p. 311.

p. 312.

P. 314.

p. 315.

p. 316.

this fair Hesperides":

Here, as probably in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV. Sc. 3, the Hesperides who kept the garden are mistaken for the garden itself. (For I am inclined to question the explanation given of that passage in the Note upon it.) This identity of error might indicate community of origin, were it not that the same mistake was committed by other writers of Shakespeare's time.

"Yon' sometime famous princes See the Note above on "As yon grim looks," &c.

"Of all, 'say'd yet" :— i. e., of all who have assayed yet.

"Copp'd hills : i. e., hills rising to peaks, not mere undulations. Copp's Hill, in Boston, is believed to be so called from one Copp, the supposed owner of the ground. But query whether it may not have been originally called Copp'd Hill?

"Will shun no course : - The old editions, "Will shew," &c. Malone's correction.

and, as an arrow," &c. :- So the folio of 1664. The 4tos., "and like an arrow," &c., which, perhaps, the author wrote.

p. 317.

p. 318.

p. 319.

p. 320.

SCENE II.

Mr. Dyce's reading. The

"Be my so us'd a guest":
old copies, "By me so us'd," &c.

"Whose arm seems far too short":- Mr. Dyce reads, "Whose aim," &c.

I honour him

otherwise imperfect line.

Rowe added him' to this

"And with th' ostent of war": stint." The correction is Tyrwhitt's.

hear their faults chid":- The old copies have, "their faults hid." It was left for Mr. Dyce to make the obvious correction.

"Are arms to princes," &c. : — Between this line and that which precedes it a line or more has been lost.

"And should he doubt it," &c.: Malone's reading. The first quarto, "doo't; the subsequent old copies, "think it.”

will sure crack both": - Sure' was added to the text in the folio of 1664.

p. 322.

SCENE III.

the King's ears it must please":

The old copies, "the King's seas must please." The reading in the text was suggested by Mr. Dyce. The old copies omit the s at the end of the next line.

SCENE IV.

p. 323.

our eyes do weep":

The old copies, "to

weep."

p. 324.

p. 325.

"They may awake their helps": The old editions, "their helpers.”

"Whose men and dames so jetted":—i. e., so strutted who not us'd to savour hunger The old copies, "who not yet to [and "too"] sauers younger." The correction is Mr. Dyce's.

"Thou speak'st like him 's untutor'd," &c.: i. e., like him who is, &c. This remarkable contraction is printed hymnes" in all the old copies, according to Mr. Collier. if he on peace consist”: — i. e., if he stand on

peace.

p. 326.

ACT SECOND.

His child, I wis, to incest bring":- Mr. Craik, in his English of Shakespeare, p. 225, says, "What they all, [the editors of Shakespeare,] I believe without exception, print, I wis, or I wiss, as if it were a verb with its nominative, is undoubtedly one word, and that an adverb, signifying certainly, probably. It ought to be written ywis, or ywiss, corresponding as it does exactly with the German gewiss." And Mr. Guest "believes there is not a single instance to be found in which wiss, or wisse, has been used in the sense of to know until modern glossarists and editors chose to give it that signification." But whatever the probability that in many cases ywis has been corrupted into 'I wis,' there can be no doubt that in Shakespeare's time, and even in Chaucer's, the form I wis' was in common use, and that wiss' was used even at the earlier period in the sense of to know. See these instances from Chaucer, quoted by Richardson :

"Or thee depart I shall the so wel wisse

That of min house ne shalt thou never misse.”

Frere's Tale, 6988.

“What thing it is that women most desire, Coude ye me wisse, I wol quite wel your hire.” Wif of Bathe's Tale, 6591. Whatever may be the etymological history of the word, we have to deal with it only in the sense it had acquired when Shakespeare lived. Of this the passage which is the occasion of this Note is itself an unmistakable instance.

p. 326. "Thinks all is writ he speken can":— i. e., he can speak. Hitherto, "he spoken can; "he spoken can;" but plainly the e was mistaken for an o.

p. 327.

for-thy he strive": - i. e., therefore he strives. "Sends word of all":- The old editions, "San'd one of all," which Steevens corrected.

"He doing so

-i. e., as Helicanus recommended.

SCENE I.

"What, ho, Pilch" :- The old editions, "What to pelch?"

p. 328.

p. 329.

p. 330.

p. 331.

"May see, the sea," &c.:— A speech or more preceding this one has manifestly been lost.

