II, IV, i, 126, the king
is characterized by the Bishop of Carlisle as God's 'captain,
steward, deputy -elect' and in III, 3, 78, Richard himself
says: —
If we be not, show us the hand of God
That hath dismiss'd us from our stewardship.
(Shakespeare's dramatische Werke nach der Uebcrsetzung von
Schlegel und Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft I, 243 seq. — Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XI,
285 seq.).
LXXX.
For I do see the cruel pangs of death
Right in thine eye.
King John, V, 4, 59 seq.
Right in thine eye certainly gives a sense, but so weak and
poor a sense that it is beneath Shakespeare. It can neither
be supported by Coriolanus, III, 3, 70: —
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths,
nor by Byron, The Island, I, 4: —
Full in thine eyes is waved the glittering blade.
Righty in our passage, is merely an expletive. Hanmer and
Warburton therefore conjectured Right in thine eye i^eyes) ;
Capell, Fight in thine eye\ Mr Collier's so-called manuscript
corrector, Bright in thine eye', Brae, Riot in thine eye. This
last suggestion has been cited by Dr Ingleby (Shakespeare
KING JOHN. eS
Hermeneiitics , or The Stili Lion, London, 1875, 116) with
* unqualified satisfaction'. Mr Collier's conjecture, although
approved by Singer and Knight, has been incontrovertibly
refuted by Dyce ad loc. I think the compositor anticipated
right from the following line ('that intends old right') and
am convinced that the true reading is: —
For I do see the cruel pangs of death
Writhing thine eye.
(The Athenseum, June 22^ 1867, 821. — Shakespeare's dra-
matische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von Schlegel und
Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesell-
schaft, 2. Aufl., I, 247. The first edition I, 247, has the
misprint Whithin for Writhing^
LXXXI.
Enter Bastard and HuiBERT, seuerally.
Huh. Whose there? Speake hoa, speake quickely,
or 1 shoote.
Bast. A Friend. What art thou?
Huh. Of the part of England.
Bast. Whether doest thou go?
Huh. What's that to thee?
Why may not I demand of thine affaires,
As well as thou of mine?
Bast. Hubert, I thinke.
Huh. Thou hast a perfect thought.
King John, V, 6, i seqq.
Ihis is the reading of the folio and it need not be pointed
out that, as far as the distribution of the speeches is con-
cerned, it is a perfect tangle. Attempts at emendation have
64 KING JOHN.
been made by W. W. Lloyd , Dyce (3 d Ed. V, 98), and Mr
H. H. Vaughan (New Readings and New Renderings of
Shakespeare's Tragedies, London, 1878, 1, 84 seq.). Dyce
differs from the folio only in the following lines: —
Huh. What's that to thee?
Bast, Why may not I demand
Of thine affairs, as well as thou of mine?
Hubert I think.
He adopts, he says, as absolutely necessary, this portion of
the new distribution of the speeches at the commencement of
this scene which was recommended to him by W. W. Lloyd.
Mr Vaughan proposes the following arrangement: —
Hub, Who's there? Speak ho! speak quickly, or I
shoot.
Bast, A friend: what art thou?
Huh, Of the part of England.
Whither dost thou go?
Bast, What is that to thee?
Huh, 'What's that to thee?' — Why may not I
demand
Of thine affairs — as well as thou of mine?
Bast. Hubert, I think.
Huh. Thou hast a perfect thought.
Thus, Mr Vaughan says, the metre becomes perfect, whereas,
according to him, the metrical defect is not remedied by
Dyce's arrangement. In my opinion both Dyce's and Mr
Vaughan's alterations are insufficient and do not improve
the text; of Mr Lloyd's arrangement, as it is not contained
in his Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare (London
1875), I know nothing except what has been imparted by
Dyce. If we bear in mind that throughout the play the
Bastard is hot-headed, aggressive and over -bearing, whereas
KING JOHN. 65
Hubert is of a sedate temperament and generally stands on
his defence, it will seem quite natural that it is not the latter,
but the former, who opens the dialogue with the impetuous
question: Who's there? Speak, ho!, to which he immediately
adds a threat. It speaks greatly in favour of this supposition
that in the stage-direction the name of the Bastard is placed
first. I feel therefore convinced that the verses should be
distributed as follows: —
Basi. Who's there? Speak, ho! speak quickly, or I
Hub. A friend. [shoot.
Bast. What art thou?
Hub. Of the part of England. —
Whither dost thou go?
Bast. What's that to thee?
Hub. Why may not I demand
Of thnie affairs as well as thou of mine?
Bast. Hubert, I think.
Hub. Thou hast a perfect thought.
(Shakespeare's dramatische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von
Schlcgel und Tieck, herausgegeben durch die Deutsche Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, I, 247. — The Athenaeum, June 22, 1867.)
LXXXII.
Let it be so: and you, my noble prince,
With other princes that may best be spared,
Shall wait upon your father's funeral.
King John, V, 7, 96 seqq.
S. Walker (Grit. Exam. I, 293) believes the word princes to be
a corruption, the transcriber's or compositor's eye having been
caught by the word prince in the preceding line. Dyce and
5
66 ROMEO AND JULIET.
the Cambridge Editors concur in this opinion, without, however,
making any attempt at restoring the passage. The compositor,
in my opinion, by mistake repeated a wrong word from. the
preceding verse ; instead of princes he ought to have repeated
7iohles, for Shakespeare in all probability wrote : —
With other nobles that may best be spared.
(The Athenaeum, June 22^ 1867, 821. — Shakespeare's dra-
matische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von Schlegel und
Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesell-
schaft, I, 248.)
LXXXIII.
Enter Will Kemp.
Romeo and Juliet, IV, 5 (QB).
The account of Will Kemp's life and doings as given by
Dyce in the Introduction to 'Kemp's Nine Daies Wonder'
(printed for the Camden Society, 1840), singular though it
be, has yet been far surpassed by the wild hypotheses con-
cerning it advanced by the late R. Simpson (The School of
Shakspere, II, 373 seq.). Simpson is the only critic, as far
as I am aware, who pretends to a knowledge of Kemp's
whereabouts before 1587. This knowledge he derives from
the pseudo - Shakespearean comedy of *Fair Em' to which
he imparts a symbolical meaning and which he imagines to
refer to events in the history of the stage. William the
Conqueror, the hero of that comedy, according to Simpson, is
no other than William Kemp, who, he fancies, went to
Denmark \\\ 1586, at the head of a company of actors, in
order to marry the princess Blanch, that is, in order *to
make himself the master of the Danish stage.' 'But on his
ROMEO AND JULIET. 67
arrival there', continues Simpson, 'he was more struck with the
chances of another career, and very soon eloped to Saxony,
to turn his histrionic talents to more account there.' This
fact, Simpson fancies, was shadowed forth by the change
that takes place in the sentiments of William the Conqueror.
*Mounteney and Valingford', our critic goes on to say, 'are
two of his company whom he would have taken with him,
but who preferred to stay behind, and contend for the prize
of the Manchester stage, which Lord Strange's players were
then bringing into repute.' The second part of the plot
carries on the history of this Manchester contention. 'The
windmill, with its clapper and its grist, is the type of the
theatre; the wind is either the encouraging breath of the
audience, or the voice of the actors, the clapper the applause,
and the grist the gains. The miller's daughter is the prize;
he who wins her bears the bell as play-wright' — As this
second part of Simpson's explanation has nothing to do with
Will Kemp, I dismiss it with the question, what the verdict
of English critics might have been, had a German started
such a theory.
There is not a single argument to support Kemp's supposed
journey to Denmark and Saxony; nay such a journey is utterly
improbable. Putting aside for the moment Kemp's 'Dutiful
Inuective' (1587) of which I shall speak more at large hereafter,
we find Kemp first mentioned in 1589, if we take it for granted
that Nash's undated tract 'An Almond for a Parrot' which
is inscribed to William Kemp was published in this year.
In the dedication Kemp is complimented as the 'vice-gerent
generall to the Ghost of Dicke Tarlton'; and in Pleywood's
'Apologie for Actors' (43) we are likewise told that Kemp
succeeded Tarlton, who died in September, 1588, 'as wel in
the favour of her majesty, as in the opinion and good
68 ROIMEO AND JUI.TET.
thoughts of the general! audience/ The question, therefore,
arises whether it is h'kely that Kemp, if he had really pro-
ceeded in 1586 to Denmark and thence to Saxony, could
have been back again in England as early as the end of
1588 or the beginning of 1589, nay, if he really were the
author of the 'Dutiful hiuective' which appeared in 1587, his
stay in foreign parts must dwindle down to less than a
twelvemonth. But travelling in those days was no such easy
pastime as it is now -a -days, and certainly we must allow
Kemp some time both in Denmark and Ciennany for the
exercise of his profession. Besides, Kemp in 1588, in all
probability, was a very young man, for he himself tells us
that in 159Q when performing his famous morris-dance from
London to Norwich, he 'judged his heart cork and his heels
feathers, so that he thought he could fly to Rome or at least
hop to Rome, as the old proverb is, with a mortar on his
head.' We cannot possibly believe him to have been a man
advanced in years in 1599, else he would certainly not have
been able to undergo the fatigues of a feat so unheard of
and never surpassed. Supposing then that he was about
thirty -five years old when dancing to Norwich, he would in
1586 have numbered little more than twenty years, an age
at which we can hardly believe him to have gone abroad
at the head of a company of players. Moreover it is highly
probable that from 1589 to 1593 Kemp belonged to Edward
Alleyn's company, for his 'Applauded Merrimentes of the
Men of Gotcham' are contained in the most pleasant and
merry Comedy 'A Knacke to knowe a Knaue', which was
published in 1594 and acted in 1592 by Alleyn's company;
this, as Dyce justly remarks, would scarcely have been the
case, had not Kemp been a member of the company and
himself performed a part in his Applauded Merrimentes. Thus
ROMEO AND JULIET. 69
far every one will be glad to side with so distinguished a
critic as Dyce ; but when directly afterwards he ridicules Ritson
for having inserted in the catalogue of Kemp's 'Works', the
'Applauded Merrimentes ', nobody, it is true, will be ready
to raise that fragment of buffoonery, — even supposing it to
have been amplified by improvisation, — to the dignity of a
'Work', but nobody, on the other hand, I think, will be
justified in denying, with Dyce, that Kemp was its author.
On the contrary, this fact is supported by a testimony quoted
by Dyce himself (XXV), viz. a passage in Nash's 'Strange
Newes, Of the intercepting certaine Letters' (1592) where
Nash advises (jabriel Harvey to be on his guard lest Will
Kemp should choose him one of these days for the subject
of one of his 'Merrimentes'.*
Beside the 'Applauded Merrimentes' three jigs are
entered in the Stationers' Registers (1591 and 1595) as
'Kemp's Jig' or 'Kemp's New Jig'. According to Dyce
these jigs were ascribed to Kemp on no other ground than be-
cause, by his consummate skill, he had succeeded in rendering
them popular. His reasons for this assertion are twofold.
First, he alleges that Kemp himself speaks of his Nine Daies'
Wonder (1600) as the first pamphlet published by him, which,
according to Dyce, would be an untruth if he had published
not only the 'Applauded Merrimentes' but also three jigs
before that time; for it would be a poor argument, Dyce
adds, to distinguish between the jigs and the Nine Daies'
Wonder, on the ground that the former were not pamphlets.
1 do not see why this argument is to be rejected as a poor
one ; jigs were a species of plays, and written in verse, as Dyce
himself admits, whereas the Nine Daies' Wonder is written
* Mr Collier, H. E. Dr. P., Ill, 33, erroneously cites the passage
in question as taken from Nash's Apologic for Pierce Pennilesse (1593).
70 ROMEO AND JULTET.
in prose as other pamphlets are. Besides, are \vc quitc^ sure
that Kemp's jigs were given to thii world by the author
himself, as we know his Nine Daies Wonder was? i\Iay not
their publication have been effected in the same manner in
which so many Elizabethan plays were published, without the
consent, nay, even without the knowledge of the authors?
Granting this, it certainly would have been an unimpeachable
statement, for Kemp to style the Nine Daies Wonder 'the
first pamphlet that ever Will Kemp offred to the Presse'.
The second argument adduced by Dyce in support of
his opinion cannot lay claim to any greater cogency. Although
Kemp, he says, was not 'grossly illiterate', as is proved by
his Nine Daies Wonder, yet he could not boast of a faculty
for poetry; for, 'if he had been a practised jig-maker', he
would not have needed the assistance of a friend for the
few verses inserted in the Nine Daies Wonder. If, however,
we peruse this pamphlet without prejudice we cannot doubt
but that Kemp himself, and no other, was the author of the two
little pieces on p. lo and p. 13 seq.; the good fellow, his
friend, to whom he ascribes them is nothing but a poetical
fiction, a mask, which is common enough, the predecessor of
the 'judicious friend' in Lord jMacaulay's Life and Letters.
Both in matter and style these verses entirely agree with
Kemp's prose; in both we meet with the same kind of wit
and buftbonery, both are clearly from the same pen.
But Dyce goes still farther. Not only the Merrimentes
and the Jigs, but everything else that bears Kemp's name,
with the sole exception of the Nine Daies Wonder, ho de-
clares to be spurious. This leads us back to the above-
mentioned little volume 'A Dutiful hiuective &c.' which was
published in 1587 with WiUiam Kemp's name on the title-
page. This poem, written in iambic lines of seven feet, is
ROMEO AND JULIET. 71
termed 'the first fruites of his labour' by the author and in-
scribed to the Lord Mayor of London. It is directed against
the traitors Ballard and Babington, and expresses an ardent
enthusiasm for the Queen. In this latter respect it is quite
of a piece with the Nine Daies Wonder, towards the end of
which the author assures us that 'al his mirths (meane though
they be) haue bin and euer shal be imploi'd to the delight
of my royal Mistris; whose sacred name ought not to be
remembred among such ribald rimes as these late thin-breecht
lying Ballet -singers haue proclaimed it' This is the well-
known language of all players and play-wrights of the time,
who were abundantly thankful for the favour and patronage
which the Queen extended to the stage. Although in 1587
Kemp had not yet succeeded to Tarlton, he may even at
that time have attracted the notice of the Queen and received
marks of her favour. In spite of all this Dyce does not
hesitate to attribute the * Dutiful Inuective ' to another William
Kemp, who, as Dyce informs us, was a schoolmaster at Ply-
mouth, and who in the following year published a treatise
under the title 'The Education of Children in Learning'.
As, however, on the title-page of this latter tract we read
only the initials W. K., there is nothing to assure us that
they are meant for William Kemp. May they not stand just
as well for Walter King, or Knight, or Kelly? But taking
it for proven that there was a schoolmaster of the name of
William Kemp living at Plymouth and that he was the author
of the treatise in question, all that we may infer from this
proposition is, that we have to deal with two William Kemps,
the one living at London, the other at Plymouth; the one
an actor, the other a schoolmaster; the one the author of
the Nine Daies Wonder, the other the author of the Education
of Children in Learning, and one of them the author of the
72 ROMEO AND JULIET.
Dutiful Inuective. Now what reason have we to ascribe this
latter production to the schoolmaster rather than to the actor?
Is he to be thought endowed with a larger measure of the
'faculty divine' than his namesake the actor? And living at
Plymouth, as he did, what reason had he to inscribe his
treatise to the Lord Mayor of London? A London actor
might well be induced to flatter His Lordship by the de-
dication of some document of dutiful loyalty and well -spent
literary labour, as the grim City -potentate did not usually
look with a benign eye on theatres and theatrical amusements,
least of all jigs and clowns. Besides it should be remembered
that when several years after Kemp danced his morris to
Norwich, he began it before the Lord Mayor's house. And
for what reason should the heart of the Plymouth school-
master have dilated with the same enthusiastic loyalty for
the Queen, as did that of the London actor? That William
Kemp, the actor, came before the public more than once in
print is fairly to be inferred from the wellknown words which
the student Philomusus addresses to him in The Return
from Parnassus (1606): 'Indeed M. Kempe', he says, 'you are
very famous, but that is as well for workes in print as your
part in kue.' As we have seen, Dyce not only ridicules
the expression 'workes' which may indeed be comically
exaggerated, but he declares the whole statement to be in-
correct and not deserving of belief; 'I understand', he says, 'the
ironical compliment as an allusion to his (viz. Kemp's) Nine
Daies Wonder only; for I feel assured that all the other
pieces have been erroneously attributed to his pen.' This
assertion, in my opinion, is by no means borne out by the
facts and is wholly gratuitous.
Li the same spirit of overstrained criticism Dyce discusses
the journeys, which on the testimony of several contemporaries
ROMEO AND JULIET. ?^
were undertaken by Kemp; if we are to believe him, all of
them, with the single exception of the morris to Norwich,
are entirely fictitious. Now Kemp himself towards the end
of the Nine Daies Wonder declares his intention of setting
out on some journey; though not yet certain as to its aim,
he mentions Rome, Jerusalem, and Venice as places where
he should be most inclined to go. No account of such a
journey is extant, and this fact is thought by Dyce a sufficient
argument to deny its having been made at all. In the passage
just quoted from The Return from Parnassus, however, Kemp
is welcomed as having just come back from abroad and
Philomusus and Studioso, the two Cambridge students, address
him in the following words: — ^ Phil. What, M. Kempe,
how doth the Emperour of Germany? Stud. God save you,
M. Kempe;- welcome, M.i Kempe, frofn dancing the morrice
ouer the Alpes.'r Kemp's reply is this.: — 'Well, you merry
knaues, you may come to the honour of it one day: is it
not better to make a foole of the world as 1 have done,
then to be fooled of the world as you schollers are?' All
this Dyce declares to be nothing but 'sportive allusions to
Kemp's journey to Norwich ', an assertion which hardly needs
refutation. In what connection do the Emperor of Germany
and tlie Alps stand to Norwich, and how can a mention of
the former be taken for an allusion to the latter? According
to the simplest rules of interpretation the question 'How
doth the Emperour of Germany?' suggests the fact that
Kemp saw the Emperor, or at least heard of him from per-
sons attached to his court or train, as well he might if he
had been in Germany. But if Kemp travelled at all he certainly
did so in his capacity as a clown and dancer and it was
no doubt the aim of his journey to turn his histrionic talents
to the best possible account. Why then may he not have
74 ROMEO AND JULIET.
aoUid before his Imperial JNIajesty? We know that John
Spencer, wlio was at the head of a company of English
actors in the service of the Elector of Brandenburg, travelled
with his company in the South of Germany and performed
several times before the Emperor and the Diet at Ratisbon
in 1613.* If Kemp really should have done so before his
countryman, he may very likely on his return have boasted
of the honour and this' boasting may have occasioned the
comic exaggerations and railleries with Avhich his friends and
contemporaries bantered him, — a supposition wliich mutaiis
7ntilatidis may likewise hold in regard to Kemp's so-called
'Works'.
,=><|in'Our belief in Kemp's journey to Italy is greatly streng-
thened by two additional testimonies. In the above-mentioned
dedication of the pamphlet 'An Almond for a Parrot' Nash
tells us that about the year 1588 he was in Italy and that
at Bergamo the Italian 'arlechini ' inquired about the celebrated
i\I. Kemp of whom they spoke in terms of highest eulogy.
This, I think, could not but prove an inducement to Kemp
to go to Italy himself and there to make the acquaintance
of his Italian fellow -clowns and admirers. The international
intercourse between England and Italy, especially Northern
Italy, was highly flourishing and a journey to Italy was easily
and cheaply to be accomplished, — according to the notions
and customs of the time. Nevertheless, it must be owned
that Nash's dedication is written in that style of buffoonery
which seems to be inseparable from the dedicator and still
more so from the dedicatee, and as we are not sure to what
extent similar jokes may have been thought allowable in those
merry days it may be as w^ell not to lay too great a stress
* A. Cohu, Shakespeare in Gerniany LXXXIV seq.
ROMEO AND JULIET. 76
on this dedication. It is different, iiowever, with a second
testimony, also quoted by Dyce himself, viz. a passage in
John Day's 'Travailes of the three English Brothers' &c., an
historical (!) play which was published in 1607, but, according
to Dyce, written before that time, as it is not yet divided
into acts and scenes. Here Will Kemp is introduced, in
propria persona^ in a scene laid at Venice. In this scene an
Englishman desires to l)e presented to Sir Anthony Shirley
who is staying at Venice as ambassador from the Sophy.
*An Englishman?' Sir Anthony asks his servant, 'what's his
name? Sef'v. He calls himselfe Kempe. Sir Anth. Kemp!
bid him come in. [Exit Servant. Enter Kempe^ Welcome,
honest Will; and how doth all thy fellowes in England?' &c.
Then an Italian clown and his wife make their appearance
and ask permission to perform before Sir Anthony, who
prevails upon Kemp to join in this performance of the two
Italians. Kemp, however, takes great offence at a woman
exhibiting before spectators, and therefore makes her and her
husband the butt of his jokes and satirical remarks. Now
this scene in my opinion would have been meaningless, and
insipid, and hardly tolerable on a London stage, if Kemp had
not been really at Venice and had not been a partaker there in
some such exhibition. Eor this same reason we must conclude
that *The Travailes of the three English Brothers' was acted
during Kemp's lifetime.
The date of Kemp's death is quite uncertain, the respective
conjectures of Malone and Chalmers not being supported by
positive evidence; according to Malone he died before 1609,
according to Chalmers as early as 1603. That he was dead
in 1 61 2, is generally inferred from the passage in Heywood's
Apologie quoted above, although Heywood's words are by
no means explicit enough to remove all doubts. If we follow
76 TIMON OF ATHENS.
Malone, who is generally a safe guide, Kemp may very well
have witnessed the performance of the 'Travailes' and it is
evident, provided he did not perform the part himself, that
the zest of the joke for the audience must have been in
seeing the real Kemp sitting amongst them opposite his
counterfeit on the boards.
LXXXIV.
Tim. Thy backe, I prythee.
Ape. Liue, and loue thy misery.
Tim. Long Hue so, and so dye. I am quit.
Ape. Mo things like men,
Eate Timon, and abhorre then. \Exii Apemanius,
TiMON OF Athens, IV, 3, 396 seqq.
This is the arrangement of the folio. The last two lines have
rightly been given to Timon by the editors and in order to
complete the metre Hanmer and Capell have added so before
the words / ani quit. In my opinion, however, this is not
sufficient to restore the passage; the words Long live so, and
so die do not belong to Timon, but to Apemantus and the
true arrangement, therefore, seems to be the following: —
Tim. Thy back, I prythee.
Ape. Live and love thy misery;
Long live so and so die. [Exii Apemantus.
Tim. So I am quit. —
Moe things like men? — Eat, Timon, and abhor them.
(Shakespeare's dramatische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von
Schlegel und Tieck, herausgegeben durch die Deutsche Shake-
speare - Gesellschaft, X, 439. — Notes and Queries, June 25,
1870, p. 594-)
TIMON OF ATHENS. 77
LXXXV.
Your greatest want is, you want much of meat.
TnfON OF Athens, IV, 3, 419.
Various conjectures have been proposed to cure this corrupted
verse, none of which, however, proves satisfactory. Dyce, and
the Cambridge Editors, therefore, have left the reading of
the folio untouched as above. The word much is evidently
owing to a diplography: the Banditti having just complained
that they much do want. Steevens conjectures much of me,
which would be most bald and trivial prose; he should
have altered one more letter, for there seems to be little
doubt that Shakespeare wrote you want muck of me, viz. gold,
in which sense this word is frequently used. Compare the
Ballad of Gernutus, the Jew of Venice, St. 6 (Percy's Re-
liques) : —
His heart doth thinke on many a wile.
How to deceive the poore;
His mouth is almost ful of mucke,
Yet still he gapes for more.
Coriolanus II, 2, 128 seqq.: —
Our spoils he kick'd at,
And look'd upon things precious as they were
The common muck of the world.
Thomas Heywood, If you know not me, you know nobody,
Pt. II (ed. Collier for the Shakespeare -Society, 149): 'But,
madam, you are rich, and by my troth, I am very poor, and
I have been, as a man should say, stark naught; and,
though I have not the muck of the world, I have a great
deal of good love, and I prithee accept of it' — Nash,
Summer's Last Will and Testament (Dodsley, 1825, IX, 23):
*lf then the best husband has been so liberal of his best
78 TIMON OF ATHENS.
handy -work, to what end should we make much of a glittering
excrement, or doubt to spend at a banquet as many pounds,
as he spends men at a battle?' — Ibid. IX, 25: ^ Omnia viea
mecum porto, quoth Bias, when he had nothing but bread
and cheese in a leathern bag, and two or three books in
his bosom. Saint Francis, a holy saint, and never had any
money. It is madness to doat upon mucke.' — Tell-Trothes
New-yeares Gift (ed. Furnivall for the New Shakspere Society,
69^ : * Many looke so long for aboundance of mucke, as they
fall into a quagmire of miseries, hauing siluer to looke on,
though wanting mony to supply many wants.' — Ibid. 75 :
'Indeede, what cannot money doo, that will buye any thing?
and yet honestie will purchase that which all the muck in
the world cannot compasse, namely, a good report for euer.'
— Forby, Vocabulary of East-Anglia s. v. Muckgrubber, *a
hunks; a sordid saver of money, who delves for it, as it
were, in the mire.' * Muckgrubbing, adj. sordidly avaricious.'
To revert to the passage in Timon. To the pretence
of the bandits that they are no thieves, 'but men that much
do want', Timon replies they could not possibly be in want,
since nature, the bounteous housewife, on each bush laid
her full mess before them; their only want was for muck,
i. e. gold, and that was no real want. The same re-
proach is addressed by Timon to the painter and the poet
(V, I, 115):
Hence, pack! Here's gold; you came for gold, ye slaves.
(Shakespeare's dramatische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von
Schlegel und Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, X, 439. — Notes and Queries, June 25,
1870, 594. Compare the ever -memorable reply by A. H[all],
Notes and Queries, July 16, 1870, 43.)
\
JULIUS C^SAR. 79
LXXXVI.
Cas. Ha! who calls?
Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
Ccps. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
Julius C.t.sar, I, 2, 13 seqq.
According to the Cambridge Edition ad loc. Staunton seems
to have been the only editor who takes exception to these
lines as transmitted by the folio. In his opinion either the
whole of the second line ought to be added to Caesar's
previous question Who calls? or the last word of it should
be connected with the following speech of Caesar, thus: —
CcBs. Ha! who calls?
Casca. Bid every noise be still: — peace yet!
Cces. Again !
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
This is even worse than the arrangement of the folio, and
yet the true reading lies so near at hand that it will seem
almost miraculous if I have not been forestalled in finding
it out. Read, of course: —
Cces. Ha! who calls? — \_To Casca] Bid every noise
Casca. Peace yet again! [be still!
Cces. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
Once before, at the beginning of the scene, where Caesar
addresses Calpurnia, Casca with marked officiousness silenced
the crowd: —
Cces. Calpurnia !
Casca. Peace ho! Caesar speaks.
Nothing, therefore, can be more simple and natural than that
Ca3sar once more summons the assistance of Casca and that
Casca again proclaims silence. (Anglia, herausgegeben von
Wiilcker und Trautmann, I, 341.)
80 JULIUS C^SAR.
LXXXVII.
Cassi. Am I not stay'd for? tell me:
Cinna. Yes, you are. O Cassias,
If you could but winne the Noble Brutus
To our party —
Julius C/esar, I, 3, 139 seqq.
The arrangement of these lines as given in the folio cannot
possibly have proceeded from the poet's pen, and the editors,
therefore, have made various attempts to heal the evident
corruption. Capell, e. g., reads: —
Yes,
You are. O Cassius, if you could but win
The noble Brutus to our party.
The words Yes, you are, however, should not be severed, and
must no doubt be connected with the preceding speech of
Cassius in a line of verse. S. Walker (Versification, 2Qo), Craik
(The English of Shakespeare, ^^ Ed., 120), and Staunton
arrange as follows: —
Cassi, Am I not staid for? Tell me!
Cinna.'*' Yes, you are.
O Cassius, if you could
But win the noble Brutus to our party.
But the incomplete line O Cassius , if you could does not
harmonize with the metrical character of this play, which, it
is well known, is of great regularity. Knight and Collier
introduce an alexandrine: —
Yes, you are.
O Cassius, if you could but win the noble Brutus
To our party.
■*^ Instead of Cinna Walker by an evident mistake has Casca.
HAMLET. 81
In my opinion the difficulty might easily be removed, if we
were to add Caius before Cassius, — he is elsewhere addressed
by both his names, just as we find Caius Ligarius (in Julius
Caesar), Caius Marcius (in Coriolanus) and Caius Lucius (in
Cymbeline). The lines then might be regulated thus: —
Cas. Am I not staid for? Tell me!
Ct'^i' Yes, you are.
O Caius Cassius, if you could but win
The noble Brutus to our party.
Whether or not, we suppose the sentence to be broken off
here, does not matter, at least it does not aflect the alteration
proposed. (Angha, herausgegeben von Wiilcker und Traut-
mann, I, 341 folg.)
LXXXVIII.
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike.
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm.
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
Hamlet, I, i, 161 seqq.
I hope I may be allowed to repeat a conjectural emendation
which, although inserted in the text of my edition of Hamlet,
has been left unnoticed by all subsequent editors — even
by Dr Furness. The plural 'planets', which is the uniform
reading of QB seqq. and all the Folios, does not harmonize
well with the singulars 'fairy' and 'witch'. Moreover, in all
parallel passages we meet with the singular, thus, e. g., in
The Winter's Tale, I, 2, 201: —
It is a bawdy planet, that will strike
Where 't is predominant.
6
82 HAMLET.
Ibid. II, I, 105: — r
There's some ill planet reigns.
Titus Andronicus, U, 4, 14: —
If I do wake, some planet strike me down;
Ben Jonson , Every Man in his Humour, IV, 5 : Sure I was
struck with a planet thence, for I had no power to touch
my weapon.
Under these circumstances I have no doubt that the text
of QA *no planet frikes' shows us- the right way and that we
should read, — no planet strikes.
LXXXIX.
Hor. Indeed? I heard it not; it then draws near
the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
HAiVILET, I, 4, 5 SEQ.
Seymour (apud Furness) remarks on this verse: 'This line is
overloaded. "I heard it not" is implied in V indeed". Read:
Indeed? why then it does draw near the hour!' — It need
hardly be added that a conjecture of such unwarranted vio-
lence is not in accordance with the rules of modern criticism
and cannot but be rejected. Nevertheless Seymour seems to
hav'3 been on the right scent, for a verse of six feet looks
suspicious and out of place here. This was evidently felt
also by Rowe, who (according to the Cambridge Edition)
expunged Indeed. In my opinion, the word Indeed does not
belong to Horatio, but should be given to Hamlet, so that
the passage would run thus: —
Ha7n. The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.
HAMLET. 83
Ham. What hour now?
Hor. I think it lacks of twelve.
Mar. No, it is struck.
Ham. Indeed?
Hor. I heard it not; it then draws near the season
Wherein the spirit held his wont to walk.
Only on the stage the import of this arrangement can be
fully shown. Hamlet has evidently followed Horatio and
Marcellus to the platform in a state of dreaminess; his
question What hour now? is uttered rather listlessly and with
no deeper motive than to break the silence. On hearing,
however, from Marcellus that it has just struck midnight, he
is at once roused to the most anxious expectation as now
or never the appearance of the Ghost must be at hand. To
this expectation he gives expression by the exclamation
Indeed? — By the way, it may be added that the Editors
of the Globe Edition, and Mr Moberly in their wake, give
the words No, it is struck, in opposition to the Quartos as well
as Folios, to Hamlet; on what grounds, it does not appear —
at all events they ought to have been 'more relative'. Most
likely it is only a mistake, the Cambridge Edition being in accor-
dance with the old copies. (The Athenaeum, Jan. ii, 1879,
40 seq. — Robinson's Epitome of Literature, Mar. 15, 1879,
Vol. Ill, 48.)
XC.
The dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his owne scandle.
Hamlet, I, 4, 36 seqq.
6*
84 HAMLET.
Among the numerous emendations of this notoriously cor-
rupt passage that which Dyce has inserted in his text (Hhe
dram of evil Doth all the noble substance oft debase') de-
serves the highest praise for its clear and unconstrained
sense. It is, however, so remote from the reading of the
old editions that, if it was what Shakespeare wrote, we can
hardly conceive how such a corruption could have crept into
the text. I think we might obtain a very near approach
to the text, together with an unexceptionable sense, by
reading: —
The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance often daub
To his own scandal.
Compare Romeo and Juliet, 111, 2, 55 seq. : —
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore -blood; I swounded at the sight.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour (Induction) : —
My soul
Was never ground into such oily colours
To flatter vice, and daub iniquity.
Beaumont and Fletcher, The Knight of the Burning Pestle,
V, 3 : -
I shall never more
Hold open, whilst another pumps both legs.
Nor daub a sattin gown with rotten eggs.
A Warning for Fair Women, A. II, 11. 1448 seqq. (Simpson,
The School of Shakspere, II, 325): —
Vile world, how like a monster come I soil'd from thee!
How have I wallowed in thy loathsome filth.
Drunk and besmear'd with all thy bestial sin.
Satires. By Joseph Hall, afterwards Bishop of Exeter and
Norwich &c. (Chiswick, 1824) Book IV, Sat. I, p. 78: —
HAMLET. 85
The close adultress, where her name is red,
Comes crawling from her husband's lukewarm bed,
Her carrion skin bedaub'd with odours sweet
Groping the postern with her bared feet. — —
She seeks her third roost on her silent toes,
Besmeared all with loathsome smoke of lust,
Like Acheron's steams, or smouldering sulphur dust.
Milton, Comus, 916 seqq. : —
Next this marble venomed seat.
Smeared with gums of glutinous heat,
I touch with chaste palms moist and cold.
In regard to the sentiment expressed in Hamlet's words
compare Nash, Pierce Pennilesse (ed. Collier for the Shake-
speare Society, 53), a passage, which, as far as I know, has
never yet been brought into comparison with the lines in
Hamlet: 'Let him bee indued with neuer so manie vertues,
and haue as much goodly proportion and favour, as Nature
can bestow vpon a man, yet if hee be thirstie after his owne
destruction, and hath no ioy nor comfort, but when he is
drowning his soule in a gallon pot, that one beastly imper-
fection wil vtterly obscure all that is commendable in him,
and all his goode qualities sinke like lead downe to ttie
bottome of his carro^vsing cups, where they will lye, like lees
and dregges, dead and vnregarded of any man.' — Pierce
Pennilesse, to add this as a matter worthy of further con-
sideration, was published in 1592, whilst the above Shake-
spearean passage does not appear in the quarto of 1603, but
is only found in that of 1604. —
Eleven years after the first publication of this conjectural
emendation (The Athenaeum, Aug. 11, 1866, 186) Mr Samuel
Neil, in his edition of Hamlet, apparently without any know-
ledge of my suggestion, proposed the following: —
8& HAMLET.
This dram of fa/c
Doth all the noble substance overdauhe^
To its own scandal.
Talc, which, Mr Neil says, 'was a wonderful cosmetic and
preservative of the complexion, much in use in Shakespeare's
time', would be just the reverse of what is required by the
context. Some Elizabethan authority for the verb overdaub
would have been welcome.
XCI.
You know, sometimes he walks four hours together,
Here in the lobby.
Hamlet, II, 2, 160 seq.
Dr Jacob Heussi in his edition of this tragedy (Parchim, 1 868)
has inserted Hanmer's conjecture 'for' into the text and
justifies this reading by the following note: 'Alle alten Drucke
lesen freilich four statt for, und die Erklarer behaupten, four
werde haufig als unbestimmte Zeit gebraucht, wie forty ; nir-
gends findet sich aber diese Behauptung durch ein wirkliches
Beispiel constatirt; dass four heut zu Tage nicht in dieser
Weisc gebraucht wird, ist bekannt, ob es friiher der Fall war,
ist noch abzuwarten. Ich setze hier die Prapositon for statt
des four der Ausgaben , da diese Proposition die Zeitdauer
bezeichnet.' * Benno Tschischwitz (Shakspere's Hamlet &c.
Halle, 1869) reads four, but seems to take this number in
its literal meaning. '■Four hours', he says, 'ware eine auf-
fallend lange Zeit, um sich zu ergehn, wenn sie nicht der
* The latest American editor of Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet,
the Rev. Henry N.Hudson, also reads 'for', and does not even think
it necessary to justify it.
HAMLET. 87
Prinz, der ganzlich ohne die noblen Passionen eines Laertes
ist, mit Lecture und Meditationen ausfiillte. Auch Ophelia
wird spater aufgefordert *to walk' und dabei in einem Buche
zu lesen, es mag dies also wohl einer Zeitsitte entsprechen.'
Mr Collier's corrected Folio exhibits the correction for and
even Malone preferred this oft -repeated conjectural emenda-
tion to the reading of the old editions, although he adduces
the following passage from Webster's Duchess of Malfi
(IV, I, lo seq.), which is so much to the point that it ought
to have removed every doubt: —
She will muse four hours together; and her silence,
Methinks, expresseth more than if she spake.
Malone (Supplement I, 352) goes so far as to suppose the
same mistake to have taken place here as well as in Hamlet
and Mr Collier in his Supplemental Notes I, 276 expresses the
same conviction; 'the same probable misprint', he says, ^oifour
for for is contained in Webster's Duchess of Malfi A. IV (ed.
Dyce I, 260), where Bosola is giving to Ferdinand a description
of the demeanour of the heroine' &c.
The fact is that four, as well as forty and forty thou-
sand, is most frequently used to denote an indefinite num-
ber and this use, dating from a very remote period, is by
no means confined to the English language, but is also
to be found in other languages. As an indefinite number
generally supposes a large quantity it will not appear strange
that four occurs much less frequently in this sense than
forty, the instances, however, are numerous enough to con-
vince even Dr Heussi.
After the remarks made by J. Grimm (Deutsche Rechts-
alterthiimer, 211 seqq.) on the number 'four' there can be
little doubt as to its early connection with the four cardinal
points and their influence on the construction of roads, the
88 HAMLET.
distribution of land and other matters of custom.* But in
German, as well as in English, all local and legal associations
connectedwith this number have long ago vanished, and when
in the Lay of the Nibelungen (Lachmann, 2014; Zarncke,
4tli PM., p. 318) we read: —
tiUent unde viere, die komen dar in,
'tiisent' merely means an indefinite quantity and 'viere' a sur-
plus likewise indefinite. In Ayrer's dramas (ed. Keller, IV,
2796 and 2801) occur the following passages: —
Er wiird wol vier mahl vmb gebracht,
Eh er ein mal drob thet erwachen,
and: —
Ach Ancilla, ich bitt durch Gott
Verlass mich nicht in dieser Noth!
Vier Cronen geb' ich dir zu Lohn.
The earliest instance in English I have met with is in Robert
]\Iannyng's translation of Peter Langtoft's Chronicle (apud
Wiilcker, Altenglisches Lesebuch I, 64 and 153): —
Sone in for yers perchance a werre shall rise.
Very near to the passage in Hamlet comes the following
from Puttenham's Arte of English Poesic (ed. Arber, 307) :
Maughing and gibing with their familiars foure houres by the
clocke.' Other instances, no less striking,, are supplied by
the Elizabethan dramatists, Shakespeare amongst the number.
In the Old Play of Timon (ed. Dyce p. 7) we read: —
Timon, lend me a little goulden dust.
To ffree me from this flfeind; some fower talents
Will doe it.
* With the Hawaians , according to Pott (Die quinare und vige-
sitnale Zahlmethode, Halle, 1847, S. 74 seq.) four is the primary number
and is possibly taken from the four extremities of the human body.
HAMLET. 89
S. Rowley, When you see me, you know me (ed. Elze, 22):
'The lords has attended here this four days.' — Lilly's En-
dimion, IV, 2 (Dramatic Works, ed. F. W. Fairholt, I, 53):
'Sam. But how wilt thou live? Epi. By angling; O 'tis a
stately occupation to stand foure houres in a colde morning,
and to have his nose bitten with frost before his baite be
mumbled with a fish.' — Lord Cromwell, II, 2 (Malone's Sup-
plement, II, 391): *We were scarce four miles in the green
water, but I, thinking to go to my afternoon's nuncheon, felt
a kind of rising in my guts.' — Webster, The White Devil,
or Vittoria Corombona (The Works of John Webster, ed. Dyce,
1857. 47a): —
1 made a vow to my deceased lord,
Neither yourself nor I should outlive him
The numbering of four hours.
Ibid. (ed. Dyce, 49 b): —
0 could I kill you forty times a day,
And use 't four years together, 'twere too little.
Fair Em (ed. Delius, 17): —
1 have not seen him this four days at the least.
The Winter's Talc, V, 2, 146 seqq.: ^ Atilolyais. I know you
arc now, sir, a gentleman born. Clown. Ay, and have been
so any time these four hours.' — K. Henry V, V, i, 42 seq.:
'I say, I will make him eat some part of my leek, or I will
peat his pate four days.'
These passages, 1 think, are amply sufficient for the
vindication of the reading four hours, but in order fully to
illustrate the subject the numbers forty and forty thousand must
also be taken into consideration. As early as in the Old
Testament 'forty' is used in an indefinite sense; the Deluge
lasts forty days and forty nights; Moses with the Jews lives
forty years in the wilderness (Acts, XIII; 18) and stays forty
90 HAMLET.
days and forty nights on Mount Sinai (Exodus, XXIV, i8).
According to the Book of Judges (III, ii; V, 31 ; VIII, 28) the
land- had repeatedly rest for forty years and the children of
Israel were delivered into the hands of the Philistines for forty
years (Judges, XIII, i).* Jesus fasted forty days and forty
nights in the wilderness (Matth., IV, 2). The same use pre-
vails in the popular poetry both of Germany and England.
Thus in the ballad Das Schloss in Oesterreich (apud Scherer,
Jungbrunnen, 3d Ed., 67) we read: —
Darinnen liegt ein junger Knab
Auf seinen Hals gefangen,
Wol vierzig Klafter tief unter der Erd'
Bei Ottern und bei Schlangen.
Jacob Ayrer (Dramatic Works, ed. Keller, V, 3213) says: —
Starb doch der gross Riess Goliat,
Der deiner sterckh wol firtzigk hat.
In the English romance of Richard Coeur-de-Lion Richard
winds forty yards of silk cloth round his arm before putting
it into the lion's mouth and tearing out his heart; compare
Percy's Reliques, Essay on the Ancient Metrical Romances.
Instances of the use of 'forty' in Elizabethan dramatists
are exceedingly frequent. Webster, The White Devil, or
Vittoria Corombona (Works, ed. Dyce 26b): —
Wilt sell me forty ounces of her blood
To water a mandrake?
Heywood, If you know not me, you know nobody (ed. Collier,
71 ; cf. ibid. 125): —
* Also the numbers four, twenty (the half of forty), twenty two
thousand, forty thousand, and four hundred thousand seem to have
been used in an indefinite sense in the Old Testament as well as in
the Elizabethan dramatists; cf. Judges XI, 40. XIX, 2. IV, 3. XX, 21.
XV, 20. XVI, 31. V, 8. XX, 2. XX, 17.
HAMLET. 91
Bid him by that token
Sort thee out forty pounds' worth of such wares
As thou shalt think most beneficial.
Ben Jonson, The Devil is an Ass, II, 8: —
O, sir! and dresses himself the best! beyond
Forty o' your ladies! Did you ne'er see him?
B. Jonson, Epicoene, IV, i : I have not kissed my Fury these
forty weeks. — Ibid. : A most vile face ! And yet she spends
me forty pound a year in mercury and hogsbones. — Bar-
tholomew Fair, II, i : Like enough , sir ; she'll do forty such
things in an hour (an you listen to her) for her recreation. —
Ibid. Ill, i: Put him a -top o' the table, where his place is,
and he'll do you forty fine things. — Marlowe, The Jew of
Malta, IV, 4 (ed. Dyce, i68b): Within forty foot of the gallows,
conning his neckverse. — Beaumont and Fletcher, The Knight
of Malta, III, 4 : —
Oh, 't was royal music!
And to procure a sound sleep for a soldier.
Worth forty of your fiddles.
Twelfth Night, V, i, iSo seq.: I had rather than forty pound
I were at home. — A Midsummer -Night's Dream, II, i,
175 seq.: —
I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, I, i, 205: I had rather than
forty shillings, I had my book of songs and sonnets here. —
The Comedy of Errors, IV, 3, 84 : —
A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats —
For forty ducats is too much to lose.
Henry VIII, V, 4, 53 seq.: When I might see from far some
forty truncheoners draw to her succour.
92 HAMLET.
Even now- a -days this use of 'forty' is by no means
extinct. In Wordsworth's little poem 'Written in March'
(Poetical Works, Moxon, 1850, 6 vols, II, no) we read: —
The cattle are grazing,
Their heads never raising;
There are forty feeding like one.
The well-known ballad 'Barbara Frietchie' by Mr J. G. Whittier
(Complete Poetical Works, Boston, 1879, 270) contains the
following lines: —
Forty flags with their silver stars.
Forty flags with their crimson bars.
Flapped in the morning wind: the sun
Of noon looked down, and saw not one.
'Forty thousand' occurs in i Tamburlaine, II, i (ed.
Dyce, 13b): —
Our army will be forty thousand strong.
Edward III, IV, 6 (ed. Delius 78): —
No less than forty thousand wicked elders
Have forty lean slaves this day ston'd to death.
Webster, The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona (Works,
ed. Dyce, 25a): I'd — — be- entered into the list of the
forty thousand pedlers in Poland. — The W^inter's Tale,
IV, 4, 279 seqq. : Here's another ballad of a fish, that ap-
peared upon the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April,
forty thousand fathom above water and sung this ballad
against the hard hearts of maids.
In La^amon, 25, 395 we have 'feouwer hundred thusende'.
It is a noteworthy fact that the halves also of these
numbers, from ' two ' upwards, are used in the same indefinite
sense, K. Lear, I, 2, 169 seq.: Edm. Spake you with him?
HAMLET. 93
Edg. Ay, two hours together. — The Old Play of Timon
(ed. Dyce, T^)'. ~
Gelas. Pseudocheus, ; .jM
How many miles think you that wee must goe?
Pseud, Two thousande, forty four. - =.
Hamlet, IV, 4, 25 : —
Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats.*
No -body and Some -body 1. 1276 seqq. (Simpson, The School
of Shakspere I, 327): —
Two thousand Souldiers have I brought from Wales,
To wait upon the princely Periclure.
Malg. As many of my bold confederates
Have I drawn from the South, to sweare allegiance
To young Vigenius.
The use of 'twenty', as is to be expected, far exceeds that
of 'two' in frequency. The Merchant of Venice, II, 6, 66: —
I have sent twenty out to seek for you.
Ibid. Ill, 4, 74: —
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell.
Ibid. Ill, 4, 84: —
For we must measure twenty miles to-day,
where, however, 'twenty' may possibly have been used in its
literal sense; see my Abhandlungen zu Shakespeare, 304. —
The Tempest, II, i, 278 seqq.: —
twenty consciences
That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be they
And melt ere they molest.
The Taming of the Shrew, Ind. II, 37 seq.: —
* S. Walker (Crit. Exam. Ill, 268) feels convinced, that an in-
definite number is required here, but, not being aware of the true
nature of 'two thousand', needlessly conjectures 'Ten thousand'.
94 HAMLET.
Apollo plays
And twenty caged nightingales do sing.
Richard 11, II, 2, 14: —
Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows.
Heywood, If you know not me, you know nobody (ed.
Collier, 125): —
Thou owest me but twenty pound
ru venture forty more.
Ibid. ed. Collier, 150: —
Now, for your pains, there is twenty pound in gold.
The Return from Parnassus, III, 2 (Hawkins, Origin of the
EngUsh Drama, III, 242): When he returns, I'll tell twenty
admirable lies of his hawk. — Ibid. (Hawkins, III, 249) : —
His hungry sire will scrape you twenty legs
From one good Christmas meal on Christmas -day, &c.
S. Rowley, When you see me, you know me (ed. Elze, 36) :
King Harry loves a man and I perceive there's some mettle
in thee, there's twenty angels for thee.* — In Chapman's
Alphonsus (ed. Elze, 49) a poison is extolled because: —
it is twenty hours before it works,
whilst in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, III (ed. Dyce, 163 b) it is
said of another poison that even forty hours must elapse
before its effect be perceived: —
It is a precious powder that I bought
Of an Italian, in Ancona, once,
Whose operation is to bind, infect.
And poison deeply, yet not appear
In forty hours after it is ta'en.
* A few lines before the King gives one of the Prisoners ' forty
angels', to 'drink to king Harry's health'.
HAMLET. , 95
A Warning for Fair Women, A. II, 1. 820 seq. (Simpson, The
School of Shakspere, II, 300): —
Roger, canst thou get but twenty pound.
Of all the plate that thou hadst from us both.
Ibid. A. II, 1. 1062 seqq. (Simpson, II, 310): —
I have heard it told, that digging up a grave
Wherein a man had twenty years been buried, &c.
'Twenty -thousand' occurs hardly less frequently than
'twenty'. The Two Gentleman of Verona, II, 6, 16: —
With twenty thousand soul - confirming oaths.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, IV, 4, 90: —
Though twenty thousand worthier come to crave her.
Love's Labour's Lost, V, 2, 37 : —
I am compared to twenty thousand fairs.
The Taming of the Shrew, II, i, 123 and V, 2, 113: twenty
thousand crowns. K. Richard II, IV, i, 59: —
To answer twenty thousand such as you.
2 K. Henry VI, III, 2, 141 seq.: — ■
Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses.
Ibid. Ill, 2, 206: —
Though Suffolk dare him twenty thousand times.
Coriolanus, III, 3, 70: —
Within thine eyes sat twenty thousand deaths.
Hamlet, IV, 4, 60: —
The imminent death of twenty thousand men.
In Dryden's alteration of the Tempest, IV, i, we meet with
'twenty hundred': —
You cannot tell me, sir,
I know I'm made for twenty hundred women
(I mean if there so many be i' th' world), &c.
96 HAMLET.
The very acme of indefinite numbers is reached, curiously
enough, by a rather sedate and cool-headed character, viz.
Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, III, 3, 153: —
and call thee back
With twenty hundred thousand times more jo}
Then thou went'st forth in lamentation.
Also 'four and twenty' and 'two and twenty' may be
mentioned as indefinite numbers; the former occurs in The
Winter's Tale, IV, 3, 43 : She hath made me four and twent)
nosegays for the shearers; and in i K. Henr}^- IV, III, 3, 85:
and money lent you, four and twenty pound. 'Two and
twenty' is found in i K. Henry IV, I, i, 68 seqq.: —
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see
On Holmedon's plain.
Ibid. II, 2, 16 seq.: I have forsworn his company hourly any
time this two and twenty years, and yet I am bewitched
with the rogue's company. — Ibid. Ill, 3, 211: O for a fine
thief, of the age of two and twenty or thereabouts.
Even 'eighty' (= twice forty) occurs in an indefinite
sense; see Hawkins, The Origin of the English Drama (Ox-
ford, 1773) III, 2^^: Hark thou sir; you shall have eighty
thanks.
I am of course far from asserting that no other numbers
but those here discussed are used to denote an indefinite
quantity; on the contrary several others such as 'three',
'seven', 'three and twenty' (Troilus and Cressida, I, 2, 255),
'three and twenty thousand' (i K. Henr)- VI, I, i, 113),
'five and twenty', 'five and twenty thousand' (3 K. Henry VI,
II, I, 181), are used more or less frequently in the same
manner. (Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XI, 288 folgg.)
HAMLET. 97
xcn.
When we have shuffled off" this mortal coil.
Hamlet, ni, i, 67.
A non- English critic may well pause before questioning an
expression which for a couple of centuries has been, as it
were, a household word with all English-speaking people.
I am, however, unable to silence the critical doubts to which
the expression 'mortal coil' has given rise in me and which
are greatly increased by the disagreement that prevails even
among English editors about it. Warburton takes 'coil' in
the sense of 'turmoil, bustle', and Al. Schmidt (Shakespeare -
Lexicon, s. v.) likewise defines it by ' this turmoil of mortal it)--,
of life'; Heath thinks 'mortal coil' means the 'incumbrance
of this mortal body'; and Caldecott does not hesitate to claim
two (or three) meanings at one and the same time for the
word, viz. that of 'turmoil' and that of 'ringlet' or 'slough'.
'It is here used', he says, 'in each of its senses: turmoil, or
bustle , and that which entwines or wraps round. Snakes
generally lie like the coils of ropes ; and it is conceived that
an allusion is here had to the struggle which that animal is
obliged to make in casting his slough.' — This explanation,
though backed by no less an authority than Dr Furness, in my
opinion can hardly be maintained, since the meaning of the
word 'coil' with Elizabethan writers can be shown to have
l)een quite definite and unequivocal. Other critics think
'coil' in our passage to be equivalent to what Fletcher
(Bonduca, IV, i) calls the 'case of flesh'. 'It has been
contended,' says Dr Ingleby (Shakespeare Hermeneutics, 88)
'that in Hamlet's speech, the "mortal coil" is the coil, i.e.
the trouble or turmoil, incident to man's mortal state: but
the analogies are too strong in favour of the "mortal coil"
7
98 HAMLET.
being what Fletcher calls the " case of flesh ".' — It is greatly
to be regretted that Dr Ingleby has not favoured his readers
with some one or other of these strong analogies. In the
same, or at least in a similar, sense the word seems to have
been taken by R. Chambers in his Traditions of Edinburgh,
198 seq.: *0r does the "mortal coil" in which the light of
mind is enveloped, become thinner or more transparent by
the wearing of deadly sickness?' The explanation of the pass-
age given,- by James Henry Hackett (Notes and Comments up-
on Certain Plays and Actors of Shakespeare, New York, 1864,
21 and 25) comes nearly to the same. This supposed signi-
fication of the word, however, is not supported by testimony;
it is rather a signification ' for the nonce ', a pe/iYio priricipii.
Still less acceptable seems that which a late English friend
of mine imagined to be the meaning of ' coil ' in the present
passage; he understood it to denote a slough. But 'coil'
nowhere occurs in this sense, and if it did, this sense would
not fit the present passage, inasmuch as the poet does by
no means speak of our mortal coil as of something which
like a slough has already been cast off, but as of something
which we are still wearing.
Apart from the line under discussion, the word 'coil'
occurs eleven times in Shakespeare and in all these passages
has the signification of 'turmoil, bustle, noise, disturbance'.
To examine these instances which are enumerated both in
Mrs Cowden Clarke's Concordance and in Al. Schmidt's
Shakespeare -Lexicon would be labour thrown away, espe-
cially since all editors agree with respect to their inter-
pretation. As may be expected, the word is no less frequent
with other dramatists and writers of the Elizabethan era, and
in order to get firm ground for our further inquiry it may,
perhaps, be as well first to give a list of all those various
HAMtET. 99
passages which in the course of many years' reading I have
been able to collect.
1. Marlowe, 2 Tamburlaine, IV, i (ed. Dyce, 6ib):
Caly. I would my father would let me be put in the
front of such a battle once, to try my valour! \Alarms within^
What a coil they keep! I believe there will be some hurt
done anon amongst them.
2. Marlowe, Faustus, V, i (ed. Dyce, 129a; ed. W. Wag-
ner, 94): —
Duke. What rude disturbers have we at the gate?
Go, pacify their fury, set it ope.
And then demand of them what they would have.
\They knock again, and call out to talk with
Faustus.
Serv. Why, how now, masters ! what a coil is there !
What is the reason you disturb the Duke?
3. Marlowe, The Tragedy of Dido, A. IV init. (ed. Dyce,
265 a): —
I think it was the devil's revelling night.
There was such hurly-burly in the heavens:
Doubtless Apollo's axle-tree is crack'd,
Or aged Atlas' shoulder out of joint.
The motion was so over -violent.
lar. In all this coil, where have ye left the queen?
4. Marlowe, Hero and Leander, Sixth Sestiad (ed. Dyce,
307a): —
As when you descry
A ship, with all her sail contends to fly
Out of the narrow Thames with winds unapt.
Now crosseth here, then there, then this way rapt.
And then hath one pomt reach'd, then alters all,
And to another crooked reach doth fall
1*
100 HAMLET.
Of half a bird -bolt's shoot, keeping more coil
Than if she danc'd upon the ocean's toil.
5. Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, IV, i : —
Heart of my body, here's a coil, indeed, with your jealous
humours.
6. Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, I, i : —
Do you hear! Jack Littlewit, what business does thy pretty
head think this fellow may have, that he keeps such a coil
with?
7. Ibid., I, I : —
And then he is such a ravener after fruit! — you will not
believe what a coil I had t' other day to compound a busi-
ness between Cather'ne pear woman and him, about snatch-
ing: 't is intolerable, gentlemen!
8. Ben Jonson, Volpone, II, i (Nano sings) : —
You that would last long, list to my song,
Make no more coil, but buy of this oil.
9. Edward III, IV, 6 (ed. Delius, 76): —
What need we fight, and ^weat, and keep a coil.
When railing crows outscdld our adversaries.
10. The Spanish Tragedy, A. EI (Qu. 1618, 32a): —
How now, what noise? What coyle is that you keepe?
[A nqyse within.
IT. Lord Cromwell, I, i (Malone's Supplement, II, 374): —
He keeps such a coil in his study, with the sun, and the
moon, and the seven stars, thai I do verily think he'll read
out his wits.
12. Middleton, The Mayor of Quinborough, III, 3 (Dodsley,
1780, XI, 127): —
Here's no sweet coil, 1 am glad they are so reasonable.
(Some lines anti we have the stage - direction : A noise
without.)
HAMLET. /^^ / \ ' "^^\
13. S. Rowley, When you see me, you know me (ed.
Elze, 11): —
Dost thou hear, Harry, what a coil they keep?
14. Eastward Ho! IV, i (The Works of George Chapman:
Plays. Ed. R. H. Shepherd, 470a): —
'S light! I think the devil be abroad, in likeness of a storm,
to rob me of my horns! Hark, how he roars! Lord! what
a coil the Thames keeps!
15. Arden of Feversham, V, 6 (ed. Delius, 49): —
'Zounds! here's a coil;
You were best swear me on the interrogatories,
How many pistols you have took in hand,
Or whether I love the smell of gunpowder.
Or dare abide the noise the dag will make,
Or will not wink at flashing of the fire?
16. Rob. Chester's Loves Martyr ed. Grosart, 94 (for the
New Shakspere Society): —
Then Rage and Danger doth their senses haunt.
And like mad Aiax they a coile do keepe.
Till leane-fac'd Death into their heart doth creepe.
17. Histrio-Mastix, A. Ill, 1. 92 (Simpson, The School of
Shakspere, 11, 47): —
What a coyle keepes those fellows there?
18. A Pleasant Comedie of Pasquil and Katherine, A. II
(Simpson, The School of Shakspere, II, 162): —
What harsh, vnciuill tongue keeps such a coyle?
19. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, A. II init. (Keltic, The
British Dramatists, Edinburgh, 1870, 352): —
'S lid (cried Signior Bulurdo) O for Don Basilisco's armour in
the Mirror for Knighthood; what coil's here? O for an armour
cannon -proof; O more cable, more featherbeds, more feather-
- .^'^ o^'*?^^ ' : ,\ ^^^^ HAMLET.
beds, more cable, till he had as much as my cable hatband,
to fence him.
20. Hugh Holland, quoted in Malone's Shakespeare by
Boswell (182 1 ), II, 221 (according to S.Walker, Crit. Exam.,
n, 116): —
Here no need is of my sorry charmes
To boast it, though my braines Apollo warmes;
Where, like in Jove's, Minerva keeps a coile.
21. Nash, Summer's Last Will and Testament (Dodsley,
1825, IX, 26): —
Heigh ho! Here is a coil indeed to bring beggars to stocks.
22. Ibid. (Dodsley, 1825, IX, 40): —
Here is a coil about dogs without wit.
2-^. Nash, Pierce Pennilesse, ed. Collier, 48 (for the Shake-
speare Society): —
Lord! what a coyle have we, this course and that course,
removing this dish higher, setting another lower, and taking
away the third. A generall might in lesse space remove his
camp, than they stand disposing of their gluttony.
24. Nash, A Private Epistle of the Author to the Printer &c.
before the second edition of Pierce Pennilesse (ed. Collier,
XIV): —
And, lastly, to the ghost of Robert Greene, telling him what
a coyle there is with pampheting \sic, read pamphleting] on
him after his death.
25. Rob. Armin's Nest of Ninnies, ed. Collier, 28 (for the
Shakespeare Society): —
Well, they fall out, they go together by the eares and such
a hurly-burly is in the roome that passes. At last the stooles
they fly about, the pots they walke, the glasses they go to-
gether ; nay , the prayerbookes they flie into the fire , that
such a noise there was that the whole house wondered at
HAMLET. 103
this folly. Persuasions wer to no purpose; dores he would
open none, till they violently brake them open, though they
were of gold; and so they did and entered the parlour,
found all this leuell [Collier conjectures lewd or wicked] coyle,
and his pate broken, his face scratcht, and leg out of joynt.
26. Gascoigne's Princely Pleasures with the Masque intended
to have been presented before Qu. Elizabeth at Kenilworth
Castle 1575. With an Introductory Memoir and Notes. London,
1821. P. 6: —
What stir, what coil is here? come back, hold, whither now?
Not one so stout to stir, what harrying have we here?
27. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant,
V, 4: -
And such a coil there is
Such fending and such proving.
To these instances of the substantive 'coil' I join three
passages in which the verb * to coil ' occurs, once in the signi-
fication *to wind, to form ringlets', twice in the signification
'to beat, to drub'. They are: —
28. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Knight of Malta, II, i: —
Third Sol. We have seen the fight, sir.
Nor. Yes; coil'd up in a cable, like salt eels.
Or buried low i' th' ballast: do you call that fighting?
29. A Comedy of K. Cambises (Hawkins, Origin of the
English Drama, I, 266) : —
Here draw and fight. Here she must lay on and coyle them
both, the Vice must run his way for feare &c.
30. The Wife Lapped in Morel's Skin (The Old Taming of
a Shrew, ed. Th. Amyot for the Shakespeare Society, 79): —
Except she turne and change her minde.
And eake her conditions euerichone.
She shall fynde me to her so vnkinde,
104 HAMLET.
That I shall her coyle both backe and bone,
And make her blew and also blacke,
That she shall grone agayne for woe.
This is the whole number of instances of 'coil' which I
have come across in Elizabethan literature; there may, no
doubt, be many more, but I have no knowledge of them.
I hardly need assure the reader that I do not withhold a
single instance, least of all one where 'coil' might be taken
in a different sense. As to the modern use of the word the
influence of the Hamlet -passage, in many cases, is distinctly
discernible, even where we have not to deal with a mere
quotation of, or an intentional allusion to, it. I continue
my list, beginning this, its second series with the era of the
Restoration.
31. Davenant, The Playhouse to be Let, A. V (Works, 1673,
II, 118): —
Widow, be friends, make no more such a hot coyle;
We'll find out rich Husband to make the pot boyl.
^2. Butler, Hudibras, Part I, Canto 3, 183 seqq.: —
He rag'd, and kept as heavy a Coil as
Stout Hercules for Loss of Hylas;
Forcing the Vallies to repeat
The Accents of his sad Regret.
S3. Scott, The Lady of the Lake, Canto III, 24: —
The signal roused to martial coil
The sullen margin of Loch Voil.
34. Ibid., Canto V, 16: —
Like adder darting from his coil,
Like wolf that dashes through the toil,
Like mountain -cat who guards her young.
Full at Fitz- James's throat he sprung.
HAMLET. lOo
35. Scott, Rokeby, Canto III, 6: —
Thus circled in his coil, the snake
When roving hunters beat the brake,
Watches with red and glistening eye,
Prepared, if heedless step draw nigh, ,i
With forked tongue and venom'd fang ..u
Instant to dart the deadly pang;
But if the intruders turn aside.
Away his coils unfolded glide
And through the deep Savannah wind.
Some undisturb'd retreat to find.
36. Scott, The Lord of the Isles, Canto I, Introd.: —
Where rest from mortal coil the mighty of the Isles.
37. Leigh Hunt, The Story of Rimini, init: —
And when you listen you may hear a coil
Of bubbling springs about the grassier soil.
38. R. Chambers, Traditions of Edinburgh (New Edition)
p. 1 1 1 : —
She now became alarmed, screamed for h(;lp, and waved her
arms distractedly ; all of which signs brought a crowd to the
shore she had just left, who were unable, however, to render
her any assistance, before she had landed on the other side
— fairly cured, it appeared, of all desire of quitting the
uneasy coil of mortal life.
Another passage in the same book has already been
mentioned on p. 98.
39. Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia (Tauchn. Ed.)
I, 192: —
The marriage was done in the Church of Innspruck, 10 Feb.
1342 (for we love to be particular). Kaiser Ludwig, happy
man, and many Princes of the Empire, looking on; little
thinking what a coil it would prove.
106 HAMLET.
The verb *to coil' has only thrice occurred to me in
modem writers, viz.:
40. Southey, The Life of Nelson, Chap. I (London, Bell,
1876, p. 21): —
He started up, and found one of the deadliest serpents of
the country coiled up at his feet.
41. Gait, The Life of Lord Byron (Paris, Baudry, 1835)
p. 22,2', —
I felt the many -foot and beetle creep.
And on my breast the cold worm coil and crawl.
42. J. G. Whittier, Complete Poetical Works (Boston, 1879)
p. i: —
The moonlight through the open bough
Of the gnarl'd beech, whose naked root
Coils like a serpent at his foot.
Falls, checkered on the Indian's brow.
After all these instances there can hardly remain a doubt
as to the signification of the substantive 'coil' and it is evi-
dent that during the Elizabethan period it occurs exclusively
in the meaning of 'turmoil, bustle, tumult, noise'; its second
meaning (== ringlet, winding) being only to be met with in
modern authors. The fact is, that we have to distinguish
between two different words of entirely different origin.
Messrs Wedgwood and Skeat are agreed in deriving 'coil' No. i
from the Celtic; 'Gael, gotl, boiling, fume, battle, rage, fury;
O. Gael, goill, war, fight; Irish goill, war, fight; Irish and
Gael, goileam, prattle, vain tattle; Gael, coileid, a stir, move-
ment, noise. — Gael, and Ir. goil, to boil, rage.' As to
'coil' No. 2 there is as yet no proof that during the Eliza-
bethan era it was used as a substantive ; with the writers of
this period it only occurs as a verb (see No. 28) which
according to Mr Skeat originally means 'to gather together';
HAMLET. 107
Mr Skeat and Mr Stratmann (Old English Dictionary, 3d Ed.,
128a) rightly derive it from O. F. coillir, cuillir, cuetlltr, Lat.
colligere. Thus it appears that the substantive 'coil' in the
sense of 'ringlet, winding' is a recent formation, derived
from the verb. Even 'coil' No. i does by no means seem
to be an old English word; it is not contained in either Strat-
mann's Dictionary or in Maetzner's Sprachproben (Glossary).
Now, if critics are justly required to be conservative, commen-
tators, in my opinion, ought to be possessed of the same qual-
ity, and ought by no means to ascribe any other signification
to a word than that in which it is used, without exception, by
contemporary writers. In the above line of Hamlet, there-
fore, a methodical critic has no choice left but to take
'mortal coil' simply, and unequivocally, in the sense of 'mortal
turmoil, bustle, noise', which we are required or expected
some day to shuffle oif.
Under these circumstances I cannot refrain from think-
ing our passage to be corrupt. M. Mason, who was of the
same opinion, proposed to read this mortal spoil) but neither
Shakespeare, nor any other Elizabethan dramatist, seems to
have used 'spoil' in the sense of 'slough', in which sense
Mason wishes it to be understood. An anonymous critic in
the Appendix to Shakespeare's Dramatic Works (Leipsic, 1826)
p. 106 conjectures foil or clay, whilst I myself, in my edition
of Hamlet (Leipzig, 1857), have been led to suggest 'vail'
instead of 'coil'. I have, however, withdrawn this suggestion
since I am convinced that the passage may be corrected in
a much easier, and, at the same time, more satisfactory manner.
Steevens, ad loc, quotes a similar passage from 'A dolfull
discours of two Straungers, a Lady and a Knight' (in The
firste Parte of Churchyardes Chippes, London, 1575, fol. 2>2 v.),
without, however, profiting of the opportunity for correcting
108 HAMLET.
the Hamlet -passage, which to him seems to have presented
no difficulty whatever. Churchyard's verses are these: —
Yea, shaking of this sinful! soyle
Me thincke in cloudes I see
Amonge the perfite chosen lambs,
A place preparde for mee.
It is certainly not assuming too much that Shakespeare had
read Churchyard's Chippes, which were published when he
was eleven years of age, and that the lines may have flashed
through his memory when he was writing his most celebrated
monologue. At all events our passage does not offer the
least difficulty if we substitute * soil ' for * coil '. The expression
'mortal soil' would on the contrary perfectly agree not only
with the poet's own sentiments, but also with those of his
contemporaries who love to represent the human body as a
piece of earth or a heap of dirt or loam. Who does not
remember Hamlet's words in the churchyard-scene (V, i, 231):
'Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander retumeth
to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam, and why
of that loam, whereto he was converted, might they not
stop a beer -barrel?' — Similar passages occur in The Tem-
pest, I, 2, 313: —
Caliban,
Thou earth, thou! speak —
and ibid. I, 2, 345: —
I have used thee
Filth as thou art with human care.
Still more to the point is the well-known line in Sonnet CXLVI,
which forms, as it were, a. transition from the DolefuU Dis-
course to our passage in Hamlet: —
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth.
HAMLET. 109
Compare also K. John, V, i, 57 seq.: —
And then, all this thou seest is but a clod
And module of confounded royalty.
Julius Caesar, III, i, 254: —
0 pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth.
The Merchant of Venice, V, i, 63 seqq.: —
Such harmony is in immortal souls ;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.
Among Shakespeare's contemporaries only the following may
be quoted: Dekker, Old Fortunatus (Old English Plays, London,
1814, III, 112): —
1 set an idiot's cap on virtue's head,
Turn learning out of doors, clothe wit in rags.
And paint ten thousand images of loam
In gaudy silken colours.
Th. Heywood's Love's Mistress I, 5 (The Old English Drama,
London, 1825, II, 18): —
A piece of moving earth —
S. Rowley, When you see me, you know me, ed. Elze, 13 : —
The child is fair, the mother earth and clay.
The New Tragicall Comedie of Apius and Virginia (Dodsley,
1825, XII, 431 seq.) where Virginius exclaims: —
O man, O mould, o mucke, oh clay, oh hell, oh hellish
O false judge Appius, &c. [hounde.
Whetstone's Remembraunce of the wel imployed Life , and
godly End, of George Gascoigne, Esquire (G. Gascoigne, ed.
Arber, 24): —
And what is man? Dust, slime, a puf of winde,
Conceiued in sin, &c.
Glapthorne, Albertus Wallenstein, III, 3 (The Old English
Drama, II, 40): —
110 HAMLET.
They (viz. these desires) are all fleshly
Sordid, as is the clay this frame's compos'd of.
Sir Philip Sidney, An Apologie for Poetrie, ed. Arber, 29: —
The final end is, to lead and draw vs to as high a perfection,
as our degenerate soules, made worse by theyr clayey lod-
gings, can be capable of.
To these English writers a German contemporary of
Shakespeare may be joined, who passed a great part of his
life in London, viz. the poet Rudolf Weckherlin. His poem
'Elend des menschlichen Lebens' (W. Miiller's Bibliothek
deutscher Dichter des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, IV, 81) begins
with the following lines: —
Du wenig Koth, du wenig Staub,
Hochmiithig durch ein wenig Leben,
Durch welches Leben, wie ein Laub,
Du kannst ein' Weil' allhie umschweben.
All these instances are of too striking a character not
to lend the strongest support to the emendation 'mortal soil'.
But also in respect to the ductus literaruni the alteration is
most easy, for Quartos as well as Folios write both 'foyle'
and 'foile', 'coyle' and 'coile' indifferently, and an f, negli-
gently written, or damaged in printing, could be easily taken
for a c. At all events, thus much seems certain that if the old
editions had read * mortal soil', nobody would have taken the
least exception to this reading, and the most presumptuous of
emendators would never have so much as dreamt of proposing
* mortal coil' for 'mortal soil'. (Shakespeare- Jahrbuch II, 362.)
xcm.
Ham. So long? Nay then, let the devil wear black, for
I'll have a suit of sables.
Hamlet, in, 2, 136 seq.
E[AMLET. Ill
In the Shakespeare -Jahrbuch XI, 294 seq., I have tried to
show that the contrast between a suit of sables and a mourn-
ing garment does not so much lie in the color as in the
costliness and splendor of the material. In accordance with
the immemorial Biblical usage of mourning in sackcloth and
ashes, mourning garments to this day are made of coarse
and dull -coloured material, whereas for a suit of sables the
most gorgeous and brilliant stuff was selected. Since I wrote
that note I have, however, come across some passages in
our Middle High -German poets, from which it would appear,
that usually garments of brightest colour, especially scarlet
and green, were trimmed with sable, so that the contrast
between a suit of sables and a black mourning garment
would be complete even as to colour. I subjoin these pas-
sages in their original wording.
1. Seyfried Helbling, XIII, 179 (Haupt, Zeitschrift fiir deut-
sches Alterthum, Leipzig, 1844, Vol. IV, p. 214): —
Wirt mir niht scharlach unde zohel
ez wirt mir eins gebiiren hobel
von eim guoten Poltingaere.
2. Maier Helmbrecht 1343 — 1352 (Haupt, Zeitschrift fiir
deutsches Alterthum, Vol. IV, p. 366) : —
Der dritte sac der ist vol,
uf und iSi geschoppet wol,
fritschal br^n^t, vehe veder
dar under zw6, der ietweder
mit scharldt ist bedecket,
und da fiir gestrecket
einez, heizet swarzer zohel:
die han ich in einem tobel
hie nahen bi verborgen;
die gibe ich ir morgen.
112 HAMLET.
3. Parcival, herausgegeben von Lachmann, 63, 24: —
Grilene samtt was der mandel sin:
ein zobel d^ vor gap swarzen schin.
It seems that our ancestors — as far as they belonged to
the Upper Ten Thousand — delighted in these brilliant gar-
ments, particularly in the contrast between bright -coloured
materials and dark sable -trimmings.
XCIV.
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency.
* Hamlet, HI, 4, 168 seqq.
This is the reading of the quarto of 1604. The later quar-
tos read: —
And master the devil, or throw him out,
whilst in the first quarto, as well as in the folios, the passage
is wanting. Whether we follow QB, or its successors, the se-
cond line is incomplete and the editors therefore have properly
endeavoured to till it up. Believing the copyist or compositor
of the second quarto to have been deceived by the similarity
of the sound of two successive words I formerly suggested : —
And either usher the devil, or throw him out.
(The Athenseum, Aug. 11, 1866, 186.) Although Messrs Clark
and Wright, in their annotated edition of the play, are likewise
of opinion * that something is omitted which is contrasted with
throw out\ yet I have now come to the conviction that most
likely such an antithesis was not in the poet's mind, but that
his thoughts turned exclusively on the fact that by constant
habit the vicious stamp of nature may be reformed. The
HAMLET. 113
reading most likely to have come from the poet's pen seems
therefore to be: —
And either master the devil or throw him out.
It is true, there is some slight tautology in it, but a tautology
which is by no means foreign to Shakespeare. The com-
positor of the second quarto, I imagine, overlooked the second,
those of the later quartos overlooked the first word of the
two. As to the metre, I cannot agree with those critics who
think it necessary that a monosyllable should be added
after either., e. g. curb or wemi. S. Walker (Versification, 75)
is quite right in scanning: —
And either master th' devil [pronounce de'il], &c.
xcv.
They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts.
Hamlet, IV, 5, 9 seq.
'The quartos', to use the words of Messrs Clark and Wright
in their annotated edition, 'have yawne, doubtless a misprint
from ayme, as the word is spelt in the first and second folios.
Ai7}i means here to guess, as in Romeo and Juliet, I, i, 121: —
I aim'd so near when I supposed you loved.'
It may be questioned, however, whether we have the right
word. May not yawne in the quartos be a misprint from
gape just as well as from aynie'^ Compare K. John, II, i,
375 seq.: —
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
At your industrious scenes and acts of death.
(The Athenaeum, Aug. 11, 1866, 186.)
