Some of the obscurities in Shakespeare's text arise from the consilience of two obsolete expressions. Here is one example, in which a word employed in an obsolete sense forms part of a phrase which is itself of obsolete construction. In Hamlet I. 4. Horatio tries to dissuade Hamlet from accompanying the ghost, lest it should „assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, The verb to deprive is at present used in the sense of bereave or rob; but in Shakespeare's day it meant ablate or dis appropriate. Thus, in Lucrece st. CLXX.: Tis honour to deprive dishonour'd life." But the passage from Hamlet contains yet another archaism, viz. to deprive your sovereignty of reason, i. e. the sovereignty of your reason: and this obsolete phraseology was not peculiar to verse. Here is a prose example which occurs in a letter of Sir Thomas Dale 1616 (the year in which Shakespeare died). He calls Virginia „, one of the goodliest and richest kingdoms in the world, which being inhabited by the king's subjects, will put such a bit into our ancient enemy's mouth as will curb his hautiness of monarchy," i. e. the haughtiness of his monarchy. All this was misunderstood by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, who in his Few Words proposes to transpose "your" and ", of" in the passage we are considering, so that the line objected to would stand thus ,Which might deprive of sovereignty your reason,“ a substitution which deprives his eloquence of language, and draws it into twaddle. 9. Occasionally it is figurative language of the text which throws the critic off the scent, and thus leads him to infer a corruption which does not exist. The best example of this which we can call to mind is, a passage in Much ado about Nothing: IV. 1. Leonato learning that Hero has fainted under the shock of her disgrace, cries. Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes: For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die, Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames, Strike at thy life." This is the reading of the quarto, which has the spelling rereward. The military metaphor has perplexed the critics. The war is between Hero's spirits and her shames or reproaches. The latter has, in the onset, assailed her, and she lies insensible. Then, says Leonato, if they fail to kill her, owing to the opposing strength of her spirits, I myself will come as a reserve in their rear, and reinforce them; they have conquered her; I will slay her. Not perceiving the integrity of the metaphor, for which rearward (the reverse of voyward, vayward, or vanguard) is absolutely required, they have proposed several substitutes, whereof the most plausible is Mr. Brae's conjecture, reword. Even if the text were faulty, we should object to it, because its adoption would make Leonato's speech inconsistent with itself. He wishes his daugther not to survive the reproaches she has already suffered. But to make him say, „did I think thou wouldst not quickly die," upon the repetition of these charges I myself would strike at thy life", would be to make his design on her life dependent on the renewal of the verbal reproaches against her; which is out of the question. The objection to reward (regard) the reading of the folio 1623, or to reword on the ground of its prosody is absurd. Reward or reword might be either an iambus or a trochee. Reflect (Fletcher) relapse and secure (Shakespeare), regret (Drant) recluse (Donne), are all used occasionally as trochees. The real objection to reward is, that the sense of regard was alrealy obsolete when Shakespeare wrote; that to reword is, that it is inconsistent, with the context, and violates the integrity of the metaphor. Besides, the word rearward is essential to its integrity, as shewing that Leonato intends to come on the heels of the reproaches, to inflict a speedy death on their wounded yet surviving victim. Compare the same metaphor in the 90th Sonnet of Shakespeare: ,,Oh! do not, when my heart hath scap'd this sorrow, But in the onset come;" Passages upon passages crowd upon us, clamouring for advocacy and defense, which, as yet are suffering the crying wrongs emendation, as if the Promethean bard were here chained to the of pedantry, and a good-natured vulture were preying on his vitals. But we trust enough has been done both by way of warning and of criticism, to shew that ignorance of the spelling, language and customs of Shakespeare's day, is an absolute disqualification for the serious work of criticism, even more so than the insensibility of such men as Steevens and Johnson. The text is beset with difficulties to the ordinary reader, which are occasioned far more from the presence of obsolete phraseology and of allusions to obsolete customs and forgotten events, than from corruption; so that to an ignorant reader who is impatient of obscurity, profuse emendation is a positive necessity. But unhappily ignorance, insensibility, and literary ambition concur to convert a reader into a criticaster of Shakespeare's text. The result, is that passages, eminent for their sense and beauty, for the purity of their construction, the selectness of their words, the dignity or fitness of their thoughts, are defaced by the meddling clumsy boor whose vanity has