Note return to page 1 “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra” occupies twenty-nine pages in the folio of 1623; viz. from p. 340 to p. 368 inclusive, in the division of “Tragedies.” Although at the beginning it has Actus Primus. Scæna Prima, it is not divided into acts and scenes, nor is the defect cured in any of the subsequent folio impressions of 1632, 1664, and 1685. They are all without any list of characters.

Note return to page 2 1&lblank; reneges all temper;] i. e. Denies or refuses all temper. See Vol. vii. p. 399. Coleridge would spell it reneagues. (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 144.)

Note return to page 3 2Of the rang'd empire fall!] The folio, 1623, prints the word raing'd, and so it stands in the three other folios; though Johnson would lead us to suppose that “the later editions” altered the word to rais'd.

Note return to page 4 3&lblank; the world to weet,] i. e. to wit or to know.

Note return to page 5 4&lblank; whose every passion fully strives] The folio, 1623, has who for “whose,” the change having been made in the folio, 1632, and not left until Rowe's time, as Malone asserts, apparently without having examined any of the three later folios. Steevens, who was so warm an advocate for the accuracy of the second folio, never detected Malone's mistake.

Note return to page 6 5&lblank; must charge his horns with garlands!] The folio, 1623, reads, “change his horns,” &c., and the other editions in the same form repeat what Southern considered a misprint, having altered change to “charge” in his copy of the folio, 1685. We agree with Southern, and in more than one place in the first folio, we have had “charge” misprinted change, and change “charge.” Warburton also introduced “charge,” and Malone followed his example.

Note return to page 7 6And fertile every wish,] The old copies read “foretell every wish:” the happy, but easy, correction was made by Warburton.

Note return to page 8 7&lblank; Alexas,—come, his fortune,] The printer of the folio, 1623, mistaking “Alexas” for a prefix, printed what followed as if spoken by him. The blunder was preserved in the later folios.

Note return to page 9 8Saw you my lord?] “Save you my lord” in the folio, 1623; but corrected by the editor of the second folio.

Note return to page 10 1Extended Asia from Euphrates;] To extend was anciently to seize; and it is still used in this sense in law proceedings.

Note return to page 11 2When our quick winds lie still;] So printed in all the old copies, and Warburton altered “winds” to minds with more plausibility than necessity. Perhaps “winds” ought to be spelt wints, which in Kent and Sussex is an agricultural term, (in other parts of the country called a bout) meaning, “two furrows ploughed by the horses going to one end of the field and back again.” See Cooper's “Glossary of Provincialisms in use in the County of Sussex,” 8vo. 1836; also Holloway's “General Provincial Dictionary,” 8vo. 1838. “Our quick winds,” therefore, is to be understood as our productive soil. “Earing” in the next line is ploughing; a sense in which we have had it used in “Richard II.” Vol. iv. p. 169, and in which it occurs again later in this drama. See p. 21.

Note return to page 12 3I must from this enchanting queen &lblank;] It is a great error in the second folio to omit “enchanting;” and it was not corrected in the folios 1664 or 1685, which were printed from each other. The line was therefore left imperfect until the time of Rowe.

Note return to page 13 4The cause of our expedience &lblank;] i. e. of our expedition. See “Henry IV.” part i. Vol. iv. p. 226, where the following lines occur:— “What yesternight our council did decree In forwarding this dear expedience.” The parallel passage in our text is there referred to, and it is shown that Shakespeare used the words “expedience” and “expedition” indifferently.

Note return to page 14 5And not a serpent's poison.] There was an old superstition that horse-hair laid in water turned to serpents. Coleridge, in his “Literary Remains,” vol. ii. p. 145, informs us that a notion of the kind still prevails in Cumberland and Westmoreland. “This,” he says, “is so far true to appearance, that a horse-hair laid, as Holinshed says, in a pail of water, will become the supporter of, seemingly, one worm, though probably of an immense number of small, slimy water-lice. The hair will twirl round the finger, and sensibly compress it. It is a common experiment with school-boys in Cumberland and Westmoreland.”

Note return to page 15 6The garboils she awak'd;] “Garboils” was a common word for commotions in the time of Shakespeare; it occurs again afterwards, p. 31; and it was used by the best authors, although Stanihurst fell under the ridicule of Hall, in his 6th satire, of book i. “Manhood and garboils shall he chant with changed feet.” Stanihurst employs the word in the opening of his English-hexameter translation of the Æneid, 1584, in the line, “Now, manhood and garboils I chaunt, and martial horror.” We quote from the beautiful reprint of this very rare and curious work, made at Edinburgh in 1836, we believe, under the editorial superintendence of Mr. Maidment. Scotland has contributed her full share of valuable works of this description.

Note return to page 16 7&lblank; I am quickly ill, and well, So Antony loves.] i. e. Probably, “I am quickly ill or well, according as Antony loves me.” First Cleopatra tells Charmian to cut her lace, then to “let it be,” the necessity being at an end, in consequence, perhaps, of receiving some indication of love from Antony.

Note return to page 17 8Now, by my sword.] “My” is omitted in the folio, 1623, but added in the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 18 9Sit laurel'd victory,] “Laurel'd victory” is the emendation of the folio, 1632: that of 1623 has “laurel victory.” In all probability the letter d had dropped out in the press.

Note return to page 19 1Vouchsaf'd to think &lblank;] Vouchsafe in the folio, 1623, which the folio, 1632, altered to “did vouchsafe.”

Note return to page 20 2No way excuse his foils,] Our reading is that of the folio, 1623, and of all the subsequent editions in that form. Malone and modern editors have altered “foils” to soils, without sufficient necessity: the “foils” of Antony are his vices, his foibles, which injure the beauty of his character, and foil or defeat the exercise of his virtues. At the same time it must be allowed, that “foils” for soils would be a very easy misprint, the long s and the f being frequently mistaken.

Note return to page 21 3Comes fear'd by being lack'd.] So all the old copies; but since Theobald's time the reading has been dear'd for “fear'd.” The alteration is plausible, but does not seem necessary. Cæsar may mean, that Pompey, by being so much backed by the people, has become powerful, and is therefore “fear'd.”

Note return to page 22 4Goes to, and back, lackeying the varying tide,] “Lackeying” is Theobald's change, for lacking of the old copies, and not for lashing, as he erroneously asserts: no folio has lashing. The corruption of lacking for “lackeying” was very easy. Southern, in his folio, 1685, altered lacking to backing; but we much prefer Theobald's emendation.

Note return to page 23 5&lblank; which they ear &lblank;] i. e. plough. See p. 11.

Note return to page 24 6Leave thy lascivious wassails.] The question here is, whether vassailes, as the word is printed in the folios, 1623 and 1632, be meant for “wassails,” or merely for vassals. Either reading may be right; but vassal was not usually, though sometimes, spelt vassaile, and nothing is more likely than that the old compositor should use v for w. Cæsar has previously accused Antony of “tippling with a slave,” and “reeling the streets at noon,” which countenances “wassails” as an old drinking term. It is curious to see modern editors disputing how the word is spelt in the folio, 1623, and all giving it wrongly.

Note return to page 25 7Assemble we immediate council:] The first folio misprints me for “we;” an error corrected by the second folio. Lepidus was the equal of Cæsar, and the latter would hardly address to him the mandate, “Assemble me immediate council.”

Note return to page 26 8Give me to drink mandragora.] A strong opiate. See “Othello,” Vol. vii. p. 571.

Note return to page 27 9And burgonet of men.] A “burgonet” was a kind of helmet: by “arm” in the preceding line is probably to be understood weapon. On the next page we meet with the epithet “arm-gaunt,” as applied to a horse, which had perhaps become gaunt by bearing arms. However, this is doubtful, and Sir T. Hanmer would substitute arm-girt, and Monck Mason, termagant.

Note return to page 28 10So does it no man else.] The folio, 1623, “no man's else:” corrected in the folio, 1632. “So” is here used as in a previous passage (p. 17) for as—“So Antony loves.”

Note return to page 29 1&lblank; cold in blood,] Boswell would make these words apply to Cleopatra, as if she had been “cold in blood” when she was young, and hot in blood now she had grown older: “cold in blood” is clearly addressed to Charmian, by way of reproof, and so Warburton considered, varying judiciously from the old punctuation, which affords, not only a tame and spiritless, but an inconsistent, meaning.

Note return to page 30 2My powers are crescent,] Every old copy has “are crescent,” which modern editors arbitrarily change to “a crescent:” thus we say, the moon is crescent, and will come to the full.

Note return to page 31 3&lblank; soften thy wand lip!] It may be doubted whether “wand” and “lip” ought not to be united by a hyphen: “wand” probably has reference to Cleopatra's power of enchantment—that her lip is as potent as a magician's wand: and this construction seems warranted by what immediately follows, “Let witchcraft join with beauty.” “Wand” is the “witchcraft,” and “lip” the “beauty.” The conjectures that “wand” is misprinted for fond, or warm seem little better than idle; although, as Mr. B. Field suggests, waned or wan'd might, possibly, be the true reading.

Note return to page 32 4His brother warr'd upon him,] Misprinted “wan'd upon him” in the folio, 1623; but “warr'd upon him” in the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 33 5&lblank; they should square &lblank;] i. e. quarrel. See Vol. ii. p. 405. Mr. Bruce refers me to the following passage, exactly in point, in one of the Earl of Leicester's letters, Harl. MS. No. 285, fo. 66, “How thinges haue bredd this lytle square, between these two so well affected princes, I cannott tell.”

Note return to page 34 6As matter whole you have to make it with,] The meaning seems to be, “Do not find out a cause of quarrel where none exists: do not patch a quarrel when no patching is required, because the matter is whole.” Rowe put a negative into the line, “You have not to make it with;” but Southern seems to have found no deficiency, and therefore made no correction, in his folio, 1685. All the folios, subsequent to the first, corruptly read, “to take it with.” I am warranted by the opinion of Mr. Amyot in not, in this instance, deviating from the old text, which seems sufficiently intelligible, although nearly every editor since Rowe has deserted it.

Note return to page 35 7&lblank; to atone you.] i. e. reconcile you. See Vol. vi. p. 240. 589, &c.

Note return to page 36 8&lblank; your considerate stone.] 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 ancient text.

