THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES CRITICAL NOTES ON SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. BY JOHN G. ORGER, M.A., English Chaplain at Divan, France ; late Rector of Cranford, Northants. LONDON: HARRISON AND SONS, 59, PALL MALL, S.W. Dookstlltrs to tbe Qntcn anb $.&.l. tfcr fjrinct of 1890. 7f( PREFACE. SOME few of these notes defend the text against change. Some few others suggest change where none has been proposed. The rest are devoted to passages where change is clearly needed, and the conjectures hitherto offered have failed to be satisfactory. Where emendations have been proposed by others which commend themselves to my own judgment, though they have not secured the suffrages of editors, I have not felt called upon to support their adoption, as I had to suppose their authors did their best to recommend them. These, therefore, I leave aside ; together with those passages in which, though no satisfactory explanation or alteration has been discovered, I am conscious I have none to offer. This will explain the method of selection in the following notes, which I refer to the censure of the Shakspere Student in the hope that some at least of the conjectures offered will merit his considera- tion. A 2 988868 In the notes on the Comedies published last year, page 23, for the line in Measure for Measure, Act iii, i, 17 " Yes, he would give!t thee ; from this rank offence," I proposed " Yes, he would quit thee of this rank offence," altering " from " to " of," because, as I said, I could not find " quit from " in use. I avail myself of the preface to this volume to observe that this is needless, as I find what is virtually the same expression in Richard ///, Act iii, 7, 233 Your mere enforcement shall acquittance me From all the impure blots and stains thereof, which will allow of our reading " Yes, he would quit thee from this rank offence." I take this opportunity, also, of pointing out an emendation of a passage in the Sonnets, which, though very obvious, has hitherto escaped observa- tion. In Sonnet Ixv, where the author deplores the effect of Time on Beauty, and illustrates it by its power over " rocks " and " gates of steel," he concludes O Fearful Meditation ! Where, alack, Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid, Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back, Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid ? PREPACK. S The connexion of ideas points naturally to Time stealing away the jewel, which is further confirmed by the expression " Spoil of Beauty." The line should be read Where, alack, Shall Time's best jewel from Time's theft lie hid ? The similarity of type as then used easily ac- counts for the mistake. CONTENTS. HISTORIES PAGE King John 9 Richard II 18 1 Henry IV 21 2 Henry IV 24 Henry V 28 1 Henry VI 38 2 Henry VI 40 3 Henry VI 41 Henry VI 1 1 44 TRAGEDIES Troilus and Cressida 45 Coriolanus 58 Titus Andronicus .... .... .... .... .... 65 Romeo and Juliet .... .... .... .... .... 67 Timon of Athens .... .... .... .... .... 71 Julius Caesar 75 Macbeth 78 Hamlet 82 King Lear 88 Othello .... _ 92 ___^ Antony and Cleopatra .... .... .... .... 96 Cymbeline 103 CRITICAL NOTES ON SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. HISTORIES. KING JOHN. Act ii, scene i, line 143 It lies as sightly on the back of him As great Alcides' shoes upon an ass : But, Ass, I'll take that burden from your back Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack. A favourite proverb in Shakspere's age to be- token incongruity was " The shoe of Hercules on a child's foot." So Hooker, Book iv, chapter ix, " The name of blasphemy in this place is like the shoe of Hercules on a child's foot " ; where Keble's note, page 445, is " Herculis cothurnos aptare infanti," &c. The corresponding proverb for fitness, and CRITICAL NOTES ON aptitude, was in equally common use, "Dignum patina operculum." The application of the proverb in the present instance is so obvious that it naturally leads to a correction of the word " Asse," to make it apposite. " Asse," I apprehend, is nothing but a mistake for "Ape," a still more diminutive creature than a "child," and therefore still more insulting in its employment. Such a juxtaposition we find in Much Ado, v, i, 193, " He is then a giant to an ape." And again a " child " compared 'to an " ape " in Richard III, Act iii, i, 130 Because that I am little like an ape, He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders. I would therefore propose It lies as sightly on the back of him As great Alcides' shoes upon an ape; But, Ass, I'll take that burden from your back Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack. Act ii, scene i, line 149 King Lewis, determine what we shall do straight. LEW. Women and fools break off your conference, King John, this is the very sum of all : England and Ireland, Angiers, Touraine, Maine, In right of Arthur do I claim of thee. SI1A KSPERES HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. u That this speech does not belong to Lewis, but to his father, is clear, I think, from the tone of it, " King John, I claim of thee," and from John's answer, " I do defy thee, France " ; which words show that it is the two Kings are speaking, and reasonably support Theobald's proposal to give the speech to the " King." The Cambridge Editors' objection to this on the ground that he is uniformly in this scene designated " Fran." or "Fra." overlooks the earlier portion where he is uniformly marked as " King," lines 37, 50, 79. If the words King and Lew. be simply trans- posed to mark the speakers, we might alter "Lewis " in the verse to " Let us," reading LEW. Let us determine what we shall do straight. KING. Women and fools break off your conference. Act ii, scene i, line 354 And now he feasts mousing the flesh of men, " Mousing " can hardly be the word. In Macbeth, ii, 4, line 13, it is applied to an "owl," as we apply it to a " cat," which seems unworthy of " Death." Pope's emendation " mouthing," interpreted by Hamlet, iv, 2, 18, is equally foreign to the purpose, as it goes no further than taking or holding in the CRITICAL NOTES ON mouth. But " chops," " fangs," and " teeth," point to " mounching." I would read " And now he feasts mounching the flesh of men." Act iii, scene 3, line 37 if the midnight bell Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth, Sound on into the drowsy race of night. " Tongue " and "mouth" give reasonable support to the obvious conjecture of "ear," offered by Walker and adopted by Dyce. "Sound on" will then mean repeating the sounds, in the same way that " Speak on " signifies " con- tinue speaking," as e.g., in Henry VIII, Act iii, scene 2, line 306. " Race," however, suggests the less obvious word "vast" as a nearer emendation. It is used in Hamlet, i, 2, 198 In the dead -vast and middle of the night ; and in Tempest, i, 2, 327 the vast of night and this will yield a finer image of the bell sounding SffAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 13 its strokes into vacancy, and better account for the words " sound on into " suggestive of the sound being lost in the distance. Act iii, scene 3, line 52 Then in despight of brooded watchful day. I imagine the explanation of "brooded," in the sense of "brooding" drawn from vigilance of a hen over her chickens, will hardly be admitted. Pope's conjecture " broad-eyed " derives some support horn Henry F, Act ii, 2, 55, "how shall we stretch our eye " as opposed to " winking," and has a natural connexion with our familiar expression " broad daylight." But this in its ordinary acceptation is strictly confined to the sunrise, which is one objection, and the boldness of the conjecture is another. King John has already spoken of " Proud day" in line 34 as an hindrance to his divulging his murderous intention, and may be only repeating it here, in which case we should read " Then in despight of proud and watchful day." Act iii, scene 4, line 2 " A whole armado of convicted sail." 14 CRITICAL NOTES ON None of the conjectures to correct this unmeaning phrase are entirely satisfactory, as there is no special reason for preferring any one of them to any other, " collected," " connected," " consorted," " combined." From a somewhat parallel passage in Othello, i, 3> 33 The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course toward the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after fleet, and from " unjointed " in i Henry IV, i, 3, 65, and " disjoint" in Macbeth, iii, 2, 16, we may probably infer the word is " conjointed," the more so as it is immediately followed by its opposite "disjoined." I would therefore correct " A whole armado of conjointed sail." Act iii, scene 4, line 63 Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen, Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends Do glue themselves in sociable grief. The king apparently intimates that Constance's hair had turned suddenly grey with grief. Before, there had been here and there a silver drop, but now " ten thousand wiry friends " are added to it. This is rendered, to say the least, very obscure SffAA'SPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 15 by the employment of the present-perfect " hath " ; and as " hath" and "had" are frequently confounded in print, as, e.g., 2 Henry VI, Act i, I, 88, the sense becomes much clearer by the pluperfect. I would therefore read Where but by chance a silver drop had fallen, Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends Do glue themselves in sociable grief. Act v, scene 2, line 64 LEWIS. And even then, methinks, an angel spake. Enter PANDULPH. Look where the holy legate comes apace, To give us warrant from the hand of heaven, And on our actions set the name of right, With holy breath. I can hardly be persuaded to admit the Cambridge Editors' suggested explanation of the first line, as a jocose aside, connecting "angel" with "purse" and "noble." It seems entirely out of place in Lewis's mouth ; but after the pathetic expressions of grief given forth by Salisbury, it would not be unsuitable to him. He sees the legate coming to give the English nobles " warrant from the hand of heaven," and "set the name of right with holy breath " upon their revolt ; and the opportune coin- cidence of his approach with Lewis's assurances, 1 6 CRITICAL NOTES ON warms him to declare that Lewis had spoken like an angel in the words of comfort he had uttered. I would accordingly propose Enter PANDULPH. SALISBURY. And even there, methinks, an angel spake [to Lewis] ; Look where the holy legate comes apace, To give us warrant from the hand of heaven, And on our actions set the name of right, With holy breath. Act v, scene 2, line 103 Have I not heard these islanders shout out Vive le Roy, as I have banked their towns ? The explanation of " banked their towns " as if it were "thrown up entrenchments," or "cast a bank against them," as in Isaiah xxxvii, 3 3, is alike contrary to the idea of the expedition of the march, and the alacrity of the inhabitants to accept relief from the dominion of their native king. It may be more plausibly interpreted " Come by sea to the banks on which their towns stood," as " bank " is used in connexion with the " sea," as well as " rivers." See Merchant of Venice, v, i, 1 1 ; Othello, iv, I, 131. But as he is apparently speaking of his march, and " banking their towns " would in either case SffAXSPERE'S fff STORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 17 be a very forced expression, I would suggest " warned" in the sense of " summon," as it seems to be used m Julius Casar, v, I, 5 " They mean to warn us in Philippi here," and read " Have I not heard these islanders shout out Vive le Roy, as I have warned their towns ?" 