p. 207.

p. 208.

- i. e., strut,

that giants may jet through": swagger through. See the Note "begins to jut," Richard the Third, Act II. Sc. 4.

"And keep their impious turbands on": Of old giants were generally supposed to be Turks or Saracens ; and the consequent costume assigned to them has but recently disappeared from story-books.

"Richer than doing nothing for a bribe": The folio, "for a babe " a manifest misprint. Rowe read, "for a bauble," which, as this word was spelled bable, supposes a trifling misprint, and is strongly supported by these lines quoted by Malone from Drayton's Owle:·

"When euen the greatest things in the world unstable, Clyme but to fall and damned for a bable."

But this change agrees ill with the first and controlling word in the line, which implies a more substantial reward than a bauble; and therefore Hanmer's emendation is the more acceptable.

"A prison for a debtor": The folio, "or a debtor -a trifling misprint, corrected by Pope.

p. 210. "I' th' cave wherein they bow" : ---- The folio, "whereon the Bowe." The correction was made by Warburton.

p. 212.

p. 213.

p. 214.

SCENE IV.

Some jay of Italy,

Whose mother was her painting” :- The figure here approaches extravagance; yet not more nearly than that in the following speech of Act IV. Sc. 2:

"No, nor thy tailor, rascal,

Who is thy grandfather: he made those clothes
Which, as it seems, make thee.'

Dr. Johnson, not quick at apprehending the fanciful, remarks upon the passage under consideration, "Some jay of Italy, made by art; the creature, not of nature, but of painting. In this sense painting may not improperly be termed her mother." "Painting" has also been supposed to mean picture, portrait; i. e., mother and daughter were alike. Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has, "Who smothers her with painting," as to which see Shakespeare's Scholar, pp. 44-48.

Something's afore 't":- The folio, "Some thing 's a trifling misprint, corrected by Rowe.

a-foot"

Posthumus [thou] that did'st set up":

p. 214.

p. 215.

p. 216.

p. 217.

p. 219.

"Thou "
was supplied by Steevens. It may be accepted
with more propriety than most of his additions, because
without it the rhythm of the line lacks something more
than a mere syllable.

"That now thou tir'st on

To tire is to feed with sharp appetite. See the Note on "upon that were my thoughts tiring," Timon of Athens, Act III. Sc. 6.

"I'll wake mine eye-balls [blind] first" :-• Blind' was added to the text by Hanmer. Both sense and rhythm require it.

"With that harsh," &c.: From this line something has been surely lost; but no addition is needed to perfect the sense.

Pretty, and full of view": Here 'pretty' seems to be used as a sort of diminutive of proper, suitable, as "my daughter's of a pretty age, - i. e., to be married. Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. 3. The reading of Mr. Collier's folio of 1632, “Privy and full of view," is merely specious.

"Woman it pretty self)":-'It' for 'its.' See the Note on "it's folly, it's tenderness," The Winter's Tale, Act I. Sc. 2.

(which you'll make him know":- The folio, "which will make," &c.

66

Your means abroad": - Perhaps we should read, "For means abroad." But as the text stands, Iachimo anticipates a query which would naturally arise in the mind of Imogen.

66

SCENE V.

She looks us like":—i. e., she seems to us like. The folio omits the s from "looks."

to th' loud'st noise we make":- The folio, "to th' loud of noise," &c., where of' is most probably a misprint of st, as Rowe supposed.

p. 224.

p. 226.

SCENE VI.

· Here

"Enter Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus": the folio begins a new scene- Scena Septima: but the division is not only needless, but distracting; and it has been generally disregarded.

"I I bid for you as I do buy":— Perhaps wrote as I would buy," as Hanmer read. port of both readings is the same.

Shakespeare
But the
But the pur-

p. 226.

p. 227.

p. 228.

then had my prize

Been less": 'Prize' and 'price' were used of old without that clear distinction which is now made between them; and the same is true of ballast' and balance.' since Leonatus is false.

"Since Leonatus false".

-i. e.,

SCENE VII.

"Must be suppliant" :- The rhythm of the line makes the meaning of suppliant' instantly clear, by throwing the accent upon the second syllable.

66

p. 230.

p. 231.

p. 233.

ACT FOURTH.

SCENE I.