Note return to page 37 9Were well deserv'd of rashness.] There are several misprints in this short speech, as it stands in prose in the folio, 1623, viz. “Say not, say Agrippa; if Cleopater heard you, your proof were well deserved of rashness.” Of these modern editors take no notice, but silently change say to “so,” and proof to “reproof,” as if such were the ancient text. Theobald recommended approof instead of proof; but Hanmer's correction of “reproof” seems much preferable: the meaning then is, “your reproof were well deserved on account of rashness.” The later folios do not vary from the first, excepting in the proper mode of spelling the name of Cleopatra.

Note return to page 38 10To glow the delicate cheeks] All the folios read, “To glove,” &c.

Note return to page 39 1&lblank; tended her i' the eyes, And made their bends adornings:] Few passages in Shakespeare have excited more controversy than this, the effort of the commentators apparently being, to render what was plain obscure, and to adopt almost any sense but that which is presented by the words of the poet: “tended her i' the eyes” seems to mean nothing else but tended in her sight: Mr. Barron Field truly remarks, that in “Midsummer-Night's Dream” we have the expression “gambol in his eyes,” for gambol in his sight: “made their bends adornings” is probably to be understood, that they bowed with so much grace as to add to their beauty. Warburton would read adorings for “adornings;” but it is needless to detail any of the other conjectural emendations, which, through several pages, only display misapplied ingenuity.

Note return to page 40 2That yarely frame the office.] i. e. Readily and dexterously perform the task they undertake. See Vol. ii. p. 72, Vol. iii. p. 391. The adjective “yare” occurs several times in this play.

Note return to page 41 3I have not kept my square;] The last part of the sentence explains the first, if explanation be needed. Respecting “square,” or squire, see Vol. ii. p. 368; Vol. iii. p. 505; and Vol. iv. p. 252.

Note return to page 42 4Good night, sir.] In the folio, 1632, these words are assigned to Octavia; but as they may very well have been a repetition by Antony, we adhere to the distribution of the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 43 5Enter a Soothsayer.] Every old copy makes the Soothsayer enter here: every modern copy introduces him, without any propriety, with Cæsar, Antony, and Octavia, at the opening of the scene.

Note return to page 44 6&lblank; at Mount] i. e. Mount Misenum. “Mount” is printed with a capital letter in the folio, 1623: the folio, 1632, has it “at the Mount.”

Note return to page 45 7Tawney-finn'd &lblank;] Theobald altered Tawney-fine, of all the folios, into “Tawney-finn'd,” and the change seems required.

Note return to page 46 8O! that his fault should make a knave of thee, That art not! What! thou'rt sure of?] Our punctuation of this disputed passage is that of Monck Mason; but he wished also to read, “What! thou'rt sure of't?”—a slight change, indeed, but as it is not absolutely necessary, we do not carry our variation from the old copies farther than changing the pointing: in the folio, 1623, it stands, “O 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 words “What! thou'rt sure of?” Cleopatra intends to inquire of the messenger once more, whether he is certain of the tidings he has brought. The meaning of the first part of the passage, as we have given it, is very evident.

Note return to page 47 9The other way he's a Mars.] Thus corruptly printed in the folio, 1623, “The other wayes a Mars.”

Note return to page 48 1Flourish. Enter Pompey and Menas, as one side,] In the old stage-direction, Menas is inserted as if he were one of the friends and followers of Cæsar.

Note return to page 49 2Made all-honoured, honest, Roman Brutus,] “Honoured” is to be read as three syllables, and then the particle “the,” inserted before “all,” by the editor of the second folio, is unnecessary.

Note return to page 50 3Thou canst not fear us,] i. e. alarm, frighten us. See Vol. iv. p. 430; Vol. v. pp. 294. 323.

Note return to page 51 4Thou dost o'er-count me of my father's house:] “O'er-count” is here used equivocally, as Malone remarks, with reference to the fact, stated by Plutarch, that Antony had possessed himself by purchase of the dwelling of Pompey's father.

Note return to page 52 5&lblank; with a Banquet.] i. e. what we now call a dessert. See Vol. iii. p. 194.

Note return to page 53 6Or foison, follow.] “Foison” is plenty. See Vol. ii. p. 21, and Vol. vii. p. 165. In the former of these instances it is used in the plural.

Note return to page 54 7Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips,] Whatever the ocean incloses, or the sky embraces. See Vol. iii. p. 533; Vol. iv. p. 85; Vol. v. p. 180; Vol. vi. p. 233.

Note return to page 55 8All there is thine.] So every old copy, which it is needless to alter, although Southern, in his copy of the folio, 1685, substituted then for “there.”

Note return to page 56 9That it might go on wheels!] A proverbial expression: a pamphlet on the use of carriages, by Taylor, the Water-poet, printed in 1623, is entitled, “The World runs (not goes, as Malone gives it) on Wheels.”

Note return to page 57 1The holding every man shall bear,] The old reading is beat for “bear,” a change which Theobald introduced, and no misprint is perhaps more common than to substitute t for r: “the holding” is the burden, or, as it is sometimes called, the foot (see “Patient Grissell,” reprinted by the Shakespeare Society, Act. i. sc. 1.) of a song; and to bear the holding is very intelligible, while to beat the holding is the reverse, unless the allusion be to beating time. The words, “as loud as his strong sides can volley,” seem to warrant the slight change.

Note return to page 58 2Splits what it speaks:] In the three earliest folios “splits” is spelt spleets, and we are not sure that the orthography of the word ought not to be preserved. Spleets was not the old mode of spelling “splits,” and the variation might be intentional.

Note return to page 59 3No, to my cabin, &c.] It is surprising to see with what coolness important variations from the folio, 1623, are sometimes made by modern editors, without any information as to the defects of that copy. These words, and the three lines following them, are part of the speech of Enobarbus in the folio, 1623, and there is no doubt that they belong to Menas, but it is surely fit to notice the change. It is not pointed out by Malone, (Shakspeare by Boswell, vol. xii. p. 272) whose text seems to have here been implicitly followed by later editors.

Note return to page 60 4Noble Ventidius,] In the prefixes of the old copies, Silius is only called Roman, and his name is not mentioned in the introductory stage-direction.

Note return to page 61 5They are his shards, and he their beetle.] i. e. (says Steevens) “they are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from the ground.” See the explanation of “shard,” in connection with “beetle,” in “Macbeth,” Vol. vii. p. 140, note 1.

Note return to page 62 6That so I harry'd him.] We have had to “harrow” in “Hamlet,” Vol. vii. p. 197, and it would seem to be either the same word as, or nearly akin to, harry, which Minsheu explains “to turmoil or vex.” Malone says that Florio, in his Ital. Dict., translates tartassare, “to rib-baste, to tug, to hale, to harry;” but it is, in fact, printed hurrie in both editions, of 1598 and 1611.

Note return to page 63 7Or did it from his teeth.] The passage ending with these words is evidently corrupt: two lines earlier, the folio, 1623, has then for “them;” and in the next line, he not look't, for “he not took't,” which was Thirlby's emendation: had look't been merely meant for looked, it would probably not have had an apostrophe. The editor of the folio, 1632, not perceiving the misprint of look't for “took't,” printed “he had look't.” The punctuation of the folio, 1623, is as erroneous as the wording. The phrase, “Or did it from his teeth,” seems hardly to require explanation: it does not mean, as Steevens suggested, in spite of his teeth, but that what Cæsar said in praise of Antony, came from no nearer his heart than his teeth.

Note return to page 64 8Your reconciler!] The folio, 1623, has “You reconciler,” and above, “Than your so branchless.” The folio, 1632, corrects both these literal errors, as well as “Your heart has mind to” below, which the folio, 1623, prints “Your heart he's mind to.” It does not alter “shall stain your brother,” which we might otherwise suppose a misprint for stay.

Note return to page 65 9Where is Antony?] This speech is also decidedly corrupt in all the folios: they read would for “world,” had'st for “hast,” and “grind the other” for “grind each other.” Johnson substituted “world,” and “grind the one the other,” which does not suit the measure as well as “each other,” which we prefer. Modern editors, not perhaps having here examined the folio, 1623, adopt Johnson's emendation, as if it were the ancient text. Southern, who made many corrections of “Antony and Cleopatra,” in his folio, 1685, does not seem to have detected this error.

Note return to page 66 10His sons he there proclaim'd,] The old copies have hither for “he there,” and king for “kings.” Modern editors have introduced an amendment by Steevens without acknowledgment, and as if it were the text of the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 67 1&lblank; with her train.] So say the old copies, and there can be no possible reason for following the example of modern editors by omitting the words. It must have been a small train, she had not “an army for an usher,” as appears by what follows, but she was not wholly unattended, according to the practice of the stage when the folio, 1623, was printed.

Note return to page 68 2Being an obstruct &lblank;] The folio, 1623, and the other folios, have abstract; no doubt a mere misprint.

Note return to page 69 3&lblank; and the high gods, To do you justice, make his ministers Of us and those that love you.] Our text is that of the folio, 1632, which merely alters makes of the folio, 1623, to “make:” “his” refers to “justice,” and not to the gods, as all modern editors, since Capell's time, seem to have supposed, reading “make them ministers,” or “make their ministers,” &c. The sense therefore is, that the gods, in order to right Octavia, make ministers of justice of Cæsar, and of those that love Octavia. No other change seems required, and the smallest is usually the best.

Note return to page 70 4&lblank; his potent regiment &lblank;] In the time of Shakespeare, “regiment,” was most frequently used in the sense of government or rule. When, in “Richard III.” Richmond says, “The Earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment,” (Vol. v. p. 476,) he means his command generally, and not that the Earl was the colonel of a certain number of men, now called “a regiment.” The same remark will apply to Richmond's direction (p. 479), “Good lords, conduct him to his regiment,” speaking of Lord Stanley.

Note return to page 71 5Thou hast forspoke &lblank;] i. e. Thou hast spoken against, or forbidden; a not unusual sense of the word.

Note return to page 72 6And take in Toryne?] i. e. conquer or subdue it. See Vol. vi. p. 152.

Note return to page 73 7Your mariners are muliters, reapers, &c.] The oldest copy has militers. The correction was made in the second folio, and it is confirmed by the translation of Plutarch, by Sir T. North, 1579, where it is said that Antony's sailors were “muliters, reapers, harvest-men.”

