For 'wag,' which gives no sense, I would read sway, which gives most excellent sense.
Mer. of Ven. iv. 1.
M. N. D. i. 1.
Ib. ii. 2.
Fletch. Chances, ii. 3.
It seems evident that the initial s of sway was effaced, a thing not unusual. As to the change of y to g, I lately read a work on South America, in which the well-known name Almagro was invariably printed Almayro. 'Cry Hem!' may mean, use the language of rakish youths; "Our watch-word was, Hem boys!" (2 Hen. IV. iii. 2).
The meaning of 'wake' is not clear; perhaps we should read task. Hanmer read rack; Talbot waste.
A printer's error, probably caused in the usual way. We might better read make, though 'bid' makes sense. 'Can I make men live whe'r they will or no?' (2 Hen. VI. iii. 3.)
It would seem that something had been lost at the end, the speech terminates so abruptly. We might supply at your pleasure.
Mr. Dyce would read 'for they did swear'; but the two dids rather offend the ear.
The metre requires of, which makes the expression more idiomatic. Sir Hugh naturally omits it.
The folio reads 'love you'; the correction is Farmer's. So also in Shallow's next speech.
As "minim's rest" occurs in Rom. and Jul. ii. 1, Langton and Collier's folio would so read here; but it may be, and probably is, a mere blunder of Nym's.
The folio reads will; in both places the 4tos have 'well' in the first, and omit it in the last.
For 'the' we must, with Pope, read this. We have, "For this revolt of thine" (Hen. V. ii. 1). Theobald, whom some critics follow, read mien for 'mine,' which I utterly reject. (See on Two Gent. ii. 4.) I do not think 'revolt' occurs anywhere in the sense of mere change.
I is the insertion of the 2nd folio; and is perhaps not absolutely necessary, as we might put a (!) after 'beauty.'
For 'precision,' which gives but poor sense, we should adopt, as I have done, Johnson's conjecture, physician:
Theobald's reading, 'fat men' has been generally and properly adopted. There is a similar omission of fat in 1 Hen. IV. ii. 2. In the 4to she says, "Well, I shall trust fat men the worse while I live for his sake."
This is mere nonsense. Boaden's conjecture, Cavalieres, adopted by Singer and myself, seems to be very good; it might easily, with a little effacement, have been mistaken by the printer. We might also, and still better I think, read on heróes, as this last word was thus pronounced at times by Spenser, Chapman, and others; and we have, "Noble heróes, my sword and yours are kin" (All's Well, ii. 1). The metre excludes héroes. Theobald, followed by Dyce, read mynheers, not a Shakespearian term; Steevens on hearts; Malone and hear us. The reading of the 4tos is 'Bully Hector!'
Theobald read fealty, Collier's folio has fidelity. I prefer the last; but I make no change.
Most certainly 'my' should be thy; the confusion is common.
Mr. Douce, Mr. Dyce, and myself, all independently corrected 'Cried I aim?' and Warburton had proposed Cry aim. The correction might therefore appear to be certain; and yet I am dubious of it. 'Cried game' is the reading of the 4tos, as well as of the folio; and as the first 4to and the folio were printed from independent MSS., it is not at all likely that two transcribers or printers should have fallen into the same error. 'Cried Game? said I well?' would suit the abrupt tone of the Host, and signify, Did I intimate sport?
The 4to reads bent for 'beauty'; so the right word may be bend. I have given 'bent'.
For 'tyrant' the 4tos read traitor. I have adopted this reading, though dubious of its being the best.
So also Capell.
The metre proves this to be the right text.
I think Hanmer was right in reading uncouple; for 'uncape,' as a term of the chase, is unknown. The final letters of uncouple had probably been effaced in the MS.
Both sense and metre gain, I think, by this addition. Policy, if nothing else, should make Fenton return the farewell of Mrs. Page. Capell read 'my gentle.'
We should certainly read with Hanmer or for 'and.'
The original copies read 'a blind bitch's'; Hanmer made the obvious transposition.
The folio has lines. Theobald made the correction. See W. T. ii. 2.
The negative was added in the 2nd folio.
It might be better to read see for 'say.'
With Mr. Dyce, I adopt Theobald's reading of tire for 'time,' as best suited to the context.
If 'husband' be the subject to 'affects,' as I think he is, we should read him. See Introd. p. 52.
