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 BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY 
 
 COLLECTED BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
 1854-1919 
 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 3071.D99S9 
 
 Strictures on Mr. Collier's new edition 
 
 3 1924 013 164 375 
 
PI Cornell University 
 j Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013164375 
 
STRICTURES 
 
 cm 
 
 MR. COLLIER'S NEW EDITION OF 
 SHAKESPARE. 1858. 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER DYCE. 
 
 LONPON: 
 JOHN EUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQX7AKE> 
 
 1859. 
 
Stliata, New Inrk 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY 
 
 COLLECTED. BY 
 
 BENNO LOEWY 
 
 1854-1919 
 
 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
STKICTURES 
 
 ON 
 
 MR. COLLIER'S EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE, 
 
 1858. 
 
LONDON : 
 rniNTKD BY IIOBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 
 
 Oreiit New Street and Fetter Lane. 
 
STEICTUEES 
 
 ME. COLLIER'S NEW EDITION OF 
 SHAKESPEARE, 1858. 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER DYCE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 36 SOHO SQUARE. 
 
 185'9. 
 
h^Gl'^^J C 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Me. Collier's new edition of Shakespeare, — which 
 appeared not long after my own edition, — had been 
 published six months before I even looked into it. 
 Heartily tired of reading and writing about varice lec- 
 tiones and contested passages, I had resolved to defer 
 forming any acquaintance with Mr. ColUer's more re- 
 cent labours till the time arrived, — if it ever came, — 
 when a re-impression of my own Shakespeare should 
 be called for : and I only abandoned that resolution 
 on learning, from several quarters, how Mr. Collier had 
 assailed me throughout the whole book. 
 
 Besides bringing against me in his Preface sundry 
 charges which are utterly false, Mr. Collier has over 
 and over again, when speaking of me in his Notes, had 
 recourse to such artful misrepresentation as, I believe, 
 was never before practised, except by 'the most unprin- 
 cipled hirelings of the press. I do not make this state- 
 ment unadvisedly : let Mr. Collier, — who is fond of 
 addressing the public about himself and his grievances, 
 — gainsay it if he can : — he may, indeed, attempt to 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 excuse his false charges on the miserable plea that " he 
 wrote in haste, without sufficient inquiry," &c., &c.; 
 but the proofs which I have adduced of his deliberate 
 misrepresentation are too strong to admit of even an 
 attempt to invalidate them. 
 
 Nor, in attacking me, has Mr. Collier confined him- 
 self to my remarks on his former edition' and on the 
 performances of his Ms. Corrector. He has hunted 
 through many volumes of early English dramatists 
 which I edited at different periods of my hfe (some of 
 them dated as far back as 1828) ; and wherever he 
 could detect what he conceived to be an error, he has 
 drawn it from its lurking-place with great parade, — 
 nay, sometimes (regardless how far he might disfigure 
 the page of Shakespeare) he has introduced a note for 
 the express purpose of exhibiting it. As the early 
 dramatists in question amount to above two dozen 
 volumes, and, with the exception of Marlowe and of 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, were edited by me, for the 
 first time, from the very corrupt old copies, it was 
 hardly to be expected that they should not occasion- 
 ally afford Mr. Collier opportunities of gratifying his 
 maUce by pointing out mistakes and oversights : but 
 it happens also, that frequently, in his hyper-acuteness, 
 he has discovered faults where none exist, and, rival- 
 hng the Ms. Correetor, has boldly substituted his own 
 ridiculous emendations for the genuine language of the 
 poets. 
 
 Though a portion of the following sheets is occu- 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 pied with observations on a few (comparatively, a very 
 few) of the many startling things in Mr. Collier's new 
 text of Shakespeare, — those observations are to be 
 considered by the reader as b ragsg'yai ; the main ob- 
 ject of this little work being to expose the ungentle- 
 manly treatment which I have received at the hands 
 of one who seems to take a pleasure in proclaiming that 
 he was once my friend. 
 
 A. DYCE. 
 
ERRATA. 
 V. 32, last line, and p. 33, fourth line, /or "Lupus" read "Lopus.'' 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mr. Collier's Preface i 
 
 „ „ History of the English Stage, &c. 
 
 
 11 
 
 „ „ Life of Shakespeare 
 
 
 12 
 
 „ „ Supplemental Notes 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 The Tempest 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 22 
 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 Measure for Measure . 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 The Cowedt of Errors 
 
 
 
 
 41 
 
 Much ado about Nothing 
 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 Love's Labour's lost 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 Midsummfk-Night's Dream . 
 
 
 
 
 61 
 
 The Merchant of Venice 
 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 As tou like it . . . 
 
 
 
 
 68 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew . 
 
 
 
 
 . 70 
 
 All's Well that ends Well 
 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 Twelfth-Night . 
 
 
 
 
 . 76 
 
 The Winter's Tale 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 liiNG John .... 
 
 
 
 
 89 
 
 King Eichaed II. . 
 
 
 
 
 99 
 
 First Part of King Henky IV. 
 
 
 
 
 107 
 
 Second Paet of King Henry IV. . 
 
 
 
 
 113 
 
 King Henry V. . . . 
 
 
 
 
 120 
 
 First Part of King Henry VI. 
 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 Second Part of King Heney VI. 
 
 
 
 
 131 
 
 Third Part of King Henky VI. 
 
 
 
 
 138 
 
 King Eichard III. . ' . 
 
 
 
 
 140 
 
 King Henry VIH. 
 
 
 
 
 143 
 
 Troilus and Ceessida . 
 
 
 
 
 149 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COEIOLANUS 
 
 . 154 
 
 Titus Androniccs 
 
 159 
 
 EoMEO AND Juliet 
 
 . 162 
 
 TiMON OF Athens 
 
 . 170 
 
 Julius Cjesak .... 
 
 . 176 
 
 Macbeth 
 
 . 179 
 
 Hamlet 
 
 . 186 
 
 King Lear ... 
 
 . 193 
 
 Othello 
 
 . 197 
 
 Antont and Cleopatka 
 
 . 200 
 
 Cymbeline 
 
 . 209 
 
 Pericles 
 
 . 220 
 
 Venus and Adonis .... 
 
 . 225 
 
 LUCEECE 
 
 226 
 
STRICTURES, 
 
 Vol. I. (of Mr. Collier's Shakespeare, 1858). 
 
 ^ PREFACE. 
 
 P. xv.j note. 
 
 " I have already mentioned Mr. Singer's corrected folio, 1632, and 
 its various welcome concurrences with my coit. fo. 1632 ; but the Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce, as if to disparage my volume, sometimes puts in a claim for 
 emendations in Mr. Singer's folio not borne out by the fact : I will only 
 trouble the reader with one instance, and it applies to a passage in 
 ' Henry IV. Part II.,' A. i. sc. 2, where Falstaff says, 
 
 ' And so both the degrees prevent my curses,' 
 
 as the words have been invariably printed from 1623 to 1857. What, 
 then, is the emendation in my corr. fo. 1632 ? This : — 
 
 ' And so both the diseases prevent my curses ;' 
 
 a change that even Mr. Dyce could not refuse ; and what is his note 
 upon it? 'The old copies (says he) have 'the degrees prevent,' from 
 which it seems impossible to elicit a tolerable sense. The two Ms. cor- 
 rectors — Mr. Collier's and Mr. Singer's — ('the Percy and the Douglas 
 both together') agree in the reading which I have adopted,' viz. diseases. 
 This is a total mistake : Mr. Singer's Ms. corrector makes no such pro- 
 posal j and Mr. Singer, in his 'Shakespeare,' vol. v. p. 179, actually 
 retains ' degrees' in his text, observing in his note, — ' It has been pro- 
 posed to change degrees to diseases. But there is wit in speaking of a 
 diseased sinner graduating in honours.' " 
 
 The " TOTAL mistake" with which Mr. Collier has here so 
 rashly charged me is wholly his own. It is trae that Mr. 
 Singer, when he came to reedit Shakespeare, was content 
 with the old reading, " degrees :" but let us hear what he had 
 previously written on the passage in his Shakespeare Vindi- 
 cated, p. 112; 
 
2 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol.. i. 
 
 "The substitution [by Mr. Collier's Ms. .Corrector] of 
 diseases for degrees in Palstafif's speech is a good and legiti- 
 mate correction ; which has also been made in my copy or 
 
 THE second folio." 
 
 p. XV., note. 
 
 " I may just add, that if the reader will take the trouble to turn to 
 ' Troilus and Cressida,' A. iii. sc. 3, he will notice another striking proof 
 of the same species of detraction, where ' mirror'd' has always been mis- 
 printed Tnarried, until the change was brought forward in my corr. fo. 
 1632 : Mr. Singer's Ms. corrector says nothing about it, although the 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce, I dare say inadvertently, states the contrary." 
 
 Another " total mistake" on the part of Mr. Collier. 
 In his Shakespeare Vindicated, p. 198, Mr. Singer writes as 
 follows ; 
 
 " The substitution of mirrored for ' married,' so evidently 
 required by the sense in the lines — 
 
 ' For speculation turns not to itself 
 Till it hath travell'd, and is married there 
 Where it may see itself,' 
 
 HAD NOT ESCAPED THE CORRECTOR OF MY SECOND FOLIO, who 
 
 has taken considerable pains with the corrupt text of this 
 play, but I should think a hint for this emendation will be 
 found somewhere in print, and that both correctors have 
 availed themselves of it." 
 
 P. xvi. Mr, CoUier, after some remarks on Mr. Singer's 
 note upon the line in King John, act v. sc. 4, 
 
 " Unthread the rude eye of rebellion,'' 
 
 returns (p. xvii.) to me : 
 
 "Mr. Dyce does not attempt to say one word about the old corrupt 
 text of ' unthread the rude eye of rebellion,' and the true language of 
 Shakespeare, we may be sure, is what I have printed, Vol. iii. p. 200 : 
 
 ' Ply, noble English ; you are bought and sold : 
 Untread the road-way of rebellion, 
 And welcome home again discarded faith. ' 
 
 This is one of the cases in which Mr. Dyce did not run the risk of 
 
VOL. I.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 3 
 
 noticing the emendation, lest in the first place he should have to correct 
 his friend Mr. Singer's mistake, and secondly, and more importantly, 
 lest his readers should chance to ask, ' Why did you not adopt such an 
 easy, probable, and sensible emendation V " 
 
 The truth is, I noticed neither Theobald's nor the Ms. 
 Corrector's alteration of the line, because the following pass- 
 ages of Shakespeare render it very doubtful if any alteration 
 is necessary ; 
 
 " Even when the navel of the state was touch'd. 
 They would not thread the gates," &c. 
 
 Goriolarviis, act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " Thus out of season, threading dark-ey'd night." 
 
 King Lea/r, act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " It is as hard to come as for a camel 
 To thread the postern of a needless ey«." 
 
 Richard II. act v. sc. 5. 
 
 Malone, ad I., observes ; " Our author is not always careful 
 that the epithet which he applies to a figurative term should 
 answer on both sides. Rude is applicable to rebellion, but 
 not to eye. He means, in fact, — the eye of rude rebellion." 
 And a recent very accomplished editor of Shakespeare, Mr. 
 Staunton, concludes his defence of the old reading thus; 
 " Moreover, the origiual spelling is unthred, and it is remark- 
 able, that in the folio, 1623, thread, which occurs many times, 
 is invariably spelt thred, whilst tread is always exhibited in 
 its present form." 
 
 P. xix., note. 
 
 "In 'The Taming of the Shrew,' A. iii. sc. 2, Biondello introduces a 
 part of an old ballad, which, until my time, had been invariably printed 
 and read as prose : the Rev. Mr. Dyce gives it as vei-se, without a word. 
 In 'Troilus and Cressida,' A. iii. so. 2, for the first time I printed, 
 'Love's thrice -repured nectar' for ' tlaxice- reputed,' as it has always 
 stood ; and Mr. Dyce adopts it in silence. In the same way, in ' The 
 Merchant of Venice,' A. iii. sc. 1, I materially altered the entrance of 
 Tubal ; so does Mr. Dyce, without a syllable to show from whence he 
 procured the change." 
 
 On turning to the two editions of Shakespeare which lie 
 nearest my hand, Theobald's of 1740, and the Variorum of 
 
4 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSA'GES [vol. i. 
 
 1821 J I find in The Taming of the Shrew, act iii. sc. 3, the 
 following arrangement ; 
 
 " Bion, Nay, by St. Jamy, I hold you a penny, 
 ■A horse and a man is more than one, and yet not many." 
 
 So much for Mr. Collier's assertion that " until his time" the 
 speech of Biondello " had been invariably printed and read as 
 prose." — In Troilus and Cressida, act iii. sc. 2, the lection 
 " thrice-repured nectar" was obtained by Mr. Collier from a 
 copy of the Ato, 1609, belonging to the Duke of Devonshire : 
 and, in conformity to the plan laid down for my edition, I 
 ''adopted it in silence," because it was not a conjectural 
 emendation, but a reading warranted by an early copy. — As 
 to my neglecting to say " a syllable" about Mr. Collier's hay- 
 ing " materially altered the entrance of Tubal," — the charge 
 is ludicrous. Mr. Collier, who has examined my Shakespeare 
 so minutely, could not fail to see what pains I have bestowed 
 throughout on the proper location of the entrances and exits : 
 and does he seriously imagine tbat for such a trifling change 
 as that in question I was indebted to him ? N.B. " The en- 
 trance of Tubal" is marked in its right place in the acting 
 copies of The Merchant of Venice, — several of which were 
 printed long before Mr. Collier was born : — I now quote from 
 Cumberland's sixpenny edition ; 
 
 ^' Sal. Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot be 
 match' d, unless the devil himself turn Jew. 
 
 [Exeunt Solomio and Salarino, RltgJitj. 
 
 Enter Tubal, L\efi\. 
 
 Shy. \_Rimning to meet hmi]. How now. Tubal, what news from 
 Genoa," &c. 
 
 P. xxi. Here Mr. Collier does not scruple to print, from 
 A PRIVATE LETTER, what I happened to write to him about 
 the Notes and Emendations, soon after the appearance of that 
 volume; a proceeding the more unjustifiable because he is 
 quite aware that I subsequently found reason to think less 
 favourably, on the whole, of the Ms. Corrector than I did at 
 
VOL. 1.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 5 
 
 first: — but it appears, both from Ms Preface and from his 
 Notes, that Mr. Collier is no longer under the restraint of any 
 thing like delicacy of feeling. 
 
 P. xxiv. 
 
 "It would not be easy to point out a stronger or a stranger instance 
 of the manner in which the Eev. Mr. Dyce consents rather to injure 
 his text than to owe an obligation to my corrected folio, 16.32, than 
 is to be met with in ' The Merry Wives of Windsor,' A. v. sc. 2, where 
 every syllable of a page and a half is in rhyme, excepting a single line, 
 which single line is made by the old annotator to jingle, like all the 
 rest, by the smallest possible change, little more than altering 'leap' 
 to 'leapt,' which change Mr. Dyce can repudiate for no other reason, 
 but because it comes to him recommended by an unwelcome authority. 
 The folio, 1623, has it thus :— 
 
 ' Cricket, to Windsor 'chimneys shalt thou leap ; 
 Where fires thou find'st unrak'd and hearths unswept, 
 There pinch the maids,' &c. 
 For between forty and fifty lines together the rhyme is invariable, and 
 the change, in order to restore the rhyme, is so direct and facile, that 
 we may be sure that the first line quoted above has been corrupted 
 in the press. The remedy, though never seen, is as 'plain as way to 
 parish chui'ch,' and the old corrector points it out : — 
 
 ' Cricket, to Windsor chimneys when thou'st leapt, 
 Where fires thou find'st uurak'd and hearths unswept. 
 There pinch the maids,' &c. 
 
 Can any body doubt that 'leap' of the old copies ought to be leapt? 
 Yes ; the Rev. Mr. Dyce denies it, if he do not doubt it ; for he tells us 
 in a note what the Ms. corrector proposes, and yet without the slightest 
 reason assigned (for how could he assign one ?) he reprints the old blun- 
 der, and seems just as well satisfied with rejecting what Shakespeare 
 must have written, as if he had himself recovered a portion of the lost 
 language of the poet : this, too, merely that it might not be said, that 
 he admitted the existence of one more ' particle of gold. ' " 
 
 The importance which Mr. Collier here attaches to the 
 alteration of " leap" to " leapt" is to be accounted for only 
 by his delusion about the merits of his Ms. Corrector ; since 
 not even the dullest critic, who might have wished to intro- 
 duce a rhyme into the passage, could possibly have missed 
 hitting on the alteration " leapt," — it must have occurred 
 to him instantaneously. But the Ms. Corrector, besides 
 altering "leap" to "leapt," substitutes, in the same line. 
 
6 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 "when thou'st" for " shalt thou;" which change, though Mr. 
 Collier calls it " the smallest possible/' appears to me a very 
 violent as well as a rather awkward one. I therefore did 
 what I would do again iJ I were to reprint my edition of 
 Shakespeare, — I retained the old text, with the following 
 note; 
 
 "The Ms. Corrector gives, for the rhyme, 'when thou'st 
 leapt,' &c. (I may notice that the quarto [1602], though 
 very different from the folio throughout this scene, has, in a 
 speech assigned to Sir Hugh, — 
 
 ' And when you finde a slut that lies a sleepe, 
 And all her dishes foule, and roome vnswept,' &c.)" 
 
 Nor am I singular in rejecting the Ms. Corrector's "when 
 thou'st leapt :" two recent editors have also rejected it, Mr. 
 Halliwell and Mr. Staunton, — who consequently ought to 
 have come in for a share of the indignation which Mr. CoUier 
 pours out on me alone. 
 
 P. xxvii. 
 
 " For the same sort of reason it may be supposed, that he [Mr. Dyoe] 
 has an antipathy to the old corrector's aspirate, and declines to read in 
 ' King Lear,' A. ii. sc. 4, 
 
 ' To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl 
 Necessity's sharp pinch,' 
 
 because in one of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays (' The Custom of the 
 Country,' A. i. sc. 2), he allowed the laughable cookneyism me high to 
 stand instead of ' my eye.' " 
 
 There can be no stronger proof of Mr. Collier's downright 
 infatuation than his blindness to the glaring absurdity of " the 
 old corrector's aspirate," — to the insanity of changing 
 
 " To be a comrade with the wolf and owl, — 
 
 Necessity's sharp pinch," 
 to 
 
 " To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl 
 
 Necessity's sharp pinch," — 
 
 an alteration which wiU inevitably be treated by every future 
 editor with the intense contempt it deserves. 
 
 The passage of Beaumont and Fletcher's Custom of the 
 
VOL. I.] OP ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEAKE. 7 
 
 Country, in which, according to Mr. Collier, I "allowed a 
 laughable cockneyism to stand," is this ; 
 
 " Clod. . . . Now fetch your daughter ; 
 And bid the coy wench put on all her beauties, 
 All her enticements ; out-blush damask roses, 
 And dim the breaking east with her bright crystals. 
 I am all on fire ; away ! 
 
 Cfia/r. And I am frozen. [ExU unth Servarvts. 
 
 Enter Zenocia with bow cmd quiver, cm wrrow bent ; after her, 
 Arnoldo and Rutilio, armed. 
 Zen. Come fearless on. 
 Rvi. Nay, an I budge from thee, 
 Beat me with dirty sticks. 
 
 Glod. What masque is this ? 
 What pretty fancy to provoke me high ?" &c., — 
 and I have no hesitation in asserting that the old reading, 
 "provoke me high" (i.e. excite me highly — "high" being 
 ■used adverbially), is what the poet really wrote; and that 
 Mr. Collier's 
 
 " What pretty fancy to provoke my eye f 
 is as preposterous an emendation as ever entered into the 
 brain of a verbal critic. How could the " eye" of Clodio be 
 provoked (i.e. excited) ? has the eye a moral feeling? 
 
 P. xxviii. 
 
 " His [Mr. Dyce's] memory is not quite as obUvious as Mr. Singer's, 
 but still I could adduce many instances, in every one of his six vo- 
 lumes, in which, while he carefully appropriates emendations recorded 
 in my corrected folio, 1632, he utterly forgets to let any body know 
 from whence he procured them. I am tired of quoting examples, and, 
 as I am afraid the reader may be in the same predicament, I will only 
 trouble him with a very short one. I go no farther than Mr. Dyce's first 
 volume, * Measure for Measure,' A. v. sc. 1, where this speech is put into 
 the mouth of Angelo in every copy of the play from the folio, 1623, to 
 our own day : — 
 
 'Hark, how the villain would close, now, after his treasonable abuses.' 
 Such has been the invariable text, and nobody, that I know of, has 
 thought of questioning it; but it is an undoubted blunder, and the 
 alteration in the corrected folio, 1632, makes the passage run thus : — 
 
 ' Hark, how the villain would glote, now, after his treasonable abuses.' 
 
8 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 Can this be wrong? certainly not : even the Rev. Mr. Dyce says so, and 
 silently purloins (of course I only use the word etymologicaUy) the word 
 'gloze,' which has always hitherto been close, from the corrected folio, 
 1632. Surely, this is most unfair ; and it is so unfair, that it astonishes 
 me how the Rev. Mr. Dyce could be guilty of it. I cannot be mistaken 
 on the point, and I have looked at it again and again ; but as it stands, 
 he appears to abuse my book, and to sneer at the maker of its Ms. 
 notes, and me, on every possible occasion, yet, when he happens to 
 want a ' particle of gold' (here only a ' particle') he picks the old cor- 
 rector's pocket with the most practised dexterity." 
 
 Of the above intemperate language concerning his " quon- 
 dam friend of more than twenty years" Mr. Collier wiU per- 
 haps feel not a little ashamed when I inform him, that the 
 
 " Hark, how the villain would ghee, now, after his treasonable 
 abuses," — 
 
 which emendation Mr. Collier did not publish till 1853,* — 
 
 WAS OBIGINALLY PRINTED, ABOUT TWO YEARS EARLIER, BY Mr. 
 
 Halliwell, from a Ms. correction in a copy of the third 
 folio,f in a note ad I. to Tallis's Shakespeare, the Numbers of 
 which I took in as they successively appeared, f Indeed, to 
 any one who carefully considers the passage it is an obvious 
 enough emendation : Mr. Grant White {Shakespeare's Scho- 
 lar, &c., p. 172) never imagined that he was not proposing it 
 for the first time, when in a note on the passage he observed, 
 "Why 'close'? The word is plainly, in my judgment, a 
 misprint for ' gloze,' " &c. ; and long before Mr. Collier's 
 Ms. Corrector was heard of, or before Messrs. Halliwell and 
 Grant White were known as critics, I had altered " close" to 
 " gloze" in my copy of the Variorum Shakespeare. 
 
 Pp. xxx-ii. Next, in the catalogue of my oflfences as 
 drawn up by Mr. Collier, are my borrowing, without notice, 
 
 * In his one-Tolume Shakespeare. 
 
 ■\ Formerly iu the possession of Mr. Dent. 
 
 J The Numbers of Tallis's Shakespeare are not dated. — Mr. Halliwell ob- 
 serves to me ; "I cannot exactly tell the date of the Number of Tallis's 
 Shakespeare which contains Measure for Measure ; but the first Number that 
 I did was published in October 1850, and the whole of the Comedies were com- 
 pleted in 1851." 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIEE'S SHAKESPEARE. 9 
 
 from the Ms. Corrector the stage-direction " Giving it" in 
 Measure for Measure, act i. sc. 1, — the stage-direction "Re- 
 sumes his robe," in The Tempest, act i. sc. 2, — and my tacitly 
 following the Ms. Corrector in Coriolanus, act iii. sc. 2, where 
 he places a stage-direction a few lines later than it used to 
 stand. To these three instances of my dishonesty Mr. Collier 
 devotes three whole pages, — not choosing to rememher that 
 editors seldom or ever think it necessary to indicate the 
 sources from which they derive such minuticB. 
 
 P. xxxiv., note. 
 
 " We have a specimen of the mode in which the Rev. Mr. Dyce 
 would improve the text of Shakespeare in the opening of ' The Taming 
 of the Shrew,' where he declares in favour of ' Trash Merriman' instead 
 of 'Brach Merriman.' To trash a dog was unquestionably to put a rope, 
 strap, or clog upon him, and the object of it was to prevent his hunting 
 too fast, and outstripping the other hounds ; but here nothing of the 
 sort could be intended for two very obvious reasons, though they do not 
 appear to have occurred to Mr. Dyce ; viz. first, that the Lord was at this 
 time reluming from the chase, and next, that 'Brach Merriman, the poor 
 cur, was embossed,' i.e. foaming at the mouth from over fatigue. The 
 hunt for the day was done, and Merriman could therefore not need 
 restraining ; stiU less because the ' poor cur ' was already exhausted : 
 his weariness trashed him quite sufficiently. In his satisfaction at the 
 supposed emendation, Mr. Dyce has quite forgotten to attend to the 
 context." 
 
 The passage in the Induction to The Taming of the Shrew 
 is this — 
 
 ^' Horns vomded. Enter a hord/rom himtimg, with Huntsmen and 
 
 Servants. 
 Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds ; 
 Brach Merriman, — the poor cur is emboss'd ; 
 And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach." 
 
 That " Brach" in the first line is a misprint (occasioned most 
 probably by the recurrence of the word in the next line) ad- 
 mits of no doubt; for the sentence is imperfect, — the Lord 
 bidding his huntsman "couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd 
 brach," and yet not telling him what is to be done to "poor" 
 Merriman. Hanmer printed "Leech Merriman;" Johnson 
 proposed " Bathe Merriman ;" and the Rev. J. Mitford 
 
10 STEICTUEES ON SOME l^ASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 would read " Breathe Merriman." None of these emenda- 
 tions can be right : and, notwithstanding the contempt with 
 which Mr. Collier regards it, I continue to think that " Trash 
 Merriman" is the genuine lection. As Clowder was to be 
 coupled with the deep-mouthed brach, so Merriman was to be 
 trashed, to prevent his running about and snuffing on his way- 
 home, which high-spirited dogs will do, even when greatly 
 fatigued. — I communicated the conjecture " Trash" to Mr. 
 Singer, who has adopted it in his new edition of Shakespeare 
 (but without mentioning that he owed it to me) . 
 
 Pp. xxxvi. vii., note. 
 
 " I subjoin the following in a note, only because it has reference to 
 an excellent emendation in ' Midsummer-Night's Dream,' A. iii. sc. 2, 
 where fiermia absurdly asks, in the old copies (and as Mr. Dyce re- 
 peats), ' What news, my love ?' instead of ' What means my love ?' The 
 change of news to ' means' in the corr. fo. 1632 is confirmed by a very 
 similar misprint in Marlowe and Nash's 'Dido, Queen of Carthage,' 
 A. iii. (edit. Dyce, ii. p. 398), where the heroine offers to refit the 
 Trojan ships, and re-clothe the mariners, if jEneas will but stay behind, 
 and allow Achates to proceed to Italy in his stead : she says, 
 ' For ballas empty Dido's treasury : 
 Take what you will, but leave .^neas here. 
 Achates, thou shalt be so meanly clad. 
 That sea-bom nymphs shall swarm about thy ships,' <Sic. 
 
 Now, it is acknowledged on all hands that ' meanly' must be an error, 
 and various suggestions, indeed all but the right, have been made to 
 amend it. The fact is, that as in ' Midsummer-Night's Dream,' news is 
 a misprint for ' means,' so in ' Dido' mearHy is a misprint for ' newly :' 
 read 
 
 'Achates, thou shalt be so newly clad,' 
 
 and the difficulty is at an end : the ships were to be refitted, and Achates, 
 throwing aside his old weather-worn dress, was to be ' so newly clad' in 
 splendid habiliments, that the sea-born nymphs would swarm about his 
 ships in admiration," &o. 
 
 The passage in Midsummer-Night's Dream, act iii. sc. 3, 
 runs thus ; 
 
 " Her. What, can you do me greater harm than hate ? 
 Hate me ! wherefore ? O me ! what news, my love .? 
 Am not I Hermia ? are not you Lysander ?" &c. ; 
 
 and though I would not deny that the Ms. Corrector's altera- 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 1 1 
 
 tion " what means my love ?" is far from improbable^ I still 
 think that a passage in ITie Taming of the Shrew, act i. sc. 1 
 (which was first adduced by me to illustrate the present one, 
 in the Add. and Corr. to my ed, of Shakespeare) renders it 
 doubtful : in that scene Lucentio exchanges dress with his 
 servant Tranio : presently Lucentio's other servant, BiondeUo, 
 enters, and exclaims in great surprise, — 
 
 " Master, has my fellow Tranio stolen your clothes ? 
 Or you stolen his ? or both ? pray, wha£s the news ?" 
 
 In Tranio's speech the words " what's the news ?" are mani- 
 festly a sort of proverbial expression, equivalent to — what 
 novelty is this? and in Hermia's speech "what news?" may 
 be a variation of that expression. 
 
 With respect to the corruption in the passage of Dido, I 
 have only to say, that Mr. Collier's attempt to amend it is 
 singularly unhappy. In that joint-production of Marlowe 
 and Nash there is occasionally some poverty of language, but 
 assuredly it contains nothing so utterly feeble as 
 
 " Achates, thou shalt be so newly clad, 
 That sea-born nymphs shall swarm about thy ships," &c. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH STAGE, &c. 
 
 P. 32, note. Mr. Collier, taking occasion to observe that 
 in my ed. of Greene's Works I have allowed undoubted blun- 
 ders of the text to remain, 
 
 "We will," he says, "point out only one, as a specimen, from the 
 commencement of ' Orlando Purioso,' where the poet mentions certain 
 ships ' which Brandimart rebated from his coast. ' Now, surely, it is as 
 clear as day that ' rebated' ought to be rebutted, i. e. drove hack, a sense 
 in which it occurs in the chronicler Hall, speaking of rebutting invaders 
 by sea, and in other authorities. The same obvious error is repeated in 
 a subsequent part of the same play (p. 34), where it is said, 
 ' This is the city of great Babylon, 
 Where proud Darius was rebated from.' 
 
 Darius was rebutted, or driven back, from Babylon, not ' rebated,' which 
 merely means blunted," ifec. 
 
12 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 In neither of these passages is there any error: Greene 
 (like some of his contemporaries) used rebate in the sense of 
 beat back (which is its proper sense, — Fr. rebattre) : so again 
 in the opening speech of another play, — A Looking-glass for 
 London and England, — he has ; 
 
 " And now t' enlarge the highness of my power, 
 I have made Judea's monarch flee the field, 
 And beat proud Jeroboam from his holds, 
 Winning from Cades to Samaria : 
 Great Jewry's God, that foil'd stout Benhadab, 
 Could not rebate the strength that Easni brought," &c. 
 
 LIFE OE SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 P. 89, note. Mr. Collier concludes a notice of the poem 
 Salmacis and Hermaphroditus as follows ; 
 
 " The Rev. Mr. Dyce, in his edit, of ' Beaumont and Fletcher,' 1846, 
 Vol. xi. p. 441, merely reprinted Blaicklock's impression, observing that 
 he had never seen the earlier copy of 1602 ; but it is in the Bodleian 
 Library, and it was reprinted in its original state by the Shakespeare 
 Society. Mr. Dyce inadvertently perpetuates the grossest blunders." 
 
 Mr. Collier is perfectly well aware why I "merely re- 
 printed Blaicklock^s impression:" — he has frequently heard 
 me regret that I missed the use of the Oxford copy of ed. 1602, 
 by looking for it, in the Bodleian Catalogue, only under the 
 head of " Beaumont," and not knowing that it stands there, 
 improperly enough, imder the head of " Poemata." Soon 
 after the xi"" vol. of my Beaumont and Fletcher was pub- 
 lished, I learned that Mr. Collier possessed a copy of ed. 
 1603; and he offered me the loan of it: but the time had 
 gone by when I could benefit by it. Mr. CoUier then re- 
 printed it in The Shakespeare Society's Papers, carefully 
 pointing out its superiority to the edition which I had fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 When Mr. CoUier writes that the edition of 1602 " is in 
 the Bodleian Library, and it was reprinted in its original state 
 by the Shakespeare Society," the reader could hardly fail to 
 conclude that it was reprinted by the Shakespeare Society 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 13 
 
 before I reprinted the edition of Blaickloek, and that, in my 
 indifference about correctnesSj I was content with the text of 
 Blaickloek, though a better one was within my reach. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 
 
 P. 261. 
 
 "Webster, in his • Whit& Devil,' 1612 (edit. Dyoe, i. 77), uses the 
 word co-meddled. .... How could the rev. editor, just above it, print 
 ' Oh, horrible scdary !' What sense can there be in it, and to what 
 can ' salary' refer ? The speaker is alluding to the cruelty practised in 
 Italy, where ' they sell justice with those weights they press men to 
 death with,' and contrasting it with the practice in England, exclaiming, 
 ' Oh, horrible slavery !' as regards the condition of people in Italy." 
 
 To enable Mr. Collier to write what I have just quoted, 
 there was certainly required such confidence as few mortals 
 possess; for he himself edited The White Devil in the sixth 
 volume of the last edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, and, though 
 he added to it sundry notes signed C, he did not even suggest 
 the correction which he is now surprised that I should have 
 failed to make ! 
 
 P. 262. Here, under the words from The Tempest, act iv. 
 sc. 1, "and thy brown groves" (the Ms. Corrector's reading 
 for " and thy broom-gvo\e&") , Mr. Collier says j 
 
 "When Spenser, in his Pastorals, speaks of 'the budded brooms,' 
 nobody can suppose (unless it be the Rev. A. Dyce) that he means 
 ' broom groves.' " 
 
 This foolish and impertinent remark is to be explained, I 
 suppose, by my having quoted in my Shakespeare, ad I., the 
 note of Steevens concerning the great height to which broom 
 sometimes grows j a note which ought to have deterred Mr. 
 Collier from altering the text. — On "broom -groves" Mr. 
 Staunton well observes : " Hanmer changes this to ' brown 
 groves,' as does Mr. Collier's annotator; and a more unhappy 
 alteration can hardly be conceived, since it at once destroys 
 the point of the allusion : yellow, the colour of the broom, 
 being supposed especially congenial to the lass-lorn and dis- 
 
14 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. j. 
 
 missed bachelor. Thus Burton, in his 'Anatomy of Melan- 
 choly/ Part iii. Sec. 2,—' So long as we are wooers, and may 
 kiss and coU at our pleasure, nothing is so sweet; we are in 
 heaven, as we think : bat when we are once tied, and have 
 lost our liberty, marriage is an hell : give me my yellow hose 
 again.' " 
 
 P. 265. 
 
 " There is a remarkable proof of its popularity [i. e. the popularity 
 of the story of The Merchant of Venice} in the work of a rival dramatist, 
 Webster : it is in his ' White Devil' (printed in 1612, but when first 
 acted is uncertain), where Vittoria, on her trial, makes a reference to 
 the heroine of Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice,' and complains that 
 she is 
 
 ' So intangled in a cursed accusation, 
 That my defence, of force, like Portia's, 
 Must personate masculine virtue.' 
 
 In the original editions ' Portia's' is misprinted Perseus, but the Rev. 
 Mr. Mitford suggested the excellent emendation, which the Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce (i. p. 65) was too timid to adopt, though he had the courage to 
 print nonsense." 
 
 Mr. Mitford's conjecture, though Mr. Collier pronounces 
 it " excellent," I believe to be unquestionably wrong. Apart 
 from the extreme improbability that Webster would make 
 Vittoria allude to a character in The Merchant of Venice, — 
 the passage itself shows that neither Shakespeare's Portia, 
 nor (as I suggested in my sec. ed. of Webster) Portia, the 
 wife of Brutus, is the personage in question. Whoever that 
 personage may have been, she, like Vittoria, had to offer a 
 " defence" against some heavy " accusation" under which she 
 laboured. — As to the expression "masculine virtue," I may 
 notice that Heywood, in the Fifth Book of his Various His- 
 torie concerninge Women, p. 224, ed. 1624, treats " Of warlike 
 Women and those oi Masculine vertue-" but nothing is found 
 there which throws any light on the speech of Vittoria. 
 
 P. 276. Mr. Collier, having printed in Hamlet, act ii. 
 sc. 2, " he walks for hours together" (the Ms. Corrector's 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 15 
 
 alteration) instead of " he walks four hours together/' now 
 adds to his note on that passage j 
 
 " The same probable misprint oifour for ' for' is contained in Web- 
 ster's ' Duchess of Malfi,' act iv. (edit. Dyce, i. 260), where Bosola is 
 giving to Ferdinand a description of the demeanour of the heroine : 
 ' She will muse four hours together,' <fec. 
 
 This ought most likely to be 'for hours ;' but Mr. Dyce prints ' four 
 hours.' " 
 
 Mr. Collier reasons very oddly. Since the old copies of 
 Hamlet agree in having "four hours/' and since the old copies 
 of The Duchess of Malfi have "four hours" also, surely the 
 inference is, that "four hours" is the right reading in both 
 tragedies. — Compare The Winter's Tale, act v. sc. 2, "Ay, 
 and have been so any time these four hours ,•" and King Lear, 
 
 act i. sc. 3; 
 
 " £Jdm. Spake you with him ? 
 Hdg. Ay, two hours together." 
 
 (For these examples I am indebted to Malone's note on the 
 passage of Hamlet.) 
 
 P. 278. Here Mr. Collier adduces from Antony and Cleo- 
 patra, act i. sc. 2, " Perform 't, or else we damn thee/' that he 
 may have an opportunity of remarking that 
 
 " In ' The Battle of Alcazar,' (Dyce's Peele's Works, ii. 96) we meet 
 with ' damn' misprinted for doom : — 
 
 ' Thunder from heaven, damn wretched men to death.' " 
 The passage of Antony and Cleopatra, where " damn" 
 undoubtedly means — condemn to death, ought to have shown 
 Mr. Collier that " damn" in the passage of Peele was not to 
 be meddled with : but Mr. Collier's note on the former pass- 
 age decisively proves that he does»not understand it : 
 
 "The corr. fo. 1632," he says, "alters 'damn' to doom; and 
 although ' damn' certainly sounds rather coarsely in the mouth of Cleo- 
 patra, and would have done so even in the time of Shakespeare, yet we 
 make no change, recollecting that the heroine, in other places, some- 
 times errs on the score of delicacy, and that ' damn' is the more expres- 
 sive word, which the poet, on that very account, may have preferred," 
 &c., 
 — than which nothing can be more exquisitely ridiculous. 
 
16 
 
 STEICTUBES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 P. 279. Mr. Collier, having adopted, in Cymbeline, act ii. 
 sc. 5, the Ms. Corrector's reading, " Like a fuU-acorn'd boar, 
 2L foaming one," now defends it thus : 
 
 " In Webster's ' Cure for a Cuckold,' A. iv. sc. 1 (edit. Dyce, ii. 330), 
 there is a passage which gives support to the alteration of larmt^i, on to 
 ' foaming one,' where Compass, the sailor, is putting a case in his own 
 favour, as regards the possession of the fruit of his wife's adultery : 'your 
 boar comes foaming into my ground, jumbles with my sow.' This is 
 exactly what was in the mind of Posthumus, a fuU-acorned boar, /oam- 
 itjig at the mouth, and mounting. Mr. Dyce must have forgotten this." 
 
 If I had recollected the passage in Webster's Cure for a 
 Cuckold, and fifty other passages to boot in which "foaming 
 boars" are mentioned, I should still have thought that the 
 Ms. Corrector's alteration was entirely wrong. Since in The 
 Sec. Part of Henry IV., act ii. sc. 1, the quarto of 1600 has 
 " the larman [i. e. German] hunting ia water-worke," &c., I 
 am perfectly convinced that " a larmen on' is (as Rowe saw) 
 the old spelling for " a German one." — Germany has always 
 been celebrated for wild boars : in some of its forests wild 
 boars of a large size still abound. 
 
 P. 279. Mr. Collier, having altered, at his Corrector's bid- 
 ding, "princely fellows" to " princely /o/fowers" in Cymbeline, 
 act iii. sc. 4, here remarks on that alteration ; 
 
 " Exactly the same misprint has been allowed to remain in Webster's 
 ' Appius and Virginia,' A. i. so. 3 (edit. Dyce, ii. 153), where Claudius 
 ought to say, 
 
 ' it fits not 
 That any petty follower wag'd by us 
 Should have a tongue sound here,' <fec. 
 
 The misprint for ' follower' is fellow. ' Princely /e^ow' is mere tauto- 
 logy — ' princdy princes.' " 
 
 The passage in Cymbeline, according to the old reading, is; 
 " And thou, Posthumus, [thou ?] that didst set up 
 My disobedience 'gainst the king my father, 
 And make me put into contempt the suits 
 Of princely /eWows, shalt hereafter find," (fee- 
 where the Ms. Corrector, not perceiving that "fellows" meant 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 17 
 
 " those of the same rank with myself," introduced his wanton 
 alteration. Mr. CoUier ad I. tells us that "followers" is 
 suitors : but may we not say of " the suits of princely suitors," 
 that it is, what Mr. Collier says above of the old text, " mere 
 tautology" ? 
 
 Equally wanton is the change which Mr. Collier would 
 make in the passage of Webster. 
 
 THE TEMPEST. 
 P. 60,— act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 "' Ari. You are three men of Bin, whom destiny 
 (That hath to instrument this lower world, 
 And what is in't) the never- surfeited sea 
 Hath caused to belch up, and on this island 
 Where man doth not inhabit,' &c. 
 
 HcUh caused to belch up, and on this island,'] The first, second, and 
 third folios read, ' Have caus'd to belch up you,' and the fourth folio 
 alters ' up you' to ' you up.' It seems clear that you is too much for 
 the sense, verse, and grammatical construction, and we have omitted it, 
 because we think it crept into the old text by mere inadvertence.'' 
 
 The old text,— 
 
 " Hath caus'd to belch up you, and on this island 
 Where men," &c. 
 
 is perfectly right, according to a phraseology far from unfre- 
 quent in Shakespeare's time : compare ; 
 
 " and then I lost 
 (All mine own folly) the society, 
 Amity too, of your brave father, whom, 
 Though bearing misery, I desire my life, 
 Once more to look on him." 
 
 Winter's Tale, act v. sc. 1. 
 
 " Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they 
 of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit 
 in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it." 
 
 Deuteronomy, chap. xix. 14. 
 
 And what does Mr. Collier mean by asserting that " ' you ' 
 is too much for the verse" ? When he throws it out, he is 
 
 c 
 
18 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 forced to alter the monosyllable " cans' d" to "caused'' in 
 order to complete the metre. 
 
 We may the more wonder that Mr. Collier should have 
 persevered in vitiating the text of this speech^ because, since 
 the appearance of his first edition, it had been cited by Mr. 
 Halliwell, with the remark, " that the duplication of the pro- 
 noun is the rule, not the exception, in particular constructions 
 in Elizabethan grammar." Preface to Karl Simrock's Re- 
 marks on the Plots of Shakespeare's Plays, p. x. 
 
 P. 67, — act iv. sc. 1. In his note on the line, 
 " So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife," 
 
 Mr. Collier, having mentioned Middleton's Spanish Gipsy, 
 proceeds to lament 
 
 " That the editor [Mr. Dyce] has allowed various faults to disfigure 
 his text of that play : for instance on p. 109 we have ' last fortunes' for 
 ' fo«< fortunes ;' on p. 113 we have 'float' fov flood; on p. 114 we have 
 'a temption' for temptation, the a having been misplaced; on p. 152 
 'jests' ought to be gests; on p. 155 'weakness' ought to be wishes; on 
 p. 196 'rage' of the old copies ought to be rags; on p. 198 'misery' 
 ought to be mystery, (fee.'' 
 
 As to " float,"— 
 
 " that it did not 
 More check my rash attempt than draw to ebb 
 The /oaf of those desires," &c., — 
 
 it is perfectly right : but Mr. Collier has an aversion to the 
 substantive "float ;" for in The Tempest, act i. sc. 2, he very 
 rashly alters, with his Ms. Corrector, 
 
 " And are upon the Mediterranean float," 
 to 
 
 " And all upon the Mediterranean float," 
 
 though he admits that " float" or " flote" occurs as a substan- 
 tive in early writers. 
 
 As to "temption" (for which, as I have mentioned in 
 my note, the editor of 1816 substituted " temptation"), I am 
 much mistaken if I have not met with the word elsewhere : 
 
VOL. I.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 19 
 
 and it has found a place in Mr. Halliwell's Diet, of Arch, and 
 Prov. W'ords. 
 
 As to " jestSj" — 
 
 " The jester that so late arriv'd at court, 
 And there was welcome for his country's sake, 
 By importunity of some friends, it seems, 
 Had borrow'd from the gentleman of your horse 
 The backing of your mettled Barbary; 
 On which being mounted, whilst a number gaz'd 
 To hear what jesfs he could perform on horseback," &c., — 
 
 even allowing that "Jests" is used with a sort of quibble 
 ("gests"), — the impropriety of altering the spelling, and 
 printing — as Mr. Collier would have us do — " hear what 
 gests/' must be obvious to the reader. 
 
 As to "age," which I substituted for "rage''' of the old 
 copies, — 
 
 " Alv I could wish 
 
 For one hour's space I could ^Zmc^ back from time 
 But thirty of my years, that in my fall 
 Thou might'st deserve report : now if thou conquer'st, 
 Thou canst not triumph, I'm half dead already, 
 Yet I'll not start a foot. 
 
 Louis. Breathes there a spirit 
 In such a heap of age T — 
 
 the alteration is one of several important changes made with 
 a pen in my copy of the first 4to, by some early possessor, 
 who, as he has also occasionally inserted additions to the text, 
 had, in all probability, seen a manuscript of the play. The 
 editor of 1816, like Mr. Collier, altered "rage" to "rags;" 
 but see the context ; and compare, in The Old Law, by Mas- 
 singer, Middleton, and W. Rowley, 
 
 " Take hence that pile of years." 
 
 Act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 P. 75, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Noble Gonzalo, houourable man, 
 ' Mine eyes, even sociable to the flow of thine, 
 Fall fellowly drops.' 
 'Noble' and 'flow' are from the corr. fo. 1632, and, we may be con- 
 
20 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 fident, are restorations of the poet's language. Why was Prospero to 
 call Gonzalo holy, as the epithet stands in the folios ? he was ' noble' and 
 ' honourable,' but in no respect holy : the error of show for ' flow' is also 
 transparent, and must have been occasioned chiefly by the mistake of 
 the long s for /.• Gonzalo was weeping, and the eyes of Prospero, ' so- 
 ciable to the flow' of those of Gonzalo, shed companionable tears." 
 
 Here I cannot do better than cite Mr. Staunton's note 
 ad I. from his ed. of The Tempest, just published : " In his 
 anxiety to sustain the changes proposed by his annotator, Mr. 
 Collier appears to have forgotten two or three facts Trhich 
 militate very strongly against them. In the first place, the 
 word ' holy,' in Shakespeare's time, besides its ordinary mean- 
 ing oi godly, sanctified, and the like, signified also pure, just, 
 righteous, &c. : in this sense, Leontes, in ' The Winter's Tale,' 
 Act V. Sc. ], speaks of Polixenes as 'holy,' — 
 
 ' You have a holy father, 
 A graceful gentleman.' 
 
 In the next place, the old text has 'shew,' not show; and,- 
 thirdly, the misprint, if there were one, could not have been 
 occasioned chiefly by the mistake of the long s for /, seeing 
 the sh of ' show' in old typography formed a single character, 
 fti, which was far less likely to be confounded with the type, 
 which represented 'f 1' — fl, than the single long s with/." 
 
 I may add, that in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. 
 sc. 2, we have the epithet holy applied to Silvia, a young lady 
 no more remarkable for piety than her neighbours ; 
 
 " Who is Silvia 1 what is she. 
 
 That all our swains commend her 1 
 Holy, fair, and wise is she," &c, 
 
 P. 7Q, — act v. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Where the lee sucks, there such I : 
 In a cowslip's hdl Hie ; 
 There I couch. When owls do cry, 
 On the bat's back I do fly 
 After summer, merrily ; 
 Merrily, merrily, shall I live now. 
 Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.' 
 
 There I oouoh.J So the folios, 1623 and 1632 : the third folio first 
 
VOL. 1.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 21 
 
 substituted crouch. In the original there is uo point after 'couch ;' but 
 it seems necessary, and was inserted by Malone. Modern critics have 
 differed widely as to the proper punctuation, and the Rev. Mr. Dyce, 
 after devoting two entire pages to the matter, adds his own punctuation, 
 which represents Ariel as couching in the cowslip's bell at night, when, 
 in fact, he was on the bat's back, as he himself tells us : he was flying 
 ' on the bat's back' at the time ' when owls do cry.' " 
 
 The punctuation which I long ago recommended (jRe- 
 marks, &c. p. 9), and which, with the exception of Mr. Col- 
 lier, the more recent editors have adopted, is as follows ; 
 
 " Where the bee siuiks, there suck I: 
 In a cowsUp's bell I lie ; 
 There I couch when owls do cry. 
 On the bats hack I do fly 
 After summer merrily. 
 Merrily, merrily shall I live now 
 Under the blossom that hangs on the bough." — 
 
 What Mr. Collier says in his note about my "representing 
 Ariel as couching," &c. &c. &c., does not deserve any reply. 
 
 P. 77, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Thy dukedom I resign ; and do entreat 
 Thou pardon me thy wrongs.' 
 
 The old text has been * pardon me my wrongs,' but it ought to be, as in 
 the corr. fo. 1632, ' pardon me thy wrongs,' i. e. the wrongs that I have 
 done to thee." 
 
 A rash and ignorant alteration. Here Shakespeare un- 
 doubtedly wrote " pardon me my wrongs," i. e. " the wrongs 
 done by me to thee;" just as he wrote, earlier in this scene, 
 
 " Though with their high virongs [i. e. the high wrongs done 
 by them to me] I am struck to the quick. 
 Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst my fury 
 Do I take part.'' 
 
 And still earlier in this scene, 
 
 " all prisoners, sir, 
 In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell ; 
 They cannot budge till your release [i. e. till the release of 
 them by you]." 
 
22 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 So too in King Lear, act iv. sc. 2 ; 
 
 " 'twas he inform'd against him ; 
 And quit the house on purpose, that their punishment [i.e. 
 the punishment inflicted by Cornwall and Eegan on 
 Gloster] 
 Might have the freer course." 
 
 P. 79, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers Febdinand mid 
 MinASDA playinff at chess.' 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Dyce ('Pew Notes,' p. 16) refers to a similar 'disco- 
 very' in ' The Devil's Charter,' 1607, by B. Barnes, just as if it were a 
 rarity. These discoveries were common Mr. Dyce must have en- 
 tirely forgotten the ' discovery' of ' Henry VIII.' in A. ii. sc. 2, and many 
 others." 
 
 The dishonesty of this note ! Mr. Collier conceals the 
 very reason why I pointed out the " discovery" in Barnes's 
 play, viz. because in it two young people are discovered play- 
 ing at cards, just as in The Tempest Ferdinand and Miranda 
 are discovered playing at chess : — Csesar Borgia, after taking 
 Katherine prisoner, and making her helieve that he had- put 
 to death her two sons, says, — 
 
 " Come hither, Katherine, wonder of thy sex, 
 The grace of all Italian womanhood, 
 Csesar shall neuer prooue dishonourable : 
 Behold thy children liuing in my tent. 
 
 He discoureth his Tent, where her two sonnes were at 
 Gardes." The Divils Charter, sig. I. 
 
 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 
 P. Ill, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' DvJce. Know you Don Antonio, your countryman ? 
 
 Val. Ay, my good lord ; I know the gentleman 
 To be of wealth and worthy estimation. 
 And not without desert so well reputed. 
 
 Buke. Hath he not a son ? 
 
 Val. Ay, my good lord ; a son, that well deserves 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 23 
 
 The honour and regard of such a father. 
 Duke. You know him well ? 
 Vol. I knew him, as myself ; for from our infancy 
 We have convers'd,' (fee. 
 To be 0/ WEALTH and worthy estimation,'] The folios have worth for ' wealth ;' 
 but worth is mere tautology, for how could Don Antonio be 
 'And not without desert so well reputed,' 
 
 if he were not of worth ? Valentine first refers to Antonio's ' wealth, ' 
 and then to his worth and estimation. The same misprint, only of the 
 superlative degree, is cominitted in Fletcher's 'Mad Lover,' A. v. sc. 4 
 (edit. Dyce, vi. 210), where Memuon exclaims, 
 
 ' You have given me here a treasure to enrich me, 
 Would make the wealthiest king alive a beggar.' 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce allows worthiest to remain in the text, instead of 
 ' wealthiest,' which the context shows must have been the poet's word : it 
 was not ' the worthiest king alive,' but the ' wealthiest king alive,' who 
 was to be made a beggar in comparison with the treasure given to the 
 hero. The correction is too obvious to need enforcement, and the wonder 
 is that no editor ever saw the imperative demand for alteration. Mr. 
 Dyce is no more to blame than all who have gone before him. See also 
 'Twelfth-Night,' A. iii. sc. 3, Vol. ii. p. 691." 
 
 The passage in Twelfth-Night, act iii. sc. 3, to which 
 Mr. Collier refers at the end of the above note is — 
 " But, were my worth, as is my conscience, firm, 
 You should find better dealing ;" 
 
 and he remarks on it, ad I. ; 
 
 " Here ' worth' is altered to wealth in the corr. fo. 1632 ; and we 
 should have placed the emendation in our text, had it not been easy to 
 suppose that Sebastian refers to what he is 'worth,' — another mode of 
 speaking of his wealth." 
 
 Now, it is not a httle strange that Mr. Collier, who so de- 
 liberately rejects the Ms. Corrector's alteration of " worth" to 
 " wealtV in Twelfth-Night, should yet thrust the very same 
 alteration into The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and, moreover, 
 with the utmost boldness, pronounce " worthiest" in Fletcher's 
 Mad Lover to be a misprint for " wealthiest." — That the three 
 passages are right as exhibited in the old copies is certain : our 
 early writers frequently use " worth" in the sense of " sub- 
 stance," " wealth," and " worthy" in that of " substantial," 
 " wealthy :"— 
 
24 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 " They are but beggars that can count their worth ; 
 But my true love is grown to such excess, 
 I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth." 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, act ii. so. 6. 
 " and is, in sooth, 
 Such as the satirist points truly forth, 
 That only to his crimes owes all his worth." 
 
 B. Jonson's Cynthia's Bevels, act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 (The satirist is Juvenal — 
 
 " Criminibus debent hortos, praetoria, mensas, 
 Argentum vetus, et stantem extra pocula caprum.'' 
 
 Sat. i. 75.) 
 " This is the life of the Prigger, who trauailes vp and downe 
 the whole kingdome vpon his geldings of 20 and 40 pound price, 
 and is taken for a man of good worth by his outward shew," &c. 
 
 Dekker's Belman of London, sig. G 2, ed. 1608. 
 
 " They call him Dorilas ; and boasts himself 
 To have a worthy feeding," Winter's Tale, act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 From the Preface to my friend the late Sidney Walker's 
 Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. xxi., I learn that he too 
 conjectured^ — 
 
 " To be of wealth and worthy estimation,'' &c., — 
 
 not being aware that the word which he threw out from the 
 text was synonymous with the one he inserted : — to the repe- 
 tition "worth and worthy" — which is quite in Shakespeare's 
 manner — he could not have objected. 
 
 In the last of Valentine's speeches quoted above, Mr. 
 Collier leaves a decided error, — 
 
 " I knew him, as myself," &c. ; 
 ■which ought to stand, 
 
 " I hnow him as myself," &c. 
 (Compare the precedinig " Know you" and " I know.") 
 
 P. 113, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " Re-enter Thurio. 
 
 * * * 
 
 {Exeunt Silvia, Thubio, and Speed." 
 
VOL. I.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 25 
 
 On the impropriety of marking here, with the old eds., 
 the reentrance of Thurio, and the absurdity of making Speed 
 [Valentine's servant) accompany Silvia and Thurio, when they 
 go out to the Duke, — see my note ad I. 
 
 P. 115, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'the summer-smelling flower,' &c. 
 
 i.e. The flower that gives fragi-ance in summer. This is the emenda- 
 tion in the corr. fo. 1632 for ' samroex-swellhig' of the old copies : w and 
 m were often confounded by old printers." 
 
 Here the following note of Steevens ought to have weighed 
 more with Mr. Collier than the authority of the Ms. Cor- 
 rector : " I once thought that our poet had written summer- 
 smelling; but the epithet which stands in the text I have since 
 met vrith in the translation of Lucan, by Sir Arthur Gorges, 
 1614, b. viii. p. 354: 
 
 ' no Koman should 
 Come neare to Nyle's Pelusian mould, 
 But shun that sommer-swelling shore :' 
 
 The original is ' ripasque (Estate tumentes,' i. 827. The 
 
 summer-swelling flower is the flower which swells in summer, 
 till it expands itself into bloom." Steevens might have added 
 that ''summer-swelling" is a far finer and more striking 
 epithet than sxnavmer- smelling." 
 
 P. 118, — act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself in 
 love, if thou wUt go with me to the ale-house : if not, thou art an 
 Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian.' 
 