Note return to page 74 8Their ships are yare,] i. e. nimble and light—easy to be managed. We have already had “yarely” on p. 36, and “yare” occurs again towards the close of the present act. See also Vol. ii. p. 72, and Vol. iii. p. 391.

Note return to page 75 9&lblank; but his whole action grows Not in the power on't:] Malone properly interprets this disputed passage to mean, that Antony, in his conduct, does not rely upon that which is his chief power or strength, viz. his forces by land.

Note return to page 76 1Marcus Octavius, &lblank;] This speech, according to the prefix in the folio, 1623, belongs to a person whose name began with Ven, but none such is on the stage. The mistake is not corrected in any of the later folios.

Note return to page 77 2&lblank; upon this jump.] i. e. upon this hazard. Shakespeare has already used the verb “to jump,” in the sense of to risk or hazard, in “Coriolanus,” Vol. vi. p. 203, and in “Macbeth,” Vol. vii. p. 116. Here we have the substantive.

Note return to page 78 3&lblank; the Noise of a Sea-Fight.] This is the old simple stage-direction.

Note return to page 79 4The Antoniad,] Such, according to North's Plutarch, was the name of Cleopatra's ship.

Note return to page 80 5The greater cantle &lblank;] i. e. the larger portion or piece. For the etymology of the word “cantle,” see Vol. iv. p. 283, note 3.

Note return to page 81 6&lblank; the token'd pestilence,] When the plague broke out, it was known by certain signs called tokens, and God's tokens.

Note return to page 82 7Yond' ribald-rid &lblank;] The folios, 1623, 1632, and 1664, have the word ribaudred: the folio, 1685, ribauldred. Steevens altered it to “ribald-rid,” but the line would read better with “ribald” only.

Note return to page 83 8The brize upon her &lblank;] The “brize” is the gad-fly. See Vol. vi. p. 29.

Note return to page 84 9She once being loof'd] To “loof,” or luff, (as it is pronounced) is certainly, as the commentators state, to bring a ship nearer the wind; but in this place we may doubt if it be not put for aloof'd, and the meaning would then be, “She having once borne away, or made off.”

Note return to page 85 1O! he has given example for our flight,] The folio, 1623, “O! his has,” &c., an error corrected by the folio, 1632.

Note return to page 86 2&lblank; let that be left] The folios, “let them be left,” which might be right, if we read, “Which leave themselves,” in the next line.

Note return to page 87 3&lblank; and Iras.] In the folios, “and Eros.” Eros, however, enters at the same time.

Note return to page 88 4Dealt on lieutenantry,] The context seems to show that “dealt on lieutenantry” here means, fought by proxy, as Steevens supposed.

Note return to page 89 5&lblank; should'st tow me after:] The folio, “should'st stow me after.”

Note return to page 90 6Enter Euphronius.] Only called “Ambassador” in the old copies. Euphronius was the instructor of the children of Antony by Cleopatra. The previous stage-direction includes the name of Agrippa, but he does not appear to have been on the stage.

Note return to page 91 7Try thy cunning, Thyreus;] Called Thidïas, and in the prefixes.

Note return to page 92 8Have nick'd his captainship;] i. e. says Steevens, “set the mark of folly on it,” referring to the practice of nicking fools, adverted to in “The Comedy of Errors,” Vol. ii. p. 170.

Note return to page 93 9The mered question.] So in all the old copies, excepting that they print “mered” meered. It was possibly a misprint for mooted, or it may have been a dissyllable formed from mere.

Note return to page 94 1&lblank; begin to square.] i. e. begin to quarrel. See this Vol. p. 28.

Note return to page 95 2&lblank; In disputation] Warburton read deputation; but as a clear meaning is afforded by “disputation,” in the sense of controversy, or contest, we adhere to the text of all the old editions. At the same time the plausibility of Warburton's change is not to be disputed.

Note return to page 96 3&lblank; the wise gods seel our eyes;]. To “seel” the eyes of a hawk was a term in falconry. See Vol. vii. p. 141. It was perhaps only another form of seal, and it is sometimes doubtful which form should be preserved.

Note return to page 97 4With one that ties his points?] “Points” were tags at the ends of laces used to fasten the dress. See Vol. iii. p. 500.

Note return to page 98 5Dissolve my life!] But for the verse, we might, perhaps, more properly and intelligibly read, “as it dissolves, so determine (or end) my life.” “Determine” and “dissolve” may, however, be taken as convertible terms.

Note return to page 99 6By the discandying &lblank;] All the folios corruptly read, discandering: “discandying” was Thirlby's change, and, as Malone observes, the verb to “discandy” is found in the next Act. Three lines above, they all read smile for “smite.”

Note return to page 100 7&lblank; and fleet,] i. e. and float, which Johnson needlessly substituted.

Note return to page 101 8&lblank; one other gaudy night.] i. e. night of joy, from gaudium: the expression of “gaudy days” is still in use in the Inns of Court, though now more commonly called grand days. According to Holloway's “General Provincial Dictionary,” 8vo. 1838, the expression “gaudy day” is still used in Essex, and we have heard it also in Suffolk.

Note return to page 102 9&lblank; preys on reason,] In the folios, “preys in reason.”

Note return to page 103 1I have many other ways to die,] Sir T. Hanmer read, consistently with Plutarch, “He hath many other ways to die.” Farmer observes, that the ambiguity of the old English translation of Plutarch, by Sir T. North, led Shakespeare to say “I have,” &c.; but Cæsar only seems contemplating the possibility that he might fall by the sword of Antony.

Note return to page 104 2&lblank; at their Posts.] “In every corner of the stage,” in the folios.

Note return to page 105 3Sooth, la! I'll help. Thus it must be.] This and the two preceding speeches, in the folio, are printed only as one, and are given to Cleopatra; a defect of which some modern editors take no notice, although they avail themselves of Sir T. Hanmer's “disentanglement,” as Johnson calls it, of the dialogue, excepting that he erroneously gave “What's this for?” to Antony, a mistake, corrected by Malone.

Note return to page 106 4The morn is fair.—Good morrow, general.] This speech, in the old copy, is erroneously given to Alexas. Malone converted the “armed soldier,” who enters above, into “an officer,” and gave this speech to “2 Off.”

Note return to page 107 5The gods make this a happy day to Antony!] This and some subsequent speeches are in the folios assigned to Eros; but, as Thirlby suggested, and as Theobald printed, there is little doubt that they belong to the same soldier who, before the battle of Actium, had advised Antony not to fight by sea. Some modern editors have printed the speeches as if no change from the old distribution had been required, thus giving a most false notion of the accuracy of the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 108 6&lblank; despatch.—Enobarbus!] So the folio, 1623, but the folio, 1632, alters it to “Eros, dispatch.” The latter certainly better suits the ten-syllable metre, for which Steevens invariably contended; but it is not at all unnatural that Antony, after giving his orders to Eros, should exclaim “Enobarbus!” calling to mind his ancient services and present desertion.

Note return to page 109 7&lblank; there did dissuade] So all the folios, and, as Johnson says, perhaps rightly.

Note return to page 110 8&lblank; best you saf'd the bringer] Steevens pointed out an instance of a similar use of the verb “saf'd,” in book iv. of Chapman's translation of the Odyssey; but no other has been adduced.

Note return to page 111 8&lblank; clip your wives,] i. e. embrace your wives. See Vol. vi. p. 233, &c.

Note return to page 112 9&lblank; our rattling tabourines;] We have had this word used for drums in “Troilus and Cressida,” Vol. vi. p. 108.

Note return to page 113 1&lblank; the court of guard.] For this expression see Vol. vii. p. 535.

Note return to page 114 2The hand of death hath raught him.] “Raught” was most frequently used as the past tense of to reach. See Vol. ii. p. 326; Vol. iv. p. 548; Vol. v. p. 246. But it is also sometimes made the past tense of to reave, as in Vol. v. p. 144, and in Nash's “Pierce Penniless,” 1592, “I raught his head from his shoulders, and sheathed my sword in his body.” See the reprint of this tract by the Shakespeare Society, p. 82. In this place in our text either sense will answer the purpose, for the “1 Soldier” may mean either that death has reached, or has reft Enobarbus.

Note return to page 115 3&lblank; (order for sea is given, They have put forth the haven)] These words, as Mr. Knight suggests, are parenthetical, and we have printed them accordingly: without them, the sense runs on quite clearly, and any addition to the text, such as “Let's seek a spot,” proposed by Malone; or “Farther on,” recommended by Monck Mason, is unnecessary. Antony says, “our foot shall stay with us upon the hills adjoining to the city—where we may best discover the appointment and look upon the endeavour of the enemy.”

Note return to page 116 4But being charg'd,] i.e. Unless we be charged. “But” is still frequently employed in the north of England as a preposition, equivalent to without. Several ancient instances may be found in the “Coventry Mysteries,” printed by the Shakespeare Society, and edited by Mr. Halliwell. Steevens collects various authorities on the point, but they are not necessary: he derives “but,” in this sense, from the Sax. butan.

Note return to page 117 5&lblank; the auguries] i. e. the declarations of the augurs: it is unnecessary, with all modern editors, to change the word, found in all the old copies, to augurers.

Note return to page 118 6That spaniel'd me at heels,] The credit of this happy emendation is due to Sir T. Hanmer: the folios all read, no doubt corruptly, “that pannelled me at heels.”

Note return to page 119 7Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,] “Fast and loose” was the same game as that now commonly called “pricking in the garter,” and it was commonly (Sir J. Hawkins observes) employed by gipsies, as a mode of defrauding the unwary. Steevens quoted T. Freeman's Epigrams, 1614, at length, but the two first lines are all that really illustrate the text:— “Charles the Ægyptian, who by jugling could Make fast or loose, or whatsoere he would,” &c.

Note return to page 120 8For poor'st diminutives, for doits;] The old copy has dolts, which was most likely a misprint for “doits:” the error would be a very easy one for a compositor to make, and the change much smaller than to suppose, with Tyrwhitt, that “for” was a printer's blunder for to; or with Malone, that “for,” in both places, ought to be fore. Of course Shakespeare never paused to consider whether doit was an ancient Roman coin; and Warburton substituted “doits” for dolts, which makes the sense of the passage evident: Mr. Amyot truly observes, that “doits” is a word of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare. We therefore, without hesitation, adopt Warburton's amendment.