114 HAMLET.
XCVI.
The rabble call him lord;
And, as the world were now but to begm,
Antiquity forgot, custom not known,
"' The ratifiers and props of every word,
They cry, 'Choose we; Laertes shall be king!'
Hamlet, IV, 5, 102 seqq.
As no appropriate sense can be made out of 'the ratifiers
and props of every word', though this is the uniform
reading of the old editions, Warburton conjectured of every
ward, Johnson, of every weal, and Tyrwhitt, of every work.
None of these conjectures, however, is a real improvement
on the text. I have no doubt that we should read of every
worth, which would at once remove all difficulty. As far as
worth is concerned, Laertes would be a proper person indeed
to be elected king. But the king is not to be chosen, as
in primeval times, for his w^orthiness alone; antiquity and
custom come in for their share also; they are 'the ratifiers
and props of every worth'. — Compare Thomson's Seasons,
III, 943 seq.: —
At home the friend
Of every worth and every splendid art,
and IV, 468: -^
Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends.
(Shakespeare's Hamlet, herausgegeben von Elze, Leipzig, 1857,
230. — The Athen2eum, Aug. 11, 1866, 186. — Shakespeare's
dramatische Werke nach der Uebersetzung von Schlegel und
Tieck, herausgegeben von der Deutschen Shakespeare -Ge-
sellschaft, VI, 177.)
HAMLET. 115
XCVII.
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,
Convert his gyves to graces.
Hamlet, IV, 7, 19 seqq.
The corruption of this passage does not lie in gyves, as
Theobald and others have imagined, but in graces. How
can gyves, a very material object, be converted into abstract
graces'^ Not even the Knaresborough spring can effect such
an illogical conversion. The context, in a word, will not
bear an abstract noun in this place, which would entirely
spoil the metaphor. Logical symmetry indeed might be
restored, if gyves were replaced by an abstract noun, but the
comparison then would be deprived of all force, of all sen-
sible, not to say palpable, distinctness and Shakespeare would
certainly never have introduced the Knaresborough spring in
order to compare two abstract qualities. Gibes which has been
proposed instead of gyves is fairly insufferable. I feel con-
vinced that we ought to correct graces to graves (according
to modern orthography greaves), which, at the same time,
would give the verse a regular flow. According to the Folio,
graves occurs in another passage of the poet, that, in some
respect, bears a surprising similarity to ours, viz. 2 Henry IV,
IV, I, 50: -
Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood.*
In both passages something feeble or despicable is to be
turned into graves, which not only form part of chivalric
* In this line graves has an obelus in the Globe Edition. War-
burton conjectured glaives which has been highly commended by Dr
Ingleby in the Shakespeare- Jahrbuch, II, 220, whereas in his Shake-
speare Hermeneutics, 61, he feels much less certain. Glaives is not a
Shakespearean word and graves, in my opinion, is the true reading.
8*
116 HAMLET.
armour, but, at the same time, are emblems of knighthood.
Who does not recollect Homer's evxvrjfiideg 'Axcciol and
Chapman's /air greaves (Iliad XVIII, 415)? Gyves, in our
passage, stands of course metonymically for those crimes and
misdemeanours which ought to be punished by them, graves
metonymically for those merits and signal deeds, which ought
to be rewarded and distinguished by them, or, in a word,
which ought to be knighted. The simile of the spring be-
comes most appropriate if we remember that gyves were
originally made of wood. It is true, that in order to render
it perfect, graves should have been made of stone instead of
steel; but so far it may be conceded that o??ine simile claudicat.
Graces is, to all appearance, a sophistication of the com-
positor who hesitated at the unusual word graves, provided
it be not a simple mistake, which is still likelier. As to the
orthography, graves instead of greaves is quite analogous to
thraves (for thr eaves) and stale (for steak or stele)', compare
Mr Hooper's note on Chapman's Iliad XI, 477; Chapman's
Iliad IV, 173 and Nares s. Stele. On the other hand, hatnes
in South Warwickshire becomes eaiiies according to Mr Halli-
well-Phillipps, Diet. Arch, and Prov. Words, and Mrs Francis,
South Warwickshire Provhicialisms (in Original Glossaries &c.
ed. by Walter W. Skeat for the English Dialect Society). (The
Athenaium, Feb. 20, 1869, 284. — Shakespeare -Jahrbuch,
XI, 295 seq.)
XCVIII.
Where be his quiddities now, his quillets, his cases, his
tenures, and his tricks?
Hamlet, V, i, 107 seqq.
HAMLET. 117
Tenures undoubtedly stands in the wrong place; it is by no
means synonymous with quiddities, cases and tricks, but
belongs to the law-terms relative to the acquisition and
transfer of property, and should accordingly be inserted four
lines infra, between recognisances and fines. This suspicion
is strongly confirmed by the Quarto of 1603, in however
crude a state the passage may be given there. That this
edition reads tenements instead of tenures is of no importance,
inasmuch as our concern lies only with the position of the
word, and in this respect it shows the right text. The pass-
age there runs thus : * Where is your quirks and quillets now,
your vouchers and double vouchers, your leases and freehold,
and tenements?' (The Athenaeum, Feb. 20, 1869, 284.)
XCIX.
Wourt drink up esile? eat a crocodile?
Hamlet, V, i, 299.
It is a matter of surprise to me that after all that has been
written on this line there should still be found so many de-
fenders of the old reading (QB Esill, FA Esile — not to
speak of vessels in QA). Several critics have justly observed
that it would not only be 'tame and spiritless', but 'incon-
sistent and even ridiculous' (Nares s. v.) to make Hamlet
dare Laertes to drink Marge draughts of vinegar' in a scene
whose every line is teeming with emphasis and hyperbole —
nay, even bombast; and it was reserved for Al. Schmidt
(Shakespeare -Lexicon s. Eysell) to think such ludicrous rant
was to the purpose. 'Hamlet's questions', says Al. Schmidt,
'are apparently ludicrous, and drinking vinegar, in order to
exhibit deep grief by a wry face, seems much more to the
118 HAMLET.
purpose than drinking up rivers/ This is even less acceptable
than the explanation given by Theobald, that Hamlet means
to say, 'Wilt thou resolve to do things the most shocking
and distasteful? and behold, I am resolute.' The other
passages in which 'eyselF is mentioned do not bear in the
least on the line under discussion; 'eysell' being there only
spoken of as a medicine (thus e. g. in Sonnet CXI) or as
'an ingredient of the bitter potion given to our Saviour on
the Cross' (Hunter, Illustrations, II, 263); nowhere is drinking
eysell mentioned as a feat of courage and strength — as it
would seem to be in the present passage. Mr Moberly assures
his readers that *a large draught of vinegar would be very
dangerous to life' — he might have added that roast croco-
dile would not be a very wholesome dish either. This is cer-
tainly so far-fetched and tame a thought, that vShakespeare
cannot have been guilty of it; it reminds the reader involun-
tarily of Capell's humorous remark that 'if Eisel be the right
reading, it must be because 't is wanted for sauce to the
crocodile.'
There are critics who would willingly give up the vine-
gar and side with those who are convinced that 'esile' is
meant for a river, if it were not that in their opinion a Danish
river must be referred to, or at least one that is not too
far removed from Denmark; in default of a Danish river
they are ready to put up with the Polish Weisel* or the
Dutch Yssel, but they strongly object to the Nile as being
at variance with the scenery of the play. This ill-founded
objection has been refuted by Dr Fumess who justly observes
that Shakespeare 'who did not hesitate to make Hamlet swear
by St. Patrick, would have been just as likely to mention a
* Does this form of the name occur elsewhere or has it been
coined for the nonce? I greatly suspect the latter.
HAMLET. 119
river in farthest Ind as in Denmark, if the name flashed into
his mind, and would have been intelligible to his audience.'
It may be added that the Nile is (and was) no less known
in Denmark than in any other European country; I cannot
conceive why the mention of so world -renowned a river
should be inappropriate in the mouth of a Danish prince;
but if so, the dramatic unity is just as much violated
by the crocodile ; in order to be consistent these critics
should substitute some Danish — or at least some Baltic —
beast for the crocodile. It may be safely asserted that Shake-
speare never cared for Danish, Polish, or Dutch rivers, and
that the name of a Danish river in this passage would in-
deed be the last that could have come from his pen.
It ^\'Sis certainly not only allowable to Shakespeare to in-
troduce the Nile without violating the locality of his play, but
it can be easily shown that he had the strongest motives for
so doing. The grief of Laertes at the untimely and tragical
death of his sister is uttered with such an emphasis that
Hamlet cannot refrain from objecting to such obstreperous
woe and from overawing him who utters it; he entirely gives
the rein to hyperbole and bombast; he challenges Laertes to
do whatever feat he may to express his sorrow and to be
assured that he, Hamlet, will do the same, nay, more. Nothing
can be more intelligible, more explicit: —
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw
Millions of acres on us; till our ground,
Singeing his pate against the burning zone.
Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou'lt mouth,
ru rant as well as thou.
One of the feats thus enumerated is drinking up the Nile, a
feat than which nothing can better befit the occasion, as
the Nile was considered in the days of Elizabeth not only
120 HAMLET.
as the home of wonders and monsters, but also as the
mightiest, nay, even as a measureless stream; our poet him-
self in Titus Andronicus, III, i, 71, says: —
And now, like Nilus, it disdaineth bounds.
Besides, drinking up a river, or even the ocean, is an hyper-
bole very familiar to Elizabethan poets. Various passages
have been quoted in support of these facts, both by English
editors, and myself in my edition of this play; and I am
now able to increase their number. The vast extension of
the Nile is extolled by Marlowe in the first Part of Tambur-
laine, V, 2 (ed. Dyce, 36b): —
Which had ere this been bath'd in streams of blood,
As vast and deep as Euphrates or Nile.
In the same play. Part i , II, 3 (ed. Dyce, 1 5 a) the poet makes
Tamburlaine say: —
The host of Xerxes, which by fame is said
T* have drunk the mighty Parthian Araris,
Was but a handful to that we will have.
In the second part of Tamburlaine, III, i (ed. Dyce, 54a)
Orcanes even mentions Nilus itself: —
I have a hundred thousand men in arms:
Some, that in conquest of the perjur'd Christian,
Being a handful to a mighty host.
Think them in number yet sufficient
To drink the river Nile or Euphrates,
And for their power enow to win the world.
Can it be doubted that Shakespeare was acquainted with
these passages? He who is known to have inserted in the
second part of his K. Henry IV (II, 4) the famous lines from
the second part of Tamburlaine (IV, 3): —
Holla, you pampered jades of Asia,
What, can you draw but twenty miles a -day?
HAMLET. 121
In Dawbridgecourt Belchier's Invisible Comedy of Hans Beer
Pot (London, 1618, E, 3c) we meet with these lines: —
Enough my ladde, wilt drink an Ocean?
Methinks a whirlpool cannot ore drinke me.
Edward III, III, i (ed. Delius, 39): — trid
By land, with Xerxes we compare of strength, -Kd
Whose soldiers drank up rivers in their thirst. ^''
Locrine, IV, 4 (Malone's Supplement, II, 246; Hazlitt, Sup-
plementary Works, 93; Doubtful Plays, Tauchn. Ed., 179): —
O what Danubius now may quench my thirst?
What Euphrates, what light -foot Euripus
May now allay the fury of that heat.
Which raging in my entrails eats me up?
Chapman's Revenge for Honour, III, 2 (The Works of George
Chapman: Plays, edited, with Notes, by Richard Heme Shep-
herd, London, 1874, 433b): —
Sol. Let go round: :t\>.
I'd drink 't, were it an ocean of warm blood
Flowing from th' enemy.
Delius, ad ioc, gives it as his opinion that all difficulties
would be removed, if the reading of the old editions was: • —
Woo't drink up Nilus? eat a crocodile?
but he finds it difficult to believe that so familiar a word
as Nilus could have been sophisticated into vessels, Esilh and
Esile. To me this seems to be a cur a posteriory provided
we have got the right word, the word which is imperatively
required by the context, we need not trouble ourselves with
the inquiry as to how the corruption may have crept into
the text. It is certainly very gratifying and adds to the force
of an emendation if we are able to show the origin of the
corrupted reading, but there are many passages in Shake-
speare and his contemporaries where such an endeavour is,
122 HAMLET.
and ever will be, vain, whereas the emendation itself cannot
be doubted. Let any one try to explain the printers' mistakes
that are committed even at this day! Many of them may
certainly be accounted for by a foul case and in other ways,
but no less a number will still baffle all explanation. Or
has a critic ever yet been able to explain how the famous
Vllorxa found its way into the text? Yet who will defend it?
There remain two points still to be mentioned. First
the words drink up. Notwithstanding what has been said to
the contrary by Dr Fumess and others, I still believe that
this phrase means something more than simply 'to drink';
the preposition up, in my opinion, 'conveys the sense of
totality or completeness' to use Mr Grant White's words; up,
says Al. Schmidt, s. v., 'imparts to verbs the sense of com-
pletion, by indicating that the action expressed by them is
fully accomplished.' I feel convinced that 'to drink up', to
say the least of it, is applied much more fitly to a river than
to vinegar. The parallel passages cited above are eloquent
on this head too ; I only refer to the lines in Edward III : —
Whose soldiers drank up rivers in their thirst;
and in The Jew of Malta, V, 4 (ed. Dyce, 178b): —
As sooner shall they drink the ocean dry.
'To drink up Nilus' is, in my opinion, equivalent to 'to
drink Nilus dry.'
My second, — and last, — remark is on the crocodile.
If drinking up Nilus (that 'disdaineth bounds') be conceded
to be an hyperbole of the first water as it expresses a pure
impossibility, it may be objected, that eating a crocodile
would be a rather weak anticlimax and could not be placed
on a level with the first -named feat of strength. I cannot
admit such an objection to be just. Eating a crocodile is
jfio lesa an impossibility on account of its impenetrable scales
OTHELLO. 123
which our poet's contemporaries imagined to be not only
spear -proof, but even cannon - proof.* In Locrine, A. Ill, init.
Ate says: —
High on a bank, by Nilus' boisterous streams.
Fearfully sat the Egyptian crocodile,
Dreadfully grinding in her sharp long teeth
The broken bowels of a silly fish :
His back was arm'd against the dint of spear,
With shields of brass that shone like burnish'd gold.
Another passage brings us still nearer to Shakespeare, viz.
I Tamburlaine, IV, i (ed. Dyce, 25a): —
While you, faint-hearted, base Egyptians, ^^
Lie slumb'ring on the flow'ry banks of Nile,
As crocodiles that unaffrighted rest,
While thundVing cannons rattle on their skins.
Now let Laertes try his teeth on such a skin!
In short, my conviction, that Shakespeare wrote: —
Woul't drink up Nt7us} eat a crocodile?
is more confirmed than ever it was before.
C.
That handkerchief
Did an Egyptian to my mother give;
* The source of these hyperbolical descriptions may be found in
the forty first chapter of Job, where we read: 'The sword of him that
layeth at him [viz. leviathan] cannot hold : the spear, the dart, nor the
habergeon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make him flee : slingstones are turned with him into
stubble. Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of
a spear.' — Compare also Job XL, 23: 'Behold, he [viz. behemoth]
drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up
Jordan into his mouth.'
124 OTHELLO.
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people: — —
'T is true: there's magic in the web of it:
A sibyl, that had numbered in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work;
The worms were hallowM that did breed the silk;
And it was dyed in mummy which the skilful
Conserved of maidens' hearts.
Othello, III, 4, 55 seqq.
A parallel passage which as far as I know has never been
referred to occurs in Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd, II, i : —
But, hear ye. Douce, because ye may meet me
In mony shapes to-day, where'er you spy
This browder'd belt with characters, 't is I.
A Gypsan lady, and a right beldame.
Wrought it by moonshine for me, and star-light.
Upon your grannam's grave, that very night
We earth'd her in the shades; when our dame Hecate
Made it her gaing night over the kirk -yard.
With all the barkand parish -tikes set at her,
While I sat whyrland of my brazen spindle:
At every twisted thrid my rock let fly
Unto the sewster, who did sit me nigh,
Under the town turnpike; which ran each spell
She stitched in the w-ork, and knit it well.
See ye take tent to this, and ken your mother.
Can it be doubted that this is an imitation, by which Jonson
intended, more or less, to ridicule Shakespeare? Gifford, of
course, would never have acknowledged it. (Shakespeare-Jahr-
buch, XI, 299 seq.)
ADDENDA.
XX.
There is, perhaps, a third way of scanning the line: —
Mountney and Valingford, as I heard them named,
namely, by contracting 'Mountney and' and beginning the
verse with two trochees: —
Moiintn' and | Valing | ford, as | I heard them ndm'd.
Lines beginning with two trochees are by no means unusual;
compare, e. g., Marlowe, i Tamburlaine, I, 2 (Works, ed.
Dyce, Q a) : —
Duke of Africa and Albania.
Marlowe, The Massacre at Paris (Works, ed. Dyce, 245 b): —
Tell me, surgeon, and flatter not — may I live?
Arden of Feversham, Ul, 5 (ed. Delius, 45): —
How now, Alice? What, sad and passionate?
Ibid. Ill, 5 (ed. Delius, 49): —
Go in, Bradshaw, call for a cup of beer.
Milton, Samson Agonistes, 443: —
By th' idolatrous rout amidst their wine.
As to the contraction 'Mountney and' it is much more
allowable than some readers would readily believe. Such
'swallowing or eating vp one letter by another when two
vowels meete, whereof th' ones sound goeth into other' is
reckoned among the 'auricular figures' by Puttenham, The
Arte of PInglish Poesie, ed. Arber, 174. He gives two in-
stances, viz. /' aitaine for to attaine, and sor and smart for
126 FAIR EM.
sorrow and smart. Puttenham closely connects this figure
mth what he calls the 'figures of rabbate' (p. 173), of which
he discerns three different kinds, viz. 'from the beginning, as
to say twixt for betwixi, gainsay for againesay, ill for euill\
from the middle, as to say paraufiter for parauetiture, poorety
for pouertie, souraigne for soueraigne, lane for laken\ from the
end, as to say morne for morning y bet for better, and such
like.' All this 'swallowing' and 'rabbating', however harsh it
may sound in modern ears, is authorised as customar}' and
legitimate by Puttenham; in fact, similar contractions most
frequently occur in the works of Elizabethan dramatists and
even in Milton; thus, e. g.. Fair Em, ed. Delius, 8 (Simpson,
II, 416): —
Maria | na, I have | this day | receiv | ed let | ters.
Ibid. Delius, 35 (Simpson, II, 447): —
Yea and Wil | liam's too, | if he | deny | her me,
and: —
My sor | rows afflict | my soul | with e | qual pas | sion.
Milton, Samson Agonistes, 362: —
Ordain'd | thy nur | ture ho | ly, as of | a plant.
Ibid. 378: —
The mys | tery | of God | given me lin | der pledge,
although a different scansion of this last line may be ad-
missible, viz.: —
The mys | fry of | God giv'n | me un | der pledge.
With respect to the line: —
But, Valingford, search the depth of this device,
we may, perhaps, remove the difficulty by expunging But, so
that there would be no occasion for supposing 'Valingford'
to have been sometimes pronounced as a dissyllable.
It is, of course, no very difficult task to find in 'Fair
Em' many other passages which have been corrupted from
FAIR EM. 1^7
metre to prose. Let me notice only a few. First, the follow-
ing lines in A. Ill, Sc. i (Delius, 26; Simpson, II, 436 seq.): —
Marq. Hard hap, to break us off our talk, so soon !
Sweet Mariana, do remember me! [Exz'L
Mar. Mariana* cannot choose but remember thee.
Enter Blanch.
Blanch. Mariana,
Well met. You 're very forward in your love.
Mar. Madam,
Be it in secret spoken to yourself:
If you'll but follow th' complot I 've invented, &c.
The lines that follow I do not know how to set right and
therefore resume, some eight or nine lines lower down: —
The next time that Sir Robert shall come here**
In's wonted sort to solicit me with love
I'll seem t' agree and like of anything
That th' knight shall demand, so far forth as it be
No impeachment to my chastity; t' conclude,
1 will appoint*** some place for t' meet the man.
For my conveyance from the Denmark court.
Another passage of the same kind occurs soon after
(Delius, 27; Simpson, II, 437), viz. the speech of William the
Conqueror beginning: 'Lady, this is well and happily met.'
Simpson most felicitously adds for before Fortune and justly
remarks that sinister is to be pronounced as a dissyllable
(sin'ster). Thus metre is restored throughout, except in the
first line, and even here it may be easily recovered by the
addition of sweet before lady. Compare Fair Em, ed. Delius, 1 9
* Both Delius and Simpson read 'Thy Mariana', in accordance,
I have no doubt, with the old editions. ** For the word here I
am answerable. *** Delius reads: *and to conclude, appoint some
place,' &c.; Simpson: 'And, to conclude, point some place,' &c.
128 FAIR EM.
(Simpson, II, 428): Sweet lady, for thy sake. Ibid., ed. Delius, 25
(Simpson, II, 435) : Sweet lady, cease, &c. The passage, there-
fore, should be printed: —
Sweet lady, this is well and happily met;
For Fortune hitherto hath been my foe.
And though I Ve often sought to speak with you.
Yet still I have been cross'd with sinister haps.
I cannot, madam, &c.
The most conspicuous instance, however, of verse turned
to prose, is A. II, Sc. 2 (according to Delius, 19 seqq., or
A. II, Sc. 6 according to Simpson, II, 428 seqq.). I transcribe
the whole scene in metre, in which shape, in my conviction,
it came from the author's pen: —
Mar, Trust me, my Lord, I 'm sorry for your hurt.
Luh. Gramercy, madam; but it is not great,
Only a thrust, prick'd with a rapier's point.
Mar. How grew the quarrel, my Lord?
Lub. Sweet,* for thy sake.
There was last night** two maskers*** in our com-
pany,****
Myself the foremost; the others strangers were
'Mongst which,! when th' music 'ganff to sound the
measures,
Each masker made choice of his lady; and one.
More forward than the rest, steptfft towards thee;
* Both Delius and Simpson : 'Sweet lady'; according to the latter,
Chetwood proposed the omission of 'lady'. ** Simpson: 'this last
night'. *** Delius: 'masques'; .Simpson: 'masks'. According to
Delius, XI, the correction 'maskers' is due to Chetwood. ***'^ Delius
and Simpson : 'in one company'; the correction was made by Simpson
in a note. 'Company' is, of course, to be pronounced as a dissyllable.
+ Delius and Simpson: 'amongst the which', ff Delius and Simpson;
' began '. f-j-j- Delius : ' steps '.
a^
FAIR EM. 129
Which I perceiving
Thrust him aside and took thee out* myself.
But this was taken in so ill a** part
That at my coming out of*** the court -gate,
With justling together, it was my chance to be
Thrust into th' arm. The doer thereof, because
He was th' original cause of the disorder,
At th'**** inconvenient time, was presently
Committ'd, and is this morning sent for hither f
To answer th' matter; and here, I think, ff he comes.
Enter William the Conqueror with a Jailor.
What, Sir Robert of Windsor? How now!
Wm Conq. I' faith, fff a prisoner; but what ails your
Lub. Hurt by mischance last night. ffff [arm?
Wm Conq. What? Not in the mask at the court-gate?
Lub. Yes, trust me, there.
Wm Conq. Why then, my Lord, I thank you for my
Lub. And I you for my hurt, if it were so. [lodging.*^
Keeper, away!
I here oo discharge you of your prisoner. \Exit Keeper.
Wm Conq. Lord Marquess!
You offer'd me disgrace to shoulder me.
Lub. Sir!
I knew you not, and therefore pardon me,*^^^
* For 'out' I am responsible. ** 'A' was first added by Chet-
wood. *** Delius: 'out at'. *** Delius and Simpson: 'At that
inconvenient.' + For 'hither' I am responsible. ff Delius and
Simpson: 'I think here'. fff Delius and Simpson: T faith, my
Lord'; the latter, however, remarks in a foot-note: 'Dele my Lord\
+t+t Delius: 'Hurt last night, by mischance'; Simpson: 'Hurt the last
night, by mischance.' o Debus and Simpson: 'my night's lodging.'
o« 'Here' added by the present writer. ooo Delius and Simpson : 'you
must pardon me.'
9
190 FAIR EM-
And th* rather* as** it might be alleged to me
Of mere simplicity, to see another
Dance with my mistress, disguis'd, myself*** in presence.
But seeing it was our haps**** to damnify
Each other unwillingly, let's be content
With bothf our harms and lay the fault where *t was,
And so be ft friends.
Wm Conq. V faith, I am content with my night's lodging,
If you beftt ^^ ^ova: hurt
Lub. Notfttt that I have \
But I 'm "^ content to forget how I came by *L
Wm Conq. My Lord,
Here comes the^* lady Blanch, let us away.
Enter Blanch.
Lub. With right good will.O"o \To Mariana] Lady,
[will you stay?
Mar. Madam — [^Exeunt William the Conqueror and
Lubeck.
Blanch. Mariana, as I'm grieved with Ay presence.
So am I not offended for thy absence,
And, were it not a breach to modesty,
Thou shouldest know before I left thee. [madness!
Mar. \Aside\ How near this humour is akin ^^Q to
♦ Perhaps it may be thought preferable to expunge 'And' and
to write: 'The rather*. ** 'As', inserted by the present writer.
♦** Delius and Simpson: 'and I myself.' ♦♦♦♦ Qy, read, 'hap'?
+ 'Both' added by the present writer. ft DeKus and Simpson: 'be-
come*, t+t Delius and Simpson: 'if you be content.' ffff Delius
and Simpson, 'Not content.' ° 'I'm* added by the present writer.
** ' The ' added by the present writer. "*• Delius and Simpson : ' With
good will.' Compare, Fair Em, ed. Delius, 30, 1. 9; Simpson, II, 441,
1.7. •••• Delius and Simpson: 'Is this humour to madness.' 'Akin*
has been added by the present writer.
FAIR EM. 131
If you hold on to talk* as you begin,
You 're in a pretty way to scolding.
Blanch, To scolding, huswife?
Mar, Madam, here comes one.
Enter a Messenger with a Letter,
Blanch. There does indeed. Fellow, wouldst thou
Have anything with anybody here?
Mess. I have a letter to deliver to the Lady Mariana.**
Blanch. Give it me.
Mess, There must none but she have it.
[Blanch snatcheth the Letter from him,
Blanch. Go to, foolish fellow. [Exit Messenger,
And, therefore, to ease the anger I sustain,
I'll be so bold to open it. What's here?
'Sir Robert greets you well!'
You, mistress, his love, his life? Oh, amorous*** man,
How**** he his new mistress entertains.
And on his old friend Lubeck doth bestow f
A horned ft nightcap to keep in his wit.
Mar, Madam,
Though you discourteously havefff read my letter.
Yet, pray you,tttt give it me.
Blanch. Then thake it, there, and there, and there.
[She tears it. Exit Blanch.
* For *to talk' I am responsible. ** The Messenger speaks in
prose. *** 'Amorous' to be pronounced as a dissyllable. **** 'How'
is to be considered a monosyllabic foot. Or are we to read: 'How his
new mist(e)ress he entertains ' ? Or : ' How he his newest mistress enter-
tains'? Delius and Simpson: 'entertains his new mistress.* f Delius
and Simpson: 'and bestows on Lubeck, his old friend.' ft Delius
and Simpson: *A horn nightcap.' +tt Delius and Simpson: 'have
discourteously.' +tt+ Delius and Simpson: 'I pray you'.
132 FAIR EM.
Mar. How far doth this differ from modesty!
Yet I will gather up the pieces, which,
Haply, may show to me th' intent thereof.
Though not the meaning.
\She gathers up the pieces and joins them.
{Reads'^ 'Your servant and love, Sir Robert of Windsor, alias
William the Conqueror, wisheth long health and happiness.'
Is this then* William the Conqueror
Shrouded** under th' name of Sir Robert of Windsor?
Were he the monarch of the world, he should
Not dispossess my*** Lubeck of his love.
Therefore Til to the court, there,**** if I can.
Close to be friends with Lady Blanch, thereby!
To keep /my love, my Lubeck, ff for myself.
And further the Lady Blanch in her ownfff suit,
As much as e'erffff I may.
XXIV.
After the third line of the passage beginning: —
Infortunate Valingford, &c.
there is no doubt a gap which should be stopped by some
such Hne as the following: —
yet ne'ertheless
I fairly hope, all will he well again;
I am acquainted &c.
* *Then' added by the present writer. ** 'Shrouded' is to be
pronounced as a monosyllable; compare Abbott, Shakespearian Gram-
mar, 472. *** For *my ' the present writer is responsible. **** Delius
and Simpson: *and there.' f Delius and Simpson: 'and thereby.'
+t Delius and Simpson: 'keep Lubeck, my love.' f+f 'Own' added
by the present writer. ffff For 'e'er' I am responsible.
FAIR EM. 133
In the next passage the words prosperity^ expectation, and
Sweet Em, may be retained by the aid of contractions, and
by the introduction of a short line: —
Sweet Em, I hither came to parle of love.
Hoping t' have found thee in thy wont'd prosper'ty;
And have the Gods
Thwart'd so unmerc'fully my expectation.
By dealing so sinisterly with thee,
Sweet Em?
Em. Good sir, no more; &c.
These are certainly harsh verses and *vile' contractions (to
borrow this epithet from Polonius), but we must take them
as we find them. Perhaps, however, these and all similar
lines should not be scanned in the ordinary way; and it may
be doubted whether they are not rather constructed after the
model of Early English verse, where only the accented syl-
lables are counted, whereas the number of the unaccented
ones is more or less indefinite.
XXVL
There is another, and perhaps preferable, way of arranging the
lines in question, viz. thus: —
Wni Cong. Hence, villains, hence!
How dare you lay your hands upon your sovereign!*
Sol. Well, sir, we'll deal for that!
But here comes one will remedy all this.
* Or, according to Simpson: —
Dare you to lay your hands upon your sovereign!
134 FAIR EM.
XXX.
I cannot dismiss the Comedy of 'Fair Em' without adding
a few more corrections. In the third scene (Delius, 8; Simp-
son, II, 416) we read as follows: —
King Den. Mariana, I have this day received letters
From Swethia, that lets me understand
Your ransom is collecting there with speed,
And shortly hither shall be sent to us.
Mar. Not that I find occasion to mislike
My entertainment in your Grace's court.
But that I long to see my native home.
Evidently there is something wanting here; Mariana's speech
should begin with a line somewhat to the following effect: —
// glads my heart to hear these joyful tidings;
Not that I find occasion to mislike, &c.
Instead of 'to mislike', which is an emendation by Simp-
son, the quarto of 1631 reads 'of mislike'; Delius, 'to mis-
liking'.
Farther on, (Delius, 36; Simpson, II, 448) we meet with
this passage: —
Dem. Pardon, my dread lord, the error of my sense,
And misdemeanour to your princely excellency.
W7)i Conq. Why, Demarch, what is the cause my sub-
jects are in arms?
Dem. Free are my thoughts, my dread land gra-
cious lord.
From treason to your state and common weal.
There are no differences in the readings, except that Delius
puts a semicolon after 'Demarch' and a comma after 'cause'.
The substitution of 'excellence' (pronounced as a dissyllable)
for 'excellency' in the second line seems to be indispensable
FAIR EM. 135
to the restoration of the metre. The words 'Why, Demarch'
form an interjection al line; and in the last line we should
insert the definite article before 'common weal.' The whole
passage, therefore, ought to be printed: —
Dem. Pardon, my dread lord, th' error of my sense,
And misdemeanour to your princely excellence.
Wm Conq. Why, Demarch,
What is the cause my subjects are in arms?
Dem. Free are my thoughts, my dread and gra-
cious lord.
From treason to your state and th' common weal.
Another difficulty is raised by the line in A. V, Sc. 2 (De-
lius, 45; or A. Ill, Sc. 17 according to Simpson, II, 457): —
And think you I convey'd away your daughter Blanch?
which may be reduced to a blankverse in three different
ways. The first expedient is to omit And and to contract
you /: —
Think you l' | convey'd | away | your daugh | ter Blanch ?
Compare Addenda No. XX and No. XXIV. Secondly, away
might be expunged: —
And think you I convey'd your daughter Blanch?
In support of this alteration the following line from Fair Em
(ed. Delius, 39; Simpson, II, 451) may be quoted: —
Saying, I conveyed her from the Danish court,
whilst, at the same time, it would correspond to the expres-
sion 'to steal' or 'to steal away' which is used repeatedly in
this scene in respect to the elopement of Lady Blanch. The
third way is the omission of Blanch'. —
And think you I conveyed away your daughter?
Your daughter Blanch occurs five lines lower down, and also
at the end of a verse; it seems, therefore, not unlikely that
136 FAIR EM.
these words have been inserted in the line under discussion
through faulty anticipation.
The last passage on which I wish to make a remark
occurs on page 46 of Delius's edition (Simpson, II, 459): —
Dem. May it please your highness:
Here is the lady you sent me for.
The metre evidently requires the addition of whom'. —
Here is the lady whom you sent me for.
THE KND.
E. Karras, Printer, HaUe.
NOTES ON ELIZABETHAN DEAMATISTS
CONJECTURAL EMENDATIONS OF THE TEXT.
KABL ELZE,
PH.D., LL. D., HON. M.R.S.L.
SECOND SERIES.
HALLE:
Max NiemeyeA.
1884.
m.;;!/. 110 «3'i'
.■ir.,m Jsr-r,
JJJAH
PREFACE.
In this Second Series of Notes I have included those
remarks and conjectural emendations on 'Mucedorus' which
were withheld from the First Series. My reasons for doing
so were twofold. First a great number of theise" notes have
not only been altered, but almost entirely remodelled, and,
I hope, improved; scarcely one of them has been left un-
touched, not only of those that refer to 'MucedorusV Mt
also of those that treat of Shakespeare and other dramatists,
so far as these latter were previously published. Secondly
the notes both on 'Mucedorus' and 'Fair Em' may be con-
sidered as specimens of that critical process to which, iri
my opinion, those Elizabethan plays that were riot published
by their own authors, should be subjected, bef6re we can
hope to arrive at anything like truly revised ttt cortect texts.
The time of reprints, in either old or modern spelling, such
as Mr Halliwell's edition of Marston or Mr Hazlitt's Dodsley,'
has gone by. Apart from drawing-room editions or railway
reading, which lie out of the pale of philology, we want
photolithographic facsimiles on the one hand and revised
texts according to the established rules of classical philology
on the other. These revised editions are of course to be
based on a thorough collation of the old copies which did
not enter into the plan of the present book. It is true that
by some over -cautious, not to feay servile critics, almost all
Elizabethan plays are considered as having come from their
author's pen in the very same state in which they have been
handed down to us. If this were the true state of things,
the labour of the critic would be thrown away on them, as
every attempt at revising such texts would be tantamount
to improving, or rather deteriorating, the poet himself, ift-
IV PREFACE.
stead of emending the corrupted text of his works. In my
opinion, however, the case is different. I am persuaded that,
if tj^ authprs of si^ch plays as 'Mucedorus', 'Fsur pm*, &c.
were men in their senses, however subordinate as poets,
they could not possibly have been guilty of such diction
g^d sijph paetre, especj^lly wj^p .correctness in both respects
lay so near at hand; the text of their works as transmitted
to us must necessarily be considered as th^ pjrpduce of ^
gradual projci^ss'of deterioration. The comedies Af. *F^ir E^'
and 'Mucedorus' were highly popular in their day and in
consequence were frequently performed, frequently transcribed,
and scfirpely less frequently printed. These performances
certainly nevpr took place without some deviations (generally
in pejus) from the author's manuscript, whilst the transcripts
and the printing were rarely, not to say never, undertaken
or superint,endp4. by competent persons. We must not,
tl|ierefore, be surprised that the texts, in their transit through
the different stages of performing, copying, and printing,
C0D.tr^ted numbers of blemishes and departed more and
more from their original shape. There occur passages that
allow us a most striking insight into the nature of this pro-
gressive corruption; compare, for instance, note CCLI. In
this respect the so r called Pseudo- Shakespearian plays some
of which have, in the eyes of all competent critics, reached
a most offensive height of degeneracy, reflect on Shakespeare
hinaself, whose dramatic works labour under a far greater
corruption than a fipiy prejudiced editors and annotators are
"l«rilling to fJ,low;. , ^
Thus, tj^pn,, tjie critic's activi|:y is sanctioned and, at
the same time, defined. With pven the most conservative
critip I agrep in the rule that 'it is not the province of
either e4j|;pr ox critic to improve an authpr's lines, but merely
PREFACE. • rV
t0 re^tpre them', (see note CL^VJI); but ,t)^,^) jp fiO.ifiT
apell^le authority, n,o absolute standard by wi^icjb to pjeasura
the critical process , no fixed barrier between, the indispenr
S^e emendation of a text, and its wilfpl and gratuitous
iteration. What one .critic takes to be emending tljue te^
another will decry as rank and unwarrantable re -writing.
On this head, as on so many others, there will be diss^pr
^iQJf\ \Q the end of limP, ^n|c^ the foUo^jring J>Jotes wJU yiejd
ample material for difference of opinion and will no doubt
be objected to in not a fe\v,,.ca^fjs ,,l;)y, j??pjfi ^fs^_i^i\t^(^
th^Ti myself. ^, f,r,G tTotrrf io h'>«*'T rri bnt'-
Anpther objection which, no doubt, will be raised against
my book is., that in. the eyes of some critics ^ several of my
>jlotes may seem trifling, especially such as treat of sc^^sioii,
Nothing, however, that pertains .t^tiie, lelucjdation of pl^
^utbprs is sHght or unimportant; there is no great and ne
Jittle.in the objects of scholarship, or ,if such a distinctly
should nevertheless be insisted on, it may justly be^ssert^,4>
in contradistinction to the saying, Minima non ^urat prcBior,
that Minima curat philologus. Cpin any reasonable doubt /be
entertained that an editor or critic of Chaucer, Shakespq^e^
or Milton must be able to account for t,he scansion of every
line just as well as an editor of i^schylus, Pindar, or Plaptps
|s held ip duty bound to explain the metres of these poets?
So far ^s these prosodical enquiries de^l with the Elizabethan
Dramatists they are so much the more attractive ^nd signi-
ficant as they bear ample witness to the truth of a remark
made by Dr Abbott in the Introdiiction \^ Jjjs Shakespearian
Grammar (p. ii). 'The character of ]Eli?:abethan Englisli,
Jljie says, is impressed upon |ts proi>ungjatipn , as well ^s
upon its idioms and words. As a rule thf^f pronunciation
seems to have been more rapid than ours. Probably the
Vl PREFACE.
gffeater inflCienbe df' spoken as compared with written English,
sanctioned many contractions which would now be judged
intolerable if for the first time introduced.* "^'^'"^ l^jijnti tuiJ
It is true that in some quarters, botK'Tje'rman ' and
English, such thorough -going disquisitions on topics of
textual criticism are held in disregard. Th6 sciolists that
intrude in all branches of modern learning have also set
their foot on the field of verbal criticism so much the rather
a^' Vierbal criticism would seem at first sight to be an easy
arid brilliant display of the mental faculty that does noways
stand in need of intent and methodical study. There cannot,
hoWever, be a greater fallacy, and nothing is more detri-
m'^ntal to true scholarship and learning than these inroads
of atilateurship. Verbal criticism ought to be not a whit
less professional than grammar or the doctrine of versification,
and the verbal critic should be trained no less regularly
than the grammarian , as in verbal ci-iticism no less than in
every other branch of erudition,
•'^^'''^*^\ ^'^' "^ A little learning is a dangetoii^ ' thing.
My book is accordingly addressed to professional critics
and philologists in particular and I dismiss these Notes with
the well-known words of Pindar: (piovavra avverdlGcv, But,
of course, even the most earnest and methodical study does
not preclude error and I have no doubt fallen into error
more than once in the present book as well as in my former
pubhcations. I shall be content, if I shall be allowed to
claim for my books and myself that unwearied and unbiassed
seeking after truth which Lessing prized as the greatest
blessing that could fall to the share of man, greiater than
Truth itself; it has certainly proved a blessing to me no
less than to him.
'■^ Halle, July 1884. K. E.'
CONTENTS.
Anonymous Plays. ^^ ipriaM
.^..-,
The Birth of Merlin, CI . I
Edward III, CII ' 'iz
Locrine, CIII . . . . . . . . . . " 5
The Merry Devil of Edmonton, CIV '5
Soliman and Perseda, CV ....... 7
Fair Em, CVI — CLXVIII ....... 8
Mucedorus, CLXIX — CCLIII 44
Cooke,
Greene's Tu Quoque, CCLIV 97
Field.
A Woman is a Weathercock, CCLV— CCLVIII ... 98
Haughton.
Englishmen for my Money, CCLIX . . . . . lOi
Kyd.
The Spanish Tragedy, CCLX — CCLXII . . . . . 102
Cornelia, CCLXIII— CCLXV 104
Marlowe. 1
Tamburlaine, CCLXVI— CCLX VII 107
Edward II, CCLXVIII — CCLXX 108
The Jew of Malta, CCLXXI Ill
Dido, Queen of Carthage, CCLXXII . . . . . Ill
VIII CONTENTS.
Marston.
The Insatiate Countess, CCLXXIII 113
Sam. Rowley,
When you see me, &c., CCLXXIV— CCLXXV . . . u8
Shakespeare.
The Tempest, CCLXXVI — CCLXXXVII . . . .119
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, CCLXXXVIII— CCLXXXIX 155
Th^ Merry Wives of Windsor, CCXC 156
The Merchant of Venice , CCXCI 159
The Taming of the Shrew, CCXCII — CCCI . . . • ^S^
All's Well that Ends Well, CCCII — CCCV . . . 1^9
The Winter's Tale, CCCVI ^^3
K. Richard II, CCCVII 179
I K. Henry IV, CCCVIII-CCCX 183
Julius Csesar, CCCXI — CCCXII 186
Hamlet, CCCXIII— CCCXI V . 188
Othello, CCCXV .189
Addenda and Corrigenda.
II.* VI.* vm.* XIV.* XVII.* XX.* XXV.* xxxv.*
XXXIX.* XL VII.* XLIX.* LII.* LVII.* LXVI.* LXVH.*
LXXV.* LXXXm* LXXXV.* XC* XCI.* XCII.*
xcvn.* xcix.* ccxvm.* ccxxxn.* . . . .190
inur I 1-m ,M"W
ANONYMOUS PLAYS.
CI.
Dispatch it quickly, there's not a minute's time
'Twixt thee and thy death.
Frox[mus], Ha, ha, ha! [A stone falls and kills
Proximus.
Merl[m\. Ay, so thou may'st die laughing.
The Birth of Merlin, IV, i (ed. Del. 68).
The second line is evidently to be joined with Merlin's
speech, the verse being continued spite of the interruption
caused by the laughter of Proximus; see Abbott, Shake-
spearian Grammar, s. 514. We must either run the two
words Ikee and into one another and scan : —
'Twixt thee and | thy death. | Ay, so | thou may'st |
die laugh|ing,
or thy must be expunged.
At the next page (p. 69) the following passage * gives
us pause': —
'Merlin strikes his wand. Thunder and lightnitig. Two
dragons appear, a ivhite attd a red; they fight awhile
and pause.
Vort. What means this stay?
MerL Be not amaz'd, my lord, for on the victory
Of loss or gain, as these two champions' ends,
Your fate, your life, and kingdom all depends;
Therefore observe it well.
I
2 THE BIRTH OF MERLIN. EDWARD III.
Vort. I shall; heaven be auspicious to us.'
Instead of stay qy. read play? Apart from the fact that the
Ed. pr. (1662) reads Champions, not champions', there is no
doubt some corruption also in the third line, but it baffles
my endeavours to detect and amend it. In the last line
we must, of course, pronounce au-spi-ct-ous, if we do not
prefer to make the line one of four feet only: —
I shall; I heaven be | auspijcious to | us.
Some pages further on (p. 76) we read: —
This brought the fiery fall of Vortiger,
And yet not him alone: &c.
Qy. read : his alone? By the way it may be remarked that
in the old edition (1662) this speech of Merlin, like numerous
others that are evidently meant to be metrical, is printed
as prose.
CII.
Unnatural besiege! — Woe me unhappy
To have escaped the danger of my foes.
And to be ten times worse invired by friends !
Edward III, II, i (ed. Del., 28).
Invired (Qq 1596 and 1599: inuierd), not inwir'd, as print-
ed by Delius, seems to be a &ca^ Xeyojiievov, at least I
have not been able to find out another instance. Could it
be taken for a shortened form of environed, a possibility at
which I cannot hint without diffidence, it might throw an
unexpected light on a line in K, Richard III (I, 4, 59): —
Environ'd me about and howled in mine ears,
in so far as it would serve to reduce this Alexandrine to a
regular blankverse : —
Envir'd I me 'bout I and howll^d in I mine ears.
EDWARD III. 3
Compare Dr Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, s. 460, p. 339
and p. 342. In the Ff the Ime has been corrected by the
omission of about.
At p. 33 seq. I must revert once more to the per-
plexing passage: —
The sin is more, to hack and hew poor men.
Than to embrace, in an unlawful bed,
The register of all rarieties
Since leathern Adam 'till this youngest hour.
Instead of rarieties Delius reads varieties, Moltke fair rarities.
— Ever since I proposed, in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 78, to read heathen Adam,
Mr F. J. Furnivall has lost no opportunity of falling foul of
this conjecture and holding it up, with manifest zest, to
ridicule and contempt, although he might have known that
it had been withdrawn at p. 327 of the very same volume
in which it was published. He not only upholds the original
text, but in the Transactions of the New Shakspere Society,
Dec. 9, 1 88 1, p. 10*, even praises as 'admirable' the expres-
sion leathern Adam, which he takes to mean 'Adam clad in
skins, or his own skin, or leather'. This interpretation has
partly been repeated in The Academy for July 22, 1882,
p. 60, where Mr Furnivall maintains the expression to be
equivalent to 'Adam clad in skins'. He seems to have given
up the grotesque notion that the adjective leathern might
refer to Adam's own skin and might mean 'Adam clad in
his own skin or leather ! ' The skin of a man may certainly
be designated as leather, either by way of joke, or in good
earnest; see Halliwell, Dictionary, s. Lether (3). But this
is vastly different from calling a naked man a leathern man.
The explanation 'clad in skins' might indeed be supported
by a reference to Genesis, III, 21: 'Unto Adam also and
4 EDWARD in.
to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and
clothed them.' But who ever heard of people clad in skins,
such as the ancient Britons or Germans, being called
leathern? The true meaning of the word lies in a very
different direction and has been pointed out to me by my
late lamented friend Ed. Miiller, the learned author of the
'Etymologisches Worterbuch der englischen Sprache'. To all
appearance leathern ^ in the passage under discussion, is a
corrupted form of O. E. le'per, liper^ leper and == ^nequaniy
malus\ 'vile, hateful'. See Stratmann, Dictionary, s. Luder,
and Halliwell, Dictionary, s. Lether (2). Adam is called
leaiher?ij i. e. leper, nequavi or hateful, because through his
fall paradise was lost to mankind. If this be the correct
explanation, as I have little doubt it is, it would seem pre-
ferable to deviate as little as possible from the spelling of
the old editions (1596 and 1599), both of which read
Letherne Adaniy and to print lethern. I am indeed ignorant
by whom the misleading spelling leathern was introduced
into the text.
There is still another passage (p. 75) calling for emen-
dation, viz.: —
Upon my soul, had Edward prince of Wales
Engag'd his word, writ down his noble hand,
For all your knights to pass his father's land,
The royal king, to grace his warlike son.
Would not alone safe -conduct give to them.
But with all bounty feasted them and theirs.
The last two lines are no doubt contrary to the rules of
grammar. It would, however, justly be thought an over -bold
alteration to write : —
Had not alone safe -conduct given to them.
LOCRINE. THE MERRY DEVIL. 5
especially as a far easier, nay almost imperceptible emen-
dation seems to lie at hand, viz.: —
But with all bounty V feasted them and theirs,
i. e. , of course, bounty had. (See Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 82).
cm.
Come, with your razors rip my bowels up,
With your sharp fire -forks crack my starved bones:
Use me as you will, so Humber may not live.
LocRiNE IN Malone's Suppl. II, 246. — Hazlitt, Suppl.
Works, 93. — Doubtful Plays (Tauchnitz), 179.
In order to regulate the metre I formerly proposed to read
Use me at will, &c. , but must now withdraw this suggestion
as needless. Scan : —
Use me as | you will, | so Hum|ber may | not live.
Me and as are to be run into one another. (Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 76).
CIV.
Ray\niond\. O, thou base world! how leprous is
that soul.
That is once lim'd in that polluted mud!
O Sir Arthur! you have startled his free active spirit
With a too sharp spur for his mind to bear.
The Merry Devil of Edmonton (Dodsley, ed. Haz-
litt, X, 230).
6 THE MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON.
The old copies (1617, 1626, i63i,and \t^^ that polluted mud ;
Dodsley (1744) thy polluted mud. — The second O spoils
the metre and is plainly owing to a dittography; read: —
Sir Arthur! you've startled his free active spirit.
Several passages in this play are either wrongly printed
as prose or wrongly arranged. Such, e. g., is the following
speech by Jerningham at p. 244: 'Blood! if all Hertfordshire
were at our heels, we'll carry her away in spite of them',
which clearly consists of two regular blankverses, divided
after heels. By the way it may be remarked that Blood is
the reading of the later Qq, whereas the copy of 1 6 1 7 cor-
rectly reads ^S blood {Z^blood). A wrongly arranged passage
occurs at p. 246 : —
Y. Clare. We shall anon; nouns! hark!
What means this noise?
Jer. Stay, I hear horsemen.
Y. Clare. I hear footmen too.
Arrange , of course : —
Y. Clare. We shall anon; nouns! hark! What means
this noise?
Jer. Stay, I hear horsemen.
Y. Clare. I hear footmen too.
Nouns y by the. way, is the reading of the later Qq; Qu. 161 7,
zounds. Another speech, wrongly printed as prose, is met
with at p. 256. Here Mr Hazlitt's text is so much the
more provoking as in all the four Qq which I have been
able to collate, the passage is divided quite correctly into
two lines : —
Hi^dersham]. Sir Arthur, by my order and my faith,
I know not what you mean.
This is marring the text wantonly.
SOLIMAN AND PERSEDA. 7
CV.
The desert plains of Afric have I stain'd
With blood of Moors, and there in three set battles fought,
March'd conqueror through Asia,
Along the coasts held by the Portuguese;
Ev'n to the verge of gold, aboarding Spain,
Hath Brusor led a valiant troop of Turks,
And made some Christians kneel to Mahomet.
SOLIMAN AND PERSEDA (DODSLEY, ED. HAZLITT, V, 265).
And there, in the second line, seems to have slipped out of
its place and to have contracted a slight corruption during
this transposition. Qy. read: —
With blood of Moors, in three set battles fought,
And then march'd conqueror through Asia, &c.?
Or would it be thought preferable to write : —
With blood of Moors, and th^re in three set battles
Fought and march'd conqueror through Asia?
But even this alteration, though nearer to the old text, would
I think, hardly be. acceptable without the change of there
to then.
At p. 280 we read: — ■
O, touch not the cheek of my palfrey.
Lest he dismount me while my wounds are green:
Page, run, bid the surgeon bring his incision:
Yet, stay, I'll ride along with thee myself.
The first and third lines are thus to be scanned: —
O, I touch not I the che-jek of | my pal|frey,
Page, I run, bid | the surjgeon bring's | incijsion.
Qy. infusion instead of incision?
8 FAIR EM.
CVI.
Nor bear I this an argument of love.
Fair Em, Delius, 3. — Warnke and Prcescholdt, 5.
Simpson, The School of Shakspere, II, 409.
Qy.: in argument? i. e. in token. Compare i K. Henry IV,
II, 5, 45: —
This day, in argument upon a case,
lb. V, I, 46: —
In argument and proof of which contract.
CVII.
Why should not I content me with this state,
As good Sir Edmund Trofferd did the flaile?
F. E., Del., 4. — W. and Pr. , 6. — Simp., II, 411.
Read either : Trofferd did wttK flail or Trofferd with the flail.
Instead of Trofferd, exhibited by both quartos, DeHus reads
Trostard; perhaps, however, neither the one, nor the other is
what the author wrote. The knight alluded to is no doubt
meant to be the same personage as Sir Thomas Treford
who occurs in A. V, sc. i, 1. 263, although Sir Thomas
Treford is there designated as a shepherd. Delius, in this
latter passage , reads Sir Edmund 7 re/or d, Simpson , Sir Ed-
viond Treford.
CVIII.
And thou, sweet Em, must stoop to high estate
To join with mine, &c.
F, E., Del., 4. — W. and Pr., 6. — Simp., II, 411.
This is the reading of the old copies. Delius reads: stoop
thy high estate y whereas Simpson suggests that to high may
FAIR EM. 9
be a misprint for to like; this, however, as Messrs Warnke
and Prcescholdt justly remark, 'would little agree with the
following to ioyne with mine\ * The author most probably
wrote or meant to write stoop too high estate^ the spelling to
instead of too being of great frequency in the old copies;
compare, e. g., A. I, sc. 4, 1. 40: —
What! comes he to, to intercept my loue?
The sense is: Sweet Em, thou must stoop (thy) high estate
likewise, in order that thy estate may join or agree with
mine. It might be objected, that, if this was the author's
meaning, he would have placed too in the accented part of
the foot; however we frequently find that a word which
bears the emphasis, i. e. 'the stress laid upon a word in
pronouncing a sentence', does not always bear the rhyth-
mical accent (the ictus) or stand in the arsis. See, e. g.,
lower down (I, 3, 50): —
A sweet \face^ an | exceed jing dain|tie hand;
Marlowe, Edward II, I, 4, 128: —
0 might I I keep | thee here | as I | do this.
The antithesis between face and hand in the former and
between thee and this in the latter line, seems to require
that face and thee should have been placed in the arsis.
Compare also Marlowe, Edward II, II, i, 34: —
A vel|vet cap'd | cloak, fac'd | before | with serge;
Romeo and Juliet, I, i, 234 seq.: —
Examine other beauties.
Rom. 'Tis the way
To call I hers exjquisite, | in quest | ion more,
lb. I, 2, 31: —
And like | her most | whose merjit most | shall be.
lb. Ill, I, 185: —
1 beg I for just lice which | thou, prince, | must give.
10 FAIR EM.
We should have expected the words cloaks hers, her and thou
to stand in the accented part of the rhythm. Still more to
the point is the position of too in the following lines taken
from B. Jonson's Catiline (I quote from Moxon's edition of
The Works of B. Jonson, in i vol., London, 1853): —
And they | too no | mean aids. | Made from | their hope
(p. 287b)
Shun they | to treat | with me | too? No, | good la|dy
(p. 297a)
In being | secure : | I have | of late | too plied | him
(p. 299 a)
A trick I on me | too! It | is some | men's maljice
(p. 302 a)
Hath sent | too to | his ser|vants, who | are manjy
(p. 302 b)
And send | them hence | with arms | too, that | your
mer|cy (p. 303 b)
On the transitive use of the verb to stoop see Al. Schmidt,
Shakespeare -Lexicon, s. Stoop.
CIX.
You will have the cramp in your finger at least ten weeks
after.
F. E., Del., 7. — W. and Pr., 9. — Simp., II, 414.
Chetwood: fingers. This is one of those few of Chetwood's
alterations that deserve the notice of the critics.
FAIR EM. 11
ex.
That graceth him with name of Conqueror.
F. E., Del., 7. — W. and Pr., 9. — Simp., II, 415.
I take this to be a case of absorption and feel sure that we
should write wiiJi or wiUh\
CXI.
Swart and ill -favoured, a collier's sanguine skin.
I never saw a harder favour'd slut.
F. E., Del., 8. — W. and Pr., 10. — Simp., II, 416.
Compare Damon and Pithias (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, IV, 80) : —
By'r Lady, you are of good complexion,
A right Croydcn sanguine, beshrew me.
On these lines Dodsley has the following foot-note (by Reed):
'From the manner in which this expression [viz. sanguine] is
used by Sir John Harington, in "The Anatomic of the Me-
tamorphosis of Ajax", 1596, sig. L, 7, it seems as though
it was intended for a sallow hue. "Both of a complexion
inclining to the oriental colour of a Croyden sanguined ' —
Croydon, it will be remembered, was famous for its colliers,
and as a sanguine skin or complexion is particularly ascribed
to the men of Croydon it may probably mean rather a
swarthy than a sallow hue which seems to be corroborated
by the passage under discussion. Spenser, Faerie Queene,
III, 8, 6, however, speaks of 'a lively sanguine' as almost
identical with ' perfect vermily ' : —
The same she tempred with fine Mercury
And virgin wex that never yet was seald,
And mingled them with perfect vermily;
That like a lively sanguine it seemd to the eye.
12 FAIR EM.
Compare Marston , The Fawn (The Works of John Marston,
ed. J. O. Halliwell, II, 28): ^Hef\cules]. Fore Heaven! you are
blest with three rare 'graces — fine linnen, cleane linings,
a sanguine complexion, and I am sure, an excellent wit,
for you are a gentleman borne.' Mr Halliwell (p. 296) takes
the opportunity of quoting the following passage from the
Book of Knowledge, ed. 1649, P- 35* 'A sanguine man is
large, loving, glad of cheer, laughing, and ruddy of colour,
stedfast, fleshly, right hardy, mannerly, gentle, and well
nourished. '
CXII.
rU gage my gauntlet gainst the envious man
That dares avow there liveth her compare.
F. E., Del., 9. — W. and Pr., ii. — Simp., II, 417.
So far as I know compare is used without exception as an
abstract noun and is equivalent to comparison, in which sense
it occurs in our very play, II, i, 154.
CXIII.
These jars becomes not our familiarity.
F. E., Del., 10. — W. and Pr., 12. — Simp. II, 418.
Not an Alexandrine, but a regular blankverse; pronounce
familiarity as a word of four syllables. Compare K. Lear,
I, 2, 4: —
The curiosity of nations to deprive me,
where, according to S. Walker, Versification, p. 201, Shake-
speare no doubt pronounced curiously.
FAIR EM. 13
CXIV.
Bad world ! where riches is esteemed above them both,
In whose base eyes nought else is bountiful !
F. E., Del., io. — W. and Pr., 13. — Simp., II, 419.
The best means to dispose of the excrescence of the first
line seems to be to place Bad world extra versuni as an
interjectional line; compare note XVI, p. 9. In the second
line the adjective beautiful would seem to be imperatively
demanded by the context instead of bountiful which is com-
pletely out of place here.
cxv.
r faith, I aim at the fairest; &c.
F. E., Del., 14. — W. and Pr., 16. — Simp., II, 422 seq.
The arrangement of these capping verses in Messrs Warnke
and Proescholdt's edition was proposed by me in the Jahr-
buch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 345.
CXVI.
Trot\ter\ Yes, woos, but you did.
F. E., Del., 14. — W. and Pr., 17. — Simp., II, 423.
Woos which has been omitted by Delius without a remark,
is a corruption of wis {iwis^ ywis) = certain, sure. Jonson,
Every Man in his Humour, I, i : Step\hen\\ No, wusse; but I'll
practise against next year, uncle. lb. IV, 2: Down\^right\'.
Come, you might practise your ruffian tricks somewhere else,
and not here, I wuss. Id., A Tale of a Tub, I, 2: —
Clay. No, wusse. Che lighted I but now in the yard,
Puppy has scarce unswaddled my legs yet.
14 FAIR EM.
See also Mr Henry B. Wheatley's notes on the two passages
in Every Man in his Humour (B. Jonson's Every Man in his
Humour, ed. H. B. Wheatley, 1877) p. 126 and p. 186.
CXVII.
But time and fortune hath bereaved me of that.
F. E., Del., 15. — W. and Pr., 17. — Simp., II, 424.
A pseudo - Alexandrine. Read and scan either: —
But time | and for | tune's b'rea|ved me | of that,
or: —
But time J and for tune hath b'reajv^d me | of that.
Compare notes CCLXIV and CXX.
CXVIIJ.
For which I am rewarded most unthankfully.
F. E., Del., 16. — W. and Pr., 19. — Simp., II, 425.
I am now persuaded that the scansion of this line proposed
by me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesell-
schaft, XV, 345, and adopted by Messrs Warnke and Proe-
scholdt, is hardly right. It seems much more natural to take
unthankfully for a trisyllabic feminine ending and to scan
the verse thus : —
For which | I am | reward |ed most | unthankj fully.
CXIX.
And so away? What, in displeasure gone.
And left me such a bitter sweet to gnaw upon?
Ah, Manvile, little wottest thou
How near this parting goeth to my heart.
F. E. , Del., 16. — W. and Pr., 19. — Simp., II, 425.
FAIR EM. 15
Chetwood duplicates Manvile (in 1. 113) in order ' to restore
the legitimate number of feet', and Simpson proposes to read
to gnaw on (in 1. 112). Both are manifestly wrong. Arrange
of course : —
And left me such a bitter sweet to gnaw
Upon? Ah, Manvile, little wottest thou &c.
Compare for similar enjamheinents . Guest, History of English
Rhythms (ist Ed.), I, 159 seq. To think that 11. 11 1 and 112
are meant for a couplet, would be a mistake. It is true
that the following verses (114 — 115, 116 — 117, 120 — 121)
are rhymed, but they read rather as casual rhymes than as
couplets written on purpose; moreover these casual couplets
are interrupted by the unrhymed lines 118 — iig, which con-
tain no sign of corruption and offer no handle for the cor-
recting activity of the critic.
cxx.
Nor shall unkindness cause me from him to start.
F. E. , Del., 17. — W. and Pr., 19. — Simp., II, 426.
To need not be expunged as has been done by Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt in accordance with a suggestion
made by Simpson ad loc. The line has an extra syllable
before the pause , however slight the latter may be : —
Nor shall | unkind jness cause me | from him | to start.
Compare A. II, sc. 3, 1. 5 (see note CXXIII): —
And makes | him conceive | and conjster his | intent,
and A. Ill, sc. i, I. 107: —
Or court | my mis | tress with fab|ulous | discour'ses.
i% FAIR EM.
CXXI.
You keep a prattling with your lips,
But never a word you speak that I can hear.
F. E., Del., 17. — W. and Pr., 20. — Simp., II, 427.
The first verse may easily be completed by the addition of
/ see at the end of the line : —
You keep a prattling with your lips , / see^
But never a word you speak that I can hear.
CXXII.
This may be but deceit,
A matter feigned only to delude thee,
And, not unlike, perhaps by Valingford..
He loves fair Em as well as I —
F. E., Del., 18. — W. and Pr., 21, — Simp., II, 428.
I strongly suspect that a line has dropped out after Valing^
ford, which may have been to the following effect: —
Is she incited to this artful fraud.
CXXIII.
Em. Jealousy, that sharps the lover's sight.
And makes him conceive and conster his intent.
F. E., Del., 21. — W. and Pr., 25. — Simp., II, 431.
Simpson proposes to read: Ah, fealousy, but I have little
doubt that fealousy should be pronounced as a word of four
syllables: fe-a-lous^y. The same dissolution occurs in crea-
ture, treasure and similar words; see S. Walker, Versification,
p. I36seqq. Crit. Exam. II, igseqq. Abbott, s. 484, p. 378;
FAIR EM. II
infra note XXV*, and Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, Y, 22^ where
treasure is twice to be pronounced as a trisyllable (Those
bloody wars have spent my tre-a-sure; And with my tre-a-
sure ray people's blood). In the second line him is to be
elided and read as an enclitic : makes^m^ if it should not be
thought preferable to consider it as an extra syllable before
the pause and to scan the line: —
And makes | him conceive | and con|ster his | intent.
See antef note CXX.
CXXIV.
Here cometh Valingford;
Shift him off now, as thou hast done the other.
F. E., Del., 22. — W. and Pr., 25. — Simp., II, 431.
Qy.: Now shift him off, &c.? I do not think, that the author
meant to point out metrically an antithesis between him, i. e.
Valingford, and the other, i. e. Mountney. Such an anti-
thesis, in the mouth of 'Fair Em', would be too formal and
affected.
cxxv.
Mar, My lord, you know you need not to entreat,
But may command Mariana to her power,
Be't no impeachment to my honest fame.
Lub, Free are my thoughts from such base villainy
As may in question. Lady, call your name.
F. E., Del., 24. — W. and Pr., 28. — Simp., II, 433 seq.
Qy. either: honest name or: call your fame? The same word should
surely be repeated. Compare A. Ill, sc. 2, 1. 141 seq.: —
I hold that man most shameless in his sin
That seeks to wrong an honest lady's name.
18 FAIR EM.
CXXVI.
It would redound greatly to my prejudice.
F. E., Del., 24. — W. and Pr., 28. — Simp., II, 434.
The emendation ^Twouldj proposed by Simpson, is not suf-
ficient to restore the metre of this line. Nor can I agree
with Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt who are of opinion
that we should pronounce redound as a monosyllable, if we
do not choose to follow Simpson. Most probably we have
to deal with a syllable pause line, although the pause is
ever so slight : —
It would I redound | o great jly to | my prejudice.
Prejudice in this case to be pronounced as a trisyllabic
feminine ending. Should this scansion find no acceptance
we seem to be driven to the remedy of transposing the
words : —
'T would greatly to my prejudice redound.
CXXVII.
Luh. No, Mariana, that's not it. His love to Blanch.
F. E., Del., 24. — W. and Pr., 29. — Simp., II, 434.
In the opinion of Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt Mariana^
in this line, is to be pronounced as a dissyllable (Marian)
and the line thus to be scanned : —
No, Ma|rian[a], that's | not it. | His love | to Blanch.
For this dissyllabic pronunciation of the name they refer the
reader to 1. 72 of the same scene where, they say, it occurs
again : —
Thy Ma|rian[a] can't | choose but | remem|ber thee.
FAIR EM. ' ' 19
Messrs Warnke and Pr(£scholdt, to add this by the way,
print carCt without giving their source for this lection, whereas
Qu. 1 63 1 reads caiinot. I do not think, however, that the
line quoted by them is sufficient to establish the assumed
dissyllabic pronunciation of Mariana', there is not a single
reliable instance of it in the whole comedy of *Fair Em*.
For my own part, I have little doubt that the words No^
Mariana should be transposed. This being granted, it will
become evident that both lines have an extra- syllable before
the pause, however slight the latter may be in 1. 72. Cannot j
in this case , is indeed to be contracted. Scan therefore : —
Maria I na, no, | that's not | it. His love | to Blanch,
and : —
Thy Ma|rialna can't choose | but r'memlber thee.
It cannot be denied, however, that the omission of 7%y, pro-
posed by me at p. 127, would greatly improve the line, no
matter whether we should scan : —
Maria I na can't | choose but | remem|ber thee,
or: —
Mariajna can|not choose | but r'mem|ber thee,
or (with an extra -syllable before the pause): —
Maria|na can|not choose but | remem|ber thee.
According to the Qu. 1631 the line is one of six feet, but
no Alexandrine: —
Thy Ma|ria|na caninot choose | but r'mem|ber thee.
An Alexandrine, inharmonious though it be, might easily
be produced by the contraction of cannot: —
Thy Ma|ria|na can't | choose but | rememjber thee.
Delius and Simpson have reproduced the old text without
either remark or alteration.
2T
20 FAIR EM.
CXXVIII.
For princely William, by whom thou shalt possess.
F. E., Del., 25. — W. and Pr., 29. — Simp. II, 435.
Simpson proposes to print b*whom and Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt say that by is to be slurred. In my opinion
the line has an extra- syllable before the pause and should
be scanned: —
For prin|cely Will|iam, by whom | thou shalt | possess.
CXXIX.
Or court my mistress with fabulous discourses.
F. E., Del., 27. — W. and Pr., 32. — Simp., II, 437.
Simpson ad loc. proposes to read: —
Or with discourses fabulous court my mistress,
which would be too artificial and select a construction for
the homely language of our play. I myself suggested : —
Or court with fabulous discourse my mistress.
Both these corrections are needless, as the text is quite cor-
rect, the line having an extra syllable before the pause
although this pause be one of the slightest. Scan: —
Or court | my mis | tress with fabjulous | discourjses.
See ante note CXX. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XV, 346).—
cxxx.
Mar. My lord, I am a prisoner, and hard it were
To get me from the court.
F. E., Del., 27. — W. and Pr,, 32. — Simp., II, 438.
My suggestion in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschafl, XV, 346, although it has met with the approval
FAIR EM. 21
of Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt, yet seems needless, since
prisoner may be pronounced as a trisyllabic feminine ending
before the pause. — Two lines infra (III, i, 126) it may
be questioned whether instead of If case we should not read
In case. Compare, however, A. V, sc. i, 1. 205 seq. : —
I do forgive thee, with my heart,
And will forget thee too, if case I can.
CXXXI.
Why, Valingford, was it not enough for thee.
F. E., Del., 29. — W. and Pr., 34. — Simp., II, 440.
Qq: was it. Delius, Simpson, and Messrs Warnke and
Prcescholdt: was't. Although it must be confessed that this
correction is by no means a bold one, yet it may be a
matter of doubt whether it be required or no. Valingford
may be pronounced as a dissyllable as in the first line of
this scene and the verse may be scanned: —
Why, Valingjford, was | it not | enough | for thee.
Compare note XX.
CXXXII.
Mount. Thou know'st too well she hath:
Wherein thou couldst not do me greater injury.
F. E., Del., 29. — W. and Pr., 34. — Simp., II, 440.
This is the division of the lines in the Qq, whereas the
three modern editions have added Wherein to the first line,
clearly with a view to cut down the second line to the com-
pass of a blank verse. But even according to the arrange-
ment of the Qq the second line is by no means a verse
22 FAIR EM.
of six feet, as injury is clearly to be pronounced as a tri-
syllabic feminine ending, so that there is no occasion what-
ever for an alteration.
CXXXIII.
For when I offered many gifts of gold,
And jewels to entreat for love,
She hath refused them with a coy disdain,
Alleging that she could not see the sun.
F. E., Del., 29. — W. and Pr., 34 seq. — Simp., II, 440.
In A. II, sc. 3, 1. 41 seqq. Em does not allude to the sun,
but says: —
What pleasure can 1 have
In jewels, treasure, or any worldly thing
That want my sight that should discern thereof?
It may, therefore, be suspected that the poet instead of the
sun wrote the same which in the ductus literaruvi would come
very near the spelling of the old copies {sunne). The only
objection to which this conjecture seems to be open, is that
the next line begins with the very same words: —
The same conjectured I to be thy drift,
although it seems difficult to say whether this circumstance
does not speak rather in favour of my suggestion than
otherwise.
CXXXIV.
Val. In my conjecture merely counterfeit:
Therefore let us join hands in friendship once again,
Since that the jar grew only by conjecture.
Moun. With all my heart: yet let us try the truth
thereof.
FAIR EM. 23
Vai. With right good will. We will straight unto her father,
And there to learn whether it be so or no.
F. E., Del., 30. — W. and Pr., 35. — Simp., II, 441.
In the second line Messrs Hazlitt and Simpson read k/'s Join.
There is little difficulty in reducing this line to a blank
verse ; read , either : —
Therefore in friendship let's join hands again;
or: —
Therefore join hands in friendship once again;
or, as proposed by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt ad loc. : —
Therefore in friendship let's join hands again.
Nevertheless the reading of the Qq may indeed have pro-
ceeded from the author's pen who would seem to have ad-
mitted a few regular Alexandrines; compare I, 4, 63 (where,
however, My lord might easily be expunged); II, i, 70 (Ah^
Em, might be printed as an interjectional line); II, i, 102;
II, I, 165; V, 1 , 86 (compare, however, note CXLIX);
V, I, 143; V, I, 215 (although utterly had better be taken
for a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause). Perhaps
also Mounchensey's reply to Valingford's proposal should be
added to the number of these Alexandrines: —
With all my heart: yet let us try the truth thereof.
Instead of We will in the fifth line, which is the uniform
reading of the old copies, Delius and Messrs Warnke and
Prcescholdt justly write We^ll. In the last line there is cer-
tainly some corruption as it violates all grammar. Perhaps
we should write either: —
To learn there whether it be so or no,
or: —
And there we'll learn whether it be so or no.
(Jahrb. der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 346 seq.)
24 FAIR EM.
CXXXV.
And get we once to seas, I force not then
We quickly shall attain the English shore.
F. E., Del., 30. — W. and Pr., 35. — Simp., II, 441
Qy. read, sea for seas?
CXXXVI.
Since first he came with thee into the court.
F. E., Del., 33. — W. and Pr., 40. — Simp., II, 445.
Simpson: in to the court; compare, however, V, i, 104: —
When first I came into your highness' court.
The use of the preposition into is generally restricted to
those cases in which court stands for a court of justice,
whereas court in the sense of the residence and surroundings
of a prince is generally preceded by to or unto; see, e. g.,
I, I, 78:-
Will go with thee unto the Danish Court.
In the line in Titus Andronicus, IV, 3, 61: —
Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court,
the word court has a different meaning and the construction
does not therefore contradict the rule. (Jahrbuch der Deut-
schen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 349).
CXXXVII.
To steal away fair Mariana, my prisoner.
F. E., Del., 34. — W. and Pr., 40. — Simp., II, 445.
Chetwood's alteration : fair Marian^ my captive, shows him to
have been ignorant of the licences of the Elizabethan blank
verse. The line is quite right as it stands, Mariana having
FAIR EM. 25
an extra syllable before the pause and prisoner being a tri-
syllabic feminine ending : —
To steal | away | fair Ma;ria|na, my prisjoner.
CXXXVIII.
Or I shall fetch her unto Windsor's cost,
Yea, and William's too, if he deny her me.
\Exit Sweno.
F. E., Del., 35. — W. and Pr., 41. — Simp., II, 447.
The last line may either be taken for an Alexandrine, or
for a blank verse; in the former case Vea is to be read as
a monosyllabic foot, in the latter Yea^ and must be joined
to one syllable , which , on account of the pause , seems
unusual and harsh. The stage - direction has been altered
by Delius to Exeunt all, and this alteration has been adopted
by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt. An attentive perusal
of the scene, however, will convince the reader that Sweno,
after employing his attendants to take both Lubeck and
Mariana to prison, has remained alone on the stage and
that consequently the stage - direction of the Qq is quite
correct and requires no alteration whatever.
CXXXIX.
Only revengement of a private grudge.
By Lord Dirot lately proffered me.
F. E., Del., 36. — W. and Pr., 43. — Simp., II, 448.
Which is the right scansion of the second line? Are we to
pronounce lately as a trisyllable (Abbott, s. 477): —
By Lord j Dirot | latejly profjfer'd me?
26 FAIR EM.
Or have we to deal with a syllable pause line : —
By Lord | Dirot | v^ latejly profjfer'd me?
Or has the original position of the words been perverted
and did the poet write : —
Proifer'd | me latelly by | the Lord | Dirot?
Thus a dilemma not only with two, but with three horns,
if I may say so, presents itself to the reader, to whose
judgment the decision must be left.
CXL.
Our subjects, erst levied in civil broils,
Muster forthwith, for to defend the realm.
F. E., Del,, 40. — W. and Pr., 46. — Simp., II, 452.
The trochee levied, in the first line, not being preceded by
a pause, seems hardly admissible, and it may, therefore, be
surmised that the poet wrote : —
Our subjects, levied erst in civil broils, &c.
CXLI.
Mil\ler\. Alas, sir, blame her not; you see she hath good
cause, being so handled by this gentleman: &c.
F. E., Del., 43. — W. and Pr., 49. — Simp., II, 455.
These words produce the impression on the reader's mind
that an adverb is wanted before handled; say, for instance,
so cruelly handled.
FAIR EM. 27
CXLII.
Sweno. Rosilio, is this the place whereas the Duke
Should meet me? [William
Ros. It is, and like your grace.
F. E., Del,, 43. — W. and Pr., 50. — Simp., II, 455.
This is the reading of the Quartos, whereas Delius, Simpson
and Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt have adopted the fol-
lowing arrangement : —
Sweno. Rosilio, is this the place whereas
The Duke William should meet me?
Ros. It is, and like your grace.
This, I apprehend, is farther from the mark than the old
text, corrupted though it be. In my opinion the author
wrote : —
Sweno. Rosilio ,
Is this the place whereas Duke William
Should meet me?
Ros. It is, and like your grace.