 " This passage has been misunderstood from defective pointing : 
 instead of a period after ' love,' as in the old copies, we ought to place a 
 comma, the meaning being that Launce does not care whether Valentine 
 bum himself in love or not, if Speed will but go to the ale-house with 
 him. This reading renders the word so, inserted in the second folio, 
 and subsequently adopted by all the commentators, unnecessary. We do 
 not, of course, dispute the point, argued somewhat at large by the Rev. 
 Mr. Dyoe (' Remarks,' p. 10), that so often occurs in Shakespeare ; but 
 we cannot agree in his logic, that our text is ' dislocated' because we 
 make a sentence continuous, that has hitherto been divided." 
 
26 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 From the above note no reader could possibly discover in 
 what part of this speech the second folio inserts "so:" I 
 therefore subjoin the whole as it stands in that folio, and as, 
 I maintain, it ought to stand in every edition ; 
 
 " Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn himself 
 in love. If thou wilt go with me to the ale-house, so ; if not, thou 
 art an Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth the name of a Christian." 
 
 P. 133,— act ii. sc. 7. 
 
 " ' To furnish me upon my longing journey. ' 
 
 The corr. fo. 1632 here gives an emendation, which we do not adopt, 
 because the old text may very well stand as it is : the proposed change 
 
 is loving for ' longing. ' There is au instance of the misprint 
 
 of ' loving' for leaving in ' The Knight of the Burning Pestle' (Edit. Dyce, 
 ii. p. 179), where Jasper is made to say, 
 
 ' And let me loving live or losing die ;' 
 instead of 
 
 ' And let me having live, or losing die.' 
 
 The opposition being between having and ' losing' the object of his affec- 
 tions, but the error has always been allowed to pass. The Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce is content to reprint M. Mason's absurd note, that 'loving here 
 means possessing her I love,' neither of them perceiving that having is 
 the word required." 
 
 The folly of Mr. Collier's alteration, " having live," be- 
 comes evident the moment the line is read in connection vnth 
 what precedes it ; 
 
 " Hope, where art thou fled ? 
 Tell me, if thou be'st any where remaining, 
 Shall I but see my love again ? Oh, no ! 
 She will not deign to look upon her butcher, 
 Nor is it fit she should ; yet I must venture. 
 Chance, or Fortune, or whate'er thou art, 
 That men adore for powerful, hear my cry, 
 And let me hving live, or losing die !" 
 " loving] ' Means here, possessing her T love.' Mason." 
 
 P. 147, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' the other squirrel was stolen from me by a hangman boy in the 
 market-place,' &c. 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 27 
 
 The folio, 1623, has it 'hangman's boys,' and that of 1632 'hangman's 
 boy :' the corr. fo. 1632 gives us ' a hangman boy,' meaning what Shake- 
 speare elsewhere calls ' a gallows boy,' and that we have no doubt is the 
 true reading." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier fails to mention that his Ms. Corrector 
 has substituted "a" for "the" — the first folio having "the 
 Hangmans boyes," the second folio "the hangmans boy." — 
 The true reading is evidently " the hangman boys," i. e. the 
 rascal boys : — the editor of the second folio struck out the s 
 from the wrong word. 
 
 P. 151, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' Her eyes are green as grass,' <feo. 
 
 In the folio, 1623, the words are ' Her eyes are grey as gloiss .-' in the 
 foUo, 1632, they stand printed 'Her eyes are grey as grass.' Grass is 
 never grey, although glass may be so. The emendation in the corr. fo. 
 1632 is, ' Her eyes are green as grass,' which we may accept as the text, 
 seeing that green eyes were formerly considered a great beauty." 
 
 We may well wonder that Mr. Collier, who must have seen, 
 in a note on this passage in the Yar. Shahespeare, Theobald's 
 quotation from Chaucer, "hire eyen grey as glas," should 
 "accept as the text" the Corrector's nonsense — "green as 
 grass;" and that even after finding in Gascoigne "Her eyes 
 are greye as glasse" (see his Supplem. Notes, vol. i. 262), he 
 should merely say " ' Grey as glass' may certainly be right." 
 (The Ms. Corrector, not perceiving that, in the reading of 
 the second folio, 
 
 " Her eyes are grey as grass," — 
 
 the error lay wholly in "grass," and yet justly determining, 
 with Mr. Collier, that "grass is never grey," substituted 
 "green" for "grey," without considering what a spectacle a 
 lady would be with eyes as green as grass.) 
 
 THE MERRY WIVES OE WINDSOR. 
 P. 181,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " 'she discourses, she carves,' <fcc. 
 We make no change here, although craves is substituted for 'carves' 
 
28 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 in the corr. fo. 1632, because various authorities show that 'carves,' in 
 the sense of making some amorous signal, may be right. The Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce (' Few Notes,' p. 18) and the Rev. Mr. Hunter (' New Illustra- 
 tions,' i. p. 216) both adduce quotations, but they have missed the most 
 apposite, pointed out by Dr. Rimbault in his edition of Sir Thomas Over- 
 bury 's Works, 8vo, 1856, p. 50 : ' Her lightness gets her to swim at top 
 of the table, where laer wry litAe finger 'bQvn'a.js carving.^ (Character of 
 ' A Very Woman, in her next part.') We need add no other instances 
 of the use of the word in this way ; but it cannot be disputed that the 
 misprint of ' carve' for crave would be easy, and has often been com- 
 mitted, and that crave would well suit the poet's meaning in this place." 
 
 Mr. Collier is mistaken in saying that Dr. Rimbault 
 " pointed out" the passage of Overbury : it was originally 
 cited by Mr. R. Grant White (to whose Prefatory Letter to 
 his Shakespeare's Scholar, p. xxxiii., Dr. Rimbault expressly 
 refers), and with this remark; "Carving, then, was a sign 
 of intelligence, made with the little finger as the glass was 
 raised to the mouth." More recently, in his ed. of Shake- 
 speare, note on the present passage of The Merry Wives of 
 Windsor, Mr. White has cited from Littleton's Latin-English 
 Lexicon, 1675 ; "A Carver: — chironomus." "Chironomus: 
 — one that useth apish motions with his hands," &c. 
 
 The concluding part of Mr. Collier's note affords a curious 
 proof of his unwillingness to give up as indefensible an emend- 
 ation of the old Corrector, even when there is overwhelming 
 evidence of its being wrong, — " it cannot be disputed that • 
 crave would well suit the poet's meaning in this place ;" i. e. 
 (as Mr. Collier formerly told us) " Palstaff intends to say that - 
 Mrs. Ford has a craving for him" ! 
 
 P. 183,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " she bears the purse too ; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and 
 beauty.'' . ' 
 
 So, misled by his Ms. Corrector, Mr. Collier reads, in- 
 stead of " all gold and bounty ;" though nothing can be 
 plainer than that Palstaff is thinking, not of Mrs. Page's 
 beauty, but of her power and readiness to supply him with 
 money. And where is the " tautology" which Mr. Collier 
 discovers in " gold and bounty" ? Surely Mrs. Page might 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 29 
 
 have been " all gold," and yet entirely devoid of " bounty" — 
 "all gold" and stinginess. — With the present passage, as 
 given by the old eds., compare, 
 
 " as bountiful 
 As mines of India.^' 
 
 First Part of Henry IV., act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 P. 183, — act i. sc. 3. In a note on the words "for gourd, 
 and fuUam holds," &c., Mr. Collier writes thus : 
 
 " We may just notice that on the next page of the same play, ' The 
 Scornful Lady' [by Beaumont and Fletcher], occurs an odd misprint of 
 'safer' for "■ after:' some commentators alter it to sacer, others to swag- 
 ger, and a third set to rather, when all the while the proper emendation 
 of after (which however Mr. Dyce, by mere accident, has not seen) is on 
 the very surface." 
 
 The passage of The Scornful Lady stands in my ed. of 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, iii. 82, as follows ; 
 
 " When I am married and made sure, I'll come 
 And visit you again, and vex you, lady : 
 By all my hopes, I'll be a torment to you, 
 Worse than a tedious winter. I know you will 
 Recant and sue to me j but save that labour : 
 I'll rather love a fever and continual thirst, 
 Rather contract my youth to drink, and safer 
 Dote upon quarrels. 
 
 Or take a drawn whore from an hospital, 
 That time, diseases, and mercury had eaten, 
 Than to be drawn to love you." 
 
 " safer Bote'] So the two earliest 4tos. Other eds. 'sacerrfote' (Weher 
 says erroneously that some have ' saver dote'). Theobald gave Sympson's 
 conjecture 'swagger, Dote;' and the Editors of 1778 printed 'rather 
 Bote: " 
 
 Let any one read, with due attention, the last six lines of 
 the passage, and he will see at once that Mr. Collier's conjec- 
 ture " after" by no means suits the context. 
 
 P. 191, — act ii. sc. 1. In a note on the words "unless 
 he know some stain in me" (the Ms. Corrector's very doubt- 
 fd alteration of " strain in me"), Mr. Collier says : 
 
30 
 
 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 "See a passage in Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Woman Hater' (edit. 
 Dyce, i. p. 30), where slain is printed for ' stain'd,' but where no editor 
 has discovered the proper emendation. It is nevertheless as indisputable 
 as it is palpable." 
 
 The passage is ; 
 
 " And I do know, 
 
 Before his slain wife gave him that offence, 
 
 He was the greatest servant to that sex 
 
 That ever was ;" — 
 
 and when the foUomng remark in my note on the passage 
 meets the eye of the next editor of l^eaumont and Fletcher, 
 he will probably pause before he makes any change : " If we 
 could recover the tale from which the character of Gondarino 
 was borrowed, it would no doubt inform us why and by whom 
 his wife was ' slain.' " 
 
 P. 193,— act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Nym. Believe it, Page; he speaks sense.' 
 
 Johnson suggested that these words are a new speech by Nym, and 
 not a continuation of what Pistol says, as represented in the folios. 
 The corr. fo. 1632 confirms this notion, and we make the change accord- 
 ingly." 
 
 The note of Steevens, ad L, could hardly have escaped 
 Mr. Collier J and if he read that note, it seems incredible 
 that he should not have been convinced of the impropriety 
 of assigning the above words to Nym. Besides, the reading 
 of the folio is fully confirmed by the quarto, — 
 
 '' IJage, belieue him what he ses. Away sir Corporall Nym. 
 
 [Exit Pistoll." 
 
 P. 192,— act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' such a drawling-affecting rogue.' 
 i. e. Such a rogue who affects drawling." 
 
 The truth is, that in hundreds of passages throughout the 
 folio the hyphen is wrongly introduced : so, later in the pre- 
 sent play, the folio has " Looke where my ranting-Host of the 
 Garter comes," act ii. sc. 1; "your bold-beating-oathes" 
 act ii. sc. 2 ; " shee's a good-creature" ibid. ; " this old fat- 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 31 
 
 fellow," act iv. sc. 4 ; and see more instances cited in my note 
 on King John, — Shakespeare, vol. iii. 365. 
 
 P. 194, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Will you go on here V 
 
 We give the emendation which we find in the corr. fo. 1632, for ' Will 
 you go, An-heires ?' as it stands in the folios : the 4to lends us no 
 assistance. But for the change which has come down to us on this 
 authority, we might have been tempted to print, in the characteristic 
 phraseology of the Host, ' WiU you go on, heroes T This we consider 
 quite as good as Warburton's heris, Steevens' hearts, Malone's hear us, 
 Boaden's Cavaliers, or Hanmer's [Theobald's] Mynheers — which last the 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce advocates, objecting to the facility of the change made 
 in the corr. fo. 1632. When he says that he thinks it unlikely that ' on 
 here' could have been mistaken for An-heires, he means probably, that 
 An-heires could hardly have been misread for ' on here ;' but he neglects 
 to inform us how An-heires could have been mistaken for Mynlieers. Mr. 
 Singer, adopting Boaden's Cavaliers, adds that ' on here' had been ' long 
 since suggested ;' true ; in the corr. fo. 1632, but no where else that we 
 are aware of : if such a suggestion were made ' long since' elsewhere, it 
 has escaped our researches." 
 
 In my Few Notes, &c., to which Mr. Collier alludes above, 
 I observed : " There is a passage in act ii. sc. 3 of Fletcher's 
 Beggars' Bush, as exhibited in the folio, 1647, which, unless 
 I am much deceived, enables us to determine positively what 
 word ought to take the place of ' An-heires' in the text of the 
 great dramatist. For my own part at least, — since I find in 
 that folio, p. 80, 
 
 ' Nay, Sir, mine heire Van-dunck 
 Is a true Statesman,' — 
 
 I can no longer doubt that ' An-\iehie&' is a misprint for 
 ' Min-\ievces,' and that Hanmer [Theobald] (whose emenda- 
 tion Mr. Collier does not even notice) restored the genuine 
 reading, when he altered ' Will you go, An-heires ?' to ' Will 
 you go. Mynheers?'" p. 22. My firm belief is, that the 
 passage which I have cited from The Beggars' Bush, though 
 lost on Mr. Collier, will have its due weight with all future 
 editors, and turn the scale for ever in favour of " Mynheers." 
 The reading, "Will you go on here?" which Mr. Collier 
 
32 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 supposes Mr. Singer to have taken, without acknowledgment, 
 from the Ms. Corrector, was Theobald's first, and bad, conjec- 
 ture (" Will you go. Mynheers ?" being his second one). That 
 it " escaped Mr. Collier's researches" is no great wonder; for 
 it is not mentioned in the Variorum Shakespeare, to the 
 pages of which Mr. Collier's " researches" have been almost 
 entirely confined. 
 
 P. 305, — act ii. sc. 3. On the words, " He is the wiser 
 man, master doctor," Mr. Collier's note is : 
 
 " In the folio, 1623, ' master doctor' is only M. Doctor, and it became 
 Mr. Doctor in the folio, 1664. M. and Mas. were often of old printed for 
 * master, ' and we wonder that a man of the Rev. Mr. Dyce's learning 
 and experience should, in his edition of Marlowe's Works, ii. p. 64, have 
 fancied that ' Mas. doctor Lopus' meant the exclamation of Mass I and 
 was not a mere title : it ought to run ' Master Doctor lopus was never 
 such a doctor.' The asseveration derived from the Roman Catholic 
 Mass was generally objected to, and excluded by the Master of the Revels 
 in the time of Marlowe and Shakespeare. The practice, however, was by 
 no means uniform." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier, while taxing me with error, blunders 
 most egregiously indeed ! The passage of Faustus, which oc- 
 curs in a speech of the Horse-courser, is ; 
 
 " Alas ! alas ! Doctor Fustian, quoth a ? mass, Doctor Lopus was 
 never such a doctor : has given me a purgation, has purged me of 
 forty dollars," &c. ; 
 
 and, if Mr. Collier had done more than dip into the play in 
 order to light on something with which he might find fault, 
 he would have read, a page and a half earlier, in a speech of 
 the same personage, — 
 
 " I have been all this day seeking one Master Fustian : mass, 
 see where he is ! — God save you. Master Doctor !" 
 
 which sufficiently proves that in the first of these speeches I 
 rightly printed " mass." 
 
 But how came Mr. Collier so boldly to affirm that the old 
 quarto (of which no copy is known to exist except that in the 
 Bodleian Library) has " Mas. Doctor Lupus," giving " Mas." 
 
VOL. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 33 
 
 as the abbreviation of "Master"? There the two passages 
 above quoted stand literatim thus, — "mass" and "master" 
 being clearly distinguished by the spelling ; 
 
 "Alas, alas, Doctor Fustian quoth a, mas Doctor Lupus was 
 neuer such a Doctor, has giuen me a purgation," &c. 
 
 " I haue beene al this day seeking one maister Fustian : masse 
 see where he is, God saue you, maister doctor." 
 
 If Mr. Collier can blush, let him blush now and deeply. 
 
 P. 232, — act iii, sc. 4. In his note on the words, "come 
 cut and long-tail," Mr. Collier, having referred to Fletcher 
 and Shakespeare's Two Noble Kinsmen, observes ; 
 
 " All the editors of this play have been sorely put to it by a very 
 simple misprint, when Theseus asks the Herald the names of the two 
 heroes : the answer stands in the old copies, 
 
 ' We lieve they're call'd 
 Aroite and Palamon.' 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce and others have been able to make nothing out of 
 the two first words but With leave, Wi' leave, or We learn, when it is evi- 
 dent that We lieve was merely a printer's error for ' Believe,' elliptically 
 used, just as in a subsequent scene (p. 370) where Emilia says, 
 
 ' Believe 
 Their [His] mother was a wondrous handsome woman,' 
 for ' Ihdieve their mother,' <feo." 
 
 Mr. Collier mistakes the meaning of "Believe" in the 
 speech of Emilia, where it is equivalent to "Be assured," 
 " don't doubt :" and, as it would also have the same signifi- 
 cation if put into the Herald's mouth, — 
 
 "Believe they're call'd 
 Arcite and Palamon," 
 
 these words would not be a fitting reply to the demand of 
 
 Theseus, — 
 
 " What was't that prisoner told me 
 
 When I inquir'd their names ?" 
 Besides, the old copies have " We leave," — not, as Mr. Collier 
 states, " We lieve." 
 
 In the same note Mr. Collier appears to be right when he 
 corrects another passage of the same play, altering " ques- 
 tion's" to " questant's." 
 
34 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 P. 338,— act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' You see, he has been thrown into the rivers,' &c. 
 So the corr. fo. 1632; but the printed text has always been, 'Tou say, 
 he has been thrown,' <fcc. ; nobody has said so," &c. 
 
 " Nobody lias said so" on the stage : but from tbe opening 
 of the scene, — 
 
 " Eva. 'Tis one of the pest discretions of a 'oman as ever I did 
 look upon. 
 
 Page. And did he send you both these letters at an instant ?" — 
 
 who, except the Ms. Corrector and Mr. Collier, Trould have 
 failed to conclude that the two " Merry Wives" had just been 
 describing to their husbands and Sir Hugh the tricks they 
 had put upon Falstaflf? 
 
 P. 239,— act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' Let the supposed fairies pinch him soundly,' &c. 
 
 'Pinch him sound' in the folios, but the fairies were not to pinch Pal- 
 staff sound, but 'soundly,' and the adjective is altered to the adverb in 
 the corr. fo. 1632. The old printer was doubtless in fault." 
 
 In the Taming of the Shrew, act i. sc. 2 (vol. ii. 464), 
 
 Mr. Collier prints, — 
 
 " Is, that she is intolerable curst," &c., 
 and observes, 
 
 " So probably Shakespeare wrote ; but the corrector of the folio, 
 1632, refines upon the word [' intolerable'] by altering it to intolerahly." 
 
 The Corrector is equally wrong in both places : in the 
 one " sound" is used for " soundly," in the other " intolerable" 
 for " intolerably," — adjectives (as Mr. Collier ought to have 
 known) having been often used adverbially in the days of 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 P. 242, — act iv. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Fal. Ay, sir, like who more bold V 
 This passage has caused some speculation, and Mr. Singer makes Fal- 
 staff confer a knighthood upon Simple, ' Ay, sir Tike, who more bold V " 
 One of the many notes in this edition which are so highly 
 discreditable to Mr. Collier. — " Tyke" is the conjecture of 
 Parmer ; and it has found its way into every edition published 
 
VOL. I.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 35 
 
 since his time, with the exception of Mr. Collier's present edi- 
 tion, and of mine which appeared somewhat earlier. Of this 
 fact Mr. Collier is perfectly aware : yet he sneers at Mr. Singer 
 as if Farmer's conjecture had been adopted by him alone. And 
 how did Mr. ColHer himself deal with the passage in his first 
 edition ? he did not, indeed, " confer a knighthood upon Sim- 
 ple," but he did what was even more ahsurd, — he printed, 
 " Ay, sir, tike, who more bold ?" 
 
 "Falstaff,"he said, "calls Simple 'sir,' and then corrects himself, 
 in order to give him a derogatory appellation. " 
 
 MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 
 P. 268,— act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' 1 Gent. Why, 'twas a commandment,' &c. 
 
 'Why' is here not an interrogation, but merely an expletive, and we 
 agree with the Rev. Mr. Dyce, who adduces many examples to prove 
 that if ' why' be not an interrogation, it ought not to be followed by 
 the corresponding mark : we do not suppose that such a matter will be 
 doubted." 
 
 Among other mean artifices to which Mr. Collier resorts, 
 is his endeavouring to cast ridicnle on those very portions of 
 my Remarks by which he has profited. — In his former edi- 
 tion he printed, — 
 
 " 1 Gent. Why ? 'Twas a commandment," <fec., 
 and with this note ; 
 
 " It may be doubted whether what follows this interrogatory [' Why .?'] 
 do not belong to Lucio, rather than to the gentleman who is thus made 
 to ask a question and answer it himself :" — 
 
 on which I observed ; 
 
 " The fact is, the Gentleman does not ask a question. 
 Here, as in very many passages of early books, the composi- 
 tor has put a point of interrogation after 'Why,' when the 
 word is merely used emphatically. So in Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's Coxcomb; 
 
 ' Ani. Why ? this will gaine me everlasting glory.' 
 
 Works, p. 102, ed. 1647," &c. &c. 
 -4- Bema/rhs, &c. p. 1 7. 
 
36 STEICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 p. 277,— act i. sc. o. "Sir, make me not your scorn." 
 In his note on this speech, Mr. Collier asks, 
 
 "How could the Rev. Mr. Dyce consent, in a later part of that play 
 [Fletcher's Lovers' Proffress], A. v. sc. 1, to print 'prefer' ior preserve, 
 clearly the proper word, and pointed out to him even by the editors of 
 1750? .... 
 
 ' The principal means appointed to preserve 
 Societies and kingdoms.' " 
 
 Mr. Collier might have mentioned that I cited the defence 
 of the old reading by the editors of 1778; my note ad I. 
 being, — 
 
 "prefer] ' The editors of 1750 think it probable we shoidd 
 read 'preserve' instead of 'prefer.' We do not conceive any 
 variation necessary, prefer meaning pkomote the interest and 
 welfare of societies and kingdoms.' Ed. 1778." 
 
 And that "prefer" was formerly not very uncommon in 
 the sense of promote is unquestionable : e. g., 
 
 " But vse we our powres, 
 And round about vs cast these cares of ours, 
 All to discouer how we may preferre 
 His wisht retreate, and Neptune make forbeare 
 His sterne eye to him," &c. 
 
 Chapman's Homer's Odysses, b. i. p, 4, ed. folio. 
 
 P. 290,— act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' How would you be. 
 If he, which is the top of judgment, should 
 But judge you as you are ?' 
 
 For ' top of judgment' the corr. fo. 1632 has ' Ood of judgment,' which at 
 first sight may appear more emphatic ; but what Isabel means to refer to 
 is the very height and apex of judgment. We apprehend that the per- 
 former of the character of the heroine inserted Ood for ' top,' when the 
 old annotator saw ' Measure for Measure,' and we admit our over-hasty 
 praise in ' Notes and Emendations,' p. 45. So in 'The False One,' by 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, A. ii. so. 1, Pompey is termed 'the top of 
 honour ;' and it is rather surprising that the Rev. Mr. Dyce should have 
 altogether forgotten this apposite illustration : ' Few Notes,' p. 24." 
 
 In the volume just referred to, I quoted from Dante, 
 
TOL. I.J OF MR. COLLIERS SHAKESPEARE. 37 
 
 Furgatono, c. vi., " cima di giudicio/' — the most " apposite 
 illustration" of the present passage that could possibly be 
 given. Mr, Collier, however, in his extreme reluctance to 
 have any obligations to me, does not inform his readers of 
 this very remarkable coincidence of expression between the 
 two greatest poets of the modern world : but he declares him- 
 self "rather surprised" that I should not have cited from 
 Beaumont and Fletcher " the top of honour," — which forms a 
 comparatively iwapposite illustration. (Mr. Staunton's note 
 on the words " the top of judgment" is ; '' Mr. Dyce, in illus- 
 tration of this expression, aptly quotes the following line from 
 Dante's Purgatorio, c. vi. 28 [37] ; 
 
 ' Ch§ dma di giitdido non s' avvalla,' &c.") 
 
 P. 321,— act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Volumes of report 
 Run with base, false, and most contrarious quests 
 Upon thy doings,' <fec. 
 
 It is ' these false,' &c. in the old copies, but no ' false and most contra- 
 rious quests' have before been spoken of, and the corr. fo. 1632 instructs 
 us that these ought to be ' base,' which we believe," (fee. 
 
 Here Mr. Collier, as usual, is too ready to " believe" his 
 
 Ms. Corrector. In our old writers " these" is sometimes little 
 
 more than redundant. So in an earlier passage of the present 
 
 play, act ii. sc. 4 ; 
 
 " as these black masks 
 
 Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder 
 Than beauty could, display'd." 
 
 And in The First Part of Henry IV. act i. sc. 3 j 
 
 " and, but for these vile guns. 
 He would himself have been a soldier." 
 
 So, too, Webster; 
 
 " We that are great women of pleasure use to cut off 
 These uncertain wishes and unquiet longings. 
 And in an instant join the sweet delight 
 And the pretty excuse together." 
 
 The Duchess of Malfi, act v. sc. 2. 
 
38 STRICTDEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 P. 328,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 ee i 
 
 Mr. Caper,' (fee. 
 
 Mr. Caper] So printed in the old copies, and probably to be pronounced 
 mister, because when ' Three-pile the mercer' is mentioned, he is called 
 ' master' at length : Shakespeare may have intended to make a distinction 
 between gentlemen and tradesmen. The Rev. Mr. Dyce is of opinion 
 (' Remarks,' p. 23) that no such distinction was intended, and takes 
 upon him to assert ' that no such distinction was ever dreamed of by 
 Shakespeare.' All we can say is, that it is made in the folios ; and it 
 hardly becomes Mr. Dyce to be so positive here as to the dreams of 
 Shakespeare, when, in his edition of Marlowe's ' Paustus' (' Works,' 
 p. 64) he confounded the abbreviation for master with the Roman Ca- 
 tholic m/zss. We admit that it was a mere oversight, which might per- 
 chance have been avoided, if Mr. Dyce had known as much of Marlowe's 
 dreams, as he seems to have done of Shakespeare's. " 
 
 Let any unprejudiced person turn to my Remarks, &c., 
 p. 23, and carefully read tlie passages there adduced as evi- 
 dence that Mr. and Master were put indiscriminately hy 
 transcribers and printers, — I am confident he will agree with 
 me that "no such distinction" as Mr. Collier perceives in 
 this speech " was ever dreamed of by Shakespeare." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier returns to the charge of my having 
 " confounded the abbreviation of master with the Roman 
 Catholic mass" in my edition of Marlowe's Faustus ; and he 
 even attempts to be facetious on the supposed error. But 
 when he sees what I have written in p. 32 of the present 
 volume, he will henceforth bitterly regret having touched 
 on a passage, in which, as I have unanswerably proved, he 
 mistook the Roman Catholic mass for the abbreviation of 
 master. 
 
 P. 331,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' To yonder generation,' <fec. 
 
 Malone and Steevens read ' The under generation ;' but their emenda- 
 tion, so to call it, is merely speculative, whereas in the corr. fo. 1632 
 we are told to alter t/ond of the folios to ' yonder,' which we have 
 done," ifec. 
 
 " The under generation" was the correction of Hanmer, 
 (who saw that the " yond" of the folio was merely " y ond' " 
 
VOL. 1.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 39 
 
 =the under) : and that it restores the true reading I have 
 shown to demonstration in a note ad I. (too long to be cited 
 here). 
 
 P. 334, — act iv. so. 3. In his note on "he's a better 
 woodman than thou takest him for/' Mr. Collier, having cited 
 a passage from Fletcher's Chances, proceeds thus; 
 
 " But we may ask what he [Mr. Dyce] means in this play \The 
 Chatices], when (p. 262) John says, 
 
 ' Thou hast not half thy teeth come,' 
 
 by putting a colon between 'teeth' and 'come'? .... in ' The Chances' 
 (p. 270) ' conscience' is evidently a misprint for concupiscence. On the 
 very next page ' pay' should as certainly be sta^f ; but these mistakes 
 have not been detected. The blunder on p. 230 of ' wonder' for wan- 
 derer, and on p. 276 of ' lustly' for liisti/, are mere printer's errors, but 
 they ought to have been put right, and not allowed to continue to de- 
 form the text of this admirable comedy As on p. 37 of this 
 
 pastoral [The FaUhftd Shepherdess\ does is misprinted * dares,' so on p. 51 
 dare seems misprinted ' do.' " 
 
 Here, as in several other places, Mr. Collier eagerly seizes 
 the opportunity of poiating out mistakes in my edition of 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. — That the colon has improperly crept 
 iu between "teeth" and " come," — that " conscience" should 
 be "concupiscence," — and that perhaps "pay" is a mispriat 
 for " stay," — I do not deny. But with respect to " wonder," 
 "lustly," "dares," and "do," the case is very different: — 
 
 1. In The Chances; 
 
 " Come, good wonder. 
 Let you and I be jogging ; your starv'd treble 
 Will waken the rude watch else," 
 
 are words addressed by Don John to the infant which, to his 
 astonishment, he finds has just been put into his hands, and 
 which he at first supposed to be " some pack of worth .... 
 coin or jewels" (p. 237). Does Mr. Collier really imagine 
 that Don John would call the new-bom infant "good wan- 
 derer" ? 
 
 2. In the same play j 
 
 " I know it by myself, there can be no hell 
 
40 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 To his that hangs upon his hopes, especially 
 In way of hxMy pleasures," — 
 
 is, I believe, what Fletcher wrote ; for of the form " lustly" I 
 have certainly met with examples in our early authors, though 
 I have kept no memoranda of them. 
 
 3. In The Faithful Shepherdess ; 
 
 " The. Was ever man but I 
 Thus truly taken with uncertainty 1 
 Where shall that man be found that loves a mind 
 Made up in constancy, and dares not find 
 His love rewarded ? Here, let all men know, 
 A wretch that lives to love his mistress so,"— 
 
 would not have been questioned by Mr. Collier if he had 
 recollected the story of the piece, — if he had not utterly for- 
 gotten that Thenot's passion for Clorin is founded solely on 
 admiration of her constancy to her deceased lover, and not to 
 be cured till she pretends to favour it. 
 
 4. In the same playj 
 
 " But, whilst this honour'd strictness you do keep," &c. 
 
 is the reading of the first quarto ; which, with Weber, I pre- 
 ferred. The other editions have " you dare keep," &c. There 
 is little to choose between these readings. 
 
 P. 351, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " 'Make rash demonstrance of my hidden power,' <fec. 
 
 It is remonstrance in the folios, but unquestionably the printer's error 
 for ' demonstrance :' he used the wrong preposition. Shakespeare else- 
 where has 'demonstration' and 'demonstrate,' but this is the only 
 place where ' demonstrance' occurs : remonstrance is not found in any 
 other of his plays or poems. Malone suggested ' demonstrance ;' but if 
 we were to be governed by the same misprint in other writers, we might 
 quote the following from Shirley's ' Hyde Park' (edit. Gififord and Dyce, 
 ii. p. 416), where Trier speaks of the proof that Mrs. Bonavent's husband 
 has been lost during a voyage : — 
 
 ' Having seven years expected, and so much 
 
 Demonstrance of her husband's loss at sea.' 
 
 Here ' demonstrance' (meaning proof), as in ' Measure for Measure,' is 
 
VOL.1.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 41 
 
 misprinted remonstrance, the same carelessness of the old compositor, as 
 to the preposition, having caused the error in hoth instances." 
 
 Malone, who did not venture to disturb the old text, ob- 
 served ; " As I am not aware of remonstrance being ever used 
 in this sense, I would read demonstrance." But most pro- 
 bably if he had remembered the passage in Shirley's Hyde 
 Park (which Mr. Collier so coolly alters), he would have 
 withdrawn the above remark; and assuredly he would have 
 done so, if, in addition to that passage, the following one 
 from the same dramatist had been pointed out to him, — 
 
 " and while 
 The spring contributes to their art, make in 
 Each garden a remonsframce of this battle, 
 Where flowers shall seem to fight," &c. 
 
 The ImpostiM-e, act i. sc. 2, — Works, v. 190. 
 
 {Hyde Park and The Imposture belong to that portion of 
 Shirley's Works which was printed under the eye of Gifford.) 
 
 P. 351, — act V. so. 1. 
 
 "Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested. 
 Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage, 
 We do condemn thee," (fee. 
 
 Shakespeare undoubtedly wrote, — 
 
 " Then, Angelo, thy fonilt thus manifested, — 
 Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage, — 
 We do condemn thee," (fee. 
 
 THE COMEDY OE ERRORS. 
 
 P. 379,— act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 "^ Avi. S. You would all this time have proved, there is no time for 
 all things. 
 
 Lro. S. Marry, and did, sir ; namely, e'en no time to recover hair 
 lost by nature.' 
 
 namely, e'en no time'] It is ' in no time' in the folio, 1623 ; but in 
 was not unfrequently printed for * e'en,' and such was Malone's emen- 
 dation." 
 
 Who ever saw the words " namely" and " e'en" standing 
 
42 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 in such juxtaposition? — The reading of the second folio, 
 though not noticed by Mr. Collier, is evidently the true one ; 
 
 " Marry, and did, sir ; namely, no time to recover hair lost by 
 nature.'' 
 
 P. 392,— act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " Ant. S. What's her name ? 
 
 Bro. S. Nell, sir ; but her name is three quarters, that is, an ell ; 
 and three quarters will not measure her from hip to hip." 
 
 Of the second speech, ia which he retains the error of the 
 folio, " is," but entirely alters the old pointing, Mr. Collier 
 gives an explanation quite worthy of his text. 
 
 The punctuation of the foho, — 
 
 " Nell sir : but her name is three quarters, that's an Ell and 
 three quarters, will not measure her from hip to hip," — 
 
 is of itself almost sufficient to show that Thirlby was right 
 when he read and pointed the speech as follows ; 
 
 " Nell, sir ; but her name and three quarters, that's an ell and 
 three quarters, will not measure her from hip to hip.'' 
 
 P. 394,— act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 '"I thought to have ta'en you at the Porcupine,' &c. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce is very strenuous and elaborate upon the word ' por- 
 cupine,' and would fain have us print it here, as well as before and 
 afterwards, porpentim : and why 2 because, he says, it is so spelt in the 
 old copies ; but so are hundreds of other words, which have in modem 
 times been systematically changed," <fec. &c. 
 
 I still abide by what I urged on this point ia my Remarks, 
 &c., p. 27 sqq., viz. that words are said to be diiferently 
 " spelt," when, vnth different letters, they have the same or 
 nearly the same sound; which is not the case with "porcu- 
 pine" and " porpentine," for the syllables 
 
 cup 
 
 pent 
 
 make no approach to similarity of sound; — that porpentine 
 
 is a distinct /orm of the word, which was frequently employed 
 
 by the best of our early writers (among others, by the learned 
 
VOL. 1.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 43 
 
 Aschanij ToxopMlus, fol. 5j ed. 1545; — and that, since the 
 old editions of those plays of Shakespeare in which the word 
 occurs {The Comedy of Errors, Sec. Part of Henry VI., Troilus 
 and Cressida, and Hamlet) agree, both quartos and folios, in 
 having porpentine, we may conclude that it was the form 
 which Shakespeare preferred. 
 
 P. 400,— act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Dro. S. Here, go : the desk ! the purse ! swift now, make haste.' 
 
 ' Sweet, now make haste' in the folios ; but Dromio was not likely to call 
 either his mistress or Luciana sweet, and the old annotator on the fo. 
 1632 states that ' swift' (denoting the slave's hurry) had been misprinted 
 sweet. In Marlowe's ' Edward II.' (edit. Dyce, ii. 238) we meet with the 
 same blunder, although the editor has not perceived it. Kent is eagerly 
 awaiting the escape of Mortimer from the Tower, and what is he made 
 to say? 
 
 ' Mortimer, I stay 
 Thy sweet escape,' 
 
 instead of ' thy swift escape.' " 
 
 Mr. Collier, I presume, would not have thrust this very 
 erroneous reading into the present play, if he had recollected 
 that ia The Tempest, act iv. sc. 1, Prospero says to Ferdinand 
 
 during the masque, 
 
 " Sweet, now, silence ; 
 Juno and Ceres whisper seriously ; 
 There's something else to do :" hush and be mute, 
 Or else our spell is marr'd." 
 
 The word "sweet" (which Shakespeare applies, with various 
 shades of meaning, to men, women, and things) is in both 
 these passages almost equivalent to "prithee." 
 
 Nor is Mr. Collier's alteration of "sweet" to "swift" in 
 the passage of Marlowe's Edward IT. a whit less improper ; 
 
 " Kent, Fair blows the wind for France : blow, gentle gale, 
 Till Edmund [i. e. the speaker himself] be arriv'd for England's 
 
 good ! 
 Nature, yield to my country's cause in this I 
 A brother ! no, a butcher of thy friends ! 
 Proud Edward, dost thou banish me thy presence ? 
 But I'll to France, and cheer the wrongSd queen, 
 
44 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 And certify what Edward's looseness is. 
 Unnatural king, to slaughter noblemen 
 And cherish flatterers ! — Mortimer, I stay 
 Thy sweet escape. — Stand gracious, gloomy night, 
 To his device !" 
 
 Here '^thy sweet escape" is — thy escape which will he so 
 agreeahle to all of us, — to the party of the queen. 
 Compare Shakespeare; 
 
 " But now the arbitrator of despair, 
 Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries. 
 With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence," &c. 
 
 First Part of Kmg Hemry VI., act ii. sc. 5. 
 " Or had he scap'd, methinks we should have heard 
 The happy tidings of his good esca{pe." 
 
 Third Part oi King Henry VI., act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 P. 401,— act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough.' 
 
 On the same evidence [i. e. on the evidence of the Ms. Corrector, — one 
 of whose lines Mr. Collier inserts immediately before the present one] 
 we print fairy ' fury,' and such was Theobald's emendation. ' Fiends 
 and fairies' are placed just in the same connexion in Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's 'Woman's Prize' (edit. Dyce, vii. p. 181), and 'fairies' there 
 ought as certainly to he furies: this is proved not only by the context, 
 but by an extant Ms. of the play, the existence of which was not known 
 to the Rev. Mr. Dyce, or he would surely have remedied the defect." 
 
 Theobald's (and the Ms. Corrector's) substitution of 
 "fury" for "fairy'' has been rejected by Steevens, Malone, 
 Mr. Knight, Mr. Halliwell, and Mr. Staunton, — the last of 
 these editors not even mentioning it. — "There were," says 
 Johnson, ad I., "fairies like hobgoblins, pitiless and rough, 
 and described as malevolent and malicious." 
 
 In the passage of Beaumont and Fletcher, notwithstand- 
 ing the Ms. authority to the contrary, I think that "fairies?' 
 suits the context as well as " furies ;" 
 
 " If there be any witchcrafts, herbs, or potions, 
 Saying my prayers backward, fiends, or fairies. 
 That can again unlove me, I am made." 
 
VOL. 1.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 45 
 
 P. 404j — act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 *< ' CoUT, ****** 
 
 Will you go with me ? we'll mend our dinner here. 
 
 Dro. S. Master, if you do, or expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long spoon. 
 
 Ant. S. Why, Dromio? 
 
 Bro. S. Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the 
 devil.' 
 
 ' Master, if you do, or expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long spoon/] i. e. 
 If you consent to go, or if you expect spoon-meat, bespeak a long 
 
 spoon 'You' is supplied by the folio, 1632, but 'or' became 
 
 transposed, after ' expect spoon-meat,' instead of before it." 
 
 Mr. Collier's new lection, with the "or" transposed, is 
 very like nonsense. I long ago proposed (not then aware 
 that it was due to Capell) what I still believe to be the true 
 reading, viz.; 
 
 "Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat; so bespeak a long 
 spoon." 
 
 P. 405, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'Miter Antipholus of Ephesus, and a Jailor.' 
 
 — a Jailor. "] This is the old stage-direction; and as Adriana and Anti- 
 pholus subsequently call him ' Jailor,' there is good reason for retaining 
 it, instead of 'an officer,' as it stands in modem editions." 
 
 Mr. Collier does not perceive into what inconsistency he 
 runs by printing here " a Jailor ;" for in the first scene of 
 this act he gives " Enter a Merchant, Angelo, and an Officer;" 
 and that the OfiBcer who arrests Antipholus in that scene is 
 the very person who now enters with him, is proved by the 
 speech of Antipholus to the Duke, " My liege, I am advised 
 what I say," &c. act v. sc. 1. 
 
 P. 408, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " Enter three or four, and bind Antipholus and Dromio. 
 
 Adr. Oh I bind him, bind him ! let him not come near me. 
 Pinch. More company ! — the fiend is strong within him. 
 Luc. Ah me ! poor man, how pale and wan he looks. 
 Ant. E. What, will you murder me ?" <fcc. 
 
 In the location of the above stage-direction, though not 
 in its wording, Mr. Collier adheres to the folio : but this is 
 
46 STRICTUBES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. i. 
 
 one of tlie many places throughout the folio where the stage- 
 direction is purposely placed too early^ — in order to warn the 
 actors to be ready. — Mr. Collier might have seen that when 
 Pinch calls out for "More company!" the " three or four" 
 had not yet entered to assist him. — The whole passage ought 
 to stand thus ; 
 
 " Ad/r. 0, bind him, bind Mm ! let him not come near me. 
 Pinch. More company ! — The fiend is strong within him. 
 Libc. Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks ! 
 
 Enter three orfowr, who assist Pinch in binding Ant. E. and Deo. E. 
 Ant. E. What, will you murder me f &c. 
 
 P. 410j — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' Faith, stay here this night, they will surely do us no harm ; you 
 saw they spoke us fair, gave us gold.' 
 
 It is 'you saw they speah us fair, give us gold' in the folios, but properly 
 altered to ' spoke' and ' gave' in the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 Why alter two words when the alteration of a single word 
 sets all right? Read "you see they speak us fair, give us 
 gold." 
 
 P. 418, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " Ant. E. I never came within these abbey waUs, 
 Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me. 
 I never saw the chain, so help me heaven ! 
 And this is false you burden me withal." 
 
 Here the extreme awkwardness of the old reading, "And 
 this is false," &c., is sufficient to prove that it is wrong : yet 
 Mr. Collier adheres to it, though in my Remarks on his first 
 edition I amended the passage thus ; 
 
 " Ant. E. I never came within these abbey-walls ; 
 Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me : 
 I never saw the chain. So help me heaven 
 As this is false you burden me withal !" 
 
 Compare the words of Adriana, earlier in the present scene ; 
 
 " So befal my soul 
 As this is false he burdens me withal !" 
 
vol.. I.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 47 
 
 P. 423,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail 
 Of you, my sons ; and at this present hour 
 My heavy burdens are delivered.' 
 
 The folio, 1623, gives the passage precisely thus ; 
 
 ' and till this present houre 
 Myheavie burthen are delivered.' 
 
 The only difference in the second folio is, that * burthen' is made hur- 
 thens, and that change cannot be disputed. The annotator on the corr. 
 fo. 1632 alters till to ' at,' and the old difficulty, which has puzzled so 
 many editors and commentators, is at an end: at that hour .Emilia 
 might be said to be delivered of the burdens with which she had so 
 long ' gone in travail,' viz. her twin sons of Bphesus and Syracuse. The 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce would read (Mr. Singer following him), 
 
 'My heavy burden ne'er delivered,' 
 
 and he asserts ('Few Notes,' p. 36) that 'our old printers sometimes 
 mistook ne'er (written nere) for are.' If they did so, (and we do not say 
 that evidence of the kind may not be found), it is surprising that, with 
 his strong propensity for multiplying quotations, Mr. Dyce does not fur- 
 nish a single instance in support of his position," &c. 
 
 In his former edition Mr. Collier printed, 
 
 " and till this present hour 
 My heavy burden ttwdelivered ;" 
 
 which, however objectionable, was a golden reading compared 
 
 with 
 
 " and at this present hour 
 My heavy burdens are delivered :" 
 
 for what likelihood is there that " at" should have been mis- 
 taken for " till" ? and what writer, speaking of twin children 
 in the womb, would call them "burdenS" ? 
 
48 STEICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 
 
 P. 23, — act ii. sc. 1. On the stage-direction "Enter . . . 
 Baithazak ; John/' &c., Mr. Collier remarks ; 
 
 " The 4to. and folio here both read, ' Balthazar or dumb John' . . . 
 Balthazar and John were two distinct persons . . . . ' dumb John' was 
 doubtless a mishearing for ' Bon John' as he was sometimes called." 
 
 No : " dumb" was put by mistake for " Dom." So, there 
 is a poem entitled The Loue of Dom Diego and Gyneura, ap- 
 pended to Diella, &c., 1596. 
 
 P. 24, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " 'Balth. No more words : the clerk is answered.' 
 
 We distribute the dialogue as in the old copies. Some useless ink has 
 been spilled to show that all the male speeches, from ' Well, I would 
 you did like me,' belong to Balthazar. The fact is, that Margaret turns 
 from Benedick with the words ' God match me with a good dancer !' 
 maliciously implying that Benedick is a bad one ; and then Balthazar 
 takes up the dialogue with 'Amen,' meaning that he is what Benedick 
 is not. Margaret, in a manner, admits it, but wishes him out of her 
 sight when the dance is done, he being good at nothing but dancing." 
 
 In this note, — which is the very reverse of a sensible 
 one, — Mr. Collier alludes to me when he speaks of the " use- 
 less ink that has been spilled to show," &c. But though " the 
 ink" may have been wasted on Mr. Collier, it has not been 
 thrown away on others, — witness the note of Mr. Staimton 
 ad I. in his recent edition; "It can hardly be doubted that 
 this ['Well, I woxdd you did like me'] and the next two 
 speeches, assigned to Benedick in the old editions, belong 
 rightly to Balthazar. As Mr. Dyce remarks, 'Benedick is 
 now engaged with Beatrice, as is evident from what they pre- 
 sently say.' The error probably arose, like a similar one in 
 'Love's Labour's Lost,' act ii. sc. 1, from each of the two 
 prefixes beginning with the same letter." — I must not, how- 
 
vox., n.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 49 
 
 ever, omit to mention that, when in my Few Notes, &c., p. 43, 
 I assigned these speeches to Balthazar, I was not aware that 
 Theobald had anticipated me. 
 
 P. 4.2, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " Contempt, farewell ! and maiden pride, adieu ! 
 No glory lives but in the lack of such." 
 
 The second of these lines is what the Ms. Corrector sub- 
 stitutes for " No glory lives behind the back of such :" and 
 Mr. CoUier may be assured that, though perhaps quite to the 
 taste of Professor Mommsen and his other German friends, 
 it will ever be regarded in this country, even by not very 
 critical readers, as a singular piece of impertinence. 
 
 Mr. Collier concludes his note on it by saying ; 
 
 " The words lut in the lack were imperfectly heard, or read, and 
 ' behind the back' inserted instead of them." 
 
 If such was the case, the person who inserted " behind the 
 back" was wonderfully fortunate in stumbling on an expres- 
 sion which has so long been received as the genuine text. 
 
 P. 57, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 ' ' ' Out on thee, seeming ! I will write against it, 
 You seem to me as Dian in her orb,' &c. 
 
 Since Pope's time this has usually been printed ' Out on thy seeming !' 
 but there is no reason for the change. Claudio addresses Hero as the 
 personification of ' seeming" or ' hypocrisy.' Both the 4to. and the folios 
 support the reading in our text, but the corr. fo. 1632 has ' thee' need- 
 lessly altered to thy." 
 
 Mr. CoUier is ready enough to adopt the most " monstrous 
 devices" of the Ms. Corrector (see, for instance, the preceding 
 article) : yet here, where the Corrector is evidently right, he 
 treats his alteration as "needless." — The fact that the old 
 copies have no point between " thee" and " seeming," may 
 jjerhaps weigh little against Mr. Collier's lection ; which, how- 
 ever, is proved to be wrong by the second part of the line : — 
 if Claudio, " addressing Hero as the personification of ' seem- 
 ing' or ' hypocrisy,' " had said, " Out on thee, seeming \" the 
 
 E 
 
50 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 ■words must have been followed by " I will write against 
 
 THEE." 
 
 P. 59, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " 'For did I think thou would'st not quickly die, 
 
 Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames, 
 Myself would, on the reward of reproaches. 
 Strike at thy life.' 
 
 on the KEWARD of reproaches,'] To render this line more intelligible, per- 
 haps, the corr. fo. 1632 substitutes hazard for reward : it is rereward in 
 the 4to, 1600. We see no suflBcient reason for here altering the text 
 of the folio, 1623, where the word is 'reward,' the meaning being, that 
 Leonato was willing to run the risk of being rewarded with reproaches." 
 
 Had it not been for Mr. Collier's note, I should have 
 supposed that here his printer had been guilty of the same 
 mistake as the printer of the first folio was, and that it had 
 escaped Mr. Collier's eye when he revised the sheet ; for ia 
 his former edition he adhered, with the other modern editors, 
 to the reading of the quarto, " the rearward of reproaches." 
 But, no : " the reward of reproaches," — which, besides being 
 utter nonsense, annihilates the metre, — is one of the improve- 
 ments deliberately introduced by Mr. Collier into his new 
 edition of Shakespeare ! 
 
 P. 59, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' ! she is fallen 
 Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea 
 Hath drops too few to wash her clean again, 
 And salt too little, which may season give 
 To her soul-tainted flesh !' 
 
 To her $ovL-tainted flesh .'] So the corr. fo. 1632, with great increase of 
 force, and avoiding what Steevens truly calls ' a metaphor from the 
 kitchen.'" 
 
 That the change " sowZ-tainted" (like the alteration of 
 " sole-pure" to " sowZ-pure" in Troilus and Cressida, act i. 
 sc. 3) was made by the Ms. Corrector in mere wantonness, 
 would be sufficiently apparent, even if we did not find in the 
 very next speech of the same speaker, — 
 
VOL. II.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 51 
 
 " Would the two princes lie ? and Claudio lie, 
 Who lov'd her so, that, speaking of her fotdness, 
 Wash'd it with tears?" 
 
 Here "foul-tainted," — for the word ought to be hyphened, — 
 is equivalent to " foully tainted." (In our author's Lucrece 
 we have, — 
 
 " The remedy indeed to do me good, 
 Is to let forth my fmd-dcfiUd blood.") 
 
 P. 68, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard ; 
 
 Call sorrow joy ; cry hem, when he should groan,' <kc. 
 
 Caii, sorrow joy ;] Such are the words in the corr. fo. 1632 The 
 
 old reading, ' And sorrow, wag !' cannot be what Shakespeare wrote." 
 
 In this much-disputed passage I really cannot see why the 
 old reading should not stand, if properly pointed, — 
 
 "And — sorrow, wag! — cry hem, when he should groan," &c. 
 
 As to the Ms. Corrector's emendation, what resemblance is 
 there, either in the spelling or in the sound of the words, 
 between " And . . wag" and " Call . . joy" ? 
 
 P. 71, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' fashion-mong'ring boys,' <fec. 
 
 The Rev. A. Dyce, in his 'Few Notes,' <fec., p. 46, would have this com- 
 pound spelt ' fashion-mow^i'my,' merely because he so finds it in Wilson's 
 * Cobler's Prophecie,' 1594. This is to desert the etymology of the word ; 
 and the same reason would require adherence to every old and exploded 
 form in any other word. In Wilson's comedy we may be pretty sure that 
 the letter r, in ' mong'ring,' was accidentally omitted." 
 
 The reader of this note, on learning from it that / wished 
 the form " isshion-monging" to be introduced into Shake- 
 speare's play " MERELY because I found it in Wilson's ' Cob- 
 ler's Prophecie,'" wUl naturally be apt to conclude that I 
 am a very ridiculous person : it is necessary, therefore, that 
 I inform him of what Mr. Collier has taken such care to 
 conceal, viz. that in the present passage of Much ado about 
 
52 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 Nothing, all the old editions, — the quarto, and the four folios, 
 — are uniform in having " tashion-monging." — But let me by 
 all means quote, from my recent edition of Shakespeare, the 
 annotation on the words " fashion-mongering boys :" " In my 
 Few Notes, &c., p. 46, I have said, ' Here Mr. Knight, alone 
 of the modern editors, follows the old copies in printing 
 'fashion-monging,' — and rightly,^ &c. : but. now, on consider- 
 ing the inconsistency in spelling which those old copies ex- 
 hibit, I think that the other modern editors have done more 
 wisely." 
 
 P. 76, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 ' ' ' This naughty man 
 Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, 
 Who, I believe, was pact in all this wrong, 
 Hir'd to it by your brother. ' 
 
 Who, 1 helieve, was pact in all this wrong, '\ ' Pact' is properly largain or 
 contract: see Richardson's Diet, under 'pact.' But for the agreement 
 of all the old copies, we might have thought that ' pact' was here a mis- 
 print for part. In 'The Taming of the Shrew,' Act ii. sc. 1, 'part' is 
 certainly misprinted iox pact, — 'good night our part.' Mr. Dyce ('Re- 
 marks,' 33) is so strenuous for paci^d, that he has about a page of notes 
 upon it. Even if he were right, we could do without so much evidence. 
 To say that Margaret ' was pact,' is the same as to say that she was party 
 in the wrong." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier, obstinate in error, transforms into a 
 substantive what is manifestly a verb in the old copies, — all 
 of which have, not "pact," but " pacht." And nothing can 
 be more unfortunate than his reference to Richardson's Dic^.; 
 for though we find there 
 
 " Pact, n. 
 Paction. 
 Pactional," 
 with examples of their uses, we also find 
 
 " Pack, v. 
 Pack, n. 
 Packet, n. 
 Packet, V. 
 Packing, n." 
 
VOL. ii.J OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 53 
 
 under which Dr. Richardson quotes the present passage with 
 its old spelling ; 
 
 " to Margaret, 
 Who I beleeue was packt in all this wrong," &c. 
 
 as well as another instance of the verb " pack'd" from our 
 author's Antony and Cleopatra, act iv. so. 2; 
 
 " Shee, Eros, has 
 FacM cards with Caesars [sic]" &c. 
 
 P. 83, — act V. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'One Hero died belied ; but I do live,' &c. 
 
 There can be ' nothing certainer' than that the word defil'd, in the 4to, 
 1600 ['One Hero died defl'd^ must be wrong : it was omitted in the 
 folio, 1623, and the passage left 
 
 ' One Hero died ; but I do live.' 
 
 To make Hero say that she had died defil'd, is to make her admit her 
 own guUt : she maintains that she had died guiltless ; and the word 
 found in the corr. fo. 1632 has occurred several times in this comedy, 
 and is precisely that which Hero would have used, and which might 
 easily have been misheard and misprinted, 
 
 ' One Hero died helied ; but I do live.' 
 
 It seems as clear that helied is the true word, as that defWd is the very 
 word, of all others. Hero would not have employed. The printer of the 
 folio, 1623, seeing that defil'd must be wrong, and not knowing what 
 was right, cast it out." 
 
 In his "Introduction" to this play, Mr. CoUier justly 
 says J 
 
 " The earliest impression [the quarto,' 1600] contains several passages 
 not inserted in the reprint (for such it undoubtedly was) under the care 
 of Heminge and Condell, and the text of the 4to, 1600, is to be preferred 
 in nearly all instances." 
 
 Here, however, when an emendation of Ms Ms. Corrector re- 
 quires to be supported, Mr. Collier is disposed to think less 
 favourably of the quarto of 1600. — The truth of the matter, 
 I have no doubt, is this : the printer of the first folio (a 
 most careless printer) omitted the word " defil'd" by a mere 
 oversight : it was omitted in the second folio also ; and the 
 Ms. Corrector, aware that a word was wanting, and not pos- 
 
54 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [Vol. ii. 
 
 sessing the quarto of 1600, inserted "belied" from conjec- 
 ture. — According to Mr. Collier, "to make Hero say that 
 she had died defil'd, is to make her admit her own guUt/'— 
 a most forced objection to the reading of the quarto; for 
 Hero knows that not only Claudio whom she is addressing, 
 but the whole party present, are now perfectly conviuced of 
 her innocence. 
 
 P. 85, — act V. so. 4. 
 
 " ' Bene. Peace ! I will stop your mouth.' 
 
 The 4to, 1600, and the folios assign this speech to Leonato ; but it ap- 
 pears by a change of prefix in the corr. fo. 1632 to belong to Benedick, 
 and such has been the usual regulation. When the Rev. A. Dyce takes 
 so much pains by quotations (' Remarks,' p. 35) to prove that ' I will 
 stop your mouth' means / will kiss you, surely, it is mispent labour. He 
 forgot that in this very play, A. ii. sc. 1 (p. 29), Beatrice says to Hero, 
 ' Stop his mouth with a kiss.' Mr. Dyce goes ' to Peru for a pebble' 
 when he has one under his foot, and thinks too little of illustrating 
 Shakespeare by Shakespeare. Our great dramatist is his own best an- 
 notator." 
 
 I feel myself justified in saying, that the disingenuousness 
 of Mr. CoUier has no parallel in the history of literary con- 
 troversy, — that, compared to him, the angry and abusive 
 Scioppii of the olden time were " honourable men." 
 
 In his former edition Mr. Collier printed, — 
 
 '^ fjeon. Peace ! I will stop your mouth ;" 
 
 and with this note, — 
 
 " Modern editors assign this line to Benedick ; but all the old copies 
 give it to Leonato. It may be very well also, as a piece of stage effect, 
 to make Benedick kiss Beatrice at this juncture, but there is no warrant 
 for it in any old stage-direction :" — 
 
 on which I commented as follows in . my Remarks ; and I 
 entreat the reader to compare what I now cite with the mis- 
 representation of it by Mr. Collier in the above note to Ms new 
 edition ; 
 
 "In the first place, the context shows that the speech 
 belongs to Benedick : why should Leonato wish to put Bea- 
 trice suddenly to silence? she has said nothing which con- 
 
VOL. II.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 55 
 
 cerns Mm. Secondly, it is as evident that the speaker of 
 these words kisses Beatrice, as that Young Loveless kisses the 
 Widow when his brother desires him to ' stop her mouth / 
 
 ' Widow. Sir, you speak like a worthy brother : 
 And so much I do credit your fair language 
 That I shall love your brother; and so love him — 
 But I shall blush to say more. 
 
