HARD KNOTS
SHAKESPEARE
SIR PHILIP PEERING, BART.,
FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
All difficulties are but easy, when they are known.
' Measure For Measure," Act IV, 2. 221.
LONDON ;
LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.
18S5.
PREFACE .
This little work, which I have ventured to commit
to the press, treats of a very small portion of a very
large subject. It cannot pretend to be much more
than a supplement, or appendix, to the numerous
publications which have been issued from time to
time on the text, the sense, the language, the style,
the spirit, the whole life and character of Shakes-
peare.
My object has been not to do over again work
which has already been sufficiently well done, but to
endeavour to throw new light on what I conceive to
have been misunderstood by previous expositors,
and to explain, or emend, certain passages, where,
according to the Cambridge editors, 'the original
text had been corrupted in such a way as to affect
the sense, no admissible emendation having been
proposed,' or where 'a lacuna occurs too great to be
filled up with any approach to certainty.'
Wliether I have succeeded in reclaiming any of
these waste patches, abandoned by others as
uncultivable, can only be ascertained by ocular
observation. It is true that I have not examined a
single impression of either Folio or Quarto, but I
have followed the trustworthy guidance of the editors
of the 'Cambridge Shakespeare,' in the footnotes of
which the various readings of the original copies are
set down with conscientious accuracy. To this
extent, then, I have been a borrower ; but I have
not borrowed my ideas, my interpretations, my
arguments, my matter generally. If, as has some-
IV PEEFACE.
times happened, I have occupied ground which
some one else had occupied before me, I can truly
say that, at the time that I appropriated it, I was not
aware that another possessed it. Even my quota-
tions and references I have not fetched from a
Concordance, but have myself culled them after
carefully considering them. The 'Globe' Shakes-
peare has been my text-book, partly because, coming
from Cambridge, it would seem to carry with it a
Collegiate, not to say, a University recommendation,
partly because it was convenient for reference, the
lines in it being numbered.
I have taken, as I was bound to do, the utmost
pains with every one of my papers, caring less for,
form than for substance, and aiming not so much
at fine writing, as at fair argument and the discovery
of the truth — not but that I have endeavoured,
where I could, and as far as I could, to give some
sort of shape and polish to my rough ,and unattrac-
tive materials.
I have been encouraged and assisted in my
labours by two of my friends, who have taken an
interest in the progress of my work, and to whom I
now record my heart-felt thanks ; they must not be
held responsible for any of my opinions, yet their
sound judgment and kind counsel have saved me
from many doubtful, and from some dangerous
positions. p p
EXMOUTH,
March, 1885.
CONTENTS.
PAGE,
1. THE TEMPEST 1—21.
Act I. Sc. 1. 66-68 ; Sc. 2. 26-32, 53, 172-74, 306-307,
376-386, 486-491.
Act II. Sc. 1. 130-131 ; Sc. 2. 15-16.
Act III. Sc. 1. 15 ; Sc. 3. 49-51.
ActlV. Sc. 1.61, 164.
2. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA 22—35.
Actll. Sc. 5.2.
Act III. Sc. 1.81.
Act V. Sc. 4. 82-83, 129.
3. MEASURE FOR MEASURE -. ... 36—52.
Act I. Sc. 1. 8-9 ; Sc. 2. 125 ; Sc. 3. 20, 42-43 ; Sc. 4.
30.
Act II. Sc. 1. 37-40.
Act III. Sc. 1. 126-128 ; Sc. 2. 275-96,
4. THE COMEDY OF ERRORS 63—68.
Act I. Sc. 1. 37-39 ; Sc. 2. 3«-38.
Act II. Sc. 1.103-115.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 98 ; Sc. 8. 12-20.
Act V. Sc. 1. 405-407.
5. A MIDSUMMER-NIGHTS DREAM ^. ... 67—76.
Act II. Sc. 1. 54.
Act III. Sc. 2. 14.
Act IV. Sc. 1.150-163.
Act V. Sc. 1. 66-60, 92.
6. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 77—88.
Act I. Sc. 1. 35.
Act II. Sc. 7. 69.
Act III. Sc. 2. 97-99, 160-167 ; So. 3. 26-29 ; Sc. 6.
78-83.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 50, 37J.
VI CONTENTS.
PAGE.
7. AS YOU LIKE IT 89—98.
Actl.Sc. 1.1-5.
Act II. Sc. 4. 1 ; Sc. 7. 53-57, 71-74.
Act III. Sc. 2. 206-207 ; Sc. 5. 7, 23.
Act V. Sc. 4. 4.
8. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW 99—106.
Induction. Sc. 1. 17, 64.
Act I. Sc. 2. 6-7, 28-31.
Actlll. Sc. 2.16.
Act IV. Sc. 2. 59-62.
9. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 107—124.
Act I. Sc. 1. 179, 237-241 ; Sc. 2. 31-45 ; Sc. 3. 141.
Act II. Sc. 1. 3, 27, 175-177 ; Sc. 5. 52.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 17-21 ; Sc. 2. 38 ; Sc. 4. 30-33.
Act V. Sc. 3. 6, 66, 216. ^^
10. TWELFTH NIGHT : OR WHAT YOU WILL ...
Act II. Sc. 5. 71.
Act III. Sc. 3. 13-16 ; Sc. 4. 86-91.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 14-15.
11. THE WINTERS TALE 131—142.
Act I. Sc. 2. 273-276, 324, 467-460.
Act II. Sc. 1. 133-136, 143,
Act III. Sc. 2. 60-62
Act IV. Sc. 3. 98 ; Sc. 4. 250, 690-592, 760.
Act V. Sc. 1. 55-60.
12. KING JOHN 14b-153.
Act II. Sc. 1. 183-190.
Act III. Sc. 1. 259, 263-297 ; Sc. 3. 39.
Act IV. Sc. 2. 40-43.
Act V. Sc. 6. 12 ; Sc. 7. 15-17.
13. KING RICHARD II 164— IflO.
Act I. Sc. 2. 67-70 ; Sc. 3. 127-128.
Act II. Sc. 1. 246-248 ; Sc. 2. 39-40, 108-114.
Act III. Sc. 2. 175-177.
Act V. Sc. 1. 25.
CONTENTS. VU
PAGE.
14. KING HENRY IV 181—175,
FlEST PAKT.
Act I. Sc. 1. 5-6
Act IV. Sc. 1. 31.
ActV. Sc. 2. 8, 77-79,
Second Part.
Act I. Sc. 3. 36-37.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 50, 88-96,
15. KING HENRY V 176—187.
Act I. Sc. 2. 91-95, 125-127, 273-276.
Act II. Sc. 2. 138-140.
Act III. Sc. 3. 35.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 262.
16. KING HENRY VI 188—200.
FlKST PABT.
Act I. Sc. 1. 56, 62.
Act IV. Sc. 6. 42-47.
Act V. Sc. 3. 70-71, 193 ; Sc. 5, 64.
Second Part,
Act I. Sc. 3. 153.
Act II. Sc. 1. 26.
Act IV. Sc. 10. 66.
Third Part.
Act 1. Sc, 4. 152-153.
17. KING RICHARD III 201—207.
Act I. Sc. 2, 64, 101-103 ; Sc. 3. 62-69, 113, 188,
Act III. Sc, 3. 23.
Act V. Sc. 3. 173 ; Sc. 5. 23-31 .
18. KING HENRY VIII 208—218.
Act 1. Sc. 1. 63, 75-80, 204-207, 222-226.
Act II. Sc. 2. 92-98 ; Sc. 3. 46.
Act III. Sc. 2. 62-71, 190-192, 383.
Act V. Sc. 3. 1-2, 10-12, 108, 130.
Vm CONTENTS.
PAGE.
19. CORIOLANUS 219—247.
Act I. Sc. 1. 195-198, 262 ; Sc. 3. 46 ; Sc. 4. 31 ;
Sc. 6. 76, 80-85 ; Sc. 9. 41-46.
Act III. Sc. 1. 131, 189-191 ; Sc. 2. 29, 52-80, 123-128 ;
Sc. 3. 130.
Act IV. Sc. 3. 9 ; Sc. 6. 2-3 ; Sc. 7. 28-57.
Act V. Sc. 1. 15-17, 65-73 ; Sc. 2. 17.
20. TITUS ANDRONICUS 248—255.
Act II. Sc. 3. 126.
Act III. Sc. 1. 170, 282.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 129 ; Sc. 2. 152, 177-178,
Act V. Sc. 1. 132 ; Sc. 3. 124.
21. TIMON OF ATHENS 256—272.
Act I. Sc. 1. 235-241 ; Sec. 2. 73.
Act III. Sc. 2. 43 ; Sc. 6. 89.
Act IV. Sc. 3. 133-134, 223.
Act V. Sc. 2. 6-9 ; Sc. 3. 1-10 ; Sc. 4. 62.
22. JULIUS C^SAB 273—288.
Act I. Sc. 2. 155 ; Sc. 3. 62-65, 129.
Act III. Sc. 1. 174,206, 262.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 36-39 ; Sc. 2. 49-52.
Act V. Sc. 1. 35.
23. MACBETH 287—308.
Act I. Sc. 2. 14, 16-23, 49, 58 ; Sc. 3. 95-98 ; So. 6.
23-26.
Act II. Sc. 1.25,55.
Act III. Sc. 1. 130 ; Sc. 4. 32, 105, 132.
Act IV. Sc. 2. 18-22 ; Sc. 3. 15, 136-137.
Act V. Sc. 3. 21 ; Sc. 4. 11.
24. HAMLET 309—321.
Act I. Sc. 1. 113-125 ; Sc. 3. 73-74 ; Sc. 4. 36-38. ,
Act III. Sc. 4. 169.
Act V. So. 1. 68 ; Sc. 2. 39-42, 118.
CONTENTS. IX
PAGK.
25. KING LEAR 322—336.
Act I. Sc. 2. 17-22 ; Sc. 3. 18-20.
Act II. Be. 2. 175-177 ; Sc. 4. 165, 273-274.
Act IV. Sc. 1. 71 ; Sc. 2. 57 ; i\c. 3. 20-2] , 33.
Act V. Sc. 3. 129-130, 204-207.
i&. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA ... 337—345.
Actl.Sc. 5.28, 48.
Act II. Sc. 2. 53.
Act III. Sc. 11. 47 ; Sc. 13. 10.
Act V. Sc. 1. 15 ; Sc. 2. 355.
27. CYMBELINE 346—355.
Act III. Sc. 3. 23 ; Sc. 4. 51-52, 135, 150.
Act rV. Sc. 2. 7-9, 16-17.
ActV. Sc. 1. 14-15 ; Sc. 5. 95.
28. PERICLES 356—370.
Act 1. Sc. 1. 17 ; Sc. 2. 1-5, 74 ; Sc. 3. 28.
Act II. Sc. 1 . 56-60.
Act III. Sc. 1. 53 ; Sc. 2. 55.
ActlV. Sc. 1. 11.
Act V. Prologue. 23 ; Sc. 1. 174, 209.
INDEX 371—374.
THE TEMPEST.
*'rpHE Tempest " was printed for the first time in
the Foho of 1623. There is no earHer edition
of it extant in Quarto, as is the case in more
than one half of the thirty-six plays. What does
this mean? It means that, if there should happen
to be any errors in the text of the play, as it has
been set down in the Folio, made I will not suppose
by the author, but by the author's friends, or by those
who were employed by them to copy and print his
works, we have no means of correcting those errors, or
of recovering the true original reading, because we have
no second independent authority to fall back upon;
no well -authenticated reserve testimony to appeal to;
the staff upon which we leaned fails us ; the candle
which lighted us leaves us in the dark. There is no
help for it but to acquiesce in the irremediable, and
register in each successive edition the blunders of
the Folio. To be sure there are the various conjectural
emendations of learned men, but of these, though
some are plausible and clever, and even more or less
probable, by far the larger number are wild and
extravagant, almost all are precarious and uncertain.
2 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
It would seem, then, as if the critic might throw
aside his pen for all the good that he would be likely
to do. Such, however, is very far from being the case.
In almost every play of Shakespeare there are a
number of passages, where, either because a word
occurs which is unexampled in its use or strange and
singular in its meaning, or because a sentence is
interrupted and apparently unfinished, or because
the sense is not easily discernible and perhaps differs
from what might have been expected, or because the
versification seems irregular or inharmonious, or
because there is a possibility, so tempting to the
brilliant critic, of some other word having been used
in the original, for which the one that has been set
down in the copy might easily have been mistaken,
the purity of the text is arraigned, and emendations
are started, and sometimes introduced; yet in most
cases I tliink it will be found that objections have
been raised by an over-hasty criticism on wholly
insufficient grounds, and that they crumble away and
come to nothing, when all the circumstances are
considered that should be considered — the extraor-
dinary variety of idiom that pervades the English
language, the peculiar chai'acter of pieces intended
for theatrical representation; the informality, elasticity,
and frequent ellipses of common conversation; the
licence which the poet's age allowed him, the licence
which the poet — a master linguist, an Englishman
to the core — allowed himself, to say nothing of the
THE TEMPEST. 3
Special circumstances of particular passages, so that,
even though we should not care to do as others do,
and take a shot now and then at a venture, we shall
have enough to occupy us, while we strive to defend
Shakespeare's text from faulty emendation or fallacious
interpretation.
I could not, if I wished it, give a more striking
example of the narrow boundaiy which sometimes
separates the true and the false, and of the difficulty
at times of coming to a decision, than is afforded by
a passage in the 'Tempest' at the very end of the
first scene — Act I, 1, 68-70 — where Gonzalo, in
imminent peril of momentary shipwre(^k, cries
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of
barren ground, long heath, brown furze, anything.
This Hanmer by a masterly stroke of critical cunning
converted to 'ling, heath, broom, furze, anything,'
and the Cambridge editor has signified his approval
of the change by mtroducing it into the ' Clarendon
Press Series ' edition, no doubt considering the Folio
reading poor and unnatm-al. Yet it is not impossible
that those common epithets, which Mr. Knight held
to be 'quite intelligible, and much more natural
than an enumeration of various wild plants' — the
epithet 'long' applied to the heath (and there is, I
believe, a kind of long-growing heath in that part of
the world to which Gonzalo's thoughts would naturally
revert), and the epithet 'brown' applied to the furze
4 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
(and there are times when the furze looks poor and
shabby), were mtended to keep up the idea of the
barrenness of the acre which Gonzalo coveted,
lest, associating with the heath its beautiful delicate
purple hue, and with the gorse its rich golden
glory, we should have presented to our eye a
picture not of a bare uninteresting spot, but
of a landscape full of beauty and bloom. The
Folio reading best describes the poverty of tlie
ground, and on that account best represents
Gonzalo 's pauper cravings,
■ But whatever view we may be disposed to take of
this passage, after we have heard what the naturalist,
the traveller, the critic, have to say on the subject,
there ought not to be a shadow of doubt that the
reading of the Folio is not only right, but cannot be
bettered, in Act I, 2, 26-32, where Prospero,
addressing Miranda, says
The direfal spectacle of the wreck, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there is no soul —
No, not so much perdition as an hair >
Betid to any creature in the vessel
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink ;
yet Mr. Aldis Wright, who, we freely acknowledge,
has done good service as a Shakespearian comment-
ator, here tells us that there is 'some imperfection
in the text,' and that Eowe would read, *no soul
THE TEMPEST. 5
lost,' and that others would change 'soul' to 'loss,'
or 'soil,' or 'foil.' I feel sure that the learned
expositor cannot really approve of these miserable
emendations; I almost wonder that he should have
thought it worth while to mention them at all.
There is no imperfection whatever; there is merely
a change of construction, and that not accidental,
but deliberate and purposed. The ordinary con-
struction would have been, 'There is no soul, no,
not so much as a hair of any of them lost'; but
Prospero, wishing to give ftill prominence to the
marvel, that there had been not only no loss of life,
but no loss of amj kind whatsoever, breaks off after
the words 'There is no soul,' as if, in saying no more
than that, he had not said enough, and, after a
moment's pause, as if deliberating how best to unfold
the full extent of the wonder, he recommences with
quite a new order of words, and a more emphatic
assurance, thus producing an effect far surpassing
any which a more rigid adherence to grammatical
accuracy could have produced. An irregularity like
this — for an imperfection, I repeat, it is not — may
displease those who look a little too much at the frame
and mounting of the picture, and not sufficiently
at the picture itself, but it is a delightful sur-
prise to those who contemplate the work as a
whole, and study the general effect; it is instinct
with animation and life; it is dramaticalhj perfect; we
admire in it the marvellous power of Shakespeare,
6 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
thus to make Prospero command not only the
elements, but also the grammar.
I have no wish to attempt to write a dissertation
on the prosody of Shakespeare — a subject intolerable
to all but a few of the most insatiable thirsters after
knowledge — but, when we are told ex cathedra that a
line must be scanned in one particular way, which
quite consistently with Shakespearian usage admits
of being scanned in no less than four different ways,
I may be pardoned, if I digress for a moment to say
just a passing word on 'such a dry subject as metre.
I declare, then, that the 53rd line of Act I, Sc. 2,
may be scanned in the following fourfold fashion —
either thus,
Twelve ye | ar since, \ Miranda, | twelve ye | ar since,
where 'year,' each time that it occurs, is tantamount
to a dissyllable; or thus,
Twelve ye | ar since, | Miran | da, twelve | year since,
where on one occasion only 'year' is used dissylla-
bically; or thus,
Twelve | year since, | Miran ] da, twelve [ year since,
where in the first instance only Hwelve' is a
dissyllabic — either actually so, the letter lo being of
the nature of a vowel, or virtually so, because of the
length of time, which it is necessary to pause upon
the word, in order to give it its full and proper
emphasis; or lastly thus,
Twelve I year since, | Miranda, | twelve [ year since,
where in both instances * twelve' has a dissyllabic
THE TEMPEST. 7
value. Seeing then that we have a right of way by
four different roads, I protest against any attempt
to interfere with or infringe this our fourfold liberty.
From a question of prosody I pass to one of
accidenee in the same Act and Scene, lines 172-174,
where in the 'Globe' Shakespeare we find
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princesses can that have more time
For vainer liours and tutors not so careful.
But ' princesse,' or ^princess' is the word of the Folios;
why, then, change to 'princesses' ? A plural noun, it
will be said, is required; but, according to Sydney
Walker's rule, "the plural of substantives ending in
se,-sSi ce, are found without the usual addition of s
or es, in pronunciation at least, although in many
instances the plural suffix is added in printing, where
the metre shows it is not to be pronounced." But
here the plural suffix is not added, yet they add it ;
the metre, so far from requiring it, rejects it, yet
notwithstanding they add it. He who in ' King
Henry V,' Act V, 2, 28, did not scruple to write,
Your mightiness on both parts best can witness,
where * mightinesses ' would have been as ill-sounding
as it would have been inconvenient, was content, I
cannot doubt, to write 'princess' here, where the
plural termination is certainly not a metrical necessity.
For my own part, 1 have a strong suspicion that there
are more lines than this in Shakespeare, where the
plural ending has been tacked on by the copyist, to
the lengthening of the metre unnecessarily.
8 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
In Act I, 2, 306-307, we have an instance of what
I cannot but call injudicious annotation ; the Folio
has
the strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.
Yet the Cambridge editors would like to read ^strange
heaviness in me ' ! Surely these learned men must
have been drowsing. The accommodation of sound
to sense, as it is generally called, is a literary artifice
perfectly familiar to all the great poets both of
ancient and modern times. It would have been
strange if Shakespeare had not occasionally availed
himself of it in a species of composition in which
of all others it is strikingly telling. He who
admirably adapts both words and matter to the
various characters whom he introduces, making a
king speak like a king, a priest like a priest, a clown
like a clown, sometimes also makes the words them-
selves more expressive by the manner in which he
arranges them — by the metrical value which he
attaches to them : thus in the line in ' King Eichard
III,' Act III, 7, 240,
Long live Eichard, England's royal king,
as we pause upon ' long,' we observe the length that
the acclaimers affected to wish for Eichard's reign,
and at the same time we satisfy the metre ; again in
the line in ' King Eichard II,' Act I, 3, 118,
Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down,
as we linger on the first word, we make the stay
THE TEMPEST. 9
that the king commanded ; and so in the line which
commences with that drowsy word, ^Heaviness in
me,' the poet admirably expresses the comatose
feeling that had crept over Miranda under Prospero's
magic charms, so that, even after the mighty wizard
had bid her wake, we seem still to hear the
magnetized maiden's sleepy tone. The rhythm here
echoes the sense.
I have hitherto in every instance without exception
stuck fast to the reading of the Folio, but I am now
going to propose an alteration not indeed in the
words, but in the arrangement of the words, in
Ariel's song. Act I, 2, 376-86, for which I must
own I have neither Folio warrant, nor commentators'
authority, yet still, I fancy, sense and reason and
probability in my favour. The song is thus set
down in the * Globe ' Shakespeare :
Ariel's Sotig.
Come unto these yellow sands.
And then take hands :
Courtsied when you have and kiss'd
The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there ;
And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.
Burthen, \dispersedly.'] Hark, hark !
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark :
Bow-wow.
Ari, Hark, hark ! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.
10 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Now was this the song as the author originally
constructed and eventually left it? Was this his
arrangement, this his termination of it ? Is it
possible that the last line formed any part of it at
all ? Has it not rather been tacked on by some
transcriber or typographer, who either did not think,
or did not know, what he was doing ? For my own
part, I am not so surprised that it should have crept
into the text, as that it should have been permitted
so long to continue there ; that it should not have
been challenged, should not even have been suspected
by a single one of the numerous critics, whose names
figure in the footnotes of the Cambridge Shakespeare,
and who have not been backward with their offers of
emendation in other parts of Shakespeare. Yet the
oracles are dumb ; the vigilance of Theobald is
eluded for once. For it is surely neither modern
English, nor Shakespearian English, nor English at
all — it exceeds even the large licence of poetry — to
say, ' I hear the strain of chanticleer cry ' ! * Strain
of chanticleer ' is enough in all conscience ; ' cnj*
added is needlessly — I had almost said, is nonsens-
ically added. It needs not, however, be obliterated ;
it has a place proper to it, but not in the song ; it
was in all probability a stage-direction ; had it been
inclosed by brackets, the confusion would not have
happened. * Cock-a-diddle-dow ' is the cry of the
fowl, not the spirit's imitation of it.
THE TEMPEST. 11
If it be objected tliat the bark of the watch- dogs
is a part of the song, and that it is but reasonable
that the crowing of the cock should be so too, I reply
that the latratus canum, both in the first and in the
second instance, is as distinctly extra-metric, as is
the cry of chanticleer. And, as touching the rhyme,
are we to suppose that the second ' Bow-wow '
rhymes to the first, and * Cock-a-diddle-dow ' to
both ? The couplet
Hark, hark !
The watch-dogs bark,
is complete in itself ; to add ' Bow-wow ' to each
line is to disarrange both. Observe the latter part
of the song ;
Full fathom five thy father lies ;
Of his bones are coral made ;
Those are pearls that were his eyes :
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell :
Burthen. Ding-dong.
Ari. Hark ! now I hear them, — Ding-dong, bell.
Here it is manifest that 'Ding-dong, bell' rhymes to
* knell.' The intermediate 'Ding-dong' has nothing
whatever to rhyme to it. It is clearly extra metrum.
Well then, this intermediate 'Ding-dong,' so
distinctly extra-metric, justifies me in treating 'Bow-
wow ' in a precisely similar manner. Grant this,
12 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and we have nothing for * Cock-a-dicldle-dow ' to
rhyme to, and, I may add, we want nothing, if we
arrange the passage thus :
Come unto these yellow sands.
And then take hands ;
Courtsied when you have and kisa'd
The wild waves whist,
Foot it featly here and there.
And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear :
Burthen. [dis;persedly.'\ Hark, hark !
[Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark :
[Bow-wow.
Ariel, Hark, hark ! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer.
[Cry. * Cock-a-diddle-dow.'
I shall in all probability be asked, whether I can
produce a single parallel from any other portion of
Shakespeare's works of such an extraordinary blunder
having been committed. A second example, though
it would not conclusively prove the correctness of
my surmise, might at least show that it was not
impossible, and perhaps in the eyes of some might
even give it an air of probability. One such example-
then I am prepared to produce; those who are
better acquainted with the Folios and Quartos than
I can pretend to be will be able to supply other
illustrations. Long after I had written my thoughts
on the passage, my attention was drawn to a note in
the 'Cambridge Shakespeare/ which informs us that
THE TEMPEST; 13.
in the Forester's song in 'As You Like It,' Act IV,
2, 11, — which, as it is printed in the Globe edition,
commences thus,
What shall he have that killed the deer ?
His leather skin and horns to wear.
Then sing him home ;
\_The rest shall lear this lurden —
the words 'Then sing him home, the rest shall
bear this burthen ' are printed in the Folios as part
of the song. Theobald first gave 'The rest shall
bear this burden' as a stage-direction, whereas
Knight, Collier, Dyce, take the whole to be a stage-
direction. So then the mishap which I contend has
befallen Ariel's song is neither without pajcallel nor
destitute of credibility.
I proceed to dilate on another passage at the very
end of Act I, Sc. 2, lines 486-491, which is by no
means unencumbered with difficulty. Ferdinand
thus speaks,
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel.
The wreck of all my friends, nor this man's threats
To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,
Might I but through my prison once a day
Behold this maid.
We seem here to be listening to a man who knows
what he wants to say, but has a difficulty in saying
it. His affirmations and his negations are at cross
purposes; he contradicts himself, and confuses us.'
May not the poet have intended the confusion, in
order to mark the change which all of a sudden had
14 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
come over Ferdinand ? The magician had motioned
with his wand, and the prince confesses that he is
reduced to impotence.
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
What wonder, if, thus spell-bound, his ideas, though
upon the whole intelligible, are a little incoherently
expressed; his language lacks its usual grammatical
precision. His speech bewrays him; he is not the
man that he was. The poet violates the law of
grammar for the higher law of his art. From a
man cTonfused what can we expect but confused
utterances? This is quite as fair a way of dealing
with the complication, as to say, as some do, that
*nor is' a misprint for 'and' or for *or,' or that
Shakespeare forgat himself, and, after beginning to
express himself in one way, ended by expressing
himself in a totally different way.
There is another solution, however, possible, and
some may think more probable* In most languages,
the English language among others, it occasionally
happens that, where the conjunctional expression
* neither .. nor' has place, the first negative is
omitted, and has to be mentally supplied by the
reader. Thus we have in 1 Henry VI, Act I, 2,
142-43,
Helen, the mother of great Constantine,
Nor yet St. Philip's daughters, were like thee;
and in 'Cymbeline,' Act Y, 1, 28,
And thus, unknown.
Pitied nor hated, to the face of peril
Myself I'll dedicate.
THE TEMPEST. 15
Sometimes, though more rarely, but one negative is
expressed, where ordinarily we should have three, as
in 'A Lover's Complaint,' 264,
Vow, bond, nor space,
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine ;
Daniel, as quoted in Dr. Johnson's Dictionary,
Power, disgrace, nor death could aught avail
This glorious tongue thus to reveal thy heart.
Now let us suppose that in this passage in the
* Tempest' we have an instance — a bold instance, if
you like — of this undoubted English idiom. Whereas
a prose-writer would have said, ^neither my father's
loss, nor the weakness which I feel, nor the wreck of
all my friends, nor this man's threats are but light'
• — that is, are otherwise than light — 'to me,' the
poet, availing himself of a known idiom, obscure
enough to indicate that the person represented had
lost his self-possession, but not so obscure as to
leave the hearer in the dark as to the meaning
intended to be conveyed, omits all but the last
negative, the presence of which idiomatically
excuses the absence of the rest. Seeing that
Shakespeare frequently accumulates negatives where
we should only allow one, it would not be surprising
if he occasionally reverted to the opposite idiom,
and were sometimes as parsimonious, as he is at
other times profuse.
There is a hitch too, through the unexpected
intervention of the preposition 'at,' in some lines
spoken by Sebastian in Act II, 1, 130-31,
16 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
You were kneel'd to and importuned otherwise
By all of us, and the fair soul herself
Weigh'd between loathness and obedience, at
Which end of the beam should bow.
What would be more easy than to cut down this
troublesome little word, which stands in our way?
And this is exactly what some would do. But the
fair and upright critic will refuse to resort to
such a murderous proceeding, until at any rate he
has assured himself that he has reason and justice
on his side. In days gone by prepositions were
frequently used, where now we should not think of
using them; and those were selected for use, which
nowadays would not be selected. Such lines as
I envy at their liberty,
' King John ' Act III, 4, 73 ;
To have a godly peace concluded of,
' 1 Henry VI,' Act V, 1, 5 ;
Let your highness
Command upon me,
'Macbeth' Actlll, 1, 17;
To whose sound chaste winds obey,
' The Phoenix and The Turtle ; '
would be rejected now as out of date and barbarous.
And so in the ' Tempest ' a modern poet would have
written, 'To weigh which end of the beam should
bow,' but Shakespeare's age tolerated the interpolation
of the preposition 'at,' upon which the noun-
sentence, 'which end o' the beam should bow,'
depends. Thus the subject of ihe verb * should bow '
THE TEMPEST. 17
is plainly 'wliicli end o' the beam,' and we must not
be snared to midcrstand 'she' with Malone, or 'it'
with Mr. Aldis Wright, much less listen to the more
violent proposals of less discreet critics. Every lout
in the theatre in Shakespeare's day would have
swallowed as a gnat, what all the literati of later
days have strained at as a camel.
Illiterate and brutal as Caliban was, I cannot think
that there is much amiss with the language used by
him in Act II, 2, 15, 16,
Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me
For bringing wood in slowly,
where the Cambridge editors would substitute
*sent' for 'and.' But the conjunction 'and' has a
great variety of uses in the plays of Shakespeare —
in the English language. Witness such passages as
Act II, 1, 252, of this play.
She that from whom
We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue ;
where, by the way, Mr. Spedding, unable to tolerate
the loose and inartistic but by no means impossible
expression, 'she that from whom,' had recourse to
a change of punctuation, which, though it has been
accepted by some editors, seems to me to be neither
urgently needed, nor likely to be correct; also Act
III, 3, 56,
the never-surfeited sea
Hath cans' d to belch up you, and on this island ;
18 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
* Merry Wives of Windsor,' Act III, 5, 72-78,
Master Brook comes and at his heels a rabble... «w^,
forsooth, to search his house for his wife's love.
* Midsummer Night's Dream,' Act II, 1, 192,
And here am I, and wode within this wood.
Caliban's 'and' may very well be let alone.
As touching Act III, 1, 15, where the first Folio
reads
Most busy lest, when I doe it,
the other Folios having 'least' for *lest,' the
Cambridge editors tell us that, as none of the
proposed emendations can be regarded as certain,
they have left the reading of Fi, though it is
manifestly corrupt. The spelling 'doe,' they add,
makes Mr. Spedding's conjecture 'idlest' for 'I doe
it ' more probable.
For my part, I do not like Mr. Spedding's
conjecture at all. If the text has not been imperfectly
executed, the only meaning that the words will
bear as we have them — and it is a meaning that
it seems to me just possible that they may bear — is
that Ferdinand represents himself as at once most
busy, and least busy — a comma will have to be
placed after ' busy,' and ' busy ' will have to be
understood after ' least ' — most busy, because of the
quantity of logs which he has to pile; least busy,
because, when he does it, he is revived by the
thought of Miranda on whose account he undergoes
the task-work. In 'Midsummer Night's Dream,*
THE TEMPEST; 19
Act V, 1, 105, the superlatives are similarly opposed,
and in similar juxtaposition ;
In least speak most to my capacity.
I at one time thought that ' busiliest ' had originally
stood, where * busy lest ' now stands — a mode of
solving the problem, which I find has occurred to
others before me; but this uncouth superlative,
which might be placed in the same category as
* proudlier ' in * Coriolanus,' and ' easiliest ' in
* Cymbeline,' I cannot now regard with any favour.
I am disposed to deal more summarily with the text.
I am confident that the copyist wrote ' most busy '
by mistake, and, becoming conscious of it, too late
added ' lest ' — which the other Folios show was
intended for * least' — in its tvrong place after 'busy,'
and then omitted to erase * most,' so that we have
both the wrong word and the right word in the
text — the right word unfortunately in the wrong
place — * most busy least,' when we should have
Least busy, when I do it,
Ferdinand saying that, when actually engaged m his
log-piling work, he is least busy, because of the
love-thoughts which that work suggested.
Such then is my ultimatum, and such also I find
was Pope's conclusion, though, by what process of
reasoning he arrived at it, I have not been able to
ascertain.
20 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Is it a mere accident that by a slightly different
arrangement in Act III, 3, 49-51, we can secure a
rhyming couplet ? *
I will stand to and feed, although my last :
No matter, since I feel the best is past.
Brother, my lord the Duke, stand to, and do as we.
But we need not be punctilious about what is rather
a question of form than of matter.
Before I leave the troubled waters of the * Tempest,'
I will just let down the sounding line at Act IV, 1,
61, where two epithets have caused no little
agitation : but may not
Thy banks with inoned and tivilled brims
be the poet's way of describing a neat and well
made hedge ? If, as Henley thought, ' pioned '
refers to the digging and facing — and the opinion
should not have been received with such scorn by
some — ' twilled ' may well refer to the ordering and
interlacing the branches along the hedge. The
reverse of the picture we have in lung Henry V,
Act V, 2, 42-44,
her hedges even-pleach'd.
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair.
Put forth disorder'd twigs.
A comparison between the two passages, presented
in parallel columns, if it does not confirm, will not
invalidate the interpretation which I have suggested.
• Note : I find tliat this has been already noticed by Mason.
THE TEMPEST.
*THE TEMPEST.'
'KINa HENRY V.'
1.
rich leas
1. vineyards
2.
turfy mountains
2. hedges even-pleacKd
8.
flat meads
3. fallow leas
4.
lanJcs tvith pioned and
hvilled Iritns
4. et^m meads
5.
broom-groves
6.
pole-dipt vineyards
7.
sea-marge
21
In the 164th Hne of this same scene Theobald was
in all probability right, when he proposed to read
Come with a thought. I thank you : — Ariel, come.
Even if we do not change * thee ' into * you,' as he
did, we should certainly punctuate, as he did, in
which case *thee' must be taken as referring to
Ferdinand only.
22 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VEKONA.
The difficulties which confront ns in *The Two
Gentlemen Of Verona' are for the most part of a
geographical character, and they are of such
exceptional magnitude, that they have baffled every
effort which has been made hitherto to bring them
into harmony with the rest of the play. Having
recently made a fresh attempt to explore them, I
propose to state as succinctly as I can the results of
my observations, and I shall leave it to those who
are competent judges to say, how far I have succeeded
in breaking the ice, and opening a track which may
be safely followed by future investigators.
There are three well-known passages, where the
obstacles to progress are seemingly insurmountable.
In Act II, 5, 2, Speed welcomes Launce to Padua,
when there is not a doubt that they were both in
Milan.
In Act III, 1, 81, the Duke of Milan, while con-
versing with Valentine in Milan, speaks of a lady in
* Verona here'
In Act V, 4, 129, Valentine declares to Thurio,
who was a citizen of Milaiit that, if once again he
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 23
laid claim to Silvia, Verona should not hold him,
whereas it is thought that he should have said that
Milan should not.
"What are we to make of these seeming contra-
dictions? Are we to say that they are errors? and,
if errors, errors of the copyist, or errors of the author?
or, if not errors, how are we to explain them?
Choose which line of defence we will, we shall have
enough to do to make good our position.
Let us suppose that a transcriber made the first-
mentioned blunder — that he set down Padua, when
Milan was black as ink before his face : is it likely
that he would have made two more Geographical
blunders in a play, in the rest of which he has done
his work upon the whole so exceedingly well, that he
has left the critics hardly any thing to fight about ?
"We should have expected either more accuracy in
the topography, or less accuracy in the other matter.
We will suppose, however, that geography was a
weak point of his ; the worst part of the tangle yet
remains ; he could not have made the second and
the third errors without deliberately tampering with
the text, Milan and Yerona not being metrically
interchangeable. Now to alter a line, or to make a
fresh one, is not a thing to be done offhand; at any
rate, it is not exactly the task that we should imagine
that a copyist would without any apparent object set
himself. And yet in this case we are asked to believe
that in two separate instances he has either altered
24 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the original line, or composed a fresh one, and that
he has done it so capitally, that, but for the bad
geography, we should not have known that the lines
were not Shakespeare's own. I cannot believe that
a copyist would have attempted any such thing, or
that, if he attempted it, he would so well have
executed it. A simpleton would not have left us
such good lines ; a prudent and cai'eful copyist should
not have left such bad geography. Patchwork is
usually easily discoverable. It is not easy to detect
it here. I reject, therefore, the theory, that the
mistakes, if mistakes they are, were made, at least
all of them, in the copying or the printing.
Were they, then, made by the author? This
seems to me to be even more improbable. It is true
tliat Shakespeare has not been always accurate in his
geography, but he has not been inconsistent in his
inaccuracy ; he has not in one and the same play
contradicted himself; he has not, for example, in one
Act made Bohemia an inland, in another Act a mari-
time, country. This I contend that a dramatist of
Shakespeare's brilliant genius, comprehensive know-
ledge, marvellous general accuracy, and uncommon
power could not have done. To geographical
accuracy a dramatist is not bound ; to geographical
consistency he is. This distinction it is essential to
bear in mind. If, then, the names of places set down
in the passages I have indicated in the 3rd and in the
5th Acts of ' The Two G-entlemen Of Yerona ' were set
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 25
down by Shakespeare, depend upon it, they admit of
being explained. We will suppose, however, that
Shakespeare set them down, and set them down by
mistake — that he overlooked two glaring contra-
dictions in the composition, in the transcription, in
the rehearsals, in the representation of the play. He
lived in an age, which, so to speak, was dramatically
educated. Among his audience were many who
were intelligent, many who were able to criticize —
some who were disposed to be captious and censorious.
Were there none among the actors, were there not
many among the playgoers, sharp enough to detect
at once such palpable incongruities ? Say they
passed one night ; could they have passed night after
night ? Would not some friend have whispered
them ? some enemy have noised them abroad ?
Shakespeare corrected, revised, recast many of his
plays; would he have left blots such as these, if he had
made them ? Where else in any single play of his can
we find such dramatic impossibilities? These are
egregious errors : err Shakespeare might, but not to
the extent that these errors would imply. And if the
play had been a very complicated one, if there had
been a constant shifting of the scene to a number of
different places, we might have allowed for a slight
lapse or two, though hardly then for three serious
blunders ; but, when the play is so extremely simple,
and the scenes are laid, if we exclude the forest
scene, in two places, and two places only, namely
26 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Milan and Yerona, no one who was not either very
stupid, or habitually careless, could have gone so far
out of the way. In every other portion of the play
the topography is just as it should be : where Milan
should be, there we have Milan; where Yerona,
there Yerona. The author's general geographical
accuracy forbids us to believe that he faltered in
these three particular instances. A skilful composer
could not leave in a piece of music three discordant
notes.
Is it possible, then, that these so-called blunders
may not, save perhaps one of them, be blunders at
all, but correct copies from the author's correct MS ?
For to this corner we are now driven, and it would
seem to be our last and only standing-ground.
I acknowledge that I am not prepared to. defend
the first geographical inaccuracy. If Speed's
* Welcome to Padua ' were executed by Shakespeare,
I am positive that it would admit of being explained
somehow; but the only explanation that I can
conceive possible is that, the moment Speed saw
Launce, he began to play the fool, shouting out the
name of a city in the very opposite direction to that
to which they had come, viz. Padua, which lay to the
East, rather than Milan, which lay to the West of
Yerona ; to which Launce paid no manner of heed,
being too much taken up with a thought of a visit to
the tavern at Speed's expense. It is even just
possible that Padua was lugged in for the sake of an
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OP VERONA. 27
execrable pun on the word, to which Launce
promptly responded, when he claimed that * certain
shot should be paicV I do not, however, really
believe that Padua ever blotted the author's MS ; I
believe it to have been an after-insertion by another
hand ; I pronounce it a gross blunder. It may be
accounted for in this way. Launce no sooner heard
the word * Welcome ' drop from Speed's lips, than
without giving him time to utter a syllable more, if
at least he intended to utter more, he took him up
smartly, cavilling at a word, which had no mean-
ing to him, unless it were accompanied with the
rattle of ale-glasses. The passage, then, I take it,
originally stood thus, * Launce, by mine honesty !
welcome,' or, ' welcome to — .' The name of the
place was purposely omitted ; but those who took
upon them to revise Shakespeare's plays could not
understand the reason of the omission ; they filled
up the void, but filled it up badly, inserting Padua,
when they should have inserted Milan, "VVhy they
should have inserted Padua, which is not so much
as once mentioned in the play, we can only
conjecture. Perhaps the learned dons had in their
minds the famous university of Padua, whither they
fancied at the moment that the young Italians had
come to pursue their studies ; perhaps Verona and
Padua were so intimately associated in their minds
from their occurring repeatedly in ' The Taming Of
Tne Shrew,' that they made Valentine here, as
28 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Petrucchio there, come from Verona to Pacha, rather
than, as they should have clone, from Verona to
Milan ; perhaps it was a mere fit of mental absence,
for which, however, we must not hold either the
transcriber or the printer, much less the author,
responsible.
Having thus obliterated the first of the
topographical difficulties, I proceed to an examination
of the second, which is much more pronounced and
enigmatical ; for it is interwoven with the metre ; it
holds its place easily, and as it were by right. Yet
how is it possible that it can be right ? The Duke
of Milaiiy speaking to Valentine, evidently in Milan,
says —
There is a lady in Vero^m here I
Did the Duke mean that there was a Veronese lady
sojourning in Milan ? or that the lady dwelt in a
Veronese quarter of the city ? But neither of these
explanations will be accepted as satisfactory. Did
he, then, lest haply he should arouse too early
Valentine's suspicion, and so defeat his own object,
which was first to blind, and then to trap him, 'put
the case hypotJietically, so far as the place ivas concerned;
just as sometimes we, not caring to particularize the
place which we have in our minds, substitute for it
for the nonce some other place — 'let us call it,' we
say, 'Paris, or Berlin, or Vienna, any place you like'
— and so the Duke, affecting to ask Valentine's
advice in his imaginary love-fix, put the case
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 29
hypothetically — if it were Yerona, what would
Valentine do ? There might have been deep and
crafty policy in laying the scene at Verona; for, if
Valentine had scented danger, he might have pleaded
inability to give an opinion as to what had best be
done in a city in which he was a comparative
stranger; his own native place being chosen, he had
no alternative but to walk straight to the pit into
which he fell. In a got-up story, in which, so far as
the Duke was concerned, there was not an atom of
truth from beginning to end, and the object of which
was, at any rate in the first instance, to throw dust
into the eyes of Valentine, some allowance may
be made for a certain amount of unreality — of
mystification.
But I have yet another, and, if am not mistaken,
a stronger string to my bow. At any rate the view
of the matter which I am now about to put forward
is entitled to consideration.
Just after the Duke had been informed by Proteus
of Valentine's intended elopement, he espied
Valentine hurrying away as fast as he could; on his
asking him the object of his haste, Valentine replied
that he merely wanted to despatch a letter of no
great importance to his friends in Verona. A letter
he had in his possession sure enough, and anxious
enough he was that it should be safely delivered;
hut his Verona was situated near the very spot that he
was then treading with his feet; it was in the Duke's
30 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
palace in Milan; it was (to use now the Duke's own
words) 'm Verona here'; and the friend, to whom the
letter was addressed, was a lady in that same
Pseudo- Verona; it was no other than Silvia, the
Duke's own daughter. The Duke was perfectly-
aware of all this : when, then, Valentine, in the most
innocent manner in the world asked,
What would your Grace have me to do in this,
and the Duke answered.
There is a lady in Verona here,
he sounded the veiy depths of Valentine's deceit;
he answered Valentine according to Valentine's own
geography, he echoed back to him his lie — Verona
— with a flash of truth in it — here. If Valentine
did not at once perceive that mischief was brewing,
it was not long ere he discovered it; meanwhile the
Duke's eye, the Duke's tone, the Duke's manner, as
he named a geographical impossibility, a geographical
absurdity, fairly shook the house with laughter.
Wlien at last the letter dropped from the cloak, and
the Duke read it aloud, and it became manifest that
Valentine's Verona was in Milan, and the friend he
was corresponding with was a lady there, then was
felt the full force and fun of that mysterious
announcement, that extraordinary piece of Cloud -
cuckooism to fall from the lips of a Duke of Milan
in Milan, proved, however, to be strictly and
strikingly true — ' Verona here.' To find the place,
we must not look into Keith Johnson's Atlas, but
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 31
into Valentine's love-map. It may serve as some
little confirmation of this view of the question,
that in no other part of this Act is there
the slightest confusion between the two places, but
only where the Duke is engaged in unearthing
Valentine's secret.
I now come to the last, I had almost said the
least, of the three geographical puzzles, where
Valentine, indignant that Thurio should lay claim to-
Silvia, tells him that, if he did it again, * Verona
should not hold him.' It is assumed that
Shakespeare meant Valentine to say, that Thurio
should never see his own city alive again ; and, if
such had been the poet's intention, undoubtedly we
should have expected some such words as Theobald
has proposed, ' Milan shall not behold thee.' But
there is no occasion for such licentious emendation;
we have merely to re- arrange the stops — to substitute
a semi-colon or a comma for the present full stop after
* Verona shall not hold thee,' in order to show how
closely that sentence is bound up with the words
that follow, and then it becomes merely a question
of what meaning should be given to the verb *hold.'
* Verona shall not hold thee ' may mean * Verona
shall not receive you within the circuit of its walls,'
or * Verona shall not be a stronghold to thee,' or
* Verona shall not keep thee in check.' Take the
last meaning first, which is possibly the least likely.
*Hold' would be used in the sense of 'withhold,'
3'2 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
* restrain,' ' clieck ' — the simple verb for the
compound, more Shakespeariano. *Do not fancy,'
Valentine would say, ' that I shall look to the fortifi-
cations of Verona to keep thee at a distance from me;
lo! I, I, Valentine, alone and undefended, pit myself
against thee, and here, yes, here, and not in Verona,
aye, and at this very instant, I challenge thee to
the combat.'
Or, if the meaning rather be, ' Verona shall not
serve as a stronghold to thee,' Valentine supposes
that Thurio might flee to that, the nearest inhabited
and fortified city, in the hope of finding there a
refuge and hiding-place.
Or it may be simply, * Verona shall not receive
you within its compass ; I shall not wait for you to
follow me thither to prosecute your claim, or to repeat
your insulting interference ; it is not there, it is here
that the matter shall be be decided ' ;
here she stands ;
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.
I suggest these various modes of solving the
problem, without selecting any particular one of
them; it is sufficient if they are possible; the critics
must choose which is the most probable. Perhaps
there was a purposed vagueness in the threat, just
as we hear angry people sometimes cry out, *Let me
catch you there, that's all ' — indicating the spot
where they themselves are usually to be found. This
last difficulty, then, I consider a mere bogey conjured
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OP VERONA. 33
lip by the commentators; we are seared to no
pm-pose. It is true that we may not perceive the
exact shade of meaning which the author intended
should be given to the words, but we may be certain
that he, who, before he wrote this play, had carefully
and successfully adapted several, and was already
beginning to be favourably known as an original
playwright, to whom it was a matter of precious
reputation, as well as of pecuniaiy interest (to say
nothing of his innate love for literary excellence per
se), to observe all the dramatic proprieties — we may
be certain, I say, that he would not have written
carelessly and at random, much less have left a grave
error that a novice could hardly have been guilty of.
There is a difficulty of a totally different kind in
Act V, 4, 82-83, which has given a deal of trouble
to commentators.
When Proteus found himself face to face with
Valentine whom he had deceived and betrayed, and
could no longer conceal his base unnatural conduct,
overwhelmed with shame and remorse, he confessed
his guilt, and implored forgiveness. Valentine,
feeling that such an abandoned transgressor needed
something more than the ordinary 'I forgive you,'
wishing to make him feel that he was forgiven
without stint or grudging, addressed to him, by way
of encouragement, this remarkable assurance,
And that my love may appear plain and free,
All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.
34^ ' HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
These words, which have quite dumbfounclered
the expositors, seem to rae to express not so much
the quantity, as the quahty of the love, which
Valentine promised. Proteus well knew, how deep,
how full, how true, how stedfast had been Valentine's
love for Silvia. Such then was the kind of love
which Valentine assured Proteus he might count on.
In thus giving to Proteus, was he taking from
Silvia? In restoring him, was he renouncing her?
Was he shaking his hand, and wringing her heart ?
Impossible : he was merely giving his penitent
friend the strongest pledge that it was possible for
him to give that bygones should be bygones. But
even supposing that quantity rather than quality of
love were here indicated — no matter. Give as much
as Valentine might to Proteus, he would have no
lack of love for Silvia. There is no bankruptcy in
love. It is inexhaustible as the sea, infinite as
eternity. The more it spreads, the more intense
and immense are its fires. To borrow an illustration
suggested hj the context, the eternal Father, in
restoring to his bosom the returned prodigal, does
not reject from it the unfallen child; he guarantees
to the former all the love that had been his in the
latter^ without detracting aught Jrom the latter^
The multiplication of objects loved is a manifestation
and magnification of love. It may be objected, that
Julia, who swooned immediately she heard the
words, understood tliem otherwise. Possibly soj
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OP VERONA. 35
biit that would not prove that Valentine otherwise
intended them. Here, as elsewhere, e.g.^ in 'Eomeo
and JuHet,' Act III, 5, 95, the poet uses words that
are capable of being understood two ways; the
ambiguity was perhaps necessary at a critical
junctm-e; matters as between Valentine and Proteus
had come to a head, causing immense sensation.
There was need of some startling incident to sustain
the interest, to divert and arrest the attention. The
fainting fit of Julia is a sort of ^Deus ex machina^ —
a special interposition. The ruse succeeds. We
turn without an effort, nay, with eager interest and
curiosity, Trom Valentine and Proteus to Proteus
and Julia. Thus are the threads of the piece all
taken up, and woven together so as to form one
beautiful whole of elaborate and exquisite workman-
ship.
36 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
MEASURE FOR IVIEASURE.
We have hardly read half a dozen lines in
* Measure for Measure,' before we come, at any
rate in the 'Globe' Shakespeare, to a breach in
the text, the vacant space being filled with a number
of dots, the miserable substitutes of not less than
two half lines which are supposed to have been lost.
It is true that there are no dots in the Folios, nor
any traces of any interruption; but the want of a
finite verb, the prolongation of the metre, and a
supposed harshness of rhythm, have led editors to
conclude with Theobald — an excellent, but not an
infallible judge — that the metrical chain has been
broken: accordingly the Duke's opening address is
thus presented to us :
Of government the properties to unfold,
"Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse ;
Since I am put to know that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice
My strength can give you : then no more remains
But that to your sufiiciency
as your worth is able.
Most readers will acquiesce in this arrangement,
without stopping to consider whether it is right or
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 37
not. But the critic may not be so complicont. It is
liis business to strike out the conjectural clots, and
try how the two fragmentary halves will read, as
they appear in the Folios, as a whole. And this is
what first strikes us, that the line of the Folios will
scan; the rhythm may be a little harsh and jumping,
but not more so than in a number of other lines,
which are found in Shakespeare, the soundness of
which has never been contested. As for the line
being an Alexandrine, that can be no solid ground
for rejecting it, Alexandrines being a recognized
portion of Shakespearian versification. If, however,
we are pressed to assign a reason for one being
introduced here, we might plead that it conveys
with more than ordinary solemnity and emphasis
the Duke's estimate of Escalus' high character.
Undoubtedly there is a verb wanting for the clause,
*but that to your sufficiency,' but verbal ellipses are
common both in the dialogue and in the drama, and
if the present instance may not be catalogued with
such examples as
I'll to this gear,
Let him to field,
Come answer not, but to it presently,
I to this fortune that you see me in,
' Comedy of Errors,' Act Y, 1, 355,
Come, Friar Francis, be brief ; only to the plain form of marriage ,
'Much Ado About Nothing,' Act IV, 1, 1,
— the last but one being particularly noticeable for
B8 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
its close and striking resemblance — we may remark
that it is quite in Shakespeare's style to use at times
a common idiom in a slightly uncommon way; a
subtle critic might even argue that there is a special
fitness in the verb being suppressed here; the Duke
on the eve of a hurried departure has no time for
superfluous diction or regular formal grammatical
instructions; his words are brief, or at least as brief
as ducal dignity and the gravity of the occasion
allow. He exhorts Escalus to have recourse to — some
such phrase has to be supplied — his sufficiency, to
the utmost ability of his worth. By 'sufficiency' is
meant intellectual capability, by 'worth' high
character, the two capital qualifications of a civil
governour. To be sure, the adjective 'sufficient' is
used more frequently in this sense than the noun,
yet in 'Winter's Tale,' Cleomenes and Dion are*said
to be of 'stuffed sufficiency,' and compare 'Othello,*
Act I, 3, 224. There is no need, then, to split the
line of the Folios into two separate halves; still less
to discredit the phrase (as has been done very lately)
*I am put to know' — a rare bit of good old English,
which should on no account be disturbed. Perhaps
we are more familiar with the phrase, 'I am given to
know ' ; yet we still speak of ' ^mtting a person up to
a thing,' and in 'Othello,' Act III, 4, 29, Desdemona
says that her loss of the handkerchief, which Othello
had given her,
were enough
To put him to ill thinking.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 39
In Spite, then, of the pages which have heen
written on this passage, to which I am adding one
page more, I see no sufficient reason for distrusting
here the chart of the Folios ; but I am not prepared
to go by the Fohos' chart, as I presume that the
* Globe' editors do, when in Act I, 2, 125, they
make Claudio say,
Thus can the demigod Authority
Make us pay down for our offence by weight
The words of heaven ; on whom it will, it will ;
On whom it will not, so ; yet still 'tis just.
The punctuation here seems to me to be faulty.
*The words of heaven' should not be connected
grammatically with the preceding line; it should
stand independently; any roughness of construction
is amply compensated for by raciness of expression.
Such exclamatory moralizings are conversational — •
are dramatic; there is an ease and offhandedness
about them which is natural. Somewhat in the
same strain are thos6 words in 'The Comedy of
Errors,' Act IV, 4, 45,— these resemblances are
worth observing —
The prophecy like the parrot, * beware the rope's-end.'
A colon, then, should be placed after 'weight,' and
after 'The words of heaven,' a comma, or else a
hyphen should stand.
Nor can there be a question that editors are i;jght,
when they refuse to believe that Shakespeare,
notwithstanding a habit he has of occasionally
mixing together different metaphors, could possibly
40 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
have written 'curbs to headstrong weeds,' m the
20th Hne of the 3rd Scene.
We have strict statutes and most biting laws,
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,
"Which for this nineteen years we have let slip.
Theobald, I beheve, was the first to suggest 'steeds/
— an obvious and by no means impossible correction,
which has been end,orsed by many editors ; no one
has whispered the simpler word ' deeds ' ; yet, when
I come across such passages as
The reverence of your highness curls me from giving reins and
spurs to my free speech.
and in ' The Taming of the Shrew,'
I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour,
I cannot but think that the metaphor, which is
dropt in * speech ' and in 'humour,' may have been
dropt also in 'deeds,' which, and not 'steeds,' I
reckon that Shakespeare wrote. The insertioi^ ;^ -^
wrong letter, lo for d, is, I need scarcely sn
common printer's error. Here too is a line w
the critics may ponder, where the very wo'> I
favour is found after exactly the same metaphor,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds.
' Troilus and Cressida,' Act II, 2, 0.
Further down in the 3rd Scene, the 42nd and
43rd lines have given a lot of trouble to
commentators ;
I have on Angelo imposed the oflBce ;
Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home.
And yet my nature never in the fight
To do in slander.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 41
The Duke's name and the Duke's nature are evidently
here placed in contradistinction to each other, his
*name representing his magisterial and judicial
authority which was a terror to evil doers, his
* nature' a byword for kindness and indulgence
which had been too ready to overlook offences.
Things had come to such a pass that a change of
policy was absolutely necessary. The 'name' of
terror must occupy the foreground; the good easy
* nature' must stand back. The Duke had arranged
that the two should be separated; his 'name' he
w^ould leave behind him; his 'nature' he would
carry with him far from the scene of contention.
Angfcio was in ambush in his 'name,' authorized to
act, tvilling to strike. Had the Duhe remained, and
tal:en an active part in the prosecution of offenders ;
hhci he shown that he could not not only pass laws,
. ^jut them in force — that he could dare to strike,
execute, to kill — in a word (and it is the word
ich I believe Shakespeare puts into the mouth of
ti . Duke here, a mild little word, if you like, as the
na'^ure of the Duke was mild, but the significance
ak - comprehensiveness of which cannot be
mistaken) 'to doy he could not have escaped
malignant misrepresentation for having so long
permitted what now he punished. By absenting
himself and empowering Angelo to act in his name,
the blow would be struck, the deed done, yet the
slander avoided. Such I conceive to be the gist af
42 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the passage. With regard to the meaning which I
have given to 'Jo,' we may call to mind such phrases
as *to do him dead' (3 Henry VI), 'do execution on
the watch' (1 Henry VI), and that mysterious
threatening of the witch in 'Macbeth,'
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do 5
and 2 King Henry VI, Act III, 1, 195-96,
My lords, what to your wisdoms seeraeth best.
