(Qorttell Jttuuetstty library 3tl;ara, Ncm fork FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY PR2806.E52 ne " UniVere ' ,yLlbrary A \mmmm^,iSS' eby - cont aining note 3 1924 013 137 124 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013137124 A LETTER TO C. M. INGLEBY, ESQ, M. A., LL. D., V. P. R. S. L. CONTAINING NOTES AND CONJECTURAL EMENDATIONS ON SHAKESPEARE'S 'CYMBELINE.' BY KARL ELZE, PH. D., LL. D., HON. M. R. S. L., PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH PHILOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF HALLE. We have known together at Valentines. Cymb. I, 4, 36. HALLE: MAX NIEMEYER. 1885. 3 £6 Reprinted from Prof. Walker's 'Anglia', Vol VJ11. Dear Ingleby! When, in Oetober last, at the beginning of our winter- term, I entered upon a course of lectures on Shakespeare's 'Cymbeline', I was surprised by the unexpected news that you were engaged in preparing a new edition of this most attractive, though at the same time most thorny play. You will easily be- lieve that under these circumstances my thoughts turned to you whenever I was beset by one of the numerous difficulties both critical and exegetical with which this play abounds. It was but natural that I should have wished to talk such passages over with you in your genial study at Valentines and thus to clear away viribus unitis some of those cruces interpretum. This privilege, however, was denied me and a continued correspon- dence on the subject of our studies would have been too heavy a tax not only on your time, but also on mine. The next best thing, therefore, I can do is, to lay before you in print all those notes and conjectural emendations that have occurred to me. As your edition has been unavoidably postponed they may still prove serviceable to you in the revision and explana- tion of the badly corrupted text; your friendly disposition to- wards me will no doubt prompt you to gather from them all the critical honey they may contain and to favour me with your opinion of what you approve and of what you disapprove. Here, then, they are. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 7 seqq. Unto a poor but worthy gentleman: she's wedded; &c. The division of these lines as transmitted in the Ff is quite cor- rect and all conjectures to which the passage has given rise, l* are gratuitous; nor is Mr. Fleay right in declaring the above line to he one of six feet {apud Inglehy, Occasional Papers on Shakespeare: &c. London, 1881. P. 89). Gentleman may be read either as a trisyllable, or as a dissyllable (see S. Walker, Versif. p. 189 seq.); in the former case we have a trisyllabic ending, in the latter an extra-syllable, before the pause. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 14. S. Walker, according to the Cambridge Edition, suspects a corruption here. The line would indeed be intolerably harsh, if scanned: — Of the | king's looks, | hath a | heart that | is not. In my opinion, however, there is no need of correction, the verse being either a syllable pause line (see my Notes, CCLXXVIII): — Of the | king's looks, | ^ hath | a heart | that is | not, or Of taking the place of a monosyllabic foot: — Of | the king's | looks, hath | a heart | that is | not. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 41. Scan: — To his | protect | ion, calls him | Posthu | mus Le | ona | tus. Neither of the two names can be dispensed with, both of them being required by the context. The correct explanation of the line has been given by Dyce and Staunton ad loc. 'Various pas- sages in these plays, says Dyce, show that Shakespeare (like his contemporary dramatists) occasionally disregarded metre when proper names were to be introduced.' He then refers his readers to his note on 2 K. Henry VI, 1, 1, 7: — The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne, and Alencon. 'I may observe, he says there, that Shakespeare has allowed this line to stand just as he found it in The First Part of the Contention, &c; and, indeed, even in the plays which are wholly his own, he, like other early dramatists, considered himself at liberty occasionally to disregard the laws of metre in the case of proper names: e.g., a blankverse speech in Richard II, act II, sc. 1 contains the following formidable line: — Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis Quoint.' To this instance Dyce, in his second edition, has added three similar lines, but has been singularly unfortunate in their choice, as they can be scanned without the least correction or difficulty. The first of them is taken from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, II, 4, 54 and is to be scanned in the following manner: — Know | ye Don | Anto | nio, your coun | tryman? The line begins with a monosyllabic foot and has an extra- syllable before the pause. The second line is from A. V, sc. 1 of the same play and its only irregularity is an extra-syllable before the pause: — That Sil | via, at Fri | ar Pat | rick's cell, | should meet | me. The third instance, also from the same comedy (A. V, sc. 2, 1. 34), may certainly be considered as one line, as printed by Dyce, in which case Valentine is to be read as a trisyllabic ending; there is, however, no occasion to depart from the ar- rangement of FA, which, amongst others, has been adopted by the Cambridge and Globe Editors: — Duke. Why then, She's fled unto that peasant Valentine. Even the 'formidable' and most likely corrupt passage in Rich- ard II, II, 1, 281 seqq. might perhaps be satisfactorily regulated in this way: — That late | broke from | the Duke | of Ex | eter, His broth | er, Archbish | op late | of Can | terbur | y, Sir Thorn | as Er | pingham | and Sir | John Ram | ston, Sir | John Nor | bery, Sir Rob | ert Wa | terton | and Fran | cis Quoint. Should S. Walker, Versif., 100, be right in maintaining that Archbishop is generally accented on the first syllable, a slight transposition of the words will meet the requirements of the case: — His broth | er, late Arch | bishop | of Can | terbur | y. To revert to 'Cymbeline'. Staunton's note on the line in question is to the following effect: 'The old poets not unfre- quently introduce proper names without regard to the measure.' To this he adds another remark; 'occasionally indeed, he says, as if at the discretion of the player, the name was to be spoken or not.' The truth, in my opinion, is, that the names of the interlocutors as well as words of address seem frequently either to have been wrongly left out or wrongly added by the care- lessness of the players, especially at the end of the line. See 6 my note on Hamlet (second edition) s. 59 (Keynaldo) and com- pare the notes on Cymbeline, I, 5, 85 and V, 5, 236. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 44. Scan: — Could make | him the | recei'er | of; which | he took. See Abbott, Sh.Gr., s.166. Compare also 1.72 of this very scene: — Evil [E'il] -eyed | unto | you: you're | my pris | 'ner, but, wrongly altered by Pope to Ill-ey'd &c. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam., II, 196 seqq. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 46. Hertzberg {Shakespeare's Bramatische Werke nach der Uber- setzung von Schlegel und Tieck, herausgeg. durch die Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, XII, 453) thinks that it would be the easiest expedient to read And in his spring &c. and thus to make the line one of those Alexandrines, of which, he says, there is no want in Cymbeline. Mr. Fleay, apud Ingleby 1. c, likewise registers the line among what he is pleased to call Alexandrines. In my conviction Capell has come nearest to the truth by adding And to the preceding line; only he ought not to have dissolved in's. Arrange and read: — As we do air, fast as 'twas minister'd, and In's spring became a harvest: &c. Minister'd is, of course, to be pronounced as a dissyllable (min'ster'd); see Abbott, s. 468. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 48. Mr. Fleay has no doubt that this is an Alexandrine, and I have no doubt that it is not. Youngest is either to be pro- nounced as a monosyllable like eldest ten lines infra; or, if the dissyllabic pronunciation should be preferred, it contains an extra -syllable before the pause. The article before more is to be elided (or read as a proclitic) just as it is the case eight lines lower down : to th' king, and 1. 59 : /' th' swathing- clothes. Scan, therefore, either: — A sam | pie to | the young'st, | to th' more | mature, or: — A sam [ pie to | the young | est, to th' more | mature. A. I, so. 1, 1. 59. No Alexandrine, nursery being a trisyllabic feminine ending. Compare the scansion of imagery in Spenser's Faerie Queene, VII, 7, 10: — That richer seem'd than any tapestry, That Princes bowres adorne with painted' imagery. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 65. Qy. That 't or That' could not trace them. Compare S. Wal- ker, Versif., 77 seqq. See also A. Ill, sc. 4, 1. 80: That [qy. That't] cravens my weak hand. A. I. sc. 1, 1. 76. S. Walker, Versif., 187, endeavours to show that marry 'is commonly a monosyllable' and that it 'would have been ir- regular' to scan: — I will | be known | your ad | v'cate; mar | ry, yet. Nevertheless I own that I prefer this scansion, so much the more as S. Walker has not succeeded in proving his case. Apart from a passage in Hudibras (III, 3, 643) which does not concern us, he only instances K. Eichard III, III, 4, 58: — Marry, that with no man here he is offended, where Marry may just as well be read as a trochee and he is may be contracted: — Marry, | that with | no man | here he's | offend | ed. Compare my Notes, CVIII. In support of his theory S. Walker also adduces sirrah, which, he says, is 'frequently at least' pronounced as a monosyllable, e. g., 3 K. Henry VI, V, 6, 6. But may not this line be read and scanned: — Sirrah, | leave's to | ourselves: | we must | confer? In conclusion the reader's attention may be called to the fact that in all the lines quoted, a pause follows after both marry and sirrah which would seem to speak in favour of my scansions. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 140. I chose an eagle, And did avoid a puttoek. 'A puttoek, says Singer ad loc, is a mean degenerate spe- 8 eies of hawk, too worthless to deserve training.' This note, like many others by the same editor, has been all but literally copied by the Rev. H. N. Hudson. 'A puttoek, such is the expla- nation given by Mr. Hudson, is a mean degenerate hawk, not worth training.' Delius has nothing better to say; his note is to the following effect: 'Puttoek, ein Habicht schlechter Art.' — What does a 'degenerate hawk' mean? I am unable to attach a meaning to this phrase. The fact is that the puttoek does not belong to the falcones whiles, as they are termed in nat- ural history, but is a species of kite {Milvus ictinus, the glede). According to Naumann and Grafe, Handbuch der Naturgeschichte der drei Reiche #-c. (Eisleben und Leipzig, 1836) I, 362 the Milvi are 'von traurigem Ansehn, trage und feig, und konnen den Raub nicht fliegend ergreifen, sondern nur sitzende und kriechende Thiere fangen, und fressen auch Aas.' 'Der rothe Milan {Gabel- weihe, Konigswelhe, Falco Milvus), the same authors continue, jagt junge Hiihner, Enten, Ganse und andere junge oder des Flug- vermogens beraubte Vogel, Mduse, Maulwurfe, Amphibien, indem er niedrig uber den Boden wegstreicht, fdllt gem auf Aas.' The chief point, as I take it, is that the Milvi are incapable of catch- ing birds on the wing, but only when sitting or walking about. This is the reason why they were held in disregard by all lovers of hawking and why all attempts at training cannot but be lost on them, since training may improve, but cannot alter the natural gifts of bird or beast. Thus the name of 'puttoek' passed into a by-word and an expression of contempt. The derivation of the word serves as an eloquent confirmation of this theory, puttoek being by no means a diminutive, but a corruption of poot-hamk, i. e., a hawk that preys on poots or pouts; pout, as Prof. Skeat has shown, standing for poult = pullet (Fr.poulet) from L&Lpullus. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 155. Scan either: — Leave us 1 1' ourselves, | and make | yourself | some com ] fort, or, which I think preferable: — Leave's to ] ourselves, | and make | yourself | some com | fort. 9 A. I, sc. 1, 1. 158. Queen. Fie, you must give way. This is the punctuation of all the Ff. Modern editors punc- tuate either: 'Fie! you must' &c, or: 'Fie! — you must' &c, thus awakening the belief, as if in their opinion the words were addressed to two different persons. Not content with such an indirect hint, Delius explicitly refers the interjection Fie! to the preceding speech of Cymbeline, whereas he declares only the rest of the words to be addressed to Imogen. I can- not subscribe to such a division of the Queen's admonition. On hearing her father's terrible malediction Imogen very natu- rally gives expression to her wounded feelings by some gesture of impatience and horror and is reproved by her stepmother rather energetically, as only in 1. 153 she has been desired to keep quiet (Peace, Dear lady daughter, peace!). She does not utter her grief and dismay in words, but her continued gesti- culation shows that her mother's first injunction has been of little avail and requires repetition. The only words addressed to the King by the Queen are in 1. 153: 'Beseech your patience'. A. I, sc. 1, 1. 177. Almost all editors since Capell have adopted his suggestion to add I before pray, which, they say, has been omitted in the Ff. Nevertheless it may be submitted that the line is quite correct, if scanned as a syllable pause line: — Pray you, | ^ speak | with me: | you shall | at least. I adopt, of course, the arrangement of the lines as proposed by Capell and think the Ff as well as Rowe faulty in this respect. A. I, sc. 2, 1. 40 seqq. Clo. You'll go with us? First Lord. I'll attend your lordship. Clo. Nay, come, let's go together. Sec. Lord. Well, my lord. Capell, Dyce, and the Rev. H. Hudson have assigned the words: 'I'll attend your lordship' to the Second Lord. Delius, on the other hand, suspects that the concluding speech: 'Well, my lord', should be given to the First Lord. In my conviction 10 both parties are wrong. In reply to Cloten's invitation, ad- dressed to the two lords, to accompany him to his chamber, the First Lord who is a flatterer and a flunkey, at once declares himself ready to attend his lordship; the second, however, who knows and dislikes his master thoroughly, either offers to stay behind, or to leave the stage by a different door, but is pre- vented from doing so by Cloten's reiterated summons: 'Nay, come, let's go together', to which he cannot but reply in the affirmative: 'Well, my lord'. Only on the stage the correctness of this explanation can be made fully apparent. A. I, sc. 3, 1. 6 seqq. Imo. Then waved his handkerchief? Pis. And kiss'd it, madam. Imo. Senseless linen! happier therein than I! And that was all? Pis. No, madam, for so long &c. This is the arrangement of the Ff. Line 7 is thus to be scanned: — Sense | less lin | en! Happier | therein | than I, a scansion which exhibits indeed three deviations from the normal type, viz. a monosyllabic foot, an extra syllable be- fore the pause, and a trochee after it. The scansion given by Dr. Abbott, s. 453: — Senseless | linen! | Happier | therein | than I looks very plausible at first sight, but on second thoughts appears too abnormal to find assent; it contains no less than three consecutive trochees! S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 316, would arrange the passage as follows: — Imo. Then waved his handkerchief? Pis. And kiss'd it, madam. Imo. Senseless linen, happier Therein than I! And that was all? Pis. No, madam; for so long &c. If, however, the division of the old copies is to be departed from, the following arrangement seems preferable: — Imo. Then waved his handkerchief? Pis. And kiss'd it, madam. 