Note return to page 121 9Was never so emboss'd.] For an explanation of this hunting term, which means foaming at the mouth, see Vol. iii. pp. 108. 271; where T. Heywood's “Edward IV.” pt. i. is quoted, since printed by the Shakespeare Society, and edited by Mr. Barron Field.

Note return to page 122 1Pack'd cards with Cæsar's,] i. e. Packed her cards with Cæsar's cards. All the old copies have “Cæsar's,” all the modern editions Cæsar; but there is no necessity for the change. Warburton would make out that Shakespeare had a double meaning in the use of the word “triumph,” with reference to cards, but we know from Ben Jonson, that a trump card was not then called a “triumph” card.

Note return to page 123 2&lblank; with pleach'd arms,] “Pleach'd” is interwoven or folded. In Vol. ii. p. 198, we have had “pleached,” and in Vol. iv. p. 565, “even-pleached,” in a similar sense.

Note return to page 124 3To do this when I bade thee?] This is one of the incidents taken exactly from Plutarch, and Shakespeare follows his original in this scene with even verbal accuracy.

Note return to page 125 4The guard! how! O, despatch me!] Modern editors have usually printed ho! for “how?” of the folios. The Rev. Mr. Barry proposes the substitution of now; but it seems to us that the text hardly requires alteration.

Note return to page 126 5Enter some of the Guard.] The old stage-direction shows how many the theatre (supposing the tragedy to have been acted, of which, though we can have no proof, there can be little doubt) afforded for this duty:—“Enter 4 or 5 of the Guard of Antony.”

Note return to page 127 6Enter, above, Cleopatra, &c.] We are to suppose Cleopatra in her tomb, and elevated at the back of the stage.

Note return to page 128 7&lblank; die, when thou hast liv'd:] All the old copies have “when,” which Pope altered to where,—“Die where thou hast liv'd;” but the sense seems to be, “Die when thou hast liv'd” in consequence of being quickened, or restored, by my kissing thee. All modern editors have adopted Pope's needless change.

Note return to page 129 8No more, but e'en a woman;] i. e. I am “no more” an empress, “but a mere woman.” The sense fully justifies Johnson's emendation of the reading of all anterior editions, “but in a woman.” Many instances might be pointed out, were they necessary, in which “e'en” has been misprinted in in the old copies, not only of Shakespeare's plays, but of those of his contemporaries.

Note return to page 130 9&lblank; the meanest chares.] “Chare” is a word of uncertain etymology, but in constant use in the time of Shakespeare. We still retain it in the compound “chare-woman.” It is sometimes spelt char. The sense sufficiently explains its meaning. Cleopatra again uses the word in Act v. sc. 2.

Note return to page 131 1Proculeius, and Others.] The old stage-direction runs thus:—“Enter Cæsar, Agrippa, Dolabella, Menas, with his Council of war.” It seems evident that Menas is a misprint for Mecænas, and the name (as Thirlby pointed out) is printed Mec. in the prefixes, which of itself detects the error.

Note return to page 132 2He mocks us by the pauses that he makes.] The old copies omit “us by,” which were added by Malone, and which we adopt, because they, or some equivalent words, are necessary to the sense, as well as to the measure, which is regulated according to the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 133 3Lions into civil streets;] Johnson was of opinion that a line here had been lost, and perhaps there is some omission or corruption in the text; but still it is intelligible as it stands, and we of course adhere to it.

Note return to page 134 4And strange it is,] This and the next speech, here assigned to Agrippa, are given to Dolabella in the old copies. Dolabella had made his exit.

Note return to page 135 5Waged equal with him.] There would be ground for preferring weigh of the folio, 1632, to “waged” of the folio, 1623, if “waged” did not afford an easy and evident meaning: to “wage” is here to be taken in the sense of contend. The two later folios corrupt weigh of the second folio (spelt way) into may.

Note return to page 136 6&lblank; for Cæsar cannot live] So the sense requires us to read; but the old folios all have leave, which was altered to “live” by Southern, in his copy of the fourth folio. He anticipated Pope in a change, which, if not made, would directly contradict the poet's meaning.

Note return to page 137 7A Room in the Monument.] As in a former scene of the last Act, (p. 111) we must suppose Cleopatra and her two attendants in the monument above, at the back of the stage.

Note return to page 138 8Some of the Guard unbar and open the Gates.] This necessary stage-direction is wanting in the old copies. Malone formed one from Plutarch, with more particularity than seems required to explain the situation.

Note return to page 139 9Guard her till Cæsar come.] In the folio, 1623, this speech is given to Proculeius, and the editor of the folio, 1632, (not Rowe, nor Pope, as stated by Theobald, and repeated by others) perceiving that that must be an error, transferred it by another blunder to Charmian. It probably belongs to Gallus, to whom it was assigned by Malone.

Note return to page 140 1The little O, the earth.] This is substantially Theobald's amendment, the folios reading, The little o' th' earth, and he altering it to The little O o' th' earth. There seems no necessity to add to the text, especially as The little o' th' earth may, after all, be the true reading.

Note return to page 141 2&lblank; an autumn 'twas,] “An Anthony 'twas” in the old copies: one of Theobald's certain and happy emendations. The error, doubtless, arose from autumn having been written with a capital letter.

Note return to page 142 3As plates dropp'd from his pocket.] Plate was the term in use for silver money, plata being the Spanish word for it, which about this date seems to have been introduced into English.

Note return to page 143 4To vie strange forms with fancy;] To “vie” (as explained in Vol. iii. p. 147) was a term at cards, signifying to stake or challenge.

Note return to page 144 5&lblank; a grief that smites My very heart at root.] “Smites” is printed suites in the folio, 1623, and the commentators have supposed that it was an error of the press for shoots; but surely, as Mr. Barron Field observes, it is much more likely to have been a misprint for “smites,” which only varies in a single letter. The expression is then more natural, and it avoids the clash of shoots and “root.”

Note return to page 145 6I had rather seal my lips,] This again is one of the instances in which the commentators have understood an allusion to seeling the eyes of a hawk; but the common expression of sealing the lips requires no such explanation.

Note return to page 146 7&lblank; modern friends &lblank;] i. e. common friends; a use of the word of which we have had various previous examples. See Vol. vi. p. 443, &c.

Note return to page 147 8With one that I have bred?] We should now say, “By one,” &c.: another instance of licence in the old use of prepositions.

Note return to page 148 9Sirrah, Iras, go.] In Vol. iv. p. 236, we have seen “sirrah” used otherwise than derogatorily: here we find it also applied to a woman, but of course as a mere expletive. Steevens produced an instance from Arthur Hall's translation of Homer (from the French) where Hector addresses the “maids” of Andromache as Sirs.

Note return to page 149 P. 127.&lblank; Sirrah, Iras, go] It is not to be supposed that this practice of applying “sirrah” and “sir” to women, was at all peculiar to Shakespeare as a dramatist. Beaumont and Fletcher not unfrequently do the same. See Dyce's Edit. vol. iii. p. 183, &c.

Note return to page 150 1Your crown's awry;] So Pope, correcting away of the folios, by the narrative in North's Plutarch, which Daniel also here followed in his “Cleopatra,” 1594.

Note return to page 151 2&lblank; and then play—] Charmian is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Guard, and does not finish her sentence, as is indicated in the old copies by a line.

Note return to page 152 3Upon the caves of Nile.] This is the word in all the old copies, but the Rev. Mr. Barry suggests that the true reading is canes, and not “caves:” in the folio, 1623, it is printed caues, the u being employed instead of v, and Mr. Barry is of opinion that the error arose from the turning of the letter n, which thus became u. On the other hand, we have the evidence of the folio, 1632, that the old understanding of the passage was “caves,” for it is there so printed, the u of the older copy having been discarded for its substitute. It is, besides, very obvious that the aspick might leave its slime upon the “caves” of Nile as well as upon the canes of Nile.

Note return to page 153 “The Tragedie of Cymbeline” was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it stands last in the division of “Tragedies,” and occupies thirty-one pages; viz. from p. 369 to p. 399, misprinted p. 993. There is another error in the pagination, as p. 379 is numbered p. 389. These errors are corrected in the three later folios.

Note return to page 154 4Among Capell's books, which he gave to Trinity College, Cambridge, and which are there preserved with care proportionate to their value.

Note return to page 155 1No list of characters is found in any of the old editions, and it was first added by Rowe.

Note return to page 156 1Still seem as does the king.] All the commentators have stumbled at the threshold of this play: the difficulty has been occasioned by an apparent error in the folio, 1623, (repeated in the later folios) where “king” is printed kings: omit a single letter, as Tyrwhitt proposed, and the passage is then sufficiently perspicuous. Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 126) conjectured that “courtiers” might be a misprint for countenances, but the measure would thereby be destroyed, and the meaning not much elucidated.

Note return to page 157 2You speak him far.] We might suspect that “far” is a misprint for fair; but as the sense of “far” is not only clear, but stronger than that afforded by fair, we of course adhere to the old reading. The gentleman does more than speak Posthumus fair; he speaks him “far,” or carries his praise to an extreme. The next speech confirms this explanation, if confirmation be needed.

Note return to page 158 3A glass that feated them;] Possibly “feated,” as Mr. Barry thinks, is a misprint for featur'd; but “feated” may be easily understood as made them “feat,” i. e. according to Minsheu, fine, neat, brave.

Note return to page 159 4And did avoid a puttock.] “A puttock” is a hawk of a degenerate and worthless breed.

Note return to page 160 5&lblank; with this eye or ear,] In the folios, “with his eye or ear;” but the eye or ear which was to distinguish Posthumus was that of Pisanio. It was, doubtless, a mere error of the press. Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 127) recommends the substitution of the for his of the folio, but it seems more likely that the letter t had dropped out.

Note return to page 161 6Betwixt two charming words,] The old meaning of to “charm” was to enchant, and in this sense we suppose it to have been used by Imogen in this passage: she would have set the kiss “betwixt two charming words,” in order, perhaps, to secure it from “the shes of Italy.”

Note return to page 162 7Shakes all our buds from growing.] Warburton substituted blowing for “growing,” but without the slightest pretence, though Farmer vindicates, or rather, perhaps, excuses it. All the old copies agree; and elsewhere Shakespeare has expressed the same thought, in nearly the same words.