Mr.

yet this imperceiverant thing":-i. e., this creature who cannot perceive, this stupid thing. Dyce, I believe, first showed that the "imperseverant' of the folio was a mere phonographic spelling of 'imperceiverant.'

who may, happely" :— The folio, "who may happily." See the Note on this word, Measure for Measure, Act IV. Sc. 2.

"Cowards father cowards" :— This line and the next are printed in quotation marks in the folio. See the Note on "Achievement is command," Troilus and Cressida, Act I. Sc. 2.

he cut our roots - This half line and the remainder of the speech is assigned to Arviragus in the folio, by manifest error.

"His perishing root": i. e., his root which causes to perish; perish' being used actively.

for th' effect of judgment": The folio, "for defect of judgment." This is clearly wrong; for the purport of the passage is, that Cloten, when Belarius knew him, was indifferent to danger on account of his youthful ignorance. Hanmer read,

"for defect of judgment

Is oft the cure of fear,"

regardless of the incongruity between a negative condition an active remedial agent. The misprint seems to have been due to the easy mistaking of th, pronounced as t, for d.

p. 234.

p. 236.

p. 237.

p. 238.

p. 239.

p. 240.

"For we do fear the law": the law.

i. e., because we do fear

Though his humour" : The folio, "his honour -a manifest and not uncommon error, which Theobald detected.

how thyself thou blazon'st": The folio, "thou thyselfe," &c., which was left for Malone to correct.

thy sluggish crare”: — The folio, "thy sluggish care." Simpson made the correction. A crare was a small, slow vessel.

the ruddock": — i. e., the redbreast.

"As once our mother”: — Pope struck out to,' which appears in the folio before mother."

"we must lay his head to th' east":— What was Belarius' "reason for this disposition of the body in the ground I have been unable to discover.

"Fear no more the heat o' th' sun : Can any person familiar with the cast of Shakespeare's thought, the turn of his phrases, and the rhythm of his verse, believe that this song is his? It could hardly be at once tamer, more pretentious, and less suited to the characters. What did Guiderius and Arviragus, bred from infancy in the forest, know about "chimney sweepers"? How foreign to their characters to moralize on "the sceptre, learning, physic"! Will any reader of Shakespeare, who loves him with knowledge, believe that after he was out of Stratford grammar school he wrote such couplets as those which close the staves of this song? Has he, throughout his works, given us reason to believe, on any evidence short of his own hand and seal, that he would make these two simple lads sing over the body of their adopted stripling brother whom they are about to bury in the primeval forest,-

"Quiet consummation have;
And renowned be thy grave!"

See the Introduction.

This expres

"Nor th' all-dreaded thunder-stone": sion, which implies a belief that the discharge of a stone accompanies a flash of lightning, seems very strange to us; and yet we talk of a thunder-bolt.

"No exorciser :-'Exorcise' was commonly used in Shakespeare's time to mean the raising of spirits. Minsheu, Florio, and Cotgrave, all define it as synonymous with 'conjure.'

p. 242.

p. 245.

p. 246.

p. 247.

Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has,

"For so I thought":
plausibly, "For lo I thought," &c.

that irregulous devil": - i. e., that reckless devil; "irregulous" meaning unrestrained by any law. "This is Pisanio's deed, and Cloten's":— The folio has the trifling misprint, and Cloten."

"They are in readiness": The folio, "They are here in readiness." But, as Mr. Dyce has remarked, the transcriber or compositor repeated 'here' by mistake.

the confiners": "Confiner. A borderer, one who lives on the confines of another country." Nares. "Sienna's brother":- An error. Sienna was a republic, and had no prince.

SCENE III.

"And will, no doubt, be found": i. e., "and he will," &c.; the pronoun being omitted according to a common license of Shakespeare's day.

"I I heard no letter": - Possibly we should read, 'I had no letter.' But in ordinary conversation we say, 'I have not heard a line.'

SCENE IV.

What pleasure, sir, find we in life":

The folio, "we

finde in life." The correction was made in the second folio.

the Roman horses neigh":

unimportant misprint, "their Roman horses," &c.

The folio has the

p. 248.

p. 249.

ACT FIFTH.

SCENE I.

for I wish'd": The folio, "For I am wish'd." Pope made the correction, which is supported by the sense and rhythm of the passage.

"Had liv'd to put on this": -i. e., to set on, to instigate this.

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each elder worse : Were it not that, as Malone suggested, the author may have here regarded the later ill as the elder, I should read, each ill the worse,' according to Zachary Jackson's suggestion.