Do or undo, as if ourself were here ;
and yet again 3 King Henry VI, Act II, 6, 105,
Warwick, as ourself.
Shall do and undo as him pleaseth best.
There are various degrees of punishment, and
various modes of dealing with offenders. To do is
a dark word which sums up all. After i my nature'
the verb ' may be ' must be supplied. Upon the whole,
then, I consider that the difficulty of this passage has
fceen exaggerated. It stands now as it stood even
As the actor intelligently repeated it, giving each
word its proper emphasis, an Elizabethan audience
would 'take the meaning' at once. Was there any
imperfection? Well then, the poet left it to them
*to piece it out with their thoughts.'
In tlie next Scene, — Act I, 4, 30 — many have
stumbled over the half line,
Sir, make me not your story,
and, failing to understand it, would fain have altered
it. But Isabella does not say, ' make me not the
subject of your story,' but 'none of your story-
MEASURE rOR MEASURE. 4S
telling, I pray,' or 'none of yonr story-telling to
me,' as is evident from Lucio's replying, ''Tis true,'
as though, in what she had said to him, she had
expressed a doubt of his veracity. 'Me' is not an
objective case after a factitive verb, but a dative.
We may compare it with such expressions as
Come me to what was done to her ;
Leave me your snatches ;
Villain, I say, knock me here soundly.
' To make a story ' is a phrase which needs neither
explanation nor illustration.
Having removed this stumbling block, I pass to a
passage in Act II, 1, 39, where the question is not as
to the meaning, but as to the exact words in which
that meaning was intended to be conveyed. 'Brakes
of ice ' is the phrase of the Folios ; ' brakes of vice,'
has been suggested as more appropriate and probable:
the change is a small one, involving the addition of
but a single letter, and that letter the letter of all
others most likely to have fallen out after an /:
moreover it supplies an excellent antithesis —
Well, heaven forgive him ! and forgive us all !
Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall :
Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none,
And some condemned for a fault alone.
A miscarriage in the administration of justice is'
the theme descanted on. The lucky undeserved
escape of some is contrasted with the luckless hardly
deserved capture of others ; the latter for a mora slip
44 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
of the foot, a stumble, a fall — 'a fault alone,' as the
text has it — are pounced upon, arrested, arraigned,
condemned, punished; the former run from 'brakes
of — what? Whatever the word be, it is evident that
it should indicate some great and grievous trans-
gression, some heinous sin, the very opposite of *a
fault alone.' Let us remember that it is poetry, and
not prose that we are reading. Why not then * brakes
of ice?" 'Breaks of ice' — I adopt the modern
spelling — brings before us a vast frozen expanse,
with a number of rifts and chasms, traps of death,
pools of destruction, where we should expect not one
fall only, but a succession of them — a drenching at
the very least, if not a drowning — yet there are
some who get off without any such disastrous conse-
quences — without a scar, a bruise — get off at a run.
Miraculous escape, indeed! Now if physical oc-
currences may be used to picture moral haps, how
could we have more vividly represented to us vast
mischief done, vast risks undergone, ruin wrought
for many, with, strange to say! safety to self? This
is what the context demands, and this ' brakes of ice '
supplies. By all means retain it, therefore, neither
obliterating it, nor adding a letter.
I shall next take notice of a passage in Act III, 1,
126-128, where the question is not merely one of dry
grammar, but involves also physiological, not to say
spiritualistic, considerations. In those magnificent
lines, where Claudio, imagining that he had come ta
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 45
the very confines of the grave, shrinks from the dark
outlook, and sums the dreadful possibilities of future
existence, he supposes the following horror,
to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thought
Imagine howling.
What part of speech is * thought,' and what is its
relation to the rest of the sentence? Is it a
participle, or is it a noun? Who are they that
imagine howling? The spirits of the damned? or
others who imagine they hear them howling? The
latter, I take it, in both cases. ' Thought ' is a
singular noun in the nominative case, which by a
Shakespearian licence, of which we are not without
examples, is the subject of the plural verb ' imagine,'
unless it be allowed that the continual recurrence of
the thought gives to a singular noun a plural
signification, or, as a last resort, it be surmised that
the plural termination has been accidently omitted by
the copyist. Anyhow, explain it as you will, * thought'
is the subject of the verb 'imagine.' * Lawless and
incertain thought ' is a periphrasis expressive of the
mental idiosyncracy of lunatics. It is they who fancy
they hear the damned ones howl. This connexion be-
tween the maniac and the demon — a subtle theological
mystery ! a dreadful physiological problem ! — is often
touched by Shakespeare in those of his plays, in
which maniacs, or would-be maniacs figure, — comic-
ally in the ' Comedy of Errors,' tragically in ' King
'4Q HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Lear ' ; but, not to take too wide a range at present,
the passage, to which I wish to draw particular
attention, as bearing more immediately on that which
is now being considered, is in 'Troilus and Cressida,'
Act V, 10, 29,
I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still,
That mouldelh goblins sivift as frenzifs thoughts.
Here, if I am right in tliinking that * mould goblins *
should be supplied after ' frenzy's thoughts,' we have
a striking parallel to Claudio's words, and one which
illustrates the interpretation which I have given of
tliem.
At the end of the third Act there are a score or so
of octosyllabic lines, within the short space of which
we are asked to believe that no less than three pass-
ages are hopelessly corrupt. This is such an unusual
number of errors at such short intervals, that we are
strongly inclined to suspect the judgment of the
critics rather than the accuracy of the copyists. It
is the practice of expositors to tell us, when they are
puzzled for a meaning, that some lines have been
lost. This plea cannot be urged here; the lines
rhyme, and neither the rhyme, nor the rhythm can
reasonably be objected to. Nor can there be any
doubt as to the general drift of the passage :
He who the sword of heaven will bear
Should be as holy as severe,
Pattern in himself to know,
Grace to stand, and virtue go,
can only mean that Heaven's sword-bearer should
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. ^
have a pattern withiii himself of what is right, in
order that he may know what lie ought to do ;
should have grace in order that he may be able ta
stand; should have virtue, in order that he may
make progress, or, in a word, * go.' What then is
objected to ? I suppose it is the insufiiciency of
the words to convey that meaning, the baldness
of the syntax, in fact, the extreme brevity. But
this is hardly a fault at all ; and Shakespeare some-
times, for force and vigour's sake, hesitates not to
carry terseness even to the verge of obscurity. Nor
is it to be wondered, if, where the metre is so short,
the diction should be a little scanted ; the exigency
of the rhyme must be taken into account; in
octosyllabics there is positively not room for a host
of monosyllables ; if there is to be much expression,
there must be some ellipse. Provided the sense is
clear, what matters it if the sjTitax is a little
indistinct ? The licence of omission here is not nearly
as bold as it is in lines of the same length in
* Pericles.' Whether, then, we consider Shakespeare's
general style, or the metrical necessity of this
particular passage, we see no sufficient reason for
fault-finding here. But a little further on, where
we come to the lines,
0, what may man within him hide.
Though angel on the outward side !
How may Hkeness made in crimes,
Making practice on the times,
To draw with idle spiders' strings
Most ponderous and substantial things L
48 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
there does seem something out of joint ; we catch
the sense, but we miss the sequence ; a finite verb
is wanting. Our first impulse is to look at the
sehtence immediately preceding, and borrow, if we
can, a verb for the occasion ; but ' hide ' — the only
verb available — though it just serves, hardly suits.
What then? Admitting this, have we exhausted
every available resource ? Not so : it is a well-
known fact that one verb is sometimes made to serve
for two clauses, which in its strict acceptation
applies only to one of them. The usual plan is to
take out of the verb which is expressed the idea
which is required. We may do so here. ' Dissemble,'
suggested by the verb 'hide,' will answer our
purpose. This is not a Shakespearian peculiarity ;
it is not even a poetical license; it is a perfectly
legitimate literary artifice. So then it was not for
the printer, nor for the transcriber, nor even for the
author, unless he chose to do so, to supply a verb —
it is for the good sense of the reader to borrow one.
Nor is this the only way of getting out of the
difficulty ; there is another equally possible, if not
equally probable; for do but interpose a hyphen
between the preposition ' to ' and the verb * draw,'
and the infinitive is an infinitive no longer; it
becomes a finite verb ; the stone of stumbling is a
stepping stone of progress ; examples of such verbs
abound in Chaucer — in Spenser; the reader will
insist on my showing that Shakespeare was not
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 49
Jiverse to the iiso c^f Mioin; \\cvo (Iumi :iro two
instjuiccs, Olio of tlioiu :i(, nny vnio u\\C(^\\l\o\cviod
and uiicoiitroYortible : 'l\lon;v Wivi^s «>!' W'iiulMor,'
Act IV, 4, 57,
Tlu'ii Id lliom all oiU'ii'rU' liiiii nboiil.
Aiul, fiiiry-likc, Lt)-[)iiicii llui uiiclciiii Lni;;h(..
* rericlcs,' Act lY, C), '2'A,
Now, th(i ^"tula (o-blcHS your lunioiir !
If tliG last-mcntionod luodo of (;.\|)l;i,iiiiii«.j Uio ))nHMnKO
involves tlic iiccc])tjiiico of iin old fiiHliioncd mid now
disused coinpoiuid, it jnusi l)o roiiieiidxudd iJini.
archaisms are of more fre(|iient ocemicnce in tlio
octosyllabic, tlum tlioy jir<; in ilie ordiii;uy
decasyllabic lines.
But I tliiiik I hear tlio critics say, *lf. will not
do; it is too far-f(jtclj(!d, too strainrMi, too ;iM(,i(|ii;iJ,(;d.'
Well then, if tliey will yet bciU" wiili me ;i, 1 1 1,1,1c, I
will start one tlieory more, wliieli lilmJI be liimplc,
easy, unobjectiouable', and iJioroii/dily ,Sliii,k(''i|)c;i,»i;m,
and one ]>y wliicb I for my pnrt lilnill b(; fjniio
willing t]j!it IJje passage hIjuII i;l;uid or fjilK
Although it is tlie custom nowadayii to omit the
preposition ' to ' before tlie inlinilive uiU-.r \vli;if, uxo
called the anxiiiary verl;;;, iMicJi ;i.:-; ' m;iy,' ' r,;uj,'
'will,' and the like, yet in the ' ;ajl,i'jM;iry limes'
tliis orjjJ:-;:-ion was }jy no nje;iri'i jn-,;i,ri;iJJ': ; ;i,;i a
matter of fact, Ihf; si^nj of Ih'; mfmilive waH vcry
frequently in:-.ortcd. Now tShuke;;];euj'e, who ■■,Uui(iii
50 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
intennecliately between the ancients and the
moderns, although in this particular he is
fortunately more frequently at one with us, yet
occasionally sides with them. This will be found to
be mostly the case, where the infinitive precedes
the auxiliary, or where it is separated from it by a
parenthesis, or by a subordinate clause, or by a
succession of subordinate clauses ; where, therefore,
it was deemed advisable, for clearness' sake, to mark
the infinitive by its proper sign. The following
passages will strikingly and sufficiently illustrate
what I have said : * Tempest,' Act III, 1, 61-63,
I would, not so ! — and would no more endttre
This wooden slavery than to suffer
The fiesh-fly blow my mouth.
* Comedy of Errors,' Act V, 1, 14-16,
I wonder much
That you tvouldput me to this shame and trouble,
And, not without some scandal to yourself.
With circumstance and oaths so to deny
This chain which now you wear so openly.
'All's Well That Ends Well,' Act n, 5, 52,
I have spoken better of you than you have or will to deserve, at
my hand.
' 2 Henry VI,' Act II, 1, 127-28,
If thou hadst been born blind, thou miglitst as well have hioivn
all our names as thus to name the several colours we do wear.
* 2 Henry IV, Act I, 2, 213,
To approve my youth further, / tvill not.
. MEASURE FOR MEASURE* 51
*^Troiliis and Cressicia,' Act V, 1, 104,
I will rather leave to see Hector, than not to dog him.
* OtheUo,' Act I, 3, 191,
I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
Pericles, Act II, 5, 16, 17,
She'll wed the stranger knight,
Or never more to view nor day nor light.
These quotations — and more might be added — may
be compared to so many scattered rays, which, when
taken one by one, throw but a pale and doubtful light
over the obscurity of our way, but, when concentrated,
they supply a powerful illuminating body, which
shows up every part clearly and distinctly. With a
change of times forms of speech have changed ; and
what the most sagacious critics have toiled in vain to
discover was apprehended readily and at once in
Shakespeare's time by every blockhead, who could
pay his shilling to secure a seat in the theatre. Nor
should we have remained so long in the darkness of
ignorance, had half as much time been spent in
mastering Shakespeare's style, and marking his
phraseology, as in presupposing corruption, and
busying om-selves in either pulling down, or building
up, each according to the fashion of his own fancy.
The distance of the infinitive from the auxiliary, on
which it depends, explains and excuses the inter-
52 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
position of ' to ' between * may ' and * draw.' The
passage is sound sans crack or flaw.
The Act closes with
So disguise may, by the disguised,
Pay with falsehood false exacting,
And perform an old contracting.
* Disguised ' has been suspected, because * disguise '
immediately precedes. The suspicion is unreason-
able. The repetition is in harmony with the
character of the piece. The play is full of
disguises. Isabella disguised her real intentions,
and promised to meet Angelo, though she never
had any intention of meeting him ; Mariana disguised
herself, and personated Isabella; in this word the
former, in that the latter is probably alluded to. I
am fully aware, however, that the Duke was the dis-
guised figure par excellence of the play ; it was he who
moved behind the scenes, and took his full share in
the development of the plot; he trapped, caught,
and convicted the hypocrite ; through him the old
contract was consummated. If any, therefore, choose
to insist that 'the disguised' points rather to the
Duhe than to Mariana, though I do not myself prefer
that view, I will not take upon myself to say that it
is impossible.
THE COMEDY OP ERRORS. 53
THE COMEDY OF EREOES.
In * The Comedy of Errors ' I should not think it
necessary to say a word on Act I, 1, 37-39,
In Syracusa was I born, and wed
Unto a woman, happy but for me.
And by me, had not our hap been bad,
if the writer of the second FoHo had not, by inter-
polating 'too' after 'by me' in the last line, sown
a suspicion, which has since taken root and
grown, that the metre is defective. But, if defect
there were, it would not be set right by a miserable
expletive. As a matter of fact, there is no defect?*
the line may be scanned as an Iambic Dimeter, or
*our' may pass, as it does sometimes, as a dissyllable,
and then we have a line of the ordinary length.
Nor in Act I, 2, 35-38, where we read
I to the world am hke a drop of water
That in the ocean seeks another drop.
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,
Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself,
is there any need to disturb the text, although Mr.
Spedding has actually been commended for proposing
to put 'in search' in the place of 'unseen;' Mr.
Staunton would change the punctuation to ' Unseen
54 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
inquisitive!' while another ingenious critic cuts
* forth' in half, and, leaving the preposition 'for' at
the end of the line, tacks on the definite article to
the beginning of the next. Strange hallucination!
* Unseen' is a participial adjective, used absolutely,
and refers not to the drop that seeks, but to the fellow
drop that is sought; 'his fellow having been unseen
by him,' or, to put it more colloquially, 'without
having seen his fellow, in his inquisitivencss, he
confounds himself.' A person, not intimately ac-
quainted with Shakespeare's style, will hesitate to
believe that a participle can stand thus abrupt and
isolated, without any thing for it to refer to, save
what the wit of the reader can supply from the
context; I can only refer him at present to King
Eichard II, Act III, 2, 168, where 'humour'd' stands
in the same bare fashion; but I promise him, that,
as I proceed with my examination of the several
plays, I will point out, and comment on, not one
instance only, but several most remarkable ones,
which will satisfy him that the way, in which I
propose to construe 'unseen' here, is neither un-
precedented nor impossible.
Having disposed of these two small outlying
questions, I will proceed to grapple with a real
difficulty in Adriana's speech in Act II, 1, 103-115,
in the latter part of which it is certain that some
explanation, some think that some emendation is
absolutely required.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 55
I will leave it to others to estimate tlie worth of
Pope's extraordinary version, which is chiefly remark-
able for its bold violation of the text of the original
copies ; it will be sufficient to ponder the more modest
proposals of soberer emendators, who for the most
part confine themselves to the single alteration of
*where' Ho wear' in the 112th line ; though Theobald
in the same line, to make the sense clear, and the
metre complete, after ' and ' introduced ' so.' The
whole passage is thus set down in the * Globe '
Shakespeare :
Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense,
• I know his eye doth homage otherwhere :
Or else what lets it but he would be here?
Sister, you know he promised m^e a chain ;
"Would that alone, alone he would detain.
So he would keep fair quarter with his bed 1
I see the jewel best enamelled
Will lose his beauty ; yet the gold bides still.
That others touch, and often touching will
t Wear* gold : and no man that hath a name.
By falsehood and corruption doth it shame.
Since that my beauty cannot please his eye,
I'll weep what's left away, and weeping die.
Now here there are three distinct questions which
present themselves for consideration. In the first
place, is any addition to the line necessary for the
metre's sake — in other words, has a monosyllable
fallen out which originally stood there ? Secondly,
♦ will, Where Ff.
56 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
slioiilcl * wear ' of the emendators supersede ' whtpre *■
of the FoHos ? ThnxUy, what is it that Adriana
under the veil of metaphor really says ?
The first question I answer in the negative ;
nothing has been omitted ; nothing needs be added ;
the line may remain precisely as we find it, and yet
be pronounced metrically complete; How can this
be ? I answer that ' gold ' may be ranked among
that numerous class of words, which, either from
the length of time that it takes to pronounce them,
or from a dissyllabic sound, which they seem to
have, when distinctly pronounced, or from the
emphasis which properly belongs to them in the
position in which they stand, are permitted to have,
• so far as the metre is concerned, a dissyllabic value ;
this is known to be the case with such words as
* fire,' ' hour,' * sour,' ' year,' ' near,' ' aches.' I think
I shall be able to show that the same privilege is
enjoyed by * cold,' and if by ' cold,' why not by
* gold ' also ?
Now it is not a little singular that there are no
less than four lines in Shakespeare, having ' cold ' in
them, which lack their full quantum of syllables, and
on that account have been sought to be corrected by
emendators, or have been stigmatized by them as
incorrigible. Take for example the following lines
from 'All's Well That Ends Well, Act I, 1, 115,
Virtue's steely bones
Look bleak i' the cold wind ; withal, full oft we see
Cold wisdom waiting on superfluous folly.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 57
Here the second line is too short to be an Alexandrine,
too long to be a line of the ordinary measure ; but
let ' cold ' be tantamount to a dissyllable, and we
have a capital Alexandrine, which, so far as poetic
expression is concerned, cannot be surpassed. It
may be objected that ' cold ' on its second occurrence
is used strictly as a monosyllable, but the objection
will not hold ; for Shakespeare does not scruple to
use the same word in two different ways even in the
same line.
Consider next the following line from I Henry IV,
Act I Y, 3, 7,
You speak it out of fear and cold heart.
Here again we have the word ' cold,' and significantly
enough, along with it, a seeming defect of metre.
This instance is in some respects remarkable ; for it
might easily be supposed — nay, it has actually been
conjectured — that the indefinite article has been
accidentally omitted before ' cold ' ; but against this
theory it may be urged that in another part of the
play, where the same phrase occurs — this time,
however, in prose, not in verse — where, therefore,
the presence or absence of the article can be of no
metrical moment, and where perhaps we should
rather have expected it than otherwise, the article
does not appear ; the words are in all respects just
as they are here. I refer to that part of Hotspur's
soliloquy, where he says, ' in very sincerity of fear
58 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEAEE.
and cold heart.' I think it probable, therefore, that we
should in this, as in the former instance, lengthen
the metre not by introducing the article, but by
treating 'cold' as virtually a dissyllable. At the
same time I am aware that it would be possible to
find the needful extra syllable in 'fear' rather than
in 'cold;' but I do not rest my case on a single line,
but on a succession of lines, so that, should one fail
me, I have others to prop me up.
My third instance I fetch from 3 Henry VI, Act
IV, 3, 14,
While he himself keeps in the cold field.
An additional syllable is plainly wanted here. At
one time I was tempted to think that 'cold' must be
a noun substantive, and that 'a-^eld' must have been
the word that originally followed it; but I now look
to the adjective 'cold' for a solution of the difficulty.
Lastly, there is the witch's line in ' Macbeth,' Act
rV, 1, 6, which almost every critic is shocked at, but
not one is venturesome enough to meddle with,
Toad that under cold stone.
Here, then, are four lines out of four different plays,
where, the same word recurring, the same peculiarity
also recurs. Wliat shall we say ? Can the apparent
metrical deficiency be imputed in every one of these
instances to chance? — to inaccuracy on the part of
the transcriber? Would it not with much more
probability be ascribed to a license known to exist in
THE COMEDY OF EEROES. 59
Shakespeare's versification, whereby a monosyllable
is sometimes treated as a dissyllable, a dissyllable
as a trisyllable, and even a trisyllable as a quadri-
syllable? There is no question that such a licence
exists ; the only question is whether * cold ' is a
word which has it ; if so, 'gold,' which, barring a
letter, is a facsimile of it, may have it also. It is
better in my opinion to explain the difficulty so than
to import an adventitious word into the text.
With respect to the second question, which I
proposed for consideration, whether * where' or 'wear'
be the true reading, it will not be necessary for me to
enter upon any lengthy inquiry, nor even to come
to any definite decision, as the explanation which
I shall give will admit equally of either, though there
will be some little difference in the meaning,
according as we prefer this word or that. If with
the Folios we read 'where,' 'touching' will have to
be taken not as a verbal noun, but as a participle
used absolutely, in which case the sense will be,
* though people often touch, gold will bide, where it
is gold, and not adulterate metal,' and the stops
will have to be shifted thus,
That others touch, and, often touching, will,
"Where gold.
Having now cleared away, as I believe, all obstruc-
tions in respect of the metre, and in respect of the
reading, I will address myself to the more impor-
tant, and not less arduous task of explaining the
60 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
drift of Adriana's parabolic utterances. Under the
figure of a jewel best enamelled losing its beauty
I think she refers to her own precious person of
matchless workmanship,, which, partly through the
touch of time, but principally through the lapse
of her husband's regard, no longer retained the
delicacy of outline and consummate beauty which
it once possessed ; and this view of the passage
agrees with what she presently says in no ambiguous
language,
Since that my beauty cannot please Ms eye,
I'll weep whafs left away, and weeping die.
Further, under the figure of gold biding still, she
signifies that, though her fair enamel was no longer
what it had been, the material on which it had been
wrought had not deteriorated ; the underlying golden
metal still remained ; her fine moral and mental
faculties had lost none of their pristine excellence ;
the wear of time, the rough dirty fingers of the
world, had had no power over tliem ; inwardly, if not
outwardly, she retained all her original charms —
the essence of true beauty : and here let the reader
choose, whether * wear ' shall have the ascendancy,
in which case Adriana would hint that that precious
part of her, which had not been impaired, might not
for ever be proof against the rough collisions of the
world ; or whether ' where ' should be allowed to
remain fixed, in which case she would protest, that
the fine gold of her inner self, come what might,
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 61
would bide still, undimmed, undiminished. Turning
then from reference to herself to reference to her
husband, she says that, even if he did not respect
his wife's golden qualities, he should have some
regard to his own good name, and not suffer it to
be tarnished by corruption and falsehood, which no
man of respectability would voluntarily endure.
Such I conceive to be the most probable interpre-
tation of the passage ; but there is just a possibility
that, after alluding to herself under the figure of a
jewel best enamelled, which she perceives may lose
its beauty, as in her husband's eye she seemed to have
lost hers, under the figure of gold she may refer to
her husband, who, although owing to the robustness
of his constitution he showed as yet no signs of wear,
— and now I cheerfully accept the word of the
emendators — yet would, she intimates, in spite of
the natural hardness of his metal, most certainly
become depreciated, if he persisted in his adulterous
connections, albeit regard for his fair fame should of
itself be sufficient to keep him from the ways of
corruption and falsehood.
We may now read on without let or hindrance, till
we come to Act lY, 1, 96, where, Antipholus of
Ephesus and Dromio of Syracuse stumbling against
each other, everything as usual goes wrong.
Ant. E. Thou drunken slare, I sent thee for a rope
And told thee to what purpose and what end.
Dro. S. You sent me for a rope's end as soon :
You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark.
62^ HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
TliG first line of Dromio's reply lacks the usual
number of feet, but I do not say that it cannot stand
for all that ; yet it is possible that it may have met
with an accident ; and it is certain that Dromio's
retort would not have been less spirited and effective,
if he had said,
You sent me for a rope ! rope's end as soon I
But to import a word mto the line, and to alter the
punctuation, without a single copy of the Folio on my
side, and with, in all probability, a whole army of
critics arrayed against me, is more than I can hope
to carry; without, therefore, insisting on this change,
I will advocate another, for which I expect to secure
the suffrages of at any rate a very respectable
minority.
In Act IV, 3, 12-20, we find the following dia-
logue between the Syracusan Antipholua and the
Syracusan Dromio :
Dro, S. Master, here's the gold you sent me for. What ! have
you got the picture of old Adam new-apparelled ?
Ant. S. What gold is this ? What Adam dost thou mean ?
Bro. S. Not that Adam that kept the Paradise, but that Adam
that keeps the prison : he that goes in the calf-skiu
that was killed for the Prodigal ; he that came
behind you, sir, like an evil angel, and bid you
forsake your liberty.
What are we to make of Dromio's question, * Have
you got the picture of old Adam, new-apparelled ?'
Theobald, who was usually as sharp in detecting
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 63
error, as lie was shrewd in emending it, took the bull
by the horns, and boldly stuffed in two new words,
* Have you got rid of the picture of old Adam, &c. ?'
There is little doubt that there is something wrong.
The vicious word, the impostor of the text, is, I believe,
* picture,' which has been suffered to creep in, and
filch the place of some other word, similar to it in
form, but vastly different from it in meaning. What
can that word be ? Change the labial p into the
labial v, and, as it were by magic, * picture ' is
metamorphosed to 'victure.' Now, precisely as
* augury ' — this we have on incontestable authority —
was sometimes written ' augure,' so I have little
doubt that 'victory' was set down in this passage
in what to us would be the strange guise of ' victure.'
Hence arose the mistake. ' Picture ' is a blunder
for * victory," which may have been so pronounced
as to be heard as, or (which is perhaps more likely)
so misformed as to be mistaken by the reader for
* picture.' Dromio, on his return, finding the officer
no longer with Antipholus, asks him whether he had
got the victory of this old Adam in new apparel.
* Victory ' is the word that exactly suits the passage,
and ' victory,' I am pretty sure, was the word that
was set down in the author's original MS.
Should we not now restore it to its rightful place ?
There is one more passage which I have to notice
before I have done with ' The Comedy of Errors.' In
64 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Act V, 1, 400-406, the Abbess is represented as
'6f
Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons ; and till this present hour
My heavy burthen ne'er delivered.
The Duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity.
Go to a gossips' feast, and go with me.
After so long grief, such nativity.
It has been thought highly improbable, that Shake-
speare, after commencing a Hne with * Go to a gossips'
feast,' should have ended it with ' and go with me.'
Hence various emendations have sprung up, amongst
which Dr. Johnson's * and gaud with me ' is most
conspicuous. But a little consideration, I think,
will satisfy us that the words are not the poor weak
repetition that some fancy.
Here was a woman, who for many a long year had
lived a conventual life, devoting herself to prayers
and charitable deeds ; all of a sudden a discovery is
made, which restores to her her husband, her sons,
and, we may almost say, herself to herself. [The
cause of her seclusion has ceased to exist ; the time
of her joy has come ; not only does she encourage
others to go to a feast, but she herself now will go with
them — ' Go with me ' — she cries — ' with me, with me,
the Abbess ! for I also will go,'
After so long grief, such nativity !
I have struck out the semicolon which I have found
after 'and go with me,' and substituted for it a
THE COMEDY OP ERRORS. 65
comma; I have restored the Folios' word 'nativity,'
which had been forced to give way to Dr. Johnson's
conjecture 'festivity.' An indigenous flower had
been eradicated, a sickly exotic planted in its stead.
On what ground is 'nativity' objected to? Is it
because it is found twice in the short compass of
three lines ? But this is not sufficient reason for even
suspecting it. Such repetitions are occasionally
found in the works of all great writers, and of
Shakespeare among the rest, of which we could fur-
nish abundant proof; they are not uncommon in
familiar conversation, and in dramatic composition,
in both of which the language is more or less of an
autoschediastic character. With as much reason
might ' festivity ' be objected to, because in three
consecutive lines we should have 'feast,' 'festivity,'
*feast.' ' Nativity ' is the dominant idea of the passage.
The repetition of the word emphasizes the double event.
There were two nativities ; the one literal, and the
other metaphorical. The Abbess, who had not
Inaptly compared the reappearance of her long lost
sons to a regeneration, or second birth of them,
repeats more than once, what more than once had
happened— more than once she pondered. 'Nativity'
was her word — a cry of triumph after her groans of
travail — a not unnatural iteration. But let all this
go for naught, and still I hold that ' nativity ' is not
only the right word, but the only word that the
context admits of.
S 2
66 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
The Abbess distinctly indicates (400-402) two
operations, which in the course of nature succeed
each other — first, the parturition,
Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail
Of you my sons ;
secondly, the hinging to the hirth,
and till this present hour
My heavy burthen ne'er delivered.
When, then, in the lines that follow, she invites the
several parties to the feast that was usually cele-
brated on such occasions, she distinctly intimates,
as the reason of their rejoicing, the auspicious
termination of those two operations ; only what in
that place she had called 'thirty-three years of
travail,' in this place she calls 'long grief;' what
there was 'delivery,' here is 'nativity.' The two pairs
exactly correspond to each other. To put some
other word in the place of * nativity ' is to destroy
tliat correspondence : ' such ' briefly summarizes the
many peculiar circumstances of the delivery, or birth,
its long postponement, its extraordinary nature, its
providential unexpected jubilant character. This is
Shakespeare's meat, and it is infinitely to be preferred
to tlie Schoolmen's porridge.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM^ 67
A MIDSUMMEK NIGHT'S DEE AM.
In 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' Act II, 1, 54, we
are nightmared by a hideous bug of a word, which,
although it appears in all the original copies, and
has found its way into all the editions, and has not
been, so far as I am aware, challenged or suspected
by any of the commentators, I am persuaded never
formed part of Shakespeare's Dream, nor passed
through his brain, nor was authorized by his pen ;
born of carelessness and ignorance, fostered by
diffidence and credulity, it is high time that this
monster should be examined, exposed, exorcised
from the text, and be replaced by the legitimate
offspring of the poet's fancy, whose pretensions I
shall now put forward for the first time, and whose
rightful title I shall hope to make good, not, I admit,
by any direct and positive proofs, but by negative
testimony and circumstantial evidence, which in my
opinion well deserves to be pondered. The reader
will readily call to mind those well-known drolleries
spoken by Puck,
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me ;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And * tailor ' cries, and falls into a cough ;
■ And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
An4 waxen in their mirth and neeze aud swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
68 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Now what explanation has the annotator, what
explanation has the antiquary to offer of this ' tailor '-
cry? Dr. Johnson, the very mention of whose
name raises our expectation, a man of indefatigable
industry, and extraordinary intellectual ability, who,
when he had -anything to the purpose to say, both
knew how to say it, and said it, has nothing more to^,
communicate to us on this matter than is contained,
in the following note: 'The custom of crying 'tailor'
at a sudden fall backwards I think I remember to
have heard. He that slips beside his chair falls as a
tailor squats upon his board/ Upon this Mr. Aldis
Wright, who would be sure to give us some additional
information, if it were possible to give it, drily
remarks, 'If this is not the true explanation, it is at
least the only one which has been proposed.' And
this is all — positively all — not a jot besides! But
this is in reality nothing; and, when a man like Dr.
Johnson can say no more than that ^he thinhs he
remembers to have heard,' we may be pretty sure that
he had no very great confidence himself in the only
explanation which he had it in his power to offer.
Is it conceivable — is it likely that, if this cry of
* tailor' had been customary under certain circum-
stances, and had been sufficiently well-known to
have been apprehended at once by an Elizabethan
audience, when only thus incidentally alluded to, it
would have so utterly died away, as not to have
left an echo behind it? that no one should have
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM. 69
heard it? no one should know it? Why I venture
to say that this is just one of those httle bits of fun,
which, if it had once been in vogue, woukl not have
been easily forgotten; it would have been talked
about, and laughed over, and occasionally practised;
it would have passed from sire to son, and been
familiar as a household word; instead of which there
is no such practice — no trace — no tradition of such
practice; it is as if it had never been. Marvellous
obliteration indeed ! I am little disposed, as a rule,
to blench from the undoubted reading of the copies,
but I cannot hold fast to the Folio version here.
The high probability is that 'tailor' is a spurious
word, which through inadvertence has got possession
of the place of some other word, not altogether
unlike it, but more forcible, and more appropriate.
The original genuine word I believe to have been
'traitor.' Such an astounding metamorphosis will
not be so much as listened to by many — I cannot
expect it to be credited by any without something
more than the bai'e affirmation of the writer. I
invite the reader's close attention, therefore, to the
following dry but most significant particulars.
In 'Eichard II,' Act I, 1, 102, we have an
undoubted instance of 'traitor' being spelt in the
first Quarto 'taitour.' It is true that in the latter
part of the word we have a t, and not an I, but the
second letter of the word, viz., ?•, • has been
accidentally omitted. In other words, we have a
70 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
very near approach to 'tailor'; we have a 'traitor'
almost dressed up in the disguise of a 'tailor'; and
yet no one would be silly enough in that passage to
say that 'taitour' was meant for 'tailor,' and
not rather for 'traitor.' And in this passage in
'Midsummer Night's Dream,' had we 'taitour' rather
than 'tailor, no one,! conceive, would have dreamed
of adopting 'tailor' rather than 'traitor.' But, as a
matter of fact, we have ' tailor ' ; we have an I in the
latter part of the word, and not a t. Now a t may
be so mis-crossed as to be almost a facsimile of I.
Between a mis-crossed t and an / there is scarcely
any difference; and yet this is all that my conjecture
needs to obtain for itself credibility.
I may add that r is a letter not unfrequently
omitted, when it holds the second place in a word;
if the reader will take the great trouble to search, he
will certainly find that 'beast' is set down in one
place, where there can be no question that 'breast*
is intended; that 'fiends' has displaced 'friends';
and that 'Fance' stands for 'France.' As instances
of I being used, where / should have been, we have
'Calues,' where 'Cato's' ('Catue's') is acknowledged
to be the true reading; 'succedaul' for 'succedant,'
(1 Henry VI); and contrariwise 'untimety' in
* Pericles ' is a mistake for ' untimely. The letters
I and t being frequently confounded, I am supposing
no greater .error on the part of the copyists, than
has actually been made in numbers of places else-
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM* 71
where. Thus much, then, for the anatomy of the
words and the possibihty of their havmg changed
places : as regards suitabiUty to the passage, in my
opinion, there can be no doubt which should have
precedence. Is it likely that this superlatively wise
aunt, who had just met with a stunning catastrophe,
and who instantly fell a-coughing to hide her
confusion, would have compared herself ridiculously
to a squatting tailor ? Would it not be much more
consistent with her disposition, her age, her dignity,
and, I may add, with the serious nature of her story,
to raise against her invisible foe that fierce cry of
* traitor,' which was wont to be raised against
suspected political malcontents ? ' Traitor ' rests on
a distinct historical basis ; ' tailor ' has for its found-
ation the great lexicographer's ' I-think-I-remember-
to-have-heard ' ; ' traitor ' is intelligible ; ' tailor '
inexplicable and unaccountable ; ' traitor ' is full of
strength and ' spirit ' ; ' tailor ' is feeble and languid.
In striking the balance between the two, it should
not go for nothing, that the first edition of this play,
which contains on the whole the best reading, and
was possibly, we are told, taken from the author's
MS., was carelessly printed.
Shall, then, this low squatting word, this word of
needle and thread, this long-time impostor, this
ridiculous antic which starts up and struts its
ugliness before us, be allowed any longer to express
the real indignation of a highly dignified deeply
72 HAKD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
injured lady, whom I must think that Shakespeare
with inimitable fun made attribute to her fantastic
foe a word very different — one, wliich, at that period,
on the occasion of every political peril, was in every
one's mouth — of deep political significance and
tremendous meaning; as frequently abused as it
was frequently used ; a terror to the innocent no less,
than to the guilty — the word * traitor,' in using
which the * wisest aunt ' associated herself with kings
and queens and empresses of tlie earth.
The few small knots that remain may easily be
untied, or cut asunder. To begin with a trifling
matter of punctuation : in Act III, 2, 13-15, it may
be an open question, whether we should point, as
the * Globe ' editors do, reproducing, I presume,
the punctuation of the Folios,
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
Forsook his scene, and enter'd in a brake,
or whether we should set the comma after * sport*
rather than after 'presented,' to which mode I
myself rather incline; but in Act IV, 1, 150,
where the same learned editors put a full stop at the
end of the line, I own I have a decided preference
for a hyphen, or at any rate for the first Quarto's
comma ; for no sooner had Lysander uttered the
words,
Without the peril of the Athenian law.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM. 73
than, having incriminated himself, he is roughly and
sharply interrupted by Egeus, who exclaims,
Enough, enough, my lord ; you have enough :
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
A little below, the 163rd line seems to be short of a
syllable, not to the detriment of the sense — for
Demetrius might well have said that ' his love for
Hermia melted ' — but to the detriment of the metre.
What should we do here ? Not surely introduce some
fresh word at the beginning of the line before
* melted,' as some have proposed to do, but borrow
from the preceding line a syllable which it has in
excess of its requirements. The linear boundary is
broken up, line melts into line, the words unite their
streams, in order that we may have more vividly
impressed upon us the dissolution and evanescence
of Demetrius' love. The reader, who is accustomed
to mark with his eye the division of the lines, may
miss a syllable before * melted,' but, as the actor,
entering into the spirit of the poet's conception,
disregarded the artificial boundary, and repeated
without a moment's pause the words, * love for
Hermia melted,' the metre was as complete to the
ear as the most exacting rhythmist could desire. A
similar poetic artifice, I think, may sometimes be
found elsewhere ; in each case the metre is subor-
dinated to the sense and spirit of the passage. I
do not, however, recommend that any alteration
74 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
should be made in the writing of the lines, which
may remain just as they are.
A word has, in all probability, been lost in
Act V, 1, 56—60,
* A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
And his love Thisbe ; very tragical mirth.'
Merry and tragical ! tedious and brief !
That is, hot ice and wondrous strange sno-w.
How shall we find the concord of this discord ?
Sense demands, if scansion does not, that there
should be some epithet of *snow,' as startlingly
opposite to the nature of snow, as * hot,' the epithet
of 'ice,' is to the nature of ice. The word, which
has no doubt been lost in transcription, was probably
a very small one, perhaps with letters, or a sound,
corresponding to the termination of the word
preceding it. The final letters of * strange ^ are ge ;
what word more fully and fairly satisfies the
conditions required than the little word 'jet,' used by
Shakespeare in 2 Henry YI, Act II, 1, in three
consecutive lines,
Glou. "What colour is my gown of ?
Simp. Black, forsooth ; coal black as jet.
King. Why, then, thou know'st what colour jet is of.
Suff. And yet, I think, jet did he never see.
In ' Romeo and Juliet ' we read of ' palfreys black as
jet.' Perhaps, however, it would be too much to
expect editors boldly to print
That is, hot ice, and, wondrous strange ! jet snow,
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM. 75
seeing that 'swart,' 'black,' 'hot,' 'red,' — the poet
Claudian makes the snow hlood-ied — might equally
fill the gap in the text.
A little further down in the same Act and scene
exception has been taken to the 92nd line,
And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
Takes it in might, not meiit,
on the ground that the antithesis is not sufficiently
well sustained. This is not the only passage in
Shakespeare where the antitheses have been adversely
criticized. Perhaps the critics would do well to
consider, whether they themselves may not some-
times be in error in expecting the contrasts to be as
sharply defined in a dramatic effusion, as they might
not unreasonably expect in a mathematical or
philosophical treatise. Anyhow, what Shakespeare
says, is one thing ; what the critics think he ought
to have said, is another. The main drift of the
passage is unmistakeable. When persons of feeble
power, from a sense of duty, do their best to please,
men of noble and generous nature regard not so
much the worth of the performance, as the strength,
or perhaps rather the mighty effort, of the performers ;
they accept all in good part, not because it is in the
least degree meritorious, but because it is the mosi
that the actors are capable of. The pith of what is
said is summed up in the text, ' she hath done what
76 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
she could.' A line from * Julius Caesar,' Act IV,
3, 261, deserves to be quoted,
I should not urge thy duty past thy might.
Compare also what is written a few lines above,
78-80,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world ;
Unless you can find sport in their intents,
Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain.
To do you service.
THE MERCHANT OP VENICE. 77
THE ]\IERCHANT OF VENICE.
In the 'Merchant of Venice' there is not the least
occasion to make any fuss about the Httle phrase
* worth this' in Act I, 1, 35, as if the meaning were
obscure, or a hne had been lost! If Salarino chose
to indicate the untold wealth, which lay in the
noble vessel's bottom, by the modest method of a
demonstrative pronoun and a significant gesture,
rather than by an enumeration of so many ducats,
who but an' Income Tax Commissioner has any
right to complain? 'It is not worth that' is a
phrase as common as it is intelligible. Our ap-
praisement of the rich freight of silks and spices is
enhanced rather than otherwise by the indefiniteness
with which it is described. And yet, as compared
with ' nothing,' * this ' has almost an appreciable
value. Plays were written for the stage, not for the
study. The actor could give a good account of
' this,' if the annotator cannot. The deictic use of
the pronoun is eminently dramatic.
Nor in Act II, 7, 69, is there any need, either for
the prosody, or for the syntax, to foist into the
text Dr. Johnson's conjecture ' tombs ' in lieu of
Gilded timber do worms inf&ld.
78 HARD KNOTS IN BHAKESPEARE.
If it be objected that the second syllable of
* timber,' occurring in the central pause of the verse,
violates the caesura, and is a metrical superfluity,
how, then, are we to deal with those numerous lines
in Shakespeare, where the termination of 'father,'
* brother,' ' daughter, ' spinster,' 'speaker,' 'sworder,'
'thunder' — all quotations — is equally censurable or
equally justifiable ? Wliat is admitted in a deca-
syllabic line, must be admitted in a heptasyllabic.
The termination of ' timber ' may be so slurred —
* timbre ' — as to be almost annihilated in pronunci-
ation ; or ' timber ' may form part of a dactyl in the
second |place, or an Anapaest in the third; the
melody of the verse is not marred by such occasional
variations. As for the concord, the plural idea
contained in 'timber' justifies the use of a plural
verb following it. Even in itself the word strikes
me as preferable to the great Lexicographer's. It is
simple, quaint, original, expressive ; it has a smack
of the antique, and a sepulchral significance.
I am not sure that a little irony was not intended
by the rich cofiin being described as mere 'gilded
timber.' All the copies both of the Quarto and of
the Folio have it. Their combined authority should
have been sufiicient to save it from being ostracized
from the text.
With more reason it has been asked, how are we
to understand the words that are printed in italics
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 79
in the passage that I shall next quote from Act III,
2, 97-101 ?
Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
To a most dangerous sea ; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word.
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest.
The beauteous scarf raises a presumption that the
figure veiled by it is a thing of beauty ; the context
requires that it should be no beauty at all, or, if a
beauty, one of such a questionable kind, that, not-
withstanding her beauty, she would be not an object
of desire. It has been thought that ' Indian,*
parted off by a semicolon from ^' beauty,' would
satisfy the conditions required, but that ' Indian
heauty' cannot. Is this so? The stress is on the
epithets ; it was not the sea in itself that was objected
to, but the kind of sea ; nor yet the beauty, but the
kind of beauty; the sea was dangerous; the beauty
* Indian,' and 'Indian' was synonymous with
* coloured,' and colour was detested — many yet
living know how cordially — by a white-skinned race.
But in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the prejudice
against colour far exceeded any thing that we can
dream of in these more civilized and catholic times ;
^Indian beauty' would be received with disappoint-
ment, with aversion, with disgust. In this very
play Portia says of the Prince of Morocco that, even
if he had the condition of a saint, in respect of his
80- HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
complexion, she should regard him as a devil.
Colour alone, be it observed, would be sufficient to
damn him. Would facial beauty redeem, when
moral beauty could not? Not the grandest contour
of countenance, not the most finely-moulded
features, not the most pleasing expression would
compensate in the eyes of Shakespeare's contempo-
raries for that fatal stain in the skin, which nothing
could obliterate. The most celestial seraph, if of
the wrong colour, if dusky, would be pronounced
a spirit of darkness. ' Sooty bosom ' — ^ tawny
front ' — * swarthy complexion ' — * woman coloured
ill ' — such are some of the expressions which
attest the feeling in Shakespeare's day. The
beauteous scarf indeed would well beseem an Indian
beauty ; the scarf would strike the eye at once,
and raise the expectation ; but, the moment it was
withdrawn, what a contrast ! the ' beauty* would
be lost in the dolour of her sJcin,
This explanation seems to me sufficient, but to
those who are not yet satisfied I will offer, as an
alternative, another explanation, which is formed
on considerations derived from Indian idiosyncracy.
I shall suppose that the physiological rather than
the physiognomical features are alluded to ; the
Indian's soul was as dark as his body ; his character
as evil-hued as his complexion — such at least was
the vulgar prejudice. It is not a little curious that,
whenever Shakespeare makes mention of Indiaut he
THE MERCHANT OP VENICE. 81
almost invariably does so in terms of disparagement I
* Savages and men of Ind ' are coupled together in
the ' Tempest ' ; in ' Love's Labour's Lost ' we read of
*rude and savage men of Ind ;' in ' Othello,' ' base ' is
the epithet attributed to him ; in * King Henry
VIII ' th-e allusion is disgustingly contemptuous.
Now, if such were the estimation in which the Indian
men were held, is it likely that the Indian women
would be more highly accounted ? Where the men
are bad, the women are generally worse. And the noted
beauty — she who was admired, courted, beautifully
scarved and apparelled — she would be sure to have
her full share of feminine weakness, and feminine
wickedness- — aye, and would be credited with having
it. Deceitful as the serpent, stedlthy as the tiger,
their natures hot and fiery, their sunshine uncertain
and transient, their tempers liable to sudden and
violent outbursts, their rage like the hurricane, their
passions like the tempest- — these eastern Jezebels
might not unnaturally be regarded as not less dan--
gerous than the dangerous sea with its guiled
shore, which had just been previously mentioned*
It was some such a one as this, albeit a ' brow of
Egypt,' who wrang from Antony the cry,
Betray'd I am.
this false soul of Egypt ! this grave charm, —
Whose eyes becked forth my wars, and caU'd them home j
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end —
Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose.
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.
p 3
82 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
If, then, ' Indian ' may hold its place by reason of
the infamy which was usually associated with the
name by Shakespeare's conlnnporaries, much more
may ' Indian hcnut'i ' be tolerated, because such a
one might be regarded, and justly regarded, as a dan-
gerous bod}, an arcii and subtle seductress, a very
month of hell, and dark pit of perdition. If, however,
* beauty ' may not pass, taken in connexion with
* Indian,' not all the acting and authority of Mr.
Irving will induce us to retain it, divorced by Theo-
bald's semicolon from that adjective.
Notwithstanding the strictures of certain critics,
I cannot see anything that is amiss in the following
lines from Act III, 2, 160—167,
But the full sum of me
Is sum of *.^omething, which, to term in gross,
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd ;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn ; happier than this.
She is not bred so dull but she can learn ;
Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Portia's meaning is clear enough. Whether we read
* something ' with the Quarto, or ' nothing ' with the
Folio, will depend on whether we reckon an
' unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, impractis'd,' to be a
small entity, or an utter nonentity. Either is tolerable,
* SoQ.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 83
but there is more sense in the former, to which,
therefore, I give the preference. The occm'rence of
a short hne in the passage affords no reasonable
ground for suspecting its integrity. While, as for
the sentences, in which the ascending scale of hap-
piness is described, if they are not modelled in that
precise form, which has since become common, they
are none the less likely on that account to have
been Shakespeare's, as his patterns, his style, his
workmanship almost invariably bear the impress of
originality.
Different opinions have been entertained concern-
ing the punctuation in Act III, 3, 26 — 29. I conceive
that Antonio was intended to say that the duke could
not refuse to let the law take its course, because of
the commercial dealings which strangers had with
the Venetians ; if law were denied, the denial would
greatly reflect on the justice of the state. Accor-
dingly, the colon, which I find at the end of the
first line, I transfer to the middle of the third ;
The duke cannot deny the course of law
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice : if it be denied,
WiJl much impeach the justice of his state.
It was the omission of the pronour.-subject in the
last line, which caused editors to punctuate other-
wise : they could only fii:d a subject for the verb
' impeach ' in the noun ' commodity ; ' yet they might
have recollected such texts as
84 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
By my troth, 's not so good ;
'Much Ado About Nothing,' Act III, 4, 9, 19 ;
'Tis his own blame j hath put himself from rest ;
* King Lear,' Act II, 4, 293 ;
Brut : Has said enough.
iSic : Has spoken like a traitor, and shall answer
As traitors do.
' Coriolanus,' Act III, 1, 161— G2 ;
and 'Merchant of Venice/ Act I, 1, 98; 'King
Henry VIII,' Act III, 1, 119 ; 'Pericles,' Act II, 1,
60. Capell, I find, long ago proposed the same
arrangement; only he, at a loss for a nominative
case for the verb 'impeach,' fabricated one, reading
* 'Twill impeach.' This interpolation vitiated an
otherwise faultless proposal.
Am I too easily satisfied, or are the critics too
fastidious, I in accepting, they in rejecting the little
phrase ' mean it ' in the following passage ? — Act III,
6, 78-83—
It is very meet
The lord Bassanio live an upright life ;
For, having such a blessing in his lady.
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth ;
And if on earth he do not mean it, then
In reason he should never come to heaven.
Why should not ' mean it ' refer to the words "con-
tained in the second of the above lines, and be a
concise mode of saying, ' mean to live an upright
life.' ? The expression is one which is in common
parlance, and I need scarcely say that the theatre
echoes the language of the people.
THE MERCHANT OF' VENICE. 85
All the Folios and all the Quartos have 'masters*
in Act IV, 1, 50,
For affection,
Masters of passion, swajs it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes.
Yet in many editions 'mistress' is the established
reading. Perhaps 'masters' was a typographical
error for ' master,' the masculine form serving equally
for both genders — Portia speaks of herself as ' master
of her servants ' — perhaps ' masters ' may be not a
noun at all, but a verb, followed by the preposition
'of,' just as 'like,' 'bear,' 'determine,' 'desire,' and
many- other verbs are in Shakespeare. We may
allow for the use of an archaism, if it is authorized
by all the copies, if it is susceptible of explanation,
if it can be fortified with analogous examples. Our
smooth and uniform emendations poorly replace the
rough, vigorous, oft-varying phraseology of the great
master whose works we presume to criticize.
The last passage that I shall notice is in Act IV,
1, 379, where I demur both to the punctuation and
to the explanation given by the Cambridge editors,
and I acquiesce in Mr. Ivnight's more correct
arrangement.
So please my lord tfee Dake and all the court
To quit the fine for one half of his goods ;
I am content, so he will let me have
The other half in use, to render it.
Upon his death, unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter.
86 HARD ' KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Antonio intercedes with the Duke to remit the pubHc
fine altogether, expressing himself as satisfied, if his
adversary would let him have the portion, which the
law awarded Mm, in use. To have said that he was
content that the Diike should remit the fine would
have been to impertinently interfere with the Duke's
prerogative.
But what does he mean by his having the other
half in use ? Does Antonio suggest that Shylock
should lend him gratis that half of his fortune, which
he (Antonio) might legally have appropriated, but
his legal right to which he had waived on the under-
standing that it should fall to Lorenzo and Jessica
at Shylock's death ? But this would be a queer sort
of ' favour ' — the word is Antonio's own — and would
be neither very disinterested, nor very generous. Was
it Antonio's wish, then, to be a sort of trustee of
the money for Lorenzo and Jessica— for this view
has been taken by some — not, I suppose, letting it
lie idle, but making it productive, either by lending
it out at] interest, or, if it be thought that Antonio
would not do that, by trading with it — anyhow
reserving it, whether the principal only, or both
principal and interest, for Shylock's son-in-law and
daughter at Shylock's death ? But neither can I see
in what sense this would be a favour done to the
Jew.
What, then, was the favour which the Jew and his
race would both understand and thoroughly appre-
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 87
'ciate ? Why, plainly, that the half, which Antonio
might have alienated from him, should be his still,
not in respect of the principal, but in respect of the
interest, which Antonio, using the principal, under-
took to pay him, promising to hand over the whole to
the young people at Shylock's death. But it has been
objected that such an arrangement would be opposed
to Antonio's principles and practice. True ; but
Antonio himself tells us, that he would ' break a
custom,' and pay Shylock interest, in order to supply
the 'ripe wants of a friend;' and he would not
scruple to ' break the custom ' yet again, in order to
ensure a provision for Lorenzo and Jessica — a pro-
vision quite independent of what Shylock possessed,
which, though settled on tlie young couple by deed,
could not be said to be certain, as Shylock, though
he would not squander it, might by misadventure Ljse
it. Antonio's wish was to let Shylock have a life-
interest in what, as having been given back to him,
could only be regarded as his ; yet at the same time
to secure the principal for the Jew's kith and kin,
lest, taking vengeance on them, he should disinherit
them. What advantage, then, it has been asked,
what present advantage had Lorenzo and Jessica ; I
might answer that they had expected none — they
wanted none. Jessica was Lorenzo's golden treasure,
more precious to him than argosies and ducats.
But, though he had no pt^esent advantage, he had a
fortune in prospect ; he was sure of what was in
88 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Antonio's safe-keeping ; he was entitled also by deed
to what Shylock might die possessed of. Hence,
when Nerissa says,
There do I give to you and Jessica,
Ffom the rich Jew, a special deed of gift.
After his death, of all he dies possessed of,
Lorenzo replies,
Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way
Of starved people.
AS YOU LIKE IT. 89
AS YOU LIKE IT.
There is no question about the meaning — there
should be none about the punctuation and con-
struction of the opening lines of 'As You Like It'
(Act I, 1, 1-5). "We have merely to put a semicolon
after * fashion,' and to suppose that the pronoun, the
subject of the verb * bequeathed,' has been omitted
not accidentally by the transcriber, but designedly
by the author, and the play will commence in that
easy familiar colloquial style, which is characteristic
of Shakespeare, and as might be expected in an
interchange of words between an old servant and his
young master :
As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion ; bequeathed
me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou gayest,
charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well : and
there begins my sadness.
Some have fancied, because the initial letters of
* bequeathed ' bear a near resemblance to the pronoun
* he,' that the pronoun may have been omitted in the
copying by mistake, but I have already hinted that
there is reason, and I may now add that there is
abundant Shakesperian precedent, for the ellipse^
90 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
while there is neither authority here, nor yet absolute
necessity for its expression.
In Act II, 4, 1, Eosalind's exclamation, 'How
merry are my spirits!' has been changed by editors
into 'How weary 2^YQ my spirits!' Such a radical
change, if not demanded by urgent necessity, cannot
be too strongly reprobated. I confess that I cannot
see sufficient justification for taking so great a liberty
with the text. We may grant that Eosalind was as
weary as any of the little band, but between feeling
weary and making an avowal of weariness there is a
vast difference. It is scarcely credible that Eosalind
would be the first to show the white feather, and
demoralize by her example the whole company ; her
character as a woman, the character which she
assumed as a man, forbid us to think so ; she made
light of difficulty, and laughed at misfortune ; and
this, quite as much because she was the high-spirited
girl that she was, as because she felt that it devolved
upon her to encourage the others. It is true that
she said to Touchstone —
I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel, and to
cry like a woman ;
but this admission, itself redolent of fun, and provo-
cative of laughter, was wrung from her sympathy by
a plaint which he had uttered — and marvellously
well was it timed to brace him up, and make him
speak and act like a man — but immediately after, as
AS YOU LIKE IT. 91
if repenting of her own confession, she justified her
first utterance by adding,
But I must comfort the weaker vessel, as doublet and hose
ought to show itself courageous to petticoat.
Why, then, have editors altered the reading of the
Fohos ? I presume, because Touchstone in his
answer happens to mention the word ' weary.' But
Touchstone's confession of leg-weariness is no proof
that Eosalind complained of spirit-weariness ; the
most that Touchstone's words can prove is that
Piosalind made some allusion to the state of her
spirits : she struck a cheerful note ; he a mournful
one ; this chimes in with her finale to Touchstone,
' Aye, be content, good Touchstone,' which I may
here parody by saying, ' Be content, good critics.
But the passage in the play, which of all others
has excited the most lively discussion, and has
occasioned the greatest diversity of opinion, and
wdiich certainly requires comment, perhaps change,
occurs in Act II, 7, 53-57, in the course of a famous
speech of Jaques :
He that a fool doth very wisely hit
Doth very foolishly, although he smart.
Seem senseless of the bob ; if not.
The wise man's folly is anatomized
Even by the squandering glances of the fool.
