p. 193.

p. 194.

p. 195.

sequent quotation of the letter enabled the earlier editors to correct. Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has born.' Daylight and champaign":- Daylight and an open, level country.

to be paid from the Sophy": "Alluding," says Steevens, "to Sir Robert Shirley, who was just returned in the character of an ambassador from the Sophy. He boasted of the great rewards he had received; and lived in London in the utmost splendour."

tray-trip": a game at dice.

"To the gates of Tartar" :— Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 carefully corrects Sir Toby's blunder, and reads "Tartarus."

p. 195.

p. 196.

p. 197.

ACT THIRD.

SCENE I.

Dost thou live by thy tabor?"—A pipe and tabor were commonly used by professional Clowns, especially upon the stage.

the King lives by a beggar": — The original has "the King lies," but that this is a misprint, is shown conclusively by the context; the Clown's speech, "I do live by the church," requiring, of course, in Viola's, "So thou may'st say the King lives;" not "the King lies." Yet this correction, which it would seem impossible for an editor to avoid, has not hitherto been made except in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632.

"You have said, sir": This obsolete form of affirmation is common in our Bible. A cheveril glove is a kid glove. The allusion in this speech and the next, and in a subsequent one of the Clown's, is to the affectation of verbal quibbling in Shakespeare's age; a fashion to which he conformed in a measure, but which he justly appreciated, as we see by other passages than this.

The pilchard

as pilchards are to herrings": is, I believe, unknown in this country. It is so like the herring, that, according to Lord Teignmouth, they can only be distinguished by the ability of the pilchard to furnish the fat in which it can be fried, which the herring lacks.

such common use by all who affected fine talking and writing in Shakespeare's day, that it became almost cant.

p. 197.

like the haggard” :

The haggard was a hawk

that would fly at any bird, game or not.

"But wise men's folly shewn, quite taints their wit": This is Hanmer's reading: the original has "But wifemen's folly falne, quite taint their wit." The antithesis is plainly between the folly which the fool shows and that which the wise men show. The former is fit, i. e., becoming; but the latter, being unfit, i. e., unbecoming, quite taints their wit, i. e., intelligence. The mistaking of falne' for fhewn' is easy enough. Tyrwhitt obscurely read "But wise men, folly-fallen, quite taint their wit; and Heath, "But wisemen's folly, fallen, quite taints their wit," with the licentious explanation that "wisemen's folly, fallen," means wisemen's folly, fallen into extravagance'!

she is the list of my voyage : ..List' means bound, barrier, as in the lists of a tournament and the list of broadcloth.

"Taste your legs":

'Taste,' the radical meaning of which is, to touch, was of old sometimes used for 'try.'

66

—a cyprus, not a bosom":- In the original, · Cipresse." Cyprus was a transparent fabric like lawn. See the Note on “ cyprus black as e'er was crow," in the Clown's song. Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. 3.

No, not a grize":-i. e., not a step: perhaps from the French greza paving stone.

SCENE II.

The original omits

"Did she see [thee] the while": 'thee,' which was restored by Rowe. The omission was doubtless occasioned by the old irregular spelling of the pronoun, which was often the same as that of the article.

" — a Brownist": -The Brownists were followers of Robert Brown, a seceder from the Church of England, who held for a time the most extravagant notions. He returned to the Church; but his sect existed for some years, and was the subject of much justifiable ridicule.

if thou thou'st him some thrice":- Mr. Halliwell quotes the following anecdote in illustration of this passage: "A scholler that vaunted what especiall interest he had in a certaine faire Gentlewoman, went (he and his friend) on a time to visit her: And she, in disdaine of him, still thou'd him at every word, and he as often titled her with Honour, Ladiship, and Majestie, whereat the Gentlewoman waxing testie and curst, asked him why

p. 202.

p. 203.

p. 204.

he so exalted her in title above her calling. He answered: May it please you to mount but one poynt higher, and then will I fall one lower, so shall our musick well accord." Copley's Wits, Fits, and Fancies. 1614.

the Bed of Ware": - This vast dormitorial structure was ten feet and nine inches in length, by ten feet and nine inches in breadth, and may be regarded as the ideal, monumental English four poster. Its roof, sides, and cornice were decorated by a profusion of arabesque carving, and pedestals, pillars, and arches entered into the composition of the lower part of its posts. It was planned, erected, and consecrated to the god of Sleep in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was destroyed only within the present century. The names of its founder and its architect have not survived.

the cubiculo": i. e., the chamber.

the youngest wren of nine":- The original has "of mine;" which Rowe changed to nine,' quite justifiably, it would seem. The wren lays many eggs, and the chicken last hatched was supposed to be the smallest. Warburton suggested that the boy for whom Shakespeare wrote the part of Maria was very small. It is worth noticing that'renegado,' in the next speech, is spelled renegatho in the original.

