hurtled, are difmiffed from the text, and more familiar words fubftituted in their room. In like manner in the third act of Coriolanus, fc. ii. the ancient verb to owe, i. e. to poffefs, is difcarded by this editor, and own fubftituted in its place. In Antony and Cleopatra, we find in the original copy thefe lines: 66 I fay again, thy fpirit Is all afraid to govern thee near him, Inflead of restoring the true word away, which was thus corruptly exhibited, the editor of the fecond folio, without any regard to the context, altered another part of the line, and abfurdly printed— But he alway is noble.' In the fame play, Act I. fc. iii. Cleopatra says to Charmian Quick and return; for which the editor of the fecond folio, not knowing that quick was either used adverbially, or elliptically for Be quick, fubftitutes- - Quickly, and return." In Timon of Athens, are thefe lines: And that unaptnefs made your minifter' i. e. and made that unaptnefs your minifter to excuse yourself; or, in other words, availed yourself of that unaptnefs as an excufe for your own conduct. The words being inverted and put out of To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours Of the dark morning." Second Folio. We are bleft that Rome is rid of him." Firft Folio. their natural order, the editor of the fecond folio supposed that unaptnefs, being placed firft, must be the nominative cafe, and therefore reads And that unaptnefs made you minister, Thus to excufe yourself." In that play, from the fame ignorance, inftead of Timon's exhortation to the thieves, to kill as well as rob.Take wealth and lives together, we find in the fecond copy, Take wealth, and live together." And with equal ignorance and licentioufnefs this editor altered the epitaph on Timon, to render it what he thought metrical, by leaving out various words. In the original edition. it appears as it does in Plutarch, and therefore we may be certain that the variations in the second copy were here, as in other places, all arbitrary and capricious. Again, in the fame play, we have→ and I defil'd land." O, my good lord, the world is but a word," &c. The editor not underflandiug either of thefe paffages, and fuppofing that I in the firft of them was used as a personal pronoun, (whereas it ftands according to the ufage of that time for the affirmative particle, ay,) reads in the first line, "I defy land;" and exhibits the other line thus: O, my good lord, the world is but a world," &c. Our author and the contemporary writers genc→ rally write wars, not war, &c. The editor of the fecond folio being unapprifed of this, reads in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. fc. v. Cæfar having made ufe of him in the war againft Pompey,"inflead of wars, the reading of the original copy. The feventh fcene of the fourth act of this play concludes with thefe words: Difpatch.-Enobarbus!" Antony, who is the speaker, defires his attendant Eros to dispatch, and then pronounces the name Enobarbus, who had recently deferted him, and whofe lofs he here laments. But there being no perfon on the fcene but Eros, and the point being inadvertently omitted after the word difpatch, the editor of the second folio fupposed that Enobarbus must have been an error of the prefs, and therefore reads: Dispatch, Eros." In Troilus and Crefida, Creffida fays, 66 Things won are done; joy's foul lies in the doing." i. e. the foul of joy lies, &c. So, love's visible foul," and my foul of counfel;" expreffions likewife used by Shakspeare. Here also the editor of the fecond folio exhibits equal ignorance of his author; for inflead of this eminently beautiful expreffion, he has given us Things won are done; the foul's joy lies in doing." In King Richard III. Ratcliff, addreffing the lords at Pomfret, fays, Make hafte, the hour of death is expiate." for which the editor of the fecond folio, alike ignorant of the poet's language and metre, has fubftituted, e Make hafte, the hour of death is now expir'd.” So, in Romeo and Juliet: The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but fhe." The word The being accidentally omitted in the firft folio, the editor of the fecond fupplied the defect by reading— Earth hath up fwallow'd all my hopes but fhe. Again, in the fame play: I'll lay fourteen of my teeth, and yet, to my teen be it fpoken, I have but four:' not understanding the word teen, he fubftituted teeth inftead of it. Man being corruptly printed instead of maid in the firft folio, 1623, the editor of the fecond, who never examined a fingle quarto copy, corrected the error at random, by reading That this editor never examined any of the quarto co pies, is proved by the following inftances: In Troilus and Creffida, we find in the firft folio: 66 the remainder viands We do not throw in unrefpective fame, Finding this nonfenfe, he printed -- in unrefpective place." In the quarto he would have found the true word — sieve.. Again, in the fame play, the following lines are thus corruptly exhibited: That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax; Than what not firs." 66 the words begin to," being inadvertently repeated in the fecond line, by the compofitor's eye glancing on the line. above. Prick'd from the lazy finger of a woman." Again: "Doft thou love me? I know thou wilt fay, ay: The word me being omitted in the first folio, the The editor of the fecond folio, inftead of examining the quarto, where he would have found the true reading, Since things in motion fooner catch the eye,' thought only of amending the metre, and printed the line thus: Since things in motion 'gin to catch the leaving the paffage nonfenfe, as he found it. So, in Titus Andronicus: "And let no comfort delight mine ear being erroneoufly printed in the firft folio, inftead of "And let no comforter," &c. the editor of the second folio corrected the error according to his fancy, by reading "And let no comfort elfe delight mine ear. So, in Love's Labour's Loft, Vol. VII. p. 267: "Old Mantuan, who understands thee not, loves thee not." The words in the Italick character being inadvertently omitted in the first folio, the editor of the fecond folio, inftead of applying to the quarto to cure the defect, printed the paffage juft as he found it and in like manner in the fame play implicitly followed the error of the first folio, which has been already mentioned, O, that your face were fo full of O's though the omiffion of the word not, which is found in the quarto, made the paffage nonfenfe. So, in Much Ado about Nothing: "And I will break with her. Was't not to this end," &c. being printed inftead of " &c. And I will break with her and with her father, "And thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end," the error, which arofe from the compofitor's eye glancing from one line to the other, was implicitly adopted in the fecond folio. Again, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: 66 Ah me, for aught that I could ever read, 66 Could ever hear, &c. |