P. 104.

Thou shalt not lack

The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose; nor

The azure harebell, like thy veins; no, nor

The leaf of eglantine, who, not to slander,

Out-sweeten'd not thy breath. - In the second of these lines, the original has azur'd for azure; in the third, whom instead of who. Collier's second folio reads "The leafy eglantine." This is at least plausible, as the speaker is making special mention of flowers; but he probably means the sweet-briar, or rosa rubiginosa, which is noted for the fragrance of its leaves.

P. 104. Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none,

To winter-guard thy corse. - So Collier's second folio. The original has "winter-ground." This phrase does not tell its own meaning; and, as it is not met with elsewhere, we have no means of explaining it. Two other good corrections have been proposed, "wintergown," by Warburton, and “winter-green," by Verplanck. I find it not easy to choose between the three. Walker strongly approves of winter-gown.

P. 105. And, though he came our enemy, remember

He's paid for that. -The original has "He was paid for that."

P. 106. "Fear no more the heat o' the Sun, &c."-It is doubtful, to say the least, whether these stanzas were written by Shakespeare; and it is pretty certain, as will be noted hereafter, that some things in this play were not written by him. The previous arrangement was, "Use like note and words, save that Euriphile must be Fidele "; yet no name is met with in the dirge: which looks as if either the Poet forgot that arrangement or else the stanzas were furnished by another hand. Yet I can hardly doubt that they were written with a special view to the use here made of them. White indeed thinks the song quite out of keeping with the time and place; remarking that "it could hardly be at once tamer, more pretentious, and less suited to the characters." But I cannot see it so: on the contrary, I have to confess that, though perhaps more from long association than from judgment, the lines feel to me very much at home where they are, and fall in accordantly

enough with the spirit of the persons and the occasion. Still I do not think them Shakespeare's, nor will I venture to guess who else may have written them. Staunton notes upon the matter as follows: "There is something so strikingly inferior, both in the thoughts and expression of the concluding couplet to each stanza of this song, that we may fairly set them down as additions from the same hand which furnished the contemptible Masque or Vision that deforms the last Act."

P. 107.

The old text

Upon Earth's face You were as flowers; now wither'd: even so These herblets shall, which we upon you strow. reads "upon their Faces." As there is but one face, Cloten's having gone its way with the message to the fishes, editors have commonly attributed an oversight to the Poet. The reading here given is Staunton's.

P. 107. Their pleasures here are past, so is their pain. The original has " so are their paine." Corrected by Pope.

P. 108. Pisanio might have kill'd thee at the heart,
And left thy head on. How should this be?·

reads "left this head on."

Corrected by Hanmer.

P. 109. This is Pisanio's deed and Cloten's. Cloten. Pope's correction.

The original

P. 109.

Attending

You here at Milford-Haven with your ships,
They are in readiness.

The original has "They are heere in readinesse." Doubtless an accidental repetition from the line above. Corrected in the second folio.

P. 110. There is no more such masters: I may wander
From East to Occident, cry out for service,

Try many, and all good, serve truly, &c. - In the first of these

Also, in the

lines, the second folio has "There are no more," &c.
third line, and, wanting in the old text, was inserted by Johnson.

ACT IV., SCENE 3.

P. 112. A fever with the absence of her son;

The original has "A

Madness, of which her life's in danger. madnesse." Walker says, "Wrong surely; the latter A originating in the former." Pope reads as in the text.

P. 112.

So Capell and

But for thee, thee, fellow,
Who needs must know of her departure, &c.
Walker. The original reads "But for thee, Fellow," &c.

P. 112. There wants no diligence in seeking him,

And he'll, no doubt, be found.·

"And will no doubt be found."

So Capell. The original has

P. 113. I've had no letter from my master since

I wrote him Imogen was slain. —So Hanmer. The original reads "I heard no Letter," &c.; which is neither English nor sense.

ACT IV., SCENE 4.