Here the critics, chafing at what they are pleased to
call the ' halting sense and limping metre,' change
* seeme senselesse," which is the exact reading of the
92 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Folios, into * Not to seem senseless,' which is
Theobald's conjecture ; but not even Theobald's
great name can reconcile us to to such a startling
innovation, unless it be dictated by imperious neces-
sity. Does, then, the line really need Theobald's
crutch ? may it not stand without any such artificial"
prop, and tJiat^ without resorting to the questionable
ruse of connecting * very foolishly' with the subor-
dinate clause that follows ? It is not at all surprising
that * very wisely ' should be applied to the fool,
seeing that, with an arrow shot at a venture, he had
well hit a weak joint in the wise man's harness ; but
it does seem at first sight a little strange that * very
Joolislily ' — which is plainly opposed to ' very wisely ' —
should be attributed to the wise man. It certainly
was not foolish of the wise man to counterfeit insen-
sibility ; for it would certainly never have done for
him to lay himself open to a fool, who would have
covered him with mud, and crowed over him eternally,
on the strength of having, at a chance gathering, by a
chance utterance of the moment, touched some
exceptional wealmess in his character ; nor can the.
allusion be to any awkwardness, or sheepishness, as
we sometimes term it, of look and manner on the
part of the wise man, while he strove to hide the
workings of his heart ; for this w^ould not have
escaped the sharp eye of the fool, and would only
have made him more than ever a butt for ridicule.
No ; the force of the words lies not in the/ac/ of his
AS YOU LIKE IT. 93
dissembling, but in the fashion — the manner of it.
He is hit, yet he cries, 'Ha! ha! ha!' he smarts,
yet he smiles ; he is lashed, yet he laughs ; any
amomit of castigation he is ready to face out with
any amount of cachinnation ; no one knows it but
himself; but, if it were possible for one, after
observing his face and manner, to look into his heart,
and see there the true state of the case, how that his
laughter was forced and his mirth simulated ; that
he was a masquer and mummer for the nonce, in
order not to be made a fool of to no purpose by a fool,
would he not admit that, though there was wisdom
in the dissembling, there was very foolishness in the
manner of it ; yet this show of folly, this foolishness
of laughter, was his only chance, ' situated as he was.
Well, then, he hiade a virtue of necessity — put a
fool's vizor on his face, and acted like a wise man.
The end justified the means.
A little further down, in Jaques' speech, there is
another line, which has been turned and twisted in
every imaginable way by the emendators, without
having been straightened to the satisfaction of any of
them. It is the last line of the following passage,
"Why, -fflio cries out on pride
That can therein tax any private party ?
Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea,
Till that the tvearie verie meanes do ebb ?
In this case the critics do not quarrel with the
^hort line of the passage ; what they object to is the
94 HAKD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
' words ' printed in italics, and yet not so much the
words themselves, as the peculiar collocation of them
— the interposition of the adjective 'very' between
*the weary' on the one hand, and 'means' on the
other. But, supposing that it were intended to lay
special emphasis on 'means,' where could 'very'
have stood more fitly than where it now stands?
Had it been placed immediately after the definite
article, and before the adjective 'weary,' it would
most certainly have been taken for nothing more
than an adverb intensifying the adjective 'weary.'
As it is, there is no possibility of any such mis-
apprehension; there is no ambiguity; its position
effectually ministers to its purpose, which is to
emphasize the noun 'means,' and the noun 'means'
requires emphasization. For is it not strange
that the great sea should have its limits, its billows
should weary and break, its swellings should subside ;
yet of p7'ide there should be no abatement, weariness,
or cessation? Not from want of will does it fail,
but only from want of ^means' — 'means' referring
partly, perhaps, to the person's physical powers, but
also, as the context shows, to his purse and property.
Now the eccentric position, and undoubted force
of 'very,' cause the necessary stress to be laid on
* means.' The very means of pride must weary and
ebb, ere its great swelling flood subside. Not much
unlike is the position of 'very' in the phrase, ^this
same very day, which actually occurs in ' King
AS YOU LIKE IT, 95
Eicliard III.' The explanation which I have given
seems reasonable and sufficient; yet the notion, that
the line is faulty, has got such a grip on the critics,
that probably a new generation must arise, before
the mists of prejudice will be dissipated, and the
place will have a chance of being looked at in the
clear atmosphere of an impartial judgment.
I cannot go with Mr. Aldis Wright, when, in
annotating on Rosalind's words, 'one inch of delay
is a South-sea of discovery,' in Act III, 2, 207, he
says, ' If you delay the least to satisfy my curiosity,
I shall ask you in the interval so many questions
that to answer them will be like embarking on a
voyage of discovery over a wide and unknown ocean.*
It seems to me that, just as we, when on the tiptoe of
expectation, are wont to say, 'Every minute seems
an age,' so she, taking, however, jocularly as her unit
of measurement inches rather than minutes, protests
that she is so eager to know, who the forest poet is,
that a single inch of further delay would be to her as a
vast unmeasurable distance, involving infinite uncon-
scionable delay — in fact, (and here there is an allusion
to one of the great wonders of the day,) it would be
to her as it were a ' South sea of discovery.' Such,
and no less, would be the delay, as measured by
Rosalind's impatient eagerness.
We need not start, as some have done, at a phrase
used by Silvius in Act III, 5, 7, where he appeals to
Phebe thus touchingly,
will you sterner be
Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops ?
96 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
He who ' dies and lives ' means ' he who spends his
whole life long in such and such a way.' The ordeif
of the words may seem somewhat preposterous ; yet
that Chaucer should have so ordered them is a
conclusive proof that it is both old and genuine ;
and that Shakespeare should have observed the
order is a further proof that in his day it was
neither quite obsolete, nor thought by him unworthy
of preservation. We may look upon the phrase
as an archaism, and explain it as a hysteron-proteron,
but we may not condemn it as a solecism, much
less as a corruption. Such vagaries of the English
language are to be noted, not branded. I need
scarcely say that Shakespeare elsewhere uses the
expression in its usual reversed form, ' lives and
dies'
Further down, in the 23rd line, where Phebe
says,
lean but upon a rush,
The cicatrice and capable impressure
The palm some moment keeps,
•capable impressure' can only mean *the impression
which can be received from so soft and weak a
substance as a rush.' The word 'capable' is used
frequently in Shakespeare — in 'The Tempest,' Act
I, 2, 352-53,
Abhorred slave.
Which any print of goodness wilt not take.
Being capable of all ill,
where 'capable' asserts positively, what in the
A§ YOU LIKE IT, 97
previous line had been asserted negatively, and
signifies 'able to take a print' — whether of good, or
of evil, being determined by the context; in 'Hamlet',
Act III, 4, 126,
His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable,
i.e., 'able to receive the doctrine preached,' and so
'impressionable'; in 'Winter's Tale,' Act IV, 4, 791,
If thou beest capable of things serious,
i.e., 'able to receive,' and so to comprehend them;
and in 'King Henry IV' Northumberland was
advised that his son's flesh was ' capable of wounds
and scars'; and in 'All's Well that Ends Well,' Act
I. 1, 106,
heart too capable
Of every line and trick of his sweet favour.
On the other hand, it is used differently in 'Hamlet,'
where an actor is said to be 'capable of nothing,*
i.e., 'able to do nothing,' 'but inexplicable dumb
shows and noise.' Differently still it must be used
in the phrase 'capable impressure,' where, however,
* capable' is added, in order to express the amount
of power or force exerted by the rush ; the impression
was just as much as was possible, where none, it
might be thought, was possible. 'Capable,' there-
fore, is no mere otiose epithet, but is both significant
98 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and potential. For ' impressure ' we may go ta
'Troilus and Cressida,' Act IV, 5, 131,
by Jove multipotent,
Thou shonld'st not bear from me a Greekish member
Wherein my sword had not impressure made
Of our rank feud.
The last passage that I shall notice in this play is
in Act V, 4, 4, where the meaning is clear, though
the expression is a little cloudy,
I sometimes do beheve and sometimes do not.
As those that fear they hope, and know they fear.
Here we have as striking an example of what is
called ' pregnant locution ' as we can find anywhere.
They know that they fear ; but, as touching their
hope, they are not certain ; nay, they have consider-
able doubt; and, inasmuch as in their doubt fear
predominates, the poet, without any circumlocution,
goes to the pith of it, and says tersely, albeit
perhaps somewhat darkly, they fear they hoye^
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 99
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
In the Induction of the ' Tammg of the Shrew '
a Httle word occurs in the 17th hne of the first
scene in connection with the name of a hound, which
is a puzzle ahke to the sportsman and the scholar,
Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds :
Brach Merriman, the poor cur is emboss'd ;
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouthed brach.
The last ' brach ' is intelligible enough, but what
is the meaning of the first ? It can hardly be used in
its ordinary Shakesperian sense of a bitch-hound,
firstly, because Merriman is immediately after desig-
nated as the ' poor cur,' which would seem of itself
a sufficient designation of him, and, secondly, because
it is highly improbable that Shakespeare would have
introduced the same not very common word without
cogent reason in two consecutive lines.
Unless, therefore, it is surmised that ' brach ' is an
old verb, no traces of which remain, indicating some
remedial operation which was applied to embossed
hounds, we are driven to the region of conjecture to
find the word which was in all probability intended
by the author.
.100 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
If, as some would have it, embossment was a
swelling of the legs or joints from overrunning, it
might have been customary to bandage the poor
beast that was so afflicted, and ' brace ' in this sense
would approximate to the reading of the copies ; or,
if a fomentation of salt and water were prescribed by
the veterinary surgeons of the day, there is an old
verb ' brack,' which would come nearer still. ' Drench '
would be a licentious and raml^ling conjecture, but
not an impossible injunction.
For my own part, I think that we have a clue to
the meaning in the line which follows, where we read,
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouthed bracli.
I imagine that Merriman had been coupled with the
deep-mouthed brach, and now, that Merriman was
disabled, it was intended that Clowder should take
his place ; it was necessary, therefore, to unfasten
Merriman 's coupling chain — to part him off, that
Clowder might be coupled in his stead. I think that
' break ' may very well have been used in this sense ;
-and, as regards the spelling, even if there were not a
phonetic relationship between it and 'brach,' it would
not be surprising, considering the spelling to be
found from time to time in the Folios and the
Quartos, if ' break ' or ' brake ' had been spelt ' brach '
just as elsewhere ' eke ' is printed ' ech,' and ' ache '
* ake.' Upon the whole, then, I am inclined to read,
Brealc Merriman, the poor cur is embossed,
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouthed brach-.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 101
A little further on in the same Scene, there is
some doubt as to what should be the reading in the
64th line,
Persuade him that he has been hmatic,
And, wlien lie says he is, say that he dreams.
If these words are to stand, they can only mean,
that Sly, amazed at the outward transformation of
himself and. all around him, when told that he had
been beside himself, replies that he must be so still.
This, however, he does not do, nor perhaps
was it contemplated that he should do. The
easiest way of unravelling the difficulty is to suppose
that ' that ' has been shifted from its proper position,
and that the words originally stood thus.
And when he says tJmt he is, say he dreams^
'that he is*^ being, of course, equivalent to ^ivho he
is.' A kind of resemblance, however, between 'Sly*^
and 'say' has led some to conjecture
And when he says he is Sly, say that he dreams,
and in support of this view, it has been urged that
Sly does say ' I am Christophero Sly.' But a
question like this will be thought too frivolous to-
discuss, save by those, who are determined that
nothing, if they can help it, shall be set down in an
edition of Shakespeare, which was not in all proba-
bility authorized by Shakespeare. Passing from
the Induction to the body of the play, we stumble
upon an extraordinary word in Act I, 2, 6-7, which
102 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
has for its first two syllables the dative case of a well*
known Latin noun, and for its last the termination of
an English past participle ! Grumio says to Petruchio,
Knock, sir! whom should I knock? Is there any man has
rebused your worship ?
The most that can be said for this hybrid verb is,
that it is vulgar Grmnian for 'abused'; but, as there
is not a single other instance in the whole play of
Grumio speaking in the Dogberry-and-Verges dialect,
we have no right to shuffle out of the difficulty so.
In all likelihood, the error is a typographical one.
* Kebused ' is a horrible jumbling together of the
two well-known words, ' robbed us,' the termination
(ed) of the participle having been carelessly mis-
placed after ' us ' instead of after ' rob.' ' Eob-us-ed '
became corrupted to 'rebused,' and then 'your
worship,' which properly is the nominative of
address, came to be regarded as an objective case
governed by that monstrous imposture * rebused.'
I have little doubt that Grumio said,
Is there any man has robbed us, your worship ?
Twenty lines lower down Grumio has again, I
think, the misfortune to be misunderstood owing to
inaccurate pointing : what I conceive he should say,
is
Nay, 'tis no matter, Sir, what he 'leges in Latin. If this be not
a lawful cause for me to leave his service ! Look you, Sir, he bid
me knock him and rap him soundly, Sir.
^HE TAMING OF THE SHREW. lOS
' I have placed a note of exclamation after ' service '
instead of the usual comma, because I believe that
the conditional clause is used elliptically, just as it
very frequently is in common conversation, and as
we might expect it to be sometimes used in dramatic
dialogue ; the same construction occurs in ' Merchant
of Venice,' Act II, 2, 166,
Well, if any man in Italy have a fairer table, which doth offer
to swear upon a book I shall have good fortune !
and thus too some think we should point — though I
am not of the number — in another passage in
* Merchant of Venice,' Act III, 2, 321,
All debts are cleared between you and I. If I might but see
you at my death !
and thus too we certainly should point in * 2 Henry
IV,' Act II, 4, 409, where Doll should say,
I cannot speak ; if my heart be not ready to burst ! Well,
sweet Jack, have a care of thyself.
The next passage that I shall notice is Act III, 2,
16, where a seeming incompleteness of metre, rather
than an impossibility of finding a meaning, has
excited a suspicion that there is some imperfection
in the text. The metrical difficulty, however, has
been exaggerated. In scanning the line
Make friends, invite, and proclaim the banns,
the easiest way is to make ' and proclaim ' pass as
an anapaest, just like ' and I challenge law ' in
* Eichard II,' Act II, 3, 134 ; ' which torments me ' in
104 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
^Cymbeline;' 'or perform my bidding' in 'Pericles;''
*he desires,' 'art thou certain,' and many other
instances, which the critic is compelled to respect,
because they cannot possibly be otherwise dealt with ;
nor would it be wonderful, if we had a short line
here, just as we have a little lower down in this
same scene in the 283rd line ;
She is my goixls, mj chattels ; she is my house,
My buusehuld stuff, my field, my barn.
But there is another possible mode of scanning the
line, by pronouncing ' friends ' in the time of a
dissyllable, in which case * invite ' will be accen-
tuated on the penultimate, just as ' congealed,'
* excuse ' (the verb), ' oppose,' 'infect,' 'confirmed,'
'expire,' sometimes are in Shakespeare. It is a
curious coincidence, which I will give the critic to
chew, that there is another line in this very play,
having ' friend ' in it, where the verse seems to halt
for lack of a syllable. By giving a dissyllabic vaJue
to ' friends ' in Act I, 2, 190,
No, say'sfc me so, friend ? What countryman ?
we manage to get over a seeming difficulty there
also. This mode of solving the problem cannot be
deemed absolutely impossible in Shakespeare, where
so many monosyllables are similarly treated ; but fo^.
my own part I prefer to scan in the fashion which I
first indicated. As regards the meaning, which is
the next thing that we have to settle, we may either
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 105
accept the punctuation of the Fohos, interpose a
comma betwixt ' make friends ' and ' invite,' and
understand the words to mean that Petruchio led
every one to beheve that he was a bona fide suitor,
not only by his attention to the lady he was courting,
but by making fiiends among the kinsfolk and
acquaintance of her family, or we may disregard the
Folios' comma, and take ' make friends invite ' as
all belonging to one sentence, in which case the
meaning will be that Petruchio caused the friends of
the various ladies he wooed to issue invitations, as if
for the wedding ; and this is what Petruchio seems
to have done ; forxdoes he not say in Act II, 1, 318,
Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests ?
Upon the whole, considering the licence which
Shakespeare allows himself in his versification, and
the many rare quaint and curious phrases which are
to be found in his plays, I should not have thought
it necessary so laboriously to defend this line, as it
stands in the first Folio, were it not that it has been
set down in the proscription-list of the critics.
Once more, in Act IV, 2, 59-62, where Biondello
exclaims,
O master, master, I have watched so long
That I am dog-weary ; but at last I spied
An ancient angel i^ming down the hill,
Will serve the tur^
the critics regard 'angel' with Sadducaean distrust;
but is not Biondello true to his character for
106 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
merriment and fmi, when, to the amusement and
laughter of the audience, he declares that a special
providence — a sort of Deus ex machina — an angel
from heaven, had come to do what? — to enable
Tranio to make good his personation of Lucentio,
and to enable Lucentio to carry through his love
intrigue ! Or Biondello might simply have meant
to intimate that, in the extremity of his weariness,
the ancient coming down from the high hill was in his
eyes as an angel coming down from heaven. These
angelic comparisons frequently recur in Shakespeare.
Anyhow, whatever were Biondello's thoughts, when
first he spied the venerable father, it is certain that,
at the time of his speaking, the human being who
was wanted, rather than the superhuman who was
not, was uppermost in his mind; for in right matter-
of-fact business fashion, if with some lack of
reverence, he says, 4ie will serve the turn. Better
retain 'angel,' and explain so, than exchange it for
either 'angel,' a lure, or 'engle,' a gull.
#
all's well that ends well. 107
ALL*S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
In 'All's Well that Ends Well' I cannot but
think that the Cambridge editors have gone a little
beyond the mark, when in a note on the line,
Not my Virginity yet,
in Act. I, 1, 179, they go so far as to say, ' it cannot
be doubted that there is some omission here.' It
cannot be doubted that there is a somewhat abrupt
transition from one theme to another, which may
displease scholars, accustomed rather to regular
argumentation and logical conclusion than to desul-
tory conversation, and who perhaps hardly make
sufficient allowance for the quick and sudden evolu-
tions of feminine eristics ; but, if Helen could
explain her own meaning, she might insist that there
was a very real connection between speech on her
virginity and speculation on Bertram's court amours ;
possibly she meant to intimate that she was content
to remain a spinster, till Bertram ceased to be a
bachelor ; though there was every probability of his
becoming entangled in engagements, where there
would be so much to engage him, still she would
108 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
wait and see. If this were her meaning, the thread
of her discourse would hardly be broken at all. But
suppose that it were otherwise ; can we wonder that
she should not desire to prolong conversation on a
subject so delicate, and touching herself so nearly,,
with a fellow like Parolles, whose rollicking style and
libertine utterances were neither very elegant, nor
very edifying ? She shifted her m-ound, therefore.
Grant this, and what was she to talk about ? What
topic more natural for her, what more likely to
divert and interest Farolles than that of Bertram's
reception, the sensation that he would cause, the
flirtations, intrigues, love-makings, heart-burnings,
jealousies, quarrellings, in fact, all the sunshine and
shade, the sweets and bitters of the court ? A short
line here is sm*ely not out of place, where the subject
is cut short — where there is a break, a pause —
perhaps a silent wish, a secret sigh ; where at any
rate there is a marked crisis in the conversation, and
Helen has to extemporize another more appropriate,
but not less engaging topic. To what particular
portion of Parolles' speech she referred, when she
said, 'Not my virginity yet;' whether the balance
inclines in favour of ' I will not anything with my
virginity yet,' or 'Not a withered pear is my virginity
yet,' or 'I will not off with my virginity yet,' let those
decide who have the eye to discern.
I will pass on from such a nice question to two
passages in the latter part of the same scene — in
k
all's well that ends well. 109
^)()th cases Helen is the spokeswoman — where the
editors of the ' Globe ' Shakespeare again hoist their
danger signals, and make us enquire, what is the
matter.
We are told that our progress is seriously blocked
in the 237th and 238th lines.
The mightiest space in fortune nature brings
To join like likes and kiss like native things.
In both these lines literary engineers have consulted
long and anxiously as to what had best be done, and
various alterations have been proposed, where,
perhaps, after all none may be required. I can see
two ways of clearing the passage without so much as
altering a letter.
In the first place, ' space,' a singular noun, may
be treated as an accusative of measurement, space,
distance, rather than, as it is usually supposed to be,
the direct object governed by the transitive verb
* brings;' the noun which that verb governs has to
be supplied ; whatever we take it to be, whether
* objects,' or 'beings,' or what, nature brings them
across, or through, the mightiest space, to join, just as
if they were likes, nay, to kiss, just as if they had had
but one original.
Or, in the second place, ' space ' may be treated as
virtually a plural, according to that well-known canon,
which allows the plural of words ending in se, ss, ce,
or even ge^ to be at times assimilated to the form of
the singular. In this case, the meaning of the word
110 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
is accommodated to the sense that is required ; the
abstract is put for the concrete ; the 'mightiest space'
will signify not the interval which separates, or the
various portions of it which are effaced as the two
bodies move towards each other, but the objects them-
selves which are so separated, whose junction and
osculation nature effects. A fine Catholic doctrine,
which no doubt Shakespeare as much commended
as Helen at the time cherished. In the words that
follow,
Impossible be strange atiempts to those
That weigh their pains in sense and do suppose
What hath been cannot be,
it has been assumed that the negative clause, ' what
hath not been,' must have been in some form in the
original, rather than the affirmative one, ' what hath
been.' But] why should not Shakespeare have intended
to intimate that some refuse to believe that a thing
can be, which, in point of fact, has already been,
although they may not have seen or heard it ? It is
man who cries, ' Impossible ;' nature proclaims, ' It
hath been — it can be !' The old saw — 'the thing which
has been, it is that which shall be.' Man's miracles
are Nature's laws.
And here it may not be amiss to transcribe one
or two examples from Shakespeare, where nouns
are used as plurals without possessing the plural
suffix :
all's well that ends well. Ill
Than other princess can,
* Tempest' Act I, 2, 173.
As blanks, lenevolence, and I wot not what,
' Kichard II,' Act II, 1, 250.
A thousand of his people butchered ;
Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,
' 1 Henry lY,' Act I, 1, 42—43.
Where are the evidence that do accuse me ?
' Richard III,' Act I, 4, 188.
But to resume: there is a passage in Act I, 2, 31-45,
where the King thus finely describes the character
of Bertram's father:
In his youth
Ho had the wit which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords ; but they may jest
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted
Ere they can hide their levity in honour ;
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride or slmrpness ; if they were,
An equal had awaked them ; and his honour.
Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
Exception bid him speak, and at this time
His tongue oletfd his hand; who were below him
He used as creatures of another place
And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks.
Making them proud of his humility.
In their poor praise he humbled.
Not a Hne of this portrait but has been drawn by the
hand of a consummate^rtist ; yet parts of it have not
escaped criticism, as wanting in distinctness, or as
inappropriate, or as having been tampered with by
112 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
an inferior hand— the parts wnich I have underhnecl^
for instance— the 36th hne, where, however, I think
I read the great Hmner's meaning aright, when I
understand him to tell us, that Bertram's father was
such a model of courtesy, that he could be proud
without being contemptuous, sharp without being
bitter — the 41st line, where, however, I recognize
the strictest horological accuracy in the expression,
' his tongue obey'd his hand ' — and lastly the 45th
line, where in the sentence *he humbled ' I catch the
ipsissima verba of the humble poor — their own poor
way of expressing their appreciation of the great
good man's condescension. Yes, scholars and gram-
marians, you might doubtless command correcter
grammar by the addition of the reflexive pronoun,
but, what you would gain so, you would more than
lose in originality, in character, in point, in force, in
brevity. Not for one moment would I barter this
poor man's homely phrase for Mr. Staunton's turgid
compound ' hehumhled ' ; nor can I tolerate Malone's
gloss — *he being humbled' — much less agree with
those who would brand the expression as corrupt.
Critics must learn to bend their ears to this not
altogether inharmonious cottage note ; possibly
Shakespeare heard it ; possibly he invented it ;
certainly he was pleased with it.
A stigma too has been attached to the following
line— Act I, 3, 141—
Such were our faults, or then we thought them none j
all's well that ends well. 113
yet a poor exchange it would be, were Warbiirton's
0, or Mr. Collier's 'for,' or Hanmer's ' though ' to
supplant the good sound expressive idiomatic con-
junction 'or,' which leaves it undecided, which
of two possible ways of putting a case is the more
correct. I see nothing to stigmatize here.
In Act II, 1, 3, it has been suggested that we
should read,
If both gain, ivell,
on the ground that it would be impossible for
both to gain ' alV ; the absence of a comma after
* all ' in the Folios has induced, I suppose, the
editors cf the ' Globe ' Shakespeare to connect
it with * gift ' in the following line. This seems
to me rather a shirking of the difficulty, than a
successful solution of it. The natural connection
of 'all' is with 'gain,' and in that connection I
think it should be explained. May not the meaning
be that, if both the young lords, and those who
were separately addressed as 'you, my lords — or
if both those who were going to join the Senoys,
and those who had chosen to espouse the cause
of the Florentines, appropriated to their advantage
the advice in all its fulness which the king had
given them, that gift of advice would not be
diminished by being diffused among so many; it
would be all-sufficient for all of them, v/hether
they fought with this side or with that, and the
Value of it could only be measured by the receptivity
a 3
114 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and appreciative capacity of those to whom it had
been given. Its usefulness icould depend on them-
selves. But this chimsy and common-place prose
would poorly replace Shakespeare's neat, but more
recondite, mode of expressing the same sentiment.
I confess, however, that the phrase, 'I am kept a
coil with,' is hard of digestion, nor can I either
parallel or explain it. A friend has hinted that
perhaps a hyphen should be interposed between
the preposition and the noun, and ' a-coil ' should
be classed with such adverbial compounds as
' aboard,' ' afield,' ' afire,' ' akimbo,' and the like.
Of the general meaning there can be no dispute.
I am now going to touch a passage in Act II, 1,
175 — 177, where it is all but impossible to ascertain
either the precise reading or the precise meaning.
Helen, having been challenged by the king to say,
what she durst venture on her certainty and con-
fidence, replies
Tax of impudence,
A strumpet's boldness, a divulged shame
Traduced by odious ballads ; my maiden's name
Sear'd otherwise, ne tvorse of ivorst extended
With Tilest torture let my life be ended.
The words which I have italicized are set down, I
believe, exactly as they appear in the first Folio.
In the other versions of the Folio ' no ' takes the
place of ' ne. ' It has been thought that ' ne ' was
meant to represent ' nay ' ; to all intents and pm^-
poses, then, ^no' and ^nay' are the two words
all's well that ends well. 115
which have to be taken into account, and, according
as we prefer the one or the other, we shall have to
regulate and vaiy the sense of the passage.
I assume, in the first place, that ' nay ' is the
genuine word, and I may eitJier punctuate thus,
Sear'd otherwise ; nay, worse — of worst extended
With vilest torture let my life be ended,
that is, she will submit to be not only foully
slandered, but, worse still, foully slain — to be
reckoned as 'o/,' or belonging to, the veiy worst
of her kind, and, as such, to end her life only
-after a long extension of the vilest torture ; or, by
a different arrangement of the stops, from the
same words we may get a different, perhaps a
preferable, meaning:
Sear'd otherwise ; nay, worse of worst extended
With vilest torture let my life be ended,
where * worse of worst ' would be an adverbial
phrase, qualifying the participle ' extended ' and
indicating successive degrees in the process of
torture, the 'worst' for the time being being always
followed by something 'worse,' till life could endure
it no more — a hyperbolic expression, which may be
matched with Milton's
And in the lowest deep a lower deep.
But what talk I of ' Milton ' ? Have we not in
* Timon ' Act IV, 3, 247, ' worse than the worst' ?
116 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and have we not also in ' Measure for Measure,'
Act III, 1, 126,
To be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thought
Imagine howling ?
In fact, what here is expressed by an adverbial
phrase, in * Antony and Cleopatra ' is expressed by
the sentence, ' Let worse follow worse ' ; or we
may get a flash of light from a passage in the
* Tempest ;' just as there we read in Act III,
3,77,
Lingering perdition, tvorse than any death
Can le at once, sJuill step by step attend
You and your ways,
so here we may read,
Sear'd otherwise, nay, worse of worst, extended
"With vilest torture let my life le ended,
the adverbial phrase * worse of worst ' being taken
as a sort of summing up by anticipation of what
is more fully expressed m the remainder of the
sentence, ' ivorst ' referring to the ' death ' which
she imprecates upon herself, to use the word of
the ' Tempest,' or the ' life ended,' as it is ex-
pressed in this play ; the ' ivorse ' than that worst
referring to the ' lingering perdition,' as it is
expressed there, or the 'extension with vilest torture,'
as here.
But in the second place, I have to assume that
the writer of the second Folio knew well what he
all's well that ends well. 117
was about, when he changed ' ne ' into ' no ' : the
passage will now have to be interpreted very
differently :
Sear'd otherwise ; no worse of worst ; extended
With vilest torture let my life be ended,
where * no worse of worst ' may either be con-
sidered as more or less connected with the words
that immediately precede ; *my maiden's name seared
otherwise — no worse-wise of the worst than of me;'
or it may be taken as indicating yet another step
in her denmiciation of herself — a further and
separate aggravation of the curse with which she
would have herself stricken — ' let there be no
person reckoned worse of all who come under the
denomination of worst.' Such, then, being some
of the interpretations, which the words, as they
are given in the Folios, are capable of bearing
without much wrenching, I would not discard the
reading of the Folios, doubtful though it may be,
for the notion of this or that commentator's private
fancy, which must be much more doubtful.
We must on no account listen to those who
would have us believe that there is something
wrong with the words — Act II, 5, 52 —
I have spoken better of you than you have or will to deserve
at my hand ;
the occasional insertion in Shakespeare's time of
the sign of the infinitive after auxiliary verbs I
have already illustrated with copious examples ; if
118 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
I acid one example more, it is because we have
in this very play,
* To belie them I wiU not.'
Shall I be accused of splitting a hair, if I advo-
cate the shifting of a stop in Act IV, 1, 17-21,
Now he hath a smack of all neighbouring languages ; therefore
we must every one be a man of his own fancy ; not to know what
we speak one to another, so we seem to know, is to know straight
our purpose.
The authorized position of the semicolon is after
* another,' not after 'fancy.'
With regard to the 38th line of Act IV, 2,
I see that men make *ropes in such a scarre
That we'll forsake ourselves,
the precise meaning has not been ascertained—
perhaps is not ascertainable. Possibly, there may
be an allusion to the rope-ladder, by which young
gallants made it easy for their loves to forsake
themselves— ^aci/is descensus Averni — the ladder,
however, here referred to would be not a material,
but a metaphorical one ; if this view is correct, it
may be a question whether the last word of the
line were not originally ' stair,' agreeably to that
dictum in ' Komeo and Juliet,'
And bring the cords made like a tackle stair ;
possibly the phrase ' make ropes ' may be a nautical
* rope's — so the first Folio.
all's well that ends well. 119
Metaphor tantamount to what is nowadays more
usually expressed by its kindred phrase, ' to spin a
long yarn ;' and some such sense it might bear in
* The Taming of the Shrew,' where we read
He'll rail in his rope tricks,
and in ' Romeo and Juliet,' where the nurse says,
"What sancy merchant was this that was so full of his ropery ?
but I feel here that I have no sure ground to
stand upon ; I will hasten on, therefore, to the
31st line of the 4th scene, where our first operation
must be to see that the stops are in their right
places : I set them thus :
Dia : Let death and honesty
Go with your impositions, I am yours
Upon your will to sufler.
Eel : Yet, T pray you ;
But with the word — ' The time will bring on summer,
When briers shall have leaves as well as thorns.
And be as sweet as sharp.'
The whole of the last sentence stands in apposi-
tion to the noun ^word,' pretty much as is the
case in 'Measure for Measure,' Act I, 2, 126 — 127,
The words of heaven — * On whom it will, it will ;
On whom it will not, so' — yet still 'tis just.
'Suffer a while yet' — says Helen, and I need
not say that ' yet ' is repeatedly used as" a particle
of time, one instance, which seems to have given
120 HARD KNOTS IN SHAEESPEARE.
a deal of trouble at any rate to past scholar&^
occurring in * King Henry V,' Act IV, 3, 49,
Old men forget ; yet all shall be forgot,
and so here — ' suffer awhile 2jet, but withal remem-
bering the proverb, which tells of leaves as well as of
tliorns, of summer's sweetness as well as of winter's
sharpness.'
'Blade of youth,' the reading of the copies in
Act V, 3, 6, is neither unnatural, nor unintelligible,
nor, I believe I may add, unexampled ; but, standing
where it does, it seems incongruous and out of place,
like a cockle in the wheat. The word, which has
found most favour with critics, is 'blaze,' which has
been introduced into most, I believe, of the published
editions ; yet, I am not at all sure that we should
not give the precedence to ' blood,' which, as
pronounced by some, sounds almost exactly like
'blade' (cf. 'bled '), and, if spelt ^blode ' or 'blude,' is
within a letter of it; I read, therefore,
And I beseech your majesty to make it
Natural rebellion, done 'i the Mood of youth ;
When oil and fire, too strong for reason's force,
O'erbears it, and bums on.
The ' blood ' first, the ' blaze ' is afterwards expressed^
The following passages may give some colour to my
conjecture :
The strongest oaths are straw
Tothe fire 'i the blood.
' Tempest,' Act IV,. 1,. 52-53.
all's well that ends well. 121
The blood of youth hums not with such excess.
* Love's Labour's Lost,' Act V, 2, 73.
It hath the excuse of youth and heat oj blood.
' I Henry IV,' Act V, 2, 17.
A little below, in the 66th line, should we read with
the editors of the * Globe ' Shakespeare,
Our own love waking cries to see what's done.
While sMmefull late sleeps out the afternoon ;
or should we stand to ' shameful hate,'' the phrase of
the Folios ? The former is ingenious and plausible ;
but it is an innovation, and one that is not varnished
by the pretence of necessity. The latter is sufficient,
is countenanced by the testimony of the best
copies, and, in my opinion, seems most suitable to
the context. It must have been some great
* displeasure ' indeed — something very much akin to
hate — which could have wrought so fearfully as to
^destroy' a 'friend,' and bring him to the ^ dust.'
When love awoke and cried, that spuit of evil, what-
ever it was — ' hate,' as we believe, and as the Folios
indicate — slept. But love only awoke in the decline
of the man's life, after the worthy one, who should
have been loved, had passed away ; ' hate,' having
had the morning and noon all to itself, and as it
were exhausted with its half or three quarters of a
day's hard hearty work, instead of being cast into
durance, and made to do painful penance, had a
lazy time of it in cushioned ease — 'sleeping out
the afternoon' is said to the disparagement of
122 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE*
Falstaff — while love, awake at last, was bitterly
crying. Love and liate are the two opposite
extremes, and may well stand in counterpoise to
each other. Antitheses, it has been remarked,
frequently occur in rhymed lines. ^Laissez faire '
must be our principle here.
Some change, however, must be made in Act
V, 3, 216, where the reading of the Folios is
arrant nonsense; for what can be made of ^insuite
comming ' in the passage that follows ?
She knew her distance and did angle for me,
Madding my eagerness "with her restraint,
As all impediments in fancy's com-se
Are motives of more fancy ; and, in fine,
Her insuite comming, with her modern grace,
Subdued me to her rate.
Shall we not snatch at such a conjecture as
* infinite cunning,' which is charmingly ingenious,
and seems pretty appropriate, to say nothing of
the adjective bearing a rough resemblance in
form, the noun in sound, to the word of the
copies ? Yet there is some difference between
the two versions ; we have to suppose that not
one word only, but two consecutive ones have
been falsely rendered ; nor am I aware that
* infinite,' a common word enough, is commonly
miswritten ; can the critics, whose ears were hurt
by the disagreeable assonance of * talked ' and
' walked ' in two consecutive lines of * Julius
all's well that ends well. 123
Caesar,' endure here — here, where joking must be
out of the question — the jarring sound of * w-
fine,' and ' infirdte 2 There is another emendation
possible, which is neither unsuitable to the passage,
nor inimical to the reading of the copies, and
which may be brought forward to compete with
that which has found favour in the cloisters of
Cambridge. The point, which Bertram was seeking
to explain, was how he had been induced to part
with his monumental ring. We know how it was.
It was not done propria motu; it was no thought
or wish on his part ; nor was there any particular
act of cunning on hers ; it was her own request
— her ' own suit ' — * Give me that ring ' are her
very words, as given in Act IV, 2, 39 ; and this
I think that Bertram, for all that he was so great
a liar, in order to screen himself spoke here truly
enough :
Her own suit, coming with her modern grace,
Subdued me to her rate ; she got the ring.
It may be a moot question, whether ' summing '
may not have been in the original vice ^ comming ' ;
but every one can see how easily ' in ' and ' own '
may have been confounded, just as ' in ' and * on '
continually are. To this emendation it may be
objected, that it is out of keeping with what is
previously attributed to her ; it may be replied
that her suit for the ring would not be inconsistent
with her coy reluctance to gratify her lover. The
124 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
most subtle harlot, who had opposed restraint
to eagerness, and impediment to fancy, would not
scruple to ask for a precious ring which sparkled
in her eyes, nor is it easy to see how Bertram
could palliate his having given it, without pleading
that he had been compelled to do so, because she
had actually sued for it. It suited the purpose of
the liar here to speak the truth.
I may add, by way of postscript, that, on
looking at the foot-notes of the * Cambridge '
Shakespeare, after I had made a fair and con-
cluding copy of my notes on this play, I found
to my surprise that * her own suit ' had been
already conjectured. I cannot, therefore, claim to
be the first inventor of this version, some one
else having patented it before me.
TWELFTH night; OR, WHAT YOU WILL. 125
TWELFTH NIGHT; OE, WHAT YOU WILL.
In ' Twelfth Night,' Act II, 5, 71, it has been
considered questionable, whether Shakespeare wrote,
what he is represented in the copies as having written,
Though our silence be drawn from us with cars, yet peace,
or some other word, of which * cars ' is only a false
adumbration.
In this very play. Act III, 2, 64, we have
I think oxen and wainropes cannot hale them together,
where the form of expression is somewhat similar,
but both the cattle and the tackle are specifically
mentioned.
In ' The Two Gentlemen of Verona,' Act III,
1, 265, Launce says,
A team of horses shall not pluck that from me,
where again there is a certain resemblance ; the
draught animals are expressed, but the traces to
draw with are left to be supplied. May not, then,
in ' Twelfth Night ' the simple word ' cars ' stand
not only for the vehicle, but for the harnessed
horses and requisite tackle ? It is true that horses
draw, as do oxen with wainropes, but cars and
126 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
carts are drawn ; yet it is equally true that Hector's
corpse was drawn or dragged by the chariot of
Achilles. Verhiim sat. No traction-engine, of how
many horse power soever, should move them to
speak.
Of conjectm-es, the most noteworthy of the
serious ones are 'cords' and *scai's' — the latter
word intended, I presume, to express the wounds
inflicted on the soul by the sharp sword of the
tongue — of the comical ones, *curs.'
In Act III, 3, 13 — 16, unless we have one of
the short lines which are occasionally to be met
with in Shakespeare — a possible, but not, I think,
here a probable circumstance — a lacuna occurs in
the text, through the carelessness of the trans-
criber, or the printer.
My kind Antonio,
I can no other answer make but thanks,
And thanJcs and ever oft good turns
Are shuffled off with such uncurrent pay.
I need scarcely say — every critic can see — that
* thanks ' was in all likelihood the word that originally
was repeated for the third time after ' ever ' ; but
I may be permitted to observe, what it has occurred
to no critic that I know of to note, that, that done,
the verse is mended, the metre is completed, no
further insertion is necessary, none must be
tolerated. For this is one of those instances,
where a pause occurs in a line, and that pause is
TWELFTH night; OR, WHAT YOU WILL. 127
equivalent to a syllable. It is not necessary that
I should cite examples of this well-known
peculiarity of Shakespearian prosody; but, inas-
much as there are passages elsewhere, where the
same peculiarity occurs, but where emendations
have been essayed, as though the metre were
defective, I will avail myself of this opportunity to
quote one or two such passages, not, it must be
distinctly understood, as vouchers for, but merely
as illustrations of, the limited alteration, to which
in the present instance I insist that we should
confine ourselves.
In 'All's Well that Ends Well' we read, Act
II, 3, 140,
That is honour's scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born
And is not like the sire : honours thrive.
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers.
Here, though the wanting syllable is capable of
being supplied either by pausing after ' sire,' or
by making ' sire * pass as a dissyllable, would it
be believed that some editors have actually foisted
into the text ' our honours thrive ' !
Take another instance from ' Timon,' Act Y, 4,
35,
All have not offended ;
For those that were, it is not square to take
On those that are, revenge ; crimes, like lands,
Are not inherited.
128 Sard knots in shake spe are.
Here the 'Globe' editors read ' revenges,' wliich
no doubt Shakespeare uses elsewhere, but which
they have no authority for supposing that he used
here ; nor is the correction necessary.
Lastly in 'King John,' Act V, 7, 35,
Poison'd — ill fare — dead, forsook, cast off,
the footnotes of the ' Cambridge ' Shakespeare will
show how some would have botched where there
is really no need for mending at all. But it is
no botching to write
Thanks, and ever thmiks : oft good turns.
With respect to technicalities of punctuation,
there is room for considerable divergence of opinion*
Yet I cannot but think that, when a sentence is
not broken off altogether, but merely interrupted
by a parenthetical remark, and after that resumed,
its continuity as a sentence should be marked, as far
as possible, by means of the stops. This does
not seem to me to have been done in Act III, 4,
86 — 91, which is thus set down in the * Globe '
Shakespeare :
Mai. Why, everything adheres together, that no dram
of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle,
no incredulous or unsafe circumstance — "What can be
said ? Nothing that can be can come between me and
the full prospect of my hopes.
According to this mode of pointing, it would seem
that a sentence was left unfinished, a question asked,
and a fresh sentence commenced with the words,
TWELFTH night; OH, WHAT YOU WILL. 129
* Nothing that can be ;' but, as a matter of fact, these
last words are merely a continuation of the sentence
which had been interrupted by the bye-question,
* Wliat can be said ?' Dram, scruple, obstacle, circum-
stance, all these are too feeble to express what
Malvolio is hammering at ; he pauses, therefore, and
asks, * What can be said ?' How can he put it more
forcibly? The words that follow — 'Nothing that
can be ' — are his continuation, his climax, his last
best stroke of words. A comma, then, should be placed
after * circumstance;' 'what can be said' should be
armed with brackets or hyphens; 'nothing,' should
lose the capital, which is now its initial letter ; and
Malvolio's words will be fitly presented thus :
Why everything adheres together, that no dram of a scruple,
no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle, no incredulous or unsafe
circumstance, — what can be said ? — nothing that can be can come
between me and the full prospect of my hopes.
To attach too much importance to the words of a
fool would be the acme of folly ; but, when fools utter,
albeit in a quaint and silly fashion, such soimd sense,
as Shakespeare's fools frequently do, we are not
warranted in pooh-poohing what we do not fully
understand, and passing it by as mere foolery. What,
then, does the Clown mean, when in Act IV, 1, 14, 15,
he says,
I am afraid this great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney ?
It is somewhat against us that we are unable to
ascertain either the origin or the precise meaning of
X 6
130 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
* cockney.' All that we can assert positively is that
it was wont to be used in no very complimentary
sense. Perhaps our best chance of unravelling the
meaning is to examine closely the texture of the
passage. Sebastian had used a word, which to the
fool's ear was new-fangled, far-fetched, affected,
heard used by great men, and then borrowed, and
straight applied to a fool's folly. ' What will happen
next ' — cries the fool — ' now that Cesario ' — for such
he must have imagined Sebastian to be — ' instead of
using the good rough homely language of mother
wit, takes upon him to spout in this high fantastic
style ! By and by, not your picked men only and
your fine fellows, but every lazy hulking chap will give
himself airs, and affect the same singularity of diction.'
The fool sees the evil spreading, like an epidemic,
from individual to individual, till it becomes a
general plague, and the huge world is nothing more
or less than a lazar-house of cockneyism. Such I
venture to think is the gist of a passage, which, if
not as clear as it might be, is very far from deserving
the condemnation of editors. ' Cockenay' is used
in Chaucer, but this is the only passage, if I mistake
not, in which it is to be found in Shakespeare*
THE ^VINTER'S tale. 131
THE WINTER'S TALE.
When a sentence is interposed between the pro-
tasis and the apodosis of a hypothetical sentence,
without being dependent on either of them, surely
some more distinctive mark of separation than a.
comma is required to isolate it from the two portions
of the sentence which on either side enclose it. In
Act I, 2, 273-76, of ' The Winter's Tale ' a couple of
hyphens — a sign which has been used by the ' Globe '
editors with much effect in the six previous lines —
must have been omitted involuntarily, and, for clear-
ness' sake, should surely be substituted for the two
commas which at present stand there,
If thou wilt confess —
Or else be impudently negative.
To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought — then say
My wife's, &c. &c.
Further on, the correctness of the text has been
challenged in the latter part of the 324th line
where Leontes says to Camillo,
Make that thy question, and go rot ;
but it is not so much a revision of the text that is
here wanted, as an interpreter of the meaning*
132 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Singer is of opinion that * that' refers to the queen's
infidehty, and that the King of SiciHa as good as says,
* If you treat that as a matter of doubt, and not of
absolute certainty, to the dung-hill, to the crows with
you !' But is not the sentiment much about the
same as that which was expressed on a memorable
occasion in those well-known words to a manifest
traitor, ' What is that to us? See thou to it,' Leontes
insinuating that Camillo must be false in his profes-
sions of loyal attachment, because he had not revealed
to him the secret of the queen's alleged infidelity?
Probably the King had no wish to be turned from his
subject by the introduction of this bye-question of
Camillo's loyalty.
Further on still, in the same Act and Scene, lines
457-460, there is a passage, which has miserably
embarassed the critics, but the difficulty of which I
cannot but think has been greatly overestimated. It
occurs in the latter part of one of Polixenes' speeches,
where he says.
Fear o'er shades me :
Good expedition be my friend, and comfort
The gracious queen, part of his theme, but nothing
Of his ill-ta'en suspicion !
Dr. Johnson affirmed that he could make nothing of
the words, ' part of his theme, but nothing of his ill-
ta'en suspicion ;' and, if Theobald had said so, we
might be chary of giving any opinion ; but Johnson
does not hold the same rank as a Shakespearian
THE winter's tale. ISB
expositor as he does as an English lexicographer.
The two phrases seem to me to stand in a sort of
appositional relation to the 'queen.' 'Part of his
theme,' of course, means that she equally "with
Polixenes was the subject of the ling's reflections ;
but the meaning of the other phrase, 'nothing of his
ill-ta'en suspicion,' is not so appai'ent. If it can
only mean that the queen was not suspected by the
King, it is utterly unsuitable, and must be pro-
nounced corrupt ; but may it not bear another
meaning more agreeable to the sense required ?
In 'Antony and Cleopatra,' Act II, 2, 79-80, the
words,
Let this fellow
Be nothing of our strife,
can only mean, 'Let him give no occasion to us to
quarrel ;' and ' This fellow is nothing of our strife '
would mean ' This fellow gives no occasion to us to
quarrel;' and similarly 'The queen is nothing of
the King's suspicion ' may mean, ' She gives no
occasion to the King to suspect, however much he
may suspect ;' she does nothing to lyromote it ; and in
that sense she is 'nothing of it.' As for the words
' comfort the queen,' I dismiss Warburton's conjec-
ture 'the queen's,' which, though it satisfied Dr.
Johnson, is a mere shirking of the difficulty, and I
conceive that Polixenes expresses a wish that the
good expedition, which he prays may befriend himy
may * comfort the queen.'
134 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
I put it thus : where he was, he was already a
doomed man, without a chance of vindicating his
character, or escaping the King's vengeance. To
get away as fast as he could, was his only hope ;
well then he might pray for himself, ' Good expedition
be my friend.'
But, while he was thus providing for his own
safety, what of the queen ? His presence at court
would certainly not avail her during the short space
that he would be suffered to bide there ; protest his
innocence as much as he might, the ears of jealousy
would be deaf to his protestations. What then ? His
speedy withdrawal — his disappearance from the
scene — beneficial to himself, would benefit also the
queen ; would be the best arrangement not indeed
for her justification — for that was impossible — but
for her 'comfort.' It was what she herself would
have him do under the circumstances. Well then
he might further pray that his expeditious departure
might ' comfort the queen.'
The Cambridge editors suggest that they would
have expected Polixenes to say that his flight with-
out Hermione would be the best means of dispelling
Leontes' suspicion ; but that he well knew that
he could not hope to do; the fire of jealousy is
not so easily extinguished. The utmost that he
could do was not to fan and fuel the flame by his
presence ; not to add to the queen's already great
discomfort, but go, and leave it to time to prove
THE winter's tale. 135
"both his innocence and hers. It was the best
course for hotli : for him it was life ; for her his prayer
was that it might be ' comfort.'
There is a passage in Act II, 1, 133 — 36, where
Antigonus declares that, if it should turn out that
the queen has gone wrong,
I'll keep my stables where
I lodge my wife ; I'll go in couples with her ;
Than when I feel and see her no farther trust her.
A mere bubble of a difficulty this ! The last
line expresses in plain language what the former
lines had expressed in the language of metaphor.
Nothing but the testimony of his senses should
convince him that his wife was faithful to him.
He must have ocular, nay, tangible testimony.
The chase was his delight; he must look to his
horses ; but, while looking after them, he could
not have an eye upon his wife. "Well — one building
shall serve for both — ' he will keep his stables
where he lodges his wife.' Does the declaration
sound monstrous ? Not a whit more monstrous
was it in his estimation than the monstrous
suspicion that the King had harboured concerning
the queen. But further; he must look to the
coupling of his hounds ; this operation supplies
him with a figure expressive of yet closer watchful*
ness ; a coupling chain shall be reserved for his
wife, that, by having her at his elbow, he may
kuow that she has not given him the slip.
136 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
So then the emendation of ' stabler ' or * stablers/
proposed by the Cambridge editors, though involving
a minimum of change, is objectionable for the
simple reason, that it is a change, where no change
is required.
Six lines lower down Antigonus protests that
the King had been deceived by some putter-on,
and that, if he knew the villain, he would ^Hand-
damn ' him. This strange compound has perplexed
the most learned and sagacious commentators.
All that we can venture to pronounce positively
is, that it must denote some punishment, adequate
to the magnitude of the crime, wliich it was in
the power of the speaker to inflict in this flesh-
and-blood world. Would he damn him from the
land by throwing him into perpetual durance ?
or into the sea ? or into the fire ? or would he
damn him to the land by burjdng liim quick in it ?
or is it possible that the term is borrowed from
feudal nomenclature, and that by land-damning
he meant taking from him the land he held and
his personal freedom, and condemning him and
his posterity to- servitude and the degrading occupa-
tion of cultivating the land of another ? Or is it
possible that we can cast a glimmer of light on
this dark and mysterious compound from the
following passage in 'Cymbeline,' Act I, 2, where
* Land damne — so the first Folio,
THE winter's tale. l37
Cloten aid some lords are talking of a duel, which
had jusi taken place between the former and
Posthunus Leonatus :
Glo. The villain would not stand me.
Sec. Lod. [Aside] No ; but he fled forward still, toward your
face.
First jord. Stand you ! You have land enough of your own :
but he aided to your having ; gave you some ground.
Sec. jord. {^Astde"] As many inches as you have oceans.
Puppies!
Glo. I would they had not come between us.
Sec. Lord. \_A&ide'\ So would I, till you had measured how
long a bol you were upon the ground.
^ Lmd-damn him* in the light of this passage
would contain a deal in a small compass — the
chalbnge which Antigonus would have sent him;
the cuel which he would have fought with him ; the
resolution with which he would have held his own
ground ; the fiery vigour with which he would
have forced him to give him some of his ground ;
the stunning blow which he would have dealt
him till he had measured his length on the
ground, and, having left him no ground to stand
upoD. whether he would damn him further, and
forbid his body interment, we need not pursue —
the land-damning would have been thorough and
complete. The illiterate multitude of Shakespeare's
138 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESrEARE*
day (and we are no better off than they, 30 far as
accurate knowledge of this word goes) woutl under-
stand the meanmg and significance of thj last^ if
they could not of the first portion of this mysterious
compound. ,
But there is another mode of smoothing the
difficulty which deserves to be mentioned. * Land-
damn ' was the title of a high magistrate in i Swiss
canton, and might have been used to indicite the
sort of authority which the Sicilian officer desired,
to warrant his infliction of a punishment of except^
ional severity. As its final syllable emphatically
repeated the ' damn ' of the preceding line, i; gave
room for a double entendre, with which the luthor
condescended not unfrequently to diveri his
audience. The entire word, with the true meaning
of it, would occur to the statesman and t) the
scholar, and would satisfy their sense of juiicial
propriety; but the second half of the word, wiih its
delusive sound, would be rapturously caught it by
the inerudifce multitude, and would be hailel by
them with revengeful vociferations. '7 would be
his judge — I would deal with him, with a vengemce '
— such would be accepted as the drift of Antigcnus'
exclamation.
In '2 Henry IV,' Act I, 2, when the Chief Justice
says to Falstaff,
I sent for you, when there were matters against you for your
life, to come speak with me,
THE winter's tale. 139
Falstaff answers,
As I was then advised by my learned counsel in the laws of this
land-service, I did not come.
I pass on to a passage, which has caused some
dispute, in Act III, 2, 60-62, where Hermione says,
More than mistress of
Which comes to me in name of fault, I must not
At all acknowledge.
The expression is peculiar, and the order of the
words equally so ; but neither is repugnant to
Shakespearian usage; the fellow-line we have in
*As You Like It,'
I show more mirth than I am mistress of.
It is, of course, possible — it has actually been
conjectured — that the letter ?», preceded by an
apostrophe, may have been omitted before ' mistress '
— the latter word beginning with an m would
facilitate the omission — and even that the pronoun
itself [I'/»,] may also have been omitted. The
addition would not incommode the metre. But we
must not recast Shakespeare's sentences to please
the fastidiousness of modern readers; the ellipse
is not incredible ; the sense is perfectly clear ; the
passage might have been more explicit, it would not
have been more forcible, had the words been
I must not acknowledge more fault than I am mistress of.
There remains to be accounted for the little clause,
^ which comes to me in name of fault.' This is
140 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
what is called a relative proposition, limiting some-
thing, which is stated in general terms. Such
parenthetical clauses are frequent in ancient classi-
cal literature. To the explanation, then, which
I have already given, I have merely to add, ' at
least so far as relates to that which comes to me
in the category of fault,' and I have said enough
on this passage to remove not perhaps the suspic-
iousness of a Leontes, but, I trust, of every unbiassed
critic.
There is seemingly a slight flaw in Act IV, 3,
98, where we read
They cherish it (i.e. virtue) to make it stay there, and yet it
will no more but abide.
*But' seems out of place. There are many
words which might be substituted for it, e.g. *jot,'
or *whit,' or even *bit,' a little word often used
by rural folk, and not unlikely to drop from a
Clown's mouth. 'More bit' would be like * more
requital ' — * King John, ' Act II, 1, 34 — and * our
more leisure' — * Measure for Measure,' Act I, 3, 49;
lastly — and this remark may make us pause
before we commit ourselves to any change at all —
* but,' having itself at times a negative signification,
may have been used, or misused, to fortify the
negation. But what am I saying ? The Clown is
represented as a poor simple silly fellow. Should
we, then, weigh his nonsense in the scales of reason
and sense ?
THE winter's tale. 141
There is another word which proceeds from the
Clown, in the 250th line of the 4th Scene of the
same Act, which has confounded the learned.
* Clamour your tongues, and not a word more,' if
right, has not yet been shown to be so. Perhaps
it was a slang term in olden time, which has long
since been defunct, and which needs not now be
exhumed ; but I should not be surprised if it were
an error of the copyist, miswritten for * Shame o*
your tongues.'
I read in the ' Globe ' edition in Act IV, 4, 590-92,
My good Camillo,
She is as forward of her breeding as
She is i' the rear our birth.
Notwithstanding that * 'our ' is the reading of the
Folios, * 'our ' and * o' her ' have such a strong
phonetic resemblance, and the latter here is so
far preferable to the former, that I would stretch
a point for once, and read * o' her.' * She is as
forward in respect of her breeding, as she is back-
ward in respect of her birth.' As said Buckingham
in * King Eichard III,' ' So cunning and so young.'
I had all but dropped my pen, when my eye
fell on a word in a speech of Autolycus in the
760th line, where we read
Thinkest thou, for that I insinuate, or* toaze from thee thy
business, I am therefore no courtier ?
* The first Folio has ' at toaze.'
142 HAKD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Singer thinks that we have the same word here^
as in the phrase * to toaze wool,' which he says is
to pluck or draw it out. The only approach to a
parallel that I can recollect in Shakespeare is in
* Measure for Measure,' * I'll touse you joint by
joint.' * To toazle ' hay — I can vouch for the use
and the sound, but not for the spelling — is used
in Devonshire meadows for shaking out the hay,
in order to scatter and expose it to the burning
rays of the sun. There are numbers of words and
phrases current in provincial and rural districts —
becoming more and more rare, as intercommunica-
tion increases — which have no place in a Latham's or
a Webster's Dictionary. A vagabond like Autolycus
might have picked up some of these unconsidered
trifles in country lane or village fair.
