BRIEF NOTES ON THE TEXT.

I had intended to give a copious commentary on the text; but the space has been more profitably filled by the foregoing essays (which in nearly every instance have o'erflowed the measure), and I must perforce content myself with these few brief notes.

THE TEMPEST.

I. i. 65, 'long heath, broom, furze.'-The Folio gives 'Long heath, Browne firrs.' Hanmer read, 'ling, heath, broom, furze'; and I have adopted his 'broom' (perhaps wrongly).

I. ii. 298, 'spriting': changed (needlessly) by modern editors to 'spiriting.'

I. ii. 301-2, 'Go make... but thine and mine.-Steevens (following Rowe) boldly threw out the words 'thine and,' and (with the later Folios) read, 'like to'.

I. ii. 379, &c., 'Foot it featly,' &c.-In the Folio the passage stands:

the burthen.

'Foote it featly heere, and there, and sweete Sprights beare
[Burthen dispersedly.
Harke, harke, bowgh wawgh: the watch-Dogges barke,

bowgh-wawgh.

Ar. Hark, bark, I heare, the straine of strutting Chanticlere

cry cockadiddle-dowe.'

Mr. P. A. Daniel was the first to suggest that 'cry' in 'cry cockadiddle-dowe' was a stage-direction (a suggestion that I have adopted).

I. ii. 470, 'My foot my tutor !'-Sidney Walker's correction 'fool' for 'foot' seems to be quite unnecessary (though Dyce accepted it); for the expression was proverbial. Malone quoted from Lyly's Euphues:-"Then how vain is it, that the foot should neglect his office, to correct the face."

II. i. 36, Ant. So: you've paid.'-Folio 'you'r paid.' If we follow the Folio in making Antonio the speaker, I think we must ac

The Tempest (continued)—

cept Capell's simple correction 'you've' for 'you'r.' Theobald and many later editors give the words to Sebastian :— 'Seb. Ha, ha, ha!-So, you're paid. (The stake was 'A laughter.')

II. i. 57-9, 'rariety. . rarieties.'-So Folios 1, 2: modern editors change to 'rarity . . . rarities' (needlessly).

II. i. 99, O widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.'-This looks like a quotation from an old song.

999

II. i. 233, 'Professes to persuade.'-These difficult words were struck out by Steevens, who regarded them as a mere gloss or paraphrase on "he has a spirit of persuasion." II. ii. 160, abbominable.'-The spelling is always 'abbominable' in the Folio (from false etymology, ab and bomo). I determined, perhaps unwisely, to keep the old form, but find that I have not been consistent, for I have admitted 'abominable' more than once.

II. ii. 174, 'scamels.'-I am reluctant to abandon 'scamels'; but, as nobody has succeeded in finding another instance of the use of the word, I suppose we must accept the emendation 'sea-mells' (water fowl).

II. ii. 185, 'Nor scrape trenchering.'-So the Folio: modern editors usually read trencher' (but the old maudlin reading seems to suit the drunken Caliban).

II. ii. 186, ‘Ban, 'Ban, Ca-Caliban.'-Folio 'Ban' ban' Cacalyban.' II. ii. 188, 'high-day.'-So Folio: usually altered to 'hey-day.' III. i. 15, ‘Most busiless when I do it.'—I have adopted Theobald's ingenious emendation, though I am not satisfied with it: the Folio reads 'Most busie lest, when I doe it.' Spedding conjectured 'Most busiest when idlest.' For other conjectures see notes in the Cambridge Shakespeare.

IV. i. 64, 'pioned and twilled brims.' So the Folio. In spite of Milton's 'Ladon's lilied banks' (Arcades), I am not inclined to change 'twilled' to 'lilied'; and though I can give no clear meaning to 'pioned' I hesitate to accept peoned' (for 'on the banks of what rivers do peonies grow?' asks Henley). A satisfactory explanation has yet to be found.

IV. i. 91-2,

For 'deity" we should (I think) unquestionably read 'diety,' to rime with 'society.' The form 'diety' is not found in the Folio, but it was of very common occurrence. In Barnabe

The Tempest (continued)—

Barnes' The Divil's Charter, 1607, I. iii, we have:

'this times impietie,

May soone sincke downe vnder the diety.'

I have noted two instances of its use in W. Rowley's All's
Lost by Lust, 1633:

'Can lust be cal'd love; then let men seeke hell,

For there that fiery 'diety' doth dwell.'—(Sig. C. 4.)

'Descend thy spheare, thou burning Diety.'—(Sig. D. 2.) The Quarto of Troilus and Cressida in IV. ii. 27 reads 'dieties' for 'deities.' Thomas Heywood rimes 'deity' with 'piety' in Pleasant Dialogues, 1637:

'And then I'll offer, in my thankfull piety,
Another well-fed goat unto thy deity.'

(Pearson's Reprint, vi. 200.)

A careful search would discover dozens of instances where
'deity' was written or pronounced 'diety.' Seemingly the
form 'diety' long survived the Elizabethan age; for in
Young's Night Thoughts (Bell's British Poets)-the edition
printed at the Apollo Press, Edinburgh, in 1777-I find
'What can awake thee, unawak'd by this,
"Expended Diety on human weal"?

(Young's Poetical Works, Vol. I, p. 92.)

But here, I allow, it may be merely a misprint.

IV. i. 128, 'windring brooks.'-So the Folio; changed by Rowe to 'winding' and by Steevens to 'wand'ring.'

IV. i. 193, 'Come, hang them on this line.-Probably 'line' is not a clothes-line but a lime-tree (cf. 'line-grove,' V. i. 10). V. i. 39, 'mushrumps.'-I keep this old form of 'mushrooms.'