Note return to page 163 8&lblank; I did atone &lblank;] i. e. reconcile. See various former instances in Vol. iii. p. 96; Vol. iv. p. 118; Vol. v. p. 364; and Vol. vi. pp. 240. 589.

Note return to page 164 9&lblank; if I offend not &lblank;] “Not” is wanting in all the folios.

Note return to page 165 10&lblank; I could not but believe &lblank;] The folios all read “I could not believe:” Warburton left out the negative, and Heath substituted but for it; but Malone's emendation, which is our text, seems preferable to any other change.

Note return to page 166 11&lblank; or if there were &lblank;] So all the folios: “or” is here obviously to be taken in the sense of either,—“either if there were,” &c. The use of “or” in this manner is scriptural, and it is also countenanced by some of our best writers of the time. Modern editors unceremoniously omit “or:” the old copies read purchases for “purchase.”

Note return to page 167 1&lblank; to convince the honour of my mistress,] To “convince” here, as in various other places, means to overcome. See Vol. ii. p. 377; Vol. vi. p. 49; Vol. vii. p. 118. 166.

Note return to page 168 2&lblank; on the approbation &lblank;] i. e. on the proof. See Vol. iv. p. 471.

Note return to page 169 3Of liegers for her sweet;] The meaning is, that it will deprive Imogen of the “lieger,” or ambassador, residing with her to represent and maintain the interests of his master. Possibly “sweet,” as the Rev. Mr. Barry proposes, ought to be suite.

Note return to page 170 4Upon the number'd beach;] The “number'd beach” must be taken, as Johnson observes, for numerous beach; and “twinned stones” of the preceding line refers to the likeness, as of twins, between the stones on the beach. Coleridge (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 127) would read, with Farmer, umber'd for “number'd;” but, if any change were required, we should be inclined to prefer that of Theobald, “th' unnumber'd beach.

Note return to page 171 5Fixing it only here;] The first folio has fiering. The correction was made in the second folio.

Note return to page 172 6Base and illustrous &lblank;] All modern editors change “illustrous” to unlustrous, which may be more strictly correct; but the word is “illustrous” (misprinted illustrious) in all the folios, and it ought on every account to be preferred, as that which came from the author's pen.

Note return to page 173 7&lblank; societies unto him:] “Societies into him,” in the old copies: it was most likely a misprint, but not necessarily so.

Note return to page 174 8&lblank; like a descended god:] The first folio has defended, corrected to “descended” in the second folio. The error of course arose from a mistake by the compositor of the long s for the letter f.

Note return to page 175 9&lblank; when I kissed the jack &lblank;] At bowls, what we now always term “the jack,” in Shakespeare's time was most frequently called the mistress, but sometimes the master, and rarely “the jack,” as in our text.

Note return to page 176 10&lblank; I give him satisfaction?] First folio, gave. Corrected by the editor of the second folio.

Note return to page 177 1Did softly press the rushes,] It need hardly be repeated (See Vol. iv. p. 287) that apartments of old were usually strewed with rushes, instead of being carpeted.

Note return to page 178 2May bare the raven's eye:] Mr. Barron Field thinks that this expression has been hitherto understood too literally, as meaning that the “raven's eye” is “bared,” or opened, by the “dawning:” he apprehends that night is here poetically described as “the raven.” This may certainly be so, and the suggestion deserves attention, though we are not acquainted with any other instance where night is so personified, admitting that the “raven” and its plumage are often mentioned as accompaniments of, or similes for night; as in the well-known words of Milton:— &lblank; “smoothing the raven down Of darkness till it smiled.”

Note return to page 179 3With every thing that pretty is:] So all the old copies, and not “pretty bin,” as Sir T. Hanmer altered the text. In this kind of ballad-measure, it was not required that each line should have its rhyme; on the contrary, the more usual practice was the reverse.

Note return to page 180 4&lblank; it is a vice &lblank;] “Vice” is misprinted voice in all the folios.

Note return to page 181 5&lblank; and must not foil] The modern reading has been soil for “foil,” as it is printed in all the old editions: to “foil the precious note of it” is as intelligible as to “soil,” and no change seems required. In “Antony and Cleopatra” (p. 20) the same word occurs, and the same needless alteration was made.

Note return to page 182 6A hilding for a livery,] A “hilding” was a low wretch. See Vol. iii. pp. 138. 268; Vol. iv. p. 345; Vol. vi. p. 459.

Note return to page 183 7(Now mingled with their courages)] In the folio, 1623, the word is wing-led, but altered to “mingled” in the folio, 1632: the emendation was therefore not made by Rowe, as some modern editors, who did not refer to the second folio, have affirmed.

Note return to page 184 8Was Caius Lucius, &c.] In the folios, this speech is given to Posthumus, but most likely by a mistake, owing to the same initial belonging to Philario. Philario takes up the conversation, while Posthumus is employed in eagerly reading his letters.

Note return to page 185 9&lblank; if one, her women,] The editor of the folio, 1632, inserted of before “her women,” but unnecessarily, the expression being elliptical—“if one, her women,” is the same as “if one of her women.”

Note return to page 186 1(Worthy the pressing)] The folios all read her for “the;” an alteration made by Rowe. Iachimo can scarcely mean that it was worthy Imogen's pressing.

Note return to page 187 2All faults that may be nam'd;] This is the reading of the folio, 1632: that of 1623 has “All faults that name.”

Note return to page 188 3With rocks unscaleable,] The epithet shows that the old reading of oaks, for “rocks” is a misprint. Sir Thomas Hanmer made the change.

Note return to page 189 4&lblank; keep at utterance.] i. e. to keep at the extremity of defiance. Combat à outrance (says Steevens) is a fight, that must conclude with the life of one of the combatants. So, in “Macbeth,” Vol. vii. p. 136:— “Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, And champion me to the utterance.”

Note return to page 190 5What monsters her accuse?] So every old copy: every modern edition, “What monster's her accuser?” Surely no variation from the ancient text is required.

Note return to page 191 6As would take in some virtue.] The phrase “to take in,” which is equivalent to conquer, we have already had in this Vol. p. 70.

Note return to page 192 7Art thou a feodary for this act,] “Feodary” occurs in Vol. ii. p. 45, and “federary,” (probably misprinted for “feodary”) in Vol. iii. p. 454: in both instances, as here, it means a confederate or accomplice.

Note return to page 193 8&lblank; would even renew me with your eyes.] It has been usual to vary from the old copies, by reading, “would not even renew me;” but this change, as Mr. Amyot remarks, hardly seems required, the apparent sense being, that Justice and the wrath of Cymbeline could not do Posthumus any cruelty, but such as might be remedied by the eyes of Imogen.

Note return to page 194 9&lblank; say, and speak thick,] i. e. rapidly. See Vol. iv. p. 377; and Vol. vi. p. 68.

Note return to page 195 1Stoop, boys:] The old copies misprint “stoop” sleep; an error which was corrected by Sir T. Hanmer: the context confirms the amendment, but, nevertheless, sleep runs through all the folios.

Note return to page 196 2&lblank; that giants may jet through] To “jet” is to strut. We have had the same word in Vol. iii. p. 366; Vol. v. p. 401; and Vol. vi. p. 294.

Note return to page 197 3&lblank; for a bribe;] Here again occurs an evident corruption, babe for “bribe,” in the folio, 1623. Sir T. Hanmer made the judicious change, which is preferable to Warburton's substitution, bauble. Steevens would justify the old reading by reference to the law of wards and infants, but such an allusion would hardly have been intelligible to the audience.

Note return to page 198 4Yet keeps his book uncross'd.] The tradesman's book was crossed when the account was paid. The allusions to this circumstance in old writers are frequent.

Note return to page 199 5A prison for a debtor,] All the old copies read, “A prison or a debtor”— Pope's correction.

Note return to page 200 6I' the cave wherein they bow,] The folios read, whereon the bow. Warburton amended the text, in consistency with what has gone before.

Note return to page 201 7&lblank; Ne'er long'd my mother so To see me first, as I have now,] The folio, 1632, misprints “see me,” of the folio, 1623, seeme, and it stands seem in the two later folios. Southern altered his copy of the folio, 1685, thus:— “Ne'er long'd his mother so To see him first, as I have now;” which certainly is more consistent with Imogen's state of mind, and renders the words “as I have now” more relative. It may have been an original misprint in the folio, 1623.

Note return to page 202 8Something's afore't:] The old printer, not understanding what was meant, misprinted these words “Something's a-foot,” an error continued in the later folios, and corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 203 9Of princely fellows,] “Princely fellows” means the equals of Imogen, who sought her hand in marriage.

Note return to page 204 1&lblank; when thou shalt be disedg'd by her That now thou tir'st on,] To “disedge” is, of course, to take off the edge of appetite: to “tire on” is to feed on, or peck at ravenously, as a bird of prey. See Vol. iii. p. 465; Vol. v. p. 238; and Vol. vi. p. 551.

Note return to page 205 2I'll wake mine eye-balls blind first.] We adopt the received reading here: in all the old copies “blind” is omitted in this line, and that, or some other equivalent monosyllable, seems necessary for the sense and metre.

Note return to page 206 3&lblank; (which you will make him know,] In the original it stands “which will make him know,” you having perhaps accidentally dropped out. All the folios are alike in this respect.

Note return to page 207 4&lblank; to the loud noise we make.] The preposition of is mistakenly inserted after “loud” in the folio, 1623: it is clearly needless to the sense, and injurious to the metre; but modern editors have usually printed the passage, (without notice) “to the loud'st of noise we make,” in order to preserve what in fact ought on all accounts to be removed.

Note return to page 208 5Gold strewed i' the floor.] O' the floor, or on the floor, as we should now say: another instance of licence in the use of prepositions in the time of Shakespeare. To alter it to “o' the floor,” with Sir T. Hammer, is to sacrifice the characteristic language of our poet and his contemporaries. Farther on we have “fallen in this offence,” for “fallen into this offence,” and there is as much reason for amending the one as the other.

Note return to page 209 6That nothing gift of differing multitudes] Some dispute has arisen respecting the word “differing” in this line, but no commentator has taken what appears to be the plain sense of the author: “differing multitudes” does not mean “deferring multitudes,” with Theobald, Hanmer, and Warburton; nor many-headed, with Johnson; nor unsteady, with Monck Mason and Steevens; but merely, as it seems to us, differing in respect of rank from the persons upon whom the multitudes bestow the “nothing gift” of reputation. The poet is contrasting, in a manner, the givers with the person to whom the gift is made.

