In this line a word is evidently wanting; nor is the old text to be defended by the line which Dr. Guest cites ibid., "Poison'd, ill fare! dead! forsook! cast off.' Kg. John, 5. 7,”— for in that line "fare" is to be considered as a dissyllable: see Walker's Shakespeare's Versification, &c. p. 139. Vol. i. p. 225; "Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows Misquoted. The old copies have R. 2, 2. 2." "Of what it is not. Then thrice-gracious queen," &c. Vol. i. p. 231; "Lord Marshall command: our officers | at arms|,* R. 2, 1. 1." "Fol. Ed. 1623. In the modern Editions the word Lord is omitted." Surely the modern editors are justified in omitting the word "Lord" as an interpolation, when (to say nothing of the line being the first line of a couplet) they find in sc. 3 of this act the same speaker (King Richard) saying, and "Marshal, demand of yonder champion "Order the trial, marshal, and begin." Vol. i. p. 232; "We may boldly spend: upon | the hope of what | Is to come in.' Faulty beyond a doubt. Vol. i. p. 233; [First Part of] H. 4, 3 [4], 1.” "In a chariot of inestimable value.' Pericles, 2. 4." No such line occurs in the old copies of this dreadfully vitiated play. They have "When he was seated in a chariot Of an inestimable value, and his daughter with him," &c. out of which the modern editors have made "When he was seated, and his daughter with him, In a chariot of inestimable value." Vol. i. p. 238; "Hubert, keep | this boy: Phillip, make up, My mother is assailed in her [our] tent, Kg. John, 3, 2." In spite of the four lines of Anglo-Saxon (!) which Dr. Guest adduces as similar in metre to the first line of this speech, I feel confident that it is mutilated,-Shakespeare having most probably written 66 Hubert, keep thou this boy.-Philip, make up," &c. Vol. i. p, 238; 66 6 Stay! the king | hath thrown]: his war der down].' R. 2, 1. 3." But what says Walker? "Read,-Stay, stay! The situation itself, surely, demands more than the simple 'Stay'." Crit. Exam. &c. vol. ii. p. 144. (And the reduplication of the word "Stay, stay thy hands! thou art an Amazon," &c. "Stay, stay, I say!" First Part of King Henry VI. act i. sc. 2. Id. act iii. sc. 1. Timon of Athens, act ii. sc. 2.) "Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Apemantus," &c. Vol. i. p. 239; "Let's to the sea-side, ho! As well to see the vessel that's come in, As | throw out our eyes: for brave | Othello.' Othello, 2. 1." Misquoted. The old eds. have "As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello." Shall you, my son. Misquoted. The old eds. have "So by my former lecture and advice,” &c. Vol. i. p. 241; Hamlet, 2. 1." "See | him pluck | Aufid¦ius: down | by the hair. Cor. 1, 3." That Shakespeare wrote "I see him pluck Aufidius down by th' hair" (the folio of 1623 having "th' hair") is almost proved by other lines of the speech; and "Methinks I hear hither your husband's drum," "Methinks I see him stamp thus, and call thus." Vol. i. p. 245; "Come, for the third, | Laer|tes: you do | but dalɣly.' Hamlet, 5, 2." In this line the folio of 1623 omits "do," and rightly. Vol. i. p. 250; "Have for ty miles | to ride | yet: ere dinner time.' 1 Hen. 4, 3. 3." The "yet" is plainly an interpolation. (The old eds. read "Have thirty miles," &c.) Vol. i. p. 250; "The morning comes upon | us: we'll leave you, Brutus.' Jul. Cæs. 2, 1." The folio of 1623 has, what the author doubtless wrote, "The morning comes upon's: we'll leave you, Brutus." “Who wears | my stripes | impress'd | on him: who | must bear | My beating to the grave.' Cor. 5, 6." Misquoted. In the folio of 1623 the passage stands thus ; "and his own notion, Who wears my stripes impress'd upon him, that To thrust the lie unto him." Vol. i. p. 299; 666 "But room, faery: here comes Oberon. And here my mistress, would that he was [were] gone!' M. N. D. 2, 1." In this passage the substitution of the trisyllabic archaism faëry" for the "fairy" of the old editions is a most daring and ridiculous device to eke-out the metre of a line from which a word has evidently escaped. Shakespeare, of course, always writes "fairy" and "fairies" as dissyllables; which words occur more than twenty times in the play now quoted. Vol. i. p. 303; "In [For] that it sav'd me, keep it. In like necessity, Per. 2, 1." Who would suppose that the second of these lines stands thus in the old editions, "The which the gods protect thee, Fame may defend thee"? Let me dismiss the subject of Shakespeare's metre with this remark:—it has sometimes happened that limping lines in our early dramatists, which had appeared more than suspicious to all except the sworn defenders of a very loose versification (who even recognised in them an "elegant retar dation" 66 or a pause filling up the place of a syllable"), have been found at last to be mutilated, on the discovery of quartos with a correcter text. Though the frequent occurrence of my friend Mr. W. N. Lettsom's name in the notes is a sufficient proof that I am greatly indebted to him, it by no means shows the full extent of my obligations; for on every one of the plays he has favoured me with not unimportant suggestions, of which I have silently availed myself. I have to return my thanks to Mr. Bolton Corney and to my fellow-labourer Mr. J. O. Halliwell for some useful information, bibliographical and biographical; to Mr. Swynfen Jervis, not only for various ingenious conjectures, but also for the very kind interest he has taken in my work; and to Mr. Robson, the printer of the present edition, for again rendering me those services which I had occasion to acknowledge at the close of my former Preface. ALEXANDER DYCE. |