"A man throng'd up with cold":

Plainly corrupt.

We might plausibly read, "shrunk up," as Malone suggested.

we'll have flesh for holidays":

The old copies,

for all day." Malone made the change. Possibly we should read, "for all days," as Mason suggested. the first Note on this play.

deal for [
mutilated passage.

p. 332.
the armor.

See

] his wife's soul": - Another

from whence you had it :" i. e., the garment, The old editions have, "you had them." the rapture of the sea: "-i. e., the violent seizThe old copies, "the rupture of the sea." Sewel suggested the change, which Wilkins' novel confirms. In the next line Malone read, "his biding on my arm. But his building is his fixure, his foundation.

ure.

Of a pair of bases” : — Bases were a sort of double cloth skirt or frock which hung from the waist to about the knee.

SCENE II.

"Tis now your honour, daughter, to explain" : - The old editions have, "to entertain," which Steevens cor

p. 334.

p. 336.

p. 338.

rected. It has been plausibly suggested that honour' in this line, and labour' in the next, have been transposed. But it should be noticed that the devices of the knights do not set forth their honor, but refer exclusively to the spirit in which they undertake their labor. Thaisa, too, replies, "Which to preserve mine honour I'll perform."

"The word, Lux tua vita mihi” : — The word is the mot, or motto. The Spartan knight's motto was, Thy light is my life."

in Spanish, Piu por dulzura que por fuerza" :— i. e., More by gentleness than by force. But piu is Italian; the Spanish for more is mas. The old copies have also, in both instances, per for por. This, like the former error, may be the result of a confusion of the two languages common in our old books; or it may be the mere misprint of e for o. It is worthy of note, as confirmatory of the opinion advanced in the Introduction, upon the origin of Wilkins' novel, that in that book these mottoes are otherwise distributed among the knights, and that this one, instead of being in Spanish, is in Italian. “Pue (piu) per dolcera qui (che) per sforsa.'

"Me pompæ provexit apex : - Glory leads me on. "Quod me alit, me extinguit":- That which nourishes destroys me. The old editions and Wilkins' tale, me," &c.

Qui

"Sic spectanda fides": - Thus faith is to be examined. "In hac spe vivo : In this hope I live.

SCENE III.

"By Jove, I wonder," &c. :-In the old editions this line and the following are made part of Simonides' speech, with manifest error, as Malone saw. In the next line, they read, "hee not thought upon," an equally manifest misprint for "she but thought upon," as Mason suggested. The second line of this speech is clearly a counterpart to the third of the next.

"And farther tell him," &c.:-The old editions, "And further more," &c.

Bereft of ships and men," &c. :- A part of this speech is lost.

SCENE IV.

p. 340.

"When he was seated in a chariot - A grossly corrupted passage, though intelligible.

p. 341.

Mr. Dyce's reading. The

"For honour's cause":
old editions, "Try honour's cause."

will endeavour it":

which is lacking in the old copies.

Steevens restored 'it,'

p. 345.

house"

p. 346.

"

ACT THIRD.

the house about": The old copies, "about the an accidental transposition, as Malone saw. "Now couches 'fore the mouse's hole": - The old copies have, "Now couches from," &c. The correction is Malone's.

"E'er the blither": - The old editions, "Are the blither" a mere phonographic irregularity. But other editors read, "Aye the blither," &c.

"With your fine fancies quaintly eche":- As to the pronunciation of 'eche,' (i. e., eke,) see the Note on "And eke out," King Henry V., Act III. Chorus.

"By many a dearn and painful perch": - Dearn is direful, dismal. In this involved sentence, "Of Pericles the careful search" is nominative to "is made.' "The four opposing coignes" are the four corners of the world. See Note on "coigne of vantage," Macbeth, Act I. Sc. 6. with claps 'gan sound": - The old copies, "can sound," which mere phonographic irregularity of spelling I am surprised to find Dr. Richardson regarding as a yariation in usage.

but Fortune's mood": The old editions, "but fortune mov'd.' Steevens made the correction.

D. 349.

and midwife gentle":

old editions having the manifest misprint, "and my

wife," &c.

and we are strong in custom The old editions, “in easterne." It was left for Boswell to suggest the almost obvious correction.

66

for she must overboard straight":— These words, by one of those unaccountable transpositions which are sometimes made in the best printing offices, are found in the middle of the next speech, thus,

"As you thinke; for she must ouer boord straight.
Most wretched Queen."