This arrangement agrees with the old copies in so far as it
divides the lines after William, which word, occurring as it
does at the end of the line, is plainly to be pronounced as
a trisyllable. In the same way Grumio in The Taming of the
Shrew is generally used as a trisyllable at the end of the
line, but only exceptionally occurs as such in its body. —
Need it be added that in the last line the pause Hakes the
time of a defective syllable'? Compare note CCLXXVIII.
CXLIII.
Sweno. Rosilio, stay with me; the rest be gone.
[Exeunt.
F. E., Del,, 43. W. and Pr,, 50. — Simp., II, 456.
28 FAIR EM.
Both here and nine lines infra the Qq have the insufficient
and misleading stage - direction Exeunt which has been retained
by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt as well as by Simpson.
Delius has added Attendants in the second passage, whereas
in the first passage he has omitted the stage -direction alto-
gether. It admits of no doubt that in both places the stage -
direction Exeunt can have no other meaning than Exeunt
Attendants and that consequently in both places the latter
word should be received into the text.
CXLIV.
Sweno. William,
For other name and title give I none
To him, who, were he worthy of those honours
That fortune and his predecessors left,
I ought by right and human courtesy
To grace his style the Duke of Saxony.
F. E., Del., 44. — W. and Pr., 51. — Simp., II, 457.
William, which both in the Qq and in Delius's and Simpson's
editions, is joined to the following line, has justly been
placed extra versum by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt.
The same correction has been made with respect to Sweno
in A. V, Sc. I, 1. 97. — The last line has been ingeniously
corrected by Simpson: —
To style his grace the Duke of Saxony,
and Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt ought to have given
their reasons why, instead of adopting this emendation, they
have retained the manifestly corrupt reading of the Qq.
For human courtesy I formerly felt tempted to substitute
common courtesy. Compare W. Irving's Tales of the Alhambra
FAIR EM. 29
(London, 1878) p. 182: I could not do less in common
hospitality. Cotter Morison, Macaulay (London, 1882) p. 23:
We are bound in common equity to remember this fact.
C. M. Ingleby, A Complete View of the Shakspere Contro-
versy &c. (London, 1861) p. 41: No man of honourable
feeling, or indeed of common humanity, &c. However, the
old text is right; compare A Midsummer - Night's Dream,
II, 2, 57 (in human modesty); The Merchant of Venice,
IV, I, 25 and Troilus and Cressida, IV, i, 20 (human
gentleness). (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesell-
schaft, XV, 348).
CXLV.
Wm, Herein, Sweno, dost thou abase thy state,
To break the peace which by our ancestors
Hath heretofore been honourably kept.
Sweno. And should that peace for ever have been kept.
Had not thyself been author of the breach.
F. E., Del., 45, — W. and Pr., 51. — Stmp., II, 457.
Instead of adase thy state Delius reads abuse thy state. —
There can be little doubt that the first line of the King of
Denmark's speech wants correction ; read : —
And that peace should for ever have been kept.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 348).
CXLVI.
Sweno. Thou didst confess thou hadst a Lady hence.
F. E., Del., 45. — W. and Pr., 52. — Simp., II, 457.
Sweno speaks as if he was still at home in Denmark,
although the scene is now in England where he has landed
30 . FAIR EM.
with his troops. Is this an oversight of the author, or has
the word hence crept in by way of corruption, or how is it
to be explained? Should we read, perhaps, thence instead
of hence?
CXLVII.
Yet, Demarch, go and fetch her straight.
F. E., Del., 46. — W. and Pr., 52. — Simp., II, 458.
The only means of scanning this perplexing line is to take
Yet for a monosyllabic foot and to suppose a pause to fall
after go which takes 'the time of a defective syllable': —
Yet, I Demarch, | go — | and fetch | her straight.
It seems, however, far more natural and easy to reduce, by
a slight transposition, the verse to a regular line of four
feet: —
Yet go, I Demarch, | and fetch | her straight.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 348).
CXLVIII.
Enter Rosilio with the Marques.
Ros. Pleaseth your highness, here is the Marques
and Mariana.
F. E., Del. 46. — W. and Pr., 52. — Simp., II, 458.
The words and Mariana have justly been added to the stage -
direction by Delius. — Rosilio's speech which both in the
Qq and modem Editions forms a line of six feet with a
double ending and requires the contraction of here is into
here^s in order to be readable, should be written and
arranged thus : —
FAIR EM. ^t
Ros. Pleaseth your Highness,
Here is the Marques Lubeck and Mariana.
Compare 11. 88 and 89 of the same scene: —
Dem. May it please your Highness,
Here is the Lady whom you sent me for.
If some critics should object to the insertion of Lubeck they
may perhaps be reconciled to the introduction of a four
feet line, rather than allow the two lines to remain joined
to that monstrous one of six feet.
CXLIX.
Lub. Duke William, you know it's for your cause
It pleaseth thus the king to misconceive of me,
And for his pleasure doth me injury.
F. E., Del., 46. — W. and Pr. , 53. — Simp., II, 459.
I formerly proposed to reduce the second line to a blank
verse by expunging thus and eliding the article before king.
I have, however, hit upon a different arrangement of the
lines since then , viz. : —
Duke William, you know it's for your cause it pleaseth
Thus the king to misconceive of me.
And for his pleasure doth me injury.
Thus a perfect couplet is obtained instead of an imperfect
one. Need it be added, that the first line contains an
extra syllable before the pause and that Thusy in the second
line, by virtue of its strong accent, is to be read as a
monosyllabic foot? As to the third Hne it may be questioned
whether we should not write do for doth.
32 FAIR EM.
CL.
Wm. Sweno,
I was deceiv'd, yea, utterly deceiv'd,
Yet, this is she, the same is Lady Blanch,
And, for mine error, here I am content
To do whatsoever Sweno shall set down.
F. E., Del., 47. — W. and Pr., 53. — Simp., II, 459.
Qy.: FeSy this is shcy &c.? (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare - Gesellschaft , XV, 349).
CLI.
Mar, When first I came into your highness' court.
And William often importing me of love,
I did devise, to ease the grief your daughter did sustain,
She'ld meet Sir William masked, as I it were.
F. E., Del., 47. — W. and Pr., 54. — Simp., II, 459.
For the first line see supra note CXXXVI. — Often im-
porting is the reading of the Qq and of Delius; Simpson:
oft^ importing; Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt: oft impor tun-
ings as proposed by me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 349. Compare A. Ill, sc. i,
1. 79 seqq. : 'Sir Robert of Windsor, a man that you do not
little esteem, hath long importuned me of love.' The words
/ did devise clearly form an interjectional line, which is per-
fectly in keeping with similar passages of our play, e. g. Ill,
I, 2T^ (Thus stands the case); III, 2, 11 (Wretch as thou art);
IV, 2, 8 (Therefore by me); V, i, 200 (Or deaf, or dumb).
The passage should therefore be written and arranged : —
Mar. When first I came into your highness' court.
And William oft importuning me of love,
FAIR EM. 33
I did devise,
To ease the grief your daughter did sustain,
She'ld meet Sir William mask'd, as I it were.
CLII.
Unconstant Mariana, thus to deal
With him which meant to thee nought but faith.
F. E., Del., 47. — W. and Pr., 54. — Simp., II, 460.
As it would seem , three different ways of scanning the second
line offer themselves, among which the reader may choose
that which to his judgment is the least doubtful. Firstly:
nought, like wrought and similar words, may be read as a
dissyllable; see Abbott, s. 484 (p. 381). This scansion,-
suggested by me jn the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschafl, XV, 349, has been adopted by Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt; it would, however, produce a
trochee, and a trochee in the fourth foot after a very slight
pause seems questionable. The second way of dealing with
the verse would be to class it among the syllable pause
lines (see note CCLXXVIII) and scan it thus: —
With him | which meant | to thee | w nought | but faith.
To this scansion it may be objected that the pause after
thee is too slight to serve as substitute for a defective syllable.
Thirdly and fourthly: the change of to into unto, or the
insertion of else after nought would certainly remove all
difficulty, if the latter be not considered too bold an expe-
dient. Nothing, therefore, remains but to request the reader,
in the hackneyed Horatian words : —
Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti.
34 FAIR EM.
CLIII.
To any such as she is underneath the sun.
F. E., Del., 48. — W. and Pr., 55. — Simp,, II, 461.
A pseudo- Alexandrine; scan: —
T'an' such | as she | is un|demeath | the sun.
Compare notes CLX and CCCVI.
CLIV.
Wm. Conceit hath wrought such general dislike,
Through the false dealing of Mariana,
That utterly I do abhor their sex.
F. E., Del., 48. — W. and Pr., 55. — Simp., n, 461.
The second line is one of four feet only; perhaps it might
be filled up by the addition of In me which seems indeed
to be required by the context : —
In me through the false dealing of Mariana.
The pronoun their, in the third line, does not only refer to
Mariana, but at the same time to Blanch who is standing
beside her.
CLV.
Blanch, Unconstant knight, though some deserve
no trust,
There's others faithful, loving, loyal, and just.
F. E., Del., 48. — W. and Pr., 55. — Simp., II, 461.
I am unable to see why William should be called unconstant,
as he has done nothing to deserve this reproach. Blanch
should much rather upbraid him for his injustice, for William
rejects the whole female sex without exception as being
FAIR EM. 35
'disloyal, unconstant, all unjust', to which sweeping con-
demnation Blanch justly replies that some, indeed, deserve
no trust, but that there are others faithful, loving, loyal, and
just. May not the reading Unconstant be owing to a faulty
repetition from line 142? But what is to take its place ?
Ungenerous? Unsparing? Untruthful?
CLVI.
El\ner\ She has stolen a conscience to serve her
own turn.
But you are deceived, i'faith, he will none of you.
F. E., DEL., 49. — W. AND Pr., 56. — Simp., II, 462.
These lines, divided at turn in the Qq as well as in the
editions of Delius and Simpson, have been printed as prose
by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt; as, however, the scene
is entirely written in verse, it is highly improbable that a
speech in prose should have been interposed by the author,
especially as no reason whatever is apparent, why it should
be in prose instead of verse. ' On the other hand the lines
as printed in the Quartos, in Professor Delius' edition, and in
Simpson's School of Shakspere show no regular metre, and
are certainly corrupt. I do not see, how a meaning can
be extorted from the words She has stolen a conscience &c.
Let us look at the context. Elner says, that there was no
witness by, when Manvile plighted his troth to Em and that,
therefore, her claim to his hand is not valid. Em's reply is,
that Manvile's conscience is a hundred witnesses, to which
assertion Elner would seem bound by the laws of logic to
rejoin, that it was not Manvile's own conscience, but a con-
science stolen to serve Em's turn, and that Em may rest
3*
86 FAIR EM.
assured that he will none of her. Thus it appears that for
She hath we ought to write He hathj an alteration which at
the same time induces us to expunge own before turn.
Moreover it seems evident that these words, at least the
first line, must be spoken aside. In short, the lines, in
my humble opinion, would seem to have come from the
author's pen in the following shape: —
^ EL [Aside^ He's stolen a conscience to serve her turn;
But you're deceived, i'faith, he'll none of you.
Conscience is, of course, to be read as a trisyllable; compare
1. 1 84 of our scene : —
To void the scruple of his conscience.
CLVII.
But some impediments, which "at that instant happen'd,
Made me forsake her quite;
For which I had her father's frank consent.
F. E., Del., 49. — W. and Pr., 56. — Simp., II, 462.
This is the arrangement of the Qq, altered in pejus by the
modem editors who have joined happened to the following
line, because they have overlooked the fact that impediments
is to be read as a trisyllable and that the line has an extra
syllable before the pause.
CLVIII.
I loved this Man vile so much, that still my thought, &c.
F. E., Del., 49. — W. and Pr., 56. — Simp,, II, 462.
Much is an extra syllable before the pause; scan: —
I lov'd I this Man I vile s6 | much, that still | my thought.
FAIR EM. 37
CLIX.
Of whom my Manvile grew thus jealous.
F. E., Del., 49. — W. and Pr., 56. — Simp., II, 462.
This line looks as though it was incomplete, but it is not,
since jealous is to be pronounced as a trisyllable, jeal^i-ous.
To the instances of this pronunciation adduced by S. Walker,
Versification, 154 seq., the following may be added: Kyd,
The Spanish Tragedy (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt , V, 46) : —
Ay, danger mixed with jealous despite,
lb. (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, V, 131): —
To summon me to make appearance;
Ram- Alley; or. Merry Tricks (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, X, 289): —
But that is nothing for a studient;
lb. (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, X, 347): —
Say then her husband should grow jealous.
Pronounce: appear -i-ance. Marston, The Insatiate Countesse,
A. II (Works, ed. Halliwell, III, 138): regardiant; ib. A. V
(Works, III, 185): faviour; Greene, Dorastus and Fawnia
(Shakespeare's Library, ed. Hazlitt, I, IV, 36): rigorious.
Clement Robinson, A Handful of Pleasant Delights, ed. Arber,
p. 9: studient; B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, I, i :
studient; Hamlet I, 2, 177: fellowe- studient (in QB and QC);
Merry Wives, III, i , 38 : studient (in FA). S. Walker's Con-
jectural emendation on Middleton's Old Law I, i (Versifi-
cation, 156) is thus established beyond a doubt. Compare
also Abbott, s. 480 (p. 372) and Storm, Englische Philologie
(Heilbronn, 1881) p. 290 seq. (Jahrbuch der Deutsc^ien
Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 350).
38 FAIR EM.
CLX.
By counterfeiting that I neither saw nor heard
Any ways to rid my hands of them.
F. E., Del., 50. — W. and Pr., 57. — Simp., II, 463.
This division is certainly wrong; the words nor heard are to
be transferred to the following line (as has been done by
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt in accordance with my sug-
gestion) and any ways is to be contracted in pronunciation
so as to form only two syllables; see notes CLIll and CCCVI.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 350).
CLXI.
All this I did to keep my Manvile's love,
Which he unkindly seeks for to reward.
F, E., Del., 50. — W. and Pr., 57. — Simp., II, 463.
Qy.: thus to reward? (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XV, 350).
CLXII.
Or else what impediments might befall to man.
F. E., Del., 50. — W. and Pr., 57. — Simp,, II, 463.
Simpson's correction of this suspicious reading of the Qq : —
Or what impediments else might befall man,
is a modern instance of the truth of the old saying : —
Incidit in Scyllam, qui vult vitare Charybdim.
If an emendation of the line is to be resolved upon, I still
adhere to the alteration proposed by me in the Jahrbuch
der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 350, which,
I think , is preferable at least in point of rhythm : —
Or what impediments else might man befall.
FAIR EM. 39
At the same time, however, I have ^ried to scan the
Quarto -reading and Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt have
approved of my scansion: —
Or else | what 'mpedj'ments might | befall | to man.
Should the reader think this scansion harsh, I shall not
contradict him; let him make his own choice or try to find
out something better.
CLXIII.
Man, Forgive me, sweet Em!
F. E., Del., 50. — W. and Pr„ 57. — Simp., II, 463.
Qy. : Forgive me, my sweet Em?
CLXIV.
EL Mine, Manvile? Thou never shalt be mine.
F. E., Del., 50. — W. and Pr., 57. — Simp., II, 463.
In the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft,
XV, 350, I proposed to insert No before thou^ but have now
come to the conviction, that we have rather to deal with
a syllable pause line (see note CCLXXVIII): —
Mine Man I vile? — I Thou nevler shalt I be mine.
CLXV.
Val, My Lord, this gentleman, when time was,
Stood something in our light,
And now I think it not amiss
To laugh at him that sometime scorned at us.
F. E., Del., 51. — W. and Pr., 58. — Simp., II, 464.
40 FAIR EM.
This reading of the Qq, faulty though it manifestly be, has
been left undisturbed by both Delius and Simpson, whereas
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt have adopted the correction
proposed by me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XV, 351: —
VaL My Lord,
This gentleman stood something in our light.
When time was; now I think it not amiss
To laugh at him that sometimes scorn'd at us.
As to the third line, I must now say that and need not be
omitted; the line has simply an extra syllable before the
pause. — From these lines forward the concluding part of
the play is corrupt, or, at least, in great disorder. Simpson
and his editor Mr Gibbs, make a few remarks on this fact,
but they are inadequate. Simpson declares it to be evident
that the lines addressed to William the Conqueror by Man-
vile : —
I partly am persuaded as your grace is —
My Lord, he's best at ease that meddleth least,
must certainly be spoken before William the Conqueror
accepts Blanch. As Mr Gibbs further remarks, the derision
of Manvile by Valingford and Mountney should begin im-
mediately after Valingford's words: Then thus (V, i, 221).
Valingford continues : —
Sir, may a man
Be so bold as to crave a word with you,
so that the dialogue follows uninterruptedly as far as: —
Mount. I know full well: because they hang too high.
Whilst this dialogue between Valingford, Mountney, Manvile,'
the King of Denmark, and the Marquis Lubeck has been
going on, William the Conqueror has evidently been con-
versing aside with Mariana and Blanch and has come to an
FAIR EM. 41
understanding with them. He now addresses Manvile too,
asking him : —
Now, sir, how stands the case with you?
to which Manvile replies the two lines just quoted: —
I partly am persuaded as your grace is —
My Lord, he's best at ease that meddleth least.
I may add, that after this line a verse has evidently been
lost which informs us, with whom we should meddle least in
order to be best at ease, viz. with womankind. William the
Conqueror, however, has meanwhile changed his mind and
replies : —
I see, that women are not general evils
and so on, as far as: —
And after my 'decease the Denmark crown.
After this line there is an evident gap; some lines are
wanting that should introduce the question (in 1. 255): —
And may it be a miller's daughter by her birth?
which, by the way, is a rather suspicious line of six feet
which Simpson has tried to regulate (And may't be a miller's
daughter by her birth). From this line to the end the
regular sequence of the lines seems not to have been disturbed.
The original succession of the lines expressed in numbers
according to the numbering of Messrs Wamke and Proe-
scholdt is this: 221 {Then thus), 234 — 254, 231- 2:^,}^,
222 — 230, 255 — 278. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XV, 351 seq.)
CLXVI.
Lub. In mine eyes this is the properest wench;
Might I advise thee, take her unto thy wife.
F. E., Del., 52. — W. and Pr., 59. — Simp., II, 465.
43 FAIR EM.
This is the reading and arrangement of the Qq, whereas
the passage is printed as three lines in Delius' and Simpson's
editions. Moreover Delius reads my eyes instead of mine eyes,
Simpson to thy wife instead of unto thy wife, and I myself
have suggested this^ for this is, thus making the line one of
four feet only. This suggestion has been installed in the
text by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt. However, I have
now come to the conviction that the old text is completely
right. Rightly scanned the first verse is no doubt a syllable
pause line : —
In mine | eyes this | o is | the prop|erest wench,
and the second line has an extra syllable before the pause : —
Might I I advise | thee, take her | unto | thy wife.
Compare V, i, 218. 248. 264. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 352).
CLXVII.
And, fair Em, frolic with thy good father.
F. E., Del., 52. — W. and Pr., 59. — Simp., II, 466.
Simpson, in order to restore the metre, inserted thou after
frolic, which is contrary' to a metrical usage observed through-
out our play, viz. the usage of placing the name of Em (or
Blanch) in the accented part of the rhythm. See A. I, sc. i,
I. 62: —
But to renown fair Blanch, my sovereign's child
lb., 1. 80: —
Bright Blanch, I come! sweet fortune, favour me.
A. I, sc. 2, I. 15: —
And thou, sweet Em, must stoop too high estate
A. II, sc. I, 1. 128: —
Nay, stay, fair Em. — I'm going homewards, Sir
FAIR EM. 4S
lb., 1. 149: —
Sweet Em, it is no little grief to me
lb., 1. 164: —
Ah, Em, fair Em, if art can make thee whole
lb., 1. 169: —
He loves fair Em as well as 1 —
If, therefore, the insertion of thou should be deemed necessary,
it should take its place not after frolic, but after And'. —
And thou, fair Em, frolic with thy good father.
However, the line may be both complete and uncorrupted
as it has been handed down to us; if And be taken for a
monosyllabic foot, the verse may thus be scanned: —
And, I fair Em, | frolic | with thy | good fa|ther.'
This is by no means a smooth and harmonious line, but
the versification of our play everywhere shows the author to
have been a loose and negligent versifier and it is not the
province of either editor or critic to improve his lines, but
merely to restore them. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XV, 352).
CLXVllI.
Em. Em rests at the pleasure of your highness.
F. E., Del. 52. — W. and Pr., 60. — Simp., II, 466.
Em may perhaps be admitted as a monosyllabic foot. The
lection resies in QA, however, may possibly have been pro-
nounced as a dissyllable and suggests the conjectural
emendation resteth. Compare note CCXLVIII (his absence
hreedes).
44 MUCEDORUS.
CLXIX.
Most sacred Majesty, whose great deserts
Thy subject England, nay, the world admires.
MucEDORUS, Del., i. — W. and Pr., 19. — H's D., VII, 201.
The whole of the Prologue, from 1. 3 forward, being in
rhyme, I cannot bring myself to the belief that its very
beginning should have been left rhymeless by the author.
Mr Collier proposes to read either desires in 1. i, or asserts
in 1. 2. I rather think that the original reading in 1. i was:
aspires. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 311).
CLXX.
Embrace your council : love with faith them guide,
That both, as one, bench by each other's side.
Mu., Del. i. — W. and Pr., 19. — H's D., VII, 201.
Qq 1 6 1 o and 1 6 1 5 : Counsell; later Qq : Councel or Coimcell;
Mr Hazlitt: Council and at one. — The Prologue which first
appears in the edition of 1610, seems to have been written
shortly after the Gunpowder -Plot to which it clearly refers
in 11. 9 — 10: —
Where smiling angels shall your guardians be
From blemish'd traitors, stain'd with perjury.
'Several severe acts, to borrow the words' of a writer in
the Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography (s. James I.)
were in consequence [of the Gunpowder -Plot] passed by the
Parliament against the Roman Catholics; but James, partly
from timidity, partly from policy, showed a decided disincli-
nation to carry them into execution.' It would seem, as if
an allusion to this indecision of the king was to be traced
in 11. 5 — 6 and as if, accordingly, we should write counsels;
MUCEDORUS. 45
especially as this plural seems to be required by the follow-
ing them. Compare Timon of Athens, III, i, 2']: he would
embrace no counsel. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 311).
CLXXI.
Why so; thus do I hope to please.
Mu., Del., 3. — W. and Pr., 21. — H's D., VII, 203.
I think it highly improbable that the author should have
commenced his play with an incomplete line, however fre-
quently he may have admitted both shorter and longer lines
in its course. I feel convinced that we should add even:
Whyy even so; &c. Compare The Play of Stucley, 1. 348
(Simpson , The School of Shakspere , 1 , 171): Master Cross
the Mercer, is't even so? A Warning for Fair Women,
A. II, 1. 937 (Simpson, The School of Shakspere, II, 305): —
Heaven will have justice showne: it is even so!
(Jahrb. der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 46 seq.).
CLXXII.
Sound forth Bellona's silver -tuned strings.
Mu„ Del., 3. — W. and Pr., 21. — H's D., VII, 203.
In the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft,
XI, 63, the late Prof Wagner has observed that he is unable
to attach a meaning to the mention of Eellona in this pas-
sage. Bellona is indeed nowhere represented as a patroness
of music and has nothing to do with either 'silver- tuned
strings' or with wind-instruments which latter seem to be
ascribed to her a few lines below (1. 1 4 seq.) : —
46 MUCEDORUS.
That seem'st to check the blossoms of delight,
And stifle the sound of sweet Bellona's breath.
And what business has Comedy to praise 'sweet Bellona*
who is no comic, but an exclusively tragic character? I
cannot help thinking that there is some corruption lurking
at the bottom, but am unable to offer an explanation how
it may have originated , or a cure for it. By the way it may
be remarked that for stifle in the Ed. pr. the later Qq read
still, (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesellschaft,
xni, 47).
CLXXIII.
Nay, stay minion, there lies a block.
Mu., Del., 3. — W. and Pr , 21. — H's D., VII, 203.
This is the reading of the quartos of 1598 (staie), 1610 and
1 61 5 (Minion); Qq 161 9 and 1631: Nay stay Minion stay^
there. In the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesell-
schaft, XIII, 48, I proposed to read: Nayy stay y you minion,
stay, and this conjecture, which no doubt improves the metre,
has been installed in the text by Messrs Warnke and Proe-
scholdt. You minion repeatedly occurs in Shakespeare, e. g.,
in The Comedy of Errors, III, i, 54: —
Do you hear, you minion? you'll let us in, I hope?
lb., IV, 4, 63: —
You minion, you, are these your customers?
Romeo and Juliet, III, 5, 152 seq. : —
And yet 'not proud', mistress minion, you.
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds.
However, the readings of the earlier as well as the later Qq
may be right, if properly scanned. Nay, in both cases, is
to be considered as a monosyllabic foot and minion y in the
MUCEDORUS. 47
earliest Quarto, as a trisyllable, although the dissolution of
'ion usually occurs only in the end and not in the body
of the line. If, therefore, this pronunciation should be
rejected, the verse, as printed in the first quarto, may per-
haps with greater correctness be scanned as a syllable pause
Hne (see note CCLXXVIII). These, then, are the three
scansions : —
Nay, I stay, min|i-on; | there lies | a block
Nay, I stay, min|ion; — | there Ues | a block
Nay, I stay, min|ion, stay | there lies | a block.
The last reading certainly looks like a correction. .
CLXXIV.
And gain the glory of thy wished port.
Mu , Del., 3. — W. and Pr., 21. — H's D., VII, 203.
This is the reading of the earlier Qq; the later Qq: this
wished port. It seems obvious that instead of port we should
read sporty as suggested by me in the Jahrbuch der Deut-
schen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 48. Messrs Warnke
and Prcescholdt have adopted this correction.
CLXXV.
Hearken, thou shalt hear a noise
Shall fill the air with shrilling sound.
And thunder music to the gods above:
Mars shall himself reach down
A peerless crown &c.
Mu., Del,, 4. — W. and Pr., 22. — H's D., VII, 204.
48 MUCEDORUS.
Qq 1598 and 1610: with a shrilling sound. Hark, before
Hearken i in Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt's edition, is an
unnecessary addition of the late Prof. Wagner's (see Jahr-
buch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XI, 63). The
passage, i think, should thus be arranged: —
Hearken ! thou'lt hear a noise shall fill the air
With shrilling sound, and thunder music to
The gods above : Mars shall himself reach down
A peerless crown &c.
Exception might be taken to the enjambement in the second
line, but this drawback is amply compensated by the restora-
tion of three regular lines in lieu of two complete and two
incomplete ones. Moreover the versification of our author
is, on the whole, so loose and careless that we shall scar-
cely wrong him by fathering an unstopped line upon him.
(Jahrb. der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 340 seq.
Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 312).
CLXXVI.
In this brave music Envy takes delight.
Where I may see them wallow in their blood &c.
Mu., Del., 4. — W. and Pr., 22. — H's D., VII, 204.
*As there is no antecedent, say Messrs Warnke and Proe-
scholdt, to which them might refer, it would, perhaps, be
better to read men.^ At the same time they refer the reader
to 1. 64 seq., where the same want of connexion recurs and
where no alteration seems suited to remedy it. To me it
seems more probable that in both passages something is
wanting (after 1. 30 and 1. 64). Four lines below (1. 34) we
have to deal with an Alexandrine which might, however.
MUCEDORUS. 49
easily be reduced to a blank verse by the omission of my
trull. Compare Englishmen for my Money (Dodsley, ed.
Hazlitt, X, 514): —
Were I as you,
Why, this were sport alone for me to do.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 341).
CLXXVII.
Thou bloody, envious disdainer of men's joys.
Mu., Del., 4. — W. and Pr., 22. — H's D., VII, 204.
Thus Qq (Qu. 1598 ioye)\ Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt
^sdainer. See Marlowe's Edward the Second, ed. Tancock
(Clarendon Press, 1879) p. 160. In my opinion bloody has
intruded by mistake from the following line: it is a ditto-
graphy. Read therefore : —
Thou envious disdainer of men's joys.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 49).
CLXXVIII.
Whirling thy measures with a peal of death.
And drench thy metres in a sea of blood.
Mu., Del., 5. — W. and Pr., 23. — H's D., VII, 205.
Qq: pleasures and methodes. The conjectural emendations
measures and metres y introduced into the text by Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt, were proposed by me. Measure^ in
the sense of dance is used e. g. in K. Richard II, I, 3, 291;
in K, Richard III, I, i, 8, and in Fair Em, II, 2, 8; me trey
in the sense of verse or line, occurs e. g. in K. Richard II,
II, I, 19. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft,
XIII, 50).
4
50 MUCEDORUS.
CLXXIX.
Why then, Comedy, send thy actors forth.
Mu., Del., 5. — W. and Pr., 23. — H's D., VII, 205.
In order to improve the metre Messrs Wamke and Proe-
scholdt insert now after send, whereas in the Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 341 I contended for
the reading of the Qq. If why be taken for a monosyllabic
foot, the line may thus be scanned: —
Why, I then Come|dy, send | thy act|ors forth.
I have, however, some misgiving whether it may be deemed
admissible to disjoin the words Why then and to alter the
punctuation of the Qq, especially as two other ways of
scanning the line seem to be open, which involve no change
whatever. The first is to pronounce Comedy as a trisyl-
lable:—
Why then, | Come|dy, send | thy act|ors forth.
To this scansion it will justly be objected that, throughout
our play. Comedy in the body of the line seems always to
be used as a dissyllable and that by its trisyllabic pronun-
ciation the line under discussion becomes weak and halting.
This difficulty will be avoided if we class the verse among
the syllable pause lines (see note CCLXXVIII): —
Why then, | Comedy, | o send | thy act|ors forth.
The reader may make his choice among these different
expedients. Thus much is certain, that we shall have to
admit a trochee in the second place, if we do not choose
to separate why from the rest of the line, and that an
alteration of the text or an addition of some expletive seems
by no means unavoidable.
MUCEDORUS. 51
CLXXX.
But, my Anselmo, loth I am to say,
I must estrange that friendship.
Mu., Del., 6. — W. and Pr., 24. — H's D., VII, 206.
In the Qq these two verses form one line only. Qu. 1668:
enlarge thy friendship. Wagner proposes to read : my friend-
ship. The second line may easily be completed by adding
for a while. On the other hand it may be suggested that
the words loath I am to say, may possibly be an interpolation
by some actor or copyist and that the original line was to
the following effect: —
But, my Anselmo, I must estrange that friendship.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 51).
CLXXXI.
Does mangle verity; boasting of what is not.
Mu., Del., 6. — W. and Pr., 25. — H's D., VII, 206.
Verity is a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause, and
the second hemistich commences with a trochee (boasting);
thus, no alteration whatever is needed. (Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 51; XV, 341.)
CLXXXII.
Ansel. Your miss will breed a blemish in the court.
And throw a frosty dew upon that beard.
Whose front Valentia stoops to.
Mu., Del., 6 seq. — W. and Pr., 25. — H's D., VII, 206.
However fond of queerness our author may have shown him-
self in his diction, yet it seems to surpass all bounds to
4*
65 MUCEDORUS.
speak of the front of a beard. The late Prof. Wagner (Jahr-
buch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIV, 278)
suggested upon his beard f which I cannot think very plausible.
Qy. : head instead of beard?
CLXXXIII.
Though base the weed is, 'twas a shepherd's.
Mu., Del., 7. — W. and Pr., 25. — H's D., VII, 207.
This is the reading of the Qq. The late Prof. Wagner pro-
posed to add once after shepherd's, and Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt have admitted this conjecture into the text.
I formerly conjectured for it was a shepherd' s, but am now
inclined to consider the verse as a syllable pause line and
to read and scan: —
Though base | the weed | is, — | it was | a shep| herd's.
Compare note CCLXXVIII. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XIII, 51).
CLXXXIV.
So, let our respect command thy secrecy,
At once a brief farewell,
Delay to lovers is a second hell.
Mu., Del., 7. ~ W. and Pr., 26. — H's D., VII, 207.
Besides the conjectural emendation of this passage proposed
by me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesell-
schaft, XIII, 51 seq., and partly adopted by Messrs Warnke
and Proescholdt, two others of a more conservative tendency
may be offered. Firstly: the text may be left untouched as
printed in the Qq, provided So be taken for a monosyllabic
MUCEDORUS. 53
foot, and secrecy for a trisyllabic feminine ending. This
latter scansion, however, seems somewhat doubtful, and
besides we should have to deal with a couplet of unequal
lines, which seems doubtful again. These difficulties would
be avoided by the following arrangement of the lines : —
So', let our respect command
Thy secrecy. At once a brief farewell
Delay to lovers is a second hell.
This would involve no alteration whatever, except in the
division of the lines, and it does not matter that the first
line is one of four feet only.
CLXXXV.
Mouse. O horrible, terrible! Was ever poor gentleman so
scared out of his seven senses?
Mu., Del., 8. — W. and Pr., 26. — H's D., VII, 208.
Compare Locrine, IV, 2 (Malone's Supplement, II, 244):
O horrible ! terrible ! I think I have a quarry of stones in my
pockelk — Fair Em, ed. Warnke and Prcescholdt, III, 4, 42 seq.:
Ah! that is as much as to say you would tell a terrible,
horrible, outrageous lie, and I shall soothe it. — Specimens
of Cornish Provincial Dialect collected and arranged by
Uncle Jan Trenoodle (London, 1846) p. 14: I do think also
seriously of writing some works of a light and popular sort;
or some of what a friend of mine do call, the mysterious,
and terrible -horrible school, (books of easy virtue); or some
Cornish tales &c. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XIII, 52).
54 MUCEDORUS.
CLXXXVI.
Seg. O, fly, madam, fly, or else we are but dead.
Ama. Help, Segasto, help, help, sweet Segasto, or
else I die.
Seg. Alas, madam! there is no way but flight.
Mu., Del., 8. — W. and Pr., 27. — H's D., VII, 208.
Second — I may even say third and fourth — . thoughts
have convinced me that the alterations of these lines ad-
vanced by me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschafl;, XIII, 52, can as little be upheld as the far
bolder reading introduced by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt.
Madam in the first line is to be pronounced as a monosyl-
lable and in the third as a trochee. The exclamation Helpt
Segasto very naturally lends itself to an interjectional line,
and the words help, sweet Segasto should be transposed, so
that, apart from this transposition and the introduction of
an interjectional line , the old text remains unaltered : —
Seg. O, fly, madam, fly, or else we are but dead.
Ama. Help, Segasto!
Help, sweet Segasto, help, or else I die.
Seg. Alas, madam! There is no way but flight.
This improvement on the old text would, I think, be com-
plete, if the interjection O which is certainly misplaced,
could be transferred to the following line : —
Seg. Fly, madam, fly, or else we are but dead.
Ama. O help, Segasto!
Help, sweet Segasto, help, or else I die.
Seg. Alas! madam, there is no way but flight.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 342).
MUCEDORUS. 55
CLXXXVII.
Now, whereas it is my father's will.
Mu., Del,, 9. — W. and Pr., 28. — H's D., VII, 209.
This reading of the Qq requires no alteration whatever, and
the conjectures proposed by the late Prof. Wagner (And now)
and myself are needless. Now is a monosyllabic foot;
scan : —
Now, I whereas | it is | my fa|ther's will.
Compare m/ra A. II, sc. i, 1. i: —
Now, I brave lords, | our wars | are brought | to end.
Two lines below the Qq read through father s former usury
which, in my humble opinion, cannot be right; I feel con-
vinced that the poet wrote through! s, and Messrs Warnke
and Proescholdt have admitted this conjecture into the text.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 53.
XV, 342).
CLXXXVIII.
But tell me, lady, what is become of him, &c.
Mu,, Del,, 10. — W. and Pr., 29. — H's D., VII, 210.
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt read what's, but no altera-
tion is required, the line merely containing an extra syllable
before the pause: —
But tell I me, la|dy, what is | become | of him.
Four lines infra my conjecture to add was after Yet has
been adopted by Delius as well as by Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt. Perhaps, however, Yet may be taken to be a
monosyllabic foot, although it is a short syllable and not
followed by a pause. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XIII, 53 and XV, 342).
S6 MUCEDORUS.
CLXXXIX.
So will the king, my father, thee reward:
Come, let's away and guard me to the court.
Mu., Del., ii. — W. and Pr., 29. — H's D., VII, 211.
It seems not at all unlikely to me that these concluding
lines of the scene originally formed a couplet and that
accordingly we should read: —
So will the king, my father, thee reward:
Come, let's away and to the court me guard.
The same inverted construction occurs in A. II, sc. i , 1. 3 7 : —
I shall with bounties thee enlarge therefore.
(Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 312).
CXC.
When heaps of harms do hover over head,
'Tis time as then, some say to look about,
And of ensuing harms to choose the least.
Mu., Del., ii. _ W. and Pr., 29. — H's D., VII, 211.
The later Qq include the words some say in parentheses.
Qy. read, ^Tis time theuy as some say^ &c. — (Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 344).
CXCI.
In harmful heart to harbour hatred long.
Mu., Del., 12. — W. and Pr., 30. — H's D., VII, 212.
Compare Marlowe, The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Car-
thage, A. I, sub finr. —
Forbids all hope to harbour near our hearts.
MUCEDORUS. 57
CXCII.
Now, brave lords, our wars are brought to end,
Our foes to foil, and we in safety rest:
It us behoves to use such clemency
In peace, as valour in the wars. It is
As great an honour to be bountiful
At home, as to be conquerors in the field.
Mu., Del., 14. _ W. and Pr., 33. — H's D., VII, 215.
From Dodsley Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt seem to have
drawn the conclusion that QD (1610) reads that our wars
and have printed the line accordingly. This, however, is
erroneous; all Qq, which I have been able to collate, QD in-
cluded, unanimously read brave lords, our wars, and the
addition of that in Dodsley is due to Mr Hazlitt and as
such is enclosed in brackets. As Now is to be read as a
monosyllabic foot (see note CLXXXVIl), no correction of
the line is required, although the passage would no doubt
be improved by the addition of that and the transposition
suggested by me in Prof. Kolbing's Englische Studien. To
foil is an emendation of the late Prof. Wagner's; Qq: the
foiL It is, in the fourth line, might, perhaps, be transferred
to the following line and bountiful be pronounced as a tri-
syllabic feminine ending. In 1. 5 an has been added by
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt in compliance with my con-
jecture. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft,
XIII, 54. Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 312).
CXCIII.
And reign hereafter, as I tofore have done.
Mu., Del., 15. — W. and Pr., 34. — H's D., VII, 215.
No alteration of this reading, uniformly exhibited by all the
Qq , is required. The transposition proposed by Prof. Wagner
58 MUCEDORUS.
in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft,
XI, 64 {as to/ore Vve) and adopted by Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt, is needless. There is, of course, an extra syl-
lable before the pause.
CXCIV.
King. Then march we on to court, and rest our
wearied limbs!
But Collen, I have a tale in secret kept for thee.
Mu., Del., 15. — W. and Pr., 34. — H's D., VII, 216.
The second line may be easily reduced to a blank verse by
the introduction of an interjectional line: —
King. Then march we on to court, and rest our
wearied limbs!
But Collen,
I have a tale in secret kept for thee: &c.
I may add that kepi is the reading of the earlier Qq,
whereas the later copies, from 161 9 downwards, read fit.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 344).
CXCV.
Seg. Why, Captain Tremelio.
Mouse. O, the meal -man; I know him very well.
Mu„ Del., 16. — W. and Pr., 36. — H's D., VII, 217.
A pun was certainly intended in these lines, but the first
half of it has been lost. In order to restore it, we must
evidently add man after Tremelio. The same kind of cor-
ruption recurs in 1. 44 seq. and in A. Ill, sc. 3, 22. In the
former passage the pun is to be completed by the insertion
MUCEDORUS. 59
of knave after Tremelio^ and in the latter by the addition of
buzzard after shepherd. Buzzard in the sense of a worthless
or useless fellow, a blockhead or dunce, occurs pretty fre-
quently; compare e. g. Piers Ploughman, ed. Thorn. Wright,
1. 6156 seq.: —
I rede ech a blynd bosarde
Do boote to hymselve.
The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (apud Dods-
ley, ed. Hazlitt, VI, 381): —
A buzzard? thou buzzard! Wit, hast no more skill,
Than take a falcon for a buzzard?
R. Ascham, The Scholemaster, ed. Arber, p. 11 1: who neuer-
thelesse, are lesse to be blamed, than those blind bus-
sardes, who in late yeares, of wilfull maliciousnes, would neyther
learne themselues, nor could teach others, any thing at all.
— Milton, Eiconocl., Chap. I: Those who thought no better
of the living God , than of a buzzard idol. — The Life and
Letters of W. Irving. By his Nephew Pierre E. Irving (Lon.,
1877, Bell and Sons, I, 113): Inspired by such thoughts,
I open your letters with a kind of triumph; I consider them
as testimonies of those brilliant moments which I have rescued
from the buzzards that surround you. — Compare Histrio-
Mastix, A. II, 1. 289 seq. (apud Simpson, The School of Shak-
spere, II, 40): —
Fie! what unworthy foolish foppery
Presents such buzzardly simplicity.
I have only to add that these three emendations {matiy knavey
and buzzard) have been adopted by Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesell-
schaft, XIII, 54 and 67).
66 MUCEDORUS.
CXCVI.
I cannot tell; wherefore doth he keep his chamber else?
Mu., Del., 17. — W. and Pr., 36. — H's D., VII, 217.
I strongly suspect that him in should be inserted after keep,
(Kdlbing, Englische Studien, VI, 313).
CXCVII.
Seg. Well, Sir, away.
Tremelio, this it is, thou knowest the valour of Segasto,
Spread through all the kingdom of Aragon,
And such as have found triumph and favours,
Never daunted at any time: but now a shepherd,
Admired in court for worthiness,
And Segasto's honour laid aside:
My will therefore is this, that thou dost find some means to
work the shepherd's death: I know thy strength sufficient to
perform my desire, and thy love no otherwise than to revenge
my injuries.
Tre. It is not the frowns of a Shepherd that Tre-
melio fears:
Therefore account it accomplish'd what I take in hand.
Seg. Thanks, good Tremelio, and assure thyself.
What I promise, that I will perform.
Mu., Del., 18. — W. and Pr., 37. — H's D., VII, 218 seq.
Apart from differences in the spelling to which no weight
can be attached, this is the uniform reading and arrangement
of the passage in the Qq, except that Qq 1598 and 1610
read Admired at in court y which I feel convinced is a faulty
transposition for Admired is at court. It need hardly be
remarked that, at least as far as the arrangement of the
MUCEDORUS. 61
lines is concerned, the passage is a model of corruption.
The late Prof. Wagner in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XI, 65, has tried to restore the original
verses which he thinks to have run thus : —
Well, Sir, away. Tremelio, this is it:
Thou know'st the valour of Segasto spread
Thorough all the kingdom of Aragon;
And such as have found triumph and favours
Never daunted me at any time: but now
A shepherd is admir'd in court for worthiness,
And all Segasto's honour laid aside.
My will therefore is this, that thou dost find
Some means to work the shepherd's death: I know
Thy strength sufficient to perform — thy love
No other than to wreak my injuries.
The weak points of this attempt at restoration, some of which
have not escaped Prof. Wagner himself, have been pointed
out and a different arrangement proposed by me in the
Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesellschaft, XIII, 56 seq.
The latter, adopted with a few slight alterations by Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt, seems still capable of improvement
and I therefore reproduce it in an amended form, including
one or two new readings : —
Seg. Well, sir, away. Tremeho, this it is.
[Exiy Mouse.
Thou know'st the valour of Segasto, spread
Thorough the kingdom of all Aragon,
And such as, never daunted at any time,
Hath triumph found and favours; but now a shepherd
Admired is at court for worthiness.
And lord Segasto's honour laid aside;
My will therefore is this, that thou dost find
62 MUCEDORUS.
Some means to work the shepherd's death: I know
Thy strength sufficient to perform my desire,
Thy love no otherwise than to revenge my injuries.
The fourth line might be improved by a slight transposition : —
And such as, daunted ne'er at any time.
Desire f in the last line but one is to be pronounced as a
monosyllable; compare Induction, 1. 39 {Delighting)) A. Ill,
sc. 2, 1. 52 and A. IV, sc. i, 1. 22 (departure)) A. V, sc. i,
1. 55 {Desiring). In the last line otherwise is to be pro-
nounced as a dissyllable (see Abbott, s. 466), revenge as a
monosyllable, and injuries as a trisyllabic feminine ending,
provided it be not thought preferable to %y^^ the line an
extra syllable before the pause and scan it thus: —
Thy love | no oth'r|wise than to | revenge | my in|juries.
The rest of the passage seems to defy emendation except
by means which, on maturer reflection, I cannot think justi-
fiable. Whaty in the last line, may possibly be considered as
a monosyllabic foot and thus regulate the metre.
CXCVIII.
Seg, Hold, shepherd, hold, spare him, kill him not:
Accursed villain, tell me what hast thou done?
Ah, Tremelio, trusty Tremelio, I sorrow for thy death,
And since that thou living didst prove faithful to Segasto,
So Segasto now living shall honour the dead
Corpse of Tremelio with revenge.
Blood-thirsty villain, bom and bred to merciless murder,
Tell me, how durst thou be so bold,
As once to lay thy hands upon the least of mine?
Assure thyself thou shalt be used according to the law.
MUCEDORUS. 63
Muce, Segasto cease, these threats are needless,
Accuse not me of murder, that have done nothing,
But in mine own defence.
Mu., Del., i8 seq. — W. and Pr., 38 seq. —
H's D., Vn, 219.
Instead of shall honour^ to merciless murder, and Accuse not me
in the earliest quarto all the other old copies read will honour,
in merciless murder and Accuse me not. Some minor differences
may be left unnoticed. Prof. Wagner, in the Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesellschaft , XI, 66, is not far from
the mark in declaring the whole passage to be 'hopelessly
corrupt', especially as regards its arrangement. Nevertheless
I have made an attempt to restore the original verses to
which, with a few exceptions, I still adhere. Thus, e. g.,
the interjection O in 1. 80, inserted by me, must certainly
be expunged again as the verse belongs to the wide -spread
class of syllable pause lines (see note CCLXXVIIl). In 1. 81
the old text may likewise be left unaltered; the line is to
be scanned: —
Accurs|ed vil|lain, tell me | what hast | thou done.
In 1. 84 Prof. Wagner's alteration : didst faithful to Segasto
prove (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesellschaft,
XIV, 280), seems preferable to my own suggestion: didst
faithful prove unto Segasto. Line 87, though not an Alexan-
drine, is yet a verse of six feet and cannot be reduced to
a blank verse without great boldness. The objection raised
by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt against my alteration and
division of 11. 90 seq. is certainly not unfounded; I doubt,
however, whether their own endeavour to regulate the lines
can boast of a better success, and am now able to offer a
different arrangement which implies no alteration of the old
text beside the division of the lines. The climax reached
64 MUCEDORUS.
by the corruption of the passage is shown by 11. 92 seq.
which in Hazlitt's Dodsley read as follows: —
But in mine own defence accuse not me
Of murther that have done nothing.
The alteration in the division of these two lines proposed
by me and adopted by Messrs Warnke and Proeseholdt seems
needless and had better be withdrawn. The passage should
be arranged and printed thus : —
Seg. Hold, shepherd, hold ! Spare him, kill him not !
Accursed villain, tell me, what hast thou done?
Tremelio, ah, trusty Tremelio:
I sorrow for thy death and since that thou
Living didst faithful to Segasto prove,
So now Segasto living with revenge
Will honour the dead corpse of Tremelio.
Blood-thirsty villain: born and bred to merciless murder:
Tell me, how durst thou be so bold, as once
To lay thy hands upon the least of mine?
Assure thyself
Thou shalt be used according to the law !
Muce. Segasto, cease! these threats are needless.
Accuse not me of murder that have done nothing
But in mine own defence.
(Jahrb. der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 57 seq.
XV, 344. — Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 313).
CXCIX.
I think his mother sang looby to him, he is so heavy.
Mu., Del., 19. — W. and Pr., 39. H's D., VEX, 220.
Loohy is the name of a children's dance and its accom-
panying music. The words are printed in Halliwell's Nursery
MUCEDORUS. 65
Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 75; words and tune in The
Baby's Bouquet. A Fresh Bunch of Old Rhymes and Tunes.
Arranged and Decorated by Walter Crane (London and
New York, George Routledge) p. 54. Compare Halliwell,
Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, s. Looby,
Nares, ed. Halliwell and Wright, s. Looby. Webster, s. Looby^
Lubberj and Lubberly.
CC.
Muce. Behold the fickle state of man, always mutable, &c.
Mu., Del., 20. — W. and Pr., 39. — H's D., VII, 220.
It boots not to reproduce from the Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 58 my attempt of amending
this really hopeless passage. Compare Wagner in the Jahr-
buch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XI, 66.
CCI.
Now Bremo sith thy leisure so affords.
An endless thing, &c.
Mu„ Del., 20. — W. and Pr., 40. — H's D., VII, 220.
This reading of the Qq, nonsensical though it be, has yet
been left untouched by both Delius and Mr Hazlitt. Wagner
proposed aimless instead of endless. The reading of Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt : —
Now, Bremo, sit, thy leisure so affords,
A needless thing. [Sits down.]
is due to me; see Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XIII, 58 seq. Compare note CCLXXXIII.
66 MUCEDORUS.
ccn.
Rfend them in pieces, and pluck them from the earth.
.r. ):< '• Mu., Del., 20. — W. and Pr,, 40. — H's D., VII, 221.
Iti 'me Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft,
XIII, 59, I maintained that and should be thrown out, but
now withdraw this conjectural emendation; the line contains
an extra syllable before the pause.
CCIII.
Who fights with me and doth not die the death? Not one!
Mu., Del., 20. — W. and Pr., 40. — H's D., VII, 221.
Not one need not be omitted, as proposed by Wagner, but
is to be placed extra versum as an inter] ectional line.
(Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 313).
CCIV.
That here within these woods are combatants with me.
Mu., Del., 21. — W. and Pr., 41. — H's D., VII, 221.
An Alexandrine which may be reduced to a regular blank
verse by the substitution of in woods or i^tk^ woods for within
these woods; all these phrases being used indiscriminately in
our play. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 313).
CCV.
King. Shepherd, thou hast heard thine accusers,
Murther is laid to thy charge:
What canst thou say? thou hast deserved death.
Mu., Del., 21. — W. and Pr., 41. — H's D., VH, 221
MUCEDORUS. 67
Arrange and write : —
King. Shepherd, thou hast heard thine accusers; murder
Is laid unto thy charge; what canst thou say?
Thou hast deserved death.
Three lines infra I proposed to add out and to read: —
Not out of any malice, but by chance.
However, I now withdraw this conjecture, as I feel pretty
sure that Not may be read as a monosyllabic foot. The
next speech of Segasto : —
Words will not here prevail;
I seek for justice, and justice craves his death,
may be completely right, although a different division of the
lines may have proceeded just as well from the author's
pen, viz.: —
Words will not here prevail; I seek for justice,
And justice craves his death.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 60).
CCVI.
Come, sirrah, away with him, and hang him 'bout the
middle.
Mu., Del., 21 seq. — W. and Pr., 42. -- H's D., VII, 222.
Mr Hazlitt has omitted Come, which is in all the old copies
I have been able to collate, and has printed the rest as
prose; it is indeed labour thrown away to correct his edition
of Dodsley. — Covie, sirrah ^ is no doubt to be considered
as an interjectional line, while the rest of the line forms a
regular blank verse. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 313).
5*
68 MUCEDORUS.
CCVII.
Come on, sir; ah, so like a sheepbiter a looks.
Mu., Del., 22. — W. and Pr., 42. — H's D., VII, 222.
Qu. 1598: Come on sir; Qq 1610, 161 5 and 161 9: Covie
on sirra; the later Qq: Come you, sirrah. Sheep -liter ori-
ginally meant no doubt a morose or surly cur that bites
the sheep in good (or rather sad) earnest; hence a morose
or surly fellow. Compare Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part II,
11, I (The Works of Th. Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 162):
A poor man has but one ewe, and this grandee sheep -biter
leaves whole flocks of fat wethers, whom he may knock
down, to devour this. — Middleton, A Chaste Maid in
Cheapside (Works, ed. Dyce, IV, 33): —
Sheep -biting mongrels, hand -basket freebooters.
Twelfth Night, II, 5, 6. Measure for Measure V, i, 359
(sheep -biting face).
CCVIII.
Ama. Dread Sovereign, and well beloved Sire,
On bended knee I crave the life of this condemned Shep-
herd, which heretofore preserved the life of thy sometime
distressed daughter.
King. Preserved the life of my sometime distressed
daughter !
How can that be? I never knew the time
Wherein thou wast distress'd: I never knew the day
But that I have maintained thy e^ate,
As best beseem'd the daughter of a king.
Mu., Del., 22. — W. and Pr., 42. — H's D., VH, 222.
No reader, I think, will deny that this passage bears mani-
fest traces of corruption. The earliest quarto reads on bended
kees; instead of condemned we find condemned in Dodsley, ed.
MUCEDORUS. 69
Hazlitt, VII, 222; and heretofore has been altered to tofore
by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt. Heretofore^ however, is
quite correct, as shepherd is either to be pronounced as a
monosyllable , or as a dissyllable with an extra syllable before
the pause. In the first line of the king's speech which is
an Alexandrine, the late Professor Wagner wanted sometime
to be thrown out (Jahrbuch der . Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XI, 67), whereas in my opinion Preserved should
be expunged. I feel convinced that the original wording
and arrangement of the passage was as follows : —
Ama. Dread sovereign and well beloved sire,
On bended knee I crave the life of this
Condemned shepherd, which heretofore preserved
The life of thy sometime distressed daughter.
King. The life of my sometime distressed daughter?
How can that be? I never knew the time
Wherein thou wast distressed: I never knew
The day, but that I have maintained thy state.
As best beseem'd the daughter of a king.
As to state (for estate) the reader may be referred to A. IV,
sc. 5, 1. I39- —
I have no lands for to maintain thy state.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 60.
— Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 313 seq.).
CCIX.
His silence verifies it to be true. What then?
Mu., Del., 23. - W. and Pr., 43- — H's D., VII, 223.
A regular blank verse as far as true. What then? forms an
interjection al line. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare-
Gesellschaft, XIII, 61. — Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 314).
70 MUCEDORUS.
CCX.
But all in vain; for why, he reached after me, &c.
Mu., Del., 23. — W. and Pr., 43. — H's D., VII, 223.
Omit for why, (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 314).
CCXI.
Indeed, occasion oftentimes so falls out.
Mu., Del., 23. — W. and Pr., 43. — H's D., VII, 223.
Qq, Delius, and Mr Hazlitt: oftentimes; Wagner conjectured
often. The correction oftttmes was made by me and has
been adopted by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt. —
From 1. 55 to 1. 64 we have what, in classical parlance, is
called a GiiXOfxvd^ia, i. e. a dialogue where the speeches
of the interlocutors consist of single lines. The present
OTLX^fxv^lcc is in rhyme, with the only exception of 11. 57
and 62; the latter being spoken aside and belonging to the
Clown who throughout the play makes use of prose, cannot
be said to form part of the conversation going on between
the king, Segasto, and Amadine and may be left unnoticed.
L. 57, therefore, remains the only one without rhyme; it is,
moreover, the only one that is entirely unconnected. Does
the poet mean to say that it ofttimes so falls out that the
slaughter of a man deserves great blame? This would be
below the meanest playwright of the Elizabethan era. In my
conviction, there is a gap between 1. 56 and I. 57; a line
is wanting in which Amadine takes the part of Mucedorus
against Segasto and points out that no blame attaches to
him for having killed his adversary in fight. This line which,
of course, must have supplied the missing rhyme \vith 1. 57,
may have been to the following effect : —
Ama. No blame, to kill ones enemy in a bout.
MUCEDORUS. 71
to which remark the king would then make the appropriate
reply : —
Indeed, occasion ofttimes so falls out,
i. e. it occurs, indeed, frequently that a man is killed in a
conflict, and no blame can be laid on the killer. (Jahrbuch
der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIII, 6i seq. —
Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 314 seq.).
CCXII.
Segasto, cease to accuse the shepherd.
Mu., Del., 23. — W. and Pr., 43. — H's D., VII, 224.
The alteration : —
Segasto, cease the shepherd to accuse
which is due to the late Prof. Wagner, seems needless, as
the verse may certainly be taken for a syllable pause line : —
Segas|to, — I cease to | accuse | the shep|herd.
I embrace this opportunity for withdrawing my conjecture
on A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 89, where the old text is likewise quite
correct : —
Now, Bre|mo, — | for so | I heard | thee call'd.
Compare a number of similar lines; see note CCLXXVIII.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 62.
— Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 315).
CCXIIL
King. But soft, Segasto, not for this offence, &c.
Mu., Del., 23 seq. — W. and Pr., 44- — H's D., VIT, 224.
This seems, indeed, to be a 'hopelessly corrupt' passage
and I refrain from reproducing as unsatisfactory my expla-
72 MUCEDORUS.
nation given in the Jahrbuch der Dentschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XIII, 62 seq., although it has found favour with
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt.
CCXIV.
King. Come, daughter, let us now depart to honour
The worthy valour of the shepherd with rewards.
Mu., Del., 24. — W. and Pr., 44. — H's D., VII, 224.
Printed as prose in Delius's edition, in accordance with all
the Qq. In order to reduce the second line to regular
metre Prof. Wagner (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XIV, 281) proposes to read: —
The shepherd's worthy valour with rewards,
a conjecture which, in my eyes, is by no means satisfactory.
As three lines supra the king says: —
And for thy valour I will honour thee,
I am led to the belief that in the line under discussion
worthy before valour has surreptitiously intruded and should
be expunged.
CCXV.
From Amadine, and from her father's court.
With gold and silver, and with rich rewards,
Flowing from the banks of golden treasuries.
More may I boast, and say, but I,
Was never shepherd in such dignity.
Mu., Del., 24. — W. and Pr., 44 seq. -- H's D.,VII, 225,
Qu. 1598: tresuries; Qq 1610 and 161 5: golden treasures;
Qu. 1619: gold and treasures, — Two lines seem to have
MUCEDORUS. 73
been lost in this mutilated soliloquy of Mucedorus, the one
after 1. i, the other after 1. 4. In the former we expect to
hear something like the words */ now come laden heavily\
while the latter may possibly have run thus : —
Am silent and declare but this: as yet, &c.
I am not prepared, however, to affirm that even after the
addition of two such lines the passage will be exempt from
all difficulty. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 315).
CCXVI.
The king and Amadine greet thee well.
And after greeting done, bid thee depart the court.
Shepherd, begone!
Mu., Del., 24. — W. and Pr., 45. — H's D., VII, 225.
QA: greetes, greetings and bids. — I still adhere to the
belief that these lines originally formed a couplet and now
think that the couplet formerly proposed by me, may still
be improved by the omission of well'. —
The king and Amadine greet thee, and greeting done.
Bid thee depart the court: shepherd, begone!
Amadine is, of course, to be pronounced as a dissyllable-
Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt have added do before greet.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIII, 63.
Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 316).
CCXVII.
Ama. Ariena, if any body ask for me,
Make some excuse till I return.
Ari. What, an Segasto call?
74 MUCEDORUS.
Ama, Do thou the like to him, I mean not to stay long.
Mu., Del., 26. — W. and Pr., 46. — H's D., VII, 227.
This division of the lines (thus printed in the Qq) can
hardly be right. The arrangement, however, proposed by
me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesellschaft,
XIII, 64, although it has met with the approval of Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt, now seems to me far from being
perfect. The first line may be a blank verse with an extra
syllable before the pause {Arte-na,), but how are the rest to
be restored?
CCXVIII.
Shepherd, well met, tell me how thou dost?
Mu., Del., 26. — W. and Pr., 47. — H's D., VII, 227.
On my conjecture Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt inserted
pray before tell. This addition, however, is needless, as the
verse evidently belongs to the numerous category of syllable
pause lines, and is to be scanned: —
Shepherd, | well met, | u tell | me how | thou dost?
The arrangement of the following lines (8 — 15) as given by
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt was also suggested by me.
In 1. 13 I proposed to read: with all thy heart or to give
the words with all my heart to Mucedorus, but have now
come to the conviction that the true arrangement is : —
Muce, Since I must depart
One thing I crave with all my heart —
Ama, Say on.
Muce. That in absence, either far or near, &c.
(Jahrb. der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIII, 64 seq.
— Notes (privately printed, 1882) p. 16 seq.).
MUCEDORUS. 75
CCXIX.
Muce. Unworthy wights are more in jealousy.
Mu., Del., 27. — W. and Pr., 47. — H's D., VII, 228.
Qu. 1598: most in ielosie; all the rest: more in jealousie. —
Qy.: worst in jealousie? which would fall in with our poet's
predilection for alliteration. Instances of this alliteration have
been given by me ad loc. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XIII, 65) and by Messrs Warnke and
Prcescholdt in their Introduction, p. g.
CCXX.
Well, shepherd, sith thou sufFerest this for my sake.
Mu., Del., 27. — W. and Pr., 47. — H's D., VII, 228.
Apparently a line of six feet : —
Well, shepjherd, sith | thou sufjferest | this for | my sake.
The right scansion, in my conviction, however, is: —
Well, shep|herd, sith | thou sufjfer'st this | for my | sake,
so that the line proves to be a regular blank verse with a
double ending. Compare A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 69: —
Ama. Yet give him leave to speak for my sake, \Brem6\^
where the accent also rests on the pronoun my. For this
in the three earliest copies the later Qq read thus. Qu. 1 6 1 o :
suffrest; the rest sufferest.
CCXXI.
I dare not promise what I may perform.
Mu., Del., 27. — W. and Pr., 48. — H's D., VII, 228.
MaynUy which Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt have received
into their text, was suggested by the late Prof. Wagner (Jahr-
buch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XI, 67 seq.);
T6 MUCEDORUS.
the Qq uniformly exhibit viay. As far as I can see, Professor
Wagner missed the poet's meaning and even converted it
into its contrary. 'I smother up the blast, says Mucedoilis,
because I dare not yet promise what I may, or intend to
perform, when the convenient time is at hand; in other
words, I dare not yet hint at my transformation from a
shepherd to a prince worthy of becoming the husband of so
beautiful a princess.' (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 316).
CCXXII.
Se. Tis well Segasto that thou hast thy will,
Should such a shhephard, such a simple swaine
As he, eclips thy credite famous through the court.
No ply Segasto ply; let it not in Arragon be saide,
A shepheard hath Segatoes honour wonne.
Mu., Del., 28. — W. and Pr., 48. — H's D., VII ,,229.
This is the reading of the earliest quarto (1598). Delius,
who follows the latest quarto (1668) prints the passage
thus : —
Seg, 'Tis well Segasto, that thou hast thy will:
Should such a shepherd, such a simple swain as he,
Eclipse thy credit through the court?
No, ply Segasto, ply, let it not in Aragon be said,
A shepherd hath Segasto's honour won.
The shape in which the lines appear in Dodsley, whether
due to some one or other of the quartos, or to Mr Hazlitt's
own correction, cannot possibly have come from the author's
pen. It is this : —
Seg. 'Tis well, Segasto, that thou hast thy will.
Should such a shepherd, such a simple swain,
MUCEDORUS. 77
As he eclipse thy credit, famous through
The court? No, ply, Segasto, ply;
Let it not in Arragon be said,
A shepherd hath Segasto's honour won.
This is altogether a wrong arrangement. As to particulars,
either the second such in the second line, or the lame ad-
dition as he, must certainly be done away with, if we do
not choose to omit famous^ as it has been done in Qu. 1 668
and accordingly by Delius in his edition. The words
No, ply, Segasto, ply evidently form a line by themselves,
whereas the rest was no doubt meant for a couplet. I for-
merly added And before Let, but now think that Let may
well be taken for a monosyllabic foot (see note CCXXXV;
CCXXXVII; CCXXXVIII; CCXLI; and CCXLVI). Arrange
and write therefore : —
Seg. 'Tis well, Segasto, that thou hast thy will:
Should such a shepherd, such a simple swain.
Eclipse thy credit famous through the court?
No, ply, Segasto, ply!
Let it not be said in Aragon:
A shepherd hath Segasto's honour won.
This arrangement has been adopted by Messrs Warnke and
Prcescholdt. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesell-
schaft, Xm, 66. - Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 316).
CCXXIIL
Seg. Why, you whoreson slave, have you forgotten that
I sent you and another to drive away the shepherd?
Mouse. What an ass are you; here's a stir indeed, here's
message, errand, banishment, and I cannot tell what.
Mu., Del., 29. — W. and Pr., 50. — H's D., VII, 230.
78 MUCEDORUS.
Arrange : —
Seg. Why, you whoreson slave, have you forgotten that
I sent you and another to drive away the shepherd? What
an ass are you!
Mouse. Here's a stir indeed, &c. (Notes (privately
printed, 1882) p. 17).
CCXXIV.
Bremo. With this my bat will I beat out thy brains;
Down, down, I say, prostrate thyself upon the ground.
Mu., Del., 30. — W. and Pr., 51. — H's D., VII, 232.
The three earliest copies : will I heat; the rest : / will heat.
Arrange, perhaps: —
Bremo. With this my bat will I beat out thy brains;
Down, down!
I say, prostrate thyself upon the ground.
(Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 316 seq.).
CCXXV.
Ay, woman, wilt thou live in woods with me?
Mu., Del., 31. — W. and Pr., 52. — H's D., VII, 233.
I Strongly suspect: Say^ woman. Compare A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 61
(note CCXXXV): —
Say, sirrah^ wilt thou fight &c.
A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 107 seq.: —
Say, hermit, what canst thou do?
Paradise Lost, X, 158: —
Say, woman, what is this which thou hast done?
My conjecture is strengthened by the fact that the Ed. pr.
reads, ay womatiy ay not being spelled with a capital letter;
MUCEDORUS. 79
the capital S has evidently dropped out. Qq 1610 and 161 5:
Ate woman; the rest: Ay woman. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XVI, 250 seq.).
CCXXVI.
iLthg. Mirth to a soul disturb'd is embers turned
Which sudden gleam with molestation,
But sooner lose their light for it.
Mu., Del., 34. — W. and Pr., 56. — H's D., VII, 237.
The Qq, as far as I have been able to collate them, uni-
formly read stgh^t which, of course, is a corruption from
h'ghL The last line might easily be completed : —
But al/ the sooner lose their light for it.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare - Gesellschaft , XIII, 69.
— Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 317).
CCXXVII.
'Tis gold bestow'd upon a rioter.
Which not relieves, but murders him:
'Tis a drug given to the healthful.
Which infects, not cures.
How can a father that hath lost his son,
A prince both wise, vertuous, and valiant.
Take pleasure in the idle acts of Time?
No, no, till Mucedorus I shall see again.
All joy is comfortless, all pleasure pain.
Mu., Del., 34 seq. — W. and Pr., 56. — H's D., VII, 237.
80 MUCEDORUS.
This reading of the Qq, though undoubtedly faulty, has not
been amended by either Delius or Mr Hazlitt. Arrange
and write : —
'Tis gold bestow'd upon a rioter,
Which not relieves, but murders him; a drug
Given to the healthful , which infects , not cures.
How can a father that hath lost his son,
A prince both wise, virtuous, and valiant.
Take pleasure in the idle acts of pastime?
No, no!
Till Mucedorus I shall see again.
All joy is comfortless, all pleasure pain.
Instead of wise, virtuous I formerly proposed virtuous y wise.
This alteration has been adopted by Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt and certainly improves the line; nevertheless it
may be dispensed with. Pastime is positively demanded by
the context; it is used by our poet in A. V, sc. i, 1. 72.
(Jahrb. der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 69 seq.
— Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 317).
CCXXVIII.
In Aragon, my liege, and at his parture
Bound my secrecy
By his affectuous love, not to disclose it.
Mu., Del., 35. — W. and Pr., 56 seq. — H's D., VII, 237.
In the earliest quarto this scene is wanting; the two copies
of 1 610 and 1 61 5: parture; the rest: parting, Affectious
loue is the reading of the earlier quartos; the Qq from 1634
downwards, affections loue. The former reading is, to say
the least of it, extremely doubtful; the latter is simply
MUCEDORUS. 81
absurd. Qy. read, affecHorCs loss (loffe-loue) and arrange
the lines as follows: — '-''/y-^-.M) ion lunH^ -^^\^■^'
In Aragon, my liege, tff^iiod)
And at his 'parture bound my secrecy,; ,
By his affection's loss, not to disclose it, <
Both the correction of affections love and the i alteration in
the division of the lines have been adopted by Messrs Warnke
and Proescholdt. It may be added that S. Walker, Crit.
Exam. I, 285, proposes to read loss instead oi love in Venus
and Adonis, St. 78, and in Twelfth Night, I, 2, 39. (Jahr^
buch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIII, 72).
.XXX')' '
ccxxix. '^:|""V?
K. V. Thou not deceiv'st me; I ever thought thee
What I find thee now, an upright loyal man.
But what desire, or young -fed humour •
Nurs'd within the braine, ^^ ^ ^gO^ ^,1^
Drew him so privately to Aragon? ,^ .^^ ,^|. • ;,|',.
Mu., Del., 35. — W. and Pr., 57. — H's D., VI?, ^37,
Apart from differences in the spelling and punctuation that
are hardly worth mentioning, this is the reading and arrange-
ment in Qq 1610 and 161 5; in Qu. 1598 the passage is
wanting. The later Qq, from 1619 downwards, divide thp
lines as follows: — ,;,.;,;
King Va. Thou not deceiv'st me, .:./ ,^ , ,,, ,,;
I ever thought thee what I find thee now,' •, ; ,i
An upright loyal man. . \j:\r.
But what desire, or young- fed humour
Nurs'd within his brain.
Drew him so privately to Aragon?
6
89 MUCEDORUS.
Arrange : -^
King. Thou not deceiv'st me.
I ever thought thee what I find thee now,
An upright, loyal man: but what desire,
Or young -fed humour, nurs'd within the brain,
Drew him so privately to Aragon?
The various reading his brain instead of the brain in the two
copies of 1610 and 1615, is immaterial. (Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIII, 72. — Kolbing,
Englische Studien, VI,' 3*7 seq.).
ccxxx.
No doubt, she thinks on thee,
And will one day come pledge thee at this well.
' '" 'Come, habit, thou art fit for me, \He disguiseth himself.
No shepherd now, an hermit must I be.
Methinks this fits me very well.
Mu., Del., 36. — W. and Pr., 58. — H's D., VII, 238.
This is the arrangement of the Qq, but the division of the
fii'st two lines as given in Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, seems pre-
ferable:—
No doubt, she thinks on thee, and will one day
.1 'jifcConie pledge thee at this well. '*ik^iki
TfeuS'the short line takes its proper place at the end oiP Ofne
train of thought and serves to mark the transit to another,
in so far as Mucedorus now turns his attention to the habit
he is donning. Musi I be is the reading of Qq 1 610, 161 5,
and 1 61 9. The last line may easily be completed: —
Methinks this habit fits me very well.
(Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 318).
MUCEDORUS. 8S
CCXXXI.
Muce. Thou dost mistake me; but I pray thee, tell me
what dost thou seek in these woods?
Clown. What do I seek? for a stray king's daughter,
run away with a shepherd.
Mu., Del., 37. — W, and Pr., 58. — H's D., VH, 239.
Although all the Qq which I have collated, place the inter-
rogation after seek, yet I strongly suspect that it ought to
take its place after for; and Messrs Wamke and Proescholdt
have approved of the arrangement and reading of these
lines proposed by me in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XIII, 91, viz.: —
Muce. Thou dost mistake me: but, I pray thee, tell me
What dost thou seek for in these woods?
Clown. What do I seek for? A stray king's - daughter,
run away with a shepherd.
Instead of what dost thou seek Delius reads whom dost thou
seek, this being the reading of Qu. 1668.
CCXXXII.
Clown. Nay, I say rusher, and I'll prove mine office
good: for look sir, when any comes from under the sea or
so, and a dog chance to blow his nose backward, then with
a whip I give him the good time of the day and strow
rushes presently; therefore I am a rusher, a high office, I
promise ye.
Mu., Del., 38. — W. and Pr., 59. — H's D., VII, 240.
Qq 1598, 1615, and 1619: V II prove; Qu. 1610: I prove.
The three earliest copies: for look sir, the later quartos:
for look you sir. — A badly corrupted passage. It seems
6*
34 MUCEDORUS.
evident that the poet did not write sea^ but seat. This
correction, however, does not suffice to restore sense and
grammar; perhaps we should read: when a dog comes from
under the seat or sOy and chance to bloWj &c., or: when a cat
comes from under the seat, or so, and a dog chance to blow, &c.
For, although the Clown jestingly calls himself a 'rusher
of the stable', yet his office of strowing rushes was performed
in the hall and rooms of the mansion, where cleanliness
was no less a desideratum than in the stable. The rushes
to be used there were no doubt under the care of a stable-
boy or groom and preserved in a stable or shed, fi^om
whence they were taken to the mansion whenever they were
required.
CCXXXIII.
Bremo. See how she flies away from me,
I will follow, and give attent to her.
Deny my love! Ah, worm of beauty,
I will .chastise thee: come, come.
Prepare thy head upon the block.
Mu., Del., 39. — W. and Pr., 60 seq. — H's D., VII, 241.
The reading of the three earliest copies in 1. i, flinges away,
is preferable. Qu. 1598 reads a rend and ah worme, all
the rest attend and a worme; the same quarto also joins the
last two lines into one. As to ah, worm see A. IV, sc. 5,
1. 8 and A. IV, sc. 5 , 1. 2 1 , where Ah has been wrongly
expunged by Mr Hazlitt. Compare also 2 K. Henry IV,
V, 3, 17, where the quarto and the second folio read
A sirrah instead of Ah, sirrah. The division of the lines,
although it has been retained by Delius and Mr Hazlitt,
is obviously wrong; arrange: —
MUCEDORUS. 85
Bre. See, how she flings away from me ! I'll follow
And give attent to her. Deny my love!
Ah, worm of beauty, I will chastise thee!
Come, come, prepare thy head upon the block!
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt have adopted both my
arrangement and my readings as proposed in the Jahrbuch
der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIII, 70.
CCXXXIV.
I will crown thee with a complet made of ivory.
• Mu., Del., 39. — W. and Pr., 61. — H's D., VII, 241.
This is the reading of the two earliest copies. In the later
Qq Iivill and complet have rightly been altered to Vll and
Chap let, whereas ivory has been retained, till Delius substi-
tuted ivy in its room, which, so far as the sense is con-
cerned, is undoubtedly right and will probably be adopted
by most succeeding editors, although, in my opinion, it
should not be admitted into the text, since it appears from
Evans, Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs (English
Dialect Society, No. 31, London, 1881), p. 297, that ivory
is a Rutland provincialism for ivy. That it cannot be taken
for an erratum seems to be proved by the occurrence of
another provincialism in A. II, sc. 4, 1. 65, viz. shipstick,
i. e. shiptick, which latter, according to Evans, p. 2-^'j, is the
Leicestershire pronunciation for sheeptick. A third provin-
cialism may possibly lie at the bottom of the pun on the
word errand (III, 3, 45), pronounced and spelt arrand in
Leicestershire (Evans, p. 93), all the Qq which I have col-
lated reading indeed Arrand or arrand. These curious pro-
vincialisms, however few, yet seem sufficient to justify the
belief that the author of 'Mucedonis' was a native of either
W MUCEDORUS.
Rutland or the adjoining part of Leicestershire, where ivory
instead of ivy may have been a no less current idiom than
in Rutland itself, as the dialects of Rutland and Leicester-
shire *seem, indeed, to be substantially identical' (Evans,
p. 296). Or are we to attribute these provincialisms to a
Leicestershire compositor who thus disfigured his London
author's pure English and correct spelling? (Kolbing, Eng-
lische Studien, VI, 318 seq.).
ccxxxv.
Be merry, wench, we'll have a frolic feast.
Here's flesh enough for to suffice us both,
Say, sirrah, wilt thou fight, or dost thou yield to die?
Mu., Del., 40. — W. and Pr,, 62. — H's D., VII, 243.
The last line is an Alexandrine which Prof. Wagner in the
Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIV, 282,
proposes to reduce to regular metre by the omission of dost
thou. I formerly thought that we should rather omit thou
before fight (compare Abbott, s. 241), but have now come
to the conviction that the true arrangement is : —
Say, sirrah!