66

the new map : Steevens pointed out that this new map with the augmentation of the Indies was first published in a translation of Linschoten's Voyages, which appeared in 1598. It probably has more lines upon it within a given space than any other ever engraved.~ A facsimile of part of it is given in Mr. Knight's Pictorial Shakespeare.

SCENE III.

“And thanks: and very oft," &c.: The original has "And thanks: and ever oft," &c. — leaving the line deficient in two syllables, and almost unintelligible in its latter part. Malone and Steevens read, "And thanks and ever thanks: often good turns; " Mr. Collier, "And thanks and ever oft good turns," but he does not say what this means; Mr. Singer, by transposition, reads, "And ever thanks and oft good turns." Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has, "And thanks, still thanks; and very oft," &c. This gives us the best possible emendation of ever;' but if it were allowable to supply the two syllables, we should read, "And thanks, and thanks; and very oft," &c. Such a triplication is natural; and one repetition might very easily have been omitted by either author or compositor.

:

p. 204.

"

p. 206.

p. 207.

"

p. 209.

"

p. 210.

p. 211.

"But, were my worth" :- Mr. Collier's folio of 1631 very plausibly reads "wealth ; " but asworth' was and

is used for wealth,' the change is inadmissible.

'gainst the Count his galleys":- This old form of the possessive was in common use in Shakespeare's time, and cannot therefore be disturbed; but it is quite probable, at least, that he wrote "the County's gallies."

SCENE IV.

"Please one, and please all": - This sonnet is pre

served on a black-letter broadside in the collection of Mr. Daniel, and was lately reprinted in the London Illustrated News.

"Why, how dost thou, man? This speech is assigned to Malvolio in the original, but restored to Olivia in the second folio.

Midsummer madness :- Lunatics were supposed to be more flighty in Midsummer. Hence, doubtless, the title A Midsummer Night's Dream for that fanciful comedy.

but it is Jove's doing, and Jove," &c.:— In both cases the original prints Iove;' and I am by no means sure that we should not read Love.' See the Note on "What is not holy," &c., All's Well, Act IV. Sc. 2.

panion.

nor after my degree, but fellow”: — i. e., com

my bawcock' It is supposed that this is a corruption of the French beau cocq. It occurs again in The Winter's Tale, Act I. Sc. 2.

·foul collier": — Colliers, in Shakespeare's day, seem to have been the very refuse and scum of society. and to exceeding good sense

Thus the

original. Yet all modern editors hitherto have omitted "to;" silently, but it is to be supposed, on account of some obscurity which it created for the first transgressor and for those of his successors who did more than to copy the text of their predecessors. If Fabian had said, "Very brief, and to exceeding good purpose," adding less' aside, there would have been no obscurity found, yet no more exists now than would have existed then.

by the look, like cockatrices" The cockatrice was supposed to have deadly venom in its glance.

p. 211.

too unchary on't" :- Theobald read with some plausibility, "too unchary out.'

:

thy tuck be yare":- The tuck was a long dagger. 'Yare' means nimble, alert.

He is a knight dubb'd with unhack'd rapier":— The original omits the article, which strangely has not been hitherto restored except in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632; and it also reads "unhatch'd rapier," which, as the knight was dubbed on carpet consideration, and the rapier used for such a ceremony would doubtless have a hatched or engraved hilt, and be unhack'd by service, seems plainly a misprint for the word in the text. "Ile go to the halfecrowne ordinary every meale; Ile have my ivory box of tobacco; Ile converse with none but counts and courtiers. Now good boy, good Sinior, a paire of massie silver spurs, to a hatch short sword," &c. Marston's What You Will, Act V. Sc. 1.

ne hap,' let it happen or not, come what may, as the origin and radical signification of this phrase.

for's oath sake": Thus the original, with a contraction and an omission of the sign of the possessive case not uncommon of old; and yet all editors of the present day give, "for his oath's sake."

an undertaker": - The word was applied in Shakespeare's time to any one who undertook the business of another.

p. 218.

ACT FOURTH.

SCENE I.

this great lubberly word will prove a cockney" That is, I am afraid that this pretentious, affected word, 'vent,' will, at last, become domesticated in London.' The word 'vent,' in the sense of utter,' was coming into fashion in Shakespeare's day; and although it was regarded as an affectation, and is ridiculed in the present passage, he himself so uses it more than once. As to 'cockney,' see the following definitions: — “ Cockney, applied only to one borne within the sound of Bow-bell, that is within the city of London. . . . A Cockney may be taken for a child tenderly and wantonly brought up." Minsheu's Ductor in Linguas, 1617. "Mammothreptus. A child sucking long, or a child wantonly brought up, a cockney." Littleton's Lat.-Eng. Dictionary, 1678. "Cockney,