As for Leontes' speech in Act V, 1, 66-60, I
am quite willing to leave it as it is found printed
in the first Folio,
One worse
And better used, would make her sainted spirit
Again possess her corpse, and on this stage,
(Where we offenders now appear), soul-vex'd,
And begin, Why to me ?
The meaning here is tolerably clear without
inserting 'are' before 'offenders,' as the * Globe'
editors do, and making * and ' connect the two verbs
'possess ' and ' appear ' — ' and on this stage ' is both
idiomatic and Shakespearian English.
KING JOHN. 14^
KING JOHN.
In the first Scene of the second Act [Act II,
I, 183-90] of ' Kng John,' by way of prelude to the
great battle, whith is about to be fought before the
walls of AngieB between the French and the
Austrians on the one side, and the English forces
on the other, thei3 is a smart skirmish of tongues —
a sort of Gynaekanachia — between. Elinor and her
daughter-in-law (Constance, the two champions
respectively of thetwo rival candidates for the Eng-
lish crown, in whidi the latter with her two weapons
* sin ' and ' plague ' presses her adversary so persis-
tently, and in such ;, rapid dashing shifting fashion,
that, though we can see clearly enough the aim and
effectiveness of her general strategy, we have not a
very distinct notion d the force and bearing of her
particular evolutions^ and assaults. The passage is
in every sense a plaguy one ; the punctuation has
first to be settled — th«n the explanation. I should
imagine that the stiffest sticlder for Folio pointing
would be willing in this instance to acquiesce in the
pointing adopted by the editors of the 'Globe*
144 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEA.1E.
Shakespeare, where the various claises are thus
divided :
I have but this to say,
That he is not only plagued for her sir.
But God hath made her sin *and herohe plague
On this removed issue, plagued t forhcr
And with her plague ; her sin his iniiry,
Her injury the beadle to her sin.
All punished in the person of this ciild.
And all for her ; a plague upon her.
There are two ways in which chldren may suffer
by their fathers — either indirecthj, by their fathers'
sins being visited upon them, oxdirccthj^ by their
fathers' grossly ill-using them. R)w in both these
ways Constance, the mother of Prnce Ai'thur, avers
that Elinor, his grandmother, haJ been a plague to
him.
Not only has she, by hex general vickedness, entailed
upon him an inheritance of wo«, according to the
denunciation of the decalogue ; but, in the super-
fluity of her naughtiness, she is actually in her own
person doing him a particular iijury, in that she is
leagued with her son John, vho is a usurper, to
deprive her grandson of that goodly inheritance,
which is his by right of primogeniture. The latter
sin was worse than the former: for in the former case
the ill might have fallen ujon him without her
* and her, Ff ,
t For her,
And with her plague her sin; his injury Ff.
KING JOHN. 145
having ever intended it, albeit she were the ccmse of
it ; but in the latter it was inflicted by her con-
sciously, deliberately, and as it were with her own
hands belabouring him.
With these two clues to guide us, we shall not
have much difficulty in threading our way through
the intricacies of the passage. For clearness' sake I
will present my explanation in the following form :
*I have but this to say, that he is not only plagued
for her sin ' — that is, for the general sin committed
by her, which, according to the canon, is visited
upon him — ' but God hath made her sin and her ' — aye,
not only her sin, but actually her, her personally, the
very grandmother herself — 'the plague on this re-
moved issue, plagued for her ' — f/i/.s' refers to the canoni-
cal denunciation — ' and with her plague ' — tliis to the
grandam's present direct ill-usage of him, in
conspirmg with her son John to rob him of his right-
ful inheritance — 'her sin his injury' — that is, she
has done him grievous wrong in having lived such
a life as to bring down upon him the divine chastise-
ment, but, as if that were not enough, — ' her injury
the beadle to her sin ' — she is actually now herself
inflicting a wrong upon him, which with beadle-like
severity scourges him ; in a word, her past wicked-
ness, and her present unnatural cruelty, her injury of
him indirectly, and now also directly, ' all ' are now
visited with the divine chastisement, but not unfor-
tunately on the head of her the wrong doer ; but all
J 7
146 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
are ' punisliecl in the person of this child ' — not for
anything which he has done to deserve it, but ' all for
her ; a plague upon her !'
After getting out of this labyrinth, we pursue a
■ straight and easy course, until we come to Act
III, 1, 259, where it is not a little tantalizing that we
have in the Folios a word, which is as nearly right as
it possibly can be without being exactly right. ' A
cased lion ' may have been intended either for ' chafed '
— so Theobald — or for ' chased ' — so Pope — or for
* caged' — so Collier. It does not follow, because we
have in ' King Henry VIII,' Act III, 2, 206,
So looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has galled him,
that * chafed ' was certainly the word used by Shake-
speare here; a passage in 3 'Henry VI,' Act I, 3,
12, 13,
So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch
That trembles under his devouring paws,
may give some countenance to 'caged,' a word which
I need not say is used by Shakespeare, and is not an
unlikely one, as s and (j are somewhat similarly
formed, and are not unfrequently confused — e.g.
corasio for coragio. But why quibble about a word,
when we have, if we can, to unravel the elaborate
web of Cardinal Pandulph's subtle casuistry — a mar-
vellous sample of priestly sophistry — w^hich extends
from the 263rd line to the 297th, though the most
KING JOH^^ 147
knotty part is contained in the 279tli to the 285th
line :
If. is religion that doth make tows *kept ;
Bat thou hast sworn against rehgion,
By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st.
And makest an oath the surety for thy truth
Against an oath : the truth, thou art unsure
To swear, swears only not to be forsworn.
To say that Shakespeare intended Pandnlph's speech
to be subtle, and his logic close and intricate, is right
enough ; that he intended it to be incomprehensible,
cannot be allowed. I make no question that the
lines as we have them are as the poet composed
them ; ■ all we have to do is to ascertain the pmictua-
tion ; that done, the explanation will follow. I have
transcribed the passage pretty much as I have found
it in the ' Globe ' Shakespeare, because, after turning-
it well over in my mind, I am persuaded that the
arrangement there adopted is in the main correct.
For the elucidation of the speech I shall make the
following expansion of it.
Thou art setting faith against faith, oath against
oath, tongue against tongue (263-265). Thy first
vow was to be the champion of the church ; it was
made to heaven ; it was advantageous to thyself ; to
heaven it should be performed. Thy second vow was
to be true to thy compact with England's king ; it
* In the first Folio the passage is pun-ctuated thus :
Kept, religiou : thy truth, au oath the truth, not to be foresworn,
148 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE,,
was contrary to thy interest ; it was contraiy to
religion ; it may not be performed (205-69). For,
if a man swears what is wrong, it is not u'ronfjhj done
— that is to say, it is righthj done — when it is done
• truhj, and it is done truhi, when it is not done at ally
because, if it is done, it tends to evil (269-73). The
better plan is, when purposes are mistaken, that they
sliould be again mistaken, that is, that they should
be reversed, so that they should be as if they had
never been. Indirection, instead of being persisted
in, should be made direct by ilidirection. The
crooked course should be trodden back again, till the
foot stands where it did before. There is a sort of
homoeopathy in ethics, as well as in physics ; false-
hood cures falsehood, as fire cools burns (273-78).
Vows are only obligatory, in so far as they conform
to the canons of the church — ' it is religion that doth
make vows kept, but thou hast sworn against religion
by what thou swearest against the thing thou
swearest,' that is to say, by swearing two things
which are irreconcilable with each other, the one
being fidelity to the King of England, the other,
fidelity to the Church ; and so thou art making an
oath a surety for thy truth against an oath. Surety
for thy truth indeed ! The truth, as to which thou art
so unsure — for how canst thou with all thy vacilla-
tion and equivocation give any suretyship for it —
the truth, the tongue of truth, the man of truth,
swears only not to be forsworn ; truth's sole object is
EING JOHiJ-, 149
truth, but thy object is falsehood — thou dost swear
only to be forsworn. The Cardinal concludes with
an exhortation to Philip to repudiate his second, and,
return to his first vow, to which end he says he will
pray ; but, if his prayers should prove ineffectual, he .
has in reserve a heavy load of curses to heap on
Philip's head, which will weigh him down to despera-
tion and the dust.
Having extricated ourselves from the Cardinal's
meshes, we meet with no hindrance in our course
until we come to the following passage in Act III,
3, 37 — 39, which is obelized by the ' Globe ' editors,
If the midnight bell
Did, -with his iron tongue and brazen mouth,
Sound on into the drowsy race of night.
The obelus seems to me unnecessary. Certainly
* on ' must not be cast out for the little word
' one.' The correctness of * sound on ' is guaranteed
by the occurrence of such phrases as ' say on,*
^go on,' 'run on'; a line in '1 Henry VI,' Act I,
2, 42, is very much to the purpose,
Their arms are set like clocks, still to sfn'Jce on.
* Drowsy race of night ' refers, I think, to the
slow progress of the night, as 'her jades with
drowsy slow and flagging wings ' pursue their
course : elsewhere Night is called the ' cripple
tardy-gaited ' ; and in 'Midsummer Night's Dream,'
Act Y, 1, 375, we have *the heavy gait of
150 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Night ' : in ' Pericles ' a ' glorious walk ' is assigned
to the day. The only instance that I rememher
of ' race ' being used at all similarly in Shakes-
peare, is in 'Measure for Measure,' Act II, 4, 160,
Aucl now I give my sensual race the rein.
Tlie next passage which catches my eye is in
Act ly, 2, 40—43,
Some reasons of this double coronation
I have possess'd yon with and think them strong ;
And more, more strong, then lesser is my fear,
I shall indue you with.
Here it is difficult to state positively what' the
precise meaning is, because we are not at all sure
what the reading should be. The little clause,
* then lesser is my fear,' is our crux.
I am inclined to think that ' then ' is a mistake
for 'than ' — the two words are repeatedly inter-
changed by the copyists — and that the comparative
* lesser ' is a Shakespearian redundancy — numbers
of such redundancies will occur to the reader —
where we should rather use the simple comparative
' less ' ; unless, as is quite possible, the construction
here is formed after the model of a well-known
Greek and Latin idiom, of which the following
example from Livy V, 43, will be a sufficient
illustration,
Bella fortius quam feliciusgerere.
KING JOHN. 151
The king tells the peers that he has * more '
reasons, and ' more strong ' reasons for his double
coronation than he has yet disclosed ; and it would
be not mireasonable to expect him to add, that
his fears had diminishecl in consequence. But I
am not at all sure that this is what he says. Men,
timid and irresolute, who have been agitated by
fears, are not so easily reasoned out of their fears.
The king was full of fearful foreboding. I mider-
stand him to say that his reasons are stronger than
his fears are less, which is another way of saying,
that his fears were not lessened in proportion as
his reasons w^ere numerous and weighty. The
utmost had been done, but the terror had not
passed. This avowal might have been merely
the outcome of a heart conscious of its own guilt,
but I think that it was rather prompted by the
suspicious attitude of the peers towards him, to
whom he thus conveys a hint that he is not ignorant
of their disaffection. As a slight confirmation of
this interpretation, it is noticeable that, in the
short remainder of his speech, the King expresses
himself as willing to agree to such measures of
reform, as they should deem expedient.
I shall next notice a pretty emendation which has
been introduced into the text in Act Y, 6, 12, where
Hubert, having met the Bastard in the darkness
of the night and failed to recognise him, on being-
made aware who it was that he had failed to
recognise, exclaims,
15^ HARD KNOTS IN SHAKE SPE ABE.
Unkind remembrance ! thou and endless night
Have done rae shame : brave soldier, pardon me,
That any accent breaking from thy tongue
Should 'scape the true acquaintance of mine ear.
I have written ' endless ' night, because ' endles '
— 'endlesse' — 'endless' is the reading of the Folios;
yet ' eyeless,' which Theobald adopted, has become
the text us receptus-. We must admit that an
' endless ' night is a physical impossibility ; yet
the expression is not an impossible one : it may
be regarded either as a loose popular way of
speaking, or as the natural though hyperbolic
language of impatience or intense anxiety. People
say there is no end to a business, trouble, journey,
period of time, when the business, trouble, journey,
time are more lingering and tedious than they
either wish or expect. And so Hubert, walking
in the black brow of night to find the Bastard,
impatient and eager to find him that he might
communicate to him the stunning intelligence of
the poisoning of the king, having all but missed
him through the prevailing darkness although close
to him, may, inaccurately indeed from a physical,
but correctly enough from a popular or metaphysical
point of view, apostrophize the night as ' endless.'
A difficulty also has been made of ' mvisible ' in
Act V, 7, 15-17,
Death, having preyed upon the outward parts.
Leaves them invisible, and his siege is now
Against the mind.
KING JOHN. 153
But ' invisible ' may be used here for ' invisibly,' the
adjective for tlie adverb — -a well-known Shakespearian
peculiarity. Personify the King of terrors, give him
a kind of body and the power of making himself
visible or invisible, and the adverbial adjective is
neither inappropriate nor destitute of force. Yet
there is another mode of smoothing the difficulty
which is not incompatible with the reading of the
Folios. The exact word of the copies is ' inuisihle.'
This may have been intended not for ' invisible,' but
for 'inusible' — a strange form, no doubt; yet
' intenible,' which we find in ' All's Well That Ends
Well, '.Act I, 3, 208, and 'inaidible' in the same play,
Act II, 1, 122, may both match and justify it.
Granted its admissibility, its applicability is incon-
trovertible. Death, having preyed upon the outward
organs and made them utterly useless, proceeds next
to make havoc of the powers of the mind.
Below in the 21st line, where the editions have
^ ejjfjnet,' the Folios have ' Sijmet ;' the converse
happens in 'Macbeth,' Act V, 3, 55, where ^ cijmc'
of the copies is very properly printed ' senna ' in the
editions.
154 HAKD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
laNG EICHABD THE SECOND.
The Cambridge editors tell us that the Quarto is
the best authority for the text of * King Richard the
Second ;' yet in Act I, 2, 67-70, where that copy has
Alack, and what shall good old York there see
But empty lodgings and unfumish'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones ?
And what chcere there for welcome but my groans ?
they reject 'cheer,' and give the preference to *hear/
which is the reading of the Folios. Unquestionably
* see ' and ' hear ' more closely correspond to each
other than ' see ' and ' cheer,' and ' hear ' is the word
that we should naturally have expected ; but, in cal-
culating the probabilities of what Shakespeare wrote,
it is not always safe to build too much on what a
modern critic would expect. Shakespeare is as fond
of varying his diction as he is of observing correspon-
dences. The occurrence of such a word as 'welcome'
would in this particular instance have facilitated a
change, 'cheer' and 'welcome' being reciprocally
suggestive. Copyists do not usually set down the rarer
word by mistake in lieu of the more common one.
Besides, the idea of hearing is contained in the plirase
KING RICHARD THE SECOND. 155
*wliat cheer there for welcome.' Whether 'hear'
were inserted by Shakespeare, when he revised the
play, as is certainly possible, or were a correction by
Shakespeare's friends, when they undertook to collect
his works, we cannot now decide, but I think it not
improbable that ' cheer,' which is set down in the
first Quarto, the earliest and most tnistivorthy impression,
was the word that Shakespeare orifjinalhj introduced.
Nor would I be positive, as some critics are, that
in Act I, 3, 128,
And for our eyes do hal;e the dire aspect
Of cruell wounds plough'd up with neighbours' sword,
* civil ' was intended, where ' cruel ' is copied.
* Ploughed up with neighbours' sword ' is sufficient
tOifcindicate that the contest was a civil one. What
we have here is not a possible contingency suggested
to the mind, but a ghastly spectacle — ' dire aspect ' is
the royal phrase — presented to the eye. Under these
circumstances, ' cruel ' is no mere common descrip-
tive epithet; it is a sentimental one, expressive of
the shocked feelings of one who as it were saw with
his eyes the furrowed wounds ; how cruelly intestine
war is wont to be waged, has been drawn by the
masterly hand of Thucydides. ' Civil ' is the word of
the historiographer and of the critic, but is not ' cruel '
the feeling exclamation of the eye-witness, and the
vivid expression of the poet ? In ' Troilus and Cres-
sida,' Prologue, line 5, we read,
Fraught with the ministers and instruments
Of cruel war.
156 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
I shall next say a word on the arrangement of the
text in Act II, 1, 246-48, where some can seenothmg
but broken and imperfect remains. I do not agree
with them. It is not uncommon, when some state-
ment is made, which is intended to be particularly
emphatic, to give it point and prominence by putting
it in an isolated position. Thus, in ' As You Like
It,' ' Thou hast not loved ' is three times introduced
(Act II, 4, 36, 39, 42), and each time it is made more
impressive by being set in a line by itself. The same
is done in 'Hamlet,' Act I, 1, 129, 132, 135. And
so here ; the one fact which of all others was sure and
certain was that Eichard had forfeited the affections
of all classes of his subjects. Accordingly the fact is
emphasized by the special position which is assigi|pd
to it:
The commons hath he pill'd with grievous taxes.
And (luite lost their hearts :
The nobles hath he fined for ancient quarrels.
And quite lost their hearts.
There is also disagreement among editors as to
the way in which the stops should be set, and con-
sequently as to the exact meaning to be given to the
Queen's words in Act II, 2, 39, 40. I allow but of
one way of punctuating the passage, which, however,
has not been approved of by the ' Globe ' editors :
But what it is that is not yet known what,
I cannot name ; 'tis nameless woe, I wot.
Further down — 108th and following lines— a portion
KING RICHARD THE SECOND. 157
of a speech of York's has incurred the suspicion of
the same learned editors :
Gentlemen, will you go muster men ?
If I know how or which way to order these affairs
Thus disorderly thrust into my hands,
Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen :
The one is my sovereign, whom both my oath
And duty bids defend ; the other again
Is ray kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd.
The second of the above lines is the one which is
actually obelized ; why, I can hardly say ; not surely
from any dislike to the phrase * how or which way,'
the frequent recurrence of which in Shakespeare is a
pledge, that it is genuine ; thus in ' All's Well That
Ends Well,' Parolles says, Act IV, 3, 156,
I'll take the sacrament on't, how and which way you will ;
and in 'Two Gentlemen of Verona,' Act III, 1, 87,
we read,
How and which way I may bestow myself ;
and in 'I Hemy VI,' Act II, 1, 71-73,
Then how or which way should they first break in ?
Puc : Question, my lords, no further of the case.
How or wHch way ; 'tis sure they found some place.
Is it then because the line is an Alexandrine ? but
the tedious length of an Alexandrine is neither out of
place nor destitute of force in this passage, through-
out the whole of which York shows, by his abrupt,
laboured, hesitating, perplexed utterances, in what an
extremely difficult position he suddenly finds himself,
158 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and how utterly unable he is to choose with resolution
and act with energy. The first three words of the
line, — * If I know ' — must be taken as an anap^st,
just as we have elsewhere 'If I were,' 'If our betters,'
&c., &c.; so that it is not necessary, although it would
be easy, to take the words, 'if I,' and tack them on
to tlie end of the shorter line that immediately
precedes, in which line, as is not uncommon in
Shakespeare's versification, 'gentlemen' is equivalent
to a dissyllable. One alteration I am sure that we must
not make ; we must not attempt to give an easier flow
and more smoothness to the tJiinl line of the above
passage by placing 'disorderly' after 'thrust,' instead
of, as it stands, with all its rough strength and vigour, *
alike in all the Quartos and in all the Folios, before
it. The order of the words ministers to the scene of
disorder. * Disorderly ' has as much right to its
place, as * detestable ' has in the lines, which no one
would, and no one could alter,
And I will kiss tliy detestable bones ;
Thou detestable man :
Any interference of the metre-mongers here is as
unnecessary, as it is mischievous. Even in the last
line, the emphasis, which was mtended to be laid on
* whom,' gives it the time of a dissyllable, though
Shakespeare would probably have pleased some critics
better, had he written.
The other again,
Se is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong' d.
•KING EICHARD THE SECOND. 159
* Sometlimg,' it has been said, *has doubtless dropped
out ' in Act III, 2, 175-77, where my text book has
•f I live with bread like you, feel want,
Taste grief, need friends ; subjected thus,
How can you say to me, I am a king ?
But here again, the lack in the measure of the verse
may have been intended by the poet, in order to
bring out into striking relief the lack of means
complained of by the King. ' Something is wanting,'
the critics cry; * something is wanting,' is King
Eichard's lament ; the expression matches the mat-
ter ; the effect is impressive and significant. If,
however, it were necessary to excogitate an emenda-
tion, I should certainly not side with those who
affirm that the 'best suggestion is that of Sydney
Walker,' who after * needs friends ' thrusts in * fear
enemies.' I really think that, without assuming too
much to myself, I can offer something more plausible
than that. If Shakespeare had written,
I live with bread like you, lilce you feel want,
Taste grief, need friends lilce you ; subjected thus.
How can you say to me, I am a king ?
the very repetition and close proximity of the under-
lined words might have facihtated the omission of
them. Some such arrangement we have in ' The
Winter's Tale,' Act IV, 4, 138,
When you sing,
I'd have you buy and sell so, so give alms.
Pray so.
160 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
but I hear the judicious critic cry, ' Ohe, ohe ! '—
Enough, enough ! This is Hke mending of high ways
in summer, when the ways are fine enough.
It matters not a straw, so far as the sense is
concerned, whether in Act V, 1, 25, we read 'stricken'
with the Fohos, or ' thrown ' with the first four
Quartos. On the supposition, however, that the
Quarto is the most reHable authority, there is no
metrical reason why we should not foUow it here, as
elsewhere. In Shakespeare's prosody ' thrown ' is
as good for a dissyllable as ' stricken.' I need not
present it in the form of ' throwen,' after the analogy of
*wreathen,' 'shotten,' 'strucken,' 'foughten,' 'fretten,.'
'droven,' — all used by Shakespeare — I need not point
to the use of other monosyllables as dissyllables, in
order to support my contention ; I will merely quote
a line from 'Pericles,' Act V, 3, 23, where ' thrown ' is
actually used, just as, according to the Quartos, it is
here :
Throivn upon this shore, I oped the coffin.
Aye, ' thrown ' — and I am not sure that 'thrown,'
though passed over by some for * stricken,' is not the
more ponderous and forcible, and therefore prefer-
able word here. Accordingly I write
Which our profane hours here have thrown down.
Does not the critic hear the thud ?
KING HENRY THE FOURTH,— PART I. 1-61
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
Part I.
In ' The First Part of King Henry the Fourth,' at
the very commencement of the play, a word of com-
mon use and simple meaning, by the connexion in
which it stands, forces itself on the attention of the
reader, and fills him with surprise and perplexity..
As he repeats the lines — Act I, 1, 5-6 —
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood,
he hesitates at the word 'entrance,' and sceptically
inquires, whether that is the reading of the copies,
whether it can be correct, what other word it is
possible and probable that Shakespeare may have
written. Nor is he singular in his perplexity. Pages
have been written on the passage ; numerous emen-
dations have been proposed ; I shall add one page
more, not for the purpose of starting one more
emendation, but to defend the reading of the Quarto,
and to indicate one or two meanings, which it seems
to me that it is capable of bearing.
And the first in order of mention will probably be
reckoned first also in merit. According to it,
162 HARD KNOTS I^N SHAKESPEARE,
' entrance ' is used to designate an organic part of
the earth's personified body. The hps are the
portals of the mouth ; through them the ' entrance '
into it is effected ; the streams of blood that were
drunk, , as they passed into the mouth, surged over
through the narrowness of the ' entrance,' and
daubed the lips ; and thus, what in reality was caused
by the gory fluid, may be said to have been occasioned
by the ' entrance ' through which it was admitted,
This explanation is in keeping with the imagery, and
makes the epithet 'thirsty' apply to the earth, as
having craved for, or at any rate copiously imbibed'
the horrid drink.
Or secondly, ' entrance ' may not denote a vital
and constituent part of the earth's body at all, but
something extraneous to and independent of it. We
still regard the earth as a person ; her habitation is
coextensive with the soil from which she derives or
to which she gives her name ; as the sea- God is
masked by the sea, as the river-Gods by the waters,
so the earth is concealed by a layer, more or less
thick, of the soil under which she dwells — it is this
outer stratum, this ' entrance ' as it were of the soil,
through which the blood that is shed upon it quickly
sinks, to be drunk, whether she wills it or not, by
the great subterranean mother herself. The rapidity
with which it permeates the superficial crust justifies
perhaps the application of ' thirsty ' to ' entrance '
rather than to the earth, to whom, strictly speaking,
it would more properly belong.
IKING HENRY THE FOURTH.— PART I^ 163
There is a third mode of treating the passage^
which varies considerably from the two preceding
ones, and which, in default of them, may perhaps
deserve a place. The ' thirsty entrance of this soil '
may be a bold periphrasis for an invader setting foot
on the land, thirsting for one or other of those many
objects which usually influence such adventurers,
and which may be summed up under the two heads
of private interest or public utility ; it is even possible
that ' entrance ' may be used for the person who enters^
just as elsewhere ' conduct ' stands for ' conductor,'
* revolts ' for ' revolters,' ' medicine ' for ' medical
practitioner,' 'liberties of sin' for * sinful libertines,'
and in" ' Much About Nothing,' a certain person is
said to be ' turned orthography.' But, be this as it
may, it is certain that the King is referring to recent
events in the national history, and it is possible that
he may be excusing the part which he himself had
taken therein, and lamenting the mcessity — such is
the common plea of all these scourges of their kind
— which had compelled him to disembark on the
coast of Yorkshire, unfurl the banner of rebellion,
and pollute his country with blood. As a slight
confirmation of this view of the passage, it may be
mentioned that, after the King had referred to the
first landing on the soil (supposing that * entrance '
may allude to that event), he proceeds to mention the
march into the inland countrn, where the fields were
channelled with trenching war, and the flowers
bruised by the armed hoofs of hostile paces. The
164 HARI> KNOTS IN SHAKESPEAEE.
regular progress of the invader would tlins h&
delineated.
The next passage which I shall notice requires, I
think, to be emended, rather than explained. It
occurs in Act IV, 1, 31, where Hotspur is commen-
ting on the contents of a letter which he had just
received from his father, who politicly excused himself
on various pretexts from joining at that critical
moment the insurgent army.
He writes me here, that inward sickness —
And that his friends by deputation could not
So soon be drawn.
Here there is a violation both of the metre and the
syntax. The most that can be said for the first line,
as it stands, is that Hotspm- just reads enough of the
sentence to get the pith of it, and then, leaving it
unfinished,, hurries on, impatient to hear what comes
next.. Such hot-headed haste, it must be admitted,
would be eminently characteristic of the speaker, who,
much as he was concerned that the Trent should run
on straight and even,, for the straightness and even-
ness of the gi'ammar would care not a groat. In my
opinion, however, there is a surer, easier, more
natural explanation. Allow for a little illegible
writing — allow for a little confusedness, consequent
on the words having been jumbled together rather
too closely, and ' sickness ' and ' sick-he-is ' are all
but identical. Unfortunately the former word has
usurped the place of the latter, but the latter have a
KING HENEY THE FOURTH. — PART I. 165
metrical and grammatical right to it. That Shake-
speare did not disdain to end a line with some part
or other of the substantive verb may be seen from-
the. following examples,
Which harm within itself so heinous is.
' King John,' Act III, 1, 40.
From helmet to the spur all blood he was.
' King Henry V,' Act lY, 6, 6.
For by my mother I derived am.
* I King Henry YI/ Act II, 5, 74.
With some confidence, therefore, I restore to the
passage what I believe to be Shakespeare's own
line,
He writes me here that inward sick he is.
I am not aware what amount of objection has been
raised to Act V, 2, 8, where editors seem to have
settled to their own satisfaction that ' supposition ' —
such is the reading of the copies — is a mistake for
' suspicion,' and so ' suspicion ' they have printed.
But Y\^orcester had only a moment before said,
He will suspect us still and find a time
To punish this oftence in other faults,
and I hardly think that Shakespeare would have
made him repeat himself immediately afterwards, by
adding,
Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes.
May not that long awkward word 'supposition ' have
been intended for a yet longer word ' supposititious/
166 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
which was a critic's gloss, expressive of his opinion
that the whole line was an interpolation ? Certain it
is that, if the line were omitted, it would not be
missed. The words of the speaker would flow on just
as continuously and just as connectedly. If it be
said that the phrase is undoubtedly a Shakespearian
one, I answer, ' Undoubtedly, and perhaps borrowed
from one of those passages where it actually occurs ?'
But mark how differently it is used here from what
it is elsewhere. In * Measm*e for Measure/ Act IV,.
1, 60-61, where we have
O place and greatness ! millions of false eyes
Are stuck upon thee,
and in ' A Lover's Complaint/ line 81, where we
read
That maidens' eyes stuck over all his face,
it is in the one case (he person desired, in the other
the person gazed at, who is said to be stuck all over
with eyes; and by parity of expression we should
have expected here not ' Suspicion stuck full of eyes '
— Suspicion's eyes are never wanting — but the per-
sons who were the objects of suspicion, who in this
particular instance were Vernon and Worcester. If
the whole line is not a. forgery, rather than suppose
that ' supposition ' was intended for ' suspicion,' I
would remove the former word altogether, as a para-
sitical fungus which had got attached to the original
line, and I would substitute for it the pronoun ' we/
which continually recurs throughout the speech, and
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. — PART I. 1G7
may have been accidentally omitted. This would
give us
"We all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes,
a line of the normal length, Shakespearian in expres-
sion, and unexceptionable as regards meaning. For,
if once it were whispered that the King suspected
them,, numbers of eyes, other than the King's, would
be constantly upon them. But, although I have
nothing more than ' supposition ' on which to found
my opinion,, I have a strong ' suspicion ' that the line
is * supposititious ?
In conclusion, I may notice a singular ellipse of a
verb in Act V, 2, 77-79,
Better consider what you have to do
Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,
Can lift your blood up with persuasion.
The verb,- of which ' I ' is the subject, is not actually
expressed in any part of the sentence, but has to be
taken out of the verbal phrase, * lift up with persua-
sion,' the construction being, ' than I persuade ' — i.e.
attempt to persuade — ' you, who have not well the
gift of tongue, which can lift your blood up with
persuasion.' I am well aware, however, that this is;
not the only way in which it is possible to construe
the sentence »
1'68 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEABE.
KING HENKY THE FOUETH.
Part II.
I shall now proceed to probe one or two passages
in the Second Part of 'King Henry the Fourth,' which
are suspected of unsoundness. In Act I, 3, 36-37,
there is certainly corruption, though it is susceptible
of treatment, if not of cure. ' Should expectations
and hopes be taken into account in forming an
estimate of military resources?' — this is the question
On which the debate turns in a council of war held in
the palace of the Archbishop of York. Hastings
contends that they should ;
But, by your leave, it nerer yet did hurt
To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope.
Lord Bardolph takes the opposite view, and states
his case clearly enough, but the first two lines of his
speech are clogged with difficulty, owing probably to
-a word having been set down by the copyist, which,
though it resembled, did not reproduce the word of
the original. The lines are thus given in the
* Globe ' Shakespeare :
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. — PART II. 169
Tes, 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 the appearing buds ; which to prove fruit,
Hope gives not so much warrant as despair
That frosts will bite them.
It is manifest that in the first two lines some emen-
dation is necessary, but none has yet been suggested
which can be pronounced altogether satisfactory.
"What is wanted is some verb to take the place of the
adverb 'indeed.' The verb 'indued,' used often
enough and sometimes rather peculiarly by Shake-
speare, may be the verb that we are looking for. To
Hastings' assertion that it never yet did hurt to lay
down likelihoods and forms of hope Lord Bardolph
answers, ' Yes, it did hurt, if this present quality of
war,' that is to say, this warring on hope, this depen-
dence on a bubble, this speculative gambling spirit,
* indmd the instant action ' — were the covering to hide
its nakedness, stuffed and padded its thin skeleton-
like frame, were the blood to colour it, the soul to
quicken it, the power in reserve to reinforce and
renew it. ' Instant action,' which is the more
particular expression, indicates a battle on the very
eve of being fought, just as in ' 1 Henry IV,' Act 4,
4,20, we have
I fear the power of Percy is too weak
To wage an instant trial with the king ;
'a cause on foot' — the more general term — refers to
a war already proclaimed and begun. The sense,
Tl(y HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
which I have given to * indued,' is somewhat an-^
alogous to that which it bears in 'OtheUo,' Act III, 4,.
146,
For let our finger ache, and it indues
Our other healthful membera even to that sense
Of pain.
So far as resemblance to the word of the copies
is concerned, 'indued' can hardly be bettered. We
have merely to erase the comma after 'war,' and in
the room of 'indeed' introduce 'indued.'
In Act IV, 1, 50, the commentators are in doubt,
whether
Turning your books to graves
is the exact phrase which Shakespeare indited. It
has been thought that 'greaves' would be mose
suitable. The change would be insignificant, the
meaning unexceptionable, — the leather which bound
the Archbishop's books being capable of being
manufactured into that particular part of a soldier's
equipment. Moreover, it is credible that 'greaves'
was sounded like 'graves.' Notwithstanding, the
word of the copies is not inappropriate, and I am
not sure that it is not preferable. When it is said
that the Archbishop turned his ink to blood, it is not
meant that the ink became blood, but merely that he
was intent on dipping into blood, and not into ink:
and similarly his pen was not turned into a lance, but
the pen was dropped, and the lance poised in its
stead: and so with the tongue; and so with the
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. — PART II. 171
trumpet: when, then, the Archbishop is said to be
turnmg his books to 'graves,' it is not necessary to
suppose that his books or any portion of them were
actually itsed for military purposes, but simply that
he left his study and his books, to deal with the
battle-field, the slaughter, and the burial of the dead.
Or I might put it thus : the Archbishop, instead
of taking up his jjen, and dipping it into ink, and
composing a learned hook, which would be a monu-
ment to his memory, was poising the lance, and
going to dip it into the blood of his countrymen, and
the work, which he would be thus engaged in and
which would be remembered as his, would be not a
book, nor a library of books, but a grave, or rather a
yardful of graves: a grave-maker he would be, and
not a bookmaker. That 'graves,' rather than
'greaves,' is the genuine word, is rendered further
probable by the order in which the several things
referred to stand relatively to each other. To begin
with the last first, and proceed in retrograde fashion,
we observe first the military arrangements — ' a point
of war'; next, the signal for battle — the 'trumpet*;
after that, the charge and the combat — the 'lance';
then the slaughter — the 'blood'; last of all, what
should, what must come? What but the burial of
the dead — the 'graves'? 'Greaves' here would be
out of place, and would spoil the picture of the
Battle. There is reason, therefore, for the editors
not departing from the reading of the Folio,
172 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
A little further on in the same Act and Scene we
come to a spirited dialogue between the Duke of
Westmoreland on the King's side, and the Arch*
bishop of York on the side of the insurgents.
West : When ever yet was your appeal denied ?
Wherein have you been galled by the king ?
What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you,
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forged rebellion with a seal divine
And consecrate commotion's bitter edge ?
Arch: t My brother general, the commonwealth.
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular.
I must not omit to mention here that the last line
of Westmoreland's speech, and the second of the
Archbishop's, are not in the Folios, nor in every
copy of the Quarto : their obliteration would greatly
reduce, if it did not annihilate, the difficulty. Not-
withstanding, as they are found in that particular copy,
of the Quarto which is declared to be the most
trustworthy authority for this play, we must not
refuse to take them into account; for, to use the
words of Bacon, we must not 'reject difficulties for
want of patience in investigation.'
On taking a general survey of the whole passage,
what strikes me first and foremost, is the different
cast and character of the two speeches: the contrast
is very striking — in the one, indignant interrogatory,
repeated fervid appeal, angry upbraiding, flowers of
rhetoric; in the other, a cold calm concise dry
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. — PART II. 173
judicial statement. The Ai'chbishop's reply has been
thought wanting in clearness, confused, corrupt,
Various efforts have been made to elucidate, to
emend it. I admit that it embarasses, and almost
staggers us at first; the arrangement is preposterous.;
the phraseology peculiar; yet I do not believe that
the .Archbishop has been misreported; nor can I
allow that his words are ill-placed or ill-chosen,
or that they are otherwise than lucid. We have
to examine them in close connexion with Westmore-
land's chidings; we have to consider the effect, that
such ideas as Westmoreland's would be likely to
have on one of the Ai'chbishop's spirit, discernment,
and high pretensions; we must call to recollection,
too, certain facts of history.
Westmoreland had proceeded on the supposition
that the Archbishop felt personally aggrieved and
was seeking for personal satisfaction; he had twitted
him with ingratitude, and branded him as a rebel and
apostate; but he had not said one syllable of the
public ivelfare, or the cause of humanitij. The Arch-
bishop, cool, calm, collected, perceived his advantage,
and seized it. He occupied at once the lofty summit
of patriotism and humanity, and in three lines
confounds his adversary. The interests of the
commonwealth — the late King's violated majesty —
these he places, and purposely places, and proudly
places, in the very fore front of his reply, in order to
contrast with, and stand directly opposed to.
1-74 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Westmoreland's miserable grovellings. These were
the Archbishop's motives: these touched him
personally; these were his grievances; these his
quarrel. The measured tone, the air of lofty
superiority, w^ith which he uttered the words,
I make my quarrel in particular,
can be better conceived than expressed. If we had
heard the Archbishop's own elocution, there would
have been no possibility, I think, of our misunder-
standing his meaning.
To come now to particulars, ' the commonwealth '
he calls his 'brother-general, 'just as in 'Coriolanus/
Act II, 3, 102, a certain one is ready to call the
people his 'sworn brother,' though the expression,
coming from an Archbishop's mouth, may be thought
to have a more comprehensive significance, and to
savour somewhat of Christian theology. The act
of 'cruelty' referred to is BolinghroJce's treatment
of Pilchard; 'household cruelty' it is called, to
distinguish it from 'commonwealth cruelty'; 'brother-
born' is an additional aggravation; for, if the
Archbishop were bound to the people at large by the
tie of a general brotherhood, by a dearer and nearer
relationship was Bolingbroke bound to Eichard —
was not a 'brother-general' merely, but a 'brother-
born,' seeing that they had both sprung from the
same blood royaJ.
The same two capital reasons are elsewhere alleged
as the pretext and justification of the rebellion. In
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. PART II. 175
Act I, 1, 200-209, Morton says to Northumberland,
But now the bishop
Turns insurrection to relijjion :
And doth enlarge his rising with the blood
Of fair King Richard, scraped from Pomfret stojies ;
Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause ;
Tells them he doth hestride a bleeding land,
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke.
It lias been thought by some more likely that
the Archbishop refers to the death of his own
brother, Lord Scroop — '1 Henry IV,' 1, 3 — and that
Westmoreland would most certainly have so under-
stood him ; but it should be borne in mind, that,
however much the Archbishop might desire to
revenge his brother's death, he could not decently
proclaim that to the public ear as the cause of his
uprising ; it would be more politic to dissemble his
private wrongs, to smother his personal resentment;
but the safety of the state, the cruel treatment of
the King — these were more specious pretexts. And
that this was the Archbishop's meaning is evident
from Morton's account of the Ai'chbishop's public
manifesto, as given in the passage I have just
quoted. Nor am I here 'catching at shadows of
resemblance.' ^
176 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE;
KING HENEY THE FIFTH.
The first passage that I shall notice in 'King-
Henry the Fifth' consists of a couple of lines in
the second Scene of the first Act, at the end of a
long and learned dissertation delivered by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, in support of his thesis
that the King of England could rightfully claim
the crown of France :
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law
To bar your highness claiming from the female.
And rather choose to hide them in a net
Than amply to imbar their crooked titles
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.
The puzzle here is to find a meaning for the
verb 'imbar' — spelt 'imbarre' in the Folio — which
the word will bear, and which the passage seems
to require. It may help to clear the way some-
what, and be of advantage to us, if we explain in
the first instance wliat is meant by the French
hiding them in a net.
The Archbishop argues that, in their eagerness
to vitiate King Henry's title, the French had
lilKG HEls'EY THE FIFTH^ 17?
hunted up an old law, called the Salique law,
which excluded from the succession all those who
claimed, as the English King did, from the female.
This law, according to the Archbishop, did not
touch the question at all, as the Salian land was a
distinct configuration from the French land. He
supposes, however, that it were otherwise, that the
lands were one and the same, and that the law
was applicable, and he proceeds to show that the
effect of it would be to vitiate the title not of the
English King only, but of a large number of the
French Kings as well — the reigning Monarch among
the number — forasmuch as they held in right and
title of the female. It was in this way, then, that
the French had hidden them in a net ; they
had taken shelter in a law in the meshes of which
they themselves had been caught. And this they
had chosen to do rather
Than amply to irabar their crooked titles.
These words, it is obvious, must be antithetical
to those which immediately precede them. What-
ever be their meaning, of this we may be sure,
that the sum and substance of the Archbishop's
counsel to the French must be that they should
have done with their artful chicanery, and submit
to have the question decided in a fair and straight-
forward manner according to the recognised law
of succession. Now supposing that 'amply' con-
tains the idea of large and handsome dealings
5, 9
178 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
which is pretty much the sense that it bears in
the phrases, 'ample amends,' 'ample security,' the
spirit indicated by it will be dh-ectly opposed to
the sly trickery attributed to the French in the
previous line ; and, if ' imbar ' may be allowed to
mean, what Mr. Knight informs us that an
anonymous expositor declares that it may mean,
* to bring to the bar of judgment,' we have already a
sense which fulfils the antithesis which the passage
requires. As, however, there is no instance, that
I know of, of 'imbar' ever having been used in
this sense, and as I am by no means sanguine that
it can be so used, I venture to offer another, and,
unless I am mistaken, a better explanation. I shall
assume that 'imbai' is used here in pretty nearly
the same sense as the simple verb 'bar,' just as
*pawn' and 'impawn,' 'paint' and 'impaint' are
used elsewhere almost indifferently. When, then,
it is said that the French did not choose to imbar
their crooked titles, it is merely another way of
saying — it is an abridged and perfectly allowable
way of saying — that they did not choose to rest on a
law ivhich ivould imbar those titles ; what would be
done by the law, is said to be done by themselves — a
well-kno\vn figure of speech, which, though it has
embarrassed all the expositors, would be quite
intelligible to the learned congregation which the
Archbishop was at the time addressing. Thus
interpreted, the two lines stand in capital anti-
thetical relation to each other. This mode of
KING HENRY THE FIFTH. 179
dealing with the passage is surely better than to
entertain such a word as 'imbare,' or to read, as
Pope wished to do, 'openly to embrace' in lieu
of 'amply to imbar.' Were there room for con-
jecture, I would far rather shape out something
from the Quai'to's word 'imbrace,' and regard it
as a corruption of 'abase,' so as to make the
Archbishop say, that the handsome thing for the
French to have done would have been to lower
their pretensions — to ahase their crooked titles, or
rather to erase them altogether. But I hold fast
to the explanation which I have given above, as,
upon the whole, a fair solution of a problem which
is by no means free from difficulty.
A little further on, in the same Act and Scene,
we find Westmoreland and Exeter urging the King
to proclaim the war, which the Archbishop had
declared to be lawful. Exeter having said
Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself
As did the former lions of your blood,
Westmoreland continues — 125, 27 —
They know your grace hath cause and means and might ;
So hath your highness — never king of England
Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects.
The usual mode of pointing these last lines is
to put a semicolon after 'highness,' the effect of
which is to emphasize 'hath,' which consequently
would have for its object the nouns 'cause and
180 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
means and might' miderstood from the preceding
line. I have punctuated differently, and I construe
and interpret differently. I place a hyphen rather
than a semicolon after * highness,' and consider
that Westmoreland, having either intended to say,
or made a feint of intending to say, ' so hath your
highness rich nobles and loyal subjects,' suddenly
breaks off, as not satisfied with that mode of
expressing himself, or as having been struck with
a more appropriate and felicitous one ; anyhow, this
breaking off of his, whether a courtly ruse or not,
rivets the attention more than ever to what he is
going to say of the King, whom with exquisite
adulation, the more telling because seemingly un-
premeditated, he pinnacles above all the monarchs
who had preceded him. Grammatically, then,
'hath' borrows for its object 'rich nobles and
loyal subjects' from the sentence which follows;
dramatically, it has no object; the finishing stroke
is given in a fresh and finer combination.
This view of the passage, though quite tenable,
and eminently Shakespearian, is yet so different
from that which is ordinarily taken, that I shall
make no apology for introducing here a few
examples, taken from other plays, which may serve
to illustrate and confirm what seems at first sight
a very improbable interpretation. Thus in this
very play we have, Act I, 1, 3,
My lord, I'll tell you ; that self bill is urged,
Which in the eleventh year of the last king's reign
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd ;
KING HENRY THE FIFTH. 181
where the full expression would have been ' was like
to have passed ' ;
' Eichard II,' Act V, 5, 27,
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there ;
that is, *many have sat, and others must sit';
* Troilus and Cressida,' Act I, 3, 288-89,
And may that soldier a mere recreant prove,
That means not, hath not, or is not in love ;
i.e. * means not to be, hath not been, or is not';
'All's Well That End's Well,' Act II, 5, 51-52,
I have spoken better of you than you have or -will to deserve
at my hand,
which is equivalent to ' better than you have
deserved.'
Eeserving for future notice a much more startling
illustration, I shall merely add here, that, although
the examples which I have given do not of course
prove conclusively that my mode of stopping and
explaining the passage is the right one, they go
to show that it is not repugnant to Shakespeare's
usage — that it is possible — I go farther and say,
that it is not only probable, but preferable to any
other.
A word, which occurs in a speech of King
Hemy's in the same Act and Scene, lines 273-75,
must next be considered.
But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state,
Be like a king and show my sail of greatness.
When I do rouse me in my throne of France.
182 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
*Sayle' is the exact word which is found in the
first, second, and third Fohos, for which some
have desired to write 'soul,' which they think was
certainly Shakespeare's word, and much more
appropriate. The conjecture is plausible ; the
change insignificant ; the sense yielded unex-
ceptionable; yet, if emendation is to be thought
of, there is another word, which may fairly be put
in to compete for the place. The Dauphin, having
taunted the English King with low tastes and
mean ambition, the latter might not inaptly bid
tell the Dauphin that he would be
Like a king, and show his zeal of greatness.
This change, though at first sight it seems con-
siderable, is in reality hardly a change at all. The
letter s is continually sounded like z, and z like s;
ea was more often pronounced like long a in Shakes-
peare's time than it is in our own; ^meat' was 'mate,'
and in ' King Henry ^VIII,' Act III, 1, 9-10, 'sea'
rhymes to 'play,'
Everything that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea ;
We may be pretty sure, then, that 'zeal' was
pronounced like the French zele, and probably by
not a few exactly like ' sail ' ; the error once written
was little likely to be challenged, when so many
other more serious ones escaped detection.
I have so far humoured the suspicions of the
critics, as to notice a plausible conjecture, and to
KING HENRY THE FIFTH. 183
suggest another possible one; but I am not dis-
posed in this particular instance to part with the
litera scripta of the copies for the guess-word of any
emendator. That nautical phraseology should be
current among an island people, at a time when
nautical enterprise was enormously stimulated by
startling discoveries and dashing sea-fights which
yielded rich prizes, needs surprise no one. The
gallant and glorious deeds of naval heroes, which
were talked of in the streets, were glanced at in
the theatres, and were received with great gladness
and enthusiastic clappings ; hits of this kind
Shakespeare well knew how to make ; ' sail ' he uses
in two senses — in the more limited one as part of a
ship's tackle, and in its larger signification of a
ship's course. In the latter sense it occurs in
'King John, Act Y, 7,53,'
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail.
Are turned to one thread, one little hair ;
* Othello,' Act V, 2, 268,
And very sea-mark of your utmost sail ;
Sonnet,
The proud full sail of his great verse.
According to this sense of it, the king would
intimate that, though France might be to him a
sea of trouble, and its horizon might lour with
tempests, yet he would sail on his course day by
day, and give proof of that greatness, for his
supposed lack of which the Dauphin had taunted
184 HARD- KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
him. If, however, the other meanmg of 'sail' bo
thought preferable, we can abundantly illustrate it
by such passages as follow:
2 'Henry IV,' Act V, 2, 17-18,
How many nobles then should hold their places,.
That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort 1
3 ' Henry VI,' Act III, 3, 5,
No, mighty King of France : now Margaret
Must strike her sail and learn awhile to serve.
3'Henry VI,' ActV, 1, 52,
I had rather chop this hand ofi" at a blow.
And with the other fling it at thy face,
Than bear so low a sail to strike to thee.
I conclude, then, that 'saz7,' authorized as I
believe it to be by the Folios, should on no account
be discarded.
As little reason is there for swerving from the
track of the Folios in Act II, 2, 138-40, where the
King, upbraiding Lord Scroop with his ingratitude
and treachery, says
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot
To make the full-fraught man and best indued
With some suspicion.
Place a comma, nay, only conceive a comma
placed after 'man,' and another after 'best,' and,
where is the difficulty ? What possibility is there of
mistaking either the construction or the meaning?
That Pope should have abstained from meddling is
groof enough of itself that Theobald's proposed.
KING HENRY THE FIFTH, 185
change of 'make' to 'mark' is quite mmecessary;
yet even when Theobald shps many follow.
It has been deemed incredible that in Act III, 3^
35, where the King warns the citizens of Harfleui-
of the teriible consequences that would ensue, if
they rejected his proffered mercy, Shakespeare could
have written
look to see
The blmd and bloody soldier with foul hand
Desire the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters.
"Wliat ! nothing more terrible than * desire ' from
an infuriated soldiery, let loose, like so many hell-
hounds, on a stormed city! Eowe was the first to
throw a little more devilry into the text by
changing 'desire' into 'defile.' Carried away by
the unanimity with which all the critics condemned
'desire,' yet not quite satisfied with Eowe's con-
jecture, I at one time cast about for something
better, and, remembering that, when a messenger
brought ill-tidings to Cleopatra, the ungovernable
passion of the Egyptian Queen vented itself in the
ferocious threat — the unparalleled expression — ' I'll
unhair your head ' — I ventured to ask myself whether
here too a special word might not have been coined
for a special occasion — a word without a parallel —
a horrible compound — the word 'dishair,' the faint
echo of which I fancied I caught in 'desire'; but,
after further consideration I have come to the con-
clusion that the word, which we have, may possibly
186 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
be the word that Shakespeare wrote. 'To desire
with the hand' — what is it but to stretch out the
hand for, to lust to seize a booty, ahnost within
reach, but not yet actually grasped. 'To defile
with the hand' is to have the booty ' already in
their filthy grasp. The one is a picture of the
virgins flying with shrill shrieks from their bloody
pursuers, who with outstretched hands are eager
to seize their flowing locks; the other is a picture
of them already in the hands of the ruffian soldiers.
Both are equally picturesque — equally terrible.
Perhaps the former is more delicately touched and
more exquisitely wrought; the latter is certainly
ruder and more masterly; in spite of the savagery
of the scene depicted, it is not impossible that the
artist-poet may have given expression here to the
former.
There is a fine passage in the 4th Act, beginning
at the 257th line of the first Scene, where the King,
soliloquizing on the vanity of kingly greatness,
addresses ceremony as a living personal entity, and
questions her as to who, or what she was, and why
such extraordinary value was set upon her, such
extraordinary worship was paid to her. 'Place,
degree, and form' he could conceive her as being,
but he exclaims,
What are thy rents ? what are thy comings in ?
ceremony, show me but thy worth !
What is thy soul of adoration ?
KING HENEY THE FIFTH. 187
It is the last line which has a mark set against
it by the ' Globe ' editors, and I have printed it as
they have, disregarding the note of interrogation
after 'what,' and also 'Odoration' — which is merely
a copyist's mode of spelling 'adoration' — both of
which disfigure the first Folio. Now if adoration
had been something more than an attitude — a
gesture ; if it had been something capable of being
apprehended and appraised, the royal querist might
have said simply ' what is the adoration that is
accorded to thee'? But, inasmuch as he craves
for something more than an empty name or idle
motion, inasmuch as he labours to get at the heart
of the matter and to find out something definite
and precise about her, he does not put it so, but
he says 'What is the soul of the adoration that
is paid thee, which can be said to be truly thine?'
What is there which is, and not merely appears?
which has a real and sterling, and not merely an
ideal and nominal value ? which is constant and
abiding, not ephemeral and fleeting? W^hat is
there w^hich has a principle of vitality, and is no
mere cold dead form? He seeks, in a word, to
find the soul, and refuses to be mocked with a fine
fantastic shape. As a soul is attributed to adoration
here, so elsewhere to joy, beauty, goodness.
188 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE,
KING HENRY THE SIXTH,
Part I.
There is very little indeed that requires special
comment from me in any one of the three parts
of 'King Henry The Sixth'; what revision has
been necessary, and at the same time possible, has
been fairly accomplished by the assiduous industry
of successive critics. Yet in Act I, 1, 56, there
is still a line left unfinished, a word wanting, a
gap in the text to be filled; and, although it is
of course impossible to say for certain, what the
word was that originally completed both the metre
and the sense, in this instance we happen to have
a better chance than usual of making a lucky
guess, as we are circumscribed in our selection
by three considerations. Li the first place, the
word must be a proper name ; in the second place,
it must be such as the metre will admit; in the
third place, it must be recommended by historic
fitness. We have to discover, if we can, in the
vast expanse of the political horizon a soul-star
KING HENRY THE SIXTH. PART I. 189
tiiat may shine by the side of the Julium sidus.
The brilHancy of Charlemagne's career has been
thought by some to entitle him to the place, and
'great Charlemain' actually occurs in 'All's Well
That End's Well.' I give the preference to Con-
stantino, whom Gibbon— and his testimony in
this instance is above suspicion — has not hesitated
to pronounce 'great.' Like Caesar, Constantino
was famous for military activity and successful
achievement ; both triumphed over domestic rivals
and a barbarian foe; both founded a dynasty and
an empire ; both were exalted to divine honours
in a pagan, and Constantino in a Christian heaven
as well. In this very play — Act I, 2, 142 — the
name of Constantino figures conspicuously :
Helen, the mother of ^rm^ Co?istantine,
Nor yet St. Philip's daughters were like thee,
Bright star of Yeuus, fallen down to the earth.
If, therefore, as I think probable, Shakespeare
completed the line, the Duke of Bedford may well
have been made to couple together the two great
luminaries of the Eastern and the Western world,
of Byzantium and of Eome.
It is a matter of infinitesimally small consequence,
whether, in the 62nd line of this same Act and
Scene, the note of interrogation stands at the end
of the line, or in the middle of it, although I
confess I have a decided preference for
What say'st thou, man ? Before dead Henry's corse
Speak softly, &c.
190 HAKD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
but it is not a matter of small consequence, how
we place the stops — I am now taking a long jump —
in Act IV, 6, 42-47. By substituting a note of
exclamation for the ordinary comma, I venture to
think that I not only simplify a somewhat com-
plicated sentence, but I give clearness to the
meaning, and throw spirit and fire into a soldier's
utterance.
The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart ;
These words of yours draw Hfe-blood from my heart :
On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame I
Before young Talbot fi-om old Talbot fly,
The coward horse that bears me fall and die !
A sentiment and a spirit worthy of the gallant
son of a gallant sire! The infinitives, 'to save,'
'to slay,' like Virgil's
Mene incepto desistere victam !
are infinitives of indignant remonstrance ! That
Shakespeare well knew how to turn them to account,
the following examples will show,
Louis marry Blanche !
Thou wear a lion's hide !
This lord go to him !
She, in spite of nature,
Of years, of country, credit, everything.
To fall in love with what she feared to look on !
I add to the list the words that were spoken by
young John Talbot.
KING HENEY THE SIXTH. — PART I. 191
We might read the 70th and 71st Hues of Act
V, Scene 3, without being in the least aware that
we had come to a part of the play, which had
exercised the ingenuity of commentators, but a
glance at the foot-notes in the Cambridge Shakes-
peare shows us that, where the copies have
Ay, beauty's princely majesty is such
Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses rough,
even Capell would have altered to 'makes the
senses crouch,' Collier to 'mocks the sense of
touch,' another to 'wakes the sense's touch,' and
generally editors seem to be under the impression
that the fag end of the line is faulty. But the
fault lies with the would-be emendators; Shakes-
peare knew well what he was about, when he set
down what the copies ascribe to him. There is.
an allusion to the confusion and awkwardness,
the rudeness and want of self-possession, which
are occasionally observed in some — not usually so
affected — when they are ushered into the presence
of some great personage, or confronted by the gaze
of some world-famed beauty. The following quota-
tions may be read with advantage.
'As You Like It,' Act I, 2, 269,
What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue ?
1 cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference.
'Merchant of Venice,' Act III, 2 177,
Madam, you have bereft me of all words,
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins ;
And there is such confusion in my powers,
As, after some oration, &c.
192 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE,
Compare also 'Midsummer-Niglit's Dream,' Act V,
1, 93.
A little below in the 193rd line the first Folio
reads 'mad natural graces,' which editors have
changed to 'And natural graces'; possibly Shakes-
peare wrote
Maid-nsiinvdX graces that extinguish art,
a compound formed after the analogy of 'maid-pale,'
which is found elsewhere.
I shall only add that in Shakespeare's versification
* contrary ' may be pronounced in the time of either
a trisyllable or a quadrisyllable, and the quantity of
its penultimate is sometimes long, sometimes short.