Wilt thou fight, or dost thou yield to die?
Wilt is no doubt used as a monosyllabic foot by the poet;
see note CCXXII; &c. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 319.
— Compare supra note CCXXV).
CCXXXVI.
Ama. Yet give him leave to speak for my sake.
Mu., Del., 41. — W. and Pr., 62. — H's D., VII, 243.
The line should be completed by the addition at the end
of the name of the person addressed, viz. Bre??io. See notes
MUCEDORUS. 87
XLV and CCXCIX. Compare Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XVI, 228 seq. and Shakespeare's
Tragedy of Hamlet, ed. Elze (1882) p. 146 seq.
CCXXXVII.
Glad were they, they found such ease,
And in the end they grew to perfect amity.
Weighing their former wickedness.
They term'd the time wherein they lived then
A golden age, a goodly golden age. *^ ^' '
Mu., Del., 41. _ W. and Pr., 63. — H's D., VII, 243 seq.
In the first line that has been added by Mr Hazlitt, and
Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt have adopted this addition,
erroneously ascribing it to Qu. 1610. But the verse is either
a syllable pause line, or Glad is to be read as a monosyl-
labic foot (see notes CCXXII; CCXXXV; CCXXXVIII; &c.).
In either case it is to be completed by the addition of
perfect which, according to an ingenious conjecture of Pro-
fessor Wagner in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XIV, 282, has slipped down to the second line.
Scan , therefore , either : —
Glad were | they, — | they found | such perjfect ease,
or: —
Glad I were they, | they found | such per|fect ease.
The passage should be written and arranged thus : —
Glad were they, they found such perfect ease.
And in the end they grew to amity.
Weighing their former wickedness, they term'd
The time wherein they liv'd a golden age,
A goodly golden age.
(Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 319).
88 MUCEDORUS.
CCXXXVIIL
If men, which lived tofore, as thou dost now,
Wild in woods, addicted all to spoil, &c.
Mu., Del., 41. — W. and Pr., 63. — H's D., VII, 244.
Qq 1 610, 1 61 5, 1 61 9, and 1621: Wilde (Wild) in Wood;
Qq 1 63 1, 1634, 1650 [?], and 1668: Wilde (WildJ in Woods.
Qu. 1598 reads Wilie in wood (not Wil}>, as Mr Hazlitt says)
by which reading Mr Hazlitt has been induced to conjecture
Wildly and to introduce this conjecture into the text. In
the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 71,
I suggested to add the before woods ^ and this suggestion
has been adopted both by Delius and Messrs Warnke and
Proescholdt. Or should Wild be read as a monosyllabic foot?
Compare notes CCXXII; CCXXXV; CCXXXVII; CCXLI; &c.
CCXXXIX.
No, let's live, and love together faithfully,
I'll fight for thee —
Bre. Or fight for me, or die: or fight, or else thou
Ama. Hold, Bremo, hold. [diest.
Mu., Del., 42. — W. and Pr., 63. — H's D., VII, 244,
This is the uniform reading of all the old copies which I
have collated; Mr Hazlitt and Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt
lei us live. The old copies, however, are right. No being
a monosyllabic foot and faithfully a trisyllabic feminine
ending. Those critics that do not approve of this scansion
had better place No extra versum than alter the reading;
the rest of the line will then form a regular blank verse. —
With respect to the following line it may be observed that
Bremo does not want Mucedorus to fight for him, but to
MUCEDORUS. 89
fight with him (just as in A. Ill, sc. 4, 1. ig he wanted
Amadine to fight with him), or he will slay him forthwith;
see supra 1. 61 seqq. He is about to strike the deadly
blow, when Amadine interferes and comes to the hermit's
rescue. The first hemistich, therefore, of Bremo's speech
cannot possibly have come from the author's pen; the second
hemistich {or fight y or else thou dtest) exactly completes the
verse and Amadine's ejaculation {Hold, Bremo, hold) forms
an interjectional line. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI,
319 seq.).
CCXL.
You promised me to make me your queen.
Mu., Del,, 42, — W. and Pr., 63. — H's D., VII, 244.
This is the reading of Qq 1598 and 1610; Qq 1615, 1619,
1 62 1, 1 63 1, 1634, 1650 [?] : Vou promised me to make me
queen; Qu. 1668: Vou promised to make me queen. Although
the line, as printed in the Ed. pr., admits of a scansion,
if scansion it can be called : —
You pro|mised | me to | make me | your queen,
yet I suspect that all the quarto -readings are corrupt. Per-
haps we should write : —
You pro|mis'd me | for to | make me | your queen,
a correction which would agree with the prevalent use of
this pleonastic form of the infinitive in our play. Compare,
Induction, 37 (for to please); I, 4, 14 (for to resist);
II, 1,9 (for to give); II, 3, 2>2 (for to work); III, 2, 38
(for to provide); III, 5, 2 (for to make); IV, 3, 60 (for
to suffice); IV, 5, 139 (for to maintain); IV, 5, 144 (^r
to win). — Two lines below me should be inserted after
promised, as has been conjectured by Prof. Wagner (Jahr-
^ MUCEDORUS.
buch der Detitschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIV, 282),
so that 11. 1 01 and 103 be made to correspond with one
another. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 320).
CCXLI.
Ama, Not my Bremo, nor his Bremo woods.
Mu., Del., 44. — W. and Pr., 66. — H's D., VII, 246.
This is the reading of all the Qq I have collated. Mr Hazlitt
has altered and divided the line, I do not know on what
authority or for what reason : —
Ama. Not my Bremo,
Nor Bremo's woods.
I feel convinced that the poet wrote : —
Ama. No, not my Bremo, nor my Bremo's woods.
This emendation, as first proposed in the Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 71 (Oh, not my
Bremo, &c.) has been introduced into the text by Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt. Critics, however, who will allow Not
to take the place of a monosyllabic foot, may dispense with
the addition of Oh or No to the original line. See notes
CCXXII; &c. Compare Mucedorus, ed. Delius, p. XIV.
CCXLU.
Bre. Thou holdst it well; look how he doth,
Thou may'st the sooner learn.
Mu., Del., 45. — W. and Pr., 67, — H's D., VII, 248.
Before look Mr Hazlitt has added the stage - direction To
Amadine. The division of the lines, although invariably the
MUCEDORUS. 91
same in all the Qq I have collated (with the only exception
of Qu. 1598 where the passage is printed as prose), never-
theless seems to be wrong ; arrange : —
Bre, Thou holdst it well.
Look how he doth, thou may'st the sooner learn.
\To Amadine.
(Jahrb. d. Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 71 seq.)
ccxLin.
Then have at thine, so lie there and die,
A death no doubt according to desert, &c.
Mu., Del., 46. — W. and Pr., 68. — H's D., VII, 248.
This is the arrangement of Qu. 1598, whereas all the later
Qq join the words So lie there and die to the following line.
Arrange and point, perhaps: —
So! lie there and die a death, no doubt, --
According to desert; or else a worse.
As thou deserv'st a worse.
Thou after lie, which has been added by Messrs Warnke
and Proescholdt, seems a needless correction, as Sol may
surely take the place of a monosyllabic foot; compare note
CCXXII; &c. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 320).
CCXLIV.
And there a while live on his provision.
Mu., Del., 46. — W. and Pr., 68, — H's D., VII, 249.
Thus the Qq, Delius, and Mr Hazlitt. I first proposed to
add we before live, but afterwards thought it preferable to
92; MUCEDORUS.
write: otCs provision, which emendation I privately communi-
cated to Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt who thought it
worthy of insertion in the text. Or should we be justified
in supposing the verse to be a syllable pause line and
accordingly scan it : —
And there | a while | kj live | on his | provisjion?
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 72).
CCXLV.
Clow, That's a lie, a would have killed me with his
pugs-nando.
Mu., Del., 48. — W. and Pr., 70. — H's D., VII, 250.
The hyphen in the word pugs-nando which appears in all
the Qq from 1610 downwards, as far as I have been able
to collate them, probably owes its origin to the circumstance
that in the Qu. 1598 the word is divided between two lines,
although curiously enough the mark of division is wanting.
By the way it may be mentioned that the spelling in this
earliest quarto is pugs nondo, and not pugs-nando. Accord-
ing to Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt the quarto of 1609,
which I have never seen, reads pugs-nardo. It is with
great diffidence that I hint at the possibility that this may
be a ludicrous corruption of poynardo, i. e. a poinard or
poniard. Poynards occurs in Hamlet V, 2, 157 (Qu. 1604);
poinards in B. Jonson (ed. 161 6, p. 174).
CCXLVI.
Muce. Then know that which ne'er tofore was known,
I am no shepherd, no Arragonian I,
MUCEDORUS. 93
But born of royal blood : my father's of Valentia king,
My mother queen: who for thy, saqred sake,
Took this hard task in hand. i
Mu., Del., 49. — W. and Pr., 70 s^^. -^^^.%^^yn, ^^^.
Arrange and read: — ^orr '-.vcrf 1 :• i-u: - ;f'
Muce. Then know that which ne'er tofore was known,
I am no shepherd, no Arragonian I,
Who for thy sacred sake took this hard task in hand,
But born of royal blood: my father is
King of Valentia, my mother queen.
A similar disturbance in the original sequence of the lines
has been pointed out by th^, ]ate PrpC Wagner in A. I, sc. i,
1. 66 seq., where 1. 67 must of course precede 1. 66. See
Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XIV, 283.
— Theny in the first line, is a monosyllabic foot; compare
notes CCXXII; &c. The earliest quarto reads not, as
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt erroneously say, never tofore,
but nere tofore , like all the rest i?ieere tofore, Heretofore).
In the third line I formerly proposed to expunge sacred, in
order to reduce the Alexandrine to a blank verse; compare,
however, The Faerie Queene, I, i, 2 (For whose sweete sake);
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, V, 4, 74 (for whose dear
sake); Love's Labour's Lost, V, 2, 765 (for your fair sakes);
A Midsummer. Night's Dream, II * 2, 103 (for thy s^eet sake);
The Taming of the Shrew, II, 61 (for your good sake);
All's Well that Ends Well, III, 3, 5 (for your worthy sake);
Romeo and Juliet, III, 3, 136 (for whose dear sake). These
passages go far to strengthen .the belief that thQ adjective
sacred came from the author's pen and that, consequently,
the line was not intended for a blank verse, but an Alexan-
drine. (Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 321).
94 MUCEDORUS.
CCXLVII.
As if a kingdom had befallen me this time.
Mu., Del., 49. — W. and Pr., 71. — H's D., VII, 252.
The words this time are completely meaningless and spoil
the metre; I have no doubt that they should be discarded.
(Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 72).
CCXLVIII.
Her absence breedes sorrow to my soul
And with a thunder breaks my heart in twain.
Mu., Del., 49 seq. — W. and Pr., ']i seq. —
H's D., Vn, 253.
Qq 1598 and 1610: breedes sorrow; Qu. 161 5: breeds sorrow;
Qq 1 61 9, 1 63 1, 1650 [?], and 1668: breeds great sorrow;
Qu. 1634: breedes great sorrow. Breedes^ like restes in Fair
Em, V, I, 273 (see note CLXVIII), seems originally to have
been pronounced as a dissyllable. Qy. read: breedeth? —
Mr Collier, according to Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt ad
loc. , proposed to read : —
And when asunder breaks my heart in twain.
As I privately suggested to Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt,
I think it more likely that the author wrote: —
And will asunder break my heart in twain.
CCXLIX.
Ama. My gracious father, pardon thy disloyal
daughter.
King. What, do mine eyes behold my daughter
Amadine ?
Rise up, dear daughter, and let these embracing arms
MUCEDORUS. 9ft
Show thee some token of thy father^s joy, ,:ic
Which e'er since thy departure, hath languished ir
sorrow.
Mu., Del., 51. — W. and Pr., 73. — H's D., VII, 254.
Amadine*s speech is to be scanned : —
My gra|cious fa|ther, pard'n thy | disloyjal daugh|ter.
Pardon, as a monosyllable, occurs also in Fair Em, V, i, 191;
in A Yorkshire Tragedy, I, 10 ad fin. (Malone's Supplement,
II, 675: To plead for pardon for my dear husband's life);
and in Marlowe's Edward II (see note CCLXVI). Compare
Paradise Lost, I, 248 {reason) and II, 878 {iron). In the
second line Amadine is to be pronounced as a trisyllabic
feminine ending (see Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shakespeare -
Gesellschaft, XV, 343); in the third and before let is to We
expunged and the reading of the later Qq {these emlrdcing
arms) to be adopted in preference to that of Qq 1598 and
1 610 {these my embracing arms). The last line is manifestly
corrupted; a blank verse might be restored by the omission
of ever and the transposition of languished in sorrow : —
Which, since thy d'parture, hath in sorrow languisn*^.
As to departure or parture compare ante note CCXXVIII.
i*tl|^'Mf 51M (^rv/ dtod 07/ Y£Tq hriA
Muce, No cause to fear, I caused no offence.
But this, desiring &c.
Mu., Del., 51. — W. and Pr., 74. — H's D., VII, 255.
But this has been transferred by Messrs Warnke and Proe-
scholdt to the first line which has thus been made to consist
of six feet, whereas the second line has become a regular
blank verse. In my opinion But this is a metrical excrescence
96 MUCEDORUS.
and should form an interjectional line; it is, however, alto-
gether suspicious as it recurs ten lines below: With all my
heart, but this , and in neither passage does it seem to be
Wiantfed.
CCLL
1 Tiff Prepared welcpmes^ giue him entertainement,. r > ,;
This is the readin^^ of the quarto of i6io. Qu. i^iy.j-
,,. Prepared welcomes, ^iue him entertainment; ., . q
Qy. J 6 1 q' (and a,ll the rest) : — , ,
"Prepared welcoipes gme him entertainment.
The progress of corruptioji cannot be shown more clearly.
I strongly suspect that the poet wrote: —
, Prepare a wel(^ome ; give him entertainment, "/.,.,
and Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt have installed this con-
jectural emendation in the text. It may be as well to add
that this line is not. contained in Qu. 1598. (Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 73).
.ii
CCLII.
And pray we both together with our hearts,
That she thrice Nestor^s years may with us rest.
,3Dastio o^Uif., W.'aW'Pr., 76, n. 2. — H's D., VII, 259.
Being enclosed within two couplets these lines may likewise
have ' iformed a couplet in the author's manuscript : —
-ti)i^f And both together with our hearts let's pray,
j.i fi< That she thrice Nestor's years may with us stay.
(Kt6tt)i!igj Englische Studien, VI,' 321).
MUCEDORUS. GREENE'S TU QUOQUE. 97,
CCLIII.
Who other wishes, let him never speak —
Envy. Amen !
Mu., Del., 56. — W. and Pr., 79. — H's D., VII, 259.
No Alexandrine, but a regular blank verse; scan: —
Who 6th|er wish|es, let him | ne'er speak — | Am6n!
(Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 321).
COOKE.
CCLIV.
Gera. How cheerfully things look in this place.
Greene's Tu Quoque (H's D., XI, 203).
In order to reduce this line to regular metre the critics of
the last century, such as Pope, Warburton, Capell, &c.,
would no doubt have inserted all\ —
How cheerfully all things look in this place.
S. Walker would have declared in favour of dissyllabication
and Dr Abbott may probably maintain the same opinion: —
How che-erfiilly things look in this place.
A third way would be to read cheerfully as a dissyllable and
make the line one of four feet : —
How cheer|rily things | look in | this place.
Or should the verse, notwithstanding the slightness of its
pause, be classed with the syllable pause lines: —
How cheer [fully | u things | look in | this place?
Compare No CCLXV. — The line may, perhaps, serve as
an eloquent instance of different stages in verbal or rather
metrical criticism.
^k A WOMAN IS A WEATHERCOCK.
FIELD.
CCLV.
'Tis your jealousy
That makes you think so; for, by my soul,
You have given me no distaste by keeping from me
All things that might be burthenous, and oppress me.
A Woman is a Weathercock (H's D., XI, 13).
To conclude from these and other lines, the text of this play
in Mr Hazlitt's Dodsley would seem to have been printed
from The Old English Drama (London, Thom. White, 1830)
Vol. n, provided that this collection itself was not printed
from one of the older editions of Dodsley. It would be
time and labour thrown away to sift this matter and it may
suffice to say that Mr Hazlitt has compared the old copies
in a very perfunctory manner, and that numerous blunders
have crept into the text. In the quarto of 161 2 the above
lines are given quite correctly: —
Tis your jealousie
That makes you thinke tf so, for by my soule
You haue [pronounce Fbu've] giuen me no distast, in
keeping from me, &c.
In the same play Mr Hazlitt has spoiled the following lines
(XI, 40): —
Strange. Good [people], save your labours, for by
heaven,
ril do it: if I do't not, I shall be pointed at, &c.
Qu. 1 61 2 correctly reads: —
Sira. Good, saue your labors, for by Heauen lie doo't:
If I doo't not, I shall be pointed at, &c.
For the use of Good without a noun, the reader may be
referred to The Tempest, I, i, 3 and to Hamlet, I, i, 70,
A WOMAN IS A WEATHERCOCK. 99
passages which are so well known that they ought to have
been remembered by Mr Hazlitt.
Farther on (XI, 66) Mr Hazlitt prints: —
Capt. Pouts. I will kill two men for you; till then, &c.
and thus spoils the metre again. Qu. 1612 correctly reads: —
Capt. Sir, I wil kill two men for you, till then, &c.
In the Old English Drama (London, 1830) II, 49 the address
Sir has likewise been omitted.
Some similar instances of negligence and corruption of
the text may be added from Kyd's Cornelia as printed in
Mr Hazlitt's Dodsley (Vol. V). At p. 205 we meet with the
following lines : —
Under this outrage now are all our goods,
Where scattered they run by land and sea
(Like exil'd us) from fertile Italy,
To proudest Spain or poorest Getuly.
In a foot-note on the last line Mr Hazlitt remarks: ^GetullufUy
in Tripoli. See Hazlitt's "Classical Gazetteer", in v.' Is
this negligence or ignorance or both combined together?
Mr Hazlitt ought to have looked up GcBtulia, under which
head the correct explanation is given, an explanation, by
the way, which is contained in every Latin Dictionary and
known to almost all boys of the upper forms. Two glaring
misprints occur at the very next page (p. 206, 11. 9 and 17)
where instead of the prefix Cornelius we must, of course,
write Cornelia y and where the Chorus should not say: —
Why suffer your vain dreams your head to trouble,
but: —
Why suffer you vain dreams your head to trouble.
The quarto of 1594 correctly reads both Cornelia mid you.
These blunders and corruptions collected at random
are sufficient proofs of the carelessness with which this latest
7*
100 A WOMAN IS A WEATHERCOCK.
edition of so important and almost indispensable a collection
of old plays has been prepared. Readers and students should
therefore never be off their guard and in all difficult and
doubtful cases should not allow themselves to be deluded
into the belief that they are using a correct or critically
revised text.
CCLVI.
Scud[more]. What means my —
Nev\iir\. This day this Bellafront, the rich heir,
Is married unto Count Frederick,
And that's the wedding I was going to.
A Woman is a Weathercock (H's D., XI, i6).
Mr Hazlitt's Dodsley here completely agrees with Qu. 1612,
except that the latter has the misprint whar for what. —
If the first two lines admit of a scansion at all, it can be
no other than this : —
What means | my — This | day this | Bell'firont | the rich | heir,
Is mar|ri^d | unto | Count Fred|erick.
But what critic will impute such unreadable harshness even
to one of the lesser lights of the dramatic galaxy of the
Elizabethan age? I rather think that Is slipped out of its
place and that the poet wrote : —
Scud. What means my —
Nev. This day is this Bellafront,
The rich heir, married unto Count Frederick, &c.
CCLVII.
Cap. You haue shew'd some kindnes to me, I must loue
you Sir,
What did you with his bodie?
A Woman is a Weathercock (H's D., XI, 66).
A WOMAN &c. ENGLISHMEN &c. 101
This is the reading and arrangement of the old copy. Mr
Hazlitt's Dodsley (in accordance with the respective passage
in The Old English Drama) : —
Capt. Pouts, You have show'd some kindness to me :
I must love you, sir. What did you with his body?
Arrange and read either: —
Capt. Pouts. You I have show'd | some kind|ness to I
me: I
Must love you, sir. What did you with his body?
or:
Capt. Pouts. You've show'd | some kind|ness to
me: I, &c.
CCLVin.
Kath. Life! I am not married, then, in earnest.
Nev. So, Mistress Kate, I kept you for myself.
A Woman is a Weathercock (H's D., XI, 8oseq.).
Thus Mr Hazlitt in accordance with Qu. 1612. Read, No
for So. Life is to be read as a monosyllabic foot.
HAUGHTON.
CCLIX.
To them, friends, to them; they are none but yours:
For you I bred them, for you brought them up,
For you I kept them, and you shall have them:
I hate all others that resort to them. .-b(|«ioO
Englishmen for my Money (H's D., X, 508).
In the quartos of 1626 and 1631 the second line runs thus:
For you I bred them, for you I brought them up.
102 THE SPANISH TRAGEDY.
Mr Hazlitt has wrongly expunged the second /, as being
* redundant both for sense and measure'. The fact is, that
the line contains an extra syllable before the pause and that
the context requires the second you to be emphasized : —
For you | I bred | them, for you | I brought | them up.
The next line seems to be defective and one feels tempted
to insert V is before the second you; such an addition,
however, is unnecessary, as the line clearly belongs to the
category of syllable pause lines: — _
For you | I kept | them, — | and you | shall have | them.
Compare Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet, ed. Elze, p. 127.
KYD.
CCLX.
JSmbass. This is an argument for our Viceroy,
That Spaine may not insult for her successe.
Since English Warriours likewise conquered Spaincy
And made them bow their knees to Albion.
The Spanish Tragedy (H's D., V, 35).
Thus Qu. 1633. Viceroy f in the first line, is accented on
the final syllable , an accentuation of which I know no other
instance. Three lines infra the lection the king may be
queried; perhaps: thy king: —
Pledge me, Hieronimo, if thou love thy king.
Compare Marlowe, Edward II, I, 4, 339 (Works, ed. Dyce,
in I vol., p. 192a): —
Courageous Lancaster, embrace thy king.
THE SPANISH TRAGEDY. )J)f
CCLXI.
Bei, As those that when they love, are loath, and
fea^e to lose.
BaL Then faire, let Balthazar your keeper be.
Bel. Balthazar doth feare as well as we.
The Spanish Tragedy (H's D., V, 102).
This is the reading of Qu. 1633, the only old copy I have
been able to collate. Mr Hazlitt's Dodsley what they love
and No, Balthazar doth fear. Qy. omit and fear which words
seem to have crept in from the third line by a kind of
prolepsis. Or should the words when they be expunged?
CCLXII.
And, madam, you must attire yourself
Like Phoebe, Flora, or the huntress,
Which to your discretion shall seem , best.
The Spanish Tragedy (H's D., V, 151 seq.).
The first line is either a syllable pause line : —
And, mad|am, — | you must | attire | yourself,
or one of four feet only: —
And, ma'am, | you must | attire | yourself.
Huntress, in the second line, is to be pronounced as a tri-
syllable {hunt- e-r ess); see Abbott, s. 477. As to the last
line, it may be doubted, whether which is to be taken for
a monosyllabic foot, or to altered to unto. Or would perhaps
a transposition bring the verse still nearer to the poet's own
wording : —
Which shall | seem best | to your | discre|ti-on?
^y>4 CORNELIA.
ccLxin.
Fain would I die, but darksome ugly death
Withholds his dart, and in disdain doth fly me,
Maliciously knowing, that hell's horror
Is milder than mine endless discontent.
Cornelia (H's D., V, 191).
I do not know whether the above punctuation has been intro-
duced in the text by Mr Hazlitt, or by some previous editor
of Dodsley. The two quartos of 1594 and 1595 have com-
mas at the end of the second and third line, but not after
knowing. In my opinion both these commas should be ex-
punged just as well as that after knowing, whereas a comma
ought to be placed after Maliciously. — The third line
admits of a twofold scansion; it may be considered as a
syllable pause line: —
Mali|ciously, | u knOw|ing that | hell's hor|ror,
or Maliciously may be read as a word of five syllables : —
Mali|cious|ly, know|ing that | hell's hor|ror.
ccLxiv.
One selfsame ship contain'd us, when I saw
The murd'ring Egyptians bereave his life; &c.
Cornelia (H's D., V, 213).
A twofold scansion of the second line seems to be admis-
sible : —
The mur|dering | Egypt|ians b'reave | his life,
or: —
The mur|d'ring 'Gypt|ians | bereave | his life.
For the pronunciation b* reave compare notes CXVII and
CCLXXIX.
CORNELIA. 105
CCLXV.
Then satisfy yourself with this revenge,
Content to count the ghosts of those great captains,
Which (conquered) perish'd by the Roman swords.
The Hannos, the Hamilcars, Hasdrubals, .'-W
Especially that proudest Hannibal, oAmm
That made the fair Thrasymene so desert: tntyjoiti
For even those fields that mourn'd to bear their tJodid?,
Now (loaden) groan to feel the Roman corses.
■ f-tJi^f. I.Cornelia (H's D., V, 250).
How is the sixth line to be 'scanned? Can Thaf be allowed
to take the place of a monosyllabic foot? If not, we seem
to have no choice but to dissyllabize either made or, which
seems more likely, /az'ry although a rhythmical ear will, I think,
in most cases demur . to this dissolution of long vowels or
diphthongs. Or is the verse to be considered as a syllable
pause line, although there is hardly a sufficient pause after
yai'r : —
That made | the fair | ^ Thra|symene | so des|ert?''^
Compare note CCLIV. He who will accept none of these
scansions, is driven to introduce an emendation of the text,
such as ike fairest Thrasymene or the fair lake Thrasymeiie.
This latter, however, would hardly be acceptable as, accord-
ing to the context, Thrasymene does not seem to denote
the lake, but its environs, or the country of which it forms
the centre, a meaning which is not sanctioned by classic
usage, but seems to have been suggested to Kyd by his
French original (Les Tragedies de Robert Gamier, Conseiller
du Roy, &c. A Tholose, par Pierre lagourt. MDLXXXVin)
p. 141: —
Et contans les espris de ces vieux Capitaines,
Qui vaincus ont pass6 par les armes Romaines, '^'
106 CORNELIA.
Les Hannons, Amilcars, Asdnibals, et sur tous
Hannibal, qui rendit Thrasymene si roux.
Ores les mesmes champs, qui sous leurs corps gemirent,
Dessousles corps Romains accrauantez soupirent: &c.
May not the last couplet have misled the translator and
made him think that Gamier meant to say that the fields
around the lake, and not the lake itself, were reddened by
Hannibal? The same meaning has been attributed to the
name by Lord Byron in his Childe Harold, IV, 62 and 65,
where, moreover, the final -^ is fully sounded: —
and I roam
By Thrasimene's lake, in the defiles
Fatal to Roman rashness, more at home;
and: —
Far other scene is Thrasimene now;
Her lake a sheet of silver, and her plain
Rent by no ravage save the gentle plough.
Thrasymene, with a mute -^ at the end, completely agrees
with the rest of those classic names that are derived from
substantives in -us, such . as Euxine, Nile, Polypheme, Rhene
(Faerie Queene, IV, 11, 21; Paradise Lost, I, 353), Tyre,
and others. May I hint at the possibility that Byron who
in his historical note on Stanza 63 (No. XXIII) refers to
Polybius, writing as he did in Venice, may not have had
access to an English translation of the Greek historian and
may have been obliged to look up the original either in the
Marciana, or in the library of his friends the Armenians?
In Bk. Ill, Chap. 82 (not ^^, as he says) of the original he
read Tr^v TaQOtfxevrjv yialotyivrjv llfivrjv and by this Greek
form of the name may have been misled to make the word
one of four syllables , so much the more so as it fell in with
the numbers of his verse. ,
TAMBURLAINE. 107
MABLOWE.
CCLXVL
Your grace hath taken order by Theridamas.
I TAMBURLAINE, I, I (WORKS, ED. DYCE,
IN I VOL., 7b).
Schipper, in his dissertation De versu Marlovii (Bonn, 1867)
p. 19, ranks this line with those verses of six feet, which, he
says, Marlowe did not hesitate to admit. In my opinion,
however, most of his so-called senarii are regular five feet
lines with trisyllabic feminine endings and are to be scaimed
as follows : —
Your grace | hath ta|ken or|der by | Theridj'mas;
To Mem|phis, from | my un|cie's coun|try of Me|dia;
To en|tertain | some care | of our | secujr'ties;
Besides, | king Sigjismund | hath brought | from Christj'ndom;
Now say, | my lords | of Bu|da and | Bohe|mia.
To these lines quoted by Schipper, the following, likewise
taken from Tamburlaine, may be added: —
That will I we chief |ly see | unto, | Theridj'mas (p. 34a);
How through | the midst | of Var|na and | Bulga|ria (p. 49 a);
Our ar|my and | our brojthers of | Jeru|s'lem (p. 51b).
Even in the body of the line Theridamas is occasionally used
as a word of three syllables; see ib. , p. 57a: —
Both we, I Theridj'mas, will | intrench | our men;
lb., p. bob: —
Welcome, Therid|'mas and | Techeljles, both;
lb., p. 68b: —
Take them | away, | Theridj'mas; see them | despatch'd.
It should not be overlooked that the first and second lines
exclude every doubt, as they admit of no other scansion
and cannot be taken for six feet lines. As to the line
quoted from Edward II (Works, p. 201 a) by Schipper 1. c,
108 TAMBURLAINE. EDWARD II.
the case is different in so far, as it has not a trisyllabic ending,
but is to be reduced to a blank verse by an extra syllable
before the pause and the monosyllabic pronunciation of
pardon : ^ —
In o|ther mat|ters; he must | pard'n us | in this.
Compare Edward II, p. 198 a (Your pardon is quickly got
of Isabel) and note CCXLIX. This line is certainly not
distinguished by smoothness, but in my conviction an Eli-
zabethan dramatist may much rather be thought guilty of a
harsh blank verse than of a line of six feet, especially if
not an Alexandrine.
CCLXVII.
;fl7oI-
Not once to set his foot in Africa,
Or spread his colours in Graecia, &c.
I TAMBURLAINE, III, I (WORKS, ED. DYCE,
IN I VOL., 20a).
Compare Dyce ad loc. *A word, says Dyce, has dropt out
from this line.' May we not read: into Grcecta?
CCLXVIII.
Edw. What, Gaueston ! welcome — kiss not my hand.
Edward II, (ed. Fleay), I, i, 135.
Mr Fleay, in his edition of this play, prints welcdme and on
p. 1 1 9 observes , that this is Marlowe's usual pronunciation
of the word. Even S. Walker, Versification 142 seq., takes
it for granted that welcome was frequently pronounced with
■the accent on the last syllable. A more careful examination
EDWARD II. J^e?
of the respective lines, however, will show that Marlowe does
not depart from the regular accentuation of the word. In
the above line welcome begins the second hemistich and may
therefore without the least difficulty be taken for a trochee.
The same scansion holds good in A. II, sc. 2, 1. 51 and
11. 65 — 68, where Mr Fleay prints the word both with and
without an accent, a fact that seems to imply that here he
admits two different accentuations of the word. The word
has the accent on the first syllable also in A. Ill, sc. i (6),
11. 34, 46, 57, 66; A. IV, sc. 3, 11. 40 and 41; A. IV, sc. 4,
1. 2; &c. It may be added, that very naturally welcome
generally takes its place either at the beginning of the line
or the beginning of the second hemistich, both of them
favourite places of the trochee*
CCLXIX.
Lan. For his repeal, madam! he comes not back.
Edward II, I, 4, 204.
Mr Fleay prints maddme which, he says (at p. 120), is the
spelling of the quartos and shows the pronunciation. Mr
Fleay, I think, means to say that the Qq read madame (or
more strictly speaking, Madame), the accent being an addi-
tion of his own. As to the pronunciation I have no doubt
that the word here as elsewhere is to be accented on the
first syllable; I know of no reliable instance to the contrary.
The pause falls after repeal and the second hemistich begins
with a trochee. The line should therefore be printed: —
For his repeal, — madam! he comes not back.
110 EDWARD II.
CCLXX.
I feele a hell of greefe, where is my crowne?
Gone, gone, and doe I remaine aliue?
Edward II, V, 5, 87 seq.
So Qu. 1598. Qu. 1622 and Mr Francis Cunningham omit
alive, Dyce adds still after /, in which reading he has been
followed by the late Prof. Wagner and Mr Fleay, whereas
Mr Tancock (Marlow's Edward the Second. Oxford, Cla-
rendon Press, 1879) justly rejects this addition. Mr Tancock
takes Gone, gone to be *two solemn monosyllabic feet' and
accordingly scans the line thus : —
Gone, I gone; | and do I | remain | alive?
In my opinion, however, this scansion is harsh and evidently
wrong, as only the first Gone should be considered as a
monosyllabic foot; scan: —
Gone! | gone! and | do I | remain | alive?
Although I myself do not doubt the correctness of this
scansion, yet others may, and I must not therefore omit to
mention a third and highly plausible way in which the line
may be scanned, viz.: —
Gone, gone! | v> and | do I | remain | alive?
This would be what I call a syllable pause line (see note
CCLXXVIII). As far as the first foot is concerned, this
scansion is corroborated by another line taken firom our play,
(A. IV, sc. 6, 1. 103, ed. Tancock): —
Gone, gone, | alas, | n6ver | to make | return!
What will now become of Mr Tancock's 'two solemn mono-
syllabic feet'?
THE JEW OF MALTA. DIDO. til
CCLXXI.
That I may, walking in my gallery,
See 'em go pinioned along by my door.
The Jew of Malta (Works, ed. Dyce,
IN I VOL., 157b).
The second line hardly admits of a scansion. Perhaps the
words should be transposed : —
See 'em go | along | pini|on'd by | my door.
CCLXXII.
The sun from Egypt shall rich odours bring,
Wherewith his burning beams (like labouring bees
That load their thighs with Hybla's honey -spoils)
Shall here unburden their exhaled sweets.
And plant our pleasant suburbs with her fumes.
Dido, Queen of Carthage, V, ii seqq.
Apart from the parentheses this is the reading of the quarto
of 1594 and has been implicitly followed by almost all
modern editors. Dyce, in his first edition of Marlowe
(London, 1850) II, 426, adds the following note: ^her] If
right, can only mean — Egypt's: but qy. "their"?' In his
revised and corrected one- volume edition (1858) he has in-
serted this conjectural emendation in the text. Mr Francis
Cunningham, on the other hand, (The Works of Christopher
Marlowe, p. 342), eagerly defends the old text; 'Mr Dyce,
he says, most unnecessarily changes ker into thezr. As if
the fumes came from the dees and not from HyhlaV Dyce
certainly knew better; his parentheses clearly show that he
112 DIDO.
referred their to beams ^ indeed the only word to which it
can be referred. In my conviction, however, the lection of
the old copy is not a corruption of their fumes, but of per-
fumes, which word comes much nearer to the original ductus
litterarum and agrees far better with the context than their
fumes. The verb plants although it has passed unquestioned
till now, is a corruption too and I do not feel the least doubt
that Marlowe wrote : —
And scent our pleasant suburbs with perfumes.
At first sight this may, perhaps, seem tautological, but com-
pare Samson Agonistes, 720: —
And amber scent of odorous perfume.
Mr P. A. Daniel has pointed out to me a most curious
parallel passage in Summer's Last Will and Testament
(Hazlitt's Dodsley, VIU, 36), where Sol addresses Summer
in the following words: —
The excrements you bred whereon I feed;
To rid the earth of their contagious fumes.
With such gross carriage did I load my beam
I burnt no grass, I dried no springs and lakes;
I suck'd no mines, I withered no green boughs.
But when to ripen harvest I was forc'd
To make my rays more fervent than I wont.
Although this seems to favour the belief that the two pas-
sages, in Summer's Last Will and Testament and in Dido,
Queen of Carthage, came from the same pen, viz. that of
Nash, yet I imagine that I can distinguish the true Marlo-
vian ring in the passage taken from Dido. (The Athenaeum,
May 10, 1884, p. 609 seq. Reply by A. H[all], ib., May 17,
1884, p. 644).
THE INSATIATE COUNTESS. 113
MARSTON.
CCLXXIIL
The feminine deities strowed all their bounties
And beautie on his face; &c.
The Insatiate Countess (Works, ed. Halliwell,
ni, 107).
The Dramatic Works of John Marston, in point of verbal
criticism, are still *an unweeded garden', as Mr Halliwell's
edition has no higher claim than to be a reprint of the
old editions. *The dramas now collected together, says
Mr Halliwell at the end of his preface, are reprinted absolutely
from the early editions, which were placed in the hands of
our printers, who thus had the advantage of following them
without the intervention of a transcriber. They are given
as nearly as possible in their original state, the only moder-
nizations attempted consisting in the alternations of the letters
i and j, and u and v^ the retention of which would have
answered no useful purpose, while it would have unneces-
sarily perplexed the modern reader.' So far, so good. Even
the most superficial comparison, however, will satisfy the
student, that besides 'the only modernizations' indicated by
Mr Halliwell, his text contains a large number of other
deviations from the old editions, especially in the use of
capitals and the punctuation, which are not always slight
and immaterial. From Mr Halliwell's statement it would
appear that these deviations are due to the printer or, at
best, to the proof-reader, although who that proof-reader
was and what he did, is nowhere hinted at. One part of
the work there is, however, for which Mr Halliwell himself
is certainly to be held responsible, viz. the selection of
those quartos, from which the single plays were reprinted,
8
114 THE INSATIATE COUNTESS.
and this selection is not always a happy one. In the case
of 'The Insatiate Countess', e. g., Mr Halliwell says in his
preface that there are three quartos in existence, of the
years, 1 613, 161 6, and 1631 respectively. Of the quarto of
1 61 6 I cannot judge, as the British Museum cannot boast
of a copy, and I have therefore been unable to compare it;
of the other two quartos the earlier (161 3) is printed very
correctly and the later (1631) very carelessly. Nevertheless
it is this latter that was chosen by Mr Halliwell and placed
in the hands of his printers, as can be shown by a number
of striking instances. Sometimes both these Qq are at fault,
but no attempts have been made by the editor to heal their
corruption. In the lines at the head of this note, e. g.,
we should, I think, read beauties for beauiicy although this is
the lection of both Qq. Both Qq, moreover, read Deities,
not deities. Two pages further on (III, 109) we meet with
the following most perplexing passage : —
^ Enter Mizaldus and Mendosa.
Gui[do]. Mary, amen! I say, madame, are you that
were in for all day, now come to be in for all night? How
now. Count Arsena?
Miz[a/dus]. Faith, signior, not unlike the condemn'd
malefactor.
That heares his judgement openly pronounc'd;
But I ascribe to fate. Joy swell your love;
Cypres and willow grace my drooping crest.
J^ob[erto]. We doe entend our hymeneall rights
With the next rising sunne. Count Cypres,
Next to our bride, the welcomst to our feast.'
This is a perfect muddle. Roberto, Count of Cypres, and
Isabella are on the stage; enter to them, according to
THE mS ATI ATE COUNTESS. 115
the stage -direction, Mizaldus and Mendosa. *This, says
Mr Halliwell, in his note on the passage, like many of the
other stage -directions, is clearly erroneous. It should be, "re-
enter Rogero and Guido (Mizaldus)".' Now, this note itself
is clearly erroneous, for I do not find that Rogero was on
the stage before, nor are Guido and Mizaldus one and the
same person. I feel convinced that the stage -direction
should be '■Enter Mizaldus and Guido, Count of Arsena*
Moreover the prefixes to the first two speeches should change
places, the first speech being evidently spoken by Mizaldus
and addressed to Guido, Count of Arsena. The second
speech belongs to Guido; the third is by no means addressed
to Count Cypres, Roberto, the speaker, being himself Count
of Cypres, but to Count Arsena, and this name should be
substituted for Count Cypres, an emendation which, at the
same time, restores the metre of the line. The words. But
I ascribe to fate are also suspicious, the verb ascribe not
being used as an intransitive verb ; perhaps Marston wrote
subscribe. Rights, of course, stands for rites. Lastly it may
be remarked that both Qq (1613 and 1631) read: Marry
Amen, I say: Madame, &c. and that there seems to be no
sufficient reason for an alteration of this pointing. The cor-
rect and original wording of the passage would therefore
appear to have been as follows : —
^ Enter Mizaldus and Guido.
Miz. Marry amen, 1 say: madame, are you that were
in for all day, now come to be in for all night? How now.
Count Arsena?
Gui. Faith, signior, not unlike the condemn'd
malefactor.
That heares his judgement openly pronounced;
8*
116 THE INSATIATE COUNTESS.
But I subscribe to fate. Joy swell your love;
Cypres and willow grace my drooping crest.
Roh, We doe entend our hymeneal 1 rights
With the next rising sunne. Count Arsena,
Next to our bride, the welcomst to our feast.'
In the lines (III, 119): —
Then read it, faire,
My passion's ample, as our beauties are,
Mr Halliwell reproduces the corruption of Qu. 1 63 1 , although
in the Qu. 161 3 he might have found the correct reading
your beauties.
At p. 137 we read: —
Isa. Your love, my lord, 1 blushing proclaime it.
Mr Halliwell's edition again follows the Qu. 1631; the Qu.
pf. 1613 correctly reads hlushingly.
.;:. Pag. 142: —
Sing, boy (thought night yet), like the mornings larke.
Thus Qu. 1 631; Qu. 1 61 3: though night yet. The same
misprint is repeated in the very next line both in Qu. 1631
and in Mr Halliwell's edition : —
' ' A soule that's cleare is light, thought heaven be darke.
Coinpare infra note CCLXXXIII.
Pag. 149: —
Gni\acd\. I crave your hours pardon my ignorance
Of what you were, may gaine a curteous pardon.
Qu. 1 63 1 again; Qu. 161 3 rightly your Honors pardon. As
the printers or proof-readers of Mr Halliwell's edition have
frequently changed the punctuation, they might as well have
placed a colon or semicolon after pardon in the first line.
By the way the reader's attention may be drawn to the
THE INSATIATE COUNTESS. 117
repetition of pardon which looks very much like a ditto-
graphy.
At p. 154 the line: —
Let speare-like musicke breathe delicious tones, &c.
is again due to the quarto of 1631; Qu. 161 3: Sphcere-ltke.
The line (p. 162): —
What can you answere to escape tortures?
though literally agreeing with both Qq, is evidently defective;
the article the is to be added before tortures ^ as nobody,
I think, will be bold enough to plead in favour of the
anomalous and unheard-of accentuation tortures. Or should
we write to 'scape and thus make the line one of four feet
only?
One more instance (from p. 181) and I shall have
done : —
This is end of lust, where men may see, &c.
This is taken from Qu. 1631 again; Qu. 161 3 rightly: the
end of lust.
After these instances I hope I shall be justified in asking:
What was the use of reproducing such an incorrect edition
as the quarto of 1631 'with all its imperfections on its head',
when a more correctly printed quarto was at hand which
might have been reprinted without causing either the editor
or his printers a greater amount of trouble and cost?
Mr Halliwell-Phillipps is a scholar of such high standing and
has done such excellent service in the field of Shakespearian
literature that he may well bear to be told where he has
failed; even the best of us have their shortcomings and
cannot boast of unmingled success.
118 WHEN YOU SEE ME, YOU KNOW ME.
SAM. ROWLEY.
CCLXXIV.
King. Methinks, thou wert better live at court, as I do;
King Harry loves a man, I can tell you.
When you see me, you know me (ed. Elze) 29.
Compare Sir Robert Naunton, Fragmenta Regalia (1630)
ed. Arber, p. 28: 'for the people hath it to this day in pro-
verb, King Harry loved a man.*
CCLXXV.
Gardiner, look here, he was deceived, he says,
*When he thought to find John Baptist in the courts of
princes, or resident with those, that are clothed in purple.'
Mother o' God, is 't not a dangerous knave.
When you see me, you know me (ed. Elze) 60.
In my note on this passage (at p. 1 05 of my edition) I have
remarked that I had not been able to trace this quotation
in Dr Luther's writings. It has since been pointed out to
me and occurs in M. Luther's 'Antwort Auf des Konigs in
England Lasterschrift (Luther's Werke, Erlanger Ausgabe,
Bd. XXX, S. 8). 'Was suche ich russigter Aschenprodel,
writes Luther, zu Konigs und Fiirsten Hofe, da ich doch
/weiss, dass der Teufel obenan sitzt und sein hohester Thron
ist? Ich will den Teufel frumm machen ohn seinen Dank
und Christum bei ihm finden: so gibt er mir billig solchen
Lohn. Komm wieder, lieber Luther, und suche noch ems
Johannem den Tdufer in der Konig Hofeni da man weiche
Kleider tragi y ich meiny du wirst ihn finden.^ The ^weichen
THE TEMPEST. 119
Kleider'' have been altered to ^purple garments^ by Rowley.
By the way it may be observed that, as far as I know, this
reply of Luther to King Henry VIII was not translated into
Latin and therefore must have been read in the original
German in London.
/
SHAKESFEABE.
CCLXXVI.
Pros. Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done.
Mir, O, woe the day!
Pros. No harm.
I have done nothing but in care of thee, &c.
The Tempest, I, 2, 13 seq.
It seems absurd that Miranda should reply by a deep -fetched
sigh and an exclamation of pity to her father's consoling
statement that there is no harm done. Dr Johnson's con-
jectural emendation : —
Mir. O, woe the day! no harm?
does not remedy this defect. In my opinion it admits of
little doubt that the original arrangement of these lines was
as follows : —
Pros, Be collected:
No more amazement: tell your piteous heart —
Mir. O, woe the day!
Pros. There's no harm done!
Mir. No harm?
Pros. I have done nothing but in care of thee, &c.
120 THE TEMPEST.
After what Miranda has seen, she has little faith in the
arguments with which she expects to be comforted by her
father, least of all is she prepared to hear such good news
as he is about to communicate to her. Nothing, therefore,
can be more natural than that she should give vent to her
grief and compassion in the exclamation by which she inter-
rupts her father's speech, before he has been able to assure
her of the perfect safety of the passengers in the vessel which
she saw wrecked. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam., II, i88.
(Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. i seq.).
CCLXXVII.
Now I arise. [Resumes his mantle.
The Tempest, I, 2, 169.
Blackstone's discovery that these words do not belong to
Prospero to whom they are given in the Folio, but to Miranda,
has met with little or no acceptance from later editors, as in
the opinion of some of them the meaning is metaphorical
and equivalent to: 'now I rise in my narration', or, 'now
my story heightens in its consequence' (Steevens). Even if
this metaphorical meaning were admissible per se^ which
I am convinced it is not, yet it would jar with the words
Sit still addressed to Miranda immediately after. The expla-
nation given by Mr Aldis Wright that 'Miranda offers to
rise when she sees her father do something which indicates
departure', seems partly to have been suggested by the
stage- direction; this stage -direction, however, having been
added by Dyce, cannot claim any authority whatever.
Staunton's notion that the words Now I arise are spoken
THE TEMPEST. 121
aside to Ariel, is invalidated by the fact that Ariel is not
present, but is summoned afterwards in 1. 187. And how
can this explanation be made to tally with the words Stf
still? Staunton is silent on this difficulty. Miranda has
been labouring all the while under a strange drowsiness that
may or may not have been brought on by her father's
enchantment. She now thinks her father's tale at an end
and gladly seizes the opportunity of rising in order thus to
get the better of her sleepiness. That such is the fact seems
to be corroborated by Prospero's admonition of her (in 1. 186)
to give way without restraint to her 'good dulness'. At the
same time the words Now I arise in Miranda's mouth form
a kind of antithesis to her preceding wish Might I hut ever
see that man. Contrary to her intention of rising and walk-
ing about, her father desires her to *sit still and hear the
last of their sea -sorrow'. Mr Collier (in his second edition)
thinks it necessary for Prospero to put on his mantle again
and thus to be enabled *to accomplish what he wishes',
viz. to send her to sleep. But granting that Miranda's
sleepiness be really owing to her father's enchantment (the
poet does not even hint at such a fact), the magic process
must clearly have begun from the very commencement of
Prospero's tale, immediately after he has laid down his robe,
as is proved by his repeated questions Dost thou attend me?,
Dost thou hear? &c. Prospero must therefore be thought
sufficiently potent to perform such an easy trick of sorcery
without the help of his robe. The moment when he resumes
it, is clearly indicated in the text by the words addressed to
Ariel in 1. 187: I am ready now. (Notes, privately printed,
1882, p. 2 seq.).
122 THE TEMPEST.
CCLXXVIIL
Yea, his dread trident shake.
Pros. My brave spirit.
The Tempest, I, 2, 206.
This line belongs to a class of verses which Dr Abbott (s. 484)
reduces to regular metre by the prolongation, or, so to say, dis-
syllabification of some monosyllable contained in them, such
as brave in the line under discussion. Although Dr Abbott
has treated this subject in a very elaborate and scholarly
way, yet there seems to be room for difference of opinion;
in my conviction the line should rather be classed with those
verses which for want of a more appropriate name, may be
called syllable pause lines , i. e. lines in which the pause, to
use the words of the Clarendon Edition of Hamlet (p. 124,
note on I, i, 95), * takes the time of a defective syllable',
be it either unaccented or accented. In my second edition
of Hamlet (p. 1 2 6), as well as in the foregoing notes , I have
instanced some such lines and I now beg- leave to offer
another" instalment collected at random which, however trifling
in number compared to the infinite multitude of these verses,
yet will go far not only to establish the fact of their existence,
but to throw a flood of light upon them. I shall first give
a list where the pause serves as substitute for an unaccented
syllable, or, to look at this metrical licence fi-om a different
point of view, where the second hemistich begins with a
monosyllabic foot, for in this respect, as in many others,
the hemistich is the image of the line. German readers
will no doubt be conversant with Prof. Schipper's most in-
genious and learned exposition not only of this metrical
peculiarity, but of blank verse in general (Englische Metrik,
Bonn, 1 88 1, p. 439 seqq.), and will be aware that those lines
THE TEMPEST. 123
in which the pause stands for an unaccented syllable, cor-
respond to Nos 9 and 1 1 , and when beginning with a mono-
syllabic foot, to Nos 13 and 15 of his table (p. 440). My
second list will comprise lines in which the pause does duty
for an accented syllable, lines, for which there is no room
in Schipper's table of the various licences of blank verse (1. c),
but which have been treated by Dr Abbott in s. 507 seq.,
though not in a very satisfactory, manner. It will hardly be
necessary to advert to the circumstance, that, while even a
very slight pause may sometimes be deemed sufficient to
stand for an unaccented syllable, none but a strongly marked
one or, still better, a break in the line, will serve as sub-
stitute for an accented syllable. Thus, for instance, the
verse in Fair Em (Del, 46. — W. and Pr., 53. — Simp. II,
459): —
Here is the Lady you sent me for,
has so slight a pause that it would be very imsafe to take
it for a syllable pause line; indeed no other means of
reducing this line to regular metre seems to be left than the
insertion of whom proposed at p. 136 of the First Series of
these Notes. Our investigation promises to be so much the
more attractive, as most of these lines, in both classes,
have been differently scanned not only by Dr Abbott, but
also by other critics, and the reader will, therefore, find
himself called upon to decide in favour of one or the other
theory. At the same time he will be surprised to see how
large a number of conjectural emendations, both old and
new, will become needless and may be dismissed firom doing
service any longer in the critical revision of the text. To
prevent misunderstandings, it may be as well to premise
the remark that I shalj denote the unaccented syllable {thesis)
by u and the accented (arsis) by — .
124 THE TEMPEST.
A. Lines in which the pause stands for an
UNACCENTED SYLLABLE.
1. Yea, his | dread tri|dent shake. | v^ My | brave spir|it.
The Tempest, I, 2, 206.
Theobald duplicates brave; Hanmer, That's my brave,
Abbott (p. 377), as has been intimated already, scans: —
Yea, his ! dread tri|dent shake. | My bra|ye spir|it.
Instead of brave the word shake might just as well
have been dissyllabized.
2. Make the | prize light. | v^ One | word more; 1 1 charge | thee.
IB., I, 2, 452.
Pope added Sir before One.
3. Letters | should not | be known; | o rich|es, pov|erty.
IB., II, I, 150.
Pope, wealthy poverty; Capell, poverty, riches; Prof.
Wagner, no riches. Pope and Capell read poverty as
a trisyllable, as they had no knowledge of trisyllabic
feminine endings.
4. No sov'|reignty. | yj Yet | he would | be king | on't.
IB., II, I, 156.
The insertion of And before Yet in Prof Wagner's
edition of Shakspere is needless.
5. Or night | kept chain'd | below. | kj Fair|ly spoke.
IB., IV, I, 31.
* Fairly, says Steevens ad loc.y is here used as a tri-
syllable.'
6. Makes this | place par|adise. | ^ Sweet, | now si|lence.
IB., IV, I, 124.
Hanmer, Now, silence, sweet.
7. Which is I most faint; | kj now, | 'tis true.
IB., Epilogue, 3.
Pope, and now. Abbott, p. 377, dissyllabizes faint.
Of course it makes no difference that this is a line of
four feet only.
THE TEMPEST. 125
8. Which was | to please. | ^ Now | I want.
Ib., Epilogue, 13.
Pope, For now; Abbott, p. 378, pU-ase,
9. Gaoler, | v. take | him to | thy cus|tody.
The Comedy of Errors, I, i, 156.
Hanmer, Jailor, now; Capell, So, jailer; S. Walker,
Versification, p. 153 seq., Goy gaoler.
10. But room, | k, fai|ry, here | comes Ob|eron.
A Midsummer-Night's Dream', II, i, 58.
Pope, Buty make room; Johnson, faery; Seymour, But,
fairy y room y for here; Abbott (p. 381) ro-om.
11. And so I all yours. | cr O, ] these naugh|ty times!
The Merchant of Venice, III, 2, 18.
Pope, Alas these; S. Walker, Versification, p. 137, dis-
syllabizes yours.
12. Villain, | I say, | ^ knock | me at | this gate.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, 2, 11.
13. Like the | old age. | o Are | you read|y, sir?
Twelfth Night, II, 4, 49 seq.
Abbott, p. 377, dissyllabizes age.
14. Poison'd, I ill fare, | v^ dead, | forsook, | cast off.
K. John, V, 7, 35-
Hanmer, oh/ dead. S. Walker, Versification, p. 139,
and Abbott, p. 370, dissyllabize fare.
15. Your grace | mistakes; | u on|ly to | be brief.
K. Richard II, III, 3, 9.
Rowe, mistakes me; Delius mistaketh. According to
Abbott, p. 385, the e mute in mistakes is to be sounded.
16. Yea, look'st | thou pale? | ^ Let | me see [this wri|ting.
IB., V, 2, 57.
Hanmer, come, let; Malone, pale, boy? Abbott, p. 377,
dissyllabizes pale.
17. Farewell, | kinsman! | v^ I | will talk | to you.
I K. Henry IV, I, 3, 234.
126 THE TEMPEST.
FA, lie talk; Pope, my kinsman; Capell, Fare you
well. S.Walker, Versification, p. 140. Abbott, p. 370,
scans: —
FAre|well, kins|man! I | will talk | with \sic\ you.
18. Touch her | soft mouth | and march. | v^ Fare|well, host|ess.
K. Henry V, II, 3, 61 seq.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 140. — Printed as two
incomplete lines in the Globe Edition.
19. She's tick|led now; | o her | fiime needs | no spurs.
2 K. Henry VI, I, 3, 153,
FBCD, can need; Dyce and S. Walker (Crit. Exam.
Ill, 156) fury, — Abbott, p. 382, says: 'It may be
that " fume " is emphasized in :
She's tickjled now. | Her fii|me needs | no spurs.
(Unless "needs" is prolonged either by reason of the
double vowel or because " needs " is to be pronounced
"needeth").' — In my opinion the context sufficiently
shows that her is to be emphasized.
20. My lord, | o will | it please | you pass | along?
K. Richard III, III, i, 136.
FA, wilt (which may be right, although it reduces
the line to four feet); modem Edd. wilVt. Compare
Cambr, Ed. and Dyce ad loc.
21. Doth com|fort thee in | thy sleep; | o live, | and flou|rish
IB., V, 3, 130.
Thy omitted in Ff. Thou added after live by Rowe
and Collier's Ms Corrector.
22. When steel | grows soft, ( u as | the para|site's silk.
CoRioLANus, I, 9, 45.
Abbott, p. 379, dissyllabizes steel and adds: *"Soft"
is emphasized as an exclamation (see 481), but per-
haps on the wliole it is better to emphasize "steel"
here.' — I think, neither the one, nor the other.
THE TEMPEST. 127
23. We'll sure|ty him. | kj A|ged sir, | hands off.
IB., m, I, 178.
See Dyce ad loc, Abbott, p. 378, dissyllabizes We'll.
24. Why dost I not speak? | u What, | deaf: not | a word?
Titus Andronicus V, i, 46.
FB, no, not a word; Dyce conjectures: what, not a
word; Abbott, p. 378, de-af. Or should we scan: —
Why dost I not speak? | What, deaf? | v^ Not | a word?
25. Titus, I '^ I I am come | to talk | with thee.
IB., V, 2, 16.
Dyce , / now am come. Abbott , p. 415, classes this
verse with the 'Lines with four accents where there is
a change of thought.' His scansion is this : —
Titus, I ' I I (am)'m come | to tdlk | with th6e.
26. Long live | so and | so die. | c» I | am quit.
TiMON OF Athens, IV, 3, 398.
The insertion of So before /, proposed by Hanmer
and adopted by modern editors, is needless. Com-
pare note LXXXIV.
27. Caesar | has had | great wrong. | u Has | he, mas|ters?
Julius C^sar, III, 2, 115.
Craik and Dyce: Has he not; S. Walker, Crit. Exam.,
II, 259, my masters. Abbott, p. 330, takes the last
two feet to be trochees, 'unless "my" has dropped
out', and then adds: 'Even here, however, "wrong"
may be a quasi - dissyllable (480).' Thus Abbott is at
a loss how to decide between three different scansions
to which I have now added a fourth.
28. Lucius, my gown. | kj Fare | well, gofod | Messa|la.
IB., IV, 3, 231,
Hanmer, Now farewell; S. Walker, Versification, p. 141,
Fare you well (compare infra No 53); Abbott, p. 370,
Fa- re.
128 THE TEMPEST.
29. 'Gainst my | captiv|ity. | v^ Hail, | brave friend.
Macbeth, I, 2, 5.
Abbott, p. 377, more suo dissyllabizes Hail.
30. Horri|ble sight! | o Now, | I see, | 'tis true.
Ib., IV, I, 122.
Pope, Nay now; Steevens, Ay, now. See Dyce ad loc.
Abbott, p. 379, dissyllabizes sight.
31. Died ev|'ry day | she liv'd. | ^ Fare | thee well.
IB., IV, 3, III.
Pope, Oh fare; Dyce, livM; S. Walker, Versification,
p. 139 seq., dissyllabizes Fare.
■^2. Pull off I my boots: | u hard|er, so.
K. Lear, IV, 6, 177.
Abbott, p. 381, b6\ot \sic\
33. Anto|nius dead! | u If | thou say | so, vil|lain.
Antony and Cleopatra, II, 5, 26.
Whether we read Antonius with Delius, or Anthony* s
with FBCD is quite immaterial as far as the scansion
is concerned. S.Walker, Versification, p. 48, do say;
Anonymous in Cambr. Ed., thou villain; Abbott, p. 378,
di-ad.
34. Obey I it on I all cause. | u Par|don, par|don.
IB., Ill, II, 68.
L Capell, causes; Theobald, Oypardon. Abbott, p. 329 seq.,
thinks this to be perhaps an instance of two consecutive
trochees (compare No. 2 7) and sees no ground for sup-
posing that * pardon' is to be pronounced as in French.
In his opinion the difficulty will be avoided, if the
diphthong 'cause' be pronounced as a dissyllable.
35. Enough I to fetch | him in. | kj See ] it done.
IB., IV, I, 14.
'In all probability, says Dyce ad loc, See it be done*
[proposed by Pope]. Abbott, p. 379, lengthens See.
THE TEMPEST. 129
36. What, all I alone? | yj well ] fare, sleep|y drink.
Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, A. V (ed. Dyce,
IN I VOL., 174b).
S. Walker, Versification, p. 139, dissyllabizes yizr^.
37. Tantij | v^ I | will fawn | first on | the wind, Uit r.
Marlowe, Edward II (ed. Fleay), I, i, 22.
Qq: ril. 'Something has dropt out firom this line',
remarks Dyce ad loc, and Mr Fleay, after extolling
Dyce's emendation yizz£;« instead oi fanne, adds: 'The
line still wants a foot.' Wagner, in his edition of
Edward II (Hamburg, 1871) p. 6, thinks he 'might
easily get the legitimate number of feet by reading: —
Tanti'. I will first fawn upon the wind.'
All these criticisms arid suggestions simply fall to the
ground, as it cannot be doubted that the pause after
Tanii replaces a defective syllable.
38. His head | shall off: | o Gav|eston, | short, warn |ing.
18.^11, 5, 21.
Mr Fleay (p. 123) writes Gausion and pronounces
war^ning as a trisyllable.
39. My lords! | k, Soljdiers, | have him | away. .
IB., II, 5, 25.
Dyce, lord. Mr Fleay (p. 123) pronounces lor^ds,
40. My lord, | ^ we | shall quick |ly be | at Cob|ham.
IB., II, 5, 107.
Mr Fleay (p. 124) dissyllabizes lor^d. Dyce, Wagner,
Mr Keltie (The British Dramatists, Edin. 1875) and
Mr Tancock we^ll instead of we shall ^ thus introducing
a verse of four feet.
41. I& 't you, I my lord? | w Mor|timer, | 'tis I.
'^onijon: Ib., IV, i, 12.
Mr Fleay (p. 124) lor^dj as a dissyllable.
9
iW THE TEMPEST.
42. Come, cbmCj | o keep | these preach|ments till | you come.
IB., IV, 6, 113.
Dyce, Wagner, Mr Keltic, and Mr Tancock print this
passage as prose. Mr Fleay (p. 127) p^reachments y as
a trisyllable.
43. Help, un|cle Kent, | v^ Mor|timer | will wrong | me.
IB., V, 2, no.
Mr Fleay (p. 128) Mortimer i as a word of four syllables.
44. To mur|ther you> | v^ my | most gra|cious lord.
IB., V, 5, 43.
Mr Fleay (p. 128) g^racious.
45. But not I too hard, j u lest | thou bruise | his bo|dy.
IB., V, 5, 109.
,, Mr Fleay (p. 129) har^d, as a dissyllable.
46. Betray | us both; | v^ there | fore let | me fly.
IB., V, 6, 8.
Whilst Dyce, Wagner, and Mr Tancock are silent
^boiit this line, Mr Fleay (p. 114) gives the following
scansion of which the less is said, the better it will
be: —
Betray us both, theref6re let m6 fly.
Y, Mor. Fly
To th* savages.
47. ^hat same ] is Blanch, | o daugh|ter to | the king.
Fair Em, Del., 8. — W. and Pk., 10. — SiMp., II, 416.
Simpson's (or Chetwood's?) conjecture (the daughter)
as well as my own (sole daughter) I now consider as
needless. See note XIII.
48. Ah, Em, I V. faith|ful love | is fiill | bf jeal|oUsy.
IB., Del., 16. — W. AND PR., i9. — Simp., II, 425.
Both Simpson's and my own conjectures may be dismissed
as heedless. Jealousy is, of course, to be pronounced
as a trisyllabic feminine eliding. See note XIX.
49. My Idtd, t ^ wdtcih|ing this | night in | thfe cainp.
Ib., Cel., 36. — W. AND IPr., 42. — Simp., II, 447.
My conjecture (th wafchihg) seems needless. S^e note
XXVII. /
50. Comedy, | ^ play | thy part ( arid t)lease.
MucEDORUS, Del., 3. — W. and Pr.j 21. — H's D., VII, 203.
No addition seems to be wanted.
51. To match | with you. | o Her|mit, this | is true; cIT .^g
IB., Del., 44. — W. AND Pr., 66. — H's D„ VII, 247.
Messrs Warrike and Proescholdt read , on th^ir own
responsibility, Ay, hermit^ %lc,
52. That man|nerS stood | u un|ackn6wl|i5dged.
IB., Del., 53. — W. AND PR., 75. — H's D., VII, 256.
Mr Hazlitt's Dodsley, without a remark: —
That manner stood unknowledged. / .
Compare, for the slightness . of the pause ^ ndtes' CLII
and CLXVI.
53. Ready | to pay | with joy. | \j Farei[wfell both.
Beaumont And Fletcher, Queen oe CoRikTtt, IV, 2.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 143, heedlessly conjectures
Fare you well both. Compare No. 28.
54. Since you've | so lrtt|le wit. | o Fare | you well, | sir.
The Second Maiden's Tragedy, I, 1 (THE old English
Drama, Lon. 1825, I, 4).
The verse preceding this may likewise be considered as
a syllable pause line, however flight its j«tise may be: —
'Tis hap|py you | have learnt | u so | much ittan|ners.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 143, knows no better means
of scanning this line than by dissyllabizing leamly
although he feels by no means sure.
55. Would pierce | like light|(e)ning. | v/ 1 | believe.
GtAPTHoRNE, The Lady's PkiviLEGE.
Compare S. Walkei", Versification, p. 18 seq.
9*
132 THE TEMPEST.
56. For with | my sword, | ^J this | sharp curjtle axe.
LocRiNE (Malone's Suppl., II, 257).
The critics of the last century would no doubt have
repeated my: —
For with | my sword, | this viy | sharp cur|tle axe.
B. Lines in which the pause stands for an
ACCENTED SYLLABLE.
57. This king | of Na|ples, — | b6ing | an en|emy.
The Tempest, I, 2, 121.
JEnemy. is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending.
Or should we pronounce demg as a monosyllable
(according to Abbott, s. 470) and scan: —
This king] of Na|ples, being | an en|emy?
58. A treach|erous ar|my lev|ied, — | one mid|night.
Not: 16v|ied, 6ne | midnight! ^^> I' ^' ^^8.
59. And were | the king | on't, — | what would | I do?
IB., II, I, 145.
Abbott, p. 418, regulates this line by giving the full
pronunciation to the contraction on'f, whereas the late
Prof. Wagner in his edition of Shakespeare suggested
wha^ would I not do?^ although the following line clearly
shows this conjecture to be inconsistent with the sense
of the passage.
60. Ay, sir; | where lies | that? — | If't were | a kibe.
Ib., II, I, 269.
Dyce, and where, &c. — Perhaps it might be as well
to scan: —
Ay, sir; | « where | lies that? | If't were | a kibe.
61. Just as I you left | them; — | all pris|oners, sir.
IB., V, I, 9.
Pope, all your prisoners; Dyce, following Collier's
so-called Ms. Corrector, all are prisoners. The one
is as good, or as bad, as the other.
THE TEMPEST. 133
62. Their clear|er reas|on. — | O good | Gonza|lo.
IB., V, I, 68.
Pope, O my good; S. Walker (Crit. Exam. Ill, 7),
O thou good. This latter conjecture has been installed
in the text by Dyce. Abbott, p. 375, gives the fol-
lowing scansion of the line, which I do not quite
understand : —
Their cl6a|rer r6a|son. 0V| ' good | Gonzalo.
He adds that he has not found reason a trisyllable in
Shakespeare. See infra No. 81.
63. Till death | unloads | thee. — | Friend hast | thou none.
Measure for Measure, III, i, 28.
Pope, unloadeth. Abbott, p. 380, is of opinion, that
'possibly "friends" [sic] may require to be emphasized,
as its position is certainly emphatic' I am surprised
that he has not thought of making unloads a word of
three syllables.
64. O me! I you jugg|ler! — | You can|ker blos|som.
A Midsummer- Night's Dream, III, 2, 282.
Capell, You jugler, you! Abbott, p. 364, pronounces
juggfejier.
65. Like a | ripe sisjter: — | the wom|an low.
As You Like It, IV, 3 , 88.
FBCD: but the woman. Abbott, p. 365, classes this
line with those cases where *er final seems to have
been sometimes pronounced with a kind of "burr",
which produced the effect of an additional syllable',
the second syllable of sister thus taking the place of
two syllables. See infra No. 74. After all, ripe sister
may be a corruption.
66. Of great|est just|ice. — | Write, write, | Rinal|do.
All's Well that Ends Well, in, 4, 29.
134 THE TEMPEST.
FB; Wnif andwrtU; Hanmer, Wriky ohj write. Abbqtt,
p. 379, dissyllabizes the first Write. To me it seems
highly improbable, that the same word should first be
pronounced as a dissyllable and immediately after as
a monosyllat^le.
67. The doct|rine of | ill-do|ing, — | nor dream'd.
The Winter's Tale, I, 2, 70.
FB inserts ne after ill- doing; see S. Walker, Crit. Exam.,
II, 256 and Dyce ad loc. According to Abbott, p. 411,
it is a line with four accents, without a pause in the
middle of the line; he declares such lines to be very
rare, except in The Taming of the Shrew.
68. And no|ble Dau|phin, — | albeit | we swear.
K. John, ¥,2,9.
* Albeit, says Al. Schmidt s. v., in John ¥,2,9 of
three, everywhere else of two syllables.' Such an ano-
maly might have roused a suspicion in the learned
lexicographer.
69. Never | believe | me. — | Both are | my kins | men.
Richard II, II, 2, iii.
Pope, They are both. Abbott, p. 415.
70. Bring him [ pi^ pur|pQse. — | And so | farewell.
I K. Henry IV, IV, 3, m.
S. Walker, VersificatioA, p. 141. 'The three first quar-
tos read purposes [which is no doubt the better reading],
the others and the folios purposed lb., note.
71. You have | not sought [it. — | How comes j it then?
IB., V, I, 27.
Pope, sought itf sir? Dyce adds Well before How.
At)bott, p. 415, declares this line to be one of four
accents, * unless (omes is cometh\
THE TEMPEST. i§§
72. Lord I>oug|las, — | go you and tell j him so.
IB., V, 2, 33.
Theobald, go you then; Abbott, p. 365, pronounces
Doug[e]las.
73. For worms, | brave Per|cy. — | Farewell, | great heart.
IB., V, 4, 87.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 140. — Abbott, p. 370,
pronounces Farewell as a trisyllable. — The reading
of the Qq, Fare thee well, has certainly the better
claim to genuineness.
74. I pray | you, un|cle, — | give me | this dag|ger.
Richard III, III, i, no.
Hanmer, uncle then; Keightley, ge^tle uncle, Dyce ad
loc, Abbott, p. 365, says that by a kind of burr the
er final in dagger ' produces the effect of an c^dditio^ftl
syllable'; compare supra No. 65.
75. We'll teach | you. — | Sir, I'm | too old | to learn.
K. Lear, II, 2, 135.
Abbott, p. 365, dissyllabizes Sir by *a kind of burr*
again. Ff I am, which may, or may not be a cor-
rection.
76. Of quick, I cross light|ning? — | To watch, | poor per|du.
i»., IV, 7, 35.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 17, and Abbott, p. 365;
Abbott pronounces light[e]ntng.
77. *Tis mon|strous. — | la [go, who | began't?
Othello, II, 3, 217.
Abbott, p. 364, pronounces mensifejrous.
78. Thou kill'st I thy mis|tress: — | but well | and free.
Antony and Cleopatra, II, 5, 27.
Abbott, p. 365, mtstfejress.
79. Be firee | and health|ful. — | So tart | a fajvour.
IB., 11, 5. 38-
136 THE TETSiPEST.
Abbott, p. 378, pronounces healthful as a word of three
syllables. However, Dyce may be right in asserting,
that why, added by Rowe, is 'absolutely necessary
for the sense of this passage/
80. To taunt | at slack|ness. — | Canid|ius, we.
IB., m, 7, 28.
Abbott, p. 365, slackfejness.
81. Lord of I his rea|son. — | What though | you fled?
IB., Ill, 13, 4.
S. Walker, Crit. Exam., II, 156 seq., proposes What an
though y 'unless What although be allowable'. Dyce,
ad loc. Abbott, p. 415, seems inclined to pronounce
re -a- son J but does not remember an instance. See
supra No. 62.
82. A mang|led shad|ow. — | Perchance | to-morrow.
IB., IV, 2, 28.
Pope, It may chance for Perchance; Steevens, Nay, per-
chance, Abbott, p. 414.
83. Being | so frus|trate. — | Tell him, | he mocks.
IB., V, I, 2.
Capell, frustrated; Hanmer, he but mocks; Steevens,
that he mocks; Malone, he mocks us by; Abbott, p. 365,
frustfejrate.
84. Try man|y, — | all good, | serve tru|ly, nev|er.
Cymbeline, IV, 2, 373.
Johnson (or Capell?), many, and all. This conjecture
has been adopted by Dyce, *the line, as he says,
halting intolerably from omission'. Abbott, p. 377,
dissyllabizes all,
85. Go search | like no|bles, — | like no|ble subjects.
Pericles, II, 4, 50.
Steevens, noblemen instead of nobles; Abbott, p. 364,
nob(e)les, with a mark of interrogation.
THE TEMPEST. ISfr
86. My lord, | be go|ing: — | care not | for these.
Marlowe, Edward II (ed. Fleay), IV, 6, 93.
Mr Fleay and Prof. Wagner, as usual, resort to the
resolution of care.
87. Keep them | asun|der: — | thrust in \ the king.
IB., V, 3, 53.
Mr Fleay (p. 128) says: *Thr*usty or rather ihur^st with
the r transposed, as in burn for bren* — The line
cannot be taken for a verse of four feet with an extra
syllable before the pause, but must be declared to be
a blank verse , as from 1. 5 1 to 1. 60 we have a regular
88. Cannot | transmute | me. — | Perti|nax, Sur|ly.
B. JoNsoN, The Alchemist, II, i, 79.
Modern edd., my Surly.
89. More an|tichrist|ian — | than your | bell- found |ers.
IB., ni, I, 23.
Or should we scan: —
More anltichrist|i-an | than your | bell-foundlers?
90. Call out I Caly|pha, — | that she | may hear.
Geo. Peele, The Old Wives' Tale (Greene and
Peele, ED. Dyce, in I VOL., 1861, 45ob).
Dyce ad loc. needlessly conjectures, call that she &c.
91. For all I thy for|mer kind|ness, — | forget.
Beaumont and Fletcher, The Honest
Man's Fortune, I, i.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 22, proposes to read kind-
nesses.
92. That's all | thou art | right lord | of; -— | the king|dom.
The Birth of Merlin, ed. Delius, 73.
93. And so I I leave | thee. — | Farewell, ] my lord.
JERONIMO (HAZLITT'S DODSLEY, IV, 356).
S. Walker, Versification, p. 141, dissyllabizes Fare.
138 THE TEMPEST.
94- The time | that does | succeed | it. — | Farew^li.
GlAPTHORNE, AL8. WalLENSTEIN , II, 2 AD FIN.
S. Walker, Versification, p. 143, reads Farewell as a
trisyllable.
95. And sweet | Perse|da, — | accept | this ring.
SOLIMAN AND PERSEDA (H'S D., V, 26o).
96. Graced by | thy coun|try, — | but ten | times more.
IB., V, 264.
97. Erast|us, — | to make | thee well | assur'd.
IB., V, 320.
98. Perse I da, — | for my | sake wear | this crown.
IB., V, 339.
99. And seeing | her mis | tress — | thrown on ( the ground.
Ram -Alley (H's D., X, 280).
This line, like so many others, seems to admit of
different scansions; mistress may be pronounced as a
trisyllable, and upon may be substituted for on, if so
much liberty be conceded to the critic.
100. Her life [ and be|ing, — | and with [out which.
IB., X, 288.
For the accentuation without, about which S. Walker,
Abbott, Al. Schmidt (Shakespeare -Lexicon) and others
are silent, compare e. g. Coriolanus, III, 3, 133: —
That won you without blows! Despising,
and Mucedorus, II, 2, 78: —
Vile coward, so without cause to strike a man.
1 01. I know't, I sweet Al|ice; — j cease to | complain.
ArDEN of FEVERSHAM, ED. Delius, 16.
102. Some see | it — | without | mistrust | of ill.
Fair Em, Del., 16. — W. and Pr., 18. — Simp., II, 425.
The conjectural emendations of Chetwood (see it plain,
adopted by Delius) as well as of Messrs Wamke and
Prcescholdt (seeU) seem to be uncalled for.