 Elder Loveless. Stop her mouth' 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 Passages might be cited from various other old plays, in 
 which 'mouths are stopt' by the same process. But, after 
 all, it is unnecessary to wander away from Shakespeare for an 
 instance of it, since in Troilus and Cressida, when Cressida 
 says, ' Stop my mouth,' we learn distinctly from the lady's next 
 speech how TroUus understood her injunction, — 
 
 ' My lord, I do beseech you, pardon me ; 
 'Twas not my purpose, thus to beg a Mss.' 
 
 Act iii. sc. 2." 
 
 LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. 
 P. 107, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 "Now, madam, summon up your clearest spirits," &c. 
 
 The old eds. have " your dearest spirits," &c., — which (as I 
 observed in my Few Notes, &c. p. 51) is proved to be the 
 right reading by a line of Dekker, who appHes to " spirits" 
 an epithet synonymous with ' dearest,' — 
 
 " Call vp your lustiest spirits ; the lady's come." 
 
 If it be not good, the Diuel is in it, 1612, sig. C. 3. 
 
 Yet Mr. CoUier inserts in his text the vile alteration of the 
 Ms. Corrector; mentioning in his note that "the German 
 edition of Schlegel and Tieck's Shakespeare, by Professor 
 Mommsen, adopts ' clearest,' and accurately renders it klar- 
 sten," — as if that were decisive as to the fitness of the change ! 
 (It appears that Professor Mommsen has no objection to read- 
 ings of the Corrector which even Mr. Collier himself is afraid 
 to use. So, in As you like it, act ii. sc. 3, " Of a diverted 
 
56 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 blood and bloody brother" is altered by the Ms. Corrector to 
 "Of a diverted, proud, and bloody brother/' — ^which, says 
 Mr. Collier ad I., " the German editor prefers, and renders, 
 Bes abgewandten, stolzen, blut'gen Bruders") 
 
 P. 115, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 " ' I'll give you Aquitain, and all that is his, 
 
 An you give him for my sake but one loving kiss. 
 Prin. Come to our pavilion : Boyet is dispos'd. — 
 Boyet, But to speak that in words, which his eye hath disclos'd.' 
 
 Boyet is disposed.'] In a note upon Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Wit with- 
 out Money,' iv. 193, the Rev. Mr. Dyce is 'dispos'd' to laugh at Weber 
 for saying that ' dispos'd' means dispos'd to be merry. Why, Mr. Dyce 
 says so himself in his note upon the words ' You are dispos'd,' in Peele's 
 'Edward I.' (Dyce's Peele's Works, i. 125) ; — 'inclined to be merry' is 
 his own explanation, and he adds, that it is * a sense in which the word 
 is often used by old writers.' No doubt of it ; and no doubt it often 
 means something more, viz. wantonly ' merry ;' but inasmuch as Mr. 
 Dyce has himself told us that it means ' merry,' he ought to be the last 
 to blame Weber and the commentators on Shakespeare for saying the 
 same thing. It is droU therefore to find him, in a note upon my first 
 edition of ' Love's Labour's Lost,' blaming me for falling into an error 
 which he was the first to commit ; and when, in fact, I did not say one 
 word upon the subject, for I allowed ' dispos'd' to pass without observa- 
 tion. Of course, after ' dispos'd,' something is to be understood." 
 
 In the sec. vol. of his Shakespeare, 1843, Mr. Collier 
 printed the speech of the Princess thus, — 
 
 " Prin. Come to our pavilion : Boyet is dispos'd " 
 
 making it an imperfect speech. 
 
 In vol. iv. of my edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, 1844, 
 appeared this note ; 
 
 " dispos'd] Is explained by Weber ' merry ;' but it means 
 something more, viz. wantonly merry, inclined to wanton 
 mirth. The word occurs, with the same meaning, in several 
 of these plays : compare also Love's Labour's lost, act ii. 
 sc. 1; 
 
 ' Prin. Come to our pavilion : Boyet is dispos'd. 
 
 Boyet. But to speak that in words, which his eye hath disclos'd.' 
 
 a passage which has not been understood by the modern 
 
VOL. II.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKBSPEAEE. 57 
 
 editors of Shakespeare; for (in opposition to the old eds.) 
 they put a break after ' dispos'd,' as if the sentence were in- 
 complete." 
 
 In the first vol. of Mr. Collier's Shakespeare, 1844,* is 
 found, among the Additional Notes and Corrections, — 
 
 " Boi/et is dispos'd — 1 Some persons would discover an indelicate 
 meaning here, in the use of the verb 'dispos'd;' but, surely, prurient 
 ingenuity was never more misplaced, as is shown by the context." 
 
 The expression " Some persons" alluded to me (vide, 
 supra, the note on Beaumont and Fletcher) ; and in my 
 Remarks on Mr. Collier's and Mr. Knight's eds. of Shake- 
 speare, I rejoined; "Where is the grossly indelicate meaning 
 which Mr. Collier's remark would naturally lead one to sup- 
 pose that I had assigned to the word ? Boyet having said, 
 
 ' I'll give you Aquitain and all that is his. 
 An you give him for my sake but one loving kiss,' 
 
 the Princess, thinking (as she well might) that he was talking 
 a little too freely, addresses her ladies with 
 
 ' Come, to our pavilion : Boyet is disposed.' 
 
 i. e. is inclined to wanton mirth, using such language as we 
 ought not to hear, — though Boyet, choosing to understand 
 ' dispos'd' simply in the sense of ' inclin'd,' immediately adds, 
 
 ' But to speak that in words, which his eye hath disclos'd.' " 
 
 p. 38. 
 
 And to show that such was the meaning of " dispos'd" in the 
 Princess's speech, I cited passages from Peele's Edward I., 
 from three plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, and from Brome's 
 Covent-Garden weeded. 
 
 We thus see that, in his recent annotation on the word " dis- 
 pos'd," Mr. CoUier garbles my note on Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 — that he mentions the explanation " wantonly merry," not 
 as mine, but as one with which he had been familiar all along, 
 — and that he concludes with a statement in every way un- 
 true, viz. that I blamed him for falling into an error which I 
 was the first to commit, — when, in reality, I blamed him for 
 
 * The first volume of that edition having been published last of alL 
 
58 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v.. 
 
 not puttinff a full-point after " dispos'd" — which he has now 
 
 SILENTLY DONE. 
 
 It may perhaps be thought that here^ as occasionally else- 
 where in this volume, I have quoted too much from myself; 
 but I am absolutely compelled to do so, having to deal with 
 the least honest of adversaries. 
 
 P. 118, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 '"By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face : 
 Moist-eyed melancholy, valour gives thee place.' 
 
 Moist-eyed melancholy,'] Such is the appropriate compound epithet in 
 the corr. fo. 1632 : the old reading, 'Most rude melancholy,' was an easy 
 misprint, especially when we bear in mind that ' eyed' was, at that date, 
 sometimes spelt eiede : the emendation preserves what we are confident 
 Shakespeare must have written. In what way had melancholy shown 
 itself most rude ? it was proverbially ' moist-eyed. ' " 
 
 A more stupid alteration than " moist-eyed" can hardly 
 be imagined : the Ms. Corrector did not understand the pass- 
 age : — nor, indeed, does Mr. Collier ; to whose question, 
 " In what way had melancholy shown itself most rude ?" the 
 answer is pat — " By sighing in the face of the welkin," — for 
 which Armado is oflfering an apology. 
 
 P. 132,— act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " Celestial, as thou art, ! pardon, love, this wrong. 
 That sings heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue !" 
 
 So Mr, CoUier, like the other modern editors, points the 
 passage, — and quite against the sense; which requires ''O, 
 pardon love this wrong,'^ &c. 
 
 P. 143,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Black is the badge of hell, 
 The hue of dungeons, and the shade of night.' 
 
 It is schoole of night in the 4to. and folios, but schoole must be wrong. 
 Warburton proposed scowl and Theobald stole : Mr. Dyce suggests soyle 
 — highly improbable. The Ms. correction in the fo. 1632 is 'shade of 
 night' .... a familiar and natural expression." 
 
 In my Remarks, &c., p. 39, I merely queried if the right 
 
VOL. II.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 59 
 
 reading here was ascertained by the following linesj with which 
 Chapman opens his Humorous Dayes Myrth, 1599? 
 
 " Yet hath the morning sprinckled throwt [dc] the clowdes 
 But halfe her tincture, and the soyle of night 
 Stickes stil upon the bosome of the ayre :" 
 
 and I cited from Midsummer -Nighf s Dream, act i. sc. 1, — 
 
 " Brief as the lightning in the collied [i.e. soiled, — black] night :" 
 
 nor even now am I inclined to allow that in the present pass- 
 age " soil" is a " highly improbable" lection. — In my ed. of 
 Shakespeare, however, I have printed, with Theobald, "the 
 stole of night;" which seems, on the whole, the least objec- 
 tionable reading. — The Ms. Corrector's "shade of night'^ is 
 wretchedly feeble : — to say, as Mr. Collier does, that it is a 
 ^^ familiar expression," is in fact saying that it is at variance 
 with the style of the rhyming speeches in this scene. 
 
 P. 152,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " Eos. 'Ware pencils ! How ? let me not die your debtor," &c. 
 
 When, ia my Few Notes, &c., p. 56, I gave what is indu- 
 bitably the true reading of this line, — 
 
 " 'Ware pencils, ho ! let me not die your debtor," &c., — 
 
 I was not aware that the same correction had been made long 
 ago by Hanmer. 
 
 P. 153,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' And shape his service whoUy to my behests. 
 
 And make him proud to make me proud that jests.' 
 
 behests] This judicious alteration was made by the editor of the folio, 
 1632 ; in that of 1623, as well as in the 4to. of 1698, device is printed for 
 ' behests,' " &c. 
 
 Not a very "judicious alteration." Shakespeare evidently 
 wrote, — 
 
 " And shape his service wholly to my hests, 
 And make,'' &c. 
 
60 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 P. 154, — act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Arm, wenches, arm ! encounterers mounted are 
 Against your peace.' 
 encounterers] So the corr. fo. 1632. The usual reading has been 
 encounters, but those who support it have not told us in what way 
 encounters could be mounted. " 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. so. '3, Mr. Collier gives, — 
 " I did enquire it ; 
 And have my learning from some true reports. 
 That drew their swords with you :" 
 
 but, to be consistent, he ought to have printed "some true 
 reporters," and to have observed in a note that " those who 
 support the old reading have not told us in what way reports 
 could draw their swords." 
 
 Does Mr. CoUier need to be told that in poetry the ab- 
 stract is frequently used for the concrete ? 
 
 P. 174,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " A heavy heart bears but a humble tongue," 
 
 So Mr. Collier amends the corrupt reading of the old eds., 
 bears not a humble tongue :" but his emendation is 
 
 unsuited to the context, for the Princess is not speaking of 
 the character of her thanks, only of their scantiness. Here, 
 at least, he ought to have been guided by his Ms. Corrector, 
 who, like Theobald, reads, — 
 
 " A heavy heart bears not a nimble tongue." 
 
 P. 175,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' And even that falsehood, in itself so base, 
 Thus purifies itself, and turns to grace.' 
 
 Biron meant to conclude his speech with four rhyming lines, but he has 
 been defeated by a corruption which crept into the old text, viz. a sin 
 for ' so base. ' The jingle leads to the detection of the error, pointed out 
 in the corr. fo. 1632," (fee. 
 
 When Mr. Collier converts " a sin" into two words utterly 
 dissimilar in sound and letters, " so base," and merely for the 
 sake of introducing a rhyme, — he is no longer editing Shake- 
 
VOL. II.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 61 
 
 spear e, but re- writing him. — The alteration in an earlier part 
 of the play, of " device" to " behests," or, more properly, to 
 " bests" (see p. 59 of this vol.) is a very different matter. 
 
 P. 178,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Deaf 'd with the clamours of their own dire groans,' &c. 
 
 It [the corr. fo. 1632] reads 'dire' for dear ; and the epithet is so much 
 more applicable to ' groans' that we adopt it," &c. 
 
 Yet on the line of Hamlet, act i. sc. 2, — 
 
 "Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven," &c. 
 Mr. Collier puts a note, " ' Dearest' means here direst." 
 
 MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM. 
 P. 199, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' The cowslips tall her pensioners be ; 
 In their gold coats spots you see.' 
 
 In their gold coats spots you see-l In the corr. fo. 1632 this and the pre- 
 ceding line are thus given :^- 
 
 ' The cowslips all her pensioners be ; 
 In their gold cups spots you see.' 
 Certainly, cowslips are not 'tall;' and when Mr. Dyce, in his 'Pew 
 Notes,' (fee. p. 61, speaks of the diminutive size of fairies, he quite forgets 
 that Oberon, Titania, Puck, &c., must have been represented by human 
 beings, and not by creatures to whom cowslips would be ' tall.' Though 
 the objection is futile, we refrain on other grounds from disturbing the 
 old text." 
 
 I suspect that Mr. Collier would be rather puzzled, if 
 called upon to explain what the above note really means. — 
 "Mr. Dyce quite forgets that Oberon, Titania, Puck, &c., 
 must have been represented by human beings" ! Verily, I 
 never supposed that Shakespeare could command the services 
 of super-human performers; but 1 held it for certain (as I 
 still do) that the " fairy elves," who must have been so dis- 
 tinctly visible to his mind's eye while he was composing this 
 enchanting drama, bore not the most distant resemblance to 
 the actors by whom they were to be represented; that, for 
 instance, when he described Cobweb as in some danger of 
 
62 
 
 STEICTUEBS ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 being "overflown with a honey-bag," he was thinking of a 
 creature incalculably more diminutive than the urchin who 
 was to figure as Cobweb on the stage. 
 
 P. 234, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " 'Seeking sweet savours for this hateful fool,' &c. 
 
 Fisher's 4to. alone vesAi favours for ' savours.' Either may be right, but 
 ' savours,' in the sense of perfumes, seems preferable. Mr. Dyce is for 
 ' favours' ('Few Notes,' p. 62), and there can be no reason why he should 
 not indulge his choice : we only ask the same privilege." 
 
 I may just notice, that in preferring "favours," I am kept 
 in countenance by the three latest editors, — Mr. Halliwell, 
 Mr. Staunton, and Mr. Grant White (though the last-men- 
 tioned gentleman in his Shakespeare's Scholar, &c. had main- 
 tained the superiority of " savours'^). 
 
 P. 335, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Ohe. ****** 
 Titania, music call ; and strike more dead 
 Than common sleep of all these five the sense. 
 
 Tita. Music, ho ! music ! such as charmeth sleep. 
 
 Puck. Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes peep. 
 
 Obe. Sound, music ! Come, my queen, take hands with me. 
 And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.' 
 
 music ! such as charmeth sleep] After these words in the foUo, 1623, we 
 have the stage-direction ' Music stiU ;' which means, probably, that the 
 music was to be heard for a while, and to cease before Puck spoke, as 
 Oberon afterwards exclaims, ' Sound, music !' when it was to be renewed. 
 If, as Mr. Dyce (' Remarks,' 48) suggests, 'still music' had been meant, 
 the direction would not have been 'music still.' He evidently does not 
 understand the force of the adverb : he mistakes it for the adjective, 
 which occurs afterwards. " 
 
 Let Mr. Collier say what he pleases, 1 am positive that 
 " Music still" means still or soft music ; which, instead of 
 " ceasing before Puck spoke," was not intended to commence 
 at aU till Oberon had exclaimed " Sound, music !" The stage- 
 direction (as is often the case with stage-directions in old 
 plays) was placed thus early, to warn the musicians to be in 
 readiness. But Mr. ColUer writes, " If, as Mr. Dyce (' Ee- 
 
VOL. II.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 63 
 
 marks/ 48) suggests, ' still music' had been meant, the direc- 
 tion would not have been 'music still:'" — yes, Mr. Collier 
 ventures so to write, — trusting that none of Ms readers will 
 take the trouble to refer to my Remarks, &c., where I have 
 quoted from the old eds. of Beaumont and Fletcher's Triumph 
 of Time the following stage-direction, in which the epithet 
 applied to "Trumpet^' is put last, — "Jupiter and Mercury 
 descend severally. Trumpets small above." 
 
 Mr. Staunton (who adheres to the folio in placing the 
 stage-direction " Music still " immediately after Titania's 
 speech) observes; "We apprehend, by 'Music still' or 'still 
 music,' was meant soft, subdued music, such music as Titania 
 could command, — 'as charmeth sleep;' the object of it being 
 to — 
 
 ' strike more dead 
 
 Than common sleep ' 
 
 This being effected, Oberon himself calls for more stirring 
 strains while he and the Queen take hands — 
 
 ' And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.' " 
 
 I am glad to find that Mr. Staunton agrees with me as to 
 the meaning of the words " Music still." I cannot, however, 
 agree with him in the rest of his explanation. I believe that 
 the music is not heard till Oberon echoes Titania's call for it ; 
 and that to the said still or soft music (the sole object of 
 which is to lull the five sleepers) some sort of a pas de deux is 
 danced by the fairy king and queen. 
 
 P. 254,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Never mole, hare-lip, nor sear, 
 Nor mark prodigious, such as are 
 Despised in nativity, 
 Shall upon their children be, 
 With this field- dew consecrate. 
 Every fairy take his gait, 
 And each several chamber bless, 
 Through this palace with sweet peace : 
 Ever shall it safely rest,' <fcc. 
 
 So the corr. fo. 1632 : the usual reading has been ' ever shall in safety 
 
64 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 rest,' which is decidedly wrong. This is one of the instances in which 
 Mr. Singer adopts the emendation of the old Ms. annotator, but, al- 
 though he makes a note on the passage, he forgets to acknowledge his 
 obligation. He does not follow the punctuation of this song recom- 
 mended on the same authority, and as decidedly accurate. The fairies 
 were not to be ' with this field-dew consecrate ;' they could not need it, 
 but the children who were to be thus exempted from ' mark prodigious. ' " 
 
 It was hardly necessary for Mr. Singer to acknowledge his 
 obligation to "the old Ms. annotator" for an emendation 
 which is to be found in Pope's edition* — When Mr. Collier 
 tells us that " the fairies were not to be ' with this field-dew 
 consecrate ,-' they could not need it," he altogether misunder- 
 stands the line, which means, " with this consecrated field- 
 dew," i. e. fairy holy- water ; and when he adds, that the field- 
 dew was intended for " the children," he most unaccountably 
 forgets that, as "the couples three" have only just retired to 
 their respective bridal chambers, the usual period must elapse 
 before the birth of "the children;" — by which time "this 
 field-dew" (so very prematurely provided) was not unlikely to 
 lose its virtue, and even to evaporate, though in the keeping 
 of fairies. Mr. Collier, therefore, if he should publish a third 
 edition, will do well to return to the punctuation of the old 
 copies ; 
 
 " Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar. 
 
 Nor mark prodigious, such as are 
 
 Despised in nativity, 
 
 Shall upon their children be. 
 
 With this field-dew consecrate-, 
 
 Every fairy take his gait," &c. 
 
 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 
 P. 274, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 "'Ay, that's a colt, indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his 
 horse ; and he makes it a great approbation of his own good parts, that 
 he can shoe him himself. ' 
 
 — a great appeobation of his own good parts,'] i. e. A great proof of his 
 
 * Malone ad I. makes a mistake in saying, " Mr. Pope and the subsequent 
 editors read ' E'er shall it in safety rest.' " 
 
VOL. u.] OF MB. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 65 
 
 own good parts. This is the excellent emendation in the corr. fo. 1632 : 
 the old word is appropriation, which occurs no where else in Shake- 
 speare." 
 
 Mr. Collier^ by some oversightj does not apprise the reader 
 of all that the Ms. Corrector has perpetrated here : the old 
 eds. have " a great appropriation to his own good parts," — 
 which affords a meaning so clear and satisfactory, that the 
 Corrector must have had the pruritus emendandi more than 
 usually strong upon him when he altered it. 
 
 P. 293, — act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Past bind, fast find,' (fee. 
 
 The corr. fo. 1632 has this proverb, ^ Safe bind, safe find,' which may 
 only denote a difference of recitation : the usual form is that of the 
 text, and it occurs in Fletcher's ' Spanish Curate,' A. ii. sc. 2 ; a better 
 authority for the purpose than Mr. Dyce was able to quote in his ' Re- 
 marks,' [Few JSfotes,'] p. 64, where he merely refers to Cotgrave," &c. 
 
 Mr. Collier is mistaken, I could not well be ignorant 
 that " Fast bind, fast find" occurred in Fletcher's Spanish 
 Curate, act ii. sc. 3 (where, in my ed. of that play, Beaumont 
 and Fletcher's Works, viii. 421, I have put a note referring to 
 the present passage of The Merchant of Venice) ; I knew, too, 
 that it occurred in some other poets; but, my object not 
 being properly the illustration of Shakespeare, it was unne- 
 cessary that I should quote such authorities ; — enough if I 
 showed the foolishness of the Ms. Corrector in attempting to 
 vary a proverb which was so very common that Cotgrave has 
 introduced it in his Diet. (sub. :Bora) as equivalent to "Bon 
 guet chasse malaventure." 
 
 P. 304, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " Enter Tubal. 
 Shy. How now, Tubal?" &c. 
 
 Here Mr. Collier accuses Mr. Singer, — as, in his Preface, 
 he accuses me, — of silently borrowing from him "this new 
 arrangement" of the entrance of Tubal ; a charge which, like 
 most of Mr. Collier's other charges, happens to be false : see 
 p. 4 of the present volume. 
 
66 
 
 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 P. 309, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' love! be moderate ; allay thy ecstasy; 
 
 In measure rein thy joy ; scant this excess,' &o. 
 
 In measure kein thy joy ;'\ The 4to. by Roberts has ' range thy joy,' the 
 other old editions raine, leaving it somewhat doubtful whether we should 
 read ' rein' or rain. Mr. Dyce is for rain (' Remarks,' 57), and I was 
 formerly of the same opinion ; but Portia, I am convinced, means only 
 cwrl your joys, restrain them, and she therefore follows up the exclama- 
 tion by ' scant this excess.' " 
 
 Is it usual to talk of " reining" any thing " in measure" ? 
 and do not the words " scant this excess," which Mr. Collier 
 adduces in support of " rein" distinctly prove that it is the 
 wrong reading ? 
 
 P. 315, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' The best condition'd and unwearied'st spirit 
 In doing courtesies,' (fee. 
 
 It is ' unwearied spirit' in the old copies, but the superlative is exactly 
 in Shakespeare's manner, and it accords with the preceding part of the 
 line 'the best conditioned.' The change is derived from the corr. fo. 
 1632." 
 
 Mr. Hunter also {New Illust. of Shakespeare, i. 328) says 
 that " unwearied should evidently be unweariedst :" but Mr. 
 Halliwell is certainly right when he observes ad L, that " this 
 is not the only instance [in our old writers] where the posi- 
 tive adjective is used in conjunction with the superlative, the 
 force of the latter being understood. Thus, in the previous 
 act, — 'to make me blest or cursed' st, among men.'" 
 
 P. 339,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' look, how the floor of heaven 
 Is thick inlaid with patterns of bright gold,' <fec. 
 
 The question here is between ' patterns' and pattens: the Rev. Mr. Dyce 
 prefers pattens, but cites no older authority than Coles's Diet. : the 
 Promptorium Parvvlorum would have been better, and there he might 
 have found 'Patena, or pateyne of a chalys.' (Edit. Camd. Soc. 385.) 
 But the truth is, that Shakespeare had no such far-fetched allusion : 
 he was thinking of the ' patterns of bright gold' which inlaid the floor 
 of heaven. Mr. Dyce asks (' Remarks,' p. 69), ' How could ' the floor of 
 
TOL. II.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 67 
 
 heaven' be inlaid with 'patterns'?' Just like any other ornamental 
 floor ; ornamental floors are always inlaid with patterns, and generally 
 of stars. Surely Mr. Dyce never can have seen a floor of this descrip- 
 tion, or he would not have made the inquiry. Pattens, or more properly 
 patines, could hardly apply to the stars which form ' patterns' on ' the 
 floor of heaven. * The word in the old copies is patients, pattens, and 
 patterns. We prefer the last." 
 
 In this effort to evince the superiority of " patterns" over 
 the established reading "patines," Mr. Collier has produced a 
 curious piece of annotation, almost unique in its reasoning and 
 in its style. — Here he cites my Remarks, Sec. : but he forbears 
 to refer to another publication of mine equally ■well known to 
 him, A Few Notes, &c. : and why ? for a very good reason, 
 viz. because in it I adduced, from Sylvester's Du Bartas, the 
 two following quotations, each of them, as Mr. Collier must 
 feel, telling very strongly against the reading with which he 
 has impaired the beauty of a memorable passage ; 
 
 " Th' Almighties finger fixed many a million 
 Of golden scutchions [the original has " platines dorees"^ in 
 that rich pavillion." 
 
 The Fourth Day of the First Weeh, p. 33, ed. 1641. 
 
 " That sumptuous canapy, 
 The which th' un-niggard hand of Majesty 
 Poudred so thick with shields [the original has " escussons"'] 
 so shining cleer," &c. Id. p. 34. 
 
 P. 340,— act v. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Peace ! now the moon sleeps with Budymion, \Music ceases. 
 
 And would not be awak'd.' 
 
 ' Now' seems to have been misprinted how in the old copies, and modern 
 editors, not knowing what to do with it, have usually converted it into 
 an interjection ho ! Portia is assigning a reason for the cessation of the 
 music, viz. because it will awake the moon now sleeping with Endymion. 
 The emendation of how to ' now' is made in the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 Here "how" is clearly the old spelling of "ho," just as 
 in Antony and Cleopatra, act i. sc. 3, where the old copies 
 have " From Sicyon how the news ?" and where the Ms. Cor- 
 rector, "not knowing what to do with it," again changes 
 "how" to "now." — Since Mr. Collier, in a note on the latter 
 
68 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 passage, observes, "It is ve^y possible that the true text is, 
 'From Sicyon, ho! the news?'"— one might have expected 
 that here too the possibility of "ho" being the true text would 
 have suggested itself to him. (For much more on 
 
 " Peace, ho ! the moon sleeps with Endymion," &c., 
 see my ed. of Shakespeare, vol. ii. 339.) 
 
 AS YOU LIKE IT. 
 
 P. 370, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " the poor dappled fools," &c. 
 
 On these words, — ^which are passed over by aU the com- 
 mentators without any note, — the following passage may be 
 cited : 
 
 "Then he stroking once or twice his prettie goate (which hee 
 yet held fast by the homes) said thus, Lie downe, pidefoole, by me, 
 for we shall haue time enough to returne home againe." 
 
 Shelton's Don Quixote, Part First, p. 556, ed. 1612, 4to. 
 
 P. 373, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' 0, unhappy youth! 
 Come not within these doors : within this roof 
 The enemy of all your graces lives.' 
 
 WITHIN this roof\ This may be right, and we do not alter it ; but ' leneath 
 this roof seems more proper, and that is the word in the corr. fo. 1632. 
 Perhaps the old printer repeated ' within' by mistake." 
 
 It is most unwise in Mr. Collier to commit himself, as 
 here and in fifty other places, by thinking it necessary to say 
 something in favour of those very readings of his Corrector 
 which he does not adopt. — " Roof" was often used for the 
 house in general ; 
 
 " If time, and foode, and wine enough acrue 
 Within your roofe to vs," &c. 
 
 Chapman's Homer" s Odysses, b. xiv. p. 216, ed. fo. 
 
VOL. II.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 69 
 
 P. 378, act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " 'And tune his merry note,' &c. 
 
 It is ' tume his merry note' in the folios, but amended to ' tune his merry 
 note' in the corr. fo. 1632. Pope also read tune. This is one of the 
 cases in which modern editors have tried to justify one corruption by 
 another : it is misprinted turn in one of Hall's 'Satires.' " 
 
 ' Whenever Mr. Collier encounters a passage in some other 
 author which provokingly militates against an alteration made 
 by his Corrector, he forthwith, as here, pronounces that pass- 
 age to be corrupt. — There is no reason to suspect a misprint 
 in the lines of Hall, — 
 
 " While threadbare Martial turns his merry note, 
 To beg of Rufus a cast winter-coat.'' 
 
 and, as Whiter observes, " To turn a tune, in the counties of 
 York and Durham, is the appropriate and familiar phrase for 
 modulating the voice properly according to the turns or air of 
 the tune." 
 
 P. 384, — act ii. sc. 7. 
 
 " 'And therefore sit you down in gentleness. 
 And take upon commend what help we have. 
 That to your wanting may be minister'd.' 
 
 And take upon commend what help we have,] Orlando has previously 
 spoken of 'commandment,' which he finds unnecessary j and here the 
 Duke tells him to ' take upon commend' (as opposed to command) what 
 he requires. ' Commend' is misprinted command in the folios, but the 
 small, though important error is set right by the alteration of a letter 
 in the corr. fo. 1632. The verb to ' commend' is explained in our dic- 
 tionaries ' To- give any thing into the hands of another :' Orlando was to 
 take what he needed as a free gift, and not as a violent enforcement." 
 
 If Mr. Collier had not been under a sort of spell, thrown 
 over him by the Ms. Corrector, he never would have tried to 
 expound such a senseless alteration as " upon commend," by 
 referring to what precedes, — he would have dismissed it in 
 silence. — The meaning of the old reading, though dark to the 
 Ms. Corrector, hardly requires a gloss : most people will see 
 immediately that " upon command" is equivalent to " as you 
 may choose to order, — at your will and pleasure." 
 
70 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 P. 394, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' I answer you right painted cloth,' (fee. 
 
 ' Painted cloth' was a substitute for tapestry, and sentences of brevity 
 and wisdom were inscribed upon both. The Rev. Mr. Dyce, in his ' Re- 
 marks' (p. 61), has a long note upon ' painted cloth,' in which, for the 
 sake perhaps of his elaborate explanation, he supposes somebody to have 
 confounded it with tapestry : he is quite correct," 
 
 Let the reader judge if the above note is wiitteii ia a 
 truthful and gentlemanly spirit, when he learns that my " ela- 
 borate explanation" of painted cloth was called forth by the 
 note vrhich Mr. Collier appended to the present passage in his 
 former edition, and which stood verbatim thus ; 
 
 " Orlando's reply has reference to the sentences often inscribed upon 
 TAPBSTEY or 'painted cloth:' 'I answer you right painted cloth;' i.e. 
 exactly in the style of the inscriptions upon tapestry." 
 
 P. 426,— act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " 'yet the note was very untimeable.' 
 Here the corr. fo. 1632 comes materially to our aid, for the printed read- 
 ing in all the old copies being untuneaile, it is amended in Ms. to ' un- 
 timeable,' which entirely accords with what follows." 
 
 The reading " untimeable," which Mr. Collier brings for- 
 ward as a novelty, is to be found in Theobald's edition, with 
 the remark that " time and tune are frequently misprinted for 
 one another in the old editions of Shakespeare :" — it may be 
 remarked too that tim£ and tune were formerly synonymous. 
 
 THE TAMING OP THE SHREW. 
 P. 453,— Induction, sc. 3. 
 
 "%. WeU, we'll see it. Come, madam wife, sit by my side. 
 We shaU ne'er be younger, and let the world slide." 
 
 Such is the Ms. Corrector's alteration of a speech that in 
 the original is manifestly prose, — 
 
 "%. Well, we'll see't. Come, madam wife, sit by my side, and 
 let the world slip : we shall ne'er be younger ;" 
 
 and this most unwarrantable mangling of the text for the sake 
 
VOL. n.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 71 
 
 of producing a hobbling rickety couplet is termed by Mr. 
 Collier " a small change and transposition/' and " a fortunate 
 restoration of what must have been the language of Shake- 
 speare." 
 
 P. 454j — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " Imc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise. 
 If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore, 
 We could at once put us in readiness, 
 And take a lodging fit to entertain 
 Such friends as time in Padua shall beget." 
 
 In the second line the Ms. Corrector gives " If Biondello 
 now were come ashore/' which is beyond a doubt the true 
 reading (for Lucentio's apostrophe to the absent Biondello is 
 quite out of place) : yet Mr. CoUier, who, in so many passages 
 of these plays (see, for instance, the preceding article and 
 the next but one) introduces changes by his Corrector which 
 will make the hair (or wigs) of all future editors stand on end, 
 is here suddenly seized with groundless scruples, and "ob- 
 jects to alter the text always imputed to Shakespeare." 
 
 P. 456, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' There ; love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails 
 together, and fast it fairly out : our cake's dough on both sides.' 
 
 There ; love is not so .great,} The old 4to. here assists us; for ' there,' 
 as it stands in that edition, is altered to their in the folio, 1623, and has 
 
 thus produced doubt and difficulty ' There' is not to be taken 
 
 as an adverb of place, but merely as an expletive, as the commencement 
 of an observation, in the same way that well is not unfrequently em- 
 ployed." 
 
 Mr, Collier does not mention that the 4to has no point 
 after "there," — which word in the present passage is a stark 
 misprint ; nor does he mention that the third folio reads " our 
 love is not so great," Sec, — which at least affords a meaning. 
 Malone's conjecture is, " Your love/' &c. ; mine, " This love," 
 &c. 
 
 P. 458, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Luc. ! yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face, 
 Such as the daughter of Agenor's race, 
 
72 STRICTURES OS SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 That made great Jove to humble him to her hand, 
 When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand.' 
 
 Such as the daughter of Agenor's bacb,] We can well believe that Lu- 
 centio would rhyme in his rapture, and the old corrector of the folio, 
 1632, tells us that he did so, in the two first as well as in the two last 
 lines of his speech. The old line is very tame and prosaic for the occa- 
 sion, 
 
 ' Such as the daughter of Agenor had.' 
 
 There can be no dispute as to the rhymes 'hand' and 'strand,' and per- 
 haps there ought to be none as to 'face' and 'race.' " 
 
 It is plain that when Mr, Collier adopted this abominable 
 alteration, — by which, for the sake of a rhyme, the sense is 
 destroyed and the grammar violated, — he had not taken the 
 trouble to consult his Classical Dictionary ; if he had, he 
 would have learned that the lady in question, Europa, was 
 really, as described in the old copies of the play, " the daugfh- 
 TER or Agenor;" and, on ascertaining that fact, he must 
 have rejected the substituted reading, " the daughter of Age- 
 nor^s race," because, — even supposing "it to mean any thing 
 at all, — it is certainly no description of Agenor' s daughter. 
 
 P. 502,— act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' but at last I spied 
 An ancient ambler coming down the hill. 
 Will serve the turn.' 
 An ancient ambler coming down the hill^ Great disputes have been 
 carried on among the commentators respecting this line, which stands as 
 follows in the 4to. and folio, 1623 : — 
 
 'An antient Angell comming downe the hill.' 
 The question is, what is meant here by ' an ancient angd' ? The old 
 corrector of the folio, 1632, informs us that the word has always been 
 misprinted, and that the printer mistook angel for another word begin- 
 ning with the same letter, viz. ' ambler :' the ' mercatantfe or pedant' 
 was on foot, as Biondello plainly saw, and therefore he called him ' an 
 ambler.' .... The notion of Mr. Dyce('Pew Notes,' p. 71) that 'an- 
 cient angel' means ' simply an old worthy,' savours a little too much of 
 simplicity to merit serious advocacy, much less, refutation." 
 
 I think that it " savours" of something more than " sim- 
 plicity" to insert in the text such a portentous reading as 
 " ambler,"— -one of the very worst ' shots' the Corrector ever 
 
VOL. II.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 73 
 
 made. I think, too, that Mr. Collier was prudent in suppress- 
 ing my reasons for believing that here " ' an ancient angel' is 
 equivalent to an ancient worthy, or simply to an old. fellow ;" 
 for by so doing he has avoided the necessity of a " refutation/' 
 which it would have cost him some trouble to compose. My 
 authority for that "notion" is Cotgrave's Dictionary, where 
 we find; " Angelot a la grosse escaille. An old Angell; and 
 by metaphor, a fellow of th' old, sound, honest, and worthie 
 stamp;" which, I am now convinced, not only determines 
 that "angel" is our poet's word in the present passage, but 
 also illustrates it.^ — When I brought forward this valuable 
 quotation from Cotgrave in my Few Notes, &c., p. 71, I did 
 not know that it had been already adduced by Mr. Singer in 
 his Shakespeare, 1826, — where he observes that the "ancient 
 angel" of the text is the "good soul" of Gascoigne's Sup- 
 poses, from which this part of The Taming of the Shrew is 
 taken. — I have the satisfaction of being able to add, that the 
 "notion," which Mr. Collier treats with such ineffable con- 
 tempt, has met with the full approbation of the latest editor 
 of the play, Mr. Staunton. 
 
 P. 521, — act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Have at you for a better jest or two.' 
 
 So all the old copies, 4to. and folio ; but Capell suggested 'bitter jest or 
 two.'" 
 
 If the Ms. Corrector had also " suggested ' bitter,' " Mr. 
 ColUer would most likely have adopted it, — and he would 
 have done rightly; for "better" is akin to nonsense. (In 
 act iii. sc. 2, Katharine, speaking of Petruchio, says, 
 
 " I told you, I, he was a frantic fool, 
 Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour," &c.) 
 
 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 
 
 P. 546,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Diana, no queen of virgins, that would suffer her poor knight to 
 be surprised,' &c. 
 
74 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 Theobald supplied the words ' Diana, no,' which are omitted in the old 
 copies : he also added ' to be' in the next line, and those words seem 
 equally necessary, though the Rev. Mr. Dyce, in his ' Remarks' (p. 69), 
 contends that they are not wanted : if not supplied, they must be under- 
 stood : his quotation only shows that to may be elided, not ' to be.' " 
 
 As the lines which I adduced in my Remarks, &c., have 
 not convinced Mr. Collier that " to be'' in the present passage 
 is, according to the phraseology of our early writersj a super- 
 fluous addition, I subjoin from my Few Notes, &c., p. 73, a 
 couple of quotations which must finally settle the point ; 
 " By which her fruitful vine and wholesome fare 
 She suffered spoil' d, to make a childish snare." 
 
 Hero cmd Leamder, — Marlowe's Worhs, iii. 61, ed. Dyce. 
 
 " Least we should be spotted with the staine of ingratitude, in 
 suffering the princesse ini/wry vnreuenged." 
 
 Greene's Penelope's Web, sig. D 3, ed. 1601. 
 
 P. 553, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Laf. Pardon, my lord, [^Kneeling.] for me and for my tidings. 
 
 King. I'll see thee to stand up. 
 
 Laf. Then here's a man stands, that has brought his pardon.' 
 I'll SEE thee to stand up.'] ' See' is the reading of all the old copies ; but 
 in Malone's Shakespeare by BosweU, ' see' is printed fee, without any 
 notice of the change. In « The Merchant of Venice,' A, iii. so. 2, 'fee 
 me an officer' is misprinted ' see me an officer,' and blunders, occasioned 
 by a confusion between the long s and/, are frequent ; but in this in- 
 stance, why was the king to fee Lafeu to stand up : he had nothing to 
 do but to tell him to rise, which he did by saying in effect, ' I would 
 rather see thee stand up than kneel.' " 
 
 But the odd expression, "I'll see thee to stand up," 
 could not possibly mean, — as Mr. CoUier would make 'it 
 mean,—" I would rather see thee stand up than kneel :" and, 
 even aUowing that such might be its signification, what pro- 
 priety is there in the reply of Lafeu, 
 
 "Then here's a man stands, that has brought his pardon" ? 
 The fact is, in each of these two speeches there is a slight 
 error, which Theobald corrected thus, as the sense requires; 
 "King. I'M fee thee to stand up. 
 Laf. Then here's a man stands, that has bought his pardon." 
 
VOL. u.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 75 
 
 P. 579, — act iii. sc. 3, 
 
 " ' If thou engrossest all the griefs as thine, 
 Thou robb'st me of a moiety.' 
 
 The emendation of the corr. fo. 1632 : it is ' all the griefs are thine' in 
 the folios ; but the clear meaning is, that the Countess will not have her 
 share of griefs, if Helena engross the whole of them as her own : the 
 misprint is are for ' as.' " 
 
 But wliat is " the meaning'' of " all the griefs as thine" 
 (which Rowe also inconsiderately printed) ? The old reading 
 is clearly the genuine one, — '' all the griefs are thine," i.e. 
 " aU the griefs that are thine." 
 
 P. 596, — act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' But, fair soul, 
 In your fine frame hath love no quality ? 
 If the quick fire of youth light not your mind, 
 You are no maiden, but a monument : 
 When you are dead, you should be such a one 
 As you are now, for you are cold and stone ; 
 And now you should be as your mother was. 
 When your sweet self was got.' 
 
 — for you are cold and stone ;] This is the excellent emendation of the 
 corr. fo. 1632, and we cannot doubt that it gives the genuine language 
 of Shakespeare : it is peculiarly in his manner, and the whole figure is 
 thus brought to a climax. It is ' cold and steme' in the folios j and the 
 final e in the last word, no doubt, led to the blunder. Diana was no 
 * maiden, but a monument,' and therefore ' cold and stone.' So Spenser, 
 Amoretti, Son. liv. : — 
 
 ' What then can move her ? if not mirth nor mono. 
 She is no woman, but a senseless stone.' 
 
 Shakespeare, in the same way, intended a couplet." 
 
 This is only another instance of the Ms. Corrector's rage 
 for introducing rhymes where they were never intended by 
 Shakespeare. Here, too, we have a proof that Mr. Collier, 
 in his slavish submission to the dictates of the Corrector, has 
 lost all perception of those less glaring incongruities of ex- 
 pression, which he ought to have felt that a truly great writer 
 could never fall into : — " for you are cold and stone" is not 
 the language of Shakespeare. 
 
76 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. 
 
 - TWELETH-NIGHT. 
 
 P. 671,— actii. sc. 3. 
 
 '"call me cut.' 
 ' Cut ' was a common term of contempt, and seems equivalent to Pal- 
 staff's 'caU me horse/ in 'Henry IV.' pt. i. ; for cM and horse were 
 synonymous ' Cut' (as Steevens suggests) was probably abbre- 
 viated from curial, a horse whose tail has been docked ; and hence the 
 frequent opposition, in old comic writers, of c%t and longtail. The Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce in a note on ' Wit at several Weapons' (B. and F. iv. 39) says 
 that cut and longtail means ' dogs of all kinds.' What marks of admira- 
 tion would he not have placed after it, if any other editor had committed 
 such a mistake !" 
 
 Here I might be excused if I liad recoturse to " marks of 
 admiration," — at tlie forgetfulness, the inconsistency, and the 
 presumption of Mr. Collier. 
 
 In vol. i. p. 322 of his present edition Mr. Collier has the 
 following note on The Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. sc. 4 ; 
 
 " come cut and long-tail^ A phrase expressive of dogs of every kind ; 
 which Slender applies to persons precisely in the same way as by \_dc\ 
 Pompey in Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Wit at several Weapons' (edit. 
 Dyce, iv. p. 39) :" 
 
 yet so treacherous is Mr. Collier's memory, that, entirely for- 
 getting what I have just quoted, — forgetting that he had 
 told his readers, with a special reference to "Beaumont and. 
 Fletcher's 'Wit at several Weapons' (edit. Dyce, iv. p. 39)," 
 that come cut and long-tail is " a phrase expressive of dogs 
 OF EVERY KIND," — he now accuscs me of having "committed 
 a mistake" when " in a note on ' Wit at several Weapons' 
 (B. and P. iv. 39) I said that cut and long-tail means 'dogs 
 or ALL kinds.' " 
 
 And what grounds has Mr. Collier for all at once assert- 
 ing that I " committed a mistake "? Does he suppose that, 
 because "cut" means "horse," the phrase "cut and long- 
 tail" was necessarily derived irom horses ? On the contrary, 
 there is every reason to believe that it was originally applied 
 to dogs ; 
 
 " Yea, even their verie dogs, Eug, Rig, and Eisbie, yea, cw« and 
 long-taile, they shall be welcome." 
 
 Ulpian Fulwell's Art of Flattery, 1576, sig. G 3. 
 
VOL. n.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 77 
 
 " When as Dorilus arose, 
 Whistles Gut-tayle from his play, 
 And along with them he goes." 
 
 Drayton, — Hie Shephecwds Sirena, p. 152, 
 (appended to The Battaile of Agincourt, 
 &c.), 1627. 
 Other passages might be cited to the same effect. 
 
 P. 695, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' Mdl. Go off ; I discard you : let me enjoy my privacy : go off.' 
 In the folios it is ' let me enjoy my private :' but private was doubtless 
 (as the corr. fo. 1632 informs us) an error of the press for privade as 
 it was then commonly spelt. Shakespeare no where else uses private 
 as a substantive, unless idiomatically with the preposition in before it, 
 — ' in private. ' " 
 
 Shakespeare uses "private" as a substantive in the sense 
 of " secret or confidential communication," King John, act iv. 
 sc. 3, — 
 
 " Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love," &c. ; 
 and Ben Jonson uses "private" as a substantive in the sense 
 of " particular interest or safety," Catiline, act iii, sc. 2, — 
 " Nor must I be unmindful of my private," &c. 
 
 Is it not, therefore, far more probable that here "private" is 
 used as equivalent to "privacy" than that the former word 
 shoidd be, " as the corr. fo. 1633 informs us," a misprint for 
 the latter ? Indeed, I do not doubt that examples of "pri- 
 vate" signifying "privacy" are to be found in other early 
 writers, though Shakespeare's commentators, never imagining 
 that the old reading would be questioned, saw no necessity 
 for searching them out. (In the line oi King John quoted 
 above, the Ms. Corrector reads "Whose private missive of 
 the Dauphin's love," &c., — a change which Mr. Collier 
 adopts, because it " entirely avoids the awkwardness of con- 
 verting ' private' into a sort of substantive.") 
 
 P. 698, — act iii. sc. 4, 
 
 " ' I have said too much unto a heart of stone. 
 And laid mine honour too unchary on't.' 
 
78 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ii. 
 
 on't.] i. e. On the heart of stone : ' bestowed my honour too incautiously 
 on a heart of stone.' Theobald changed 'on't' (the reading of all the 
 old copies) to (mt, but without reason. Mr. Dyce, who is too apt to jus- 
 tify one corruption by another, argues in favour of out, and shows by 
 divers instances that the word may have been misprinted : it is unques- 
 tionable that ' to lay out' is a very common expression ; but so is 'to lay 
 onH,' and as it affords a distinct meaning, is repeated in aU early editions, 
 and is unamended in the corr. fo. 1632, we prefer to make Olivia say 
 poetically that she has laid her honour on a heart of stone, as it were on 
 an altar, than prosaically to observe merely that she has incautiously laid 
 out her honour. " 
 
 Alas for Mr. Collier's reasoning! The explanation wMch 
 he gives of his text ought alone to have convinced him that 
 "on't" was a misprint. Olivia might perhaps talk with pro- 
 priety of " laying her love on a heart of stone," but with no 
 propriety could she talk of " laying her honour on a heart of 
 stone." — The genuine lection, "And laid mine honour too un- 
 chary out" means "And have been more prodigal in express- 
 ing, and giving proofs of, my affection than was strictly con- 
 sistent with my honour." 
 
 In my Few Notes, &c. (where, according to Mr. CoUier, I 
 am "too apt to justify one corruption by another") I cited, as 
 parallel to the present passage, the following lines from the 
 anonymous play, Euerie Woman in her Humor, 1609; 
 
 " Keepe her from the Serpent, let her not gad 
 To euerie Gossips congregation, 
 For there is blushing modesty laide out,'' &c. 
 
 Sig. H 3.' 
 
 P. 723,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " 'Alas, poor soul, how have they baffled thee !' 
 
 Alas, poor soul,] ' Alas, poor fool ' in the old impressions, and amended 
 to ' poor soul ' in the corr. fo. 1632, most properly, since Olivia could never 
 mean to insult Malvolio, but to compassionate him. The misprint of 
 fool for 'soul' was very easy, when we bear in mind that the long s and 
 /were so frequently mistaken by old printers." 
 
 That Mr. ColHer should adopt such an alteration, and de- 
 fend it by such a note,— in the very face of the following pass- 
 ages of Shakespeare, which demonstrate that "poor fool" was 
 neither more nor less than a sort, of term of endearment ! 
 
VOL. II.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 79 
 
 "Alas, poor fool ! why do I pity him, 
 That with his very heart despiseth me ?" 
 
 The Two Gent, of Verona, act iv. so. 4 [so. 2]. 
 
 "And mj poor fool is hang'd." 
 
 King Lear, act v. so. 3. 
 
 (these words being undoubtedly spoken of the dead Cordelia.) 
 
 " D. Fedro. In faith, lady, you have a merry heart. 
 Beat. Yea, my lord ; I thank it, poor fool, it keeps on the windy 
 side of care." Much ado aAout Nothing, act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " For pity now she can no more detain him ; 
 The poor fool prays her that he may depart," &e. 
 
 Venus a/nd Adonis, 
 "poor venomous ybo?, 
 Be angry, and dispatch." 
 
 Antovy and Cleopatra, act v. sc. 2. 
 
 " the ^oor dappled /ooZs," &c. 
 
 As you Uhe it, act ii. sc. 1 . 
 
 "So many weeks ere ih& poor fools will yean," &c. 
 
 Third Part of Henry VI. act ii. sc. 5. 
 
80 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. in. 
 
 Vol. III. 
 
 THE WINTER'S TALE. 
 
 P. 21, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 "'PoZ. How, my lord ! 
 
 Leon. What cheer ? how is't with you, best brother ? 
 
 Her. You look 
 
 As if you held a brow of much distraction : 
 Are you mov'd, my lord ?' 
 
 What cheer ? how is't with you, best brother f\ There is no reason for 
 taking this passage from Leontes, and adding it, as was done by Malone 
 and Steevens, to the preceding exclamation of Polixenes, ' How, my 
 lord !' The old copies are uniform in the present distribution of the 
 dialogue : Leontes is endeavouring to recover himself, and breaks from 
 a fit of abstraction with the line, ' What cheer ? how is't with you, best 
 brother V " 
 
 The alteration which Mr. Collier so decidedly disapproves 
 was first made by Hanmer : and I now regret that when I 
 printed the passage in my own edition, I was content merely 
 to adopt that alteration without also substituting "ho" for 
 " how." Leontes is evidently standing apart from the others ; 
 and the words addressed to him by Hermione show that he 
 has not yet replied to Polixenes : — the whole ought to run 
 thus; 
 
 "Fol. ^o, my lord! 
 
 What cheer ? how is't with you, best brother ? 
 
 Eer. You look 
 
 As if you held," &c. 
 
 P. 33, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Who taught this V 
 
 All modern editors read, ' Who taught 2/ou this V but ' you * is not in any 
 of the old copies, and is not necessary for the sense or metre. It is an 
 interpolation without excuse." 
 
 If Mr. Collier had looked carefully at the folio, he would 
 have seen that it has " Who taught 'this," i. e. Who taught 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 81 
 
 ye (or you) this ? and when he rejected the usual insertion 
 "ye" (or "you"), he certainly ought to have printed with 
 the folio (as I have done in my edition) " 'this." 
 
 (In The Tempest, act i. so. 1, Mr, Collier prints, and 
 silently, 
 
 " Let's all sink with the king ;" 
 
 though the folio has, 
 
 " Let's all sinke with' King.") 
 
 P. 61, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' You're a made old man.' 
 The old folios read ' mad' for made, but Lord Ellesmere's copy is corrected 
 in the margin. With reference to the word ' made,' is it not just possi- 
 ble, as we urged long since, that when Biron, in the old copies, calls 
 Boyet a 'mad man,' it ought to be (as here) 'made man,' i.e. manit- 
 factured or artificially mnde up man ? see ' Love's Labour's Lost,' A. v. 
 sc. 2, p. 162." 
 
 A most extraordinary note. After his life-long study of 
 our early authors, has Mr. Collier yet to learn that " a made 
 man" means " a man whose fortune is made"? 
 
 P. 67, — activ. sc. 2. 
 
 " there's no virtue whipped out of the court : they cherish it to make 
 it stay there, and yet it will no more, not abide." 
 
 The old copies have " and yet it will no more but 
 
 abide;" which Mr. Collier, — denying that "abide" can sig- 
 nify " only sojourn or dwell for a time," — fearlessly alters as 
 above. But surely it is easier to believe that Shakespeare 
 may have used " abide " in that sense, than to believe that he 
 wrote "and yet it will no more, not abide," — which enigma is 
 explained by Mr. Collier to mean, that " however virtue may 
 be cherished at court, it will not any the more stay or ' abide' 
 there." 
 
 P. 68, — act iv, sc. 3. 
 
 " ' If I make not this cheat bring out another, and the shearers prove 
 sheep, let me be enrolled, and my name put in the book of virtue 1' 
 let Trie be eneolleb,] It is unrolled in the old copies, but what Au- 
 
 G 
 
82 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 tolycus means is that, if he did not perform these cheating exploits, he 
 should deserve to have his name ' enrolled ' in the book of virtue as an 
 incapable thief, and consequently excluded from ' the fraternity of vaga- 
 bonds.' ' Enrolled ' is from the cor. fo. 1632." 
 
 When the Ms. Corrector made this alteration^ — and woful 
 is the tautology it introduces into the passage, ''let me be 
 enrolled, and my name put," he, — he, of course, did not un- 
 derstand the old reading "unrolled;" on which Warburton 
 has the following excellent note: ''Begging gypsies, in the 
 time of our author, were in gangs and companies, that had 
 something of the show of an incorporated body. Prom this 
 noble society he wishes he may be unrolled, if he does not so 
 and so." 
 
 P. 69, — act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Per. Sure, my gracious lord. 
 
 To chide at your extremes it not becomes me ; 
 ! pardon, that I name them : your high self. 
 The gracious mark o' the land, you have obscur'd 
 With a swain's wearing, and me, poor lowly maid. 
 Most goddess-like prank'd up. But that our feasts 
 In every mess have folly, and the feeders 
 Digest it with a custom, I should blush 
 To see you so attired, so worn, I think, 
 To show myself a glass.' 
 
 so woEN, I thinh,'\ In the old copies it is ' sworn, 1 think,' but indis- 
 putably a misprint for so worn, which is the emendation in the corr. fo. 
 1632. Such too was the suggestion of Jackson in his " Shakespeare 
 Restored.' Perdita tells Plorizel that he is disguised as a shepherd, while 
 she is pranked up like a goddess, and that his humble attire is worn, as 
 it were, to sh,ow her in a glass how simply she ought to be dressed. We 
 did not expect to see Sir T. Hanmer's swoon revived in our day, as if 
 Perdita meant to say that she should be ready to faint at the sight : 
 neither was it then at all usual to spell swoon as we now spell it, but 
 swownd and sound: these words could hardly be misprinted sworn." 
 
 The reading of the old copies — 
 
 " I should blush 
 To see you so attired, sworn, I think 
 To show myself a glass" — 
 
 is proved to be wrong by the word " myself:" Perdita could 
 not say "you .... sworn to show myself a glass," — she 
 
VOL. m.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. gg 
 
 must have said " to show me a glass." As to the emendation 
 adopted by Mr. Collier^ 
 
 "I should blush 
 To see you so attired, so worn, I think, 
 To show myself a glass," — 
 
 in the first place, "you .... so worn" in the sense of "you 
 .... so dressed" is an intolerable violation of all the pro- 
 prieties of language; and secondly, the word "myself" is as 
 objectionable with the reading "so worn" as with the reading 
 "sworti." (This is not the only instance in which the Ms. 
 Corrector and Zachary Jackson agree :— the latter, like the 
 former (vide p. 28), makes Mrs. Ford " crave" Palstaff.) Mr. 
 Singer, therefore, — and to him Mr. Collier alludes* above,— 
 gave a proof of his judgment in preferring the correction of 
 Hanmer, — 
 
 " I should blush 
 To see you so attired, swoon, I think, 
 To show myself a glass," — 
 
 i. e. I should blush to see you so attired (like a shepherd), and 
 I should swoon, I thinli, to show myself a glass (which would 
 reflect my finery) . In Timon of Athens, act iv. sc. 3, 
 
 " Away, thou issue of a maugy dog ! 
 Choler does kill me that thou art alive ; 
 I swoon to see thee" — ■ 
 
 are the words of Timon to Apemantus ; and if there be no 
 unfitness in the rough misanthrope thus figuratively declaring 
 that he swoons at the sight of the philosopher, much less can 
 there be any in the gentle Perdita's figuratively declaring that 
 she should swoon at the sight of her rich apparel.^ — Mr. Collier's 
 remark that formerly the usual spelling of swoon was swound 
 and sound, carries no weight ; for the first folio has in As you 
 like it, act iv. sc. 3, " Many will swoon when they do look on 
 bloud ;" in Richard III. act iv. sc. 1, " Or else I swoone with 
 this dead-kiUing newes ;" and in The Third Part of Henry VI. 
 act V. sc. 5, "What? doth shee swowne?" 
 