The reader, then, may scan the 64th line of Act V,
Scene 6,
Whereas the contrary bringeth bhss,
as he likes, provided he is content to let it alone.
KING HENRY THE SIXTH. PART II. 19B
KING HENRY THE SIXTH.
Part II.
I pass on to the second Part of ' King Henry The
Sixth,' where critics might have saved themselves
the tronble of trying to mend the metre in Act I, 3,
153,
She's tickled now ; her fume needs no spurs,
if they had recollected that ' tickle ' in particular, and
words of similar termination generally, are re-
peatedly used by Shakespeare as trisyllables, so that
all corrections here are nugatory.
But in Act II, 1, 26, where Gloucester says to the
Cardinal,
Churchmen so hot ! Good uncle, hide such malice ;
With such holiness can you do it.
a word of comment is not ovit of place; a full stop
at the end of the last line is right, a note of
interrogation wrong. For Gloucester does not so
much twit the Cardinal for inconsistency, as
he sneers at him for his hypocrisy, as though it
M 10
194 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
were easy for him to use his holiness as a cloak
of his malice ; and he distinctly intimates that
the Cardinal would have no compunction in so
using it. Let the learned critics rail at the little
phrase * do it ' as much as they will, it is one that is
used so repeatedly in conversation in the great theatre
of the world, that it is surprising that any should
doubt the probability, or question the propriety, of its
being used in the course of a dialogue in the tiny
theatre in which ' King Henry the Sixth ' was acted.
The critics are too crotchety. I grant that the line
seems to halt, but the slow deliberate measured
way, the peculiar tone of voice, with which this
stinging insult would be conveyed, may account
for its shortness, and make it quite equal in length
to one of ordinary measure.
There is one more passage in this Second Part, on
which I am anxious to say a word : it is in Act IV,
10, 56, where Alexander Iden is represented as saying
to Cade,
Thy hand is but a finger to my fist,
Thy leg a stick compared with this truncheon ;
My foot shall fight with all the strength thou hast ;
And if mine arm be heaved in the air,
Thy grave is digg'd already in the earth.
As for words, whose greatness answers words,
Let this my sword report what speech forbears.
The difficulty is confined to the last two lines, and is
partly of a textual, partly of an interpretative charac-
ter. As touching the text, I bold it to be so certain
KING HENRY THE SIXTH. — PART IK 195
that the pronoun ' thy ' has been omitted by the
merest accident in the last Hne but one — do not the
*thy,' 'thy,' 'thou,' 'thy,' of the previous hues sound
in the reader's ear, and cry for the repetition ? — that
I marvel that it has not occurred to the commen-
tators, and been installed in its rightful position in
the text ; specially as in the ' Tempest,' Act I, 2, 58,
they have not hesitated to introduce 'thou,' on the
authority of Steevens, in order to complete the sense
and perfect the metre. I assume, then, that the
lines should be printed
As for thy words, whose greatness answers words,
Let this my sword report what speech forbears,
and I proceed in the next place to show in what way
the couplet should be interpreted. Surely he is a
bad interpreter who would refer * whose ' to 'words ;'
it should be referred to ' combatants.' The following
paraphrase will illustrate both the construction and
the meaning. ' As for thy words, which of the two's
greatness, mine or thine, corresponds to, or matches,
words, let this my sword report; for with my
tongue I would fain not utter it.' Blows, not boasts,
suit Alexander Iden best. Of the use of ' whose ' in
this way we have not a bad example in another part
of this very play,
And poise the cause in justice' equal scales,
"Whose beam stands sure, whose rightful cause prevails.
For the sentiment we may go to 'Macbeth,' Act
V, 8, 7,
I have no words :
My voice is in my sword ;
196 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and ' Cymbeline,' Act IV, 2, 78,
Have not I
An arm as big as thine? a heart as big?
Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear not
My dagger in my mouth.
KING HENRY THE SIXTH. — PART III. 197
KING HENRY THE SIXTH.
Part III.
I have considerable misgivings, whether I ought
to write a single word on the one only portion of the
Third Part of ' King Henry the Sixth, ' which seems
to provoke the pen of the speculative critic — I allude
to Act I, 4, 162-53,
That face of his the hungry cannibals
Would not have touch'd, would not have stainM with blood,
for such is the reading of the passage in an edition,
which, though for convenience and uniformity's sake
it is called by the Cambridge editors a Quarto, is,
they tell us, in point of fact an Octavo, There is no
fault to be found with the lines either in respect of
metre, rhythm, or sense : cannibals would not have
hurt, much less slain, the fair-faced boy. But there are
suspicious circumstances connected with them, which
ought to be fairly met and debated. In the first
place, they are arranged in the first Folio in three
lines instead of in two :
That face of his
The liungry cannibals would not have touch'd.
Would not have etain'd with blood ;
198 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
a discrepancy this, which would not be worth noting,
were it not that in the second, third, and fourth Fohos,
wdiich are usually no more than reproductions of the
first, or of each other, with just occasional variations,
there is a variation, which is not slight or immaterial,
but considerable and important ; there is, in fact, a
distinct addition to the text,
"Would not have stain'd the roses just with blood —
not fresh wm-ds merely, but a fresh idea; and that too,
where there seemed neither room nor reason, so far
as metre and meaning were concerned, for any inno-
vation whatever — the fresh idea, too, has a poetic
colour, and is full of Shakespearian fragrance ; for I
am struck with such passages as ' Measure for
Measure,' Act I, 4, 16,
Those cheek-roses ;
* I Henry VI,' Act II, 4, 49-62,
Meantime your cheeks do counterfeit our roses ;
* Richard III,' Act IV, 3, 12,
Their lips were four red roses on a stalk ;
' Titus Andronicus,' Act II, 4, 24,
Thy rosed lips ;
* Romeo and Juliet,' Act IV, 1, 99,
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade ;
not to mention many others. Be it observed, too,
that the added words are not, like most interpolations,
ill-chosen and ill-placed ; they are particularly
KING HENRY THE SIXTH. — PART III. 199
appropriate as applied to young Rutland. Whence,
then, came these words originally ? Did the copyist
turn poet for the nonce, and set them down in the
exuberance of a playful fancy ? I do not believe that
this is the true account of them ; my belief is that
they were Shakespeare's own, and were originally
interwoven with the text, but were either discarded
by him some time or other when he revised the play,
and were re-inserted by a copyist in the later Folios,
or (which I think much more probable) they were
discarded by the copyist, or by the editors of the first
Folio, because they could not decipher and under-
stand them, though they managed to keep their place
in the later impressions. Now, if this theory is
correct, the words ought not to be relegated any
longer to a footnote, but should be reinstated in their
rightful position in the text. But what, it will be
asked, is ' roses just with blood ?' I had long ago
conjectured, what long long before me Theobald had
conjectured, that 'just' was merely another way of
spelling 'juiced.' ' Juiced with blood ' is a partici-
pial enlargement of 'roses,' and is both forcible and
fitting. Understand ' blood ' in its natural sense,
and it marks the distinction between the vegetable
and the human flower; make ' blood ' refer to the
life-juice of the flower (just as in ' Eichard II,' Act III,
4, 69, it is applied in common with the sap to the
life-juice of trees), and it is a fine dash of colour pour-
traying to the life the fresh and beautiful complexion
of the rosy-faced boy. Where cannibals are mentioned,
200 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the mention of blood is specially significant. Blood
might have tempted them, but beauty deterred them.
A cannibal would have spared, a Clifford did not.
The lines, then, with the added words in them, will
stand thus,
That face of his
The hungry cannibals would not have touch'd.
Would not have stain'd the roses juiced with blood.
It is just possible, however, that the words ' would
not have stained,' coming immediately after ' would
not have touch'd,' are merely a commentator's gloss,
and have been interpolated, and that the lines origin-
ally stood thus,
That face of his the hungry cannibals
Would not have touch'd, the roses juiced with blood,
where there would be two objects, the one introduc-
tory and general, the other descriptive and particular,
or the latter simply standing in apposition to the
former. Thus much for young Rutland : in the
language of Chaucer,
He was so fair and bright of hue,
He seemed like a rose new
Of colour, and in flesh so tender.
KING RICHARD THE THIRD. 201
KING RICHARD THE THIRD.
The tragedy of 'King Richard the Third ' has come
down to us singularly free from mutilation and cor-
ruption. It is true that the Cambridge editors tell
us in their preface, "that the respective origin and
" authority of the Quarto and the Folio is perhaps the
" most difficult question which presents itself to the
" editor of Shakespeare; that the Quarto contains pas-
" sages which are not in the Folio, and vice versa ; and
" that passages, which in the Quarto are complete and
*' consecutive, are amplified in the Folio, evidently
" by Shakespeare ;" yet one thing is incontestable —
they have not found it necessary to brand wdth their
usual obelus a single line or word throughout the
play. Such being the case, I have asked myself,
whether there could possibly be any portion of it,
which needed comment from me ; for the reader
would not thank me for starting minute or imaginary
questions, such, for instance, as wiiether, in Act I, 2,
64-66, ' heaven ' should be regarded as a nominative,
or vocative case; or whether, in the 101st line of the
same Scene, we should read
Didst thou not kill this king ?
Glou. I grant it ye.
Anne. Dost grant 't me, hedgehog ? Then, God grant me too
Thou mayst be damned for that wicked deed.
202 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE,
To no purpose should I plead in the former case,
that, two ways being possible, one must be preferable ;
in the latter, that the addition of the pronoun, which
might have been accidentally omitted, would not
impair the force of the dialogue, and might even
improve the metre ; the reader would turn with con-
tempt from such paltry speculative minutiae, and
would tell me, that I was making mountains of mole-
hills, or even myself raising the mole-hill. Yet I am
bold to say that the following passage in the third Scene
of the first Act, lines 62-69, deserves just a passing
notice, not that there can be any question either as to
the reading or as to the meaning, but simply because
of the very peculiar relation in which a nominative
case stands to its verb :
Brother of Gloucester, you mistake the matter.
The king, of his own royal disposition,
And not provoked by any suitor else ;
Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred.
Which in your outward actions shows itself
Against my kindred, brothers, and myself.
Makes him to send ; that thereby he may gather
The ground of your ill-will, and to remove it.
Here the ostensible nominative of the verb ' makes '^
is undoubtedly the noun ' king,' but the real nomina-
tive is rather the disposition and aim of the king, as
expressed in a number of consecutive clauses — it was
this, which 'made him to send.' The confusion
which we trace here might reasonably be attributed
to the shock which the Queen felt owing to Glouces-
KING RICHARD THE THIRD. 203
ter's furious upbraidings ; but I will rather explain it
as one of those iiTegularities, which occasionally
occur in sentences over-long drawn out, and which
are suffered to pass, w^hen, as in the present case,
there can be no possibility of the meaning being
misunderstood. We have a passage somewhat
resembling it in the very next play, — ' King Henry
the Eighth,' Act I, 1, 59-62— which, for the sake of
comparison, I may very well by anticipation intro-
duce here.
For, being not propp'd by ancestry, whose grace
Chalks successors their way, nor call'd upon
For high feats done to the crown ; neither allied
To eminent assistants ; but, spider-like.
Out of his self-drawing *web, 0, gives us note.
The force of his own merit makes his way.
Here the subject of the verb ' gives ' is not the
pronoun * he,' which the ' Globe ' editors have
unwarrantably forced into the text to the exclusion
of the interjection ' 0,' nor is it any noun or pronoun
understood, but a succession of participial and other
clauses contained in the four and a half lines preced-
ing, which, taken together, form a sort of cumulative
nominative.
But, to revert to the passage from ' King Richard
ni,' in the last line I have written 'and to remove it,'
which I believe is the reading of the copies, rather
than 'and so remove it,' which is a gloss of the
*The first Folio has ' web. O gives us note '
204 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
editors. Whether you explain the construction as a
change from a final adverbial clause to a final infini-
tive phrase, or (which I think more probable) as
another instance, to be added to the many which I
have mentioned in my notes on 'Measure for
Measure,' of the sign (to) of the infinitive being
inserted before the infinitive in consequence of the
remoteness of the auxiliary (may) on which the
infinitive depends — however you explain it, there is
no necessity, there is no justification, for making any
alteration. ' So ' may be our idiom ; but ' to ' was
tolerated by Shakespeare's contemporaries.
In this same Act and Scene — Act I, 3 — there are
two passages, where curiously enough the stops,
at least in my opinion, should be the very reverse
of what they are in the ^lobe ' edition ; in the one
case, we do not want a note of exclamation, yet we
have one; in the other, we want one, but we
have it not.
For in the 113th line Gloucester does ■ not so
much express surprise at Queen Elizabeth's
threatening him, as he resents the very idea of it,
as if he were likely to be taken aback by anything
that she could say, or the King could do :
What threat you me with telling of the King ?
he asks indignantly and defiantly, rather than
What ! threat you me with telling of the King ?
On the other hand, in the 188th line, where Queen
Margaret expresses astonishment that her political
KING RICHAED THE THIRD. 205
enemies should turn so soon from snarling at each
other to join, one and all, in setting upon her,
the punctuation should be
What ! were you snarling all before I came ?
and not
What were you snarling all before I came ?
There is a very peculiar expression in Act III, 3,
23, in a line spoken by Katcliff,
Make haste ; the hour of death is expiate,
which must be tantamount to what he had said
a few lines before, ^the limit of your lives is out'; yet
no parallel can be found for it in Shakespeare,
unless it be in 'Sonnet XXII':
Then look I death my days should expiate.
In Act V, 8, 173, a difficulty has been made of
the words 'I died for hope,' but it hardly deserves to
be called a difficulty. There are several ways in
which the sentence might be explained, as the
preposition 'for' has a wide grammatical scope.
In a Henry VI,' Act I, 1, 85, 'I'll fight for France '
means 'I'll fight to win it,' and so 'I died for hope'
might mean 'I died while fighting to sustain it.'
In 'Macbeth' 'dead for breath,' and in 'As You Like
It' 'I die for food,' mean in each instance for
the want of it; and so Buckingham might say
he died, all hope of rescue having been lost. But
there is yet another mode of construing the sentence,
to which I am inclined to give the preference. The
206 EAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
ambiguity of the expression arises from its concise-
ness. The principal sentence is left incomplete,
because, in the subordinate clause which follows,
are words which, when applied with the proper
grammatical construction to the principal sentence,
capitally complete it. It might not be too prolix for
a prose-writer to say, 'I died for hope of lending thee
aid, ere I could lend it thee,' but Shakespeai'e, who
rejoices in brevity, writes simply
I died for hope ere I could lend thee aid.
A prcEgnans locutio: what we lose in clearness, is
more than made up to us in strength and spirit.
I have given examples of this Shakespearian pecu-
liarity elsewhere; so I need not tire any with
the repetition here.
At the very end of the play — Act V, 5, 27-28 —
there seems to be a little doubt among the critics as
to what the stops, and consequently what the sense
should be. In the 'Globe' edition the passage
is thus set down:
England hath long been mad, and scarr'd herself ;
The brother blindly shed the brother's blood,
The father rashly slaughter'd his own son.
The son, compell'd, been butcher to the sire :
All this divided York and Lancaster,
Divided in their dire division,
0, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal house.
By God's fair ordinance conjoin together !
KING RICHAED THE THIRD. 207
Mr. Grant White was of opinion that a full stop
should be placed after 'Lancaster,' and the line,
* Divided in their dire division,' should be taken
with 'Eichmond and Elizabeth.' I am sure I am
right, when I prefer to point thus :
All this divided York and Lancaster
Divided in their dire division ?
The first 'divided' is a participle, the second a
finite verb; the siihject of the verb 'divided' is York
and Lancaster'; the object dependent upon it is 'all
this.' 'York and Lancaster, who were divided,
divided in their dire division all this'; or, 'in their
division caused all this division.' And what is
meant by -'all this'? Plainly what has been just
before lamentably described — brother being divided
against brother, father against son, son against
father.
208 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
I have already explained why I do not think it
necessary to strike out the interjection '0' from
the 63rd line of the first Act and first Scene of
*King Henry The Eighth,' merely to make room
for a nominative case to the verb 'gives'; I shall
now state why I do not think it right to brand
the 80th line of the same Act and Scene, where
Buckingham thus gives vent to his indignation
and disgust at Wolsey's high-handed dealing on
the occasion of the King's visit to the French court:
He makes up the file
Of all the gentry ; for the most part such
To whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon : and his own letter.
The honourable board of council out.
Must fetch him in he papers.
Buckingham charges Wolsey with having, at
times when the Council were not sitting, or at
any rate without consulting them and obtaining
their concurrence, issued his mandates in writing,
appointing to the ruinous honour of attending the
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH, 209
King any whom he chose to prick down on his
list, or, as Buckingham scornfully expresses it, to
* paper.' The language is too informal and simple,
too homely and common, to please some scholars ;
yet it is old fashioned and Elizabethan, it is not
unclerkly couched, it admirably expresses the un-
guarded impromptu outpourings, in familiar and
confidential intercourse, of Buckingham's scornful
heart. 'Paper,' a noun metamorphosed to a verb,
is a special word for a special occasion ; it is neither
a Shakespearian impossibility, nor a linguistic one,
and may be included by us without scruple in a
vocabulary of Shakespeare's verbs formed from
nouns.
Some words spoken by Brandon — the officer who
came to arrest Buckingham — in the 204th and
following lines I shall next notice.
I am sorry
To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
The business present : tis his highness' pleasure
You shall to the Tower.
Such is the ordinary pointing; but should not
a semicolon rather be placed after ' liberty,' and
a comma after ' present,' and the infinitive phrase
* to look on the business present ' be connected,
not with the words that go before, but with those
that come after ? It was no part of Brandon's
business to waste time in discussing, or hearing
others discuss, how Buckingham had fallen under
the King's displeasure, but to execute his com-
N 11
210 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
mands, and dispatch a disagreeable duty with as
much dehcacy as he could ; after expressing, there-
fore, his regret that he should have to be an eye-
witness of such a scene, he gently reminds them
of the object of his coming, of the 'present
business,' which it behoved both himself and them
to keep an eye on, and attend to. The business
was that Buckingham should go to the Tower.
It was only after I had roughly sketched "my
views of these two passages, that I was informed
that Singer had similarly explained the first, and
Mr. Collier the last. The agreement — as Gibbon
neatly expresses it — without mutual communication,
may add some weight to our common sentiment.
The closing lines of the Scene, which are inex-
pressibly beautiful, are in Buckingham's more
subdued manner, and finely contrast with the stout
words previously spoken by him :
My surveyor is false ; the o'er-great cardinal
Hath show'd him gold ; my life is spann'd already ;
I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,
By darkening my clear sun. My lord, farewell.
'Figure' is, of course, the subject of the verb
'puts.' 'By darkening' should perhaps be taken
not as two words, but as one compounded one; the
same prefix is used by Shakespeare in 'by-peeping'
and * by-dependency.' Buckingham explains that
he is no longer the man that he was ; he is but a
shadow of his former self; his figure, which but a
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. 211
moment before had been so conspicuous, at the
very instant of his speaking is enveloped in a
cloud, which throws into utter darkness his clear
sun; he, who but now was the brightest in the
political firmament, is now so totally eclipsed, that
he is no longer even to be seen ; a cloud had folded
up his bright outshining beams. Surely com-
mentators have perplexed themselves here with a
passage that is sufficiently clear.
There is nothing now to interrupt our progress,
till we come to the 92nd and following lines of
Act II, Scene 2.
All the Clerks,
I mean the learned ones, in Christian kingdoms
Have their free voices — Eome, the nurse of judgment,
Invited by your noble self, hath sent
One general tongue unto us, this good man,
This just and learned priest, Cardinal Campeius ;
Whom once more I present unto your highness.
I have placed a hyphen after * voices ' rather than a
colon, in order to indicate that the sentence is
unfinished ; the participle that should complete it is
to be found in the sentence that follows. In my
notes on ' King Henry the Fifth ' I have quoted
several passages to show, how fond Shakespeare is of
this elliptic form of expression, which is sometimes
used for conciseness' sake, but sometimes also for
dramatic effect. Here it may serve both purposes.
The Cardinal curtly and cursorily mentions the
opinions of the learned clerks of Christendom, as
212 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
knowing that the King would hsten to that branch of
the subject with comparatively languid interest, and
that theji had neither authority nor power to bind or
to loose ; with courtly expedition and tact he pro-
ceeds to that other branch of the subject, which the
King might well be represented as straining to hear
with impatient eagerness ; it was only the Pope of
Rome, who, in the estimation at any rate of Wolsey
and the world, could settle the knotty question,
whether the I^ng were only a Bachelor after having
lived upwards of twenty years in a state of supposed
matrimony, or whether, if he contracted a second
marriage, he should rather be called a bigamist ;
accordingly, without any curtailment, with all cir-
cumstance and ceremony, and with much compla-
cency of tone and manner, the Cardinal presents the
Pope's plenipotentiary, Cardinal Campeius.
In the next Scene — Act II, 3, 46 — an old lady is
introduced, rallying Anne Bullen for her mock
modesty in being shocked at the very idea of being
matched in marriage with a king. The two ladies
thus prettily spar with each other :
Anne. How you do talk !
I swear again I would not be a queen
For all the world.
Old L. In faith, for little England
You'ld venture an emballing : I myself
Would for Carnarvonshire, although there long'd
No more to the crown but that.
Now what, according to the Old Lady, would Anne
venture for even such a small portion of the world as
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. 213
little England ? and what does she say that she her-
self would venture even for such a small strip as
Carnarvonshii-e ? ' An emballing,' says the text, but
what is an ' embaUing ? ' Some have supposed — for I
make no account of numerous conjectures that have
been started — that, instead of repeating the phrase,
' to be a queen,' she uses a word, which from the
custom of carrying the ball in procession at corona-
tions, alluded to in ' King Henry V,' Act IV, 1, 277,
is in reality equivalent to it, and that, under cover of
this word, she hints at a matrimonial, or at any rate
a concubinal consequence, which every woman would
instinctively understand. I do not quite agree with
this view of the passage. I feel sure that the Old
Lady used the word with a concubinal reference only
— that she reiterates, in fact, what she had already
said in the 25th line, which line in my opinion
clenches the matter. There is not a little harmless
satire in her use of the word ' venture ' ; whether in
'emballing' a pun— an execrable one — were intended
on Anne Bullens own name, I need not discuss ; but
the Old Lady was quite capable of it.
In Act III, 3, 2, 62-71, should the answer to
Norfolk's question be, 'He is return'd,' or 'He is
return'd in his opinions ? ' The latter phrase is cer-
tainly most peculiar — most unusual ; there is
nothing like it, that I can recollect, in the whole
range of Shakespeare. It is true that the Folios so
punctuate, but the punctuation of the Folios, we are
assured by those who have had good opportunities of
214 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
judging, is as likely to lead us wrong as right ; we
need not, therefore, be solicitous to enquire, how the
Folios point, but rather which of the two modes of
pointing is most consistent with Shakespeare's general
style — which suits the passage best. In my opinion
' he is return'd ' is simple, natural, Shakespearian.
The words that follow describe the political conse-
quences, or at any rate the future policy. Suffolk
says that in virtue of, in accordance with, on the
strength of, Cranmer's opinions, which have satisfied
the King, and not the King only, but all the learned
men of Christendom, the Queen is shortly to be
divorced, and a new Queen installed in her stead.
According to this interpretation the punctuation of
the passage will have to be revised, and this is my
revision of it.
Nor : But, my lord.
When returns Cranmer ?
Suf: He is return'd ; in his opinions, which
Have satisfied the King for his divorce
Together with all famous colleges
Almost in Christendom, shortly, I believe.
His second marriage shall be publish'd, and
Her coronation ; Katherine no more
Shall be call'd queen, but princess dowager
And widow to Prince Arthur.
I have already had occasion to observe how fond
Shakespeare is of condensing his matter, but I know
of no more remarkable instance, at least so far as the
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. 215
syntax is concerned, than we have in Act III, 2,
190-92 of this play :
I do profess
That for your highness' good I ever labour'd
More than mine own ; that am, have, and will be.
No wonder that the grammarians stare with astonish-
ment ; no wonder that the text-doctors shake their
heads, and refuse to see anything here but a shattered
text. Yet have we here not so much dead stuff cum-
bering the hne, but a skeletonized sentence, or rather a
succession of skeletonized sentences, wherein we can
yet recognise living specimens of the poet's creation.
If we consider, who is the speaker, and what were
the circumstances under which he spake, we shall be
able to account for the obscurity, and grope out a
tolerable meaning.
The speaker was Wolsey. Who more able than
he to express in clear and vigorous language the con-
ceptions of his soul ? yet, like Tiberius, like Talley-
rand, he could, when it served his purpose, hide by
his words the secret counsels of his heart. It was a
critical moment this for the Cardinal. Already he
had asked himself, ' What should this mean ? ' His
perplexity was not diminished, as the King continued
to probe him with strange questionings. He had
need of all his dissimulation ; but the language of
deceit is seldom pure and unadulterated. Conse-
quently, with a deal of excellent matter, excellently
expressed, we find in the Cardinal's speech some
216 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEAEE.
ambiguities, some twistings and turnings, much that
is exaggerated, much that is extravagant. Those
words, 'that am, have, and will be,' if they mean
anything, must refer to what he had just been saying
— 'That I am, that I have been, that I will be, in
the present, as in the past, and no less in the future,
a labourer for the Kings advantage.' Even supposing,
Wolsey purposely cast his words in the form of a
motto, and appropriated it as his motto descriptive
of his devoted attachment to the King, could any-
thing be more laboured, more confused, more per-
plexing, more obscure.' Bead his words which next
follow :
Though all the world should crack their duty to you,
And throw it from their soul ; though perils did
Abound, as thick as thought could make 'em, and
Appear in forms more horrid — yet my duty,
As doth a rock against the chiding flood,
Should the approach of this wild river break,
And stand unshaken yours.
What earnestness of protestation ! what rhetorical
flourishes! what verbal embellishment! It is not
the efflorescence of nature ; it is the embroidery of art.
A slight change of punctuation — these slight
changes may not be unworthy of notice — I venture
to throw out for consideration rather than for
certain adoption in the 383rd line :
The king has cured me ;
I humbly thank his grace ; and from these shoulders,
These ruin'd pillars, out of pity, taken
A load would sink a navy.
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. 217
Here I put a full stop, and continue,
Too much honour —
0, 'tis a burthen, Cromwell, 'tis a burthen
Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven !
The usual method is to put a colon after ' honour,'
which is thus made to stand in apposition to ' load.'
Point as we will in Act V, 3, 1-2, the meaning
is the same ; yet I prefer as more after Shakespeare's
manner.
Speak to the business, master secretary,
Why are we met in council.
There is a phrase in Act V, 3, 10-1'i, which has
been needlessly cavilled at,
But we all are men,
In our own natures frail, and capable
Of our flesh.
* Flesh ' is here used, as it is in Pauline theology,
for sinful indulgence. So understood, it should
present no more difficulty to the interpreter than
such phrases as 'capable of all ill' (Tempest),
'capable of evil' (Hamlet), 'capable of fears ' ^
(Kichard IH). It is the old doctrine of human
fallibility put in Shakespeare's plain simple original
effective fashion.
A little further on, is it an editorial, or is it
not rather a typographical error, that at the end
of the 108th line we find a note of interrogation
rather than one of exclamation ? ' Do you think,
my lords,' says Norfolk,
The king will suffer but the little finger
Of this man to be vex'd ?
218 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
to which the Chancellor's reply should unquestiona-
bly be pointed thus,
'Tis now too certain :
How much more is his life in value with him !
To the printer, too, rather than to the editors,
I would fain attribute the pointing that we have
in the 'Globe' Shakespeare a little lower down
in the 130th line,
Good man, sit down. Now let me see the proudest
He, that dares most, but wag his finger at thee.
It is true that the Folios omit the comma after
* proudest,' and that Shakespeare elsewhere uses
the phrase, 'the proudest he' — oiie example we
have in '3 Henry VI,' Act I, 1, 48 — but even
supposing that it makes no difference, as perhaps
it does not, that, in the instance cited, the superla-
tive and the pronoun are not cut off from each
other by separate lines, I venture to think that
there is more force in the King's words, if a
comma is placed after ' proudest.' ' Now '— says he
— ' let me see the proudest, aye, the most daring ' —
superlative following superlative ; for ' he that dares
most' is virtually a superlative. How frequently
Shakespeare explains, or amplifies, by the peri-
phrasis of a personal pronoun and a relative clause,
must have been observed by every attentive reader
of his plays. That any objection will be raised
on the score of the grammar, I do not anticipate,
CORIOLANUS. 219
COEIOLANUS.
The tragedy of * Corioianus ' was first printed in
Folio. The text, we are told, 'abounds with errors,
due probably to the carelessness or illegibility of the
transcript from which it was printed.' This may be so,
but these are not the only errors in it which need rec-
tification. In most of the editions of the play, which
are to be found nowadays in bookseller's shop or
private library, there are erroneous emendations smug-
gled into the text without license and without crying
necessity; there are inaccuracies of punctuation,
which obscure the sense and hoodwink the reader,
attributable not to inadvertance on the part of the
transcriber or printer, but to misjudgement on the
part of the editor ; there are also ( to put it mildly )
some very questionable interpretations, which should
not be allowed to stand unchallenged, and which
may have to be superseded by others more pertinent
and truthful ; besides all these, there are a number
of passages, which admit of being explained in
more ways than one, and which perhaps had
better be left without note or comment of any kind
220 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
to the unbiassed judgment of each individual
interpreter ; thus in Act I, 1, 195-198, where
Coriolanus says of the multitude,
They'll sit by the fire, and presume to know
What's done i' the Capital ; who's like to rise,
"Who thrives and who declines ; side factions and give out
Conjectural marriages,
why say that ' side factions ' means ' talie 'part in
factions,' unless that be the only tolerable, or
decidedly the best meaning that the words can
bear ? As a matter of fact, it is neither the only
possible, nor, in my opinion, the most probable
one. These fire-side gossips affected to know
the state of the political, just as they affected to
know the state of the social world ; they patched up
imaginary parties, making this man belong to this
side, and that man to that, just as they gave out
conjectural marriages ; faction-makers and match-
makers were they, albeit their factions and their
matches had no existence save in their idle
imaginations and brainless babble. Minutiae of
this sort, though not altogether devoid of interest,
are yet not of paramount importance ; but it is
important that there should be no mistake in such
a passage as the 262nd line of this same Act and
Scene — Act I, 1, 262 — where the punctuation of
the Folio, though not always to be depended upon,
may be accepted with confidence ; it certainly is
not an advantageous exchange to put a note of
exclamation, as some do, after
The present wars devour him ;
CORIOLANUS. 221
the tribunes are telling each other what they
think of Coriolanus; how proud he was; how he
had scorned and taunted them when they were
appointed tribunes; they aggravate his offence by
the remark, while perhaps they comfort themselves
by the reflection, that even the gods themselves
— those most high sacrosanct irresponsible arbiters
— even the moon, the very ideal of modesty, he
would not scruple to ' gird ' — to mock at ; what
wonder, then, if tlieir tribunitian majesty, their
tribunitian modesty, he despised, he insulted !
And now what further ? Do they, as some would
have it, invoke a curse on Coriolanus, and wish
him perdition by the wars ? No such thing. ' This '
man,' they continue, ' who has no regard for God
or tribune, what does he care for ? ' The ivars ' —
for the poet here, with a licence which is common
to him, and which is perfectly well known to all
those who have read his plays with attention, uses
the plural form as an exact equivalent of the singular,
an example of which we have in ' Cymbeline,' Act
IV, 3, 43, where 'These present ivars' is said of
a ivar then instant — 'the ?('(<?-s-,' then, or, as we may
express it, 'the war,' such as at that very moment
was brewing with the Yolsci — ' this is his devouring
passion ; he is carried away, he is swallowed up,
he is wholly absorbed by the tvar ; and this is how
he has grown — grown far ' too proud ' ; and the
reason he is so proud is because he is so valiant.'
Such I conceive to be a fair gloss on a much mis-
222 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
conceived passage, though I am not quite sure that
I have correctly expounded just the fag end of it.
Trusting to the critics to make right my wrong,
I proceed to the next psssage, my remarks on
which, I wish it to be distinctly understood, are
of a tentative rather than of a dogmatic character ;
nevertheless I fear I shall be scolded and smit
by my tribunitian judges for presuuiing to stir up
the dying embers of a past contention in Act I, 3,
46 — not that some . emendation there is not
absolutely necessary, but it will be argued that all
that can be done has been done already, and that,
where the first Folio reads
The breasts of Hecuba,
When she did suckle Hector, look'd not lovelier
Then Hector's forehead, when it spit forth blood
At Grecian sword. Conienning, tell Valeria, &c.,
and where the second Folio reads
At Grecian swordes contending : tell Valeria, &c.
two ways, and two only are open to us — either that
taken by Capell, who merely added to the line of
the second Folio an apostrophe after 'swordes,' to
indicate that it was a plural genitive, or that taken
by Mr. Collier, who altered the line of the first
Folio to
At Grecian swords, contemning : tell Valeria.
There will be no lack of critics to correct me,
if I err, but I cannot help thinking that the
participle * contemning ' — Mr. Collier's participle —
CORIOLANUS. 223
coming immediately after such a strong expression
as ' spit forth blood,' even if it be not slightly
tautological, does not add much to the spirit and
force of the passage ; while, as for the emendation
of the second Folio, that must, of course, claim
our attention, but it cannot command our accep-
tance. And why ? Because the second Folio was
merely copied from the first, and not from an
independent transcript ; where, therefore, it differs
from the first, the difference is due to transcriber,
printer, prompter, press-corrector, no one knows
whom, and it may be estimated accordingly. We
are certainly not hound to follow it, specially if we
can account in some other reasonable way for what
appears in the /rsi Folio. Now let it be observed
that 'Contenning' is cut off from the words that
precede it by a full stop ; secondly, that it is headed
with a capital letter; and thirdly, that it is printed
in italics: these three points can be gainsaid by
none. Well now — this cxceptioncdhj printed, this
obviously and avowedly misspelt word — what if it
is no more than one of those numerous stage
directions, like 'coming forward,' 'digging,' 'aside,'
'reciting to himself,' 'looking at the jewel,' 'to
the gold ' — all these taken at random from ' Timon '
— which ever and anon interrupt the text, signify-
ing that Volumnia had ceased speaking to Yirgilia,
and, in ^continuing' her remarks — so the word
should have been spelt — was addressing the gentle-
woman in attendance. Thus the line shrinks from
224 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
an Alexandrine to one of the ordinary measure,
the full pause in the middle of it accounting for —
some might think, necessitating, according to a
well-known rule of Shakespearian prosody, the
omission of a syllable ; and so the metre, in spite
of the ejection of a trisyllable, is as complete as the
most sensitive rhythmist could desire. I shall
only add that stage directions were usually printed
in italics.
Our difficulty in the next passage — Act I, 4, 31 —
consists not so much in suggesting, as in selecting
an emendation. The line, as given in the first
Folio, is
AH the contagion of the south light on you,
You sliames of Rome ! You Heard of Byles and Plagues
Plaister you o'er ;
this the editors of the ' Globe ' Shakespeare, by
changing the punctuation and the spelling, and
supposing that Coriolanus was in such a towering
passion, that he could not speak coherently,
manage to retain, printing it thus.
You shames of Rome ! you herd of — Boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er ;
but, when a man, boiling over with rage, is hurling
curses at a lot of runaways — a species of ammu-
nition, by the way, of which Coriolanus had a goodly
supply — he is not wont to falter with his tongue, or
to be brought up with a jerk, even though it be to
discharge a second volley of yet more bitter words.
CORIOLANUS. 225
I dismiss the method of the 'Globe' Shakespeare
editors, then, as a clever shift rather than a correct
solution; nor can I do more than commend'
Theobald's arrangement, for all that it is so neat
and near,
You shames of Rome, you ! Herds of boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er.
A word like 'sherds' would seem more appropri-
ate than 'herds.'
If I could bring myself to believe that ' cowards '
was spelt in the original 'Keardef,' and that the K
of this. 'Keardef was misshapen, so as to be very
much like an H, as might happen in a 'carelessly
written and illegible transcript,' I could understand
how such, a corruption as 'Heard of might have
*crept in, where Shakespeare had wiitten,
You shames of Rome ! you cowards ! Boils and plagues
Plaster you o'er ;
but I should be 'cooking a stone,' were I to try tO'
persuade any that the line, as I have now tinkered
it, was as the author manufactured it; some less
violent change will reasonably be msisted on. Well
then, in Act IV, 2, 11, of this play, we find the
phrase 'the hoarded plague of the gods.' Here, then,
is a word, viz. ' /toart?,' which bears a strong resemblance
to 'Heard,' suits the context capitally, and derives-
a sort of sanction from the fact that it is used
in connexion with plagues elsewhere in this very
o 12
226 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE,
play. If we shift the stops, as Theobald dared to
shift them, but for Theobald's 'herds' substitute
^ Hoard,' we have
You shames of Rome, you ! Hoard of boUs and plagues
Plaster you o'er.
Such, then, is my ultimatum. If it be objected
that 'hoarcr is well enough, but that the antecedent
*you!' sounds rather like a weak scream, unless a
hyphen be placed after it, I answer that an exact
parallel of this repetition of the pronoun may be
found in Shakespeare; the fact I distinctly remem-
ber, the particular passage I cannot at this moment
find for the satisfaction of the doubter. But the
critics, who, in Act II, 1, 27, have not scrupled to
transmute 'teach' to 'touch,' will not censure me for
proposing to make e give way to o in this passage
also.
On the next passage — Act I, 6, 76 — I can only
compare the notes of the commentators to clouds of
dust, which hide from our eyes the very point
of which we are anxious to get a clear and distinct
view. The circumstances may be thus briefly
narrated. Coriolanus, finding that the battle, which
Cominius had fought with the Volsci, had terminated
indecisively, asks for, and obtains, permission to call
for volunteers to renew instantly the engagement.
In answer to his appeal, not a few only, but the
whole army rush forward with the most extravagant
demonstrations of mariial confidence and delight;
COEIOLANUS. 227
taken aback by this unexpected manifestation, he
exclaims,
O me alone ! make you a sword of me !
These are the words — what are we to make of
them? I take them to be partly a sort of gentle
protest against the hero-worship that they were
paying him, partly a preface to the remarks which
immediately after he addresses to them. Who were
these men who were now so eager for the fray ? They
were the very men who mider Cominius had failed
to beat the enemy; yet now that Coriolanus was
to captain them, they made sm^e that they had a
very engine of war, a talisman of victory — theij made
a sword of him — they regarded Mm as their sword,
him as their confidence — him and him alone.
Coriolanus says not a word to damp this newly
kindled ardour; he credits them with it, and shifts
the power from himself to them; or rather he
shares it with them ; if they were the men inwardly
which they showed outwardly, no need to set
their hopes on him, and him alone ; they themselves
were equally with him swords — terrors to the foe;
not one but could be a match for four Volsci; not
one but could front the redoubtable Aufidius himself,
and push his shield with shield as hard. 'A certain
number,' he continues.
Though thanks to all, must I select from all : the rest
Shall bear the business in some other fight.
As cause wiU be obey'd. Please you to march ;
And four shall quickly draw out my command.
Which men are best inclined.
228 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Over the last line and a half there has been a deal
of wrangling, a deal of conjecturing. ' Why four ? ' it
has been asked. To which a learned annotator
stoically answers, 'Why not four?' Yet, as if not
quite satisfied himself with this method of meeting art
adversary's objections, he refers to a passage in
* Hamlet' (which does not strike me as relevant) to-
show that ' four ' was used of an indefinitely small
number. I rather look for an explanation of the
difficulty in the notion which Shakespeare enter-
tained of the organization of the army. He speaks:
of the '^centuries' — the 'centurions' — of the Volsci;
there cannot be a doubt that he conceived the
Boman army as similarly divided; the number 'four'
indicates with sufficient exactness the modest
number that Coriolanus was content should accom-
pany him on his errand of danger — four hundred meriy
and their four officers — Yoila tout. Soldiers would
understand, if scholars cannot.
W^e are again on debatable ground in Act I, 9,
41-46, where Coriolanus in his usual incisive style is-
remonstrating with the army for sounding a salute
in his honours
May these same instruments, which you profane,
Never sound more ! when drums and trumpets shall
I' the field prove flatterers, let courts and cities be
Made all of false-faced soothing !
When steel grows soft as the parasite's silk.
Let him be made an *overture for the wars !
"Ff
CORIOLANU-S. -22'^
In the first two lines, where a wish is expressed that
the drum and the trumpet may never sound more, it
is of course imphed, if they were to be prostituted to
such unsoldier-hke uses. A child may read here.
But to whom, it has been asked, does him in the last
line refer ? I answer, to the person alluded to in the
previous line— to steel grown soft — that is to say (for
the abstract is used for the concrete) to the man who
ought to be a steeled warrior, but who is no better
than a silken parasite. A prose writer might have
used the plural pronoun, the poet prefers the singu-
lar ; under ' him ' is probably comprehended the
whole military body — ex uno disce omnes. To my
mind,' the difficulty does not consist in finding a
word for ' him ' to refer to, but in discovering a sense
for ' overture,' suitable alike to the word and to the
passage. How, then, is it used elsewhere in Shake-
speare ? There is no lack of examples,
I bring no overture of war.
* Twelfth Night,' Act I, 5, 225.
I hear there is an overture of peace.
'All's Well that Ends Well, Act IV, 3, 46.
I could not answer in that course of honour
As she had made the overture.
* All's Well that Ends Well/ Act V, 3, 99,
Without more overture.
* Winter's Tale,' Act II, 1, 172,
It was he
That made the overture of thy treason to us.
* King Lear,' Act III, 1, %%
230 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
•
, In all these passages (excepting the last, where it
is somewhat differently applied, and seems to be
almost synonymous with ' disclosm-e ') the word
means an offering of terms of some sort — whether
amicable or hostile in chai-acter, depends upon the
context. In a somewhat similar sense it is fair
to suppose that *overtm'e' is used in 'Coriolanus.'
The question, then, resolves itself to this. Can the
word bear its ordhiai-y meaning in this extraordinary
connexion of it ? I thmk it can. Just as, when a
dispute arises between two nations, it is customary
to try what can be done by an overture with the view
of coming to an understanding, the ambassador hold-
in his hand both peace and war, so Coriolanus
sarcastically recommends the Romans for their wars
to see what could be done through such a one as he
describes ; let them make an * overture ' of him ; the
ambiguous word well suited Coriolanus' purpose;
the heai'ers might take it either way ; as an overture
oi peace, or an overture of icar ; but none could doubt
that, when such a body were put forward, a man of
silk and not a man of steel, whose artillery was a
cocoon rather than a cannon, the warlike sense was
out of the question ; the warlike solution was impos-
sible ; the word would be not 'treat,' but 'yield;'
not equal tei*ms such as freedom commands, but
unconditional surrender fit only for crouching slaves.
There is no more reason why a man should not be
said to be made an overture, than a man is said to be
made a sword ; only the former is applied to the
CORIOLANUS. 231
coward, the latter (as we have just seen) to Coriolanus.
It is far too great a Hberty to take with the text, to
change ' overture ' to ' coverture ;' nor dare I assign to
* overture ' a sense, which it may very well bear
nowadays in musical literature, but which we have
no proof that it ever bore in Shakespeare's time, nor
is there a single example of its being used in that
sense to be found in any one of his plays.
There is nothing now which calls for special com-
ment, until we reach Act III, 1, 131, where we come
across the very singular phrase, ' this bosom multiplied^*
which the critics convert — by w^hat process I know
not — to ' this bissom multitude !' The latter, being
the harsher expression, is perhaps thought to accord
better with Coriolanus' temper. As a matter of fact,
however, for this particular passage the other phrase
bears off the palm. It is not the blindness of the
multitude that is here glanced at, but the dangerous
knowledge bosomed up by them, and sure in time to
be thoroughly digested, that they had wrung gratui-
ties and concessions from a reluctant oligarchy.
Multiply the bosom, and you augment the danger.
* Bissom multitude ' is just the phrase that an
unwary critic would catch at ; and how triumphantly
might he point to 'bissom conspectuities ' in another
part of the play ! But * bosom multiplied ' is the
phrase for the place, original, unique, strikingly
apposite, bearing the stamp of discerning judgment
and originating genius. It may be matched with
the * multitudinous tongue,' which occurs a little
232 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
further down ; only there speech, here thought in
the dominant idea. By all means read, therefore,
How shall this bosom multiplied digest
The senate's courtesy ?
A little question of punctuation, not altogether unim-
portant, in Act III, 1, 191, must next claim our
littention. Menenius, who all along, in spite of his
patrician sympathies, endeavours to maintain amicable
relations with the commons, and to act as a sort of
peacemaker between the two rival factions, and to be
the candid friend of both, would surely not, when
the populace were all a-fire, deliberately blow the
flames, and incense the tribunes by crying out
insultingly, ' You, tribunes to the people!' Eather
does he do his utmost to check the conflagration, and
prevent the flames from spreading, appealing to each
one of the opposing parties in turn ; admonishing
first the tribunes, then Coriolanus ; exhorting them
to speak to, restrain, pacify the people ; exhorting
him to have patience. Such being the case, the pas-
sage should be stopped thus :
What is about to be ? I am out of breath ;
Confusion's near ; I cannot speak. You, tribunes,
To the people. Coriolanus, patience !
"Speak, good Sicinius.
To have upbraided the popular magistrates at
such a critical juncture would have been as
impolitic, as it would have been alien to the part
which Menenius assumed. But perhaps I shall be
CORIOLANUS, 233
"told that the inter2)retation which I have given is the
interpretation contemplated, stops notivithstanding.
What again is there awry in the Hne Act III,
2, 29,
I have a heart as little apt as yours,
which has been banned by the Cambridge editors ?
Can it be that they object to *apt'? In 'Timon,'
Act I, 1, 132, we read, 'She is young and apt,'
and in the same play, Act II, 2, 139-140, 'unapt-
ness' and 'indisposition' are used convertibly. If
there is a flaw here, all I can say is that I cannot
perceive it.
I come now to a celebrated passage in Act III,
2, extending over several lines ( 52-80 ), where
Volumnia endeavours to induce Coriolanus to dis-
guise his real sentiments in order to pacify and
conciliate the infuriated multitude. We must not
expect to find in the language, which Shakespeare
puts into the mouth of a Koman matron, the lofty
morality of a purist, but we need not go the
length of a certain expositor, who would actually
alter the text to make Volumnia say that she would
allow herself any amount of dissimulation, where
her fortune and friends required it. Any amount
of dissimulation was held lawful by Charles The
Fifth and the leading celebrities of the sixteenth
century, but the mother of Coriolanus professes
to be guided by the code of 'honour,' which sets
some bounds to dissimulation, even when fortune
234 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and friends are at stake. The cliief difficulty of
the passage is ' not one of ethics at all, but of
syntax. How are we to constrae the line — I
punctuate it, as the * Globe' Shakespeare editors
do—
Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart ?
Volumnia had just before told Coriolanus to
*wave his head,' which she mstructs him to do
'often,' and she shows him how to do it — 'thus' —
and she adds the pm-pose — 'correcting thy stout
heart.' When expositors make such a fluster about
the government of the relative 'which,' are they
oblivious of the little verb ' do^ and of its occasional
ellipse, specially in conversation, supplemented too by
gesticulation ? I can only suppose that they shrink
from this explanation because of the simplicity of it;
but the simplicity of an explanation, if common
sense go along with it, should recommend it rather
than otherwise. With more reason it has been
asked, what is the relation in which 'humble'
stands to the rest of the sentence in the line,
Now humble as the ripest mulberry ?
Some connect it with 'head,' and some with
'heart,' and some think it a verb, and some an
adjective, and some hold that it has no business
here at all, but that it has usurped the place of
some other more fitting word. But the word is
right enough, and an adjective it is sure enough;
and it refers neither to 'head,' nor to 'heart,' but.
CORIOLANUS. 235
equally with * bussing,' equally with 'waving,' to
the subject of the main sentence, viz: to the pro-
noun 'thou,' which is understood. In fact 'now
humble ' is the last of a series of clauses, each one
indicating a fresh attitude which the speaker would
have Coriolanus assume; ^now limnhW is the coup
de grace, the final pose to which all the others are
but preludes ; it marks the lowest level in the valley
of humiliation; the limit beneath which humility
itself could smk no further; 'now humble,' aye,
now at last the very pictm^e of hmnility, humble
enough to satisfy even the most exacting tribunes;
as soft, as sweet, as low-hanging, as ready to drop,
as the ripest mulberry that will not bear the
handlmg.
Having cleared the way here, I will next endeavour
to remove a much more serious obstruction which
occurs in another of Volumnia's speeches, the same
Scene, the 126th and 127th lines:
At thy choice, then ;
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin ; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy danyeroiis stoutness, for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou.
The words that are printed in italics have been
hidden from expositors, and, I must acknowledge,
were equally so from myself, various shadows of
interpretation having amused me from time to time,
all alike illusory. If I have hit upon the right
238 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
meaning now, it is due to a hint which I hav6
received from a friendly critic. In the first place>
let it be observed that almost in the same breath,
that Volumnia avows a feeling of pride of some sort,
she disavows the pride which stiffened Coriolanus (line
130), as not derived from her, nor appertaining to
her, but of his own begetting. And secondly, it is
evident that Coriolanus felt that his mother had
chidden him, and had not come round to his view of
her own free will, but rather because she felt that
she could not do otherwise. Her surrender to her
son, then, was not a cheerful and spontaneous, but
a half-hearted and compulsory one. Thus much
generally ; and now to come to particulars : in what
terms does Volumnia describe her own feelings ?
Certainly not as of one who feared the consequences ;
for (to use her own words) she mocked at death
with as big heart as Coriolanus did. How then? As
one who felt pride, but not exactly the pride which
Coriolanus felt; but a rational pride akin to what
we sometimes call self respect — a feeling that she
had gone as far in entreating her son as a mother,
or at least as Coriolanus' mother, should. He would
be too proud to be continually suing, and continually
denied ; well then — that pride of his she too felt : she
let it be as he willed ; she passively permitted it, albeit
it was contrary to her wish, her counsel, her best
and highest judgment. I can almost fancy that
Shakespeare had in his mind here that famous
chapter in Israelitish history, when Jehovah, finding
CORIOLANUS. 237
his people were determined to have a visible and
temporal king, like all the nations aromid them, at
length ceased to contend with them — let them have
their will — allowing it rather than approving of it,
conceding what was in reality repugnant to his
commands and his comisel. Long was the ruin
a- coming, but it came at last.
Twelve lines from the end of the third Scene of
Act 3, there is not the least reason for substituting
' not ' for ' hit ' in the line
Making but reservation of yourselves,
though the change has been made by some editors.
Coriolanus declares that the end and aim of the
plebeian party is to drive from the city every one who
is not of their way of thinking, reserving none hut
themselves — a suicidal policy; for the time would
come, when their enemies would attack them, and
then, having none among them who were possessed
of military capacity — for, to use the words of Aufidius,
* their tribunes were no soldiers ' — they would have
to succumb without striking a blow, and would be
carried away into a mean and miserable captivity.
I am now going to plead for a condemned word in
Act IV, 3, 9, %
But your favour is well appeared by your tongue,
which Mr. Collier, following Steevens, changed to
^approved,'' The change is certainly specious; yet
the Folios are all on the other side; it may be as
well, therefore, to hear what is to be said for 'is
238 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
appeared. ' It certainly would not be used in a novel
or play of the nineteenth century, but it might have
been familiar to the age of Shakespeare ; numbers of
words and phrases were then current, which have
since fallen into disuse. We should hardly expect
to hear any one say in conversation nowadays, 'His
lordship is umlkcd forth,' yet so says one of
Shakespeare's characters. Stranger still, we have in
the 'Comedy of Errors' Act V, 1, 388,
And hereupon these errors are arose.
Examples like these bid us be cautious, ere we oust
a word, because it jars upon modern ears. Had the
expression been, ' His favour is made apparent by his
tongue,' no one would have said a word against it.
Is it not possible that, in Shakespeare's day, the
participle may have been permitted to occupy the
place of the adjective? *Is entered' — 'is arrived' —
'is approached' — 'is become' — 'are ceased' — are all
found in Shakespeare, used pretty much, if not
exactly, like 'enters,' 'arrives,' 'approaches,' &c.
Similarly 'is appeared' and 'appears' may both
have been tolerated. There is an old smack about
*is appeared,' jR^hich, though some may not relish
it, perhaps they must stomach. I am very much
inclined to believe that it is the genuine reading,
a relic of the English of olden times.
The d^mon of change has again seized the
critics in the very beginning of the 6th Scene,
where, though the reading of the copies is capable
CORIOLANUS. 239
of being explained, it is altered, because it does
not square with their notions of linguistic and
grammatical propriety. What is easier than to
construe the second line of the Scene thus,
His remedies are tame, the present [is] peace and quietness
of the people, which [that is, who] were before in wild hurry.
On the one hand, the substantive verb is dropped
in the second sentence, because 'are' has been
expressed in the first ; on the other hand ' the
present' is used as a noun substantive, of which
there is no lack of examples. Thus in the
* Tempest,' Act I, 1, 57, the substantive verb is
left to be understood, albeit it had not been
previously expressed, as 'The king and prince at
prayers;' and in the same play, Act I, 1, 24,
we have 'to work the peace of the incsent.' Yet
in this passage of * Coriolanus ' Theobald must needs
interpolate 'i" before 'the present,' and all break
after him like a flock of sheep.
I now come to Aufidius' speech at the end of
the 4th Act, which, it must be acknowledged, is
as complicated a piece of work, as perhaps may be
found in all Shakespeare. Before I glance at
particulai- parts of it, I may as well state generally,
that the sketch which Aufidius gives of Coriolanus'
character, together with the statement that accom-
panies it that more depends on public opinion
thaii on personal merit, is subordinate to the prediction
which he utters in the opening lines of his speech, that
240 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Coriolanus would be received with open arms by
the peoi^le of Eome; while his reference to the
instability of power, and to what I may call a
great law of natural dynamics, is jweparatory to his
second prediction, that Coriolanus will fall, and be
politically annihilated. A blaze, and then dark-
ness — such, in a word, is Aufidius' prognostication
of Coriolanus' future. Ominous forebodings, which,
coming at the very end of the 4th Act, foreshadow
the scenes of tumult and bloodshed, which disturb
and stain the termination of the 5th! Such being
the main drift, and such the general connexion of
the various parts of the speech, we need not over-
much repine, if we cannot make sure of the precise
meaning of every word and phrase in it. It may
be a moot point, but it is not a matter of mighty
moment, whether the sentence
he has a merit
To choke it in the utterance
means, as Mr. Aldis Wright takes it, *to prevent the
sentence being uttered,' or, as others, *to prevent the
fault being insisted on,' even if 'utterance' may not
have to be considered a different word altogether —
viz,, the word which is used in ' Macbeth,' Act III,
1, 72, and in 'Cymbeline,' Act III, 1, 72, — in which
case the meaning would rather be, ' he has a merit to
choke the fault in the long run,' as we say, or 'when
matters come to the uttermost extremity.' Nor will
it make much odds, whether ' power unto itself most
CORIOLANUS. 241
commendable' means * power, which, if viewed
objectively, in itself, independently of any other
consideration, is worthy of commendation;' or, as
others, 'power with a high opinion of itself;' or as
another puts it, 'power of which the commendations
are apt to be addressed to itself;' or, as another,
'power, which, kept to itself, not talked or boasted
of, is most commendable or most commended.' As
for the couplet
Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair
To extol what it hath done,
tkat can only mean that the chair of office, which
silently proclaims a man's merit, is too often, if he
could but foresee it, the very tomb of his power ; his
exaltation accelerates his precipitation ; from the
pinnacle to the pit is but a step.
Mr. Aldis Wright is of opinion that the reading of
the Folios may be retained in the line
Rights by nght& fouler, strengths by strengths do fail ;
'Founder,' 'falter,' 'foiled are,' 'soiled are,' are
some of the principal emendations which have been
excogitated. If there is room for one more ( and
some one I really think we must choose, for I have
not a word to say in defence of the reading of the
copies here), I offer
Rights by rights fuller, strengths by strengths do fail,
the adjective 'fuller' belonging to both clauses,
though expressed only in the first, just as in ' Macbeth,'
Act I, 2, 56, we have, according to the Folios,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm..
p 13
242 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
The word I have ventured to suggest does not far
diverge from the ductus literarum.
We come now to the fifth Act, where it tasks the
shrewdest cricital faculty to determine what the
reading should be in the following lines — Act V, 1,
15-17—
Why, so : you have made good work !
A pair of tribunes that have wracked for Eome,
To make coals cheap, a noble memory !
Let the reader be very sure that, whatever may be
the word which happens to be printed in the
particular edition of Shakespeare, which he has in
his possession, 'icraclcccV is the word which is set
down in the Folios, and, inasmuch as our word
'wrecked,' wherever it occurs, is almost invariably
spelt in the original copies with an ' a ' and not with
an '«, ' the presumption is that 'loreched' is the word
which is here authorized by the Folios. The
meaning would be that the tribunes had (to borrow
words from 'Macbeth') ' laboured in their country's
wreck.' The preposition '/or,' coming after 'ivreck,'
would be abnormal, but not necessarily un- Shakes-
pearian. It might be illustrated by such expressions
as the following.
