p. 137. ..

p. 138.

"But I will satisfie thy last request,

For thou hast prizd thy love above thy life."

O, no! a lanthorn":- - An architectural allusion. A small open cupola which admits light and gives ventilation to a dome or hall is called a lantern or louvre, (l'ouvert.) In the ancient kitchens and halls the louvre was the only exit for the smoke and heated air of the apartment. See the following passage from the old Romance Thomas of Reading. "And with that he caused his Men to take him presently, and to bind him Hand and Foot. Which being done, they drew him vp in a Basket into the Smoky Louer of the Hall, and there did let him hang, &c. And in such a heate was hee driuen with drawing him vp, that he was faine to cast off his Gownes, his Coates and two paire of his Stockings," &c. Sig. F. ed. 1632.

a feasting presence : so "yesterday he [the King] dined in the presence in great pomp, with his rich cupboards of plate," &c. Letter of John Chamberlayne to Sir Dudley Carleton, London, Jan. 5, 1608. [Apud Rev. Joseph Hunter.

O my love! my wife!” - For these words and the ensuing five lines the 4to. of 1597 has only, "Ah deare Iuliet

How well thy beauty doth become this grave? "

Shall I believe

That unsubstantial Death," &c.: - The 4to. of 1599 and subsequent old copies, including the folio, give this passage thus:

Why art thou yet so faire? I will beleeve

Shall I believe that unsubstantiall death," &c., where it is manifest that the superfluous words, Shall I believe,' were intended to supersede the preceding three, which accidentally were allowed to remain in the copy. The 4to. of 1597 has,

"O I beleeve that unsubstanciall death

Is amorous.'

"Depart again” :

Here the text is that of the un

dated 4to. The 4to. of 1597 is not so full: that of 1599

and the folio have the astonishing jumble,

"Depart againe, come lie thou in my arme, [fol. armes,]

Heer's to thy health, where ere thou tumblest in.

O true Appothecarie !

Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kisse I die.
Depart again," &c.,-

p. 138.

p. 139.

p. 140.

where, as will be seen by following out the passage and comparing the two texts, some inexplicable cause has produced an almost unprecedented confusion of manuscripts. The recurrence of the phrases, Depart againe' and O true apothecarie,' and the second proposal of the health, certainly warrant the conclusion that the compositor or transcriber of the speech had an indistinct though reduplicating perception of it. Therefore I have no hesitation in adopting the text of the undated 4to.

"Will I set up my everlasting rest" : See the Note on this phrase in All's Well that Ends Well, Act II. Sc. 1. After these words Malone and

Who's there?

some other editors have inserted, Who is it that consorts so late the dead? a line which in the 4to. of

1597 is the first of the Friar's reply to Balthasar.

some ill unlucky thing":- So the folio and the 4to. of 1609. The 4to. of 1599, "some ill unthrifty thing."

"O churl drunk all, and left no friendly drop": Thus the 4to. of 1599: that of 1597 has, "drink all, and leave no friendly drop." The 4to. of 1609 has, “drink all, and left," &c., with a slight typographical deviation from the 4to. of 1599, (from which it was printed,) which was perpetuated in subsequent old editions. To modern taste the reading of the first 4to. is perhaps the more elegant; but the speech in that edition is but of two lines, and was plainly expanded and rewritten for the perfect copy.

there rust, and let me die : The 4to. of 1597

gives this passage thus:

"I, noise? then must I be resolute.

O happy dagger thou shalt end my feare,

Rest in my bosome, thus do I come to thee,"

where rest' has induced the supposition (to which, when I was green in judgment, I hastily agreed) that rust' of the 4to. of 1599 and subsequent old copies is a misprint. Its best support is Mr. Dyce's remark that "at such a moment the thoughts of Juliet were not likely to wander away to the future rusting of the dagger." But Juliet's thoughts do not wander: they go forward, though not to the literal end. Her imagination is excited, and, looking beyond her suicidal act, she sees her dead Romeo's dagger, which would otherwise rust in its sheath, rusting in her heart; and, with fierce and amorous joy, she cries,

"This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die."

p. 142.

p. 143.

"Seal up the mouth of outrage" : — Should any reader seek what is called a justification for this use of outrage,' Mrs. Clarke's Concordance will direct him to one in Henry the Sixth.

"I will be brief," &c.: - In the two versions of the tragedy this speech differs little in thought and nothing in purpose, but greatly in language. In the earlier it is much the poorer, and with a poverty of expression which is not Shakespeare's at any period of his life. I believe it to have been patched up from memory or imperfect notes by an inferior hand.

"Fr. I am the greatest able to doo least.

Most worthie Prince, heare me but speake the truth.
And Ile informe you how these things fell out.
Juliet here slaine was married to that Romeo,
Without her Fathers or her Mothers grant :

The nurse was privie to the marriage.
The balefull day of this unhappie marriage,
Was Tybalts doomesday: for which Romeo
Was banished from hence to Mantua.

He gone, her Father sought by foule constraint
To marrie her to Paris: But her Soule
(Loathing a second Contract) did refuse

To give consent; and therefore did she urge me
Either to finde a meanes she might avoyd
What so her Father sought to force her too :
Or els all desperately she threatened
Even in my presence to dispatch her selfe
Then did I give her, (tutord by mine arte

A potion that should make her seeme as dead:
And told her that I would with all post speed

Send hence to Mantua for her Romeo,

That he might come and take her from the Toombe.
But he that had my Letters (Fríar John)

Seeking a Brother to associate him,
Whereas the sicke infection remaind,
Was stayed by the Searchers of the Towne,
But Romeo understanding by his man
That Juliet was deceasde, returnde in post
Unto Verona for to see his love.

What after happened touching Paris death,
Or Romeos is to me unknowne at all.
But when I came to take the Lady hence,

I found them dead, and she awakt from sleep :

Whom faine I would have taken from the tombe,

Which she refused seeing Romeo dead.

Anone I heard the watch and then I fled,

What after happened I am ignorant of.

p. 145.

And if in this ought have miscarried
By me, or by my meanes let my olde life
Be sacrificed some houre before his time.
To the most stricktest rigor of the Law."

Notice the idioms whereas' and 'for to,' which Shakespeare seems so sedulously to have avoided, and which, it should be observed, are found in all the surreptitious and mutilated versions of his plays, and disappear in the authentic editions.

"There shall no figure at such rate : So the 4to. of 1599. The 4to. of 1609 misprinted, "at that rate," and was followed by the folio. The 4to. of 1597 has, "There shall no figure of such price be set

As that of Romeos loved Juliet."

"A glooming peace - The 4to. of 1597 only has, "A gloomie peace," &c., which perhaps should be followed, glooming' being possibly a misprint induced by 'morning' in the same line.

TIMON OF ATHENS.

(195)