P. 114. What pleasure, sir, find we in life, &c.—So the second folio. The first has "we finde in life."

That when they hear the Roman horses neigh,

Behold their quarter'd fires, &c. - The original has "heare their Roman horses neigh." Probably an accidental repetition from the line below. Corrected by Rowe.

ACT V., SCENE 1.

P. 116. Yea, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee; for I wish'd

Thou shouldst be colour'd thus.-The original reads "for I am wisht." Corrected by Pope.

P. 117.

You some permit

To second ills with ills, each elder worse,

And make them dreaded to the doer's thrift. - The original has dread it instead of dreaded, which is Theobald's correction.

Singer substitutes shrift for thrift; and from the way he speaks of the old reading one would think the idea had never occurred to him, of men's thriving in this world by wrong, and achieving the larger success for being reckless how they succeed. As here given, the passage, though highly condensed, yields a just and fitting sense, and one which is not seldom exemplified among men. See foot-note 5.

P. 120. "Or we are Romans, and will give you that

Like beasts which you shun beastly, and may 'scape

But to look back in frown."-The original has save instead of 'scape. As the meaning evidently is, "we will give you the death which you shun in a beastly manner, and which you may —," &c. ; surely there can be no doubt that we should read 'scape. "To save one's life" is good sense; but who ever heard such a phrase as "to save one's death"?

P. 121.

Forthwith they fly

Chickens, the way which they stoop'd eagles; slaves,

The strides they victors made. - The original reads "they stopt Eagles," and "The strides the Victors made." The first was corrected by Rowe, the other by Theobald.

P. 123. A lag of Rome shall not return to tell, &c. -The original has "A legge of Rome." The correction is Mr. P. A. Daniel's; who aptly quotes from Timon of Athens, iii. 6, “the common legge of people," and adds as follows: "In this instance Rowe - followed, I believe, by all the editors changes the word legge to lag." In that passage, however, I read tag, from Collier's second folio; but that is nothing against lag here. Of course lag is the same as lag-end,phrase used several times by Shakespeare.

a

ACT v., SCENE 4.

P. 123. So graze as you find pasture.

2 Jail.

Ay, or stomach. — The origi

nal has " or a stomacke." Another instance of a vilely interpolated. See page 164; note on "Stoop, boys: " &c.

P. 125.

And so, great powers,

If you will make this audit, take my life,

And cancel these cold bonds. The original reads "If you will take this audit, take this life." The corrections are Mr. P. A. Daniel's. Walker notes the first take as suspicious; and it is remarkable that in the original we have no less than six takes in the compass of twelve lines. It is worth something to get rid of one of them; and in this place make does just as well for the sense.

-

This

P. 125. "Solemn Music. Enter, as an Apparition," &c. stage-direction, together with all the following matter down to the reentrance of the first Jailer, is such a piece of dull impertinence as, most assuredly, Shakespeare could never have written. In style, cast of language, and versification, it is utterly unlike the rest of the play, or indeed any thing else that came from his hand. Still I am inclined to think that it was supplied by some other hand at the time, and that the Poet himself worked it in with his own noble matter. For the "label" is perhaps the absurdest and most un-Shakespearian part of the whole; yet the contents of it are, by the still more absurd interpretation of them at the close, so wrought into the dialogue as to make the "label" itself an inseparable item of the drama. As to the dialogue that follows, between Posthumus and the Jailer, I am not so clear; though that too might be spared without any detriment to the action. See the preface, page 6.

P. 127. For this, from stiller seats we come. - So Dyce. The original has came; an error which the context readily corrects.

P. 127. Thy crystal window ope; look out.—So the second folio. The first has "looke, looke out."

P. 130. Of this contradiction you shall now be quit. O, the charity of a penny cord! — The original reads “Oh, of this contradiction you shall now be quit; Oh, the charity," &c. We have many instances of such repetition by a sort of anticipation; that is, a later word catching the transcriber's or compositor's eye, and so creeping in out of place.

P. 131. You must either be directed by some that take upon them to know, or take upon yourself that which, &c.— The original reads " or to take upon your selfe." Evidently an accidental repetition of to.