P. 79. The blood of youth burns not to such excess As gravity's revolt to wantonness. other old copies, "to wantons be." So the second folio; the P. 81. And every one his love-suit will advance.· Collier's second folio. The old copies have Love-feat. -So Walker, and P. 82. Boyet. Beauties no richer than rich taffeta. — The old copies give this speech to Biron. Corrected by Theobald. P. 84. King. Yet still she is the Moon, and I the man. Ros. Our ears vouchsafe it.—The old editions run the second of these lines in with the third, and assign the two to Rosaline. Corrected by Theobald. This play abounds in misplaced prefixes. P. 87. O, they were all in lamentable cases!· So the second folio; the other old copies lacking O. P. 88. Whip to our tents, as roes run o'er the land. - The old copies omit the, till the third folio. The same correction is made in Singer's second folio. P. 90. See where it comes! — Behaviour, what wert thou Till this man show'd thee? and what art thou now? The old copies read "Till this madman show'd thee." Theobald. P. 91. This jest is dry to me.-Fair gentle-sweet, Corrected by Your wit makes wise things foolish. — So the second folio; the other old copies wanting Fair. Malone printed "My gentle sweet," which I am apt to think the better reading. P. 92. Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation. The old copies have affection, which modern editions generally change to affectation. As the word was clearly meant to rhyme with ostentation in the second line after, there need be no scruple about the change; though affection was often used with the sense of affectation. Corrected by Rowe. - P. 95. That smiles his cheek in years. So the old copies. Theobold changed years to jeers, and is followed by Singer. I suspect jeers is right. See, however, foot-note 50. Hath this brave manage, this career, been run. - Instead of manage, the old copies have manager, which suits neither sense nor Corrected by Theobald. verse. P. 96. I am, as they say, but to pursent one man, man. - e'en one poor The old copies read "to perfect one man in one poor man." Walker proposed pursent; the other correction is Malone's. P. 97. Where zeal strives to content, and the contents Lie in the fail of that which it presents.· The old copies read "Dies in the zeale of that," &c. The reading in the text is Singer's. I think it brings sense at least out of the passage; which is more than I can say of the various other changes that have been made or proposed. See foot-note 55. P. 102. A man so breathed, that certain he would fight ye From morn till night. — The old copies have "would fight : yea," &c. Corrected by Rowe. P. 105. Farewell, worthy lord! For my great suit so "bears not a humble tongue." second folio. The folio has " easily obtain'd. — The old copies read Corrected by Theobald and in Collier's coming so short of thanks"; the quarto, as in the text. The meaning is the same either way; but the folio reading rather overloads the passage with so's. P. 105. The extreme dart of time extremely forms All causes to the purpose of his speed. — The old copies have "The extreme parts of time extremely formes," &c. Dyce changes parts to part; Singer, to haste, which is a great improvement on part; but it seems to me that neither of them coheres very well with the image of an arrow, which is evidently intended. The correction of parts to dart is Staunton's, which makes the whole passage coherent. See foot-note 74. P. 106. I understand you not: my griefs are dull. — So Collier's second folio; the old copies, "my griefs are double.” P. 106. Full of strange shapes, of habits, and of forms. The old copies have "Full of straying shapes," notice. Corrected by Capell. an erratum hardly calling for P. 106. Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults, Suggested us to make them. - Here them is wanting in the old copies. Supplied by Pope, and needful alike to sense and metre. P. 107. But more devout than this in our respects Have we not been. The old copies are without in, the folio having are instead. Corrected by Hanmer. P. 107. Then, at the expiration of the year, Come challenge, challenge me by these deserts.repeat me, "Come challenge me, challenge me." The old copies After this line, P. 108. Hence ever, then, my heart is in thy breast. again, the old copies have a passage which is repeated and amplified into much better shape a little further on. See the long note on page I subjoin the omitted lines : 122. Ber. And what to me, my Love, and what to me? You are attaint with faults and perjurie : Therefore if you my favor meane to get, A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest, And seeke the wearie beds of people sicke. P. 108. Dum. But what to me, my love? but what to me? Cath. A beard, fair health, and honesty. — So Dyce and the Cambridge Editors. The old copies make A wife? the beginning of Catharine's speech. P. 109. Will hear your idle scorns, continue them.- So Collier's second folio. The old text has then instead of them. P. 110. And lady-smocks all silver-white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue. — The old copies have these two lines transposed. Corrected by Theobald. P. III. Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-who. So Capell. The old editions omit Tu-who both here and in the corresponding part of the next stanza. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. NOT mentioned by Meres in 1598, though undoubtedly written before that time; nor ever printed, that we know of, till in the folio of 1623. The date of the writing has not been definitively settled, nor is it likely to be. Malone gave it as his final judgment that this play was one of the Poet's "very early productions, and near, in point of time, to The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labours Lost, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona." This judgment has not, I think, been successfully impugned since Malone's day. Another play, called The Taming of a Shrew, was first printed in 1594, again in 1596, and a third time in 1607. In the titlepage of 1594 we have the words, "As it was sundry times acted by the right-honourable the Earl of Pembroke's Servants." This play and Shakespeare's agree in having substantially the same plot, order, and incidents, so far as regards the Lord, the Tinker, Petruchio, Catharine, and the whole taming process. The scene of the former is at Athens, of the latter at Padua, both of which are represented as famous seats of learning. In The Taming of a Shrew, Alphonsus, an Athenian merchant, has three daughters, Kate, Emelia, and Phylema. Aurelius, son to the Duke of Sestos, goes in quest of Phylema, Polidor of Emelia : as for Kate, she is such a terrible shrew that nobody seems likely to want her; which puts the father upon taking an oath not to admit any suitors to the younger two till the elder is disposed of. Presently Ferando, hearing of her fame, offers himself as her lover, and proceeds to carry her by storm. The wooing, the marriage, the entertainment of the bride at Ferando's country house, the passages with the Tailor and Haberdasher, the trip to her father's, and Kate's subdued and pliant behaviour, all follow |