editor of the fecond capricioufly fupplied the metre thus: "Doft thou love? O, I know thou wilt fay, ay." This expletive, we fhall presently find, when I come to speak of our poet's metre, was his conftant expedient in all difficulties. In Meafure for Measure he printed ignominy inftead of ignomy, the reading of the firft folio, and the common language of the time. In the fame play, from his ignorance of the conflable's humour, he corrected his phrafeology, and fubflituted inftant for diftant; (at that very diftant time:") and in like manner he makes Dogberry in Much Ado about Nothing, exhort the watch not to be vigilant, but vigilant. Among the marks of love, Rofalind, in As you like it, mentions a beard neglected, which you have not; but I pardon you for that; for, fimply, your having in beard is a younger brother's revenue. Not understanding the meaning of the word having, this editor reads your having no beard," &c. 66 In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Pyramus fays, the words Ah me being accidentally omitted in the firft folio, inflead of applying to the quarto for the true reading, he fupplied the defect, according to his own fancy, thus: 66 Hermia, for aught that I could ever read," &c. Again, in The Merchant of Venice he arbitrarily gives us — The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold, inftead of "Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb.” See p. 408. Innumerable other inftances of the fame kind might be produced. "I fee a voice; now will I to the chink, "To fpy an' I can hear my Thisby's face." Of the Humour of this paffage he had not the leaft notion, for he has printed, instead of it, I hear a voice; now will I to the chink, "To spy an' I can fee my Thisby's face.' In The Merchant of Venice, A&t I. fc. i. we find in the first folio, "And out of doubt you do more wrong. which the editor of the fecond perceiving to be imperfect, he corrected at random thus: "And out of doubt you do to me more wrong. 79 Had he confulted the original quarto, he would have found that the poet wrote "And out of doubt you do me now more wrong. So, in the fame play, 66 But of mine, then yours," being corruptly printed inftead of But if mine, then yours," this editor arbitrarily readsBut firft mine, then yours." Again, ibidem: "Or even as well ufe queftion with the wolf, "The ewe bleat for the lamb. the words Why he hath made" being omitted in the first folio at the beginning of the second line, the fecond folio editor fupplied the defect thus abfurdly: "Or even as well ufe queftion with the wolf, The ewe bleat for the lamb when In Othello the word fnipe being mifprinted in the first folio, "If I fhould time expend with fuch a fnpe." the editor not knowing what to make of it, fubftituted fwain inftead of the corrupted word. Again, in the same play, "For of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted." being printed in the first folio inftead of of Forth my heart," &c, which was the common language of the time, the editor of the fecond folio amended the error according to his fancy, by reading "For off my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted." Again, in the fame play, Act V. fc. i. not understanding the phraseology of our author's time, Who's there? Whofe noife is this, that cries on murder?" he fubftituted "Whofe noife is this, that cries out murder?". and in the first act of the fame play, not perceiving the force of an eminently beautiful epithet, for defarts idle," he has given us defarts wild." Again, in that tragedy we find— ́ What conjuration, and what mighty magick, งา that is, I won his daughter with; and fo the editor of the fecond folio reads, not knowing that this kind of elliptical expreffion frequently occurs in this author's works, as I have fhewn in a note on the last scene of Cymbeline, and in other places. See Vol. XIX. p. 235, n. 5; Vol. XVI. p. 185, n. 2; and Vol. XXIII. p. 47, n. 7. In like manner he has corrupted the following paffage in A Midfummer Night's Dream: So will I grow, fo live, fo die, my lord, i. e. to give fovereignty to. Here too this editor has unneceffarily tampered with the text, and having contracted the word unwifhed, he exhibited the line thus: Unto his lordship, to whofe unwish'd yoke an interpolation which was adopted in the fubfequent copies, and which, with all the modern editors, I incautioufly fuffered to remain in the prefent edition. 7 The grave-digger in Hamlet obferves that your tanner will last you nine year," and fuch is the phrafeology which Shakspeare always attributes to his lower characters; but instead of this, in the second folio, we find nine years." Your skill fhall, like a ftar i'the darkest night, ap. fays Hamlet to Laertes. But the editor of the second folio, conceiving, I suppose, that if a star peared with extraordinary fcintillation, the night muft neceffarily be luminous, reads-i'the brighteft night:" and, with equal fagacity, not acquiefcing in Edgar's notion of four-inch'd bridges," this editor has furnished him with a much fafer pass, for he reads four-arch'd bridges. " In King Henry VIII. are these lines: 66 If we did think His contemplation were above the earth-" Not understanding this phraseology, and fuppofing that were must require a noun in the plural number, he reads: His contemplations were above the earth," &c. Again, in Troilus and Creffida, Act IV. sc. ii. With wings more momentary-fwift than thought.” This compound epithet not being understood, he reads: With wings more momentary, fwifter than thought." In The Taming of the Shrew, Act I. fc. ii. Hortenfio, defcribing Catharine, fays, . Her only fault (and that is-faults enough) Is, that he is intolerable curft; meaning, that this one was a host of faults. But this not being comprehended by the editor of the fecond folio, with a view, doubtlefs, of rendering the paffage more grammatical, he fubftitutedand that is fault enough. So, in King Lear, we find- Do you know this noble gentleman?" But this editor fuppofing, it fhould feem, that a gentleman could not be noble, or that a noble could not be a 'gentleman, inftead of the original text, reads- Do you know this nobleman?' In Meafure for Meafure, Act II. fc. i. Efcalus, addreffing the Juftice, fays, I pray you home to dinner with me:" this familiar diction not being |