11 Imo. Senseless linen! Happier therein than I! And that was all? Pis. No, madam; for so long As he could make &c. A. I, sc. 3, 1. 23. Scan: — When shall | we hear | from him? | Be assur | ed, mad | am. I shall disbelieve the pretended accentuation madam, until convinced by a case, where madam is fairly impossible. The very next passage on which I wish to comment is a case in point, in so far as here the poet would seem to have accented the word on the last syllable, but has not. This passage is: — A. I, sc. 3, 1. 37 seqq. Shakes all our buds from growing. Enter a Lady. Lady. The queen, madam, Desires your highness' company. The first line admits of a twofold scansion, either: — Shakes all | our buds | form grow | ing. The queen, | madam, or: — Shakes all | our buds | from grow | ing. The | queen, mad | am. But what, if neither of these two scansions should be the poet's own? The above arrangement of the Ff has indeed been retained by all editors, as far as I know; however, the words spoken by the Lady form a complete blankverse by themselves and the passage should be divided accordingly: — Shakes all our buds from growing. Enter a Lady. Lady. The queen, | madam, | desires | your high | ness com | pany. Need I add, that madam, though in the second place, is a trochee (after a pause; cp. Abbott, s. 453 and my second edition of Hamlet, s. 118), and company a trisyllabic feminine ending? By this division the incomplete line is shifted from the speech of the Lady which it does not fit at all, to that of Imogen where it finds a far more appropriate place. One word more. Mr. Fleay, in his edition of Marlowe's Edward II., p. 120, thinks 12 it a strong argument in favour of the accentuation madam, that the old texts write Madame which spelling, in his opinion, is plainly indicative of the French accentuation. In the present passage, however, as well as in A. I, sc. 1, 1. 23, the Ff uni- formly write Madam, whilst in other passages (e. g. in Love's Lahour's Lost, V, 2, 431) we read Madame, although the word be undoubtedly accented on the first syllable. Compare also my Notes, CCLXIX. — In order to prevent a mistaken scansion one more line may be added, viz. A. I, sc. 5, 1. 5 : Pleaseth | your high | ness, ay: | here they | are, mad | am. A. I, sc. 5. 1. 10. But, though slow, deadly. Queen. I wonder, doctor. Theobald and, independently of him, S. Walker, Versif., 24: / do wonder. There is, however, no need of such an insertion, the verse being a syllable pause line; scan: — But, though | slow, dead | ly. ± | I won | der, doc | tor. A. I, sc. 5, 1. 85. According to the Cambridge Edition Steevens suspects an omission here. Singer adds the following note: 'Some words, which rendered this sentence less abrupt, and perfected the metre, appear to have been omitted in the old copies'. Add gracious madam after shall do, and all will be right. See note on A. I, sc. 1, 1. 41. A. I, sc. 6, 1. 32 seqq. The 'crop of sea and land' undoubtedly means the crop of the sea on the land, or the crop on the margin between sea and land, i.e., that profusion of pebbles, shells, sea-weeds, &c. that are washed on shore by the waves and constitute, so to say, the harvest which the land reaps from the ocean. The poet places side by side those two natural phenomena where an innumerable abundance of similar, nay almost undistin- guishable (I beg pardon for coining the word) objects are gathered together: the firmament with its myriads of stars and the unnumbered (not: numbered or cumbered!) beach with 18 its pebbles that are as like to each other as twins. Now, he continues, if men's eyes are capable of distinguishing some individual star or pebble from its twin, can they not, on be- holding the divine form of Imogen, make partition between fair and foul, between an untainted virtuous lady and one of the common sort, persons that even in their outward appearance are so wide apart? A. I, sc. 6, 1. 65. Scan: — An em | 'nent mon | sieur, that, | it seems, | much loves. Compare Love's Labour's Lost, II, 1, 196: — A gal | lant la | dy. Mon | sieur, fare j you well; K. Henry VIII, I, 3, 21: — I'm glad | 'tis there: | now I | would pray | our mon | sieurs; lb., V, 2, 325: — This is | the ape | of form, | m6nsieur | the nice. In this last line the word might indeed be read as an iam- bic, but it is a trochee after the pause. That monsieur, in Shakespeare's time, was generally accented on the first syllable, seems also to be confirmed by four of the six different spel- lings which occur in FA, viz. mounsieur, mounseur, mounsier, and monsier; the fifth and sixth being monsieur (passim) and monsieuer (in As You Like It, I, 2, 173). The diphthong ou in the first syllable (which replaces the original o), recalls such words as counsel (consilium), fountain (fontana), mountain (mon- tana) &c, and shows that the word was brought under the Teutonic accentuation; in later times, however, its French accent was re-instated and has kept its ground to the present day, just as it has been the case with the adjectives divine, extreme, obscure, &c. It should be added that all other pas- sages in Shakespeare where monsieur occurs, are in prose. A. I, se. 6, 1. 197. Qy. read: 'Attended by my man? 1 Only in 1. 53 of this very scene Iachimo has spoken of his man and informed us that he is strange and peevish. 14 A. II, sc. 1, 1. 56. Qy. read and arrange: — First [instead of Sec] Lord. I'll attend your lordship. [Exeunt Cloten and First Lord. Sec. Lord. That such a crafty devil &c. See note on A. I, sc. 2, 1. 40 seqq. A. n, sc. 2, 1. 28 seqq. Qy. read and point: — Ah, but some natural notes about her body, — Above ten thousand meaner moveables They'd testify, — t' enrich mine inventory. A. II, sc. 2, 1. 42. No Alexandrine, but a blankverse with an extra syllable before the pause; scan: — The treas | ure of | her hon | our. No more. | T' what end? Two lines infra memory is to be read as a dissyllable, which makes the line a regular blankverse; Mr.Fleay wrongly declares it to be an Alexandrine. A. II, sc. 2, 1. 48 seqq. Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning May bare the raven's eye! In my conviction the last words should neither be under- stood literally, nor can we suppose, as Dyee justly remarks, that Shakespeare would turn Night to a raven at the same time when introducing her as a goddess. Shakespeare, who was conversant with so many facts of natural history, may possibly have been aware that the raven 'is the most matinal [sic, read matutinal] bird, even more so than the lark', to introduce Mr. K. Grant White's remark ad loc. But I greatly doubt that his audience, unadulterated cockneys as they were, should have been so intimately acquainted with the ways and habits of the raven as to understand an allusion so far-fetched and altogether foreign to the context. To me Sir Thomas Hanmer seems to have hit the mark in attributing the raven's- eye (or raven-eye) to dawning itself; Iachimo expresses the 15 wish that dawning might soon bare or ope its eye which is as dark as a raven. Hanmer proposes to read: it's raven-eye, but no alteration is needed. A. n, sc. 3, l. 60. Mr. Fleay apud Ingleby 1. 1. wrongly scans this line: — Th' one's Ca | ius Lu | cius: | a wor | thy fel | low. The verse has evidently an extra syllable before the pause and is to be scanned: — The one | is Ca | ius Lu | cius: a wor | thy fel | low. A. n, sc. 3, 1. 125 soqq. Yet you are curb'd from that enlargement by The consequence o' the crown, and must not soil The precious note of it with a base slave, A hilding for a livery, a squire's cloth, A pantler, not so eminent. The only critic that has queried this passage, is Collier. 