Note return to page 210 7Since Leonatus false.] i. e. Since Leonatus is false; an unusual but not an unprecedented form of expression.

Note return to page 211 8'Gainst the Pannonians and Dalmatians;] The revolt of the Pannonians and Dalmatians has been already mentioned, in Act iii. sc. 1. Malone correctly observes, that this event occurred, not in the reign of Cymbeline, but in that of his father, Tenantius, whose name was introduced in the beginning of this play. Tenantius was nephew to Cassibelan. These were niceties of history, to which Shakespeare did not think it necessary to attend: he adapted history to his drama, not his drama to history.

Note return to page 212 9&lblank; this imperseverant thing &lblank;] “Imperseverant” must be taken in the sense of perseverant, (as Steevens remarks) like impassioned, &c.; unless we suppose Cloten to mean imperceptive, or imperceiving, as regards his advantages over Posthumus. Hanmer reads “ill-perseverant.”

Note return to page 213 1He cut our roots in characters;] In the folio, 1623, (which is followed by those of later date) this part of the speech has the prefix of Arviragus, as well as the speech immediately following, so that he is represented as speaking twice together. “He cut our roots in characters” is probably a continuation of the speech of Guiderius, and so Steevens printed it.

Note return to page 214 2rooted in him both;] “Rooted in them both” in the folio, with evident corruption. “Spurs,” in the next line, are the large roots of trees proceeding immediately from the trunk.

Note return to page 215 3&lblank; for th' effect of judgment Is oft the cause of fear.] The original has, &lblank; “for defect of judgment Is oft the cause of fear;” which is evidently wrong, and the question is, whether we shall read “th'effect,” with Theobald, or cure for “cause” in the next line. Johnson preferred Theobald's slight change, giving “the play of effect and cause, more resembling the manner of Shakespeare,” and on this account also we adopt it.

Note return to page 216 4I am perfect what:] i. e. I am perfectly aware what I have done. We have had the phrase before in this play. See Act iii. sc. 1.

Note return to page 217 5Though his humour] In the folios, honour is evidently misprinted for “humour,” meaning disposition: the error, with its converse, has before several times occurred. Theobald detected it.

Note return to page 218 6how thyself thou blazon'st] The folio, 1623, introduces “thou” three times into this line, “Thou divine Nature, thou thyself thou blazon'st.” The folio, 1632, omitted the second thou, to the injury of the metre, and it was followed by the folios of 1664 and 1685; but Malone judiciously substituted “how” for thou, which suits the sound, the sense, and the measure.

Note return to page 219 7&lblank; thy sluggish crare] All the folios have care for “crare,” a word in frequent use of old for a small vessel called, as Heath tells us, crayera in middle-age Latin. Drayton calls it a cray, and crea; and Heywood and others, craier, and crare.

Note return to page 220 8My clouted brogues &lblank;] i. e. My nailed shoes. “Brogue” seems to be derived from the Irish brog, a shoe; and perhaps because “brogues” were chiefly worn by the Irish, we have, in modern times, applied to their speech what properly belongs to their feet.

Note return to page 221 9&lblank; the ruddock &lblank;] i. e. the red-breast: it seems of old to have been called indifferently by both names.

Note return to page 222 1As once our mother:] i. e. as once we sang our mother: the folio, 1623, reads, “to our mother;” the preposition, as Pope thought, having been accidentally introduced from the preceding line.

Note return to page 223 2&lblank; but his Jovial face] His face like Jove: “Jovial” was not unfrequently used in this manner. We meet with it again in this play, A. v. sc. 4, where Jupiter says, “Our Jovial star reign'd at his birth.” “Jovial hand” is an expression common in T. Heywood's plays.

Note return to page 224 3&lblank; that irregulous devil,] We have no other instance of the use of the word “irregulous,” which Johnson supposed to be a misprint for irreligious. The meaning of “irregulous” in this place is obvious, and we are not warranted in changing it.

Note return to page 225 4&lblank; find we in life,] This is clearly a question, and so it is printed in the folio, 1632: the folio, 1623, puts it merely as an assertion, “we find in life,” &c. The next speech seems to correct the error.

Note return to page 226 5&lblank; the Roman horses neigh,] The old folios have their for “the;” probably, but not necessarily, an error of the press: “their” runs through all the folios.

Note return to page 227 6&lblank; for I wish'd] “For I am wish'd” in the editions before that of Pope. Perhaps “I am wish'd” ought to be taken for “I have wish'd;” one auxiliary verb being used instead of another.

Note return to page 228 7Had liv'd to put on this:] To “put on” is to incite or instigate. See “Hamlet,” Vol. vii. p. 348, “Of deaths put on by cunning.”

Note return to page 229 8And make them dread it, to the doer's thrift.] This obscure line has occasioned dispute; but Monck Mason seems to have best given the sense of the original words, (from which some of the commentators have varied) when he says that they mean, “Some you snatch from hence for little faults; others you suffer to heap ills on ills, and afterwards make them dread their having done so, to the eternal welfare of the doers.”

Note return to page 230 9&lblank; or could this carl,] “Carl” and churl seem to have been the same word, and both derived from the Saxon ceorl, or from the Gothic karl. It means a rustic or clown, and it is so used by Chaucer. We have had carlot in Vol. iii. p. 70.

Note return to page 231 1The country base,] i. e. The country game of prison-base, or prison-bars, mentioned by many old writers by the name of base; but by Drayton in his “Polyolbion,” Song 30, called “prison-base.”

Note return to page 232 2The mortal bugs o' the field.] The mortal terrors of the field. See Vol. iii. p. 134; Vol. v. p. 323. In “Hamlet,” Vol. vii. p. 334, “bugs” and “goblins” are coupled.

Note return to page 233 3&lblank; after which, all go out.] It was not unusual on our old stage to begin a scene with a dumb show, as scene 2 of this Act; but it was by no means common to terminate a scene in this way. Ritson was evidently mistaken, when he said that “the business of the scene was entirely performed in dumb show,” unless he considered the dumb show a scene by itself.

Note return to page 234 4And to become the geck and scorn] “Geck” is fool; and we have had it before used by Shakespeare in “Twelfth Night,” Vol. iii. p. 418.

Note return to page 235 5&lblank; to foot us:] i. e. to grasp us in his talons. So Herbert, as quoted by Steevens:— “And till they foot and clutch their prey.”

Note return to page 236 6&lblank; our fangled world,] “Fangled” is almost invariably found with new before it, and only in this instance, as far as discoveries of the kind have gone, without it: the meaning seems to be much the same as new-fangled, and it has been derived from fengan, Sax. to undertake or attempt. The substantive fangle was in use by Shakespeare's contemporaries. [Subnote: P. 242.—Note 6 requires qualification, for in “Skialetheia,” 1598, (and perhaps elsewhere) we meet with “fangled” without new before it: “It is Cornelius, that brave gallant youth, Who is new printed to this fangled age.” Sign. B 4.]

Note return to page 237 7&lblank; or jump the after-inquiry on your own peril:] i. e. risk the after-inquiry. See Vol. vi. p. 203; Vol. vii. p. 116. The latter instance, “We'd jump the life to come,” is exactly in point.

Note return to page 238 8&lblank; whom she bore in hand to love] i. e. whom she pretended to love, or led to believe that she loved. In “Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 21, we had the expression, “Bore many gentlemen, myself being one, In hand, and hope of action.”

Note return to page 239 9So feat,] So neat, ready, clever, in this instance: it also sometimes means fine or brave, according to Minsheu. See p. 141.

Note return to page 240 1His favour is familiar to me.] Here, as in many other places, “favour” is used for countenance. See Vol. vii. p. 24, &c.

Note return to page 241 2I know not why, nor wherefore,] “Nor” was added by Rowe, and is necessary to the sense.

Note return to page 242 3&lblank; straight-pight Minerva,] “Pight” is pitched or fixed. See Vol. vi. p. 135; Vol. vii. p. 393: “straight-pight” therefore seems to mean, standing upright in a fixed posture, and with this sense the compound epithet has great appropriateness.

Note return to page 243 4(O cunning, how I got it!)] “It,” required by the sense and the metre, was added in the folio, 1632, and it is, of course, to be found in the two later impressions in the same form.

Note return to page 244 P. 253.&lblank; yea, and she herself] The full-point has accidentally dropped out at the end of this line.

Note return to page 245 5I am sorry for thee:] The folio, 1623, has sorrow for “sorry,” which last was substituted in the folio, 1632, and from thence it was transferred to the other folios.

Note return to page 246 6Your pleasure was my mere offence,] The meaning of “mere” in this place is evident, viz. the mere offence I committed was what your pleasure considered a crime: the first folio having misprinted it neere, it became near in the later folios, and some editors would substitute dear.

Note return to page 247 7Bless'd pray you be,] i. e. I pray that you may be blessed. Modern editors needlessly change “pray” of all the old copies into may.

Note return to page 248 8When you were so indeed.] The folio has we for “you;” probably a misprint, which was corrected by Rowe.

Note return to page 249 9This fierce abridgment] Shakespeare here, and in a few other places in his works, uses the epithet “fierce” with some peculiarity: in “Love's Labour's Lost” we have had “fierce endeavour,” and in “Timon of Athens,” “fierce wretchedness.”

Note return to page 250 1Will serve our long inter'gatories.] Apparently so pronounced in the time of Shakespeare, and sometimes so printed, as in “All's Well that Ends Well,” Vol. iii. p. 287, where the sentence is only prose; and in “The Merchant of Venice,” Vol. ii. p. 563, where the word occurs in verse twice. In the passage in our text it is printed interrogatories.

Note return to page 251 2He would have well become this place,] In the folio, 1623, “become” is printed becom'd, probably a mere error of the press; but it has been adopted by Malone, and by modern editors who have followed his text.

Note return to page 252 3&lblank; upon his eagle back'd] So all the folios; but modern editors strangely prefer “upon his eagle back:” if they thought fit to make this change in the text, they ought to have printed “upon his eagle's back.”

Note return to page 253 4When as a lion's whelp &lblank;] “It is not easy to conjecture,” says Coleridge, (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 128) “why Shakespeare should have introduced this ludicrous scroll, which answers no one purpose, either propulsive or explicatory, unless as a joke on etymology.” It is very possible that the scroll and the vision were parts of an older play.