1 8 CRITICAL NOTES ON RICHARD II. Act ii, scene 2, line 148 Farewell at once, for once, for all, and ever. The words " for all " standing separate by a comma are meaningless. " Once for all " is a com- mon turn of expression, for " semel in perpetuum," as in Ainsworth's Latin dictionary s.v., and will suit here well Farewell at once, for once for all, and ever. Act iv, scene i, line 52 (from the ist quarto) " I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle." Dr. Johnson proposes " oath " for " earth " in this unintelligible expression, and reads " I take thy oath " : but the sense seems to require " I take my oath to the like," viz., to Aumerle's being guilty of Gloucester's death : the connexion of the passage shows something like this must be intended. But the forcible asseveration then in use " I take it on my death" makes it more probable that " earth " is a corruption of " death." It is constant in Shakspere and elsewhere. SHAKSPER&S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 19 E.g., King John, i, i, 1 10 Upon his death-bed he by will bequeathed His lands to me, and took it on his death That this my mother's son was none of his ; where Stcevens mistakes the meaning, explaining it " Entertained it as his fixed opinion when he was dying" a useless repetition, as " on his death-bed " has already occurred. Again, i Henry IV, Act v, 4, 148, " I'll take it on my death I gave him this wound in the thigh." We may suppose that this form of adjuration took its rise from the imprecation in case of false- hood, which has been rendered notorious by the story on Devizes Market Cross, where the woman begged God to " strike her dead " if she told a lie, and fell a corpse after uttering the words. The formula "take it on my death," was ap- parently abbreviated to " take my death," in which form it is found in Latimer's Sermons (page 163, Parker Society) : " The first man when he was on the ladder denied the matter utterly, and ' took his death' upon it, that he never consented to the robbery of the priest." Again, page 180, "She took her death she was guiltless in that thing she suffered for," and this form we find in 2 Henry VI, Act ii, 3, 87, " I will take my death I never meant him any harm." B 2 CRITICAL NOTES ON In either case, whether " oath " or " death," " the " is alike awkward, and as " death " is a less obvious, and equally close emendation, I would propose " I take my death to the like." Sf/AA'SPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 21 I HENRY IV. Act ii, scene 3, line 57 And in thy face strange motions have appeared Such as are seen when men restrain their breath On some great sudden hast. O what portents are these ? The quarto reading "hest" affords no better sense than " haste," with which indeed the epithet " sudden " agrees better. But I do not imagine Lady Percy is thinking of a " surprise," which, in familiar style, is said to " take the breath away," but rather of a difficulty men hold their breath in cope with in a dogged determination, such as is described in Henry V T , iii, i, 15 Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide, Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit To its full height. This consideration, together with the redundancy of the line, throws doubt on the word " sudden," which indeed Steevens omitted ; and recommends " hazard " for " hast." We find it in 2 Henry IV, Act iv, i, 15 " That your attempts may overlive the hazard" CRITICAL NOTES ON I would accordingly propose And in thy face strange motions have appeared Such as we see when men restrain their breath On some great hazard. What portents are these ? Act ii, scene 4, line 1 1 3 Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of butter? Pitiful-hearted Titan that melted at the sweet tale of the sun. The person melting at the sun's sweet tale cannot possibly be Titan, who tells the tale. The second " Titan " is evidently a mistake for another name which will answer the description of " melt- ing," or dissolving under his influence or power. " Melt " is used below, Act iii, scene I, line 211, for dissolving in tears Nay, if you melt, then she will run mad. Othello, \, 2, 352 Albeit unused to the melting mood. And in a sense bearing closer relation to Falstaff's state in Hamlet, i, 2, 129 O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself. This ambiguous word, I apprehend, affords the SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 23 prince an opportunity for a grotesque classical allusion to " Niobe," who is as constant an image of " dissolving " as Titan is of " heat." g. t Hamlet, i, 2, 148 " Like Niobe, all tears." And Troilus and Cressida, v, 10, 19 " Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives." Parson Evans in the Merry Wives, v, 5, 136, tells Falstaff "his pelly is all putter," and he describes himself there, iii, 5, 102, as "being as subject to heat as butter." And our own experience of that article of consumption in July, explains the humour of the prince, when he describes Falstaff as " Niobe," without our requiring con- sistency to mythology. I would accordingly read "Pitiful-hearted Niobe that melted at the sweet tale of the sun." 2 HENRY IV. Act i, scene 3, line 36 Yes, if this present quality of war, Indeed the instant action : a cause on foot, Lives so in hope : As in an early spring, We see th' appearing buds, which to prove fruit, Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair That frosts will bite them. This passage has been deemed corrupt by almost all editors, Mr. Knight appearing to be the only one to propose no alteration of the words, but to confine it to the punctuation. In this opinion I concur with him, and think all other difficulty of the passage lies in two expressions which have not been perfectly understood, viz., " This present quality of war," and " lives in hope." As regards the first, Shakspere has a peculiar use of the term " Quality," to which I do not know whether attention has been directed, and which this passage will serve to illustrate. In our ordinary language now we use it mainly in comparison, as, e.g., we say, "This silk is of inferior quality." We should hardly say, "Silk is of soft quality," or " The quality of silk is soft," SHAKSPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 25 speaking of silk in the abstract. We might say, " The quality of silk is softness " : but Shakspere, to express this idea, would not scruple to use the adjective, and say " the quality of silk is soft" Thus, where he writes in Merchant of Venice, iv, i, 179 "The quality of mercy is not strained;" or, as he might have expressed it, " Mercy is not of a strained quality," he means that it is of the very essence of mercy, an indispensable condition of it, to be unconstrained. Mercy is not mercy if it is not free and voluntary. So again Julius C&sar, i, 3, 66 Why all these things change, from their ordinance, Their natures, and pre-fonned faculties, To monstrous quality, i.e., to quality of monstrousness. So again m Julius Ccesar, iii, i, 61 But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament, i.e., " of its quality of fixedness." So again Henry V, Act v, 2, 18 The venom of such looks, we fairly hope, Have lost their quality ; 26 CRITICAL NOTES ON which defies grammatical construction, but is nearer our present use " Such looks have lost their quality of venom." Applying this principle to the passage in hand : " This present quality of war," will mean "this war, the quality of which consists in being present, not future," or this war, the essential property, or as logicians speak, the inseparable accident of which is its immediate imminence. For " present " and " instant " we may compare the language with Act iv, I, 82 The examples Of every minute's instance^ present now, and Troilus and Cressida, iii, 3, 153 " Take the instant way." As regards the other phrase, " lives in hope," it is, I apprehend, nothing but the colloquialism, " I live in hope," for " I entertain," or " indulge in, the hope." Thus understanding these two expressions, although the construction is somewhat involved, the sense of the whole is clear enough. Lord Bardolph urging compromise when it is possible, declares that a time when we are called upon to SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES, vj put all to an immediate issue, when the action is imminent, when the cause is afoot, is not a time to indulge in hopes of any future, remote, and problematical contingency, which may prove as illusory as the promise of a too early Spring. "Instant action," "cause on foot," arc, in fact, explanatory of, and in apposition to, "present quality ;" and we may read Yes, if this present quality of war Indeed, the instant action a cause on foot, Lives so in hope, as in an early spring We see th' appearing buds ; which to prove fruit Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair That frosts will bite them. ** 28 CRITICAL NOTES ON HENRY V. Act i, scene i, line 47 When he speaks The air, a chartered libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences. " The mute wonder " cannot be an allowable expression if " mute " be supposed the attribute of wonder. "The" is indeed found before certain abstract nouns, as " The wars," " The vengeance," " The policy," " The spoil " ; but it cannot be used indefinitely here, as if " the mute wonder " meant "mute wonder." There is indeed a somewhat similar turn in Richard 77, Act i, 2, 58 Grief boundeth where it falls, Not with the empty hollowness, but weight : which may perhaps be defended as if it meant " not with the empty hollowness of a ball ; " but the unusual place of the definite article suggests the possessive pronoun as preferable " not with his empty hollowness, but weight." SffAKSPERE'S'iirSTOKfES AND TRAGEDIES. 29 Anyhow, in the present instance, the solecism is easily removed by a comma. As the " air " is a "libertine," so "wonder" is a "mute" in the sense in which we find it in Hamlet, v, 2, 322 You that look pale and tremble at this chance, That are but mutes and audience to this act. I would therefore read And the mute, Wonder, lurketh in men's ears To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences. Act i, scene 2, line 93 And rather choose to hide them in a net Than amply to imbar their crooked title. I am surprised that the word " amply " has not suggested " unvaile " (to use Cotgrave's spelling) for " imbarre," for which there is the support of Twelfth Night, i, i, 27 The element itself, till seven years' heat, Shall not behold her face at ample view ; But, like a cloistress, she will -veiled walk. But Theobald's conjecture " unbare," adopted by Capell, affords an opportunity for the consideration of the prefix " un," which may at the same time support his emendation here and illustrate other passages. 