THE TEMPEST. ^39
103. Now, Mar|ques, — | your vil|lmny | breaks forth.
IB., Del., 34. — W. AND Pr., 41. — Simp., II, 446.
Simpson repeats now after Marques; Messrs Warnke
and Proescholdt think that your may *be pronounced
as a dissyllable'.
104. I tell I thee, Man | vile, — | hadst thou | been blind.
IB., Del., 50. — W. AND Pr., 57. — Simp., II, 463.
I formerly suggested to read haddesty which form occurs
in Chaucer (Works, ed. Morris, IV, p. 311, 1. 248);
in The Faerie Queene, I, 2, 18; in Greene's Dorastus
and Fawnia (Shakespeare's Library, ed. Hazlitt, I, IV,
77, his)y ^ncl elsewhere, but am now satisfied that
we have to deal with a syllable pause line. (Jahrbuch
der Peutschen Shakespeare- Gesellschaft, XV, 350).
105. Now, Eljner, — | I am | thine own, | my girl.
IB., Del., 50. — ^ W. AND Pr., 57. — Simp., II, 463.
Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt say: *We must either
pronounce Elner as a trisyllable {Elmer [properly Elinor
and Elnor\)j or consider the line with Simpson as a
f verse of four accents, and read rm*
106. Mine, Man | vile? — | thou nev|er shalt | be mine.
IB., Del., 50. — . W. AND Pr., 57. — Simp., II, 463.
107. Segas|to, — I cease to | accuse | the shep|herd.
Mucedorus, Del., 23. — W. and Pr., 43. — H's D., VII, 224.
The transposition (the shepherd to accuse) proposed by
the late Prof. Wagner (Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare-Gesellschaft, XI, 67) and adopted by Messrs
Warnke and Proescholdt, is needless.
ig8. To 't, Bre|mo, to | it; — | essay | again.
IB., Del., 31. — W. and Pr., 52. — H's D., VII, 233.
Qq: To it, Bremo, to it; say again. The correction
essay is due to Mr Hazlitt.
140 THE TEMPEST.
109. Now, Bre|mo, — | for so | I heard | thee call'd.
IB., Del., 41, — W. AND Pr., 63. — H's D., VU, 244.
My conjecture (/or so do I hear) , although received
into the text by Messrs Warnke and Proescholdt, yet
appears to be needless. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XIII, 71).
CCLXXIX.
Art, Pardon, master:
I will be correspondent to command.
And do my spriting gently.
Pros. Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
The Tempest, I, 2, 296 seq.
According to the Cambridge editors ad loc, *the defect in
the metre of 1. 298 has not been noticed except by Hanmer,
who makes a line thus: —
Do so, and after two days I'll discharge thee.'
'Possibly, they go on to say, it ought to be printed thus: —
Do so; and
After two days
I will discharge thee.'
They feel, however, so much the less certain as 'Skake-
speare's language passes so rapidly from verse to prose and
from prose to verse , that all attempts to give regularity
to the metre must be made with diffidence and received
with doubt.' — This is very true; nevertheless it would
seem as if in the present case the metre might be recovered
pretty easily. Arrange and read : —
Hf
THE TEMPEST. 141
Art. Pardon, master:
ru be corr'spondent to command, and do
My spriting gently.
Pros. Do so; and after two days
I will discharge thee.
At first sight the contracted pronunciation of correspondent
may seem doubtful, since unaccented syllables in polysyllables
use to be slurred only when following the accented syllable;
at least Dr Abbott, s, 468, gives no other instances and in
s. 460 offers a different explanation of such ,wprd^ where
the unaccented syllable precedes the accented one j accord-
ing to him they merely drop their prefixes. The following
passages go far to establish the slurring of unaccented syl-
lables before the accented one and should therefore be exa-
mined so much the more carefully.
The Tempest, I, 2, 248: —
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings. .1
Pope and Mr Henry N. Hudson (The Complete Works of
Shakespeare. Boston, &c.) omit the second thee, 'which,
Mr Hudson assures us, spoils the verse without helping the
sense.' In my opinion, neither the one, nor the other, is
true. Pronounce mistakings and both the metre and sense
are as regular as can be wished. Dr Abbott (s. 460, p. 340),
however, thinks it more probable that the second thee is
slurred.
The Tempest, III, 3, 24 (a syllable pause line):— -
At this hour reigning there. I'll b'lieve both.
The Tempest, V, i, 145: —
As great to me as late; and supportable.
Abbott, s. 497, explains this apparent Alexandrine by the
omission of an unemphatic syllable, viz. and.
14^ frfE tfe^tPEST.
portable" can b6 dcc^htfed on the first*, in favoiif of which
accentuatioil Dyce dnd Mt William J. Rolfe (Shakespeare's
Comedy of the Tempest, New York, 1871, p. 141) openly
declare. Dyt^, however, is somewhat diffident and Would not
be loth to adopt Steevens'5 conjecttlte pvrtdhU. Mf- Hudson
aii hi. reiharksf *The original has supportable, which makes
shockiiig ^VOrk with the metre. Steevens printed poridhky which
kiee^Js the^ets6, sJlVes the tfefse, alid is el&6^here iised by
the Poet.' TTiis is a rather siimmaty proceeding. Mr Rolte
cotepares Mestdhh (K. John, III, 4, ^9. Timon of Athens,
iVj*'*,- 33) ahd dilettdhh (Richard 11, H, 3), both of which,
m accbMatice with Dr Abbott, s. 492, he takes to be accented
oil the first syllable. This may pass for detestable which itl
both |)aSSages bccuts iil the body of the line, but with
respect to delectable it may be submitted , that the tisual accen-
tuation may be retained, if the first syllable be slurred: —
Making | the hard | T^ay sdft 1 and d'lect|able.
To revert to the line iilider discussion (The Tempest,
¥, 1, 145) it shotild be scatlried analogously: —
t*' As gteat I to ine j as late; | and s'pport|able.
The TWo Gentlenien of Vertmaj V, 4, 86 seq. This pas-
sage has geherally been printed as prose, and Dyce, who has
rightly pointed oiit that 4t undoubtedly was tneaiit to be
^fetse', yet adds that *here, as elsewhere in this Scehe, the
verse is corhipted.' Now, this pretended corruption fade^
as fast as Prospero's pageant, if we pronounce d' liver aS a
dissyllable. The passage, according to t)yce, runs thus: —
Vai. Why, boy! why, wag! how now! what is the
Look up; speak. [matter?
Jul. O good sir, iliy BQister charg'd me
To deliver a ring to madam Silvia;
Which, out of my neglect, was never done.
ftUt tEMPEST. 143
The Taming of the Shrew, IV, ^, ii: —
Quick proceeders, marry! Now, tell me, I priay;
pronounce proceeders.
lb., IV, i, 14: —
O despiteftil love! unconstant womankltid;
pronoiince despiteful. Dr Abbott, s. 460 (p. 342) says, that
the prefix (^<?), * though written, ought scarcely to be pro-
nounced.' The 6ain^ piroceeding'- holds good in the Hnes:
Richard III, 5, 109 {recourse); ib. IV, 1, 14^ (resist);
V, 3, 185 (r'venge).
Henry V, IV, 8, 84: —
Full fifteen hundred, besides common m6n.
This may either be taken for a syllable pause lin6: —
Full fifjteen hund|i-ed, — | besides cOm|mon men,
or hundred may be read as a trisyllable (see Abbbtt, S. 477):
Full lif]teen hund|(e)r6d, | biesides cdm|hiott men.
In either case besides is to be pronounced as a monosyllable.
Dr Abbott (s. 484, p. 379) scans the line: —
Fttll fifjteen hundred, | besijdes com|m6n lilen,
which is no ways acceptable.
Timon of Athens, III, 3, 8. There can be Very little
doubt that Mt Lloyd has hit the mark in suggesting that
the name of Lucius should be added to this line : —
Lucius, Ventidius, and Liicullus denied him?
If this is, and I atri petsuaded that it is, Wh^t the poet
wrote, we shall haVfe to pronounce d*Hied And the lihe will
be as regular as can be wished: —
^'<^Lilclus, 1 Ventid'iiis, ^hd ) Lucullliis denied | him?
Marlowe's Edward II (ed. Fleay), IV, 5, 6: —
Give me my hoi^se, let us te'nforce our troops.
R/HfdYc-e is the spelling of the Qq, biit his been altered to
reinforce by the editors, even by Dyce, though he canhot
144 THE TEMPEST.
help remarking that the old spelling shows how the word
'was intended to be pronounced.' The old copies of this
play also print Lewne instead of Levune which proves that
in this name too the unaccented syllable preceding the
accented one was slurred,
^.i^oliman and Perseda (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, V, 262): —
Perseda. Here comes a messenger to haste me hence. —
I know your message, hath the princess
Sent for me?
Messenger. She hath, and
Desires you to consort her to the triumphs.
Arrange either : — .
Perseda. Here comes a messenger to haste me hence. —
I know your message; hath thq princess sent
For me?
Messenger. She hath, and desires ypjij^^: pQnsort
Her to the triumphs, ^ ^j^^^,, ,.,,{i;,> , [
Perseda. Here comes a messenger to haste ^ptjhence.
I know your message; ,, | j,-,:,; ,
Hath the princess sent for me?
Messenger. She hath, ^.^^^
And desires you to consort her to the triumphs. ..r.
In either case desires is to be pronounced desires.
Fair Em (ed. Warnke and Proescholdt) , I, 2, 66: —
Shall in perseverance of a virgin's due; ^^.
pronounce perseverance. ^,j
Mucedorus (ed. Warnke and Proescholdt), Induction,, 39: —
Delighting in mirth, mix'd all with lovely tales; ,
pronounce U lighting. The line begins with a trochee, and
Wagner's correction Delights should not have been admitted
into the text.
THE TEMPEST. i45
lb., n, 2, 68 seq. : —
Thy strength sufficient to perform my desire,
Thy love no otherwise than to revenge my injuries.
Pronounce d'sire and, perhaps, revenge; see note CXCVII.
I take this opportunity of withdrawing formally my former
conjecture wish for desire y although it has met with the
approval of Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt. Other instead
of otherwise which has been suggested by Prof. Wagner and
received into the text by Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt;
ought to be eliminated again. li:^ .1 xii
lb., n, 4, 35:- ■■" ■"■•■'*a«
I refer it to the credit of Segasto; '^V»
pronounce r''fer.
lb., m, 2, 52: —
Your departure, lady, breeds a privy pain;
pronounce departure,
lb., V, I, 55:-
Desiring thy daughter's virtues for to see;
pronounce D* siring; the line (like Induction, 39) begins
with a trochee.
Even beyond the pale of dramatic poetry we meet with
the same peculiarity of rapid pronunciation; thus, e. g., in
Sir Thomas More's Utopia, ed. Arber, p. 167: —
Wherfore not Utopie, bilt rather rightely
My name is Eutopie; A place of felicity.
Pronounce /Vzh'/y. See note XXXIX. : j-p
If, after all these instances which might easily be mul-
tiplied, there should still remain a doubt in the reader's
mind, let him go in a London omnibus from the Bank to
ChcCng CrdsSf and the conductor's pronunciation of this name
will fully satisfy him of the innate tendency of the English
14«
THE TEMPEST.
language to slur unaccented syllables no less before than
after the primary accent.
There still remains another difficulty in 1. 298 of our
passage which must not pass without a word of comment.
Mr Phillpotts in his edition of this play (Rugby Edition, 1876)
gives the following scansion: —
D6 so; I and 4f|ter tw6 | days.
The numeral two^ however, should not stand in the accented,
but in the unaccented part of the foot, just as it is the case
in 1. 42 1 : within two days. The same reason holds good
against Hanmer's alteration of the line. The fact is, that
after is to be pronounced as a monosyllable (compare Abbott,
s. 465, and Chaucer, ed. Morris, I, 178). The true scansion
of the line therefore is : —
My spri|ting g^nt|ly. D6 so; | and dft'r | two ddys.
(Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 3 seqq.)
ymv^i\ {or CCLXXX.
Gon, I would with such perfection govern, sir,
tiji' To excel the golden age.
J'/ Seb, 'Save his majesty.
Ant. Long live Gonzalo.
Gon. And, — do you mark me, sir?
The Tempest, 11,1, 167 seqq.
This is the reading and arrangement of the Cambridge
Edition. S. Walker, Crit. Exam., I, 215 (misquoted III, 215
by Dyce ad loc.) would read : God save his majesty y the metre
in his opinion requiring the supplement. But Save may well
be a monosyllabic foot. Antonio's exclamation as transmitted
•in the Fc^io- is meaningless ; it is intended to chaff Gonzalo,
trtE TEMPftSt. l4t
but does not. I think it impossible for Shakespeare to have
omitted that point or sting \vhich sfeeins to bft itoperatively
demanded by the context; he wrote, no doubt: Long live
KING Gonzalo! Compare 'king Stephano' in A. IV, sc. J,
I. 221 seqq. As to the arrangement of the passage, I feel
certain that it is quite correct in FA and should not, there*
fore, be altered: the two exclamations form one line, as
suggested also by S. Walker: —
Gon, I would with such perfection govern, sir,
T' excel the golden age.
Seh. Save his majesty!
Ant. Long live king Gortzftlo.
Gon* And, — do you mark me, sir?
In the scansion of the third line it makes no difference,
whether S. Walker's conjecture be adopted or tidt. In my
eyes this addition is by no means called for; on the con-
trary I think it highly appropriate and expressive for both
exclamations to begin with a strongly accented word; scan:-^
Sdve I his raaj*|9ty. -^ L6ng | live king | Gon«a|lo.tM
The same rhythmical movement occurs in i Tamburlaine,
II, 7, ad fin.: —
L6ng I live Tam|burlaine, | and reign | in A|sia.
and in Richard III, III, 7, ad fin., according to the Qq: —
L6ng I live Rich|ard, Eng|land*s roy[al king,
whereas the Ff read: Long live | king Rich|atd, &6.'
CCLXXXI.
Ant, It is the quality o' th' Clytnate.
Seh. Why
Doth it not then our eye -lids sinke? I finde
Not my selfe dispos'd to sleep.
10*
\i^ THE TEMPEST.
Anf. Nor I, my spirits are nimble:
They fell together all, as by consent; &c.
The Tempest, II, i, 200 seq.
This reading of the Folio has been altered by all subsequent
editors in so far as No/ has been transferred from the
beginning of the fourth to the end of the third line. Since,
therefore, the Editio princeps cannot be followed verbatim,
one more remove farther off from it, will not greatly tax
our conservatism. In order that 1. 201 may be reduced to
a regular blank verse, the passage should be printed thus: —
Ant, It is the quality o' th' climate.
Seh. Why doth it
Not then our eyelids sink? I find not myself
Disposed to sleep.
Ant. Nor I; my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all, as by consent; &c.
Line 200 has an extra- syllable before the pause. Myself is,
of course, to be pronounced as a monosyllable (compare
Mylord). (Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 9).
CCLXXXII.
And would no more endure
This wooden slavery than to suffer
The flesh -fly blow my mouth.
The Tempest, III, i, 61 seq.
In order to complete the second line (1. 62) which to all
appearance has been mutilated by some copyist or com-
positor , Pope reads than I would suffer y whilst Dyce adds
tamely after suffer. This latter reading has been transferred,
without a remark, to Mr Hudson's edition, although it may
^'^
THE TEMPEST. 149
be said to have nomen et omen: it is tame, very tame. May
not the loss have taken place at the beginning of the line
as well as at its end? May we not imagine the poet to
have written : —
And would no more endure
At home this wooden slavery than to suffer
The flesh-fly blow my mouth?
I own that this is a mere guess, but Pope's and Dyce's con-
jectures are no more. (Notes and Queries, June 2, 1883,
p. 424 seq. — Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 438).
CCLXXXin.
Therefore take heed
As Hymen's lamps shall light you.
The Tempest, IV, i, 22 seq.
Read, lamp. Shakespeare is well aware that Hymen has
but one lamp or, properly speaking, torch; in 1. 97 of this
very scene he says: Till Hymen's torch be lighted. The s
in lamps has evidently intruded into the text by anticipation
of the initial s in shall; it is the reverse of what is called
absorption and what I believe to have taken place in A. I,
sc. 2, 1. 497; see note LV. At the same time the Sinoio-
TsXevTOVy i. e. the similar endings of the preceding words
(As Hymen' j), may likewise have been instrumental in pro-
ducing the faulty repetition of this final s. Similar instances
where a faulty final letter has been introduced either by the
influence of the initial of the next word, or by a Sfzoioti-
XevtoVj are pretty firequent. Compare, in the first -named
category, Hamlet, I, i, 162 (planet j jtrike; note LXXXVIIl).
Marlowe's Dido, V, 13, where Qu. 1594 reads: —
That load their thighs with Hybla's honeys jpoyles,
150 THE TEMPEST.
instead of honey spoyles. A Midsummer -Night's Dream, II, 2,
121 seq.: —
where I orelooke
Louej stories, written in Loues richest booke,
where the poet in all probability wrote Loue stories; see
S. Walker, Crit. Exam., I, 255. Mucedorus, II, 3, 5: —
Now Bremo sith thy leisure so affords,
A needless (Qq: An endless] thing,
instead of sity thy; see note CCI. The Works of Al. Pope,
ed. by the Rev. Whitwell Elwin, I, 352 (Windsor Forest,
1. 201 seq.): —
Let me, O let me, to the shades repair,
My natives shades — there weep and murmur there.
The line from Dido may at the same time serve as a spe-
cimen of similar endings: —
That load their thighs with Hybla'j' honey spoiij.
Still more striking is the corruption in the following S^ioio-
zeXevta. The first I take from Marston's Insatiate Countess
(A. Ill, sc. I, 1. 13) where the Qu. of 1631 reads: —
Sing boy (though/ nigh/ ye/) like the mornings Larke,
whereas Qu. 1613 exhibits the correct reading though night
yet; see note CCLXXIII. A second and third instance occur
in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I, 3, 88, and in Antony
and Cleopatra, V, 2, 216 respectively; the former passage
stands thus in FA: —
Sir Protheuj', your Fathers call'j for you,
the latter thus: —
sawcie Lictorj
Will catch at vj like Strumpetj, and scald Rimer j
Balladj vj out a Tune.
Read, father and Ballad, A glaring instance may also be
found in : The Task : Book I. The Sofa. By William Cowper.
THE TEMPEST. J^J.
With Introduction and Notes (London and Glasgow ; William
Collins, Sons, and Company. 1878) p. 12, 1. 290 seq.: —
The sheepfold here
Pourj out^ its fleecy tenants o'er the glebe.
Compare Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke, The Shakespeare
Key (London, 1879), P- ^7^ seqq. Abbott, p. 240 seq.
(Notes and Queries, June 2, 1883, p. 425. — Kolbing,
Englische Studien, VI, 438 seq.)
CCLXXXIV.
Go, bring the rabble.
O'er whom I give thee power, here to this place.
The Tempest, IV, i, 37 seq.
I think, we should read: I gave thee power, for Ariel has
exercised the power given him by Prospero over the meaner
spirits already in the second scene of the first act, where
he directs them to dance and to sing : —
Come unto these yellow sands, &c.
(Notes and Queries, June 2, 1883, p. 425. — Kolbing,
Englische Studien, VI, 439).
CCLXXXV.
Pros, Sweet, now silence!
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously;
There's something else to do: hush, and be mute,
Or else our spell is marr'd.
The Tempest, IV, i, 124 seq.
Mr Aldis Wright ingeniously remarks, that 4t would seem
more natural that these words should be addressed to
Miranda'. 'If they are properly assigned to Prospero', he
152 THE TEMPEST.
continues, *we should have expected that part of the pre-
vious speech would have been spoken by Miranda. They
might form a continuation of Ferdinand's speech, which
would then be interrupted by Prospero's "Silence!" Other-
wise the difficulty might be avoided by giving " Sweet
to do" to Miranda and the rest of the speech to Prospero.'
— To me a slight alteration of this latter arrangement would
seem to meet all exigencies of the case; I feel certain that
the original distribution of these lines was as follows: —
Mir, [To Fer^ Sweet, now, silence!
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously.
Pros. There's something else to do: hush, and be
Or else our spell is marr'd. [mute,
I think it an admirable touch of the poet that the whispering
of the goddesses should produce in Miranda's timid mind
some vague fear lest the pageant should be disturbed by
Ferdinand's remarks and some harm be done to her lover
and herself by the irritated spirits; her speech, however,
must end at seriously , for how should she have come to the
knowledge that there is something else to do? Nobody but
Prospero knows what is to come or to be done next and
the words There^s something else to do cannot with propriety
be assigned to any other interlocutor, whereas the line Juno
and Ceres whisper seriously seems to fit no lips so well as
those of his daughter. (Notes and Queries, June 2, 1883,
p. 425. — Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 439 seq.)
CCLXXXVI.
Leave not a rack behind.
The Tempest, IV, i, 156.
Dyce eagerly contends for the correctness of Malone's inter-
pretation of this passage, rack in the opinion of both these
THE TEMPEST. i$t
critics being equivalent to wrecks whereas they think it com-
pletely inadmissible to take the word in the sense of scud
or floating vapour, as has been done by Mr Collier and
others. In my opinion, wreck, in this passage, would be
far too gross and not in keeping with the context. Without
reviewing the explanations given by Staunton and other
editors, I merely wish to point out a coincidence that has
not yet been adverted to and which seems to decide in
favour of rack = vapour or scud. It is agreed on almost
all hands that in these lines Shakespeare has imitated a
well-known passage in the Earl of Stirling's tragedy of Darius
which its author winds up with the following lines: —
Those statelie Courts, those sky-encountring walles
Evanish all like vapours in the aire.
Is it not evident that rack was intended by Shakespeare as
a substitute for the synonymous vapours? And why may he
not have connected the word with the indefinite article,
unusual though this connection may be? At all events this
syntactical anomaly seems highly impressive in so far as it
reduces, so to say, the mass of floating vapours to a single
particle or streak and seems to imply that all the gorgeous-
ness of earth does not even leave behind a single streak
of vapour. (Notes and Queries, June 2, 1883, p. 425. —
Kolbing, Englische Studien, VI, 440).
ccLxxxvn.
Is not this Stephano, my drunken butler?
The Tempest, V, i, 277.
Dr Farmer's well-known remark, that the pronunciation of
Stephano is always right in The Tempest (i. e. with the accent
on the first syllable) and always wrong in The Merchant of
154 THE TEMPEST.
Venice (i. e. with the accent on the penult) has been repeated
and subscribed to by all subsequent commentators, myself
among the number (Essays on Shakespeare, p. 293 seq.).
Farmer takes it for granted that Shakespeare was taught
the right pronunciation of the name by Ben Jonson in the
interval between the bringing out of the two respective
comedies, as the first version of Every Man in his Humour,
in which Shakespeare performed a part in 1598, contained
two characters, Prospero and Stephano, both correctly pro-
nounced. However plausible this surmise may appear, I have
nevertheless come to the conviction that Shakespeare may
noways have stood in need of any such instruction from his
firiend B. Jonson. The name of Stephano occurs twice in
The Merchant of Venice, viz. V, i, 28: —
Stephano is my name; and I bring word
and V, I, 51: —
My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you.
It strikes me, that in both these lines the name may be
pronounced as correctly as in The Tempest; the first line
opening with a trochee and the second having a trochee in
the second place. I need not point out how fi-equently a
trochee occurs at the beginning of the line; that it is also
of pretty frequent occurrence in the second foot has been
shown in my second edition of Hamlet, s. 118 (That no
reuenew hast, &c.). Compare Abbott, s. 453. Nothing pre-
vents us then firom scanning : —
St6pha|no is | my name; | and 1 | bring w6rd
and: —
My fi:i6nd | St6pha|no, sig|nify, I prdy | you.
(Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 10 seq.).
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 165
CCLXXXVIII.
Speed. Sir Proteus, save you! Saw you my master.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I, i, 70.
The late Prof. Wagner in his edition of Shakspere's Works
(Hamburg, 1880, Vol. I, p. 87) remarks on this line: 'Some
word (like here or noiv) seems to have dropped out after
saw you' 1 think not. Proieus is either to be pronounced
as a trisyllable : —
Sir Pro|teus, | save you! | Saw you | my mas|ter,
or, which I think even more likely, the verse belongs to the
wide -spread class of syllable pause lines: —
Sir Pro|teus, save | you! — | Saw you | my mas]ter.
The same alternative recurs A. I, sc. 3, 1. 3: —
'Twas of your nephew Proteus, your son,
and A. I, sc. 3, 1. 88: —
Sir Proteus, your father calls for you.
These two Hnes Prof. Wagner passes by without comment.
CCLXXXIX.
Jul, O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook:
This is the ring you sent to Silvia.
Pro. But how cam'st thou by this ring? At my depart
I gave this unto Julia.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, V, 4, 94 seq.
Steevens proposed an entirely different arrangement of these
and the preceding lines with divers alterations of the text
which it is needless to repeat. Pope omits But in 1. 96.
Dyce, following Steevens in this particular, transfers the words
at my depart to the beginning of the following line, without,
however, adding a word of explanation or justification. The
Cambridge Editors write earnest and seem to have taken the
156 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
line to be one of six feet, with a trochee for its second foot.
The simplest and easiest way to regulate the metre, in my
opinion, is to add But to the preceding line; thus: —
JuL O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook:
This is the ring you sent to Silvia.
Pro, But,
How cam'st thou by this ring? At my depart
I gave this unto Julia.
Compare Antony and Cleopatra, V, 2, 12 seqq.: —
Antony
Did tell me of you, bade me trust you; but
I do not greatly care to be deceived.
(Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 11 seq.).
CCXC.
Farewell, gentle mistress, farewell, Nan.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, III, 4, 98.
In accordance with S. Walker, Versification, p. 140, both
Dr Abbott (s. 475) and Mr Aldis Wright (in his note on
The Tempest, I, 2, 53) have advanced the opinion that
the first fare in the above line is more emphatic than the
second; it is a dissyllable, they say, whereas the second is
a monosyllable.* It seems natural, however, that Master
Fenton should take leave in a more expressive tone firom
* According to Mr Aldis Wright also the first year in The
Tempest, I, 2, 53, is to be pronounced as a dissyllable, the second
as a monosyllable. I think it much more probable, however, that
the first Twelve is to be considered as a monosyllabic foot and that
the true scansion of the line is : —
Twelve | year since, | Miran|da, twelve | year since.
Thus a uniform and more pleasing rhythmical movement is obtained.
Compare S. Walker, Versification, p. 138.
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 157
'sweet Anne Page' than from her mother, the more so as
the latter does by no means favour his suit. In my opinion
the verse belongs, to those syllable pause lines whose name
is legion; see note CCLXXVIII. Accordingly it should be
scanned: —
Farewell, | v^ gen|tle mis|tress; fare|well, Nan.
The pronunciation farewell seems to have been considered
more emphatic, not to say pathetic, iham farewillr and, in
cases of repetition, a kind of climax is sometimes reached by
the transition from farewill to farewell. Compare, e. g.,
2 Henry VI, III, 2, 356: —
Yet now farewell; and farewell life with thee.
Another passage in point occurs in Richard III, III, 7, 247: —
Farewell, good cousin; farewell, gentle friends.
In the touching and heart -felt leave-taking of Brutus (Julius
Caesar, V, i , 116 seq.) the word is accented throughout on
the first syllable. Two passages that would seem to con-
tradict my theory occur in Othello (III, 3, 348 seq. and
V, 2, 124 seq.) where the word bears the accent on the
first syllable. I have, however, little doubt that the arran-
gement of the second of these passages is corrupted and
that Shakespeare did not make Desdemona say: —
Nobody; I myself; farewell. •
Commend | me to | my kind | lord. O, | farewell,
but: —
Nobody; jI myself; farewell! Commend me
To my I kind lord. | O, fdre|well!
The following line in Mucedorus (III, 4, 34) has been
declared by Messrs Wamke and Prcescholdt to be a regular
Alexandrine : —
Then Mu|cedo|rus, farejwell, my | hop'd joys, | farewell.
If this scansion were right, the more emphatic aiccerituation
158 THE MERRY WtVES OF WINDSOR.
of the word would indeed precede the less emphatic; but
the line, far from being a regular Alexandrine, is a regular
blank verse with an extra syllable before the pause : —
Then Mu|cedo|rus, farewell, | my hop'd | joys, f4re|welli
It cannot be denied, however, that in Fair Em there occurs
a line (V, i, 208) in which the accentuation fdrewell indeed
precedes the accentuation far ew ill: —
Then fdrewell, frost! farewell a wench that will,
whereas in a preceding passage of the same play (II, i, 157)
we read : —
Farewell, my love! Nay, fdrewell, life and all!
The Merry Devil of Edmonton (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, X, 239): —
Sir Arthur. Farew611, dear son, farewell.
Mounchensey. Fare | you well. | Ay, you | have done?
Marlowe, Edward II, II, 4, 8 seqq. (ed. Fleay): —
Gov. Farewell, my lord.
Edw, Lady, farewell.
Lady. Farewell, sweet uncle, till we meet again.
Edw. Farewell, sweet Gaveston; and fdrewell, niece.
Queen. No farewell to poor Isabel thy queen?
Let me add two more lines concerning which I cannot help
differing from Dr Abbott (s. 475 and s. 480). They are
K. John, III, 3, 17, scanned thus by Dr Abbott: —
Fare I well, gen | tie c6us|in. Coz, | farewell,
and Pericles, II, 5, 13, scanned thus: —
L6ath to I bid fd|rewell, | we tdke | our leaves.
The first verse, in which no gradation of accentuation or
emphasis takes place, I take to be a syllable pause line and
the second to begin with a monosyllabic foot: —
Farew611, | u g6n|tle c6us|in. Coz, | farewell,
and : —
L6ath I to bid I farewell, I we take I our leaves.
THE MERCHANT &c. THE TAMING &c. 159
The conjecture: 'Farewell, my gentle cousin', mentioned by
S. Walker, Versification, p. 1 40, is unnecessary, if not entirely
wrong. (Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 13 seqq.)
CCXCI.
Shy. Three thousand ducats; well.
The Merchant of Venice, I, 3, i. '
It seems a strange coincidence that in Soliman and Perseda
exactly the same sum should be offered as a reward to hinfi
who shall discover and capture the murderer of Ferdinando : -^
And let proclamation straight be made.
That he that can bring forth the murderer.
Shall have three thousand ducats for his pain.
See Mr Hazlitt's edition of Dodsley, V, 308. Soliman and
Perseda was first published in 1599, whereas The Merchant
of Venice was most probably written in 1594.
CCXCII.
Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy.
The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, I, 44.
According to the Cambridge Edition an anonymous critic,
identified since as Mr W. N. Lettsom by Dyce ad loc, asks
whether this line which is given invariably to the Lord, d6bs
not belong to the Second Hunter. In my opinion it clearly
belongs to the First Hunter; read therefore: —
First Hun. Believe me, lord, I think he cannot choose.
Sec. Hun. It would seem strange unto him when he waked.
First Hun. Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy.
Lord. Then take him up and manage well the JeSt'r'^c'.
(The Athenaeum, Mar. 12, 1881, p. 365).
160 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
ccxcni.
Stncklo. I thinke 'twas Soto that your honour meanes.
The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, I, 88 (FA).
It is well known that our knowledge of the player Sincklo,
Sincklow, Sinkclow, or Sincler is due to two blunders in FA,
where he is mentioned in the Introduction to the Taming
of the Shrew and, in the third Part of Henry VI, III, i;
to a similar blunder in the Quarto of the second Part of
Henry IV (V, 4); to the Induction to Marston's Malcontent;
and to the Piatt of the Seven Deadly Sins in Malone's Shak-
speare (Vol. III). Collier, in his Memoirs of the Principal
Actors in the Plays of Shakespeare, p. XXVII, further informs
us that Sincklo's 'Christian name appears to have been
William, that he lived in Cripplegate and had children
baptized at St. Giles's Church, in that parish, in 1610 and
1 613.' 'He is called Sincklowe and Sinckley in the registers.
Collier continues, but evidently the same man; and we take
it that he had been an actor under Henslowe and AUeyn
at the Fortune, (though his name does not occur in the
"Diary" of the former) and on that account resided near
their theatre, where he continued after he had joined the
king's players.' This information, however, can by no means
be considered as reliable, but, especially in its latter part,
is an unfounded hypothesis. Collier, moreover, makes a
naistake with respect to Sincklo's Christian name, which was
not William, but John, as appears from the Piatt of the
Seven Deadly Sins. If, therefore, the Sincklo who is men-
tioned in the registers of St. Giles's should there be called
William, it is clearly not the same person; nay, the identity
Qf,,^s inhabitant of Cripplegate with the actor may at all
events be doubted, even if their Christian names should
coincide, provided he be not expressly designated as a player
THE TAMING^ OF THE SHREW. 1«1
in the registers, which is not at all likely, for Collier would
certainly have said so, if it was the case. An addition to
these scanty materials comes to us just now from a very
different quarter which, though partaking of the general un-
certainty that envelops the stage -history of the Elizabethan
era, yet must be welcomed as an interesting fact. Before,
however, entering on an examination of this new material
we shall do well carefully to survey all the particulars,
especially as they have given rise to mistaken inferences.
I. In the Induction to the Taming of the Shrew Johii
Sincklo performed one of the Players, not the First Player,
as Delius erroneously says in his note on 2 K. Henry IV,
V, 4 (Stage -direction) and in his Abhandlungen zu Shak-
spere, p. 300 and 305. The speeches of the Players and
their prefixes in FA are as follows: i) Players: We thanke
your Honor; 2) 2 Player: So please your Lordshippe to
accept our dutie; 3) Sincklo: I thinke 't was Soto that your
honor meanes; and 4) Plai.: Feare not my Lord, we can
contain our selues. Were he the veriest anticke in the world.
Whether we assume the first speech to have been spoken
by all the Players at once, or by the First Player in their
name, in neither case are we justified in identifying Sincklo
with the First Player. No weight would attach to this cir-
cumstance, if Delius did not, as a matter of course, attri-
bute the part of Petruchio to Sincklo, because in his opinion
this part was necessarily performed by the First Player.
After all we know John Sincklo was a subordinate per-
former and a clown or humorous man to boot, who could
not have been entrusted with so important a part as that
of Petruchio.
II. The quarto of 2 K. Henry (V, 4) contains the
following stage -direction: Enter Sincklo, and three or four
II
162 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
officers, for which the first Folio substitutes: Enter Beadles y
dragging in Hostess Quickly and Doll Tear sheet. As, moreover,
the quarto has the prefix Sinck. for 1 Bead, in FA, it follows
that the First Beadle was acted by Sincklo. Now this First
Beadle is chaffed unrelentingly both by the Hostess and Doll
Tearsheet on account of his leanness; he is 'a paper -faced
villain', a 'thin man in a censer', a 'filthy famished cor-
rectioner', a 'starved blood -hound', 'goodman death', 'good-
man bones', a 'thin thing', and an 'atomy'. If, then, we see
this part expressly assigned to Sincklo, we shall hardly be
wrong in concluding that he was the leanest among all the
king's players; is it saying too much, if we imagine him to
have been perfect in personifying a gaunt, cadaverous- looking
fellow? This leanness is another argument, why Sincklo can-
not have performed Petruchio in the Taming of the Shrew.
III. According to FA the stage- direction in 3 Henry VI,
III, I is: Enter Sinklo and Humfrey, «&c. instead of: Enter
Two Keeper Sf &c. in the Qq. From this, it follows that Sincklo
played the First Keeper.
IV. In the Induction to Marston's Malcontent Sincklo
played a foppish young gentleman sitting on the stage,
drinking, smoking tobacco, and criticizing the play, the
players, and the audience.
V. In the Piatt of the Seven Deadlie Sinnes no less
than six different parts are assigned to Sincklo, viz. a Keeper,
a Soldier, a Captain, a Musician, Julio (?), and a Warder.
VI. I now proceed to the examination of a publication
that seems likely to throw an unexpected light on the person
and life of Sincklo. Dr Johannes Meissner, in his recently
published book 'Die Englischen Comodianten zur Zeit Shake-
speare's in Osterreich' (Wien, 1884, P- iq) informs us, that
in the household books of the Emperor Maximilian II, who
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 163
reigned from 1564 to 1576, not only English musicians,
but also 'die Narren Anton und Franciscus, ein ungarischer
Narr Stefan, ein spanischer Narr, ein Narr Sinclaw, &c.' are
mentioned as court- fools. Maximilian II seems to have been
fond of foreign fools or clowns. It has not occurred to
Dr Meissner that this Sinclaw might be identified with the
Sincklo of Shakespeare's company; he nowhere alludes to
this latter. Nevertheless it seems not at all unlikely that
the German Emperor's fool and the performer in The Tamiiig
of the Shrew, in 2 Henry IV, in 3 Henry VI, in Marston's
Malcontent and in the Piatt of the Seven Deadlie Sinnes
may have been one and the same person. Like so many
of his fellows Sincklo may have gone to Germany when a
young man; he may have been about 25 years of age when
he stood in the Emperor's service at Vienna about the year
1570, so that, at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
when performing in Shakespeare's and Marston's plays, he
was about 55 years old, for there can be little doubt that
the second part of Henry IV, the third part of Henry VI,
and probably also Marston's Malcontent (printed in 1604)
were acted before 1600; the Seven Deadlie Sinnes, accord-
ing to Malone's showing, must have been on the stage in
or before 1589, that is to say some thirteen years after the
death of Maximilian II in 1576, at which time Sincklo pro-
bably returned to his native country. I do not find it dif-
ficult thus to combine the different dates with the only
exception of those that are said to be contained in the
registers of St. Giles's Church; it seems not very credible that
a man who was about 55 years old in 1600, should have
had children baptized in 1610 and 161 3. The name of
Sincklo is of rare occurrence and it is not at all likely that
two different players living at the same time should have
164 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
borne it, except they were father and son; those critics,
therefore, who are unwilling to settle all the different facts
upon one and the same person, may have recourse to this
last-named hypothesis. At all events it would seem that
our knowledge of Sincklo and his doings has been somewhat
enlarged since the days of Malone who, in his Historical
Account of the English Stage, has nothing to say about him
except that 'Sinkler or Sinclo, and Humphrey, were likewise
players in the same theatre, and of the same class.' See
Malone's Shakspeare by Boswell, 111, 221.
CCXCIV.
Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray.
The Taming of The Shkj
I do not recollect to have seen it remarked, that the same
pun occurs in Greene's Tu Quoque (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt,
XI, 258):-
Why, villain, I shall have the worst, I know it.
And am prepar'd to suffer like a stoic;
Or else (to speak more properly) like a stock;
For I have no sense left.
The question of priority, in this case , does not seem likely
ever to be settled. (Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 14.)
CCXCV.
I will some other be, some Florentine,
Some Neapolitan, or meaner man of Pisa.
The Taming of the Shrew, I , i , 209.
The metre of this reading of FA is right enough, provided
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 16 &
that Neapolitan be pronounced as a trisyllabic feminine end-
ing before the pause : —
Some Ne|apol|itan, or mean|er man | of Pi|sa.
However, the comparative meaner is suspicious and looks
very much like an ill-advised correction of the editors of the
old copies. Capell's emendation or mean man, which also
makes good metre, has therefore been justly adopted by Dyce
and other editors, and Staunton very appropriately compares
the stage- direction in A. II, sc. i: ^Lucentio in the habit
of a mean man/ Nevertheless I have a misgiving that
somehow or other some dropped out before mean and should
certainly be repeated: —
Some Ne|apol|itan, or some \ mean man | of Pi|sa.
But this does not suffice to restore the line, as it contains
a still greater stumbling-block. In order *to achieve that
maid' with whom he has fallen in love, Lucentio thinks it
necessary to be introduced to her in an assumed character.
His scheme is based on the fiction that he comes firom some
other place than he really does (firom Florence or Naples),
and he would be at variance with himself and baffle his intent,
if he should pass himself off as a mean man from Pisa which
is his native town. In a word, the mention of Pisa by the
side of Florence and Naples is inconsistent and cannot be
right. I strongly suspect, therefore, that instead of Pisa we
should read Milan which in the ductus litterarum comes near
enough to it {Mila-PiCa), Thus, then, the original wording
of the two lines would seem to have been : —
I will some other be, some Florentine,
Some Neapolitan, or some mean man of Milan.
(The Athenaeum, June ii, 1881, p. 783; June 25, 1881,
p. 848 (reply by Dr Brinsley Nicholson); July 2, 1881, p. 16;
July 9, 1 88 1, p. 49. — Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. I4seq.)
166 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
CCXCVI.
Here, sirrah Grumio; knock, 1 say.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, 2, 5.
In Dyce's note ad loc. Mr W. N. Lettsom is reported to
have given it as his opinion, that knock should be repeated.
Nothing, indeed, could answer better to Petruchio's hasty
and impatient manner than such a repetition, without which
the phrase / say has hardly a meaning and seems out of
place. The verse, as amended by Mr Lettsom, belongs to
the nimiberless class of syllable pause lines, and is to be
scanned : —
Here, sir|rah Gru|mio; knock! | o knock, | I say.
(The Athenaeum, Mar. 12, 1881, p. 365 seq.)
ccxcvn.
Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound.
The Taming of the Shrew, I, 2, 146.
This line cannot be right. In order to restore the metre
S. Walker (Crit. Exam. Ill, 66) proposes to omit you. It
seems, however, preferable to expunge very which has evi-
dently crept in by faulty repetition; it occurs in the pre-
ceding line (O very well) and again six lines below (And
let me have them very well perfumed). The verse is no doubt
a syllable pause line and should thus be scanned : —
Hark you, | sir; — | I'll have | them fairjly bound.
That very is pre-eminently subject to interpolation, has been
shown by S. Walker, Crit. Exam. I, 268 seq. It is, however,
no less subject to omission; see notes XXXVII and XLI.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 167
CCXCVIII.
And this small packet of Greek and Latin books.
The Taming of the Shrew, II, i, loi.
S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 67, conjectured /^r/^. There is,
however, no occasion for a correction, as the word packet
is to be pronounced as a monosyllable: pacUt. The Greek
and Latin books that are presented to the ladies, serve
greatly to corroborate my conjectural emendation on A. I,
sc. I, 1. 28 {Greek philosophy). See note LXIX.
CCXCIX.
Where is Nathaniel, Gregory, Philip?
The Taming of the Shrew, IV, i, 125.
The name of a fourth servant has dropped out at the end
of the line; whether we assume it to have been Ralph, Adam,
Walter, Peter, or Joseph, makes no difference. It is true
that as yet, as far as I know, no editor has taken offence
at the incompleteness of this line; compare, however, notes
XLV and CCXXXVI. Nathaniel is to be pronounced as a
trisyllable and Gregory as a dissyllable. Or should we scan: —
Where is | Natha|niel, | Gr6go|ry, Phil|ip?
(The Athenaeum, Mar. 12, 1881, p. 365 seq.)
CCC.
Why, then let's home again. Come, sirrah, let's away.
The Taming of the Shrew, V, i, 152.
Here and elsewhere the editors content themselves with the
general remark that women just as well as men were fre-
quently addressed sirrah. With the exception of Dyce (on
168 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
Webster, Westward Ho!, A. I, ad fin.) and Furness (Macbeth,
p. 221, n. 30) none of them, as far as I know, ever thought
it worth his while to lay before his readers a single instance
of this curious use of the word; and I, therefore, indulge
in the hope that the following batch of parallel passages
may prove no unwelcome addition to those quoted by Dyce
and Furness. Sam. Rowley, When you see me, you know
me, ed. Elze, p. 58: —
King. Go, fetch them, Kate. Ah, sirrah, we have women
doctors.
William Rowley, A Match at Midnight (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt,
XIII, 29): 'Tis pudding -time, wench, pudding -time; and a
dainty time, dinner-time, my nimble -eyed, witty one. Woot
be married to-morrow, sirrah? lb., XIII, 29: Sirrah, woot
have the old fellow? — Ford, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, II, 6
(Works, ed. Hartley Coleridge, p. 34a): Sirrah sweetheart,
ru tell thee a good jest. — The Roaring Girl (The Works
of Middleton, ed. Dyce, II, 491): How dost thou, sirrah?
(viz. Mrs Gallipot). — lb. (II, 517): Hush, sirrah! Goshawk
flutters (addressed to Mrs Openwork). — The Honest Whore,
Part I, II, I (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 44): He's so mal-
content, sirrah Bellafront. — lb., Part II, III, 3 (Middleton,
ed. Dyce, III, 186): Sirrah grannam. — Ram -Alley (Dodsley,
ed. Hazlitt, X, 367 seqq.): —
I hope thou knowest
All wenches do the contrary: but, sirrah,
How does thy uncle, the old doctor?
These lines are addressed to The First Woman by the
chambermaid Adriana. — It remains to be added that Dyce
in his Glossary, s. Sirrah, refers to Swift as having been
fond of applying that humorous pet -name to Stella.
THE TAMING &c. ALL'S WELL &c. 169
CCCI.
Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat my wife
To come to me forthwith; &c.
The Taming of the Shrew, V, 2, 86 seq.
This passage seems to have been imitated in Dekker's Honest
Whore, Part II, II, 2 (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 164)
although Dr Ingleby, in his Centurie of Prayse, is silent
about it: —
Can\dtdo\. Luke, I pray, bid your mistress to come hither.
Lo\dovtc6]. Luke, I pray, bid your mistress to come hither.
Can. Sirrah, bid my wife come to me: why, when?
First Prentice [wz'th'n]. Presently, sir, she comes.
Lod. La, you, there's the echo! she comes.
The second part of Dekker's Honest Whore was licensed
in 1608, but published only in 1630.
CCCIL
I have those hopes of her good that her education promises;
her dispositions she inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer.
All's Well that Ends Well, I, i, 45.
I suspect: I have those hopes of her that her education
promises; her good dispositions she inherits, which makes
fair gifts fairer. Compare Twelfth Night, III, i, 146: —
Vw[la]. Then westward -ho! Grace and good dis-
Attend your ladyship. [position
See Al. Schmidt, Shakespeare -Lexicon, s. Disposition,
170 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
cccm.
Par[oiles]. Save you, fair queen! &c.
All's Well that Ends Well, I, i, loo seqq.
This well-known passage is another specimen, and none of
the grossest, of what the conversation between ladies and
gentlemen was in the days of the Virgin Queen, for there
can be no reasonable doubt, that in this respect as well as
in others our poet was the true and unswerving interpreter
and mouth -piece of his time; see my edition of The Tragedy
of Hamlet, p. 192 seqq. The charge of indecency, therefore,
ought not to be laid at his own door, but at that of the
age in which he lived. Bad as the want of decency in
conversation on the part of the women was in England,
yet they^ are said to have been surpassed by the women in
Holland. John Ray, F.R.S., in his Observations Topogra-
phical, Moral, and Physiological; made in a Journey through
Part of the Low - Countries , Germany, Italy, and France
(London, 1673), p. 55, reports the following remark made
by his 'much -honoured friend Francis Barnham, Esq, de-
ceased, at his being there [viz. in the Netherlands] in the
Retinue of my Lord Ambassador Holies' (ib. p. 52). 'The
conmion sort of Women, says Barnham apud Ray, seem
more fond and delighted with lascivious and obscene Talk
than either the English or the French.' Let us hope in
charity that {mutatis mutandis) the saying Pagina lasciva^ vita
probat may have held good with respect to the women of
that age, in Holland as well as in France and England.
CCCIV.
My heart is heavy, and mine age is weak;
Grief would have tears, and sorrow bids me speak.
All's Well that Ends Well, III, 4, 41 seq.
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 171
Mr P. A. Daniel in his Notes and Conjectural Emendations,
p. 40 seq., has ingeniously pointed out, how odd it seems,
that, 'her sorrow bidding the Countess to speak, she should
thereupon leave the stage.' He, therefore, proposes to read
forbids instead of bids y which is undoubtedly right, and to
omit and before sorrow ^ which, although seemingly required
by the metre, may yet be considered doubtful. Sorrow ^
M. E. sorwcy occurs in Chaucer as a monosyllable, sorowful
or sorwful as a dissyllable; see Troylus and Cryseide,
I, i:-
The dou|ble sorowe ( of Trojylus | to tel|len;
ib. I, 2: —
Help me, | that am | the sorow|ful in|strument, —
And to I a sorw|ful tale | a sor|ry chere.
See also The Boke of the Dutchesse, 11. 6, 213, and 462.
Compare ten Brink, Studien, p. 13, and the Glossary in
Dr Morris' edition of Chaucer, Vol. I, s. Mbrwe. Perhaps
also arwe = arrow (Canterbury Tales, 9079), shadwe, and
similar words were pronounced as monosyllables. Moreover
it is an undeniable fact that not only during the Elizabethan
era but even as late as the middle of the last century the
ending -ow was frequently slurred before a vowel, and if
I am not much mistaken, sometimes even before a con-
sonant. Compare, e. g., the following passages: —
Troilus and Cressida, I, 3, 80: —
Hollow upon 1 this plain, | so man|y hol|low fact|ions.
Fair Em (ed. Warnke and Proescholdt) , III, 6, 9: —
My sorjrows afflicts | my soul | with e|qual pass|ion.
Mucedorus (ed. Warnke and Proescholdt), H, 2, 122: —
To-mor|row I die, | my foe | reveng'd | on me.
Ib., II, 4, 39: —
As if I he meant | to swal|low us both | at once.
172 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
The Rambler, No CX, Apr. 6, 1751: —
Of sor|row unfeign'd | and hu|milia|tion meek.
Paradise Lost, I, 558: —
Anguish | and doubt | and fear | and sor|row and pain.*
lb., II, 518: —
By har|ald's voice | explained; | the hol|low Abyss.
lb., V, 575:-
Be but I the shad|ow of Heaven, | and things | therein.
Professor Masson (The Poetical Works of J. Milton, I, CXXI
and CXXIII) quotes two more Miltonic lines in point, which
he , however, scans very differently, viz. : —
Of rain|bows and star|ry eyes. | The wa|ters thus,
and: —
Wallowing, | unwield|y, enorm|ous in | their gait.
The Tempest, II, i, 251: —
We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again.
In this line Pope omits «//, Spedding we; most editors,
however, leave it unaltered. There seem to be two ways
of scanning it, viz.: —
We all I were sea-|swallow'd, | though some | cast 'gain,
or: —
We all I were sea-|swallow'd, though | some cast | again.
Now, if this latter scansion be right, as I presume it to be,
it will certainly reflect on the line in All's Well that Ends
Well and justify us in reading and scanning it thus : —
Grief would | have tears, | and sor|row forbids | me speak.
No doubt, some wiseacre of a copyist or compositor who
felt called upon to improve the metre, altered forbids to
bids. (Notes, privately printed, 1882, p. 15 seq.)
* Compare Abbott and Seeley, English Lessons for English
People (London, 1880), p. 203.
ALL'S WELL Sec. THE WINTER'S TALE. 173
CCCV.
If there be here German, or Dane, low Dutch,
Italian, or French, let him speak to me; Til
Discover that which shall undo the Florentine.
All's Well that Ends Well, IV, i, 78 seqq.
This is Capell's arrangement, adopted by the Cambridge
Edd.; in the Ff 77/ is wrongly joined to the following line.
Malone divides the lines after /o me and undo. According
to Capell's division which, no doubt, has the greatest claim
to be considered the poet's own, we have in 1. 79 an extra-
syllable before the pause after the first foot and the line
is thus to be scanned : —
Ital|ian, or French, | let him | speak to | me; I'll.
It seems, however, well worthy of consideration , if preference
should not be given to a different scansion , viz. : --
Ital|ian, or French, | let'm speak | to me; | I wijl^ &c.
Florentine is, of course, a trisyllabic feminine ending. ,
CCCVI.
And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione.
The Winter's Tale, I, 2, 173.
Mr Fleay, in his paper entitled 'Metrical Tests applied to
Shakespeare' and incorporated in Dr Ingleby's Occasional
Papers on Shakespeare (London, 1881), gives a survey of
all those lines in the poet's plays which he takes to be
Alexandrines and therefore holds to constitute an important
element in those Metrical Tests from which, as is well known,
he proceeds to conclusions and inferences respecting the
chronology and authorship of the plays. Now it was to be
174 THE WINTER'S TALE.
expected that all these lines should have been carefully exa-
mined and incontrovertibly scanned before being set down
as Alexandrines; but, on the contrary, it can easily be shown
that many of them have been misunderstood with respect to
their metre and that, far from being Alexandrines, they are
merely mistaken blank verse. At p. go seq. Mr Fleay gives
a list of all the apparent Alexandrines in The Winter's Tale.
*I have thought it desirable, he says, to print the Alexan-
drines [in The Winter's Tale] in extenso with the cesuras
marked. I have, in this instance, included all possibly
doubtful cases in which the endings are probably trisyllabic,
that the reader may have all the evidence before him. The
preponderance (next to the regular lines) of lines with pause
after the fifth foot is very striking. Where no cesura is marked,
I believe the line to be one of trisyllabic feminine ending.'
Although I have not taken the trouble of checking
Mr Fleay 's list to satisfy myself of its completeness, yet I
have lighted on the following three pseudo- Alexandrines
which are not included in it, viz.: —
I, 2, 173: And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione
II, 2, 43: Your honour and your goodness is so evident
II, 3, 23: Take it on her; Camillo and Polixenes.
Pronounce, of course, HermVney evident ^ and Polix*nes.
Mr Fleay's list will be considerably reduced in number,
if all lines with a trisyllabic feminine ending are cut out,
which lines, however, he takes to be Alexandrines, since be
has marked their cesuras. They are the following: —
I, 2 [not i], 33: He's beat from his best ward. Well said,
Hermi'ne
I, 2, 55: My prisoner? or my guest? by your dread 'Ver'ly'
I, 2, 263: Are such allowed infirmities that hon'sty.
Compare S. Walker, Versification, p. 206.
THE WINTER'S TALE. ITB
I, 2, 286: Of laughing with a sigh; a note infall'ble
I, 2, 344: As friendship wears at feasts, keep with Bohemia
II, I, 20: Into a goodly bulk: good time encount'r her.
Compare S. Walker, Versification, p. 67.
II, I, 53: So eas'ly open? By his great author'ty.
Compare S. Walker, Versification, p. 205.
II, I, 164: Our forceful instigation! Our prerogative
II, I, 185: Of stuff'd sufficiency: now from the or'cle
II, 2, 46: So meet for this great errand. Please your lad'ship
II, 3, 42: Away with that audacious lady! Antig'nus.
This line has also an extra syllable before the pause.
II, 3, 189: Like offices of pity. Sir, be prosperous
III, 2, 209: Do not repent these things, for they are heavier
IV, 4, 476: More straining on for plucking back; not foll'wing
IV, 4, 518: I'll hear you by and by. He's irremov'ble* i
The anonymous conjecture immovable (recorded in
the Cambridge Edition) would not influence the
scansion, but requires the reading He is,
IV, 4, 576: There is some sap in this. A cause more prom'sing
V, 1 , 95 : That e'er the sun shone bright on. O Hermi'ne
V, I, 112 (not hi): The rarest of all women. Go, Cleom'nes
V, 3, 3: I did not well, I meant well. All my serv'ces
V, 3, 114: And take her by the hand whose worth and hon'sty.
A second class of pseudo- Alexandrines consists of those
lines that have a trisyllabic feminine ending, or an extra
syllable, before the pause. To this class belong the following
instances in Mr Fleay's Ust, viz.: —
I, 2, 19 (not I, I, 68): I'll no gainsaying. Press me not,
b'seech you, so.
Hanmer's and Capell's conjectures are needless.
I, 2, 22 (not I, 1,21): Were there necess'ty in your request,
although.
176 THE WINTER'S TALE.
Should the pause after necessity be deemed too
slight to admit of an extra syllable before it, the
last syllable of necessity might, perhaps, be lost in
the pronunciation of the following in.
I, 2, i6l : Will you take eggs for money? No, m'lord, I'll fight.
For the contraction m'lord Mr Fleay may be referred
to his own edition of Marlowe's Edward II, p. 122.
Possibly, however, the arrangement of the Cambridge
.^1^ Edition (two short lines) is right.
I, 2, 391 : As you are certainly a gentl'man; thereto.
See S. Walker, Versification, p. 1 1 6 and 189. Capell's
conjecture are, certain y a is needless.
I, 2, 410: I mean to utter 't, or both yourself and me.
See S. Walker, Versification, p. 102.
I, 2, 454: Must I be vi'lent? and as he does conceive
II, 2, 11: Th' access of gentle vis'tors. Is't lawful, pray you
II) 3> 167- To save the inn'cent; any thing possible.
Any thing is to be pronounced as a dissyllable;
compare Fair Em, ed. Delius, p. 48 (To anysuch
as she is underneath the sun; see note CLX);
ib., p. 50 (Nor heard anyways to rid my hands of
• them); Mucedorus, ed. Warnke and Proescholdt,
p. 46 (If anybody ask for me, make some excuse);
Hamlet, II, i, 107 (What, have you given him any
hard words of late?); B. Jonson, Catiline, II, i, 24
(Any way, so thou wilt do it, good impert'nence) ;
Field, A Woman is a Weathercock, in Dodsley,
ed. Hazlitt, XI, 15 (Whiter than anything but her
neck and hands). Hanmer's conjecture what's for
anything is therefore needless.
III, 2, 5: Of being tyr'nous, since we so openly
or: Of being tyrannous, since we so op'nly
THE WINTER'S TALE. ttT
III, 2, 241 (not 249): Shall be my recreation: so long as
nature
III, 3, 2 : The deserts of Bohemia? Ay, m'lord; and fear
V, 3, 24: Thou art Hermi'ne; or rather, thou art she.
See Abbott, s. 469. ,, ..^j^ .r,*^ f 8i . » II nl
A third class of lines will be reduced to regular blank
verse by means of simple contractions; such are: .;
I, 2, 108: Th' oth'r for some wiiile a friend. Too hot,
too hot!
For the monosyllabic pronunciation of ofher com-
pare S. Walker, Versification, p. 108 (where this
very line is quoted) and Abbott, s. 466.
Ij 2, 22^: Of head- piece extraord'n'ry ? lower messes.
Compare As You Like It, III, 5, 42 : (I see no more
m you than m the ord n ry).
I, 2, 408: That I think hon'rable: therefore mark my counsel
II, I, 107: With an aspect more fav'rable. Good my lords.
See S. Walker, Versification, p. 274. There is no
need of Hanmer's conjecture aspect of more favour,
IV, 4, 401 : Contract us 'fore these witnesses. Come, your hand.
Pronounce witness. See S. Walker, Versification,
p. 244, and Abbott, s. 471. .--^^^- •->
IV, 4, 504: As you've e'er been my father's honbtir'd friend.
See S. Walker, Crit. Exam. I, 81 {As y have e^er^ &c.)
^'> 4» 531 • To have them recompensed as thought on. Well,
m'lord.
Thus S. Walker, according to the Cambridge Edition.
The remaining number of Mr Fleay's list is still farther
lessened by the correction of those lines that are either
wrongly arranged or manifestly corrupted. Thus, e. g.,
I, 2, 375 seq. (not I, i, 371) should probably be printed
as two short lines, as it has been done in the folio and in
178 THE WINTER'S TALE.
a number of modem editions, although kndwy milord might
be taken for a double ending: —
•n:j! I That changeth thus his manners. I dare not know,
m'lord.
In II, I, 182 seq. the words in post do not belong to the
first, but to the second line and the preposition tOy in the
latter, is to be contracted with Apollo* s : —
Most piteous to be wild, I have dispatched
In post to sacred Delphos, t' Apollo's temple.
In the line II, 3, 21 the conjunction And seems to be an
interpolation and was therefore rightly omitted by Capell: —
In himself too mighty,
In*s parties, his alliance; let him be, &c.
The same correction is to be applied to the line II, 3, 137;
read : —
By good test'mony, or Til seize thy life.
From line II, 3, 149 the words we beg have been justly
transferred to the following line by Hanmer : —
So to esteem of us, and on our knees
We beg as recompense of our dear services.
Hanmer's correction service instead of services is needless.
The lines IV, 4, 375 seq. should be arranged thus: —
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fanned snow
That's bolted by the northern blasts twice o'er.
Pol What follows this?
How prettily &c.
There is no need of Dyce's conjecture Elhiop's,
Thus almost all of Mr Fleay's list of Alexandrines in
The Winter's Tale has vanished like the banquet in The
Tempest , and without any * quaint device ' having been
resorted to. The balance is, indeed, incomparably small;
"•fe
K. RICHARD II. 17^
and possibly even these few exceptional lines may not have
been originally Alexandrines. (Alexandrines in The Winter's
Tale and K. Richard II. Privately printed, 1881.)
CCCVII.
Lord marshal, command our. officers at arms.
K. Richard II, I, i, 204.
In addition to his list of Alexandrines in The Winter's Tale
Mr Fleay (1. c, p. 72 seq.) prints a complete list of all the
Alexandrines in K. Richard II (54 in all) and is much sur-
prised at their unusual number, which, he assures his readers,
is twice as large as that in any unadulterated play anterior
to Measure for Measure. He, moreover, declares many of
the lines in this list to be most Unsatisfactory to the ear
and would therefore * rather see in this peculiarity a proof
of incorrect printing or carelessness in revising the original
1593 copy for the press in 1597, than a sudden alteration
of style hastily adopted and as hastily abandoned.' At p. 80
he declares these same Alexandrines to be 'printers' or
editors' verse, not Shakespeare's.' Be it so; but what value
can then be ascribed to them as metrical tests in the in-
vestigation of the chronology and authorship of the plays?
*A large number of these Alexandrines, he goes on to say,
demand pitiless correction', and such correction he then
applies to some of them, although on p. 76 he wishes it to
be clearly understood, that he 'would not (except in re-
arranging some few divisions of lines) on any account inter-
fere with the received text editorially by inserting emen-
dations on these hypothetical grounds.' In my opinion such
emendations are much less needed than Mr Fleay seems
to think, and those that are needed should, of course, be
180 K. RICHARD II.
inserted in the text. Let us take, for instance, the very
first line adduced by Mr Fleay (I, i, 204): —
Lord mareshal, command | our officers at arms,
for thus Mr Fleay prints it, whereas the folio reads Marshall.
For my part, I have not the least doubt that this is no
Alexandrine at all , but a regular blank verse with the familiar
extra syllable before the pause; that the pause falls after
the first foot can hardly be a matter of surprise. The line
II, I, 141 (No 3):-
(I do) beseech your majesty | impute his words,
is to be corrected in Mr Fleay's opinion by the omission of
/ do; it requires, however, no change at all, majesty being
a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause. The same
scansion occurs again in III, 3, 70 (No 31): —
Controlling majesty: alack, alack for woe,
as also in V, 3, 25 (No 47), where Mr Fleay has found it
out: —
God save your grace. I do beseech your majesty.
With respect to No 6 (II, i, 254) Mr Fleay might likewise
have abstained from a change, although he shields himself
by the reading of the folio which omits the adjective nohle : —
That which his (noble) ancestors achieved with blows.
May not the original scansion have been ancestors and ^chievedl
In the line II, 2, 29 (No 8): —
Persuades me it is otherwise: howe'er it be,
Mr Fleay thinks it necessary to expunge // is. There can
be no doubt, however, that otherwise is to be pronounced
as a dissyllable just as in Beaumont and Fletcher's King
and no King, III, 3 (quoted by S. Walker, Versification,
p. 108): —
Otherwise, I think, I shall not love you more.
K. RICHARD II. %fH
Compare what has been remarked in the foregoing note on
The Winter's Tale, I, 2, 108. Scan therefore: —
Persuades | me it | is oth'r|wise: howe'er | it be. >
Nos 10 (II, 2, 53) and 18 (II, 3, 55):- '' '^^^^ *''
The Lord Northumberland, his son young Henry Percy
And in it are the Lords of York, Berkley, and Seymour
may also be considered as blank verse , provided that in
the former Northumberland be pronounced as a trisyllable
(compare Abbott, s. 469), and that in the ' latter m it and
the Lords be contracted: in V and tJH Lords. How the next
line (IT, 3, 120; No 19): —
A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties
could have been mistaken for an Alexandrine by a critic
who has been taught by S. Walker and Dr Abbott, it is
difficult to iinderstand; royalties is, of course, to be pro-
nounced as a dissyllable. Compare III , 3 , 1 1 3 : —
Than for his lineal royalties and to beg.
The same remedy provides for Nos 24 and 3 J (III,. i,.2|
and IV, I, 89):— v. ^.,,*^;,^!^' J.
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments ^ ,^^
To all his lands and signories: when he's return'd.
In other words, lineaments and signories are to be pronounced
as trisyllabic feminine endings. ..^^
From the line III, 3, 30 (No 28): —
O belike it is the bishop of Carlisle
Mr Fleay disjoins the interjection O (omitted altogether by
Pope) and places it in a separate line; why not rather pro-
nounce helike as a monosyllable {b'like)'^ See note CCLXXIX.
The same makeshift of an interjectional line is resorted to
by Mr Fleay with respect to No 30 (III, 3, 45): —
The which I how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke.
182 K. RICHARD II. 1
In my opinion, the words The which are ill qualified for a
separate line; pronounce Bolingbroke as a trisyllabic feminine
ending and the metre is unobjectionable.
In the line V, 2, 70 (No 42): —
, ,1 do beseech you, pardon me; I may not show it,
Mir.peay ag;ain omits / do, just as in No 3; I think pardon
me shQulji .be pronounced as a trisyllabic feminine ending
before the pause. Compare notes CCXLIX and CCLXVI. ,
, By the arrangement proposed with respect , to. No 46
(V, 3, .24):jy- 'I ,
What means our cousin, that he stares and looks so
wildly?
the lines would be unwarrantably torn; the division of the
lines as given in the Globe Edition seems far preferable.
Perhaps, however, the words and looks should be omitted as
an interpolation. A sjnjilar surplusage seems to be discernible
in the adverb /r^^/y 111 No 38 (IV, i, 326: My lord, before
I freely speak my mind herein) although no objection can
be raised to either placing (with the Cambridge Editors)
the vocative 3fy lord in a separate line, or to omitting it,
as it has been done in the later quartos and the folios.
I subjoin two more pseudo- Alexandrines taken at random
from other plays which, in my opinion, Mr Fleay has not
succeeded in either scanning or correcting rightly.
The Merchant of Venice, IP, 9, 28: —
Which pries not to th' interior, but like the martlet.
Which pries y according to Mr Fleay (p. 81), may stand in a
separate line, or the cesura may be after the eighth syllable.
Neither the one, nor the other. Read: —
Which pries not to th' interior, but like th' martlet.
For the elision of the definite article before a consonant,
of which numerous instances are to be found in B. Jonson,
K. HENRY IV. im
in Habington's Castara (ed. Arber), and elsewhere, compare,
e. igi, I K. Henry IV, III, i, 149: yi^'i JiJ^'im/V A/A/.i
lu 'With telling me of th' moldwarp knd ttte' iattt;i<i ^I'i^i
ji it Antony and Cleopatra, 11, i, 38: — r^fvio mi
.irffo The ne'er lust -wearied Antony. I cannot hope. •
'Possibly', says Mr Fleay (p. 87), 'pronounce <:««'/, but i
prefer making the line an Alexandrine.' The line will then
be an Alexandrine of Mr Fleay's making, but it is certainly
none of Shakespeare's, jbitony is a trisyllabic feminine ending
before the pause; see Abbott, s. 469. Compare 1. 20 of the
very same scene : —
Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love,
and Robert Garnier's Cornelia translated by Thomas Kyd
(Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, V, 2^2): —
Whom fear'st thou then, Mark Antony. — The hateful
crew.
(Alexandrines in The Winter's Tale and K; Richard II.
Privately printed, 188 1.) ^"^A Ji^w bm ,fxmA b\io i
'i ' JO« ftttil f>'7ll6£l! "ilffi
(»vi^8«drfeiWi<icpjnou i?i«' CCCVIILiii haQj^&M'^ »A'i ginii
Of Prisoners, Hotspurre tooke ^
Mordake Earle of Fife, and eldest sonne
-'^.^ To beaten Dowglas, and the Earle of Atholi;;'->^^^«ifi->
V^' Of Murry, Angus, and Menteith. " '^^
-f I K. Henry IV, I, i, 70 seq<2/'1''
This is the reading and arrangement of the first Foli6.
•Some slight mutilation here', remarks Dyce ad he. rathef
mildly. This mutilation or confusion has nothing to do with
the mistake into which the poet has been led concerning
the Earl of Fife, who was son to the Duke of Albany, and
not to Earl Douglas; which mistake, if need were, might
184 K. HENRY IV.
easily be corrected by the substitution of the for andy before
eldest. Without reviewing the different conjectures that have
been proposed by Hanmer, Capell, Keightley, and Collier
in order to restore the original text, I content myself with
increasing the list by a conjectural emendation of my own.
May.,JiQt ^Shakespeare have written: —
•:-jfit llrw 'ifffl MflT Of prisoners, Hotspur took :^Brn idilm..
viu'fsl The Earls of Murray, Angus, and Menteith, )d
• Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son
To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol?
CCCIX.
I tell you what
ij/V.uijHe held me last Night, at least, nine howres.
In reckning vp the seuerall Deuils Names
That were his Lacqueyes:
I cry'd hum, and well, goe too.
But mark'd him not a word.
I K. Henry IV, III, i, 158.
Thus FA. The second line is no doubt corrupt and has given
rise to a number of conjectures. Pope wrote the last night;
Steevens, hut last night; an anonymous critic (according to the
Cambridge Edition) proposed yesternight ; Capell at the least.
In my opinion fast dropped out before last^ from its very
similarity. The fourth and fifth lines have been joined by
the editors, so as to form an Alexandrine, which Pope
attempted to reduce to five feet by the omission of go tOt
whilst all modern editors have refrained firom so unwarranted
an alteration and have preferred to preserve the Alexan-
drine. Ritson {apud Dyce) even went so far as to declare
that * these two foolish [!] monosyllables [^go to] seem to have
K. HENRY IV. 185
been added by some foolish player, purposely [i!] to destroy
the measure.' No such thing ! Omit and, and Shakespeare's
authentic blank verse (with an extra syllable before the pause)
will at once present itself. The passage, therefore^. ishould
be printed thus:— . j£fialr| ajijod jM^ A
I tell yoa ,what,;*i7/
He held me fast last night at least nine houBSi I
In reckoning up the several, devils' names ?,A
That were his lacqueys: I cried 'hum', 'well', 'go to'.
But marked him not a word.
(Notes and Queries, June i8, 1881, p. 485. Reply by
Dr Brinsley Nicholson, ib., Sept. 24, 1881, p. 245. Dr Ni-
cholson has misunderstood my scansion of Hie last line but
one, and blames the conjecture fast, before last, as. 'a cacor
phony and jingle, unpleasant and therefore [!] un- Shake-
spearian.' As if Shakespeare were pleasantness itself!
Dr Nicholson might have recollected not a few lines in
Shakespeare that are by no means paragons of euphony
and pleasantness; and no wonder, that there are some black
sheep among so many thousand lines ! Even jingles are
not altogether foreign to Shakespeare's verses. Here is an
instance, taken from Coriolanus, II, i, 180 seq.: —
Where he hath won
-*|M With fame, a name to Caius MarciuaLinoii/in Arfi a atAT
Compare also K. Henry V, II, 3, 54: —
:.. And hold -fast is the only dog, my duck)
Jlc*filiu> .^moobv/ 0; jiiiri iliw iniitr I
;rT : CCCX. ' - '
Swear me, 'Kate, like a lady as thou art,
fi5. A good mouth-filling oath. "^ «»^
SWJiii.JiilA I K. IJeNRY IV, III, I, 258 SKQ.'
186 JULIUS CJ*:SAR.
In Marston's comedy What you wiil, III, i (Works, ed. Halli-
well, I, 255) we meet with the following lines: —
What I know a number,
Mn< Mi By the sole warrant of a lapy-beard, ^^o :1b Hiw
A raine beate plume, and a good chop-filling oth, ''J
With an odde French shrugge, and by the Lord, or so,
Ha leapt into sweete captaine with such ease
As you would feart not. ' '
Are we to consider a good chop -filling oath as a customary
expression, or is it a recollection taken from Shakespeare's
line? In 'the latter case the passage should find admittance
in a future edition of Dr Ingleby's Centurie of Prayse. The
first part of K. Henry IV was first printed in 1 598 , Marston's
What you will in 1607. .r»\ s^tst^otaoa ^ff ''^oiiiid bn£ .sno
-0 ' >lq
•"! , ...... ...-qg
CCCXI.^yfiff iif-aifli --A iQ
^(nofj<|iri i(i moTiiii-For now this fearefuU Night, (t>-'><i^93tfirf8
•kr^rM There' is no stirre, or walking in the streetes* • '^jtb
'^T'- "'And the Complexion of the Element ^^
Is Fauors, like the Worke we haue in hand.
Most bloodie, fierie, and most terrible.
Julius C^sar, I, 3, 126 seqq.
This is the uniform reading of the folios, with the only excep-
tion of 'Fauours' in the third and fourth. Mr Herr, in his
'Scattered Notes on the Text of Shakespeare', lately published
at Philadelphia, proposes *Is haviours', a conjecture which
I think will hardly anywhere be welcomed as a suitable
substitute for Dr Johnson's generally received correction,
*In favour's.' On the contrary, I feel convinced that not
even those critics will accept Mr Herr's new reading that
take exception to Dr Johnson's emendation. Among the
JULIUS C^SAR. 187
latter Prof. Craik, in his edition of Julius Caesar (5th Ed.,
p. 133 seq.), takes a prominent place. After mentioning
another emendation, proposed either by Steevens (according
to Prof. Craik) or by Capell (according to the Cambridge
Edition), viz., *Is favoured'. Prof. Craik continues: *To say
that the complexion of a thing is either featured: like or
in feature like to something else is very like a tautology.^
He is, therefore, strongly inclined to adopt Reed's (or^
according to the Cambridge Edition, Rowe's) ingenious con-
jecture, ^Is feverous', to which, on the other hand, Mr Aldis
Wright, in his annotated edition, very properly objects, in-
asmuch as Hhe word "complexion" in the previous line suits
better with "favour's" than with "feverous".' In my humble
opinion neither the one nor the other of these conjectures
is what the poet wrote. Prof. Craik is i quite right in
remarking that 'it may, perhaps, count for something, though
not very much, against both "favour's like ": and " favoured
like " (that a very decided commit separates the two Words im
the original edition.' If, as I imagine, the original reading
was '■ Ill'fccvoured^ even the most decided comma may keep
its- place after it with propriety. As to the semicolon after
^streets' in the second line, it does not seem to be of any
great moment whether it be retained or replaced by a comma,
as has been done in the Cambridge edition. There may
perhaps be some one or other among my readers that will
like to hear that ill-favoured is used with especial reference
to the complexion in Fair Em, I, 3, 28 (ed. Warnke and
Proescholdt) : —
Swart and ill-favoured, a collier's sanguine skin.
Compare also Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, 1, 15. (The
Athenaeum, Dec. 13, 187^, p. 762.) '0^8 -sAy ^&l\
188 JliLIUS CMSAK. HAMLET.
CCCXII.
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.
Julius C^sar, II, i, ii6.
In my remarks in Prof. Wiilcker's Anglia, I, 343 seqq., on
this most perplexing line, I intimated two emendations which,
in my opinion, promise fair to remove the difficulties detailefl
both by former ' editors and myself 1. c. The one is to omit
Cams, as there can be little doubt that the names of the
persons addressed were no less frequently added as left out
by mistake at the end of the line. The other way of healing
the corruption of this line is to discard the conjunction du^i
To all appearance this dui is merely a faulty repetition from;
the preceding line: — '
9sn-- For Antony is dui a limb of Caesar.
At the same time the first syllable of butchers, following hard
upon, may have contributed to mislead the copyist or com-
positor.- Al> ail events the omission of hut would help us to
a regular scansion of the line just as well as the omission
<4 Caius: ^^
fp- . Let us I be sa|crifi|cers, not but|chers, Ca|ius.
The expedients proposed by S. Walker, Versification, p. 274,
and by Craik ad loc. are of no avail and may be consigned
to oblivion.
•{SXT —
CCCXIIL
bnr. On Fortune's cap we are not the very button.
Hamlet, II, 2, 233.