'We may, he says rather hesitatingly, also suspect a misprint in •the word "note".' Note is assuredly a misprint; read robe. What the poet here calls the 'precious robe of the crown' in K. Henry, V, IV, 1, 279 is styled: — The intertissued robe of gold and pearl, and is there enumerated among the king's attributes. What reader of Shakespeare does not also recall Cleopatra's words: — Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings? 'You must not soil, says Cloten, the regal robe with a base slave, a hilding born to wear a livery, or a squire's cloth at best'. The context sufficiently shows that this is what the poet had in his mind and wanted to express and I need not dwell on the circumstance that, throughout our play, garments play a conspicuous part in Cloten's thoughts and influence his actions. — The misprint foyle for soil in the Ff would not be worth mentioning, but for the fact that Dr. Al. Schmidt who in his Shakespeare-Lexicon has proved a thorough stickler for the correctness of the first Folio, upholds the lection foil. 16 A. II. sc. 3, 1. 144 seqq. The meaning which has been missed in the late Prof. Hertzberg's translation, is: I am not only sprited by a fool, but what is still worse, frighted and angered by the loss of my bracelet; the anonymous conjecture on 1. 141: 'How now? \missing the bracelet.] Pisanio!' having indeed hit the mark. A. II, sc. 3, 1. 150. A syllable pause line. Scan: — But th' worst | of me. | ^ So, | I leave | you, sir. The same scansion recurs in the first hemistich of the next line (To th' worst | of dis | content). A. II, sc. 4, 1. 6. 'In these fear'd hopes', according to Collier (2 d Ed.) ad loc. means 'in these hopes which I fear may never be realised' [!]. Dyce has adopted Tyrwhitt's conjecture sear'd, as he (most justly) 'cannot think that the original reading here is to be defended on the supposition that "fear'd hopes" may mean "fearing hopes" or "hopes mingled with fears".' The Rev. H. Hudson reads 'sere hopes'; 'sere hopes, he explains, are withered hopes; as they would naturally be in their Winter's state'. However the hopes of Posthumus are neither feared (by whom?), nor seared or withered, but they are dear hopes, and this, in my humble opinion, is what the poet wrote. A. II, sc. 4, 1. 82. Mr. Fleay wrongly reckons this line among the Alexan- drines. Read and scan: — Let it | be grant'd | you've seen | all this, | — and praise. Compare Dr. Abbott, Sh. Gr., s. 472. A. n, sc. 4, 1. 05 seqq. 'In II, 4, 96, says Mr. Fleay 1. 1., arrange "be pale" in 1. 95.' This, of course, would only be transferring the Alexan- drine from 1. 96 to 1. 95. To me it seems to admit of little doubt, that 'See' forms a most energetic interjectional line. Arrange: — 17 Then, if you can, Be pale: I beg but leave to air this jewel; See! [Producing the bracelet. And now 'tis up again: &c. A. II, sc. 5, 1. 2. The conjectures of Pope, Capell (S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 322), and Keightley are needless. The verse is a syllable pause line; scan: — Must be | half-work | ers? -L \ We are | all bast | ards. A. m, sc. 1, 1. 14. This line, left unnoticed by Mr. Fleay, has both an extra- syllable before the pause and a trisyllabic feminine ending: — For wear | ing our | own nos | es. That op | portu | nity. A. Ill, sc. 1, 1. 47 seqq. I have no doubt that this speech {You must know Ourselves to be) does not belong to Cymbeline, but to the Queen who has been interrupted rather uncourteously by her son and whom the king expressly wishes to end, especially as by her action she undoubtedly indicates her desire of saying something more. My suspicion is confirmed by the following remarkable metrical fact. Dr. Abbott, s. 514, has ingeniously shown that 'interruptions are sometimes not allowed to inter- fere with the completeness of the speaker's verse'. Now the first line of the speech in question exactly completes the last line of the Queen's antecedent speech (1. 33), although an interruption by no less than three speeches, two from Cloten and one from the king, has taken place. This is the line : — And Britons strut with courage. You must know. The words We do in 1. 54 are assigned to 'Cloten' by Collier and Dyce, to 'Cloten and Lords' by the Cambridge Editors. Either prefix may be right, yet I own that this once I think it safer to side with Collier and Dyce than with the Cambridge Editors; the Lords, in my opinion, expressing their assent merely by gestures. 18 A. m, se. 1, 1. 59. One of Mr. Fleay's Alexandrines. I have no hesitation in accepting Steevens's emendation, i. e., in discarding the words 'made our laws' which are evidently either a marginal gloss intended to explain or to replace 'Ordained our laws', or a dittography. The verse is a syllable pause line: — Though Eome | be there | fore an | gry: z. | Mulmu | tius. A. in, sc. 1, 1. 65. According to Mr. Fleay an Alexandrine with 'the cesura after the eighth syllable'. I take it to be a blankverse with a trisyllabic ending (enemy). Three lines farther on Mr. Fleay would make his readers believe in another Alexandrine with the cesura after the ninth syllable [!]. In my conviction it is a blankverse with an extra syllable before the pause; defied is to be pronounced as a monosyllable (d'/ied; see my Notes, CCLXXIX). Scan: — For fu | ry not | to be | resist | ed. Thus d'fied. A. Ill, sc. 2, 1. 1 seqq. The Ff have an interrogation after accuses and a colon after Leonalus which latter has been replaced by a dash in all (or almost all) modern editions; point: — Wherefore write you not What monster's her accuser, Leonatus? A. Ill, sc. 2, 1. 58. The meaning is, My longing is beyond being beyond yours. a. m, sc. 2, i. ee. The Eev. H. Hudson reads on his own responsibility: 'how to get hence'. 'As hence, he says in his Critical Note ad loc., is emphatic here, to seems fairly required; and gel is evidently in the same construction with excuse. To be sure, the insertion of to makes the verse an Alexandrine; but the omission does not make it a pentameter. The omission was doubtless accidental'. I do not see, why the line without 19 Mr. Hudson's addition, should not be taken for a blankverse; scan: — And our | return, | t' excuse: | but first, | how get | hence. Compare 1. 17 of the following scene, where we meet with a closely analogous ending: — But be | ing so | allow'd: | to ap j prehend | thus. A. m, sc. 2, 1. 70. "Trvixt hour and hour', according to the Kev. H. Hudson, means: 'Between the same hour of morning and evening; or between six and six, as between sunrise and sunset, in the next speech.' But Imogen's longing that is 'beyond beyond' and wishes for a horse with wings, would not have been satis- fied with such a slow rate of travelling; what she wishes to know is, how many score of miles she may ride from the stroke of one hour to that of the next, and Pisanio makes the disheartening reply, only one score from one rising of the sun to the next. Compare A. Ill, sc. 4, 1.44: 'To weep 'twixt clock and clock.' A. Ill, sc. 2, 1. 75. Not an Alexandrine as Mr. Fleay would have it, but a blankverse with a trisyllabic ending {foolery). Line 77 which has not been noticed by Mr. Fleay, has likewise a trisyllabic ending and the words to her are to be run into one another: — She'll home | t' her fa | ther: and | provide | me pres | ently. Possibly, however, She'll had better be added to the preceding line: — Go bid | my worn | an feign | a sick | ness: say | she'll Home to | her fa | ther: and | provide | me pres | ently. A. Ill, sc. 4, 1. 3 seq. Arrange with S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 323, and Mr. Fleay, 1. 1.: — To see me first, as I crave (Ff: have) now. Pisanio! Man! Where's Posthumus? &c. Crave, proposed by the Cambridge Editors [?], is no doubt the true reading. 2* 20 A. HI, sc. 4, 1. 