30 CRITICAL NOTES ON Miss Baker, in her Glossary of Northampton- shire Words, has the following article, " Abate : to make bare ; to uncover ; to clear away or remove the superincumbent soil preparatory to working stone in a quarry. Bate, onbare, tmbare, and unbate are all cognate terms (i.e., synonymous). Uncallow is correspondent in East Anglia." Again, " Ungive : to begin to thaw ; gingerbread losing its crispness, and salt, or any other sub- stance relaxing from the humidity of the atmos- phere, are said to ungive. Give, forgive, ongive, are similarly applied." I can bear testimony to the constant use of " ongiving " as applied to the weather, or soil, after a frost. Shakspere certainly so uses " unloose " uniformly in the sense of " loose," as, e.g., in this play, Act i, scene I, line 46 The Gordian knot of it he will unloose Familiar as his garter. Again, Lear, ii, 2, 69 " bite the holy cords a-twain Which are too intrinse to unloose." These, I think, support Theobald's conjecture " unbare." I think too it will go far to support Mr. Beckett's SHAA'SPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 31 conjecture on the difficult passage in Otiiello, Act iv, scene 2, line 54 but, alas ! to make me A fixed figure for the time of scorn To point his slow unmoving finger at. He would read "slovv-unmoving," I suppose, in the sense of " slow-moving." Time is slow to take his finger off or away, and thus " unmoving," by the analogy of " unloosing," will signify ranoving. Dr. Farmer seems, in his note on the words in Measure for Measure, v, I, 166, " In this I'll be ////partial," to prove a similar peculiarity with regard to the prefix " im" " impartial " being there used for " partial." And this will possibly account for " z/#perseverant," in Cymbeline, iv, I, 13, where " obstinate " is apparently the sense required, as we find the terms connected in Hamlet, i, 2, 92, " to persevere in obstinate condolement." Act iv, scene I, line 230 What ? is thy soul of Odoration ? This is corrected by Mr. Knight " What is thy soul of adoration ?" " Adoration " was given in the second folio, but 32 CRITICAL NOTES ON " thy soul of adoration " is a very awkward turn if by it he meant the soul or innermost principle of the adoration ceremony offers. Nor do any of the other conjectures remove the difficulty. The king has been asking ceremony to show him its "worth," i.e., all it was worth in " rents " and " comings in," as we speak of a person being " worth " so much, meaning " possessing " it. He may naturally be supposed to add in the same vein, " What is the sum total of the adoration which belongs to you ?" and this without force may be shortened into "What is thy sum of adoration ?" as we have a similar use of " thy sum " in As You Like It, ii, i, 48 Giving thy sum of more To that which had too much. I would accordingly propose " What is thy sum of Adoration ?" Act iv, scene I, line 275 Take from them now The sense of reckoning of the opposed numbers : Pluck their hearts from them. Steevens, after Tyrwhitt's conjecture, has changed "of" to "if," and his reading is adopted by the SHAKSPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 33 Cambridge Editors, not, however, without misgiving, as their note shows, in which they suspect the omission of a line. The prayer as the author first wrote it in the quarto Take from them now the sense of reckoning, That the opposed multitudes which stand before them May not appall their courage, is so eminently beautiful, begging the skill of calculation to be effaced from the soldiers' minds, that I can hardly conceive Shakspere would weaken its force in any subsequent alteration of the place. This, to my mind, is conclusive against " if," by which the prayer is made hypothetical. Theobald's emendation " lest " preserves the simplicity of the prayer in a greater degree. The objection to it is its divergence from the letter of the text The same objection holds against "ere," which else would suit, as we find it similarly used in a form of request in Cymbeline, iii, 4, 9 put thyself Into a humour of less fear, ere wildness Vanquish my staider senses. But the objection will not stand against " or," which the Cambridge Editors record as an anony- C 34 CRITICAL NOTES ON mous conjecture, and which requires nothing but the change of a letter. The use of " or " for " ere " is well known in older English, e.g., in Latimer's Sermons, page 201, Parker : " Ye may chance to be caught or ye go." Dr. Abbott indeed, section 131, allows only of the combination of the two words in Shakspere, " or ere." But I think there are proofs of its simple use In several places. E.g.) in Hamlet, v, 2, 30, where the folio reads " Ere I could make a prologue to my brains They had begun the play," the quarto reads " Or I could make a prologue " Again, I conceive it is so used in Richard II, Act i, i, 78 By that and all the rites of knighthood else, Will I make good against thee, arm to arm What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise, i.e.) and so put a stop to thy further treasonable machinations. Again, taken too in this sense, it gives greater force to Cranmer's prayer in Henry VIII, Act v, i , 140 SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 35 God and your majesty Protect mine innocence, or I fall into The trap is laid for me, which turn of expression lends great support to a similar reading of the text Take from them now The sense of reckoning, or the opposed numbers Pluck their heart from them. Before leaving the subject I would take occasion to remark on an elliptical use of the conjunction " or," which is equally unnoticed by Dr. Abbott in his valuable Grammar, though of frequent occurrence in Shakspere. The present play affords several instances. Act iii, scene i, line i Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more ; Or close the wall up with our English dead, which means apparently, "up again to the breach, even z/~we have to fill it up with our corpses." Again, Act iii, scene 2, line 109 Ay 5 !! do gud service, or ay 1 !! lig i' the ground for it, i.e., even if I die for it. C 2 36 CRITICAL NOTES ON Again, Act iv, scene 3, line 1 16 And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads, And turn them out of service, which may mean equally "even if they have to strip the French soldiers of them.*' Thus again, 2 Henry IV, Act ii, scene 2, line 108 " Nay, they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet," i.e., even if they have to trace their pedigree through the remote common ancestor of Scripture. In all these instances the ellipse is to be supplied by the alternative understood, to which the conjunction corresponds. " Up to the breach, and either conquer or die." " I'll do good service, and either vanquish or die" " My poor soldiers will be in fresher robes, either arrayed in immortal vesture or in the Frenchmen's coats." " They will claim kindred either in a closer degree, or by our common relationship to Japhet." Act iv, scene 3, line 49 Old men forget ; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did this day. SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 37 The meaning required is clear enough, viz., that, however treacherous the old men's memory may become, yet their actions done that day would not escape them. This, which cannot be extracted from the words as they stand, is easily derived from their simple transposition- Old men forget ; but, shall all be forgot, Yet he'll remember with advantages What feats he did this day. We should perhaps say, " Should all be forgot ;" but " shall all " corresponding to " he'll remember," is equally allowable and more grammatical. 38 CRITICAL NOTES ON i HENRY VI. Act i, scene i, line 55 A far more glorious star thy soul shall make Than Julius Caesar, or bright .... Conjectures to fill the line up have been mostly of constellations which owe their origin to apotheosis, so as to correspond to Julius Caesar. To this purpose Berenice, Cassiopeia, Orion, and Cepheus have been enlisted in the cause ; but as brilliancy seems principally intended, it would be natural to suppose Venus to be the star designed as we find below, scene 2, line 143, " Bright Star of Venus," which under its other name of " Hesperus " will suit the metre A far more glorious star thy soul shall make Than Julius Caesar, or bright Hesperus. Act i, scene i, line 76 " A third thinks without expense at all." "One," "another," "a third," follow in such order, that rather than supply " man," as is done SBAfSPSKVS HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 30 by the later folios, I would keep " a third " to its place, and add "he," as is done in other instances,^., Cymbeline, i, I, 40, "The King, he takes the babe." " A third, he thinks without expense at all." Act iv, scene I, line 102 " For though he seem with forged quaint conceit To set a gloss upon his bold intent." As we have " bad intent " in Measure for Measure, v, I, 449 ; "ill intent," Pericles, iv, 6, 103 ; " good intents," 2 Henry IV, Act v, 2, 143 ; and as here his " setting a gloss " upon his intent shews it is malice rather than boldness that is in question, I would read " To set a gloss upon his bad intent." 40 CRITICAL NOTES ON 2 HENRY VI. Act iv, scene 8, line 44 " Crying Villiago ! unto all they meet." Perhaps the account of a French invasion in King John, v, 2, 103 Have I not heard these islanders shout out Vive le roy f may justify the conjecture that it is the same cry here of which Villiago is the distorted repre- sentation. SHAKSPERFS H 'IS TORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 41 3 HENRY VI. Act i, scene I, line 267 Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire, Will cost my crown, and, like an empty eagle, Tire on the flesh of me and of my sons. "Crest" is used for "surmount," or, "take place of advantage over," in Antony and Cleopatra, v, 2, 82 his reared arm Crested the world. And Salisbury in King John, iv, 3, 45, describes the infamy of Arthur's supposed murder as " the very top, The height, the crest or crest unto the crest Of murder's arms." And this has given rise, I suppose, to our modern expressions, " Crest the hill," or " Crest the wave." It is connected with "Crown," in Midsummer Night's Dream, iii, 2, 214 " Crowned with one crest" 42 CRITICAL NOTES ON and this favours the idea of a similar reversed juxtaposition in the text Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire Will crest my crown. The objection to this change is that some term of falconry is supposed to be more natural in accordance with which Hanmer read " truss," which he explains (see note in Cambridge Edition) of " seizing in the air," as a " hawk does a fowl." But " winged with desire " is so patent an attribute of a " haughty spirit," or " aspiring " mind as, e.g., in Ken's morning hymn " Had I your wings to heaven I'd fly, But God shall that defect supply, And my soul winged with warm desire, Shall all day long to heaven aspire" that it may be regarded simply as descriptive of ambition, and have no further reference to an " empty eagle," than as it gave the author occasion of introducing the simile, after he had employed the metaphor. I would accordingly propose " Whose haughty spirit, winged with desire Will crest my crown : and, like an empty eagle, Tire on the flesh of me, and of my sons." SffAKSPERFS HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 43 Act ii, scene 6, line 100 " For in thy shoulder do I build my seat." The other folios read " on thy shoulder," which must, I think, be right, as the phrase " build on the back " is elsewhere found, as in Hooker's Preface, page 195, Edition Keble : " On our backs they also build that are lewd," though there it is a literal translation from Greg. Nazianzen. 44 CRITICAL NOTES ON HENRY VIII. Act ii, scene 4, line 1 1 1 You have, by fortune and his highness' favours, Gone slightly o'er low steps, and now are mounted Where Powers are your retainers, and your words, Domestics to you, serve your will as't please Yourself pronounce their office. "Powers" can only, I imagine, refer to the highest Potentates, Kings, and Emperors ; and the Queen can hardly mean to imply that her husband and her uncle were the Cardinal's retainers. In Act iii, scene 2, line 410, Wolsey says about himself No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours, Or gild again the noble troops that waited Upon my smiles. Mason proposed "our lords" for "your words," and if the further correction of " Powers " to " Peers " be made, it will give a sense to the Queen's reproach, in keeping with his boast " Where Peers are your retainers, and our Lords, Domestics to you, serve your will, as't please Yourself pronounce their office." SHAfCSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 45 TRAGEDIES. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. Act i, scene 2, line 7 And like as there were husbandry in war, Before the sun rose he was harnessed lyte. " Lyte," I apprehend, is nothing but a mistake for " early." In Romeo and Juliet, i, I, 116 Madam, an hour before the worshipped sun Peered forth the golden window of the East. * * * * * So early walking did I see your son. And the connexion of early rising with thrift and good housekeeping is obvious. We find it in Henry V, Act iv, scene I, line 6 For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers, Which is both healthful and good husbandry. Act i, scene 3, line 51 " And flies fled under shade." 46 CRITICAL NOTES ON "Fled " is more likely to be a mistake for "fleet" the form in which Shakspere uniformly employs the word otherwise spelt "flit," than an elliptical phrase, as Dr. Abbott explains it, supposing " are " understood. Act i, scene 3, line 59 Besides the applause and approbation The which, most mighty for thy place and sway, And thou most reverend for thy stretched-out life, I give to both your speeches : which were such As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece Should hold up high in brass : and such again As venerable Nestor (hatched in silver) Should with a bond of air, strong as the axletree On which the heavens ride, knit all Greekes ears To his experienced tongue : yet let it please both Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak. The mixture of second and third persons is so arbitrary, and produces so much confusion, that scarce any sense can be made of this passage. To read the whole in the second by altering " his " to " thy," with the further change of " all the hands " for " and the hand," to correspond to " all the ears," of line 67, will give an intelligible meaning. Besides the applause and approbation The which, most mighty for thy place and sway, And thou most reverend for thy stretched-out life, I give to both your speeches which were such SffAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 47 As, Agamemnon, all the hands of Greece Should hold up high in brass : and such again As, venerable Nestor, hatched in silver, Should with a bond of air, strong as the axletree On which heaven rides, knit all the Greekish ears To thy experienced tongue : Act i, scene 3, line 73 " When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws." " Mastiff," Rowe's conjecture, seems too com- plimentary. I do not see why we should scruple at " nasty," which is so obvious a conjecture, that I can only suppose no editor has ventured on it because it was thought too ignoble an expression for Agamemnon to employ. But he may regard Thersites as a " nastie fellow," as Cotgrave in- terprets the French word " souillon," and in this relation to his person apply it to his "jaws." Pistol makes use of a similar expression, Henry V, Act ii, i, 46, "Within thy nasty mouth." It is in keeping with " rank," which precedes. Act i, scene 3, line 89 And therefore is the glorious planet Sol, In noble eminence enthroned and sphered Amidst the other : whose medicinable eye Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, 48 CRITICAL NOTES ON And posts, like the commandment of a King, Sans check, to good and bad : but when the planets In evil mixture to disorder wander, &c. The corrective power of Sol, who with his " medicinable eye " overrules the " ill aspects of planets evil," and prevents their "evil mixture," may reasonably be said to "part the good and bad ;" but I cannot understand how an " eye " can " post" "Sans check" may seem to justify "posts," as signifying the speed of an unchecked course ; but it is equally applicable to " commandment " alone, signifying without obstacle interposed. In this sense it is found in King John, in, 4, 151 none so small advantage shall step forth To check his reign, but they will cherish it. " Part good and bad," for " good from bad," is Shakspere's ordinary turn of expression, as Love's Labour's Lost, i, 2, 7, " How canst thou part sadness and melancholy," and 2 Henry IV, Act i, 2, 215, "part young limbs and lechery." What recommends this emendation to my mind, is not only the words " evil mixture " in the following line, but that by means of it we get rid of the confusion caused by the variety of images which is brought in by the word " posts." SffAKSPEK&S HISTOKIES AND TRAGEDIES. 49 I would accordingly suggest Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, And parts, like the commandment of a King, Sans check, the good and bad. Act i, scene 3, line 238 Good arms, strong joints, true swords ; and Jove's accord Nothing so full of heart. Steevens explains " Jove's accord " by " Jove probante," whether from " accord " in the sense of "agreement," or "grant," I do not know a very awkward mode of expression, certainly, and which can hardly be acknowledged admissible. It seems more likely that ^Eneas appeals to heaven to witness to his avowal that the Trojans are courageous in their cause ; which may re- commend "'Jove record" in the sense of "Jove be witness," in the same way as it is used in Scripture, Phil, i, 8, " God is my record." Act i, scene 3, line 367 What glory our Achilles shares from Hector, Were he not proud, we all should share with him. The verse 145 of Act iv, scene 5 "A thought of added honour torn from Hector," may possibly warrant " tears from Hector " here. D 50 CRITICAL NOTES' ON Act iii, scene I, line 114 " Yet that which seems the wound to kill." "Wound" is passive participle for "wounded," like " wed " for " wedded," and should be added to the list of similarly contracted forms given in Dr. Abbott, section 342. The line answers in sense and metre to no The shaft confounds not that it wounds, where Dr. Johnson places a comma after " con- founds," to the destruction of the sense, reading, according to Pope's division of the verses The shaft confounds, Not that it wounds, But tickles still the sore. But how can the shaft confound, if it only tickles ? Love's shaft, says the song, is not fatal, it does not overthrow whom it wounds, but causes a half- pleasurable sensation. Act iii, scene 2, line 21 death, I fear me, Sounding destruction, or some joy too fine. In Act v, 2, 41, where the folio reads rightly SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 51 " distraction," the quarto has " distraction." I think there can be no doubt they both alike are wrong here, and that we should read- death, I fear me, Swooning, distraction, or some joy too fine Act Hi, scene 2, line 169 " te plantage to the moon." No satisfactory conjecture has been offered to correct this unmeaning phrase. Troilus is enumerating the things proverbial for truth, and this almost proves, I think, that what- ever " Plantage to the moon " stands for must be one of the most noted symbols of constancy. The moon can therefore hardly find place among the subjects of comparison, as it is the emblem of the contrary, Romeo and Juliet, ii, 2, " the inconstant moon." Nothing can we imagine with reference to it betokening constancy, except the tides, which is the ground of Heath's conjecture " Floodage " for " Plantage." If the author had meant this, he might have said, as " ocean to the moon." But the tides are certainly not numbered among proverbs of constancy, as the other similes are. D 2 52 CRITICAL NOTES ON The North Star, however, is Shakspere's familiar image of constancy, e.g., Jalius Caesar, iii, I, 60 But I am constant as the Northern Star, Of whose true fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. It is apparently designated " Pole " in Shakspere and other writers, as it afterwards obtained the title of " Pole Star." E.g., Antony and Cleopatra, iv, 15, 65 " The soldiers' pole is fallen," i.e., the soldiers' guiding star ; for I cannot imagine that " pole " here has any reference to " garland " immediately preceding, "Withered is the garland of the war ;" which would appear the only justifi- cation of Dr. Johnson's interpretation of " Pole," as a " pageant held high for observation." " Gar- land " is the victor's crown, as in Coriolanus, Act i, 9, 59 Caius Marcius Wears this war's garland. Again, it is so used in Othello, ii, I, 15 Seems to cast water on the burning bear, And quench the guards of the ever-fixed Pole. SirAKSPEKI?S mSTO/t/ES AND TRAGEDIES. 53 Again, in Eastward Hoe, Act i, scene I (" British Drama," vol. 2, p. 85), we read 41 1 knew by the elevation of the Pole" Again, in Habington's Castara, p. 143, Edition Arber The wandering Pilot sweats to find The causes that produce the wind Still gazing on the Pole. These passages warrant us in concluding that " Pole" was used for the North Star, and may dispose us to believe that "Moon" in this place is a mistake for ' Pole" of which fixture, unalterable- ness, and stability are the characteristics. This fixture and stability, I conceive, is denoted by the word " Plantage," derived from the word " Plant," constantly used in an analogous sense as e.g., Merchant of Venice, iii, 5, 57 The fool hath planted in his memory An army of good words, and Richard //, Act iv, scene I, line 127 Anointed, crowned, planted many years, a sense derived from the French, as in Cotgravc, "Planter," "to settle, fix, ground." "Plantage," it must be allowed, has a strange sound ; but there is 54 CRITICAL NOTES ON no ordinary term I know of to express the idea. " Fixedness " we might perhaps say, for which Shakspere has "fixure" in Act i, 3, 101 ; but this again is equally removed from common use ; while the authority of Scripture, Isaiah li, 16, " that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundation of the earth" gives a reason for the preferable use of plantage, if indeed "planting," an English word, be not better. I would therefore beg to submit, with diffidence, the change I propose As true as steel, as plantdge to the Pole. Act iii, scene 3, line 28 And he shall buy my daughter ; and her presence Shall quite strike off all service I have done, In most accepted pain. Hanmer proposed " pay," which, though to the purpose, does not yield quite so good a sense as " gain." Calchas has declared that Antenor shall i( buy " his daughter. The exchange he reckons as a gain, overbalancing the services he had rendered the Greeks. " Accepted " is of course in the sense of " acceptable ;" see Abbott, section 375. According to this we should read ' In most accepted gMn." S/f AMPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 55 Act iii, scene 3, line 1 10 For speculation turns not to itself, Till it hath travelled and is married there, Where it may see itself. " Speculation," I suppose, is nothing else but " vision," as in Macbeth, iii, 4, 95 Thou hast no speculation in those eyes. " Married " seems opposed to the purpose of the passage ; for the eyes which meet, and mutually " salute," cannot in that process be said to " marry." On the contrary, the eye, Ulysses says, requires to be separated from itself, by distance, to become by reflection its own object of contemplation. I should propose in accordance with this For speculation turns not to itself Till it have travelled, and is carried there Where it may see itself. Act iv, scene 2, line 4 Sleep kill those pretty eyes, And give as soft attachment to thy senses As infants empty of all thought ! The proximity of infants makes it probable that Troilus, in the forced language of lovers, wishes 56 CRITICAL NOTES ON sleep to be like a kind mother, to " lull " her tc rest, and thus we should read Sleep lull those pretty eyes. Act v, scene 2, line 169 not the dreadful spout Which shipmen do the hurricano call, Constringed in mass by the almighty Fennc. The quarto reads " Sun," which is generally adopted, possibly from some physical theory of its connection with the waterspout, of which I am ignorant. Otherwise the folio would seem better if we read " Fan " for Fen. So we find in Act i, scene 3, line 27 Distinction with a broad and powerful fan, Puffing at all, winnows the light away, And what hath mass, and matter by itself Lies rich in virtue and unmingled. " Fan " is again used with " wind " below in scene 3, line 41 Even in the/., as " theirs, who." Again, Richard III, Act i, scene 3, line 217 If heaven have any grievous plagues in store Exceeding those that I can wish on thee, i.e., exceeding "theirs," the plagues, viz., which she had been imprecating on the others, which might seem to have exhausted her power of cursing, and the lines should be read If heaven have any grievous plagues in store Exceeding those 1 that I can wish on thee. In Merchant of Venice, Act i, I, 97 when, I am very sure, If they should speak, would almost damn those ears, Which hearing them would call their brothers foois. 