induced him to play the critic. Such is the fate that has befallen, among many other passages of faultless excellence, that most lovely of all that ever flowed from the great soul of the poet, viz. the speech of Prince Pericles when he calls on Helicanus to wound him, lest he should drown in the sweetness of ,,the great sea of joys" that rushed upon him: till at length we are glad to find a fitting vent for our grief and indignation in the words of Milton, addressing the shade of Shakespeare thus: ,,See with what haste these dogs of Hell advance V. Happy indeed shall we be if our remarks induce the verbal critic to spare the works of Shakespeare as he loves them. But, at the same time, we concede the fact of corruption in many passages, and the probability of corruption in many others. Conjectural criticism then being thus allowed, it were well if binding canons of emendation could be imposed on all as a common basis of operations. Such a preliminary would obviate a vast and useless expenditure of inventive sagacity, and the antiquarians would be spared a world of superfluous research. There are certain considerations which might assist the critics in the determination of that basis. In the first place, the hopelessness of certain classes of emendations may well be allowed to put them out of court, however felicitous they may be: (1.) Where there is no close resemblance between the ductus literarum of the word or words to be supplanted, and that of the word or words to be supplied, regard being had either to their MS. or printed form. E. g. we can not expect that tributary streams will ever be accepted for wearie very means"; that Her own suit joining with her mother's grace will ever supersede „Her insuite comming with her modern grace", or that prospice funem will ever take the place of the prophecy". (2.) Where the substituted word is insolens: e. g. tame chetah for tame cheater": young chamalls [Angora-goats] for young scamels": to which may be added several of the proposed emendations of Strachy. At the same time it should be remembered that some words can more readily substantiate their claims than others: e. g. rother for brother is a good word enough, and that it was not wholly unknown to Shakespeare is proved by Rother Street in the very town where he was born and died. Yet no example of the use of rother, an ox, has even been discovered in the literature of Elizabeth. We concede to Thomas De Quincey that it is hard that a man who has to do the work of commenting, should have to undergo the additional task of understanding his author. But at the same time, it is respectfully suggested that it would materially conduce to economy of thought and research if the verbal critic would take the trouble to read the context of the particular word or phrase on which he contemplates an operation, and keep his speculations to himself until he can adduce some evidence in favour of one conjecture over its rivals in each case. Nobody cares to be told that the word in the text is a misprint for this, that, or the other, as is the custom of several critics of this day, to whom the great Becket seems to have allotted the rags which served him for a mantle! The truth is that emendation is the fruit of enormous study and research on the one hand, and of rare sensibility and sense on the other. The successful conjectures are comparatively few; and few also are those critics who have exhibited any remarkable sagacity in this kind of speculation. As a sample of successful emendation the following may be cited with eminent satisfaction. Gown which uses. Gum (Pope) which oozes (Johnson). Timon of Athens. It is the pastor lards the brother's sides, The It is the pasture (Rowe) lards the brother's sides, It will not cool my nature. It will not curl by (Theobald) nature.. Her insuite comming. Her infinite cunning (Walker). Timon of Twelfth Night. Alls well that ends well. As you Till that the wearie very means do ebb. Till that the wearer's (Singer) very means do ebb. like it. the And as a bud I'll take thee. And as a bride (Staunton) I'll take thee. Comedy of Errors. Our arms in strength of malice. } Our arms in strength of amitie (Singer). Julius Cæsar. Thy paleness moves me. Thy plainness (Warburton) moves me. A table o' green fields. A babled (Theobald) o' green fields. Merchant of Venice. Henry V. For I do see the cruel pangs of death Right in thine eye. For I do see the cruel pangs of death Riot (Brae) in thine eye. I have retired me to a wasteful cook. I have retired me to a wakeful couch (Swynfen King John. Timon of Of course, in order to appreciate the actual duty done by each emendation it is necessary to make the passage to which it applies a special study. All that the mere presentation of them to the eye can do, is to shew the reader that the ductus literarum of the conjecture is sufficiently near to that of the text: which is also the case with the majority of unsuccessful attempts. If much has been achieved, there remains yet much to do. Only look at the word Strachy, and see how little we have advanced towards a solution of the riddle from the time when Hanmer altered it to Stratarch, and Warburton to Trachy. The last suggestion is Mr. Halliwll's, viz. that it does duty for Strapchy, |