concludes with thefe words: "Defpatch.-Enobarbus !" Antony, who is the fpeaker, defires his attendant Eros to defpatch, and then pronounces the name Enobarbus, who had recently deferted him, and whofe lofs he here laments. But there being no perfon on the fcene but Eros, and the point being inadvertently omitted after the word dispatch, the editor of the fecond folio fuppofed that Enobarbus muft have been an error of the prefs, and therefore reads:

"Difpatch, Eros."

In Troilus and Crefsida, Creffida fays,

Things won are done; joy's foul lies in the doing." i. e. the foul of joy lies, &c. So, "love's vifible foul," and "my foul of counfel;" expreffions likewife ufed by Shakspeare. Here also the editor of the fecond folio exhibits equal ignorance of his author; for inftead of this eminently beautiful expreffion, he has given us

Things won are done; the foul's joy lies in doing." In King Richard III. Ratcliff, addreffing the lords at Pomfret, fays,

"Make hafte, the hour of death is expiate."

for which the editor of the fecond folio, alike ignorant of the poet's language and metre, has substituted,

"Make hafte, the hour of death is now expir'd."

So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"The earth hath fwallow'd all my hopes but fhe."

The word The being accidentally omitted in the first folio, the editor of the fecond fupplied the defect by reading

"Earth hath up swallow'd all my hopes but the."

Again, in the fame play; "I'll lay fourteen of my teeth, and yet, to my teen be it fpoken, I have but four:" not understanding the word teen, he fubftituted teeth inftead of it.

Again, ibidem:

"Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid—”

Man being corruptly printed instead of maid in the first folio, 1623, the editor of the fecond, who never examined a fingle quarto copy, corrected the error at random, by reading

2 That this editor never examined any of the quarto copies, is proved by the following inftances :

In Troilus and Creffida, we find in the first folio:

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the remainder viands

"We do not throw in unrespective same,

"Because we now are full."

Finding this nonfenfe, he printed" in unrefpective place." In the quarto he would have found the true word-fieve.

Again, in the fame play, the following lines are thus corruptly exhibited :

"That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;

"Since things in motion begin to catch the eye,
"Than what not ftirs."

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the words begin to," being inadvertently repeated in the fecond line, by the compofitor's eye glancing on the line above. The editor of the fecond folio, instead of examining the quarto, where he would have found the true reading:

"Since things in motion fooner catch the eye." thought only of amending the metre, and printed the line thus: "Since things in motion 'gin to catch the eye-" leaving the paffage nonfenfe, as he found it.

So, in Titus Andronicus:

"And let no comfort delight mine ear-"

"Prick'd from the lazy finger of a woman."

Again:

"Doft thou love me? I know thou wilt fay, ay:"

The word me being omitted in the first folio, the editor of the second capriciously supplied the metre thus:

being erroneously printed in the firft folio, inftead of "And let no comforter," &c. the editor of the fecond folio corrected the error according to his fancy, by reading

"Old ManThe words in

"And let no comfort elfe delight mine ear." So, in Love's Labour's Loft, Vol. VII. p. 96: tuan, who understands thee not, loves thee not." the Italick character being inadvertently omitted in the first folio, the editor of the fecond folio, instead of applying to the quarto to cure the defect, printed the paffage juft as he found it and in like manner in the fame play implicitly followed the error of the first folio, which has been already mentioned,—

O, that your face were fo full of O's—" though the omiffion of the word not, which is found in the quarto, made the paffage nonsense.

So, in Much Ado about Nothing:

"And I will break with her. Was't not to this end," &c. being printed inftead of

"And I will break with her and with her father,

"And thou Jhalt have her. Was't not to this end," &c. the error, which arofe from the compofitor's eye glancing from one line to the other, was implicitly adopted in the second folio. Again, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream:

"Ah me, for aught that I could ever read,
"Could ever hear," &c.

the words Ah me being accidentally omitted in the firft folio, inftead of applying to the quarto for the true reading, he fupplied the defect, according to his own fancy, thus:

"Hermia, for aught that I could ever read," &c. Again, in The Merchant of Venice, he arbitrarily gives us"The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold," instead of

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Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb." See 454. Innumerable other inftances of the fame kind might be produced.

p.

"Doft thou love? Q, I know thou wilt fay, ay."

This expletive, we fhall presently find, when I come to speak of the poet's metre, was his constant expedient in all difficulties.

In Measure for Measure he printed ignominy inftead of ignomy, the reading of the first folio, and the common language of the time. In the fame play, from his ignorance of the constable's humour, he corrected his phrafeology, and substituted instant for diftant; ("—at that very diftant time:") and in like manner he makes Dogberry, in Much Ado about Nothing, exhort the watch not to be vigitant, but vigilant.

Among the marks of love, Rofalind, in As you like it, mentions "a beard neglected, which you have not ;-but I pardon you for that; for, fimply, your having in beard is a younger brother's revenue." Not understanding the meaning of the word having, this editor reads-" your having no beard," &c.

In A Midfummer Night's Dream, Pyramus fays,

""

I fee a voice; now will I to the chink,

"To spy an' I can hear my Thisby's face."

Of the humour of this paffage he had not the least notion, for he printed, inftead of it,

"I hear a voice; now will I to the chink,
"To spy an' I can fee my Thisby's face."

In The Merchant of Venice, Act I. sc. i. we find in the first folio,

"And out of doubt you do more wrong

which the editor of the fecond perceiving to be imperfect, he corrected at random thus:

"And out of doubt you do to me more wrong."

Had he confulted the original quarto, he would have found that the poet wrote

"And out of doubt you do me now more wrong."

So, in the fame play," But of mine, then yours," being corruptly printed inftead of " But if mine, then yours," this editor arbitrarily reads"But firft mine, then yours, Again, ibidem:

""

"Or even as well ufe queftion with the wolf,
"The ewe bleat for the lamb."

the words "Why he hath made" being omitted in the first folio at the beginning of the fecond line, the second folio editor fupplied the defect thus abfurdly :

"Or even as well use question with the wolf,
"The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold."

In Othello the word fnipe being mifprinted in the first folio,

"If I fhould time expend with such a fnpe."

the editor not knowing what to make of it, sub-
ftituted Swain inftead of the corrupted word.
Again, in the fame play,

"For of my heart thofe charms, thine eyes, are blotted." being printed in the firft folio inftead of " Forth of my heart," &c, which was the common language of the time, the editor of the fecond folio amended the error according to his fancy, by reading