 * When Mr. Collier wrote his note, my edition of Shakespeare had not 
 appeared. 
 
84 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 P. 74i, — act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Cam. He tells her something • 
 
 That wakes her blood : look on't. Good sooth, sHe is 
 The queen of curds and cream.' 
 That WAKES her blood : looh onV.] It was a not uncommon error for our old 
 printers to use m, for w and vice versd. Such, according to the corr. fo. 
 1632, was the case here, makes having always been inserted for ' wakes.' 
 Camillo calls the attention of Polixenes to the innocent blush Florizel 
 has raised upon the cheek of Perdita, and he beautifully speaks of it as 
 having ' waked her blood,' and called it up into her face. Theobald, not 
 being aware of this error, in order to give sense to the passage, altered 
 ' on't ' to out, altogether disregarding the apostrophe. Our lection is a 
 most charming restoration ; and the colon after ' blood,' and before ' look 
 on't,' was also inserted by the old annotator." 
 
 To my thinking, the emendation of Theobald, — 
 
 " He tells her something 
 That makes her blood look out" — 
 
 is much more probable, and does much less violence to the 
 old text, than the Corrector's "most charming restoration." 
 (" The Prince/' says Theobald, " tells her something ' that 
 calls the blood up into her cheeks, and makes her blush.' 
 She, but a little before, uses a like expression to describe the 
 Prince's sincerity : 
 
 " your youth, 
 
 And the true blood, which fairly peeps through it, 
 Do plainly give you out an unstain'd shepherd.") 
 
 As Mr. Collier here lays considerable stress on Theobald's 
 " altogether disregarding the apostrophe," it is necessary to 
 mention that (not to cite Twelfth-Night, act iii. sc. 4, where 
 Mr. Collier will not see any error) the misprint of " on't" for 
 " out" is very common m early books : e. g., 
 
 " Princes may pick their suffering nobles onH" Sea. 
 
 Fletcher's Bloody Brother, act iv. sc. 1, ed. 4:to, 1640. 
 
 P. 7Q, — act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' caddisses,' &c. 
 
 We have to thank Mr. Dyce for an authority for 'caddis' or caddas 
 (' Remarks,' p. 83), but we may remind him that when he quotes ' cruel 
 
VOL. III.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 85 
 
 caddas,' he himself errs by making it appear as if they were two distinct 
 commodities, when in fact ' cruel caddas' is worsted riband." 
 
 Mr. Collier^ in his first edition^ having "suspected that 
 ' caddis' was some ornament brought from Cadiz, with other 
 fashions, by the Earl of Essex," &c., I remarked; "Why these 
 random conjectures? Malone was quite right about the 
 meaning of this not very uncommon word. ' Cruel, caddas, or 
 worsted ribbon.' The Rates of the Custome house, &c., 1583, 
 sig. B V. ' Caddas or Cruell riband.' The Rates of Marchan- 
 dizes, &c. n. d. sig. C 5," — the second of which quotations 
 might have shown Mr. Collier that the punctuation of the first 
 was right enough : — nobody, except himself, ever talked of 
 " cruel caddas." 
 
 P. 89, — act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 "We are not fumish'd like Bohemia's son, 
 Nor shall appear't in Sicilia." 
 In this speech "appear'^" is the Ms. Corrector's emen- 
 dation for "appear" of the old eds. : but the "it" is quite 
 unnecessary. Long before the Corrector was heard of, I 
 observed : " Here all the modern editors (in opposition to the 
 old copies) put a break at the end of the speech, as if it were 
 unfinished. But the sense is complete ; 
 
 ' Nor shall appear [like Bohemia's son] in Sicilia.' " 
 
 Remarks, &c., p. 84. 
 
 P. 97, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Leon. Whilst I remember 
 
 Her, and her virtues, I cannot forget 
 My blemishes in them, and so still think of 
 The wrong I did myself ; which was so much. 
 That heirless it hath made my kingdom, and 
 Destroy'd the sweet 'st companion that e'er man 
 Bred his hopes out of : true. 
 
 Paid. Too true, my lord : 
 
 If one by one you wedded all the world, 
 Or from the all that are took something good, 
 To make a perfect woman, she you kill'd 
 Would be unparallel'd.' 
 Bred his hopes out of: trub.] We restore here the reading of the old 
 
86 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 editions. Leontes, in grief and remorse, states a fact, and adds mourn- 
 fully ' true ;' to which Paulina naturally subjoins that it is ' too true.' 
 Nearly all editors, from the time of Theobald to our own day, have dis- 
 turbed the authentic text, and have made Paulina say, ' True, too true, 
 my lord,' to which there might be little objection, if it had been what 
 Shakespeare probably wrote. The word ' true,' printed, as it is, without 
 a capital in the folio, 1623, could hardly have found its way into the 
 preceding line by a mere error of the press." 
 
 Mr. Collier has now so completely divested himself of the 
 superstitious reverence vnth vrhich, in other days, he regarded 
 the folio of 1633, that one would hardly have expected to find 
 him still retaining its flagrant blimder in the present passage, 
 even though the Ms. Corrector (by an oversight, doubtless) 
 has made no sort of alteration here. Indeed, it is almbst in- 
 conceivable that any person reading the above speeches with 
 moderate attention should fail to see that the word "true^' at 
 the end of the first speech has been shuffled out of its place, 
 and that it should be restored to Paulina thus, — 
 
 " Destroy'd the sweet 'st companion that e'er man 
 Bred his hopes out of. 
 
 Paul. Tbue, too true, my lord : 
 
 If one by one,'' &c. 
 
 P. 99,— act v. sc. 1. 
 
 ".'Paid. Will you swear 
 
 Never to marry, but by my free leave ? 
 
 Leo7i. Never, Paulina ; so be bless'd my spirit ! 
 
 Paul. Then, good my lords, bear witness to his oath. 
 
 Cleo. You tempt him over-much. 
 
 Paul. Ilnless another, 
 
 As like Hermione as is her picture, 
 Affront his eye. 
 
 Cleo. Good madam, — ^I have done. 
 
 Paid. Yet, if my lord wiU marry, — if you will, sir, 
 No remedy but you will — ^give me the office 
 To choose you a queen,' &c. 
 
 Good madam, — I have done.} Steevens proposed to transfer 'I have 
 done' to Paulina, who has any thing but concluded. Malone adopted 
 the change, which seems on every ground objectionable. Cleomenes 
 endeavours to interpose, but finding it vain, he gives over the attempt 
 with ' I have done,' and then Paulina continues." 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 87 
 
 When, in my own edition of Shakespeare, I adopted the 
 regulation suggested by Steevens, — 
 
 " Gleo. Good madam, — 
 Paul. I have done. 
 
 Yet, if my lord will mairy," &c., — 
 
 my friend, Mr. John Forster, favoured me with the following 
 remarks: "The only thing that coidd justify the notion of 
 Cleomenes feeling himself overborne by Paulina's vehemence, 
 and retreating with an ' I have done,' — would be, that the se- 
 cond speech of Paulina should be but a close to the impetuous 
 rush of the first. On the contrary, the 'Yet' introduces a 
 concession on her part, which properly follows the ' I have 
 done.' " 
 
 P. 112,— act V. so. 3. 
 
 " ' Leon. Let be, let be ! 
 
 Would I were dead, but that, methinks, already 
 I am but dead, stone looking upon stone. ' 
 
 I AM BUT DEAD, STONE LooKiMG UPON STONE.] This Hiost beautiful and 
 lost line is recovered from the corr. fo. 1632. The Rev. Mr. Dyce in his 
 ' Pew Notes,' p. 81, takes the singular objection that although the new 
 line at first ' appeared to him so exactly in the style of Shakespeare that, 
 like Mr. Collier, he felt thankful that it had been furnished ;' yet pre- 
 sently afterwards he found that it was ' too Shakesperian ;' that is to 
 say, that the poet could not have written it, because it was so very 
 much in his style. This is strange logic even for a commentator. Mr. 
 Singer (who introduces his own absurd punctuation) complains with Mr. 
 Dyce that Shakespeare would ' not so soon have repeated himself,' and 
 then a passage is quoted, and marked with italic type, in which Shake- 
 speare repeats himself not, as here at a distance, but ^oUhm four lines. 
 So much for fact, as well as logic. Mr. Dyce at last is obliged to ad- 
 mit that the line is 'ingeniously constructed,' having before said that 
 it is ' exactly in the style of Shakespeare.' Let others try their hands at 
 lines 'exactly in the style of Shakespeare,' where it is allowed on all 
 sides that something is wanted ; and if they succeed, we will venture to 
 say they wiU not give us lines in the least degree resembling that which 
 Mr. Singer has in this place furnished. Does Mr. Dyce (and we fear- 
 lessly appeal to him as a man of taste and experience) think Mr. Smger's 
 line 'exactly in the style of Shakespeare,' either in measure or meaning? 
 As to the line supplying the hiatus in the corr. fo. 1632, we are more 
 than content to have recovered it, and it must now ever stand as part of 
 
88 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol.. in. 
 
 the text of our great dramatist : in the German edition, to which we 
 have so often with pleasure referred, it is thus well rendered,'' &c. 
 
 As Mr. Collier cannot bring himself to quote fairly any 
 thing I have written, I subjoin that portion of my Few Notes, 
 &c. which touches on the line in question : — 
 
 " Mr. Collier is mistaken in saying that Warburton con- 
 sidered the text as defective: Warburton's note runs thus; 
 ' The sentence complete is ; 
 
 ' but that, methinks, already I converse with the dead.' 
 
 But there his passion made him break off.' Still, there is 
 room to suspect that something has dropt out: and, on first 
 reading the new line, — 
 
 '/ am hut dead, stone looldng upon stone,' — 
 
 it appeared to me so exactly in the style of Shakespeare, that, 
 like Mr. Collier, I felt ' thankful that it had been furnished.' 
 But presently I found that it was too Shakesperian. 
 " Only a few speeches before, Leontes has exclaimed ; 
 
 ' O, thus she stood, 
 Even with such life of majesty (warm life, 
 As now it coldly stands), when first I woo'd her. 
 I am asham'd : does not the stone rebuke me, 
 For being more stone than it 2—0 royal piece. 
 There's magic in thy majesty, which has 
 My evils conjur'd to remembrance, and 
 From thy admiring daughter took the spirits, 
 Standing like stone ivith thee !' 
 
 Now, which is the greater probability? — that Shakespeare 
 (whose variety of expression was inexhaustible) repeated him- 
 self in the line, — 
 
 ' / ayn but dead, stone looldng upon stonS ? 
 
 or that a reviser of the play (with an eye to the passage just 
 cited) ingeniously constructed the said line, to fill up a sup- 
 posed lacuna ? The answer is obvious.'^ 
 
 It is to the speech adduced in the above extract that Mr, 
 Collier alludes when he says; "a passage is quoted, and 
 marked vrith italic type, in which Shakespeare repeats him- 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 89 
 
 self not, as here at a distancej but within four lines." But 
 that passage contains no offensive repetition like the one 
 of which Mr. Singer and I " complain ;" for there Leontes 
 does not twice say that he is turned to stone, — in the con- 
 cluding line, " Standing like stone with thee," he speaks of 
 his daughter. 
 
 P. 114,— act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' now, in age, 
 Is she become the suitor.' 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce bestows nearly a page of his ' Reftiarks' (35) to show 
 that there should be no note of interrogation here. Such points are the 
 very * small deer' of criticism, and should be reserved for the ' small beer' 
 of poetry. It was, as in ' Richard III.,' a mere error of the press, worth 
 correcting, but surely not with such pomp." 
 
 I have already given a signal proof of the treacherousness 
 of Mr. Collier's memory (see p. 76) ; and he must excuse my 
 believing that here again he forgets, — my believing that, in 
 his first edition, he deliberately adopted from the folio the 
 interrogation-point after " suitor," — just as, in the preceding 
 speech of Paulina, he adopted from the folio (ay, and ex- 
 plained), 
 
 " On, those that think it is unlawful business 
 I am about ; let them depart." 
 
 KING JOHN. 
 
 P. 136,— act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' My lord ChatUlon may from England bring 
 That right in peace, which here we urge in war ; 
 And then we shall repent each drop of blood. 
 That hot rash haste so indiscreetly shed.' 
 
 indiscreetly] So the oorr. fo. 1632, and with such obvious fitness that, 
 like the old annotator, we erase itidirectly, which has hitherto always 
 been considered the text. Mr. Singer, too, prints ' indiscreetly,' here 
 acknowledging his obligation. " 
 
 On this alteration an anonymous critic writes as follows : 
 " ' Indirectly" is Shakespeare's word. The Ms. corrector sug- 
 
90 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 gests 'indiscreetly' — a most unhappy substitution, which we 
 are surprised that the generally judicious Mr, Singer should 
 approve of. 'Indiscreetly' means imprudently, inconsider- 
 ately. 'Indirectly' means wrongfully, iniquitously, as may 
 be learnt from these lines in King Henry V., where the French 
 king is denoimced as a usurper, and is told that Henry 
 
 ' bids you, then, resign 
 Your crown and kingdom, mdirectly held 
 From him the native and true challenger.' 
 
 It was certainly the purpose of Constance to condemn the 
 rash shedding of blood as something worse than indiscreet — 
 as crimiual and unjust — and this she did by employing the 
 term 'indirectly' in the Shakesperean sense of that word." 
 BlackwoocPs Magazine for Sept. 1853, p. 304. 
 
 P. 141, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 '"All preparation for a bloody siege, 
 
 And merciless proceeding by these French, 
 
 Come 'fore your city's eyes, your winking gates,' &c. 
 
 Come 'fore your city's eyes,] The folios misprint ' Come 'fore' Comfort, 
 and it was an error for which it is not difficult to account : we derive 
 the emendation from the corr. fo. 1632. Rowe, seeing that Comfort 
 must be wrong, conjectured that the true word was Confroiit, and such 
 has been the ordinary text. There is a singular confirmation of the mis- 
 print of Comfort for ' Come 'fore' in the folio, 1632, itself, for in ' Henry 
 VI. Pt. ii.,' A. iii. sc. 2, we meet with a line which stands thus : — 
 
 'Comfort, my sovereign, gracious Henry com fore.' 
 
 In the last instance * comfort' ought, of course, to be repeated." 
 
 Here, in his former edition, Mr. Collier gave, with the old 
 copies, " Comfort your city's eyes," &c., gravely telling us in 
 a note that " King John is evidently speaking ironically." 
 To that reading, no doubt, his present one, " Come 'fore your 
 city's eyes," &c., is vastly superior, inasmuch as sense is far 
 better than nonsense j but then, again, compared with Howe's 
 emendation, " Confront your city's eyes," &c., it is miserably 
 prosaic and feeble. — In the next scene we have ; 
 
 "Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power." 
 and in Hamlet, act iii. sc. 3 ; 
 
VOL. 111.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 9i 
 
 " Whereto serves mercy, 
 But to confront the visage of offence 1" 
 
 P. 145, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Say, shall the current of our right roam on ? 
 Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment. 
 Shall leave his native channel, and o'er-swell 
 With course disturb'd even thy confining shores. 
 Unless thou let his sUver water keep 
 A peaceful progress to the ocean.' 
 
 For ' roam on' of the folio, 1623, some editors prefer ' run on,' to which 
 indeed there is little objection, excepting that 'roam' was probably 
 Shakespeare's word, and a happy one, in reference to the simile of the 
 ' silver water,' which was to make ' a peaceful progress to the ocean.' " 
 
 How " roaming" can imply " making a peaceful progress" 
 I am at a loss to conceive. The fact is, the reading of the 
 first folio " rome" is a misprint for " run" (the Ms. having 
 had "ronn^' or " runne"), as the editor of the second folio 
 saw, and corrected it accordingly. Compare a passage in 
 act V. sc. 4 of the present play ; 
 
 " And calmly run on in obedience, 
 Even to ov/r ocean, to our great King John.'' 
 
 P. 160, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' In likeness of a new uptrimmed bride. ' 
 
 ' Untrimmed bride' say the folios, and Theobald altered untrimmed to 
 and trimmed : but the proper change is made in the corr. fo. 1632, viz. 
 'uptrimmed.' The conjecture of the Eev. Mr. Dyce was thus long 
 anticipated, and there could be no reasonable doubt about it. Mr. Dyce 
 himself, as late as 1844, contended, with considerable emphasis, that 
 untrimmed was equivalent to virffin (' Remarks,' 91), but he changed 
 his opinion afterwards," &c. 
 
 By saying that " there could be no reasonable doubt about 
 it," Mr. Collier means, I suppose, that the emendation "up- 
 trimmed" is a very easy one : such it certainly seems to be ; 
 and yet not a single critic was known to have suggested it 
 when Mr. Singer published it as mine in Notes and Queries, 
 1853. That I "changed my opinion" about a reading, ought 
 
92 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [voi,. iii. 
 
 to be no reproach to me in the eyes of Mr. Collier, who has 
 recorded that even the Ms, Corrector himself occasionally did 
 the same. 
 
 P. 161, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 '"A caged lion by the mortal paw,' ifec. 
 
 It is ' cased lion' in the original editions, and obviously a misprint for 
 ' caged,' the compositor having mistaken the ff for a long s. The Eev. 
 Mr. Dyce says peremptorily that ' the right reading is undoubtedly 
 chafd.' He must at aU events mean chafed, for ckaf'd would ruin the 
 verse ; but people were accustomed to see 'ca^erf lions,' and Shakespeare 
 used an epithet which all his auditors could appreciate. Moreover, 
 chafed could not be misprinted cased without a double blunder, whereas 
 ' caged' might easily be misread cased. We do not think that any future 
 editor of Shakespeare is likely to adopt chafed — not even Mr. Dyce him- 
 self, unless in a struggle to maintain the consistency of opinions too 
 strongly expressed." 
 
 What I wrote on the above line was this : " The right 
 reading is undoubtedly ' chafd' [chafed'] : in the following 
 passage of Beaumont and Fletcher's PAiZas^er, where the 4to 
 of 1620 has ' Chafd,' the other eds. have ' Chast,' and (let it 
 be particularly observed) 'Cast;' 
 
 ' And what there is of vengeance in a lion 
 Chafd among dogs or robb'd of his dear young,' &c. 
 
 Act V. sc. 3. 
 I may add, that in Shakespeare's Henry VIII, we find, 
 
 ' so looks the chafed lion 
 Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd him,' &c. 
 
 Act iii. sc. 2. 
 and in Fletcher's Loyal Subject, 
 
 ' He frets like a chafd lion.' Act v. sc. 3." 
 
 Remarks, &c., p. 92. 
 But Mr. Collier " does not think that any future editor of 
 Shakespeare is likely to adopt chafed, not even Mr. Dyce 
 himself." Now, whether the editors of the next generation 
 will approve or disapprove of " chafed" I know no more than 
 Mr. Collier does: I can state, however, that it has been 
 adopted — 
 
VOL. lu.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 93 
 
 1. By Mr. Knight j who originally printed "chased." 
 
 2. By Mr. Singer; whose note on it is, "I unhesitatingly 
 read, as Mr. Dyce suggests, chafed. Thus in K. Henry VIII. 
 act iii. sc. 2," &c. 
 
 3. By Mr. Staunton ; who observes, " Chafed was first 
 suggested by Mr. Dyce, and receives support from a well- 
 known passage in ' Henry VIII.^ Act iii. sc. 2," &c. 
 
 4. By " Mr. Dyce himseK" in his recent edition. 
 
 Mr. Collier, therefore, is the only editor of the day who 
 has rejected the emendation "chafed;" and I suspect that he 
 will continue to be the only one, even after Mr. Halliwell and 
 Mr. Grant White have completed their editions of Shake-, 
 speare. 
 
 P. 166, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 '" if the midnight beU 
 Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth, 
 Sound on into the drowsy ear of night,' (fee. 
 
 &mnd ON into the drowsy ear of night .■] Many of the commentators 
 would read one instead of ' on,' which is contradicted by the 'midnight 
 bell' in a line just preceding. ' Eare of night' for ' race of night' is the 
 emendatipn in the corr. fo. 1632, and is in all probability Shakespeare's 
 word : we have therefore placed it in the text. The ' midnight bell,' 
 with its twelve times repeated strokes, is very poetically said to ' sound . 
 on into the drowsy ear of night;' one sound produced by the 'iron 
 tongue' driving the other * on ' or forward, until the whole number is 
 complete, and the prolonged vibration of the last blow on the bell only 
 left to fill the empty space of darkness. It is almost droll to find the 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce (who approves of ' ear' and objects to ' on') contending that 
 ' the midnight bell' means the bell at one in the morning, and calling 
 three witnesses to the fact, who none of them support him by their evi- 
 dence : when Defoe, for instance, speaks of ' one o'clock in the night,' 
 he is not so simple as to call it midnight, but merely 'night,' as in truth 
 it was." 
 
 " I do not think," says Theobald, " that sound on gives 
 here that idea of solemnity and horror, which, 'tis plain, our 
 poet intended to impress by this fine description ; and which 
 my emendation ['sound owe'] conveys; i.e. If it were the still 
 part of the night, or one of the clock in the morning, when 
 
94 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 the sound of the bell strikes upon the ear with most awe and 
 terror" (and this emendation, — if it may be so called, for 
 " on" is little more than the old spelling of " one" — has been 
 adopted by all succeeding editors with the exception of Mr. 
 Knight and Mr. Collier). "Though the hour of owe," ob- 
 serves Steevens, " be not the natural midnight, it is yet the 
 most solemn moment of the poetical one; and Shakespeare 
 himself has chosen to introduce his Ghost in Hamlet, 
 ' The bell then beating owe.' " 
 
 After these judicious notes of Theobald and Steevens, the 
 attempt of Mr. Collier to defend "sound on" by talking about 
 the " twelve times repeated strokes," &c., and " the prolonged 
 vibration of the last blow on the bell," &c., will be considered 
 by all reflecting readers as no better than over-subtle and 
 tasteless.-^ With respect to "into," Malone has shown by 
 various examples that it was frequently used for " unto" in 
 the time of Shakespeare. 
 
 The remark with which Mr. Collier concludes his note on 
 this passage — "It is almost droll to find the Rev. Mr. Dyce 
 contending that ' the midnight bell' means the bell at one in 
 the morning, and calling three witnesses to the fact, who none 
 of them support him by their evidence," &c., — exhibits Mr. 
 CoUier at his " old trick" of misrepresentation and conceal- 
 ment. In my Few Notes, &c., to which he alludes, I observed 
 that " in such a passage [as ' the midnight beU sounding owe'] 
 a poet may be forgiven for not expressing himself according 
 to the exact matter of fact, when even prose-writers, from the 
 earliest times to the present, occasionally employ very inaccu- 
 rate language in speaking of the hours of darkness," p. 88 : 
 and I gave three examples oi\h.a.t inaccuracy of language, — 
 all three quite to the purpose, and the first of them, which I 
 now subjoin {and which Mr. Collier, of course, ignores), serv- 
 ing to confirm the emendation of Theobald : " It happened 
 that betweene twelve and one a clocke at midnight, there 
 blew a mighty storme of winde against the house," &c. The 
 Famous History of Doctor Faustus, sig. K3, ed. 1648 (a tract 
 which originally appeared towards the close of the preceding 
 century). 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 95 
 
 P. 167, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' A whole armado of convented sail,' <fec. 
 It is 'convicted saU' in aU the folios. 'I read (says Mr. Singer) cm- 
 veiUed,' but he omits to add that he took this exceUent emendation from 
 the corr. fo. 1632. It wiU be found on p. 206 of ' Notes and Emenda- 
 tions.'" 
 
 "It will be found" also "on p." 553 of Monck Mason's 
 Comments on the several eds. of Shakespeare's Plays, &c., ed 
 1807. 
 
 P. 169, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' ! that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth ; 
 Then with a passion would I shake the world, 
 And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy. 
 Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice, 
 Which scorns a widow's invocation.' 
 
 a widow's invocation.] In the folios it is ' a modem invocation,' which can 
 only mean a common invocation, just such an invocation as Constance 
 would not use. She has already spoken of herself as 'a widow,' and 
 here again she refers to her condition and its helplessness. We owe this 
 emendation to the corr. fo. 1632, and as modern cannot be the true word, 
 we wiUingly accept this highly probable and natural substitution." 
 
 Here Mr. Knight's alteration "mother's" is much more 
 plausible than the Corrector's " widow's," because it comes so 
 much nearer to the original word. But all this unnecessary 
 tampering with the passage has arisen from its not having 
 been understood. Constance calls her voice "feeble," and her 
 invocation to Death " modern" (i. e. common, ordinary), be- 
 cause, to her regret, she cannot borrow the tones of the 
 thunder, and shake the world with a passion, &c. — The ex- 
 pression "modern invocation" is no more objectionable than 
 " modern lamentation," which occurs in Romeo and Juliet, act 
 iii. sc. 3, — 
 
 " Why foUow'd not, when she said Tybalt's dead, 
 Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both. 
 Which modern Icumentation might have mov'd V 
 
 P. 186,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Whose private missive of the Dauphin's love,' &c. 
 Misprinted in the folios ' Whose private ivith me' <fec. : the change entirely 
 
96 STEiICTURBS ON SOME PASSAGES [tol. hi. 
 
 avoids the awkwardness of converting ' private' into a sort of substantive 
 .... We derive this emendation from the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 See ante, p. 77. 
 
 P. 186,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' We will not line his sin-bestained cloak 
 With our pure honours,' &c. 
 
 It is 'thin bestained cloak' in all editions, ancient, and modern, but 
 amended to 'sin-bestained ' in the corr. fo. 1632. Even Mr. Singer could 
 not resist the force of this valuable emendation, and avails himself of it 
 with due acknowledgment." 
 
 The Ms. Corrector was probably induced to make this 
 alteration because he found in the old copy " thin bestained " 
 printed, with a hyphen, " thin-bestained," and therefore sup- 
 posed that a compouad epithet had been intended by the poet, 
 — which there is no reason to believe. The folio abounds in 
 passages where the hyphen is wrongly introduced : e. g. in the 
 present play it has ; 
 
 " Who hath read or heard 
 Of any kindred-action like to this ?" Act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " The rois-placed-John should entertaine an houre," &e. 
 
 lUd. 
 " With any long' di-for-chcmge or better state." 
 
 Act iv. sc. 2. 
 " Send iajre-play-orders, and make comprimise," <fec. 
 
 Act v. sc. 1 . 
 " A cockred-silken wanton braue our fields," &c. Ibid. 
 
 (and see p. 30 of the present volume.) 
 
 "The king's cloak (that is, his authority) was thin, be- 
 cause not lined and strengthened with the power and honours 
 of his nobles." Blackwood's Magazine for September 1853, 
 p. 306. "Bestained is sullied, dishonoured. The epithet is 
 strong enough without the compound sin." Knight's Speci- 
 men of the Stratford Shakespeare, p. 10. 
 
 P. 188,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 '"a holy vow, 
 Never to taste the pleasures of the world, 
 
VOL. ni.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEAEE. 97 
 
 Never to be infected with delight, 
 Nor conversant with ease and idleness, 
 Till I have set a glory to this head, 
 By giving it the worship of revenge.' 
 
 Till I have set a glory to this head,] ' To this hand,' in all editions ante- 
 rior to that of Pope, and amended to ' head' in the margin of the corr. 
 fo. 1632. 'Head' is assuredly right, and the error oi hand for 'head' 
 was so easy that it was often committed by our old printers." 
 
 Mr. Collier mistakes in saying that Pope substituted " to 
 this head" (i. e. the head of the dead Arthur) for the reading 
 of the old copies "to this hand" (i. e. the hand of the speaker, 
 Salisbury) : Pope made no alteration here. " To this head " 
 was the conjecture of Farmer ; and a most erroneous one, — 
 he as "well as the Corrector having been misled by the words 
 "glory" and "worship." Compare our author's Henry IV. 
 Part First, act iii. sc. 2 ; 
 
 " And I will call him to so strict account, 
 That he shall render every glory up, 
 Yea, even the slightest worship of his time, 
 Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart." 
 
 Malone justly observes, " The following passage in Troilus 
 and Cressida [act iv. sc. 1] is decisive in support of the old 
 
 reading ; 
 
 ' Jove, let ^neas live, 
 If to my sword his fate be not the glory, 
 A thousand c6mplete courses of the sun !' " 
 
 Compare, too. Chapman's Homer's Odysses, b. xxiv. ; 
 
 " Hast not thou decreed 
 That Ithacus should come, and giiie his deed 
 The glory ofreuenge on these and theirs T 
 
 p. 374, ed. folio. 
 
 P. 197,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' This apish and unmannerly approach. 
 
 This hamess'd masque, and unadvised revel, 
 This unhair'd sauciness of boyish troops, 
 The king doth smile at ; and is well prepav'd 
 To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms, 
 From out the circle of his territories. ' 
 This UNHAIR'D sauciness of boyish troops,} It is ^unheard sauciness, and 
 
 H 
 
98 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 boyish troops ' in the old copies ; but, as Mr. Dyce observes, hair and 
 hair' A were often spelt hear and heard, and such is probably the reason 
 ■why the corrector of the folio, 1632, did not alter unheard to ' unhair'd.' 
 The genitive case, which the corrector introduces, is clearly necessary, 
 for the Bastard was speaking of the ' unhair'd sauciness ' of the boyish 
 troops of France ; and it not unfrequently happened that the compositor 
 blundered by confounding the abbreviation for and with the preposition 
 •of.'" 
 
 When Mr. Collier first published this alteration of " and" 
 to "of," he prefaced it by stating that "The manuscript- 
 corrector gives no countenance to Theobald^s proposal to read 
 unhair'd for ' unheard' ;" which statement, though Mr. Col- 
 lier would now recall it, was doubtless the truth. The Cor- 
 rector evidently did not know that "unheard" was the old 
 spelling oi " unhair' d ;" and when he altered "and" to "of" 
 he meant us to understand "unheard sauciness" as equivalent 
 to " unheard-of sauciness," — a sense which the words could 
 not bear. 
 
 Mr. Collier ought to have contented himself with the 
 modern reading, — 
 
 " This unhair'd sauciness, and boyish troops ;" 
 
 for, by adopting the Corrector's " of," he has rendered the 
 sense of the line questionable, and has besides introduced a 
 genitive case where it would certainly seem from the rest of 
 the passage that Shakespeare did not intend one. 
 
 P. 201,— act V. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' For I do see the cruel pangs of death 
 Bright in thine eye.' 
 
 Here we see the value of the addition of a single letter : it is ' Right in 
 thine eye' in the old copies, a.ndi fright, pight, flght have been suggested 
 by various commentators as emendations ; but Shakespeare refers to the 
 admitted brilliancy often assumed by the eyes of dying persons. The 
 corr. fo. 1632 alters the text to ' Bright in thine eye,' the letter B having, 
 in some way, escaped at the beginning of the line, or the compositor 
 having read Br merely B, and so printed it." 
 
 Here I must be allowed to quote what I have written ad I. 
 in my edition of Shakespeare, on the authority of an eminent 
 living physician, against the alteration of "Right" to "Bright," 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 99 
 
 which the Corrector has so ignorantly made : " Mr. Collier 
 tells us that 'Bright' is to be understood 'ia reference to the 
 remarkable brilliancy of the eyes of many persons just before 
 death' [Notes and Emendations, &c. p. 312] : but if that 
 hghting up of the eye ever occurs, it is only when comparative 
 tranquillity precedes dissolution, — not during ' the pangs of 
 death ;' and most assuredly it is never to be witnessed in those 
 persons who, like Melun, are dying of wounds — of exhaustion 
 from loss of blood — in which case, the eye, immediately before 
 death, becomes glazed and lustreless." 
 
 KING RICHARD II. 
 P. 223, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' For that my sovereign liege was in my debt, 
 Upon remainder of a clear account, 
 Since last I went to France to fetch his queen. ' 
 
 CLEAR account,} So the corr. fo. 1632, with indisputable fitness, the read- 
 ing of all editions, ancient and modern, having been 'dear account.' 
 Mr. Singer prints it ' clear account, ' observing that dear is ' an evident 
 error :' so it is, but he did not discover it until it was pointed out in my 
 corr. fo. 1632, of which he says nothing, although he adopts the emenda- 
 tion found in no other authority. The German editor puts it einer Maren 
 Ford/rung" 
 
 I am not surprised that here the Ms. Corrector should 
 alter " dear account" to " clear account" (for we have already 
 seen him waging war against the former word, substituting 
 "clearest spirits" for "dearest spirits," and "dire groans" 
 for "dear groans," — vide pp. 55, 61): but I certainly am 
 surprised that Mr. Singer should have thought such an alter- 
 ation necessary. Mr. Staunton, with far better judgment, 
 characterises the Corrector's " clear account" as " a poor and 
 needless innovation :" he truly observes that " dear, in this 
 place, means precious, momentous, pressing, all-important " 
 and he cites from two other plays of Shakespeare, — 
 
 " Some dear cause 
 Will in concealment wrap me up awhile." 
 
 King Leatr, act iv, sc. 3. 
 
100 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 " O demr account ! my life is my foe's debt.'' 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, act i. sc. 5. 
 
 " The letter was not nice, but full of charge 
 Of dean- import." Id. act v. sc. 2. 
 
 " A precious ring ; a ring that I must use 
 In dear employment." Id. act v. sc. 3. 
 
 P. 224,— act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Wrath-kindled gentleman, be rul'd by me. — 
 Let's purge this choler without letting blood : 
 This we prescribe, though no physician ; 
 Deep malice makes too deep incision. 
 Forget, forgive ; conclude, and be agreed ; 
 Our doctors say this is no month to bleed. — 
 Good uncle, let this end where it begun ; 
 We'U calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son.' 
 
 Wrath-Mndled gentleman, be ruVd hy me.] So all the 4tos ; the King 
 addressing himself to Norfolk, who had just concluded his angry speech. 
 The foho reads gendemen ; but Bolingbroke, merely as the accuser, was 
 not so properly ' wrath-kindled,' and, moreover, had had time to cool. 
 In consistency with this notion the King afterwards undertakes to ' calm 
 the duke of Norfolk.' " 
 
 The above note is found in Mr. Collier's first edition, with 
 the exception of the concluding sentence, — a very unimpor- 
 tant addition to his defence of a reading which all the other 
 editors have rejected, and which the fifth line of the speech, 
 
 " Forget, forgive ; conclude and be ageeed," 
 distinctly proves to be inadmissible. 
 
 P. 229, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 '"to defend my loyalty and truth, 
 To God, my king, and my succeeding issue. 
 Against the duke of Hereford that appeals me,' <fec. 
 
 Here the corr. fo. 1632 restores the old reading of the 4tos, viz. 'my 
 succeeding issue' for 'his succeeding issue' of the folio, 1623. It is 
 therefore clear that Mowbray, as Johnson argued, adverted to his own 
 issue endangered by attainder, and not to the issue of the king." 
 
 From what Mr. Collier says here, who would not conclude 
 that Johnson had zealously patronised the reading " my sue- 
 
VOL. III.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. loi 
 
 ceeding issue"? On the contrary, Johnson, in his edition, 
 printed " Ms succeeding issue," and with this note ; 
 
 " Such is the reading of the first folio ; the later [earlier] 
 editions read — my issue. Mowbray's issue was, by this accu- 
 sation, in danger of an attainder, and therefore he might come, 
 among other reasons, for their sake; but the old reading [of 
 the foHo] is more just and grammatical." 
 
 I make no doubt that " my succeeding issue" is an error 
 of the original compositor, who repeated "my" from "my 
 king." 
 
 P. 231,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 "Mine innocence, and Saint George to thrive !" 
 Read (with Capell), — 
 
 "Mine innocency and Saint George to thrive !" 
 
 P. 234, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 '"Norfolk, so fare, as to mine enemy.' 
 
 This line presents a difficulty arising out of a textual discordance : the 
 folio, 1632, alone has/ar, for 'fare,' of all the earlier copies, and hence 
 some have supposed (the Rev. Mr. Dyce among the number) that Boling- 
 broke wished to warn Mowbray that he was not his friend. What should 
 have reconciled them 1 How could Mowbray have imagined his adver- 
 sary any thing but his enemy ? The clear meaning is, (if commentators 
 would but allow themselves to see it,) ' Norfolk, so fare, as I wish to 
 mine enemy. ' " 
 
 The commentators are almost unanimous in rejecting the 
 reading "farej" and notwithstanding what Mr. Collier now 
 urges in its favour, I continue to think that they are right 
 in rejecting it, — that the strange expression, "so fare as to 
 mine enemy" could not mean " so fare, as I wish to mine 
 enemy," — and that the second folio corrected- the error of 
 the earlier eds. to 
 
 " Norfolk, so fa/r as to mine enemy," — 
 the line being a prelude to what immediately follows, and 
 satisfactorily explained by Ritson, "Norfolk, so far as a man 
 may speak to his enemy," &c. (Compare ; 
 
102 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iii. 
 
 " Yet thusfa/r, Livia ; 
 Your sorrow may induce me to forgive you, 
 But never love again." 
 
 Fletcher's Womcm's Prize, &c. act iii. sc. 3.) 
 
 P. 243, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Landlord of England art thou now, not king : 
 Thy state of law is bondslave to the law. 
 And thou — 
 
 K. Rich. A lunatic lean-witted fool. 
 Presuming on an ague's privilege, 
 Dar'st with thy frozen admonition,' <fec. 
 And thou — 
 K. Rich. A lunatic lean-witted fool,] It is astonishing to see a man 
 like the Rev. Mr. Dyce not perceiving, that here Richard continues the 
 sentence which Gaunt has begun with the words ' And thou — .' The 
 king impatiently interrupts the dying man, refusing longer to listen to 
 reproof : Richard, therefore, most properly makes ' thou,' which Gaunt 
 had used, the nominative case to ' dar'st' in the next line but one. Be- 
 sides, the most unpractised ear must perceive, that to make Richard 
 repeat 'And,' as in the folios, gives the line a superabundant syllable. 
 We adhere to the language and regulation of all the 4to. editions, which 
 are on every account preferable, and which we are confident Mr. Dyce 
 will hereafter himself adopt.'' 
 
 Mr. Collier will be more " astonished" than ever when he 
 learns that, in my edition of Shakespeare, I have printed, with 
 the foho, — 
 
 " Thy state of law is bondslave to the law ; 
 And — 
 
 K. Rich, And thou a lunatic lean-witted fool. 
 Presuming on an ague's privilege, 
 Dar'st,'' &c.; 
 
 and that I still think him extremely injudicious in preferring 
 the reading of the quartos, which makes " thou" (meaning 
 Richard) the nominative to "Dar'st" (meaning Gaunt). — 
 But, says Mr. Collier, "the most unpractised ear must per- 
 ceive, that to make Richard repeat 'And,' as in the folios, 
 gives the line a stjpekabundant syllable \' yet, further on 
 in the present scene, Mr. Collier's text exhibits this very 
 formidable line, — 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 103 
 
 " That which his noble ancestors achiev'd with blows," 
 and his note on it is j 
 
 "Every 4to. printed in the lifetime of the author has ' noble,' which, 
 It IS true, makes the liiie of twelve syllables, but of such we luxve numer- 
 ous examples. The folio, 1623, omits the epithet," <feo. 
 
 P. 248, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland : 
 We three are but thyself; and, speaking so, 
 Thy words are but our thoughts : therefore, be bold.' 
 Thy words are but ottr thoughts : therefore, be bold.'] ' Our' is the amended 
 reading of the oorr. fo. 1632, and so self-evidently right,- that Mr. Singer 
 has not been able to avoid the insertion of it in his text. The line has 
 hitherto been ' Thy words are but as thoughts ;' but the meaning of Ross 
 must be that, as Northumberland is only speaking the thoughts of all 
 the conspirators, he need not fear to utter what is actually passing 
 through their minds : his words are not merely ' as thoughts,' but ' our 
 thoughts,' so that there can be no danger in speaking out freely." 
 
 " Thy words are but as thoughts," has been ably vindi- 
 cated by more than one critic. '' Ross's argument with 
 Northumberland to speak was not merely because his words 
 were as their thoughts. That was no doubt true; but the 
 point of his persuasion lay in the consideration that North- 
 umberland's words would be as good as not spoken. ' We 
 three are but yourself, and, in these circumstances, your 
 words are but as thoughts — that is, you are as safe in utter- 
 ing them as if you uttered them not, inasmuch as you wiU be 
 merely speaking to yourself.'" Blackwood's Magazine for 
 Sept. 1853, p. 306. "Mr. Collier's annotator would read 
 ' our thoughts/ — an unhappy conjecture; for if they knew 
 the intelligence Northumberland possessed, why need he im- 
 part it? The meaning is obviously, 'We are all leagued 
 together, and whatever you speak will be as safe in our keep- 
 ing as if you only thought it.' " Mr. Staunton, ad I. 
 
 P. 258, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 '"He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father. 
 To rouse his wrongers, chase them to the bay.' 
 
104 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 The old and obviously corrupt reading is, 
 
 ' To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to the bay,' 
 
 upon which Mr. Singer simply remarks, ' wrongs is probably here used 
 for wrongers.' He did not remember, perhaps, that 'wrongers' is the 
 very emendation in the corr. fo. 1632. It can hardly be disputed." 
 
 Here, beyond all possibility of doubt, "wrongs" is the 
 abstract used for the concrete — like "encounters" for ''en- 
 counterers" in Love's Labour's lost, and "reports" for "re- 
 porters" in Antony and Cleopatra (see p. 60 of the present 
 vol.), and like " speculation^' for " speculators" in King Lear, 
 act iii sc. 1. 
 
 P. 263,— act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " Discomfortable cousin ! know'st thou not, 
 That when the searching eye of heaven is hid 
 Behind the globe, and lights the lower world," Sua. 
 
 On these lines Mr. Collier has no note ; and is probably 
 not aware that he has admitted a modern reading. All the 
 old eds. have, 
 
 "Behind the globe, that lights the lower world," &c. 
 — " that," as Toilet observes, referring, not to the nearest 
 antecedent, "globe," but to " the eye of heaven." 
 
 P. 377, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " 1 Lady. Madam, I'll sing. 
 
 Queen. 'Tis well that thou hast cause ; 
 
 But thou shouldst please me better, wouldst thou weep. 
 
 1 Lady. I could weep, madam, would it do you good. 
 
 Queen. And I could sing, would weeping do me good. 
 And never borrow any tear of thee." 
 
 A few lines earlier than what I now quote, the old copies 
 have the gross blunder, " Of sorrow, or of grief?" which Pope 
 corrected to "Of sorrow, or oijoy?" — a correction adopted 
 by all his successors. But an emendation which he made in 
 the last of the above speeches, — " And I could weep, would 
 weeping do me good," — has been rejected by some of the 
 more recent editors, besides Mr, Collier, though no tolerable 
 
VOL. HI.] OF MR. COLLIBP'S SHAKESPEARE. 105 
 
 sense can be hammered out of the original reading. (Mr. 
 Staunton says, "It may be. worth considering whether the 
 poet did not write, — 
 
 ' And I could sing, would singing do me good.' " 
 I cannot think so : surely, to Mr. Staunton's conjecture, as 
 well as to the old reading, the next line is fatal, — 
 
 "And never borrow any tear of thee") 
 
 P. 293,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " What ! is my Richard both in shape and mind 
 Transform'd and weakened ? Hath Bolingbroke 
 Depos'd thine intellect ? hath he been in thy heart ?" 
 
 There are several passages in this play, — e.ff., 
 
 " Thy thrice-noble cousin 
 Harry Bolingbroke doth humbly kiss thy hand," &c. 
 
 Act iii. sc. 3. 
 and 
 
 " What says King Bolingbroke ? will his majesty 
 Give Eichard leave to live till Eichard die ?" — 
 
 which make it certain that the proper regulation of the present 
 passage is, — 
 
 " What, is my Eichard both in shape and mind 
 Transform'd and weaken'd ? hath Bolingbroke depos'd 
 Thine intellect 1 hath he been in thy heart V 
 
 P. 295,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " 'Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes 
 
 Did scowl on gentle Richard : no man cried, God save him ; 
 No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home ; 
 But dust was thrown upon his sacred head, 
 Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,' &c. 
 
 Did scowl on gentle Richard .•] This important epithet is wanting in the 
 folio, but is found in all the 4tos. Malone, who professed generally to 
 follow the first edition, omitted ' gentle' without notice." 
 
 Here, in deviating from the quartos, Malone showed his 
 good sense, — or, to speak more properly, showed that he was 
 not destitute of common sense :— he omitted "gentle'' in the 
 second line of the passage, both because it makes that line 
 
106 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. in. 
 
 over-measure, and because it occurs in the third line after, 
 where it must keep its place. 
 
 P. 304, — act V. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' And, speaking it, he wishtly look'd on me,' &c. 
 wishtlt] So the 4tos. of 1597 and 1598 ; probably, as the context shows, 
 an abridgment of wishfully, for the sake of the metre. The two later 
 4tos. and the folio read wistly, which is a dififerent word, meaning atten- 
 tively, and sometimes silently. The Rev. Mr. Dyce says that there is no 
 such word as 'wishtly,' and he naturally resorts to Richardson's Dic- 
 tionary. The fiict is that Shakespeare here, as in many other places, 
 coined a word for his own use out of wishedly or wishfuUy : surely Mr. 
 Dyce need not be informed that this was our poet's custom, when our 
 language failed under him, and could not easily be brought to express his 
 meaning. When Mr. Dyce adds that, with reference to wistly, I have 
 ' confounded two distinct words, ' he could not have read the last part of 
 my note where I say that wistJ,y sometimes * meant attentively, and some- 
 times silently.' He spells it in the one case whistly ; but our old com- 
 positors might readily leave out the h, and print it wistly, i. e. silently." 
 
 I liave notMng to say in reply to tte above note : — I bave 
 transcribed it merely for the sake of those readers who may be 
 fond of the ludicrous, and who wiU therefore be amused at the 
 idea of " Shakespeare coining the word wishtly, for his own 
 use, out of wishedly or wishfully, because our language had 
 failed under him " ! 
 
 P. 306,— act V. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Now, for the sound that tells what hour it is, 
 Are clamorous groans,' <fec. 
 What has ' sir ' to do in the [first] line, and whom is Richard addressing ? 
 If we read /or instead of 'sir,' a not unfrequent error (it is amended 
 to for in the corr. fo. 1632), the nominative to 'are' will be 'clamorous 
 groans,' and the meaning will be ' clamorous groans are /or (or instead 
 of) the sound that tells what hour it is.' With this explanation the 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce will, we apprehend, be satisfied." 
 
 In the preceding note, Mr. Collier says, "His [Mr. Dyce's] 
 explanation as to ' sir ' is certainly wrong." 
 
 The reading of the old copies, which Mr. Collier so unjus- 
 tifiably alters, is, — 
 
 " Now, sir, the sound," &c. ; 
 
VOL. HI.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 107 
 
 and I deny in the most positive manner that I was wrong 
 when I explained " sir " to be " merely one of those impro- 
 prieties in soliloquy, of which not a few examples might be 
 collected from our early dramatists." See my Remarks, &c. 
 p. 102, for examples from Shakespeare, Chapman, and Mid- 
 dleton : see, too, the note ad I, in my edition of Shakespeare, 
 for instances from Fletcher. 
 
 EIRST PART OE KING HENRY IV. 
 
 P. 321, — act L sc. 1. In a note on the words, "No more 
 the thirsty entrance of this soil," Mr. Collier says that, 
 
 "in Peele's 'Arraignment of Paris,' A. iv. sc. 4, entrails is unquestion- 
 ably misprinted for ' entrance,' where Paris talks of ' the entrails of my 
 mortal ears,' instead of 'the entrance of my mortal ears.' The Rev. 
 editor has failed to detect this blunder : see Dyce's Peele's Works, i. 53." 
 
 So far from assenting to Mr. Colher's dictum, that in the 
 following passage " entrails " is a misprint, I believe it to be 
 the poet's own word; and, moreover, I am sure that "the 
 entrance of my mortal ears" would not convey the sense which 
 Peele intended here ; — 
 
 " Now (for I must add reason for my deed) 
 Why Venus rather pleas' d me of the three ; 
 First, in the entrails of my mortal ears. 
 The question standing upon beauty's blaze, 
 The name of her that bight the queen of love, 
 Methought in beauty should not be excell'd." 
 
 Our early authors sometimes employ the word "entrails" 
 where modern writers would hardly think of using it: so in 
 Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 4, we have " the ragged entrails 
 of this pit." 
 
 P. 334,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Shall we buy treason, and indent with foes,' &c. 
 This line affords a curious instance of the mode in which one corruption 
 has been adduced to justify another. For ' indent with fears" of the old 
 copies, the corr. fo. 1632 instructs us to read 'indent with foes,' and no 
 
108 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 emendation can be more natural, and few misprints more easy. It has 
 been the custom with the commentators to try to persuade readers to 
 understand /eara as 'objects of fear,' and the Rev. A. Dyce (' Remarks,' 
 p. 105) brings forward a passage in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Valen- 
 tinian,' A. iv. sc. 1, which, in truth, is merely a repetition of the error 
 in Shakespeare's imputed text : — 
 
 ' if I must perish, 
 
 Yet shall ray foes go foremost.' 
 
 Nothing can be plainer; but the old compositor obscured the poet's 
 meaning by printing ' foes' fears, and reduced Mr. Dyce, who did not 
 detect the misprint, to the necessity of explaining /ears ' objects of fear ;' 
 true, they were objects of fear, because they were 'foes.' So, in the 
 same author's ' Bonduca,' A. i. sc. 2, we have this passage, not cited by 
 Mr. Dyce, 
 
 ' And to ourselves our own. fears;' 
 when it ought certainly to be, 
 
 ' And to ourselves our own foes.' 
 
 A third proof of the same blunder (vindicated by corresponding blun- 
 ders) may be pointed out in Marlowe's ' Massacre at Paris' (Dyce's edit, 
 ii. 226), where the Queen Mother says to Anjou, after his coronation, 
 
 ' Here hast thou a country void oi fears,' 
 
 when, as in the former cases, the plain sense of the passage instructs all 
 (but commentators, who cannot allow for so ordinary a mistake) to read 
 ' foes' ior fears : the Queen Mother is congratulating Anjou that he go- 
 verns a country in which he has no enemies. The very sequel to the 
 line in Shakespeare shows that fears cannot be the right word, for how 
 could /ear* 
 
 ' have lost and forfeited themselves' ? 
 
 The King's ' foes' had 'lost and forfeited themselves,' and for this reason 
 he would not ' indent' or enter into a treaty with them. If those who 
 edit old plays would not in this way support obvious blunders by their 
 repetitions, the text of our early dramatists would be freed from many 
 corruptions. In conclusion we may ask whether it is at all likely that 
 Henry IV. would thus acknowledge, before the very friends of ' revolted 
 Mortimer,' that he and his partisans were 'objects of fear'? 'foes' he 
 might well call them, but he could never admit that he stood in fear of 
 them. It is mit Feinden in the German.'' 
 
 I have already observed that whenever Mr. Collier meets 
 with passages of other authors which are opposed to the Ms. 
 Corrector's emendations, he at once declares those passages 
 to be corrupt. So, in the above note he boldly asserts that 
 in the two passages of Beaumont and Fletcher, and the pass- 
 
VOL. III.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 109 
 
 age of Marlowe, the reading of the old copies "fears" is a 
 misprint for "foes." Now, to take only the passage of 
 Valentinian, — 
 
 " Is not 
 The sacred name and dignity of Csesar 
 (Were this Aecius more than man) sufficient 
 To shake oflp all his honesty ? he's dangerous, 
 Though he be good; and, though a friend, A fear'd one j 
 And such I must not sleep by. — Are they come yet 1 — 
 I do believe this fellow, and I thank him., 
 'Twas time to look about : if I must perish, 
 Yet shall my pears go foremost," — 
 
 more readers, I conceive, when the passage is thus fully cited, 
 win agree with me that "fears" is right and equivalent to 
 " objects of fear," than with Mr. CoUier that it is a misprint 
 for " foes." (In another play by the same authors. The Maid's 
 Tragedy, act ii. sc. 2, we have the singular " fear ;" 
 
 " Antiphila, in this place work a quicksand, 
 And over it a shallow smiling water, 
 And his ship ploughing it ; and then a Fewr : 
 Do that Fear bravely, wench.") 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten that in The Second Part of 
 Henry IV., act iv. sc. 4, "fears" occurs in a passage where 
 neither the Ms. Corrector nor Mr. Collier have attempted any 
 alteration, and where the word can have no other meaning 
 than " objects of fear ;" 
 
 " It seem'd in me 
 
 But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand ; 
 
 And I had many living to upraid 
 
 My gain of it by their assistances ; 
 
 Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed, 
 
 Wounding supposed peace : all these bold /ears, 
 
 Thou see'st, with peril I have answered ; 
 
 For all my reign hath been but as a scene 
 
 Acting that argument," &c. 
 Mr. Collier appears not to know that, in the present pass- 
 age, Hanmer, like the Ms. Corrector, read "indent with 
 foes ;" a lection which has hitherto been so slighted that it is 
 not even chronicled in the notes to the Variorum Shakespeare, 
 
no STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. in. 
 
 and wliich, in spite of its recent adoption by Mr. Collier^ will 
 most probably continue to be regarded as more than doubtful. 
 
 P. 386, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' a sneak-cup.' 
 Mr. Dyce, who makes so little allowance for the mistakes of others, is 
 quite in error when he says ('Remarks,' p. 107) that a sneak-cup 'is 
 plainly one who sneaks from his cup :' it is also one whc sneaks a cup, and 
 drinks slily, either out of his turn, or behind the backs of other people." 
 
 What Mr. Collier means by declaring that I am " quite 
 IN EaROR" about " sneak- cup/' &c., which "is also," &c., — 
 he best knows himself. I only know that my explanation of 
 " sneak-cup" (which agrees mth that given by Nares, " One 
 who balks his glass, who sneaks from his cups ") is alone the 
 true explanation. 
 
 P. 391,— act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' The quality and hair of our attempt 
 Brooks no division.' 
 
 The word ' hair ' in this passage has caused some dispute Johnson 
 
 thought that ' hair ' was to be taken for complexion, character, and Steevens 
 
 and Malone agreed with him Worcester might mean that there 
 
 ought to be no splitting or ' division ' of their power, already small 
 enough for the attempt : 'the hair of our attempt brooks no division.' 
 The word ' division' seems to support this conjecture ; hut the Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce mistakes when he states (' Remarks,' p. 108) that I gave it as my 
 explanation of the passage : I offered it then, as now, merely as a con- 
 jecture." 
 
 The words in Mr. Collier's former edition, " Worcester, 
 perhaps, means that there ought to be no splitting," &c., 
 must surely have been regarded by others besides myself as 
 an explanation. But whether an explanation or a conjecture, 
 it is such a one as Mr. Collier ought not to have oflFered, even 
 in his first edition, after the notes of Johnson, Steevens, and 
 Malone ; and which he certainly ought to have withdrawn 
 from his new edition, after the publication of my Remarks, &c., 
 where I further illustrated the passage thus : — 
 
 " To the quotations already adduced in defence of John- 
 
VOL. ui.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. m 
 
 son's explanation (see the Var. Shakespeare), I have to add 
 
 not only, ' 
 
 ' A lady of my hair cannot want pitying.' 
 
 Fletcher's Mce Valour, act i. sc. 1. 
 but also another passage which proves indisputably that the 
 Doctor was right. In the play of Sir Thomas More {Ms. Harl. 
 7368), a fellow named Faulkner is brought in custody before 
 Sir Thomas ; and when the said Paulkner, — who in conse- 
 quence of a vow wears his hair very long,— teWs. Sir Thomas 
 that he is servant to a secretary, we find (fol. 12) ; 
 ' Moore. A fellow of your haire is very fitt 
 To be a secretaries follower !' — 
 
 Sir Thomas using the word with a quibble, — ' grain, texture, 
 complexion, character.' " (The play aiSir Thomas More was 
 edited by me for the Shakespeare Society in 1844 ; in which 
 edition the passage now cited occurs p. 43.) 
 
 P. 405,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " What is honour ? A word. What is in that word, honour ? What 
 is that honour ? Air." 
 
 Here, as in his first edition, Mr. Collier spoils Palstaff's 
 famous catechism, by adopting the ridiculous repetition of the 
 4to, lg08, instead of printing, with the later eds., " What is 
 honour ? A word. What is that word, honour ? Air." 
 
 P. 409,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall 
 A second time do such a courtesy.' 
 
 We do not alter, the old text here, for we think the Rev. Mr. Dyce's 
 objection to ''Fore heaven and earth' of the corr. fo. 1632, ought to 
 have weight : it is an unusual, though by no means unprecedented, form 
 of attestation on a serious occasion ; and although Hotspur tells us, just 
 before, that he has ' not well the gift of tongue,' he would rather, on that 
 account, have adopted a common mode of speaking. Mr. Dyce does not 
 say what he prefers ; but 'here on earth,' adopted by Mr. Singer, would 
 not be amiss, if we could suppose the old printer to have misread ' heaven ' 
 here, and 'to ' on. We leave the words 'For heaven to earth' to War- 
 burton's explanation, that the odds were so great that heaven might be 
 wagered against earth that many present would never again embrace.'' 
 
112 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 Mr. Collier^ I suspect, would not easily find in any writer 
 the expression " 'Fore heaven and earth " used as a " form of 
 attestation on a serious occasion." — In my Few Notes, Sec, to 
 which Mr. Collier now alludes, I certainly did not expressly 
 say "what I preferred;" but I never supposed that any one 
 would doubt my approval of the old reading and of War- 
 burton's explanation : — as to Mr. Singer's conjecture, it is 
 about as bad as that of the Ms. Corrector. 
 