52. Whose mother was her painting. 'The figure, says Mr. R. Gr. White ad loc, here approaches extravagance', and in the Globe Edition the passage is marked with an obelus. Nevertheless all true blue conservatives in Shakespearian criticism uphold the old text against those wild conjecturing folks that are not willing to kiss the first Folio; they even reckon such strained figures among the beauties of the poet's diction. In support of their interpretation they refer the reader to A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 81 seqq., where Cloten's tailor is termed his 'grandfather': — he made those clothes Which, as it seems, make thee. There is, however, this difference between the two passages that the tailor, mentioned in the latter, is a real human being, whereas the painting is not. It is true that, if the tailor is to be considered as Cloten's grandfather, Cloten's dress must be taken to be his father; but the poet does not startle us by such a grotesque figure — it is merely implied. Besides it is a common proverbial phrase that 'Fine feathers make fine birds', whilst nobody ever heard it said, that 'Fine painting makes a fine harlot.' Still less can the phrase be countenanced by the well-known passage in K. Lear, II, 2, 60: 'a tailor made thee'. A similar thought recurs strangely enough in A.V, sc. 4, 1. 123 seq. of our play: — Sleep, thou hast been a grandsire, and begot A father to me; but this is indeed the natural father of Posthumus. The Rev. R. Roberts (in N. and Q., Sept. 29, 1883, p. 241 seq.) has dis- covered two passages manifestly bearing upon the present line; the one occurs in Shelton's Translation of Don Quixote (2 a Ed., 1652, lib. I, pt. 4, chap. 24, p. 133), the other in a pamphlet entitled: 'Newes from the New Exchange; or, The Commonwealth of Ladies. London, printed in the Yeere of Women without Grace, 1650.' In the former passage it would appear that somebody 'said that his arm was his father, his works his lineage'; nothing certain, however, can be said of it, since Mr. Roberts has not favoured his readers with the con- text. The second passage is to the following effet: 'If Madam Newport should not be linkt with these Ladies, the chain would never hold; for she is sister to the famous Mistress Porter 21 and to the more famous Lady Marlborough (whose Paint is her Pander)'. I am greatly surprised to find that neither Mr. Eo- berts, nor Dr. Brinsley Nicholson who has reproduced the above extracts in The New Shakspere Society's Transactions 1880 — 2, p. 202, should have thought of the possibility that here we may have got the clue to the line under discussion and that Shake- speare probably wrote: — Some jay of Italy, Whose pander was her painting, hath betray'd him. A. HI, sc. 4, 1. 80. Qy. read: — That' (or That't) cravens my weak hand; &c. Compare A. I, sc. 1 , 1. 65. A. in, sc. 4, 1. 90. In order to regulate the metre Capell has inserted thou after Posthumus and all editors after him have followed in his wake. I have no doubt that Capell's division of the lines is right, but there is no need of an insertion, as the verse clearly belongs to the much -discussed class of syllable pause lines; scan: — And thou, | Posthu | mus, ± | that didst | set up. A. TJI, so. 4, 1. 104. The lection of the Ff: — I'll wake mine eye-balls first cannot possibly be right, and most editors have therefore adopted Hanmer's addition blind after eye-balls. Staunton de- fends the old reading on the strength of a passage in Lust's Dominion (I, 2; Dodsley, ed. Hazlitt, XIV, 104): — I'll still wake, And waste these balls of sight by tossing them In busy observations upon thee. Dyce, however, cannot think (and very properly too) that wake, in this passage, governs eye-balls; he conceives the meaning to be, 'I'll still keep myself awake, and waste these balls', &c. He, therefore, is convinced that in the line under discussion some such word as blind seems to be required after eye-balls. 22 To me the very passage from Lust's Dominion seems to point in a very different direction, in as much as it suggests the conjectural emendation: — I'll waste mine eye-balls first. Compared to this almost imperceptible alteration the insertion of blind is no doubt needlessly bold. As to the metre, the verse is to be numbered with the syllable pause lines; scan: — I'll waste | mine eye- [ balls first. | ^ Where | fore then. A confusion between waste and wake seems also to have taken place in Timon of Athens, II, 2, 171: 'I have retired me to a wasteful cock' instead of which unintelligible twaddle Mr. Swyn- fen Jervis has most ingeniously proposed to read: 'I have re- tired me to a wakeful couch.' A. Ill, sc. 4, 1. 135. Dr. Brinsley Nicholson first suggested: ignoble instead of noble (Cambr. Ed.), and afterwards: ignoble noble (N. and Q., Sep. 29, 1883, p. 241). This latter conjecture spoils the metre, whilst the former, though right in itself, is yet insufficient to restore the passage and admits of no other scansion of the line but by making With to fill the place of a monosyllabic foot. Perhaps we should read: — With that | harsh, that \ igno \ ble, sim | pie noth | ing, That Cloten, &c. All other conjectures to which this line has given rise, from Rowe to Collier's so-called Ms.-corrector downwards, may be passed over with silence. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam., I, 83. A. Ill, se. 4, 1. 138 seqq. The words Where then? have been continued to Pisanio by Hanmer, but Pisanio has 'consider'd of a course' and has made up his mind; he has no occasion to ask 'Where then?' Imogen, on the contrary, has just put the question to Pisanio: — What shall I do the while? where bide? how live? She now asks again: 'Where then?' but she cannot possibly be the speaker of the two following lines. The original distri- bution of the lines, in my opinion, was this: — Pis. If not at court, Then not in Britain must you bide. Imo. Where then? Pis. Hath Britain all the sun that shines? Day, night, Are they not but in Britain? Imo. In th' world's volume Our Britain seems as of it, but not in 't; In a great pool a swan's nest: prithee, think There's livers out of Britain. Pis. I am most glad You think of other place. It may be left to the reader to form his own opinion of Capell's conjecture What then? and of Mr. P. A. Daniel's transposition of of it and in it. A. HI, sc. 4, 1. 146. In my opinion Warburton's conjecture mien fur mind should be installed in the text without reserve. A. in, se. 4, 1. 182. Mr. Fleay wrongly classes this line with the Alexandrines; scan: — Begin | ning nor | supply | ment. Thou'rt all | the com | fort. A. m, sc. 4, 1. 187. Either a four-foot line with an extra syllable before the pause: — A prin | ce's cour | age. Away, | I pri | thee, or a syllable pause line: — A prin | ce's cour | age. ±. \ Away, | I pri | thee. A. HE, sc. 5, 1. 7. Scan: — Appear | unking | like. So, sir: | I d'sire | of you. See my Notes, CCLXXIX. I think it merely owing to an over- sight that the line is not brought forward as an Alexandrine by Mr. Fleay. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 325. a. in, sc. 5, l. o. To me the conjectural emendation introduced into the text of the Globe Edition by the Cambridge Editors seems indeed palmarian. Lucius bids farewell to the King, the Queen, and 24 Cloten successively and it seems obvious that all three should reply, especially the Queen who appears to be fond of speaking not only in her own name, but even in that of others. The words And you cannot, therefore, belong to any other character but to her; least of all can they be addressed to Cloten by the Roman ambassador, as only in 1. 12 the latter turns to Cloten and takes his leave from him by a cordial shaking of the hand. A. m, SO. 5, 1. 