60 CRITICAL NOTES ON And in Henry VIII, Act ii, scene i, line 151 He sent command to the Lord Mayor straight, To stop the rumour and allay those tongues That durst disperse it. " Those ears," and " those tongues," may mean " those hearers," and " those speakers," as in French they call a person a " mauvaise langue " who speaks evil of others. But it will be scarcely possible to understand on the same principle Pericles, i, 4, 39, " Those palates, who" and i, 4, 34, " These mouths, whom." Act i, scene 9, line 45 When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk, Let him be made an overture for the wars. Steevens and Malone assert in their note that " him " is not unfrequently used by our author, and other writers of his age, instead of " it." As regards our author, Dr. Abbott makes no mention of it, which he would have done if he had observed it. " Overture " is so naturally connected with " war " that the error lies much more probably in "him," which may very likely be a mistake for some word indicative of the behaviour of the parasite, as distinguished from the warrior. SFIAKSPERE'S fffSTORfES AND TRAGEDIES. 61 " Smiles " are the mark of the courtier, as in Loves Labours Lost, v, 2, 331 " This is the flower that smiles on every one," and of the parasite in line 464 some trencher knight, some Dick That smiles his cheek in years. I would accordingly suggest with diffidence When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk, Let smiles be made an overture for the wars. Act ii, scene i, line 49 "Meeting two such wealsmen as you are (I cannot call you Lycurgusses), if the drink you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a crooked face at it." This passage has been left without alteration by the editors, when the suppression of the parenthesis is, I think, evidently demanded by the sense. Menenius is piquing himself on his frankness, and declares that he cannot call such politicians as these Lycurgusses on any occasion when he falls in with them. I think it clear we should read " Meeting two such wealsmen as you are, I cannot call you Lycurgusses. If the drink you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a crooked face at it." 62 CRITICAL NOTES ON Act ii, scene 2, line 107 alone he enter'd The mortal gate of the city, which he painted With shunless destiny. As the author calls Coriolanus's sword " Death's stamp," I can hardly conceive he would so soon change his metaphor and speak of his "painting" the gate with death ; but he may more consistently be said to have printed it with ruin, as he left on it the mark of inevitable fate. We may compare Titus Andronicus, iii, I, 170 Writing destruction on the enemies castle. Act iii, scene I, line 89 Shall remain ! Hear you this Triton of the minnows ? Mark you His absolute "shall"? COM. 'Twas from the canon. COR. "Shall"! If Cominius interrupts the speech with the words " 'Twas from the Canon," they can only mean, as Mason paraphrases, " it was according to law." But such a declaration is little calculated to assuage Coriolanus's violence, and the meaning of " canon " in all other places is " Divine law," the language of the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt" and SffAA'SPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 63 "Thou shalt not," so All's Well, i, i, 136, "The most inhibited sin in the canon" See also King John, ii, i, 179 Thy sins are visited in this poor child, The canon of the law is laid on him. See also Hamlet, i, 2, 131 Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ! The imperious "shall," Coriolanus might naturally declare, belonged to a law with heavenly sanction, not to mortal voice ; and the force of the term will be preserved if we continue the speech to him without interruption His absolute " shall," Twas from the canon, " Shall " ! Act iii, scene 2, line 72 I prithee now, my son, Go to them with this bonnet in thy hand, And thus far having stretched it (here be. with them), Thy knee bussing the stones. " Here be with them " is, I suppose, unintelligible and can derive no explanation from the following words, "thy knee bussing the stones," which clearly refer to the " courtesy " he should make the people at the same time that he held his bonnet low. It 64 CRITICAL NOTES ON may readily be corrected to " bewitch them " in accordance with Act ii, 3, 94, " I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man," in which case " here " must be changed to " there," i.e., when he is before the people. Possibly a line may have dropped out, which might be supplied from the parallel passage in Richard II, Act i, 4, 26 there bewitch them With humble and familiar courtesy, Thy knee bussing the stones ; but sense is made even without the supplemental line by the change proposed " there bewitch them, Thy knee bussing the stones." Act iii, scene 3, line 25 he hath been used Ever to conquer, and to have his worth Of contradiction. If we change "of contradiction" to "'bove con- tradiction," the sense is clear. He has always been accustomed to have his worth regarded so highly, such deference paid him, that he has never been contradicted. SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 65 TITUS ANDRONICUS. Act ii, scene 3, line 126 And with that painted hope braves your mightiness. Demetrius implies that Lavinia's chastity and loyalty were affected, which may have been ex- pressed by " show," and the following word " she " had been inadvertently omitted by the printers. The line would then run And with that painted show she braves your mightiness. Act iii, scene 2, line 61 How would he hang his slender gilded wings, And buzz lamenting doings in the air. " Buzz lamenting doings " is unintelligible. The text in this play is so correct that a wide departure from it lies under strong prejudice, or else " dirges " on the occasion of his son's death might be deemed a fitting occupation for the parent fly. " Lamenting dolings," as proposed by Theobald, seems but a weak repetition. Perhaps the author wrote " lamenting goings." The parent fly droops his wings and goes to and E 66 CRITICAL NOTES ON fro in the air buzzing his lamentations. To " buzz lamenting goings " will then mean gives his move- ment lamentable sound, and thus virtually sound and motion become one. This, though audacious, is not foreign to Shakspere's practice. We have a similar union of two distinct senses in Twelfth Night, i, I, 5, where he paraphrases the " zephyr," by the complex idea of fragrance and sound together, calling it "sweet sound." " Goings " is a Scriptural term, as in Psalm xvii, 5, "O hold thou up my 'goings' in thy paths," and is used for " walking " in Lear, iii, 2, 94, " Going shall be used with feet." And whatever our translators understood by the words, they have made the same union of sound and motion in the well-known verse 2 Samuel, v, 24, " When thou hearest a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." Sf/AKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 67 ROMEO AND JULIET. Act i, scene I, line 183 Why, such is love's trangression. Griefs of my own lie heavy in my breast ; Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest With more of thine. Romeo declares that his friend's compassion for his distress, so far from removing it, increases it by the sense that he is the cause of sorrow in another This love that thou hast shown, Doth add more grief to too much of my own. Such an effect of sympathy he styles " love's transgression " as contradicting its purpose, which is by sharing sorrow to take part away. But this cannot be made out of the short and unsatisfactory line " Why, such is love's trangression." But I think it is likely that in the constant course of repetition, the word " love " has slipped out here, and that we should read " Why, such a love is love's transgression." E 2 68 CRITICAL NOTES ON Act i, scene 3, line 2 Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve years old I bad her come. What, lamb ! what, ladybird ! God forbid ! Where's this girl ? what, Juliet ! The nurse, I conceive, deprecates the authority which Lady Capulet gives her in the words " call her forth to me," and replies, " Does it become me to bid her come, as if she were a child, and she now a woman, twelve years old and more. God forbid ! " Accordingly she employs first endearing titles, " lamb " and " ladybird," but, losing patience, bids her in the familiar style, " Where's this girl ! What, Juliet ! " This may justify " bid " for " bad." I do not think we need stumble at the nurse's adjuration, "Now, by my maidenhead," which may be in her mouth nothing but a strong expression for truth used unreflectingly ; as we find " by my troth and maidenhead," Henry VIII, Act ii, 3, 23. I would accordingly suggest NURSE. Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve years old I bid her come ! What, lamb ! What, ladybird ! God forbid ! Where's this girl ? What, Juliet ! Act iii, scene 2, line 5 Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways eyes may wink and Romeo Leap to these arms untalked of and unseen. SffAXSPSRJfS HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 69 There will be no difficulty here if "runaways" can mean spies, or tell-tales, which the words " untalked of, and unseen," naturally suggest, and I think demand. In support of such a meaning attaching to " runaway," which has appeared so arbitrary that the word has given rise to a multitude of conjec- tures, I think we may quote the familiar expression, " don't run away with the idea," as it is used with regard to belief on insufficient evidence. Similarly we say, " They ran away with the story " ; which brings the sense closer to that required in the text, as it implies their hurry to retail it. Besides this indirect proof derived from common language, I think it is used in the same sense in Merchant of Venice, ii, 6, 47 " For the close night doth play the runaway" " Play the runaway " can hardly mean that the night was passing away, at nine o'clock. Besides, if this were intended we should rather expect " quick " or " short " than " close." " Play the eavesdropper " is a phrase given in Cotgrave. Lorenzo hastens Jessica by telling her that the darkness of the night exposed them to being overheard. This he might fairly express by saying that "the close night played the eavesdropper." Juliet desires " close " night that none may " spy." Whether " spy " 70 CRITICAL NOTES ON or " eavesdropper," they would be equally " tell- tales," which may be the sense of " runaway " in both places. I do not know why the Cambridge Editors read "runaway's" in the singular. The considerations adduced will, I hope, justify us in reading Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaways' eyes may wink. Act v, scene i, line I If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep, My