Note return to page 254 5Of this yet &lblank;] The folio, 1623, accidentally inverts these words, “Of yet this.” The correction was made in the folio, 1664.

Note return to page 255 “The late, And much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole Historie, aduentures, and fortunes of the said Prince: As also, The no lesse strange, and worthy accidents, in the Birth and Life, of his Daughter Mariana. As it hath been diuers and sundry times acted by his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe on the Banck-side. By William Shakespeare. Imprinted at London for Henry Gosson, and are to be sold at the signe of the Sunne in Pater-noster row, &c. 1609.” 4to. 35 leaves. “The late, And much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, aduentures, and fortunes of the saide Prince. Written by W. Shakespeare. Printed for T. P. 1619.” 4to. 34 leaves. “The late, And much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, aduentures, and fortunes of the sayd Prince: Written by Will. Shakespeare: London, Printed by I. N. for R. B. and are to be sould at his shop in Cheapside, at the signe of the Bible. 1630.” 4to. 34 leaves. In the folio of 1664, the following is the heading of the page on which the play begins: “The much admired Play, called, Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, Adventures, and Fortunes of the said Prince. Written by W. Shakespeare, and published in his life time.” It occupies twenty-pages; viz. from p. 1 to p. 20, inclusive, a new pagination of the volume commencing with “Pericles.” It is there divided into Acts, but irregularly, and the Scenes are not marked.

Note return to page 256 1By a list of theatrical apparel, formerly belonging to Alleyn, and preserved at Dulwich College, it appears that he had probably acted in a play called “Pericles.” See “Memoirs of Edward Alleyn,” printed for the Shakespeare Society, p. 21. This might be the play which Shakespeare altered and improved.

Note return to page 257 2It seems that “Pericles” was reprinted under the same circumstances in 1611. I have never been able to meet with a copy of this edition, and doubted its existence, until Mr. Halliwell pointed it out to me, in a sale catalogue in 1804: it purported to have been “printed for S. S.” This fact would show, that Shakespeare did not then contradict the reiterated assertion, that he was the author of the play.

Note return to page 258 P. 266.&lblank; the original title-page, stating it to have been ”written by William Shakespeare,” was cancelled, no doubt, at the instance of the author to whom it was falsely imputed.] See additional note to Vol. i. p. clxxxix., where the editor has seen reason to correct this opinion.

Note return to page 259 3The novel is contained in a work called “Shakespeare's Library,” as well as Gower's poetical version of the same incidents, extracted from his Confessio Amantis. Hence the propriety of making Gower the speaker of the various interlocutions in “Pericles.” The origin of the story, as we find it in the Gesta Romanorum, is a matter of dispute: Belleforest asserts that the version in his Histoires Tragiques was from a manuscript tiré du Grec. Not long since, Mr. Thorpe printed an Anglo-Saxon narrative of the same incidents; and it is stated to exist in Latin manuscripts of as early a date as the tenth century.—“Shakespeare's Library,” part v. p. ii.

Note return to page 260 1The play in the folio, 1664, is followed by a defective list of persons, under the title of “The Actors' Names.”

Note return to page 261 1&lblank; and holy ales;] Every old copy, quarto and folio, has “holy-days;” but as the speech was no doubt meant to rhyme, we have adopted Dr. Farmer's amendment: by “holy ales,” what were called church ales were probably intended.

Note return to page 262 2The purpose is &lblank;] In all the old copies it stands, “The purchase is;” and it may possibly be right, taking purchase in the sense of prize or reward.

Note return to page 263 3&lblank; took a feere:] i. e. a mate or wife: the word also occurs in “Titus Andronicus,” Vol. vi. p. 327.

Note return to page 264 4By custom &lblank;] “But custom” in the old copies; and in the next line, account'd for “account.”

Note return to page 265 5As yond' grim looks do testify.] Referring to the heads of the unsuccessful suitors, exhibited to the audience over the gates of the palace at Antioch. That such was the case we have the evidence of the novel, founded upon the play, published under the title of “The painfull Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre,” 1608, where the heading of the first chapter ends thus:—“placing their heads on the top of his castle gate, whereby to astonish all others that came to attempt the like.”

Note return to page 266 6Music.] In every old copy, this word, which is evidently a stage-direction, is made part of the text, at the commencement of the speech of Antiochus.

Note return to page 267 7For the embracements &lblank;] All the old copies omit “the.”

Note return to page 268 8Sorrow were ever ras'd,] In the quarto, 1609, it is “Sorrow were ever racte,” which later editions altered to rackt, mistaking the word.

Note return to page 269 9&lblank; such a boundless happiness!] The old editions, anterior to that of Rowe, by a misprint, have “bondless happiness.”

Note return to page 270 1&lblank; all thy whole heap must die.] The old copies have the for “thy:” the change was made by Malone.

Note return to page 271 2Yond' sometime famous princes,] Referring, of course, to the heads of the unsuccessful suitors above the palace gates.

Note return to page 272 3Scorning advice, read the conclusion, then;] In the quartos, this and the two next lines are made part of the speech of Pericles: the folio, 1664, only so far corrects the decided error as to give the two last lines to Antiochus.

Note return to page 273 4Of all 'say'd yet, may'st thou prove prosperous! Of all 'say'd yet, I wish thee happiness.] So every old copy, which it is needless to alter to “In all save that,” as was done by Malone, on the recommendation of Monck Mason. Percy suggested that the meaning was, “Of all essay'd yet,” and the conjecture is supported by the quarto, 1609, which prints “said” say'd: later editions read “said.”

Note return to page 274 5But faithfulness, and courage.] These are the very words transferred to the novel founded upon the play, “Pericles armed with these noble armours, faithfulness and courage,” &c. As Steevens pointed out, the same expression is found in Sidney's “Arcadia,” book iii.

Note return to page 275 6&lblank; of our strict edict,] The quartos read, “of your strict edict,” but the folio, 1664, corrects the mistake. Two lines lower, it properly changes counsel of the quartos to “cancel.”

Note return to page 276 7Will shun no course &lblank;] All the old editions, with evident corruption, read “Will shew no course. Malone conjectured that 'schew, for eschew, might be the word, but he printed “shun.”

Note return to page 277 8Thaliard, You're of our chamber,] The quarto, 1609, alone, repeats Thaliard after chamber. The measure, here unattended to by ancient and modern editors, detects the error.

Note return to page 278 9&lblank; and, as an arrow,] The quartos, “and like an arrow:” altered in the folio, 1664.

Note return to page 279 10&lblank; why should this change of thoughts?] So every old copy: every modern one, without necessity, alters “change” to charge. It must be admitted, however, that change for charge, and vice versa, was a very common misprint. See this Vol. p. 8. Two lines lower, as of the old copies was necessarily altered to “is” by Malone, for the sake of the sense, which is somewhat obscure. We might read, “By me's so us'd a guest, as not an hour,” &c.

Note return to page 280 1And with the ostent of war &lblank;] So amended by Tyrwhitt, from stint of the old copies, and not stent, as Steevens misprinted it: he quoted several instances of the use of the expression “ostent of war” in writers of the time, and such were probably the author's words in this play.

Note return to page 281 2(Who am no more &lblank;] The old copies read, “Who once no more.” Steevens followed Farmer in the reading of our text.

Note return to page 282 3To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;] The old copies read, “To which that spark gives heart and stronger glowing:” modern editors notice one corruption, but do not mention the other. Monck Mason proposed “blast” for spark, and all agree that either that word or some equivalent, breath or wind, is necessary. Malone adopted breath, and Steevens wind. Heart for “heat” was an easy corruption.

Note return to page 283 4How dare the plants look up to heaven,] Malone tells us that the quarto, 1609, has “plants:” no other copy of that edition we have seen, reads “plants:” nevertheless the mistake is evident.

Note return to page 284 5And should he doubt it,] Malone's judicious emendation of the quarto, 1609, which reads, “And should he doo't:” the folio, 1664, following the later quartos, prints “And should he think it.” Seven lines lower, Malone's copy of the quarto, 1609, differs, by having “spares” for fears of other copies of the same impression. This important correction must have been made while the edition was going through the press.

Note return to page 285 6&lblank; will sure crack both:] “Sure” is not in any of the quartos, but was inserted in the folio, 1664.

Note return to page 286 7&lblank; this truth shall ne'er convince,] i. e. overcome. See Vol. vii. p. 118. 166, &c.

Note return to page 287 8My message &lblank;] So all the editions but the quarto, 1609, which reads, “Now message must return,” &c.

Note return to page 288 9Our tongues and sorrows do sound deep] We follow the old copies in this somewhat obscure passage, excepting that in the next line we read “do” for to, and three lines lower, “helps” for helpers.

Note return to page 289 1&lblank; dames so jetted &lblank;] i. e. so strutted. See this Vol. p. 190.

Note return to page 290 2Those palates, who not yet two summers younger,] So Steevens, correcting a decided corruption in the old copies, which read, “not yet too savers yonger.” Malone recommended a needless change, “not us'd to hunger's savour,” but the reference seems to be to the lapse of time.

Note return to page 291 3Hath stuff'd &lblank;] Old copies, “That stuff'd.” The error, arising from the misreading of the compositor, occurs again on p. 290.

Note return to page 292 4Thou speak'st like him's &lblank;] i. e. like him who is, an elliptical expression, misprinted hymnes in all the old copies.

Note return to page 293 5What need we fear?] The quarto, 1609, reads, “What need we leave, our ground's the lowest,” &c. All the later copies have it as in our text.

Note return to page 294 6&lblank; if he on peace consist;] i. e. if he stand on peace.

Note return to page 295 7Are like the Trojan horse, was stuff'd within With bloody veins,] i. e. “like the Trojan horse, which was stuff'd within with bloody veins.” Modern editors poorly substitute views for “veins,” against the authority of every old edition.

Note return to page 296 8Is still at Tharsus,] The oldest quarto, 1609, corruptly reads, “Is still at Tharstill.” The meaning of the next line, as Malone explains it, seems to be, “that they pay as much respect to all Pericles can speak as if it were holy writ.”

Note return to page 297 9&lblank; hath stay'd at home,] In the old copies, that is misprinted for “hath,” as on p. 287. “Sends word,” lower down, is a correction by Steevens of Sav'd one in the old copies.