32. Here too the Cambridge Editors (for I hope I shall not be wrong in fathering this anonymous emendation upon them) have hit the mark in suggesting the correction on's for as in FA, or us in FBCD: 'she looks on's like A thing' &c. A. in, sc. 5, 1. 44. FA: th' lorvd of noise. I think Rowe's conjecture the loudest noise preferable to that of Capell the loud'st of noise, as, in accordance with Rowe and Singer, I feel convinced that of is a . misprint for 'st or st. Singer wrongly prints th' loud'st noise instead of th' loudest noise. A. Ill, sc. 5, 1. 53. Rowe's division of the lines is right, the conjectures sug- gested by Steevens, Jackson, S. Walker, &c, however, are need- less. Scan: — Prove false! | ^ Son, | I say, | f6llow | the king. A. Ill, sc. 5, 1. 56 seq. The transition in these lines from the second to the third person, abrupt and awkward though it be, yet seems to have proceeded from the poet's own pen, especially as the same irregularity has already occurred before (III, 3, 104): — they took thee for their mother, And every day do honour to her grave. A third instance of a cognate kind (a transition from the third to the second person) occurs in A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 218: With female fairies will his tomb be haunted, And worms will not come to thee. 'Alack, no remedy!' (Ill, 4, 163) is the only remark to be made 25 on these and similar deviations from correct and grammatical diction, by which not only 'Cymbeline', but Shakespeare's latest plays in general, are marked. A. Ill, sc. 5, 1. 71. This line, left unnoticed by Mr. Fleay, has a trisyllabic feminine ending {exquisite). In the next line, this dreadful crux, I suspect we should read: — Than lady, lass, or woman; from every one &c, except it should be deemed admissible to introduce into the text of Shakespeare the diminutive lassie (he uses the diminu- tive county), in which case the reading Than lady, lassie, woman would come nearest to the old text. The poet evidently alludes to the different classes of womankind, from every one of which Imogen has the best. She possesses the nobleness and digni- fied manners of a lady, the innocence and sprightliness of a young girl, and the true womanly feeling of a matron, and thus, of all compounded, outsells them all. The strained ex- planation of the old text given by Singer, by the Kev. H. Hudson, who here as elsewhere has transferred Singer's note into his own edition, and Delius cannot find favour in the eyes of scholars trained to the strict exegetical rules of classical philology. According to Singer Shakespeare means to say that Imogen has the courtly parts more exquisite 'than any lady, than all ladies, than all womankind.' The passage from All's Well that Ends Well (II, 3, 202: to any count; to all counts; to what is man) quoted by Singer, is not to the point, in so far as it is intelligible and correct, two distinguishing qualities of which the passage in Cymbeline cannot boast. A. in, sc. 5, 1. 85. Arrange and read with Dyce's second edition: Close villain, I Will have this secret from thy heart, &c. A. in, sc. 5, 1. 104. S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 326, needlessly proposes to omit to; scan: — 26 I'll write | to m'lord | she's dead. | Im | ogen. Compare my Notes, Vol. II, p. 176. A. HI, sc. 5, 1. 159 seq. FA: 'be but dntious, and true preferment'. S.Walker, Crit.Exam., Ill, 326, very properly asks: 'What has "(rue pre- ferment" to do here?' and proposes to point: 'be but duteous and true, preferment' &e. True certainly cannot be joined to preferment, but must necessarily refer to Pisanio, as Cloten in 1. 110 has required true service from Pisanio and repeats his admonition immediately after (1. 162: Come, and be true) to which admonition Pisanio in his soliloquy replies: — true to thee Were to prove false, which I will never be, To him that is most true. On the other hand the omission of and before preferment seems harsh; a slight transposition may perhaps help us to the true reading, viz. be but duteous-true, and preferment &c. Compare S. Walker, Crit. Exam., I, 21 seqq. Merchant of Venice, III, 4, 46 (hones f-true); Cymbeline, V, 5, 86 (duteous-diligent). A. Ill, SC. 5, 1. 163. Collier's Ms.-cor rector: 'to thy loss' which lection has been introduced into the text by the Rev. H. Hudson who thinks my loss 'little better than unmeaning here'. Quite the contrary. To Cloten's exhortation 'be but duteous-true, and preferment shall tender itself to thee', Pisanio replies: 'no, the way thou bidst me go, would not lead to my preferment, but to my loss, in so far as it would make me false to my master who is the truest of all'. A. IH, se. 6, 1. 59 seq. Scan and read: — To Mil | ford Ha | ven. s. | What is | your name? Two lines further on we have no choice left but to adopt Hanmer's correction embarks instead of embark' d, so much the more as in A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 291 seq. we learn from Imogen that she has by no means given up her journey to Milford-Haven and consequently is still in hopes of joining Lucius there. 27 By the way it may be remarked, that Hanmer's edition (Ox- ford, 1770) does not read embarques, as reported in the Cam- bridge Edition, but embarks. A. in, se. 6, 1. 70. This line, not noticed by Mr. Fleay, is not an Alexandrine, but has a trisyllabic ending (honesty). A. HI, sc. 6, 1. 75 seq. The meaning is : I certainly fall among friends, if, as you say, you will love me as brothers and if thus I fall amongst brothers. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 14. A Spenserian Alexandrine according to Mr. Fleay. S.Walker, Crit. Exam., 1,78, suggests: oft. Pray, trust &c. I have no doubt that we should scan: — Since I | can reas'n | of it. | Pray, trust | me here. See my Notes, CCXLDC. A. IV, so. 2, 1. 26. S. Walker, Versif., 145 and Crit. Exam., 1, 153 dissyllabizes sire. There is, however, room for two other scansions, viz.: — Cow'rds fa | ther cow | ards and | base things | sire base; Cowards | fath'r cow | ards and | base things | sire base. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 46. Scan: ■ — I am | bound to | you. i. | And shalt | be ev | er. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 81. One of Mr. Fleay's Alexandrines. Pope omitted rascal, no doubt on purely metrical grounds. There is, however,- another argument which speaks strongly in favour of this omission, and this is the marked contrast between the two characters of Cloten and Guiderius. Cloten, from the very moment of his entrance on the stage, heaps the most abusive language on his adversary, whereas Guiderius purposely refrains from retaliating; he says (1. 78 seq.): — 28 Thy words, I grant, are bigger, for I wear not My dagger in my mouth. Only twice he retorts: in 1. 72 seqq. (A thing more slavish &c., which is moderate language enough) and in 1. 89 (thou double villain). I am, therefore, inclined to agree with Pope, not only because rascal spoils the metre, but at the same time because it clearly contradicts the well-defined character of Guiderius. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 100. Metrically considered this is a very curious line, as it admits of no less than three different scansions. First, the two hemistichs (Yield, rustic mountaineer and No companies abroad) may be considered as two incomplete lines and as such they are printed by Dyce, in the Cambridge and Globe Editions, &c. Or they may be connected together in an Alex- andrine as it has been done by Mr. Fleay, and here it must be owned that such Alexandrines are by no means of rare occurrence. The third way of scanning the line is to read mountainer and pronounce the word as a trisyllabic ending before the pause. Whe shall then have to deal with a regular blankverse and I need scarcely add that in my conviction this is the true scansion. The Ff certainly read mountaineer, but in 1. 