 P. 411, — act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' masking in his coats.' 
 
 It is '■Tnarching in his coats' in all the old copies, but beyond dispute, 
 even with the Rev. Mr. Dyce, it ought to be ' masking.' .... Mr. 
 Dyce (' Few Notes,' p. 96) quotes an emendation of his own in Marlowe's 
 ' Tamburlaine,' Pt. I., A. v. sc. 2, which is in conformity with that in the 
 corr. fo. 1632, viz. 
 
 'And mask in cottages of strowed reeds :' 
 in the early 4tos, ' mask ' is misprinted march. We may take this oppor- 
 tunity of stating that in the three lines introducing the one he has cited, 
 there are more than as many other blunders of the press." 
 
 I, in my turn, " may take this opportunity of stating" 
 that " the blunders" in the three lines introducing the one 
 I formerly " cited," have been corrected by me (and to my 
 own satisfaction), even without the aid of Mr. Collier, in my 
 one-volume edition of Marlowe's Works, 1858, p. 33. 
 
 P. 417, — act v. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' There is Percy [Throwing down the body\ If your father wUl do 
 me any honour, so,' &c. 
 
 Throwing dovm the body.^ This stage-direction is found no where but in 
 my corr. fo. 1632, and Mr. Singer (perhaps not thinking the point worth 
 notice, although it alters the whole business of the scene) has copied it 
 without observation. It shows what was the practice of our old stage, 
 and what certainly ought to have been the practice on our modem stage, 
 viz. that Falstaff, instead of keeping the corpse of Percy on his back till 
 the end of the scene, should relieve himself from the burden by throwing 
 it down. " 
 
 Was there ever an editor who made so many random 
 assertions as Mr. Collier? Before accusing Mr. Singer of 
 
VOI-. ni.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 113 
 
 copying, without acknowledgment, " this stage - direction 
 found no where but in my corr. fo. 1632," why did he not 
 look how the passage, is given in the later editions of Shake- 
 speare, — in the Variorum one, for instance, of 1821 ? In that 
 edition it stands thus ; 
 
 " There is Percy : [Throwing the body down.] if your father will 
 do me any honour, so," &c. 
 
 Besides, Mr. Collier is quite in the dark about ".the practice 
 on our modern stage," when he fancies that " Falstaff keeps 
 the corpse of Percy on his back till the end of the scene." I 
 never saw a Falstaff that did so, and I have seen several : — 
 but as, in all probability, Mr. Collier will not take my word 
 for it, I call in the unimpeachable testimony of Oxberry's 
 acting edition of the play, 18.22; 
 
 " then am I a Jack. — {Throws the body down.) — There is 
 
 Percy. If your father will do me any honour, so," &c. 
 
 P. 419, — act V. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Which not to be avoided falls on me.' 
 There can hardly be a doubt that this is the line Shakespeare wrote, and 
 not, as it lamely stands in the old copies (lamely as regards both metre 
 and meaning), 
 
 'Since not to be avoided it falls on me.' 
 
 The emendation is from the corr. fo. 1632,"' (fee. 
 
 One of the hundreds of variations introduced by the Ms. 
 Corrector in sheer wantonness. As to the metre, — that of 
 the old line is right enough (if we do not try to spoil it by 
 laying an emphasis on "me") ; and as to the meaning, — that 
 of the old line has decidedly the advantage in clearness. 
 
 SECOND PART OF KING HENRY IV. 
 
 P. 441, — act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' both the diseases prevent my curses.' 
 It is in the old copies 'both the deffrees' .... Mr. Singer observes 
 that ' it has been proposed to change degrees to diseases.' Where has it 
 been proposed ? In the corr. fo. 1632, but he has again forgotten to 
 name the source of his information,'' (fee. 
 See pp. 1, 2 of the present volume. 
 
114 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 P. 447, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 " ' A hundred mark is a long score for a poor lone woman to bear,' &c. 
 a long score] In the old editions it is 'a long one,' which Theobald 
 altered to loan, but the true word is doubtless ' score, ' which is found in 
 the margin of the corr. fo. 1632 : the old printer blundered between 
 'score,' one, and ' lone,' and composed the wrong word." 
 
 Nay, "the true word is doubtless" the word of the old 
 copies, — " one ;" which Douce thus explains most satisfac- 
 torily ; " The hostess means to say that a hundred mark is 
 a long mark, that is, score, reckoning, for her to bear. The 
 use of mark in the singular number in familiar language, ad- 
 mits very well of this equivoque." (In a note ad I. in my ed. 
 of Shakespeare I have cited another attempt at a pun by Mrs. 
 Quickly, — "You shall have An fool's head of your own." 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 4.) 
 
 P. 460,— act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'grant that, my pure virtue, grant that.' 
 
 PURE virtue] It is ' poor virtue ' in all the old impressions, and amended 
 to ' pure virtue,' used ironically, in the corr. fo. 1632. Here Mr. Singer's 
 amended copy of the same edition comes to his aid, for he finds the change 
 (never before proposed) irresistible." 
 
 Mr. Collier and Mr. Singer might have learned from 
 Johnson's Dictionary that "poor" is sometimes nearly equi- 
 valent to dear : — and see the passages cited in p. 79 of the 
 present volume. 
 
 P. 469, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' For the boy, — there is a good angel about him, but the devil out- 
 bids him too. 
 
 P. Sen. For the women ? 
 
 Fal. For one of them, she is in hell already, and bums poor souls. 
 For the other, I owe her money, and whether she be damned for that, I 
 know not.' 
 
 she is IN hell already, 1 We ought probably to read a for ' in ;' Fal- 
 staff 's meaning being that Doll is herself a hell already, and ' bums poor 
 souls' by inflicting her diseases upon them. The Rev. Mr. Dyce has not 
 understood the passage, and pins his faith upon Sir T. Hanmer, who 
 varies from the old text, and prints ' poor soul,' as if those words applied 
 to Doll. " 
 
vol,. 111.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. lis 
 
 In his former edition Mr. Collier pointed the last of the 
 above speeches thus, " For one of them, she is in hell already, 
 and burns, poor souls," — which, surely, it was no wonder that 
 " the Rev. Mr. Dyce did not understand :" ■ — in his present 
 edition Mr. Collier points the words so as to make them con- 
 vey a sense which is little better than nonsense. In short, 
 Mr. Collier, clinging pertinaciously to error, is the only edi- 
 tor since Hanmer's days who has not adopted the correction 
 "poor soul," — a correction in which it seems strange that 
 Hanmer should not have been anticipated by Rowe or Pope 
 or Theobald. — Falstaff calls Doll "poor soul" because she 
 was "in hell already, burning" (with the lues venerea). 
 
 P. 471, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 "Host. 0! run, Doll, run; run, good Poll. Come. — She comes 
 blubbered. — Tea — will you come, Doll?" 
 
 In my Remarks, &c. p. 113, I observed that here the 
 words " She comes blubbered," instead of being addressed, as 
 Mr. Collier supposed, " to Bardolph within," are evidently a 
 stage-direction which has crept into the text by some mistake, 
 and which means merely that the boy who acted DoU was "to 
 come in a fit of weeping." Of that observation Mr. Collier 
 takes no notice in his new edition : but he says that the "She 
 comes blubbered" is " addressed to Bardolph outside, as a rea- 
 son why Doll does not instantly comply." Do the words 
 read like " a reason" ? 
 
 P. 472,— act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Then, happy low, lie down !' 
 There is no pretext here for Warburton's proposed emendation, ' Then, 
 happy lowly down,' which the Rev. Mr. Dyce weakly and, we must say, 
 somewhat timidly advocates," &c. 
 
 What I said in my Jlemarks, &c. p. 113, was that "the 
 conjecture of Warburton ought to be mentioned by every 
 editor of Shakespeare;" and that, though certain passages 
 "maybe cited in confirmation of Warburton's conjecture, I 
 must not be understood as if recommending its adoption mto 
 
116 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 the text:" — whict nobody, except Mr. Collier, would call 
 ADVOCATING Warburton's correction. 
 
 P. 487, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " Turning your books to glaives, your ink to blood, 
 Your pens to lances, and your tongue divine 
 To a loud trumpet and a point of war ?" 
 
 In the first of these hnes Mr. Collier, on the authority of 
 the Ms. Corrector, has altered "graves" to "glaives," which 
 he says "must be right, the error probably having arisen 
 from mishearing." But assuredly there is no error in the 
 original word : our early authors frequently write "graves' 
 when they mean "greaves," — -which, of course, is the proper 
 spelling here in a modern edition. — On the reading in the 
 third line, "and a point of war," Mr. Collier's note is;, 
 
 " ' And report of war' in the corr. fo. 1632, and probably rightly, but we 
 forbear to alter ' a point of war' because it may be Shakespeare's expres- 
 sion. Nevertheless, in 'Richard III.' A. iv. sc. 4, we meet with the 
 phrase, * the clamorous report of war.' " 
 
 It was a lucky chance that, in all his uncertainty about the 
 genuine lection, Mr. Collier happened to retain " a point of 
 war ;" for it is by no means an uncommon expression : e. g. 
 it occurs in a play which Ke himself edited, — Peele's Ed- 
 ward I. ; 
 
 " Matrevers, thou 
 Sound proudly here a perfect ^om< of war 
 In honour of thy sovereign's safe return." 
 
 Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. xi. 13, ed. Collier. 
 
 and in Greene's Orlando Furioso ; 
 
 " Tell him from me, false coward as he is, 
 That Orlando, the County Palatine, 
 Is come this morning with a band of French 
 To play him hunt"s-up with a point of war," &e. 
 
 Dram. Works, i. 18, ed. Dyce. 
 
 P. 487, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' And are enforc'd from our most quiet chair 
 ~ By the rough ton-ent of occasion,' <fec. 
 
VOL.111.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAIiESPEARE. 117 
 
 most quiet chaie] The folio, 1623, has 'most quiet itAere,' another evi- 
 dent mishearing, there for ' chair,' to which it is changed in the corr. fo. 
 1632. The Archbishop refer? to his own tranquil seat in his diocese, 
 from which he has been driven by ' the rough torrent of occasion.' " 
 
 The alteration " chair" cannot be right ; because here the 
 Archbishop is undoubtedly speaking of his associates as well 
 as of himself. Warburton's " sphere" is a much more pro- 
 bable correction. 
 
 P. 490, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " And present execution of our wills 
 To us, and to our purposes, confin'd," &c. 
 
 Here Mr. Collier continues to patronise the misprint 
 "confin'd," though in my Remarks, &c., p. 115, I particu- 
 larly called his attention to the following passages adduced 
 by Malone to support Johnson's emendation " consign' d" (in 
 the sense of sealed, ratified, confirmed) ; 
 
 " And, (God consiffninff to my good intents)," &c. 
 
 Act V. sc. 2 of the present play. 
 
 "And will consign thereto." Henry V. act v. sc. 2. 
 
 " a hard condition for a maid to consign to" Id. ibid. 
 
 Hanmer printed ; 
 
 " To us, and to our purposes, con'wm'd" &c. 
 
 P. 491, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' So that this land, like an offensive wife. 
 That hath enrag'd her man to offer strokes, 
 As he is striking, holds his infant up. 
 And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm 
 That was uprear'd to execution.' 
 That hath enrag'd hee man to offer strohes,] So the corr. fo. 1632, the 
 usual reading being ' that hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes.' There 
 can be no doubt that 'her man' is the genuine language of Shakespeare, 
 and that the objection that 'her man' for her husband, was not the 
 phraseology of the poet's time, is merely futile ; for what can be said of 
 the passage in 'Hamlet,' to quote no other, where (A. iv. sc. 3) it is said 
 ' man and wife is one flesh' ? Does not ' man' there mean husband, as 
 much as ' wife' means wife ? ' Her man,' then pronounced broadly, was 
 misheard him on." 
 
H8 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 The " objection" that man formerly was not used in the 
 sense of husband seems to have been " supposed" by Mr. Col- 
 lier, that he might have the pleasure of combating it. But 
 be that as it may, the change of " him on" to " her man" was 
 evidently made by the Corrector under the idea that it would 
 render the meaning of the passage more clear, — and most 
 unnecessarily was it made, for no one could doubt that " him" 
 is the king, the husband of " an ofPensive wife," i.e. his re- 
 bellious kingdom. — Mr. Collier's statement that "'her man,' 
 then pronounced broadly, was misheard him on," only shows 
 what lengths he wiU go in the cause of his Corrector. 
 
 P. 495,— act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' And, good my lord, so please you, let your trains 
 March by us, that we may peruse the men 
 We should have cop'd withal. ' 
 
 let TOUR trains\ It is ' our trains' in the 4to. and folio copies, but Prince 
 John could not wish to see his own trains, but those with whom his 
 troops were to have ' coped.' Our is amended to 'your' in the^corr. fo. 
 1632. In accordance with this request by Prince John, the Archbishop 
 teUs Hastings to let the troops that had come with them 'march by.' " 
 
 ''The plural, trains, seems to favour the old reading 
 ['oMJ*']." Malone. "The Priuce was desirous to see 
 their train, and therefore, under pretext of affording them a 
 similar gratification, proposed that both trains should pass in 
 review." Steetens. 
 
 P. 506, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' this is a sleep, 
 That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd 
 So many English kings.' 
 
 this golden riqol] ' Rigol' means a circle. I know not (observes Stee- 
 vens) that it is used by any author but Shakespeare, who introduces it 
 likewise in his ' Lucrece :' 
 
 ' About the mourning and congealed face 
 Of that black blood a watery rigol goes.' 
 
 .... We also find in Middleton (Works by Dyce, v. 536) the expres- 
 sion ' wriggle-eyeA damosel' as the editor speUs it, (it is rigle-eyde in the 
 original,) and as if he meant that the girl's eyes wandered, or wriggled. 
 
VOL. iH.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. lis 
 
 to and fro, when all that is intended is to caU her round-eyed. The 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce must have entirely forgotten the ' golden rigol' of ' Henry 
 IV., Pt. ii.,' as weU as the 'watery rigol' of our poet's ' Lucrece.' We 
 are confident that he has too much taste and judgment ever to repeat 
 the error." 
 
 Sure enough Mr. Collier's "taste and judgment" were in 
 abeyance when he penned the above note. 
 
 The passage of Middleton, which occurs in a prose-piece 
 entitled The Black Book, is this ; 
 
 " Let no young wriggle-eyed damosel, if her years have struck 
 twelve once, be left unassaulted, but it must be thy office to lay 
 hard siege to her honesty, and to try if the walls of her maidenhead 
 may be scaled with a ladder of angels j for one acre of such wenches 
 will bring in more at year's end than a hundred acres of the best 
 harrowed land between Deptford and Dover :" — 
 
 "where "ri^fe-eyde (wriffgle-eyed) damosel" evidently means 
 "damsel with rolling or roving eyes." 
 
 That such a compound epithet as " rigol-eyed" = circle- 
 eyed, round-eyed, would suggest itself to any writer, is the 
 height of improbability ; and, even supposing that there was 
 such a word, who ever heard of a " round-eyed damosel" ? 
 
 P. 508, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' Now, where is he that will not stay so long, 
 Till his friend sickness' hands determin'd me V 
 Till his friend sickness' sasds determin'd tne ?'] i.e. 'Until the hands of 
 his friend, sickness, have ended me.' The folio poorly substitutes hath 
 for 'hands,' and injures the personification of the prince's 'friend, sick- 
 ness.' All the modern editors follow the misreading of the folio, and 
 Mr. Singer perseveres in the blunder, in spite of our caution." 
 
 What was Mr. Collier thinking of when he brought into 
 the text, from the quarto, such a prodigy of a reading as 
 " hands'^ ? Why, the very next word " determin'd" proclaims 
 it to be wrong : if Shakespeare had written "hands," he must 
 also have written " determine." 
 
 P. 537, — act V. sc. 5. 
 
 " this doth infer the zeal I had to see him. 
 Shed. It doth so. 
 
120 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 Fal. It shows my earnestness of affection. 
 
 Fist. It doth so. 
 
 Fal. My devotion. 
 
 Pist. It doth, it doth, it doth." 
 
 What Mr. Collier here assigns to Pistol, manifestly be- 
 longs to Shallow. (In the quarto the second, fourth, and 
 sixth of these speeches have the prefix " Pist." In the folio 
 the second speech is rightly given to Shallow ; but, by mis- 
 take, the fourth and sixth speeches are left with the prefix 
 " Pist.") 
 
 KING HENRY V. 
 
 P. 551, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 "'To tear and havoc more than she can eat.' 
 
 The folio reads, ' To tame and havoc :' the 4tos. have spoil .... Mr. 
 Singer adopts ' tear' from our first edition, and might have acknowledged 
 it without any very heavy burden of obligation." 
 
 In guarding the emendations of his Ms. Corrector, as well 
 as his own, Mr. Collier noi only 
 
 " Hangs like the dragon o'er th' Hesperian fruit," 
 
 but is haunted with suspicions from which, by all accounts, 
 that -vigilant animal was free : he is ever and anon imagining 
 that somebody has purloined his treasures, — especially poor 
 Mr. Singer ; against whom he here, as in various other places, 
 brings an unfounded charge : — Rowe printed " To tear and 
 havoc" in the second edition of his Shakespeare. 
 
 P. 555, — act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' I wUl keep my state. 
 Be like a king, and show my soul of greatness, 
 When I do rouse me in my throne of France : 
 For here I have laid by my majesty, 
 And plodded like a man for working days. 
 But I will rise there,' <fcc. 
 
 SOUL of greatness,] ^ Sail of greatness' in all the early impressions and in 
 every modern edition, but an indisputable and an easy misprint for ' soul ' 
 which is the word substituted in the oorr. fo. 1632 : two lines below it 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 121 
 
 tells us to read ' here' for that, and with obvious propriety, because ' here' 
 is put in opposition to 'there' in the next line but one." 
 
 " Sail" is by no means " an indisputable misprint." In 
 my ed. of Shakespeare I have cited ad I. the metaphorical use 
 of the word " sail" from Henry VI. Part Third, act iii. sc. 3, — 
 
 " now Margaret 
 Must strike her sail, and learn awhile to serve, 
 Where kings command." 
 
 And I now find that^ in addition to these lines, Mr. Staunton 
 (who "believes sail in the present passage to have been 
 Shakespeare's expression") has quoted from Massinger's Pic- 
 ture, act ii. sc. 2, 
 
 " Such is ray full-saiVd confidence," 
 
 and from Beaumont and Fletcher's Thierry and Theodoret, 
 act ii. sc. 1, 
 
 "And in his Jull-sail'd confidence,'' <fec. — 
 
 The old reading, " For that" (or, as the quartos of 1600 and 
 1608 read, "For this") "I have laid by my majesty,'^ &c., is 
 well explained by Johnson ; " To qualify myself for this un- 
 dertaking, I have descended from my station, and studied the 
 arts of life in a lower character." 
 
 P. 556,— act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Therefore, let our proportions for these wars 
 Be soon collected, and all things thought upon. 
 That may with seasonable swiftness add 
 More feathers to our wings,' <fec. 
 
 SEASONABLE swiftnes$\ So the corr. fo. 1632, for ' reasonable swiftness' of 
 the old copies. There can be no hesitation in adopting this trifling but 
 important emendation (trifling as regards the mere change of a letter, 
 but important in reference to the intentions of the King), and Mr. 
 Singer was unable to resist it — especially as he finds it singularly forti- 
 fied by the very same alteration in his folio, 1632. Nobody ever hinted 
 at this emendation before it made its appearance in ' Notes and Emenda- 
 tions,' p. 256." 
 
 Here the alteration of "reasonable" to "seasonable" was 
 just such a change as the two Ms. Correctors,— ever in search 
 of matter whereon to exercise their ingenuity, and seldom 
 
122 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. in. 
 
 entering deeply into the poet's meaning, — were almost sure 
 to make. — Steevens aptly compares Troilus and Cressida, 
 act ii. sc. 3 ; 
 
 " Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds 
 A Grecian and his sword, if he do set 
 The very vnngs of reason to his heels," &c. 
 
 Mr. Staunton justly says that " ' seasonable/ however plau- 
 sible^ is tame and prosaic." 
 
 P. 559, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 '"0 well-a-day, lady ! if he be not hewn now ! — we shall see wilful 
 adultery and murder committed.' 
 
 hewm] The Rev. Mr. Dyce prefers drawn to 'hewn,' and thinks it 
 necessary to adduce several passages to show that drawn means the 
 drawing of a sword. All we can say is, that drawn would do very well, 
 if it were in any old copy : ' hewn' is in the folio, 1623, and of course 
 means that Mrs. Quickly fears that her husband will be ' hewn' down, 
 and thereby ' wilful adultery and murder committed. ' Why are we to 
 change a word which probably was Shakespeare's, for another word 
 which probably was not Shakespeare's, for which there is no authority, 
 and which is not at all required ?" 
 
 So, Theobald's alteration "drawn" (for to Theobald I 
 must resign it) " is not at all required," because " ' if he be not 
 hewn' means, of course, 'if he will not be hewn down' " ! 
 
 P. 563,— act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' we consider, 
 It was excess of wine that set him on ; 
 And, on our more advice, we pardon him.' 
 ouB more advice,'] It is 'his more advice' in the foHo, 1623, but the man 
 was not pardoned on his own ' more advice, ' but on the ' more advice' of 
 the King who had committed him yesterday : his is therefore amended 
 to ' our' in the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 Whatever be the exact meaning here of "on his more 
 advice" (whether it be equivalent, as Johnson explains it, to 
 " on his return to more coolness of mind," or, as Mr. Staun- 
 ton supposes, to "on his further representations"), it is un- 
 questionably the phraseology of our early writers ; and Mr. 
 Collier, as editor of Shakespeare, is guilty of a grave offence 
 when he so inconsiderately discards it. 
 
VOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. i23 
 
 P. 576, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' On, on, you noblest English ! 
 Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof,' <fec. 
 
 you NOBLEST English!^ So the folio, 1632: the folio, 1623, has 'you 
 nohlish English,' the compositor having carelessly confounded the two 
 terminations." 
 
 I have elsewhere remarked, that for the mistake "noblish" 
 the editor of the second folio ought to have substituted, not 
 "noblest" but "noble;" since the expression " noble English" 
 is sufficiently strong as opposed to "good yeomen." In King 
 John, act v. sc. 4, Melun says to the revolted lords of Eng- 
 land, 
 
 " Fly, nohle English, you are bought and sold." 
 
 P. 587, — act iii. sc. 6. 
 
 " ' There is an ancient, lieutenant, there at the pridge,' &c. 
 
 Fluellen does not seem to be sure whether the person at the bridge was 
 an ' ancient ' or a lieutenant. The 4to. has ensigns, and the folio ' aun- 
 shient lieutenant.' The Rev. Mr, Dyce (' Remarks,' p. 117) seems about 
 as much puzzled as FlueUen, and fancies that ' lieutenant ' must apply 
 to Gower, who, by the way, was a captain, as we afterwards learn. After 
 all, as Mr. Dyce says, it is very likely to be an error of the printer, who 
 might mistake, and mean to correct 'ancient' by 'lieutenant,' or vice 
 versd; but it cannot be a question of much importance, especially as 
 Pistol, in his own proper person, comes in instantly afterwards." 
 
 When Mr. Collier states that " the Rev. Mr. Dyce fancies 
 that ' lieutenant' must apply to Gower, who, by the way, was 
 a captain, as we afterwards learn," — he resorts to such mis- 
 representation as amounts to positive falsehood. What I 
 said was, that Mr. Collier's absurd punctuation of the passage 
 (which punctuation he still retains) made 'lieutenant' apply 
 to Gower, who was, in fact, a captain, — my remark standing 
 verbatim as follows ; 
 
 " But Mr. Collier prefers the reading of the folio, and 
 points the words thus, ' There is an ancient, lieutenant, there 
 at the pridge,' &c.' — a punctuation which makes 'lieutenant' 
 apply to the person addressed by Fluellen, viz. Gower, who 
 throughout the play is repeatedly termed ' captain'!" 
 
124 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. 
 
 P. 616, — act iv. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Shame, and eternal shame, nothing but shame ! 
 Let us not fly : — in ! — once more back again,' <fec. 
 
 Let us NOT TLT : — in!— once more hack again;'] So the corr. fo. 1632: 
 the negative having been omitted by accident in the Ms., the compositor 
 seems to have printed die for ' fly. ' Bourbon encourages the French 
 nobles not to fly, but to return once more to the battle. The Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce (' Remarks,' p. 119) advocates the insertion of ' honour,' not from 
 Bourbon's speech in the 4tos, but from the speech of the Constable of 
 Prance : according to this method, it would be easy to import any word 
 that was wanted from any other part of the 4tos. The change in the 
 corr. fo. 1632 is natural and consistent." 
 
 To "illustrate'' the above note, — from which it would 
 require more than ordinary sagacity to discover, either what 
 the folio reads here, or what the reading is which " the Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce advocates,'' — I adduce that portion of my Remarks, 
 &c., to which Mr. Collier refers : 
 
 " In the folio the line stands thus ; 
 
 ' Let us dye in once more backe againe,' 
 
 a word being evidently omitted ; and several years have now 
 elapsed since the true reading, 
 
 ' Let us die in honour : once more back again,' 
 
 was restored by Mr. Knight (in his Pictorial Shakespeare) 
 from the corresponding scene of the quarto, where we find ; 
 
 ' Lets dye with honor ; our shame doth l^st too long.' 
 
 See Mr. Knight's very satisfactory note ad I." 
 
 Mr. Knight's note is this ; 
 
 " Let's die in honour. The ordinary reading is ' Let us 
 die instant.' Malone would read, ' Let us die in fight.' The 
 folio reads 'Let us die in;' which Mason says is the true 
 reading. To justify and explain our reading we must exhibit 
 the greatly altered scene of the quarto ; which is also a curious 
 example of the mode in which the text of the folio was ex- 
 panded and amended, — and that certainly by the poet : — 
 
 ' Gebon. diabello ! 
 Con. Mart de ma vie ! 
 Okl. what a day is this ! 
 BouE. jour del honte ! all is gone ; all is lost ! 
 
VOL. III.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 125 
 
 Con. We are enow yet living in the field 
 To smother up the English, 
 If any order might be thought upon. 
 
 BouR. A plague of order ! once more to the field ; 
 And he that will not follow Bourbon now, 
 Let him go, &c. 
 
 Con. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, right us now ! 
 Come we in heaps, we'll offer up our lives 
 Unto these English, or else die with fame. 
 Come, come along : 
 Xei's die with honour ; our shame doth last too long.' 
 
 It is wonderful how the commentators have misused this text, 
 without endeavouring by it to illustrate the difficulty in the 
 text of the folio. A word is omitted of some sort : — the 
 quarto gives them the very passage — ' Let's die with honour.' 
 But that they refuse to see; and although the whole scene has 
 been so amplified and improved, they ' restore a line from the 
 quarto ' which is not found in the folio — 
 
 ' Unto these English, or else die with fame.' 
 
 Shakspere had previously given the sentiment in ' Let's die 
 in honour;' the word 'honour' being unquestionably omitted 
 in the printing of what he wrote." 
 
 Nor am I the only editor to whom Mr. Knight's note 
 appears " very satisfactory :" — Mr. Staunton prints, 
 
 " Let's die in honour : once more back again,'' &c. 
 and observes ; " The reading of the text, which was suggested 
 by Mr. Knight, is supported by a line in the corresponding 
 scene of the quartos," &c. 
 
 In his first edition Mr. Collier adhered to the reading of 
 the folio, vainly attempting to render it intelligible by pointing 
 
 it thus, 
 
 " Let us die :— in ! — Once more back again," &c. 
 
 which, except as regards the metre, is perhaps not worse than 
 the piece of botchery he has borrowed from the Ms. Correc- 
 tor for his present edition ; 
 
 " Let us wo«/y .• — in!— once more back again," &c. 
 
126 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iii. 
 
 FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. 
 
 P. 653, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him ; 
 Here, there, and every where, enrag'd he slew." 
 
 Here the only note in the Var. Shakespeare is, "1 sus- 
 pect[! !] the author wrote flew. Malone." — Mr. Collier gives 
 " slew," without any observation ; and therefore we may con- 
 clude that the Ms. Corrector, who has put so many passages 
 wrong, did not put the present one right. 
 
 P. 662, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " Priest, beware your heard ; 
 I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly. 
 Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat, 
 In spite of pope or dignities of church ; 
 Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down." 
 
 The reading of the second folio (which Mr. Collier does 
 not mention), "Under my feet I'll stamp," &c., is most dis- 
 tinctly shown by the context to be the true one. 
 
 P. 663, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " Oome, oflBcer : as loud as thou canst cry. 
 Off. All manner of men," <fec. 
 
 In the folio thus ; 
 
 " Come Officer, as lowd as e're thou canst, cry : 
 All manner ofmenj" &c., — 
 
 the comma before " cry," and the colon after it, proving that 
 word to be a stage- direction. We ought therefore to print; 
 
 "Come, officer ; as loud as e'er thou canst. 
 Off", [reads] All manner of men," &c., — 
 
 and not, — as Mr. Collier does on his Corrector's authority, — 
 throw out " e'er," and make the stage-direction " cry" a por- 
 tion of the verse. 
 
 P. 694, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Foul fiend of France, and hag of hell's despite,' &c. 
 
VOL. m.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 127 
 
 hag of hell's des'pUe,-\ It is ' hag of all despite' iu the folios, a very poor 
 and tame expression compared with 'hag of heU's despite,' to which it 
 is amended in the corr. fo. 1632. We are confident that such must have 
 been the poet's language, and it fuUy accords with Talbot's last speech." 
 Mr, Collier has wrought himself into a belief that he may 
 take such liberties with the text of Shakespeare as most edi- 
 tors would shrink from taking with the text of even very in- 
 ferior poets; for this change oi" all" to "hell's" belongs to 
 a numerous class of alterations introduced by Mr. Collier, not 
 because the old reading is imintelligible or conveys an ob- 
 jectionable sense, but because what the Ms. Corrector has 
 been pleased to substitute for it, is, in Mr. Collier's opinion, a 
 grand improvement. 
 
 And what is the meaning of " hag of hell's despite" ? / 
 doubt if it means any thing at all, though the Corrector seems 
 to have considered it equivalent to " hag of hellish despite," 
 With the old reading compare ; 
 
 " Go see him out at gates, and follow him, 
 As he hath foUow'd you, with all despite," &c. 
 
 Goriolanus, act iii. sc. 3. 
 " and, by my soul, 
 If this right hand would buy two hours' life, 
 That I in all despite toight rail at him. 
 This hand should chop it ofiP," &c. 
 
 Third Part of Henry VI. act ii. sc. 6. 
 
 P. 711, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' To beat assailing death from his weak legions,' <fcc. 
 
 LEGIONS :] The folios have regions : most probably, though not neces- 
 sarily, an error, which was corrected by Rowe. We are in a hard strait 
 with the Rev. Mr. Dyce, for here he almost blames us for not preferring 
 the old lection, regions, while at the same moment he expresses his 
 entire approbation of the new lection ' legions' (Remarks, p. 125). When 
 he adds that he ' cannot form the most distant idea' of certain argu- 
 ments, we fear we cannot help him." 
 
 In the course of my life I have had to execute several 
 literary tasks which were not a little irksome ; but far more 
 painful than any of them is the task of showing — as I am 
 constrained to do in various places of this volume — that Mr. 
 Collier is 
 
128 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES h'OL. ni. 
 
 "not 
 At all a friend to truth." — 
 Mr. Collier's note on "legions" in his first edition was 
 only what now forms the commencement of his present note ; 
 
 "The folios have regions; most probably, though not necessarily, 
 an error, which was corrected by Rowe :'' 
 
 and what I really remarked on it was ; 
 
 " This is one of the notes in which Mr. Collier evinces a 
 sort of kindly feeling towards the misprints of the old copies, 
 dismissing them, when he does not receive them into the text, 
 with an express declaration that they may nevertheless be the 
 genuine readings. What arguments could be advanced in de- 
 fence of ' regions,' I cannot form even the most distant idea." 
 
 P. 712, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 "'Orleans the Bastard, Charles, and Burgundy,' &c. 
 
 The conjunction is from the folio, 1632, and the line can scarcely be 
 read metrically without it." 
 
 When the editor of the second folio inserted " and" in 
 this line, he, as in many other places, ignorantly injured the 
 metre which he fancied he was assisting : see Walker's Shake- 
 speare's Versification, &c. p. 15. 
 
 P. 720, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' The Earl of Armagnac, near kin to Charles,' <fec. 
 
 near kin to Charles,] Of the fitness of this emendation there can be no 
 
 doubt, and it is from the corr. fo. 1632 In the foUo, 1623, the 
 
 word is init for ' kin,' an evident and an easy misprint. Mr. Singer is 
 obliged to admit that ' it has been proposed to read ' near Mn to Charles.' ' 
 Where has it been so proposed ? In the corr. fo. 1632, which Mr. Singer 
 has always such a wish to ignore. The emendation was never suggested 
 (not even in Mr. Singer's corrected folio, 1632) until it appeared in our 
 volume of 'Notes and Emendations,' p. 277." 
 
 If Mr. Collier had only taken the trouble to make himself 
 tolerably conversant with what was done for the text of Shake- 
 speare during the eighteenth century, he would have been 
 spared the mortification of learning that most of his accusa- 
 tions against Mr. Singer are utterly false : — Pope printed 
 " near kin to Charles," &c. 
 
TOL. III.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 129 
 
 P. 723, — act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " * And ye, choice spirits, that admonish me, 
 
 Now, ye familiar spirits, that are call'd 
 Out of the powerful regions under earth,' &c. 
 that are call'd] It is culVd in the old copies, but spirits are ' call'd' by 
 magicians and necromancers out of the regions 'under earth,' and the 
 word is altered to ' call'd' in the corr. fo. 1632. " 
 
 Here the Ms. Corrector alters a word with which he 
 ought not to have meddled, and leaves unaltered a decided 
 misprint. Eead, — 
 
 " Now, ye familiar spirits, that are culVd 
 Out of the powerful legions under earth," &c. 
 "CulVd" is proved to be right by the line above, "And ye 
 choice spirits," &c. — Warburton first suggested "powerful 
 legions" for the almost nonsense of "powerful regions;" and 
 Malone observes ad I., " In a former passage, regions seems to 
 have been printed instead of legions ; at least all the editors 
 from the time of Mr. Kowe have there substituted the latter 
 word instead of the former. [See p. 127 of the present vo- 
 lume.] The word culVd, and the epithet powerful, which is 
 applicable to the fiends themselves, but not to their place of 
 residence, show that it has an equal title to a place in the 
 text here. So, in The Tempest [act iii. sc. 3], 
 
 ' But one fiend at a time, 
 I'U fight their legions o'er.' " 
 
 On this emendation " legions" see more in Add. and Corr. to 
 my ed. of Shakespeare, p. ccxi. 
 
 P. 729,— act v. sc. 3. 
 
 " 'Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount, 
 'Mid natural graces that extinguish art,' &o. 
 
 'Mid natural graces] For J 'Mid,' i. e. amid, the folio, 1623, has Mad, and 
 the folio, 1632, Made, but the old annotator on that edition amends it, 
 incontestably, to "Mid." The Eev. Mr. Dyoe, we think, somewhere 
 (not in his ' Remarks' nor in his ' Few Notes') claims to have discovered 
 the fitness of this alteration long ago : if so, of course we give him full 
 credit for it. Mr. Singer still cannot bring himself to mention our corr. 
 
 K 
 
130 STRICTUKES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. hi. ' 
 
 fo. 1632, but admits that ' 'Mid' has been proposed : he however puts up 
 with M. Mason's And, rather than attribute the merit of ' 'Mid' to the 
 corr. fo. 1632. If he had known of Mr. Dyce's lucky guess, it would 
 have saved him some annoyance." 
 
 I believe that Mr. Singer conscientiously rejected the al- 
 teration " 'Mid." I (who, as it appears from the above note, 
 had a right to use that alteration) have also rejected it in my 
 recent edition of Shakespeare, preferring " And." So too has 
 Mr. Staunton done. 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 131 
 
 Vol. IV. 
 
 SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VL 
 P. 14, — act i. sc. 2. 
 " 'Methought, I sat in seat of majesty, 
 In the cathedral church of Westminster, 
 And in that chair where kings and queens were crown'd ; 
 Where Henry, and dame Margaret, kneel'd to me, 
 And on my head did set the diadem.' 
 
 WERE crown'd;] Most modern editors have substituted are for ' were,' 
 against aU authority." 
 
 The folio, indeed, has " wer crownd," &c. : but those 
 editors who printed " are crown'd" (as the sense requires) had 
 the authority of the original play, — 
 
 " and seated in the chaire 
 Where Kings and Queenes are crownde," &c. 
 
 P. 17, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' 1 Pet. My masters, let's stand close : my lord protector will come 
 this way by and by, and then we may deliver our supplications in 
 sequel. ' 
 
 in SEQUEL.] i. e. In seqiisnce or succession : but the first Petitioner 
 makes a very palpable blunder between one word and another. The Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce devotes two pages of his ' Few Notes' (pp. 99, 100) to showing 
 that Feter (who does not here speak at all) did not blunder; but the 
 blunder is not by Peter, but by the first Petitioner, 1 Pet. in the old 
 copies : when Peter afterwards speaks he is so called in the prefixes. 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce (and Mr. Singer after him, though he does not cite 
 his authority) would read ' in the coil,' and for the sake of their conjec- 
 ture would spell ' coil' quoil, and explain it ' in the stir.' No speculation 
 could well be more unhappy, and the very words the first Petitioner 
 uses, ' I'll be the first, sure,' show that he meant sequence, though he 
 said ' sequel :' he would make certain of being earliest in the delivery of 
 his petition. If Mr. Dyce and Mr. Singer had but read four lines far- 
 ther, even they could hardly have refused to see that 'sequel' is the very 
 word that is wanted, and that the quH was a very easy and probable cor- 
 ruption for it. They were, however, in such haste to oppose the Ms. cor- 
 rection in the folio, 1632, that they would not give themselves time to 
 look at the context. " 
 
132 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [voi,. iv. 
 
 1. The argument whicli I used against the Ms. Corrector's 
 alteration of " in the Quill" to " in sequel" is not at all affected 
 by my having accidentally written " Peter" instead of " First 
 Petitioner ■" it was this ; and I still think it a very strong 
 one : — Why should the First Petitioner, whose language is 
 elsewhere correct enough, ''make," on this single occasion, 
 " a blunder between one word and another" ? Besides, when 
 a dramatist puts a wrong word into the mouth of a comic 
 character, there is always something ludicrous or inclining to 
 the ludicrousj in the blunder of the speaker : but according 
 to the Ms. Corrector's alteration, there is nothing of the kind 
 here. 
 
 2. As Mr. Collier notices that Mr. Dyce and Mr. Singer, 
 "for the sake of their conjecture, would speU 'coil' quoil," it 
 is necessary to remind him of a fact which . he doubtless has 
 forgotten, — that, in our early writers, quoil is by no means an 
 uncommon spelling of coil. 
 
 3. Here, in my recent edition of Shakespeare, not choosing 
 to deviate from the old copy, I have printed " in the quill." — 
 Mr. Staunton also retains " in the quill," and observes ; "Mr. 
 Dyce and Mr. Singer would read in the coil or quoil, that is, 
 the stir ; while Mr. Collier's annotator substitutes ' in sequel.' 
 Of the two, we prefer the former, but have not sufficient con- 
 fidence in either to advance it to the text." 
 
 P. 33,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 ' ' K. Hen. Uncle, what shall we say to this in law ? 
 
 Olo. This doom, my gracious lord, if I may judge : — 
 Let Somerset be regent o'er the French, 
 
 ****** 
 This is the law, and this duke Humphrey's doom, 
 
 Som. I humbly thank your royal majesty." 
 
 And for what, according to the above text, is King Henry 
 thanked by Somerset ? For having expressed, as Mr. CoUier 
 conjectures (after Malone), his assent to Gloucester's ' doom' 
 by an inclination of the head ! 
 
 Theobald saw the absolute necessity of inserting here two 
 lines from The First Part of the Contention, &c., thus ; 
 " This is the law, and this Duke Humphrey's doom. 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 133 
 
 K. Hen. Tlien be it so. — My Lord of Somerset, 
 We make your grace regent over the FreTich. 
 Som. I humbly thank your royal majesty." 
 
 concerning which insertion see a long note in my ed. of 
 Shakespeare, vol. iv. 192. 
 
 P. 25, — act i. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' Baling. First, of the king : what shall of him become V 
 
 The modem editors here insert ' Reading out of a paper ;' but it is 
 wanting in the old copies, and is not necessary : a needless multiplication 
 
 of stage-directions is to be avoided We need not suppose that 
 
 Bolingbroke's questions were written in the first instance," (fcc. 
 
 It had escaped Mr. Collier that, at the commencement of 
 this scene, as given in The First Part of the Contention, &c., 
 the Duchess says, — 
 
 "Here, Sir John, take this scrole of paper here, 
 Wherin is writ the questions you shall aske," &c. 
 
 P. 33, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Glo. Let them be whipp'd through every market town. 
 Till they come to Berwick, from whence they came." 
 FROM whence they came.] So every folio ; and as Berwick was pronounced 
 LQ the time of one syllable, the preposition ' from ' is necessary for the 
 line. Mr. Singer silently omits it ; but if he thought it too much for 
 verse (very irregular in this scene), he ought to have mentioned his de- 
 viation from the old copies. He however offends in company, for Malone 
 set him the example." 
 
 " It is droll" — to borrow a favourite expression of his own 
 — ^to find Mr. Collier telling us here that " ' Berwick' was 
 pronounced in the time of one syllable," and that " 'from' is 
 necessary for the line," — the speech being the most unmistak- 
 able prose. 
 
 P. 38, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Q. Mar. I see no reason why a king of years 
 Should be protected, like a chHd, by peers.— 
 God and king Heury govern England's helm. 
 Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm. 
 
 Glo. My staff ?— here, noble Henry, is my staff ; 
 
134 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 To think I fain would keep it makes me laugh. 
 
 As wiUingly do I the same resign, 
 
 As e'er thy father Henry made it mine,' &c. 
 Should be protected, like a chUd, by pbees.] This and the next speech by 
 Gloster are entirely in rhyme according to the corr. fo. 1632, and so we 
 print them without hesitation, with the recovery of a missing line, which 
 must have accidentally made its escape, as was the very case elsewhere 
 in Mr. Singer's own edition, — so difficult is it sometimes to prevent 
 blunders of the sort. We subjoin the whole as it has hitherto appeared 
 in old and modern impressions, observing only that Mr. Singer has 
 adopted ' helm ' from the corr. fo. 1632, without acknowledgment, at the 
 very time when he was repudiating the other changes it introduces : — 
 ' Q. Mar. I see no reason why a king of years 
 
 Should be to be protected like a chUd. — 
 
 God and King Henry govern England's realm. 
 
 Give up your staff, sir, and the king his realm. 
 Glo. My staff 1 — ^here, noble Henry, is my staff ; 
 
 As willingly do I the same resign. 
 
 As e'er thy father Henry made it mine,' &c. 
 
 Here ' realm ' could hardly have been repeated in two consecutive lines. 
 Gloster, in the midst of his grief, is assuming mirthfulness at the notion 
 that he should wish, under such circumstances, to keep his staff of 
 office." 
 
 In the Variorum Shakespeare (Malone's ed. by Boswell), 
 — tliat very common book, which Mr. Collier for years past 
 has been constantly using and referring to, — the third line of 
 the present passage stands thus, 
 
 " God and King Henry govern England's helm," 
 and with express mention that " helm" is the emendation of 
 Johnson : yet now Mr. Collier roundly asserts that " Mr. 
 Singer has adopted 'helm^ from the corr. fo. 1633, without 
 acknowledgment." 
 
 But then, as to " the other changes" made here by the 
 Ms. Corrector in one of his rhyming fits, — what are we to say 
 when we find them forming a part of Mr. Collier's text? Only 
 this, — that by inserting them Mr. Collier gives a lamentable 
 proof of his want of judgment, and ofiers an insult to the 
 manes of the mighty poet whom he professes to edit, as well 
 as to the understanding of his readers. (Mr. Staunton ob- 
 serves ad I.; "At this point Mr. Collier's annotator inter- 
 polates a line of such sheer absurdity, — 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 135 
 
 ' To think I fain would keep it makes me laugh /' 
 that it is hard to believe he was not attempting a joke. This 
 miserable puerility, we are grieved to find, Mr. CoUier not 
 only approves,, but actually inserts as Shakespeare's, ia his 
 edition of the poet's works just published.") 
 
 P. 80, — act iv. so. 2. 
 
 " ' Dick. And, fuTthermore, we'll have the lord Say's head, for sell- 
 ing the dukedom of Maine. 
 
 Cade. And good reason, for thereby is England maimed, and fain 
 to go with a staflF,' <fec. 
 
 for thereby is England maimed,] The folio has main'd, which may be 
 right, Cade intending to joke upon the name of Maine. The ' Conten- 
 tion,' 1594, however, reads ' maimed,' " &c. 
 
 Here Mr. Collier adopts a mere misprint. That the 
 reading of the folio " main'd" is the true one, he might have 
 learned from Mr. Hunter's Hallamshire Glossary, which gives 
 " To MAINE, to lame." 
 
 P. 85, — act iv. sc. 5. 
 
 " * Fight for your king, your country, and your lives; 
 And so farewell : rebellion pever thrives.' 
 
 REBELLION NEVBB THRIVES.] So the corr. fo. 1632 ; and we may feel 
 morally certain that the scene so concluded when the play wag acted. 
 Nothing can be more probable than that at the end of the scene Lord 
 Scales should make his exit with such a rhyme, instead of the flat sub- 
 stitution, ' for I must hence again,' as we find it in the ordinary text. 
 No words could be better adapted to the place, and the expression 
 'rebellion never thrives' was proverbial. If we reject the words, we 
 must conclude that they were a mere invention, for the sake of termi- 
 nating the scene with more spirit. It seems certain that the passage 
 was so recited in the time of the old corrector." 
 
 Really, this re-vfkiting of an author's text is a very novel 
 and extraordinary proceeding : — those editors who have passed 
 into a by- word as " slashing," were timid operators when 
 compared to Mr. Collier. 
 
 It is by no means " certain that the passage was so recited 
 in the time of the old corrector;" the alteration may have 
 originated solely in his own rage for rhyming, of which he 
 
136 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 has left such ample proof. But, even if "the passage was so 
 recited in his time," what then? As the whole of the present 
 scene is taken, word for word, from the First Part of the Con- 
 tention, SfC, which was first printed in 1594, — is there not a 
 probability amounting almost to certainty that " the passage 
 was recited in the time of Shakespeare" thus, 
 
 " And so, farewell, for I must hence agcum" ? 
 
 (In a note on act i. sc. 1 of The Third Part of Henry VI., 
 p. 123, Mr. Collier observes; 
 
 " Every old copy has ' Our army is ready :' Malone and other modern 
 editors have changed it, without notice, to " Our army's ready.' Of 
 course, nothing can be easier than to read ' Our army is ready' in the 
 proper time for the measure, without deserting authorities." 
 
 So, Mr. Collier blames Malone for altering, without 
 authority, 
 
 " army is" 
 
 to 
 " army's," 
 
 and yet considers himself quite at liberty to alter, on the no- 
 authority of the Ms. Corrector, 
 
 "for I must hence agadn" 
 
 to 
 " rebellion never thrives" !) 
 
 P. 95, — activ. sc. 10. 
 
 " ' Look on me well : I have eat no meat these five days ; yet, come 
 thou and thy fine men, and if I do not leave you all as dead as a door 
 nail, I pray God I may never eat grass more. ' 
 
 ^et, come thou and thy pine men,'\ Enter Iden ' and his men' are the 
 words in the 'Contention,' 1694, but the folio, 1623, has only 'Enter 
 Iden.' Still it gives him 'flue men' (u being put for v) in Cade's speech. 
 The true text, however, undoubtedly is 'fine men,' as the word is 
 amended in the corr. fo. 1632 : the fact seems to be that the old printer, 
 having composed 'five dayes' just above, thought he was to compose 
 'five men' just below. Cade means to speak contemptuously and ironi- 
 cally of Iden's ' fine men. ' " 
 
 It is a pity that so fine an emendation as "fine men" 
 should be so absurdly wrong. 
 
 As Cade here says that "though he has eaten no meat 
 
VOL. IT.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 137 
 
 these five days, he is nevertheless more than a match for 
 Iden and his five men," so, in his next speech, after being 
 stabbed, he says, " Famine, and no other, hath slain me : let 
 ten thousand devils come against me, and give me but the 
 ten meals I have lost, and Td defy them aU." 
 
 P. 103,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Oft have I seen a hot o'erweening cur 
 
 Run back and bite, because he was withheld ; 
 Who, having suffer'd with the bear's fell paw, 
 Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs, and cried,' &o. 
 Who, HAviNO suffer'd with the bear's fell paw,] The substitution of one 
 auxiliary verb for another, viz. 'having' for being, of the old copies, is 
 all that is necessary here to clear away a difficulty, which has always 
 impeded the progress of annotators. Our emendation is from the corr. 
 fo. 1632, and we may be confident that it gives us the poet's language.'' 
 
 Concerning this passage, which the Ms. Corrector did not 
 understand, and therefore altered, I have the following re- 
 marks in my ed. of Shakespeare, vol. iv. p. 204 ; 
 
 " Nothing can be more evident than that ' beinff suffer'd' 
 is put in opposition to ' withheld,' and has here the same 
 meaning as it has earlier in the play, act iii. sc. 2 ; 
 
 'Lest, being suffer'd in that harmful slumber,' &c. 
 
 and also in TTie Third Part of Henry VI. act iv. sc. 8 ; 
 
 ' A little fire is quickly trodden out ; 
 Which, being suffer'd, rivers cannot quench.' — 
 
 The cur, when withheld, turned round and snapped at those 
 who restrained him; but, beinff suffered to engage with the 
 bear's fell paw," &c. 
 
 (Finding that Mr. Staunton ad I. cites the same passages 
 as I do to explain the words " beinff suffer'd," I think it right 
 to add, that my edition of Shakespeare was published before 
 the appearance of the No. of Mr. Staunton's edition which 
 contains The Second Part of Henry VI.) 
 
138 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. it. 
 
 THIRD PART OF KING HENEY VI. 
 
 P. 115, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Is either slain, or wounded dangeroudy,' (fee. 
 
 The folios, one after the other, read, 
 
 ' Is either slain or wounded dangerous.' 
 
 How absurd it is to reprint this vulgarism as Shakespeare's is proved, 
 not only by the corr. fo. 1632, but by the old ' True Tragedie of Richard 
 Duke of York,' 1595, ia both of which we find ' dangerously,' as in our 
 text. Even without any such authorities, we should have been tempted 
 to have amended this merely grammatical blunder." 
 
 See p. 34 of the present volume. 
 
 P. 120,— act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Henry of Lancaster, resign my crown.' 
 
 MT crown.] It is ' i% crown' ia the foUo, 1623, but evidently a misprint 
 oithy for 'my.' York claimed the crown as his. Few errors were more 
 frequent than in the words ' my' and thy (see the preceding page), and 
 the corr. fo. 1632 here points out the mistake." 
 
 In this line, which Shakespeare retained verbatim from 
 The Trite Tragedie, &c., 1595, " thy crown" obviously means 
 "the crown thou now wearest." Again, in act ii. sc. 3, Ed- 
 ward says, 
 
 " Now, perjur'd Henry ! wilt thou kneel for grace, 
 And set thy diadem upon my head," &c. 
 
 P. 127,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch,' <fec. 
 
 What is a ' pent-up lion' but a caged lion ? and here we have a confirma- 
 tion of the reading, 'caged' for cased, in 'King John,' A. iii. sc. 1, Vol. 
 iii. p. 161, to which we would direct the attention of the Rev. A. Dyce." 
 
 See p. 92 of the present volume. 
 
 P. 138, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' I, then in London, keeper of the kiag, 
 
 Muster'd my soldiers, gather'd flocks of friends, 
 March'd towards Saint Alban's to intercept the queen. 
 Bearing the king in my behalf along,' <fec. 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 139 
 
 MiMter'd my soldiers, gathered flocks of friends,] After this line, modern 
 editors have added another, from ' The True Tragedie :'— 
 
 ' And very well appointed, as I thought,' 
 which is not at all necessary to the sense. If we were to adopt this line 
 into the text, we should have no excuse for not inserting many more 
 from the old 4to, 1595," &c. 
 
 No one, I think, can read the above passage attentively, 
 and not be convinced that the Hne has been omitted by mis- 
 take in the present long speech, which, with the exception of 
 that line and of one or two very trifling verbal alterations, 
 stands in the folio precisely as it does in The True Tragedie, 
 
 P. 143,— act ii. so. 3. 
 
 " ' My lord, cheer up your spirits : our foes are nigh. 
 And this soft carriage makes your followers faint.' 
 
 caeriaqb] The emendation of courage of the folio, 1623, to ' carriage,' 
 is made in the corr. fo. 1632, and there can be no doubt that it ought 
 to be introduced into the text. The corresponding line in ' The True 
 Tragedy,' 1595, is— 
 
 ' This harmful pity makes your followers faint.' 
 Malone printed 'soft cov/rage,' and gave no hint of any proposed change." 
 
 Mason, too, conjectured " carriage," — not knowing that 
 "courage" was formerly common enough in the sense of 
 " heart, spirit, mind," and that here " soft courage" is equi- 
 valent to soft spirit, — soft-heartedness. Compare Ascham's 
 Toxophilus, fol. 63, ed. 1589 ; " except the faulte be only in 
 your owne selfe, which may come two wayes, eyther inhauing 
 .a faint hart or courage," &c. : and Spenser's Faerie Queene, 
 b. ii. c. V, st. 5 ; 
 
 " Disleall knight, whose coward corage chose 
 To wreake itselfe on beast all innocent," &c. 
 
 Again, in Coriolanus, act iii. sc. 3, the Ms. Corrector 
 rashly alters " courage" to " carriage,'^ and there too Mr. Col- 
 lier as rashly adopts the alteration. 
 
140. STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 KING RICHARD IH. 
 P. 227, — acti. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' My lady Grey, his wife, Clarence, 'tis she, 
 That tempts him to this harsh extremity.' 
 
 That TEMPTS him, to this haesh extremity. ~\ So the foUo : the 4tos, ' That 
 tempers him to this extremity.' So in 'Henry V.,' A. v. so. 2 (vol.iii. 
 p. 637), we have had ' untempting' misprinted untempering." 
 
 That the lection of the folio, which Mr. Collier here 
 adopts, is not what Shakespeare wrote, Malone has thus de- 
 cisively shown : 
 
 "1 have collated the original quarto published in 1597, 
 
 verbatim, with that of 1598. In the first copy this liae stands 
 
 thus: 
 
 ' That tempers him to this extremity / 
 
 and so undoubtedly we shoiild read. To temper is to mould, 
 to fashion. So, in Titus Andronicus : 
 
 ' Now will I to that old Andronicus j 
 And temper him, with all the art I have, 
 To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths.' 
 
 In the quarto 1598, tempts was corruptly printed instead of 
 tempers. The metre being then defective, the editor of the 
 folio supplied the defect by reading — 
 
 ' That tempts him to this harsh extremity.' " 
 
 P. 230, — acti. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Till George be paok'd with post haste up to heaven.' 
 
 post haste] It is ' Tpost-horse' in the old copies, but amended to ' post 
 haste' in the corr. fo. 1632. 'Post haste' was the commonest form in 
 which speed was then enjoined, and there can surely be no doubt of the 
 fitness of the change : Gloster wished to get Clarence out of the way 
 with all celerity." 
 
 One of many emendations by the old Corrector which 
 Mr. Collier ought merely to have mentioned in a note as 
 ingenious and plausible ; for they are nothing more. — Com- 
 pare, 
 
 " I, from the orient to the drooping west, 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 141 
 
 Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold 
 The acts commenced on this ball of earth," &c. 
 
 Sec. Part of Merwy IT., — Induction. 
 
 P. 238, — act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' What ! I, that kill'd her husband, and his father, 
 To take her in her heart's extremest hate ; 
 With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes, 
 The bleeding witness of my hatred by,' &c. 
 
 The Heeding witness ofwi hatred ly.l So the folio, and correctly: the 
 4tos. and modern editors have ' her hatred ;' but the corse of Henry VI. 
 was ' the bleeding witness' of Gloster's hatred to the Lancastrian family." 
 
 The second of these lines proves — as all editors except 
 Mr. Collier have perceived — that the reading of the folio 
 " my hatred" is a gross misprint. 
 
 P. 244, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " Q. Eliz. As little joy, my lord, as you suppose 
 You should enjoy, were you this country's king, 
 As little joy you may suppose in me, 
 That I enjoy, being the queen thereof. 
 
 Q. Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen thereof; [Aside. 
 
 For I am she, and altogether joyless." 
 
 Here Margaret ought assuredly to say, "As little joy 
 enjoys the queen thereof," &c., — a correction which first 
 appeared in my edition of Shakespeare. 
 
 P. 305, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " Now, for my life, she's wand'ring to the Tower, 
 On pure heart's love to greet the tender prince." 
 Eead " to greet the tender princes," — nor does the emen- 
 dation require to be confirmed by what presently follows,— 
 " To gratulate the gentle princes there." 
 