dreams presage some joyful news at hand. The quarto reads " flattering eye," which is intelligible enough. On revision, however, the author may have thought it better to adopt a term more in con- sonance with flattery in its natural sense. But this can scarcely be " truth," as the terms are destructive of each other. "Flattering sooth," Mr. Grant White's conjecture, does not afford sufficient reason for the change, as "sooth" is nothing but "flattery" already expressed. " Vouch" I think, will answer the purpose, and account for the author's alteration. I would accordingly propose If I may trust the flattering vouch of sleep. SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 71 TIMON OF ATHENS. Act i, scene I, line 33 how this grace Speaks his own standing. The language of the poet introduced in this scene is turgid, and his treatment of the subject he undertakes absurd. His fancy indeed is vigorous ; but, without guidance of taste, he runs riot in the indiscriminate employment of mean and exalted images. Thus he says, line 23 Our poesy is a gum, which oozes. Johnson's happy correction for " gowne, which uses " And line 48 My free drift Halts not particularly, but moves itself In a wide sea of wax^ which Hanmer misunderstands of " waxen tables " to write upon. It is an image evidently borrowed from the practice of modelling in wax, as he says, line 46 I have in this rough work shaped out a man, 72 CRITICAL NOTES ON and his " moving in a wide sea of wax," describes the breadth and fertility of his own invention. This peculiarity of his language may make us hesitate before we correct it elsewhere, but the words, "how this grace speaks its own standing" convey no meaning. " Standing " is probably a mistake for " seeming." So Puttenkam, page 268, Ed. Arber. " [For] this good grace of everything in its kind," the Latin's " decorum" our own Saxon English term is " seemliness" Thus Cymbeline, Act i, 6, 168 He sits 'mongst men like a descended God, He hath a kind of honour sets him off, More than a mortal seeming, Winter's Tale, iv, 4, 74 " These keep seeming and savour, all the winter long." The poet, when he says " how this grace Speaks his own seeming" declares it requires no speech to point out its excellence. Act iii, scene 6, line 78 The rest of your fees, O Gods, the senators of Athens, together with the common legge of the people. SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 73 For " legge," Rowe's conjecture, " lag," has been commonly accepted. It seems to have authority, as I see Cotgrave so translates the word " dernier," in the phrase "le dernier le loup mange" "The lag (or laziest) of a flock is preyed on." This, however, only goes to justify it in the sense of " laggard," which is scarcely appropriate to the passage here, which rather requires " the dregs." " The dregs of the people " is a common expression. Cotgrave gives it with the explanation " Racaille canaille." If Singer's conjecture, "lees," were adopted, it would strongly confirm a similar term, " dregs," in the second place. But I do not see how Timon can say, " The rest of your lees, O Gods." This objection does not hold to the same degree against " file." He proceeds by names of multitude, " a score of villains," "a dozen women," and then comprehends the mass. So Coriolanus, i, 6, 42 but for our gentlemen, The common file. Measure for Measure, iii, 2, 139 The greater//? of the subject ; we might then read The rest of your./?/*", O Gods, the senators of Athens, together with the common dregs of the people. 74 CRITICAL NOTES ON Act iv, scene 3, line 12 It is \hepastour lards the brother's sides, The want that makes him leave. " Pasture " and " lean " are obvious alterations made by Rowe in the one case, and the second folio in the other. I do not see why " brothers " should not be allowed to stand, as it is in just keeping with the principal idea, of variety of fortune separating those most closely connected by Nature " Twinned brothers of one womb." That feed makes fat, and want makes lean, without this further contrast, is very commonplace. But whether we read " rother," or " wether", or " brother," I cannot but think " want " requires cor- rection. In country parishes the " Pasture and arable ground" was protected, as it is now fenced. The unprotected land around is called " Waste." This will redeem the lines from plati- tude It is tf\& pasture lards the brother's side, The waste that makes him lean. SffAKSPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 75 JULIUS CAESAR. Act iv, scene i, line 34 "And in some taste is Lepidus but so." The expression " in some sort," meaning " in a high degree," is so common in our author, that, as it suits the sense here, it may plead a title to replace " in some taste," which, if it have any sense, must mean rather " in a low degree." A " taste " is the prelude to a fuller measure, and means "a little." I do not conceive that " taste " can possibly be used for " sense," as if he meant " in a certain sense." I say " in some sort " commonly signifies a great degree, as I think appears from Timon of At/tetis, ii, 2, 181 And in some sort these wants of mine are crowned, That I account them blessings, Titus Andronicus, iii, I, 39 " Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes," and in other places, though in some again the superlative sense is less evident. 76 CRITICAL NOTES ON The same observation may be made on Shak- spere's- use of the word "partly," which though admitting, of course, of less or more, is most com- monly used for the greater part, and means " much," " mainly," or " principally." Thus in Coriolanus, i, i, 35, "to be partly proud, which he is to the altitude of his virtue." It is, it is true, contrasted with " chiefly " in Romeo and Juliet, v, 3, 28 Why I descend into this bed of death Is partly to behold my lady's face, But chiefly, &c. But " I partly think," " I partly know," in Measure for Measure, v, i, 443, Twelfth Night, v, i, 116, signify what we call a moral conviction as distinct from positive evidence. In this use "partly" only just falls short of " entirely," as it is employed in Merchant of Venice, iii, 2, 227, "They are entirely welcome." "Entirely" is found, with " love," to express the highest degree possible, Much Ado, iii, i, 36 " But are you sure That Benedick loves Beatrice so entirely ?" So Lear, i, 2, 92, " To his father, that so tenderly and entirely loves him," i.e. y " with all his heart," in which sense it is found in our Communion Service, " We entirely desire Thy fatherly goodness." SHAfCSPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 77 This sense of " partly " as something short of " entirely " is still in use in the country. Miss Baker, in her " Northamptonshire Words," gives it " Partly : almost, nearly," " Partly as usual," *>., " nearly as usual." " He's partly ten years old," almost ten years of age. Often used as a termina- tion to a sentence which conveys a positive assertion. " The boy's as much like his father as if he were the same over again, partly." I can myself bear witness to her accuracy as regards " Partly as usual," i.e., " much as usual," the constant answer of an old parishioner of mine to my enquiry after his health. I do not know whether these peculiarities in the sense of" partly " " in some sort " has been adverted to by critics. I think they may justify the change in the text, though that of this play is so ordinarily correct, to " And, in some sort, is Lepidus but so." 78 CRITICAL NOTES ON MACBETH. Act iii, scene 4, line 103 " Or, be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword ; If trembling I inhabit then, protest me The baby of a girl." I cannot but think that critics who have attempted corrections of this passage have over- looked the most obvious one of all. " Inhabit " is constantly joined with adverbs of place, " here," "there," "where," and in the text "then" is, I conceive, nothing but a mistake for " there." And we should read " If trembling I inhabit there." " Desert " which just precedes suggests to the author the word " inhabit " ; which is indeed also used without such direct reason for its employment as in Richard III, Act i, 4, 29 " and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit? Instead of saying " dare me to the desert, and if I tremble there," which would have been simple SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 79 prose, our author gives a fanciful and poetical turn to it, " dare me to the desert, and if I am a trembling inhabitant of it " ; which perhaps the strength of passionate appeal renders less natural under the circumstances, but which is too much in his manner to offend us. The connexion of " desert " with " inhabit " in this place leads me to refer to another where it is found alike, and where I think it has been equally misunderstood. In As You Like It, iii, 2, 115, the folio reads Why should this desert be, For it is unpeopled? No ; Tongues I'll hang on every tree That shall civil sayings show. Orlando asks, I conceive, "Why should this place, because it is desert in one sense of the word, viz., uninhabited, ' for it is unpeopled,' be desert in the further sense of wild and ' uncivilized '?" " No," he replies, " it shall not, I will hang tongues on trees to teach civility." This sense is obscured to say the least by altering the punctuation as the Cambridge Editors Why should this a desert be ? For it is unpeopled ? No, c. If stress be laid on " this? to give it the value of 8o CRITICAL NOTES ON a whole foot, there will be no need of any other change but the suppression of the comma, and we should read Why should this desert be For it is unpeopled ? No, &c. Act iv, scene 3, line 84 This Avarice Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root Than summer-seeming lust. " Seeming " in the sense of " seemly " (see note on Timon of Athens ; i, I, 33) is entirely out of place, and what other it can bear more appropriate to the context it is hard to guess. " Summer-teeming," Warburton s conjecture, is much nearer the purpose as intimating the effect of the heat of passion. But as lust is the passion itself, perhaps "summer- swelling " may be the word. It has the authority of Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, 4, 1 5 8 " The summer- swelling flower." Act v, scene 8, line 54 MACD. Hail, King ! for so thou art ; behold, where stands The usurper's cursed head ; the time is free, I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl, That speak my salutation in their minds. SffAKSPER&S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 81 It is difficult to conceive how a pearl can compass anything. The word refers to the noblemen and soldiers who surrounded Macdufif, as is clear from the following line. Malone interprets it " his king- dom's ornament," which might perhaps be tolerable if there were no better solution. But as by their saluting him king, after the " usurper's " death, they acknowledged themselves his kingdom, it seems much more natural to read " pale." So in Henry F, Act v, chorus " Behold the English beach Pales in the flood with men" Again in Richard 77, Act iii, 4, 40 Why should we in the compass of a pale Keep law and order. I would therefore read " I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's 82 CRITICAL NOTES ON HAMLET. Act i, scene i, line 84 in which our valiant Hamlet, For so this side of our known world esteemed him, Did slay this Fortinbras. One can scarcely believe that the author would make Horatio expend a whole line on justifying his epithet "Valiant," as applied to the deceased king. It seems much more likely that he gave him a name of honour, which required such warranty. " As valiant as Hercules" occurs in Much Ado, iv, i, 318, and i Henry IV, Act ii, 4, line 