In addition to what I have remarked on this line in my
second edition of Hamlet (p. 156 seq.) I am now able to
state that the Scotch cap was indeed worn in Shakespeare's
time. This fact is proved by the following stage -direction
HAMLET. OTHELLO. ' 189
in Locrine , A. IV, sc. 2 : Enter Strumho , wearing a Scotch
cap, with a Pitch -fork in his hand. Whether or not it was
decorated with a flowing ribbon, may still be doubted,
although it would seem highly probable.
CCCXIV.
Look here upon this picture and on this.
Hamlet, III, 4, 53.
Some light is thrown on this passage by an incident in
Marlowe's Edward II, A. I, sc. 4, 1. 127, where the king and
his minion Gaveston exchange pictures; the king says: —
Here, take my picture, and let me wear thine.
It would, therefore, seem most conformable to the usage of
Shakespeare's time and stage that the Queen should wear
the portrait of her second husband, with whom she may
justly be supposed to have exchanged pictures, whereas
Hamlet wears a miniature of his father. According to our
modern notions, however, it seems far more impressive on
the audience to have two half length pictures hung on the
wall of the Queen's closet.
CCCXV.
To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, nor nothing.
Othello, IV, 2, 9.
Although this line, so far as my knowledge goes, has never
been queried, yet I cannot but think it faulty; I feel certain
that Shakespeare wrote : —
To fetch her fan, her gloves, her mask, her nothing.
Compare Coriolanus, II, 2, 81: —
To hear my nothings monster'd.
W6 ' ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
although it seems doubtful whether nothing is to be under-
stood in the same sense in these two passages. The Winter's
Tale, I, 2, 295: —
— nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.
(The Athenaeum, June 11, 1881, p. 783.)
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
Dies diem docet.
In the footnote on this paragraph I have been guilty of in-
accuracy with respect to the editions of 'The London Pro-
digal'. This play was certainly never edited by Delius; it
is, however, not worth while to ascertain from which text it
was printed in the Tauchnitz Edition of * Doubtful Plays'.
VI.*
Compare All's Well that Ends Well, IV, 5, 44 seq.: The
black prince, sir; alias, the prince of darkness; alias, the
devil. Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, i, 37: —
Great Gorgon, Prince of darknesse and dead night.
VIII.*
Compare Ram- Alley (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, X, 371):
Shame to thy Sex,
Perfidious perjur'd woman, where's thy shame?
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. t'^t
XIV*
Compare Greene , Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (The Works
of Rob. Greene and Geo. Peele, ed. Dyce, in i vol., London,
1861, p. 163b): —
Miles, Salve f Doctor Burden!
This lubberly lurden,
Ill-shap'd and ill-fac'd,
Disdain'd and disgrac'd,
What he tells unto vobis
Menlitur de nobis.
Marston, The Malcontent, I, 7 (Works, ed. Halliwell, II, 222):
faire-shapt; ib. Ill, 2 (Works, ed. Halliwell, II, 247): well
shapt; ib. Ill, 150 (Works, ed. Halliwell, III, 150): well-^
shaped.
XVII.*
My conjectural emendation face for fame, is countenanced
also by the following lines (I, 4, 4 seq.) which are most
eloquent in praise of Em's beautiful face : —
Full ill this life becomes thy heavenly look.
Wherein sweet love and virtue sits enthroned.
XX*
Mount. Valingford, so hardly I digest an injury
Thou'st proffered me, as, were 't not I detest
To do what stands not with the honour of my name.
Thy death should pay the ransom of thy fault.
Fair Em, Del., 28 seq. — W. and Pr., 33 seq. —
Simp., II, 439-
I still adhere to this reading and arrangement as possessing
in my eyes the greatest claim to be the author's own. The
192 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
third line is no Alexandrine, but a blank verse with an
extra syllable before the pause, however slight that pause
may be : —
To do I what stands | not with th' hon|our of I my name.
Similar lines with extra syllables before slight pauses are
A. II, sc. I, 1. 121 ; A. II, sc. 3, 1. 2; A. Ill, sc. i, 1. 72;
A. Ill, sc. I, 1. 107. The imperfect line Thou^ st proffer' d me
in Messrs Warnke and Prcescholdt's edition seems to owe
its existence merely to a misunderstanding, the editors
having fallen into the error, that the abbreviated line on
p. 13 was intended to be an interjectional one.
XXV.*
Em, Trotter, lend me thy hand; and as thou lovest me,
keep my counsel, and justify whatsoever I say; and I'll
largely requite thee.
Fair Em, Del., 32. — W. and Pr., 38. — Simp., II, 443.
Beside the metrical arrangement of these lines proposed in
the first Series of these Notes, p. 16, the following may be
offered : —
Em, Trotter!
Lend me thy hand and as thou lov'st me, keep
My counsel, and justify whatever I say.
And largely I'll 'requite thee.
Eleven lines infra (11. 54 — 69, ed. Warnke and Prcescholdt)
the prose speeches of the Miller and his Daughter, of Man-
vile and Mountney, may thus be metrically arranged : —
Mil. Tell me, sweet Em, how came this blindness?
Thy eyes are lovely to look on.
And yet they've lost the benefit of their sight.
What a grief is this to thy poor father.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 193
Em. Good father,
Let me not stand an open gazing -stock
To every one, but in a place alone
As fits a creature so miserable.
Mil. Trotter, lead her in!
This is the utter overthrow of poor
Old Goddard's joy and only solace.
Man. Both blind and deaf? Then she's no wife for me.
And glad I am so good occasion
Is happen'd. Now will I away to Chester
And leave these gentlemen to their blind fortune.
Mount. Since fortune hath thus spitefully crossed
our hope
Let's leave this quest and hearken after our king
Who is at Liv'rpool landed at this day.
Whaty in 1. 57, is a monosyllabic foot. Line 61 requires no
alteration and I therefore withdraw my conjecture proposed
in the first Series of these Notes, p. 16 {thafs so miserable).
The fact is, that creature is frequently pronounced as a
trisyllable; see S. Walker, Versification, 136 seqq. Grit. Exam.,
II, 19 seqq. Abbott, s. 484 (p. 378). Compare supra
No. CXXIII. That fitsy on p. 1 6, instead of As fits is merely
a lapsus calami. Instead of Chester Qq read Manchester;
the correction is due to Delius and Simpson. Spitefully and
Liverpool are to be pronounced as dissyllables; the latter
word is spelt Lirpoole in the Qq. (Jahrbuch der Deutschen
Shakespeare -Gesellschaft, XV, 347 seq.)
XXXV.*
Compare Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part II, III, 3 (Middle-
ton, ed. Dyce, III, 188): she bids the gentleman name any
13
1^4 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
afternoon and she'll meet him at her garden-house, which
I know. — Ram -Alley; or, Merry Tricks, I, i (Dodsley,
ed. Hazlitt, X, 271): —
Hither they say he usually doth come.
Whom I so much affect: what makes he here?
In the skirts of Holborn, so near the field.
And at a garden-house? he has some punk,
Upon my life.
Davenport, The City Nightcap (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, XIII, 187):
Garden-houses are not truer bawds to cuckold -making, than
I will be to thee and thy stratagem. — Measure for Measure,
V, I, 212 and 229. — Philip Stubbes's Anatomy of the Abuses
in England, ed. Furnivall, Part I, p. 88 seq. and p. 279 seq.
— Middleton, The Mayor of Queenborough, III, i (Middleton,
ed. Dyce, I, 162). — The Miseries of Enforced Marriage
(Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, IX, 538).
XXXIX.*
These lines have not been quoted quite correctly; here they
^ are as printed in Qu. 1598: —
God grant her grace amongest vs long may raigne.
And those that would not haue it soe,
^" Would that by enuie soone their heartes they might
forgoe.
Co, The Counsell, Noble, and this Realme,
Lord guide it stil with thy most holy hand,
The Commons and the subiectes grant them grace,
Their prince to serue, her to obey, and treason to deface :
Long maie she raine, in ioy and greate felicitie,
Each Christian heart do saie amen with me,
Exeunt.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 195
Similar prayers for the sovereign are found at the conclusion
of The Trial of Treasure; Like will to Like; King Darius;
The Longer thou Livest, the more F60I thou art; New Custom;
Locrine; &c. In 'Locrine' the prayer is apparently defective,
in so far as a line seems to have been lost which, besides
the missing rhyme to felicity y contained the very words of
supplication, without which the prayer would be pointless.
It may have been to the following effect : —
God grant her grace amongst us long to he.
The whole of the concluding passage is this : —
And as a woman was the only cause
That civil discord was then stirred up.
So let us pray for that renowned maid
That eight and thirty years the sceptre sway'd;
God grant her grace amongst us long to be
In qiiiet peace and sweet felicity;
And every wight that seeks her grace's smart,
Would that this sword were pierced in his heart.
XLVIL*
Compare Chaucer, The Court of Love, 820 seqq. (ed. Morris,
IV, 29):- ";
For yf that Jove had^^ but this lady seyn,
Tho Calixto ne yet Alcz«enia,
Thay never hadden in his amids leyne;
Ne he hada?'^ loved the faire Euro/a;
Ye, ne yit Dan^ ne Antiopa!
For all here bewtie stode in Rosiall,
She semed lich a thyng celestiall.
Mr Francis Cunningham, in his edition of Marlowe, has not
scrupled to correct the line under discussion as follows : —
13*
196 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
And [thence 1] made a voyage into Europe.
Had this correction proceeded from a German scholar, he
would no doubt have been severely taken to task by his
English fellow - critics.
XLIX.*
A similar 'Triumph' or rather 'Masque' with devices &c.
is introduced in Marston's Insatiate Countesse, A. II (Works,
ed. Halliwell, III, 123 seq.), where the gentlemen 'deliver
their shields to their severall mistresses', after that they
dance, &c.
LIL*
The hint thrown out by me with respect to the blue eyes
of the witches seems to be countenanced by the following
passage from Dekker's and Middleton's Honest Whore, Part II,
V, 2 (Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 237): ' Pen[eiope\ Out, you
dog! — a pox on you all! — women are born to curse thee
— but I shall live to see twenty such flat- caps shaking dice
for a pennyworth of pippins — out, you blue -eyed rogue/
Mr Surtees Phillpotts, in his edition of The Tempest (Rugby
Edition, London, 1876) ad loc.y seems to be of the same
opinion; * probably, he says, this means that her [viz. Sycorax's]
eyes had the cold startling blue which suggests malignity so
strongly. It is difficult to accept Mr Aldis Wright's sug-
gestion, that the reference is to the blueness of the eye -lids.'
There are, however, two passages in Marston and Webster
where the blueness is unequivocally ascribed to the eye -lids;
see Marston^ The Malcontent, I, 3 (Works, ed. Halliwell,
II, 209): 'till the finne of his eyes looke as blew as the
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 197
welkin'; Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, II, i (Works, ed.
Dyce, in i vol., London, 1857, p. 67a): —
The fins of her eye- lids look most teeming blue.
Compare also Marlowe, Dido, Queen of Carthage (Works,
ed. Dyce, in i vol., p. 258a): —
Then buckled I mine armour, drew my sword.
And thinking to go down, came Hector's ghost.
With ashy visage, blueish sulphur eyes, &c.
Entirely different are the 'two blue windows' ascribed to
Venus in Venus and Adonis, 1. 482, and the Movely e'en
o' bonnie blue' of Bums's Blue -eyed Lass that will live for
all time in the poet's song. Thus it appears that the pro-
blem is as far as ever from final solution.
LVIL*
The number of passages in which shadow and substance are
antithetically opposed to each other, may easily be increased;
compare, e. g.. Englishmen for my Money (Dodsley, ed.
Hazlitt, X, 514): —
Each one shall change his name:
Master Vandal, you shall take Heigham, and you
Young Harvey, and Monsieur Delion, Ned,
And under shadows be of substance sped,
lb., X, 525: —
Har]vey\ Hark, Ned, there's thy substance. [Aside.
Wal[grave]. Nay, by the mass, the substance is here.
The shadow's but an ass. [Aside.
lb., X, 549: —
One shadow for a substance; this is she.
Ids ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
Marston, The Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image (Works,
ed. Halliwell, lU, 203): —
Yet love at length forc'd him to know his fate,
And love the shade whose substance he did hate.
Dryden, Astraea Redux, 1. igi seq.: —
Religion's name against itself was made;
The shadow served the substance to invade.
This would seem to be overwhelming evidence in favour of
my conjecture; yet, after all, statue may be the right word,
since it appears to have been used in a passage or two for
a picture, or, strictly speaking, a painted life-size figure.
The most striking of these passages occurs in Massinger's
City Madam, V, 3 (Works, ed. Hartley Coleridge, 1839,
p. 338):-
Sir John. Your nieces, ere they put to sea, crave
humbly.
Though absent in their bodies, they may take leave
Of their late suitors' statues.
Enter Lady Frugaly Anne, and Mary,
Luke, There they hang: &c.
And about thirty lines infra: —
Sir John, For your sport,
You shall see a masterpiece. Here's nothing but
A superficies; colours, and no substance.
By the way it may be remarked, that the scene forcibly
reminds the reader of Hermione 'standing like a statue' in
The Winter's Tale, V, 3. — Next to Massinger Sir Thomas
Overbury must be mentioned, from whose Characters the
following passage is quoted by Trench, in his Select Glos-
sary (1859), s. Landscape: 'The sins of other women show
in landskip, far off and full of shadow; her's [a harlot's] in
statue, near hand and bigger in the life.' As according to
m
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 199
Bloimfs Glossary (quoted by Skeat s. Landscape) 'landscape'
expresses * all the part of a picture which is not of the body
or argument', thus answering to the modern 'back -ground',
it seems highly probable that statue is here meant by Sir
Thomas Overbury to signify a figure standing in the fore-
ground of the picture. Compare the Complete Works of
William Shakespeare, ed. the Rev. Henry N. Hudson, I, 235.
LXVL*
Compare Marston, The Insatiate Countesse, A. H (Works,
ed. Halliwell, III, 124): *Tha\is\\ O! this your device smells
of the merchant. What's your ships name, I pray? The
Forlorne Hope? Abi\gair\\ Noe; The Merchant Royall.
Tha. And why not Adventurer?
LXVIL*
Compare The Two Noble Kinsmen, ed. Harold Littledale,
p. 146: swim with your bodies. Here and elsewhere a
swimming gait is recommended to some person, just as it
is the case in the passage under discussion. The Works of
Washington Irving (London, 1876), IV, 80: the swimming
voluptuousness of her gait. lb., IV, 95: with an alluring
look and swimming gait.
LXXV.*
Dr Brinsley Nicholson, in the Transactions of the New Shak-
spere Society, 1880 — 2, Part I, p. 107, entirely mistook
my meaning in thinking that I referred my conjectural emen-
200 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
dation bray 'to the trumpet -note of defiance sounded by
the citizens of Angiers', or, to state it quite distinctly and
plainly, to the blowing of trumpets by the men of Angiers.
I referred (and still refer) bray to the defiant speech of the
citizen of Angiers and think it quite immaterial whether or
not the customary trumpets were blown on the occasion of
this parley ; only the expression would be so much the more
appropriate, if they were. I am ready to grant that there
were no trumpets in the case, since Dr Nicholson attaches
so much importance to their absence; but still I uphold my
conjecture as stoutly as before. Compare Greene, Dorastus
and Fawnia (Shakespeare's Library, ed. Hazlitt, I, IV, 43):
who as in a fiiry brayed out these bitter speaches. Speeches
of Lord Macaulay (London, 1875, Longmans, p. i8ob):
The Orangeman raises his war-whoop: Exeter Hall sets up
its bray.
LXXXUL*
The fact that Kemp went to Germany and Italy is con-
firmed by a passage in Sloane Mss. 392, fol. 401, quoted
by Mr Halliwell-Phillipps in his edition of the Coventry
Plays, and thence transferred to Mr A. H. Bullen's edition
of the Works of John Day (1881, privately printed), Vol. I,
p. 100. This is the passage: *i6oi. September 2. Kemp,
mimus quidam, qui peragrationem quandam in Germaniam
et Italiam instituerat, per multos errores et infortunia sua
reversus: multa refert de Anthonio Sherley, equite aurato,
quern Romae [!] (legatum Persicum agentem) convenerat.'
Another distinct statement that Kemp travelled on the con-
tinent in his capacity as a dancer, is contained in Weelkes'
Madrigals (1608) No XX, quoted by Sam. Neil, Shake-
^
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 201
speare's Hamlet, with Introduction and Notes (London and
Glasgow, 1877) p. 174, It is to the following effect: —
Since Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Little John are
gone -a home -a,
The hobby-horse was quite forgot when Kempe did
dance- a,
He did labour, after the tabor, for to dance them into
France.
For he took pains
To skip it, to skip it;
In hope of gains, of gains.
He will trip it, trip it, trip it on the toe.
Diddle, diddle, diddle, do.
;
LXXXV.*
Compare Spenser, Faerie Queene, III, 9, 4: —
But all his minde is set on mucky pelfe.
XC*
I have come to the conviction that my conjectural emen-
dation on this most difficult passage may be improved by a
slight alteration: instead of often daub, as proposed by me,
we should write oft bedaub. The meaning of the passage is :
*A single dram of evil is sufficient to bedaub (besmirch,
besmear, or soil) the whole of a noble substance and render
it as scandalous as it is itself.' The verb to bedaub occurs
in Romeo and Juliet, III, 2, 54 seqq. : —
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore -blood, &c.
90| ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
and in Marlowe's Edward II, II, 2, i8i (ed. Tancock): —
and thyself,
Bedaub'd with gold, rode laughing at the rest.
Shakespeare frequently indulges in the metaphorical use of
similar verbs, such as smirch ^ stain j smeary besmear y and
bestain; see Much Ado about Nothing, IV, i, 135; Love's
Labour's Lost, II, i, 47 seqq.; The Merchant of Venice,
V, 218 seq.; King John, IV, 3, 24; i K. Henry IV, i, 85 seq..;
I K. Henry VI, IV, 7, 3; K. Henry VIII, I, 2, 121 seqq.;
Timon of Athens, I, i, 15 seqq.; The Rape of Lucrece,
55 seq.; ib., 195 seq.
XCI.*
Instances in which forty and forty thousand are used to denote
an indefinite number, are indeed *as plenty as blackberries',
but it is not the same with the lesser numbers twoy four^
and twenty^ and I may therefore be allowed to add a few
more passages. Heywood, The Four Ps (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt,
1. 363):-
Doubtless this kiss shall do you great pleasure;
For all these two days it shall so ease you.
That none other savours shall displease you.
*Pothecary, All these two days! nay, all these two
years ; *
For all the savours that may come here
Can be no worse.
Greene's Tu Quoque (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, XI, 207): I could
have maintained this theme this two hours. William Rowley,
A Match at Midnight (Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, XIII, 25): That,
♦ The rhyme, I think, shows that we should write : thu two year.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 203
by four days' stay, a man should lose his blood! In Ellis'
Specimens, II, 301 the giant Ferragus is thus described: —
He had twenty men's strength;
And forty feet of length
Thilke paynim had;
And four feet in the face
Y-meten on the place,
And fifteen in brede.
'Fifteen', in the last line, has evidently been introduced
for want of another indefinite numeral. A most curious in-
stance is Hamlet, V, i, 257, where the reading of the first
Quarto (1603): —
I lou'de Ofelia as deere as twenty brothers could,
has been altered in the later Qq and Ff to the far higher
number of * forty thousand': —
I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers
Could not, with all their quantity of love,
Make up my sum.
XCIL*
The following two passages taken from Shakespeare may be
added to show how fond he was of looking at man as a
compound of clay or soil, viz. Much Ado about Nothing,
II, I, 63 seqq. : Would it not grieve a woman to be over-
mastered with a piece of valiant dust? to make an account
of her life to a clod of wayward marl? — 2 K. Henry IV,
I, 2, 9 seq.: The brain of this foolish- compounded clay,
man, is not able to invent any thing that tends to laughter,
more than I invent or is invented on me.
*Leuell coyle', in the passage quoted from Armin's Nest
of Ninnies (at p. 103), is widely distinct from coil = turmoil,
204 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
bustle, but denotes a 'rough game, formerly much in fashion
at Christmas'; it means Mevez le cul', and *to play at level
coir is equivalent to 'jouer a cul lev6', It. 'leva il culo'.
Compare Nares' and Halliweirs Dictionaries, s. Level- Coil.
Collier's conjectures {lewd or wicked instead of leuell) are
entirely gratuitous.
XCVIL*
In my edition of Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet (1882)
p, 221 seq., I have continued my endeavours of restoring
this undoubtedly corrupt line. Since then I have come
across a passage in a recent book that bids fair to confirm
my conjecture graves. I allude to Mr Saintsbury's Life of
Dry den in Prof. Morley's well-known collection of English
Men of Letters, where, at p. iig seq., we read the follow-
ing : * He has exposed his legs to the arrows of any criticaster
who chooses to aim at him.' Does not this imply that the
legs were frequently chosen as an aim by archers and bow-
men and therefore had to be protected from the enemy's
arrows? And by what other means could they be protected
than by greaves? At all events this seems to be a track
which should be pursued, if we wish to arrive at a thorough
understanding and consequent emendation of the king's speech
in Hamlet. — At the same time I embrace the opportunity
of adding wak to the list of those words that are spelt with
either a or ea; in Chapman's Iliads, ed. Hooper, Bk. II,
I. 232, it is written wale, whereas nowadays it is pretty
fi-equently spelt weal. Compare also S. Walker, Crit. Exam.,
II, 118 (wave and weave).
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 205
XCIX.*
Compare Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose, 1. 5712 seq. : —
He undirfongith a gret peyne.
That undirtakith to drynke up Seyne.
Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part H, I, i (Middleton, ed.
Dyce, III, 137): —
Drink up this gold, good wits should love good wine
[Gwes money,
Puttenham, The Arte of English Poesie, ed. Arber, p. 88:
*one a horsebacke calling perchance for a cup of beere or
wine, and hauing dronken it vp rides away and neuer lights.'
— These passages speak greatly in favour of Mr Grant
White's persuasion {apud Fumess ad loc.) that Hhe use of
up in the present passage seems fatal to the interpretation
of etsel, or vinegar'; a persuasion in which I completely
concur. The Latin form Nilus occurs also in Greene's
Dorastus and Fawnia (Shakespeare's Library, ed. Hazlitt, i,
IV, 56): Nylus flowing more then twelve cubits procureth
a dearth. Delius's objection, to which Fumess seems to
attach no inconsiderable weight, 'that it is difficult to see
how so familiar a word as Nile could be sophisticated into
vessels', seems to be silenced by a remark made in the
Preface to the Cambridge Edition, p. XH. The Editors
here justly insist on the frequent ' causelessness of the blun-
ders ', which they illustrate by the following instance taken
from A Midsummer Night's Dream, I, i, 139: —
Or else it stood upon the choice of merit.
This reading of the Folios is certainly wrong. 'But if we
compare, the Cambridge Editors go on to say, the true
reading preserved in the Quartos, "the choice of friends",
we can perceive no way to account for the change of
206 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
"friends" to "merit", by which we might have retraced the
error from "merit" to "friends". Nothing like the "ductus
literarum", or attraction of the eye to a neighbouring word,
can be alleged here.' This case is even more glaring than
the corruption of Nilus to Esiky where we may fancy
without great difficulty that Es originated in an indistinctly
written N, and that EsiUf therefore, is merely a misread
Nile, — Last, and this time indeed least, 1 must not forget
to mention that this note has given rise to a complaint
from Dr Al. Schmidt in the Jahrbuch der Deutschen Shake-
speare - Gesellschaft , XV, 437 seq. See my reply, ib.,
XVI, 250.
. CCXVIII.*
A more conservative critic may perhaps prefer the following
arrangement : —
Muce. Since I must depart
<»l :^m One thing I crave —
Ama, Say on.
.». Muce, With all my heart:
'^fi That in absence, either far or near, &c.
Thdiy in thie last line, is to be considered as a monosyllabic
foot, or, if not, we seem to be compelled to insert my
before absence.
CCXXXII.*
From no less an authority than Erasmus we learn that an
almost incredible nastiness prevailed in the English houses
of his time, that e. g. excrements of dogs and cats were to
m
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 207
be found in the rooms, and that the floors were strewed
with rushes merely to cover these abominations. Compare
The Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. LXVI and my Abhand-
lungen zu Shakespeare, S. 405.
THE END.
Errata.
Page 70, last Hne, for bout read rout.
Page 71, Hne 5, for conflict read brawl.
Halle :
Printing-office of the Orphan -House.
NOTES ON ELIZABETHAN DRAMATISTS.
NOTES ON ELIZABETHAN DRAMATISTS
WITH
CONJECTURAL EMENDATIONS OF THE TEXT.
KARL ELZE,
PH. D., LL. D., HON. M.R.S.L.
THIRD SERIES,
HALLE:
Max Niemeyer.
1886.
PREFACE.
As the following pages treat largely of that kind of verse,
which, for want of a better name, I have designated as
syllable pause lines, I think it right to inform the reader
that some time ago (in October 1885), in turning over
George L. Craik's edition of 'Julius Caesar' (The English of
Shakespeare &c., 5**" Ed., Lon., 1875), I lighted accidentally
at p. 33 on a passage, hitherto overlooked by me, that bears
upon this kind of apparently defective lines, which lines, Mr
Craik says, appear to have received the sanction of Coleridge,
in so far as Coleridge considered the pause a substitute for
the omitted syllable. Craik, for his own part, confesses him-
self strongly inclined to think the text corrupted in all, or
almost all, such cases; Coleridge, he says, had not fully con-
sidered the matter. I do not know, where Coleridge has
treated of syllable pause lines and can do no more than
refer the reader to the passage in Craik, without adding any
comment of my own. My conviction is rather strengthened
than shaken by Craik's remarks and I have continued to point
out at least part of those lines in which a pause does ser-
vice for a defective syllable.
As to the conjectural emendations on Marstons 'Insa-
tiate Countess' (Nos CCCXXXIV— CCCXL) , it should be
VI PREFACE.
distinctly understood that they were made without any other
literary help than that afforded by Mr J. O. Halliwell's edition ;
I am sorry to say that it was out of my power to collate
the quarto of 1613 of that play, which, in note CCLXXIII,
I have shown to be far more correctly printed than the one
made use of by Mr Halliwell.
For the rest, the Third (and probably last) Series of
these Notes, like its two predecessors, must try to make its
way on either side of the 'silver sea', which, I hope, will
not 'serve in the office of a wall' against contributions
towards the revision and elucidation of the text of the
'Sweet Swan of Avon', from whatever part of the world they
may come.
Halle, March 13, 1886. K. E.
CONTENTS.
Dekker and Webster, ^^^
Westward Ho!, CCCXVI — CCCXX i
Greene.
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, CCCXXI— CCCXX VII . 3
Marlowe.
Doctor Faustus, CCCXXVin — CCCXXXI .... 6
Marston.
Antonio's Revenge, CCCXXXII — CCCXXXIII ... 7
The Insatiate Countess, CCCXXXIV— CCCXL ... 8
Shakespeare,
Measure for Measure, CCCXLI 11
Twelfth Night, CCCXLII — CCCLXX 17
King Lear, CCCLXXI 35
Antony and Cleopatra, CCCLXXII — CDXXII ... 40
Cymbeline, CpXXtn — DXXIX 65
Pericles, DXXX — DXCII 121
Addenda and Corrigenda,
LVII.* LXV.* LXXV.* LXXXV.* LXXXVI.* LXXXVm.*
xcm.* xcvi.* xcix.* cn.* cxix.* cxxiii.*
CXXXIV.* CXCV.* CCLIV.* CCLXXIX.* CCLXXX.*
ccxci.* ccxcm.* ccc* ccciii.* ccciv.* cccvi.*
cccrx.* i%o
DEKKER AND WEBSTEB.
CCCXVI.
Too often interviews amongst women, as amongst princes,
breed envy oft to other's fortune. '
Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho, I, 2
(Webster, ed. Dyce, 1857, in i vol., 213b).
In The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker &c. (London,
1873), where Westward Ho! has been printed from the Quarto
of 1607, this passage stands thus (II, 291): too often inter-
viewes amongst women, as amongst Princes, breeds enuy oft
to others fortune. — (9/7, after too often, can hardly be right;
qy. 0/ one"^ The passage would then read: Too often inter-
views amongst women, as amongst princes, breed envy of one
to other's fortune.
CCCXVIL
I heard say that he would have had thee nursed thy child
thyself too.
IB., I, 2 (Webster, ed. Dyce, 214a).
In The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker (Lon. 1873)
II, 292, the passage reads: I heard say that he would haue
had thee nurst thy Childe thy selfe too. — Nursed, or nurst,
is to all appearance a mere misprint for nurse.
CCCXVIII.
Mist. Honey\suckle\ I think, when all's done, I must
follow his counsel, and take a patch; I['d] have had one
I
2 WESTWARD HO!
long ere this , but for disfiguring my face : yet I had noted that
a mastic patch upon some women's temples hath been the very
rheum [rheuwme, Dekker, Dram. Works, II, 298] of beauty.
Ib., II, I (Webster, ed. Dyce, 216 a).
Dyce remarks on the word rheum: 'A misprint, I believe:
but qy. for what?' I think for prime. Another corruption
seems still to be lurking in the passage; may not the original
reading have been: yet I have noted?
CCCXIX.
Such a red lip, such a white forehead, such a black eye,
such a full cheek, and such a goodly little nose, now she's
in that French gown, Scotch falls, Scotch bum, and Italian
head -tire you sent her, and is such an enticing she -witch,
carrying the charms of your jewels about her.
>*' IB., II, 2 (Webster, ed. Dyce, 218 b).
* Scotch falls, Scotch bum' is an evident dittography. Read
either Dutch falls , Scotch hum , or, Scotch falls, Dutch bum.
It may be left to the antiquaries to inquire which of these
two conjectural emendations is countenanced by the Dutch
and Scotch fashions of the time. — In Dekker's Dramatic
Works, II, 302 , the passage is given without the least alte-
ration, except in the spelling.
CCCXX.
Wht'rl\j)ool\ We'll take a coach and ride to Ham or so.
Mist. Ten[terhook]. O, fie upon 't, a coach! I cannot
abide to be jolted.
y^y Mist. Wafer. Yet most of your citizens' wives love jolting.
*if!. IB., II, 3 (Webster, ed. Dyce, 222b).
^3^
FRIAR BACON AND FRIAR BUNGAY, 3
The last speech comes very inappropriately from Mistress
Wafer's lips, she being a citizen's wife herself. In my judg-
ment it should be assigned to one of the three gentlemen,
Linstock, Whirlpool, and Sir Gosling Glowworm, most pro-
bably to Mr Whirlpool, as it is he who has made the proposal
of taking a coach. — In The Dramatic Works of Thomas
Dekker &c. (Lon. 1873), II, 311, the prefixes to these three
speeches are: While', Tent. \\. e. MtsJ. Tenterhoo}i\; and Mab[ell].
GREENE.
CCCXXI.
I have struck him dumb, my lord; and, if your honour please.
Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, VI, 162 (The Dramatic
AND Poetical Works of Rob. Greene and George Peelk,
ED. Dyce, 1 861, IN I VOL., 162 b).
Dyce rather boldly suggests : if you please instead of if your
honour please, whereas the late Professor Wilhelm Wagner in
Professor Wiilker's Anglia, II, 524, declares the line to be an
Alexandrine. In my opinion it is a regular blankverse with an
extra syllable before the pause; read and scan: —
I've struck | him dumb, | m'lord; and if | your hon|our
please.
CCCXXII.
I have given non-plus to the Paduans,
To them of Sien, Florence, and Bologna,
Rheims, Louvain, and fair Rotterdam,
Frankfort, Utrecht, and Orleans.
IB., IX, III SEQ. (Greene and Peele, ed. Dyce, 168 a).
'This [viz. the last] line, says Dyce, is certainly mutilated;
and so perhaps is the preceding line: from the Emperor's
4 FRIAR BACON AND FRIAR BUNGAY.
speech, p. 159, first col., it would seem that "Paris" ought
to be one of the places mentioned here.' — Dyce is quite
right, but the mere addition of 'Paris' is no sufficient cure
of the two defective lines. I strongly suspect that Greene
wrote : —
I have given non-plus to the Paduans,
To them of Sien, Florence, and Bologna,
Of Rheims , of Louvain , and fair Rotterdam,
Of Frankfort, Utrecht, Paris and Orleans.
The last line has an extra syllable before the pause and a
trochee after it; scan therefore: —
Of Frankjfort, U|trecht, Paris | and Or|ledns.
CCCXXIII.
All hail to this royal company.
Ib., IX, 117 (Greene and Peele, ed. Dyce, 168 a).
According to Prof. Wagner (1. c.) this is an unmetrical line
which he corrects by the insertion of right before royal.
Prof. Ward (Old English Drama, ed. A. W. Ward, Oxford,
1878, 83) proposes to read unto instead of to. To me the
line seems to be quite correct, if considered as a syllable
pause line; scan: —
All hail! | kj to | this roy|al com|pany.
' CCCXXIV.
Gracious as the morning-star of heaven.
IB., IX, 174 (Greene and Peele, ed. Dyce, i68b).
In Prof. Wagner's eyes (1. c.) this is a remarkable instance of
the conservative tendency of the editors; he does not hesitate
FRIAR BACON AND FRIAR BUNGAY. 5
to declare in favour of Prof. Ward's conjectural emendation
(Old English Drama, 249): —
Gracious as is the morning-star of heaven.
But may not the poet have used Gracious as a trisyllable: —
Graci|ous as | the mor|ning-star | of heaven?
Or it may be a syllable pause line, as there is certainly a
pause after Gracious : —
Gracious | ^ as | the mor]ning - star | of heaven.
CCCXXV.
And give us cates fit for country swains.
Ib., IX, 240 (Greene and Peele, ed. Dyce, 169 b).
Professor Wagner (I.e. 525) needlessly inserts ^«/ after fiL
It is a syllable pause line: —
And give | us cates | ^ fit | for coun|try swains.
CCCXXVI.
Persia, down her Volga by canoes.
Ib,, IX, 269 (Greene and Peele, ed. Dyce, 170a).
In order to restore the metre Professor Wagner (1. c, 525)
proposes to read adown. The metre, however, is quite cor-
rect; scan: —
Persia, | ^ down | her Vol|ga by | canoes.
CCCXXVII.
Ah, Bungay, my Brazen Head is spoil'd.
Ib., XIII, 4 (Greene and Peele, ed. Dyce, 174b).
'Query, says Dyce ad loc, *Ah, Bungay, ah, my.' I think
there is no need of such an addition; scan: —
Ah, Bun|gay, -^ | my bra|zen head | is spoil'd.
6 DOCTOR FAUSTUS.
MARLOWE.
CCCXXVIII.
Fausi. So Faustus hath
Already done; and holds this principle,
There is no chief but only Belzebub.
Doctor Faustus (Works, ed. Dyce, Lon. 1870,
IN I VOL., 83 b AND I20b).
Qy. arrange : —
Faust, So Faustus hath already done, and holds
This principle :
There is no chief but only Belzebub?
CCCXXIX.
For that security craves great Lucifer.
Ib., (Works, ed. Dyce, 86a and 112b).
This is the reading of the first quarto (1604). In the second
quarto (161 6) the line is corrected by the omission of great;
no such correction, however, is needed, as security may well
be pronouilced as a trisyllable {security).
CCCXXX.
And Faustus hath bequeath'd his soul to Lucifer.
Ib., (Works, ed. Dyce, 86b and 113 a).
An apparent Alexandrine. Lucifer is to be read as a tri-
syllabic feminine ending.
CCCXXXI.
Faust. How ! now in hell.
Nay, an this be hell, I'll willingly be damn'd here:
What! walking, disputing, &c.
ANTONIO'S REVENGE. 7
But, leaving off this, let me have a wife.
The fairest maid in Germany;
For I am wanton and lascivious,
And cannot live without a wife.
Meph. How! a wife!
I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife.
Ib„ ("Works, ed. Dyce, 87a seq. and 114a).
From a comparison of this reading of the first quarto with
that of the second, we may fairly conclude that the passage
in the poet's Ms stood ag follows : —
Faust. How now! In hell!
An this be hell, I'll willingly be damn'd.
What! Sleeping, eating, walking, and disputing!
But leaving off this, let me have a wife.
The fairest maid there is in Germany;
For I am wanton and lascivious,
And cannot live without a wife.
Meph, A wife?
I prithee, Faustus, talk not of a wife.
MABSTON.
CCCXXXII.
Gods bores, it wil not stick to fal off.
Antonio's Revenge, II, i (The Works of John Marston,
ED. J. O. Halliwell, Lon., 1856, I, 90).
Qy.: God's bones, it will not stick, but fall <?/? In John
S. Keltie's, The Works of the British Dramatists (Edinburgh,
1875), 369b, the oath 'God's bores' has been omitted in
accordance with the editor's endeavour to purge from im-
purity the plays reprinted by him (Preface, VII).
8 ANTONIO'S REVENGE. THE INSATIATE COUNTESS.
^ CCCXXXIII.
Shee's most fair, true, most chaste, most false; because
Most faire, tis firme He marrie her.
IB., 11, 4, FIN. (Works, I, 102).
Read and arrange: —
She IS most fair, most true, most chaste, most false;
Because most fair, 'tis firm I'll marry her.
cccxxxiy.
His sight would make me gnash my teeth terribly.
The Insatiate Countess, A.I, (Works, III, 115).
A transposition of the adverb terribly seems to be the only
means of reducing this line to something like metre: —
His sight I would ter\r'bly make | me gnash | my teeth.
CCCXXXV.
How like Adonis in his hunting weedes,
Lookes this same godesse- tempter?
And art thou come? This kisse enters into thy soule:
Gods, I doe not envy you; for know this
Way's here on earth compleat, excels your blisse:
He not change this nights pleasure with you all.
IB., A. Ill, (Works, III, 155).
Read and arrange: —
How like Adonis in his hunting weeds,
Looks this same goddess -tempter? And art thou come?
This kiss enters into thy soul.
Gods, I dotCt envy you ; for know you this :
Whafs here on earth complete, excels your bliss;
I'll not change this night's pleasure with you all.
THE INSATIATE COUNTESS, 9
CCCXXXVI.
Women are made
Of blood, without soules; when their beauties fade,
And their lusts past, avarice or bawdry
Makes them still lov'd; then they buy venere,
Bribing damnation, and hire brothell slaves.
Ib., a. Ill, AD FIN. (Works, III, i6o).
Bawdry is either to be pronounced as a trisyllable
{bawd'€'ry)j or we must transpose: bawdry or avarice. In-
stead of venere read venery. Qy. read lusi^s}
CCCXXXVII.
What Tanais, Nilus, or what Tioris swift.
What Rhenus ferier then the cataract,
Although Neptolis cold, the waves of all the Northerne Sea,
Should flow for ever through these guilty hands,
Yet the sanguinolent staine would extant be.
IB., A. V, (Works, III, i8i).
Read and arrange: —
What Tanais, Nilus, or what Tigris swift,
What Rhenus fiercer than the cataract.
Can quench helVs fire"^ Although Paciolus' gold.
Although the waves of all the Northern Sea,
Should flow for ever through these guilty hands,
Yet the sanguinolent stain would extant be.
The context clearly shows that something like the words in-
serted has been lost after cataract ^ a suspicion which is con-
firmed by the irregularity of the metre, in so far as the line
Although Neptolis .... Northerne Sea must necessarily be broken
in two. The Tigris could not be characterized by a more
10 THE INSATIATE COUNTESS.
appropriate epithet than swifts as this river is renowned for
its rapid flow; its name means arrow. With respect to the
correction Rhenus fiercer &c., Milton's fierce Phlegeton (Para-
dise Lost, II, 580) may be compared. — In writing this pas-
sage the poet evidently had before his mind's eye not only
a line from Horace (Epodes, XV, 20), but also the celebrated
soHloquy of Lady Macbeth (V, i, 39 seqq.): Out, damned
spot ! out , I say ! What , will these hands ne'er be
clean? «&:c. Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' is said to have been
first acted in 1610 (which 1 think too late a date), whilst
*The Insatiate Countess' was first published in 1613.
CCCXXXVIII.
Abt. Husband, I'le naile me to the earth, but I'le
Winne your pardon.
My jewels, jointure, all I have shall flye;
Apparell, bedding, I'le not leave a rugge.
So you may come off fairely.
IB., A. V, (Works, III, 191).
Read and arrange : —
Abt. Husband, I'll nail me to the earth, but /
Will win your pardon. My jewels, jointure, all
I have, shall fly; apparel, bedding, I'll
Not leave a rug, so you may come off" fairly.
CCCXXXIX.
Tha[ts]. Hee's stung already, as if his eyes were
turn'd on
Persies shield.
IB., A. V, (Works, III, 194).
Read, of course, Perseus' shield.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 11
CCCXL.
Rog. Had I knowne this I would have poison'd thee
in the chalice
This morning, when we receaved the sacrament.
Cla. Slave, knowst thou this? tis an appendix to the
letter;
But the greater temptation is hidden within.
1 will scowre thy gorge like a hawke : thou shalt swallow
thine owne stone in this letter, \They hustle,
Seal'd and delivered in the presence of —
IB., A. V, (Works, III, 195).
Read and arrange: —
Rog, Had I known this, I would have poison'd thee
This morning in the chalice, when we received
The sacrament.
Cla, Slave, know'st thou this? 'Tis an
Appendix to the letter; but the greater
Temptation 's hid within. 77/ scour thy gorge
Like to a hawk \hawUsl\\
Thou shalt swallow thine own stone in this letter,
Seal'd and deliver'd in the presence of —
\They wrestle.
SHAKESPEARE.
CCCXLI.
As if we had them not. Spirits are finely touch'd.
Measure for Measure, I, i, 36.
*In Measure for Measure, says Mr Fleay apud Ingleby,
Occasional Papers, &c., 84, the regular instances [viz. of
Alexandrines] are numerous and the change to the third
i2 MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
period complete.' Mr Fleay is quite right as to the frequency
in 'Measure for Measure' of that peculiar kind of verse which
he calls Alexandrines, and I differ from him only in so far
as I take the great majority of them to be blankverse,
mostly with a trisyllabic feminine ending either at the end
of the line, or at the end of the first hemistich, i. e. before
the pause. I am perfectly aware that Mr Fleay's opinions
on this head are shared more or less by most English
Shakespearians and prosodists, amongst others by Mr Alexan-
der J. Ellis who in his elaborate work *0n Early English
Pronunciation' (III, 943 seq.) has proved a staunch defender
of Alexandrines in Shakespeare and an eager, though un-
successful antagonist of Dr Abbott. It would be labour thrown
away to argue with Mr Ellis and to examine the details of
his theory; I merely mention him lest, at some time or other,
my silence should be misinterpreted as ignorance. In the
following scansions I shall omit some few of the lines de-
signated as Alexandrines by Mr Fleay and for brevity's sake
shall now and then mark the middle syllable of trisyllabic
feminine endings by an apostrophe. To begin with the line
at the head of this note, it has a trisyllabic feminine ending
before the pause (had them not)^ while Spirits is to be pro-
nounced as a monosyllable.
I, I, 56: Matters of needful value: we shall write to you.
Hanmer omitted to you. Mr Fleay writes t'you and
declares the line to be an Alexandrine 'with Spen-
serian cesura.' In my opinion the verse should be
scanned : —
Matters | of need|ful val|ue : we shall | write to | you.
Compare A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 141 : —
And gen|eral hon|our. I'm | directjed hf \ you.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 18
I» 3» 37 ■ For what I bid them do: for we bid this be done.
Be done omitted by Pope. Bid them do is a tri-
syllabic feminine ending before the pause. Compare
K. Richard III, I, 2,89: —
Say that | I slew | them not? Why, then | they
are j not dead,
and Coriolanus, IV, i, 27; —
As 'tis I to laugh | at 'em. My mothjer, you | wot well.
Possibly, however, all these lines may just as well
be taken for what are termed trimeter couplets by
Dr Abbott, s. 500 seq.
I, 3, 39: And not | the pun|'shment. Therefore, | indeed, I
my fath|er.
Indeed omitted by Pope.
I, 4, 5: Upon I the sist|'rhood, the vo|t'rists of | Saint Clare.
Pope sister votaries ; Dyce sisterhood, votarists.
I, 4, 70: To sof|ten An|g'lo; and that's | my pith | of
busj'ness.
Pith of omitted by Pope; Hanmer and Dyce end the
line at pith and thus complete the following line,
although they differ in their readings.
II, 2, 9: Why dost thou ask again? Lest I might be too rash.
Dost thou omitted by Hanmer. Ask again seems to
be a trisyllabic feminine ending; the line may, however,
be taken for a trimeter couplet, just like II, 2, 12;
II, 2, 14; II, 2, 41, and numerous others.
II, 2, 70: And what | a pris|'ner. Ay, touch | him; there's]
the vein.
II, 2, 183: To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet.
Dyce and Mr Fleay justly adopt Pope's correction
ne*er for never and thus make the line a regular blank-
verse with an extra syllable before the pause.
14 MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
II, 4, ii8: T'have what | we would | have, we speak | not
what I we mean.
Steevens (and Dyce) we^d,
II, 4, 128 (not 127): In prof I 'ting by | them. Nay, call | us
ten I times frail.
II, 4, 153 seq. Pope, Dyce (and others?) justly end 1. 153
at world. Dyce thinks the word aloud an inter-
polation and is surprised that none of the former edi-
tors has thrown it out. In my opinion such an omission
would be quite uncalled for, as the two lines are thus
to be scanned: —
Or with I an out|stretch'd throat | Til tell | the world
Aloud I what man [ thou 'rt.
Ang. Who will | believe | thee, Is|'bel ?
Both man thou art and Isabel are trisyllabic feminine
endings; as to the latter compare IV, 3, 119; V, 1,387;
V, 1,392, and V, i, 435.
Ill, I, 32 seq. Qy. arrange and scan: —
For endjing thee | no soon|er. Thou hast | nor youth
Nor age, | but, as | 'twere, an afjter-dinlner's sleep?
Ill, I, 61 : To-mor|row you | set on. | Is there | no rem|'dy?
Ill, I, 89: In base I appli|'nces. This out|ward-saint|ed depfty.
Hanmer reads appliance.
Ill, I, 151 (not 150): 'Tis best | that thou | diest quick|ly.
O hear | me, Is|'bel.
The old copies as well as the modern editions, as far
as they are known to me , wrongly read Isabella. The
line has an extra syllable before the pause and a tri-
syllabic feminine ending.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 15
IV, 2, 76 seqq. : The best and wholesomest spirits of the night
Envelop you, good Provost. Who call'd here of late?
ProD. None, since the curfew rung.
Duke, Not Isabel?
Prov, No.
^«^^- They will, then, ere't be long.
Arrange : —
The best and wholesomest. spirits of the night
Envelop you, good Provost! Who call'd here
Of late?
Pr&v. None, since the curfew rung.
Duke, Not Isabel?
Prffv, No.
Duke. She will, then, ere't be long.
Isabel is a trisyllabic feminine ending or a quasi- dis-
syllable; compare The Works of John Marston, ed.
J. O. Halliwell (London, 1856) III, no: —
Isabell I advances to | a sec|ond bed.
0/ late Isabel, therefore, is a regular blankverse
and the Alexandrine is discarded. They, in the last
line, has rightly been altered to She by Hawkins.
Compare Abbott, s. 501.
IV, 2, 86 seq. : To qualify in others; were he mealed with that
Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous.
In the one-volume edition of Shakespeare's Plays and
Poems published by Ernest Fleischer, Leipsic, 1833,
the words with that are transferred to the following
line and I am surprised that this correction has not
been recorded in the Cambridge Edition. Mr Fleay
recommends the same transposition and it only remains
to add, that tyrannous is a trisyllabic feminine ending
which makes the line a correct blankverse.
16 MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
IV, 2, 103 : Profess'd | the con|tr'ry. This is | his lord|ship's man.
IV, 3, 131: By every syllable a faithful verity.
Strange to say, this line is not mentioned by Mr Fleay.
Verity is a trisyllabic feminine ending; compare supra
No. CLXXXI.
IV, 3, 137: There to give up their power. If you can, pace
your wisdom.
I strongly suspect that the words If you can did not
come from the poet's pen and should be struck out.
IV, 3, 145: At Mariana's house to-night. Her cause and yours.
To-night omitted by Pope. Mr Fleay rightly, though
diffidently, suggests Marian^ s^ and thus restores a regu-
lar blankverse. It has not occurred to Mr Fleay that
the same correction is to be applied to A. V, sc. i ,
1. 379 and A. V, sc. i, I. 408: —
Is all I the grace | I beg. | Come hith|er, Majrian.
For Ma|rian's sake: | but as | he adjudg'd | your
broth I er.
IV, 5, 6: As cause | doth min|'ster. Go, call | at Fla|vius' house.
Go omitted by Hanmer.
V, 1,32: Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me, here !
Dyce justly queries here', it is certainly an interpolation.
V, 1,42: Is it not strange and strange? Nay, it is ten
times strange.
Omit, with Pope, Dyce, &c. // is.
V, 1,51: That I I am touch'd | with madjness. Make not |
imposs|'ble.
V, I, 54 (not 56): May seem | as shy, | as grave, | as just, |
as ab|s'lute,
V, I, 65: For in|equal|'ty; but let | your rea|son serve.
Pope needlessly transferred serve to the beginning of
the next line in which he omitted the article before truth.
TWELFTH NIGHT. 17
V, I, 74: As then \ the mess|'nger, — That's I, | an 't likej
your grace.
As to messenger see S. Walker, Versif., 200 seq.
V, 1,101: And 1 1 did yield 1 1' him : but the | next mom | betimes.
But the omitted by Pope. Yield to him is a trisyllabic
feminine ending before the pause.
V, I, 233: A mar|ble mon|'ment. I did | but smile | till now.
V, I, 260: Upon I these slan|d'rers: My lord, | we'll do | it
through|ly.
CCCXLII.
Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were saved.
Twelfth Night, I, 2, 6.
This line should be spoken by one of the Sailors, to whom
Viola has expressly addressed herself; what think youj sailors?
she asks. I have no doubt that the speech was transferred
to the Captain by the actors merely for want of a player
capable of impersonating a ^First Sailor,^ the representatives
of the Sailors being what were called hired men and unfit to
take part in the dialogue, such as now- a -days are termed
walking gentlemen. Similar combinations of different characters
for want of a sufficient number of actors are by no means
of rare occurrence; two very striking instances occur, the one
in A. II, sc. 4 of the present play (see infra note CCCLVl),
the other in K. Lear, IV, 7, where the Doctor and the Gentle-
man 'are distinct characters, and have separate prefixes' in
the Quartos, whilst 'according to the folio, the two parts
were combined, and played by the same actor' (see Collier's
note ad loc).
l^ TWELFTH NIGHT.
CCCXLIII.
After our ship did split,
When you and those poor number saved with you
'^^Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother.
IB., I, 2, 9 SEQQ.
Instead of /hose Rowe (2^ ed.) reads /ha/; Capell /hts; /he
Anon. conj. Qy. read: —
After our ship did split,
When you and those — poor number ! — saved with you
Hung on our driving boat, &c.?
CCCXLIV.
The like of him. Know'st thou this country?
IB., I, 2, 21.
With the help of a slight alteration this verse may be
scanned as a syllable pause line: —
The like | of him. | u Knowjest thou | this coun|try.
There is, however, only one more line contained in the pre-
sent play which might possibly allow of being classed with
this category of verses, viz. V, i, 226: —
How have | the hours | \^ rack'd | and tor|tured me.
This circumstance must put us on our guard so much the
more as both lines admit of a different and almost easier
scansion by the well-known introduction of an additional syl-
lable in coun/ry and hours : —
The like | of him. | Know'st thou | this coun|t(e)ry
and: —
How have | the hou|(e)rs rack'd | and tor|tur'd me.
These scansions are supported by A.I, sc. i, 1. 32: — :
And last|ing in | her sad | remem|b(e) ranee.
TWELFTH NIGHT. 19
Under these circumstances, I think, I shall be justified in
asserting that Twelfth Night is free from syllable pause lines,
whereas they abound e. g. in Antony and Cleopatra, in Cym-
beline, and Pericles. To me this seems to be a most mo-
mentous fact, apt to be made a starting-point for further
metrical disquisitions and to be admitted among what are
called metrical tests.
CCCXLV.
Sir And. What is *pourquoi'? do or not do? I would
I had bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in fencing,
dancing and bear-baiting: O, had I but followed the arts!
St'r To. Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hair.
Sir And. Why, would that have mended my hair?
Sir To. Past question; for thou.seest it will not curl by nature.
Sir And. But it becomes me well enough, does't not?
Sir To. Excellent; it hangs like flax on a distaff; &c.
IB., I, 3, 96 SEQQ.
'The point of Sir Toby's jest, remarks Dr Aldis Wright ad loc.y
will be lost unless we remember that "tongues" and "tongs"
were pronounced alike, as was pointed out by Mr Crosby of
Zainsville [Zanesville] in the American Bibliopolist, June, 1875
[p. 143].' — This ingenious explanation, though it can hardly
be disputed, does not preclude the existence of a second
quibble between arts and hards ^ i. e. tow.
.CCCXLVI.
Sir To. Wherefore are these things hid? wherefore have
these gifts a curtain before 'em? are they like to take dust,
like Mistress Mall's picture?
IB., I, 3, 133 SEQQ.
20 TWELFTH NIGHT.
It seems chronologically impossible to me that this passage
should refer to Moll Cutpurse (Mary Frith). Moll Cutpurse
is generally said to have been bom in 1584 (or even so late
as 1589); consequently she was between 17. and 18. years
old when Twelfth Night was performed at the Middle Temple
on Feb. 2, 1601 — 2. At that time she did not yet enjoy the
notoriety which made her the heroine of John Day's *Madde
pranckes of mery Mall of the Banckside' in 16 10, and of
Middleton and Dekker's 'Roaring Girl* in 161 1. These were
no doubt the years when she had reached the height of her
disreputable career and become of sufficient interest to have
her portrait prefixed as a frontispiece to Middleton and
Dekker's play. I cannot think that she should ever have
been thought a worthy subject for the painter's brush; nor
can I subscribe to the explanations given by Dyce, but fully
agree with Mr John Fitchett Marsh who shows that 'Mistress
Mali* is Maria, Olivia's gentlewoman (N. and Q., July 6 and
Nov. 30, 1878). Maria is certainly not a common servant,
but in part at least a confidante of her mistress, and her
picture, executed not in oil, but in watercolours and done
perhaps when she was in her teens, may well be imagined
hanging in the room where Sir Toby and his weak -brained
friend sit carousing, a room which does by no means belong
to Olivia's drawing-rooms, but is something between a parlour
and a buttery; perhaps it is even Maria's own parlour.
Maria does not seem to care much for her picture; it is
neglected and covered with dust. For be it remarked. Sir
Toby does not at all say that Mistress Mall's picture is cur-
tained, but that it has taken dust, a circumstance which, for
all I know, has been overlooked or misinterpreted by all
editors.
TWELFTH NIGHT. Sl
CCCXLVII.
Vio. On your attendance, my lord; here.
IB., I, 4, II.
A slight transposition would certainly improve the line:
On your attendance; here, viy lord.
CCCXLVIII.
Oil. Cousin, cousin, how have you come so early by this
lethargy ?
iB-. I, 5» 131 SEQ.
Either intentionally or unintentionally Olivia mistakes Sir
Toby's belching for yawning.
CCCXLIX.
I pray you, tell me if this be the lady of the house,, for
I* '/*»)!• 'I •'(11
I never saw her.
IB,, I, 5, 182 SEQ.
Before the words, / pray you &c. a stage- direction, be it
either. To Maria, or. To the Attendants should be added.
.\-4iiu\ v/oll
^^^~' .,.. ,^['5!r»r) O'^ fT0v5
OIL Have you any commission from your loird to negotiate
with my face ? You are now out of your text : but we witi
draw the curtain and show you the picture. Look you, sir,
such a one I was this present: is 't not well done? {Unveiling.
IB., I, 5, 249 SEQQ.
Of all attempts at healing the corruption of the last sen-
tence, one only has succeeded, viz. that made by Theobald:
22 TWELFTH NIGHT.
such a one I wear this present , which, in my judgment, is
undoubtedly the true reading. For the rest compare West-
ward Ho!, II, 3, init.: Sir Gos\ling\. So, draw those curtains,
and let's see the pictures under them. \The ladies unmask.
CCCLI.
Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit.
Do give thee five -fold blazon: not too fast: soft, soft!
Unless the master were the man. How now!
Even so quickly may one catch the plague ?
IB., I, 5, 311 SEQQ.
The twofold exclamation, Soft^ soft! has been placed in an
interjectional line by Dyce and regular metre has thus been
restored. In my opinion, however, the chief break in Olivia's
speech occurs in the next line and I should, therefore, prefer
the following arrangement: —
Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit,
»] .,,-fDo give;, thee five -fold blazon: not too fast!
Soft, soft:! — unless the master were the man!
How now!
Even so quickly may one catch the plague?
Either of these two arrangements, Dyce's and mine, removes
the Alexandrine and consequently one of them should be
installed in the text.
. , - ^ CCCLIL
'MtiL' She returns this ring to you, sir: you might have
saved me my pains , to have taken it away yourself. She
TWELFTH NIGHT. $9
adds, moreover, that you should put your lord into a de-
sperate assurance she will none of him.
IB., II, 2, 5 SEQQ.
After sir Hanmer inserted the following clause: for being
your Lord's she II none of it, and some such insertion seems
indeed to be required, as in I, 5, 321 Olivia charges Malvolio
to tell Cesario, that she will none of it, viz. the ring, and in
II, 2, 25 Cesario, in his soliloquy, repeats the words, None of
my lords ring, as having come from Olivia through her
'churlish messenger'. I, therefore, think it most likely that
the missing words were , she will none of your lords ring.
This insertion, however, does not suffice to restore the pas-
sage, but at the same time renders a correction of the words,
she will none of him, unavoidable, especially as they do not
come from Olivia. Olivia says (I, 5, 2i'^'^\ I am not for him,
and we expect to hear Malvolio repeat these very words.
The passage as I imagine it to have been written by the
poet, will then read thus: 'She returns this ring to you, sir;
she will none of your lords ring. You might have saved me
my pains, to have taken it away yourself. She adds, more-
over, that you should put your lord into a desperate assurance
she is not for him.^
CCCLIII.
Sir To. We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!
Ib., II, 2, loi.
Theobald is quite right in adding the stage-direction : Hiccoughs.
In order to produce the greatest possible similarity of sound
we should write: Snick up (Snick up — hiccup).
M TWELFTH NIGHT.
CCCLIV. -.V.M.,
Sir To. Out o' tune sir, ye lye:
IB., II, 3, 122.
This reading of the Ff should never have been disturbed,
except with respect to the pointing, in so far as an inter-
rogation should be substituted for the comma after sif^ and
an exclamation for the colon after /ye; moreover a comma
is to be added after fune. The words are addressed to the
clown who has roused Sir Toby's bile by telling him that he
dares not 'bid him [Malvolio] go.' This impertinent remark.
Sir Toby says, is 'out of tune' and a lie, and to prove it so
he forthwith bounces upon Malvolio exhorting him not to
overstep the bounds of his office as steward; after which he
roundly bids him go: *Go, sir, rub your chain with crums.'
In order to exclude every doubt, two stage- directions might
be added , viz. : To the Clown (before , Out a' tune) and To
Malvolio (before, Art any more &c.).
• CCCLV.
'^•' Sir To. She's a beagle, true-bred, and one that adores
me: what o' that? -^^^'^^ "^''"^
IB., II, 3, 195.
Dr Aldis Wright has ingeniously pointed out that Maria is
of diminutive stature and is chaffed on that account first by
Viola (1, 5, ii8: Some mitigation for your giant, sweet lady)
aiid afterwards by Sir Toby (11, 3, 193: Good night, Penthe-
silea). He might have added the present line, for according
to all old and modern authorities a beagle was — or is — a
small dog. See Skeat, Etym. Diet., s. Beagle. It was used
as a term of endearment and applied to persons of either
sex; compare Dekker and Webster's Westward Ho, III, 4, init..
TWELFTH NIGHT. 95
where Mrs Tenterhook says to Mr Monopoly : Vou are a sweet
beagle. The brevity of Maria's person is also alluded to in
A. II, sc. 5, 1. i6: Here comes the little villain, and in A. Ill,
sc. 1 , 1.70 seq. : Looky where the youngest wren of nine comes.
CCCLVI.
Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song.
That old and antique song we heard last night: &c.
Ib., n, 4, 2 SEQ.
This request of the Duke is replied to, not by Cesario, but
by Curio, a subordinate character, who informs his master
that he who should sing it, viz. Olivia's fool, is not here.
But the Duke did not want to hear the Clown sing, but
Cesario, who in A. I, sc. 2, 1. 67 seq. has assured the Captain
that he
'can sing
And speak to him [the Duke] in many sorts of music'
And what business and right has Lady Olivia's fool to sing
before the Duke? After being introduced by Curio (1. 41)
he is desired by Orsino almost in the same words as Cesario
was some minutes ago, to sing 'the song we had last night.'
Now, who was last night's singer? Cesario or the Clown?
And why does not Cesario sing when desired by his master
to do so ? — It seems evident that according to the poet's
intention two singers were required for the performance of
our play: the one to sing in Orsino's palace (the performer
of Viola) and the other to do the same office in Lady Olivia's
house (the Clown). As, however, at some time or other, the
Lord Chamberlain's men could only boast of a single singer
and that one the Clown, they gave him access to the Duke's
26 TWELFTH NIGHT.
palace and made him do the singing of both parts. Com-
pare supra note CCCXLII.
CCCLVII.
Sir To, Come thy ways, Signior Fabian.
IB., II, 5, I.
In A. II, sc. 3, 1. 1 88 Maria proposes to plant the two knights,
'and let the fool make a third', where Malvolio shall find
the letter. In the present scene they are being planted in
Olivia's garden, but it is not the fool who makes the third, but
Fabian who is only now introduced to the reader. As Fabian
has been brought out of favour with my lady by Malvolio, he
is indeed a more legitimate partner in the conspiracy, or, to
say the least, a more deeply interested witness than the
Clown of the severe joke practised on the puritanical and
malevolent steward whose name is by no means meaningless.
But if this was the poet's design from the beginning, why
did he make Maria mention the Clown as a third partaker?
She might just as well have hit on Fabian as companion of
the two knights, so much the more as she must have been
aware how eager a spectator he would be and that he would
consider her joke a fit retribution. 1 confess myself unable
to clear away this difficulty.
CCCLVUI.
Sir To, Here comes the little villain. \Enter Maria.]
How no^y, my metal of India?
/m'n\0 fbr. ^-' "> S> i6 seq.
*My metal of India' cannot possibly be the true reading,
for the following reasons, i. It cannot be shown that * metal',
without some epithet intimating such a meaning, was ever
TWELFTH NIGHT. 87
used in the sense of 'gold'. Such a meaning, in my humble
opinion, is a purely gratuitous assumption for the nonce.
2. India is not, and never was, rich in gold, as California
and Australia are now-a-days. It abounds, however, in pre-
cious stones of the greatest beauty and value, and Shakespeare,
had he wished to compare Maria to some Indian treasure,
would certainly have bethought himself of those renowned
Indian jewels and diamonds instead of an Indian metal.
3. The metaphor does not apply to Maria in a higher degree
than to almost all persons of the female sex. 4. It is not
at all in Sir Toby's vein to compliment Maria in good earnest;
on the contrary he keeps continually teasing her and has just
now styled her 'a little villain'. Under the circumstances I
am fully persuaded that the later Ff exhibit the correct reading,
viz. 'my nettle of India,' and completely agree with what has
been advanced on this head by Singer in his note ad loc.
The nettle of India may possibly be the Uriica crenulata
which is a native of Bengal; see Heinr. Grafe, Handbuch der
Naiur geschichte der drei Reiche &c. (Eisleben und Leipzig,
1838) Vol. II a, p. 630. However that may be, at all
events Maria may well be termed a little 'stinging nettle'
(K. Richard II, III, 2, 18); by her plot she stings Malvolio to
the quick and she proves not much less prickly to the Clown,
to Sir Andrew and to Cesario whom in A.I, so. 5, 1. 215
she desires to 'hoist sail'. Who knows but even Sir Toby,
with whom she is in love, may have experienced not only
her quick wit, but also her sharp tongue; that she is sbarp-
tongued is admitted by Dr Aldis Wright in his note on A. II,
sc. 5, 1. 139. The Rev. Henry N. Ellacombe (The Plant-
Lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare, Exeter, 1878, p. 137)
seems not to have been acquainted with Singer's note.
28 TWELFTH NIGHT.
CCCLIX.
Mai, There is example for 't; the lady of the Strachy
married the yeoman of the wardrobe.
IB., II, 5, 44 SEQ.
'The incident of a lady of high rank, Dr Aldis Wright says
in his note ad loc, marrying a servant is the subject of
Webster's Duchess of Malfi, who married the steward of
her household, and would thus have supplied Malvolio with
the exact parallel to his own case of which he was in search.'
It seems most strange to me that Dr Aldis Wright should
not have concluded this remark with substituting the Hady of
Malfy' in the room of the Mady of the Strachy' who owes
her existence no doubt to a mistake of one of those privi-
leged blunderers, viz. the transcribers and compositors. Why
may not Shakespeare have read the story of the Duchess of
Malfy in Paynter's Palace of Pleasure just as well as Webster?
Certainly nothing could fall in more naturally with the con-
text than the lady of Malfy^ whereas the conjectural emen-
dations on this passage chronicled in the Cambridge and
Clarendon editions are singularly far-fetched and almost all
of them worse than the lection of the Ff itself.
II CCCLX. ' Ti8 or
■'^*' Fab. Now is the woodcock near the gin. '^ "^^
Sir To. O, peace! and the spirit of humours intimate
reading aloud to him ! '-
IB., II, 5, 92 SEQQ. >
A nite discrimination between the characters of Fabian
and Sir Toby leads to the suspicion that the prefixes of
these two speeches have most likely been transposed and
should be altered. Just as, according to the Cambridge
TWELFTH NIGHT. 29
Editors, 11. 39 and 43, in which peace is enjoined on Sir
Andrew, belong to Fabian, so I. 92, which urges silence on
Sir Toby, should be assigned to the same character, whose
eagerness to hear the contents of the letter is naturally
greater than Sir Toby's, this latter being in the secret.
Read therefore: —
Sir To. Now is the woodcock near the gin.
Fab. O, peace ! and the spirit of humours intimate reading
aloud to him!
CCCLXI.
Vto. Save thee, friend, and thy music : dost thou live by
thy tabor?
Ib., hi, I, I SEQ.
Thus FA; the true reading, however, is that of the later
Ff: dost thou live by the tabor, as there is certainly a play
upon tabor which besides signifying a drum, was also used
as the sign or name of an inn. According to Collier ad loc.
'the Clown's reply, "No, sir; I live by the Church," is
not intelligible, if we do not suppose him to have wilfully
misunderstood Viola to ask whether he lived near the sign
of the tabor.' Very true, but if so, Collier should not have
retained the reading of the first Folio, by which such a
quibble is precluded.
CCCLXII.
Grace and good disposition attend your ladyship.
IB., Ill, I, 146.
Hanmer most boldly reads you instead oi your ladyship and
the editors of the Globe Edition have adopted a different
division of the lines, proposed by S. Walker, Crit. Exam. Ill, 87.
However this deviation from the old copies seems to be
1^ TWELFTH NIGHT.
unwarranted, as ladyship may well be taken to be a trisyllabic
feminine ending ; scan : —
Grace and | good dis|posi|tion attend | your lajdyship.
Compare A. Ill, sc. 3, 1. 24 {pardon me); A. Ill, so. 3, 1. 35
{city did); A. Ill, sc. 4, 1. 383 (misery); A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 17
(followers); A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 21 (deceivahle); A. V, sc. i, 1. 75
(enemies); and A. V, sc. i, 1. 79 (enemy). — It need hardly be
added that the line has an extra syllable before the pause.
Some editors print Uend or tend, which, after all, may be right.
CCCLXIII.
Oli. O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful &c.
IB., m, I, 157.
Staunton and the Rev. H. Hudson justly add the stage-
direction: Aside y which cannot be missed.
CCCLXIV.
Oli. Yet come again; for thou perhaps mayst move
That heart, which now abhors, to like his love.
IB., in, I, 175 SEQ.
The editors, as far as I know them, keep altum silentium
about this passage, which to them seems to offer no diffi-
culty whatever. Schlegel and Gildemeister , both of them
classical translators, refer 'that heart' to Olivia's heart, which
perhaps may be moved to like his love, i. e. Orsino. But
may not Olivia be presumed with far greater probability to
express a hope that Cesario, if coming back, may move his
own heart to like his love, i. e. Olivia, whom it now abhors?
Schlegel renders the lines as follows : —
TWELFTH NIGHT. 81
O komm zuriick! Du magst dies Herz bethorm,
Ihn, (lessen LieV es hasst, noch zu erhoren.
In my judgment it should be : —
O komvi zuriick! Du magst dein Herz bethoren,
SiE, DEREN Lieb' es hasst y noch zu erhoren.
Gildemeister's version might no less easily be altered. Ac-
cording to him Olivia says : —
Komm wieder nur^ du riihrst mein Herz vielleichty
Dass es fiir den Verhassten sick erweicht.
Should it not rather be: —
Komm wieder nur^ du riihrst dein Herz vielleichty
Dass es fiir die Verhasste sich erweicht}
CCCLXV.
Oli. I have sent after him: he says he'll come;
How shall I feast him? what bestow of him?
For youth is bought more oft than begg'd or borrow'd.
I speak too loud.
Ib., in, 4, I SEQQ.
The words: he says he^ll come are 'explained by Warburton
to mean "I suppose now, or admit now, he says he'll
come, &c."' Dyce ad loc. According to Mr Rolfe ad loc.
they are 'apparently = Suppose he says he'll come.' In my
opinion this is too strained an explanation as to be acceptable
or even grammatically admissible. * Theobald, Mr Rolfe con-
tinues, made it read ''Sayy he will come.'" The Rev.
H. Hudson grants that 'the concessive sense is evidently
required, not the affirmative' and 'that the simple trans-
position [says he instead of he says'] gets the same sense [as
Theobald's alteration] naturally enough; the subjunctive being
is TWELFTH NIGHT.
often formed in that way.' I think differently. The first four
lines are evidently spoken aside by Olivia, as confirmed by
her own words, I speak too loud) only in the fifth line she
addresses Maria. It is, however, in the natural course of
things that she should have conversed with Maria on the
subject before and that the latter should have tried to raise
the drooping spirit of her enamoured mistress by consol-
atory words. I should accordingly feel no hesitation in
reading: —
on. \Aside\, I have sent after him: she says he'll come;
How shall I feast him? what bestow of him?
For youth is bought more oft than begg'd or borrowed.
I speak too loud.
\To Man'a] Where is Malvolio? &c.
Olivia may easily be imagined to accompany the words, she
says he*// come with a slight motion of either hand or head
towards Maria.
CCCLXVI.
Sec. Off. Come, sir, I pray you, go.
Ant. Let me speak a little. This youth that you see here
I snatch'd one half out of the jaws of death &c.
IB., in, 4, 392 SEQQ.
All critical efforts notwithstanding 1. 393 has remained a
metrical stumbling block. The words a /itt/ey besides spoiling
the metre, impress the reader as ridiculously superfluous and
have probably slipped fi*om their original place which was in
the second half of the preceding line, for I have little doubt
that in the poet's manuscript this line was complete, exactly
as it is the case with lines 381, 386, and 391 of this very
TWELFTH NIGHT. 33
scene. In a word, I suspect the original wording of the pas-
sage to have been somewhat to the following effect: —
Sec. Off, Come, sir, I pray you, go. ;
^«^- Tarry a little
And let me speak. This youth that you see here &c.
Stay but a little would, of course, do equally well as Tarry a little.
■''^' f^^^ CCCLXVn.
Sir To. Hold, sir, or Til throw your dagger o'er the house.
Ib., IV, I, 30 SEQ.
From these words it appears that Sebastian is belabouring
Sir Andrew with his dagger; daggers, in the time of Eliza-
beth, were long enough to be used for such a purpose.
ruiU .A :\ -ill
:.<■>>. i ' > CCCLXVIII. ^^^^ ■''^^"
Lik^"a mad iad, /. M^uomo^.m
Pare thy nails, dad;
' Adieu, goodman devil.
Tb., IV, 2, 139 SEQQ.
The only critic that ever took exception at this reading of
the old copies, is Dr Farmer who proposed to put an inter-
rogation after dad. In my humble opinion the text is cor-
rupt; the poet possibly wrote Pares j although I suggest it not
without diffidence. Pares would refer to the old Vice, Who
.... Cries, ah, ha! to the devil: and Like a mad lad Pares
thy nails, dad; dad being meant for the devil. It was a
favourite trick of the Vice to pare the devil's nails with his
dagger; see K. Henry V, IV, 4, 76: Bardolph and Nym had
ten times more valour than this roaring devil i' the old play,
that every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger.
3
34 TWELFTH NIGHT.
Should the words Pare thy nails y dad be thought an exhor-
tation addressed to Malvolio, it would be difficult to show in
how far he could be likened to a mad lad on that account,
as it is rather the act of a good, than a mad, lad to pare
his nails.
CCCLXIX.
Oli. If it be aught to the old tune, my lord,
It is as fat and fulsome to mine ear
As howling after music.
Duke, Still so cruel?
OIL Still so constant, lord?
Duke, What, to perverseness ? &c.
Ib., V, I, III SEQQ.
Mr P. A. Daniel (Notes and Conjectural Emendations of Cer-
tain Doubtful Passages in Shakespeare's Plays, 1870, p. 43)
ingeniously proposes to add 'lady' to the Duke's question:
Still so cruel? Mr Daniel is right in so far as he has felt
the want of an even balance in the two short speeches of
the Duke and Lady Olivia, but his addition is an incum-
brance on the metre and the equipoise of the two speeches
may be attained just as well by the omission of 'lord' (after
constant) as by the addition of 'lady'. One of these two con-
jectural emendations, either Mr Daniel's or mine, should be
adopted; if Mr Daniel's, the Duke's speech should not be
joined to the preceding verse, but form a short line by itself.
CCCLXX.
Vio. If nothing lets to make us happy both
But this my masculine usurp'd attire.
K. LEAR. 35
Do not embrace me till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere and jump
That I am Viola: which to confirm,
I'll bring you to a captain in this town,
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help
I was preserved to serve this noble count.
IB., V, I, 256.
Viola is here made to speak nonsense. 'If nothing lets to
make us happy', she says to Sebastian who, being now con-
vinced of his sister's identity, is eager to embrace her as
such, 'but my masculine attire, then do not embrace me' &c.,
instead of saying the very contrary, viz. then you may safely
embrace me, for I have only usurped this boys' dress and my
maiden weeds are lying at a captain's house in this town.
Arrange, therefore: —
Vio. Do not embrace me till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere and jump
That I am Viola : which to confirm, —
If nothing lets to make us happy both
But this my masculine usurp* d attire^ —
I'll bring you to a captain in this town.
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help
I was preserved to serve this noble count.
I should add by the way, that the two conjectural emendations
maid's and preferred instead of maiden and preserved seem to
admit of little doubt.
CCCLXXI.
May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy.
K. Lear, I, i, 46.
There are few instances in Mr Fleay's list of Alexandrines
in King Lear that cannot be shown without difficulty to be
3*
36 K. LEAR.
either regular blankverse or what Dr Abbott terms trimeter
couplets. The safest and most correct way will be to follow
Mr Fleay step by step (with some few omissions), in order
to enable the reader to judge for himself. As to the line
quoted above, it contains two trisyllabic feminine endings, the
one at the end of the first hemistich {prevented now; see
Abbott, s. 472), the other at the end of the \me (Burgundy;
see S. Walker, Versification, 240 seqq.). Hanmer needlessly
suggested to omit now,
I, I, 94: My heart | into | my mouth: | I love | your maj|'sty.
See S. Walker, Versification, 174 seq.
I, I, 109: So young, and so untender? So young, my lord,
and true.
These are two short lines that should not be joined
into one; the arrangement of the Cambridge and
(jlobe Editions is right.
I, I, 134: That troop | with maj|'sty. Ourself, | by month|ly
course.
I, I, 139: The sway, | reven|ue, ex'cu|tion of | the r^st.