 P. 337, — act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' The -reckless, bloody, and usurping boar, 
 
 That spoil'd your summer fields, and fruitful vines,' &c. 
 
142 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 The RECKLESS, bloody, and uswrping boar,] Here, in. the old copies, we 
 have an instance of a misheard epithet, viz. wretched for ' reckless,' the 
 word substituted in the corr. fo. 1632. Wretched could not have been 
 Shakespeare's language, but 'reckless' is precisely adapted to the place 
 and person, in reference to the indiscriminating character of Richard's, 
 i. e. the boar's, slaughters : we have therefore inserted it in the text." 
 
 When this very improper alteration was first published, 
 Mr. Singer remarked on it as follows : " Mr. Collier can have 
 ' read and studied the poet for nearly half a century' but to 
 little purpose, if he really thinks reckless more 'appropriate' 
 to Richard here than wretched. Shakespeare uniformly uses 
 
 the word recAfess in the sense of careZess VhaA, wretched 
 
 is the word of the poet, and therefore the most ' appropriate' 
 and undoubted, will appear from the use of it by Roderigo in 
 Othello, when he receives his death-wound, and exclaims, 
 ' Oh, wretched villain !' The corrector's meddling is there- 
 fore superfluous and mischievous." Shakespeare Vindicated, 
 &c., p. 176. 
 
 P. 346,— act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " Methought, their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd, 
 Came to my tent, and cried — On ! victory !" 
 
 In printing " cried — On ! victory !" Mr. CoUier errone- 
 ously deviates from the old copies, which have ''cried on 
 victory." — Here in my edition of Shakespeare, vol. iv. 424, 1 
 have observed; "Compare, for the expression, 'This quarry 
 cries on havoc,' Hamlet, act v. sc. 2 ; and ' whose noise is 
 this that cries on murder?' Othello, act v. sc. 1." (As I find 
 these two passages cited by Mr. Staunton to illustrate " cried 
 on victory," I may mention that Mr. Staunton's Richard HI. 
 did not appear till after the publication of my Shakespeare.) 
 
 P. 352,— act V. sc, 4. 
 
 " ' Rebate the edge of traitors,' <fec. 
 
 In every edition, ancient and modern, the text here has been, 'Abate the 
 edge of traitors ;' and, for the first time since this play was originally 
 printed in 1597, the emendation of ' Rebate ' for Abate was proposed in 
 
VOL. IV.] OP ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 143 
 
 our vol. of ' Notes and Emendations,' on the foundation of the corr. fo. 
 1632. The following quotation was also there made from 'Measure for 
 Measure,' Act i. sc. 5 : — 
 
 ' But doth rebate and blunt the natural edge," &o. 
 in order to support the change, which indeed could not be disputed," &c. 
 
 In his Supplemental Notes (vol. i. 273) Mr. Collier further 
 remarks ; 
 
 " The same blunder, abate for « rebate ' is made in the novel founded 
 on Pericles, recently reprinted in Germany, p. 20, 1. 24, ' Absence abates 
 that edge that presence whets.' Here ' abates ' ought to be rebates." 
 
 As in the opening speech of Love's Labour's lost, 
 
 " That honour which shall hate his scythe's keen edge," &c. 
 
 " bate" is manifestly the contraction of " abate," and equiva- 
 lent to " rebate," so in the present passage of Richard III., 
 and in that which Mr. Collier cites from the novel founded 
 on Pericles (where he fancies he has discovered a misprint), 
 "abate" is manifestly equivalent to "rebate." 
 
 KING HENRY VIIL 
 P. 366, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' What did this vanity. 
 But minister consummation of 
 A most poor issue ?' 
 
 CONSUMMATION of 
 
 A most poor issue f\ i. e. The accomplishment or attainment of a most 
 poor result. The old printer misread ' consummation,' and, not attend- 
 ing to the sense of the passage, composed communication, which is struck 
 out in the corr. fo. 1632, and 'consummation' written in the margin 
 instead of it. The old text is little better than nonsense." 
 
 The " consummation of an issue " is such language as, I 
 apprehend, no writer would think of using ; and, moreover, 
 " consummation" cannot be right here because it utterly spoils 
 the metre. (Mr. Staunton's explanation of the old reading, 
 "But minister communication of," &c., is perhaps the true 
 one — " But famish discourse on the poverty of its result.") 
 
144 " STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [yol. iv. 
 
 P. 374,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' and it's come to pass, 
 Their tractable obedience is a slave 
 To each incensed will.' 
 
 Their tractaUe obedience] It is ' This tractable obedience' in the folios ; 
 but just before we have had ' their duties,' ' their curses,' ' their prayers,' 
 and it is evident that we should also read ' Their tractable obedience' 
 with the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 The lection of the old eds. ought to keep its place : in our 
 early writers, " this" (like " these," see p. 37 of the present 
 volume) is sometimes little more than redundant. 
 
 P. 375, — act i. sc. 2. Here, in a note on the words, " Is 
 run in your displeasure,'' Mr. Collier writes ; 
 
 " We admit, however, that blunders were frequently made from the 
 circumstance, that actors or others imperfectly pronounced the letter r. 
 Thus in Webster's ' Appius and Virginia' (Edit. Dyce, ii. 1 60), this pass- 
 age occurs in the old edition : — 
 
 ' Let not Virginia wate her contemplation 
 So high.' 
 AU commentators have been unable to understand 'wate,' and have 
 printed it in various fashions, but none the right. The actor, or the 
 person who read to the scribe or the printer, could not pronounce the 
 letter r, and said ' wate' for rate : read rate, and nothing can be more 
 comprehensible : — 
 
 ' Let not Virginia rate her contemplation 
 So high.' 
 
 She was not to value herself too much upon the importance of her con- 
 templation." 
 
 Here, Mr. Collier, in the most unqualified manner, asserts 
 what is untrue. 
 
 If the reader will turn to my ed. of Webster's Works, ii. 
 160, he will find that there the text is, — 
 
 " Let not Virginia rate her contemplation 
 So high, to call this visit an intrusion," — 
 
 "rate" being the emendation of the editor of 1816 for "wate" 
 of the old copy : — yet Mr. Collier now declares that "all com- 
 mentators have been unable to understand ' wate,' and have 
 printed it in various fashions, but none the right." 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 145 
 
 Mr. Collier had previously touched on this passage of 
 Webster in his Preface to Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and 
 Milton by Coleridge, &c., p. Ixxxv. : there, however, he went 
 no further than concealing the fact that " rate" stands in my 
 text oi Appius and Virginia: — here he goes the length of 
 asserting that "rate" never occurred to any of the "com- 
 mentators" except himself. 
 
 P. 381, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Lov. That churchman bears a bounteous mind indeed, 
 A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us : 
 His dews fall every where. 
 
 Cham. No doubt, he's noble ; 
 
 He had a black mouth that said other of him. 
 
 Sands. He may, my lord, he has wherewithal : in him 
 Sparing would show a worse sin than ill doctrine. 
 Men of his sway should be most liberal ; 
 They are set here for examples.' 
 
 Men of his sway should be most liberal •] It is 'Men of his way' in the 
 folios, but amended to 'Men of his sway,' i.e. men of his influence and 
 power, in the corr. fo. 1632 : between ' his' and ' sway' one of the letters, 
 s, was accidentally omitted, and the meaning of the passage much tamed 
 and injured. In the next line, we are informed on the same authority, 
 that ' set' ought to be ' sent,' ' They are sent here for examples ;' but ex- 
 amples are ' set' as well as sent, and we refrain from alteration where 
 there is no apparent improvement. As for ' sway' instead of way, there 
 can be no doubt : see the contrary error, detected on the same authority, 
 in 'Henry IV., Part II.,' A. iv. sc. 1, Vol. iii. p. 485." 
 
 Of the two alterations so unnecessarily made here by the 
 Ms. Corrector, the one adopted by Mr. Collier is perhaps the 
 least innocent. That "his way" means "his ecclesiastical 
 function" admits of no doubt (as Mr. Singer long ago re- 
 marked, Shakespeare Vindicated, Sec, p. 183) : it is manifest 
 from the context, " That churchman" and " ill doctrine." 
 
 P. 383, — act i. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' For 'tis to such a thing, — 
 
 Anne. You cannot show me. 
 
 Sands. I told your grace, how they would talk anon. 
 
 [D7-um and trumpets within ; chambers discharged. 
 ]Vol. What's that ? 
 
146 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 Cham. Look out there, some of you. 
 Wol. What warlike voice, 
 
 And to what end,' fee. 
 
 1 told your grace, how they wovld talk anon.] ' How' is from the corr. fo. 
 1632. The line wants a syllable, and even if 'how' were not the poet's 
 word, we know not in what way the hiatus could be more unobjection- 
 ably fiUed up : we might, indeed, read U/iat they would talk anon.' " 
 
 " The line wants a syllable" ! Not it : 
 " I told your grace they would talk anon. 
 
 What's that r 
 forms a complete line. Could not Mr. Collier see that here 
 the verse was intended to run on regularly from speech to 
 speech, and that the Corrector by inserting " how" had de- 
 stroyed its continuity ? 
 
 P. 423, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' my endeavours 
 Have ever come too short of my desires. 
 Yet fill'd with my abilities.' 
 
 Yet fill'd with my abilities.] Every old copy has ' fiU'd, ' which modem 
 editors have, as it were, conspired to consider a misprint. The Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce (' Remarks,' p. 139) blames us for having no note upon it in 
 our first edition ; but the fact is, that we always avoid notes, when the 
 sense is plain enough without them. What Wolsey means to say is, 
 that his endeavours had always come too short of the measure of his de- 
 sires, although that measure had been filled to the best of his abilities. 
 Why are we to alter the reading of the folios and change ' fiU'd' io filed, 
 when 'fill'd' answers the purpose much better? Sense can hardly be 
 made out oi filed, and the figure is lost." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier expressly states that " I blamed him for 
 having no note upon ' fill'd,' " and insinuates that I did not 
 blame him for retaining that misprint : — but let us test Mr. 
 CoUier's statement and insinuation by the very words in my 
 Remarks, &c., to which he refers ; 
 
 " On this passage Mr. Collier has no note, having bliadly 
 adopted the reading of the folios ; which is so obviously wrong, 
 that when the other modern editors corrected it to ' fil'd' they 
 did not even mention the original misprint. Richardson in 
 his excellent Dictionary cites the present passage as the first 
 example of the verb File. 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 147 
 
 "The misprint of 'filVd' for 'fiPd' is a common one. 
 Where the first quarto of Beaumont and Fletcher's Wit 
 without Money has rightly 
 
 ' Who taught you manners and apt carriage, 
 To rank yourselves ? vrhoJU'd you in fit taverns V 
 
 (Act iii. sc. 4.) 
 the second quarto and the folio have 'filled.' " 
 
 P. 423, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' I do profess, 
 That for your highness' good I ever laboui''d 
 More than mine own : that aim I have, and will. 
 Though all the world should crack their duty to you, 
 And throw it from their soul ; though perils did 
 Abound, as thick as thought could make them, and 
 Appear in forms more horrid, yet my duty. 
 As doth a rock against the chiding flood. 
 Should the approach of this wild river break. 
 And stand unshaken yours.' 
 
 that AIM I have, and will.] i.e. And will have. The old text of the passage 
 in the folio, 1623, is this, both spelling and punctuation : — 
 ' Car. I do professe, 
 That for your Highnesse good, I ever labour'd 
 More then mine owne : that am, have, and will be' 
 without any stop after ' be,' when begins a long parenthesis lasting from 
 ' Though all the world ' down to ' forms more horrid. ' That something is 
 wrong, or has been lost, is quite evident, and the corr. fo. 1632 affords 
 us no assistance by any emendation. With as little violence as possible 
 to the received text we have, we think, rendered the passage not only 
 intelligible, but such as to express what Wolsey must have intended. 
 We alter am to 'aim,' and inserting 'I' before 'have,' which otherwise 
 has nothing to govern it, we omit the trifling word be, which the com- 
 positor probably erroneously inserted. This course makes the awkward 
 parenthesis needless, and perhaps restores what the poet's manuscript 
 originally contained." 
 
 This speech would certainly seem to be mutilated, but as- 
 suredly no portion of it is corrupted : — in the words, 
 
 " that am, have, and will be," 
 (i. e. that am, have been, and will be), which Mr. Collier so 
 rashly alters, the ellipsis is similar to that in the preceding 
 speech of the Cardinal, — 
 
148 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 " my loyalty, 
 Whicli ever has and ever shall be growing, 
 Till death, that winter, kill it." 
 
 Under these circumstances (for we now can never hope to 
 recover the lost line or lines, since " the corr. fo. affords us no 
 assistance"), all that an editor ought to do is to put a comma 
 and a dash after "that am, have, and will he," as if there 
 were an anacoluthon occasioned by the agitation of the 
 speaker. 
 
 P. 448,— act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' The ground I stand on is my truth and honesty,' <fec. 
 
 In the old copies it is 
 
 ' The good I stand on is my truth and honesty,' 
 
 that is to say — ' the good I stand on is my goodness : ' the old printer 
 composed ^ooc? for 'ground,' an emendation we derive from the corr. fo. 
 1632, and for which we ought to be thankful." 
 
 But neither Malone nor Steevens were "thankful" to 
 Johnson, when he conjectured " ground" in the present pass- 
 age ; for they thought " the old copy certainly right." 
 
 P. 453,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' A man, that more detests, more strives against. 
 Both in his private conscience and his place, 
 Defacers of the public peace, than I do.' 
 
 A man, that more detests, mare strives against^ It is ' stirres against' in 
 the old copies, and the corr. fo. 1632 informs us, as we may readily be- 
 lieve, that stirres is a lapse by the compositor for ' strives,' which we have 
 placed in the text. In the next line but one the old annotator amends 
 ' defacers of a public peace ' to ' defacers of the public peace,' — the definite 
 for the indefinite article ; and here again we are confident that he was 
 right." 
 
 Here perhaps, notwithstanding his devotion to the Ms. 
 Corrector, Mr. Collier would have allowed " stirs against" to 
 remain in the text, if he had recollected the following passage 
 of Richard II. ; 
 
 " Alas, the part I had in Gloster's blood 
 
VOL. IV.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 149 
 
 Doth more solicit me, than your exclaims, 
 To stir against the butchers of his life," &c. 
 
 Act i. sc. 2. 
 
 (where, by the by, the Ms. Corrector, rather inconsistently, 
 makes no alteration). — As to " defacers of the public peace," 
 — it is to be found in Rowe's edition. 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 
 P. 495,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' And with an accent tun'd in self-same key, 
 Replies to chiding fortune.' 
 Replies to chidi-n^ fortune.} The 4tos. and folios have ' retires to chiding 
 fortune,' and Pope altered retires to returns, which might on some ac- 
 counts seem preferable to Sir T. Hanmer's ' replies to chiding fortune,' 
 if the latter were not the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632, which we 
 feel bound to accept. The Rev. Mr. Dyce ('Few. Notes,' p. 107) sug- 
 gests that Shakespeare may have written retorts — not a very happy con- 
 jecture." 
 
 " Pope," says Mr. Grant White, " suggested returns, which 
 is the generally received reading. Hanmer's proposal, replies, 
 which is also that of Mr. Collier's folio, seems much more 
 consonant with the spirit of the passage. But Mr. Dyce, in 
 his recently published Few Notes, &c., p. 107, asks : ' did not 
 Shakespeare write 'Retorts to chiding fortune'? Unques- 
 tionably, in my judgment About four years ago it 
 
 occurred to me that retorts was the only word in the language, 
 which would at once worthily fiU the place and correct with 
 probability the typographical error; and it has been upon 
 the margin of my Shakespeare since that time. Having Mr. 
 Dyce's support, I do not hesitate to say that it should be re- 
 ceived into the text." Shakespeare's Scholar, &c., p. 353. 
 
 P. 502,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " « He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer. 
 
 Than ever Greek did couple in his arms,' &c. 
 did ooupLE in his arms;] So the 4tos. : the folio, 'did compass; &c. 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce does not understand (' Remarks,' p. 151) the ex- 
 
150 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 pression ' couple in his arms.' We are sorry for it : to other people the 
 words may be more intelligible ; and, with all respect, we cannot alter 
 the language of Shakespeare in deference merely to Mr. Dyce's want of 
 perception. It is only a figurative mode of^aying, ' did embrace in his 
 arms,' but the folio sacrifices the figure : so when old Talbot, in 'Henry 
 VI., Part I.,' A. iv. sc. 7 (Vol. iii. p. 716), clasps his dead son, he says 
 that they are ' coupled in bonds of perpetuity.' The arms of the Greek 
 are what are termed ' couples ' in the language of the chase." 
 
 I repeatj tliat the reading of the 4tos, "couple^' (which no 
 editor except Mr. Collier ever thought of adopting) ^ is neither 
 English nor sense : — and I would ask, what has become of 
 Mr. CoUier^s " perception" when he can see no difference of 
 expression between " a Greek coupling a lady in his arms" 
 and old Talbot and his son " being coupled in bonds of per- 
 petuity^' ? 
 
 P. 517, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' short-armed ignorance,' &c. 
 
 So all the old editions ; but the Rev. Mr. Dyce would read ' short-am'rf 
 ignorance ' (' Remarks,' p. 152) ; but ' short-arm'd ' is a compound epithet 
 so peculiarly adapted to ignorance, and to the narrow compass of its 
 reach, that we cannot consent to displace it for a merely speculative and 
 less appropriate emendation." 
 
 I may just notice that, in support of the emendation which 
 Mr. Collier here rejects, I quoted from Coriolanus, act i. sc. 2, 
 
 " By the discovery 
 We shall be shorten' d in our mmr 
 
 P. 540,— act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' For speculation turns not to itself, 
 
 Till it hath traveU'd, and is mirror'd there 
 Where it may see itself.' 
 
 mirroe'd] Prom the earliest times, tUl the publication of our Vol. of 
 'Notes and Emendations,' 'mirror'd' has been misprinted married in 
 every edition. The fitness of the alteration to 'mirror'd' is indisput- 
 able ; and Mr. Singer, compelled to introduce it into his text, says not 
 one word of the source of an improvement so novel and important. He 
 obtained 'mirror'd' from the corr. fo. 16.32 : he could obtain it no where 
 else, but, as usual, forgot to state the fact. AU that we shall say upon 
 the subject is that, if he be content so to edit, he is heartily welcome to 
 
Toi,. IV.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 151 
 
 this and to every other emendation upon the same terms. We are not 
 the sufferers : we are glad that Shakespeare's text should be thus ' re- 
 pured.'" 
 
 The generosity with which Mr. Collier makes Mr. Singer 
 " heartily welcome" to the emendation " minor' A," is quite 
 superfluous ; Mr. Singer having derived it from his own "corr. 
 fo./' not from Mr. Collier's : see p. 2 of the present volume. 
 
 P. 544, — act iii. sc. 3, 
 
 In a note on the words " dumb crudities," Mr. CoUier says 
 that 
 
 " ' dumb' has been always misprinted duib in Beaumont and Fletcher's 
 'Mad Lover,' A. i. sc. 1 (Dyce's edit. vi. 132), without detection." 
 
 T subjoin the passage in question, as well as my note on it, 
 from which it will be seen that the very doubtful alteration 
 proposed by Mr. Collier is no novelty : 
 
 "Fool 
 
 But say, Sir Huon, 
 
 Now the drum's dubb's [done], and the sticks turn'd bedstaves, 
 
 All the old foxes hunted to their holes, 
 
 The iron age return'd to Erebus, 
 
 And ffonorificabilitudinitatibus 
 
 Thrust out o' the kingdom by the head and shoulders. 
 
 What trade do you mean to follow ?" 
 
 Now the drum's dubb's [Jowe]] A word has dropt out from 
 the folios. Seward printed 'Now the drum dumb is,' con- 
 jecturing also in a note, ' Now the drum's dubb's o'er' (given 
 by the Editors of 1778), and ' Now the drum's dubb's done' 
 (adopted by Weber, who observes, ' it is not unlikely that the 
 alliteration was intended, and where three words beginning 
 with the same letter stand together, one of them might easily 
 be overlooked by the compositor')." 
 
 P. 544, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Swift, rouse yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid 
 Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold, 
 And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane, 
 Be shook to air. ' 
 
152 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 Swira, rouse yourself •\ It is 'Sweet, rouse yourself' in the early copies, 
 and that reading has been universally followed. Patroclus would hardly 
 address Achilles as 8weet, especially at the moment when he was endea- 
 vouring to re-animate his warlike spirit : he wishes Achilles to rouse 
 himself without delay. In ' The Comedy of Errors,' A. iv. sc. 2, there is 
 an instance of the very same misprint, rectified on the same authority — 
 the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 This is tlie second time that Mr. Collier, blindly obeying 
 his Ms. Corrector, has altered the not uncommon form of 
 address, " Sweet," or " Sweet, now ;" and here the alteration 
 is even more unendurable than in the former instance because 
 it vitiates one of Shakespeare's most celebrated passages. 
 
 See p. 43 of the present volume. 
 
 P. 557, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'And sometimes we are devils to ourselves, 
 When we wiU tempt the frailty of our powers. 
 Presuming on their chainful potency. ' 
 
 their cni.i^-Evit potency.} i. e. Their potency to hold as with a chain : the 
 old copies have ' changeful potency,' which must be wrong, and ' chainful' 
 is the word substituted in the corr. fo. 1632." 
 
 Here the Corrector invents a word; and Mr. Collier, almost 
 equally evperLKO';, contrives to elicit a meaning from "their 
 chainful potency," though starker nonsense was never put on 
 paper. — But why "must" the old reading "be wrong"? may 
 not " their changeful potency" mean " their potency which is 
 subject to variation, and therefore imperfect and not to be 
 rashly relied on" ? 
 
 P. 564, — act iv. sc. 5. 
 
 "'For dignifies an impair thought with breath.' 
 
 an IMPAIR thought\ A thought unworthy of him, not equal to him. It is 
 printed impure in the 4to. impressions, and hence it has been suggested 
 that the true reading may have been impure, but we adhere to the 
 ancient authorities. Chapman uses ' impair' in his ' Shield of Achilles,' 
 1698 ; and in the folio the word is spelt impaire. The Rev. Mr. Dyoe 
 is very positive in favour of impure (' Remarks,' p. 155), but in what 
 way here is purity or impurity brought in question ? He cites the very 
 passage that proves him to be wrong." 
 
 I certainly never for a moment expected that Mr. Collier, 
 
VOL. IV.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 153 
 
 in his new edition, would persist in retaining here, and in ex- 
 plaining as an adjective, the misprint "impair," after I had 
 shown, by citing it at full, that in the following passage of 
 Chapman, which Steevens first adduced ad I., " empaire" is 
 a SUBSTANTIVE, — not, as Steevens supposed, and as he misled 
 even Nares, Todd, and Richardson to suppose — an adjec- 
 tive: — 
 
 " You are not euery bodie, to you (as to one of my very few 
 friends) I may be bold to vtter my minde, nor is it more empaire 
 [i. e. impair, impairment] to an honest and absolute mans sufficiencie 
 to haue few iriendes, then to an Homericall Poeme to have few 
 commenders, for neyther doe common dispositions keepe fitte or 
 plausible consort with iudiciall and simple honestie, nor are idle 
 capacities comprehensible of an elaborate Poeme." 
 
 "To the Understander,"— ^c/w^Zes' Shield, 1598, sig. B. 
 
 But Mr. Collier says, that " the very passage" just cited 
 " proves me to be wrong :" I therefore add three other pass- 
 ages of Chapman, in which, as even Mr. Collier will be forced 
 to allow, " empaire" is a substantive : — 
 
 " Onely the extreame false printing troubles my conscience, for 
 feare of your deserued discouragement in the empaire of our Poets 
 sweetness ; whose generall diuinitie of spirit, clad in my willing 
 labours (envious of none, nor detracting any), I commit to your 
 good nature and solid capacitie." 
 
 "To the Understander," — AcUllei Shield, 1598, sig. B 2. 
 
 " And God, that yet neuer let me line, I know will neuer let me 
 die, an empaire to any friend." 
 
 " Epistle Dedicatorie" to An Epicede, &c., 
 on Prince Henry, 1612. 
 
 " Blow, blow, sweet windes, blow away 
 Al vapours from the fined ayre ; 
 That to this golden head no ray 
 
 May languish with the least empaire." 
 
 Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln! s 
 Inn, 1613, sig. D 3. 
 
 With the line of our text (as it ought to stand), 
 
 " Nor dignifies an impwre thought with breath," 
 
154 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 compare a line in Lord Stirling's Tragedie of Darius, 
 
 " Nor suffer vrn/pwe thoughts to staine his minde." 
 
 Sig. G. ed. 1604. 
 
 (Our old writers frequently make the accent fall on the first 
 syllable of " impure," as on " complete," &c.) 
 
 P. 595, — act V. sc. 11. In a note on the words, "Some 
 galled goose of Winchester would hiss," Mr. Collier remarks ; 
 
 " The ordinary term for a victim to sharpers, and persons of that 
 class, in the time of Shakespeare and afterwards, was, as every hody 
 knows, guU. See a passage in Middleton's 'Michaelmas Term,' A. iii. 
 sc. 4 (Works by Dyce, i. 477), in which, by an odd blunder, a usurer is 
 called a 'gull' instead oi&gaU : the person so designated was the g(M 
 and annoyance, not ' the gull of the city.' " 
 
 What " an odd blunder" Mr. ColUer himself commits 
 here ! The passage is, — 
 
 " I must tell you this, you have fell into the hands of a most 
 merciless devourer, the very gull a' the city,'' <fcc., — 
 
 and the context " devourer" proves that "gull" is perfectly 
 right : — the following extract from Todd's Johnson's Diction- 
 ary is particularly recommended to the notice of Mr. Collier ; 
 "Gull. — 3. A sea-bird [mergus. Probably from gulo, as the 
 bird is a voracious feeder'\." 
 
 CORIOLANTJS. 
 P. 603, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 a c 
 
 To stale't a Kttle more.' 
 
 Stale't] We yield here to the weight of authority that scale of the old 
 copies ought to be 'stale,' although the corr. fo. 1632 has no such 
 emendation. Still, much may be said in favour of scale, in the known 
 sense of disperse, or spread, and in our former edition we were so anxious 
 not to desert the old authorities, that we reprinted scale. The Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce takes abundant pains to prove that to ' stale' means to make stale, 
 a point nobody disputed, the only question being whether scede was a 
 misprint in the folio, 1623 : we think it was, and so treat it. In his 
 enumeration of places, where to stale means to make stale or familiar, 
 
VOL. iv.J OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 155 
 
 the Rev. Mr. Dyce strangely forgot the most apposite instance, viz. in 
 the address of the stationer to the reader, before ' Troilus and Cressida,' 
 4to, 1609, where he says that it had never been ' staled with the stage.' 
 The recollection of this fact would have spared Mr. Dyce a great deal of 
 useless labour in making and repeating stak quotations. See ' Remarks, 
 p. 158." 
 
 This is a specimen of Mr. Collier's gratitude to me for 
 having set him right. In his former edition he printed 
 "scale" without even mentioning Theobald's emendation 
 "stale:" in my Remarks, &c. I showed that "stale" was 
 the genuine reading ; referring to a passage in Shakespeare's 
 Julius Caesar, and adducing passages from Massinger's Bash- 
 ful Lover, from Fletcher's Queen of Corinth, and from Fletcher 
 and Rowley's Maid of the Mill. Mr. Collier now adopts 
 " stale :" but wishing to have a fling at me^ and not knowing 
 exactly how, he affirms that I " strangely forgot the most 
 apposite instance of stale, viz. in the address of the stationer 
 to the reader before ' Troilus and Cressida/ " — an instance 
 which is not at all more apposite than the instances I quoted, 
 and which besides is found in a composition of no merit. 
 
 P. 617, — act i. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' 3 Sol. See, they have shut him in. [Alarmn contirmes. 
 AH. To the port, I warrant him.' 
 
 To the PORT, / warrant Mm.] This is said in reply to ' See, they have 
 shut him in,' i.e. they have shut him into the ' port' or gate, a word 
 constantly employed in that way. In the folio, 1623, the letter r had 
 dropped out in ' port,' and it was always ridiculously misprinted ^oi — ' To 
 the pot, I warrant him. ' To what pot ? ' To go to pot' is certainly an old 
 vulgarism (relied upon by Mr. Singer) ; but here it is not 'to pot,' but 
 ' to the pot, ' as if some particular pot were intended : ' to the port' 
 makes all clear, and is only the completion by other soldiers of what had 
 been commenced by one of their comrades : ' See, they have shut him in 
 — to the port, I warrant him.'" 
 
 It is lamentable that Mr. Collier should cover himself 
 with ridicule by thus labouring to defend the worst vagaries 
 of his Ms. Corrector. A quotation from a drama, which Mr. 
 Collier himself formerly edited (in Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. 
 xi.), is alone sufficient to show the atrocity of the alteration, 
 "To the port;" 
 
156 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 " King Edward, no : we will admit no pause, 
 For goes this wretch, this traitor, to the pot." 
 
 'Setle'sEdwa/rd I.,—Worhs, i. 118, ed. Dyce, 1829. 
 
 (Since I wrote what precedes, Mr. Staunton has published 
 (March, 1859) the No. of his Shakespeare which contains 
 Coriolanus ; and in his note ad I. he gives, not only the pass- 
 age which I have cited from Peele, but the following quota- 
 tions ; 
 " Thou mightest sweare, if I could, I would bring them to the pot." 
 
 ' New Custome,' Act ii. So. 3. 
 
 " they go to the pot for't." 
 
 Webster's ' White Devil,' &c., 
 Dyce's ed. p. 117, Vol. I.) 
 
 P. 666, — actiii, sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Vol. Oh, son, son, son ! 
 
 I would have had you put your power well on. 
 Before you had worn it out.' 
 
 Oh, SON, SON, SON !] It is ' 0, sir, sir, sir /' in the folios, but amended to 
 ' son, son, son !' in the corr. fo. 1632, which most likely here truly repre- 
 sents the language of Shakespeare. The words were easily mistaken for 
 each other, and Volumnia would surely be more apt to call Coriolanus 
 'son' than sir." 
 
 Here the Ms. Corrector's "improvement" entirely does 
 away with one of Shakespeare's touches of nature. In the 
 reiterated "sir" Volumnia testifies her displeasure at Corio- 
 lanus. 
 
 P. 667, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Because that now it lies you on to speak 
 To the people ; not by your own instruction, 
 Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you, 
 But with such words that are but roted in 
 Your tongue, though but bastards, and syllables 
 Of no allowance to your bosom's truth. ' 
 But with such words that are hut roied in 
 
 Tour tongue,'] The Rev. Mr. Dyce proposes an emendation here, which 
 seems to show that he did not understand the drift of the passage : he 
 wishes ' roted in your tongue' to be printed 'rooted in your tongue' (' Re- 
 marks,' p. 161), but the words were to be said by rote by the tongue, and 
 
VOL. IV.] OF MB. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 157 
 
 not to be rooted in it. Besides, Mr. Dyce's proposal is not novel, since 
 Boswell formerly hinted at rooted, but did not venture to print it. The 
 spelling of the old copy is routed." 
 
 The whole of this passage is very obscure because cor- 
 rupted.— As I cannot believe with Mr. Collier that "words 
 roted IN your tongue" could mean "words said by rote by 
 the tongue," I continue to think that here "roated" should 
 be "roo^ec?," — which, indeed, I have printed in my recent 
 edition of the poet. (Richardson, in his Dictionary, quoting 
 the passage sub "Rote," observes, "Roated in Shakespeare 
 is, perhaps, rooted, fixed, infixed, impressed, — ^no deeper than 
 your tongue.") 
 
 P. 674, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death. 
 Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger 
 But with a grain a day, I would not buy 
 Their mercy at the price of one fair word, 
 Nor check my carriage for what they can give. 
 To have't with saying, good morrow.' 
 
 Nor check my carriage /or what they can ffive,] i. e. Nor check my deport- 
 ment : the corr. fo. 1632 indisputably substitutes ' carriage ' for courage 
 of the old copies, a quality for which Coriolanus would be the last to 
 have given himself credit. The very same blunder was committed in 
 ' Henry VI. Part iii.,' A. ii. sc. 2 (this Vol. p. 143), and corrected on the 
 same authority. On the other hand, in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Island 
 Princess,' A. ii. sc. 7 (Works by Dyce, vii. 448), the opposite error found 
 its way into the text, and has never been removed : it is where the 
 Governor of Temata speaks of — 
 
 ' A coward past recovery, a confirm'd coward. 
 One without courage, or common sense. ' 
 Here, strange as it may seem considering the context, carriage has always 
 kept possession of the place where ' courage' ought to have stood." 
 
 The Ms. Corrector, whose knowledge of the meaning of 
 words seems to have been as limited as that of Mr. Collier, 
 corrupts the above passage of Coriolanus just as he has previ- 
 ously corrupted the passage oi Henry VI., Part iii., act ii. sc. 2. 
 In both places the old lection is the true one: here "my 
 courage" is equivalent to " my spirit, mettle ;" in Henry VI. 
 (see p. 139 of the present volume), " this soft courage" is equi- 
 
158_ STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. iv. 
 
 valent to " this soft spirit, — this soft-heartedness." Besides, 
 here the substitution of " carriage " for " courage " introduces 
 an impropriety of expression ; for, though a man may talk of 
 " checking his courage," he would hardly talk of " checking 
 his carriage" (unless, perhaps, he were speaking of some "ve- 
 hicular conveyance" which he was rich enough to keep). 
 
 As the Ms. Corrector has corrupted the passage of Corio- 
 lanus and the passage of Henry VI. by changing " courage" to 
 " carriage," so Mr. Collier corrupts the passage of The Island 
 Princess by changing "carriage" to "courage ;" — 
 
 " Count me a heavy sleepy fool, a coward, 
 A coward past recovery, a confirm 'd coward, 
 One without carriage or common sense." 
 
 Woidd the Governor of Ternata, after three times proclaiming 
 himself a coward, immediately add that he was " one without 
 courage" ? Nobody, I believe, except Mr. Collier would sup- 
 pose so, or would fail to see that "one without carriage" 
 means " one without conduct, — management." 
 
VOL. v.] OF MB. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 159 
 
 Vol. v. 
 
 titus andronicus. 
 
 P. 19, — act i. sc. 2. On the line "Dear father, soul and 
 substance of us all," — Mr. Collier remarks ; 
 
 " There is a somewhat similar passage in Marlowe's Second Part of 
 ' Tamburlaine the Great,' where Amyraa exclaims to his father, 
 
 ' Thy soul gives essence to our wretched substance.' 
 
 Marlowe's Works, by Dyce, i. 222. 
 By a singular, but unquestionable misprint, ' substance' is subjects in the 
 old copies, and so the error is allowed to stand, twice over, in the reprint 
 of 1850." 
 
 The passage of Tamburlaine is ; 
 
 "Amy. ***** 
 Your soul gives essence to our wretched subjects, 
 Whose matter is incorporate in your flesh. 
 
 Cel. Your pains do pierce our souls ; no hope survives, 
 For by your life we entertain our lives. 
 
 Tamb. But, sons, this subject, not of force enough 
 To hold the fiery spirit it contains, 
 Must part, imparting his impressions 
 By equal portions into both your breasts," &c., — 
 
 and " I allowed the speeches to stand" as above, not only in 
 " the reprint of 1850," but in that of 1858, when Mr. Collier's 
 emendation, " substance,"* was not unknown to me ; for the 
 words " subjects" and. "subject" are certo cer^iws the language 
 of Marlowe, though Mr. CoUier so dogmatically pronounces 
 them to be wrong. Compare, in the same play, the speech of 
 Tamburlaine before killing his son Calyphas ; 
 
 " Here, Jove, receive his fainting soul again ; 
 A form not meet to give that subject essence 
 Whose matter is the flesh of Tamburlaine, 
 Wherein an incorporeal spirit moves, 
 Made of the mould whereof thy self consists," &c. 
 
 Act iv. sc. 1. 
 * See his Preface to Coleridge's Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton, 
 1856, p. cxviii. 
 
160 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 and the following lines in Chapman's Continuation of Mar- 
 lowe's Hero and Leander ; 
 
 " Then, ho, most strangely-intellectual fire, 
 That, proper to my soul, hast power t' inspire 
 Her burning faculties, and with the wings 
 Of thy unsphered flame visit'st the springs 
 Of spirits immortal ! Now (as swift as Time 
 Doth follow Motion) find th' eternal clime 
 Of his free soul, whose living subject stood 
 Up to the chin in the Pierian flood, 
 And drunk to me half this Mussean story, 
 Inscribing it to deathless memory," &c. 
 
 Third Sestiad. 
 
 It only remains for Mr. Collier boldly to assert that in the 
 two passages last cited "subject" is a misprint for "sub- 
 stance." 
 
 P. 39, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' They shall be ready, at your highness' will, 
 To answer this suspicion with their lives.' 
 
 THIS suspicion] It is ' th^ir suspicion ' in the early impressions, but it 
 ought clearly to be 'this suspicion' as we find it in the corr. fo. 1632 : 
 the old printer was confused by ' their ' near the end of the line, where 
 it is proper enough. Three lines lower, he again blundered about the 
 same word, and what he printed the ought to be ' their ' — ' their guilt is 
 plain.' " 
 
 Most impertinent alterations, — more particularly the first 
 one : — " their suspicion" is the phraseology of the time ; 
 and such repetitions as " their .... their" were rather af- 
 fected than avoided by our early poets. 
 
 P. 39, — act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Who 'twas cut out thy tongue, and ravish 'd thee. ' 
 
 So the corr. fo. 1632 : the line in the 4tos. and folios is, 
 
 ' Who 'twas that cut thy tongue,' &c. , 
 
 but they had not merely cut her tongue, but cut it out, and the line 
 ought to run as we have above given it. The cause of the lapse by the 
 printer doubtless was the similarity of the words ' cut' and 'out' in the 
 
 MS." 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 161 
 
 The printer made no "lapse" here: the original reading, 
 " cut thy tongue/' has precisely the same meaning as what the 
 over-busy Corrector substitutes, " cut out thy tongue." 
 
 P. 40, — act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' And might not gain so great a happiness 
 As half thy love ?' 
 
 As HALF thy love ?~\ We may strongly suspect an error from mishearing 
 in these words : why was ' half' the love of Lavinia to be specified ? The 
 corr. fo. 1632 tells us to read 'As have thy love,' but, as ' half,' instead 
 of have, may have been the poet's word, we do not displace it." 
 
 Another instance (see pp. 49, 71 of the present volume) of 
 Mr. Collier's unaccountably declining the assistance of the Cor- 
 rector where, beyond a doubt, he ought to have accepted it. 
 
 Theobald saw that the true reading here was " As have thy 
 love:" yet CapeU defended the old error; and Theobald's 
 alteration is not even noticed in the Variorum Shakespeare. 
 
 P. 46, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' With all my heart I'll send my hand to him. 
 Grood Aaron, wUt thou help to chop it off?' 
 
 With aU my heart I'll send my hand to him.] This line in the ancient 
 editions is absurdly redundant : 
 
 ' With all my heart I'U send the emperor my hand.' 
 
 We have amended it by the corr. fo. 1632," <fec. 
 
 The passage has more recently been arranged thus; 
 
 " With all my heart, I'll send the emperor 
 My hand : 
 Good Aaron, wilt thou help to chop it off?" 
 
 and so it will in fature be given by aU editors who do not 
 think themselves at liberty to re-write their author. 
 
 P. 78, — act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Tam. These are my ministers, and come with me. 
 Tit. Are they thy ministers ? what are they call'd ? 
 Tam. Rape, and Murder ; therefore called so, 
 'Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men.' 
 Are THET thy ministers f] It is curious here to see a modern editor 
 
 M 
 
162 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 justifying one corruption by another; 'they' having been ignorantly 
 misprinted them in the old impressions, we are told to preserve it," <feo. 
 
 "Are they thy ministers?" is the reading of the second 
 folio : but the true one (as the preceding speech shows) is 
 " Are these thy ministers ?" — In the next line Mr. Collier 
 ought certainly to have printed, with the second folio, "Ra- 
 pine and Murder," &c., not only for the metre's sake, but 
 because we have just before, " So thou destroy Rapine and 
 Murder there;" and afterwards, "Rapine and Miirder," &c., 
 " Good Rapine," &c. 
 
 P. 87, — act V. sc. 3. Mr. Collier concludes his note on 
 " Give me aim awhile" by observing; 
 
 "The mention of bier reminds us of a blunder in ' Talentinian,' 
 (Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, v. 239), where biers is misprinted 
 ' beats,' to the confusion of all editors, from first to last — ' for thus we 
 get but years and beats.' " 
 
 Forgetting that he had written the above, but not for- 
 getting that the Rev. Mr. Dyce was to be attacked on every 
 possible occasion, Mr. Collier again, in vol. vi. p. 330, devotes 
 a whole note to the passage of Valentinian ; 
 
 " The use of the word ' bier ' reminds us of a very noticeable misprint, 
 which has hitherto set at defiance all commentators, in Fletcher's ' Valen- 
 tinian,' A. ii. sc. 3 (Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, v. 238)," <fec. iSic. 
 
 See the present volume, under Cymbeline, act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 ROMEO AND JULIET. 
 P. 107,— act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' From love's weak childish bow she lives enoharm'd.' 
 enoharm'd.] a small emendation in the corr. fo. 1632 converts uncharm'd 
 of the old editions into ' enoharm'd,' meaning magically protected, as by 
 a charm, from love's bow. The difference is only a single letter ; but Rowe 
 altered uncharm'd to unharm'd, and such has since been the received 
 text : Romeo says that she could not be wounded, inasmuch as she was 
 * enoharm'd.' " 
 
 The reading " she lives unharm'd" is, as Mr. Collier states, 
 " the received text ;" and such, notwithstanding the Correc- 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 163 
 
 tor's alteration, it will in all probability continue to be, — for 
 it is derived from the first quarto. 
 
 P. 126, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim,' &c. 
 Abam Cupid,'] The old copies have, 'Abraham Cupid,' which Upton 
 altered to Adam, understanding the reference to be to Adam Bell, the 
 famous archer. The Rev. Mr. Dyce (' Pew Notes,' p. 109) would pre- 
 serve 'Abraham,' which he construes auburn, iu reference to what he 
 supposes the colour of Cupid's hair. This is, indeed, to use Mr. Dyce's 
 own strong words ('Remarks,' p. 167), to ' chronicle a wretched conjec- 
 ture ;' for where, in English, is Cupid called ' auburn Cupid' ?" 
 
 As Mr. Collier bere insinuates tbat I bave no reasonable 
 grounds for "construing 'Abrabam' auburn," it is necessary 
 tbat I lay before tbe reader the whole of what I said in my 
 Few Notes, &c., where I first " chronicled tbat wretched con- 
 jecture :" — 
 
 " Upton altered 'Abraham' to 'Adam,' understanding the 
 allusion to be to tbe celebrated archer Adam Bell ; and, since 
 Upton's time, tbe alteration has been adopted by all editors, 
 except Mr. Knight, who retains ' Abraham,' which be explains 
 to mean, 'the cheat — the Abraham man — of our old statutes.' 
 
 " That Shakespeare here had an eye to the ballad of King 
 Cophetua and the Beggar Maid, is certain ; 
 
 ' The blinded boy that shootes so trim 
 From heaven down did hie, 
 He drew a dart, and shot at him 
 In place where he did lye.' 
 
 But this stanza contains nothing to countenance in the slight- 
 est degree the reading 'Adam Cupid.' 
 
 " In Soliman and Perseda, 1599, we find, — 
 ' Where is the eldest sonne of Pryam, 
 That a&ra/tam-coloured Troion ? dead.' 
 
 Sig. H 3. 
 in Middleton's Blurt, Master Constable, 1602, — 
 
 ' A goodlie, long, thicke, ^&ram-colour'd beard.' 
 
 Sig. D. 
 
 and in our author's Coriolanus, act ii. sc. 3, according to the 
 
 first three folios, 
 
164 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 ' not that our heads are some browne, some blacke, som Abram ;' 
 
 there being hardly any reason to doubt that in these passages 
 ' abraham' (or ' Abram') is a corruption of ' abron' which our 
 early writers frequently employ for ' auburn.' Is, then, the 
 right reading in the present line, — 
 
 ' Young ahram [or aviwn\ Cupid,' &c., 
 Shakespeare having used ' abram' for ' OMhum-haired' as the 
 author of Soliman and Perseda has used ' aSraAam-coloured 
 Troion' for 'Trojan with auburn- coloured hair' ? Everybody 
 familiar with the Italian poets knows that they term Cupid, 
 as well as ApoUo, ' II biondo Dio :' and W. Thomas, in his 
 Principal Rules of the Italian Grammer, &c., gives 'Biondo, 
 the aberne [i.e. auburn"] colour, that is betwene white and 
 yelow.' Sig. E 2, ed. 1567. In The Two Gentlemen of Ve- 
 rona, act iv. sc. 4, ' auburn' means yellowish, — 
 
 ' Her hair is ceuhum, mine is perfect yellow.' " 
 
 P. 132, — act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief.' 
 
 SUIT,] Malone erroneously says that the 4to, 1597, has suit, for ' strife' 
 of all the other copies. The 4to, 1597, has no such passage, for the reason 
 explained in the last note ; but it is ' suit,' instead of strife, in the corr. 
 fo. 1632. Mr. Singer prints ' suit,' without giving any authority." 
 
 Mr. Singer's authority for " mi,t" was the undated quarto. 
 
 P. 139,— act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'Rom. I stretch it out for that word — broad : which added to the 
 goose, proves thee far and wide abroad — ^goose.' 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Dyce is emphatic upon the word ' goose' (' Remarks,' 
 p. 170), and wishes us to print 'a broad goose.' He does not explain 
 what he means by 'a broad goose;' and we never heard of one even 
 among tailors. What Romeo plainly means is, that Mercutio has proved 
 himself ' far and wide abroad' a goose : we print the text accordingly ; 
 and we thus add 'broad' to 'goose' in the way intended, and preserve 
 whatever force there may be in the retort." 
 
 When Mr. Collier, in his former edition, gave the very 
 foolish reading which be still retains, his note on it was 
 merely, — 
 
voi,. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 165 
 
 "So the folio, 1623; all older editions have, 'proves thee far and 
 wide, a hroad goose :' " 
 
 on which I remarked ; 
 
 " ' All older editions' are right; for the reading which Mr. 
 Collier has preferred, instead of ' adding broad to the goose,' 
 entirely separates the words ;" — 
 
 and Mr. Collier now says, in reference to the preceding re- 
 mark, that I am " emphatic upon the word ' goose.' " Per- 
 haps he will think Mr. Staunton still more " emphatic," who 
 writes thus ad I. ; 
 
 " a broad ffoose] The quibble here not being understood, 
 it has been proposed that we should read : — 
 
 ' proves thee far and wide abroad, goose.' 
 
 But Romeo plays on the words a broad and a brode. ' The 
 Turnament of Tottenham,' Harl. Mss. No. 5396: — 
 
 ' Forther would not Tyb then, 
 Tyl scho had hur hrode-hen 
 Set in hur lap.' " 
 
 P. 143, — act ii. sc. 4. In a note on the words " Must be 
 my convoy," Mr. Collier takes care to mention that 
 
 " in Webster's ' White Devil' (Edit. Dyce, i. 94), ' cunning' is misprinted 
 convoy, ' Pandar, ply your convoy,' which the editor unluckily permitted 
 to pass ;" 
 
 but he takes care not to mention — that he himself in his edi- 
 tion of The White Devil (Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. vi.) with 
 the same ill luck let " convoy" stand unquestioned. 
 
 P. 166, — act iii. sc. 5. 
 
 'f ' 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's bow,' &c. 
 BOW ;] In all the old copies ' bow' is misprinted Irow, as if the allusion 
 were to the eye-brow, and not to the 'bow,' or crescent, of Cjnathia. 
 We take 'bow' from the corr. fo. 1632," &c. 
 
 I really cannot see any objection to the expression " Cyn- 
 thia's brow,"— "brow" meaning, not as Mr. Collier chooses 
 to explain it, "eye-brow," but "forehead" (in act i. sc. 3 we 
 have " For even the day before she broke her brow") : surely 
 
166 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 it is no more exceptionable than " Phoebus' /row^" [i.e. fore- 
 head], which occurs in King Lear, act ii. sc. 2, — 
 
 " the wreath of radiant fire 
 On flickering Phmhus' front." 
 
 P. 170, — act iii. sc. 5. 
 
 "'La. Cap. * * * * 
 
 But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl. 
 Jul. And joy comes well in such a needy time. 
 
 What are they, I beseech your ladyship % 
 
 * * * * * ~ * 
 
 I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, 
 I will not marry yet ; and, when I do, I swear, 
 It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate. 
 Rather than Paris. 
 
 La. Cap. These are news indeed ! 
 
 Here comes your father ; tell him so yourself, 
 And see how he will take it at your hands.' 
 
 These are news indeed .'] These words indicate the surprise of Lady Ca- 
 pulet at the intelligence she has just heard, and they join on, with the 
 utmost exactness, to what follows of her speech. Strange to say, the 
 blunder of giving ' These are news indeed !' to Juliet has never, in mo- 
 dern times, been detected, but the matter is set right in the corr. fo. 
 1632. The mistake, when pointed out, seems to correct itself." 
 
 When the Ms. Corrector took away these words from 
 Juliet, and assigned them to Lady Capulet, he must have been 
 faUing into his dotage; and when Mr. Collier adopted the 
 
 change, he 
 
 It seems almost impossible that any one should read the 
 passage as it stands in the old copies, without perceiving that 
 Juliet's exclamation, " these are news indeed I" has reference 
 to what her mother has said a little before, " But now I'll tell 
 thee joyful tidings, girl :" — 
 
 " I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, 
 I will not marry yet ; and, when I do, I swear. 
 It shall be Komeo, whom you know I hate, 
 Rather than Paris : — these a/re news indeed /" 
 
 P. 171,— act iii. sc. 5. 
 
 " But settle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next 
 To go with Paris to Saint Peter's church, " <fec. 
 
VOL. v.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. i67 
 
 So Mr. Collier silently prints (like the other modem edi- 
 tors, Mr. Staunton and myself excepted), though all the old 
 copies have, and rightly, " But fettle [i.e. prepare] your fine 
 joints," &c. — The word /e«/e was not obsolete in Swift's 
 time : see Richardson's Dictionary in v. 
 
 P. 189, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' If I may trust tte flattering death of sleep,' (fee. 
 
 This seems one of the happiest of the minor emendations in the corr. fo. 
 1632. The line has hitherto stood, 
 
 ' If I may trust the flattering truth, of sleep ;' 
 but truth could not flatter, and must be an error. The 4to, 1597, has 
 ' the flattering eye of sleep,' and the passage has occasioned much dis- 
 pute. The fact seems to be, that the old compositor was confounded 
 between ' trust' and ' death,' and, joining the beginning of one word to 
 the end of the other, printed truth When he ought to have printed 
 ' death.' Nothing can well be more intelligible and pertinent than 
 ' death' instead of truth : it was ' the flattering death of sleep, ' because 
 Romeo had had such ' flattering' dreams during ' sleep,' which state has 
 been, over and over again, likened by poets to ' death.' The Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce (' Pew Notes,' p. 113) would preserve ' flattering eye of sleep,' 
 which nobody can satisfactorily explain, because, strange to say, he can- 
 not understand what is meant by ' the flattering death of sleep.' " 
 
 If Mr. Collier had wished to show that "the flattering 
 death of sleep" is an alteration destitute of all meaning, he 
 could not have done so more efiectually than by his attempt 
 to explain it : — indeed, he may be assured, that this new 
 reading, which " seems to him one of the happiest of the 
 minor emendations in the corr. fo. 1632," will seem to every- 
 body else (Professor Mommsen perhaps excepted) one of the 
 rashest and most unfortunate of the changes recorded in that 
 omnium gatherum of conjecture. 
 
 P. 195,— act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Par. I do defy commiseration, 
 
 And apprehend thee for a felon here.' 
 
 I do defy commiseration,] The corr. fo, 1632 has 'thy' erased in this 
 
 line, as redundant for the metre. The oldest 4to. has conjurations, and 
 
 the 4to, 1599, eommiration : all the other ancient authorities have ' thy 
 
168 STEICTUEBS ON SOME PASSAGES L^ol. v. 
 
 commiseration.' The Rev. Mr. Dyce has declared commiration to be 'a 
 stark misprint:' nobody doubts, or has doubted it; the matter is self- 
 evident. The question is, for what is it a misprint? All the other 
 copies, 4to. and folio, teU. us that commiration was a blunder for ' com- 
 miseration' and not for conjuratimis. Mr. Dyce is of a contrary opinion 
 (' Remarks,' p. 176), and we are sorry to differ from him : taking com- 
 mdration for ' commiseration,' we have the 4tos, 1599 and 1609, as well 
 as the folios, 1623, 1632, 1664, and 1685, in our favour; and moreover, 
 when the old annotator on the folio, 1632, was amending the line, by 
 erasing 'thy,' he did not think of altering 'commiseration' to conjura- 
 tions. Mr. Dyce does not advert to the important fact that Romeo had 
 commiserated Paris, and had entreated him to fly, rather than remain to 
 be killed. A man of Mr. Dyoe's experience need not be told to look to 
 the context before he adopts so decided an opinion : the error was that 
 of the old printer of the 4to, 1597, who committed so many other, and 
 such gross mistakes, and who, not being well acquainted with the word 
 ' commiseration' (written no doubt in his day with one m — comiseration), 
 composed coniurations instead of it. All the probabilities are in favour 
 of ' commiseration,' and although conjurations would answer the purpose, 
 ' commiseration' fills the place better : we can have no other ground of 
 preference for one word over the other." 
 
 Here again, as usual, Mr. Collier does not mind sacrificing 
 the truth to his desire of exhibiting me ia a ridiculous hght : 
 "the Rev. Mr. Dyce," he says, "has declared commiration to 
 be ' a stark misprint :' nobody doubts^ or has doubted it; the 
 matter is self-evident." If I had " declared" so, the platitude 
 would have been worthy of Mr, Collier himself : — what I did 
 say wasj "commiseration .... is a stark misprint j" see 
 my Remarks, &c., p. 175. 
 
 As far as the metre is concerned, Mr. Collier's present 
 
 reading, 
 
 "I do defy commiseration," 
 
 is better than his former one, 
 
 " I do defy thy commiseration ;" 
 
 but, as far as the sense is concerned, it is not a bit better; for 
 
 assuredly such an expression as " defy commisekation'' verges 
 
 on the ludicrous. I have no doubt that in the reading of the 
 
 quarto, 1599, 
 
 " I do defy thy commiration," 
 
 "commiration" is an error for " coniuration" (the editor of 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 169 
 
 that quarto having perhaps preferred the word in the sin- 
 gular), and that the reading of the later editions, 
 
 " I do defy thy commiseration," 
 
 was a change made by some one who (without any ear for 
 verse) thought he set all right if he only substituted the word 
 "commiseration" for the no-word " commiration." — When 
 Mr. Collier .observed that " a man of Mr. Dyce's experience 
 need not be told to look to the context before he adopts so 
 decided an opinion," he had forgotten that, in order to show 
 that the reading of the quarto, 1597, 
 
 " I do defy thy conjurations,^' 
 
 was the genuine lection, I cited the preceding speech, in which 
 Romeo thus earnestly conjures Paris, — 
 
 " Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man ; 
 Fly hence, and leave me : — think upon these gone ; 
 Let them affright thee.' — I beseech thee, youth, 
 Put not another sin upon my head, 
 By urging me to fury : — O, be gone !" &c. — 
 
 Conjuration in the sense of " earnest entreaty" was formerly 
 not uncommon. 
 
 (Mr. Knight, who in his earlier editions printed 
 
 " I do defy thy commiseration," 
 
 has now, in consequence of my Remarks, &c., adopted the 
 reading of the first quarto, 
 
 " I do defy thy conjurations,^' <fec.) 
 
 P. 201,— act V. sc. 3. 
 
 *' ' Seal up the mouth of outcry for a while,' <feo. 
 
 otTTCKi] So the corr. fo. 1 632 : to ' seal up the mouth of outrage' (as 
 constantly misprinted) is almost nonsense, and Lady Capulet has spoken 
 just before of the ' open outcry' which had aroused her : the mouth of 
 this ' open outcry' the Prince wished to be sealed. " 
 
 The needlessness of this alteration has been shown by Mr. 
 Staunton, who cites from The First Part of Henry VI., act iv. 
 sc. 1, 
 
170 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [tol. v. 
 
 " Are you not asham'd 
 With this immodest clamorous outrage 
 To trouble and disturb the king and us V 
 
 (where the Ms. Corrector makes no change). 
 
 TIMON OF ATHENS. 
 P. 212, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' A thing slipp'd idly from me. 
 Our poesy is as a gum, which issues 
 From whence 'tis nourish'd,' <fec. 
 
 as a GUM, which issues] The old copy, ' as a ffown which uses.' Pope 
 changed ffown to * gum,' and we obtain ' issues' from the corr. fo. 1632 : 
 Johnson suggested oozes, which may be right, but seems to express too 
 slow a process for what the speaker tells us had 'slipped idly' from 
 him." 
 
