and other passages of a similar nature. See also Twelfth Night, i. 5.

This is not very intelligible. We might read 'her exquisite,' or rather 'to question.' To "call in question," in Shakespeare always means, to express a doubt of. 'Question' is examine, a word just used.

Sc. 2.

Here a rime is lost, in consequence of the 'earth' of the first line being in the printer's mind. There can be little question, I should think, that the original word was not 'earth,' but fee, feud, fief, landed property, as in knight's fee, in fee, etc., with which alone 'lady' accords. 'The earth' has long been the reading the first line.

This is the reading of both 4tos and folio, except 4to of 1597, which reads "Such amongst." I should feel inclined to read "Such as on view." By 'more' must be meant more extensive. The aposiopesis, so suited to the hasty, impetuous character of the speaker, makes all clear.

This is very oddly expressed; for it was the lady herself, not her love, that was to be weighed. Theobald proposed lady-love; but I doubt if that phrase was then in use. I read 'lady and love,' the & of the MS. having been made s by the printer, as it became t in 'meant' for 'mean and' in All's Well, iv. 3.

Sc. 4.

I think it best to read thus with 4to, 1597, adding Mer. before 'She is.' Benvolio's question is evidently wanted.

It seems almost incredible that such a glaring absurdity as this should have escaped a long succession of critics; and yet I am not aware that any have noticed it. What is a health? a wish, a moral idea, and how could that be 'five fathom deep'? or be an object of terror to a soldier? It may be said that it is the cup that is meant, but of this we have no instance; and even if we had, Master Silence, who was a man of peace, sings—

So, as we may see, he was not, and why should a soldier be, afraid of it? Malone quotes from Westward Hoe, 1607, a passage in which we have drinking fathom deep, and it is apparently drinking healths; but there is nothing about terror in it, and it seems, no unusual circumstance, to have arisen from the present line. In fine, something must have been named that was a real object of terror to a soldier; and I know no word so likely to have been used as trenches, which might easily have been mistaken for 'healths.' In that case the metric accent falling on 'five' would augment the terror.

Sc. 5.

The last line is only found in 4to 1597. It is so natural and so pleasing, that I could not refrain from adopting it.

This is the reading of both 4tos and folio; yet editors have adopted the far inferior reading of the 2nd folio 'Her beauty hangs!' We have the same idea in

Son. xxvii.

The 4to 1597 reads in the first line shines; and the first 'shews' has every appearance of having been, as usual, suggested by the second.

So Warburton, for sin of 4tos and folio.

Act II.

Sc. 1.

Mr. Dyce reads auburn, and he gives undoubted instances of Abraham or Abram being used for this word. Still I incline to the general reading, first given by Upton, of Adam, with an allusion to Adam Bell, the great archer; and I think there may be another to Adam, the first man; for Shakespeare may have known that in classic mythology Love was the first of beings. There would be humour, then, in 'young Adam' denoting the union of youth and age.

Sc. 2.

The reading of 4to 1597; the others and the folio have 'sick and green.'

Theobald most tastelessly read the sight.

The reading of 4to 1597; the others and the folio read 'puffing,' caused, as has been observed, by passing spelt with long ss in the MS.

The undated 4to reads suit for 'strife,' which has been generally, and rightly, adopted. In the poem of Romeus and Juliet, the latter uses the very expression cease your suit on the same occasion.

For 'My dear,' the reading of the undated 4to, that of 1597 has Madam; the others and the folio My niece; the 2nd folio My sweet, the usual reading.

Sc. 4.

The 4to 1597 has invite; but Benvolio was probably anticipating the nurse's language.

There is something lost here; perhaps to the Franciscan convent.

Editors in general read, after Tyrwhitt, 'R is for the dog.' Mr. Collier has 'R is for thee? no.'

Sc. 5.

In the second line we might add would bandy her again. 'Many faine' in the next is nonsense; for 'many,' marry has been proposed, and I adopt it, reading fare (to go, to move along, a Spenserian term) for 'fame.' In Cor. ii. 2 we have again ain for ar. For 'pale' we should probably read dull.

Timon, ii. 1.

We have elsewhere (Mer. of Ven. ii. 7) "dull lead." Moreover lead is not pale, and the Nurse would seem to have been rather a jolly, rubicund sort of woman; if fare be the right reading, it would almost require dull. On the other hand, we have in Chaucer (Tr. and Cr. ii), "With asshen pale as lede," and (Dream) "That pale he wax as any lede."

I had been anticipated by Hanmer in reading 'straightway' and 'my'. Sidney Walker, too, I find, read 'at my next news.' In the errata of a work printed in 1754 I have met "for my r. any." I, however, read in preference,

Act III.

Sc. 1.

'Or' for and, as Capell also saw.

Singer reads pitcher. I think the right word is pilche, a leathern coat. In v. 1 the sheath of a dagger is termed its house.

