p. 258.

p. 296.

at the present day we hear so many Englishmen from the old country, of even higher grade than Dromio's, pronounce 'ears' years, that there can be no doubt that Shakespeare intended the pun which the Cambridge editors first indicated.

Much Ado about Nothing.

"Into, Hey nonny, nonny":- For the hitherto unsuspected significance of this strange burthen see Florio's New World of Words, ed. 1611: "Fossa, a grave, a pit, a Used also for a woman's pleasure-pit, nony-nony, or palace of pleasure."

trench.

“Let them be, in the hands of coxcomb": :- When the Note on this passage was written, I had forgotten, or had not observed, that Theobald made the same distribution of the text. He, however, gave no reasons for his decision.

p. 353.

p. 359.

p. 361.

p. 380.

66

Love's Labour's Lost.

against gentility":-I am of opinion that we should read, "A dangerous law; - against gentility." until then, Sit down, Sorrow" :- Read, "Sit thee down," &c.

66

66

for she had a green wit" :- i. e., a green withe, th having been pronounced as t, and a punning allusion (hitherto unnoticed because of the ignorance of the pronunciation of th) being made to the green withes with which Delilah bound Samson. See Vol. XII. p. 431.

"Of trotting paritors" :— i. e., apparitors, who were officers of a bishop's court.

- As to the pro

p. 390. "Master Person - quasi pers-on": nunciation of person,' see Vol. XII. p. 423.

p. 394.

p. 397.

"In love I hope": The folio assigns this speech to Longaville, with manifest error.

"Thou for whom Jove would swear :- The author of the criticism on this edition in the Atlantic magazine, denying by implication that the quantity and accent proper here to thou' make any addition to this line superfluous, says that, if read as it is printed, "the effect would be something of this kind: Thou-ou for whom Jove would swear,' which would be like the bow-wowwow before the Lord' of the country choirs." Enjoying the laugh at my own expense quite as heartily as my

critic did, I do not see that his joke is fatal to my prosody. He must know that the vowel sound in thou' is a junction of ah and oo, the Italian a and u, and that the least prolongation of this sound will, at a poet's need, make the diphthong in thou' fill the place of a dissylable just as manifestly as it does in the following lines:"For in his male he had a pilwebere,

Which (as he said) was our Lady's veil."

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Prol. 1. 696.

p. 398. "Not you to me," &c. I neglected to remark that the folio has, "Not you by me, but I betray'd to you," and that the transposition, imperatively required, was suggested by Monck Mason.

p. 402.

p. 403.

p. 409.

of their sweet complexion crack:”- -Crack' here means not speak of, talk, but boast; in which sense it is commonly enough used with us in the phrase 'crack up.' Its use to mean gossip' is Lowland Scotch, as in "a crack wi' Monkbarns." The Antiquary. As to the use of 'sweet' here, instead of 'white' or 'fair,' it is to be noticed that in Shakespeare's day and afterward complexion meant, not the tint of the skin, but (See Vol. XI. 169, 197) the whole physical being, what we call now the organization; and that it was to the repulsiveness of this in the Ethiopian, and not to his color only, that Shakespeare makes the King allude.

"For when would you, my lord," &c.:- The most casual reader must be struck by the repetitions and want of logical sequence in this speech; and it is more than probable that we have in the old copies both what Shakespeare intended to strike out from the speech, as originally written, and what he substituted. But as there is no guide, except individual judgment, to determine which is the old and which the new matter, the course pursued by Capell and Mr. Dyce, who omit six lines from "For when would you, my Lord," &c., and nine from "For where is any author," &c., seems very unsafe, if not un warrantable.

66

remember thy courtesy" :- Mr. Howard Staunton is of opinion that remember thy courtesy' was a conventional phrase for pray you put on your hat.' To sustain this interpretation he quotes three passages, of which, upon examining the context of each, it seems to me that only the following one is in point: "To me, sir! What do you mean? — Pray you, remember your court'sy. [Reads.] To his most selected friend Master Edward Knowell.' What might the gentleman's name be, sir, that sent it? Nay, pray you be cover'd." Every Man in

P. 410.

p. 437.

66

his Humour. Act I. Sc. 1. It may be that this gives the
correct interpretation of the passage which is the occasion
of the present Note; and that also when Hamlet (Act V.
Sc. 2) says to Osric, " But, I beseech you, remember
and moves him to put on his hat, he was about to add,
your courtesy." But by what mental process such a
phrase came to have such a significance is past my con-
jecture; for, beyond a doubt, taking off the hat was a
courtesy two hundred and fifty years ago, as it is now.
"Let us make a lawe that no man put off his hat or
cap, &c., &c. This is a kind of courtesy or ceremony
rather to be avoided than otherwise at table," &c., &c.
Florio's Second Fruites. 1591. Again, in Greene's Tu
Quoque, Staines, who is teaching an Englishman Italian
manners, says, "Only, sir, this I must condition you off:
in your affront or salute never to move your Hatte: But
here, here is your courtesie."

