ACT I.-Sc. 5. FERDINAND......my prime request, I cannot reconcile myself to this reading, notwithstanding the many learned arguments ad vanced in support of it; if we agree with Johnson, and the first folio, in reading, If you be Maid or not? The sense is obvious and requires no comment, which is a strong recommendation of it; and it is confirmed by Miranda's answer, who cannot be supposed to have learned from Prospero, the art of quibbling upon words. Ferdinand at first supposes her a Goddessthen prays that she will instruct him in what manner he should conduct himself in the Island; but his prime request, the information he was most anxious to obtain, was, whether she was yet engaged to any other person, and when she tells him she is not, he exclaims O! if a Virgin, And your affections not gone forth, Mr. Malone says, that at this period, Ferdinand must have felt too much awe, to have flattered himself with the hope of possessing a being that appeared to him celestial; but this objec tion is answered by Ferdinand himself, who says to her in the first Scene of the third Act, Hear my soul speak The very instant that I saw you, did My heart fly to your service; there resides As to the grammatical objection to the old reading, I mean the omission of an article before the word maid, it has but little weight, and it might be urged on the other hand, that if Ferdinand meant to ask Miranda, whether she were a celestial being or not he ought to have said, whether you were made or not, instead of whether you are made or no; but who expects from Shakspeare such minute correctness? the readers are to determine whether they will adopt a natural and simple expression which requires no comment, or one which the ingenuity of many Commentators, has but imperfectly supported., ACT II.-Sc. 1. SEBASTIAN-Ha, Ha, Ha, ANTONIO-So, you've paid. 1 Mr. Malone does not seem to have thoroughly comprehended the conceit in this passage, it scarcely, indeed, deserves explanation; but the meaning is this, Alonso lays a wager with Sebastian, that Adrian would crow before Gonzalo, and the wager was a laughter-Adrian speaks first, so Alonso is the Winner. Sebastian laughs at what Adrian had said, and Alonso immediately acknowledges, that by his laughing he has paid the bet. The old Copy reads you'r paid, which will answer as well, if those words be given to Sebastian instead of Alonso. ACT IV.-Sc. 3. IRIS....Thy banks with pionied and twilled brims To make cold Nymphs, chaste crowns. This trifling passage has produced many conjectures, and some very learned dissertations. Mr. Henley supports the old reading-Mr. Holt reads tilled, I think injudiciously, for ground, when tilled, is not likely to produce flowers-Mr. Stee vens with more ingenuity, reads lillied, and has introduced that word into the text; but I am surprised that he has taken no notice of the conjecture of his friend Johnson, who proposes to read, Thy pionied and tulip'd brims, Which is nearer in the trace of the letters to the old reading, and bids fairest in my opinion, to be the true one. Iris could not have chosen a more fit com, panion for the Peony than the Tulip, they are both showy flowers; their Leaves are of a similar texture, are cool to the touch, perfectly inodorous, and fit to make chaste Chaplets for cold Nymphs. 1 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. ACT I.-Sc. 1. SLENDER.. more Contempt. > I hope upon familiarity will grow The old reading is more Content-the amendment was made by Theobald, and is adopted by Mr. Malone and Mr. Steevens, I think injudiciously. It was intended that Slender should blunder, but the blunder lies in his misquoting the old Saying, of too much familiarity breeds Contempt, which he changes to Content. The passages quoted from Love's Labour Lost, in support of the amendment, seems rather to confirm the old reading, as the blunder in both passages arises from the same cause, the mistaking for each other the words Contempt, and Content. If Slender had said that he hoped upon familiarity would grow more Contempt, Sir Hugh would not have applauded it, as a fery discretion answer. ACT II.-Sc. 2. Mrs. QUICKLY......She leads a very frampold life with him. Mr. Steevens says justly, that frampold means peevish or froward-Ben Jonson gives the name of Lord Frampul to the whimsical and obstinate Landlord of his New Inn. ACT III.-Sc. 2. FORD......I think I shall drink in pipe-wine with him first, I'll make him dance. Mr. Malone says, that the phrase to drink in pipe-wine, appeared to him a strange one, till he read the following words in the Speech of King James the First, to his Parliament in 1604. Who either being old, have retained their first drunken in liquor, &c. But this Speech of the King's, is evidently an allusion to the Latin sentence, Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem And is not, in my opinion, applicable to the sent passage. pre We commonly say at this day, I will drink to you in Port; I will pledge you in Claret-Pipewine means literally, wine drank out of the cask, but, to make a man pipe, or to set up his pipes, means, in vulgar language, to make a man cry; the jest lies, as Steevens observes in this play of words, Ford will first make him pipe, and then dance to his own piping, |