Compare my edition of Shakespeare's Tragedy of
Hamlet (1882), p. 182, where a different, but less
correct, scansion of this line has been given.
I, I, 156 (not 155): Reverbs | no hol|rwness. Kent, on |
thy life, | no more.
See supra note CCCIV.
I, I, 158: To wage | against | thine en|'mies; nor fear | to
lose I it.
I, I, 196: Or cease | your quest | of love? I Most roy|al maj|'sty.
I, I, 198: Nor will I you ten|der less. | Right no|ble Bur|g'ndy.
I, I, 226: Could nev|er plant | in me. I yet | beseech |
your maji'sty.
K. LEAR. 37
Trisyllabic feminine endings both before the pause
{plant in me) and at the end of the line {majesty).
Possibly, however, another scansion might be set up
against the triple ending of the first hemistich, viz. : —
Could ne'er | plant in | me. I yet | beseech | your
maji'sty.
I, I, 228: To speak | and purjpose not; since what | I
well 1 intend.
Trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause; compare
Abbott, s. 471.
I, I, 248: Duchess of Burgundy. — Nothing: I have sworn;
I am firm.
Either two short lines, as printed in the Cambridge
and Globe Editions, or Burgundy to be read as a
trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause and I have
and / am to be contracted : —
Duchess I ofBur|g'ndy. Nothing: | I've sworn; jl'm firm.
I, I, 250: That you | must lose | a hus|band. Peace be|
with Bur|g'ndy.
1,1,270: Come, no|ble Burjg'ndy. — Bid fare|well to|
your sis Iters.
I, 2, 4: The cu|rios'ty | of na|tions to | deprive | me.
Pope reads nicety, Thirlby suggested curiesie, which
was adopted by Theobald. Mr Fleay's scansion is
right; compare S. Walker, Versification, 201, and supra
note CXIII.
I, 3, 23 : What grows | o't, no mat|ter; advise j your fel|lows so.
Grows of it is a trisyllabic feminine ending before
the pause. The line admits, however, of another
scansion, viz.: —
What grows | of it, | no mat|ter; advise | your fel|lows so.
Fellows so to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending.
9B K. LEAR.
1,4, 223: In rank and not-to-be endured riots. Sir.
Sir was rightly thrown out by Theobald. S. Walker,
Versification, 270, would place it in an inter] ectional line.
I, 4, 265: Shows like | a ri't|'s inn: epi|curism | and lust.
Steevens omitted riotous. Riotous inn is a trisyllabic
feminine ending before the pause.
I, 4, 347: At point I a hund|red knights: yes, that, | on
ev|'ry dream.
At point, omitted by Pope. Hundred knights seems to
be a trisyllabic feminine ending.
II, 1 , 118 seq. Rightly arranged by Jennens : —
You we first seize on. I shall serve you truly.
However else. — For him I thank your grace.
II, 2, 79: Who wears | no hon|'sty. Such smijling rogues |
as these.
Pope transferred as these to the beginning of the fol-
lowing line, whilst Hanmer omitted these words.
II, 2, gi : Two short lines, as printed in the Globe Edition.
II, 2, 121 : The same.
II, 2, 144: You should I not use | me so. Sir, being | his
knave, | I will.
Use mesa is a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause
II, 2, 177: Losses I their rem|'dies. All wea|ry and | o'er-
watch'd.
11,4, 157: Age is I unne'jss'ry: on | my knees | I beg.
This is S. Walker's scansion (Versif., 275), rightly
adopted by Mr Fleay.
II, 4, 234: I and I my hund|red knights. | Not al|toge'er | so.
See S. Walker, Versif., 103 seq. and note on IV, 7, 54.
Ill, 2, 67: Their scant|ed court|'sy. My wits | begin | to turn.
Ill, 4, 176: I do beseech your grace. — O, cry you mercy, sir.
The Qq rightly omit sir.
K. LEAR. 89
111,4, 179' In, fellow, there, into the hovel: keep thee warm.
QA and Ff: there, into th'\ QB: there y in't; Capell:
there, to the, — Read, point, and scan: —
In, fel|low: there | i' th' ho|vel keep | thee warm.
IV, 6, 145: And my | heart breaks | at it. Read. What, | wi'
th' case | of eyes.
Breaks at it is a trisyllabic feminine ending before
the pause.
IV, 6, 198: Scan either: —
I'm cut I to th' brains. | You shall | have anjything.
or: —
1 am I cut to I the brains. | You shall | have anj'thing.
IV, 6, 256: Upon I the Brit|ish par|ty. O, untimejly death.
Hanmer: On th' English, English being the reading
of the Ff. The first two syllables of O, untimely
* coalesce or are rapidly pronounced together.' Ab-
bott, s. 462.
IV, 7, 54: To see | ano'er | thus. I know | not what | to say.
To say, omitted by Hanmer. See Abbott, s. 466 and
supra note on II, 4, 234.
V, 3, 45 : May equally determine. Sir, I thought it fit.
Read , with Pope , thought fit.
V, 3, 178: Did hate thee or thy father! Worthy prince,
I know 't.
/ know '/ is to be transferred to the beginning of the
following line, as printed by Hanmer, who moreover
completes 1. 179 by reading, I know it well.
V, 3, 271: Corde|lia! Corde|lia, stay | a lit|tle. Ha!
The line has an extra syllable before the first pause.
V, 3, 295: Edmund | is dead, | m'lord. That's but | a
tri|fle here.
40 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, and Warburton omit here.
Compare Pericles, I, 2, loi: —
Well, m* lord, | since you | have given | me leave |
to speak.
V, 3, 313: Vex not his ghost. Oh, let him pass! he hates
him much.
Much, which is only contained in QB, has been justly
omitted by almost all editors and should not have
been conjured up again by Mr Fleay.
CCCLXXII.
Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen.
Antony and Cleopatra, I, i, 29.
Messengers, in this line, and homager, in the next but one,
are trisyllabic feminine endings before the pause; compare
note on Measure for Measure, V, i, 74. Mr Fleay has added
1. 31 to his list of Alexandrines in Shakespeare, but no men-
tion of 1. 29 is made by him. — I take this opportunity of
mentioning that the term 'trisyllabic feminine ending' which
is objected to as an 'awkward phrase' by a writer in the
Saturday Review (November 22, 1884, p. 667 seq.) has been
introduced , for all I know, by Mr Fleay, (e. g. apud Ingleby,
1. c, go) and is, in my judgment, clear and expressive. In
accordance with Dr Abbott (s. 494 seq.), who has rightly
understood this metrical peculiarity, such endings might also
be called feet with two extra- syllables. I am even prepared
to submit to the reader's choice two more terms by which
to designate them: they might either be called dactylic
endings, or prosodical triplets or trioles; for just as the
musical triplet, to adopt the definition given by Webster, con-
sists of 'three tones or notes sung or played in the time of
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 41
two', SO the prosodical triplet consists of three syllables spoken
in the time of two.
CCCLXXIII.
Whe stand up peerless. Excellent falsehood.
IB., I, I, 40.
A syllable pause line with a trochee after the pause; scan: —
We stand | up peer|less. -^ | Excel|lent false|hood.
Seymour needlessly proposed to read, O excelling falsehood.
CCCLXXIV.
Char. Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas,
almost most absolute Alexas, whereas, the soothsayer that you
praised so to the queen?
Ib., I, 2, I SEQQ.
Any things Vike ^every things frequently serves as conclusion
to a succession of synonym or other nouns, enumerated
without connectives and frequently assuming the character of
a climax (see Matzner, Englische Grammatik, i"* Ed., II a,
153 seq.); it is, if I am allowed to borrow a simile from
card -playing, the last trump, after all the rest have been
played. Some examples will distinctly show what is meant.
In As You Like It, II, 7, 166 we read: —
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.
The Taming of the Shrew, III, 2, 234 seqq. : —
She is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn.
My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing.
Twelfth Night, III, i, 161 seq.: —
Cesario, by the roses of the spring,
By maidhood, honour, truth, and every thing.
42 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Twelfth Night, III, 4, 389, where Steevens has restored the
true pointing: —
Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.
Macbeth, III, 5, 18 seq. (no asyndeton): —
Your vessels and your spells provide.
Your charms and every thing beside.
Hamlet, IV, 7, 8 (compare my note on this line in my second
(English) edition of *Hamlet', p. 221): —
As by your safety, greatness, wisdom, all things else.
You mainly were stirr'd up.
Dekker and Middleton, The Honest Whore, III, i (The Works
of Thomas Middleton, ed. Dyce, III, 65) : —
Put on thy master's best apparel, gown.
Chain, cap, ruff, every thing.
Mucedorus, III, 3, 44 seq. (ed. Warnke and Proescholdt) :
Here's a stir indeed, here's message, errand, banishment, and
I cannot tell what.
These instances throw a vivid light not only on the
passage under discussion, but also on that well-known speech
of Gonzalo in The Tempest, I, i, 69 seq., where the con-
cluding any thing plainly requires the previous enumeration of
several synonyms following each other without connectives, or,
to say it in a word, a previous asyndetic series. This asyn-
detic series is supplied by Hanmer's ingenious conjecture
than which nothing can be more convincing or possess a
more valid claim to be admitted into the text: *Now would
I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren
ground, lingy heath, brooms furze, any thing.'
To revert to Antony and Cleopatra. After what has
been shown to be the prevailing usage, no reasonable doubt
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 43
can be entertained that any thing in the present passage is
misplaced and that the two clauses most any thing Alexas and
most absolute Alexas ought to change places. The poet cer-
tainly made Charmian say: *Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most
absolute Alexas, almost most any thing Alexas, &c.* A regular
gradation is thus restored. Collier's conjecture most sweet
Alexas f however ingenious, yet is unnecessary. Absolute occurs
in the same sense in A. IV, sc. 14, 1. 117 {most absolute lordy
viz. Antony) and in Pericles, A. IV, Gower, 1. 31 {absolute
Marina).
CCCLXXV.
Sec. Mess. Fulvia thy wife is dead.
Ant. Where died she?
Sec. Mess, In Sicyon.
IB., I, 2, 122 SEQ.
Arrange and scan: —
fulvia I thy wife | is dead. | Where died | she? In Si|cyon.
The line has an extra syllable before the last pause; Sicyon
is a trisyllabic feminine ending.
CCCLXXVI.
There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it.
IB., I, 2, 126.
Pronounce d'sire. See supra note CCLXXIX and infra notes
on II, 6, 22 and IV, 2, 40.
CCCLXXVII.
My idleness doth hatch. How now! Enobarbus!
IB., I, 2, 134.
44 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
Pronounce En^barbus, as a trisyllable. *Enobarbus in A. and C,
says Abbott, s. 469, p. 354, has but one accent, wherever it
stands in the verse/ It is used, however, as a word of four
syllables and two accents in A. I, sc. 2, 1. 87: —
A Ro|man thought | hath struck | him. E|nobar|bus,
and in A. II, sc. 2, 1. i : —
Good E|nobar|bus, 'tis | a wor]thy deed.
See S. Walker, Versification, 186, and compare note on
Pericles, I, 2, 50.
CCCLXXVIII.
Cleo. Where is he?
Char. I did not see him since.
IB., I, 3. I.
Steevens proposed to insert now, S. Walker (Crit. Exam., Ill,
294) Madam; Anon. Charmian, I take the verse to be a
syllable pause line; scan: —
Where is | he? -^ | I did | not see | him since.
CCCLXXIX.
As you shall give the advice. By the fire.
IB., I, 3, 68.
Pope read, th' advices', Steevens, NoWf by. It is another syl-
lable pause line; scan: —
As you I shall give | th' advice. | ^/ By | the fire.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 4S
CCCLXXX.
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or.
IB., I, 4» 7-
An Alexandrine according to Mr Fleay. In my conviction
audience i or forms a trisyllabic feminine ending, just as
Ptolemy does in the preceding line. As, however, I have
little doubt that by some one or other of my readers this
scansion will be disapproved as harsh, I take the opportunity
of adding a few words on the score of so-called harsh scan-
sions and contractions in general. To begin with, there is
no absolute and unalterable rule to tell us which scansions
are to be considered as harsh and which are not; it depends
entirely on individual taste. Persons of refined taste may
think lines and contractions harsh which in the familiar lan-
guage of every day life pass as unobjectionable. But not
only individuals living at one and the same time, also dif-
ferent stages in the evolution of the language differ in this
respect. Who can tell whether the contemporaries of Shake-
speare with respect to their notions of harshness, were in
accordance with the contemporaries of Lord Tennyson? I,
for one, am convinced of the contrary and so is Dr Abbott
who is no mean authority on all points relative to the lan-
guage and versification of Shakespeare and his times. The
pronunciation and versification of the Elizabethan stage were
certainly not those of the Victorian drawing-room; numberless
instances prove that they were not subject to the strict rules
to which they are tied to-day and agreeably to which Mr
Fleay, Mr Ellis and others persist in scanning the unrestrained
line of Shakespeare, although it is known to enjoy the freest
possible rhythmical movement. 'Antony and Cleopatra' bears
ample testimony to this fact, and it may be as well to gather
from it a few more cases in point where trisyllabic words are
4f ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
used as dissyllables, be it either at the end of the line,
before the pause, or anywhere else. I purposely select such
lines as may be thought more or less harsh and may be con-
strued into Alexandrines, omitting those that admit of no
doubt. Compare, e. g., I, 3, 91 {royalty)-, I, 4, 46 (lackeying) \
I, 5, 46 (opulent); II, i, 10 (auguring)', II, I, 33 (both amorous
and sur/eiter); II, i, 43 (enmities)', II, 2, 92 (penitent and
honesty)', II, 2, 96 (ignorant)', II, 2, 122 (widower); II, 2, 166
(absolute); II, 2, 202 (amorous); II, 3, 26 (natural); III, i, 7
(fugitive); III, 10, 24 (violate); III, 10, 29 (thereabouts); III,
12, 19 (hazarded); III, 12, 26 (eloquence); III, 13, 23 (ministers);
III, 13, 30 (happiness); III, 13, 36 (emptiness); III, 13, 63
(Antony); III, 13, 165 (discandying and pelleted); IV, i, 3
(personal); IV, 4, 36 (gallantly); IV, 8, 35 (promises); IV,
12, 4 (augur ers); IV, 12, 23 (blossoming) ; IV, 13, 10 (monu-
ment); IV, 14, 76 (fortunate); IV, 14, 117 (absolute); V, i, 17
(citizens and Antony); V, i, 63 (quality); V, 2, 23 (reference);
V, 2, 142 (treasurer); V, 2, 237 (liberty); V, 2, 239 (purposes).
At a later date the works of Dryden and Pope, those
great masters of versification, abound with similar contractions.
The following are culled at random from Dryden: fav'rites
(On Cromwell, st. 8); empiric (To Clarendon, 67); spirUual
(Absalom and Achitophel, I, 626); medicinally (The Medal,
150); rhetVic (Mac Flecknoe, 165); original (Religio Laici,
278); Tesfments (ib., 283)*); difference (ib., 348); med'c'nal
*) It is a strange fact, that the editors of Dryden should have
found a difficulty in scanning this line. Derrick and others omitted
and before cast and Mr W. D. Christie (Dryden, &c., 2<* Ed., Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1874, p. 273) attempts to make things square by
accenting Testaments on the second syllable {Testaments y like testator).
No such thing! Scan: —
*Twere worth | both Test|'ments, and | cast in | the creed.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 47
(Threnodia Augustalis, iii and 170); Presh'tery (The Hind
and the Panther, I, 2^,:^)', congVbate (Death of Lord Hastings,
35); Itqu'rish (Wife of Bath, 319); med'cinable (Sigismonda
and Guiscardo, 707).
With respect to Pope I cannot do better than by intro-
ducing a remark made by Dr Edwin A. Abbott in his Intro-
duction (p. V) to Edwin Abbott's Concordance to the Works
of Alexander Pope (London, 1873). 'Words, he says, are
often abbreviated by Pope to an extent not now customar)'.
Thus Penny-worth is pronounced penn'orth [The Basset-Table,
30; the same abbreviation occurs in Dry den's Prologue to
Oedipus, 33. Compare also ha'porth (Life and Letters of
William Bewick, ed. by Thomas Landseer. London, 1871,
H, 177)]; casuistry is pronounced as a trisyllable [Rape of
the Lock, V, 121] and influence as a dissyllable [Moral Essays,
I, 142]. (Sturgeon is an exception). This abbreviation is
often expressed in the spelling. Hence confusedly [Rape of
the Lock, V, 41]; covenant', dev'l as well as devil; clamorous
[Windsor Forest, 132]; diamond as well as diamond [the same
in Dryden]; flatterer (except twice); galVry [Epistle to Ar-
buthnot, 87]; general seventeen times, general once; ignorance
[Essay on Criticism, 508]; immaculate [Donne Versified, IV,
253]; intemfrate\ interest; Maryhone\ ' Pothecaries. Though
is, I believe, almost always spelt tho\ and through^ thro*.
Many of these abbreviated pronunciations are common in the
Elizabethan Poets [nay, many more than these; in fact, the
abbreviations in the Elizabethan Poets are numberless].'
Bunyan (The Pilgrim's Progress, 1678, p. 155) uses
Vanity as a monosyllable (!); Bartholomew and Claver house
occur as dissyllables {Bartlmew and Claver' se) in Percy's Folio
Manuscript, II, 186 and in Whitelaw's Book of Scottish Bal-
lads, 543a, respectively; as to the trisyllabic pronunciation of
tS ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
'Bartholomew see S.Walker, Versification, i86. The name
of Westmoreland is generally spelt Wesimerland in the old
copies of Shakespeare, a spelling which is strikingly indica-
tive of the abbreviated pronunciation of the word.
The trisyllabic feminine endings employed by Shakespeare
do not always consist of a single word, but frequently of
two and three words. This can hardly be a matter of sur-
prise as even at the present day a large number of such
dactyls occur in dactylic verse. In Charles Wolfe's celebrated
poem 'The Burial of Sir John Moore' the following dactyls
are found: corpse to the] sods with our; sheet or in', spoke
not a; face that was; tread o^er his; Lightly they *ll; o'er his
cold; little heUl; reck if they; let him sleep; Briton has; half
of our; clock struck the; fame fresh and. These dactyls are
certainly not a wit less harsh than the trisyllabic feminine
endings in Shakespeare which are objected to by English
critics for their pretended harshness.
The reader may also be reminded of Lord Byron's
triple rhymes in Don Juan, such as: wishing all (I, 31); war
again (I, 38); tombing all (IV, loi); tune it ye (IX, 9); gloom
enough (IX, 48); accuse you all (Xll, 28); talk' d about {XW, ^'j);
term any (XV, 36); and numerous others. However comically
exaggerated these rhymes sometimes may be, yet they serve
to show what the bent of English pronunciation is in this
respect, and it cannot be doubted, that abbreviations and
contractions, even such as are thought harsh now -a- days, are
far less foreign to the genius of dramatic verse in Eliza-
beth's time than Alexandrines, which fell from Shakespeare's
pen far more rarely, than English critics would make us
believe.
In conclusion a few instances (out of many) of trisyl-
labic feminine endings that consist of two or three words
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 49
may be added. Compare, e. g., A. Ill, sc. i, 1. 15 (before
the pause): —
Acquire | too high | a fame, when him | we serve's | away. !
A. IV, sc. 14, 1. 80: —
Most usejftil for | thy coun|try. O, I sir, par|don me!
It is well known, however, that pardon is frequently pro-
nounced as a monosyllable; see supra note CCXLIX. Per-
haps, therefore, it would be more correct to scan: —
Most use|ful for | thy coun|try. O, | sir, pard'n | me!" '''
A Winter's Tale, I, 2, 117 (before the pause): —
As in I a look|ing -glass, and then | to sigh, | as 'twere.
S. Walker (Crit. Exam., Ill, gi) needlessly conjectured glass
for looking ' glass y although he thinks it 'dangerous to alter
without stronger reason than there appears to be in the pre-
sent case.'
Richard III., I, 2, 89 (before the pause): —
Say that | I slew | them not. Why, then | they are]
not dead.
Perhaps, however, this line may be taken for a ' trimeter -
couplet' as well; see Abbott, s. 500. The same may be said
of Troilus and Cressida, III, 3, 127 (before the pause): —
That has | he knows | not what. Nature | what things |
there are,
and of Coriolanus, IV, i, 27 (before the pause): —
As 'tis I to laugh | at 'em. My moth|er, you | wot well.
Julius Caesar, II, i, 285. In all old and modem editions
this line is printed:— ^^^X* ^^^
And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs.
Pope omitted sometimes and I once sided with him (Anglia,
I, 347). 'The true prosodical view of this line, says Craik
4
iO ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
(The English of Shakespeare, &c. 5**" Ed., London, 1875,
p. 174) is to regard the two combinations "to you" and
"in the" as counting each for a single syllable. It is no
more an Alexandrine than it is an hexameter.' Although the
same scansion is given by S. Walker (Crit. Exam., I, 221),
yet I am unable to acquiesce in it. It now seems to me
that sometimes has slipped out of its place and should be
transposed, and that ialk to you is a trisyllabic feminine ending
before the pause: —
And some|times talk 1 1* you ? Dwell 1 1 but in | the sub|urbs.
;, CCCLXXXL
' So much as lank'd not.
Lep. 'Tis pity of him.
CcBs. Let his shames quickly
Drive him to Rome: 'tis time we twain
Did show ourselves i' the field.
IB., I, 4, 71 SEQQ,
Arrange (with Mr Fleay) and scan: —
So much I £is lank'd | not. 'Tis pit|y of him. | Let's shames
Quickly | drive him | to Rome. | 'Tis time | we twain.
Did show ourselves i' th* field.
Let's = let his; compare III, 7, 12: /rom's tme; Twelfth
Night, III, 4, 326: ybr'j oat/i sake. Mr Fieay, of course,
declares 1. 71 to be an Alexandrine with the cesura at the
ninth syllable: —
So much as lankt not. || 'Tis pity of him. | Let his shames.
I wonder, how he scans this so-called Alexandrine.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 51
CCCLXXXII.
Once name you derogately, when to sound your name.
IB., n, 2, 34.
This line is not mentioned by Mr Fleay; in my judgment
it is to be scanned: —
Once name | you der|'gately, | when t* sound | your name.
cccLxxxni.
Eno. Go to, then; your considerate stone.
IB., II, 2, 112.
Read either: —
Go to, then, you considerate stone,
or: —
Go to, I then; -^ | you* re a \ consid|erate stone,
or: —
Go to, I then; you \ are a \ consid|erate stone.
The meaning is: You are indeed considerate (= discreet,
circumspect), but at the same time 'senseless as a stone',
inaccessible to conciliatory and tender emotions.
CCCLXXXIV.
Would then be nothing: truths would be tales.
IB., II, 2, 13^
A syllable pause line; scan: —
Would then | be noth|ing: -^ \ truths would | be tales.
All conjectures are needless; the best of them is that by
Staunton : half tales.
4*
52 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
CCCLXXXV.
By duty ruminated.
Ant. Will Caesar speak?
CcBs. Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd
With what is spoke already.
Ant. What power is in Agrippa.
Ib., II, 2, 141 SEQQ.
Already, in 1. 143, is omitted by Hanmer. Arrange and scan: —
By du|ty rum^nat^d. |
Ant. Will Cae|sar speak?
C(Es. Not till I he hears | how An|tony is touch'd | with what
Is spoke I alread|y.
Ant. What power | is in | Agrip|pa.
Antony is is to be pronounced as a dissyllable (= Anfu^s)',
compare III, 3, 44 {creature's); III, 7, 70 {leader's); &c. Thus
the Alexandrine is got rid of.
CCCLXXXVI.
Her people out upon her; and Antony.
IB., II, 2, 219.
Scan either: —
Her peo|ple out | upon | her. And An|tony,
or (as a syllable pause line with a trisyllabic feminine ending): —
Her peo|ple out | upon | her; - \ and Anjtony.
CCCLXXXVII.
Whom ne'er the word of *No' woman heard speak.
IB., II, 2, 228.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 63
Capell's conjecture {never the word — no) does not improve
the line; the only means to render it smoother would be by
a transposition: —
Whom woman ne'er the word of 'No' heard speak.
CCCLXXXVni.
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry.
Ib., II, 2, 241 SEQ.
Arrange : —
Her infinite variety: other women
Cloy th* appetites they feed, but she makes hungry.
Variety is, of course, to be read as a trisyllable. Another
Alexandrine is thus done away with.
CCCLXXXIX.
There saw you labouring for him. What was't.
IB., II, 6, 14.
This line may be differently scanned; either: —
There saw | you la|bouring | for him. | What was't,
or: —
There saw | you lajb'ring for | him. -^ \ What was't.
To me this latter scansion seems preferable.
CCCXC.
To scourge the ingratitude that despiteftil Rome.
IB., II, 6, 22.
Scan: —
To scourge | th' ingrat|itude | of d'spite|ful Rome.
For the pronunciation d' spiteful see note on I, 2, 126.
S4 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
CCCXCI.
Then so much have I heard.
IB., II, 6, 68.
A mutilated line; add: Mark Antony. —
Then so much have I heard, Mark Antony.
CCCXCII.
It nothing ill becomes thee.
IB., II, 6, 8i.
Another defective line, to be completed by the addition of
Enobarhus : —
It nothing ill becomes thee, Enobarhus.
CCCXCIII.
And, as I said before, that which is the strength of their
amity shall prove the immediate author of their variance.
IB., II, 6, 136 SEQQ.
The context clearly shows that the poet did not write, the
strength of their amity, but, the strength of their UNITY, refer-
ring the words not to 1. 130: the very strangler of their amity ,
but to 1. 122 seqq.: Then is Ccesar and he for ever knit together.
Eno. If I were bound to divine of their unity, I would not
prophesy so. Variance, in 1. 138, is not a suitable antithesis
to amity, but it is to unity.
CCCXCIV.
These drums! these trumpets, flutes! what!
IB., II, 7, 138.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 65
A badly mutilated line which is far from being restored by
Hanmer's omission oi flutes. Qy. read: —
These drums! | these trum|pets! -^ | these flutes! | what hoM
That the exclamation hot originally formed part of Menas's
speech and most probably of this very line results from the
words of Enobarbus: Ho! says a\ There's my cap!, to which
Menas replies: Ho! noble captain, come.
cccxcv.
And in his offence
Should my performance perish.
Stl. Thou hast, Ventidius, that.
IB., Ill, I, 26 SEQ.
Qy. omit Venttdiusl
CCCXCVI.
This creature's no such thing.
Char. Nothing, madam.
IB., Ill, 3, 44.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
This crea|ture's no | such thing. | u Noth|ing, mad|am.
Pope's and Keightley's conjectures are unnecessary.
CCCXCVII.
Cms. Most certain. Sister, welcome: pray you.
Be ever known to patience: my dear'st sister!
IB., Ill, 6, 97 SEQ.
Arrange and read : —
Qbs. Most certain. Sister, welcome: pray you, be
E'er known | to pa|tience: -t- \ my dear\esi sis|terj
66 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
or: —
E'er known | to pa|ti-ence: | my dear|est sis|ter.
Compare Abbott, s. 510 (p. 419).
CCCXCVllI.
Hoists sails and flies.
Eno. That I beheld.
Ib., Ill, 10, 15 SEQ.
A complete blankverse may be restored by the insertion of
Enoharbus : —
Hoists sails | and flies, | Enobar\hus.
Eno. That I \ beheld.
For the trisyllabic pronunciation of Enoharbus see note on
I, 2, 134. According to the Cambridge Edition Capell pro-
posed sail for sails; compare, however, the concluding song
in Westward Ho! (Webster, ed. Dyce, 1857, in i vol.,
p. 245 b): —
Hoist up sails, and let's away.
CCCXCIX.
Why then good night indeed.
Ib., Ill, 10, 30.
Another defective line; read: —
Why then good night indeed, Canidius.
CD.
Which leaves itself: to the sea- side straightway.
Ib., Ill, II, 20.
A syllable pause line ; scan : —
Which leaves | itself: | u to | the sea-|side straight] way.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 57
GDI.
Frighted each other, why should he follow?
IB., Ill, 13, 6.
The attempts made by Pope and an anonymous critic to
correct this seemingly corrupt verse are needless; it is a
syllable pause line and thus to be scanned: —
Frighted | each othjer, -^ | why should | he fol|low?
CDII.
Hear it apart.
Cleo, None but friends: say boldly.
IB., Ill, 13, 47.
A syllable pause line again ; scan : —
Hear | it apart. |
Cleo. \j None | but friends: | say bold|ly.
All conjectures on this line recorded in the Cambridge Edi-
tion are needless.
CDIII.
Your Caesar's father oft
When he hath mused of taking kingdoms in.
IB., Ill, 13, 82 SEQ.
Arrange : —
Your Caesar's father
0/t, when he hath mused of taking kingdoms in.
He hath is to be contracted into one syllable ; compare IV, i , 3
{He hath whipped)] IV, 15, 14:
{Not C(B\sar's val\our hath 6'er\thrown An\tony,
unless the pause after valour be deemed of sufficient strength
to admit of an extra syllable); Twelfth Night, V, i, 372
58 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
{he hath married her); Pericles, I, i, 143 {He haih found);
ib., II, I, 132 (/■/ hath been a shield). — Another Alexan-
drine is thus eliminated.
CDIV.
Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried *Ho!*
Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth.
And cry *Your will?' Have you no ears?
I am Antony yet. Take hence this Jack and whip him.
Ib., Ill, 13, 90 SEQQ.
With respect to the division of these lines I completely agree
with Hanmer, whose arrangement is as follows : —
Authority melts from me: of late, when I
Cried *Ho!' like boys unto a muss, kings would
Start forth, and cry *Your will?' Have you no ears?
I'm Antony yet. Take hence this Jack and whip him.
CDV.
Laugh at his challenge. Caesar must think.
Ib., IV, I, 6.
All attempts at completing this line recorded in the Cam-
bridge Edition are needless; scan: —
Laugh at | his chal|lenge. -^ | Caesar | must think.
CDVI.
For I spake to you for your comfort; did desire you.
Ib., IV, 2, 40.
*In IV, 2, 40,' says Mr Fleay, who declares the line to be an
Alexandrine, 'cesura after ninth syllable'. In my opinion
we have to deal with a regular blankverse; scan: —
For 1 1 spake to | you for | your com|fort; did d'sire | you.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 59
The line has an extra syllable before the pause. For the
monosyllabic pronunciation of desire see note on I, 2, 126.
CDVII. .
Char. Please you, retire to your chamber.
Cleo. Lead me.
IB., IV, 4, 35.
An unmetrical and defective line, unless recourse be had to
the prolongation of retire'. —
Please you, | reti|ire to | your cham|ber. Lead | me.
Compare Abbott, s. 480. Rowe (2^ Ed.) added to before
retire, Seymour you after it. A third way of completing the
line would be by the insertion of madam : —
Please you, ] retire | t' your cham|ber, mad\am. Lead | me.
CDVIII.
Eros. Sir, his chests and treasure
He has not with him.
Ant. Is he gone?
Sold. Most certain.
IB., IV, 5, 10 SEQ.
The words Most certain are erroneously ascribed to the Sol-
dier; they belong to Eros. The Soldier has already informed
Antony that Enobarbus is with Cmsar, but Antony, unwilling
to believe him, appeals to the higher authority of Eros,
asking him whether Enobarbus be really gone (Is he gone?)
and is answered by Eros, Most certain.
60 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
CDIX.
Make it so known.
Agr. Caesar, I shall.
IB., IV, 6, 3.
Not two short lines, as printed in the Cambridge and Globe
Editions, by Dyce, Delius, &c., but a defective blankverse
which is to be completed by the addition of Agrippa-. —
Make it | so known, | Agrip\pa. Caesar, | I shall.
CDX.
I tell you true: best you safed the bringer.
IB., IV, 6, 26.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
I tell I you true: | ^ best | you safed | the bringjer.
All conjectures (see Cambridge Edition) may be dispensed with.
CDXI.
Each man's like mine: you have shown all Hectors.
IB., IV, 8, 7.
Another syllable pause line; scan: —
Each man's | like mine : | ^ you | have shown | all Hect|ors.
S. Walker's and the anonymous critic's conjectures recorded
in the Cambridge Edition are needless.
CDXII.
He has deserved it, were it carbuncled.
IB., IV, 8, 28.
This too is a syllable pause line: —
He has | deserved [it, -^ | were it | carbun|cled.
Or would it be more correct to scan:
He has | deser|ved it, | were it | carbun|cled?
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 61
CDXIII.
Make mingle with our rattling tabourines.
IB., IV, 8, 37.
After this verse a line has evidently been lost in which those
sounds were mentioned that heaven 'strikes together' with
the sounds of the earth, the trumpets and rattling tabourines.
ir/xu'i
CDXIV.
O Antony! O Antony!
Sec. Sold. Let's speak
To him.
First Sold. Let's hear him, for the things he speaks
May concern Caesar.
IB., IV, 9, 23 SEQQ.
Qy. read , arrange , and scan : —
O An|tony! | O An|t'ny!
Sec. Sold. Let's speak | to him.
First Sold. Nay^ let | us hear | him, for | the things |
he speaks
May con|cern Cae|sar?
Capell inserted further after hear him. Compare note on
Cymbeline, V, 5, 238.
CDXV.
Hark! the drums
Demurely wake the sleepers.
IB., IV, 9, 31.
Perhaps Do yarely instead of Demurely which cannot pos-
sibly be right.
^a ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
CDXVI.
I learn'd of thee. How! not dead? not dead?
IB., IV, 14, 103.
There is no need of Pope's conjecture, not yet dead. Scan:-
I learn'd | of thee. | ^ How! | not dead? | not dead?
CDXVH.
His guard have brought him hither. O sun.
IB., IV, 15, 9.
Here too there is no need of filling up the line as has been
done by Pope's and Capell's conjectures {O thou sun and
O sunt sun). Scan: —
His guard | have brought | him hith|er. -^ | O sun If/
CDXVIII.
I lay upon thy lips.
Cleo. I dare not, dear, —
Dear my lord, pardon, — I dare not.
IB,, IV, 15, 21 SEQ.
Read and arrange: —
I lay upon thy lips. Cotne down.
Cleo. I dare not.
Dear, dear my lord, pardon, — I dare not come.
Come downy in 1. 2 1 , has been added most happily by Theo-
bald; the context shows that it cannot be dispensed with.
For come, in I. 22, I must answer myself; without this ad-
dition the line would have to be scanned : —
Dear, dear | my lord, | ^ par|don, — I | dare n6t,
a scansion which will hardly receive the approval of com-
petent critics.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 63
CDXIX.
Splitted the heart. This is his sword.
IB., V, I, 24.
According to the Cambridge Edition Hanmer added itself
after heart; Collier's MS. corrector: Split that self noble heart.
If the line is to be filled up, it would seem more probable
that the name of the person addressed was lost and should
be inserted: —
Splitted the heart. CcEsar, this is his sword.
Or we might read: —
Splitted that very heart. This is his sword.
After all, however, I think the line should be left as it stands,
since verses of four feet are pretty frequent when there is a
break in the line or a change of thought; see Abbott, s. 507.
CDXX.
The gods rebuke me, but it is tidings,
IB., V, I, 27.
Rowe, a Tiding. There is, however, no need of correction;
it is a syllable pause line: —
The gods | rebuke | me, -^ | but it | is ti|dings.
CDXXI.
His voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb.
He was as rattling thunder.
IB., V, 2, 83 SEQQ.
Instead of and that to friends, Theobald reads : when that to
friends J and an anonymous critic (the Cambridge Editors?)
p4f ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
proposes, addrest fo friends. I think we should read either,
and SOFT to friends or, and sweet to friends', low would not
come near enough to the ductus literarum. Antony's voice
when speaking to friends is forcibly contrasted to the 'ratt-
ling thunder* to which it is likened when he is speaking to
foes. Shakespeare repeatedly praises a low voice in woman;
of Cordelia her father says (V, 3, 272 seq.): —
Her voice was ever soft.
Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.
May not what is an excellent thing in woman, be an excel-
lent thing in Antony too, when he is speaking to his friends?
r,u. CDXXII.
What should I stay —
Char. In this vile world? So, fare thee well.
Ib., V, 2, 316 SEQ.
The words: In this vile world do not belong to Charmian,
but to Cleopatra who already before (IV, 15, 60 seq.) has
complained of 'this dull world' which, she says, in Antony's
absence is 'no better than a sty.' Artange, therefore: —
What should I stay in this vile world -^
Char. So, fare thee well.
Shakespeare certainly wrote vilde^ not wilde. Fare thee well
would appear to be a trisyllabic feminine ending.*)
*) These notes on * Antony and Cleopatra ' (CCCLXXII - CDXXII)
were first published in Prof. Kolbing's Englische Studien, Vol. IX,
p. 267 — 278. Like the notes on 'Cymbeline' and 'Pericles' they
have since b^en revised and corrected.
CYMBELINE. 65
CDxxin.
Unto a poor but worthy gentleman: she's wedded;
Her husband banished; she imprison'd: all
Is outward sorrow; though I think the king
Be touch'd at very heart.
Sec. Gent, None but the king?
CymBELINE, I, I, 7 SEQQ.
This is the arrangement of the Folios; it is quite correct and
all conjectures to which the passage has given rise are gra-
tuitous; nor is Mr Fleay right in declaring 1. 7 to be one
of six feet. Gentleman may be read either as a trisyllable,
or as a dissyllable (see S. Walker, Versification, 189 seq.); in
the former case we have a trisyllabic feminine ending, in the
latter an extra syllable, before the pause.*)
*) The above notes on Cymbeline (CDXXIII— DXXIX) were
first printed in Professor WUlker's Anglia , Vol. VIII , p. 263 — 297,
and were embodied in a Letter to C. M. Ingleby, Esq., M. A., LL. D.,
V. P. R. S. L. The introductory words of this Letter which I hope
I shall be allowed to reproduce, were to the following effect: 'Dear
Ingleby! When, in October last, at the beginning of our winter-
term, I entered upon a course of lectures on Shakespeare's 'Cym-
beline', I was surprised by the unexpected news that you were
engaged in preparing a new edition of this most attractive , though
at the same time most thorny play. You will easily believe that
under these circumstances my thoughts turned to you whenever I
was beset by one of those perplexing difficulties both critical and
exegetical with which this play abounds. It was natural that I should
have wished to talk such passages over with you in your genial
study at Valentines and thus to clear away viribus unitis some of
those cruces interpretum. This privilege , however, was denied me,
and a continued correspondence on the subject of our studies would
have been too heavy a task not only on your time , but also on
mine. The next best thing, therefore, I can do, is to lay before you
5
66 CYMBELINE.
CDXXIV.
Of the king's looks, hath a heart that is not.
IB., I, I, 14.
S. Walker, according to the Cambridge Edition, suspects a
corruption here. The line would indeed be intolerably harsh,
if scanned: —
Of the I king's looks, | hath a | heart that^| is not.
In my opinion, however, there is no need of correction, the
verse being either a syllable pause line: —
Of the I king's looks, | o hath | a heart | that is | not,
or Of taking the place of a monosyllabic foot : —
Of j the king's | looks, hath | a heart | that is | not.
CDXXV.
To his protection, calls him Posthumus Leonatus.
Ib., I, I, 41.
Neither of the two names can be dispensed with, both of
them being required by the context. The correct explanation
of the • line has been given by Dyce and Staunton ad loc.
'Various passages in these plays, says Dyce, show that
Shakespeare (like his contemporary dramatists) occasionally
in print all those notes and conjectural emendations that have pre-
sented themselves to me in the course of my lectures. As your
edition has been unavoidably postponed they may still prove servi-
ceable to you in the revision and explanation of the badly corrupted
text; your friendly disposition towards me will no doubt prompt you
to gather from them all the critical honey they may contain and to
favour me with your opinion of what you approve and of what you
disapprove. Here, then, they are.'
CYMBELINE. 67
disregarded metre when proper names were to be introduced.'
He then refers his readers to his note on 2 K. Henry VI,
I, I, 7: —
The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne, and Alen^on.
*I may observe, he says there, that Shakespeare has allowed
this line to stand just as he found it in The First Part of
the Contention, &c.; and, indeed, even in the plays which
are wholly his own, he, like other early dramatists, considered
himself at liberty occasionally to disregard the laws of metre
in the case of proper names: e.g., a blankverse speech in
Richard II, Act II, sc. i contains the following formidable
line : —
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis
Quoint.'
To this instance Dyce, in his second edition, has added
three similar lines, but has been singularly unfortunate in
their choice, as they can be scanned without the least cor-
rection or difficulty. The first of them is taken firom The
Two Gentlemen of Verona, II, 4, 54, and is to be scanned
in the following manner: —
Know I ye Don | Anto|nio, your coun|tryman?
The line begins with a monosyllabic foot and has an extra
syllable before the pause. The second line is from A. V,
sc. I of the same play and its only irregularity is an extra -
syllable before the pause: —
That Siljvia, at Fri|ar Pat|rick*s cell, | should meet | me.
The third instance, also from the same comedy (V, 2, 34),
may certainly be considered as one line , as printed by Dyce,
in which case Valentine is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine
ending; there is, however, no occasion to depart from the
5*
<&8 CYMBELINE.
arrangement of the first Folio, which, amongst others, has
been adopted by the Cambridge and Globe Editors: —
Duke. Why then,
She's fled unto that peasant Valentine.
Even the 'formidable' and most likely corrupt passage in
Richard II, II, i, 281 seqq. might perhaps be satisfactorily
regulated in this way: —
That late [ broke from | the Duke | of Ex|eter,
His broth|er, Archbishjop late | of Can|terbur|y,
Sir Thom|as Er|pingham | and Sir j John Ram|ston,
Sir I John Nor|bery,
Sir Rob|ert Wajterton | and Fran|cis Quoint.
Should S. Walker, Versification, 100, be right in maintaining
that Archbishop is generally accented on the first syllable, a
slight transposition of the word will meet the requirements
of the case: —
His broth|er, late Arch|bishop | of Can|terbur|y.
To revert to 'Cymbeline'. Staunton's note on the line in
question is to the following effect: 'The old poets not unfre-
quently introduce proper names without regard to the mea-
sure.' To this he adds another remark of no little import;
'occasionally indeed, he says, as if at the discretion of the
player, the name was to be spoken or not.' The truth, in
my opinion, is, that the names of the interlocutors as well as
words of address seem frequently either to have been wrongly
left out or wrongly added by the carelessness of the players
and copyists, especially at the end of the line. Indeed a
great number of verses may be corrected either by the
addition, or (though less frequently) by the omission of the
name of the person addressed. See my note on Hamlet
(second edition), s. 59 (Reynaldo); note XLV, &c.
CYMBELINE. 69
CDXXVI.
Could make him the receiver of; which he took.
^ IB., I, I, 44.
Scan : —
Could make | him the | receiver | of; which | he took.
See Abbott, s. i66. Compare also 1. 72 of this very scene: —
Evil [JS'i/]- eyed \ unto | you: you're | my pris|'ner, but,
wrongly altered by Pope to III- eyed &c. See S. Walker,
Crit. Exam., II, 196.
CDXXVII.
As we do air, fast as 'twas minister'd.
And in 's spring became a harvest, lived in court.
IB., I, I, 45 SEQ.
Both Mr Fleay and Mr Ellis (On Early English Pronunciation,
III, 946) register 1. 46 among what they are pleased to call
Alexandrines. Hertzberg (Shakespeare's Dramatische Werke
nach der Ubersetzung von Schlegel und Tteck, herausgegeben
durch die Deutsche Shakespeare - Gesellscha/t , XII, 453) like-
wise thinks that it would be the easiest expedient to read
And in his spring &c. and thus to make the line one of those
Alexandrines, of which, he says, there is no want in Cymbe-
line. In my conviction Capell has come nearest to the truth
by adding And to the preceding line; only he should not
have dissolved in*s. Arrange and read accordingly: —
As we do air, fast as 'twas minister'd, and
In's spring became a harvest, lived in court, &c.
Minister'd is, of course, to be pronounced as a dissyllable
{minister' d)', see Abbott, s. 468.
70 CYMBELINE.
CDXXVIII.
A sample to the youngest, to the more mature.
IB., I, I, 48.
Mr Fleay has no doubt that this is an Alexandrine, and I
have no doubt that it is not. Youngest is either to be pro-
nounced as a monosyllable, like eldest ten lines infra\ or, if
the dissyllabic pronunciation should be preferred, it contains
an extra -syllable before the pause. The article before more
is to be elided (or read as a proclitic) just as it is the case
eight lines lower down: to th! king, and 1. 59: /' tK swathing-
c lathes. Scan, therefore, either: —
A samjple to | the young'st, [ to th' more | mature,
or: —
A sam|ple to | the young|est, to th' more | mature.
CDXXIX.
1' th' swathing- clothes the other, from their nursery.
IB., I, I, 59.
No Alexandrine, nursery being a trisyllabic feminine ending.
Compare the scansion of imagery in Spenser's Faerie Queene,
VII, 7, 10: —
That richer seem'd than any tapestry.
That Princes bowres adorne with painted imagery.
CDXXX.
That could not trace them!
First Gent. Howsoe'er 'tis strange.
IB., I, I, 65.
Qy. that't or that' could not trace them'^ Compare III,
4, 80: That [qy. that't?] cravens my weak hand. See
5. Walker, Versification, 77 seqq.
CYMBELINE. 71
CDXXXl.
I will be known your advocate: marry, yet.
IB., I, I, 76.
S. Walker, Versification, 187, endeavours to show iha,t marry
'is commonly a monosyllable' and that it 'would have been
irregular' to scan: —
I will I be known | your ad|v'cate; mar|ry yet.
Nevertheless I own that I prefer this scansion, so much the
more as S. Walker has not succeeded in proving his case.
Apart firom a line in Hudibras (III, 3, 644), in which the j/ of
Marry is to be contracted with the following hang^ he only
instances K. Richard III, III, 4, 58, where marry may just
as well be read as a trochee and he is may be contracted : —
Marry, | that with | no man | here he's | offend |ed.
If some reader or other should object that by this scansion
no is placed in the unaccented, instead of the accented part
of the measure, he may be referred to note CVllI (Vol. II,
p. 8 seqq.). In support of his theory S. Walker also adduces
sirrah, which, he says, is 'frequently at least' pronounced as
a monosyllable, e. g., 3 K. Henry VI, V, 6, 6. But may not
this line be read and scanned: —
Sirrah, [ leave's to | ourselves : | we must | confer?
In conclusion the reader's attention may be called to the fact
that in all the lines quoted, a pause follows after both marry
and sirrah which would seem to speak in favour of my scan-
sions. That in the line quoted from Hudibras the pause
does not impede the contraction of the two vowels, cannot
be a matter of surprise.
72 CYMBELINE.
CDXXXII.
Imo. O blest, that 1 might not! I chose an eagle,
And did avoid a puttock.
IB., I, I, 139 SEQ.
*A puttock, says Singer ad loc.y is a mean degenerate species
of hawk, too worthless to deserve training.' This note
re -appears in the Rev. H. Hudson's edition in a slightly
altered shape: *A puttock, he says, is a mean degenerate
hawk, not worth training.' Delius has nothing better to say;
his note is to the following effect : * Puttock, ein Habicht schlechter
Ari,^ What does a 'degenerate hawk' mean? I am unable
to attach a meaning to this phrase. The fact is that the
puttock does not belong to the falcones nobiles , as they are
termed in natural history, but is a species of kite (Milvus
ictinusj the glede). According to Naumann und Grafe, Hand-
huch der Natur geschichte der drei Reiche &c. (Eisleben und
Leipzig, 1836) I, 362 the Milvi are ^von traurtgem Ansehn,
trdge und feig, und konnen den Raub nicht fliegend ergret/en,
sondern nur sitzende und kriechende Thiere fangen, und fressen
auch Aas.' ^Der rothe Milan ifiabelweihe, Konigsweihe, Falco
Milvus), the same authors continue, jagt junge Hiihner, Enten,
Gdnse und andere junge oder des Flugvermogens beraubte
Vogel, Mduse, Maulwur/e, Amphibien, indem er niedrig ilber
den Boden wegstreicht, fdllt gem auf Aas.' The chief point,
as I take it, is that the Mi'lvi are incapable of catching birds
on the wing, but only when sitting or walking about. This
is the reason why they were held in disregard by all lovers
of hawking and why all attempts at training cannot but be
lost on them, since training may improve, but cannot alter
the natural gifts of bird or beast. Thus the name of 'put-
tock' passed into a by -word and an expression of contempt.
The derivation of the word serves as an eloquent confirmation
CYMBELINE. 73
of this theory, ptUlock being by no means a diminutive ,. but
a corruption of poot-hawk, i. e. a hawk that preys on poots
or pouts; pout, as Prof. Skeat has shown, standing for
poult = pullet (Fr. poulet) from Lat. pullus.
CDXXXIII.
Leave us to ourselves; and make yourself some comfort.
IB-. I, I, 155-
Scan either : —
Leave us|t' ourselves; | and make| yourself | some com|fort,
or, which I think preferable : —
Leave's to | ourselves; | and make \ yourself | some com|fort.
CDXXXIV.
Queen. Fie, you must give way.
IB., I, I, 158.
This is the punctuation of all the Ff. Modern editors punc-
tuate either : Fie ! you must &c., or : Fie! — you must &c.,
thus awakening the belief, as if in their opinion the words
were addressed to two different persons. Not content with
such an indirect hint, Delius explicitly refers the interjection
Fie! to the preceding speech of Cymbeline, whereas he
declares only the rest of the words to be addressed to Imogen.
I cannot subscribe to such a division of the Queen's ad-
monition. On hearing her father's terrible malediction Imogen
very naturally gives expression to her wounded feelings by
some gesture of impatience and horror and is reproved by
her stepmother rather energetically, as only in 1. 153 she has
been desired to keep quiet {Peace, Dear lady daughter, peace!).
She does not utter her grief and dismay in words, but her
74' CYMBELINE.
continued gesticulation shows that her mother's first injunction
has been of little avail and requires repetition. The only
words addressed to the King by the Queen are in 1. 153:
Beseech your patience.
CDXXXV.
Pray you speake with me;
You shall (at least) &c.
IB., I, I, 177.
This is the arrangement and reading of the Ff. Almost all
editors since Capell have adopted his suggestion to add /
before pray^ which, they say, has been lost. Nevertheless it
may be submitted that the line is quite correct, if scanned
as a syllable pause line: —
Pray you, | u speak | with me: | you shall | at least.
I adopt, of course, the arrangement of the lines as proposed
by Capell and think the Ff as well as Rowe faulty in this
respect.
CDXXXVI.
Clo. You'll go with us?
First Lord, I'll attend your lordship.
Clo, Nay, come, let's go together.
Sec, Lord, Well, my lord.
IB., I, 2, 40 SEQQ.
Capell, Dyce, and the Rev. H. Hudson have assigned the
words : */'// attend your lordship' to the Second Lord. Delius,
on the other hand, suspects that the concluding speech:
Welti my lord, should be given to the First Lord. In my
conviction both parties are wrong. In reply to Cloten's
invitation, addressed to the two lords conjointly, to accom-
CYMBELINE. T5
pany him to his chamber, the First Lord who is a flatterer
and a flunkey, at once declares himself ready to attend his
lordship; the second, however, who knows and dislikes his
master thoroughly, either offers to stay behind, or to leave
the stage by a different door, but is prevented from doing
so by Cloten's reiterated summons: Nay, come, let's go
together, to which he cannot but reply in the affirmative:
Well, my lord. Only on the stage the correctness of this
explanation can be made fully apparent. Compare note on
H, I, 48.
CDXXXVII.
Imo. Then waved his handkerchief?
^^^- And kiss'd it, madam.
Imo. Senseless linen! happier therein than I!
And that was all?
Pis. No, madam, for so long &c.
IB., I, 3, 6 SEQQ.
This is the arrangement of the folios. Line 7 is thus to be
scanned : —
Sense|less lin|en! Happier | therein | than I,
a scansion which exhibits indeed three deviations from the
normal type, viz. a monosyllabic foot, an extra syllable before
the pause, and a trochee after it. The scansion given by
Dr Abbott, s. 453: —
Senseless | linen! | Happier | therein | than I
looks very plausible at first sight, but on second thoughts
appears too abnormal to find assent; it contains no less than
three consecutive trochees! S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 316,
would arrange as follows: —
Imo. Then waved his handkerchief?
Pis. And kiss'd it, madam.
7^ CYMBELINE.
Imo. Senseless linen, happier
Therein than 1!
And that was all?
Pis. No, madam; for so long &c.
If, however, the division of the old copies is to be departed
from, the following arrangement seems preferable: —
Imo. Then waved his handkerchief?
Pis. And kiss'd it, madam.
Imo. Senseless linen!
Happier therein than I! And that was all?
Pis, No, madam; for so long
As he could make &c.
CDXXXVIII.
When shall we hear from him? Be assured, madam.
IB., I, 3, 23.
Scan : —
When shall | we hear | from him? | Be assur]ed, madjam.
1 shall disbelieve the pretended accentuation madam, until
convinced by a case, where madam is simply impossible. The
very next passage on which I shall comment is a case in
point, in so far as here the poet would seem to have accented
the word on the last syllable, but has not. This passage is : —
CDXXXIX.
Shakes all our buds from growing.
Enter a Lady.
Lady. The queen, madam.
Desires your highness' company.
IB., I, 3, 37 SEQ.
CYMBELINE. 77
The first line admits of a twofold scansion, either: —
Shakes all | our buds | from grow|ing. The queen, | mad Am,
or: —
Shakes all j our buds | from grow|ing. The | queen, mad|am.
But what, if neither of these two scansions should have been
the poet's own? The above arrangement of the Ff has
indeed been retained by all editors, as far as I know; however,
the words spoken by the Lady form a complete blankverse by
themselves and the passage should be divided accordingly: —
Shakes all our buds from growing.
Enter a Lady.
Lady. The queen, | madam, | desires | your highjness
com|pany.
Need I add, that madaniy although in the second place, is a
trochee (compare Abbott, s. 453 and my second edition of
'Hamlet', s. 118), ^itid company a trisyllabic feminine ending?
By this division the incomplete line is shifted from the speech
of the Lady which it does not fit at all , to that of Imogen
where it finds a far more appropriate place. As to madam
Mr Fleay, in his edition of Marlowe's 'Edward IL,' p. 120,
thinks it a strong argument in favour of the accentuation
madam, that the old texts write Madame which spelling, in
his opinion, is plainly indicative of the French accentuation
of the word. In the present passage, however, as well as in
I, I, 23, the Ff uniformly write Madam, whilst in other pas-
sages (e. g. in Love's Labour's Lost, V, 2, 431) we read
Madame, although the word be undoubtedly accented on the
first syllable. Compare supra note CCLXIX. — In order to
prevent a mistaken scansion one more line may be added,
viz. A. I, sc. 5, 1. 5: —
Pleaseth | your high|ness, ay: | here they | are, mad|am.
7^ CYMBELINE.
CDXL.
But, though slow, deadly.
Queen. I wonder, doctor.
Ib., I, 5, 10.
Theobald and, independently of him, S. Walker, Versifica-
tion, 24: I do wonder. There is, however, no need of such
an insertion, the verse being a syllable pause line; scan: —
But, though I slow, dead|ly. -^ | I won|der, doc|tor.
Or should we come still nearer to the poet's own scansion
by reading But as a monosyllabic foot: —
But, I though slow, I deadly. | I won|der doc|tor?
CDXLI.
Think on my words. \Exeunt Queen and Ladies.
Pis, And shall do.
IB., I, 5, 85.
According to the Cambridge Edition Steevens suspects an
omission here. Singer adds the following note: 'Some words,
which rendered this sentence less abrupt, and perfected the
metre, appear to have been omitted in the old copies.' Add
gracious madam after' shall do, and all will be right: —
Think on | my words. |
And shall | do, gra\cious mad\am.
Compare note on I, i, 41.
CDXLII.
What are men mad? Hath nature given them eyes
To see this vaulted arch, and the rich crop
Of sea and land, which can distinguish 'twixt
CYMBELINE. ^
The fiery orbs above and the twinned stones — :n£D2
Upon the number'd beach? and can we not f^
Partition make with spectacles so precious ,„.,.-->
'Twixt fair and foul? . ,^
IB., I, 0, 32 SEQQ.
Instead of ^Ae number'd Theobald reads rightly : iK unnumbered.
Compare K. Lear, IV, 6, 20 seqq.: — ^^ ^
the murmuring surge ^ »*^'
That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes, iT
Cannot be heard so highiii-far hio^r oril *jnif J«bI ?iii} fii
The ^crop of sea and land* undoubtedly means the crop of
the sea on the land, or the crop on the margin between
the sea and land, i. e. that profusion of pebbles, shells, sea-
weeds, &c. that are washed on shore by the waves and con-
stitute, so to say, the harvest which the land reaps from the
ocean. The poet places side by side those two natural phe-
nomena where an innumerable abundance of similar, nay
almost undistinguishable (I beg pardon for coining the word)
objects are gathered together: the firmament with its myriads
of stars and the unnumbered beach with its pebbles that are
as like to each other as twins. Now, he continues, if men's
eyes are capable of distinguishing some individual star or
pebble firom its twin, can they not, on beholding the divine
form of Imogen, make partition between fair and foul, between
an untainted virtuous lady and one of the common sort,
persons that even in their outward appearance are so wide
apart? t»^J 16 Vfoi '1
CDXLIII. r r,,j^ ,^^«^tin
An eminent monsieur, that, it seems, much loves. f^
IB., I, 6, 65.
«80 CYMBELINE.
Scan : —
An em|*nent mon|sieur, that, | it seems, | much loves.
Compare Love's Labour's Lost, II, i, ig6: —
A gal|lant la|dy. Mon|sieur, fare | you well;
K. Henry Vm, I, 3, 21: —
I'm glad I 'tis there: | now I \ would pray | our mon|sieurs;
lb., V, 2, 325: —
This is I the ape \ of form, | monsieur | the nice.
In this last line the word might indeed be read as an iambic,
but it is a trochee after the pause. That monsieur y in Shake-
speare's time, was generally accented on the first syllable,
seems also to be confirmed by four of its six different spel-
lings which occur in the first Folio, viz. 7nounsieur, mounseur,
mounsier, and monsier; the fifth and sixth being inonsieur
{passim) and vionsieuer (in As You Like It, I, 2, 173). The
diphthong ou in the first syllable (which replaces the original 0),
recalls such words as counsel (consiliuni) ^ fountain {/ontana),
mountain {montana), &c., and shows that the word was brought
under the Teutonic accentuation. Also Dryden (Heroic
Stanzas upon the Death of Oliver, &c. st. 2^) accents it on
the first syllable: —
Than the | light M6n|sieur the | grave Don | outweighed,
and in 1663 we meet with the spelling Mounser which admits
of no other accent but on the first syllable; see Rye, Eng-
land as seen by Foreigners, p. 187. In more recent times,
however, the French accentuation of the word has been
re -instated and has kept its ground to the present day, just
as it has been the case with the adjectives divine, extreme,
obscure, &c. It should be added that all other passages in
Shakespeare where monsieur occurs, are in prose.
CYMBELINE. 81
CDXLIV.
I^<:h. They are in a trunk,
Attended by my men.
IB., I, 6, 197.
Qy. read: Attended hy my man? Only in 1. 53 of this very
scene lachimo has spoken of his man and informed us that
he is strange and peevish.
CDXLV.
Sec. Lord. You cannot derogate, my lord.
IB., II, I, 48.
There can be little doubt that these words • belong to the
First and not to the Second Lord, and that Dr Johnson's
alteration of the prefix is right. Eight lines lower down the
common text should be replaced by the following arrange-
ment: -
First [instead of Sec^ Lord. I'll attend your lordship.
\Exeunt Cloten and First Lord.
Sec. Lord. That such a crafly devil &c.
Compare note on I, 2, 40 seqq.
CDXLVI.
Ah, but some natural notes about her body,
Above ten thousand meaner moveables
Would testify, to enrich mine inventory.
IB., II, 2, 28 SEQQ.
Qy. read and point: —
Ah, but some natural notes about her body,—
Above ten thousand meaner moveables
They' Id testify, — t' enrich mine inventory?
82 CYMBELINE.
CDXLVIl/
The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end?
IB., II, 2, 42.
No Alexandrine, but a blankverse with an extra- syllable
before the pause; scan: —
The treas|ure of | her hon|our. No more. | T'what end?
Two lines infra memory is to be read as a dissyllable, which
makes the line a regular blankverse. Mr Fleay declares 1. 44
to be an Alexandrine, but makes no mention of 1. 42.
CDXLVIII.
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
May bare the raven's eye!
Ib., II, 2, 48 SEQ.
In my conviction the last words should neither be understood
literally, nor can we suppose, as Dyce justly remarks, that
Shakespeare would turn night to a raven at the same moment
when introducing her as a goddess. Shakespeare, who was
conversant with so many facts of natural history, may possibly
have been aware that the raven, to introduce Mr R. Gr. White's
remark ad loc, *is the most matinal \sic, read matutinal]
bird, even more so than the lark'. But I greatly doubt
that his audience, unadulterated cockneys as they were, should
have been so intimately acquainted with the ways and habits
of the raven as to understand an allusion so far-fetched and
altogether foreign to the context. To me Sir Thomas Han-
mer seems to have hit the mark in attributing the raven's
eye (or raven -eye) to dawning itself; lachimo expresses the
wish that dawning might soon bare or ope its eye which is
as dark as the raven. Hanmer proposes to read: its raven
CYMBELINE. 85
eye, but no alteration is needed; least of all Collier's
suggestion, blear the raven's eye, which has been energeti-
cally rejected by Dyce as being 'most ridiculous'.
CDXLIX.
And winking Mary- buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:
With every thing that pretty is,
My lady sweet, arise:
Arise, arise.
IB., II, 3, 25 SEQQ.
Read, of course, that pretty bin, as printed by Hanmer; his
alteration of every thing, however, is not needed, although
hin is the third person plural; see Morris, Outlines of Eng-
lish Accidence, s. 295, p. 182; Matzner's Engl. Grammatik
(i"* Ed., I, 367); Al. Schmidt, Shakespeare - Lexicon , s. Be,
Every is not unfrequently used as a collective and as such
governs the plural ; compare, e. g., Much Ado about Nothing,
III, 4, 6oseq. : Nothing I; but God send every one their
heart's desire! Lucrece, 125: —
And every one to rest themselves betake.
Dryden , Annus Mirabilis , st. 15: —
It seems as every ship their sovereign knows,
where the singular knows is required by the rhyme.
It may be as well to add, that also all has sometimes the
plural after it; compare, e. g., Byron's Childe Harold, III, 62 : —
All that expands the spirit, yet appals.
Gather around these summits;
lb., IV, 162: —
Are exprest
All that ideal beauty ever bless'd.
84 CYMBELINE.
CDL.
The one is Caius Lucius.
Cym. A worthy fellow.
IB., II, 3, 60.
Mr Fleay scans this line: —
Th' one's Ca|ius Lu|cius. | A wor|thy fel|low.
But the verse has evidently an extra- syllable before the pause
and is to be scanned : —
The one | is Cajius Lu|cius. A wor|thy fel|low.
CDLI.
Yet you are curb'd from that enlargement by
The consequence o' the crown, and must not soil
The precious note of it with a base slave,
A hilding for a livery, a squire's cloth,
A pantler, not so eminent.
Ib., II, 3, 125 SEQQ.
The only critic that has queried this passage, is Collier.
'We may, he says rather hesitatingly, also suspect a misprint
in the word "note".' — Note is surely a misprint; read robe.
What the poet here calls the * precious robe 0/ the crown^ in
K. Henry V, IV, i, 279 is styled: —
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
and is there enumerated among the king's attributes. What
reader of Shakespeare does not also recall Cleopatra's
words : —
Give me my robe, put on my crown; 1 have
Immortal longings?
'You must not soil, says Cloten, the regal robe with a base
slave, a hilding born to wear a livery, or a squire's cloth at
best.' The context sufficiently shows that this is what the
CYIVIBELINE. 86
poet had in his mind and wanted to express, and I need
not dwell on the circumstance that, throughout our play,
garments play a conspicuous part in Cloten's thoughts and
even influence his actions. — The misprint foyle for foyle in
the Ff would not be worth mentioning, but for the fact that
Dr Al. Schmidt, who in his Shakespeare -Lexicon has proved
a stickler for the correctness of the first Folio, upholds the
lection foil.
CDLII.
I am sprited with a fool.
Frighted, and anger'd worse.
IB., II, 3, 144 SEQ.
The meaning which has been missed in the late Professor
Hertzberg's translation, is: I am not only sprited by a fool,
but what is still worse, frighted and angered by the loss of
my bracelet; the anonymous conjecture on 1. 141: —
How now! [missing the bracelet]. Pisanio!
having indeed hit the mark.
CDLIII.
But the worst of me. So, I leave you, sir.
IB., II, 3, 159.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
But th' worst I of me. I V. So, I I leave | you, sir.
The same scansion occurs in the first hemistich of the next
line {To tK worst \ of discontent).
86 CYMBELINE.
CDLIV.
In these fear'd hopes,
1 barely gratify your love.
IB., II, 4, 6 SEQ.
This is the reading of all the Ff ; according to Collier (2"*^ Ed.)
ad loc. the words mean *in these hopes which I fear may
never be realised' [!]. Dyce has adopted Tyrwhitt's con-
jecture sear'd, as he (most justly) 'cannot think that the
original reading here is to be defended on the supposition
that "fear*d hopes" may mean "fearing hopes" or "hopes
mingled with fears".' The Rev. H. Hudson reads *sere
hopes^'j ^sere hopes, he explains, are withered hopes; as they
would naturally be in their Winter's state.' The hopes of
Posthumus, however, are neither feared (by whom?), nor
seared or withered, but they are dear hopes, and this, in my
humble opinion, is what the poet wrote.
CDLV.
Let it be granted you have seen all this, — and praise.
IB., II, 4, 92.
Mr Fleay wrongly reckons this line among the Alexandrines.
Read and scan: —
Let it I be grant'd | you've seen j all this, | — and praise.
Compare Abbott, s. 472.
CDLVL
lack. Then, if you can,
\Showing the bracelet.
Be pale: 1 beg but leave to air this jewel; see!
And now 'tis up again.
IB., II, 4, 95 SEQQ.
CYMBELINE. 87
'In II, 4, 96, says Mr Fleay, arrange "be pale" in 1. 95'. ^
This, of course, would only be transferring the Alexandrine
from 1. 96 to 1. 95. To me it seems to admit of little
doubt, that 'See' forms a most energetic interjectional line.
Arrange : —
Then, if you can,
Be pale: I beg but leave to air this jewel;
See! [Showing the bracelet.
And now 'tis up again.
CDLVII.
Must be half -workers? We are all bastards.
IB., II, 5, 2.
The conjectures of Pope, Capell (S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill,
322), and Keightley are needless. The verse is a syllable
pause line \ scan : —
Must be I half-work|ers? -^ \ We are | all bast|ards.
CDLVIII.
For wearing our own noses. That opportunity.
IB., Ill, I, 14.
This line, left unnoticed by Mr Fleay, has both an extra-
syllable before the pause and a trisyllabic feminine ending.
CDLIX.
Cym. You must know,
Till the injurious Romans did extort &c.
Ib., Ill, I, 47 SEQQ.
I have no doubt that this speech does not belong to Cym-
beline, but to the Queen who has been interrupted rather
M CYMBELINE.
uncourteously by her son and whom the king expressly wishes
to end, especially as by her action she undoubtedly indicates
her desire of saying something more. My suspicion is con-
firmed by the following remarkable metrical fact. Dr Abbott,
s. 514, has ingeniously shown that 'interruptions are some-
times not allowed to interfere with the completeness of the
speaker's verse.' Now the first line of the speech in question
exactly completes the last line of the Queen's antecedent
speech (1. ^^), although an interruption by no less than ^three
speeches, two from Cloten and one from the king, has taken
place. This is the line : —
And Britons strut with courage. — You must know.
The words We do in \. ^^ are assigned to ^Cloien' by Collier
and Dyce, to * Cloten and Lords^ by the Cambridge Editors.
Either prefix may be right, yet 1 own that this once I think
it safer to side with Collier and Dyce than with the Cam-
bridge Editors; the Lords, in my opinion, expressing their
assent merely by gestures.
CDLX.
Though Rome be therefore angry : Mulmutius made
our laws.
IB., Ill, I, 59.
One of Mr Fleay's Alexandrines. I have no hesitation in
accepting Steevens's emendation, i. e., in discarding the words
*made our laws^ which are evidently either a marginal gloss
intended to explain or to replace ^Ordained our laws\ or a
dittography. The verse is a syllable pause line: —
Though Rome | be there|fore an|gry: -^ | Mulmu|tius.
CYMBELINE. 89
CDLXI.
Thyself domestic officers — thine enemy.
IB., Ill, I, 65.
According to Mr Fleay an Alexandrine with 'the cesura after
the eighth syllable'. I take it to be a blankverse with a trisyl-
labic feminine ending {enemy). Three lines farther on Mr Fleay
would make his readers believe in another Alexandrine with
the cesura after the ninth syllable (!). In my conviction it
is a blankverse with an extra- syllable before the pause; defied
is to be pronounced as a monosyllable; see note CCLXXIX.
Scan : —
For fu|ry not | to be | resist|ed. Thus d'fied.
CDLXII.
Pis, How! of adultery? Wherefore write you not
What monster's her accuser? Leonatus!
IB., Ill, 2, I SEQ.
Adultery is to be pronounced as, a trisyllable. The Ff have
an interrogation after accuse (accuser is Capell's correction)
and a colon after Leonatus ^ which latter has been replaced
by an exclamation in all, or almost all, modern editions, a
dash being moreover introduced heioxQ Leonatus. Point: —
Wherefore write you not
What monster's her accuser, Leonatus?
CDLXm.
O, not like me;
For mine's beyond beyond — say, and speak thick.
IB., Ill, 2, 57 SEQ.
08 CYMBELINE.
The meaning is, My longing is beyond being beyond yours.
Compare Macbeth , 1, 4, 2 1 : —
More is. thy due than more than all can pay.
CDLXIV.
And our return, to excuse: but first, how get hence.
IB., Ill, 2, 66.
The Rev. H. Hudson reads on his own responsibility: how
TO get hence. *As hence, he says in his Critical Note ad loc,
is emphatic here, to seems fairly required; and get is evidently
in the same construction with excuse. To be sure, the inser-
tion of to makes the verse an Alexandrine; but the omission
does not make it a pentameter [Mr Hudson clearly means
to say a blankverse\. The omission was doubtless accidental.'
— I do not see, why the line without Mr Hudson's addition,
should not be taken for a blankverse; scan: —
And our | return, | t' excuse: | but first, | how get | hence.
A closely analogous ending occurs in 1. 17 of the following
scene : —
But be|ing so | allow'd: | to ap|prehend | thus.
CDLXV.
Prithee, speak,
How many score of miles may we well ride
'Twixt hour and hour?
IB., Ill, 2, 70.
^Twixt hour and hour, according to the Rev. H. Hudson,
means: * Between the same hour of morning and evening;
or between six and six, as between sunrise and sunset, in
the next speech.' — But Imogen's longing that is * beyond
CYMBELINE. 91
beyond' and wishes for a horse with wings, would not have
been satisfied with such a slow rate of travelling; what she
wishes to know is, how many score of miles she may ride
from the stroke of one hour to that of the next, and Pisanio
makes the disheartening reply, only one score from one rising
of the sun to the next. Compare III, 4, 44: To weep 'twixt
clock and clock. ,
CDLXVI.
That run i' the clock's behalf. But this is foolery.
IB., Ill, 2, 75.
Not an Alexandrine as Mr Fleay would have it, but a blank-
verse with a trisyllabic feminine ending {foolery). Line 77
which has not been noticed by Mr Fleay, has likewise a tri-
syllabic feminine ending and the words to her are to be run
into one another: —
She'll home | t' her fa|ther : and | provide | me presjently.
Possibly, however. She'll had better be added to the pre-
ceding line: —
Go bid I my wom|an feign | a sickjness: say, | she'll
Home to | her fa|ther: and | provide | me presjently.
CDLXVII.
To see me first, as I have now. Pisanio! man!
Where is Posthumus?
IB., Ill, 4» 3 SEQ.
Arrange with S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 323, and Mr Fleay: —
To see me first, as I crave now. Pisanio!
Man! Where's Posthumus?
Crave y proposed by the Cambridge Editors (?), is no doubt
the true reading.
9e CYMBELINE.
]
CDLXVUI.
Some jay of Italy
Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him.
IB., Ill, 4, 51 SEQ.
*The figure, says Mr R. Gr. White ad /oc, here approaches
extravagance,' and in the Globe Edition the passage is marked
with an obelus. Nevertheless the true blue conservatives in
Shakespearian criticism uphold the old text against those
wild conjecturing folks that, are not willing to kiss the first
Folio; they even reckon such strained figures among the
beauties of the poet's diction. In support of their inter-
pretation they refer the reader to IV, 2, 81 seqq. , where
Cloten's tailor is termed his 'grandfather': —
he made those clothes
Which, as it seems, make thee.
There is, however, this difference between the two passages
that the tailor, mentioned in the latter, is a real human
being, whereas the painting is not. It is true that, if the
tailor is to be considered as Cloten's grandfather, Cloten's
dress must be taken to be his father; but the poet does not
startle us by such a grotesque figure — it is merely implied.
Besides it is a common proverbial saying that 'Fine feathers
make fine birds', whilst nobody ever heard it said, that 'Fine
painting makes a fine harlot.' Still less can the phrase be
countenanced by the well-known passage in K. Lear, II, 2, 60:
'a tailor made thee'. A similar thought occurs strangely enough
in A. V, sc. 4, 1. 123 seq. of our play: —
Sleep, thou hast been a grandsire, and begot
A father to me;
but this is indeed the natural father of Posthumus. The Rev.
R. Roberts (in N. and Q., Sept. 29, 1883, p. 241 seq.) has
discovered two passages manifestly bearing upon the present
CYMBELINE. 93
line; the one occurs in Shelton's Translation of Don Quixote
(2^ Ed., 1652, lib. I, pt. 4, chap. 24, p. 133), the other in a
pamphlet entitled: 'Newes from the New Exchange; or, The
Commonwealth of Ladies. London , printed in the Yeere of
Women without Grace, 1650.' From the former passage it
would appear that somebody ' said that his arm was his father,
his works his lineage'; nothing certain, however, can be said
of it, since Mr Roberts has not favoured his readers with the
context. The second passage is to the following effect: 'If
Madam Newport should be linkt with these Ladies, the chain
would never hold; for she is sister to the famous Mistress
Porter and to the more famous Lady Marlborough
(whose Paint is her Pander).' I am greatly surprised to find
that neither Mr Roberts, nor Dr Brinsley Nicholson who has
reproduced the above extracts in The New Shakspere Society's
Transactions 1880—2, p. 202, should have thought of the
possibility that here we may have got the clue to the line
under discussion and that Shakespeare probably wrote: —
Some jay of Italy
Whose pander was her painting, hath betray'd him.
CDLXIX.
And thou, Posthumus, that didst set up.
IB., Ill, 4, 90.
In order to regulate the metre Capell has repeated thou after
Posthumus, and all editors after him have followed in his wake.
I have no doubt that Capell's division of the lines is right,
but there is no need of an insertion, as the verse clearly belongs
to the much -discussed class of syllable pause lines; scan: —
And thou, I Posthujmus, -^ \ that didst | set up.
94 CYMBELINE.
CDLXX.
Pis. I'll wake mine eye -balls blind first.
IB., Ill, 4, 104.
The lection of the Ff: I* II wake mine eye- balls first cannot
possibly be right, and most editors have therefore adopted
Hanmer's addition blind after eye -balls. Staunton defends
the old reading on the strength of a passage in Lust's
Dominion (1,2; Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, XIV, 104): —
I'll still wake.
And waste these balls of sight by tossing them
In busy observations upon thee.
Dyce, however, cannot think (and very properly too) that
wakey in this passage, should govern eye -balls; he conceives
the meaning to be, 'I'll still keep myself awake, and waste
these balls,' &c. He is, therefore, convinced that in the line
under discussion some such word as blind seems to be required
after eye -balls in order to complete both sense and metre.
To me the very passage from Lust's Dominion seems to point
in a very different direction, in as much as it suggests the
conjectural emendation : —
I'll waste mine eye -balls first.