We should perhaps transpose, and read "On this day's," etc.

So Mr. Dyce also reads.

Sc. 2.

Of 'runaway,' which cannot possibly be right, the Cambridge edition enumerates no less than twenty-nine various corrections! Warburton understood by it the sun; Steevens, the night; Douce, Juliet; and a Mr. Halpen, Cupid. Jackson, followed by Collier, read unawares. Mr. Dyce conjectured roving, soon day's, and rude day's, which last he has placed in the text, but which seems to me to be too young-ladyish for the ardent and naïve Juliet; and moreover she had already called for the winking of day's eye, i.e. for sunset. Some sense might also be made of runagates, as persons wandering about by night, and still better of runabouts, a word used by Marston (What you Will, iii. 1), and which I have placed in the text, as making tolerable sense and bearing resemblance to 'runaways.' Mr. Singer read rumourers, against which little objection can be made. My own opinion—to which I was led by Singer's reading, and in which I find I had been anticipated by Heath and Mr. Grant White—is, that the poet's word may have been Rumour's. In the poem on which this play is founded, Juliet, when pondering, before her marriage, on what might be the consequence of admitting Romeo to a lover's privilege, says:—

Now Shakespeare may have wished to preserve this imagery, and have substituted Rumour for Report for euphony's sake and other causes. Rumour in effect seems to have been the same as the classic Fame. In Sir Clyomen and Sir Clamydes, a piece with which he was probably well acquainted, we meet "Enter Rumour running," and this may have been in his mind when he was writing the Induction to 2 Hen. IV. In his other plays also he personifies both rumour and report, as in

All's Well, iii. 2.

He may also have had these lines of Phaer's Virgil in his mind:—

We may, then, fancy Juliet to suppose that Rumour was on the watch to detect and expose her, and she wishes that the gloom may be so intense that her eyes must wink perforce, and so Romeo may leap to her arms unseen, and their union remain undivulged. There may also have been intended a play on the names Rumour and Romeo, like "My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love" (iii. 3). As Shakespeare undoubtedly knew French, he may have had these lines of Marot in his mind:—

Eleg. xi.

Rowe, who has been followed by all, reads 'grown,' and he probably was right. Still, when we consider the joyous perturbation of Juliet's mind, there may be an asyndeton, and she may be speaking allo staccato. I have therefore, in my Edition, left the text unaltered.

Sc. 3.

I have never met with any sense of 'vanish' but its ordinary one, which certainly will not suit here. We should therefore, I think, read issued, or some word of similar meaning. It is curious that Massinger seems to have taken 'vanish'd' on Shakespeare's authority. "Upon those lips from which those sweet words vanish'd" (Reneg. v. 5). We have, however, in Lucrece:—

But the breath is material.

Would not push'd be better? as in

Hen. V. i. 1.

The folio, which gives the best text here, erroneously puts the first of these lines after the third. The 4tos of 1599 and 1609 add most unnecessarily:—

which seems to have been an earlier form of the two preceding lines. See on L. L. L. iv. 3.

Sc. 5.

So the first 4to, which, with Mr. Dyce, I follow. The other editions read:—

I have placed a (!) at the end of the first line; for Juliet is evidently speaking here in the ambiguous manner of her subsequent speeches. She means an indicative, but wishes her mother to understand her in the optative mood. The editors of the last century, not understanding this, have without any authority changed 'be' to are. In the next line him was added in the 2nd folio. I should be inclined to make an Aside of 'I do with all my heart,' as she pretends to plan his death. In the Globe Shakespeare the first line is made an Aside.

Both 4tos and folio—followed by all the editors—read 'Is my poor heart,' connecting it with the preceding 'dead.' It is manifest they did not understand the ambiguous language of Juliet.

The necessary addition was made in the 2nd folio.

The undated 4to reads air, and to talk of the earth drizzling dew appears no doubt to be absurd; but expressions as incongruous occur in these plays, and we have in Lucrece "But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set."

I cannot conceive why the editors all read settle; for 'fettle,' i.e. prepare, make ready, is the reading of the 4tos and folio.

Hall, Sat. iv. 6.

Silvester, Maiden's Blush.

So I arrange this passage, in accordance with the old editions, except the first 4to, the reading of which is different, and is not verse at all. I omit 'time' as injurious to the symmetry of the language; for the words in the first two lines run, as will be seen, pairwise. It may have been a marginal note explanatory of 'tide.' As to the last line but one being of six feet, three such have already occurred in this scene.

Act IV.

Sc. 1.

Collier's folio, mistaking the sense, reads 'something.' 'To' is, so as to, that I should. Editors have not understood it.

This line, which is superfluous, is in all the old editions. See on iii. 3.

Sc. 3.

This is the reading of the 4to 1597; the other editions read,

Sc. 4.