Collier's folio for 'or' reads and; but the text is right. Simple had used 'conceal' in the sense of reveal, and the Host repeats his word.
The word daughter, necessary both for sense and metre, was supplied by the 2nd folio.
Among the characters given in the heading of this scene, we meet Mrs. Quickly and Pistol; the 4tos have "Mrs. Quickly, like the Queen of Fairies," and prefix Quic. to the following speeches, and it is not said that Anne was to assume that character. The folio heads the speeches with Qui. and Qu. We may therefore say that the poet was oblivious when, in iv. 4. 6, he said that Anne should "present the Fairy Queen;" for throughout she only appears as an ordinary fairy, as is plain by the mistake made by Caius and Slender. The poet seems to have confined the speaking to the elder persons.
No one has been able to make any sense of 'orphan-heirs,' which may therefore be treated as a corruption. Warburton read 'ouphen-heirs,' which Singer adopts; but there is no such word as ouphen. My own opinion is that the poet wrote ouphes and heirs; and as in general the d in and is not pronounced, even before vowels, and the ou might easily be mistaken for or, the printer made orphan. The line, we may see, thus forms a parallel to the preceding line. The poet seems to have used 'heirs' in the sense of children. In Fletcher's Mad Lover we have,
In favour of my reading, it may be observed that in iv. 4 and in the following speeches the Ouphes occur, as well as the Elves and Fairies, and nowhere else in Shakespeare.
The rime shows that 'toyès' is a dissyllable. In 'unswept' the t should not be sounded, and, I think, not be printed. Unswep is merely the apocopated part, of which examples are so numerous in our language; it is like kep, crep, etc., which, though regarded now as vulgarisms, are grammatically correct. Collier's folio, followed by Mr. Collier and others, reads 'when thou'st leap'd,' a mere result of ignorance of grammar.
From what precedes, we might conjecture burn.
I have, after Theobald, added here from the 4tos the following lines, of which, however, he did not give the last:—
The play is thus made to end more agreeably, and Falstaff can accept the invitation to supper with a better grace. These lines, it is true, rime, and so are not quite in harmony with the other speeches, whence it seems to follow that the omission was made by the poet. But his judgement in this case must have fallen asleep; for Ford had no right to be so hard on the poor knight, as he had given him the money, or rather we might say forced it on him. As to the rime, we have two other couplets toward the end of the play.
As a sound breathing is pure nonsense, Pope read south for 'sound'; and, with the exception of Mr. Knight and Mr. Staunton, all the editors, I believe, have followed him. Yet even this correction does not remove the difficulty, for south alone, no more than north, east, or west, is never used of the wind. It seems to me then that the poet wrote south wind, and as the th was usually suppressed in south, north, etc., as sou'-west, sou'-east, the printer pronounced sou wind or, it may be, sou 'ind, which easily became 'sound' in his mind, and so he printed it. (See Introd. p. 67.) It is rather remarkable that this very correction is made by an Anon. in the Cambridge Shakespeare. The same idea, I may observe, occurs in the Antonio and Mellida of Shakespeare's contemporary, Marston (Act I.):
Both were probably indebted to "Her breath is more sweet than a gentle south-west wind, that comes creeping over flowery fields and shadowed waters" in Sidney's Arcadia. For a similar omission of wind, see on Temp. i. 2.
That is, not for seven summers, possibly with an allusion to racing, as in Win. Tale, i. 2. As the element is the sky, the heaven, we might also read it.
That is with Love. We might also transpose, but, I think, with a loss of force. We have an instance of this prefixing of the genitive in Temp. iii. 3.
This is the judicious transposition of Theobald. The folio has 'sight' in the first, 'company' in the second line, to the manifest injury of the metre.
Warburton's conjecture of volto for 'vulgo' is ingenious, and may be right, meaning putting on a grave countenance, like a Castilian.
It was left to the 3rd folio to supply the needful her.
Theobald's indubitable emendation of 'cool my nature' of the folio.
This is Pope's correction of 'dam'd coloured' of the folio. Knight reads damask; Collier's folio dun, which is very bad indeed. We meet in other dramatists with straw-, peach-, carnation-colour'd stocks. It is perhaps impossible to recover the right word, yet I see little objection to flame-colour; for if we suppose flame pronounced as in Latin and French (see Introd. p. 74), flame-coloured might easily become 'damn'd (pr. dam) coloured' in the printer's mind. In confirmation we have elsewhere in the folio 'scar-crow,' not 'scare-crow,' and other like words.