Revenge the heavens for old Andi'ouicus !
'Titus Andronicus,' Act IV, 1, 129.
How unluckily it happened, that I should purchase the day before
Jor a little part, and undo a great deal of honour !
' Timon,' Act III, 2, 52 ;
Spare /or no faggots.
' 1 Henry VI/ Act V, 4, 56.
CORIOLANUS. 243
This is the best account that I can give of ' wrecked
for Eome.' Can more be said for the emendations
which have been proposed ?
^RecJced for,' that is, cared for Rome, with the
result that they had as good as brought it to the fire,
and reduced it to ashes — this is one reading.
^Backed for,' that is, raised the price of it, with the
result that it was only fit for fuel, so that coals would
be cheap — this is another readmg.
* Wreaked for Rome ' may be mentioned as a third ;
they had wreaked their vengeance on Coriolanus by
expatriating him under colour that it was for the
public, good; but what had they effected? They
had cheapened coals ! and cheap enough they would
be, when the city was as it were the colliery to supply
the fuel for its own conflagration ; the allusion,
of course, is to Coriolanus having refused to be
called by any title,
Till he had forged himself a name o' the fire
Of burning Eome.
I can see no corruption, no obscurity, a little below
in the 71st line, which is the last of the following
passage;
I kneel'd before him :
' Twas very faintly he said, ' Rise ;' dismiss'd me
Thus, with his speechless hand : what he would do.
He sent in writing after me ; what he would not,
Bound loith an oath to yield to Ms conditions.
Coriolanus specified in his written despatch, what
concessions he was willing to make, adding, as a
244 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE;
proviso, that in everything else Com'mim should bind'
himself by oath to submit to his ( Coriolanus') con-
ditions. In the last clause the subject is changed
from Coriolanus to Cominius. The grammar may
lack completeness, but it should be remembered
that here we have a brief and hurried summary of a
short and curt interview — a sort of running conver-
sational comment : say there is a little looseness,
there is no obscurity ; the Romans who heard would
not be slow to apprehend what was meant ; their
fears had already anticipated the sinister tidings.
Brevity here is surely a merit. The passage
continues.
So that all hope is vain
Unless his noble mother and his wife.
Who, as I hear, mean to solicit him
For mercy to his country.
Where, it has been asked, is the verb that should
follow 'unless'? To which I reply, where is it in
^•Eichard II,' Act V, 3, 32 ?
My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth,
Unless a pardon ere I rise or speak.
Where is it in 'All's Well That Ends Well/
Act IV, 1, 5?
We must not seem to understand him, unless some one among.
us whom we must produce for an interpreter.
Where is it in 'Othello,' Act I, 1, 23-24?
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster, unless the Iwokish ihcon'e..
<K)MOLA-NUS. 245
It may be an open question with some, whether
in the above passages 'unless' should be parsed
as a conjunction, or should be held to partake
rather of the nature of a preposition; but none
can fail to be struck with the remarkableness of
the coincidence, that in all the passages the same
particle is found without a finite verb actually
following it. For my own part, I hold that in the
passage in 'Coriolanus' it is most certainly a con_
junction, and that in all probability the verb that
belongs to it, and that should be mentally supplied
after it, is the verb that occurs in the relative clause
which follows — yes, the same verb, but not used in
exactly the same sense ; for, whereas in the relative
clause '-solicit' means 'to earnestly entreat,' in the
principal clause, where we say that it is understood,
it can only mean 'to prevail by entreaty,' one verb
{as is not uncommon) serving for two clauses,
which in its strict acceptation suits only one of
them. There is surely no maze here to hinder us
from treading out the way readily.
One passage more : the use of ' verify ' in the
sense of 'to truly represent,' and with a person for
its object, is certainly not one with which we are
familiar; yet such is the only meaning which it
can bear in Act V, 2, 17,
For I have ever verified my friends,
Of whom he's chief, with all the size that vetitj
Would without lapsing suffer.
246 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
We are not altogether surprised that *verifiecr
in this passage has been regarded as spurious. In
the absence of examples, corroborating such an
unusual signification of it, opinions will be divided
as to its genuineness. That Shakespeare sometimes
took an old word, and gave it a new meaning, is
pretty well known to every one who has read his
plays with ordinary attention. That he may have
done so here, is quite within the bounds of
possibility. The occurrence of 'verity' in the
succeeding line seems to me to indicate that
* verify' was the verb used. From the same cir-
cumstance others may draw an inference the very
reverse. But this I would say, we must not expect,
as a matter of course, to find in Shakespeare dupli-
cates of what I may call Shakespearian curiosities.
Many of his strange and strangely used words occur
but once, proving how careful he was not to
adulterate with too liberal an admixture of alloy
the pure gold of the English tongue. Perhaps it
may not be irrelevant to add, that another verb of
Latin origin, with similar termination and of like
formation to 'verified' — I mean 'mortified' — is used
at times by Shakespeare in what seems to com-
mentators a strange and exceptional signification.
The reader has but to glance at a note of the
Cambridge editors on ' Macbeth,' Act V, 3, 2,
(Clarendon Press Series) and he will find that
'mortified' is as much a puzzle there as 'verified'
is here. In the 'Tempest,' Act Y, 1, 128, 'And
CORIOLANUS, 247
justify you traitors,' can only mean 'justly repre-
sent,' and so 'prove' you traitors. For 'justly'
substitute 'truly,' and have we not the meaning
of 'verify' which is required here. It is true that
this is not the ordinary signification of the word,
but is it not one which may be fairly put upon it?
It is Shakespeare with whom we are dealing, who
with much originality of thought combined some
originality of diction. That he did not abuse the
power of language with which he w^as endowed,
that he coined new words but rarely, and but rarely
set a new and fancy value on old words, is proof
alike of his moderation and his judgement. Upon
the whole, then, we are more inclined in this
passage to accuse the critics of intolerance, than
the copyist of carelessness, or the great composer
of licentious and unwarranted innovation.
-248 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
TITUS ANDRONICUS.
The tragedy of 'Titus Andronicus' was publishecl
for the first time in Quarto, and pubHshed, we are
told, with remarkable accuracy. There are certainly
not many passages in it to exercise the ingenuity of
the critic. Yet the editors of the 'Globe' Shakes-
peare must have thought that there is some
inaccuracy in the line,
And with that painted hope braves your mightiness,
Act II, 3, 126,
as they have marked it as faulty, on the ground, I
suppose, of metrical incompleteness. Perhaps the
pronoun 'she' has been omitted before the verb
^braves'; perhaps the compound 'outbraves' orig-
inally stood, where the simple verb now stands ; but
it is quite as probable that the critics are too fidgety,
and would enforce metrical uniformity at the expense
of metrical variety. 'Braves,' emphasized in pro-
nunciation into the time of two syllables, may be
tantamount to a dissyllable, as is the case sometimes
with 'safe,' and notably with 'fire,' 'hour,' 'near,'
*aches.' In 'The Taming of the Shrew' we have
Pisa renown'd for grave citizens,
Act I, 1, 10,
TITUS ANDEONICUS. 249
v/here ' grave ' is so weighty, that it is equivalent to
two syllables. There are not a few lines in Shakes-
peare which have the same curious peculiarity, and,
as they cannot possibly be all author's oversights or
transcriber's blunders, our best plan is to admit all
of them as composed by Shakespeare, and not
afterwards repented of, or rejected by him.
For a long time a cloud of doubt hung over the
word 'castle' in Act III, 1, 170,
Writing destruction on the enemy's castle,
but the cloud vanished the moment light fell upon
it from 'Grose's Ancient Armour,' which revealed
to us that 'castle' was a title given to a close kind
of helmet. Immediately Theobald's 'casque' disap-
peared, and another critic's 'crest'; comes to the
fore a passage from 'Troilus and Cressida,' Act V,
2, 187,
and, Diomed,
Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head,
where, though the language may admit of being
otherwise explained, there must be a partial refer-
ence to the head-piece of the hero. Compare also
Clifford's threat to Warwick, '2 King Henry VI,' Act
V, 1, 200,
I am resolved to bear a greater storm
Than any thou canst conjure up to-day ;
And that I'll write upon thy hurgojiet,
Might I but know thee by thy household badge.
There is a difficulty in fixing the reading in the
282nd line of the same Act and Scene, where the
250 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Quarto and the Folio differ as to the word with
which the hne should end, the former having
Lavinia, thou shalt be employ'd in these Armes,
the latter 'in these things,* The Quarto, the prior
puhlication, shall have the priority. 'Armes' was
ousted, not because it was untenable, but because it
was not understood; 'things' was put in its place,
for want of a better word. I see no reason why
'arms' should not be taken here in its ordinary sense
of 'hostilities,' but I much prefer to assign to it its
more specific meaning of ' weapons,' or ' implements
of war.' It is with the tone, and the air, and the
terrible earnestness of a maniac, that Titus Andron-
icus, the conqueror in so many battles, rouses
himself as it were for one more campaign of
vengeance, not now against his country's foes,
but against his domestic and personal enemies.
Parodying the duties of his profession, he musters
his strength, and flourishes his arms. Arms indeed !
A stump of a hand ! a pair of corpseless heads !
Horrible mockery! nor less so, when, turning to
Lavinia, a helpless, mutilated, hopelessly injured
cripple, he exclaims triumphantly, that she shall be
employed in the prosecution of that warfare, or in
the management of those arms ; and he enlists her
in the service, and instructs her how to take her
part. Were I seeking to alter rather than to explain,
I should still take the word of the Quarto as the
starting point, and say that the aspirate had been
TITUS ANDEONICUS. 251
dropped, and that 'harms,' which is used in
Shakespeare in the two-fold sense of injuries inflicted
and injuries received, was in all likelihood the
genuine original word.
In either case the accent of * employ'd ' will fall
on the first rather than on the last syllable, whicli
is surely not a Shakespearian impossibility. For is
it not notorious that Shakespeare is variable — is
sometimes eccentric — in his mode of accenting ?
In this very play ' ordained ' is accentuated on the
first S3dlable; and elsewhere we have 'congealed,'
'curtailed,' 'excuse' (the verb), 'infect,' 'oppose,'
etc., etc. I take the line, then, as I find it ; I offer
what seems to be a reasonable explanation of the
reading of the Quarto ; all that I assume is an
anomaly founded on Shakespearian analogy. Ai'e
those who would alter the text justified in doing
so, merely on account of the exceptional accentuation
of a single word ?
And why change ' the ' of the Quartos and Folios
into 'ye' in Act IV, 1, 129,
Eevenge the heavens for old Andronicus.
The optative, for ^hich there is no lack of precedent,
is quite as admissible as the direct precatory form.
In Act IV, 2, 152, where all the Quartos and all
the Folios have
Xot far one MuUteus, my countryman,
His wife but yesternight was brought to bed,
editors, at a loss for a finite verb for the nominative
252 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARfi.
case 'Muliteus,' dock that word of its final syllable,
and forge from the piece cut off the word which they
think they require.
I shall broach the question, whether ' Muliteus ' is
a nominative case at all. There is an obsolete mode
of forming the possessive or genitive case, by means
of a noun followed by the possessive pronoun ' his '
in lieu of the usual form of s preceded by an
apostrophe. I will transcribe a few examples :
Once, in a sea-fight, 'gainst the count his galleys
'Twelfth Night,' Act III, 3, 26 ;
0, you, my lord ? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks !
' Troilus and Cressida,' Act IV, 5, l77 ;
Why, the hot-Uooded France, that dowerless took
Our youngest born, I could as well be brought
To knee his throne.
'King Lear, Act 11, 4, 215-217 ;
and perhaps
This misshapen knave
His mother was a witch.
'Tempest,' Act V, 1,268.
Now is it not possible that we may have some
such idiom as this in the passage which we are now
considering? Wliereas a modern author would have
written 'One Muliteus, my countryman's, wife*'
Shakespeare chose to write ' One Muliteus, my
countryman, his wife.' The archaistic form of the
genitive was more convenient, because the proper
noun, which was intended for that case, stands in a
different line, and consequently is somewhat far
TITUS ANDRONICUS. 253
removed from the noun on which it depends, besides
being cut off from it by an intercalarij appositional
phrase^ so that there is a sort of compound comph-
cation. With regard to the name, it has been thought
hardly possible that Shakespeare could have coined
it, and consequently that orthographical or historical
research might throw some light on the text here.
I can only say that Muliteus is as appropriate for a
Moorish slave, as Demetrius is for a Gothic prince.
"Were I obliged to find a verb, I am not sure that I
should see in the termination ^ tens' the verb Hives,'
which the Cambridge editors fancy ; ' tens ' might here
been miswritten for Hents,' Aaron's Moorish friend
preferring the freedom of a tent to the confinement
of a settled habitation, or Aaron, with more truth
than he was aware of, might designate every house
a tent.
At the same time that I suggest this mode of
smoothing the difficulty, I can see another and
simpler method, which does not interfere at all with
the reading of the copies. Perhaps there was never
meant to be a verb at all; the substantive verb is
often dropped, is easily supplied, e.g.
My residence in Eome at one Philario's :
'Cymbeline' Act 1, 1, 97.
These loose constructions are common in the
impromptu utterances of social life; they have
additional fitness, where, as in the instance quoted,
the conversation is hurried : here too there is a tickle
254 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
business on foot which requires the utmost despatch ;
Aaron hits it off promptly and tells it quickly ; rapid
in his shifts — rapid in his speech — the expression
suits the emergency. "We need not here 'hedge aside
from the direct forthright.'
Nor is there any reason to harbour suspicion of
the 177th and 178th lines,
I'll make you feed on berries and on roots,
And feed on curds and whey, and suck the goat,
merely because the same verb happens to be twice
repeated in two successive lines. The repetition is
not intolerable. Such tiny specks may be noted;
they should not be censured.
By the time that we have come to ' Titus Andronicus'
we have become so familiar with the short lines that
Shakespeare occasionally introduces, that we should
cease to notice, or at least to comment on them, were
it not that that they are stigmatized by the editors of
the 'Globe' Shakespeare; but as touching Act V, 1,
132,
Make poor men's cattle break their necks,
it may be sufficient to remark that the curtailment
harmonizes with the catastrophe.
The same may be said of that line in ' The Taming
of the Shrew '
The match is made, and aU is done.
In Act V, 3, 124, the words 'And as he is' are unfairly
accused, and would be badly altered to ^damn'd as he
is,' which one emendator conjectures. In the recapi-
tulation of the events of the tragedy Marcus confines
TITUS ANDRONICUS. 255
himself to a recital of that portion, in which Aaron
bore a suspicious part;
Behold this child :
[Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant^
Of this was Tamora delivered ;
The issue of an irreligious Moor,
Chief architect and plotter of these woes ;
The villain is alive in Titus' house,
And as he is, to witness this is true.
Is it possible that ^he' refers not to Aaron, but to
the child, and that, when Marcus says, 'as he is,'
he points a second time to the little one, intimating
that such was the villain's hue, such were his
features, leaving no doubt that he was the father?
If, however, this position be accounted untenable,
I will fall back upon a second line of defence, and
contend that the phrase is a curt contemptuous
mode of describing the physiognomy and character
of Aaron. The affirmation or the adjuration of
such a liar would hardly be accepted by any as
evidence, but that there should be one alive in
Titus' house, and that that one should have the
coal-black hue that darkened the child, and the
malignity of spirit capable of conceiving and
executing such nefarious practices — that he should
be alive, and be as he teas — this might be con-
sidered by Marcus amply sufficient evidence to
convince the Romans, that the tale that had been
told was true. Compare
Yet, as they are, here are they come to meet you.
'Taming of the Shrew,' Act IV, 1, 141.
As we are ourselves, what things are we !
'All's Well That Ends WeU,' Act IV, 3, 24.
256 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
TIMON OF ATHENS.
The first question that we have to ask in ' Timon
of Athens ' is, What is the force and significance of
the last Une of the following dialogue between
Apemantus and Timon, which is found in Act I,
1,236-241?
Apem, Heavens, that I were a lord !
Tim. What wouldst do then, Apemantus ?
Apem. E'en as Apemantus does now ; haie a lord with my. heart,
Tim. What, thyself ?
Apem. Ay.
Tim. Wherefore ?
Apem. That I had no angry wit to be a lord.
The last words are so extremely simple, that it
would seem as if they must carry with them their
own explanation, yet no commentator that I am
aware of has yet succeeded in fixing their meaning,
and many have confessed their inability by pro-
nouncing them corrupt. We may safely start with
the assumption that Apemantus' aim was to make
Timon smart. How does he set about this ? He
begins by wishing that he himself were a lord.
TIMON OF ATHENS. 2&T
"WTiy this? To put himself as it were en rapport
with Timon, to stand in Timon's place, to personate
Timon, in order that every stone which he threv/
at himself might indirectly hit Timon. So far,
then, as Apemantus' replies are concerned, we
mnst regard him for the time being as in his own
estimation no longer himself, but a sort of quasi-Timon,.
The question that would be next asked him he
easily foresaw, *AYhat would he do then'? His
answer was ready — ' Hate himself ? ' Wherefore ?
*That he had no angry wit to be a lord' — that is
to say, that he had not the sense and spirit to
maintain his independence, vindicate his authority,
dominate and frown away the flatterers who sur-
rounded him, confounding them by his wit,
scattering them in his wrath. Apemantus would
be — that is, Timon should be — ashamed of
himself, or (to use Apemantus' own expression)
Apemantus would — that is, Timon should — hate
himself for giving entertainment at all to such
filthy hungry parasites, who hung upon him, and
got complete mastery of him, and, under pretence
of caressing him, would consume him away, till
they had picked him clean find bare. It is Timon^s
willing surrender of himself to the flatterers that
Apemantus here rails at. The words last-uttered
by Apemantus before the dialogue commenced, viz.,
* He that loves to he flattered is ivorthy of the flatterersy
is the key to pick the lock.
Q 14
258 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Our next difficulty consists of a word, which
occurs in a line, which follows as a sort of rider to
Apemantus' grace — Act I, 2, 73 —
Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus 1
In the glossary appended to the * Globe' Shakes-
peare it is stated that ' dich ' is the optative mood,
contracted for 'do it'; and this is what Dr. Johnson
says in his Dictionary, without, however, giving
any other example of its use. It is worthy of
observation that in two other passages of Shakes-
peare, viz., in the 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' Act
I, 1, 83, where the very same words occur, and
in 'The Taming of the Shrew,' where almost the
same words do, Ulo it' is found, and not 'dich.'
Some have supposed that 'dich' is merely a care-
less piece of copying, and should be ejected from
the text for ' do it ' ; others have fancied that the
final letter of 'good' — the word that immediately
precedes 'dich' — has been repeated by mistake for
r, the first letter of the verb 'rich,' the participle of
which occurs in 'King Lear.' But I dismiss all
these airy fancies, and the more readily, if, as has
been whispered to me by a learned critic, ^ dichy
though not recognised by Dr. Johnson, nor familiar
to the higher and more cultivated ranks of society,
is notwithstanding a good old English word, used
at times even now, though rarely — for such words
have a tendency to die out, being succeeded by
fitter which survive them — in the humbler walks
TIMON OF ATHENS. 259
of life: his face is 'diched,' i.e., covered, 'with dirt'
— 'the thighs of the bees are diched,' i/., laden,
* with honey' — such are expressions which are said
to have been heard, and it is much to be wished
that those, who have studied the English language,
not merely as it is in books, but as it is spoken
by the people themselves in outlying places, should
give, if they can, confirmatory evidence. 'Dich'
may have been common enough among poor folk
in times gone by; Shakespeare may have heard
it, and may have considered that a word, mumbled
forth by some weird old crone, while munching
her crust of bread in her miserable hovel, might not
inappropriately be growled forth by the cynic — the
brute, Apemantus, after he had howled forth his un-
gracious grace, and snarlingly gnawn his root. There
are old words, ending in ich, such as ^mich' and Hich,'
which have fallen into disuse. *Dich' may be
another specimen of the tribe. For the present,
then, I would retain it as at any rate good enough
for Apemantus.
We may now read Scene after Scene without
interruption, until we come to a part of the tragedy
where
Fortune in her shift and change of mood
Spurns down her late beloved.
Timon is sliding down the hill, and, instead of
being supported by troops of flatterers, is being
pursued and sued by hosts of creditors, all eager
260 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
that their claims should be instantly satisfied. Not
a penny has Timon in hold, yet he cannot but,
believe that those, who tasted so largely of his
bounty in the day of his affluence, would requite
him now in the day of his indigence, or at least
accommodate him with a loan; he sends forth his
servants, therefore, to Lucullus for fifty talents; to
Lucius for — the words actually attributed to the
servant are 'so many talents'; but, if this is what
he said, he must by some notation or other, by
finger or by figure, graphically or pictorially, have
made plain the sum that Timon required ; from
Lucius' reply I gather that it might have been
500, it might have been only 50 talents — the latter
sum, perhaps, the more probable, as tallying with
the amount that Lucullus was asked for. Not more
taken aback was Lucius at the appeal thus made
to him, than commentators appear to be at the
answer which fell from Lucius' lips — Act III, 2,
43—
He cannot want fifty five hundred tatents.
I do not think that there has been any falsification
of the amount. We may say of the difficulty solvitur
legendo. The actor would annihilate it by a breath.
It is simply a matter of how the line should be read —
where the emphasis should be laid. By laying the
stress on 500, if the sum asked for were 50, or on
50, if the sum asked for were 500, the amount is
easily accounted for, Lucius affects to be incredu-
TIMON OF ATHENS. 26l
lous ; he cannot think that Tmion can be in earnests,
' Fifty talents ! ' — he as good as cries — ' Fifty talents !
His lordship is merry with me : such a rich man as
he cannot want' — that is, cannot be without, must
have in his possession, and therefore can command
— ^Mty five hundred talents, if he needed them'; or,
supposing the sum asked for were 500, on 50 be the
emphasis laid. Does the explanation smack too
much of the Multiplication Table ? Is it not suffi-
ciently poetical ? Another mode of computation has
been suggested to me by a critic whose judgment I
value. After saying fifty, Lucius suddenly stops,
and raises the sum to a much larger figure. Such
are two modes of explaining the line ; if either of
them will stand, the charge of corruption falls to the
ground.
Our next stopping-place is where Timon has
assembled his false friends to a banquet such as
they deserve ; before the dishes are uncovered, he
says a characteristic grace, in the course of which
we come to the words — Act III, 6, 89, —
The rest of your fees, gods— the senators of Athens, together
with the common lag of people — what is amiss in them, you gods,
make suitable for destruction. For these my present friends, as they
are to me nothing, so in nothing bless them, and to nothing are
they welcome.
* Fees ' is certainly not the word that we should have
expected, but we are not so straitened as to be
obliged -to exchange it for Warburton's and Mason's
262 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
obvious correction *foes.' 'Fees' admits of being
defended. It is true that it cannot be used in its
ordinary sense of a pecuniary recompense, but may
it not here bear the meaning that belongs to it
in books of jurisprudence? Shakespeare was not
averse to legal phraseology; this very word in its
legal signification, either compounded or uncom-
pounded, is found more than once in his plays ; if,
when speaking of the evil Deity, he could say, *If
the Devil have him not in fee-simple,' it is quite
possible that, when addressing the good Gods, he
might have used the simple word 'fees.' The fee
includes all the interest in the property. Tees'
would not be an inappropriate way of describing the
great human estate belonging to the gods.
With regard to Act IV, 3, 134, if, as I think not
improbable, a haivd is an error, it is just the error
that a copyist might have committed, considering
the particular class of persons, who were at the time
the subject of Timon's denunciation; and if an error,
we may be pretty sure it bears a rough resemblance
both as to sound and as to lettering to the word set
down in the original. Now it is stated that the
power of gold is such as to make the unclean turn
clean ; with as much truth it might be said that it
can make the clean unclean — make ivhores — the imm-
her of the noun is especially noteworthy — ' abound.*
Buch, I conceive, is what Timon was meant to say
in the second clause : ' a hound,' illegibly and not
continuously written, might not unnaturally in this
TIMON or ATHENS. 263
place have been mistaken for *a haivd.' A similar
sentiment is expressed in Act IV, 3, 386, of this
play, where Timon says ' the blush of gold '
doth thaw the consecrated snow
That Ues on Dian's laj),
and in 'Komeo and Juliet' gold is called 'saint-
seducing,' and in 'Antony and Cleopatra' we are
told that 'want will perjure the ne'er touch'd Vestal.'
The remark would be anything but complimentary
to Phryna and Timandra.
And now that we are about words, what is the
epithet, and what is the force of the epithet, that
should be applied to the trees in the 223rd line of
this 3rd Scene, where the Folios have
will these moyst [moist] trees.
That have outlived the eagle, page thy heels,
And skip where thou point'st out ?
Is it the livery ? or is it the age ? or is it the vigour
and strength that should give the finishing stroke to
this splendid piece of composition ? In other words,
should we read 'moss'd' with Hanmer, and, I may
add, with most editors ? or should we adhere to
'moist,' the word of the Folios? The word of the
Folios should have the precedence, which has been
discounted perhaps somewhat too hastily and on
insufficient grounds. For the contrast would be
between Timon 'forwelked and fordwined,' and now
after an ephemeral existence tottering on the brink
of the grave, and these fine old giants of the forest,
264 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
which, though they had ah-eacly outUved the eagle,
were yet 'moist,' that is, strong and vigorous, full of
the juice and sap of life. So interpreted, the
epithet 'moist' has a force and fitness, which can
hardly be controverted. Admit this, and the critic
will not be justified in displacing it even for
Hanmer's happy hit, which is as poetical as it is
plausible, and was in all likelihood suggested to him
by a line in 'As You Like It,' Act IV, 2, 105,
Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age.
I have defended the word of the Folios ; I have
admitted the possibility of Hanmer's conjecture ;
but, if conjectures are to be listened to, there is
another which does as little violence as possible to
the word of the copies, and on its own account
deserves to be considered. Below in Act IV, 3, 422,
we read, 'The oaks bear mast.' By writing the
and i closely together, instead of separately, 'mast'
and 'moist' become one and the same. 'Will these
mast-trees' would be a reading both strong and
suitable. There might be an allusion not only to
their kind and quality, but ambiguously — the play
on the word would not shock Shakespeare's contem-
poraries—to their gigantic height as well ; for their
antiquity is sufficiently expressed in the relative
clause that follows. I have now stated possibilities ;
probabilities I must leave to the critics.
There is nothing that I know of now, that calls
for special comment, until we reach Act V, 2, 6-9,
TIMON OF ATHENS. 265
"where the relative 'whom' certainly needs some
explanation. It seems to hang loosely without
an}i;hing to govern it, and, in fact, to be almost a
superfluity; yet it has its part to perform in the
sentence which it introduces, aad must on no
account be tampered with.
The duplication of the preposition for clearness'
sake is an idiom of which we have perhaps a dozen
examples in Shakespeare ; for clearness' sake in the
following passage,
I met a courier, one mine ancient friend ;
Whom, thougli in general part we were opposed,
Tet our old love made a particular force,
And made us speak like friends,
the relative 'whom,' being a long way off h'om the
verb which was intended to govern it, no less than two
sentences intervening between it and the sentence of
which it properly forms part, is virtually repeated —
I say, virtually, because the actual repetition of the
relative would be an impossibility; it is repeated,
however, in its equivalent, and its equivalent, strictly
speaking, would be the personal pronoun ^him;' it is
true that that pronoun is not found anywhere in the
sentence 'to which the relative * whom ' belongs, but
it undoubtedly would have been, had it not been for
the disturbing influence of the pronoun ' 7ne,' which,
as well as 'liim,' had to be supplied. But 'him and
me ' were more conveniently expressed by the pronoun
*us,' and so ^us' is inserted with as much boldness as
briefness, and 'its' is the word, in which the relative
266 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
'whom,' after performing its part as an introductory
particle, is most certainly swallowed and lost. Had
it not been for the complication caused by the
necessity of expressing 'ajid me,' the case would have
been simple enough, and would have found an exact
parallel in the following lines from the * Tempest,'
Actlll, 3, 53-56:
You are three men of sin, zvhom Destiny
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in't, the never surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you.
Compare also * Cymbeline,' Act V, 5, 464.
As an objective case, then, *whom' is pleonastic;
as a connecting particle, it could not be dispensed
with. I will not anticipate that any objection will
be raised to the repetition of the verb * made ' in two
consecutive lines in the above passage ; such repeti-
tions are not unprecedented. Compare, e.g., 'Titus
Andronicus,' Act IV, 2, 177-178; 'Measure for
Measure,' Act III, 2, 287-288; 'Merchant of Venice,'
Act II, 8, 42, where the word 'love' is suspected,
perhaps because it occurs again immediately after at
the end of the 44th line ; it will be sufficient to say
of such repetitions, that, if they slipped from the
author in the hurry of composition, he did not think
80 much amiss of them afterwards as to care to revise
them.
I now come to — shall I call it a soldier's excla-
mation, or is it rather a sepulchral epitaph, in
Act V, 3, 4, 5 ? At any rate it is a couplet, which
TIMON OF ATHENS. 267
has given a world of trouble to expositors, and
perhaps will ever remain dark and inexplicable.
Sold. By all description this should be the place.
Who's here ? speak, ho ! No answer ! What is this ?
Tmon is dead, tvho hath outstretched his span:
Some beast reade [read'] this ; there does not live a man.
Dead, sure ; and this his grave. What's on this tomb
I cannot read ; the character I'll take with wax ;
Our captain hath in every figure skill,
An aged interpreter, though young in days :
Before proud Athens he's set down by this,
Whose fall the mark of his ambition is.
The third and fourth lines of the above passage form
the couplet disputed about. Theobald (Warburton)
reads
Some beast rear'^d this ; here does not live a man.
Mr Staunton regards the two lines printed in
italics as the only part of the inscription which the
soldier could read. The ' Globe ' editors, though they
read ' rear'd,' * incline to think that the words were
originally intended as an epitaph to be read by the
soldier; but the author may have changed his mind,
or forgotten to obliterate what was inconsistent with
the sequel, or the text may have been tampered
with.'
As I am about to offer a totally new solution of
this old and exceedingly difficult problem, I must
bespeak not a particle of indulgent favour, but some
amount of patience from the critic, who perhaps will
be suspicious and sceptical, when he hears me speak
of novelties.
2o8 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESrEARE.
I conceive, then, that the soldier comes to what^
from the description given him, he supposes must be
the place of Timon's abode, and shouts out, 'Who's
here ? Speak, ho ! ' On receiving no answer, he says
to himself, 'What is this? which may either be an
expression of surprise at the silence of his reception —
in which case it is equivalent to ' what is the meaning
of this ? ' or an expression of wondering enquiry as
to the character of the place which met his eye. I will
take it in the latter of these two senses. In conse-
quence of his eliciting no reply, he says,
Timon is dead, who hath outstretch'd his span ;
while m reference to his question, * what is this ? '
tie tells us what it is; he describes the character of
the place — ' some beast-tread,' or 'some beast-road
this' (for so I read); 'here does not live a man?'
This, he says, is rather fit to be a haunt of wild
beasts, than to be a habitation for any of human kind.
Suddenly he espies the tomb, and, concluding at once
that his surmise was correct, 'Dead sure,' he
repeats, 'and this his tomb.'
Thus without the addition — by the transposition
only-^of a single letter, I get rid of the necessity for
supposing that there was a double epitaph, which
appears to me extremely improbable, at the same
time that I offer what I venture to think is a fair
settlement of an exceedingly difficult question.
I foresee some objections, and I shall endeavour
to meet them.
TIMON OF ATHENS. 269
1. The interpretation, which I have given to the
question, 'What is this?' has been suggested to me
by a passage in 'Cymbehne,' Act III, 6, 17, where
curiously enough the very same words have reference
to a dreary wild :
But what is this ?
Here is a path to't ; 'tis some savage hold.
2. I acknowledge that I cannot give an example
of the use of such a compound as 'beast-tread,' or
'beast-road,' but is it necessary? May not a word,
compounded of two such simjde English words as
'beast' and 'tread,' be suffered to pass, especially
when we consider how freely and boldly Shakespeare
at times links words together ? If for every strange
Shakespearian compound we must needs find a dupli-
cate, we shall have to reject as spurious a number of
words which Shakespeare undoubtedly compounded.
3. It cannot be fairly inferred that the couplet
is an inscription which the soldier read, merely
because the lines rhyme. The soldier concludes
his speech with a rhyming couplet, and such
couplets are repeatedly introduced bv Shakespeare
seemingly quite arbitrarily. There are examples
enough in this very play, as, for instance, in Flavins'
last speech in Act I, 2 ; and in Apemantus' in the
same Act, beginning with 'Hoyday'; and elsewhere.
4. If it be thought that the relative clause, ' who
hath outstretch'd his span,' sounds more like part
of a sepulchral epitaph than a soldier's excla-
mation, what will ]be said of the relative clause
270 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
in the last line — * whose fall the mark of his
ambition is?' The style is the same. There is
not the least reason why the soldier, who spoke
the one, might not have spoken the other also.
5. I cannot think that the soldier could have
seen the grave, before he uttered the words, ' Dead
sure, and this his grave'; nor that he could have
read anything on the tomb, before he says, 'What's
on this tomb, I cannot read.' The moment he saw
the tomb, it were natural to suppose that he would
have told us of it; he would not have approached
leisurely, and tediously deciphered (for the soldier
was no scholar) a couple of lines inscribed on it
before coming to the conclusion that it was Timon's
grave. Such slow processes are ill-suited to a
soldier, whose object was not to read inscriptions,
but to find Timon, and who would have known
instantly what a grave in such a place meant.
When he says 'Dead sure,' he clenches a belief
which he had already avowed ; he does not express
his assent to an inscription which he had just read.
6. Those who would have us believe that the
two lines are an epitaph are obliged to assume that
there are two epitaphs, written in two different
characters, one of which the soldier could read, the
other he could not — a most improbable hypothesis.
Lastly, I remark that, in the epitaph which the
soldier takes in wax, Timon speaks of himself in the
first person, whereas in this couplet he speaks of
himself in the third* My theory is that Timon
TIMON OF ATHENS. 271
spoke the one, the soldier the other. Besides, what
object could Timon have in telling us two or three
times over in six lines that he was dead? So far
from increasing the length of the epitaph from four
lines to six, I would rather reduce it from four to
two, and regard two of the four, which are given as
the epitaph at the end of the play, as an interpolation.
One passage more : in Act V, 4, 62, we read
not a man
Shall pass his quarter, or offend the stream
Of regular justice in your city's bounds,
But shall be remedied to your public laws
At heaviest answer.
It is an unsound and hasty criticism, which has
substituted here for 'remedied' either 'remitted' or
* rendered.' The prepositional phrase ' to your public
laws' may either be construed with 'remedied,' in
which case there is nothing more startling than what
is commonly called a prcegnans locutio, 'he shall
be remedied to your public laws' being equivalent to
*he shall be surrendered to your public laws, and
have a remedy applied to him at his heaviest
responsibility;' or ( and this is the method which I
myself prefer, as it is eminently Shakespearian ) ' to
your public laws * grammatically follows ' at heaviest
answer,' the usual order being 'inverted,' (of which I
need not produce any examples here) so that we
have the perfectly intelligible sentence, 'he shall be
remedied at heaviest answer to your public laws.'
272 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
I have intimated that ' remedied ' is authorized by"
the Fohos; I may fm-ther remark that the noun
'remedy ' is used by Shakespeare on one occasion
where a certain one petitions for legal redress. In
* All's Well That Ends Well,' Act V, 3, 162-164,
are the following lines,
I am her mother, sir, whose age and honour
Both suflFer under this complaint we bring,
And both shall cease, without your remedy,
* Rendered,' * remitted,' would, no doubt, be more in
harmony with modern phraseology, and more
pleasing to popular taste, but they are inserted in
defiance of Folio authority, and, what is more
important still, in contravention of Shakespeare's
known usage. Spurious importations they are with
more glitter than gold. Such being the case, we
have a right to insist that * remedied' — apparently
the worse, but really the better word — should be
restored to the text.
JULIUS c^SAR. 273:
JULIUS C.ESAK.
Although we are told that 'Julius Caesar' was
more correctly printed than any other play, and
may perhaps have been printed from the original
MS. of the author, yet there are not wanting
passages in it, where we have to make up our
minds, whether the reading of the copies requires
to be emended, or only vindicated and explained.
Take, for instance, the following passage from Act
I, 2, lines 154, 155,
"When could they say till now, that talk'd of Eome,
That her wide walks encompass'd but one man ?
Here some commentators fancy that the printer's
accuracy failed him, and that he set down 'walks,'
when he should have set down ' walls,' the con-
fusion having arisen from 'talk'd,' a word of
similar cadence to 'walks,' occurring in the previous
line. It is argued that the latter word is inappro-
priate, that a disagreeable assonance is produced
by it, and that such a word as 'encompass' is a
pretty clear proof that 'walls' was the original
R 15
274 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
reading. On a question of euphony, not every
ear will hear alike. All I can say is, that, if these
lines jar, there are scores of jarring lines to be
found in Shakespeare. We will grant that 'walls'
would in all probability have been preferred by
a prose- writer ; but ' walks,' which is the rarer
word, strikes me as of more exquisite fancy, more
picturesque and poetical, true topographically, and
even more appropriate here, because it admits of
a more comprehensive span. For the walls of Kome
did not include all the inhabitants of Eome; there
were plenty of habitations outside, as well as inside,
the old Servian ramparts; but the 'circuit of the
walks,' (to introduce Milton's significant phrase,
'Paradise Lost,' 4, 586)— the outlying pleasure-
grounds which environed the metropolis — the vast
ring of groves and parks and gardens in which the
citizens were wont to walk abroad and refresh
themselves — these contained within their compass
all the inhabitants of Eome, and to insinuate that
l)ut one man could be found within tJiem, was
monstrous, startling, invidious.
There is an allusion in this very play to a portion
of these 'walks' — those which Caesar bequeathed
to the Roman people — Act III, 2, 252,
Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours and new-planted orchards.
On this side Tiber ; he hath left them you
And to your heirs for ever, common pleasures.
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
JULIUS CiESAR. 275
It is a curious coincidence, though I have no
wish to magnify its importance, that in 'Titus
Anclronicus,' where Aaron is speaking of a forest
in the neighbourhood of Rome, we meet with the
expression
The forest tvalks are wide and spacious.
'Walks' is entitled to the place on the ground
that it is supported by the Folios, besides having
distinct claims of its own to recommend it.. 'Walls'
reads to me poor and tame in comparison w4th it.
Still less reason is there for tampering with the
text in Act I, 3, 62-65:
But if yon would consider the true cause
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind.
Why old men fools, and childi-en calculate —
Here we have a succession of sentences without
any finite verb appearing — a loose easy offhanded
mode of expression, which in poetry, in the drama,
in conversation, more particularly in hurried and
excited conversation, is extremely natural — the
whole wound up with a regularly-formed complete
sentence — ' and children calculate.' There is nothing
objectionable in this; there is nothing repugnant
to Shakespeare's general style and manner; there is
not the least occasion to drop the s of 'fools,' and
make ^fooV a verb, much less resort to an artifice,
under cover of which 'old men, fools, and children,'
is made to pass as a periphrasis for people of all
276 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
capacities and ages. In the Folios a comma is found
after old men ; whether we omit or insert it, matters.
not one jot.
A little below in the 129th line there is room for
diversity of opinion as to what the exact reading
should be, though there can be no dissension as to
the meaning. The first and second Folios have
And the complexion of the element
Is Fauors like the work we have in hand,
which in the third and fourth Folios is printed 'Is
Favours.' This some editors have changed io ' Is
favour d,' others to 'In favour s — alterations which,
though not considerable, are, in my opinion, both
overdone and misdone. Anyhow I perceive another
mode of mending the text, which is so extremely
simple, so idiomatic and Shakespearian, and withal,
besides being full of spirit, is so near the ductus
literarum, that I marvel that it has not been broached
by any of the commentators. Followmg closely,.
as I am bomid to do, the track of the Folios,
I retain 'is,' and 'favours' also; all -that I assume is
that h has been clipped, and that 'his' was intended,
where 'is' has been inserted, and that 'favours'
needs only the interposition of an apostrophe before
its final 6', in order that it may be, what I doubt not
it was intended to be, equivalent to 'favour is.' The
passage is now not only sound but strong. The
construction admits of a twofold explanation. In the
first place, ' his ' may be regarded as a symbol of the
old genitive, in which case the passage bears a close
JtJLlUS C.^SAB. 277'
resemblance to one, to which I have already adver-
ted in 'Titus Androniciis.' The end of the line was
not altogether favourable to the ordinary form of the
genitive, or, if it were, the metre of the following line
was glad of an extra syllable ; accordingly, at the end
of the line the simple word 'element' stands, while
at the commencement of the following line, by way
of complement and compensation, stands the pro-
noun ' his ; the ordinary and modern form of
expression would have been ' the complexion of the
element's favour,' instead of which we have the rarer
and more archaic form 'the complexion of the
element his favour,' which, odd as it may seem to
some, was allowable, was convenient, and was not
less forcible. Examples of this form of the genitive
I have cited elsewhere ; so I need not tire the reader
by repeating them here. There is, however, another
mode of explaining precisely the same words, which
is even more forcible, and, I am inclined to think,
more probable.
The point to which the speaker wished to draw
attention is first stated in general terms and
presented singly for contemplation,
And the couiplexion of the element —
Here there is a pause, and here I place a hyphen ;
next comes a more specific description of what was
intended to be indicated,
His favour's like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fieiy, and terrible.
Two subjects for one verb, the one introductory and
278 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
general, the other explanatory and particular. There
is no little force in a construction of this sort. It is
as if a person, who was about to throw a weight,
were, after lifting it, and putting his arm in the
proper attitude, to pause for a moment before dis-
charging the projectile, in order to muster up his
whole strength for the purpose of giving the heavy
body the necessary impetus. A prose-writer might
have said ' As for the complexion of the element, its
appearance is like the work we have in hand '; but
the poet, describing a startling and portentous
phenomenon, preferred to use perhaps a startling
construction, or at any rate a construction a little
out of the common.
I have now to call attention to a passage in
Act III, 1, 174, where a spiteful word, occurring in a
speech addressed by Brutus to Antony, which was
meant to be of a conciliatory character, is so
impolitic and ill-timed that we eye it as we might a
snake insidiously nestled in a bed of flowers.
Antony, beg not your death of us.
( Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,
j As, by our hands and this our present act,
j You see we do, yet see you but our hands
(. And this the bleeding business they have done :
f Our hearts you see not ; they are pitiful ;
J And pity to the general wrong of Rome —
I As fire drives out fire, so pity pity —
LHath done this deed on Ca3sar. For your part,
To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony :
Our arms, in strength of malice, and our hearts
Of brothers' temper, do receive you in
With all kind love, good thoughts, and re^'erence.
JULIUS CESAR. 279
Some more euphemistic word tlian 'malice' we
certainly should have looked for on such an occa-
sion ; yet ' malice ' is the plain midoubted word of
the Folios, and we have no right to oust it, until we
have exhausted every effort to give it an intelligible
meaning. Now I have bracketed two sets of lines,
containing four each, because I observe that Brutus'
words,
Our arms, in strength of malice, and our hearts
' Of brothers' temper,
which occur at the end of the speech, do but repeat
in a short and summary way what had already been
expressed more at length in the commencement of
it, ' our arms in strength of malice ' bearing a general
resemblance to the first set in which the murderous
look and bloody hands are described, 'our hearts of
brothers' temper' being equivalent to what in the
second set is stated, and being, in fact, almost iden-
tical with it. If this is so, the coincidence is too
significant to be altogether overlooked.
They w^ho offer to receive Antony in are the very
persons who had just been described, and, if the
same, then the combination of the foul and the fair,
of 'arms in strenc^th of malice and 'hearts of brothers'
temper,' are set in the scales to balance each other,
and to substitute 'justice,' or 'amity,' or 'allies,' or
aught else, for that ill-natured word 'malice,' would
be to disturb the equipoise.
And here it may be well to remark that 'malice'
is sometimes used in rather a peculiar sense by
280 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Shakespeare, as I think may be seen from the
following quotations,
* King John,' Act II, 1, 251-252,
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven.
•*King John,' Act II, 1, 379-380,
both conjointly bend
Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town.
'Antony and Cleopatra,' Act III, 13, 178,
I will be treble-sinewed, hearted, breathed,
And fight maliciously.
In all these passages, although mischief is intended,
the mischief is regarded with complacent satisfaction.
Certainly Brutus was not dissatisfied with their deed
of malice, nor yet with the strength, nor yet with
the success of it. It is not at all impossible, then,
that by the words 'in strength of malice' he was
referring, as indeed some think he was, and as the
context seems to indicate, to the deed which they had
just done ; he did not apologize for it, he avowed it,
he gloried in it — he and all they who were with him;
and, if by such Antony was willing to he received in
(for they did not require his support), such as they
tvere, they would receive him. As an equal, not as a
suppliant, not as an apologist, the would-be libera-
tor speaks. If, however, 'malice' does not bear this
particular reference, I can only suppose that Brutus
is making a sort of manifesto to Antony of the
principles of his party ; they had a strong arm for
JULIUS C^SAR. 281
their foes, a warm heart for their friends ; they
could fight Hke devils, and at the same time love
like brothers. Such was their motto. In offering
to fraternize on these terms, Brutus would be speak-
ing no strange language to Antony. Such principles
were at the bottom of all the political clubs and
associations of antiquity.
I pass on to the 206th line,
Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe,
where, if 'lethe' were the w^ord written by Shakes-
peare, it must bear the same relation to 'lethum,'
that 'antres,' a word used in another of his plays,
does to ' antrum' ; but it is such a stranger to us,
and is so easily altered, that we can hardly wonder
at Pope's wishing to strike it out, and put 'death'
in its place. I am not ignorant that it was the
practice of some writers to intersprinkle occasion-
ally their native English with uncouth words of an
antique and foreign tongue, and there is no lack of
Latinisms in 'Julius Caesar'; but I am prepared to
account for, aye, and to justify, the use of this word
here in another way. I believe it was used neither
accidentally nor affectedly, but of set purpose, and
as most pertinent. In a passage of high tragedy, of
uncommon passion, full of grief and woe, where a
colossal man is described as having fallen, not in a
foreign land by the sword of a savage foe, but in the
heart of his own city by the secret daggers of citizens
and friends, the poet willed to use not the ordinary
282 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
word applied to those who in the course of nature
peacefully or painfully expire, but a distinct, an
exceptional word — one, which, though strange and
singular, is yet classic in its origin, and might have
been used by a Koman poet when telling of a hero's —
a patriot's murderous extinction — a word which
closes the description with dignity, with feeling, and
with force. The oftener I read it, the more I become
reconciled to it, and I am not now in the least dis-
posed to question the genuineness of
Sign'd iu thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe.
And why, a little below in the 262nd line, should
any take exception to the form of the curse ?
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men.
Such an imprecation, even when taken by itself,
is not an impossible one, but, standing where it does,
it is fitly placed, and, what is more, cannot be
bettered. The curse is represented as a gradually
progressive one; its progress is traced with undevia-
ting precision. It begins with a single man and a
single member — *the hand that shed this costly
blood ;' — and spreads to many men and mamj members;
it next invades, with increasing energy, houses and
cities, and finally possesses itself of the whole land.
In 'King Kichard III' Lady Anne invokes a curse
on the hands, the^heart, the blood of the murderer
of her husband and of her husband's father. There
is no reason whatever why the line should have
been marked as corrupt. Take the curse as a whole
JULItJS C^SAR, 283
from first to last, it was full enough, and deep
enough, and diffusive and extensive enough to satisfy
even an Antony.
I must now say a word on Act IV, 1, 36-39, where
Antony, giving his opinion of Lepidus' character,
says that he is
One that feeds
On objects, arts, and imitations,
Which, out of use, and staled by other men,
Begin his fashion.
* Objects, arts' has been condemned by many, and
made to give way to Theobald's ingenious con-
jecture 'abject orts,' or to Mr. Staunton's variation
of it, 'abjects, orts.' Notwithstanding its glitter,
the new coin is not so good as the old. Such words
as 'objects, arts' seem to me to be more naturally
coupled with 'imitations,' than words bearing a
totally different meaning. I am not sure, though
possibly here I am hypercritical, that 'cast away
and broken fragments' — I use the commentator's
own words — that 'things which had been abandoned
as useless' could properly be said to have been in
use at all. It may be said that the relative clause
does not refer to 'abject, orts,' but only to 'imita-
tions.' Mr. Knight, however, thought otherwise,
and on that very ground rested his defence of the
reading of the copies. It has been asked, What
is the meaning of ' objects, arts ' ? It may be
answered that words like these admit of a great
variety of meanings. What does Troilus mean,
284 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
when he speaks of the Grecian youths 'flowing
over with arts and exercise?' Or what is meant,
when it is said — Ulysses is the speaker — Hector
* subscribes to tender objects?' Or what in 'Love's
Labour's Lost,' when Holofernes says
This is a gift I have, simple, simple, a foolish extravagant spirit,
fall of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions ?
For my part, I think that Shakespeare had large
truths in his mind here, and distinguished two
classes of politicians. Just as Bacon tells us that in
philosophy there were some who thought that *the
dignity of the human mind was lowered by long and
frequent intercourse with experiments and partic-
ulars, which are the objects of sense and confined to
matter, and in another place that ^reverence of antiquity
and the authoritij of men who have been esteemed great
in philosophy, and general unanimitij, have retarded men
from advancing,' and yet again he speaks of those who
* seek nothing beyond that which is handed down to
them as perfect,' so in policy there are two great
divisions, sets, factions, ipsnties— these depending a.
little too much on the sight of their eyes, on the
material and visible ; on arts, rules, methods,
mechanical contrivances ; on imitations, patterns,
precedents — the others, men of original ideas, crea-
tive geniuses, brilliant in resource, always abreast of
the revolutionary movement, and never suffering
themselves to be outmatched by more cautious
competitors — and the former class are despised by
JULIUS CESAR. 285
and are often made the tools and dupes of the latter.
Now to the former class Lepidus belonged; to
the latter Caesar. Viewed in this light, 'objects,'
*arts,' are words full of significance, and would be
ill exchanged for 'abjects,' *orts,' ingenious as that
conjecture is.
And here an admirable note of Professor Craik
on Act IV, 2, quoted by Mr. Aldis Wright,
is well worthy of insertion: 'It is strange that no
one should have been struck with the absurdity
of such an association as Lucius and Titinius for
the guarding of the door. An officer of rank and
a servant boy- — the boy, too, being named first.
The function of Lucius was to carry messages. As
Cassius sends his servant Pindarus with a message
to his division of the force, Brutus sends his ser-
vant Lucius with a similar message to his division.'
The Professor, therefore, substitutes ' Lucius ' for
^Lucilius' in the 49th line, and two lines below
reads 'Lucilius' for ^Let Lucius' — a better sorting
of the characters no doubt. Yet the Cambridge
editors 'have not adopted' the alteration, 'because
they are of opinion that the error, such as it is,
is due to the author, and not to a transcriber.'
Before I conclude, I will briefly observe that in
Act V, 1, 34-35, where a smart interchange of
civilities passes between Cassius and Antony,
Antony's retort admits of being presented either
in an interrogative or in an affirmative form. The
286 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
latter is the usual mode of arrangement: I incline
to the former:
Cassius. But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,
And leave them honeyless.
Animy. Not stingless too ?
And so I have since discovered that Delius
punctuates.
MACBETH. 28T
MACBETH.
The editors of the 'Cambridge' Shakespeare
inform us, that 'Macbeth' was one of the worst
printed of all the plays. Possibly their knowledge
of this. circumstance may have made them a little
over-suspicious in their examination of it. Anyhow,
they have marked passages in it as corrupt, which,
in my opinion, hardly deserve the stigma.
As early as in Act I, 2, 14, the scuffle between the
critics commences. Should we read 'quarrel,'
which is the word found in Holinshed's Chronicle,
from which Shakespeare fetched much of his history,
and sometimes also some of his phraseology ? or
should we rather read 'quarry,' which is set down in
every impression of the Folio ? The judges are
divided ; the scales of the balance are pretty evenly
poised. ' Quarrel ' being a word of frequent occur-
rence in Shakespeare, those who would force it into
the text against the authority of the Folios may
fairly be expected to show, that elsewhere them here^
either in the Quartos or in the Folios, 'quarry' is at
times printed, where 'quarrel' is undoubtedly inten-
288 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
decl. Till then, as 'quarry' admits of being
explained, I prefer with Mr. I^night to retain the
reading of the copies. '
A little further on we come to the lines,
For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name —
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave ;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he uEseam'd him from the nave to the chaps.
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
We are told that there is 'incurable corruption' here.
I cannot for the Ufe of me see it. A short line,
beginning with an Anapaest, is surely not in Shakes-
peare a metrical impossibility. Such fragments of
verse sometimes occur, where a crisis is reached in
the action, and we pause for a moment, expecting
the catastrophe. As for the second 'which,' it has
been suggested that, if we could make it, like the
first, refer to the 'brandished steel,' we should have
a picturesque expression thoroughly Shakespearian ;
for my own part, I prefer to refer it to 31acheth,
whose name heads the sentence, and whose prowess
pervades it ; that it does not refer to Macdonwald, I
am as certain as that the two names begin with the
same capital letter.
In the 49th line it has been asked why ' flout ' and
'fan' are in the present, while the rest of the verbs
are in the preterite tense ; and in a roundabout way
MACBETH. 289
it has been attempted to show that the flouting
fanning banners were not the haughty ensigns of a
yet unconquered foe, but the captured standards of a
beaten army, at that very moment flapping idly, and
coohng the conquerors in the camp of Macbeth !
Nothing is more improbable. 'Flout' and 'fan' are
simply historic presents, just as in the 'Tempest,'
Act I, 2, 201-205, Ariel mixes up present tenses with
past, where he gives us his most vivid touches ;
Jove's lightnings, the precursors
0' the dreadful thunder-claps, more momentary
And sight-outrunning were^ not ; the fire and cracks
Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune
Seem to besiege.
Enobarbus does the same in 'Antony and Cleopatra,'
Act II, 2, 210, where we have as it were in the pre-
sent a panorama of the past. Cf. also 'Coriolanus,'
Act III, 3, 126-27.
In the lines that follow, Duncan's brief exclama-
tion, 'Great happiness,' hardly interrupts at all
the continuity of Eoss' narrative. With what
propriety, then, is a full stop placed after 'victory
fell on us,' and a capital letter given to 'That'?
Yet, in spite of stops and capitals, it is hardly
possible to mistake the meaning.
In the next Scene — Act I, 3, 95-98 — where Koss;
delivering the king's message to Macbeth, says
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale
Can jfost tvith post,
g 16
290 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
there are some who are displeased with 'thick as
tale,' the phrase of the Folios, because they cannot
find any similar expression in any other part of
Shakespeare. But how many words and phrases are
they forced to tolerate in almost every play, of which
no second example can be produced ! Time and the
fierce rays of a searching criticism will dissipate
their 'hail'; 'thick as tale' will surely hold its
ground ; but whether it should be connected with
the words that precede, or with the words that follow
it — whether the images of death were too thick to
be counted, or the posts were — that has been
questioned. Ehythm and sense favour the latter ;
perhaps too the line from '2 Henry VI,' Act III,
1, 337,
Faster than spring-time showers comes thought on thought,
and 'Antony and Cleopatra,' Act I, 5, 61-63,
Cleop. Met'st thou my posts ?
Alex. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers ;
Why do you send so thick ?
It has been assumed that 'can' was intended for
'came'; perhaps it was; yet 'ran' would be as near
the original, and might not inaptly be applied to
military couriers. We have authority for the latter
word in '3 Henry VI,' Act II, 1, 109,
Tidings, as swiftly as the posts could run.
The letter c not unfrequently usurps the place of the
letter r.
MACBETH. 291
I now come to a passage where we can with diffi-
culty see our way for the vohimes of smoke which
issue forth from the workshops of the aunotators.
I refer to Act I, 5, 23-26,
Thoii'ldst have, great Glamis,
That which cries ' Thus thou must do, if thou have it ;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone.'
The inverted commas were first placed by Pope, and
they are found in the 'Globe,' and in other editions
of Shakespeare ; ' nevertheless, Capell was right,
when he printed in Italics onhj the words ' Thus thou
must do, if thou have it.'
The passage is a very labyrinth of intricacies, yet
so confident am I that I have the thread to guide
me through it, that I implore the reader not to be
deterred by my twistings and turnings from following
me right through to the end.
Now observe : in Lady Macbeth's reflections on
Macbeth 's character we have a triplet of well-
balanced antitheses : Macbeth's wish is represented
as conflicting with Macbeth's wish. First in order
comes
What thou wouldst higlily,
That wouldst thou holily.
Next
Wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win.
Thirdly and lastly we shall certainly find mention of
a similar contrast between two opposite desires,
'292 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
warring within him for supremacy, and pulHng him
in contrary directions. What, as a matter of fact,
have we ? First thiSf
thou'ldst have, great Glamis,
That which cries, * Thus thou must do, if thou have it.'
Wliat next, to counter-work this ? "We might expect
some such statement as this,
And thou wouldst have that which cries, ' This thou must leave
undone,' or in other words, ' This thou must not do.'