260, and Horatio may be supposed to call him so. This is in some degree supported by Act i, 2, 152- My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Act i, scene 4, line 36 " The dram of eale Doth all the noble substance of a. doubt To his own scandal." Mr. Grant White's remark, that possibly the SffAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 83 corruption of the passage lies in the word " doth," induces me to add another to the numerous con- jectures which have been made, hitherto without any signal success. I would, with diffidence, suggest that "doth" ought to be " draweth." " Eale " is most easily, I think, altered to "evil;" though "ill," or "base," which have been also proposed, will serve the purpose equally. The only further correction needed will be to transpose the prepositions " to " and " of." Hamlet says, the corruption of a part throws suspicion on the whole. This sense will follow on he reading proposed " The dram of evil, Draweth all the noble substance to a doubt Of his own scandal." Act iii, scene 4, line 161, from the quarto " That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, Of habits devil is angel yet in this ; That to the use of actions fair and good, He likewise gives a frock or livery That aptly is put on." The word " likewise," of the fourth line, indicates that the " giving a frock or livery " has been F 2 CRITICAL NOTES ON already implied in the preceding words ; and we can easily detect it in the word " habit," of the second. But the words, " all sense doth eat," must be grossly corrupted if they were intended to have any connexion with the idea of clothing. I think " all " is a mistake for " ill," and " eat " for " coat," which will further entail the change of " sense " to " deeds," and the transposition of "habit" and "devil." We shall then have the following That monster, custom, who ill deeds doth coat In devil's habit, is angel yet in this, That to the use of actions fair and good, He likewise gives a frock or livery That aptly is put on. Act iv, scene 5, line 131 LAER. only I'll be revenged Most throughly for my father. KING. Who shall stay you ? LAER. My will, not all the world, And for my means, I'll husband them so well, They shall go far with little. Laertes means that as far as his will, resolution, and determination of avenging his father's death is concerned, the whole world should not deter him. And as regards his means, he lets the King know SHAA'SPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 85 he is not so unprovided but that he can carry his determination into effect. It is a line of great importance as contrasting the instantaneous resolution to be stopped by nothing in his attempt to avenge his father's death, on the part of Laertes, with Hamlet's apparent vacillation under similar circumstances. This is unfortunately obscured in the Cambridge Edition, by reading with a colon My will, not all the world : as if the Editors understood that Laertes meant nothing but his own will should stay him. There should be nothing but a slight pause to distinguish " will " and " means." If the punctuation be changed at all, it should be only by a semicolon My will, not all the world ; And for my means, &c. Act v, scene 2, line 1 10 (from the quarto) To divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet but yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail. Hamlet means, I apprehend, the utmost effort of memory, though it made the mind dizzy, would 86 CRITICAL NOTES ON yet come far behind the enumeration of his excellencies. " Yare " is used for " agile," or " quick," in several places as Twelfth Night, iii, 4, 214, " Be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick" It seems to have been especially employed in nautical language. Tempest, i, -I, 6 ; Antony and Cleopatra, iii, 7, 38 ; which recommends its adoption here, where " quick sail " follows immediately. " But " is apparently a mistake for " be not." I would accordingly propose "To divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet be not yare neither, in respect of his quick sail." Act v, scene 2, line 207 If it be now, 'tis not to come ; if it be not to come, it will be now : if it be not now, yet it will come ; the readiness is all, since no man has ought of what he leaves. What is't to leave betimes ? The substance of Hamlet's reflections seems to be the uncertainty of the time when we shall die, whence he infers that all times are pretty much alike if only we are ready ; and therefore as well betimes as later. SIIAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 87 We may obtain this sense by borrowing " knows" from the quarto, and changing " what " to " when," and read The readiness is all, since no man knows aught of when he leaves. * CRITICAL NOISES ON KING LEAR. Act i, scene i, line 70 I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys Which the most precious square of sense professes. " Precious square, of sense? whether it " professes " or " possesses " joys is, I suppose, alike unintelli- gible. Hanmer's emendation of " spirit of sense," has the authority of Troilus and Cressida, i, i, 55, and iii, 3, 105, in which passages it seems to mean " delicate sensibility," " refined and subtle sense," by a legitimate oxymoron : " spirit " and " sense " being in reality opposed to each other, as " flesh " and "spirit" in Scripture. Regan, however, must apparently rather mean that she professes herself an enemy to all joys which sense can promise, or hold out the expecta- tion of. This will be obtained by reading "shape of sense," as we find it in Troilus and Cressida, i, 3, 386- But, hit or miss, Our projects life this shape of sense assumes, Ajax, employed, plucks down Achilles' plumes, i.e., the success of our project takes this shape, or SHAKSrEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 89 gives this reasonable expectation, "sense," being used for reason. Regan will use " sense" in its proper acceptation as the source of "joys," and declare she professes herself an enemy to all joys which sense professes to bestow in the most precious siiape they take of imaginary delight. According to this, we must retain "professes," and read I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys Which the most precious shape of sense professes. Act iii, scene 7, line 58 The sea with such a storm, as his bare head In hell-black night endured, would have buoyed up And quenched the stcllcd fires : Yet, poor old heart, he holp the heavens to rain. For " buoyed" which can mean nothing, and for which Warburton proposed the trivial and obvious emendation " boiled," the quartos read " laid," or " layed," which though equally destitute of sense, point to the probable word, viz., " leaped" For " stel/cd" fires, the quarto reads "steeled" which is equally unintelligible, but points to the word " sheeted" " Sheets of fire " have already been spoken of, Act iii, 2, 46. 90 CRITICAL NOTES ON For " rain " the quarto reads, I believe, correctly, "rage." Thus corrected, the passage will run The sea with such a storm as his bare head In hell-black night endured, would have leaped up And quenched the sheeted fires, Yet, poor old man, he holp the heavens to rage. Act iv, scene 6, line 271 O undistinguished space of woman's will ! A plot upon her virtuous husband's life ; And the exchange my brother. " Space of woman's will " is unintelligible. The epithet " undistinguished," i.e., " undistinguishing," gives reason to believe that the word "space" is nothing but a mistake for "choice," which is further supported by the word " exchange." " Will " is " passion " or l< desire," as we find it in Othello, iii, 3, 236 Foh ! one may smell in such a will) most rank, Foul disproportion, and in Cymbeline, i, 6, 45 The cloyed will, That satiate and unsatisfied desire. Hamlet, in Act iii, 4, 73, where he reproaches his SffAfSP&RfS HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 91 mother with conduct almost exactly analogous to Goneril's in this play, says to her Madness would not err, Nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er so thralled But it reserved some quantity of choice To serve in such a difference. " Choice " has besides peculiar propriety in the text, as " choice " is an exercise of " will." I would on these grounds suggest "O undistinguished choice of woman's will." 92 CRITICAL NOTES ON OTHELLO. Act ii, scene I, line 26 " A Veronesa." Steevens' supposition that the name of the ship is intended, derives some support from a similar incidental name of a palace, " The Sagittary," i, I, 158; i, 3, 115. If so perhaps it would be "The Veronica," after the saint who wiped our Lord's face on his way to Calvary. Act iii, scene 3, line 169 O beware, my lord, of jealousy ; It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on. The only interpretation of this as it stands must be, I suppose, that jealousy mocks, i.e., as we might say now in low style, "makes a fool of" the person affected by it, or as we might again say, " who is eaten up with it " ; which might possibly be allowed as intelligible if jealousy were alone in question. But the idea of a " monster " " mocking " the food he eats is incongruous. Theobald's con- SffAXSPEK&S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 93 jccture " makes " is open to objection on the same score, that it applies well enough to jealousy which derives its nourishment from itself, and often creates its own suspicion ; but it will not pair with "monster" any more than "mocks." Besides, lago's purpose is not to suggest to his master there was no ground for jealousy, that it was his own creation ; but to humiliate him by recommending him to be secure, and not trouble himself with it. In As You Like /A Act ii, 5, 36, we have " Seeking the food he eats," which implies trouble and labour in search of it, a meaning which will suit "jealousy" and " monster" alike. We might read perhaps It is the green-eyed monster, which doth seek The meat it feeds on. Act iv, scene 2, line 55 A fixed figure for the time of scorn To point his slow unmoving finger at. See note on Henry F, Act i, scene 2, line 93. 