I have read 'in sound'; for and and in are perpetually confounded. I also read 'semblative to.'
So also Capell.
For 'and' I read or, and so did Hanmer.
Mason omitted the negative, but perhaps needlessly.
This is Warburton's arrangement, the folio giving the whole to Viola. (See on Meas. for Meas. ii. 3.) I have added the sign of the break, which seems necessary.
By reading and pointing thus we get most excellent sense, and increase the vivacity and humour of the passage. Mason, whom Singer follows, read "as this presents," which no doubt may be right, but is far less effective.
See Introd. p. 55.
Capell, who is invariably followed, made it county's. I, however, read, as in iii. 3, 'count his.' With one exception (Mer. of Ven. i. 2), County is peculiar to Romeo and Juliet; formosissima in Much Ado, ii. 1, we should, I think, read Count.
As it is evident from Malvolio's reply that this was not what Viola said, the negative may have been omitted here, as in so many other places; Malone read 'no ring.' Singer retains the reading of the folio, saying that Viola fibs to "avoid betraying the weakness of Olivia to her steward."
The 2nd folio read 'That sure methought.'
For 'if,' which is undoubtedly wrong, Tyrwhitt, followed by Steevens and others, read of, which would seem to be confirmed by,
M. for M. ii. 4.
Dryden, Wife of Bath's Tale.
I have printed my own conjecture e'en. Hanmer read ev'n, and yet Tyrrwhitt probably was right, frailty being meant.
I quite agree with Mr. Dyce in reading As for 'And' in the second line. These words are confounded even at the present day.
I suspect 'leg'; for what has it to do here? and Sir Andrew had already praised his own leg.
In Mer. of Ven. i. 4, the folio reads 'well-worn thrift' for the 'well-won thrift' of the 4to. Hanmer was therefore right in reading here won, the usual concomitant of 'lost.'
As it is the Clown that goes away, we should perhaps transpose the pronouns, 'Give' being I give. Mr. Dyce, however, says the text is right, it being "a courteous form of dismissal," to which explanation I see no objection.
The reply proves that 'It' should be I, as Hanmer corrected.
This punctuation of Mr. Collier's is excellent.
For 'cars we might perhaps read 'car-' or 'cart-ropes.' In iii. 1. we have drawing with "oxen and wain-ropes." Hanmer read by the ears, S. Walker racks.
We should probably read 'be not.' Hanmer read ben't.
It might appear better to read would; but all is right.
Jonson, Sejanus, v. 10.
It might be better to omit the second 'are.'
The negative is absolutely necessary. Collier's folio, Johnson, and Dyce, read 'Not like'; but 'And' should be retained.
So the folio reads; Theobald and Tyrwhitt 'wise men folly-fallen.' I agree with them, and have so printed it. Some read 'taints.'
The usual reading is 'Hides my poor heart'; but this simple change, made also by Delius, fully restores the metre. The printer may, however, have substituted 'Hides' for conceals or covers.
Perhaps for 'thy' we should read my.
The 3rd folio first added thee.
I think 'him' should be thee. Ritson read you.
Here we have an instance of the advantage of transposition, for the folio has "oft good turns." 'Turns' is a dissyllable. Theobald read 'thanks, and oft.'
We should surely read latched, i.e. caught, taken. See on M. N. D. iii. 2. Mr. Hunter, I find, read as I do.
Surely the poet's word must have been ounce for the last 'scruple.'
Malone proposed 'an hatched,' and he was probably right.
So it is in the folio, with the omission of the last letter, which had either been effaced in the MS. or was left out by the printer. Mason seems also to have seen the truth: yet no one followed him!
The second line is imperfect. In my Edition I added still (printed, or perhaps written, till), and we might also read closely or truly, i.e. faithfully. 'Whiles' is to be understood as till whiles. (See Index s. v.) We might also end the line with it, and begin the next with That; as while and whiles that occur in Chaucer, Golding, and others.
We should perhaps read 'bauble-vessel,' as in Tr. and Cr. i. 3.
The 2nd folio, which is generally followed, reads pavin, which is a dance, and so could hardly be used of a man.
For 'Then' I read 'Thou.' (Introd. p. 68.) Theobald read 'cam'st thou.' In the next line we should probably read as for 'which.'
We might read 'In the meantime,' but there is no necessity whatever for change.