But Shakespeare, instead of maldng Lady Macbeth
continue her words in the direct form of speech,
makes her rather continue in the ohlique or mdirect
form ( nor is the form otherwise than appropriate,
where Macbeth 's indirection is the theme ) ; and, if
she had expressed herself in this indirect form
simpbi, by which I mean, without any other idea crossing
her mind, she would have said,
And thou W'ouldst have that which thou wouldst should be
undone, i.e., not done,
which would be tantamount to saying that Macbeth
would fain grasp the prize without incurring the
guilt and danger of getting it. But Lady Macbeth
does not express herself thus simply and unreserv-
edly, but, having a keen insight into her lord's
character, she qualifies the statement by the bitter
parenthetical reflection.
That which [rather thuu dost fear to do than] wishest should be
undone.
MACBETH. 293
She was not afraid that Macbeth lacked the wish
to do the damned deed, she doubted and feared
his coiircKje. Exactly what she thought, she ex-
pressed. If her anatomical description of his
character is dark, difficult, devious, it is because
the character itself was so full of contrariety.
I pass on now to the second Act, in the first Scene
of which, at the 25th line, where Macbeth says to
Banquo,
If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis,
It shall make honour for you,
'consent,' though suffered to remain by editors,
has been looked upon with suspicion and dislike.
Capell, Malone, Grant White, conjecture severally
'ascent,' 'content,' 'consort'; yet, as there is no
variation in the Folios, and as the very same word
is used very similarly in '1 Henry VI,' Act I, 2, 44,
By my consent, we'll even let them alone,
we may be pretty sure that ' consent ' has a right
to its place. I paraphrase the passage as follows :
'If you shall steadfastly pursue that line of conduct
which has my sympathy and support, and to which
I am a -deliberately consenting party, wlien, according
to tin' im'dictioii of tlic icitclies, I am lanfj' — for that,
I take it, is what he means by his short significant
'//'—'your having sided with me shall lead to
your ])romotion and honour.' Others, however,
refer ' it ' to the proposed interview.
A little further down there is another word— I
mean ' sides ' in Act II, 1, 55 — which has not merely
294 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
been suspected, but has with singular unanimity been
ousted from the text, although critics have not been
able to agree among themselves as to the word
that should take its place. ' Slides,' a verb, and
* strides,' a noun, have been nominated by rival
parties. We may admit that ' sides ' is not just
the word that a modern dramatist would have
thought of, or a modern critic expected ; yet some-
how or other it crops up in Shakespeare in places
where we do not look for it, and in a manner
which, to say the least, is at times peculiar. Nor
is this the only passage, where its genuineness has
been suspected, and efforts have been made to
extrude it from the text. I will group together a
few of the passages where it occurs, by way of
accustoming the reader to it, and illustrating its use.
'Twelfth Night,' Act II, 4, 96,
There is no woman's sides
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion :
'King Henry VIII,' Act I, 2, 28,
Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks
The sides of loyalty,
where Mr. Collier would have modernized the text
by reading ' ties of loyalty ' :
*KingLear,' Actll, 4, 200,
O sides, you are too tough ;
'Antony and Cleopatra,' Act II, 7, 118-119,
The holding every man shall bear as loud
As his strong sides can volley.
MACBETH. 295
'Antony and Cleopatra' again, Act IV, 14, 39-41,
cleave, my sides !
Heart, once be stronger than thy continent,
Crack thy frail case !
and again
The sides of nature
Will not sustain it.
Now let it be distinctly understood that I do not
cite these passages under the idea that any one
of them is an exact exemplai' of Tarquin's case,
but merely for the purpose of illustrating Shakes-
peare's occasional use of the word. What I gather
from them, however, is that 'sides' is frequently
used wherb strong lusts and passions are referred
to, which they are said to encase, contain, be
beaten by, and the like. Now is it so very im-
probable that murder's 'sides' should be glanced
at in 'Macbeth' in connexion wath murder's mon-
strous lusts ? His look, manner, movement are
depicted by the epithet ' withered,' by the 'stealthy
pace,' by the 'ghostlike move'; his outrageous
desires, and his strength to execute those desires,
may be implied in the phrase ' Tarquin's ravishing
sides.' While portraying him, as he is seen out-
wardly, the poet forgets not to point also to his
lieart. I am strongly of opinion, then, that Shakes-
peare wrote,
Withered murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf.
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.
With Tarquin's ravishing sides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost.
296 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
We may now read on till we come to the lines —
Act III, 1, 128-131—
Withiu this hour at most
I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
Acquaint you with the 'perject spy o' the time,
The moment on't.
The words I have italicized have occasioned some
smart skirmishing, and, at the risk of bruises, I
will fling myself into the fray. ' Spy ' I take to be
not a concrete, but an abstract noun; it is true
that I cannot produce any instance of its being
used in such a sense by Shakespeare, but is it, I
again ask, either necessary or possible to find
second examples of all that Shakespeare peculiarly
uses ? The nearest parallel that I can think of
at this moment is the popular expression, 'let me
have a spy at it,' and popular expressions may
fairly be referred to, to corroborate dramatic
phraseology. The phrase 'o' the time' I connect
not, as do most, with 'spy,' but with the verb
'acquaint,' just as in 'The Winter's Tale,' Act II,
2, 48, we have
Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer.
'Perfect' I believe to be a mistake for 'perfect'st,'
having been docked of its last two letters from
their so nearly resembling the first two letters of
*spy,' which immediately follows: the same word,
superlative and all, occurs in another part of this
same play.
MACBETH. 297
Macbeth promises tliem that he will advise them
as to the exact time and place after a thorough
reconnaisance made.
Our next question is, how shall we understand
— for that too is questioned — the compound pro-
noun ' ourselves ' in Act III, 4, 32, where Macbeth
says to the murderer,
Get thee gone ; to-morrow
We'll hear ourselves again.
A number of interpretations have been given,
none of which seems to me to be right. I believe
that 'ourselves' in this place is equivalent to 'by
ourselves,' Macbeth naturally shrinking from con-
versing on such a subject, with such a man, when
there were so many to see and hear them.
A little word occurs in Act III, 4, 105, too,
in Macbeth's challenge to Banquo's ghost, which
has caused no little difference of opinion. 'Be
alive again,' says Macbeth,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword ;
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl.
The emendations which have been proposed for
this passage are as startling for their number, as
they are amusing for their variety.
If trembling I unknight me,
If trembling I inherit :
If trembling I inhibit,
If trembling me inhibit,
If trembling I inhibit then ;
Fantastic all of them! 'Inhabit' which is the
word of the copies, we may be pretty sure, was
298 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the word also in Shakespeare's MS. It is used
somewhat pecuharly at times in Shakespeare,
though, of course, most poetically, e.g., in
' King John,' Act IV, 2, 106-107,
where is that blood
* That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks ?
' King Richard III,' Act I, 4, 3,
and in thuse holes
Where eyes did once inhabit.
In hoth these passages the place of habitation
is specified; but, though this is not the case in
'Macbeth,' there cannot be a doubt what the place
of habitation is ; it is the fleshly tabernacle in
which the living individuality, the ' I ' dwells. And
it seems to me that there is no little force in one,
who is yet a sojourner in the flesh, using the
term 'inhabit,' when accosting one who had ceased
to tenant a house of clay. Macbeth trembles
because he, a flesh-and-blood being, was, so to
speak, too heavily handicapped to be matched
against a shadowy antagonist ; but let that shadowy
spectre be circummured again by a fleshly habita-
tion, and Macbeth will not then decline the equal
encounter.
A little matter of punctuation, which I shall next
mention, will only slightly afi'ect the meaning of
the passage I shall quote. If, as I am inclined to
think, the words ' I will to morrow,' in Act III, 4, 132,
are a reiteration by Macbeth of his determination to
MACBETH. 299
send, as indicated by him in the 130th hne, rather
than an expression of his determination to go to the
weird sisters, as indicated in the Hne that follows,
the passage will have to be pointed thus,
I hear it by the way ; but I will send —
There's not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant fee'd — I will to morrow ;
And betimes I will to the weird sisters ;
or, instead of being placed between two hyphens, the
words may be thrown into a parenthesis.
We now come to the 4th Act, in the 2nd Scene of
which, beginning at the 18th line, we read,
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors
And do not know ourselves, when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea
Each way and move.
The last words have been twisted and turned in
almost eveiy imaginable way:
Each way and wave ;
And move each way ;
Each way, and move ;
And each way m.ove ;
Which way we move ;
Each way and none ;
the last proposed with confidence, and charmingly
ingenious. I will add one more to this heap of
uncertainties ; ' each sway and move ' shall take its
chance with the rest, suggested to me by a passage
in 'King John,' Act II, 1, 578, where occurs the
expression 'This sway of motion.' But what am I
about? Is it necessary that there should be any
alteration at all ? ' Way ' indicates the direction,
300 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
'move' the progress made in that direction. In
whichever dircctiou they go, to or hack, this wcuj or
that, — however much or httle they move — no rest,
no peace, but hke men they are who float on a wild
and violent sea. Such seems a rational and sufficient
explanation of a phrase, which has been a sea of
trouble to expositors.
I should not have dreamt of making any comment
on Act IV, 3, 15, if it had not been stated on high
authority, * there is certainly some corruption here ; '
and emendations have actually been contemplated,
where no emendation should be so much as listened
to.
But something
You may deserve of him though me, and wisdom
To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb
To appease an angry God.
I do not, of course, question here Theobald's
emendation ' deserve^'' I merely refer to the isolation
of 'wisdom,' which is observable, but should be no
cause of offence. The substantive verb has to be
supplied. Elsewhere Shakespeare uses the full
expression, "^/s wisdom;' here the more laconic
form was preferred by him, and such pithy off-hand
utterances are permitted in common conversation,
and consequently in the drama. Let those who
doubt ponder such passages as 'Winter's Tale,' Act
IV, 4, 417,
Reason my son
Should choose himself a wife, but as good reason
The father
, . should hold some counsel
In such a business :
MACBETH. 301
*Cymbeline,' Act I, 1, 60,
To this hour no guess in knowledge
Which way they went ;
'Titus Aiidronicus,' Act II, 3, 81,
And, being intercepted in your sport.
Great reason that my noble lord be rated.
Shakespeare here is his own sufficient witness.
It is just possible that, up to this point of the play,
I may upon the whole have carried the indulgent
critic with me ; at any rate, I have felt as one, who,
in fording a stream, has been able to keep touch
with the bottom; but I am now coming to a part,
where I am not sure that I may not be out of my
depth, and, though I shall try to swim, I may sink.
There is a dark and profound passage in the latter
part of one of Malcolm's speeches — Act IV, 3,
136-137 — which runs as follows :
Now we'll together, and let the chance of goodness
Be like our warranted quarrel.
The Cambridge editors say ' The meaning seems to
be, ' May the chance of success be as certain as the
justice of our quarrel.' The sense of the word
' goodness ' is limited by the preceding ' chance. '
Without this, 'goodness' by itself could not have
this meaning.' It seems to me that the sentence,
' the chance of goodness is like our warranted quarrel,'
is one in which we have a notable example oiprcegnans
locutio. There is much matter in small compass.
The very conciseness of the expression hinders us
302 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
from at once apprehending the meaning of it. Nor
should we sec it at all, miless we carried in our
minds the substance and pith of the whole passage of
wliich the words quoted form but a part. Malcolm
had represented himself to Macduff as so irredeem-
ably bad, that the latter was obliged to acknowledge
that he could have nothing more to do with him.
Upon this, Malcolm unsays the slander which he had
uttered against himself, and avers that he is in reality
as good as a moment before he had represented
himself as bad. His concluding words I thus para-
phrase : ' Now we'll together, and let the chance of
my being — what in very truth I am— a well-doer,
be as strong an inducement to our being friendly,
as the chance of my being — had I been what I just
now falsely represented myself as being — an evil-doer,
would have led to our most justifiably quarrelling.'
Or briefly, though somewhat freely, thus: 'Be as
ready to be a friend to me now you know I am good,
as you were prepared to be an enemy to me when
you imagined that I was evil.' Here pausing, and
not receiving from Macduff the assurance which he
had expected, he asks, 'Why are you silent? The
latter replies
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
'Tis hard to reconcile.
Here a doctor enters, and puts an end for the time
to the conversation.
I have come at last to the fifth Act, in the 8rd
Scene of which, in the 21st line, there is much
MACBETH. 303
uncertainty as to the reading. The first Foho has
This push
Will cheer me ever, or dis-eate me now.
The second Foho, instead of 'diseate,' has
'disease'; but, as the second Foho was merely copied
from the first, this correction is merely a copyist's
conjecture, and cannot be looked upon as in any
sense authoritative ; in fact, it has no more claim to
be considered than any other emendation which may
happen to be started. It mat/ he entitled to as mucli,
however, and we are bound to examine it on its
merits. It has been objected that it supplies too
feeble an antithesis to 'cheer.' The validity of this
objection will depend on the sense or senses which
it was capable of bearing. There cannot be a
question that ' disease ' had formerly a fuller and
more comprehensive signification than it is wont to
have now: it meant discomfort and inconvenience
in general, and not merely bodily disorder. In both
senses Shakespeare uses it. To illustrate the former
meaning of it, I may cite ' 1 Henry VI,' Act II, 5, 44,
And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease.
Here Richard, who is the speaker, is going to
explain the reason why he was so downhearted and
disconsolate. Some one had cast it in his teeth,
that his father had been beheaded. Such a taunt
must have touched him to the quick. To use an
expressive colloquialism, it must have quite upset
him. We should not have supposed that in refer-
304 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
ence to such a cause of disquietude Shakespeare
would have put into his mouth a word of fecUe ■
import ; yet, whether feehle or not, ^disease' is the
word.
The next passage that I shall quote for illustra-
tion's sake is from ' Coriolanus,' ^where Volumnia
says,
She will but disease our beiter mirth.
I will not say that 'disease' is used here in a very
strong sense ; what, however, is noticeable and
pertinent, is, that it stands in contradistinction to mirth.
The third passage, which I shall bring forward,
is chiefly remarkable, because an effort has been
made in it to substitute some other word for
'disease,' on the very ground that 'disease 'has not a
sufficiently strong meaning. Mr. Aldis Wright in
his note on 'King Lear,' Act I, 1, 160, tells us, that,
where the first and second Quartos read ' diseases^
the Folios have the stronger word Ulisasters.' Now
it is not at all probable that the copyist introduced
' diseases ' into the Quartos ; it is much more likely
that he found it in the author's MS. 'Disasters'
was in all likelihood afterwards inserted in the
Folios, under the mistaken notion that the word of
the Quartos was not sufficiently strong. Upon the
whole, then, we are warranted in saying that
'disease,' as it was understood in Shakespeare's day,
was strong enough to be opposed to such words as
'ease,' 'mirth,' 'cheer,'
MACBETH. 305
If, however, it be admitted that, according to
Shakespearian usage, 'cheer' and ' disease * may stand
in contradistinction to each other, but that 'cheer*
does not more forcibly represent the favourable,
than 'disease' does the unfavourable contingency —
in fact, that neitlier word seems equal to the occasion,
for argument's sake I will not dispute it, and, in
order to meet this new mode of attack, I will fall
back upon what are called euphemistic expressions,
which are not wanting in this play; thus, 'taking
off' is equivalent to 'killing,' 'going off' to 'dying';
and similarly 'cheer' may be a modest way of
expressing victory and sovereignty, ' disease ' express-
ing defeat, disgrace, and death.
Capell proposed
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now ;
Dyce adopted Bishop Percy's clever conjecture,
Well chair me ever, or disseat me now.
I will add one of my own, for the value of which
I will not vouch.
Will cheer me ever, or disheart me now.
'Unheart' is used in 'Coriolanus.' 'Disheart'!
cries a critic jocularly; 'disembowel' would be more
to the purpose. But the heart gone, the bowels
would soon follow. Macbeth would be more likely
to understate than to overstate the dread alternative.
I have now reached my last station, where,
however, we shall have to be detained for a while ;
T 17
306 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
impatiently we ask, what's the matter, and we learn
that the 11th line of Act V, 4,
For where there is advantage to be given.
Both more and less have given him the revolt,
is out of order, and must needs be repaired. The
authorities are in a fluster ; no one seems to know
what had best be done. It is not the meaning
which causes this disquietude; it is the phraseology
which they consider unsound and untrustworthy.
The most objectionable word seems to be 'given,' for
which it has been proposed to put 'gone,' 'got,'
'gotten,' 'taken,' 'ta'en'; yet the Cambridge editors
appear to be under the impression that the weak
part of the line is in the phrase ' is to be ' ; for they
suggest that perhaps the first line should stand thus,
For where there is advantage given to flee,
or
For where there is advantage to 'em given.
They commence their note, however, with the
remark that the passage, as it stands, is not capable
of any satisfactory explanation. Let me take it to
pieces, and see whether there is really anything
amiss with it. I presume that no one will question
that 'advantage' may be used in the sense of an
'advantageous opening,' 'a favourable opportunity,'
' a good chance,' to use a common but expressive
phrase. Thus we have in 'Othello,' Act I, 3, 298,
And bring them after in the best advantage ;
MACBETH. 307
'Othello ' again, Act II, 1, 247,
A slipper and subtle knave, a finder of occasions, that has an eye
can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage
never present itself ;
'2Henry VI,' ActI, 1, 242,
And, when I spy advantage, claim the crown ;
'King Lear,' Act II, 1, 24,
You have now the good advantage of the night ;
'Troilus and Cressida,' Act III, 3, 2,
The advantage of the time prompts me aloud
To call for recompense.
Well now, cannot the phrase 'is to be given'
mean 'is capable of being given,' or, 'can possibly
be given '? Undoubtedly it can. Here are examples :
'Othello,' Act I, 2, 45,
When, being not at yonr lodging to be found ;
'Winter's Tale,' Act V, 1, 101,
She had not been,
Nor was not to be equall'd,
But this use of the Gerundive participle will
hardly be disputed.
May we not write, then, 'an advantage is given'
in the sense of ' a favourable occasion is offered ' ?
In the passage above quoted from ' Othello ' we
have the words ' the advantage prcsejits itself,' which,
passively expressed, would be ' is presented.' And
what difference between ' an advantage is presented,^
308 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and * an advantage is given ? ' Given by whom ? am
I asked. Given by a favouring fortime; given by
negligent guards ; given by the nature of the place.
If now 'an advantage is given' is admissible, 'an
advantage is to be given' is equally so, and the
meaning of the lines will be 'where there is a
possibility of a favourable opportunity [of deserting]
being presented or given, men of all ranks revolt
from him.' Call it what English you like, old
English, or colloquial English, or Shakespearian
English, good sound English I am positive that it is.
And now, Sirs, we have come to our journey's
end.
HAMLET. 3C9
HAMLET.
I shall not undertake — I do not profess to be able
— to deal with all the doubtful and difficult passages
in ' Hamlet,' which yet require elucidation ; I shall
confine myself to the more modest and feasible task
of throwing a few rays of light on three or four dark
corners, which others, aiming at a more diffusive
illumination, have in my opinion left in comparative
obscurity. There is a passage, for instance, begin-
ning at the 113th line of Act I, Scene 1, the main
drift of which. is clear enough, and the several parts
taken separately are perfectly intelligible ; but the
construction of the sentence as a whole seems loose
and disjointed, and the connecting particles are irreg-
ular, and to all appearances inadequate. We must
acknowledge that there is some ground here for the
suspicion entertained by commentators, that the text
has suffered mutilation, or even that a line has
fallen out. Yet I cannot consent to abandon the
vantage-ground of the copies until I have satisfied
myself that it is quite untenable. I will examine,
therefore, the parts which are alleged to be weak and
310 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEAEE.
defenceless, and try whether they may not be ex-
plained, if not in accordance with the general rules
of grammar, yet agreeably to those occasional
deviations from them, with which scholars are
perfectly familiar.
The circumstances may be thus briefly stated : the
sight of the ghost of the murdered king leads
Horatio to remark that such spectral apparitions
usually foreshadow political and social disturbance.
An eminent example of this he cites from a page of
Konian history :
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graTes stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.
To put a comma at the end of these lines, as if the
speaker had something more to say on the particular
subject of the (jliost-paraUel, or to leave a vacant
space, and fill it up with a number of asterisks as
an indication that something has been probably
omitted, is not only not necessary, it is objectionable
— it is wrong. The parallel, which is commenced
in the above lines, is also completed and concluded
by them. A full stop, or at least a colon, should
mark the termination of a period. There is a pause,
and the pause heightens the effect of an exceedingly
striking picture. But, after drawing a comparison
between the Caesarean age and his own in respect of
the particular phrnonienon of the gliosthj apparition^
Horatio pursues the train of thought, and carries
HAMLET. 311
the parallel further still, showing that there was also
a general resemblance between the two periods in respect
of other signs and wonders ; it was not merely that the
earth had cast forth her dead, but the heavens also
spoke a language ominous and fearful. There were
warnings celestial as well as warnings terrestrial.
'As in the time gone by there were' — but the
poet omits the finite verb, which a prose-writer
would be careful to express — 'stars with trains of
fire and dews of blood ; as there were disasters in
the sun,' — here again the finite verb is wanting —
'and as the moon was sick almost to doomsday with
eclipse, even so' — but for this conventional conjunc-
tion the poet substitutes, perhaps has a reason for
substituting the less usual, unlooked for, and even
startling combination Uuul even—^e\en so not the
earth only, but heaven, as well as earth, has demon-
strated to our climate and countrymen the coming
on of fearful changes.'
There is no doubt some confusion here — con-
fusion, not corruption. It is even possible that
Shakespeare intended, by the chaotic sentence with
its finite verb suppressed and its heterogeneous
conjunction introduced, to impress the confusion
of the times, or perhaps rather the mental agita-
tion of the speaker. But even if it be objected
that, with the exception of these two lines, there
seems nothing chaotic in the passage, nor does
the speaker seem much agitated, still I contend
that such literary irregularities need not be incredi-
312 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
ble — are quite tolerable. In classical literature
they are called anacolutha ; but call tlieai what
you will, they now and then may be found lying
in our way, without really and seriously obstructing
our progress ; they arrest the attention without
baiSing the understanding; there is a good deal
of rough vigour about them; they are as it were
extemporaneous effusions ; left m their natural
state, and not worked up afterwards and polished;
if they are not a master's way of portraying, as
only a master can, the terror felt and the confusion
apprehended.
On the principle that we should always stick to
the reading of the Quarto or the Folio, wherever
we can do so consistently with the idiom of the
English language, or with Shakespearian usage, I
will venture now to offer a suggestion even for
Act I, 3, 74, where Polonius is represented as
saying,
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
*Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
The phraseology here is certainly peculiar, and
the prolongation of the metre has tempted some
to cut the knot by simply omitting 'of a.' But
this heroic method of dealing with a difficulty
should be resorted to only in an extreme emergency.
An article and an adjdctive, often in the superlative
The second and the third Quartos have ' or.'
HAMLET. 313
degree, but icithout autj suhstcmtive ivith ivhich to con-
nect them, is not an unprecedented Shakespearian
combination. We come across such phrases as
' does not talk after the wisest,' 'the ordinary of
nature's sale work,' 'a fever of the mad,' 'in the
smallest,' 'with your speediest bring us what she
says,' 'I advise you to the best,' to which add 'my
false o'erweighs your true ' — all occurring in
Shakespeare, and all undoubtedly genuine : as
genuine, perhaps, may be the somewhat similar
phrase 'of a niobt sdect and generous'; only here the
indefinite, and not the definite, article precedes the
adjective A comma, which stands after * generous'
in the Quarto, seems to indicate that the copyist
regarded 'chief as an adverb, and not a noun.
There is even another explanation possible : as
the nouns 'rank and station' follow the superlative
adjective in the preceding line, it is left to tlie reader
to supplij a noun adapted to the superlative in the line
that follows. The nouns of the one line might
suggest a noun for the other.
It may be the merest accident, but it is not a
little singular, that, in the next passage which we
have to consider, the very same little words, viz.,
'of a,' again form the subject of controversy — with
this difference, however, that, whereas in tliat
passage they were deemed superfluous, in this they
are looked upon as corrupt substitutes for some
other word which should take their place; there
the wish was to get rid of them altogether; Jiere
814 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the endeavour is not to excise them but to effect
a favourable exchange. And, if I remember rightly,
these are not the only two places, where the same
two little words have discomfited the critics.
Let us look at them once again in their new con-
nexion in Act I, 4, 36-38,
the dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal :
That ' eale ' is the old form of ' evil ' is as certain as
that 'deale' is frequently found in the Quartos and
Folios for 'devil.' As, then, in the latter case
editors do not scruple to introduce the modern
form into the text, so neither should they in the
former.
But in the prepositional phrase ' of a doubt ' we
have no mere ghost of a difficulty, but a real and
substantial one. What are we to make of it ?
Had the expression been ' doth it all of a doubt,'
or 'makes it all of a doubt,' we should have thought
no more amiss of it, than w-e do of the well-known
conversational phrase, 'I am all of a tremble'; or
had it been 'doth all the noble substance doubt,' we
might have found ample warrant for it in the parallel
expressions,
To do jou rest,
Do him disparagement.
Do you wrong,
Doing me disgrace,
Thou hast done good feature shame,
HAMLET. 315
all quotations from Shake sjjeare ; but such a phrase
as ' doth it of a doubt ' can hardly be grouped with
these, but stands as it were in a corner by itself.
I have thought it possible that Shakespeare, in
order to intensify the slur sought to be cast on the
character, may have purposely used, instead of the
more direct decided and downright phrase 'doth it
doubt,' the partitive limited and more dubitative and
insinuative one 'doth it of a douht'; for we know
that the suggestion of a little bit of doubt, a whisper,
a breath, will often do ten times more to blast and
damn the character, than a plainer, fuller, and more
sonorous censure.
Nor ought we, in weighing possibilities, to leave
out of the balance the item, that Shakespeare is in
the habit of inserting propositions, where we should
not think of admitting them. Take as a specimen a
portion of a line in 'As You Like It,' Act V, 4, 56,
I desire you of the like.
There are two other instances, where the noun
'doubt,' preceded by an article and a preposition,
concludes a line ; one occurs in ' The Merchant of
Venice,' Act III, 2, 145,
still gazing in a doubt ;
the other in '3 King Henry VI,' Act IV, 7, 27,
Wliy stand you in a doubt ?
Thus much, then, in favour of the reading of the
Quartos ; if the probabilities are still against that
reading; if we mud pronounce the phrase, as it
316 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
stands, to be manifestly corrupt, then decidedly the
simplest plan would be to suppose that 'of has been
docked of its tinal letter, and is a slip of the pen for
'off: in favour of this view I may note by the way
that in the 23rd line, and again in the 28th, 'oft' is
introduced as a modifying adverb ; this would
give us the thoroughly Shakespearian line,
Doth all the noble substance oft a doubt.
Other emendations which have been broached the
reader may find elsewhere ; some of the most plausi-
ble are 'overdoubt,' 'overcloud,' 'oft adoubt,' 'often
dout,' 'oft weigh down,' the last an ingenious
conjecture of Bailey's, suggested probably by a line
in 'Timon,' Act V, 1, 154,
Than their oflfence can iveigh doivn by the dram.
But I have said enough of this passage, and I
will pass on to Act III, 4, 169, where a gap occurs
in the text:
And either . . . the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous pocencj.
Now I do not pretend to be able to guess what
the exact word was which originally filled the
vacancy. There are many which would serve the turn.
' Kesist ' would have Apostolic, 'renounce' Patris-
tic authority to back it; 'rebuke' would not be
without precedent. If, however, we can light upon
a verb used hij Shakespeare himself, albeit elsewhere, in
the same connexion, it would come to us with a sort
HAMLET. 317
of recommendation from, the author. Now m
'Twelfth Night/ Act III, 4, 108, Sir Tohy says
to Malvoho, 'What, man! defy the devil.' In
* Merry Wives of Windsor' we have 'Now shall the
devil be shamed.' The former word would fit in
with the metre (for I need scarcely say that ' either '
is frequently treated as a monosyllable), and would
give the sense required, or at least a tolerable
sense. There would be no harm in introducing
di'fn — italicized, if you like — into the text. But no
doubt the original word might have been a totally
different one with more force and point. Perhaps
we should give the preference to 'master,' the word
found in the 4th, 5th, and 6th Quartos.
In my next piece of criticism I can hardly hope
to command the suffrages and support of a majority
of the critics; yet almost all will agree that some
other word, than that which we have at present,
was in all probability in Shakespeare's MS. In
that famous Scene, where two clowns in a church-
yard rub their rough wits against each other right
sparklingly, who will say much for
Go, get thee to Yaughan ?
I do not doubt that 'Yaughan' very fairly repre-
sents the sound that proceeded from the grave-
digger's lips; but I feel pretty sure that the actual
words were either 'the tavern,' or ' the inn ' — probably
the former — where the stoup of liquor he wanted
only waited for a fetcher.
318 HABD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
I shall be expected to say something on Act V,
2, 39-42, and I shall commence with Singer's apt
exclamation, 'Think of peace standing as a comma!'
We must admit that such a comparison, even
when we look at it by itself apart from the con-
text, is in the highest degree improbable; when,
however, we view it in connexion with a passage,
which is adorned with a succession of grand images
grandly expressed— when we read it in sequence
to such beautiful lines as
As England was his faithful tributary,
As love between them like the palm might flourish.
As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,
the improbability, it is hardly too much to say,
waxes into an impossibility. It is a step from the
sublime to the ridiculous — a fall from a firmament
powdered with stars to a realm of mist and Tar-
tarean gloom. ' Comma ' is not the legitimate issue
of Shakespeare's genius, but a bastard slip of
a copyist, whose eye deceived him, but whose
intellectual faculty was not strong enough to
correct him. Fortunately in this instance we
have not much difticulty in discovering with — I had
almost said, certaiutij the actual word which
Shakespeare inserted. Let it be granted — no very
extravagant concession — that In may be somewhat
indistinctly written, so as to differ not very much
from an m — let it be granted that an n may easily
melt into and be confused with (/, and then there
is positively no difference whatever between column
HAMLET. 319
and comma, in respect of form, though in respect
of meaning and suitableness to the present passage
there is a vast immeasurable distance.
* Peace' and 'column' are a natural couple, linked
together over and over again by historic associa-
tions. The column, or pillar, was set up as a witness
that peace had been formally concluded ; the names
of the parties, the terms of the agreement were
graven upon it; it stood as a monument and
testimony of amicable relations in the past, and a
pledge of continued amity in the future.
A figure of peace, then, wearing a garland of
wheat," standing columnar-like (these are all but
the very words of the text) between two friendly
powers, if it had not in some part of the world
been seen by the author as an architectural or
pictorial reality, is at any rate an artistic possi-
bility, and quite worthy to figure in a great
poet's airy creation.
I commend, therefore, to the cold calm severe
scrutinizing eye of the impartial critic, how far
'column' and 'comma' resemble — how far they
differ from each other. The result of that scrutiny,
unless I am too sanguine, will be to get rid of such
rubbish as 'comma,' to set up again the 'column'
that has been displaced, and to restore 'peace,' if
not to the members of the Shakespeare Societies,
at any rate to the ghost of Shakespeare and to the
text.
320 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
I conclude, as I commenced, with Singer's words,
but slightly varied, 'Think of peace standing as a
column ' !
Eloquar an slleam? Should I stop here, or may
I venture to speak once more ? There is a passage
in Act V, 2, 118, the depths of which no critic's
plumb-line has yet sounded, nor perhaps ever will.
It is where Osric, sent by the King to Hamlet on
an insidious and sinister errand, approaches him
with strained courtesy, and in language with more
sound than sense proceeds to pass an extravagant
eulogium on Laertes. Hamlet, perceiving his evil
purpose, mimics his bombastic nonsense :
Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ; though, I
know, to divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of
memory, and yet but yaw neither, in respect of his quick saik
Mr. Aldis Wright, who is entitled to be listened
to, especially when we want to know the meaning
of a word, tells us that ' to yaw ' is a nautical phrase,
used of a ship which moves unsteadily, and does
not answer her helm; but neither he, nor any one
else, can apply the meaning to the passage with-
out making other alterations which may not be
tolerated. On the presumption that any solution
will be listened to, where none has yet been forth-
coming, I will hazard an explanation, which, be
its worth what it may, shall at least give sense and
consistency to the passage.
I conceive that the actual words, which Hamlet
uttered, were 'and yet boot you neither,' or possibly,.
HAMLET. 321
as *yet' and *not' are sometimes confused, *and
not boot you neither'; but that, as Hamlet took
off Osric's affected tone and manner, 'boot' he
minced to 'but,' and 'you' he drawlingly pronounced
*yaw': what the actor, to sustain the part, did on
the platform, the shorthand writer, consciously or
unconsciously, might have done on his paper: the
transcriber and the printer followed suit. Thus
we have the tone of the speaker rather than the
terms of his speech. The words, as I have given
them, explain themselves. Hamlet tells Osric that
to divide Laertes inventorially would dizzy the
arithmetic of his memory, and yet be of no advan-
tage to him, in respect of Laertes' 'quick sail,' that
is to say, because of his shifting Protean-like
character. Elsewhere editors have not hesitated to
read 'boat,' where the reading of the Folios is
unquestionably ^butt' — ^but.'
But I may be asked, 'Whence comes 'yaw,'
and what authority is there for making it the
ground of a conjecture'? I answer that 'yaw' is
the reading of the Quarto which was printed in
1604, and it has been thought peculiarly deserving
of consideration, because that was the edition in
which the tragedy appeared for the first time as
it has come down to us. The other editions in
Quarto, and the Folios, have 'raw.'
u 18
322 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
KING LEAR.
'King Lear' is one of those plays, of which we
have both a Quarto and a FoHo edition, and the
text of the FoHo, we are told, was not printed from
the Quarto, but from an independent MS. When,
therefore, the Quarto and the Folio agree, we may
reasonably conclude that we have a faithful repro-
duction of Shakespeare's original; at any rate, in
such a case it would be highly imprudent to meddle
with the text, unless it were glaringly corrupt, and
there were no possibility of making anything of it.
Ingenious conjectures, imaginary improvements, are
out of place as against the silent testimony of two
independently-printed copies, both pointing without
variation in the self-same direction. "With this
fresh in our minds, let us proceed to examine the
following passage which occurs in Act I, 2, 17-22,
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate : fine word, — legitimate !
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my invention thrive, Edmund the base
Bhall to the legitimate. I grow : I prosper :
Now, gods, stand up for bastards.
KING LEAR. 323
* Shall to* th' legitimate' is the reading of the Folio;
* shall tooth' legitimate ' is the reading of the Quarto.
That these readings, though slightly discrepant ver-
bally, are the same virtually, I hold to be certain
from the fact that, elsewhere in Shakespeare, where
the words * to the ' unquestionably are intended, * to
the ' and ' too th' ' are at times written indifferently.
We have no reason, then, — no strong compelling
reason — to dispute the integrity of the text. There
is no scent of corruption, there is merely an ellipse
of the verb — an idiom which occurs too frequently
in Shakespeare to excite suspicion or surprise.
The words are susceptible of more meanings than
one:
1. Edmund the base shall stretch himself to the
height of, shall reach unto, and put himself on a
level with, the legitimate.
2. Edmund the base shall hie to him, to do
upon him that foul deed, which we may well suppose
he was already ruminating in the dark chambers of
his wicked heart.
3. Edmund the base shall to the legitimate, shall
attain unto legitimacy, shall work out his own legiti-
mation.
I suggest these explanations, but I do not wish to
lay particular stress on any one of them. To
explain is to weaken. The aposiopesis was probably
intended. The bastard's sudden concealment of his
exact purpose, just at the moment, too, that he
seemed about to reveal it — his broken utterance,
324 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
accompanied perhaps with a wink of the eye, a wave
of the hand, or a nod of the head, and this even in
a soHloqiiy — are far more ominously expressive than
the most distinct articulation, or the most direct
enunciation.
How is it, then, that critics, so acute and learned
as the editors of the Cambridge Shakespeare,
forgetting the strictly ascetic principles which
they proposed to themselves in their Preface, have
introduced into the 'Globe' edition Capell's fanciful
conjecture 'shall top the legitimate,' which is
founded on no authority, and is negatived point
blank by two independent impressions ? And can
Mr. Aldis Wright imagine that he is furnishing us
with corroborative evidence, when he quotes a passage
from 'Macbeth,' and a passage from another part of
this play, to show that Shakespeare uses the word
*top,' of which fact we have no doubt whatever ? I
take my stand here on the Folio and on the Quarto,
and maintain that 'top' is the bastard word, and 'to
the' is legitimate.
A little further on there is some little misappre-
hension as to the exact meaning of Act I, 3, 18-20,
Now, by my life,
Old fools are babes again ; and must be used
With checks as flatteries — when they are seen abused.
The usual explanation is that given by Tyrwhitt,
who says— I copy from Mr. Wright's note— 'old
men must be used with checks, as well as flatteries,
KING LEAR. 325
when they,' i.c^ th.^ flatteries, 'are seen abused.* He
should rather have said, 'when they,' i.e., the old
men, *are seen abused.' A passage in 'Pericles,' —
Act I, 2, 37-43 — where kings are said to be abused by
the flatteries addressed to them, confirms me in the
opinion, that here too the subject of the verb is not
the flattery offered, but the persons to whom it is
offered.
Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
They do abuse the king that flatter him :
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin ;
The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,
To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing :
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err.
A cry has been raised as to the soundness of the
text in Act II, 2, 175-177, where Kent says that
Cordelia
shall find time
From this enormous state seeking to give
Losses their remedies.
For my part, I can see no justification of any suspi-
cion of unsoundness here. The phrase 'shall find
time' is used absolutely, as it is in 'Julius Csesar,'
Act V, 3, 103,
I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.
A comma, therefore, had perhaps better part it off
from the words that follow ; as for them, they may be
a little out of their natural order ; they may express
in rather an uncommon way a not uncommon senti-
ment, but neither of these peculiarities is repugnant
326 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
to Shakespeare's style. If there is obscurity, it
arises from the inversion, and partly also from the
condensation. I understand Kent to say — it has
been suggested that he may be reading his letter by
snatches for want of light — that Cordelia would find
the opportunity she was looking for, in her endea-
vour to gain for King Lear his lost independence
and rule, and would remedy the abnormal state of
things which then prevailed.
I must not pass over unnoticed an extraordinary
interpretation, which Mr. Aldis Wright has set down
for the 165th line of Act II, 4, where King Lear,
calling down curses on Goneril for her unnatural
conduct, exclaims.
Strike her young bones,
You taking airs, with lameness !
You nimble lightnings, dart your blinding jBiames
Into her scornful eyes ! Infect her beauty,
You fen-suck'd fogs, drawn by tlie powerful sun,
To fall and blast her pride !
To understand *her young bones' as ' her unborn
infant,' because in the 'Chronicle of King Lear' we
have
Alas, not I ; poor soule, she breeds yong bones,
And that it is makes her so tutchy sure,
seems to me to be a 'no7i sequitur.' The context is
fatal to such an interpretation. King Lear, after
denouncing Goneril in general terms, proceeds to
frame against her a three-fold curse ; her bones are
young ; lame them : her eyes are scornful ; blind them :
KING LEAR. 32T
her beautij carries her away ; blast it. The last two
refer to Goneril personally, to Goneril personally it
were reasonable to suppose that the first does also.
In the 'Tempest' we read, 'my old bones ache'; as
well in ' King Lear ' may ' her young bones ' be used in
their natural sense. Moreover, there is a special
fitness in her father's cursing her young bones, as she
had taunted him with being old. Nor is it likely that
the king, after he had petitioned the gods to carry
into her womb sterility, would assume that there was
an unborn infant to strike with lameness. This is
an instance in which I cannot but think that the
much book-learning of the Cambridge annotator has
led him astray.
What again is it which has caused such pertur-
bation among commentators in Act II, 4, 273-274,
where King Lear cries
But, for true need, —
You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need ?
It cannot be the meaning; for the meaning is as
clear as the heavens. ' As for true need, need in the
strictest barest sense of the word, give me, (says the
old king), power to endure that; power to endure I
need.' Is it, then, the repetition of the trord 'patience'
that offends ? But therein consists the force, and
beauty, and pathos of the passage. The old man
harps on that, which he knows too well he has not,
but which he knows too well is the one only thing
which it is absolutely necessary for him now to have.
Or is it the scansion that jars upon the ear? But
328 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEABE.
what greater licence here than a superfluous syllable
in the middle pause of the verse, so common in
Shakespeare, as, for instance, in ' King Eichard III,'
Act I, 1, 116,
G. Meantime have ^af/mce. C. I must perforce. Farewell.
though there would be no difficulty in citing
examples, where there is no change of speaker. Or,
lastly, is it the difference of accentuation, occurring in
the same word in the same line? But neither is
that anything to be startled at. We have in ' 3 King
Henry VI,' Act I, 1, 228,
Pardon me, Margaret ; pardon me, sweet son ;
* Twelfth Night,' Act V, 1, 101,
But for thee, fellow ; fellow, thy words are madness ;
' King Henry VIII,' Act V, 1, 133,
Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt.
If there had not been a note on this passage, we
certainly should not have asked for one.
I must say a word, too, in passing, in vindication
of the reading of the Quartos in Act IV, 1, 71,
Let the superfluous and lust-dieted man.
That stands your ordinance, that will not see
Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly.
* Stands ' here may be good for the compound
* withstands,' the prefix being frequently omitted in
KING LEAR.
329
Shakespeare, where the exigency of the metre
requn-es it. Thus we have
'nointec
. vice anointed.
'long vice belongs.
'raged
„ enraged.
'rested „ arrested.
'xcuse
„ excuse.
'leges „ alleges.
'scape
„ escape.
'pointed „ appointed.
'ffled
„ defiled.
'cerns „ concerns.
'braid
„ upbraid.
'stroyed „ destroyed.
An example of this use of ' stand ' actually occurs in
'The Taming of the Shrew,' Act I, 2, 112,
I'll tell you what, sir, an she stands him but a little, he will
throw a figure in her face.
It is" net, however, very easy to certify what
Shakespeare wrote in Act IV, 2, 67, where the
Quartos have
France spreads his banners in our noiseless land,
With plumed helm thy slayer begin threats ; \
slaier begins threats ; )
while the reading of the corrected copies of the
earliest impression is, 'thy state begins thereat,' on
which is based Eccles' conjecture, which for lack of
a better has been accepted by many editors, 'thy
state begins to threat.'
I had at one time thought that the original line
might have been
With plumed helm thy standard 'gins to threat,
that is, France, by which is meant, of com-se, the
king of France, begins to threaten Albany's standard.
So serious a deviation, however, from the text of the
330 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Quartos would hardly be listened to by the critics,
and does not quite satisfy myself. I offer, therefore,
another conjecture, which differs from the Quarto
version by but a single letter,
With plumed helm, thy slayer, big in threats.
A contrast would thus be drawn between France
and Albany : the former already on the march ; the
latter — the critic will now please to read with care
the line that follows — ' sitting still ' : the former, full
of menace; the latter, so far from meeting threat
with threat, crying, ' Alack, why does he so ' ? In
a word, on the one side alacrity and stout defiance;
on the other inactivity and pusillanimous com-
plaining. The weights in the two opposite scales
are nicely adjusted. The phrase 'big in clamour,' I
may add, is used a little further on in the play.
I need not make any apology for commenting on
the lines— Act IV, 3, 20-21—
you have seen
Sunshine and rain at once ; her smiles and tears
Were like a better way,
because there seems to be a general consent among
commentators that the passage is not now as
Shakespeare wrote it. ' Better ivay ' has been
puzzled over — has been found fault with; in lieu
of it several emendations, none of them satisfactory,
have been proposed. Boaden, however, held to
the reading of the copies, which he explained to
mean ' in a more beautiful fashion ' — an explanation,
KING LEAR. 33l
which, though pointing in the right direction, is
yet wanting in definiteness and clearness. The use
of 'way,' however, in the sense suggested by him
is not uncommon in Shakespeare. Compare
Sonnet XVI,
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time ?
* Cymbehne,' Act I, 1, 137,
Past hope, and in despair ; that way, past grace.
' Cymbehne,' Act I, 4, 101,
A that way accomplished courtier.
Now what did the gentleman, when describing
the effect produced on Cordelia by certain letters
which he had delivered to her, mean, when he said
that her smiles and tears were like sunshine and
rain at once, but like after a better fashion? He
meant that, though that beautiful phenomenon was
the best comparison that he could think of to
convey some idea of the expression of Cordelia's
countenance, it did not adequatehj represent it; her
smiles and tears were like it, but in a better fashion;
what that better fashion v/as, Shakespeare himself,
if we will accept his explanation, proceeds at once
to reveal to us ;
those happy smilets
That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to knotv
What guests ivere m her eyes ?
This, then, was the peculiarity in Cordelia's case —
her smiles and tears were simultaneous, but they
832 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
were not intermingled, as in the natural phenome-
non; though the tear wetted her eye, the smile on
her lip knew it not; there was no cloud, no shade,
no dampness in her beautiful sunshine; it was
unique ; it was incomparable ; it was most like sun-
shine and rain at once, but sunshine and rain at
once did not express it, and did not equal it.
A dozen lines further down, the same gentleman,
having been asked by Kent, whether she made
verbal answer, replies that she uttered, almost in
spite of herself, sundry ejaculations,
'Faith, once or twice she heaved the name of * father '
Pantingly forth, as if it press'd her heart ;
Cried, ' Sisters ! sisters ! Shame of ladies ! sisters !
Kent ! father ! sisters ! What, i' the storm ? i' the night ?
Let pity not be beheved ' There she shook
The holy water from her heavenly eyes,
And clamour moisten'd : then away she started
To deal with grief alone.
The words 'And clamour moistened' have given
rise to a great deal of learned wrangling, some dis-
putants insisting that they are corrupt, others who
try to defend them making a mess both of the
construction and the meaning. I myself was at
one time tempted to cast about for some emenda-
tion, and I felt almost positive that 'moisten'd' had
crept into the line by mistake for maisterd, master d,
the noun ' clamour ' being, of course, the ohjectj and
not the subject of the verb : first, she ceased weeping ,
or, as it is beautifully expressed,
She shook the holy water from her heavenly eyes ;
KING LEAR. 333
and, secondly, she ceased crying out — 'she mastered
clamour'; but on further reflection I perceived
that I had been endeavouring to plaster Shakes-
peare's magnificent granite with poor untempered
mortar. A critic friend asking me whether there
were not a fine poetic fancy in moistening clamour
with tears, I threw aside my idol with scorn and
contempt, and clung to the poet's image with
assurance and satisfaction. She shook off the tears,
and moistened clamour with them. That this was
in Shakespeare's mind— in Shakespeare's MS. — it
is hardly too much to say that we have Shakes-
peare's own testimony, when we read such lines as
' 2 King Henry IV,' Act IV, 5, 139-140,
But for my tears,
The moist impediments unto my speech ;
*King Henry VIII,' Act V, I, 158,
He has strangled
His language in his tears ;
♦As you Like it,' Act IV, 2, 141,
Tears our recountments had most Mndly lathed.
add too ' 3 King Henry VI,' Act V, 4, 74-75,
For every word I speak
Ye see I drink the water of my eyes.
With regard to the next passage to which I shall
advert, — Act V, 3, 129-130 — it is not so easy to say
what Shakespeare wrote, as that he certainly could
not have written what is ascribed to him either in
334 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the Quarto or in the Folio. The reading of the
former is
Behold it is the priviledge of my tongue ;
of the latter
Behold it is my priviledge, the priviledge of mine honours.
By judicious blending, Pope compounded a line,
which has found a place, I believe, in most editions.
Yet for all that I shall not be deterred from offering
a new arrangement of an old difficulty. I put a
colon after 'my privilege,' and blot out 'the priviledge'
which follows, which I believe to ha\e been a
clerical or typographical error, the noun ' priviledge '
having been carelessly repeated, and possibly the
definite article having been prefixed to it under the
idea that the phrase ' of my honours ' depended upon
it. Such, however, is not the case. ' Of my
honours ' — we may either drop the plural termination
as a mistake, or suppose that Shakespeare here used
the plural, as he often does, where we should permit
only the singular — in common with ' my oath and my
profession' is a solemn asseveration, the preposition
*of' being not unfrequently used in such forms of
speech, where we should rather use the preposition
* on.' The passage, then, will stand thus :
Behold it is my privilege ; 'of mine honours,
My oath, and my profession, I protest
thou art a traitor.
I pass on now to somewhere about the 200th line,
KING LEAR. 335
where, after Edgar had told his brief tale, and
Edmund had interposed a few words, Albany says.
If there be more, more woeful, hold it in ;
For I am almost ready to dissolve,
Hearing of this ;
whereupon Edgar resumes — line 204 —
This would have seem'd a period
To such as love not sorrow ; but another,
To amplify too much, would make much more,
And top extremity.
Opinions are divided as to what, or whom,
'another' refers to.
Some take it to mean 'another person,' others
'another calamity,' both person and calamity alike
indefinite. I am strongly of opinion that it refers
to the person who is definitely and distinctly
delineated in the verses which follow. 'But' is a
conjunction, not an adverb ; it coordinates two
clauses, the several parts of which are without a
doubt antithetical to each other. The particular
clause introduced by it, which commences with
'another' and ends with 'extremity,' is merely an
introduction to, and a brief summary of, what follows.
It is, in fact, the heading of that new chapter of
horrors which is about to be described. Who was
the man who would not suffer a period to woe,
but would make much more, and top extremity?
The answer is given in the lines that follow ;
Whilst I was big in clamour came there in a man,
Who, having seen me, &c.
336 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE,
That man was Kent —
Kent, Sir, the banish'd Kent ; who in disguise
Follow'd his enemy king:, and did him service
Improper for a slave.
He it was who
bellow'd out
As he'ld burst heaven ; threw him on my father ;
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him
That ever ear received : which in recounting
His grief grew puissant, and the strings of life
Began to crack :
This is the ampHfication, this the much made
more, the topping of extremity. To Kent, then,
* another ' refers — an interpretation, which, although
it has not been surmised, or at least not suggested,
by any previous expositor, I hold to be not only
possible, but extremely probable, though I may not
flatter myself that I shall be able all at once to turn
the tide of opinion which has run for so long, and
with such persistence, in two totally different
directions.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 337
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
It is not until we come to ' Antony and Cleopatra,'
Act I, 5, 28, where we meet with the lines,
Think on me.
That am with Pha3bus' amorous pinches black,
And wrinkled deep in time,
that we can vouch for the correctness of those
beautifullines in 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona,'
Act IV, 4, 160,
The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks,
And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face,
That now she is become as black as I,
where efforts have been made to expunge 'pinch'd,'
and substitute I know not what in its place. The
identity of expression in the two passages forbids us
to suppose that there is error in either. If
'pinching' may be attributed to the scorching sun,
it may be also to the freezing air, the part pinched,
be it of animal or vegetable, becoming black in
consequence.
V 19
338 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
But what are we to say of ' arm-gaunt ' in Act
I, 5, 48,
So he nodded,
And soberly did mount an *arm-gaunt steed,
"Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke
Was beastly dumb'd by him ?
We can only guess at the meaning of the word,
if it is genuine, or guess at the word, or words,
of which it is a hideous disfigurement, if it is
counterfeit. The only meaning that I can imagine
for it is either that the steed was gaunt to look at
from the armour that he wore, or that he was gaunt
as a veteran charger who had been used to the
service of arms. I acknowledge that I have no
great faith in either of these interpretations, nor
indeed in the word itself, which I will liken to one
of those nondescript monsters of antiquity, which
shadow forth some historical fact or legend, but
what, we can hardly make out. 'Arm-gaunt' — I
give it as my opinion, I cannot substantiate it by
any proof — is a miserable and grotesque bit of bad
spelling, worthy to be shovelled into the same gulf
of oblivion as 'imj rackles' (miracles), ^burboW
(birdbolt), 'unsistered' (unscissored), 'fordeV (fertile),
^imnnelled ' (spaniel'd), ct hoc genus ouine. Indistinctly
and possibly confusedly written in the original,
in the transcript it became further defeatured, and
frightfully and undistinguishably mutilated. Will
* Arme-gaunt Ff.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 339
the reader have patience with me, while I turn
about this himp of a word a httle, in the hope of
beating it again into what I conceive may have been
its pristine shape ? I start with the assmnption
that an epithet, which Shakespeare assigns to the
Hon, would not be too niecui to apply to such a
noble domesticated animal as the horse — such a
horse as Cleopatra would like to hear that Antony
had mounted. The 'ramping lion' and 'rampant
bear ' of former plays have suggested to me ' a
rampant steed' for this. Wherein can we trace any
sign of .resemblance ? I will suppose that the line
originally stood thus,
And soberly did mount on a rampant steed.
The first thing that I shall do is to throw the
last words into confusion, and present them dis-
guisedly thus, 'on arampaunt steed.' Now it is well-
known that p is often so formed as to bear a close
resemblance to g, with which, as a matter of fact,
it is sometimes confused. We have only to
suppose, then, that arampaunt was so written as to
look like araingaiint, and we have the genealogy of
this Centaurean production, which may be set down
thus, arampaunt, aramgaunt, aruigaunt. There can be
no valid objection to the preposition 'on' following
the verb 'mount'; 'to mount on a steed' is a
possible 'pregnant locution' for mounting, and
sitting, as a rider, on a steed. Even were the
preposition superfluous, prepositional superfluities
340 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
abound in Shakespeare. And as regards the
rhythm, the Hne may be matched with the following
one from 'All's Well That End's Well,'
The well lost life of mine on his grtice's cure ;
while, as for the meaning, ' rampant ' pictures to us
the pawing rearing restlessness of the high-
neighing charger, which strikingly contrasts with,
if it does not to a certain extent account for,
Antony's soberly mounting.
Such, then, is the explanation, which with some
misgiving I offer of this commentator's puzzle,
until some one arise, endowed with the gift of
clairvoyance, to tell us what it was which Shakes-
peare really wrote; for I dismiss such emendations
as *an argent steed,' 'a roan gelt steed,' 'an ungelt
steed,' as mere illusions of the fancy, bearing but
a faint resemblance to the word of the Folios.
And now I am going to take editors to task for
thrusting a negative particle into the text in Act
II, 2, 53, where there is neither authority for
doing so, nor yet absolute necessity. Undoubtedly
Shakespeare might have written
If you'll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have not to make it with,
It must not be with this ;
but as undoubtedly he might have written, what
he is represented in the Folios as having written.
If you'll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have to make it with,
It must not be with this.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATEA. 341
In the former case ' as ' is a conjunction meaning
'inasmuch as'; in the latter it is a particle used
in the sense of *as being,' 'as if it were.' Either
reading being possible, which should have the
precedence ? Unquestionably that which has Folio
warrant. The passage may be thus paraphrased,
'If you are bent on patching a quarrel, you must
not make it with this, under the idea that, or as con-
sidering that, this were whole matter you have to
make it with; it should be something less flimsy
than this that should serve as material for a quarrel
between Caesar and Antony.'
AVliat "the true reading is in Act III, 10, 10 —
whether Antony calls Cleopatra a 'Nag,' or a 'hag,'
or, as some would have it, a 'rag,' and what 'ribaud-
red' is, and what it means — 'ribald crows' occurs in
'Troilus and Cressida' — I confess that I have a
A'ery indistinct idea; but in Act III, 11, 47,
Most noble sir, arise ; the queen approaches :
Her head's dechned, and death will cease her, but
Your comfort makes the rescue,
I will not without a strong protest permit * seize '
to be put into the place of 'cease.' At first sight,
the alteration may seem not only unobjectionable
but indispensable. Yet transcribers do not usually
write a less common and less familiar word for a
trite and hackneyed one. In favour of 'cease,' it
may be urged that it is authorized by the Folio;
that, even if there were no examples of its having
been used thus transitively by any of Shakespeare's
342 HAKD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
predecessors or contemporaries, there is no reason
why he should not have so used it just once and
away, as indeed he has done, in reference both to
persons and to things, e.g., in 'Cymbehne,' Act V,
5, 265,
A certain stuff, which, being ta'en, would cease
The present power of life ;
and in 'Timon,'
Be not ceased
With slight denials.
Moreover I contend that 'cease,' used as it is here,
is a high word, a poetical word, and, I have authority
for adding, a royal word; for have we not in
'Hamlet,' the phrase ^thc cease ofmajestif? In spite,
therefore, of ' rescue ' which follows, and which has
no doubt led many to an opposite conclusion, I
prefer to read 'cease,' as having a sound and genuine
ring, as an antique rare and precious, and above all
as thoroughly Shakespearian.
With regard to 'mered,' or 'meered,' in Act III,
13-10, it is not surprising that dgubts have been
entertained of its genuineness ; we can only regard
it now as a sort of fossilized participle ; yet that it
was once a living portion of the English language
can hardly be questioned. Such a word, authentic,
though possibly at the time at which it was written
becoming antiquated, could not have been set down
by a copyist accidentally. He must have seen it
before him in black and white. We may be i?ositive
that Shakespeare hiew the word; though we can
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 343
find no second example of it in any other portion
of his writings, we may believe that he used it; its
poetic fitness is vouched for by Spenser; and the
meaning of 'divided,' which it is said to bear, is one
which suits the context well enough. There is
certainly no palmaria emenda'tio to take its place.