71 of our scene they exhibit the spelling mountainers which S. Walker, Versif., 224, is mistaken in declaring an erratum, as according to his own showing it occurs also in Chapman's The Widow's Tears, IV, 1. Besides it corresponds exactly with the spellings pioner and enginer in Hamlet I, 5, 163 and III, 4, 207; cp. my second edition of Hamlet, p. 114 (note on Climatures). A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 106. A Spenserian Alexandrine according to Mr. Fleay; I think it a blankverse with a trisyllabic ending (absolute). A. IV, sc. 2, 1. Ill sect. Perhaps we might read and arrange: — for defect of judgment Is oft the cause of fearlessness. But see! Thy brother. 29 I cannot attach any great weight to the objection which may possibly be raised against this conjectural emendation, viz. that fearlessness does not occur in Shakespeare, as fearless, fearful and fearfulness do-, besides the word comes nearer to the ductus lilerarum than if courage or valour should be suggested instead. At all events I feel sure that this is the thought that was in the poet's mind. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 157. No Alexandrine, but a blankverse with a trisyllabic ending (Polydore). Mr. Fleay does not mention this line. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 186. Either: — For his | return. | My ingen | ious in | strument, or a syllable pause line with a trisyllabic ending: — For his | return. | ^ My | ingen | ious in | strument. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 195. A' defective line thus completed by S. Walker (Crit. Exam., II, 145): — Is Cadwal mad? Bel. Cadwal! — Look here he comes, &c. However ingenious this conjecture may be, yet I cannot refrain from giving it a somewhat different turn by assigning the ex- clamation Cadwal to Guiderius: — Is Cadwal mad? Cadwal! Bel. Look, here he comes. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 240. An Alexandrine, if we are to believe Mr. Fleay; but Cadtval palpably forms an interjection al line and is so printed by Dyce, in the Cambridge and Globe Editions, &c. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 255 seq. Nay, Cadwal, we must lay his head to the east; My father hath a reason for't. 'What was Belarius' "reason", says Mr. R. Grant White ad loc, for this disposition of the body in the ground I have been 30 unable to discover'. — Belarius' reason is no doubt to be found in the custom which prevailed in the Christian church to bury the dead with their heads looking to the East, where the Saviour had lived and from whence he is believed to re-appear on the day of the last judgment. For the same reason the early Christians turned their face to the East when praying and the churches faced the same part of the horizon, in so far as the chancel which contains the altar, the consecrated wafers, the crucifix, &c. generally occupies the eastern end of the building. See J. Kreuser, Der christliehe Kirchenbau (Bonn, 1851) I, 42 seqq. Id., Wiederum christlicher Kirchen- bau (Brixen, 1868) I, 338 seqq. and II, 416 seqq. Even the temples of classical antiquity are shown to have been con- structed according to the same plan by Heinrich Nissen (Das Templum. Berlin, 1869). Our passage proves that Shakespeare was conversant with some one or other of these facts, though nobody can tell with which. A. IV, se. 2, 1. 274. The line 'All lovers young, all lovers must' cannot have come from either Shakespeare's or any other poet's pen; perhaps, although I suggest it with great diffidence, 'All lovers young, all loved must'. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 295. Not noticed by Mr. Fleay, although this verse might be pronounced to be an Alexandrine just as well as the rest. I need scarcely say that I declare in favour of a blankverse versus Alexandrine. Two scansions would seem admissible, viz.: — But, soft! | no bed | fellow! gods | and god | desses, or: — But, soft! | no bed | fellow! | gods ] and god ] desses. In the former case bedfellow, in the latter (which I cannot but think preferable) goddesses is to be read as a trisyllabic ending. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 321. Rann (Capell conj. according to the Cambr. Ed.): Struck the | main-top'J | Posthii | mus, 0! | alas. 31 Two consecutive trochees and two words transposed! Scan: — Struck | the main- j top! 0, | Posthum's! | alas. A. IV, se. 2, 1. 327 seq. Scan: — And cor | dial to | me, j_ | have I | not found | it Murd'rous | to th' sen | ses? That | confirms | it home. It seems surprising that this last line has not been mentioned by Mr. Fleay in his enumeration of Alexandrines. A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 333. In my eyes the anonymous conjecture (by the Cambridge Editors?), according to which To them does not form part of the text, but of the stage-direction {and a soothsayer to them) is both above doubt and above praise. Compare amongst other passages, the stage-direction in Coriolanus I, 4: To them a Messenger. A. IV, se. 2, 1. 335. FACD: with your ships; FB: with you ships [not your, as Dyce erroneously says]. Neither of these two lections can be right. Qy. with yon ships? It may safely be assumed that Milford Haven with its ships is to be seen from the spot where Lucius is conversing with the officers, as we have heard from Imogen (III, 6, 5) that Pisanio showed it to her before parting with her. Or is recourse to be had to the correction with their ships? A. IV, se. 2, 1. 338. This line which Mr. Fleay takes to be an Alexandrine, in my opinion has a trisyllabic ending before the pause; scan: — And gent | lemen j of It | aly, most wil | ling spir | its. A. IV, se. 2, 1. 373. For the scansion of this line compare my Notes, Vol.11, p. 136. A. IV, se. 2, 1. 379. I subscribe unhesitatingly to Hanmer's correction of the line, viz: — They'll par | don t Say | you, sir? | Thy name? | Fide | le. 32 A. IV, sc. 2, 1. 396 seqq. S.Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 827, proposes to omit thee after father in the preceding line and to arrange the passage as in the Ff. I should prefer to contract lei us in 1. 397, to omit out in 1. 398, and join My friends to 1. 397: — My friends, the boy hath taught us manly duties: Let's find the prettiest daisied plot we can, &c. A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 9. Capell: 'But for thee, thee, fellow'; compare S.Walker. Crit. Exam., II, 146. Dr. Abbott, s. 453, scans: — The hope | of com | fort. But | for thee | fellow. Thus the line would be made to end in a trochee, since, accord- ing to Dr. Abbott, 'the old pronunciation "fell6w" is probably not Shakespearian'. The verse is undoubtedly a syllable pause line: — The hope | of com | fort, jl | But for | thee, fel | low. A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 12 seqq. Arrange: — Pis. Sir, my life is yours; I humbly set it at your will; but for My mistress, I nothing know where she remains, Why gone, nor when she purposes return. Beseech your highness, hold me your loyal servant. First Lord. Good my liege, The day that she was missing &e. Thus we get rid of the two so-called Alexandrines in 11. 13 and 15. Lines 14 and 16 have extra-syllables before the pause (mistress and highness). A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 19. The words For Cloten have been placed in a separate line by Capell. According to Mr. Fleay the line is an Alexandrine with the cesura after the tenth [!] syllable. I have no doubt that loyally is to be read as a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause: — All parts | of his | subject | ion loy | ally. For Clo | ten. Troublesome in 1. 21, and jealousy in 1. 22 are trisyllabic feminine endings too. A„ IV, sc. 3, I. 36. Hanmer completes the line by adding: dome let's: — We grieve at chances here. . Come lef s away, which involves a rather unpleasant repetition of Let's withdraw in 1. 