Singer was most certainly right in giving this speech to Lady Cap.; for the Nurse was hardly present.

Sc. 5.

In this I find I had been as usual preceded by Theobald.

All the old editions read care. Theobald made the correction.

For 'some' the 2nd folio reads fond.

The originals read 'put up.'

Act V.

Sc. 1.

The 4to 1527 reads thus; the others and the folio 'truth of sleep,' in which I can see no sense, while the former seems to be justified by

Son. xxxiii.

In both places flatter seems to mean cheer, enliven. 'Eye' is, as in "eye of green" (Temp. ii. 1), look, glance; "Yon grey is not the Morning's eye" (iii. 5).

Pope read stareth, after Otway; rightly, I think.

Sc. 3.

The 4to 1597 reads 'Under this yew-tree'; the others 'Under yond' young trees. Further on they all read 'As I did sleep under this young tree here.' There can be little doubt that yew was the poet's word; it is not so easy to decide between tree and trees; but I prefer the former.

Perhaps the poet's word was requite.

We have here plainly two various readings got in by mistake. (See above, iii. 3.) I agree with those who reject the first.

The reading 'rest,' for rust of the editions, is deduced from 4to 1597.

So I read with Johnson for your.

'Look here' would have more melody.

The reading of Collier's folio, outcry, seems preferable. It occurs a little before in this scene.

HAMLET.

Act I.

Sc. 1.

I prefer 'inapproved,' of the 4to 1603.

One line at least, as Malone also saw, has been lost after the first. Perhaps for 'disasters' we might read distempers: "distemperature of the sun" (1 Hen. IV. v. 1).

Sc. 2.

I suspect that here and in a following line, and in ii. 2, we should read 'makes,' with an ellipsis of be. The answers seem to indicate it.

I think we should read 'my best' for the sake of sense.

There is an evident aposiopesis here.

Sc. 3.

The metre requires the addition of a syllable. In the next line the folio omits 'perfume and'—a clear proof of the omissions made by printers.

The more appropriate term would seem to be adaption.

This is not sense; so some read

Steevens read choice for 'chief'; and I have adopted his reading. The more appropriate term, however, would have been taste.

This—with the omission of To, which had probably been effaced in the MS.—is the reading of the 4tos, and is most probably correct. (Introd. p. 79.) The editors of the folio, not seeing any sense in 'Wrong,' read 'Roaming,' which makes no sense at all; neither indeed does 'To wrong' make a very good one. We might read—supposing the allusion to be to a horse—To run, as in "You run this humour out of breath" (Com. of Err. i. 1). In King John (ii. 1) we have 'roam' for run.

Theobald, who is usually followed, read bawds for 'bonds'; but surely bawds could not with any propriety be called 'sanctified and pious.' The truth is, the poet's word was 'bonds,' but the editors have not understood it, Singer, for example, calling it nonsense. The whole passage is merely a poetic periphrasis of seduction under promise of marriage; and had the word been Sounding, not 'Breathing,' there would probably have been no mistake.

Collier's folio reads squander, which may be right; but we have "She slanders so her judgement" (Cymb. iii. 5), and "To slander music any more than once" (Much Ado, ii. 3). In 'any moment leisure' the structure is perfectly correct.

Sc. 4.

Here 'wake' is like watch (see Macb. ii. 2), sits up late. In the next line I would for 'swaggering' read staggering. 'Upspring' is probably used collectively for the risers from the table, a mode of expression not yet obsolete. "The space was filled by the in-rush before he had time to make his way out."—Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, ch. xii.

This passage is not in the folio. As in 4to 1604, where it occurs, we have in ii. 1 'a deale' for 'a devil,' I here read evil for 'eale'; in both cases vi may have been written like a; and for 'of a doubt,' which is to be found nowhere else, out o' doubt, or perhaps 'out of a doubt:' some read often dout. The sentence, we may see, is not complete, and it should also be recollected that the language of the whole of the speech is involved, as if the speaker was thinking of something else, and merely talking against time.

Grammar would require us for 'we.'

Sc. 5.

The repetition of Hear from preceding line seems necessary. Omissions of this kind are not unfrequent.

Heath proposed lasting for 'fast in,' but, I think, with a loss of vigour, if a gain of correctness. 'Confin'd' may here signify limited, restrained. See on M. for M. iv. 3.

The folio reads rots, which Mr. Dyce adopts.

So the originals read, except 4to 1603, which has depriv'd, perhaps a better reading. 'Despatch'd,' which seems to be more forceable, is to be taken in the sense of dépêché, Fr., hurried away, and 'of' in its original sense of from.

Better to read 'blossom' and 'sins.'

Beyond question, as Johnson saw, this exclamation belongs to Hamlet. Ham. and Ghost had been effaced.

The sense demands swear.

Act II.

Sc. 1.

By punctuating thus, and recollecting that 'Than' is then, we remove all difficulty.