I next come to a passage in Act V, 1, 15, where
the phrase 'the round world' has had a stigma
attached to it, perhaps because it is thought too poor
and tame, considering who was the speaker, and
what the passion and power of his speech ; anyhow,
being strictly a monosyllable, it may be arraigned on
the charge of leaving the line short of a syllable.
In its place 'ruiiied' might stand, which, pronounced
by some 'ru-und,' sounds almost exactly as 'round'
would do, were it mouthed into a dissyllable, which
might account for 'round' having crept into the
text. And this word 'ruined' meets the require-
ments of the metre, gives additional terror to a scene
of confusion, and might have been suggested by
more than one passage in ancient classical literature.
No wonder, then, that it occurs to almost every one
who reads the passage, as it did long ago to myself,
and that long ago it has been conjectured. Yet the
wary critic will pause ere he parts with 'round.'
The verse of the Psalmist, ' He hath made the round
world so sure that it cannot be moved,' induces us
to ask whether the shape of the world may not be
suggestive of the world's steadfastness. * Round'
344 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
and *safe' are closely connected in 'Pericles,' Act I,
3, 122,
But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe.
If, then, roundness implies perfection of make,
structural strength, solidity, steadfastness, irremove-
ability, at least so far as the world is concerned, then
'round,' so far from being a colourless epithet, to be
castigated by every chiding critic, has a complexion
and character which give it a right to its place.
That the world should be shaped so strongly, and
yet should be shaken so violently! Such may have
been Caesar's way of putting the portent that he says
he should have expected when Antony fell. As for
the metrical difficulty, it may easily be disposed of
by supposing that 'round' here is tantamount to a
dissyllable — a licence which Shakespeare would not
have hesitated to take. I write, therefore,
The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack ; the round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets,
And citizens to their dens.
Before I pass from this splendid tragedy, I will
hazard a conjecture on one more passage, if at least
conjecture be needed. The question has been
mooted, whether ' caves of Nile ' can be right in Act
V, 2, 355,
This is an aspic's trail : and these fig-leaves
Have slime upon them, such as the aspic leaves
Upon the caves of Nile.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 345
'Gams,' and 'eaves,' have been conjectured as
more appropriate and probable. The exact word of
the Fohos is ' caues. ' Now I beheve that I am not
incorrect in saying that in one other passage in
Shakespeare, where 'caues' appears in the copies,
there is a strong probabiHty that 'course' is the word
intended. It may have been intended here. It
certainly bears a strong phonetic resemblance to
'caues,' and, if it be not too poor a word, it yields a
sense which no one can quarrel with. Where the
Nile had flowed with its swollen waters, there, after
it had ebbed, was a muddy deposit, over which the
aspic m'ight be tracked by the slime which he left.
346 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
CYMBELINE.
The first passage which I shall notice in ' Cymbe-
line' is m the 3rd Scene of the 3rd Act, where
Belarius, contrasting the rough freedom of a
mountain life with the polished servitude of the
court, exclaims,
0, this life
Is nobler than attending for a check,
Kicher than doing nothing for a babe,
Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk :
Such gain the cap of him that makes 'em fine,
Yet keeps his book uncross'd : no life to ours.
Suspicion here has fallen upon 'babe,' which, though
found in every impression of the Folio, neither suits
the context, nor satisfies the critic ; if it is correct,
it must be used to mark the degradation of the
courtier who had to lackey an imbecile monarch ;
but in all probability it has been set down by mis-
take for some other word which it more or less
resembles. What can that word be ? The editors
of the ' Globe ' Shakespeare are confident that it was
'bauble'; others guess that it was 'bribe'; others
CYMBELINE. 347
that it was 'brabe'. I know not by whom 'bribe'
was first conjectured, but I think it not at all
improbable that it was the true original word : my
reasons I will proceed to state.
The proper meaning of 'bribe,' as given by Tyr-
whitt in his Glossary to Chancer, is 'that which is
given to a beggar,' and this meaning matches the
passage admirably. The old refugee of the moun-
tains estimates life's value, according as it ennobles,
according as it enriches, according as it fosters a
manly and honourable independence. How is it
with the courtier ? For nobleness he has rebuffs ;
for riches a portion which, like a beggar, he receives
for doing nothing ; his pride is to rustle in unpaid
for silk.
A similar sentiment, though differently applied,
occurs in the 91st Sonnet ;
Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost.
Between this couplet and the passage in 'Cymbeline'
there is plainly a partial resemblance, ' high birth '
and 'garments' cost' in the one corresponding to
' nobility ' and ' unpaid for silk ' in the other ; the
resemblance would be complete, if ' bribe ' in ' Cym-
beline ' were to correspond to ' wealth ' in the Sonnet.
But how could 'babe' have found its way into the
Folio, if 'bribe' had been set down in the author's
MS.? Easily enough. Bri may have been so writ-
ten as to have been hardly distinguishable from ha ;
or 'bribe,' pronounced by one who could not sound
348 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
his rs, would have been almost homophonoiis with
'babe'; a short-hand writer in the theatre, a clerk
or compositor writing or printing from dictation,
would have been at the mercy of such a one, and
would not have been able to help himself.
A singular expression occurs in Act III, 4, 62,
which has puzzled many :
Some jay of Italy
Whose mother was her painting, hath betray 'd him.
The Cambridge editors say, 'If the text be right,
the meaning probably is, 'whose mother aided and
abetted her daughter in her trade of seduction,'
adding that it suits the character of Imogen that she
should conceive a circumstance to account for, and
in some measure palliate, her husband's {hult. I
had taken my stand on Dr. Johnson's exposition of
the passage, without, however, being aware that I
had such a doughty champion to back me. ' Some
foreign beauty, ' says Imogen, ' some bird with bor-
rowed plumage, a woman who gat her face from
artist's pigments and not from mother nature, some
painted virago, has betrayed him'? A somewhat
analogous expression is found in 'All's Well That
Ends Well,' Act I, 2, 62, where mention is made of
'younger spirits,'
whose judgements are
Mere fathers of their garments ;
and in the same play — Act II, 5, 48 — we read,
The soul of this man is his clothes ;
CYMBELINE. 349
Compare also *Cymbeline,'
No, nor thy tailor, rascal,
Who is thy grandfather ; he made those clothes,
AVhich, as it seems, make thee.
Bold figures of speech, but not too bold for a
Shakespeare !
It is not surprising, however, that a mark of cor-
ruption has been set against the 135th line of this
same Act and Scene, where Imogen is represented
as saying,
No court, no father ; nor no more ado
. With that harsh, noble, simple nothing,
That Cloten;
for, unless 'noble' is used with the bitterest irony,
the epithet is neither proper nor applicable. It is
true that Cloten, speaking of himself, says, 'I had
rather not be so noble as I am,' and in another
place he talks of his 'noble and natural person'; but
others describe him as a 'thing too bad for bad
report,' and Imogen invariably speaks of him in
.terms of deserved contempt. Is it likely that she
would call him ' noble ' in the same breath that she
calls him 'harsh' and 'simple nothing'? The pas-
sage would lose none of its pathos, the metre of the
line would actually be made good, if we suppose
that Shakespeare wrote,
No court, no father ; nor no more ado
With that harsh — no, no noble — simple nothing.
The accumulation of negatives would be in Shakes-
350 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
peare's manner ; such an arrangement of them is
actually found m 'As You Like It,' Act II, 3, 19,
Your brother — no, no brother, jet the son.
But, be this as it may, there is no reason why the
critics should be uneasy about the 150th line — I am
still in Act III, Scene 4 — where Pisanio, speaking
to Imogen, says.
If you could wear a mind
Dark as your fortune is, and but disguise
That which, to appear itself, must not yet be
But by self danger, you should tread a course
Pretty and full of view ; yea, haply near
The residence of Posthumus.
A 'pretty course' is a course which is right and
proper — one which would not be derogatory to her
sex, while it would give her an opportunity of
seeing and perhaps might be even near the resi-
dence of Posthumus. In 'Eomeo and Juliet' Lady
Capulet says to the nurse,
Thou tnow'st my daughter's of a pretty age,
i.e. of just the age to be married. A 'pretty act,'
and 'pretty behaviour,' are phrases in common use
which are understood by every one.
But does no critic start at the phrase ' so citizen
a wanton' in Act IV, 2, 7-9, where Imogen's words
are thus given,
So sick I am not, yet I am not well ;
But not so citizen a wanton as
To seem to die ere sick ?
A very phoenix we have here ! Could any other
than Shakespeare have created it? Yet, if we allow
CYMBELINE. 361
that the substantive noun is used adjectively — that
'citizen' stands for ' citizen-Hke ' — the order of the
words ceases to be singular. What, however, it
may be asked, is the meaning and force of ' citizen ' ?
Was it characteristic of citizens to feel or feign to
die sooner than other folk ? I can only suppose
that ' citizen ' must be referred to a penod when the
name passed for a corrupt enervated spiritless die-
away creature, very different from that hardy type
which resisted feudal encroachment and wrung con-
cessions from kings. I may not place a conjecture
on the same high level as the Utcm scripta of a
Folio, yet I can conceive it possible that Shakes-
peare, with his usual fondness for A jeu de mots,
may have written.
But not so sickening a wanton as
To seem to die ere sick.
There is sufficient community of sound between
* citizen ' and * sickening ' to have rendered the con-
fusion not improbable. For the sentiment we may
quote 'King Richard II,' Act III, 3, 163,
Or shall we play the wantons with our woes ?
Further on, the 16th and 17th lines need, I think,
to be slightly differently punctuated. Guiderius
states concerning his love hrst the quantity, then
the weight; in its quantity and in its weight, it was
equal to the love which he had for his father :
I love thee ; I have spoke it ;
How much the quantity, the weight, as much
As I do love my father.
352 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
For the comma after 'weight' I only am
responsible.
We next come to a passage in Act V, 1, 14-16,
where Posthumus enunciates the measures adopted
by the divine governours of the world for the pre-
vention of crime and the reformation of offenders.
You snatch some hence for httle faults ; that's love,
To have them fall no more : you some permit
To second ills with ills, each elder worse,
And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift.
I at one time thought, as Singer also seems to
have done, that 'elder' must be a mistake for
'alder'; but, as there is no example of that old
genitive being used with an adjective not in the
superlative degree, I have repudiated that heresy,
and I am now prepared to show that the text has
been unfairly accused, and would be wrongfully
altered.
The difficulty has arisen from a mistaken notion
that ' each elder worse ' must be grammatically
connected with 'ills,' whereas in point of fact it is
grammatically independent of it, being used absolu-
tely, and having reference to the ill-doer, and not
to the /// done. The gods permit some to add sin to
sin; the older a man grows, the heavier the debt
which stands to his account, until at last the sum
becomes so enormous, as to have a chance of causing
uneasiness and apprehension even to the most
inveterate transgressors, leading them at times to
repentance and amendment of life : this mode of
CYMBELINE. 353
dealing with evil doers is said to be 'thrift,' that is,
advantage to them. For this signification of 'thrift'
we may quote 'The Merchant of Venice,' Act I, 1,
175,
I have a mind presages me such thrift
That I should questionless be fortunate ;
'Twelfth Night, Act II, 2, 40.
thriftless sighs ;
'Winter's Tale,' Act I, 2, 311,
Their own particular thrifts.
No need, then, to substitute 'shrift' for 'thrift,' as
some would have done.
Before I conclude, I must needs say a few words
on Act V, 5, 92-96, which is not altogether free
from difficulty: the passage runs thus,
I have surely seen him :
His favour is familiar to me. Boy,
Thou hast look'd thyself into my grace,
And art mine own. I know not why, wherefore,
To say, ' live, boy ' ; ne'er thank thy master ; live.
The obelus prefixed to the last line but one by
the Cambridge editors, the singular form of the
expression, the halting disconnected construction,
led me at one time to believe that some emendation
here was imperatively necessary. Accordingly I
struck out the full stop after 'mine own'; threw
the sentence 'I know not why, wherefore ' into a
parenthesis ; and made the infinitive ' to live ' a con-
W 20
354 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
tinuation of, and dependent on, the sentence which
my parenthesis had interrupted ; the passage then
stood thus,
And art mine own, ( I know not why, wherefore ),
To say, Mive, boy';
but time and reflection have convinced me that the
alteration was an unnecessary one : the full stop
after 'mine own' is right; the omission of a con-
necting particle between 'why' and 'wherefore,' so
far from being censurable, is worthy of admiration,
and, I can hardly doubt, was purposed by the
author. It just gives that broken character to the
king's utterances which was natural to him under
the circumstances; he stuttered and stammered,
while trying to recollect where and on what occa-
sion he had seen the lad. The actor, too, would
affect the same perplexity, and 'why, — wherefore,'
stammered out by him, would be acknowledged by
every one to be happily disconnected. If there
were any doubt about the possibility of the infinitive
'to live' depending on the words which immediately
precede it, the doubt would vanish after reading in
the 49th Sonnet the line,
Since why to love I can allege no canse.
The accentuation of 'wherefore' on the last syllable
is a licence which Shakespeare did not hesitate to
take; for the close proximity of 'why' and 'where-
fore' we may refer to 'The Comedy of Errors,' Act
II, 2, 43-50, where, however a conjunction unites
CYMBELINE. 355
them, because there there is no dramatic reason for
its omission :
Ant. S. Shall I tell you why ?
Dro. S. Ay, sir, and wherefore ; for they say every why hath
a wherefore.
Ant. S. Why, first, — for flouting me ; and then, wherefore,—
For urging it the second time to me.
Dro. S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,
When in the why and the wherefore is neither rhyme
nor reason ?
It has been remarked that CymbeHne does not
know what it is which attracts him to * the seeming
boy '; it is, of course, La fuerza de sangre, as one of
Cervantes' stories is called — the unknown relation-
ship.
356 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
PEEICLES.
What was the word that Shakespeare probably
wrote in 'Pericles,' Act I, 1, 17, where the first
and the second Quartos have 'racte,' and the third
Quarto ' racket ' ? The editors of the ' Globe '
Shakespeare read 'razed,' which, it must be ad-
mitted, agrees with the metaphor of a book to which
the princess' face is compared, and may be thought
to derive a sort of sanction from the fact that it is
found in a similar connexion in the 25th Sonnet:
The painful warrior famoused for fight,
After a thousand victories once foiled,
Is from the book of honour razed quite.
Yet 'razed' bears but a slight resemblance to the
word of the copies, and we may reasonably ask
whether there is any necessity here for supposing
that there has been error at all. In the beginning
of this my last paper on Shakespeare's plays I
must protest against learned men introducing un-
necessarily their own conjectures into the text to
the exclusion of a word, which is authorized, which
PERICLES. 357
is explicable, and which it is not at all impossible
that Shakespeare wrote. Be it that the metaphor of a
book is not sustained, but neither is it in the second
of the two dependent adverbial clauses ;
and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
How then may we interpret this word 'racket'?
In the first place, there is a participle ' racked ' (to
adopt modern spelling), which is used in the sense
of drawing off liquor from a hogshead, and might
possibly be applied to the drawing off the humour
of sorrow from the headpiece of the daughter of
Antiochus. This is one word, but this is not the
word of my choice; there is another, a far superior
one in my estimation, and eminently suitable. In
'3 Henry VI' we have the phrase ^racking clouds.'
Now the sense given in that passage to 'rack,' as
it is explained in the glossary appended to the
'Globe' Shakespeare, is to ' drive as a cloud.' What
is sorrow but a cloud on the face ? and the face from
which sorrow is 'racled' is the face from which
sorrow is driven ; and this, I have no doubt, was the
word which the poet used^ and which is set down,
spelt in an old fashioned way, in the Quartos.
For a long time I had considerable doubt as to
what in all likelihood was the true reading in Act
I, "I, 1-5; but here too, after much pondering, I
have come to the conclusion that we need none of
the somewhat free emendations which have been
offered by the critics, but should adhere pretty
358 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
closely to the reading of the Quartos, save only in
the matter of punctuation ; I write thus :
Let none disturb us. — Why should this change of thoughts ?
The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy.
By me ['s] so used a guest, as not an hour
In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night,
The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me quiet.
I have put a note of interrogation at the end of
the first line, where the Quartos have a comma, and
consequently I have no need, two lines further
down, of Dyce's conjecture, which has been adopted
by some editors, * Be my so used a guest ' in lieu of
*By me so used a guest.' I believe with Malone
that the substantive verb has fallen out before ' so,'
and I have written accordingly. What, then, is
my explanation of the interrogatory sentence, 'Why
should this change of thoughts'? I answer that
the grammatical complement of the auxiliary verb
* should' is the verb 'disturb, which Pericles had
just used, which he mentally repeats, and which we
have to supply ; or, if it be thought that ' disturb ' is
not the most suitable verb to be supplied, ' disturb '
must suggest the verb that should be supplied.
The king can silence or command away every visi-
ble corporeal creature, but he cannot command, he
cannot silence, he cannot secure himself from the
intrusion and interruption of those invisible agen-
cies, which crowd into the heart, and lord, and
riot there. 'How is it' he asks. To his courtiers
he can say, 'Let none disturb us'; why, then,
PERICLES. 359
should his thoughts disturb ? He proceeds to de-
scribe his state a httle more pai'ticularly, and then
with some metaphysical subtlety sums up his con-
clusion. To commence a new sentence with the
line,
The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,
seems to me a better arrangement, and more in
harmony with Shakespeare's style, than, by placing
a comma after 'thoughts,' to continue the interroga-
tion to the end of the 5th line. There is a passage in
'Othello,' wiiere lago urges Roderigo to 'throw
some changes on Othello's joy, that it may lose
some colour ' : the colour of Pericles' thoughts had
undergone a 'change,' when the black goddess be-
came his companion: 'change,' therefore, may well
hold its place.
There is nothing more startling in Act I, 2, 74,
than an ellipse of the relative — a somewhat harsher
ellipse than we come across ordinarily, but not more
so than occurs, I will not say, in other plays of
Shakespeare, but in other portions of the play :
I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death,
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty,
From whence an issue I might propagate,
Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.
The plural verb ' are ' is used, because the noun
' issue,' w4iich is the antecedent of the relative
' which ' which has to be mentally supplied, is,
as the grammarians express it, plural in sense,
360 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
though singular in form : the following examples
will serve, if any are considered necessary :
* Winter's Tale,' Act IV, 2, 29,
Kings are no less unhappy, their issue not being gracious, than
they are in losing them when they have approved their virtues.
«King Henry VIII,' Act II, 4, 191,
for her male issue
Or died where theij were made, or shortly after
This world had air'd them.
It was, I am inclined to think, this plural verb
coming after a singular noun, together with the
further complication of a very bold ellipse of the
relative, which made the doctors shake their heads,
and pronounce the case beyond remedy.
But how are we to mend the metre, how make
good the sense, in Act I, 3, 38, where Thaliard says,
But since he's gone, the king's seas must please ?
If the words of this ragged line are to remain
as they are at present, the only account that I can
give of it is that ''s ' is used here, as it is very com-
monly even in passages which are not colloquial and
familiar, for 'his,' and that Thaliard says that, since
Pericles is gone, ' his,' that is, ' the king's ' seas must
please 'the king,' to wit, by drowning Pericles — a
consummation which is hinted at in the line which
follows^
He 'scaped the land, to perish at the sea ;
but" I confess that I have my misgivings as
to the possibility, and certainly as to the general
PERICLES. 361
acceptability of this exegesis, and I must needs
admit that some emendation is much to be
desired ; yet the only emendation which I can
think of is one, which, as being a total stranger to
the critics, will, I fear, please none of them. I will
take the responsibility, however, of giving it an
introduction. I ask, then, that ' 's ' may be allowed
to represent ' this,' or ' these,' and that ' seas ' —
there are the same number of letters in each word,
two of which are for me, and two ap^ainst me— mav
be considered a mistake for, or a malformation of,
* news ' : the lines then will stand thus,
Biit since he's gone, the king this news must please,
He 'scaped the land to perish at the sea,
or, if any think it probable that the couplet was
a rhyming one, he may, if he will, write ' seas.'
In Act II, 1, 56-60, where Pericles says,
Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen,
and the second Fisherman replies.
Honest ! good fellow, what's that ? If it be a day fits you,
search out of the calendar, and nobody look after it,
the Cambridge editors remark, * Perhaps, as Malone
suggested, Pericles had said, ' Peace be at your
labour, honest fishermen ! Good day ! ' and the
fisherman replies, ' Honest ! Good ! Fellow, what's
that ? ' I cannot agree with them. I have no
objection to point the passage as I have transcribed
it, but in other respects it may remain precisely as
we find it. The word ' honest,' which Pericles had
362 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
applied to the fishermen, they for some reason or
other are loth to accept, either because they knew
that they were not great sticklers for honesty, when
it did not seem to square with their interests, or
because they did not care to be thus flatteringly
accosted by a stranger. Accordingly, the fisherman
replies, ' Honest ! good fellow, what's that ' '? The
force of the words which follow will be better under-
stood, if I first call the reader's attention to the
following dialogue, which takes place in ' Timon of
Athens,' Act I, 1, 265 ;
First Lord. What time o' day is't, Apemantus ?
Apem. Time to be honest.
First Lord. That time serves still.
'Time to be honest serves still,' was no doubt a
popular proverb ; was known to the sailors ; is
alluded to by the one who spoke to Pericles ; shows
us the connection between ' Honest ! ' and ' If it be a
day fits you.' '^o need' — he as good assays — 'to
trouble yourself about honesty, for which any time
will serve ; but, if it be the case that a day fits you,
without consulting the calendar or worrying yourself
after for not having done so, use the time, seize the
opportunity, do what it suits your convenience to
do.' The day, however, which had been a very
rough and tempestuous one, and had caused the sea
to give Pericles a good ducking, had been anything
but fitting to him ; he, therefore, naturally enough
rejoins,
May see the sea hath cast upon your coast,
PEEICLES. 363
as much as to say, that, seeing that he had been
shipwrecked, they must know very well that the day
had not been a fitting one to him.
This seems to me to be the meaning of the
passage, which Mai one would alter in the most
extraordinary fashion without making it a jot clearer.
My next passage is in Act III, 1, 51, where the
first Quarto reads — I pay no regard to obsolete
spelling —
1. Pardon us, sir ; with ns at sea it hath been still obserred.
And we are strong in easterne, therefore briefly yield her,
Per. As you think meet ; for she must overboard straight :
most wretched Queen.
'Malone was the first who read the whole passage
as 'prose, and transferred the words, 'for she must
'overboard straight,' to the sailor's speech.
'For 'easterne' Steevens first adopted Mason's
'conjecture 'earnest,' and Singer first adopted Bos-
' well's conjecture 'custom.' Steevens himself had
'guessed 'credence.'
'Mr. Knight, adopting Jackson's conjecture, reads
"And we are strong in astern,' i.e., 'we are driving
'strongly in shore astern.' Malone, who retained
"eastern,' supposed the words to mean, 'There is a
' strong easterly wind '.'
Such is the critical history of this much-vexed
passage, gathered from the Notes appended to
'Pericles' in the 'Cambridge Shakespeare.' We
may safely say that the reading is anything but
364 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
certain, thcat not one of the conjectures is altogether
satisfactory.
It is on this ground alone that I venture to ask
the reader's attention to a new and totally different
reading of the passage, at the risk of causing some-
thing very much like a feeling of sea- sickness to the
perhaps already unsettled stomachs of the critics.
In the first place, then, I think it important to
observe that, in the lines immediately preceding, the
reason given by the sailor for wishing to cast the
corpse overboard was the high working of the sea,
and the loudness of the wind ; the wind will not lie
till the ship be cleared of the dead. In all probabil-
ity the same reference to the state of the iveather
underlies the words, however they should be
written, 'we are strong in easterne,' as immediately
after the sailor reasserts the necessity of casting the dead
corpse into the sea.
Is it possible that the original word was written
*ecstreme' (extreme), which was mistaken for
'easterne,' and that the sailor insists on the great
extremity to which they were reduced ; they were
'strong,' i.e., 'strongly,' i.e., 'exceedingly in ex-
treme,' or 'in extremity,' they were hard put to
it, they were seriously jeopardized. Some such
meaning as this would well suit the context, provi-
ded the phraseology be passable, and for Shakespeare
possible. It is certain that there are numerous
phrases to be found in almost every play, which
strike the ear of a modern hearer as unusual, and at
times even questionable.
PERICLES. 365
Briefly remarking by the way that the 55th Hne of
Act III, 2,
It is a good constraint of fortune that belches upon us,
admirably expresses both by its metre and its
rhythm the imdiilatory movement of the sea vomit-
ing up again the chest which it had swallowed, I
proceed to Scene 3, 36, where we should be losers
rather than gainers, were Sydney Walker's conjec-
ture 'moist' to be substituted for Shakespeare's
'masked' as an epithet of Neptune. When Coriola-
nus' face was seen covered with blood, it was said of
him that he was 'masked with blood;' and similarly
the sea-god is represented as 'masked' with the
broad waters with which he is covered. ^ To describe
the ocean as Neptune's mask is a pretty enough
poetical conceit.
The next passage that I must notice is in Act IV,
1, 11, where the Cambridge editors make Dionyza
say of Marina,
Here she comes weeping for her only mistress' death,
though the Quartos have ^onelij Mistresse death' fol-
lowed by a comma ; the third Folio ' oncljj Mistresse
(lea til' followed by a colon; and the fourth Folio
^onlif Mistress death' also followed by a colon.
Singer, however, accepts Dr. Percy's reading 'her
old nurse's death,' on the ground that Lycorida
could not have been her only mistress to teach her
so many accomplishments. But it is quite possible
that Dionyza may have called her her only mistress
366 HAED KNOTS IN SHAKESPEAEE.
for all that. Dionyza would not probably care to
speak as correctly as Dr. Percy would have her, nor,
I may add, as kindhj. More of a demon than a
woman was this would-be murderess, full of jealousy
and hatred, gall and bitterness. Her sarcastic desig-
nation of Lycorida as Marina's ' mistress ' needs
surprise, needs deceive no one. A misnomer it
would be beyond all question, but it would be pur-
posed, and it would be like Dionijza. ' Her only
mistress ' would mean ' a very paragon of a mistress,'
* a very non-such ' — a sense in which ' only ' is used
in ' Much Ado About Nothing,' Act HI, 1, 92, in the
phrase, ' He is the only man in Italy.'
But what ails all the editors that they are so shy
here of the reading of the copies ? It can hardly be
because that reading does not admit of being
explained ; it must be because it does not accord
with their preconceived notions of what Dionyza
ought to have said. But a woman like Dionyza
might have said anything — the more malignant and
diabolical, the more suitable to her character.
She sees Marina coming weeping for her nurse's
death; she knew very well for whom she was
weeping ; but it suited her Satanic spirit to say,
sardonically smiling the while, that she is weeping
for that fate, which she has already, she fancies,
assured for her ; she is weeping for one who will
best take care of her, and best manage her — her best
and only nurse — her best and only mistress — ' She is
weeping for her only mistress death.' Depend upon
PERICLES. 367
it, a woman like Dionyza was quite capable of giving
expression to such an unfeeling sentiment. It will
be remembered that in ' Antony and Cleopatra ' death
is called the ' beggar's nurse and Caesar's.'
In the last Act there is a minute, but not
unimportant, change which I should make in the
punctuation of the last line but one of old Gower's
Prologue. I understand him to say that, what is
done on board of Pericles' ship, he must leave to
those who act the play to report, or, as it is expressed
elsewhere, 'action's self shall be tongue to.'
Think this his bark :
Where ^\ hac is done, in action more, if might,
Shall be discovered ; please you, sit and hark.
Compare Gower's Prologue, Act III, 53-56,
And what ensues in this fell storm
Shall for itself itself perform,
I nill relate, action may
Conveniently the rest convey;
Which might not, what by me is told.
I have not yet done with the stops. In Act V, 1,
172-175, we read.
The king my father did in Tarsus leave me,
Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,
Did seek to murder me : and having woo'd
A villain to attempt it, who having drawn to do 't,
A crew of pirates came and rescued me.
Now I will not go so far as to say that these lines,
which will seem to many utterly confused and
anacoluthic, may not be printed and punctuated,
just as I have transcribed them, consistently with
368 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
the idiom of the EngHsh language, and with
Shakespearian usage. Undoubtedly the conjunction
'and,' which precedes 'having woo'd,' may be used
here, as I have shown in my notes on the ' Teuipest/
that it is used in other parts of Shakespeare, in
order to indicate some additional circumstance,
generally of considerable importance, which the
narrator wishes to emphasize and impress. But
it would be to the full as consistent with Shakes-
pearian usage, and as consistent with the idiom of
the English language, and it would add to the
clearness without taking from the force of the
passage, if the participle 'having,' which precedes
'woo'd,' were parted off by a couple of commas
from 'woo'd' on the one hand, and from the 'and'
which precedes on the other, so as to stand by itself,
and be treated as an absolute participle, equivalent
to the adverbial clause, 'after he had sought to
murder me.' This mode of pointing and construing
the passage I greatly prefer, and I venture to press
it upon the consideration of editors. A passage in
'Antony and Cleopatra,' Act III, 6, 27-29, may serve
both as an illustration and a parallel :
lastly he frets
That Lepidus of the triumvirate
Should be deposed, and, being, we detain
All his revenue.
Here, even if commas had not been effectually
made use of by the editors of the Globe Shakespeare
to isolate 'being,' no one could have failed to under-
PERICLES. 369
stand that it was a laconic way of saying, *how that
he is deposed.' ,
As touching Act V, 1, 206-210, the Cambridge
editors tell us that the first Quarto, followed
substantially by the rest, reads thus,
I
Am Pericles of Tyre : but tell me now
My drown'd queen's name, as in the rest you said
Thou hast been god-like perfect, the heir of kingdoms
And another like to Pericles thy father.
After filling more than a page of their Notes with
the various versions of various emendators and
editors, they say in conclusion that 'the passage is
so corrupt that it cannot be corrected with any
approach to certainty by conjecture, and accordingly
tliey have left it as it stands in the Quartos and
Folios.'
But so surely it may stand, and, so standing, it
very well admits of being explained.
The prince says that in the rest which she had
said she had been god-like perfect, i.e., she had
thoroughly shown herself his very and true daughter,
so that he recognized her not only as the heiress of
all his dominions, but as the very counterpart of
himself, 'another like' — why should any mislike
the expression? — a second 'I,' to be his successor
and representative, when he should be no more.
One passage more: in Act V, 1, 234, the first
three Quartos read
Lij. Musicke my Lord ? I heare.
X 81
370 HARD KNOTS IN SHAKESPEARE.
Mr. Dyce first suggested that 'music' slioulcl be
printed as a stage-direction. The Cambridge editors
say that no music is mentioned in Wilkins' Novel,
and any music of earth would be likely to jar with
that music of the spheres which was already lulling
Pericles to sleep. They add that perhaps the
passage might be arranged thus,
Ly. Music, my lord ?
Per. I hear most heavenly music.
Why not thus ?
Rarest sounds. Do ye uot hear music ?
Ly. My lord I
Per. I hear
Most heavenly music.
The music heard by Pericles was heard by none
but by Pericles. The surprise which it caused him
is evinced by the persistence with which he mentions
it — 'what music?' — 'The music of the spheres!' — 'Do
ye not hear )iiusie?' — 'I hear most heavenly music'
Lysimachus, though he counsels the rest not to
cross, but to give way to Pericles, would not feign
that he heard, what, as a matter of fact, he did not ;
his exclamation ' My lord! ' was neither a *yes,' nor
a 'no,' but left it happily ambiguous whether he had
heard or not.
' Do ye not hear music ? ' and ' I hear most
heavenly music' might well have proceeded, both of
them, from Pericles.
371
INDEX.
I. Passages newly corrected •.
(a) where the ^vgqe^td emendathms are apjjarently certain.
Tempest
Measure for Measure
Comedy of Errors
Midsummer-Night's Dream
Taming of tto Slirew . ...
Twelfth Night ,
1 Henry lY. .
2 Henry IT.
1 Herj7 VI.
2 Henry YI. .
Richard m.
Coriolanus
Timon
Julius C^sar
Hamlet
Pericles. . ..
Act I. 2. .3S^^
Act I. 3. 20.
Act IT. 3. 13.
Act IT. 1. 34.
Induction. Sc. 1. 17 ; Act I. 2, 7.
Actni. 3. 15.
Act IT, 1. 31.
Act I, 3. 36-37.
Act IT. 6. 45.
Act IT. 10.56.
ActT. 5. 27-28.
Act HL 1. 190.
Act IT. 3. 134.
Act I. 3. 129.
Act 5. 2. 42.
Act I. 2. 1-5 ; Act T. Prologue. 23 : ActT. 1.
174.
(h). where the smgge^ited emeitdatians are not improhahle.
Two Gentlemen of Terona..
Measure for Measure
Comedy of Errors
Midsummer-Night's Dream
Merchant of Tenice
As You Like It
Taming of the Shrew . ...
All's Wen that Ends Well ..
Twelfth Night
Act IT. 1. 150 ; Act V. 1. 59.
Act m. 3. 26-29.
Act n. 5. 2 ; Act T. 4. 129.
Act I. 2. 126.
Act IT. 1. 98.
Act ni. 2. 14
Act n. 2. 1«^
Act I. 1. 1-5.
Prologue. Sc. I. 64 : Act I. 2. 29.
Ac-t IT. I. 17-21 ; Act IT, 4. 31 .- Act T. 3. 6.
216.
Act nL 4. 86.91.
372
INDEX.
Winter's Tale
King John
Richard II
1 Henry IV
2 Henry IV
Henry V
1 Henry VI
Richard III ,
Henry VIII
Coriolanus ,
Timon
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
Hamlet
King Lear
Antony and Cleopatra
Cymbeline
Pericles
Act I. 2. 273-76. 325 ; Act IV. i. 2.-)(). 692.
Act III. 1. 259; Act V. 7. K!.
Act III. 2. 17.5-77.
Act V. 2. 8.
Act II. 4. 409.
Act I. 2. 120.
Act I. 1. 56. G2 ; Act V. 3. 192.
Act I. 2. 64. 101 ; Act I. 3. 113, 188.
Act I. 1. 205 ; Act II. 2. 94 ; Act III. 2. 64,
383 ; Act V. 3. 1-2, 108, 130.
Act I. 3.40 ; Act I. 4. 31.
Act V. 3. 4.
Act V. 1. 35.
Act I. 2. 58 ; Act I. 3. 98 ; Act III. 1. 1.30 ; Act
III. 4. 1.30-133; Act IV. 2. 22.
Act III. 4. 1G9 ; Act V. 1. 68 ; Act V. 2. 118.
Act IV. 2. 57 ; Act V. 3. 129-30.
Act I. 5. 48 ; Act V. 2. 355,
Act III. 3. 23 : Act III. 4. 135 ; Act IV. 2. 8, 17.
Act I. 3. 28 ; Act III. 1. 53.
II. Passages needlessly corrected in the
Shakespeare.
Globe '
Tempest
Comedy of Errors
Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
Taming of the Shrew . ..
All's Well that Ends Well ,
Winter's Tale
King John
Richard II
Henry V
Richard III
Coriolanus
Titus Andi-onicus
Timon
Act I. 1. 68-70 ; Act I. 2. 173.
ActV. 1. 406.
ActIL 7. Oi» ; Act IV. 1. 51.
ActlL 4. 1 ; Act II. 7.5.5.
Act III. 2. 16.
Actn. 1. 17« ; ActV. 3. 60.
ActV. 1. 56-60,
Act V. 6. 12.
Act L 2. 70 ; Act I. 3. 128 ; Act II. 2. 39-40 ;
llU; ActV. 1. 25.
Act II. 2. 139 ; Act III. 3. 35.
Act L 3. 69.
Act I. 9. 46 ; Act IIL 1. 131 ; Act III. 3. 130 ;
Act IV. 3. 9 ; Act IV. 6.2 ; Act V. 1. 16.
Act III. 1. 282 ; Act IV. 1. 129 ; Act IV. 2. 152.
Act V. 4. 37,62.
INDEX.
378
Julius Caesar
Macbetli
King Lear
Antony and Cleopatra ,
Pericles
Act I. 2. 155 ; Act I. 3. 65 ; Act IV. 1. 37.
Act I. 2. 14 . Act I. 3. 97 ; Act II. 1. 55.
Actl. 2. 21; Act IV. 1.71.
Act II. 2.53 ; Act III. 11. 47,
Act I. 1. 17 ; Act II. 1. 56-60.
Tempest
III. Passages needlessly suspected.
488 ; Act II. 1. 130-31 ; Act
Two Gentlemen of Verona .
Measure for Measure
Comedy of Errors
Midsummer-Xight s Dream
Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
Taming of the Shrew . ...
All's Well that Ends Well ..
Twelfth Night
Winter's Tale
King John
Richard II
1 Henry IV
2 Henry IV
Henry V
1 Henry VL . ... .. ...
2 Henry VI
Richard III
Henry VIII
Coriolanus
Titus Andronicus
Timon
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
Act I. 2. 29, 307,
IL 2. 15.
Act III. 1. 81 ; iVct V. 4. 82-83.
Act I. 1 . 8 ; Act 1. 3. 42 , Act I. 4. 30 ; Act II.
1. 39 ; Act III. 2. 275-96.
Act L 1. 39 ; Actl. 2. 38 ; Act II. 1. 103-115.
Act IV. 1. 162-163 ; Act V. 1. 92.
Act L 1. ."5 ; Act III. 2. 99, 160-67 ; Act III.
5. 82.
Act II. 7. 73 ; Act III. 5. 7, 23 ; Act V. 4. 4.
Act IV. 2. 61.
Act L 1. 179, 237, 238, 241 ; Act I. 2. 31-45 ;
Act I. 3. 141 ; Act II. 5. 52.
Act IL 5. 71 ; Act IV. 1. 14-15.
Act I. 2. 457-60 ; Act IL 1. 133-36 ; Act III. 2.
60-62.
Act III. 3. 39.
Act II. 1. 246-48.
Act I. 1. 5.
Act rV. 1. 50.
Act L 2. 91-95, 274 ; Act IV. 1. 262.
Act V. 3. 71.
Act I- 3. 153 ; Act II. 1. 26.
Act V. 3. 173,
Act I. 1. 80, 224-26 ; Act V. 3. 11-12.
Act I. 1. 262 ; Act I. 6. 76 ; Act IIL 2. 29, 52-
80 ; Act V. 1 . 69-71 : Act V. 2. 17.
Act II. 3. 126 ; Act III. 1. 170 ; Act IV, 2-
178 ; Act V. 1. 132 ; Act V. 3. 124.
Act I. 1. 241 ; Act IIL 2. 43 ; Act IIL 6. 90 ;
Act IV, 3.223 ; Act V. 2. 8,
Act III. 1, 206, 262,
Act I, 2. 21, 49 ; Act II. 1. 25 ; Act IIL 4, 32,
105 ; Act IV. 3. 15 ; Act V. 4, 11.
374
INDEX.
Hamlet
King Lear
Antony and Cleopatra
Cymbeline
Pericles
Actl. 1. 117.
Act TI. 4. 271 ; Act IV. 3. 21. :13,
Act III, 18. 10 ; Act V. I. i:>.
Act III. 4. 52, ir>0 ; Act V. 1. 14 ; Act V. 5. yr>.
Act I. 2. 74 ; Act III. 2. 55 : Act IV. 1.11;
Act 5. 1. 209.
IV. Passages requiring elucidation not emendation.
Tempest
Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
All's Well that Ends Well
Winter's Tale ... ... .,
1 Henry IV
2 Henry IV ,
Richard III
Henry VIII
Ooriolanus
Macbeth
Zing Lear
Act IV. 1. (Jl.
Act IV. 1. .380.
Act III. 2. 207.
Act II. 1. H.
Act II. 1. 143.
Act V. 2. 77-79.
Act IV. 1.88-%.
Act III. .3. 23.
Act II. 3. 4(; ; Act III. 2. 192.
Act III. 2. 12(;-27 ; Act IV. 7. 28-55.
A.ct I. 5. 23-26 ; Act IV. 3. 136-37.
Act I. 3. 20 ; Act II. 2, 176.
V. Passages more or less doubtful.
Tempest
Measure for Measure .. ..
All's Well that Ends Well
Winter's Tale
King John
3 Henry VI
Timon
Julius Cfesar
Macbeth
Hamlet
Kiner Lear
Act III. 1. 15.
Act III. 1. 126-128.
Act IV. 2. 38.
Act IV. 3. 98 ; Act TV. 4. 760.
Act II. 1. 183-190; Act III. 1.
IV. 2. 40-43.
Act I. 4. 152-53.
Actl. 2. 73.
Act III. 1. 174.
Act V. 3. 21.
Act I. 3. 74 : Act I. 4. 37.
Act 5. 3. 205.
279-285; Act
THE END.
T. J. BAWLINGS, STEAM PRINTER, CHKRTSET.
Fc'jrmry 1SS5.
A CATALOGUE OF
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ITIILISIIEU 1;Y
MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
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§(ai.u-.ific6
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Fitzwygrain' s Horses and Stables 10
Greyhound (The), by Stent henge I'l
Horses and Roads, by Free-Lance 12
Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture 14
Lloyd's The Science of Agriculture 14
Afiies' (If. H.) Works on Horses and Stables . . 1/
NeviU's Farms and Farming 18
Hcrses and Riding iS
Scott's Farm-Valuer 20
Steel's Diseases of the CJx 21
y tile's Artificial Manures 25
3 'ouatt on the Dog 24
— Horse 24
ANATOMY and PHYSIOLOGY.
Aslihy s Notes on Physiul igy 5
Buckton's Health in the House 7
Cooke's Tablets of Anatomy and Physiology. ... H
(7/<2yj Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical .... 11
yJ/aca/z^/tv'i \'ertebrate Animals 15
O'Mt-n's Comparative Anatomy and Physiology. . :8
Quain's Elements of Anatomy 20
Siitith's Operative Surgery on the Dead Body .. 21
ASTRONOMY.
Ball's Elements of Astronomy 22
Hcrsc/ul's Outlines of Astronomy 12
' Knowledge ' Library (The) 20
Proctor's (R. .-!.) Works i.)
Neison's The Moon 18
ll'cl'i/'s Celestial Objects for Conuuon I'elescopes 2;;
BIOGRAPHY, REMINISCENCES,
LETTERS, &e.
Bacon's Life and Works 5
Bagehot's Biographical Studies 5
Bray's Phases of Opinion 7
Carlyle's {T.) Life, by James A. Froude 7
— — Reminiscences 7
(Mrs.) Letters and Memorials .
Cates Dictionary of General Biography
Co.v's Lives of Greek .Statesmen
D' Eon de Beaumont's Li'"e, by Telfcr
Fox{C. J.), Early History of, by G. O. iVevelyan
Gj iiHsion's (Hon. A' .) I .ife, bv Gale
Hamilton's (Sir 11'. A'.) Life,' by K. P. Graves. .
//airlock's Memoirs, by J. C. Marshman
J/rt("««/rt_j'\f Life and Letters, byG. O. 'J'revclyan
Malmcsbury's Memoirs
Maunders Biographical Treasury
jllendelssohn's Letters
Mill (James), a Biography, by .\. Bain
Ji/i/l (John Stuart), a Criticism, by A. Bain. . . .
Mill's (J. S.) Autobiography
Mo'^lcy's Reminiscences of Oriel College, &c. . .
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J\lullcr's (Max) Biographical Essays
Kc^i'nian's .•\pologia pro Vita Sua
Pasolini's Memoir
Pasteur's Life and Labours
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' Southey's Correspondence with Caroline Bowles
Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography
Wellington's Life, by G. R. (jleig
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Allen's Flowers and their Pedigrees
De Caisne &^ Le Maout's Botany
Lindley's Treasury of Botany
BOTANY and GARDENING-cv;///;//W.
London's Encyclopadia of Gardening 14
— ; ;— Encyclopaedia ot Plants. . .'. 14
Riijers' Orchard-House 20
—_ Rose Amateur's (J aide 20
Tliome's Botany 22
CHEMISTRY.
^r/w/;(i//^V Organic Chemistry 22
Kolhe's 1 norganic Chemistry 13
Miller's Elements of Chemistry 17
■ Inorganic Chemistry 17
Pay en's Industrial Chemistry 18
'J'horpe&' Mnirs Qualitative Analysis 22
's Quantitative Analysis 22
Tilden's Chemical Philosophy 22
//'(f/.'i-' Dictionary of Chemistry 23
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Aristophanes' The Aclianiians, translated 5
A ristotle's Works 5
Becker's Charicles 6
— ; Gallus 6
Cicero's Correspondence, by Tyrrell 7
y/fiOTtr^-V Iliad, translated by Cayley 12
Green 12
J fort's The New Pantheon 12
Mahajpy's Classical CJreek Literature 16
Perry's Greek and Roman Sculpture ig
Plato's Parmenides, by Maguire ig
Pick's Dictionary of Antiquities 20
Simcox's History of Latin Literature 21
Sophocles' Works 21
/ 'irgil's ^nid, translated by Ccnington 8
Poems s
Works, with Notes by Kennedy 2j
// 'itt's I\f yths of Hellas j^
The I'rojan War 24
The Wanderings of Ulysses 24
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ECONOMY, &e.
Acton's Modern Cookery 4
Buckton's Food and Home Cookery 7
Aeez'e's Cookery and Housekeeping -o
ENCYCLOPiTlDIAS, DICTIONARIES,
and BOOKS of REFERENCE.
Ayic's Bible Trea>ui y 5
Blackley's German Dictionary (,
Btande's Diet, of Science, Literature, and .'\rt.. 6
Cabinet Lawyer (The) 7
Cates' Dictionary of Biography 7
Contanseau's French Dictionaries 8
Cresy's Encyclopa;dia of Civil Engineering 8
Gwilt's Encyclopa;dia of Architecture 1 1
Johnston's (jennYvX Dictionary of Geography .. 13
Latham's English Dictionaries i ^
Lindley <S-= Moore's Treasury of Botany 14
Longman's German Dictionary i ^
Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture 14
(jardening 14
^ ; 7—; Plants 14
M^Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce 16
Maunders Treasuries 15
(Quain's Dictionary of Medicine io
A' /V/i'i Dictionary of Antiquities 20
Poget's English Thesaurus 20
Urc's Dictionary of -Arts, Manufactures, &c 23
/' hite's Latin Dictionaries 2-.
// illich's Popular Tables ■z^
) 'vnge's English-Greek Dictionary 24
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Anderson's Strength of Materials 22
Barry &= Brainivclts Railways, &c 6
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Black's Treatise on tirewing 6
Bourne's Works on the Pteam Engine 6
Cresy's Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering .... 8
Culley's Handbook of Piactical Telegraphy 8
Edivanis' Our Seamarks 9
Fairbairn s Mills and Mill work 10
• Useful Information for Engineers .. 10
Goodeve's Elements of Mechanism ii
Principles of Mechanics 11
Gore's Electro-Metallurgy 22
G^t'/Y/'j- Encyclopaedia of Architecture 11
Alitcheirs Practical Assaying 17
Northcott's Lathes and Turning 18
Piesse's Art of Perfumery 19
Preece &r' SivcMright's I'elegraphy 22
>S'<r««t'Z'/'.s Marine Steam Engine 2i
Shelley's Workshop Appliances 22
Sivinton's Electric Lighting 22
Unwin's Jlachine Design 22
i/rf'iDictionary of Arts, Manufactures, & INIines 23
ENGLISH LANGUAGE and
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Arnolds English Poetry and Prose 5
Manual of English Literature 5
Latham's English Dictionaries 14
Handbook of English Language 14
Roget's English Thesaurus 20
Whately's English Synonyms 23
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MEMOIRS, and CRITICISM.
Abbey &-= Overton's Eng. Church in i8th Century 4
Amos' Fifty Years of ths English Constitution . . 4
Primer of the English Constitution 4
.^r»<;Wi Lectures on Modern History 5
.S^afCM^fWi Selected Speeches 6
Z)<j«//itY'V History of the Church of England .. 6
Brainston &= Lcroys Historic Winchester 6
Buckle's History of Civilisation 7
Chesney's Waterloo Lectures 7
Ci?y.f General History of Greece 8
Lives of Greek Statesmen 8
C>-^z|?Ai'(7«V History of the Papacy 8
De Witt's (7ohii) Life, by Pontalis 8
De Toci]ue"jille's Democracy in America 8
Z'ty/f'^ Ihe English in America 9
Epochs of Ancient History 9
Modern History 9
Freeman s Historical Geography of Europe .... 10
Fronde's History of England 10
Short Studies 10
The English in Ireland 10
Gardiner's History of England, 1603-42 10
Outline of English History 11
Grant's University of Edinburgh 11
Greville's Journal 11
Hickson's Ireland in the 17th Century 12
Xff/ty'j History of England 14
European Morals 14
Rationalism in Europe 14
Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland .. 14
Lewes' History of Philosophy 14
Longman s{]V.') Lectures on History of England 14
Life and Times of Edward III 14
(/'". /K.) Frederick the Great 14
Macaulays Complete Works 15
Critical and Historical Essays .... 15
History of England 15
Speeches 15
Maunders Historical Treasury 16
7I/rtJWf//'i Don John of Austria 16
yl/aj'V Constitutional Hist, of Eng. 1760-1S70 .. i6
Democracy in Europe 16
MerivaU's Fall of the Roman Republic 17
CSeneral History of Rome .., 17
Romans under the Empire 17
■ The Roman Triumvirates 17
Raiulinson's Seventh ( Ireat Oriental Monarchy. . 20
Seebohm's The Oxford Reformers 20
The Protestant Revolution 20
HISTORY, POLITICS, HISTORICAL
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Short's History of the Church of England. 2t
.S";«;V /;'.$■ Carthage and the Carthaginians 21
Taylor's Hi-tory of India 22
H'alpole's History of England, 1815-41 23
U'ylie's England under Henry IV 24
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS and
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Dresser's ]a.\>3.n; its Architecture, &c 9
Eastlakc's Five Great Painters 9
Hints on Household Taste 9
. — ■ Notes on Foreign Picture Galleries. . 9
Jameson's {I\Irs.) Works 13
Lang's {A.) Princess Nobody, illus. by R. Doyle 14
Maca/ilay's {Lord) Lays, illustrated by .Scharf . 15
illustrated by Weguelin 15
Moore's Irish Melodies, illustrated by Maclise . . iS
Lalla Rookh, illustrated by Tenniel .... iS
New Testament (The\ illustrated 18
/"^r/v-y^ Greek and Roman Sculpture .4 19
MEDICINE and SURGERY.
Bull's Hints to Mothers 7
Maternal Management of Children 7
Coats' Manual of Pathology 7
Dickinson On Renal and Urinary Affections. ... 9
Erichsen's Concussion of the Spine 10
Science and Art of Surgery 10
Garrods Materia Medica 10
Treatise on Gout 10
i/fijf'^^rt'j Orthopaedic Surgery 12
Heiuiti's Diseases of Women 12
Mechanic. System of Uterine Pathology 12
Holmes' System of Surgery 12
Husband's Questions in Anatomy 12
Jones' The Health of the Senses 13
Little's Ill-Knee Distortion 14
Liveing's Works on Skin Diseases 14
Longmore's Gunshot Injuries 14
Mackenzie's Use of the Laryngoscope 15
Macnamara's Diseases of Himalayan Districts . . i6
Morehead's Disease in India i3
Murchiscn's Continued Fevers of Great Britain. 18
Diseases of the Liver 18
Paget's Clinical Lectures and Essays 18
Lectures on Surgical Pathology iS
Pereira's Materia Medica 18
Quain's Dictionary of Medicine 20
Richardson's The Asclepaid 20
Salter's Dental Pathology and Surgery 20
Smith's Handbook for JNI id wives 21
Thomson's Conspectus, by I'irkett 22
IVatson's Principles and Practice of Physic .... 23
West's Diseases of Infancy and Childhood 23
MENTAL and POLITICAL PHILO-
SOPHY, FINANCE, &e.
Abbott's Elements of Logic 4
Amos' Science of Jurisprudence 4
A ristotle's Works 5
Bacon's Essays, with Notes, by Abbott 5
— ■ — by Hunter 5
— by Whately 5
Letters, Life, and Occasional Works. ... 5
Promus of Formularies s
Works 5
Bagehot's Economic Studies ^ 5
Bain's {Prof.') Philosophical Works 6
De Tocqueville's Democracy in America 8
Doivells History of Ta.xes 9
Hume's Philosophical Works 13
Jejfferies' Tlie Story of My Heart 13
Justinian's Institutes, by T. Sandars 13
Kant's Critique of Pr.T.ctical Reason 13
Lang's Custom and Myth 13
Leivis' Authority in Matters of Opinion 14
Lubbock's Origin of Civilisation 14
Macleods (//. D. ) Works 16
Mills {James) Phenomena of the Human Mind 16 »
Mills {J. S.) Logic, Killick's Handbook to 13 '
— ■ ; Works 17
Alillcr's Social Economy 17
Moncli's Introauction to Logic 18
Morells Handbook of Logic 17
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LOXc.MAXS .\: CO. 'S LIST OF GENERAL AND SCIENTIFIC BOOKS.
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SuU/s Outliiu-s of Psychol, i^-y 22
Sivinl-iintc's I'lcture Lo^ic 22
Thoiiipson's A System of Psjchology 22
Thomson s Laws of Thought 22
Tivhs on the Ris;hts and Duties of Nations .... 22
/;VMVThc\ViU.f Isis 23
IVIiatcly's Elements of Logic 23
Elements of Rhetoric 23
IVylic's Labour, Leisure, and Luxury 24
Zelicr's Works on Greek Philosophy 24
MISCELLANEOUS WORKS.
Amohi's (11/.) Miscellaneous Works 5
A. K. //. />., P'.ssays and Contributions of 4
Bag;£hot's Literary Studies 5
Beaconsfield IJirthday liook (The) 6
Beaco>is/lvitfs Wit and Wisdom 6
Evans' Bronze Implements of Great Britain .... 10
J-'arrar s Langu.age and Languages 10
Fienclis Drink in England 10
Jlassilfs Adulteration of Food 12
ychnson's Patentee's Manual 13
Longman's Magazine 14
yl/<Tr<z«/rtv's (/.on/) Works, Selections fro:n .... is
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Peets A Highland Gatherinar 19
Smith's {Sy(hu-v) Wit and Wi-i'.om 21
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Dixon's Rural Bird Life 9
Hart'ivig's {Dr. G.) Works 11
Alaiinder's Treasury of Natural History^ 16
Stanley's Familiar History of Birds 21
tVootis^Rcz: 7- ('^'^york^ 24
POETICAL WORKS.
Baihy's Festus 5
Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by I\Iinchin 8
Goethe's Faust, translated by Birds 11
translated by- Webb 11
with Notes by Selss 11
Homer's Iliad, translated by Cayley 12
translated by Green 12
Ingelow's Poetical Works .- 13
Macaulay's {Lord) Lays of Ancient Rome 15
Macdona/ifs A Book of Strife 15
Dennell's ' From Grave to Gay ' 19
Kea<ier's Voices from Flower-Land 20
Shairs/eare, Bowdler's Family Edition 21
Hamlet, by George Ma.donald .. 15
Southey's Poetical Works 21
iS'/tfTr«i"o«'j Child's Garden of Poems 21
K/r5,'/i'i .l-Ineid, translated by Conington 23
■ Poems, translated by Conin^ton 23
SPORTS and PASTIMES.
De.ad Shot (I'lie), by Marksman S
Francis' Book on Angling 10
Jcfferics' Rel Deer 13
Longman s Chess Openings 14
Pole's The Modern Game of Whist ig
PonaliW Fly-Fisher's Entomology 20
Virney's Chess Eccentricities 23
Walker's The Correct Card 23
Wilcocks' The Sea- Fisherman 24
SCIENTIFIC WORKS (GeneFal).
Arnott's Elements of Physics 5
Baiiet man's Descriptive Mineralogy 23
Systematic Mineralogy 22
Brandt's Dictionary of Science &c. 6
Ganot's Natural Philosophy , 10
Physics 10
Groz'c's Correlation of Physical Forces 11
//>i«^A/c«'.f Lectures on Physical Geography .. 11
Hehitholtz Scientific Lectures 12
On the Sensation of Tone ; 12
Hitllah's History of Modern Music 12
Transition Period of Musical History. . 12
.Keller's Lake Dwellings of Switzerland 13
A'cr/'.f Treatise on Metallurgy 13
' Knowledge ' Library (The) 20
Lloyd's Treatise on Magnetism 14
Macfarrcn's Lectures on Harmony 15
Afaundei 's Scientific Treasury 16
Proctor's (K. A.) Works 19
Kuilcy's The Study of Rocks 22
SCIENTIFIC WORKS {GQnQV2i\)-conf.
Smith's Air and Rain 21
Te.vt -books of Science 22
Tyndall's (Pro/.) Works 22, 23
THEOLOGY and RELIGION.
Arnold's (Dr.) Sermons 5
Ayre's Treasury of Bible Knowledge 5
Boultbee's Commentary on the 39 Articles 6
Browne's Exposition of the 39 Articles 7
Calvert's M'ife's Manual 7
Colenso's Pen'ateuch and Book of Joshua 7
Conder's Handbook to the Bible 7
Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul 8
Da-'idson's Introduction to the New Testament 8
Dewes Life and Letters of St. Paul 9
Edershcim's Jesus the Messiah 9
■ Warburton Lectures 9
Ellicott's Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles . . 9
Lectures on the Life of Our Lord .... 9
Eui.iLfs .Antiquities of Israel 10
History of Israel 10
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