Compared to this almost imperceptible alteration the inser-
tion of blind is no doubt needlessly bold. As to the metre,
the verse is to be numbered with the syllable pause lines;
scan : —
I'll waste I mine eye -| balls first. | ^ Where|fore then.
A confusion between waste and wake seems also to have
taken place in Timon of Athens, II, 2, 171 : I have retired me
to a wasteful cock, instead of which unintelligible twaddle
Mr Swynfen Jervis has most ingeniously proposed to read:
/ have retired me to a wakeful couch.
CYMBELINE. 95
CDLXXI.
Nor no more ado
With that harsh, noble, simple nothing.
That Cloten, whose love -suit hath been to me
As fearful as a siege.
Ib., Ill, 4, 134 SEQQ.
Dr Brinsley Nicholson proposes to read, ignoble nolle (N. and Q.,
Sept. 29, 1883, p. 241). This conjecture spoils the metre,
although ignoble seems to be the word wanted instead of
nobky but not conjointly with it. Perhaps we should read: —
With that I harsh, that \ igno\ble, sim|ple noth|ing,
That Cloten, &c.
All other conjectures to which this line has given rise, from
Rowe to Collier's so-called MS -Corrector downwards, may
be passed over with silence. Compare S. Walker, Crit.
Exam., I, 33.
CDLXXII.
Pis, If not at court.
Then not in Britain must you bide.
jftio. Where then?
Hath Britain all the sun that shines? Day, night.
Are they not but in Britain? I'the world's volume
Our Britain seems as of it, but not in't;
In a great pool a swan's nest: prithee, think
There's livers out of Britain.
Pis, I am most glad
You think of other place.
IB., Ill, 4. 137 SEQQ;
The words Where then? have been continued to Pisanio by
Hanmer, but Pisanio has 'consider'd of a course' and has
96 CYMBELTNE.
made up his mind; he has no occasion to ask ^ Where then?*
Imogen, on the contrary, has just put the question to Pisanio : —
What shall I do the while? where bide? how live?
She now asks again: Where then?, but she cannot possibly
be the speaker of the two following lines. The original
distribution of the lines, in my opinion, was this: —
Pis. If not at court.
Then not in Britain must you bide.
Imo. Where then?
Pis, Hath Britain all the sun that shines? Day, night.
Are they not but in Britain?
Imo. I'the world's volume
Our Britain seems as of it, but not in't;
In a great pool a swan's nest: prithee, think
There's livers out of Britain.
Pis, I am most glad
You think of other place.
It may be left to the reader to form his own opinion of
Capell's conjecture. What then? and of Mr P. A. Daniel's
transposition of of it and in it.
CDLXXIII.
Now, if you could wear a mind
Dark as your fortune is, &c.
IB., Ill, 4, 146 SEQ.
In my opinion Warburton's conjecture mien for mind should
be installed in the text without reserve, so much the more
as it would appear that mien was frequently spelt and pro-
nounced mine and could therefore easily be mistaken for
mind; compare Dryden, ed. W. D. Christie (Clarendon Press,
1874) p. 228. — Al. Schmidt, Shakespeare - Lexicon , s. MieUf
thinks differently.
CYMBELINE. g^
CDLXXIV.
Beginning nor supplyment. : o^ llr. .nit^hrM.
Imo. Thou art all the ..QQioDfort.
IB., Ill, 4, 182.
Mr Fleay wrongly classes this line with the'; 'Alexandrines;
scan: — • ' . ..»j
Begin|ning nor | siipply|ment. ThouVt all | if^e'comifoi^.'^
CDLXXV. ' '^^' ''?^=^>^'l^"
A prince's courage. Away, I prithee.
tbV, nr, 4. 187^
Either a four foot line with an extra syllable before tjie pause r'-rr
A prin|ce's cour[age. Away, | I pr/lthee^ ^.^.^.^ ^ ^^^^^^
or a syllable pause line: — .bu,:,! .^.Ir I.j -M5Ji:jr>!
A prin|ce's cour|age. -^ \ Away, | I pri|thee.
■1 !!/>:>: ivi')
CDLXXVI.
Appear unkinglike.
Zuc, So, sir: 1 desire of you.
' iB.i in, §,7?^
Scan:- Ai ilA ^r^sd
Appear | unking|like.
Zuc. So, sir: I I d'sire | of you.
See note CCLXXIX. I think it merely owing to an over-
sight that this line has not been brought forward as an
Alexandrine by Mr Fleay. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam.,
HI, 325-
Sl8 CYMBELINE.
CDLXXVII.
Madam, all joy befall your grace.
Queen. And you !
■J-«^r .> ,li> IB., Ill, 5, 9.
The Ff continue the words And you! to Lucius. To me the
conjectural emendation introduced into the text of the Globe
Edjltiq^ by ^be Cambridge Editors seems indeed palmarian.
Lucius bids farewell to the King, the Queen, and Cloten
successively and it seems obvious that all three should reply,
especially the Queen who appears to be fond of speaking
not only in her own name, but even in that of others. The
words And you cannot, therefore, belong to any other
character but to her; least of all can they be addressed to
Cloten by the Roman ambassador, as only in 1. 12 the latter
turns to Cloten and takes his leave from him by a cordial
shaking of the hand.
CDLXXVnL
She looks us like
A thing more made of malice than of duty.
IB., in, 5, 32 SEQ.
Here too the Cambridge Editors (for I hope I shall not be
wrong in fathering this anonymous emendation upon them)
have hit the mark in suggesting on^s for as in FA, or us in
FBCD: —
She looks orCs like
A thing more made of malice than of duty.
CDLXXIX.
That will be given to the loudest noise we make.
IB., Ill, 5, 44.
CYMBELINE. 99
FA : tK lowd of noise. ^ think Rowe's conjecture the loudest
noise preferable to that of Capell, the loud'st of noise, as, in
accordance with Rowe and Singer, I feel convinced that of
is a misprint for 'st or st. Singer wrongly prints th' loudest
noise y instead of th* loudest noise.
CDLXXX.
Prove false!
Queen. Son, I say, follow the king.
IB., Ill, 5, 53.
Rowe's division of the lines is right, the conjectures suggested
by Steevens, Jackson, S. Walker, &c., however, are needless.
Scan : —
Prove false! | rniffi JV«
Queen. ^ Son, | I say, | follow | the kiiig.
CDLXXXI.
Pisanio, thou that standst so for Posthumus !
He hath a drug of mine; &c.
Ib., Ill, 5, 56 SEQ.
The transition in these lines from the second to the third
person, abrupt and awkward though it be, yet seems to have
proceeded from the poet's own pen, especially as the same
irregularity has already occurred before (III, 3, 104): —
they took thee for their mother,
And every day do honour to her grave.
A third instance of a cognate kind (a transition from the
third to the second person) occurs in A. IV, sc. 2, I. 217 seq.: —
With female fairies will his tomb be haunted,
And worms will not come to thee. ;:Biq '>•
7*
100 CYMBELINE.
'Alack, no remedy!' (Ill, 4, 163) is the only remark to be
made on these and similar deviations from correct and
grammatical diction, by which not only 'Cymbeline', but
Shakespeare's latest plays in general, are marked. See Dyce's
note on I, i, 118 (While sense can keep it on).
CDLXXXI'I.
Clo. I love and hate her: for she's fair and royal,
And that she has all courtly parts more exquisite
Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one
The best she hath, and she, of all compounded, '^'
Outsells them all. ''^
IB., Ill, 5, 70 SEQQ,
Line 71, left unnoticed by Mr Fleay, has a trisyllabic femi-
nine ending {exquisite). In the next line, this dreadful crux^
I suspect, though not without difBdence, that we should
read : —
Than lady, lassy or woman; &c.
except it should be deemed admissible to introduce into the
text of Shakespeare the diminutive lassie, in which case the
reading Than lady, lassie, woman would come nearest to the
old text. I am well aware that lass (or lassie) is chiefly a
pastoral word, its use, however, is not restricted exclusively
to that homely kind of poetry, as it is proved by a signal
instance in Shakespeare. In Antony and Cleopatra, V, 2,
318 seq. Charmian, speaking of the dead Queen of Egypt,
says : —
Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A lass unparallel'd.
Cleopatra is certainly anything but pastoral, and Imogen
deserves the praise of being ^a lass unparalleV d* in a far
CYMBELINK. 101
higher and nobler sense than she. In our passage the poet
evidently alludes to the different classes of womankind, of
every one of which Imogen has the best. She possesses the
nobleness and dignified manners of a lady, the innocence
and sprightliness of a young girl, and the true womanly
feeling of a matron, and thus, of all compounded, outsells
them all. The strained explanation of the old text given by
Singer cannot find favour in the eyes of scholars trained to
the strict exegetical rules of classical philology. According
to him Shakespeare means to say that Imogen has the courtly
parts more exquisite Hhan any lady, than all ladies, than
all womankind.' The passage from All's Well that Ends
Well (11, 3, 202 : to any count; to all counts; to what is man)
quoted by Singer, is not to the point, in so far as it is
intelligible and correct, two distinguishing qualities of which
the passage in Cymbeline cannot boast.
CDLXXXIII.
Close villain,
I'll have this secret from thy heart, or rip
Thy heart to find it.
IB., Ill, 5, 85 SEQQ.
Arrange and read with Dyce's second edition: —
Close villain, I
Will have this secret from thy heart, &c.
CDLXXXIV.
Pis. \Aside\ I'll write to my lord she's dead. O Imogen.
IB., Ill, 5, 104.
102 CYMBELINE.
S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 326, needlessly proposes to
omit to; scan: -
I'll write I to m'lord | she's dead. | O Im|ogen.
Compare note CCCVI (Vol. II, p. 176).
CDLXXXV.
Be but duteous, and true preferment shall tender itself to thee.
IB., Ill, 5, 159 SEQ.
S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 326, very properly asks: 'What
has ^Hrue perferment" to do here?' and proposes to point:
'be but duteous and true, preferment' &c. True certainly
cannot be joined to preferment ^ but must necessarily refer to
Pisanio , as Cloten in 1. 1 1 o has required true service from
Pisanio and repeats his admonition immediately after (1. 162:
Come, and be true) to which admonition Pisanio in his soli-
loquy replies: —
true to thee
Were to prove false, which I will never be.
To him that is most true.
On the other hand, the omission of and before preferment
seems harsh; perhaps a slight transposition may help us to
the true reading , viz. be but duteous - true, and preferment &c.
Compare S. Walker, Ctit. Exam., I, 21 seqq. Merchant of Venice,
III, 4, 46 {honest -true); Cymbeline, V, 5, 86 {duteous - diligent).
CDLXXXVI.
Pis. Thou bid'st me to my loss: for true to thee
Were to prove false, which I will never be.
To him that is most true.
IB., Ill, 5, 163 SEQQ.
CYMBELINE. 103
Collier's MS -Corrector: to thy loss, which lection has been
introduced into the text by the Rev. H. Hudson who thinks
my loss 'little better than unmeaning here.' Quite the con-
trary. To Clot en's exhortation 'be but duteous -true, and pre-
ferment shall tender itself to thee', Pisanio replies: 'no, the
way thou bidst me go, would not lead to my preferment,
but to my loss, in so far as it would make me false to my
master who is the truest of all.'
CDLXXXVn.
Imo. To Milford- Haven.
Bel. What's your name? ^ ^^^ ,
■^ IB., Ill, 6, 59 SEQ.
These two short lines should be joined into one, which is to
be scanned and read : —
Imo. To Mil|ford Ha|ven. -^ \
Bel What is \ your name?
The reading What is was proposed by Capell. — Two lines
further on we have no choice left but to adopt Hanmer's
correction embarks instead of embark' d, so much the more as
in A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 291 seq. we learn from Imogen that she
has by no means given up her journey to Milford - Haven
and consequently is still in hopes of joining Lucius there.
By the way it may be remarked, that Hanmer's edition
(Oxford, 1770) does not read embarques, as reported in the
Cambridge Edition, but embarks.
CDLXXXVIII.
I should woo hard but be your groom. In honesty.
IB., Ill, 6, 70. ,
This line, not noticed by Mr Fleay, is not an Alexandrine,
but has a trisyllabic feminine ending (honesty).
104 CYJVIBELINE.
CDLXXXIX.
Cowards father cowards and base things sire base.
IB., IV, 2, 26.
S. Walker, Versification, 145 and Crit. Exam., I, 153 dis-
syllabizes sire. There is, however, room for two other scan-
sions, viz.: —
Cow'rds fa|ther cow|ards and | base things | sire base;
Cowards | fath'r cow|ards and | base things | sire base.
CDXC.
Know'st me not by my clothes?
Gut. No, nor thy tailor, rascal.
IB., IV, 2, 81.
One of Mr Fleay*s Alexandrines. Pope omitted rascal, no
doubt on purely metrical grounds. There is, however, another
argument which speaks in favour of this omission, and this
is the marked contrast between the two characters of Cloten
and Guiderius. Cloten, from the very moment of his entrance,
heaps the most abusive language on his adversary, whereas
Guiderius studiously refrains from retaliating. Guiderius says
(1. 78seq.):-
Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear not
My dagger in my mouth.
Only twice he retorts : in 1. 72 seqq. (A thing more slavish &c.,
which is moderate language enough) and in 1. 89 (thou double
villain). I am, therefore, inclined to agree with Pope, not
only because rascal spoils the metre, but at the same time be-
cause it contradicts the well-defined character of Guiderius.
It is no doubt an actor's addition.
■5#-. ^.
CYMBELINE. 105
CDXCI.
Yield, rustic mountaineer. [Exeunt, fighting.
Re-enter Belarius and Arviragus.
Bel. No companies abroad?
Ib., IV, 2, 100 SEQ.
Metrically considered this is a very curious line, as it admits
of no less than three different scansions. First the two
hemistichs may be considered as two short lines and as
such they are printed by Dyce, in the Cambridge and Globe
Editions, &c. Or they may be connected so as to form an
Alexandrine, which has been done by Mr Fleay, and here it
must be owned that such Alexandrines (or trimeter couplets)
are by no means of rare occurrence. The third way of
scanning the line is to read mountatner and pronounce the
word as a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause. We
shall then have to deal with a regular blankverse, and I
need scarcely add that in my conviction this is the true
scansion. The Ff certainly read mountaineer, but in 1. 71 of
our scene they exhibit the spelling mountainers which S. Walker,
Versification-, 224, is mistaken in declaring an erratum, as
according to his own showing it occurs also in Chapman's
The Widow's Tears, IV, i. Besides it corresponds exactly
with the spellings ptoner and enginer in Hamlet I, 5, 163 and
III, 4, 207; compare my second edition of Hamlet, p. 114
(note on Climatures).
CDXCII.
And burst of speaking, were as his: I am absolute.
IB., IV, 2, 106.
A Spenserian Alexandrine according to Mr Fleay; I think it
a blankverse with a trisyllabic feminine ending {absolute).
406 CYMBELINE.
CDxaii.
BeL Being scarce made up,
I mean, to man, he had not apprehension
Of roaring terrors ; for defect of judgement
Is oft the cause of fear. But, see, thy brother.
IB., IV, 2, 109 SEQQ.
Theobald's conjectural emendation tK effect instead of defect
has been admitted into the text of the Globe Edition; the
other attempts at correcting this evidently corrupted passage
are hardly worth mentioning. Perhaps we should read and
arrange : —
for defect of judgment
Is oft the cause oi fearlessness. But see!
Thy brother!
I cannot attach any great weight to the objection which will
probably be raised against this conjectural emendation, that
fearlessness does not belong to Shakespeare's vocabulary, as
fearless, fearful^ ^nd fearfulness do; besides the word comes
nearer to the ductus literarum of the old copies than if courage
or valour should be suggested instead. At all events I feel
sure that this is the thought that was in the poet's mind.
CDXCIV.
So the revenge alone pursued me! Polydore.
IB., IV, 2, 157.
No Alexandrine, but a blankverse with a trisyllabic feminine
ending {Polydore), Mr Fleay does not mention this line.
CYMBELINE. 107
CDXCV.
For his return.
Bel. My ingenious instrument.
TT-^, IB-. IV, 2, i86.
Either : —
For his | return. |
BeL My inge|nious in|strument,
or a syllable pause line with a trisyllabic feminine ending : —
For his | return. | '
Bel. xj My | inge|nious in|strument.
CDXCVI.
Is Cadwal mad?
Bel. Look, here he comes.
IB., IV, 2, 195.
A defective line thus completed by S. Walker, Crit. Exam.,
n, 145: —
Is Cadwal mad?
Bel. Cadwal! — Look, here he comes!
However ingenious this conjecture may be, yet I cannot refrain
from giving it a somewhat different turn by assigning the
exclamation Cadwal! to Guiderius : —
Is Cadwal mad? Cadwal!
Bel. Look, here he comes.
CDXCVII.
Gui. Cadwal, I cannot sing : I'll weep and word it with thee.
IB., IV, 2, 240.
An Alexandrine, if we are to believe Mr Fleay; but Cadwal
palpably forms an interjectional line and is printed as such
by Dyce, in the Cambridge and Globe Editions, &c.
108 CYMBELINE..
CDXCVIII.
Gui. Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to the east;
My father has a reason for it.
IB., IV, 2, 255 SEQ.
'What was Belarius' "reason", says Mr R. Gr. White ad loc.y for
this disposition of the body in the ground 1 have been unable
to discover.' — Belarius' reason is no doubt to be found in
the custom which prevailed in the Christian church to bury
the dead with their heads looking to the East, where the
Saviour had lived and from whence he is believed to
re- appear on the day of the last judgment. For the same
reason the early Christians turned their face to the East
when praying and the churches face the same part of the
horizon, in so far as the chancel which contains the altar,
the consecrated wafers, the crucifix, &c. generally occupies
the eastern end of the building. See J. Kreuser, Der christ-
liche Kirchenhau (Bonn, 1851) I, 42 seqq. Id., Wiederum christ-
licher Kirchenhau (Brixen, 1868) I, 338 seqq. and II, 416 seqq.
Even the temples of classical antiquity are shown to have
been constructed according to the same plan by Heinrich
Nissen {Das Templum. Berlin, 1869). Our passage proves
that Shakespeare was conversant with some one or other of
these facts, though nobody can tell exactly with which; most
probably with the mode of making the dead in their graves
look to the East. Compare also Dr Johnson's note on
Hamlet, V, 1,4: make her grave straight; Dr Johnson is
however wrong in so far as straight in this passage means
immediately.
CDXCIX.
But, soft! no bedfellow! — O gods and goddesses.
IB., IV, 2, 295.
CYMBELINE. 109
Not noticed by Mr Fleay, although this verse might be pro-
nounced to be an Alexandrine just as well as the rest. I
need scarcely say that I declare in favour of a bl^nkverse
versus Alexandrine. Two diiferent scansions, would, se^m to
be admissible, yiz. : —
But, soft! I no bedjfellow! O gods | and god|desses,
or : —
... -J i.:. .A
But, soft! I no bedjfellow! I O gods | ^nd god|desseSj,
In the former case hedfellowj in the latter (which I cannot
but think preferable) goddesses is to be read as a trisyllabic
feminine ending.
D.
For so I thought I was a cave -keeper.
IB., IV, 2, 298.
Rightly corrected by Collier's so called MS- Correqtor:—^
For lo! I thought I was a cave -keeper.
Struck the mam -top! O Posthumus! alas.^
IB,, IV, 2, 320.
The transposition proposed by Capell (according to the Cam-
bridge Edition): Posthumus, 0! alas seems needless. Scan
either : —
Struck the I maintop !4v> 9»,l Posthum's! i^^^, ,,
or: — i" iMMii- ' ■!.>!!
Struck I the raain|top! O, \ Posthum's! | alas.
1^6 CYMBELINE
DII. "i -I- i<^ J
Which he ikfd 'Was* precious
And cordial to me, have I not found it
Murderous to the senses? That confirms it home.
IB., IV, 2, 326 SEQQ.
Scan: —
Which he said was precious
And cor|dial to | me, — | have I | not found | it
Murderous | to th' senjses? That | confirms | it home.
It seems surprising that the last line has not been mentioned
by Mr Fleay in his list of Alexandrines.
DHL
Cap. To them the legions garrison'd in Gallia
After your vi^ill, have cross'd the sea.
IB., IV, 2, 333 SEQ.
In my eyes the anonymous conjecture (by the Cambridge
Editors?), according to which To them does not form part of
the text, but of the stage -direction (and a sooth- sayer to theiii)
is both above doubt and above praise. Compare amongst
other passages the stage - direction in Coriolanus I, 4: To
thevi a Messenger. ,,
DIV.
You here at Milford- Haven with your ships.
IB., IV, 2, 334 SEQ.
FACD: with your ships; FB: with you ships (not youry as
Dyce erroneously says). Neither of these two lections can
be right. Qy. with yon ships} It may safely be assumed
that Milford -Haven with its ships is to be seen firom the
spot where Lucius is conversing with the officers, as we have
CYM]feELTNE, 111
heard from Imogen (III, 6, 5) that Pisanio showed it to her
before parting with her. Or is recourse to be had to the
correction with their ships'^.
DV.
And gentlemen of Italy, most willing spirits. 'I'^l '
IB., IV. 2, 338.
This line which Mr Fleay takes to be an Alexandrine , in my
opinion has a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause; scan : —
And gen|tlemen | of Itjaly, most wil|ling spir|its.
.ft.I
DVI. ^'*'^ i^"^'
Cap. With the next benefit o' the wind. "^'^
Luc. This forwardness.
Scan:— I»" I^, 2, 342.
Cap. With the | next ben|'fit of | the wind. |
Luc. This for|wardness.
Forwardness is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending.
The line might have figured among Mr Fleay's Alexandrines.
A\\> li, ;rir. ' *. .ii;; ,^^^X 'Vi\ \»ft. : iloqfi^
They '11 pardon it. - Say you, ^^J .^^^ ^^^^. ^ ^ ^^^^
Luc. ^ Thy name? , ^ ,,
Imo. Fidele, sir.
IB., IV, 2, 379.
1 subscribe unhesitatingly to Hanmer's dOrrfecftion t)f the line,
viz. the contraction of pardon it and the omission of tihe
second sir', scan: — '"
They'll par|don't. Say | you, sir?j oilT
Luc. Thy name? I
Imo. Fide|le.
112 CYMBELINE.
DVIIL
My friends,
The boy hath taught us manly duties: let us
Find out the prettiest daisied plot we can,
And make him with our pikes and partisans
A grave.
aj, c ^V ^^•' ^^' 2, 396 SEQQ.
S.; Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 327, proposes to omit fhee after
father in the preceding line (1. 395) and to arrange the pas-
sage as in the Ff. I should prefer to join My friends with
1. 397; to contract let us and transfer it to the following
line; and to omit out in 1. 398: —
My friends, the boy hath taught us manly duties:
Let's find the prettiest daisied plot we can.
And make him with our pikes and partisans
A grave.
DIX.
. .'.;!ni . ,
The hope of comfort. But for thee, fellow.
IB., IV, 3, 9.
Capell: But for thee, lYiEE, fellow, compare S. Walker, Crit.
Exam., II, 146. Dr Abbott, s. 453, scans: —
The, hope ) of tom|fort. But | for thee, | fi^llow.'
Thus the line is made to end in a trochee, since, according
to Dr Abbott, 'the old pronunciation "fellow" is probably not
Shakespearian.' The verse is undoubtedly a syllable pause
line : —
The hope | of com | fort. -^ | But for | thee, fel|low.
CYMBELINE. 113
DX.
Pis- Sir, my life is yours;
I humbly set it at your will; but, for my mistress,
I nothing know where she remains, why gone.
Nor when she purposes return. Beseech your highness.
Hold me your loyal servant.
First Lord. Good my liege,
The day that she was missing &c.
IB., IV, 3, 12 SEQQ.
Arrange : —
Pis. Sir, my life is yours;
I humbly set it at your will; but for
My mistress, I nothing know where she remains.
Why gone, nor when she purposes return.
Beseech your highness, hold me your loyal servant.
First Lord. Good my liege,
The day that she was missing &c.
Thus we get rid of the two apparent Alexandrines in lines
13 and 15. Lines 14 and 16 have extra- syllables before the
pause {mistress and highness).
DXI.
All parts of his subjection loyally. For Cloten.
IB., IV, 3. 19.
The words For Cloten have been placed in a separate line
by Capell. According to Mr Fleay the line is an Alexan-
drine with the cesura after the tenth (!) syllable. I have no
doubt that loyally is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine
ending before the pause: —
All parts I of his I subject|ion loy|ally. For Clo|ten.
Troublesome in line 21, and jealousy in 1. 22 are trisyllabic
feminine endings too.
8
114 CYMBELINE.
DXII.
We grieve at chances here. Away!
IB., IV, 3. 35.
Hanmer completes this line by adding: Come let's before
Away!, which involves an unpleasant repetition of Let's with-
draw in 1. 2,2. S. Walker, Versification, 273, would arrange: —
We grieve at chances here.
Away.
This seems even more unlikely than Hanmer's addition. I
do not see the necessity of filling up the line; if, however,
such a completion should be deemed indispensable, I should
suggest to read: —
We grieve at chances here. Away, my lords.
DXIII.
Wherein I am false I am honest; not true, to be true.
IB., IV, 3, 42.
A Spenserian Alexandrine, if we are to believe Mr Fleay.
I suspect that we ought to scan: —
Wherein | I'm false | Tm hon|est; not true | t' be true.
DXIV.
Revengingly enfeebles me; or could this carl.
IB., V, 2, 4.
An Alexandrine according to Mr Fleay. The line, I think,
has a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause ; scan : —
Reveng|ingly | enfee|bles me; or could | this carl.
CYMBELINE. 115
DXV.
Post. Still going? {Exit Lord.] This is a lord! O noble
misery.
IB., V, 3, 64.
Not noticed by Mr Fleay. Pope, Theobald, and Hanmer
omit S/i7/ going ?y whilst S. Walker (Crit. Exam., Ill, 327),
Dyce, and the Rev. H. Hudson place these words in a sepa-
rate line. In my humble opinion both parties are wrong.
Instead of this is read this^ (see Abbott, p. 343) and pro-
nounce ?nisery as a trisyllabic feminine ending : —
Still gojing? This' | a lord! | O no|ble mis|ery.
DXVI.
And so I am awake. Poor wretches that depend.
IB., V, 4, 127.
One of Mr Fleay's Alexandrines. I strongly suspect: —
And so I I'm 'wake. | Poor wretch|es that I depend.
Compare Abbott, s. 460.
DXVII.
Tongue and brain not; either both or nothing.
IB., V, 4, 147.
Tongue is to be read as a monosyllabic foot; the conjectures
proposed by Rowe, Pope, Johnson, Steevens, and others may
therefore be stowed away in the critical lumber-room. Scan: —
Tongue I and brain | not; eith|er both | or noth|ing.
Dxvm.
O'ercome you with her show, and in time.
IB., V, 5, 54.
8*
116 CYMBELINE.
Here too all conjectures are needless; scan: —
O'ercome | you with | her show, | ^ and | in time.
A similar scansion holds good with respect to 1. 62, where
Hanmer inserted Vet before Mine eyes ; scan : —
We did, I so please | your high|ness. -^ | Mine eyes.
Both verses are syllable pause lines.
DXIX.
Cym. All that belongs to this.
lack. That paragon, thy daughter.
IB., V, 5, 147.
Another of Mr Fleay's Alexandrines. The line has a tri-
syllabic feminine ending before the second pause. Scan : —
Cym. All that | belongs | to this. |
lacL That par|agon, thy daughjter.
DXX.
For feature, laming
The shrine of Venus, or straight -pight Minerva,
Postures beyond brief nature.
Ib., V, 5, 163 SEQQ.
*By a sharp torture' something like a meaning may be
'enforced' from these lines, s/irme, in the opinion of the
editors, being used here and elsewhere in the sense of statue.
The only critics, as far as I know, that take exception against
this awkward metonymy in the present passage and declare
the line to be corrupt, are Bailey (who absurdly suggests
SHRINKING Venus) and the late Prof. Hertzberg in the notes
on his translation of our play; but his attempts at healing
the corruption are inferior to his arguments and unsatisfactory
CYMBELINE. 117
even in his own eyes. I imagine that Shakespeare wrote
swim instead of shrine, thus contrasting the swimming gait of
Venus with the stiff and strait -built stature of Minerva, a
contrast well known to every student of ancient art. It must
be admitted that the substantive swim does not belong to
Shakespeare's vocabulary; it is used, however, by B. Jonson,
Cynthia's Revels, II, i : Save only you wanted the swim in
the turn, and : Both the swim and the trip are properly mine.
Compare notes LXVII and LXVII*.
DXXI.
O, get thee from my sight.
IB., V, 5, 236.
A mutilated line to which the name of Pisam'o is to be added: —
O, get I thee from | my sight, | Ftsa\m'o.
See note on I, i, 41.
DXXII.
Breathe not where princes are.
Cym. The tune of Imogen.
IB., V, 5, 238.
Declared to be an Alexandrine by Mr Fleay. Imogen, however,
is clearly a trisyllabic feminine ending; compare ante 1. 227,
where the second Imogen is to be pronounced as a dis-
syllable : —
Imo|gen, Im|'gen! Peace, | my lord; | hear, hear.
Compare also note on Antony and Cleopatra, IV, 9, 23 seqq.,
where the first Antony is likewise a trisyllable, the second a
dissyllable.
118 CYMBELINE.
DXXIII.
Think that you are upon a rock; and now
Throw me again.
IB., V, 5, 262 SEQ.
Mr R. Gr. White has hit the mark in suggesting the emen-
dation , Think she^s upon your neck, only he should have con-
formed it to the metre; read: —
Think that she is upon your neck; and now
Throw me again.
DXXIV.
With unchaste purpose and with oath to violate.
IB., V, 5, 284.
Not mentioned by Mr Fleay; violate is a trisyllabic feminine
ending. Compare Childe Harold, IV, 8 : —
The invi|'late is|land of | the sage | and free,
and Tennyson, Idylls of the King (London, 1859) p. 160: —
Not vi|'lating | the bond | of like | to like.
DXXV.
Arv. In that he spake too far.
Cym. And thou shalt die for 't.
Bel, We will die all three:
But I will prove that two on's are as good
As I have given out him.
IB., V, 5, 309 SEQQ.
Arrange : —
Arv. In that he spake too far.
Cym, [To Bel.] And thou shalt die for it.
Arv, We will die all three.
Bel. But I will prove that two on's are as good
As I have given out him.
CYMBELINE. 119
Cymbeline's speech (And thou &c.) is shown by the context to
be addressed to Belarius, and not to Arviragus, who has
committed no offence whatever. The two persons condemned
to death by the King are Guiderius and Belarius, whilst
Arviragus is allowed to live; consequently he is the only
person to whom the words, 'We will die all three' can be
assigned.
DXXVI.
Guu And our good his.
Bel, Have at it then, by leave.
Thou hadst, great king, a subject who
Was call'd Belarius.
IB., V, 5, 314 SEQQ.
All endeavours of healing this manifestly corrupt passage have
proved insufficient. 1 refrain, therefore, from reproducing
them and merely beg to offer a contribution of my own. I
suspect that we should read and arrange :<•-
Gui, And our good is your good.
Bel Have at it then.
By leave! Thou hadst, great king, a subject who
Was call'd Belarius.
Of this I feel certain that the words By leave! are not addressed
to Guiderius and Arviragus, but to the king, and so Capell
and Dyce seem to have understood the passage. For greater
perspicuity's sake the stage- direction: \To Cym^] might be
added at the beginning of 1. 315.
DXXVII.
Your pleasure was my mere offence, my punishment.
IB., V, 5, 334.
120 CYMBELINE.
Not noticed by Mr Fleay; punishment is a trisyllabic feminine
ending. — The same scansion occurs in 1. 344 (also left un-
noticed by Mr Fleay) where loyalty is a trisyllabic feminine
ending.
DXXVIII.
Unto my end of stealing them. But, gracious sir.
IB., V, 5, 347.
Pope omits gracious and Mr Fleay takes the line to be an
Alexandrine with the cesura after the eighth syllable. 1 have
no doubt that the verse, like so many others, has a trisyl-
labic feminine ending before the pause; scan: —
Unto I my end | of steal|ing 'em. But, gra|cious sir.
DXXIX.
The thankings of a king.
Post. I am, sir.
IB., V, 5, 407.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
The thank|ings of | a king. |
Post. ^ I I am, sir.
There is no need whatever of conjecturing or correcting.*)
*) As at p. 65 seq. I have reproduced the introductory words
of my Letter to C. M. Ingleby, Esq., I must here make room for the
concluding words too. They were these: 'This, my dear Ingleby, is
my critical mite on "Cymbeline". I am perfectly aware that the
revision and explanation of this play will still be a match for ages
to come and wish above all that the state of your health may shortly
allow you to do your part and complete your edition. Not even
the stanchest defender of the Folio can go so far as to deny that by
PERICLES. 121
DXXX.
Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,
For the embracements even of Jove himself.
Pericles I, i, 6 seq.
Line 6 admits of a twofold scansion:
Bring in | our daugh|ter, cloth|^d like | a bride,
or, which I think preferable: —
Bring in | our daugh|ter, -J- \ clothed like | a bride.
In the following line the conjecture Fit for (by the Cambridge
Editors?) should unhesitatingly be installed in the text and
the article the, inserted by Malone, but omitted by the ano-
nymous critics, as unhesitatingly be retained: —
Fit for the embracements even of Jove himself.
DXXXI.
Per. See where she comes, apparelled like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men !
IB., I, I, 12 SEQQ.
the continued efforts of editors and critics the text of Shakespeare
has been brought a great deal nearer to its original purity than when
it was printed by Isaac Jaggard and Ed. Blount in 1632. Shake-
speare's versification too is far better understood by the commentators
of to-day than by Nicholas Rowe and the rest of the eighteenth-
century -editors. "Step by step the ladder is ascended.'* These
facts justify the hope that the twentieth century may enjoy a still
more correct text of the immortal dramatist and possess a deeper
insight into his language and metre than we can boast of. May we
then be remembered as having assisted in handing down the torch
from one generation to the other. Vale faveque. Always believe
me, dear Ingleby, Yours very sincerely K. E. Halle, On the
Ides of March, 1885.'
122 PERICLES.
Qy. read : —
Grace is her subject ^ and her thoughts the king?
Thought's is a happy conjecture by the Cambridge Editors (?).
It should not be overlooked that throughout this passage the
poet makes use of the singular: Her face the hook (1. 15);
Sorrow (1. 17); testy wrath (ib.); Her face (1. 30); Her count-
less glory (1. 31). This circumstance serves no doubt to
corroborate the conjectures of the Cambridge Editors and
myself.
DXXXIL
Good sooth, I care not for you.
IB., I, I, 86.
Add the stage - direction : \Pushes the Princess back]. Com-
pare A. V, sc. I, 1. 127: when I did push thee back. The
stage- direction: Takes hold of the hand of the Princess, added
by Malone after 1. 76, in my opinion misses or rather con-
tradicts the intention of the poet as expressed in the text.
DXXXIII.
Ant. He hath found the meaning, for which we mean
To have his head.
He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathed manner.
IB., I, I, 143 SEQQ.
Arrange and read: —
Ant. He hath found the meaning,
For which we mean to have his head; he must
Not live to trumpet forth my infamy.
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathed manner with his daughter.
PERICLES. 123
He hath is to be contracted into a monosyllable; see note
on Antony and Cleopatra, III, 13, 82 seq. For which is the
reading of all the old editions; Malone, in consequence of
his wrong division of the lines, added the article before whichy
an addition which, although very well compatible with ray
arrangement, yet seems needless.
DXXXIV.
Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
Thai. My lord,
'Tis done.
Ant. Enough.
IB., I, I, 158 SEQQ.
The division of the old copies is quite correct and should
not have been altered by Steevens whose arrangement has
even been adopted by the Cambridge (and Globe) Editors.
Scan : —
Because | we bid | it. -^1 Say, is | it done?
Thai. My lord, 'tis done.
AnU Enough.
DXXXV.
I'll make him sure enough: so farewell to your highness.
IB., I, I, 169.
Sure enough is a trisyllabic feminine ending before the
pause ; —
I'll make | him sure | enough; so fare|well to | your high|ness.
See note on Antony and Cleopatra, I, 4, 7 seq.
124 PERICLES.
DXXXVI.
And danger, which 1 fear'd, is at Antioch.
IB., I, 2, 7.
S. Walker, Versification , i oo , suggests , fear''d, 'j at Aniiochy
which on account of the pause after fear'd, does not seem
likely. I think we should omit at before Antioch and read: —
The danger, which I fear'd, is Antioch.
The comma at the end of the preceding line should be
altered to a colon, if not a full stop.
DXXXVII.
And then return to us. \Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus, thou
Hast moved us: what seest thou in our looks?
Ib., I, 2, 50 SEQ.
Helicanus is to be pronounced as a trisyllabic word (= HeV-
canus); compare Pericles which is several times used as a
dissyllable (see note on II, i, 132) and Leonine which in
A. IV, sc. I, 1. 30 and A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 9 has likewise the
quality of a dissyllable , whereas in A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 30 it is a
trisyllable. See note on Antony and Cleopatra, I, 2, 134
{Enobarbus). — Line 51 is a syllable pause line; scan: —
Hast moved | us: -^ | what seest | thou in | our looks?
DXXXVIII.
Per. Thou know'st I have power
To take thy life from thee.
Hel. [Kneeling] I have ground the axe myself;
Do you but strike the blow.
Per. Rise, prithee, rise.
Sit down : thou art no flatterer :
PERICLES. 125
I thank thee for it: and heaven forbid
That kings should let their ears hear their faults chid.
IB., I, 2, 57 SEQQ.
Arrange, read, and scan: —
Per. Thou know'st Vve power
To take thy life from thee.
HeL [Kneeling] I've ground the axe
Myself; do you but strike the blow, my lord.
Per. Rise, prithee, rise. Sit down : thou art no flatterer;
I thank | thee for | it; -^ | and heaven | forbid
That kings should let their ears hear their faults chid.
In all old and modern editions, as far as I know, myself
belongs to 1. 58; for the transfer of this word to the next
line, I must answer as well as for the addition of my lord.
Flatterer, in 1. 60, is a trisyllabic feminine ending. L. 61 is
a syllable pause line and does not stand in need of Steevens's
conjecture high heaven. With respect to 1. 62 1 entirely
agree with Dyce.
DXXXIX.
Hel. Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak.
Ib., I, 2, loi.
Pronounce m'lord. Compare supra note on The Winter's
Tale I, 2, 161 (Vol. II, p. 176) and note on Cymbeline III,
5» 104-
DXL.
Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear.
And justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by public war or private treason
Will take away your life.
IB., I, 2, 102 SRQQ.
126 PERICLES.
A perfect muddle. Read and scan: —
Freely | will I | speak. — | You fear | the ty|rant
Antiochus, and justly too, I think,
Who either by public war or private treason
Will take away your life.
Line 102 is a syllable pause line. That either is frequently
contracted into a monosyllable, need hardly be mentioned;
compare S. Walker, Versification, 103.
DXLL
Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.
IB., I, 2, 108.
This line is by no means an Alexandrine, but has a trisyl-
labic feminine ending before the pause; scan : —
Or till I the Dest|'nies do cut | his thread | of life.
DXLIL
But should he wrong my liberties in my absence.
IB., I, 2, 112.
Can the meaning be: What, if he should encroach on my
princely rights in my absence? Or is my liberties to be
regarded as a corruption? Collier assures his readers that
*we may be reasonably sure that "my liberties" ought to be
'•''thy liberties."' This, however, is anything but an improve-
ment. By the context I am led to imagine that Shakespeare
wrote Tyre's liberties', liberties to be pronounced as a dis-
syllable. In the reply which Helicanus makes to this speech,
a line seems to have been lost, the purport of which apparently
was: In order to prevent such a misfortune we shall mingle
our bloods together &c.
PERICLES. 127
DXLm.
And so in ours: some neighbouring nation.
IB., I, 4, 65.
Qy. : and so is ours?
DXLIV.
Lord. That's the least fear; for, by the semblance.
IB., I, 4, 71
How are we to scan: —
That's the | least fear; | for by | the semb|(e) lance,
or: —
That /> I the least | fear; -^ | for by | the semb| lance?
DXLV.
And to fulfil his prince' desire.
Ib., II, GowER, 21.
The majority of the old editions exhibit the reading princes
desire which has been altered by Rowe to princess Desire.
Malone and all editors after him read prince' desire. To me
Rowe's correction seems no less admissible than Malone's.
For the monosyllabic pronunciation of desire compare supra
note CCLXXIX and note on Antony and Cleopatra, I, 2, 126.
DXLVL
Thanks, fortune, yet, that, aftet all my crosses,
Thou givest me somewhat to repair myself.
IB., II, I, 127 SEQ.
Should not Pericles have begun as well as ended his speech
with a rhyming couplet? May not Shakespeare have written: —
Thanks, fortune, yet, that after all thy [not my\ crosses.
Thou givest me somewhat to repair my losses'^
12|B PERICLES.
Thy crosses is the reading of Delius, derived from Wilkins's
novel; Malone, my; Qq and Ff, a// crosses. HeritagCy in the
following line, is a trisyllabic feminine ending.
DXLVII.
Keep it, my Pericles; it hath been a shield.
IB., II, I, 132.
Scan either:
Keep it, | my Per|icles; | it hath been | a shield,
or: —
Keep it, | my Per|'cles; it | hath been | a shield.
For the contraction of ii hath compare note on Antony and
Cleopatra, III, 13, 82 seq. Pericles^ as a dissyllable, occurs
in A. II, sc. 3, 1. 81 : —
A gent|leman | of Tyre; | -^ my | name, Per|'cles;
in A. II, sc. 3, I. 87 (according to my arrangement; see note
ad loc.)] A. Ill, Gower, 1. 60 (a four -feet line with an extra
syllable before the pause); A. IV, sc. 3, I. 13, a line which
seems to admit of a twofold scansion, viz.: —
When no|ble Per|'cles shall | demand | his child,
or: —
When nolble Per|icles | shall d'mand | his child;
and A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 23 : —
And o|pen this | to Per|'cles. I | do shame.
Compare note on I, 2, 50.
DXLVIII.
Sim. Opinion's but a fool, that makes us scan
The outward habit by the inward man.
Ib., II, 2, 56 SEQ.
PERICLES. 129
To the various conjectures proposed in order to heal I. 57
(which is undoubtedly corrupt) the following transposition of
the preposition hy may be added: —
By th' outjward habjit -^ | the in|ward man.
DXLIX.
Per. You are right courteous knights.
•S««. Sit, sir, sit.
IB., II, 3, 27.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
You are | right courtjeous knights. | ^^ Sit, | sir, sit.
Steevens's repetition of the first Sity adopted by Singer, is
unnecessary.
DL.
All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury,
Wishing him my meat. Sure, he's a gallant gentleman.
Ib., II, 3, 31 SEQ.
Unsavoury and gentleman are trisyllabic feminine endings.
DLL
Sim. He's but a country gentleman.
IB., II, 3, 33.
The line may easily be completed by the addition o^ daughter-.-
Sim, Daughter t he's but a country gentleman.
DLIL
Sim. And furthermore tell him, we desire to know of him.
IB., II, 3, 73.
9
130 PERICLES.
The metre of this line, if rightly understood, is completely
right and no correction whatever is wanted. After the analogy
oi father, mother, either, whether, &c. further in furthermore
is to be pronounced as one syllable ; scan therefore : —
And further I more tell | him, we d'sire | to know | of
him.
As to desire see note on Antony and Cleopatra, I, 2, 126,
DLIII.
Thai. He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles,
A gentleman of Tyre,
Who only by misfortune of the seas
Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore.
Ib., II, 3, 86 SEQQ.
Read and arrange : —
Thai. He thanks your grace;
Names himself Pericles, a gentleman of Tyre,
Who newly, by misfortune of the seas
Bereft of ships and men, was cast on tK shore.
For the pronunciation of Pericles compare the note on H,
I, 132. Only, the reading of all old and modern editions
in 1. 88, is decidedly wrong. On this shore, in 1. 89, is the
reading of the first Quarto and the Museum -copy of the
second Quarto, whereas all the other old copies read on the
shore. Perhaps we had better read on shore or ashore (see
The Tempest, II, 2, 128 — not 129, 121 [as printed in the
Globe Edition] being a misprint for 120).
PERICLES. 131
DLIV.
Even in your armours, as you are addressed,
Will very well become a soldier's dance.
IB., II, 3, 94 SHQ.
Qy. read Yotm for WilH
You'll very well become a soldier's dance.
DLV.
Come, sir;
Here is a lady that wants breathing too:
And I have heard, you knights of Tyre
Are excellent in making ladies trip.
IB., II, 3, 100 SEQQ.
The words Come, sir have been placed in a separate inter-
jectional line in the Globe Edition, which to me seems to be
an unnecessary deviation from the old copies. I rather think
that sir is misplaced and belonged originally to I. I02 which
is thus promoted to the rank of a legitimate syllable pause
line : —
Come, here's a lady that wants breathing too:
And I I have heard, | sir, -^ \ you knights | of Tyre
Are excellent in making ladies trip.
All other conjectural emendations do not come half so near
to the text of the old editions.
DLVI.
Hel. No, Escanes, know this of me.
IB., II, 4, I.
This is the reading of the old copies. Malone: know,
Escanes ', Steevens : No, no, my Escanes. Read: —
Now, Escanes, know this of me.
9*
132 PERICLES.
DLVII.
Soon fall to ruin, — your noble self.
IB., II, 4, 37.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
Soon fall I to ru|in, -^ | your no|ble self.
Eight lines further on we meet with another syllable pause
line of the same category : —
A twelve|month long|er, -^ | let me | entreat | you.
DLVIIL
Which yet from her by no means can I get.
IB., II, 5, 6.
The first '^and second Folios read , Which from her &c. ; the
third and fourth, Which yet from her &c., an unnecessary
correction, that nevertheless has found admission into the
text of the Globe Edition, whilst the Cambridge Edition fol-
lows the two earlier Folios. In my humble opinion we have
to deal with a syllable pause line, however slight the pause
may appear : —
Which from | her — | by no | means can | I get.
Compare notes CCLIV, CCLXV, &c.
, DLIX.
One twelve moons more she'll wear Diana's livery.
Ib., II, 5, 10.
Livery is a trisyllabic feminine ending.
DLX.
Third Knight Loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves.
IB., II, 5, 13.
PERICLES. 133
Steevens: Though loath) Anon.: Right loath) Anon.: will we.
No expletive, however, is wanted, as the verse may safely be
reckoned among the syllable pause lines; scan: —
Loath to I bid fare|well, -^ \ we take | our leaves.
In the same scene (1. 74) another syllable pause line occurs,
the pause of which is still slighter than that of 1. 13: —
I am I glad on | it — | with all | my heart.
DLXI.
Will you, not having my consent.
IB., II, 5, 76.
If a blankverse should be thought requisite, the line may
easily be completed by the addition of thereto: —
Will you, not having my consent thereto.
DLXIL
As great in blood as I myself. —
Therefore hear you, mistress; either frame
Your will to mine, — and you, sir, hear you,
Either be ruled by me , or I will make you —
Man and wife.
IB., II, 5, 80 SEQQ.
No conjectural emendation of 1. 81 is required. Arrange: —
As great in blood as I myself. Therefore
Hear you, mistress; either frame your will to mine,—
And you, sir, hear you, either be ruled by me, —
Or I will make you — man and wife.
134 PERICLES.
DLXIII.
1 nill relate, action may.
IB., Ill, GowER, 1. 55.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
I nill I relate, | ^ act|ion may.
DLXIV.
Thy nimble, sulphurous flashes! O, how, Lychorida,
How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously.
IB., Ill, I, 6 SEQ.
Line 6 has an extra syllable before the pause and a trisyl-
labic feminine ending. Sulphurous is to be pronounced as
a dissyllable. The trisyllabic pronunciation of Lychorida occurs
again in 1. 65 of this very scene: —
Lying \ with sim|ple shells. | ^ O | Lychor|ida.
Venomouslyy in 1. 7, is a trisyllabic feminine ending.
DLXV.
At careful nursing. Go thy ways, good mariner.
IB., Ill, I, 81.
Mariner is a trisyllabic feminine ending.
DLXVI.
Death may usurp on nature many hours,
And yet the fire of life kindle again
The o'erpress'd spirits. I heard of an Egyptian
That had nine hours lien dead.
Who was by good appliance recovered.
Re -enter a Servant, with boxes y napkins, and fire.
Cer. Well said, well said; the fire and cloths.
IB., Ill, 2, 82 SEQQ.
PERICLES. 135
This passage which in the Globe Edition is marked with an
obelus before the words: 1 heard of an Egyptian, seems to
admit of a remedy as satisfactory as it is easy. It strikes
me that the lines: / heard of an Egyptian recover edy
do not belong to Cerimon, but should be assigned to either
the First or Second Gentleman. Cerimon's words, Well said,
well said, are by no means addressed to the Servant and
are not equivalent to Well done, as Collier, Delius, and the
Rev. H. Hudson will have it, but form the reply to the Gentle-
man's appropriate and encouraging remark; their meaning is
'well or timely remarked'. That Shakespeare has given the
thought a different turn from what it is in the novel can
hardly be a matter of surprise or cause any difficulty to the
critic. In order to restore the metre the words Who was
should be transferred from the beginning of 1. 86 to the end
of 1. 85, and in 1. 86 Dyce*s emendation {appliances) should
be adopted: —
That had | nine hou|(e)rs li|en dead, | who was
By good appliances recovered.
I admit that the blankverse (1. 85) thus recovered, though
metrically correct, yet has little to recommend it, but is rather
lame and heavy. Critics of less strict observance may, per-
haps, be better pleased by the insertion of the words like this,
taken (with a slight variation) from the respective passage
in Wilkins's novel. For the scansion of 1. 86 {recover M)
compare Titus Andronicus, V, 3, 120 {delivered). The pas-
sage, then, will read thus: —
Death may usurp on nature many hours
And yet the fire of life kindle again
The o'erpress'd spirits.
136 PERICLES.
First Gent. I heard of an Egyptian
That had nine hours lien dead like thist who was
By good appliances recovered.
Re -enter a Servant, with boxes ^ napkins, and fire.
Cer. Well said, well said. [To the Servant] The fire
and cloths.
tjtlii
;fl! DLXVII.
The rough and woeful music that we have.
IB., Ill, 2, 88.
Collier proposes slow for rough; most unlikely. Qy. either
soft J low, or sweet} Add the stage -direction: Music behind
the scene.
DLXVIII.
The viol once more: how thou stirr'st, thou block.
IB., Ill, 2, 90.
Read vial. Dyce concludes from the context that Cerimon
means the musical instrument, not a small bottle. The more
I have been thinking of the passage, the more fully am I
convinced that the very contrary is true and that we must
side with R. Gr. White against Dyce. Cerimon is in a flutter
and speaks abruptly to the different bystanders; first he
approves of the well-timed remark of the First Gentleman;
then turns to the Servant; then orders the music to be
sounded; then impatiently calls for the vial; then incites the
music again. Let a trial be made on the stage, and I have
no doubt that the decision of the audience will be in favour
of vial against viol, although it may be admitted that the
latter does not absolutely contradict the context. Stir rest, in
the same line, is an evident corniption from star est. As
Cerimon repeatedly exhorts the servant to bestir himself, it
■f^
PERICLES. 13X
seems impossible that he should blame him for obeying his
command. Besides, a block is not in the habit of stirring,
but of staring. Mr Fleay, in the Transactions of the New
Shakspere Society, 1874, p. 217, reads and scans: —
The vijol once | more; how | thou stirr'st, | thou block.
But had not the verse be better scanned as a syllable pause
line: —
The vial \ once more; | \j how. | thou star est, \ thou block?
DLXIX.
Into life's flower again!
First Gent, The heavens.
IB., Ill, 2, 96.
A defective line to which Steevens proposed to add sir\ the
right addition, I think, is my lord. Two more defective lines
follow at short intervals, viz. Ill, 2, 103 and III, 2, no. In
the former verse, where the arrangement of the old editions
seems preferable to that of Malone , again, in the latter, neigh-
bours would seem to have been the word that has dropt out.
These, then, are the three lines when completed: —
Into life's flower again! The heavens, my lord;
To make | the world | twice rich. | kj Live | again;
For her relapse is mortal. Come, come, neighbours,
Dyce thinks it most probable that the last line should be
completed by a third repetition of Come.
DLXX.
To have bless'd mine eyes with her!
Pgf^^ We cannot but obey.
IB., Ill, 3, 9-
138 PERICLES.
Mr Fleay declares this line to be an Alexandrine. I rather
think that eyes with her is a trisyllabic feminine ending before
the pause ; scan : —
T' have blest | mine eyes \ wi' her. We can|not but | obey.
Compare IV, i, 50 and see note on Antony and Cleopatra,
I, 4, 7 seq.
DLXXI.
Cle, We'll bring your grace e'en to the edge o' the shore,
Then give you up to the mask'd Neptune and
The gentlest winds of heaven.
IB., Ill, 3, 35 SEQQ.
Instead of the nonsensical mask'd Neptune Dyce proposes
VAST Neptune) S. Walker (Crit. Exam., Ill, 336) moist Neptune.
The context, I think, sufficiently shows that a wish for a happy
voyage is implied and that we should read calm or calmest
Neptune: —
Cle. We'll bring your grace e'en to the edge o' th' shore,
Then give you up to the calmest Neptune and
The gentlest winds of heaven.
^The calmest Neptune' would strictly correspond with Uhe gent-
lest winds' which, if Cleon's prayer take effect, will this once
waft the 'sea -tost' Pericles safely and smoothly back to Tyre.
DLXXIL
Deliver'd, by the holy gods.
IB., Ill, 4, 7.
A mutilated line; add: of a child'. —
Deliver'd of a child, by the holy gods.
Or should we be allowed to supply, of child: —
Deliver'd, by the holy gods, of childl
PERICLES. 189
DLXXllI.
Where you may abide till your date expire.
IB., m, 4, 14.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
Where you | may 'bide | o till | your date | expire.
Malone's conjecture is unnecessary.
DLXXIV.
Might stand peerless by this slaughter.
IB., IV, GOWER, 1. 40.
An unmetrical line, unless it be taken for a trochaic verse,
or Might be allowed to stand for a monosyllabic foot. An
acceptable correction might be derived from a similar pas-
sage in Antony and Cleopatra, I, i, 40 (We stand up peer-
less), viz.: —
Might stand up peerless by this slaughter.
DLXXV.
Leon. I will do't; but yet she is a goodly creature.
Dion, The fitter, then, the gods should have her. Here
she comes weeping for her only mistress' death. Thou art
resolved?
Leon. I am resolved.
IB., IV, I, 9 SEQQ.
Malone's conjectural emendation 77/ for / ioill^ in 1. 9, ad-
mits of no doubt. He is also decidedly right in printing
(1790) Dionyza's speech as verse and in ending the first
line at Here. Add to these corrections Percy's ingenious
emendation old nurse's instead of the nonsensical only mistress'
and the original text will be restored: —
140 PERICLES.
Leon. I'll do't; but yet she is a goodly creature.
Dion. The fitter, then, the gods should have her. Here
She comes, weeping for her old nurse's death.
Thou art resolved.
Leon. I am resolved.
DLXXVI.
Mar, No, I will rob Tellus of her weed.
IB., IV, I, 14.
No is certainly wrong and both Steevens's and Malone's con-
jectures (iV^^, no and Now) are anything but improvements.
Qy. read and scan : —
So\\\ will I rob Tel|lus of | her weed?
So is a monosyllabic foot; compare The Works of John
Marston, ed. J. O. Halliwell (Lon., 1856) Vol. Ill, p. 135: —
Tha\is\. So, | there's one | fool shipt | away. ] Are your
Cross-points discovered? Get your" breakfast ready.
Marina, in uttering this exclamation of 'acquiescence or
approbation', as Al. Schmidt, s. v. Soy defines it, casts a
contented glance at the flowers in her basket.
DLXXVII.
Lord, how your favour's changed
With this unprofitable woe!
Come, give me your flowers, ere the sea mar it.
Walk with Leonine; the air is quick there.
And it pierces and sharpens the stomach. Come,
Leonine, take her by the arm, walk with her.
Mar, No, I pray you;
I'll not bereave you of your servant.
PERICLES. 141
J^ion. Come, come;
I love the king your father, and yourself,
With more than foreign heart.
IB., IV, I, 25 SEQQ.
Come, in 1. 27, should be transferred to 1. 26, which by this
transposition becomes a regular blankverse: —
With this I unprof|ita|ble woe. | ^ Come!
The way to the restoration of the rest of 1. 27 has been
shown by the Rev. H. Hudson who supplanted the stupid
lection of the old copies, ere the sea mar it, by the most
ingenious emendation: on the sea- mar gent , which may be
brought still nearer to the original ductus literarum by being
altered to, /Aere the sea-mar^^«t. I am well aware that on
the sea- marge walk, or there the sea -marge walk, would lend
the line a smoother flow,, but these readings would be two
or three steps farther removed from the old text, so that no
choice is left to a strict critic. Instead of quick, which is
the uniform reading of all the old copies, the Cambridge
Editors (?) have proposed to read quicker. Pierces, in 1. 29,
is to be pronounced as a monosyllable, like belches (III, 2, 55),
breathes (III, 2, 94), and similar words; see Abbott, s. 471.
In the same line well has been inserted by Steevens; I should
willingly do without this expletive, if I felt sure that no ob-
jection would be raised to the completion of the line by the
archaic form sharpeneth. Line 30 is a syllable pause line;
scan : —
Leonine, | take her | by th' arm; | ^ walk | with her.
The pronunciation of Leonine has been discussed supra, note
on I, I, 50. Marina's reply has hitherto been printed either
as prose or in two lines, both of which arrangements are
certainly wrong and may be avoided by the omission of /
before pray, the blankverse thus restored admits of two dif-
142 PERICLES.
ferent scansions, either with an extrasyllable before the pause
(j^ou), or bereave to be pronounced as a monosyllable.
Being thus corrected, the passage will stand as fol-
lows : —
Lord, how your favour's changed
With this unprofitable woe. Come!
Give me your flowers; />^ere the sea-mar^^«t walk
With Leonine; the air is quick there, and
It pierces and sharpens well the stomach. Come!
Leonine, take her by the arm; walk with her.
Mar. No, pray you; Til not bereave you of your servant.
Dion. Come, come!
I love the king your father, &c.
DLXXVIIL
What! I must have a care of you.
Mar, My thanks, sweet madam.
IB., IV, I, 50.
Just like eyes with her in III, 3, 9 the words care of you are
to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause;
scan : —
What! I I must have | a care | o' you.
Mar. My thanks, | sweet mad|am.
Compare note on Antony and Cleopatra, I, 4, 7.
DLXXIX.
That almost burst the deck.
Leon. When was this?
IB., IV, I, 58 SEQ.
PERICLES. tl4!3
The words spoken by Leonine should be joined to the pre-
ceding line : —
That aljmost burst | the deck. |
Leon. ' ^ When I was this?
DLXXX.
And yet we mourn: her monument.
IB., IV, 3, 42.
A defective line which should be completed by the insertion
of for her: —
And yet we mourn for her : her monument.
It is a well-known fact that words immediately repeated or
doubled (her: her) frequently mislead the copyist or com-
positor and are written or set up only once instead of twice.
DLXXXI.
C/e. Thou art like the harpy,
Which, to betray, dost, with thine angel's face,
Seize with thine eagle's talons.
IB., IV, 3, 46 SEQQ.
An evidently mutilated passage on which although several
conjectures have been wasted already, yet 1 cannot refrain
from increasing their number. The sense undoubtedly requires
the addition of allure\ read therefore: —
Thou art like the harpy,
Which, to betray, dost with thine angel's face
Allure J and then seize with thine eagle's talons.
Thus both the sentence and metre are completed. G)mpare
V, I, 45 seq.: —
She questionless with her sweet harmony
And other chosen attractions, would allure, &c.
144 PERICLES.
DLXXXII.
Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,
Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for thee:
Persever in that clear way thou goest,
And the gods strengthen thee!
Mar. The good gods preserve you!
IB., IV, 6, III SEQQ.
Arrange, scan, and read: —
Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,
Xhy speech | had al|ter'd it. | Hold, here's | gold for | thee:
Persever in that clear way thou goest, and
The good gods strengthen thee!
Mar. The gods preserve you.
Although 1. 112 is metrically correct, yet I should prefer to
read altered it as a trisyllabic feminine ending before the
pause and to scan : —
Thy speech | had al|ter'd it. Hold, here | is gold | for thee.
The transposition of and from 1. 114 to 1. 113, and of good
from Marina's speech to that of Lysimachus seems to be
imperatively demanded by the metre.
DLXXXIII.
Hear from me, it shall be thy good.
IB., IV, 6, 123.
A syllable pause line; scan: —
Hear from | me, -^ | it shall | be for | thy good.
DLXXXIV.
Empty
Old receptacles, or common shores, of filth.
IB., IV, 6, 185 SEQ.
PERICLES. 145
I cannot imagine on what ground Malone's ingenious emenda-
tion sewers for shores can be denied admission into the text.
DLXXXV.
And in it is Lysimachus the governor.
IB., V,
Governor is a trisyllabic feminine ending.
DLXXXVL
Mar. If I should tell my history, it would seem
Like lies disdain'd in the reporting.
Per. Prithee, speak.
Ib., V, I, 119 SEQ.
Two different arrangements may be offered, both of which
will remove the Alexandrine (1. 120). The first is to the
following effect: —
If I I should tell I my his|tory, 't would seem | like lies
Disdain'd in the reporting.
Per. Prithee speak.
History is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending before
the pause. The second arrangement begins at 1. 118: —
You make more rich to owe?
Mar. If I should tell
My history, 't would seem like lies disdain'd
In the reporting.
Per. Prithee, speak.
History to be read as a trisyllable. It seems hard to tell
which of these two arrangements possesses the better claim
to be considered the poet's own.
10
i4l5 PERICLES.
DLXXXVn.
Mar. My name's Marina.
Per. O, I am mock'd.
IB., V, I, 143.
Steevens needlessly inserted sir. It is a syllable pause line;
scan : —
My name's | Mari|na. -^ | O, I | am mock'd.
Another syllable pause line of the same kind occurs five
lines infra: —
To call I thyself | Mari|na. -^ | The name.
In the Globe Edition this latter passage (1. 148) is printed
as two short lines, whereas the two speeches at the head of
this note are printed as one line.
DLXXXVni.
Per. O, I am mock'd,
And thou by some incensed god sent hither
To make the world to laugh at me.
Mar. Patience, good sir,
Or here I'll cease.
Per. Nay, I'll be patient.
IB., V, I, 143 SEQQ.
Scan : —
To make | the world | to laugh | at me.
Mar. Patience, | good sir,
Or here | I'll cease. |
Per. Nay, I'll | be pa|ti-ent.
Laugh at me is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending.
Critics who do not think this scansion satisfactory, will be
PERICLES. 147
obliged to arrange differently and to transpose in order to
remove the Alexandrine : —
To make the world to laugh at me.
^^^' Good sir.
Patience, or here I'll cease.
P^r. Nay, I'U be patient.
DLXXXIX.
You have been noble towards her.
Lys. Sir, lend me your arm.
Per. Come, my Marina.
IB., V, I, 264 SEQ.
Line 264 is an apparent Alexandrine which may be reduced
to regular metre in a twofold manner. First by the omission
of Sir'. —
You have | been no|ble tow|ards her. Lend me | your arm.
Towards her may either be read as a trisyllabic feminine
ending, or her be considered as an extra syllable before the
pause, as towards is frequently pronounced as a monosyllable;
see S.Walker, Versification, iigseqq.; Al. Schmidt, Shake-
spere -Lexicon, s. Toward. The second way of restoring the
passage lies in a different arrangement , viz. : —
You have | been no|ble tow|ards her. |
Lys. Sir, lend | me
Your arm. |
Per. Come, my | Mari|na.
Towards, in this case, to be pronounced as a dissyllable.
t48 PERICLES.
DXC.
Who, frighted from my country, did wed.
IB., V, 3, 3.
The metrical difficulty of this line may be solved in a three-
fold way. The first is to insert once before did\ secondly,
country may be pronounced *as though an extra vowel were
introduced between the r and the preceding consonant'
(Abbott, s. 477); and lastly, the verse may be read as a
syllable pause line: —
Who, fright|ed from | my coun|try, -^ | did wed.
The reader may choose for himself.
DXCI.
She at Tarsus
Was nursed with Cleon; who at fourteen years
He sought to murder: but her better stars
Brought her to Mytilene.
IB., V, 3, 7 SEQQ.
For who in 1. 8, which is the reading of all the old copies,
Malone substituted whom. Qy. read : —
who at fourteen years
Her sought to murder: &c.?
Dxcn.
A birth, and death?
Per, The voice of dead Thaisa!
Thai. That Thaisa am I, supposed dead
And drown'd.
Per. Immortal Dian!
Thai. Now I know you better.'
. IB., V, 3, 34 SKQQ.
PERICLES. 149
Arrange : —
A birth, and death?
Per. The voice of dead Thaisa!
Thai. That Thaisa
Am I, supposed dead and drown'd.
Per. Immortal Dian!
Thai. Now I know you better.
Thaisa is regularly used by the poet as a word of three
syllables with the accent on the penult; compare II, 3, 57;
V, I, 213; V, 3, 2T, V, 3, 34; V, 3, 46; V, 3, 55; and
V, 3, 70. Apart from the line under discussion (according
to the received text) two passages would seem to contradict
this rule, viz. V, i, 212: —
To say my mother's name was Thaisa,
and V, 3, 4: —
At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa.
Both passages, however, are manifestly corrupted. The former
has been ingeniously restored by the Cambridge Editors (?) : —
To say my mother's name? It was Thaisa,
whilst the correction of the second is due to Malone: —
The fair Thaisa at Pentapolis.
Thus all three seeming exceptions are cleared away.*)
*) These notes on 'Pericles' pXXX— DXCII) were first
published in Prof. Kolbing's EngUsche Studien, Vol. IX, p. 278 — 290.
150 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
LVIL*
Collier, H. E. Dr. P. (i"* Ed.), Ill, 315 seq., quotes some pas-
sages which go far to prove that '"statue" and "picture"
were sometimes used synonymously by old writers , as if the
custom of painting statues had confused their notions of the
difference between a statue and a picture.'
LXV.*
Compare Hamlet, III, 3, 74: and so he goes to heaven; ib., Ill,
3, 95: as hell, whereto it goes; The Merry Wives of Windsor,
II, I, 52: If I would but go to hell for an eternal moment,
or so. — Another instance of Gone to heaven, occurs in Sher-
wood Bonner's Dialect Tales (New York, 1883) p. 182:
*Whar's your copper. Jack?' 'Gone to heaven, said Jack,
rolling his eyes.' It may be left to the reader's own judg-
ment to decide whether or not the phrase is to be taken for
a euphemism in Jack's mouth as well as in that of Launcelot
Gobbo.
LXXV.*
Compare Faerie Queene, Bk. I, Canto 3, st. 23: —
Whom overtaking, they gan loudly bray.
LXXXV.*
Compare Cymbeline lU, 6, 54 seq.: —
All gold and silver rather turn to dirt!
As 'tis no better reckon'd, but of those
Who worship dirty gods.
Pope, Essay on Man, IV, 279: —
Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life?
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 151
LXXXVI.*
Compare 2 Henry VI, IV, 2, 37 seqq.:-—
Cade, For our enemies shall fall before us, inspired
with the spirit of putting down kings and princes, — Com-
mand silence.
Dick. Silence!
Lxxxvm.*
Compare Westward Ho!, V, i (Webster, ed. Dyce, 1857, in
I vol., p. 238b): Sure, sure, Tm struck with some wicked
planet, for it hit my very heart.
xcin.*
Compare Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho!, I, i (Webster,
ed. Dyce, 1857, in i vol., p. 210a): Bird\lime\. My good
lord and master hath sent you a velvet gown here: do you
like the colour? threepile, a pretty fantastical trimming!
Mist. Just\inian6\. What's the forepart? Bird. A very pretty
stuff. — lb., V, 3 (Webster, ed. Dyce, p. 240b): How many
of my name, of the Glowworms, have paid for your furred
gowns, thou woman's broker? — These passages, I think,
speak eloquently in favour of the supposition that *a suit of
sables' means a garment trimmed with sable.
XCVI.*
Compare Pericles, II, 3, 6: —
Since every worth in show commends itself.
152 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
xcix.-^
Compare Westward Ho!,\II, 3 (Webster, ed. Dyce, 1857, ^^
I vol., p. 222b): Come, drink up Rhine, Thames, and Mean-
der dry. (An exhortation to drinking Rhenish wine at the
Steelyard.)
cn.*
I am extremely sorry to say that on p. 4 seq. I have com-
mitted one of the most glaring dittographies , the conjectural
emendation bounty d having been printed already in the first
volume of these Notes, p. 5, note X.
CXIX.*
Compare for similar violent enjambements B. Jonson, Catiline,
III, 8 (Folio; Works, Lon., Moxon, 1838, in i vol.. Ill, 3,
p. 288 a): —
The flax and sulphur are already laid
In, at Cethegus' house; so are the weapons.
Volpone, V, 2 (Folio; Works &c., V, i, p. 199 b): —
Shew them a will: open that chest, and reach
Forth one of those that has the blanks; I'll straight
Put in thy name.
cxxm.*
Compare notes CCLXXI and CCCV. Lord Byron, Sardana-
palus, II, I (Poetical Works, in i vol., Lon., 1864, p. 254b): —
May I I retire? |
Arb. Stay.
BeL Hush! | let him go | his way.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 168
Mark Antony Lower, The Song of Solomon [in] the Dialect
of Sussex, &c. London, i860, p. IV: —
Set'n down, and lefn stan; ^
Come agin, and fet'n anon.
CXXXIV.^
At p. 2^, ]. II read: —
Therefore let's once again join hands in friendship.
cxcv.*
Compare the following passage from Westward Ho!, V, 4
(Webster, ed. Dyce, 1857, in i vol., p. 243 b): —
Ten[fer/iook], Marry, you make bulls [qy. gullsT] of
your husbands. iud ^jtulfi^HH i<i> •
Mist. Ten[i€rhook\ Buzzards, do^we not?:'t)ut, you
yellow infirmities ! do all flowers show in your eyes like
columbines ?
CCLIV.*
Line 7. Instead of dis syllabication read dis syllabification.
CCLXXIX.*
P. 143, 1. 9 seq. read: Richard II, IV, i, 148 (r'sist);
Richard III, III, 5, 109 (recourse); ib., V, 3, 186 (r'venge).
In the line taken from Richard II the first it (after Prevent)
may be read as an extra- syllable before the pause: —
Prevent | it, resist | it, let | it not | be so.
Compare Marlowe, Edward II, I, i, 29 (Marlowe's Works, ed.
Dyce, in i vol., p. 183b): —
And, as | I like | your d'scours|ing, I'll | have you.
154 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
Or should we read: —
And, as | I like | your d'scours|ing, / 1 will have | you?
Mr Fleay, in his edition of Edward II, accents discoursing,
without, however, producing an authority for such an accen-
tuation. It may be added that in the American Dialect
Tales by Sherwood Bonner (New York, 1883) we frequently
meet with similar abbreviations such as Vlieve, Vlongy pWaps,
^hey (= obey), ^salt (= assault; p. 35), ^Onymus {= Hiero-
nymus; p. 68 seqq.), suppose , &c.
CCLXXX.*
The same rhythm {Long in the accented part of the measure)
is also to be found in Cymbeline, III, 7, 10: —
His absolute commission. Long live Caesar,
and in Marlowe's Edward II (Marlowe, ed. Dyce, 1870, in
I vol., p. 204 b): —
Her\ald\ Long | live Ed|ward, Eng|land's law|ful lord.
In my eyes a strong accent on Long is essential in this kind
of exclamation and cannot be missed.
CCXCL*
The same round sum of three thousand ducats occurs also
in Twelfth Night, I, 3, 22 , where we are told by Sir Toby
Belch that Sir Andrew Aguecheek 'has three thousand
ducats a year'.
ccxcm.*
At p. 161, last line but one, read 2 K. Henry IV (V, 4).
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 155
ccc*
In Dekker and Webster's Comedy of Westward Ho! sirrah
is frequently applied to married women, especially by their
lady -friends. Compare Dyce's note on Westward Ho!, I, 2
(Webster, ed. Dyce, Lon., 1857, in i vol., p. 214a).
CCCIIL*
It should have been added, that, although Barnham speaks
of *the common sort of women', yet the ladies were scarcely
more decent, at least not in England, as it is sufficiently
proved by the passages quoted in my edition of Shakespeare's
Tragedy of Hamlet (Halle, 1882), p. 192 seqq. and in my
Abhandlungen zu Shakespeare ^ S. 405.
CCCIV.*
Sorrowfulj in Antony and Cleopatra, I, 3, 64, and widowhood^
in Milton's Samson Agonistes, 958, are used as dissyllables: —
With sor|r'wful wa|ter? Now | I see, | I see.
Cherish | thy hastjen'd wid'|whood with ] the gold.
Compare also Prof. Skeat's Etymological Dictionary s. Arrow,
CCCVI.*
At page 175, 1. 19 read: A course more promising instead
of A CAUSE more promising; cause being a misprint of the
Globe Edition that has led both Mr Fleay {apud Ingleby 1. 1.
p. 92) and myself into error.
The scansion of a line in The Winter's Tale {II, 3, 137)
given at p. 178, had better be withdrawn, as I think it now
far more probable that this line should be scanned: —
156 ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
And by j good test|'mony, or | I'll seize | thy life.
The words testimony and or are to be run into one another,
and the connective {And) need not be omitted.
CCCIX.*
In two well-known German books I have discovered two
instances in point which go far to establish almost beyond
the reach of doubt the insertion oi fast before last as sug-
gested by me. The first instance occurs in Eichendorff's
celebrated novel ^Aus dem Lehen eines Taugentchts\ Chap. IV,
at the beginning of the last paragraph but one. Of the five
different editions which I have been able to compare the
Edttio princeps (Berlin, 1826, Vereinsbuchhandlung, p. 58),
the illustrated edition published by M. Simion (Berlin, 1842,
p. 59), and the second edition of the Sdmmtliche Werke (1864,
Vol. Ill, p. 44) correctly read: Was war mir aber das alles
(Alles) niltze y wenn ich meine lieben lustigen Herrn {Herren)
nicht wieder /and? In the more recent editions, however,
which were published by Ernst Julius Giinther (Leipzig, 1872,
p. 61) and by C. F. Amelang (Leipzig, 1882, p. 61) we read:
Was mir aber das Alles niltze, wenn ich meine lieben lustigen
Herren nicht wieder f and? In these editions war has dropped
out, no doubt firom its similarity with the preceding Was^
from which it differs only by a single letter. Still more
striking is the second instance, which is taken from the
^ Ju gender inner un gen eines alten Mannes {Wilh. v. Kiigelgen)^
(Berlin, Hertz) of which I have looked up the second, fifth,
and ninth edition. In the second edition (Berlin, 1870) we
read at p. 31 : Nicht weniger befremdlich war es der Mutter ,
dass Wetzel seine wiirdige Frau nie anders nannte als ^^Henne"
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA. 157
und sein niedliches Tochterchen "Forelle'\ Er dag eg en hehaup-
tete, unsere gewohnlichen Taufnamen seien gar zu albern und
hdtten nicht die geringste Bedeutung. Unter Amalie , Charlotte,
Louise, Franz und Balthasar, und wie die Leute alle hiessen,
konne sich kein Mensch was denken. Namen mils s ten das Ding
bezeichnen, gewissermassen ahmalen, und wenn er seine Frau
^^Henne" nenne, so hdtte Jedermann damit ein treues Bild ihres
Wesens und ihrer Beschd/tigungen, wie denn auch seine Tochter
eine veritable For elk sei.^ In the fifth and ninth edition,
however, (p. 31 in either edition), the word Henne before
nenne has been omitted, evidently from no other cause than
firom its similarity to it. The two words differ merely in
their initial letters [H and «), and in so far the case is
completely analogous to: He held me fast last night &c.
(See Kolbing, Englische Studien, VIII, 495).
THE END.
Halle:
Printing-office of the Orphan - House,
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY
Return to desk from which borrowed.
^ This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
FEB 7 1948
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