32. S. Walker, Versif., 273, would arrange: — We grieve at chances here.. Away. This seems even more unlikely than Hanmer's addition. I do not see the necessity of filling up the line; if, however, such a correction should be deemed indispensable, I should suggest to read: — We grieve at chances here. Away, my lords. A. IV, sc. 3, 1. 42. A Spenserian Alexandrine, if we are to believe Mr. Fleay. I suspect that we ought to scan: — Wherein | I'm false | I'm hon | est; not true | f be true. A. V, sc. 2, 1. 4. An Alexandrine according to Mr. Fleay. The line, I think, has a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause; scan: — Keveng | ingly | enfee | bles me; or could [ this carl. A. V, sc. 3, 1. 64. Not noticed by Mr. Fleay. Pope, Theobald, and Hanmer omit Still going?, whilst S. Walker, Crit. Exam., Ill, 327, Dyce, and the Eev. H. Hudson place' these words in a separate line. In my humble opinion both parties are wrong. Instead of this is read this' (see Dr. Abbott, p. 343) and pronounce misery as a trisyllabic feminine ending: — Still go | ing? This' | a lord! | no | ble mis | ery. A. V, sc. 4, 1. 127. One of Mr. Fleay's Alexandrines. I strongly suspect: And so | I'm 'wake. | Poor wretch | es that | depend. Compare Dr. Abbott, s. 460. 34 A. V, sc. 4, 1. 147. Tongue is to be read as a monosyllabic foot; the conjec- tures proposed by Rowe, Pope, Johnson, Steevens and others may therefore be stowed away in the critical lumber-room. A. V, sc. 5, 1. 54. Here too all conjectures are needless; scan: — O'ercome | you with | her show, | ^ and | in time. A similar scansion holds good with respect to 1. 62, where Hanmer has inserted Yet before Mine eyes; scan: — We did, | so please | your high | ness. _i | Mine eyes. Both verses are syllable pause lines. A. V, se. 5, 1. 147. Another of Mr. Pleay's Alexandrines. Scan: — All that | b'longs to | this. That par | agon, | thy daugh | ter. Compare my Notes, CCLXXIX. A. V, se. 5, 1. 163 seqq. 'By a sharp torture' something like a meaning may be 'enforced' from the old text, shrine, in the opinion of the editors, being used here and elsewhere in the sense of statue. The only critics, as far as I know, that take exception against this awkward metonymy in the present passage and declare the line to be corrupt, are Bailey (who absurdly suggests 'shrinking Venus') and the late Prof. Hertzberg in the notes on his translation of our play; but his attempts at healing the corruption are greatly inferior to his arguments and unsatis- factory even in his own eyes. I imagine that Shakespeare wrote swim instead of shrine, thus contrasting the swimming gait of Venus with the stiff and strait-built stature of Minerva, a contrast well known to every student of ancient art. It must not be concealed that the substantive swim does not occur in Shakespeare; it is used, however, by B. Jonson, Cynthia's Rev- els, II, 1: 'Save only you wanted the swim in the turn' and 'Both the swim and the trip are properly mine'. Compare also my Notes, Vol. I, p. 49 and Vol. II, p. 199. 35 A. V, sc. 5, 1. 236. A mutilated line to which the name of Pisanio is to be added: — 0, get | thee from | my sight, | Pisa \ nio. Compare the notes on A. I, sc. 1, 1. 41 and A. I, sc. 5, 1. 85. See also my Notes, XLV. A. V, sc. 5, 1. 238. Declared to be an Alexandrine by Mr. Fleay. Imogen is clearly a trisyllabic feminine ending; compare ante 1.227: — Imo | gen, Im | 'gen! Peace, | my lord; | hear, hear. A. V, sc. 5, 1. 262. Mr. K. Grant White has hit the mark in suggesting the emendation, 'Think she's upon your neck', only he should have conformed it to the metre; read: — Think that she is upon your neck; and now. A. V, SC. 5, 1. 284. Not mentioned by Mr. Fleay; violate is a trisyllabic feminine ending. A. V, sc. 5, 1. 309 seqq. Arrange: — Arv. In that he spake too far. Cym. [To Bel] And thou shalt die fort. Arv. We will die all three. Bel. But I will prove that two on's are as good As I have given out him. Both Guiderius and Belarius are clearly condemned to death by Cymbeline and none but Arviragus is allowed to live; con- sequently he is the only person to whom the words, 'We will die all three' can be assigned. Cymbeline's speech {And thou &c.) is shown by the context to be addressed to Belarius, and not to Arviragus. A. V, sc. 5, 1. 314 seqq.. All endeavours of healing this manifestly corrupt passage have proved insufficient. I refrain, therefore, from repeating 3* 36 them and merely beg to offer a contribution of my own. I suspect that we should read and arrange: — Gui. And our good is your good. Bel. Have at it then. By leave! Thou hadst, great king, a subject who Was eall'd Belarius. Of this I feel certain that the words By leave! are not addressed to Guiderius and Arviragus, but to the king, and so Capell and Dyce seem to have understood the passage. For greater perspicuity's sake the stage-direction [To Cym.] might be added at the beginning of 1. 315. A. V, se. 5, 1. 334. Not noticed by Mr. Fleay ; punishment is a trisyllabic femi- nine ending. — The same scansion recurs in 1. 344 (also left unnoticed by Mr. Fleay) where loyalty is a trisyllabic ending. A. V, sc. 5, 1. 347. Pope omits gracious and Mr. Fleay takes the line to be an Alexandrine with the cesura after the eighth syllable. I have no doubt that the verse, like so many others, has a trisyllabic feminine ending before the pause; scan: — Unto | my end | of steal | ing 'em. But, gra ] cious sir. A. V, so. 5, 1. 407. A syllable pause line; scan: — The thank | ings of | a king. | — I [ am, sir. There is no need whatever of conjecturing or correcting. This, my dear Ingleby, is my critical mite on 'Cymbeline'. I am perfectly aware that the revision and explanation of this play will still be a match for ages to come and wish above all that the state of your health may shortly allow you to do your part and complete your edition. Not even the stanchest defender of the Folio can go the length of denying that by the continued efforts of editors and critics the text of Shakespeare has been brought a great deal nearer to its original purity than when it was first printed by Isaac laggard 37 and Ed. Blount in 1623. Shakespeare's versification too is far better understood by the commentators of to-day than by Nicholas Eowe and the rest of the eighteenth-century-editors. 'Step by step the ladder is ascended'. These facts justify the hope that the twentieth century may enjoy a still more correct text of the immortal dramatist and possess a deeper insight into his language and metre than we can boast of. May we then be remembered as having assisted in handing down the torch from one generation to the other. Vale faveque. Always believe me, dear Ingleby, Halle, Yours very sincerely On the Ides of March, 1885. K. Elze. HALMS : E. Kakkas, Printer. Works by the same Author. Shakespeare's Hamlet. Leipzig, G. Mayer, 1857. Sir Walter Scott. Dresden, L. Ehlermann, 1864. Zwei Bande. Der englische Hexameter. Dessau, A. Desbarats, 1867. G. Chapman's Tragedy of Alphonsus. Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1867. Englischer Liederschatz. Fiinfte Auflage. Berlin, G. Grote'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. (1868.) Lord Byron, a Biography. (Translated from the German.) London, J. Murray, 1872. When you see me, you know me. A Chronicle -History by Sam. Rowley. Dessau, E. Barth, 1874. Essays on Shakespeare. Translated by L. Dora Schmitz. London, Macmillan & Co., 1874. Vermischte Blatter. Kothen, P. Schettler, 1875. William Shakespeare. Halle, Buchhandlung des Waisen- hauses, 1876. Abhandlungen zu Shakespeare. Halle, Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1877. Notes on Elizabethan Dramatists. (First Series.) Halle, M. Niemeyer, 1880. — (Second Series.) Halle, M. Niemeyer, 1884. Lord Byron. Zweite vermehrte Ausgabe. Berlin, R. Op- penheim, 1881. GEDICHTE. Zweite Auflage. Halle, Max Niemeyer, 1881. Shakespeare's Tragedy of Hamlet. Halle, M. Nie- meyer, 1882.