94 CRITICAL NOTES ON Act iv, scene 3, line 25 My mother had a maid called Barbara ; She was in love, and he she loved proved mad, And did forsake her. If Desdemona could possibly say " proved mad," I can only conceive she was thinking of her own husband, who was " mad " with jealousy, and that she attributed the same aberration to Barbara's lover. But the song only says " False love." To make " mad " mean " false " by the intermediate sense of "wild," as has been proposed, is an extremely forced interpretation. It would be more probable that the word itself was in fault. We might substitute " naught," which is found in an analogous sense in Romeo and Juliet, iii, 2, 85 - There is no trust, No faith, no honesty in men : all perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers. Act v, scene 2, line 85 OTH. Being done, there is no pause. This must mean, I suppose, " When once the deed is done, there is no longer waiting for it" a sense, which if it bear any relation to the occasion in Othello's mind, is certainly no SffAKSPER&S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 95 answer to Desdemona's entreaty. She beseeches him to pause "but half an hour." It would be natural for him to reply in the bitterness of his soul, that after the deed was done there would be a longer pause than "half an hour" an eternal one ; and this will be intimated if we read Being done, There's pause end. 96 CRITICAL NOTES ON ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. Act i, scene 2, line 155 When it pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth, comforting therein that when old robes are worn out there are members to make new. This passage has been left unintelligible, as far as I can judge; for "tailor," as Pope reads for " tailors," and " numbers " for " members," as Hanmer, do not make the meaning any clearer. Enobarbus, I fancy, is making allusion to the Destinies or Fates with their shears and thread, and grotesquely calls them the " Tailors of the earth," whose business it is to mend old clothes, or make new. This, I think, is further supported by words following, " Then had you a cut indeed." I would accordingly propose "menders" for " members." Act ii, scene 5, line 99 MESS. Take no offence, that I would not offend you ; To punish me for what you make me do, Seems much unequal : he's married to Octavia. CLEO. Oh, that his fault should make a knave of thee, That art not what thou'rt sure of! SHAKSPERE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. yj The numerous emendations of the text, which fail to satisfy, make it allowable to suggest that the error lies not in the word, but in the division of the speeches. The messenger is unwilling to incur Cleopatra's fury by repeating the unwelcome assurance of Antony's marriage. He does nothing but ask her pardon, and deprecate her anger. The words, therefore, "He's married to Octavia!" can scarcely belong to him. They are, I apprehend, the last of Cleopatra's indignant enquiries, upon which the messenger, having exhausted his excuses, stands mute, confused, and uncertain what to say. There- upon Cleopatra taunts him as a "knave," for suppressing the message he was entrusted with, as if by his ama/ement he pretended he was "not sure " of a matter of which he was perfectly sure. She alludes to the common evasive reply, " I'm not sure." According to this we should divide as follows : MESS. Take no offence that I would not offend you, To punish me for what you make me do, Seems much unequal. CLEO. He's married to Octavia ? [The messenger pauses and makes no answer.] O that his fault should make a knave of thee, That art not what thou'rt sure of ! 98 CRITICAL NOTES ON Act ii, scene 6, line 68 POM. And I have heard Apollodorus carried ENO. No more of that : he did so. POM. What, I pray you ? ENO. A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress. It is hard to understand what Enobarbus can mean by trying to suppress a topic by the words, " No more of that," and then continuing to narrate it. It seems as if in this place again there is a faulty distribution of parts. In the next scene, line 6, the servant describes Lepidus, " He cries out, ' no more' reconciles them to his entreaty, and himself to the drink," which justifies us in supposing that it is he who endeavours to stifle the scandal, and we should divide as follows : POM. And I have heard Apollodorus carried- LEPIDUS. No more of that. ENO. He did so [aside to Pompey.] POM. What, I pray you ? ENO. A certain queen to Caesar in a mattress. Act iii, scene 9, line 8 At such a point When half to half the world opposed, he being The meered question ? SHAKSPER&S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 99 Dr. Abbott defends the possibility of " meered " being used for " mere," as if it meant " he being the entire question," section 394. One would think Shakspere might in that case have easily said, " He being the only question," and avoided so uncouth a term. Besides the construction then gives two nominatives absolute, " world to world opposed," and " he being," as forming a sentence, which in its degree may be deemed further evidence of corrup- tion in the whole passage. " Question " may be used for " contest " or "dispute," as in Hamlet, v, 2, 362, "So jump upon this bloody question," and then " meered " may be a mistake for " mortal," as we find " mortal arbitre- ment " in Twelfth NigJit, iii, 4, 249. " Being " may represent " begins," and " he " be needlessly introduced. The lines would then run At such a point When, half to half the world opposed, begins The mortal question, 'twas shame no less, &c. Act v, scene 2, line 7 Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung, The beggar's nurse and Caesar's. But for the Cambridge Editors' adoption of CRITICAL NOTES ON Warburton's conjecture of " dug " for " dung " I should have deemed it indefensible. The Duke in Measure for Measure, Act iii, I, 13 ; in his depreciatory remarks on human life, analogous to Cleopatra's here, observes Thou art not noble, For all the accommodations that thou bea^st Are nursed by baseness ; and we have already in Act i, scene I, line 35 Our dungy earth alike Feeds beasts and men. Cleopatra says, " Death sleeps," and is no longer exposed to the vulgar exigencies of mortality, from which a Caesar is not free any more than the beggar. Act v, scene 2, line 120 I cannot project mine own cause so well To make it clear. If "project" be retained it can only mean, I suppose, " put forward " ; but such a sense is not supported by any similar use of the word by our author, who uniformly uses it as a noun for "purpose "or "design." SHAXSPER&S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 101 " Proctor," Warburton's ingenious, but rather tasteless conjecture, is equally inconsistent with Shakspere's use, who would have said " attorney." I would suggest the word " perfect," in the sense of " free from blame or guilt," by the analogy of Measure for Measure, v, I, 80 When you have A business for yourself, pray heaven you then Be perfect, t and Othello, \, 2, 30 My parts, my titles, and my perfect soul, Shall manifest me rightly. Cleopatra says, " She cannot free herself from the imputation of guilt, so as to clear her honour." I cannot perfect mine own cause To make it clear. Act v, scene 2, line 213 Saucy lictors Will catch at us like strumpets. " Catch at," though allowed by all editors, does not commend itself by any convenient sense. Perhaps it is an error for " chastise," which was G 2 102 CRITICAL NOTES ON accented on the first syllable. So we read I Henry VI, i, 5, 12 " But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet." See Lear, iv, 6, 158. Act v, scene 2, line 228 Sirra, Iras, go, Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed. "Sirra,"or "sirrah," cannot, I apprehend,be spoken to Iras, on account of her sex, and her mistress's affection, which alike forbid its application, and there is no one else present but she and Charmian. Very probably it is an error for " swift," which is countenanced by " dispatch " in the next line. Swift, Iras, go, Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed. SHAKSPEXE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 103 CYMBELINE. Act i, scene 5, line 16 Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this lamentable divorce, under her colours, are wonder- fully to extend him ; be it but to fortify her judgment, which else an easy battery might lay flat, for taking a beggar without less quality. This confused sentence might be made gram- matical if we read "Ay, and the approbation of those that weep this lamentable divorce under her colours : who wonder- fully <& extend him, be it but to fortify her judgment, which else an easy batteiy might lay flat, for taking a beggar without less quality "/ in which reading I adopt Eccles' change of " do " for " to," but change " are " to " who." "' Without less quality " evidently means without " more " quality, but there is no need to alter the form of expression, as there are many instances where " less " and " more " are interchanged without strict logical propriety a practice it may be useful to illustrate. 104 CRITICAL NOTES ON It appears in Lear, ii, scene 4, line 196 his own disorders Deserved much less advancement, i.e., the gallows, which was more than the stocks. It is true it may be interpreted as if the stocks being less dishonourable than the gallows, hanging were a less advancement in point of honour. But this seems too subtle an interpretation. " Advance- ment" is used in a sense analogous to the verb " advance," viz., " elevate." Again, Troilus and Cressida, Act i, scene 3, line 70 And be't of less expect That matter needless, of importless burden, Divide thy lips, than we are confident, When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws, We shall hear music, wit, and oracle. Agamemnon means " We may more reasonably expect Ulysses to babble, than Thersites to speak wisdom." Again, Coriolanus, Act i, scene 4, line 13 Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls ? i SEN. No, nor a man that fears you less than he : That's lesser than a little. Here logical propriety requires " more than he ": Sf/AKSPEKE'S HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 105 but the sense of " fearing little," and " less than little," prevails over strict logic. As we find " less " used for " more," so " more " is often found where we should expect " less." E.g., Tinwn of Athens, Act iii, scene 5, line 82 If by his crimes he owes the law his life, Why, let the wars receive't in valiant gore ; For law is strict, and war is nothing more; i.e., nothing less. Again, Alfs Well That Ends Well, Act i, scene 3, line 154 Or were you both our mother I'd care no more fort than I do for heaven, So I were not his sister. Helena says if the Countess were mother of both Bertram and herself it would no less satisfy her longing than heaven itself would. I have adopted Capell's reading, " I'd care no more for't," instead of " I care no more for," which change this use of " more " strongly supports, and I read " mother " for mothers, as " both our mother " for " mother of us both " seems better grammar. "Your three motives to the battle," in Act v, 5, 388, i.e., "The motives of you three," is an instance of similar construction, in the present play. 106 CRITICAL NOTES ON Again, As You Like It, Act ii, scene 3, line Know you not, master, to some kind of men Their graces serve them but as enemies ? No more do yours : i.e., no less. These instances of " no more " where we should say " no less," are, however, where they express similarity, or equality, just as correct as our modern use. Where Sir Philip Sidney says in his Apology for Poetry (p. 46, Ed. Arber), " It is sung but by some blind crouder, with no rougher voice than rude style," though we should say, " with no less rough a voice than rude style " ; there is no dif- ference in the meaning, the " roughness " and " rudeness " being " equal." In the passage of the present play, which has given occasion to these remarks, the word " extend," i.e., " enlarge " or " magnify," which precedes, may account for the logical impropriety ; the author probably intending a contrast to that term in the word " less." Act i, scene 6, line 23 " Reflect upon him accordingly as you value your trust." Though " your trust " is not unintelligible in the SaAXSPERPS HISTORIES AND TRAGEDIES. 107 sense of " the trust reposed in you by us," it will be much clearer if we read " our trust," i.e., " the trust I repose in you." Act iii, scene 2, line 70 I have heard of riding wagers, Where horses have been nimbler than the sands That run in the clock's behalf. A match against Time in which the horse won seems to be intended. In this case, as the horse ran in the man's behalf, the sands are considered to do so on behalf of Time, or the clock which rang the hour. It is possible " run " may be used as a perfect for " ran," but as I know no examples of it, I would propose to change it to " ran." I have heard of riding wagers, Where horses have been nimbler than the sands Which ran i'the clock's behalf. LONDON : PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE <>n the last dote stamped below. DEC 1 1 196 4WS- JUN21 S ).' HW251964 Form L9-20m-7,'61(Cl437s4)444 NOV 1119S NOV141963' BRITTILE REJECTED riy BINDERY DC SOUTHERN WGWNAI L8RARY FACILITY I I II III III II A 001 344 760 2