p. 46.

p. 47.

!

p. 48.

p. 49.

p. 50.

has "whence," which was corrected by Theobald on the suggestion of Dr. Thirlby. The misprint and its correction are obvious.

which to defeat" : — Thus the folio. But Theobald read “which to defend," and has been very generally followed. The change defeats the author's intention. The King's honor was neither to be defended nor defeated; his need was to defeat the putting of his honor at the stake.

expedient on the new born brief” : — that is, 'shall be expeditiously performed upon the newly issued license,' or formal consent of the King to the marriage of his ward. The original prints "the now borne briefe," a manifest typographical error, hardly worthy of remark. "Exeunt KING," &c. :- - The old stage direction is, "Parolles and Lafeu stay behind commenting of their wedding."

for two ordinaries : - that is, during two dinners at the ordinary.' It is only within a few years that 'ordinary' has been entirely displaced from the signs of the second class of restaurants in New York.

:

for doing I am past" :- There is a quibble here upon do,' (See Note on I could not do withal,' Mer. of Ven. Act III. Sc. 4,) and also upon past;' the latter referring both to Lafeu's age and to his passing by Parolles. than the commission of your birth and virtue gives you heraldry - It is very plain that Lafeu tells Parolles that he thrusts himself among those who are his superiors both in birth and rank: commission' is used in the sense of warrant,' and 'heraldry' comprehensively for that which determines social position. Hanmer needlessly read "than the heraldry of your birth and virtue gives you commission," and is generally followed; but what is the heraldry of virtue? Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has the plausible reading, "the condition of your birth," &c.

"War is no strife," &c.: that is, the strife of war is not to be compared to the trial of a gloomy household,' &c. The folio has detected wife;' but as there is no implication of unchastity, there was doubtless a slight corruption, which Rowe corrected.

"A young man married is a man that's marr'd". The quibble here is just worth noticing because it depends upon the same sound of the a in both words, and the full pronunciation of the participial ed in both when this play was written. The contraction of the last, for

rhyme's sake, would not destroy the little joke for an ear accustomed to the full sound of both words.

The original has them' in the re

Away, thou'rt a knave": The contraction in the original here, and usually, if not always, elsewhere, is "th'art." The custom of old in the contraction of two words was to elide the terminal rather than the initial vowel.

After this

"➖➖➖ or were you taught to find me": first sentence of the Clown's reply, the corrector of Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 interpolates the following speech by Lafeu, to which the remainder of the Clown's speech is thus made a reply. "Go to, I say: I have found thee : no more: I have found thee, a witty fool." The sense of the original is perfect in every respect; and there appears neither necessity nor warrant for this addition to it.

SCENE V.

"I took this lark for a bunting":- The bunting, a very courageous but silent bird, is so like the timid, tuneful lark that they can with difficulty be distinguished.

and accordingly valiant": This does not mean 'therefore valiant,' but valiant in accordance' with his greatness in knowledge.

"End ere I do begin :-The folio has "And;" an obvious misprint, which was strangely left uncorrected until the discovery of Mr. Collier's folio of 1632.

like him that leaped into the custard"; — "It was," says Theobald, "a foolery practised at city entertainments, whilst the jester or zany was in vogue, for him to jump into a large, deep custard, set for the purpose." Jonson, in his Devil is an Ass, speaks of one who at the "tail of a sheriff's dinner" may "take his Almain-leap into a custard."

:

"Where are my other men Theobald first suggested that this part of Helena's speech belonged to Bertram. "What other men," he asks, "is Helen here inquiring after? Or who is she supposed to ask for them?" His suggestion has been adopted by some editors without sufficient reflection. Helena, as the wife of the Count of Rousillon, or even as his mother's ward, about to set out

on a journey, would certainly need and have quite a retinue, including some armed men; and some of these she asks where the others are. For this reason the stage direction for her entrance should be, as it is here first given, "Enter HELENA, attended." That she is so attended, is shown by the old stage direction when she arrives at Rousillon, (Act III. Sc. 2,) Enter HELENA and two Gentlemen, no less than by the Countess' assurance before she sets out, (Act I. Sc. 3,) that she shall have "means and attendants."

p. 56.

ACT THIRD.

SCENE I.