66—

shall pass Pompey the Great":- So the old copies. The Cambridge editors conjecture, "shall pass as Pompey," &c.

66—

my griefs are dull":-Read, with the old copies, "my griefs are double," i. e., heavy, strong. So, "a voice potential,

p. 459.

66

As double as the Duke's."

Othello, Act I. Sc. 1. which to annotanize." From Mr. Halliwell's folio edition I have learned that Mr. Knight has made this correction. I was first directed to it by remarking the pronunciation of th as t. See Introduction to Much Ado about Nothing (Noting).

VOL. IV.

A Midsummer-Night's Dream.

"[Hermia,] for aught," &c.: — - Read, with the 4to, "Ay me, for aught," &c.

the choice of merit":- Read, with the 4to, "the choice of friends." My defence of the folio text is over subtle.

"Or on the beached margent of the sea :- - Read, "Or in the beached margent," &c., with the old copies. 'In' has been to frequently changed to 'on' in these plays. It was used as we use on : it is the Latin in : upon. Christ's great exposition of his doctrine is "The Sermon in the Mount."

=

P. 36.

p. 40.

p. 41.

p. 49.

p. 53.

"The human mortals want," &c. :- To whom I am indebted for the suggestion, "The human mortals chant," &c., I do not remember. In any case, I cannot regard it as having even the least plausibility.

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows": -1 am now much inclined to doubt that Shakespeare could use where' to fill the place of two syllables, the second of which would be accented. 'Whereon' might be well received into the text.

"Lull'd in these bowers": -I yielded too readily to the plausibility of the reading found in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632. Read, with the old copies, "Lull'd in these flowers;"in' having, of course, the sense of upon. and let him hold his fingers," &c. :- The folio,

66

"or let," &c.

"I desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Mustard-seed":Mr. Dyce, in his recent edition, first pointed out that the old copies accidentally omit of' in this speech. See Bottom's two preceding speeches. A trifling change in the plate enables me to profit by this suggestion.

p. 57. against she doth appear' :-The reading, "she do," &c., is from the 4tos.

P. 71.

p. 76.

p. 80.

p. 86.

"So doth the woodbine," &c.:-There can be no doubt that the names woodbine and honeysuckle were applied in Shakespeare's time, if indeed they are not now applied, to the same vine. But there are two kinds of honeysuckle, very distinct, mentioned by Dodoens in his Herbal, a translation of which was published in 1578. Perhaps one was called, or has since come to be called, 'woodbine,' and the other, 'honeysuckle.' I certainly have heard country folk thus distinguish them.

"And he did bid us follow":-The folio and Roberts's 4to omit he,' as well as did.'

what abridgment have you? -The suggestion that here abridgment' means brief, though plausible, is not sound. In Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2, the prince calls the players his abridgment.' We have evidently lost the meaning with this use of the word.

·

"Now is the moral down": The Note upon this passage assumes too subtle a meaning. Mural is probably right; or perhaps 'moral' is a misprint for wall.

p. 158.

66

The Merchant of Venice.

land-thieves and water-thieves": - - By an oversight, I neglected to quote "Notable pirate, thou salt

P. 175.

p. 203.

P. 315.

p. 354.

p. 393.

p. 440.

water thief," (Twelfth Night, Act V. Sc. 1,) in support of the transposition made here, which I have since discovered in the "List" of the corrections in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632.

"Will be worth a Jewes eye":- In support of this reading, add to the Note the following passages:

"And so did bastard Astrey, too, whose mother was a Jew." Golding's Ovid, Book V. fol. 57 b. 1612. "And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jew."

Acts xxiv. 24. Authorized translation, ed. 1611. an equal yoke of love": - Read, "an egal yoke," &c.

As You Like It.

"Atalanta's better part" :- Some doubt has been expressed as to the interpretation of this passage given in the Note upon it. But there should be none. Atalanta's legs are meant. The word 'parts' was specially applied to the lower limbs of women.

"And last of all (though couered) stretched out her round cleane foote,

Supporter of that building brave, of beautious forme the

roote.

The rest (and better part) lay hid. Yet what was to be

seene

To make one lose his liberty enough and more had beene."

Honour's Academy, 1610, Part III. p. 97. I have at hand a dozen more such examples in point. which are your only prologues," &c.: - Read, with the old copies, which are the only prologues," &c. The old idiom was "the only" where we now say "only the."

The Taming of the Shrew.

"Go by, St. Jeronimy" :- Mr. Keightley proposes to read, "Sr. or Signior Jeronimy." There can hardly be a doubt that this is the correct reading.

661

like to mose in the chine":- Good reason why I could not understand this phrase. It is corrupt. Read, "mourn in the chine." See Urquhart's translation of Rabelais: "In our Abbey we never study for fear of the mumps, which disease in horses is called mourning in the chine." Book I. Chap. 39.