 Here Pope altered " uses" to " issues," and his conjecture 
 kept its ground in the editions till supplanted by Johnson's 
 " oozes," which is clearly the poet's word, and which no one 
 could have imagined was to give place in 1858 to the long 
 and justly rejected reading " issues." 
 
 P. 230,— act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' no reason 
 Can sound his state in safety. ' 
 
 Thus the old copies ; the meaning being, that no reason can sound 
 Timon's state, and find it in safety. The usual lection has been found, 
 which is not more intelligible than ' sound. ' " 
 
 In this passage "sound" is manifestly an error; which 
 the folio repeats in a speech of the next scene, — 
 
 " my good lord, 
 At many times I brought in my accounts. 
 Laid them before you ; you would throw them oflf. 
 And say, you sound [read found] them in mine honesty.'' 
 
 P. 342,— act iii. sc. 2. 
 " ' Why this 
 
 Is the world's soul ; and just of the same piece 
 Is every flatterer's port.' 
 
VOL. v.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 171 
 
 Is every flatterer's port.] The Rev. Mr. Dyce pronounces the old reading 
 ' Is every flatterer's sport,' the ' veriest nonsense ;' but he ventures upon 
 no emendation of his own, and offers no opinion upon Theobald's adop- 
 tion of spirit instead of sport. We are therefore the more glad to pro- 
 duce an alteration from the corr. fo. 1632, which he cannot but approve, 
 seeing that the corruption in the folio, 1623, has only arisen from the 
 carrying on of the sibilation from a preceding to a succeeding word : 
 for ' flatterer's sport' read ' flatterer's port,' i.e. deportment or demean- 
 our, and ' the veriest nonsense' is converted into excellent sense. We 
 need hardly adduce instances of the use of ' port' in this way by Shake- 
 speare, but our readers may refer to ' The Merchant of Venice,' Vol. ii. 
 p. 271, and 'Henry VI., Part II.,' Vol. iv. p. 71, <fec." 
 
 Mr. Collier, in his former edition, printed 
 
 " and just of the same piece 
 Is every flatterer's .«port;" 
 
 and with, this note ; 
 
 " We adhere to the old reading, thinking that it affords at least as 
 good a meaning as the modern change of ' sport' to spirit." 
 
 Hence I was led to say " ' sport' appears to me to be the 
 veriest nonsense" {Remarks, &c. p. 180), intimating, of course, 
 that I thought Theobald's reading " spirit" the genuine one : 
 — and such I still think it ; for the Ms. Corrector's " port" 
 does not deserve a moment^s consideration. 
 
 P. 261, — act iv. sc. 3. In his note on the line " Raise me 
 this beggar, and decline that lord," Mr. Collier observes : 
 
 " In Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Honest Man's Fortune,' A. ii. sc. 2 
 (Dyce's Edit. iii. 377), we meet with this passage : ' And being you have 
 dedin'd his means, you have increas'd his malice.' It is strange that 
 the experienced editor should have had so defective an ear as to print 
 the above as verse. " 
 
 The passage is printed thus, and with the following note, 
 in my edition of Beaumont and Fletcher ; 
 
 " 'Lam. The most direct path for your safety : 
 For where doth danger sit more furious 
 Than in a desperate man 1 
 
 La-P. And being you have declin'd" his means, you have 
 Increas'd his malice.' 
 "6 declined'] i.e. caused to decline. — I may notice that 
 
172 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v, 
 
 this and the preceding speech stand as verse (with the above 
 arrangement) in Ms. ;" — 
 
 and that the excellent Ms. to which I refer has preserved the 
 proper arrangement of these speeches, I see no reason to doubt. 
 Beaumont and Fletcher (like our other early dramatists) occa- 
 sionally have scenes consisting of both verse and prose ; and it 
 is notorious that their versification is sometimes very lax. 
 
 P. 270,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rogue, 
 Must be thy subject,' <fec. 
 
 thy father, that poor rogue,] We acknowledge our obligation here to the 
 corrected folio, the property of Mr. Singer: there is no emendation of 
 the kind in our corr. fo. 1632, but undoubtedly there ought to have 
 been. The original, in the folio, 1623, is ' thy father, that poor ragge.'" 
 
 " Mr. Singer's corrected second foho reads, ' poor rogue,' 
 a substitution also proposed by Johnson; but, as Mr. Dyce 
 remarks, ' rag occurs elsewhere in our author as a term of 
 contempt ; and it was formerly a very common one.' " Mr. 
 Staunton ad I. 
 
 P. 285,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' I have a tree, which grows here in my close, 
 That mine own use invites me to cut down. 
 And shortly must I fell it : tell my friends. 
 Tell Athens, in the sequence of degree. 
 From high to low throughout, that whoso please 
 To stop affliction, let him take his halter. 
 Come hither, ere my tree hath felt the axe. 
 And hang himself.' 
 let him, take his haltbe,,] This is one of the most noticeable of all the 
 verbal emendations in the corr. fo. 1632 : the words have hitherto been 
 'let him take his haste,' a very unprecedented expression and not, we 
 may be pretty sure, what the poet wrote : the old compositor misread 
 'halter' haste, the r at the end of 'halter' having been imperfectly writ- 
 ten." 
 
 When I wrote the note on this passage in my ed. of 
 Shakespeare, I mentioned the Ms. Corrector's "halter" as 
 " perhaps the true reading." But I have since thought less 
 favourably of it. In the Add. and Corr. to my ed. (i. ccxiv.) 
 
VOL. v.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 173 
 
 I remarked that the original lection " take his haste" receives 
 some support from the two following passages, — 
 
 " If on my credit you dare build so far 
 To make your speed to Dover," &c. 
 
 King Lea/r, act iii. sc. 1 . 
 
 " and with all his hast 
 Informd ^gistheus.'' 
 
 Chapman's Homer's Odysses, b. iv. p. 61, ed. folio, 
 to which I may now add, 
 
 "Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon,'' 
 &c. Deuteronomy, chap. ii. 24. 
 
 I would observe, too, that there is something suspicious 
 in the expression "take his halter ;" because it almost im- 
 plies that every man in Athens (" from high to low through- 
 out") was provided with a halter for his own especial use in 
 case of need. 
 
 " To take time, is to go leisurely about a business ; to take 
 haste is to perform it expeditiously." Mr. Staunton ad I., — 
 who mentions the Corrector's alteration without any remark. 
 
 P. 287,— act V. sc. 4. 
 
 *' ' The Woods near Timon's Cave. 
 
 Enter a Soldier, seeking Timon. 
 
 Sold. By all description this should be the place. 
 
 Who's here ? speak, ho !— No answer? — What is this? 
 
 [Finding Timon's grave. 
 Timon is dead, who hath outstretch'd his span : 
 Some beast rear'd this ; there does not live a man. 
 Dead, sure, and this his grave. — What's on this tomb 
 I cannot read ; the character I'll take with wax : 
 Our captain hath in every figure skill ; 
 An ag'd interpreter, though young in days. 
 Before proud Athens he's set down by this, 
 Whose fall the mark of his ambition is. {Exit.' 
 
 Some least beab'd this-] The old copies have read for ' rear'd.' Johnson 
 was in favour of read, instead of ' rear'd,' which was substituted by Theo- 
 bald. It would however be strange for the Soldier to call upon a beast 
 to read that which, he tells us, just afterwards, he could not read him- 
 self. The stage-direction ' Finding Timon's grave' is from the corr. fo. 
 
174 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 1632, where also read is amended to ' rear'd,' and no (peculiar to that 
 edition) altered to ' not,' as it stands in the folios, 1623, 1664, and 1685. 
 We are to suppose ' tomb,' in the next line, to mean merely some appear- 
 ance of a place of sepulture." 
 
 So Mr. Collier. — In Mr. Staunton's edition, the scene 
 and the annotation on it stand as follows : — 
 
 " The Woods. Timon's Game, cmd a rough Tomb newr it. 
 Enter a Soldier, seeking Timon. 
 Sold. By all description this should be the place. 
 Who's here ? speak, ho ! — No answer ? What is this ? 
 [Reads?^ Timon is dead ! — who'^ hath outstretcKd his span, — 
 Some beast — read this ; there does not live a man.^ 
 Dead, sure, and this his grave : what's on this tomb 
 I cannot read ; the character I'll take with wax j 
 Our captain hath in every figure skill, "= &c. 
 
 " Who hath, &c.] That is, whoever hath, &c. 
 
 ^ Timon is dead ! who hath outstretch'd his span, — 
 Some beast — read this ; there does not live a man.] Of the many 
 erroneous interpretations of Shakespeare's text for which his com- 
 mentators are responsible, none, perhaps, is so remarkable, and, at 
 the same time, so supremely ridiculous, as that into which they 
 have lapsed with regard to the above passage. Not perceiving — 
 what it seems scarcely possible from the lines themselves and their 
 context to miss — that this couplet is an inscription by Timon to 
 indicate his death and point to the epitaph on his tomb, they have 
 invariably printed it as a portion of the soldier's speech, and thus 
 represented him as misanthropical as the hero of the piece ! Nor 
 was this absurdity suflScient : as, says Warburton, ' The soldier had 
 yet only seen the rude pile of earth heaped up for Timon's grave, 
 and not the inscription upon it,' we should read : 
 ' Some beast rear'd this ;' — 
 and he prints it accordingly. And because 'our poet certainly 
 would not make the soldier call on a beast to read the inscription 
 be/ore he had informed the audience that he could not read it him- 
 self ; which he does afterwards,'' Malone adopts Warburton's read- 
 ing, and every editor since follows his judicious example ! What is 
 still more amusing, too, Mr. Collier, who has claimed for his mys- 
 terious annotator three-fourths of the most acute of modern emend- 
 ations, assigns this precious ' restoration' to him also ! We are 
 
VOL. v.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 175 
 
 curious to know whether he derived it from some manuscript copy 
 of the play, or merely from the traditions of the stage. 
 
 '^ Our captain hath in every figure skill ;] We are obviously to 
 understand that the insculpture on the tomb, unlike the inscription 
 which he has just read, is in a language the soldier was unacquainted 
 with." 
 
 1. I certainly have no pleasure in maintaining an opinion 
 directly opposed to that of Mr. Staunton : but I differ from 
 him toto coelo in the peculiar view which he takes of the pre- 
 sent passage.- I believe that the two lines, — which the folio 
 gives pointed exactly thus, and printed (with the exception of 
 the name) in Roman, not in italic type, — 
 
 " Tymon is dead, who hath out-stretcht his span. 
 Some Beast reade this ; There do's not Hue a Man," — 
 
 are a portion of the Soldier's speech, not an inscription ; and, 
 moreover, that the Ms. Corrector and Warburton were quite 
 right ia substituting "rear'd" for "read" (a misprint which 
 might have been occasioned by the compositor's eye resting 
 on the word " read" just below, in the next line but one). 
 
 2. As here the soldier says to himself, 
 
 " Timon is dead, who hath outstretch'd his span," 
 so in the next scene, when he delivers to Alcibiades the im- 
 pression of the epitaph taken in wax, he says, 
 " My noble general, Timon is dead." 
 
 3. Besides this couplet (and its quaintness might lead us 
 to suppose that Shakespeare adopted it, as he may have done 
 other passages of the play, from some older drama on the story 
 of Timon), we have a second couplet at the close of the present 
 speech, short as it is. 
 
 4. I interpret the words of the Soldier thus : " By all de- 
 scription this should be the place where I am directed to find 
 Timon. — Who's here? speak, ho! — No answer?— What is 
 this? a sepulchral mound of earth ! Then Timon is dead, 
 who has outstretched his span : and it would almost seem that 
 some beast reared this mound, for there does not live a man 
 hereabouts to have done so. Yes, he is dead, sure, and this his 
 grave," &c. 
 
176 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 5. The lines which Shakespeare makes Alcibiades read in 
 the concluding speech of the play^ "Here lies a wretched 
 corse," &c., are found, with the difference of a single word 
 ("wretches" instead of " caitiffs"), in The Life of Antony 
 apud North's Plutarch ; but neither in that Life, nor in the 
 novel on the subject of Tim on in Painter's Palace of Pleasure, 
 — with which also Shakespeare was doubtless acquainted, — 
 is there the remotest hint of " an inscription by Timon to 
 indicate his death and point to the epitaph on his tomb." 
 
 6. I think it quite plain that the insculpture on Timon's 
 tomb is in the common language of the country, and that it 
 is unintelligible to the Soldier only because he cannot read 
 any sort of writing (in the next scene he confesses his " poor 
 ignorance"). Why should Timon engrave his epitaph in 
 characters which were to be deciphered by the learned alone ? 
 
 JULIUS C^SAE. 
 P. 304,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' That her wide walls encompass'd but one man V 
 
 walls] The early impressions have walks for ' walls' of the corr. fo. 1632, 
 and Mr. Singer, adopting ' walls' (and he could not well avoid it), in 
 this instance fairly admits his obligation to the old annotator.'' 
 
 Mr. Singer ought to have known that the reading "walls" 
 is found in several editions of Shakespeare published during 
 the last century (in Pope's and in Theobald's, for instance,— 
 which happen to be now lying on my table) . 
 
 P. 307,— act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, 
 and was speechless. 
 
 Bru. 'Tis very like he hath the falling-sickness." 
 
 The second of these speeches is pointed in opposition to 
 the sense : it should stand, 
 
 " 'Tis very like, — he hath the falling-sickness ;" 
 
 for Brutus knew very well that Csesar was subject to that 
 disease. Vide North's Plutarch, p. 719, ed. 1613. 
 
VOL. v.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 177 
 
 P. 310,— act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " Cassius, what night is this ?" 
 Here Mr. Collier wrongly puts an interrogation-point after 
 these words ; and Mr. Craik, in his English of Shakespeare, 
 &c., as erroneously prints 
 
 "What a night is this!" 
 
 thinking "the a is plainly indispensable; for surely Casca 
 cannot be supposed to ask what day of the month it is. 
 What he says can only be understood as an exclamation, 
 similar to that of Cinna, ' What a fearful night is this !' " 
 p. 114. Of course Casca is uttering an exclamation ; but it 
 ought to stand, 
 
 " Cassius, what night is this !" 
 
 without the "a" which Mr. Craik interpolates; for in such 
 exclamations the article was frequently omitted by our early 
 writers : compare Twelfth-Night, act ii. sc. 5, 
 
 " FaJ}. What dish o' poison has she dressed him ! 
 Sir To. And with what wing the staniel checks at it !" 
 
 (where, by the by, Mr. Collier silently gives the modern alter- 
 ation, " What a dish of poison has she dressed him \"), and 
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona, act i. sc. 2, 
 
 " What fool is she, that knows I am a maid, 
 And would not force the letter to my view !" 
 
 P. 340,— act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, 
 
 (Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips 
 To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue) 
 A curse shall light upon the loins of men ; 
 Domestic fury, and fierce civil strife, 
 Shall cumber all the parts of Italy : 
 Blood and destruction shall be so in use, 
 And dreadful objects so familiar. 
 That mothers shall but smile, when they behold 
 Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war. 
 All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds ; 
 And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge. 
 With Ate by his side, come hot from hell, 
 
 N 
 
178 STEICTURES ON SOME- PASSAGES [vou v. 
 
 Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice, 
 Ory ' Havock !' and let slip the dogs of war,' <fec. 
 
 A curse shall Uffht upon the loins of men ;] i.e. Upon the generations of 
 mankind : the old reading, from the folios, has been ' upon the limhes 
 of men,' which few, but Steevens, have tolerated, and which most have 
 denounced as next to nonsense. Hanmer proposed kind, Warburton 
 line, and Johnson lives or lymnes — all equally wrong. There can be no 
 doubt, among impartial readers, that we have here recovered the true 
 word of the poet." 
 
 Mr. Craik, too, in his English of Shakespeare, &c., adopts, 
 and prodigally praises, the correction " loins." But, allowing 
 that the old reading " limbs" is wrong — and I am far from 
 defending it — I cannot believe that " loins" is the word which 
 ought to supply its place ; for " the loins of men" in the sense 
 of "the generations of men" is such an expression as we 
 should hardly expect to find even in those writers who have 
 been the most censured for taking liberties with language. 
 (Mr. Collier explains it "the generations oi mankind," — not 
 perceiving that Antony is speaking only of his countrymen, 
 as the context shows — " all the parts of Italy" — and " in 
 these confines.") In short, Johnson's emendation, "lives," 
 appears to me much more probable than that of the Ms. Cor- 
 rector. 
 
 P. 360, — act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' The enemy, marching along by them. 
 By them shall make a fuller number up. 
 Come on refresh'd, new -hearted, and encourag'd,' &c. 
 
 jiew-HEARTEB,] So the corr. fo. 1632, and not ' norw-added, ' as in the older 
 and subsequent impressions : we see in the preceding line that Brutus 
 contemplated that addition would be made to the force of the enemy, 
 and in this line he states that the foe would, in consequence, come on, 
 not only 'refresh'd,' but 'new-hearted and encourag'd.' 'New-aided,' 
 which is the Kev. Mr. Dyce's emendation, is only saying the same thing 
 over again that appears in the line just above, — 
 
 ' By them shall make a fuller number up.' 
 ' New-hearted' is a strong and expressive compound, and, as Mr. Oraik 
 observes ('Engl, of Shakesp.' p. 260), 'the very sort of word that one 
 would expect to find where it stands in association with ' refresh'd' and 
 ' encourag'd.' "• 
 
VOL. V.J OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 179 
 
 1. The word substituted here by the Ms. Corrector, 
 ''hearted/' bears not the most distant resemblance, either 
 in spelling or in sound, to the original word " added f from 
 which the word substituted by me, "aided," differs only in a 
 single letter. 
 
 2. Mr. Collier declares that " ' ^e^-aided' is only saying 
 the same thing over again that appears in the line just above:" 
 but how came it to escape him that 
 
 " new-hearted, and encourag'd" 
 are synonymous terms ? — 
 
 " To HEART. To encourage ; to hearten.'' 
 
 Todd's Johnson's Dictiona/ry. 
 
 3. Mr. Craik, as his note on the passage shows, was not 
 aware of my conjecture "new-aided ;" though the reader 
 would be apt to conclude, from what Mr. Collier says above, 
 that it was known to Mr. Craik and had been condemned by 
 him, — in which case, let me add (without any disrespect to 
 Mr. Craik), I should not have thought the worse of it. 
 
 MACBETH. 
 P. 386, — act i, sc. 2. 
 
 " ' And fortune, on his damned quarry smiling,' <fec. 
 
 ihmned quarry] i.e. His army doomed, or damned, to become the 'quarry,' 
 or prey, of his enemies. This is the reading of all the old copies, which 
 has been deserted by most editors, although giving an obvious and strik- 
 ing meaning, much more forcible than quarrel, which, at Johnson's in- 
 stance, they substituted for ' quarry.' It is also amended to quarrel in 
 the corr. fo. 1632, the old annotator, or the actor whose word he re- 
 peated, perhaps, not understanding 'quarry' so applied. Respecting 
 ' quarry,' see Vol. iv. p. 607." 
 
 On this passage, — in which Mr. Collier has deserted the 
 authority of the Ms. Correcter, when he ought to have stuck 
 to it, — see the note in my edition of Shakespeare. 
 
 P. 389, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' I' the shipman's card to show. ' 
 ' To show' is obtained from the corr. fo. 1632 : the line is imperfect, end- 
 
180 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 ing with ' card,' and we may feel sure that we thus recover two words 
 Shakespeare wrote, but which had dropped out in the press." 
 
 If in this lyric portion of the play the present place were 
 the only one where there is no rhyme, we might suspect that 
 some words had dropped out : but the fact that in four other 
 places we have lines without any rhyme forbids such a sus- 
 picion. 
 
 " And, like a rat without a tail, 
 ril do, ril do, I'll do. 
 2 Witch. Ill give thee a wind." 
 
 " Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd. — 
 Look what I home. 
 
 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 
 
 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, 
 Wreck'd," &c. 
 
 " The weird sisters, hand in hand. 
 Posters of the sea and land, 
 Thus do go abotit, about : 
 Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine. 
 And thrice again, to make up nine, 
 Feace I — the cha/rm's wound up.'' 
 
 P. 399, — act i. sc. 6. 
 
 " ' Where they much breed and haunt, I have observ'd, 
 The air is delicate.' 
 Where tliey much breed:] The folios have ' Where they must breed,' but it 
 should appear from the corr. fo. 1632 that must was misheard, and there- 
 fore misprinted for ' much.' " 
 
 Far preferable surely to the Corrector's emendation is the 
 common modern reading, 
 
 " Where they most breed and haunt," <fec. 
 
 P. 402, — act i. sc. 7. 
 
 ' ' ' Macb. If we should fail,— 
 
 Lady M. We fail ?' 
 
 We fail?] This is the punctuation of the folios, 1623, 1632, 1664, and 
 1685, and in this case, perhaps, we may take it as some evidence of the 
 ancient mode of delivering the two words, ' We fail ?' interrogatively. 
 Malone substituted a mark of admiration, ' We fail !' and Steevens pur- 
 sued the same course. The Rev. Mr. Dyoe, who is generally hyper- 
 
VOL. v.] OF MB. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 181 
 
 emphatic upon punctuation, (the importance of which nobody disputes,) 
 strangely informs us here that ' there is in reality no difference' between a 
 note of interrogation and a mark of admiration. He makes a difference 
 between them in works he has himself edited — and rightly : at the end 
 of his own notes he often places a mark of admiration, and at the end of 
 the notes of rival critics a note of interrogation. See pai-ticularly the 
 first play in his Beaumont and Fletcher, Vol. i. pp. 58, 93, &c. What 
 can he mean, too, by not putting a note of admiration after ' Oh God' 
 in ' The Scornful Lady' (iii. 106), and by putting one after ' Lazarillo, 
 thou art happy,' in ' The Woman Hater' (i. 36) ? Every editor, however 
 careful, and Mr. Dyce is one of the most so, is liable to such mistakes. 
 In the instance before us, we purposely place a note of interrogation 
 after ' We fail,' following the precedent of old copies, and thinking it 
 right to adhere to the practice." 
 
 Mr. Collier does not state fairly what I said about the 
 pointing of the present passage. My words were ; " Though 
 Mr. Collier makes a distinction between Malone's punctua- 
 tion and his own, there is in reality no difference : whether 
 the words be pointed 'We fail!' or 'We fail?' (and I much 
 prefer the former method), they can only be understood as 
 an impatient and contemptuous repetition of Macbeth's ' We 
 fail, — '" {Remarks, &c., p. 190), — in which quotation I am 
 confident that the unprejudiced reader will discover nothing 
 " strange." 
 
 Mr. Collier goes on to ask, "what I can mean by not 
 putting a note of admiration after ' Oh God' in the following 
 passage of The Scornful Lady ?" 
 
 "Ma/r. For God's sake, sir, be private in this business ; 
 You have undone me else. Oh, God, what have I done V 
 my answer is — that to have put a note of admiration after 
 " Oh, God," would have been what printers call stiff -punctua- 
 tion;— "das hemistich is half exclamatory, half interrogatory, 
 and the interrogation-point at the end of the line is sufficient. 
 Next, Mr. Collier wishes to know " why I put a note of admi- 
 ration after ' Lazarillo, thou art happy,' in this passage of The 
 Woman Hater ?" 
 
 "Laz. Lazarillo, thou a/rt happy I thy carriage hath begot love, 
 and that love hath brought forth fruits," &c, &c. 
 and I reply that I did so (as, I believe, the preceding editors had 
 done) to indicate the excessive self-gratulation of the speaker. 
 
182 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 So much for what Mr. Collier terms my "mistakes" in 
 punctuation ; — " every editor is liable to such mistakes" ! 
 (Here unquestionably the note of admiration finds its pro- 
 per place.) 
 
 P. 408, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Making the green one red.' 
 
 This is the punctuation of the corr. fo. 1632, in which the comma after 
 ' one' (found in all the old copies) is struck out. In the same way, in 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Maid in the Mill' (edit. Dyce, ix. 280), 
 Otrante ought to say — 
 
 ' How I freeze together, 
 And am one ice;' 
 
 but aU editors, including the last, have allowed the last hemistich to 
 remain, 
 
 ' And am on ice,' 
 
 as if Otrante had meant, not that he freezed together and was ' one ice,' 
 but merely that he stood upon ice. How injurious this course is to the 
 force of the passage need not be shown." 
 
 Here at least Mr. CoUier proposes a highly probable cor- 
 rection : but let me say in excuse of the editors of Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, that they supposed " on ice" might be a simUar 
 expression to " on fire "-wad. that, as those poets in The Cus- 
 tom of the Country, act i. sc. 3, had written "lam all on fire," 
 so Fletcher and his coadjutor (W. Rowley) might have writ- 
 ten in The Maid in the Mill " And am on ice." 
 
 P. 431, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' But let the eternal frame of things disjoint. 
 Both the worlds suffer. 
 Ere we will eat,' <fec. 
 
 Bvi let the ws'erskl frame of things disjoint, 1 ' Eternal' is from the corr. 
 fo. 1632, and it cures an obvious defect in the line, though it still leaves 
 what follows a hemistich, as possibly the poet intended : at all events 
 one error is remedied, and we are not therefore required to read, as the 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce recommends, the whole as a single line of thirteen syl- 
 lables — a course that we think few ears could be reconciled to, and which 
 he himself opposes in his ' Remarks,' p. 211." 
 
 1. When Mr. CoUier says that " few ears could be recon- 
 ciled to" a line of thirteen syllables here, he is evidently not 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 183 
 
 speaking of himself; for he has reconciled his own ears to lines 
 of that length in other places of this very tragedy : e. g. 
 " Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters," 
 
 p. 418, act iii. sc. 1. 
 " In our last conference ; pass'd in probation with you," 
 
 Ibid. 
 " The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much farther :" 
 
 p. 438, act iv. sc. 2. 
 " In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon :'' 
 
 p. 442, act iv. sc. 3. 
 " Be like our warranted quarrel. — Why are you sUent 1" 
 
 p. 445, act iv. sc. 3. 
 2. When Mr. Collier states that "I am opposed in my 
 Remarks, p. 211, to lines of thirteen syllables/' he forgets 
 that I there objected, not to a line of thirteen syllables (which 
 an editor cannot always get rid of), but to one of seventeen 
 (or at least, sixteen) syllables (in a passage where it may be 
 got rid of), — to his having printed va. Hamlet, act iii. sc. I, 
 " Affront Ophelia : her father, and myself (lawful espials)" 
 instead of 
 
 " Affront Ophelia : 
 Her father, and myself (lawful espials)" 
 
 (which arrangement Mr. Collier has adopted in his present 
 edition, observing in a note, " At the instance of the Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce we have placed ' Afiront Ophelia' in a line by itself.") 
 
 P. 427, — act iii. sc. 4. In a note on " If trembHng I in- 
 habit," &c., Mr. Collier says : 
 
 " In Middleton's ' Blurt Master Constable,' the Rev. Mr. Dyce per- 
 mitted a misprint of the word ' inhabit' to escape him : it is where the 
 Page, having inquired where the Constable lives, tells his master, 
 
 ' The officious gentleman inherits here.' 
 
 ' Inhabits here' must be right, and inherits must have been misheard for 
 it. See Middleton's Works, i. 237. The Constable did not inherit, but 
 'inhabit' the house." 
 
 I am by no means convinced that the old copy is wrong : 
 the Page is sufficiently affected in his language ; and " inhe- 
 rits here" may mean " has his family mansion here." 
 
184 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 P. 435, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Rebellion's head, rise never, till the wood 
 Of Birnam rise,' &c. 
 In aU the old copies it is Rebdlwus dead, and Theobald altered dead to 
 ' head,' quite as incontrovertibly as the old corrector of our folio, 1632, 
 amends Bebellious to ' Rebellion's,' personifying Rebellion, and adding 
 much force to the passage. Mr. Singer admits it to be ' quite evident' 
 that ' Rebellion's' is right ; but he has been the first editor who has ever 
 said so, and he found it in our corr. fo. 1632, although he maintains his 
 usual sUence as to the source of the emendation. How much trouble 
 and annoyance he might have saved himself on many occasions, if he 
 had but subjoined to what he was compelled to borrow, the words ' corr. 
 fo. 1632.' He could not hope that any reader of his edition would im- 
 pute the emendations to him : yet he runs that risk, sometimes almost 
 as if he wished it." 
 
 Another of the notes in which Mr. Collier, while railing 
 at Mr. Singer, only exposes his own want of acquaintance 
 with the modern editions of Shakespeare : — Hanmer printed 
 " Rebellion's head," &c. 
 
 P. 440, — act iv. sc. 3, 
 
 " Thou liest, thou shag-ear'd villain." 
 
 Though nothing can be plainer than that " shag-ear'd" is 
 a mistake for the very common epithet, " shag-hair' d" {" hair" 
 being formerly often written "hear" — and " shag-'hesx'A." 
 having been corrupted into " shag-ezx'A"), — Mr. Collier "de- 
 clines" to alter it. In my Remarks, &c., p. 201, I observed 
 that " King Midas, after his decision in favour of Pan, is the 
 only human being on record to whom the epithet ' shag- 
 eared' could be applied;" and, doubtless in consequence of 
 that observation, Mr. Collier now makes a truly unfortunate 
 attempt to defend the old text by telling us that " ' shag-ear'd 
 villain' is a villain who is shaggy about the ears, by reason of 
 his long hair." 
 
 P. 454, — act v. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' Cleanse the stufif'd bosom of that perilous grief, 
 Which weighs upon the heart f 
 
 Cleanse the stufp'd bosom o^ that perilous sbief,] In our former edition 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 185 
 
 we suggested that the error in this line was to be found in the last word 
 of it ; and since then we have met with a confirmation of the opinion in 
 the corr. fo. 1632, where stuff is erased and ' grief written in the place 
 of it: 'grief and stuff' might be mistaken, and certain we are that 
 ' grief is a vastly better reading than stuff. The Rev. Mr. Dyce (' Pew 
 Notes,' p. 128) collects many passages in which the same word is appa- 
 rently purposely repeated, but we are confident that neither they, nor as 
 many more (which might be readily accumulated) would satisfy a judi- 
 cious and impartial reader with stuff, in opposition to 'grief.' Even 
 Mr. Dyce mistrusts his own evidence, as he well may, and begs ' not to 
 be understood to maintain positively the integrity of the old text. ' " 
 
 Mr. Collier cites here (very imperfectly indeed) the sent- 
 ence with which I commenced my remarks on the present 
 passage, because it favours his own views ; but he suppresses 
 the sentence with which I concluded those remarks, because 
 it has an opposite tendency ; 
 
 " It may be asked if the Manuscript-corrector's alteration 
 does not introduce a great impropriety of expression, — 
 ' CLEANSE the bosom of grief' ?" 
 
 P. 455, — act V. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' What rhubarb, senna,' <fec. 
 'Senna' is misprinted cyme in the folios, and Eowe corrected it to 
 • senna.' The Rev. Mr. Dyce tells us (' Remarks,' p. 201) that the ' Rates 
 of Merchandizes' (where he found the entry of napless fustians, errone- 
 ously taken by him to mean ' Naples fustians,' see Vol. iv. p. 637) con- 
 tains no such drug as cyme : we should have been astonished if it had." 
 
 Here again I have to convict Mr. Collier of misrepre- 
 sentation, — or of something more. 
 
 Mr. Knight having expressed some doubts about the word 
 "senna" in this passage, I observed: "he [Mr. Knight] may 
 rest satisfied that ' senna' is right : the long list of drugs in 
 Hie Rates of Marchandizes, &c., furnishes no other word for 
 which cyme could possibly be a misprint." 
 
 Mr. Collier therefore has transformed 
 
 " furnishes no other word for which cyme could possibly be a 
 
 misprint" 
 
 into 
 
 " contains no such drug as cyme. 
 
186 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 HAMLET. 
 P. 491, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' And they in Prance, of the best rank and station, 
 Are of a most select and generous choice in that. ' 
 
 choice] ' Choice' was formerly not unfrequently spelt choise, and the use 
 of the long s led to the misprinting of ' choice,' first chiefe, and afterwards 
 cheff, which puzzled all commentators. The corr. fo. 1632 substitutes 
 ' choice,' and the whole diificulty is removed, for Polonius says that the 
 French are ' of a most select and generous choice' in all matters relating 
 to dress. The same blunder of printing chiefe for ' choice' is committed, 
 and undetected, in the comedy of ' The Widow' (Dyce's Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, iv. 350), where the Kne 
 
 ' The word of words, the precious chief, i' faith,' 
 
 is mere nonsense, the meaning being that of a ' precious choice' word. 
 No wonder, therefore, that the Rev. Editor, in his 'Remarks,' p. 206, is 
 so strongly in favour of chief {thongh entirely ungrammatical) in this 
 passage in ' Hamlet.' In the edition of Sydney's ' Astrophil and Stella,' 
 1591, which was very hastily brought out, the error of chief est for 
 ' choicest' is more than once apparent." 
 
 1. The passage of The Widow is this ; 
 
 "Vol. What's that, good, sweet, sir? 
 
 First Suit. A thing that never fail'd me. 
 
 Val. Good sir, what 1 
 
 First Suit. I heard our counsellor speak a word of comfort, 
 Invita voluntate ; ha, that's he, wench. 
 The word of words, the precious chief, i' faith ! 
 
 Val. Invita voluntate ! what's the meaning, sir ? 
 
 First Suit. Nay, there I leave you ; but assure you thus much, 
 I never heard him speak that word i' my life, 
 But the cause went en's side, that I mark'd ever :" 
 
 and it seems almost incredible that Mr. Collier should seri- 
 ously propose to alter " chief" to " choice," — " the meaning 
 being that of a ' precious choice' word." 
 
 The Suitor, in his ignorance, is evidently speaking of " in- 
 vita voluntate" as facile princeps verborum. 
 
 2. Though Mr. CoUier states that I am " strongly in favour 
 of cAie/ in this passage of Hamlet," he does not state howl 
 wished the line to stand in other respects, viz. thus. 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 187 
 
 " Are most select and generous chief in that," 
 instead of 
 
 " Are of a most select and generous chief in that." 
 
 Mr. Collier's declaration that " chief" is " entirely un- 
 grammatical" is only an additional evidence (see ante, p. 34) 
 of Ms not knowing that adjectives were often used adverbially 
 in Shakespeare's days. 
 
 ("Although we printed the original line in our former 
 editions^ we adopt now the reading of Mr. Dyce [' Are most 
 select and generous, chief in that']," &c. Mr. Knight ad I.) 
 
 P. 510, — act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Assure you, my good liege, 
 I hold my duty, as I hold my soul, 
 Both to my God, one to my gracious king,' &c. 
 
 ONE to my gracious king ;] The folio prints one for ' and' of the 4tos, and 
 prohably rightly. " 
 
 The attempts which have been made to attach a meaniug 
 to the error of the folio, " one to my gracious king," &c., have 
 proved, as might be expected, utterly unsuccessful. 
 
 P. 514, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' You know, sometimes he walks for hours together. 
 Here in the lobby.' 
 FOB hours together,'] The old copies have '/ow -hours together,' but no 
 doubt misprinted : it is not likely that Polonius would specify precisely 
 how long Hamlet walked in the lobby, and the corr. fo. 1632 tells us to 
 read ' for hours together' as in our text." 
 See p. 14 of the present volume. 
 
 P. 549, — act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' 'Tis now the very witching time of night, 
 
 When churchyards yawn, and heU itself breathes out 
 Contagion to this world : now could I drink hot blood. 
 And do such bitter business as the day 
 Would quake to look on.' 
 And cb such BITTER hudness a's the day] In the 4tos. the epithet 'bitter' 
 
188 STEICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 is applied to ' day,' not to ' business.' The Rev. Mr. Dyce (' Pew Notes,' 
 p. 141) would read hetter for ' bitter,' and, like the 4tos, would apply the 
 epithet, not to 'business,' but to ' day,' quoting as his authority Milton's 
 ' Hail, holy light !' His perversion of Shakespeare's text seems to us 
 about upon a par with his conversion of Milton's address to the sun ; 
 for nothing less applicable could easily have been pointed out. Surely 
 ' bitter business,' in Hamlet's state of mind, requires no forced explana- 
 tion." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier writes ignorantly, — to say notMng of 
 his mistake in supposing that Milton's " HaU, holy light !" 
 (Far. Lost, iii. 1) is, or could be, a portion ot Satan's "ad- 
 dress to the sun" (Par. Lost, iv. 33). 
 
 Though in my recent edition of Shakespeare I have pre- 
 ferred printing, with the folio, — 
 
 " And do such bitter business as the day 
 Would quake to look on," — 
 
 I certainly cannot allow that the amended lection of the quar- 
 tos, which I formerly advocated, — 
 
 " And do such business as the better day 
 Would quake to look on," 
 
 is to be regarded as indefensible, — far from it ; and I tran- 
 scribe, for the benefit of Mr. CoUier, the following remark by 
 a critic of no mean taste and learning : — 
 " How this reading 
 
 [' And do such business as the bitter day 
 Would quake to look on,'] 
 
 could have been permitted to stand [in the Variorum Shake- 
 speare'] we cannot think. The word is 'better.' 'The better 
 day' is opposed to 'the .witching time of night.' It is the 
 lepov rifx,ap of Homer, //. 0. 66." Gentleman's Magazine for 
 Feb. 1845, p, 125. 
 
 (I well remember that John Kemble-r- whose performance 
 of the Prince of Denmark is among the most vivid recollec- 
 tions of my youth — invariably delivered the passage thus, 
 
 " And do such business as the better day 
 Would quake to look on." 
 
 See Ha/mlet, revised by J. P. Kemble, 1814, p. 51.) 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 189 
 
 P. 551 J — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' But, oh ! what form of prayer 
 Can serve my turn ? Forgive me my foul mui-der ! — 
 That cannot be ; since I am still possess'd 
 Of those effects for which I did the murder, 
 My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. 
 May one be pardon 'd, and retain th' offence ? 
 In the corrupted currents of this world, 
 Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice. 
 And oft 'tis seen, the wicked purse itself 
 Buys out the law ; but 'tis not so above,' &c. 
 
 And oft His seen, the wicked puese itself 
 
 Buys out the law ;'] For 'purse' of the corr. fo. 1632, the old copies 
 read prize : there cannot be a doubt on the propriety of the emendation 
 of an error, which perhaps arose from the use of short-hand in transcrib- 
 ing the words, 'purse' and prize being spelt with the same letters." 
 
 The senselessness of this alteration is not to be exceeded. 
 
 " The wicked prize" is equivalent to " the thing acquired 
 by wicked means," — as, in the speaker's own case, was the 
 crown which he had obtained by committing a murder. 
 
 P. 553, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' I'll sconce me even here.' 
 This is the reading of the corr. fo. 1632, and there is no doubt that it is 
 right. It has also been suggested by Mr. Hunter, we are sure, without 
 any knowledge on his part that the emendation had been made in the 
 corr. fo. 1632 : the proposal of Mr. Hunter was, most likely, of an earlier 
 date than that of the publication of our Vol. of ' Notes and Emenda- 
 tions.' Mr. Singer adopts the change, referring only to Mr. Hunter as 
 his authority," <fcc. 
 
 In this note Mr. CoUier is so occupied with "the corr. fo. 
 1632," " Mr. Hunter," and " Mr. Singer," that he does not 
 mention the reading of the old editions, — " I'll silence me even 
 
 here." 
 
 Hanmer printed " FU sconce me," &c. 
 
 P. 580,— act iv. sc. 7. 
 
 " If he be now return'd, — 
 As liking not his voyage, and that he means 
 No more to undertake it,— I will work him," <fcc. 
 
190 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 The reading " As liking not his voyage" (adopted by Mr. 
 Collier without any remark) is that of the undated quarto, of 
 the quarto 1611, &c. : but it is far less spirited and far less 
 Shakesperian than that of the folio, " As checking at his voy- 
 age :" — which same reading is undoubtedly to be detected in 
 the corruption of the quarto 1604, "As the king at his voy- 
 age." 
 
 P. 587, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Go, get thee to yon ; fetch me a stoop of liquor.' 
 
 Oo, get thee to ton ;] So the corr. fo. 1632, and it is as much as to say, 
 ' Go, get thee to yon alehouse ; fetch me a jug of liquor.' We must 
 suppose the alehouse understood, and pointed to by the 1 Clown. It is 
 misprinted in the folio, 1623, ' Go, get thee to Yaughan,' and in our first 
 edition we suggested that Yaughan might be a misunderstood stage- 
 direction for the 1 Clown to yawn, and possibly it was so ; but we accept 
 the emendation which presents itself in the corr. fo. 1632. ' To Yaughan' 
 was not comprehended in the 4tos, for there the text only is, ' Go, get 
 thee in.' " 
 
 1. The Ms. Corrector is fortunate in such an expositor as 
 Mr. Collier; without whom we certainly never should have 
 guessed that " get thee to yon" is equivalent to " get thee to 
 yon alehouse." 
 
 2. As to Mr. Collier's conjecture that " Yaughan may be 
 a misunderstood stage- direction for the 1 Clown to yawn," I 
 still think (see my Remarks, &c., p. 218) that it would do 
 honour to Martinus Scriblerus himself. 
 
 P. 594, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' King. This is mere madness : 
 
 And thus a while the fit will work on him. 
 
 Queen. Anon, as patient as the female dove, 
 When that her golden couplets are disclos'd. 
 His silence will sit drooping.' 
 
 This is mere madness .•] This whole speech in the folio, 1623, is, by some 
 gross blunder, given to the King. In the corr. fo. 1632, the two first 
 lines of it are properly continued to him, and the three last, naturally 
 enough, assigned to the Queen. We have adopted this judicious arrange- 
 ment. " X 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 191 
 
 Nothing can be more unnatural than this "arrangement." 
 The five lines evidently belong to the same speaker, viz. the 
 Queen ; to whom they are properly assigned in the quartos, — 
 a fact which, for some reason or other, Mr. Collier has not 
 divulged. 
 
 P. 599, — act V. sc. 2. 
 
 ' Osr indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or 
 
 calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part 
 a gentleman would see. 
 
 Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ; though, I 
 know, to divide him inventorily would dizzy the arithmetic of memory ; 
 and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sale.' 
 
 to speak FEELINGLY of him,'] So all the 4tos. but that of 1604, which 
 has seUingly ; and sellingly may very possibly be right, in connexion not 
 only with 'inventorily,' but with 'sale,' as we venture to print it, not 
 saH as always hitherto given : the reference is to the value, and speedy 
 ' sale' of the qualifications of Laertes." 
 
 1. Here "to speak feelingly" is, as Caldecott explains it, 
 " to speak with insight and intelligence." — Mr. Collier's 
 strange fancy that "sellingly may very possibly be right" 
 was suggested by a note of Steevens. 
 
 2. In the second of these speeches Mr. Collier adds a new 
 corruption (" sale") to the old ones, and introduces a dreadful 
 confasion of metaphors, — not choosing even to mention that 
 (in my Remarks, &c., p. 220) I gave the following emendation 
 of the passage, which, I firmly believe, restores the language 
 of Shakespeare ; 
 
 " Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you ; though, I 
 know, to divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of 
 memory, and it but yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail," — 
 
 "yaw" being the reading of the quarto 1604. — "To yaw (as 
 a ship), hue iUuc vaciUare, capite nutare." Coles's Diet. 
 
 (Mr. Knight, in his later editions, has adopted "yaw" at 
 my suggestion.) 
 
 P. 602, — act V. sc. 2. In a note on the words "such a 
 kind of gain-giving" Mr. Collier observes ; 
 
192 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [tol. v. 
 
 " It is singular that this word, ' gain-giving,' should not have led the 
 Eev. Mr. Dyce to understand that in ' The Pilgrim,' A. v. so. 3 (Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher, viii. 79), the word 'gainful' should be taken as 
 acfainst-inVi or opposite, where Julietta tells the Keeper, 
 
 ' You will find him gainful, but be sure you curb him,' 
 
 she means you will find him resist you, but be sure you control him. 
 There can be no doubt about it. " 
 
 On the passage of The Pilgrim, the note in my edition 
 stands thus ; 
 
 " gainfuT\ ' i. e. way ward, resty, &c.' Sympson. — 'I have 
 never met with this word in that sense, but it commonly 
 means lucrative, and that is the obvious meaning in this pass- 
 age. Julietta teUs the Master, that he will find Alphonso a 
 profitable patient; but conjures him to curb him, notwith- 
 standing his rank.^ Mason, — whose interpeetation of the 
 
 WORD IS EVIDENTLY AT VARIANCE WITH THE CONTEXT. 'The 
 
 A. S. ge-winful, {gainful,) is, striving, labouring or contend- 
 ing for ; and thus, in Beaum. and Fletch., may signify, fuU 
 of strife, contention or resistance.' Richardson's Diet, in v. 
 Gain." 
 
 Though it is impossible that any one, however obtuse, 
 conld read this note without seeing that I cited approvingly 
 Richardson's explanation of "gainful," yet Mr. Colher now 
 has the effrontery to state that I did not understand the 
 meaning oi" gainful;" and he then proceeds to give an ex- 
 planation of it agreeing exactly with that which I cited from 
 Richardson. 
 
 P. 605,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " Ham. Oh villainy ! — How ? let the door be lock'd ! 
 Treachery ! seek it out." 
 
 Read, by aU means, " Ho! let the door be lock'd!" 
 
 (See p. 67 of the present volume.) 
 
 P. 609, — act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " Take up the body. — Such a sight as this 
 Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss." 
 
 In this passage Mr. Collier most improperly prints, with 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 193 
 
 the folio, " Take up the body," instead of adopting the read- 
 ing of the quartos, 1604, &c., "Take up the bodies," — the 
 bodies of Hamlet, the King, the Queen, and Laertes ; which 
 bodies are manifestly alluded to in what immediately follows, 
 " Such a sight as this," &c. 
 
 KING LEAR. 
 
 P. 630,— act i. sc. 1. 
 
 "' Now, our joy, 
 Although our last, and least ; to whose young love,' ifec. 
 
 Although our last, and least/] In this line, and to the end of the speech, 
 we follow the folio : the 4tos. read thus : — 
 
 ' Although the last, not least in our dear love,' &c. 
 
 In the corr. fo. 1632, we are told to read ' Although our last, not least,' 
 &c., but we make no change." 
 
 Qy. what does Mr. CoUier understand by "Although our 
 last, and least" ? 
 
 P. 637, — act i. sc. 4 
 
 " ' Fool. Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb. 
 Lear. Why, my boy ? 
 Fool. Why 1. For taking one's part that's,' <fec. 
 
 Why, my hoy ?] In the folio, this question is put into Lear's mouth : in 
 the 4tos, it is given to Kent, in the words ' Why, fool ?' " 
 
 Mr. Staunton, who prints here, 
 
 « Kent. Why, fool ?" 
 remarks, "This interrogatory, in the form of, 'Why, my 
 boy?' is given in the folio to Lear; but, as Mr. Dyce ob- 
 serves, it is plain that the Fool addresses the King for the 
 first time, when he says, ' How now, nuncle !' " 
 
 In the third of these speeches Mr. Collier adheres to the 
 faulty punctuation of the foHo, instead of " Why, for taking 
 one's part that's," &c. (See ante, p. 35.) 
 
 P. 665, — actii. sc. 4 
 
 " ' Thy tender-hearted nature,' &o. 
 o 
 
194 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 In our first edition we suggested, that ' tender-Aeaiec?' of the 4tos. and 
 ' tenAesc-hefted' of the folios, were mere misprints for 'tender-hearted:' 
 such is precisely the emendation made in the corr. fo. 1632, and such is 
 the change dehberately adopted by Mr. Singer ; who, however, does not 
 say one word regarding our proposal in ] 843, nor the alteration in the 
 corr. fo. 1632 announced in 1853. This therefore is an instance (unin- 
 tentional we would fain say) of a double misappropriation : Mr. Singer 
 authoritatively declares for ' ieoABx-hearted,' as if it were his own un- 
 aided discovery." 
 
 In " this instance of a double misappropriation" Mr. Col- 
 lier is mistaken^ — as he generally is in such charges : for here 
 at least Mr, S. stole neither from Mr. Colljer nor from the 
 Ms. Corrector; when he printed "tender-hearted/' he adopted 
 a lection whichj it was notorious, had been given by his pre- 
 decessors Rowe and Pope. 
 
 P. 666, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " To be a comrade with the wolf, and howl 
 Necessity's sharp pinch." 
 
 In his note on this passage Mr. Collier remarks ; 
 
 " There is a remarkable instance of the wrong insertion of the aspirate 
 in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Custom of the Country' (Dyce's edit. iv. 
 p. 410) where the old printer composed 'me high' for my eye, the blunder 
 having been repeated in every impression from 1647 to 1867." 
 
 The alteration made here in the text, "howl," and the 
 alteration proposed in the note, " my eye," — both equally 
 monstrous, — have been already touched on : see p. 6 of the 
 present volume. 
 
 P. 671, — act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 ' ' ' Albany and Cornwall ; 
 Who have (as who have not, that their great stars 
 Thron'd and set high ?) servants, who seem no less, 
 Which are to Prance the spies and spectators 
 Intelligent of our state,' &c. 
 
 Which are to France the spies and speotatobs] ' Spectators' is the word 
 substituted in the corr. fo. 1632 for speculations of the old copies. Spe- 
 culations cannot well on any account be right, while ' spectators' com- 
 pletes both meaning and metre : of course the emphasis in ' spectators' 
 must not here be placed on the second. syllable." 
 
VOL. v.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. igr, 
 
 As the Ms. Corrector most erroneously alters in Love's 
 Labour's lost, act v. so. 2, 
 
 "Arm, wenches, arm ! encounters mounted are 
 Against your peace," 
 to 
 
 "Arm, wenches, arm ! encounterers mounted are 
 Against your peace j" 
 
 in Richard 11., act ii. sc. 3^ 
 
 " To rouse his wrongs, and chase them to the bay,'' 
 to 
 
 " To rouse his wrongers, chase them to the bay ;" 
 
 (and yet in Antony and Cleopatra, act ii. sc, 2, 
 
 " And have my learning from some true reports 
 That drew their swords with you,'' 
 
 does not alter " reports" to " reporters"), — so here he most 
 erroneously substitutes "spectators" for "speculations;" and, 
 to make the matter more laughable, Mr. Collier seriously 
 tells us that the substituted word is to be pronounced " spec- 
 tators." 
 
 In all these four passages, by a usage not uncommon with 
 poets, the abstract is put for the concrete, — " encounters" for 
 "encounterers," "wrongs" for "wrongers," "reports" for 
 "reporters," and "speculations" for "speculators." 
 
 P. 690, — actiii. sc. 7. 
 
 " ' nor thy fierce sister 
 In his anointed flesh rash bearish fangs.' 
 
 RASH hoarish fangs^ Thus the 4tos : the folio poorly reads ' stick bearish 
 fangs.' Steevens observes, that to ' rash' is the old hunting term for 
 the stroke made by the wild boar with his fangs or tusks. In ' Richard 
 III.' Vol. iv. p. 282, we have this line : 
 
 ' He dreamt the boar had rased off his helm :' 
 
 ' Rased' is there to be taken for the same word as rashed; and in Spen- 
 ser's ' Fairy Queen,' B. v. c. 3, we find the expression ' rashing off helms.' 
 Other examples can hardly be required." 
 
 Steevens's explanation of ' rash,' and the passages of 
 Richard III. and the Fairy Queen, only make it quite evi- 
 dent how very injudiciously the reading, " rash boarish 
 
196 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. v. 
 
 fangs/' is preferred by Mr. Collier. " It is observable," 
 says GifFordj " with what accuracy Shakespeare has corrected 
 the old quarto of King Lear, which read, 
 
 ' nor thy fierce sister 
 In his anointed flesh rash boarish fangs,' 
 
 for which he has properly given, ' stick boarish fangs.' " Jon- 
 son's Works, ii. 153. 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 197 
 
 Vol. VI. 
 
 OTHELLO. 
 P. 23, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' And prays you to believe him.' 
 In oui- former impression we mentioned the suggestion of the Rev. Mr. 
 Barry that we should read ' And prays you to relieve him. ' Mr. Singer 
 adopts the change, as if it were his own," &o. 
 
 The " change" was proposed many many years ago : see 
 CapelFs Notes, &c., vol. ii. p. 139. 
 
 P. 40, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Dea. Alas ! she has no speech. 
 
 lago. In faith, too much ; 
 I find it still, when I have lust to sleep,' <fec. 
 
 when I have lust to sleep ;] i. e. When I have desire to sleep : ' lust ' is 
 from the corr. fo. 1632, but formerly we printed ' when I have leave 
 to sleep,' as it stands in the folio, 1623, the meaning of which the Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce professes not to understand : ' when I have leave to sleep' has 
 nothing to do with leve, lefe, or leif, as he strangely supposes, but merely 
 means 'when I have permission to sleep.' " 
 
 Misrepresentation again. My remark was ; " When Mr. 
 Collier adopted the reading of the folio, ' leave,' what mean- 
 ing did he attach to it ? did he suppose it to be only another 
 form of ' leve,' ' leef,' or ' lief,' (a word which, I apprehend, 
 was never used as a substantive) ? The reading of the quarto, 
 1622, 'list' (adopted by the other modern editors) is clearly 
 the true one." Remarks, &c., p. 237. — Mr. Collier would 
 have done more wisely if he had said nothing about his having 
 formerly printed " leave :" the explanation which he now 
 gives, " when I have permission to sleep," makes lago talk 
 sheer nonsense. 
 
 P. 46, — act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' If this poor brach of Venice, whom I trash 
 For his quick hunting,' &c. 
 If this poor DiiAon of Venice, whom I trash] So the corr. fo. 1632, and 
 
198 STEICTUKES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 so far it agrees with Warburton's suggestion to substitute ' brach' for 
 
 trash of the old copies nevertheless the Rev. Mr. Dyce is for 
 
 trash, instead of ' brach,' against, as we think, the most evident proba- 
 bility : see ' Remarks,' p. 237." 
 
 In 1843 Mr. Collier wrote thus : 
 
 " Warburton, with some plausibility, would alter * trash' to JracA .... 
 but, as we find ' trash' in two of the old copies (not printed from each 
 other), we may presume that it is to be taken to refer to the worthless- 
 ness of Roderigo." 
 
 Soj the reading " brach" whichj when he knew it only as 
 Warburton^s, was considered by Mr. Collier to have merely 
 '' some plausibility," is now unhesitatingly adopted by him, 
 against the authority of all the old copies, because he finds 
 it in "the corr. fo. 1632." But though Mr. Collier has so 
 remarkably changed his mind about " trash," I still beheve 
 it to be the true reading ; 
 
 " If this poor trash of Venice whom I trash,^' &c. 
 
 Steevens observes that, in act v. sc. 1, Bianca is called " this 
 trash ;" and that " it is scarce necessary to support the jingle 
 of the word trash by examples, it is so much in our author's 
 manner, although his worst." 
 
 P. 53, — act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' And passion, having my best judgment quelled. 
 Assays to lead the way.' 
 
 It is collied for ' quelled' in the folio, and eool'd in the 4tos. It has been 
 usual to take collied in the sense of llachened or darkened, but nobody 
 has rashly advocated the claims of eool'd. 'Quelled,' i.e. siihdued or 
 conquered, is precisely the word wanted, and we find it in the margin of 
 the corr. fo. 1632. In our former edition we conjectured that ' quelled' 
 might be the language of the poet ; and it is to be remarked that, if 
 short-hand were employed in obtaining the copy of ' Othello' for the 
 pubhsher, the very same letters which spell ' quelled' would also spell 
 collied and even eool'd. See ' Macbeth,' A. v. sc. 6, Vol. v. p. 457, where, 
 for the same reason, 'quail'd' has always been misprinted eool'd." 
 
 1. The verb " colly" (formerly very common) is used by 
 Shakespeare in Midsummer-Night's Dream, act i. sc. 1, 
 
 " Brief as the lightning in the collied night." 
 
 2. To quell (as Mr. Singer observes, Shakespeare Vindi- 
 
VOL. VI.] OF ME. COLLIEE'S SHAKESPEARE. 199 
 
 cated, &,c., p. 283) is never used by our poet in any other 
 sense than that of kUHng or exterminatiag. 
 
 3. Mr. Collier does not scruple to defend the lection 
 "quelled" by observing that "if short-hand were employed 
 in obtaining the copy of ' Othello' for the publisher, the very 
 same letters which spell 'quelled' would also spell collied:" 
 yet no one knows better than Mr. Collier that the Othello of 
 the folio, 1623, which has the reading " collied," was beyond 
 all doubt printed from a transcript belonging to the theatre, and 
 that in stage-copies of plays {whether intended for the use of 
 the prompter or of the actors) short-hand was never employed. 
 
 P. 68, — act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 " 'suspects, yet fondly loves.' 
 It is ' yet strongly loves' in both the 4tos, and ' soundly loves' in the 
 folio, 1623, though some modem editors assert that it is ' fondly loves.' 
 This is a mistake, yet there is little or no doubt that soundly was a mis- 
 print for 'fondly:' the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632 is 'fondly' for 
 soundly, and Mr. Singer's folio, 1632, fortunately has the same altera- 
 tion. We do not hesitate, therefore, to print ' fondly loves.' " 
 
 The two Ms. Correctors and Mr. Collier must have for- 
 gotten what Kiag Henry says to the Princess Katharine ; 
 
 " O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French 
 heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your 
 English tongue." KiTig Henry V., act v. sc. 2. 
 