The original stage direction at the head of this Scene is, " Flourish. Enter the Duke of Florence, the two Frenchmen, with a troupe of Souldiers," and the first reply to the Duke has the prefix "Lord; the second, "French E; the third," French G." This, at the first blush, would seem to indicate four speakers; and Mr. Collier supposes that the first reply is made by a Florentine in attendance on the Duke, and that the other speeches are made by a French Gentleman and a French Envoy. But the Duke evidently enters at the end of a conversation in which he has been setting forth what any Florentine would have known, "the fundamental reasons of this war; and the reply, "Holy seems the quarrel," is not that of one interested in the question by ties of blood and country, but of one who has reached a conclusion step by step. The Duke's rejoinder is expostulatory; and, beginning "therefore," and being based upon the admission of the holiness of his cause, it is evidently addressed to the person who made that admission; and who thus, in a manner, put upon his defence for his sovereign, excuses himself by saying that he is "a common and an outward man that is, that he knows nothing of the state secrets: evidence unanswerable that he is not a French Envoy, and that the first two replies are made by the same person. It has been the general custom to assign the last two speeches to one person, 2 Lord; but this is entirely at variance with the directions of the original, and is altogether unjustifiable. The question of these prefixes in this Scene is of small importance; but it extends itself to various others. In the next as well as in this, Mr. Collier, with Mr. Hudson, and other of his followers, have Envoy and Gentleman; and so also in Sc. 6, and in Sc. 1 and Sc. 3 of Act IV. They do so, because in those Scenes the prefixes have E and G; but

most strangely they neglect to introduce the same characters in Act II. Sc. 1, where the prefixes distinguishing the nameless lords who converse with the King of France, have also the letters E and G. They seem also not to have remarked the fatal inconsistency of making their French Envoy and Gentleman, who, in the first Scene of the present Act, are in Florence, enter, in the second Scene, the Castle of Rousillon in France, in company with Helena, who set out from Florence at the end of the preceding Act. The truth seems to be, that these letters E and G are transfers to the folio of mere prompters' guides. In Act II. Sc. 1, they appear as Lords "1 Lord G." and "2 Lord E;" in Act III. (the present) Sc. 1, they are shown by the stage direction," the two Frenchmen,' to be the same Lords, although they are designated merely as "French E" and "French G; in the next Scene they are merely two gentlemen; the old stage direction being "Enter Helen and two Gentlemen; " and in Sc. 6 of this Act, and in Sc. 3 of Act IV., they are again the two lords who are Bertram's friends, although they are designated as "Cap. E" and " Cap. G;" for the original stage direction in the former is, "Enter Count Rossiliion and the Frenchmen, as at first," and in the latter, "Enter the two French Captaines," &c. They are called Captains now because they have command in the Florentine army. E and G were evidently but the initial letters of the actors who played, doubling,' as it is called, these inferior parts. 7. "By self-unable motion":-i. e., entirely of his own motion, (motu proprio,) which, he being an outward man, was incompetent. Warburton somewhat plausibly read "self-unable notion."

p. 58.

SCENE II.

hold a goodly manor for a song": - This expresses not the tenure by which the melancholy man held the manor, but the value he set on it:- he held it worth a song, or, in other words, he loved music more than money. The folio of 1664 reads "sold a goodly manor," &c., and has been universally followed hitherto, except by Mr. Knight; but though we talk of selling for a mere song, song in this passage must needs be used literally, not metaphorically. Mr. Knight would most strangely have the manor "6 granted to a minstrel for his song," and held "by a melancholy successor, "competent to discharge the service." But how about the intermediate holders? Were they all, like Milton's nightingale, most musical, most melancholy? If not, the title would have lapsed.

"Enter HELENA and two Gentlemen " : See the first Note on Sc. 1 of this Act.

all the griefs are thine This may be understood as all thy griefs,' that is, all the griefs which are thine,' and the turn of the phrase, as well as the thought, is quite Elizabethan; yet it is not improbable that Shakespeare wrote -as Monck Mason conjectured all the griefs as thine.'

"With his inducement" :-i. e., with his training, instruction. We still speak of inducting youth into science, letters, or morals.

"The fellow has a deal of that, too much," &c.: This passage is very obscure. Warburton explained it as meaning that "his [Parolles] vices stand him in stead. Heath paraphrased it, "this fellow hath a deal too much of that which alone can judge that he has much in him; i. e., folly and ignorance." Neither exegesis is satisfactory. "That " has always been regarded as referring to "wickedness" in the Countess's speech; but may it not be merely a definitive belonging to "too-much" in the sense of 'excess nimis? This explanation is at least not more unsatisfactory than the others which have been given, and is quite accordant with the style of many parts of the play. Hanmer read, "that 'hoves him not much to have; a desperate effort, which effected little.

the violent speed of fire": - Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has "volant speed."

move the still piecing air": that is, the air which is woundless. The original has still-peering," which I once supposed might possibly be still 'pearing,' i. e., appearing still, even when it is moved; but this is too literal and materially true. The reading "still piecing" was brought forward by Steevens, having been suggested before; and it appears in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632. But, until the appearance of Mr. Verplanck's edition, it was never entirely sustained as it might have been by this passage:

the elements

Of which your swords are temper'd may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd at stabs,
Kill the still closing waters.'

The Tempest, Act III. Sc. 3. Mr. Verplanck also happily conjectured that the idea might have been suggested "by a passage in the apocryphal book of the Wisdom of Solomon : 'As when

an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot