The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 3 of 9]

NOTES.

Note I.

In our enumeration of the Dramatis Personæ we have omitted what Johnson calls 'the cant of the modern stage,' i.e. the unnecessary descriptions given by Rowe.

Note II.

I. I. 26. Mr Knight reads 'years' heat,' but follows Malone in interpreting 'heat' as a participle. It is more probably a substantive.

Note III.

I. 3. 48. Sidney Walker supposed that as the first Folio has no stop after 'acquaintance' it was intended that the sentence should be regarded as incomplete, and he therefore would read 'acquaintance—'. The real reason of the omission of the stop in F1 is that the word occurs so near the end of the line that there was no room for its insertion. It is found in all the other Folios.

Note IV.

I. 5. 192. Mr Dyce conjectures that something more than the speaker's name has been omitted in the Folios before 'Tell me your mind.' Capell proposed to omit these words, on the ground that, in addition to other objections against them, they cause the speech to end metrically. We leave the text undisturbed, because we think that there is some corruption which Hanmer's plausible emendation does not remove.

Note V.

I. 5. 237. Sidney Walker conjectures that 'a word or words are lost before adorations, involving the same metaphor as the rest of the two lines.' Perhaps the lost word may have been 'earthward' or 'earthly,' so that all the four elements 'of which our life consists' (II. 3. 9) would be represented in the symptoms of Orsino's passion.

Note VI.

II. 2. 30. Johnson would transpose lines 28 and 29, and retain the reading of the Folios 'if':

'For such as we are made, if such we be,
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we.'

Note VII.

II. 3. 33. The first Folio reads simply 'give a' without any stop at all, perhaps as before, because there was no room to insert it. More probably however a line has been omitted. The other Folios have 'give a—'. Mr Singer suggests that the hiatus may either have been intentional, or may have been filled up with the words 'another should.' Mr Collier's MS. corrector inserts a whole clause; reading, 'if one knight give a-way sixpence, so will I give another: go to.'

Note VIII.

II. 3. 97, 99, 101, 102. These lines are printed in the Folios in Roman type, while all the other songs and snatches of songs in the scene are in italics. It is evident, however, that they are intended to be sung.

Note IX.

II. 4. 17. Warburton says, 'The Folio reads notions, which is right.' This is incorrect: all the Folios have 'motions.'

Note X.

II. 5. 129. The first Folio here reads 'atcheeues,' but as it has 'atcheeue' in III. 4. 41, and 'atchieue' in V. 1. 357, it is plain that the first is a mere misprint. In many other passages, doubtless, the incorrect grammar found in the oldest editions is due to the printer, not to the author.

Note XI.

III. 4. 110. Mr Ritson suggested that 'Ay, Biddy, come with me,' is a fragment of an old song, and should be printed as such.

Note XII.

III. 4. 260. Mr Dyce and Mr Staunton make Scene V. to commence here in 'The street adjoining Olivia's garden.' The fourth scene is continued in the Folios, and, as in all other instances throughout the play, the beginning of each scene is accurately marked, we have thought it better to follow them in this. According to the Folios, Fabian and Viola leave the stage just as Sir Toby and Sir Andrew enter, and, not meeting them, may be supposed to return to the place appointed in lines 239, 240. Capell, contrary to the directions in the Folios, keeps Fabian and Viola on the stage. They are indeed all the while within sight of Sir Toby, as appears from lines 268, 269, but not necessarily visible to the audience. The comic effect would, no doubt, be heightened if Fabian were seen using all his efforts to prevent Viola from running away, but this is scarcely a sufficient reason for deserting our only authority.

Note XIII.

IV. 1. 13. Mr Knight suggests that this may be intended to be spoken aside, as if the meaning were, 'I am afraid the world will prove this great lubber (Sebastian) a cockney.'

Note XIV.

V. 1. 18. The meaning seems to be nothing more recondite than this: as in the syllogism it takes two premisses to make one conclusion, so it takes two people to make one kiss.

Note XV.

V. 1. 159. In Mr Foss's copy of the first Folio, Sir Frederic Madden says the reading is 'cafe' instead of 'case,' and this leads him to conjecture that 'face' is the true reading. But in Capell's copy the reading is plainly 'case,' and as there is abundant authority to prove that 'case' was a sportsman's term for the skin of an animal, we retain it.

THE WINTER'S TALE.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[10].

THE WINTER'S TALE.

ACT I.

Scene I. Antechamber in LEONTES' palace.