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

Dramatis Persona.-At the end of the play in the Folios is a list of 'The names of all the Actors.' In this list and throughout the text 'Proteus' is called 'Protheus.' 'Panthino' in the list is called 'Panthion,' but in the text the name 'Panthino' is twice found.

I. i. 99, 'a stray.'-So Theobald; Folio 'astray.'

I. ii. 53, 'What fool is she.'-'The first Folio reads 'What 'foole is she,' doubtless to indicate an ellipse of the indefinite article, which, for the sake of the metre, was to be slurred over in pronunciation.' Cambridge Shakespeare.

Two Gentlemen of Verona (continued)— II. i. 72-4, 'garter his hose; put on your hose.'-The Cambridge Editors are convinced that the text is corrupt; and several emendations have been proposed. Certainly the repetition is insipid; but there are worse things in Lyly's comedies, and Mr. R. W. Bond has shown how deeply the young Shakespeare was influenced by Lyly's mannerisms. II. iii. 28, a wood woman.'-Theobald's correction: Folio 'a wouldwoman.' ('Wood' = mad).

II. iv. 193, 'Is it mine eye, or Valentinus' praise.'-Folio 1 'It is mine, or Valentines praise?' Later Folios 'Is it mine then, or Valentineans praise?' The correction 'mine eye' is Warburton's; 'Valentinus'' is Malone's (Blakeway's).

II. v. 1, 'Welcome to Padua.'-'Padua' is a mistake for 'Milan'; so, too, 'Verona' in III. i. 81 and V. iv. 129.

III. i. 319, 'She is not to be kiss'd fasting.'-The word 'kiss'd' was added by Rowe.

III. ii. 49, 'weed.'-So Folio; Rowe 'wean,' Keightley 'wind.' IV. i. 50, 'An heir, and near allied.'-So Theobald: Folio 'And heire and Neece, alide.'

IV. i. 75, 'crews.'-Collier MS. gives the specious emendation 'cave.'

V. iv. 144, 'plead a new state.'-Difficult and perhaps corrupt. Steevens put a full stop at the end of the previous line, and made 'Plead' an imperative (addressed to Valentine).

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

The Quarto, of 1602, despite its imperfections and corruptions, preserves passages-omitted from the Folio-that were undoubtedly written by Shakespeare. Following the example of Theobald and Malone, Í have restored some of these to the text. Such a line as 'I will retort the sum in equipage,' II. ii. 4, is surely Pistol up and down.

I. i. 118-9, they carried

pocket.'-Inserted from Quarto. I. i. 233, 'contempt.'-Theobald's correction of Folio's 'content.' I. i. 236, faul' (=fault). So Dyce; Folio 'fall.'

I.iii. 9, 'Pheezar.-No doubt for Vizier,' says Hart (Arden edition). I. iii. 19, ‘Hungarian.'-So Folio; Quarto 'Gongarian.'

I. iii. 21-2, 'His mind

of it.'-Inserted from Quarto.

I. iii. 26, 'minim's.'-Bennet-Langton's emendation; Folio 'min

utes.'

I. iii. 48, 'studied her well and translated her well.'-So Pope;

Folios and Quarto 3 'give will
'studied her well,' omitting the rest.

I. iii. 101, 'mien.'-So Theobald; Folio 'mine"; Cambridge Editors suggest 'mine anger.'

1. iv. 20, 'wee face.'-Capell's emendation 'whey face' is attractive. I. iv. 21, 'Cain.'-Commentators say that Cain (like Judas) was represented in tapestry with a sandy-red beard; but evidence of this has not been adduced. Rowe read 'Cane.' Quartos 'Kane.'

II. i. 5, 'physician.'-Theobald's correction of Folio's 'precisian,' which H. C. Hart defends.

II. i. 26, ‘fat men.'-The word 'fat' (which seems to be needed) was added by Theobald.

II. i. 48, 'These knights will back.'-The word 'hack' is commonly explained as 'become cheap or vulgar,' and a satirical reference to the Knights of Cales' (created in 1596 by the Earl of Essex) or to James the First's knights has been suspected; but the reading is doubtful. Mr. Deighton proposes 'tack,' remarking that Mrs. Page affects nautical metaphors, as 'he would never have boarded me in this fury,' 'if he come under my hatches, I'll never to sea again.'

II. i. 133, 'frights humour.'-So Quarto; Folio 'frights English.' II. i. 205, 'mynheers.'-Theobald's conjecture; Folio 'An-heirês'; H. C. Hart proposes 'Ameers.'

II. ii. 4, 'I will . . . equipage.'-Inserted from Quarto.

II. ii. 27, 'bold-beating.'-Hanmer proposed 'bull-baiting.' II. iii. 83, 'Cried I aim?'-Folio 'Cride-game' (which H. C. Hart defends); corrected by Warburton to 'Cry aim,' which suggested the present reading to Douce. 'Cry aim' was a term in archery.

III. i. 5, 'pittie-ward.'-No explanation of this word has yet been found. The later Folios read 'pitty-wary'; Capell proposed 'city-ward.'

III. iii. 227, 'In . . . shame'-Inserted from Quarto.

III. v. 10, 'bitch's blind.'-Theobald's correction (perhaps unnecessary) of Folio's 'blind bitches.'

IV. ii. 21, 'lines.'-So Folio; Theobald's 'lunes' has been generally adopted, but see New English Dictionary; Quartos 1, 2 'vaine.' IV. v. 51, ‘Ay, sir Tike.'-Farmer's correction (which H. C. Hart

calls 'grotesque'); Quartos 1, 2 'I tike'; Folio 'I Sir: like.' IV. v. 72, 'cozen-germans.'-Quarto I 'cosen garmombles.'