 P. 108,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 "heaven me such uses send," &c. 
 
 The latter part of Mr. Collier's note on these words is ; 
 
 " In Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Knight of Malta' (Dyce's edit. v. 185) 
 there is a strange error in the old copies, which has been allowed to dis- 
 figure all subsequent impressions, where Montferrat addresses Zanthia 
 as ' Thou sinful usher,' when the correct i-eading must be, 'Thou sinful 
 issue.' ' Issue' was misheard usher, for there is not the slightest pretext 
 for calling the heroine an usher ; and how so many editors could have 
 passed over the nonsense is inexplicable." 
 
 The " many editors" of Beaumont and Fletcher left the 
 word "usher" unaltered, because they understood the speech 
 
200 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 in which it occurs (the speech of Gromeraj not of Montferrat, 
 
 as Mr. Collier calls it) ; — 
 
 "Ha! 
 Are you there too 1 nay, then, I spy a villany 
 I never dream'd of yet : thou sinful usher, 
 Bred from that rottenness, thou hawd to mischief, 
 Do you blush through all your blackness ? will not that hide it?" 
 
 From the context Mr. Collier might have learned that " usher" 
 was the genuine reading. 
 
 (In this passage Mr. W. N. Lettsom proposes an altera- 
 tion : " ' usher/ " he observes to me^ " is right ; but we should 
 read ' sin's foul usher/ sin being the rottenness spoken of im- 
 mediately afterwards.") 
 
 P. 117, — act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Des. But while I say one prayer. 
 
 0th. It is too late. \Ee stifles her. 
 
 Des. Oh Lord, Lord, Lord ! 
 
 EmU. [Within.'] My lord, my lord I what ho ! my lord, my 
 lord !' 
 
 Oh Lord, Lord, Lord!] These exclamations are only in the 4to, 1622." 
 
 In my Remarks on Mr. Collier's first edition of Shake- 
 speare, p. 243, I protested against the insertioji of " Oh Lord, 
 Lord, Lord," as having been most probably foisted into the 
 text by the players, — as disgustingly vulgar, instead of terri- 
 ble or pathetic, — and as being rendered not a little comic by 
 the words which immediately foUow ; 
 
 " My lord, my lord ! what ho ! my lord, my lord /" 
 
 But my protest against this insertion appears to have had 
 no other effect than to make Mr. Collier the more deter- 
 mined to retain it. 
 
 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 
 P. 134, — act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Perform't, or else we damn thee.' 
 The corr. fo. 1632 alters ' damn' to doom; and although ' damn' certainly 
 sounds rather coarsely in the mouth of Cleopatra, and would have done 
 so even in the time of Shakespeare," &c. &c, 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MR. COLLIERS SHAKESPEARE. 201 
 
 Mr. Collier's strange misconception of the meaning of 
 " damn" in this passage has been already noticed : see p. 15. 
 
 P. 137,— acti. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' If every of your wishes had a womb, 
 And fruitful every wish, a million.' 
 
 And PKuiTPUL every wish,'] So the corr. fo. 1632, instead oi foretell of the 
 old copies. Warburton's emendation was fertile; but we speak of a 
 fruitful womb, rather than of a fertile one. Besides, just below Char- 
 mian repeats the very word, and in nearly the same connexion," (fee. 
 
 Warburton's emendation has a far better claim to a place 
 in the text than the Ms. Corrector's, because "fertile" comes 
 so much nearer the ductus literarum of the corruption " fore- 
 tell" than "fruitful" does. That "just below Charmian 
 repeats the very word ['fruitful']," renders it the more ob- 
 jectionable here. 
 
 P. 145, — act i. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' And give true credence to his love, which stands 
 An honourable trial. ' 
 There can be no hesitation in adopting here the excellent emendation of 
 the corr. fo. 1632, viz. 'credence' for evidence: it suits both measure 
 and meaning admirably; but the folios have evidence, and that has 
 hitherto been the text, although it was necessary, for the sake of the 
 verse, to pronounce ' evidence' evidence. Cleopatra was not to give evi- 
 dence, but belief, to the affection of Anthony." 
 
 Mr. Siager {Shakespeare Vindicated, &c. p. 280) well 
 observes that " the occurrence of trial in the next line shows 
 that the old text is right." And compare ; 
 
 " Proceed no straiter 'gainst our uncle Gloster 
 Than from 1/rue evidence," &c. 
 
 Sec. Part of King Henry VI., act iii. sc. 2. 
 
 (" Give true evidence" is " Bear true witness :" but what is 
 " Give true credence" ?) 
 
 P. 148,— act i. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' And the ebb'd man ne'er lov'd, till ne'er worth love. 
 Comes lov'd by being lack'd.' 
 Comes liOv'D by being lack'd.'] The old reading is 'fear'd by being lack'd,' 
 
202 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 which must be wrong ; and we accept the emendation of the corr. fo. 
 1632 with confidence, not lessened by the Shakesperian alliteration thus 
 afiforded." 
 
 Warburton saw that " fear'd" of the old copies was a mis- 
 take for " dear'd" (i.e. endeared) : and yet Mr. Collier does 
 not even mention this certain emendation^ but adopts the 
 random one of the Ms. Corrector, " lov'd." 
 
 P. 151, — act i. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed, 
 
 Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke 
 Was beastly dumb'd by him.' 
 The change proposed [in the corr. fo. 1632], hoastfidly ioi 'beastly,' is 
 not to be admitted so readily, inasmuch as ' beastly' is perfectly intelli- 
 gible, although boastfidly (which may easily be pronounced in the time 
 of a dissyllable) seems to afford a much superior sense in reference to 
 the ' high and boastful neighs' of a war-horse. Still we make no altera- 
 tion, though we do not for a moment admit the applicability of the Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce's quotations, merely because they happen to contain the word 
 ' beastly.' He generally appears to fancy that a passage must be appo- 
 site, if he can but find in it the word in dispute, however differently 
 employed." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce is, no doubt, a mere ignoramus ac- 
 cording to Mr. Collier's showing : but let the reader judge 
 if the "quotations" in question are altogether "inapphca- 
 ble :"— 
 
 "Why did the Manuscript- corrector alter 'beastly' to 
 ' boastfully' (which I should have thought nobody could ' read 
 as a dissyllable,' had not Mr. Collier declared that it ' mwt 
 be read' as such) ? Merely because he happened not to per- 
 ceive the meaning which Shakespeare evidently intended 
 ' beastly' to convey, viz. in the manner of a beast — i. e. by 
 inarticulate sounds, which rendered vain all attempts at 
 speaking on the part of Alexas. (The adverb ' beastly' occurs 
 in 77*6 Taming of the Shrew, act iv. sc. 2, 
 
 ' Fie on her ! see, how heasUy she doth court him !' 
 and in Cymbeline, act v. sc. 3, 
 
 ' and will give you that 
 Like beasts, which you shun beastly.')." 
 
 Few Notes, &c., p. 152. 
 
VOL. VI.] OF ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 203 
 
 P. 158,— act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' your considerate stone.' 
 
 i.e. I will be as considerate as a stone. Johnson's notion that Enobar- 
 bus meant to call Antony a ' considerate stone,' , does not seem to us, 
 recollecting that the words were those of a rough free-spoken soldier, 
 such 'an absurdity' as it appeared to the Rev. Mr. Dyce ('Remarks,' 
 p. 246). In speaking of the note in our first edition, he ought to have 
 remembered two things, which he has entirely overlooked, viz. that we 
 gave the very text he supports, and that we ourselves said that no change 
 was needed," (fee. 
 
 Mr. Collier's mis-statements are marvellous. The "no- 
 tion that Enobarbus meant to call Antony 'a considerate 
 stone,' " never occurred to any critic except Mr. Collier him- 
 self, though he now speaks of it as " Johnson's notion." 
 
 The note of Johnson isj 
 "This line is passed by all the editors, as if they understood 
 it, and believed it universally intelligible. I cannot find in it 
 any very obvious, and hardly any possible meaning. I would 
 therefore read; 
 
 ' Go to then, you considerate ones' 
 You who dislike my frankness and temerity of speech, and 
 are so considerate and discreet, go to, do your own business." 
 
 Mr. Collier's note in his first edition is ; 
 
 " It may be a question, whether Enobarbus means to call Antony ' a 
 considerate stone,' or to say merely that he will be silent as a stone. If 
 the former, we must, with Johnson, change ' your' of the folios to you; 
 but the latter affords a clear meaning without any alteration of the an- 
 cient text." 
 
 On the immediately preceding note I observed ; 
 "Enobarbus call Antony a stone! he would as soon have 
 ventured to throw one at him. Johnson's proposed altera- 
 tion, of which Mr. Collier cites only a part, bad as it cer- 
 tainly was, did not involve such an absurdity." Remarks, &c., 
 
 p. 346. 
 
 I have thus distinctly proved that "the notion that Eno- 
 barbus meant to call Antony ' a considerate stone' " belongs 
 exclusively to Mr. Collier; for which proof, as he is now in- 
 clined to think rather favourably of that "notion," he will 
 surely thank me. 
 
204 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. ti. 
 
 P. 162,— act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' the silken tackle 
 Smell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, 
 That yarely frame the office. From the barge 
 A strange invisible perfume hits the sense 
 Of the adjacent wharfs.' 
 
 ' Smell' is swdl in the old copies ; but how was ' the silken tackle' to 
 swell ? The ' flower-soft hands' imparted a perfume to ' the silken 
 tackle,' and we are told just afterwards that the 'smell' reached even 
 ' the adjacent wharfs.' " < 
 
 The hands of Cleopatra's "gentlewomen" imparting a 
 perfume to the tackle, and so strong a perfume, too, that it 
 reached even the adjacent wharfs! Mr. Collier ought cer- 
 tainly to have accounted for so remarkable a circumstance 
 on physical grounds, and also to have shown (what may be 
 doubted) that, in Shakespeare's days, the verb " smell" was 
 ever followed by the preposition " with." 
 
 P. 169,— act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Cleo. Oh ! that his fault should make a knave of thee. 
 
 That art not. What! thou'rt sure of 't ? — Get thee hence,' &c. 
 
 Our punctuation of this disputed passage is that of Monk Mason ; and 
 we also adopt his emendation of 'oft' for of: the last is perhaps not 
 absolutely necessary, and we might carry our variation from the old 
 copies no farther than the pointing. In the folio, 1623, the passage 
 thus stands : — 
 
 ' Oh that his fault should make a knave of thee. 
 That art not what thou'rt sure of.' 
 
 This, it must be admitted, is far from intelligible. By the amended 
 -words, ' What ! thou'rt sure oft ?' Cleopatra intends to inquire of the 
 messenger once more, whether he is certain of the tidings he has 
 brought. The Rev. Mr. Dyce is in somewhat of a dilemma here ; he 
 complains (' Remarks,' p. 246) that nonsense is made of the passage by 
 not printing 'of oft in our first edition, and yet he 'strongly protests 
 against any deviation from the old editions'— just as if we had deviated: 
 we gave the very words and letters of the ' old editions.' " 
 
 The subterfuge to which Mr. Colher has recourse on the 
 present occasion is neither more nor less than disgraceful : — 
 
 " WE GAVE THE VEKY WOEDS AND LETTERS OF THE ' OLD EDI- 
 TIONS' !" Now, the reading bf the folio 1623 is ; 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MB. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 205 
 
 " Oh that his fault should make a knaue of thee, 
 That art not vrhat th'art [sec., third, and fourth folios 
 " thou art"] sure of." 
 
 and Mr. Collier in his first edition printed; 
 
 " ! that his fault should make a knave of thee, 
 That art not 1 What ! ihou'rt sure of T — 
 
 giving, it may be admitted, " the very words and letters of 
 the old editions," hut pointing the passage so as entirely to 
 alter its meaning. Hence my remark (p. 247) ; 
 
 " Monck Mason's punctuation, with the change of of to 
 ' oft,' afforded at least a sense : but Mr. Collier, by adopting 
 that punctuation without changing 'of to 'oft,' has made 
 the passage mere nonsense. I should strongly protest against 
 any deviation from the old eds. here. ' That art not what 
 thou'rt sure of may mean, 'That art not the evil tidings 
 of which thou givest me such assurance.' " 
 
 Does the reader agree with Mr. Collier that "the Rev. 
 Mr. Dyce is in somewhat of a dilemma here" ? 
 
 P. 187, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' When the best hint was given him, he not look't. 
 Or did it from his teeth.' 
 
 The folio, 1623, has ' he not look't,' i.e. he did not look so as to take 
 the hint ; or, if he looked, he praised Antony only from his teeth. We 
 were formerly of opinion that the passage was corrupt, and the oorr. fo. 
 1632 would have us read ' but look'd' for ' not look'd.' It is indisput- 
 able that but and ' not' were frequently confounded by old printers ; but 
 we doubt if there were any confusion here, for what Antony means to 
 say is apparent enough as the text stands : Caesar would not look to 
 avoid taking the least hint, or if he did look, and took the hint, his 
 praise was superficial and insincere. " 
 
 What could induce Mr. ColUer to adopt here, in his new 
 edition, the ridiculous reading of the folio, which admits of 
 nothing but a ridiculous explanation ? In his first edition he 
 rightly gave; 
 
 " Wlien the best hint was given him, he not tooMt, 
 Or did it from his teeth," — 
 the correction of Thirlby ; which now he does not even notice. 
 
206 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 P. 192, — act iii. sc. 6. 
 
 "'You are abus'd 
 Beyond the mark of thouglit ; and the high gods, 
 To do you justice, make them ministers 
 Of us and those that love you.' 
 make them ministers] Such is Malone's emendation : it is ' makes his 
 ministers' in the folio, 1623, and we were disposed formerly to retain his 
 upon the supposition that it might agree with justice. We now think 
 that Mr. Singer is warranted in the blame he imputes to us for so doing, 
 and we amend the text, although not exactly in his way. It seems not 
 impossible that originally ' gods' was in the singular, and in that case 
 makes and his would be correct." 
 
 The emendation " them" is Capell's : but the earlier one 
 is far better, viz. ; 
 
 " make their ministers , 
 Of us and those that love you." 
 
 P. 217, — act iv. sc. 6. 
 
 " ' there did persuade 
 Great Herod to incline himself to Csesar,' &c. 
 
 It is dissuade in all the old impressions, and Johnson was inclined to 
 think it right ; but there are two sufficient reasons for thinking it wrong : 
 one is the change of dissuade to ' persuade' in the corr. fo. 1632 ; and 
 the other the language of Plutarch in North's translation, 1579, when 
 speaking of Alexas — ' For where he should have kept Herodes , from 
 revolting from him [Antony], he perswaded him to tume to Csesar,' 
 p. 1004. In reference to this passage, the Rev. Mr. Dyce ('Remarks,' 
 p. 248), misspells the words, perhaps owing to his having copied them 
 at second hand.'' 
 
 In his first edition Mr. Collier printed ; 
 
 " there did dissuade 
 Great Herod to incline himself to Csesar," 
 
 with a note, " So aU the folios, and, as Johnson says, perhaps 
 rightly :" on which I remarked ; 
 
 " If the folios were forty instead of four, such a reading 
 could not be right : but (as Malone observes) the question 
 is at once settled by the old translation of Plutarch which 
 Shakespeare used for this tragedy, where we find, ' he per- 
 suaded him to tume to Csesar.' " 
 
 It appears,.therefore, that Mr. CoUier's charge of my hav- 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 207 
 
 ing " mis-spelled the words" of North's Plutarch, rests solely 
 on A SINGLE LETTER,— I wrote " persUaded" instead of "per- 
 sWaded," which happens to be the spelling in the old copy 
 used by Mr. Collier. 
 
 To what will not Mr. Collier stoop in his more than wo- 
 manish spitefulness ? 
 
 P. 229,— activ. sc. 12. 
 
 " ' {Falling on his sword.l — How ! not dead ? not dead ? — 
 The guard ! — how ? — Oh, dispatch me ! 
 
 Enter Dbrcbtas and Guard'. 
 1 Ouard. What's the noise ? 
 
 Ant. I have done my work iU, friends : oh ! make an end 
 Of what I have begun.' 
 
 Modern editors have usually printed ho ! ior ' how ?' of the fohos — ' The 
 guard, ho !' as if Antony had called it ; as Diomedes does, not long after- 
 wards, ' The guard, what ho ! ' and then it enters. ' How ?' in Antony's 
 mouth is equivalent to ' What shall I do ?' " 
 
 If Mr. Collier did not intend to make Ailtony " call the 
 guard," I should like to know what meaning he would have us 
 attach to " The guard !" The modern editors who " printed 
 ho for 'how' " were evidently right. (See ante, p. 67.) 
 
 P. 242,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' a grief that smites 
 My very heart at root.' 
 
 Suites [of the foUo 1623] is altered to ' smites' in the corr. fo. 1632. 
 We printed ' smites' in our first edition, and Mr. Singer adopts it from 
 thence, but without stating where he found it." 
 
 Mr. Singer found it in Capell's edition. 
 
 P. 244,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Ye gods I it smites me 
 Beneath the faU I have.' 
 Another instance of old misprinting, The for 'Ye,' owing to the mistake 
 of the abbreviation f: we derive the change from the corr. fo. 1632, 
 from whence, if Mr. Singer procured it, he observes silence upon the 
 point," <fec. 
 
208 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vr. 
 
 I 
 
 Mr. Singer was rash in borrowing " Ye gods" from the 
 Ms. Corrector; for the reading of the folio, "The gods/' is 
 undoubtedly the true one : compare ; 
 
 " O me, the gods /" Coriolanus, act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 " O the gods .'" Id., act iv. sc. 2. 
 
 " the gods I" Troilus and Gressida, act iy. sc. 2. 
 
 " O the gods /" Cymhelme, act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " the blest gods /" Kirt^ Lea/r, act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " the good gods I" Aniony amd Cleopatra, act v. sc. 2. 
 
 (In the following passage of Coriolanus, indeed, it is ne- 
 cessary to ^Iter the reading of the old copies, " The Roman 
 gods" to " Ye Roman gods," on account of the " you" in the 
 last line ; 
 
 " Ye Eoman gods, 
 Lead their successes as we wish our own, 
 That both our powers, with smiling fronts encountering. 
 May give you thankful sacrifice !" Act i. sc. 6.) 
 
 P. 350,— act V. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' What should I stay— 
 
 Char. In this wild world V 
 
 The epithet is ' wild' in all the early editions, and there is not the slight- 
 est pretext for altering it to the common-place phrase, 'In this vHe 
 world,' as has been done under the supposition that vile having been of 
 old often misprinted vilde (a form to which the Rev. Mr. Dyce strangely 
 adheres), it was in this place mistaken for ' wild.' Charmian might well 
 call the world ' wild,' desert, and savage, after the deaths of Antony, 
 Cleopatra, and' others whom she loved .... If any change were made, 
 we should prefer here wide to vile ; but in truth it is an offence against 
 all just rules of criticism to attempt an emendation where none is re- 
 quired. Rowe properly retained ' wild world. ' " 
 
 On the above note I have to remark : — 
 
 First, That I no longer "adhere" to the old spelling 
 vild: see my recent edition oi Shakespeare passim. 
 
 Secondly, That the passages in early books where vild 
 (i.e. vile) is misprinted wild, are so very numerous, that there 
 can be no doubt of the same error having been committed in 
 the present passage : we meet with the following examples in 
 the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher ; 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 209 
 
 " I will not lose a word 
 To this wild [read mZc^zzwYe] woman," &c. 
 
 The Maid's Tragedy, act iii. sc. 1. 
 
 " that now dares say 
 I am a stranger, not the same, more wild [read vild=ivile'\" &c. 
 The Faithful Shepherdess, act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 " To do these wild [so the first 4to, the later 4tos vild, folio 1679 
 vUe^ unmanly things." 
 
 The Scornful Lady, act iii. sc. 1 . 
 
 " Or am I of so wiM [read mld-=vile\ and low a blood," &c. 
 The Little French Lawyer, act iii. sc. 5. 
 
 Thirdly, that "vile world," whicli Mr. Collier terms a 
 " commonplace phrase,'' occurs in a passage of The Sec. Part 
 of King Henry VI., act v, sc 2, — a passage which (as it is 
 not found in The First Part of the Contention, &c.) we may 
 confidently ascribe to Shakespeare ; 
 
 " 0, let the VILE world end, 
 And the premised flames of the last day 
 Knit earth and heaven together !" 
 
 Fourthly, that "wide"— which, "if any change were made, 
 Mr. Collier would prefer to vile" — has no propriety here, not 
 being (what is obviously required) a vituperative epithet. 
 
 CYMBELINE. 
 
 p. 262, — act i. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' Hath oharg'd you should not speak together. [Fxit Queen. 
 
 Imo. Oh dissembling courtesy ! How fine this tyrant 
 Can tickle,' &c. 
 Oh dissembling courtesy/ /] The Rev. Mr. Dyce occupies nearly a page of 
 his 'Remarks' (p. 251) in showing that the interjection 'Oh' ought to 
 be placed in a Une by itself. AU we need say is, that in verse, often so 
 intentionally irregular as that of Shakespeare, we do not see the neces- 
 sity for it," 
 
 Since we possess the dramas of Shakespeare only as printed 
 from transcripts, in which Hberties of all sorts had been taken 
 with the text, - it is very doubtfol how far his verse is m- 
 
210 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 tentionally irregular;" and, surely, when a passage admits 
 of exact metrical arrangement, it is tlie duty of an editor to 
 adopt that arrangement. — Can Mr. Collier deny that the 
 present passage reads better when regulated thus ; 
 
 " Hath charg'd you should not speak together. [Exit, 
 
 Imo. 
 
 Dissembling courtesy ! How fine this tyrant 
 Can tickle/' &c. ? 
 
 P. 364,— act i. sc. 2. 
 
 "* Oh thou -vile on^!' 
 
 No doubt this is the correct reading ; but as, in the old copies, ' vile' is 
 here misspelt vilde, we almost wonder that the Rev. Mr. Dyce has not 
 contended that Cymbeline's exclamation (considering the conduct and 
 disposition of his daughter) ought to have been, ' Oh thou wild one. ' 
 The fact is, as we have before remarked, that the old misprinting of 
 ' vile' vilA, which the Rev. Mr. Dyce has endeavoured to re-introduce, has 
 been the source of much corruption in the language of our early drama- 
 tists. We have already seen that he has gone the length of arguing, on 
 account of the frequency of this old blunder, that ' wild world' (as the 
 text of ' Antony and Cleopatra' properly stands in nearly every edition 
 from 1623 down to the time of Malone) ought to be the poor and trite 
 expression, '■vile world :' see this Vol. p. 250." 
 
 Vide ante, p. 208. 
 
 P. 273,— act i. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Only, thus far you shall answer : if you make your voyage upon 
 her, and give me directly to understand you have prevaU'd, I am no far- 
 ther your enemy,' &c. 
 
 if you make yowr voyage upon her,] This is an instance where we de- 
 chne to alter the received and intelligible text, although the emendation 
 in the corr. fo. 1632 is extremely plausible : it is vauniage for 'voyage,' 
 in reference to the vaunt of lachimo, that he would ' convince' the hon- 
 our of Imogen. The text of the old annotator is, ' If you make good 
 your vauntage upon her,' and we formerly thought that it might be 
 adopted." 
 
 When the Ms. Corrector made his emendation here (alter- 
 ing one word and inserting another), and when Mr. Collier 
 (unwilling to reject it without saying something in its favour) 
 called it " extremely plausible," neither of tbem remembered 
 
vol.. VI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 211 
 
 the following passage, which proves beyond all doubt that the 
 old text in the present speech is what the author wrote ; 
 
 " If he should intend this voyage towards my wife, I would turn 
 her loose to him ; and what he gets more of her than sharp words, 
 let it lie on my head." 
 
 The Merry Wives o/Wmdsor, act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 P. 394,— act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' In these fear'd hopes, 
 I barely gratify your love ; they failing, 
 I must die much your debtor.' 
 In titese feab'd hopes,'] i. e. In these hopes which I fear may never be 
 realised. The passage has not been understood by those who, in modern 
 times, have printed ' sear'd hopes.' " 
 
 Mr. Collier's forced interpretation of "fear'd" might 
 almost have shown him that it was a mispriat for " sear'd" 
 (which I found proposed by Tyrwhitt in his copy of the 
 second folio now in the British Museum; and which has 
 been also given by Mr. Knight). The folio, in Measure for 
 Measure, act ii. sc. 4, has the same misprint, — "Growne 
 feard, and tedious." 
 
 P. 295,— act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 " and you shall hear 
 The legion, now in Gallia, sooner landed 
 In our not-fearing Britain, than have tidings 
 Of any penny tribute paid." 
 
 A passage in act iii. sc. 7, — 
 
 " And that the legions nmo in Gallia are," &c. — 
 distiuctly proves, as Malone observed, that here we ought to 
 print " The legions now in Gallia," &c. 
 
 P. 300, — actii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Like a full-acom'd boar, a foaming one,' to. 
 a POAMiNS one,] The old spelling is ' a larmen on,' which afterwards be- 
 came '&Jarmen on,' and has usually in modern times been printed 'a 
 German one,' as if no boar but 'a German one' would answer the pur- 
 pose. The 'fuU-acom'd boar' was 'foaming' in the' eagerness of his 
 
212 STRICTUKES ON SOME PASSAGES ' [vol. vi. 
 
 animal desire ; and the corr. fo. 1632 has ' a foaming one' for * a larmen 
 on,' which we adopt, instead of the unintelligible nonsense of the old 
 copies." 
 
 See p. 16 of the present volume. 
 
 P. 310,— actiii. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' in as like a figure,' ifec. 
 — in as like a PiGrRB,] The corr. fo. 1632 puts it 'in as like a viffowr,' 
 which seems on some accounts preferable, and vigour and ' figure' might 
 easily be confounded by the ear. Nevertheless, we leave the text un- 
 touched. . , . That mgowr might however be misheard, and misprinted, 
 'figure,' we find evidence in Beaumont and Fletcher's ' Four Plays in 
 One' — ' The Triumph of Death,' — ^where LavaU complains of his wife, of 
 whom he has become weary, and who can no longer excite his passions, 
 
 ' a face that feeds not with fresh vigours 
 
 Every fresh hour.' 
 
 Here the editor has allowed 'figures,' for vigours, to deform his text 
 (Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, Vol. ii. p. 537). Lavall wishes his 
 wife to feed his appetite with fresh vigov/rs, not with ' fresh figures :' 
 ' figures,' the Eev. Mr. Dyce must pardon us for saying, is nonsense." 
 
 The Ms. Corrector's substitution of " vigour" for " figure" 
 is impertinent enough ; but Mr. Collier's alteration of 
 " figures" to " vigours" (a face feeding with fresh vigourS, 
 &c. !), in the following passage of Beaumont and Matcher, is 
 a piece of extravagance for which I am at a loss to account, 
 except by supposing that^ in his eagerness to convict me of 
 error^ he was no longer capable of exercising his judgment ; 
 
 " How dull and leaden is my appetite 
 To that stale beauty now ! Oh, I could curse 
 And crucify myself for childish doting 
 Upon a face that feeds not with fresh ^^Mres 
 Every fresh hour ! she is now a surfeit to me." 
 
 P. 314, — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 '"Of princely followers,' &c. 
 Of princely followers,] i.e. Princely suitors : it absurdly stands 'princely 
 fellows' in the folios, but is properly amended in the corr. fo. 1632. The 
 old compositor hastily misread ' followers' feUowes, as it is spelt in the 
 folio, 1623." 
 
 See before, p. 16. 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 213 
 
 P. 314j — act iii. sc. 4. 
 
 " 'Pis. I'll crack mine eye-balls first. 
 
 I^no. Wherefore, then, 
 
 Didst undertake it ?' 
 
 I'll CRACK mine eye-balls first.l The old reading is wake for 'crack,' and 
 when ' cracke' was spelt, as then, with a final e, the mistake was easy. 
 Sir Thomas Hanmer read, 'I'll wake mine eye-balls blind first;' but 
 neither he, nor any of his successors, have informed us where the ex- 
 pression to 'wake eye-balls blind' is to be found. It is in truth without 
 precedent, whereas ' to crack the eye-balls' is a phrase perfectly natural, 
 and requires no addition of blinid or of any other word. Our text is that 
 of the oorr. fo. 1632, and we are confident that it is right," 
 
 " To crack the eye-string^' is a not uncommoii expression, 
 and, indeed, occurs in this very play, act i. sc. 4 ; 
 
 " Imo. I would have broke mine eye-strings, araclid them, but 
 To look upon him," &c. : 
 
 but who ever heard of " cracking the eyeballs," though Mr. 
 Collier calls it " a phrase perfectly natural" ? — Mr. Staunton, 
 note ad I., after observing that " Mr. Collier adopts the almost 
 ludicrous alteration suggested by his annotator," proceeds to 
 defend the old reading, "I'll wake mine eye-balls first," on 
 the strength of a passage in L/ust's Dominion (a play falsely 
 ascribed to Marlowe in the title-page) ; 
 
 " I'll still wake, 
 And waste these balls of sight by tossing them 
 In busy observations upon thee, 
 Sweet Opportunity," &c. 
 
 But I cannot think that, in the above passage, the verb 
 "wake" (after which Mr. Staunton throws out the comma) 
 governs "eyeballs," — the meaning I conceive to be, "Til 
 still keep myself awake, and waste these balls," &c. (So in 
 Spenser ; 
 
 " All night she watcht ; ne once adowne would lay 
 Her dainty limbs in her sad dreriment, 
 But praying still did wake, and waking did lament." 
 
 The Faerie Queene, b. i. c. xi. st. 32.) 
 
 Some word, therefore, such as "blind" seems to be required 
 after "eyeballs;" nor is the metre, which throughout this 
 scene is far from irregular, complete without it. 
 
214 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 P. 319, — act iii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' That will be given to the loud'et noise we make.' 
 loxtd'st noise] So the corr. fo. 1632 instead of ' loud of noise' of the old 
 impressions. Mr. Singer silently appropriates this emendation, while 
 the Rev. Mr. Dyoe, with unusual want of ear and taste, would read ' to 
 the loud' St o/ noise.' ' Remarks,' p. 266." 
 
 Mr. Singer might have found in Theobald's Shakespeare 
 (and, — for all I know, or care to inquire at present, — in other 
 eds.) the reading which Mr. Collier considers as the sole pro- 
 perty of his Ms. Corrector. — What Mr. Collier says here of 
 myself is said with his accustomed disingenuousness : he would 
 make it appear that "loud'st o/ noise" is a conjectural read- 
 ing of mine, — while, in fact, it is the reading of the Variorum 
 Shakespeare, and of sundry other eds. down to that of Mr. 
 Staunton inclusive ! ^ 
 
 Mr. Collier in his-former edition having chosen to print, 
 " That will be given to the loud noise we make," 
 
 I remarked ; " The passage, when thus mutilated by Mr. 
 Collier, does not afford the meaning which the poet certainly 
 intended, viz. that the very loudest noise which they could 
 make drew forth no answer. The text of the folio, ' the loud 
 of noise,' is manifestly a misprint for ' the loud'st of noise.' " 
 
 P. 333, — act iii. sc. 6. 
 
 " ' Imo. I see, a man's life is a tedious one : 
 
 I have 'tir'd myself, and for two nights together 
 
 Have made the ground my bed,' &c. 
 I have 'tib'd myself^ i.e. Attired myself: this emendation is from the 
 corr. fo. 1632^ and Mr. Singer employs it, mentioning that ' Mr. CoUier's 
 folio would substitute attired.' This is a mistake — of course uninten- 
 tional — attired would not suit the verse, and the real recommendation 
 is what Mr. Singer adopts, viz. ' 'tir'd. ' We have still some doubt whe- 
 ther the meaning of Imogen be, that she has dressed herself like a boy, 
 or that she has wearied herself: in the first line she says that 'a man's 
 life is a tedious one,' and in the next she may reasonably follow it up 
 by stating that she had tired herself. " 
 
 This " emendation" certainly does not make Imogen say, 
 as Mr. Collier supposes, that " she has dressed herself like a 
 boy :" — it makes her say that " instead of walking about in 
 puris naturalibus, she has put on some clothes." 
 
VOI..TI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 215 
 
 P. 327, — act iii. sc. 7. 
 
 " ' he commends 
 His absolute commission. ' 
 
 ' Commends' has been misprinted commands in every edition, ancient 
 and modern, that has come under our eyes. Mr. Singer was the first to 
 alter commands to ' commends' in 1856 ; but three years earlier (as Mr. 
 Singer must have been aware) it had appeared iu our 'Notes and Emen- 
 dations,' p. 522, derived from the corr. fo. 1632. Nevertheless, although 
 in so many places Mr. Singer has availed himself of our corr. fo. 1632, 
 and has now and then mentioned it (especially if he could impute error 
 to it), he has here, as often previously, maintained strict silence as to 
 the source of the textual improvement, which, we may be sure, he only 
 accepted on the hardest compulsion of inevitable fitness. ' 
 
 If Mr. Collier, as is probable, bas bitberto prided bimself 
 on baving given sucb "edge and smartness" to tbe above in- 
 vective, be will regard it witb a very different feeling wben be 
 learns tbat Theobald (at tbe suggestion of Warburton) printed 
 " commends." 
 
 P. 328, — act iv. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' yet this imperseverant thing loves him in my despite.' 
 
 In our former edition we expressly said that 'imperseverant' might be 
 taken in the sense oiimperceptive, i.e. not perceiving. The Rev. Mr. 
 Dyce, in his ' Remarks,' p. 258, takes up the same notion, and adds that 
 'the right reading, according to modern orthography, is undoubtedly 
 ' this imperceiverant thing :' he also gives an instance of the use of the 
 word perseverance, which he prints ' perceiverance,' in 'The Widow,' 
 A. iii. EC. 2, both in Middleton's Works, iii. 318, and in Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's Works, iv. 341. If there be such a word as perseverance or 
 perceiverance, it is easy to see how 'imperseverant' in our text was 
 formed : we adhere to the old spelling here, on account merely of the 
 peculiarity of the term ; and it must be allowed that for Cloten to call 
 Imogen, who cannot see his merits, an unperceiving thing is a very na- 
 tural epithet. It is very clear, however, that the old annotator on the 
 folio, 1632, was not aware of such a meaning for 'imperseverant,' and in 
 his margin recorded what, he considered, the poet meant to write, and 
 what perhaps the corrector had been in the habit of hearing recited, 
 viz. perverse, errant, in reference to the obstinacy of Imogen, and to the 
 wandering life to which she had taken. When we prepared our Vol. of 
 ' Notes and Emendations' in 1853, we did not do justice to our own spe- 
 culation ten years before, that ' imperseverant' might be taken in the 
 sense of imperceptive or ' vmperceiving.' We therefore leave the old text 
 unaltered, even as to the spelling, but mention the change in the corr. 
 
216 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 fo. 1632 as a happy emendation on the part of a man, who did not know 
 of the existence of such a word as ' imperseverant.' " 
 
 A rambling, unsatisfactory note ; — in which it is not a 
 little strange to find Mr. Collier writing, ''If there be such 
 a word as perseverance or perceiverance ;" for the pass- 
 age which, as he mentions, I cited from The Widow in my 
 Remarks, &c., was alone sufficient to establish its existence; 
 and more recently, in Notes and Queries, vol. vii. p. 400, Mr. 
 Arrowsmith (after observing that " the noun substantive per- 
 severance = ' discernment' is as common a word as any of the 
 like length in the English language") has adduced numerous 
 instances of it, with various spelling, from different authors. 
 The same gentleman {ibid.) also refers to a stanza in Hawes's 
 Pastime of Pleasure (p. 43, Percy Soc. ed.), where both^er- 
 ceyveraunce ani perceyveraunt occur; 
 
 " To understandyng these iii. accident : 
 Doctryne, perceyveraunce, and exercyse, 
 And also therto is equypolent 
 Evermore the perfyt practyse, 
 For fyrst doctryne in all goodly wyse 
 The perceyveraunt trowthe in hys bote of wyll 
 In understandyng for to knowe good from yll." 
 
 There cannot, therefore, be a shadow of doubt that in the 
 above passage of Cymbeline the true reading is " this imper- 
 ceiverant [i.e. unperceiving, undiscerning] thing;" though a 
 second instance of the word used in the same sense remaias 
 yet to be discovered.* 
 
 Among the emendations of the Ms. Corrector there is 
 hardly one more remarkable than "this perverse, errant 
 thing," — combining, as it does, the most exquisite ingenuity 
 with the most ignorant blundering. 
 
 P. 330,— act iv. sc. 3. 
 
 " ' the bier at door,' <fec. 
 
 * Mr. Arrowsmith (whi supra) cites from Bishop Andrewes's Sermon 
 preached before Queen Elizabeth at Hampton Court, 1594, the following 
 passage ; " For the Sodomites are an example of impenitent wilful sinners ; 
 and Lot's wife of imperseverant and relapsing righteous persons :" but An- 
 drewes uses " imperseverant" in the sense of not persevering, vnenduring. 
 
vol.. Ti.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 217 
 
 The use of the word 'bier' reminds us of a very noticeable misprint, 
 which has hitherto set at defiance all commentators, in Fletcher's ' Valen- 
 tinian,' A. ii. sc. 3 (Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, v. 238), where Pon- 
 tius, a veteran captain, is contrasting the condition of soldiers during 
 peace, with the rewards of flatterers, who, like daws and starlings, cry 
 'Ave Caesar !' and obtain a thousand drachmas ; and he adds of old sol- 
 diers, 
 
 ' For thus we get but years and beets.' 
 
 ' For thus' ought to be, 'for this:'' but, passing over that error, what is 
 to be understood by beets, as it stands in the old copies ? Weber says 
 that heats is the true orthography, and that it means ' blows,' which the 
 Rev. Mr. Dyce (strange to say) pronounces in favour of. Where, in 
 English, is leats used for ' blows' 1 It would not, we are persuaded, be 
 possible to point out an instance ; and what the veteran captain means 
 is, that while flatterers are rewarded, soldiers are allowed to grow old 
 and die in beggary : — 
 
 ' For this we get but years and biers' 
 
 ' Biers' might be written leers in the old MS., and every editor knows 
 that r and t were most frequently confounded by printers." 
 
 , The concluding portion of Pontius's speech in Valentinian 
 
 is; 
 
 " 'Tis likely too I counsell'd 'em to turn 
 Their warlike pikes to ploughshares, their sure targets, 
 And swords hatch'd with the blood of many nations, 
 To spades and pruning-knives (for those get money), 
 Their warlike eagles into daws or starlings. 
 To give an Ave, Gcesar, as he passes, 
 And be rewarded with a thousand drachmas ; 
 For thus we get but years and beats." 
 
 1. When Mr. Collier speaks of "flatterers, who, Uke daws 
 and starlings, cry ' Ave Csesar \' and obtain a thousand 
 drachmas/' he entirely misses the poet's meaning, which 
 plainly is, that " the reward of a thousand drachmas was for 
 teaching daws and starlings to say ' Ave, Casar !' " 
 
 2. " Thus" is not necessarily wrong; it may refer to the 
 condition of the soldiers described in the earliest part of this 
 long speech. 
 
 3. A learned friend observes to me : " Mr. Collier's con- 
 jecture 'biers' is ingenious, but not, I think, in Fletcher's 
 way ; and certainly I see no more impropriety in using ' beats' 
 iox heatings, than. ' entreats' for entreaties, i.e. entreatings." 
 
218 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 Djcyden has ; 
 
 " One portion of informing fire was given 
 To brutes, the inferior family of heaven : 
 The smith divine, as with a careless beat. 
 Struck out the mute creation at a heat," &c. 
 
 The Hind and the Pa/nther, v. 251. 
 
 P. 346, — act iv. sc. 4. 
 
 ' ' ' yourself, 
 So out of thought, and thereto so o'ergrown, 
 Cannot be question'd.' 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce would poorly limit the meaning of ' o'ergrown ' to 
 the beard of Belarius ; and he laughs at Steevens for quoting Spenser 
 in some lines where ' o'ergrown with old decay ' occurs. Such unques- 
 tionably was the meaning of ' o'ergrown ' in this passage in ' Cymbeline,' 
 the ' white beajd' of Belarius being only a small part of the change pro- 
 duced in him by age. No reference could well be more apposite than 
 that of Steevens ; and we cannot but smile when we find Mr. Dyce, 
 with surprising simplicity, complaining of commentators, who fancy that 
 quotations are illustrative, merely because they contain a particular 
 word in the text (' Remarks,' p. 259)." 
 
 It is plain ttat Mr. Collier knows the passage in Spenser 
 only from the note of Steevens, — who (cunning dog, as he 
 always showed himself!) purposely gave it thus mutUatedj 
 
 "o'ergrown with old decay, 
 And hid in darkness, that none could behold 
 The hue thereof." 
 
 Entire, it runs as follows ; 
 
 " Both roofe, and floore, and walls, were all of gold, 
 But overgrowne with dust and old decay. 
 And hid in darknes, that none could behold 
 The hew thereof ; for vew of cherefuU day 
 Did never in that house itselfe display," &c. 
 
 Tlie Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. vii. st. 29. 
 
 and if Mr. Collier still imagiues that Spenser's description 
 of THE CAVE OF Mammon, " overgvown with dust and old 
 decay" (i.e. covered with dust and mouldiness — pulvere et 
 situ), illustrates the word " o'ergrown" as applied by Shake- 
 speare to Belarius, he is welcome to his opinion for me, and 
 
VOL. VI.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 219 
 
 may continue to "smile at my surprising simplicity" in 
 thinking that the quotation is altogether inapposite, and that 
 Steevens, with equal propriety, might have cited, from st. 4 
 of the same book and canto, 
 
 " His yron cote, all overgrovme with rust. 
 Was underneath enveloped with gold," &c. 
 
 P. 353,— act V. sc. 4. 
 
 " ' So, graze as you find pasture.' 
 
 To ' graze ' and grass have clearly the same etymology, A. S. graes, but 
 they are not the same word ; and the Rev. Mr. Dyce has confounded 
 them in a passage in Webster's 'White Devil' (Works, i. 126), where 
 Cornelia is made to say of one of her sons, who has been killed, 
 
 ' One arrow's graz'd already. ' 
 This does not mean that ' one arrow ' has only ' graz'd,' because the con- 
 trary is the fact ; but it is a figure from archery, where ' to grass an 
 arrow ' is technical for losing it in the grass : Cornelia has lost one son, 
 and, anxious to save the life of the other, she adds, 
 
 ' it were vain 
 T'lose this for that will ne'er be found again.' 
 
 The whole passage must indisputably be read as follows : — 
 
 ' One arrow's grass'd already : it were vain 
 T' lose this for that wUl ne'er be found again.' 
 
 It is clearly no fault of the Rev. Mr. Dyce, that he is not an archer." 
 
 Some years before my edition of Webster's Works was 
 published, Mr. Collier (see, ante, pp. 13, 165) edited The White 
 Devil, in the sixth volume of Dodsley's Old Plays, with occa- 
 sional annotations, to which he appended the letter C. : and 
 at p. 298 of that volume he has printed, 
 
 " One arrow's graz'd already," 
 following the spelling of the early copies,— the very error with 
 which he now reproaches me in a note written for the express 
 purpose of pointing it out. 
 
 I do not understand Mr. Collier when he says, "It is 
 clearly no fault of the Rev. Mr. Dyce, that he is not an 
 archer :"— perhaps we are to conclude that Mr. Collier him- 
 self has taken to archery in the evening of his days ; and 
 indeed his recent edition of Shakespeare contains not a few 
 
220 STBICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [tol. vi. 
 
 things which would seem to show that he has acqviired consi- 
 derable skill in what Ascham particularly recommends to "all 
 the gentlemen and yeomen of England," viz. " the shooting 
 in the long bow." 
 
 PERICLES. 
 P. 389,— act i. sc. 1. 
 
 " ' Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, 
 
 With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd ; 
 For death-like dragons here aflfright thee hard : 
 Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view 
 Her countless glory, which desert must gain ; 
 And which, without desert, because thine eye 
 Presumes to reach, all thy whole head must die.' 
 HEAD must die.] Commentators have been sorely puzzled by the word 
 heap, as it stands in the early impressions : it is merely a misprint for 
 'head,' by the accidental turning of the last letter in heap: the anti- 
 thesis is between 'eye' and 'head,' and Antiochus immediately after- 
 wards refers to the 'heads' of 'yond' sometime famous princes.' On 
 the next page but one Pericles says, ' Then, give my tongue like leave to 
 save my head.' " 
 
 1. I know not Mr. Collier's authority for asserting that 
 the "commentators have been sorely puzzled by the word 
 heap," — I believe they never questioned it : the only note on 
 the passage in the Variorum Shakespeare is the following one 
 by Malone : " all thy whole heap must die,] i. e. thy whole 
 mass must be destroyed. There seems to have been an oppo- 
 sition intended. ' Thy whole heap,' thy body, must suffer for 
 the offence of a part, thine eye. The word bulk, like heap ia 
 the present passage, was used for body by Shakespeare and 
 his contemporaries." 
 
 2. Does Mr. Collier see nothing extraordinary ia a " head 
 dying"? 
 
 3. The reply of Pericles to the above speech opposes Mr. 
 Collier's alteration ; 
 
 '* Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught 
 My frail mortality to know itself. 
 And by those fearful objects to prepare 
 This body, like to them, to what I must," &c. 
 
VOL. VI.] OE- ME. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 221 
 
 P. 411, — act ii. sc. 2. 
 
 " ' And spite of all the rapture of the sea, 
 This jewel holds his biding on my arm.' 
 In the old copies these two lines run thus : — 
 
 ' And spite of all the rupture of the sea, 
 This jewel holds his building on my arm.' 
 . . . Sewel recommended ' rapture' for rupture, and Malone substituted 
 'biding' for huilding. The Rev. Mr. Dyce (' Remarks/ p. 262) would 
 retain huiMing, as if a jewel could ever be said to be luilt upon an arm. 
 He often challenges the production of any corresponding phrase, and we 
 here follow his example : let him show us, in prose or in poetry, any 
 parallel passage; whereas huilding for 'biding' was an easy misprint. 
 How many marks of admiration would he not have appended to a rival 
 editor's suggestion for altering 'biding' to building ?" 
 
 I repeat, that I think the alteration, made here by Malone, 
 a most unnecessary one, and that "his building on my arm" 
 is equivalent to "his fixture on my arm." (Mr. Staunton 
 agrees with me ; for he retains " building" without even men- 
 tioning that it has been changed to " biding .") 
 
 In reference to the not very wise remark with which Mr, 
 Collier concludes the above note, I have to say, that, if 
 "biding" had been the reading of the old copies, I should 
 have considered any attempt to alter it as reprehensible. 
 
 P. 418, — act ii. sc. 4. 
 
 "For which the most high gods, not minding longer 
 To withhold the vengeance that they had in store, 
 Due to this heinous capital offence, 
 Even in the height and pride of all his glory, ^ 
 When he was seated, and his daughter with him. 
 In a chariot of inestimable value, 
 A fire from heaven came," &c. 
 Has not Mr. Collier silently adopted here the modem 
 alteration of the passage? At least, in aU the old copies 
 which I have seen it stands thus ; 
 
 ****** 
 Even in the height and pride of all his glory, 
 When he was seated wi a cha/mt 
 Of cm vr^slimahh value, cmd kis da^hter mth him, 
 A fire from heaven came," &c. 
 
222 STRICTUEES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 and has not Mr. Collier elsewhere in this play given other 
 similar modern refictions, without informing the reader? e.g. 
 in act iv. sc. 6^ p. 455 ; 
 
 " Thou'rt the damn'd door-keeper to every eoystrel 
 
 That hither comes inquiring for his Tib ; 
 
 To the cholerick fisting of each rogue thy ear 
 
 Is liable," &c. ; — 
 
 instead of which I find in the original editions ; 
 
 " Thou art the damnSd doorkeeper to every 
 Coistrel that comes inquiring for his Tib ; 
 To the choleric fisting of every rogue 
 Thy ear is liable," &c. 
 
 P. 433,— act ii. sc. 5. 
 
 " ' Even as my life, or blood that fosters it.' 
 
 So the folio, 1664, as well as the 4to, 1619 : the earlier editions have my 
 for ' or.' The meaning, says the Rev. Mr. Dyce, is ' even as my life, or 
 as my blood that fosters my life :' it would, we apprehend, be difficult to 
 make any other meaning out of it ; and we only give the explanation as 
 a sample of the manner in which time and words are sometimes wasted 
 upon what, in fact, requires no elucidation. We formerly printed ' my 
 blood' from the 4to, 1609, but the meaning was not thereby in any 
 respect altered : or was to be understood." 
 
 Another, and a very striking, specimen of Mr. Colher's 
 shameful dishonesty as a literary adversary. 
 
 Mr. Collier in his first edition having printed (ridiculously 
 enough), 
 
 " Even as my life, my blood that fosters it," 
 
 I observed; 
 
 " Read, by all means, with the quarto of 1619 ; 
 ' Even as my life, or blood that fosters it,' — 
 which Mr. Knight gives, and rightly explains, ' Even as my life, 
 or as my blood that fosters my life.^ " Remarks, &c., p. 264. 
 
 P. 424, — act iii.. Induction. 
 
 " ' And crickets sing at the oven's mouth, 
 Are the blither for their drouth.' 
 i. e. ' And crickets tJMi sing,' (fee. We wonder that the R«v. Mr. Dyce 
 
VOL. VI.] OP MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 223 
 
 should not have been aware of this frequent ellipsis : he proposes a most 
 needless emendation, ' H'er the bUther/ <fec. ' Sing' was, perhaps, foisted 
 into the preceding line." 
 
 Boswell, too, had a fancy about an ellipsis ia this passage ; 
 —he says that "Are the blither" is equivalent to " Which axe 
 the blither :" but it is plain that no ellipsis was intended by 
 the poet. — In my recent edition of Shakespeare I have given, 
 "And crickets sing at the oven's mouth, 
 Aye the blither for their drouth," — 
 •which is, beyond all doubt, the genuine text. 
 
 (" ' Ayet the blither for their drouth.' 
 t " Old copies. Are ; corrected by Mr. Dyce." 
 
 Mr. Staunton's ed.) 
 
 P. 436j — act iv.. Induction. 
 
 " ' a wench full grown, 
 Even ripe for marriage rite,' &o. 
 We substitute ' rite ' for sight of the early impressions : we formerly pre- 
 served dght, on the ground that to say, that she was ' ripe for the sight of 
 marriage' was very intelligible, though the Rev. Mr. Dyce does ' not 
 exactly understand it. ' " 
 
 If the reading "Even ripe for marriage sight" be still 
 " very intelligible" to Mr. CoUier, — which he certainly insin- 
 uates by his observation that " the Rev. Mr. Dyce does ' not 
 exactly understand it,' " — why has he not admitted it into 
 his new edition ? The fact is, he now feels the truth of my 
 remark, that "to no writer of prose or verse would it ever 
 have occurred to say that a maid was ' ripe for marriage sight,' 
 i. e. for the sight of marriage." 
 
 P. 460, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " And so afflict our province." 
 
 In his note on this passage Mr. Collier observes that 
 
 "in 'No Wit, no Help like a Woman's' (Dyce's Middleton, Vol. v. p. 
 97), he [the Rev. Mr. Dyce] most unaccountably prints ' fection' (which 
 he pleases to construe affection, although the word was never before so 
 spelt or printed) iov fiction, elaborately defending the absurdity, we must 
 call it, in a note. Mr. Dyce ought, therefore, to be a most forbearing, 
 instead of a most eager censurer of the lapses of other people." 
 
224 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 Noj no J " the absurdity" lies, not in my having printed 
 "'fection" but in Mr. Collier's confidently asserting that it 
 should be altered to "fiction." The passage of Middleton 
 stands in my edition thus ; 
 
 " L. Twi. Here, take her then, and set thine arms a-work j 
 There needs no 'faction, 'tis indeed thy sister." 
 
 and the note on it is ; 
 
 '"fection] So old ed. — a contraction of affection — i.e. 
 affectation," 
 
 Win any body, except Mr. Collier, doubt that the " 'fac- 
 tion" of the old copy was intended for the abbreviation of 
 " affection" ? and Mr. Collier has himself observed (vol. v. 
 p. 534) that " ' affection' was used by Shakespeare and other 
 vn-iters for 'affectation.'" The meaning, of the passage is; 
 "Here, take her then, and embrace her heartily; and you 
 may do so with unaffected warmth, for she is indeed thy 
 sister." 
 
 P. 464, — act V. sc. 1. 
 
 " Per. But are you flesh and blood ? 
 
 Have you a working pulse ? and are no fairy 
 Motion 1 — Well ; speak on : when were you bom," &o. 
 
 Mr. Collier's punctuation shows that he has no idea what 
 the poet meant here. 
 
 The passage, I may venture to say, was never given rightly 
 till it assumed the following shape in my edition of Shake- 
 speare ; 
 
 " Per. But are you flesh and blood ? 
 
 Have you a working pulse ? and are no fairy ? 
 Motion ! — Well ; speak on," &c., — 
 
 " Motion !" being the exclamation of Pericles, when he has 
 found, by her "working pulse," that Marina is really "flesh 
 and blood," and " no fairy." 
 
 (Mr. Staunton deviates fi-om my punctuation only in put- 
 ting an interrogation-point after " Motion.") 
 
VOL. VI.] OF ME. COLLIEE'S SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 225 
 
 THE POEMS OF SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 In his notes on these Poems Mr. Collier never loses an 
 opportunity of pointing out the imperfections in the edition 
 of them which forms a portion of the Aldine Poets, and which 
 was edited hy me in 1833; though, I believe, Mr. Collier is 
 well aware that it pretended to he little more than a revision 
 of Malone's text. I undertook it to serve the publisher in 
 an emergency j and was not allowed time to collate the old 
 copies. 
 
 VENUS AND ADONIS. 
 
 P. 514. 
 
 " ' She vail'd her eye-lids,' &c. 
 So in Marlowe's ' Hero and Leander,' Sest. I. : 
 
 ' Vailing her eye-lids close.' 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Dyce must have entirely forgotten this expression in 
 ' Venus and Adonis' when he printed his note upon the similar poetical 
 phrase in Marlowe. It does not mean ' veiling her eye-lids close,' as if 
 she covered them with a veil, but lowering her eye-lids entirely down, 
 or shutting them ' close.' When, too, he prints ' Vail'd to the ground,' 
 in the preceding part of the same Une, he could not have remembered 
 how often old compositors absurdly repeated a word, because they saw 
 it in another part of the same line. (Dyce's Marlowe, iii. p. 11.) We 
 must inevitably read with modern editors, 
 
 ' Kned'd to the ground, vailing her eye-lids close.'" 
 
 1. That I was wrong in printing "veiling her eyelids 
 close," is certain : — the line ought to stand; 
 
 "Vail'd to the ground, vailing her eyelids close." 
 
 2. That Mr. Collier is wrong in defending the modern 
 alteration " Kneel' d to the ground" is equaUy certain : and I 
 the more wonder that he should defend it, because I cited 
 ad I., as parallel to the original reading; 
 
226 STRICTURES ON SOME PASSAGES [vol. vi. 
 
 " His jollity is down, vail'd to the groumd, sir.'' 
 
 Fletcher's Wife for a Month, act iii. sc. 3. 
 
 and also adduced from Marlowe himself two other examples 
 of that jingle which he, like the poets of his day, regarded as 
 a beauty ; 
 
 " For Hell and Darkness pitch their pitchy tents." 
 
 Sec. Paa-t of Tamnhwrlwme, 
 " Bo fa/r'd fodr Hero in th' ezpugned fort," &c. 
 
 Hero cmd Leomder. 
 
 LUCRECE. 
 P. 551. 
 
 " ' And let thy musty vapours march so thick,' &c. 
 Modem editors (including the Rev. Mr. Dyce), following the later im- 
 pressions, have, with Malone, printed ' musty' misty : the context shows 
 that 'musty,' the word in aU the copies of the edition of 1594, is right : 
 in the previous part of the stanza we have had 'rotten damps,' and 'un- 
 wholesome airs,' and 'musty vapours' is quite consistent with them. 
 ' Misty vapours' is mere tautology, since vapours are necessarily misty." 
 
 Here Mr. Collier was rather hasty in determining that 
 " ' Misty vapours' is mere tautology, since vapours are neces- 
 sarily misty :" — he forgot that somewhat earlier in the same 
 volume, Venus and Adonis, p. 491, he had printed, without 
 objecting to its " tautology," 
 
 "His lowering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight, 
 Like MISTY VAPOURS when they blot the sky," &c. 
 (Malone's note on the present line is j " The quarto, by an 
 evident error of the press, reads — musty. The subsequent 
 copies have — misty. So, before ; 
 
 ' Muster thy mists to meet the eastern light.' 
 Again ; 
 
 ' viisty night 
 
 Covers the shame that follows such delight.' ") 
 
 P. 579. 
 
 " ' a watery rigol goes,' &c. 
 
 A ' rigol' is a circle. See Vol. iii. p. 606 : 
 
 ' That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd 
 So many English kings.' 
 
VOL. VI.] OF MR. COLLIER'S SHAKESPEARE. 227 
 
 In a note upon this passage it is conjectured that the true word may 
 have heen ringol, or ringle ; and that 'rigol-eyed' means roMW,rf-eyed, 
 and not wriggle-eyei' as explained by the Rev. A. Dyce in Middleton's 
 Works, V. p. 536." 
 
 On Mr. Collier's mistake about the old spelling "rigle- 
 eyde" (whicli he here metamorphoses into " rigol-ejei") see 
 ante, p. 119. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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