Note return to page 298 1And hid intent,] i. e. concealed purpose. Malone informs us that his quarto, 1609, reads “and his in Tent;” adding, “this is only mentioned to show how inaccurately this play was originally printed.” The fact is, that the quarto, 1609, in the library of the Duke of Devonshire, has “And hid intent,” exactly as in our text, and the correction, like some others, must have been introduced while the sheet was in the press. The quarto, 1619, alters it to “And had intent,” which is followed in all the later impressions.

Note return to page 299 2He knowing so,] Misprinted doing so in all the old copies, but corrected by Steevens.

Note return to page 300 3&lblank; this 'longs the text.] i. e. as Douce properly explains it, “this belongs to the text,” and not “this lengthens the text,” as Steevens thought.

Note return to page 301 4&lblank; and left me breath] The old copies, “and left my breath.”

Note return to page 302 5What, ho, Pilch!] “Pilch” seems to be applied as a nick-name to one of the fishermen. The old copies read, “What, to pelch?” A “pilch” is a leathern coat or covering. See Vol. vi. p. 433.

Note return to page 303 6How from the finny subject of the sea] Steevens corrected the old copies, which read fenny, to “finny,” and rightly, as is shown by the words of the novel founded upon the play:—“Prince Pericles wondering that from the finny subjects of the sea, these poor country-people learned the infirmities of men.”

Note return to page 304 7&lblank; and no body look after it.] We follow all the old copies, the reading of which is quite as intelligible as any proposed emendation. It has been suggested that something has been lost, and it seems probable.

Note return to page 305 8Y' may see, the sea hath cast me upon your coast &lblank;] So the folio, 1664, correcting the quartos, which read “May see the sea hath cast upon your coast.” This speech seems unconnected with anything that has gone before, and it is to be regretted that the novel founded upon the play here affords us no assistance. Some modern editors tell us that the folio reads, “You may see the sea hath cast me on your coast.” This is a slight misrepresentation of the fact, of course unintentional, and we mention it merely because it gives a wrong notion of the accuracy of the old copies.

Note return to page 306 9&lblank; puddings and flap-jacks;] A “flap-jack” was a pancake or fritter, and it seems to have been made of batter and apple. In some parts of the country it is also still called an apple-jack. See Holloway's “General Provincial Dictionary,” 8vo, 1838. In the old editions, “moreo'er” is printed more; or.

Note return to page 307 1His wife's soul &lblank;] We are inclined to think, with Steevens, that the 1 Fisherman is here interrupted by the return of his companions, and did not therefore finish his sentence. No sense can be made out of the speech, by supposing the words “His wife's soul” connected, as it stands in the old copies, with the previous portion of the speech.

Note return to page 308 2&lblank; the gods protect thee from!] In the old copies, “from” is misprinted fame.

Note return to page 309 3&lblank; my father's gift in's will.] So the quarto, 1619, the quarto, 1630, and the folio: the quarto, 1609, “my father gave in his will.” Steevens, for the sake of the metre, would read “by will,” apparently not having looked at any copies but the quarto, 1609: “in's will” (a frequent contraction) suits the measure without any change.

Note return to page 310 4And spite of all the rapture of the sea, This jewel holds his biding on my arm;] In the old copies these lines run thus:— “And spite of all the rupture of the sea, This jewel holds his building on my arm.” The novel founded upon “Pericles” shows that the two words, which in our text vary from the original copies, have been rightly changed by the commentators: Pericles, we are informed in the novel, got to land “with a jewel, whom all the raptures of the sea could not bereave from his arm.” Sewel recommended “rapture” for rupture, and Malone substituted “biding” for building.

Note return to page 311 5&lblank; to explain] This is a correction by Steevens: all the old editions have “to entertain.”

Note return to page 312 6The word, Lux tua vita mihi.] “The word” means the mot, or motto. Of old perhaps the motto consisted of only one word.

Note return to page 313 7Me pompæ provexit apex.] In the old copies, this is printed Me Pompey provexit apex; and Steevens naturally conjectured, that Pompey ought to be pompæ, in which emendation he is supported by the motto as given in the novel founded upon the play of “Pericles.”

Note return to page 314 8&lblank; and Attendants.] The old stage-direction merely is, “Enter the King and Knights from Tilting.”

Note return to page 315 9To place &lblank;] The old copies, anterior to the folio, 1685, have “I place.”

Note return to page 316 1That neither in our hearts, nor outward eyes, Envy the great, nor do the low despise.] This is the reading of the quarto, 1619, and of all subsequent impressions. The quarto, 1609, has Have for “That,” Envies for “Envy,” and shall for “do.”

Note return to page 317 2&lblank; he not thought upon.] We follow all the old editions in giving these two lines to Simonides, instead of Pericles, to whom they seem to have been needlessly transferred.

Note return to page 318 3Which tells me &lblank;] The quarto, 1609, omits “me,” found in all later copies. In the last line but one of this speech, the quarto, 1609, alone reads, “He's both their parent.”

Note return to page 319 4My education been in arts and arms,] i. e. My education having been in arts and arms. Malone altered “been” of all the old editions to being; but that “been” is the right word we have the evidence of the novel founded upon “Pericles,” where we meet with the very same words—“his education been in arts and arms.”

Note return to page 320 5&lblank; cast on the shore.] This speech is perfectly intelligible: we print it in the words of all the old copies, which we prefer to patching up a text, as modern editors seem to have done, under the supposition that they could restore the versification.

Note return to page 321 6Princes, it is too late to talk of love,] In the quarto, 1609, this speech is made part of what is said by Pericles; but the obvious error is corrected, in a hand-writing of the time, in the copy belonging to the Duke of Devonshire.

Note return to page 322 7&lblank; were never better fed] Malone thought fit to invert the passage thus— “My ears, I do protest, were never better fed,” without authority or necessity.

Note return to page 323 8&lblank; the house about,] “About the house” in every old copy; and in all but the first, “Now ysleep slaked hath the rout.”

Note return to page 324 9&lblank; 'fore the mouse's hole;] The old copies have from for “'fore,” a very probable misprint, though not so necessarily.

Note return to page 325 1quaintly eche;] A form of eke that is found in Chaucer and Gower, as well as in some later writers. Eke is the more modern mode of spelling the word.

Note return to page 326 2&lblank; but fortune's mood] All the old editions misprint it, “but fortune mov'd.”

Note return to page 327 3&lblank; in this self storm,] i. e. in this same or self-same storm: all modern editors here corrupt the ancient text of the quartos and folios to “fell storm.”

Note return to page 328 4I nill relate,] i. e. I ne will or will not relate.

Note return to page 329 5&lblank; duly quench] “Daily quench” in the old copies: modern editors, without notice, alter it to “gently quench.”

Note return to page 330 6Thou storm, venomously] “Then storm” in all the old copies.

Note return to page 331 7Divinest patroness, and midwife,] For “midwife” (substituted by Steevens) the old editions all read my wife.

Note return to page 332 8For thou'rt the rudeliest welcome to this world, That e'er was prince's child.] The novel founded upon the play of “Pericles” here employs an expression which, as is stated in the Introduction, is evidently Shakespearean: it gives this part of the speech of Pericles as follows:— “Poor inch of nature! (quoth he) thou art as rudely welcome to the world, as ever princess' babe was, and hast as chiding a nativity, as fire, air, earth and water can afford thee.” This quotation also serves to show that Malone was wrong in altering “welcome” to welcom'd: besides the needlessness of the change, the novel proves that “welcome” was the poet's word.

Note return to page 333 9&lblank; I do not fear the flaw;] “Flaw” is blast: we have had it in the same sense in other plays; last in “Hamlet,” see Vol. vii. p. 329.

Note return to page 334 1&lblank; and we are strong in earnest.] The old copies read “strong in eastern,” and Monck Mason very plausibly suggested that the letters in the word eastern had been transposed, and that we ought to read “strong in earnest.” The chief objection to this is, that in the quarto impressions eastern has one letter too much, being spelt with a final e—easterne: the folio, 1664, first omitted it.

Note return to page 335 2&lblank; for she must overboard straight.] Every old copy, by a strange error, inserts these words in the middle of the reply of Pericles. They may have been meant as a repetition by him.

Note return to page 336 3As you think meet.] Modern editors, under the pretence probably of improving the metre, which they consider defective, because the line only consists of eight syllables, insert Be it at the beginning of this speech. The pause after “As you think meet” amply makes up the time, and in this play we must generally take the versification as we find it.

Note return to page 337 4And aye-remaining lamps,] Malone's emendation of the old copies, which print “ayre remaining lamps.” The allusion, of course, is to the lamps kept burning in monuments.

Note return to page 338 5Bring me the satin coffer:] Coffin in the old copies; but most likely Pericles was thinking of some ornaments kept by him in a satin “coffer.” Malone, Steevens, and others adopted “coffer;” but in the last scene of this Act the word “coffer” occurs again, and there it seems to mean coffin, as if the terms were indifferently employed.

Note return to page 339 6Alter thy course for Tyre.] Change thy course, (says Malone) which is now for Tyre, and go to Tharsus.

Note return to page 340 7Doth my lord call?] In the novel founded upon “Pericles,” as well as in Twine's version, which preceded the play, Cerimon, or the person answering to him, is called “a Physician.”

Note return to page 341 8Virtue and cunning &lblank;] “Cunning” here means knowledge, as in Vol. vi. p. 588.

Note return to page 342 9Or tie my treasure up &lblank;] The old copies have pleasure; but no doubt a misprint, the compositor having caught the commencement of the word from the next line.

Note return to page 343 1How close 'tis caulk'd and bitum'd!] The old copies misprint “bitum'd,” which, from what has gone before, is evidently the true word, bottom'd.

Note return to page 344 2Who was by good appliance recovered.] The words of the novel founded upon “Pericles” tend to show that this passage is corrupt, and that Cerimon means, that he has heard of an Egyptian who had the power of restoring those who had for nine hours lain in a state of apparent death. The words are:—“I have read of some Egyptians, who after four hours' death (if a man may call it so) have raised impoverished bodies, like to this, unto their former health.” Perhaps, for “impoverished,” we ought to read imperished. The Egyptians were celebrated for their magical powers.

Note return to page 345 3Breath out of her!] Malone states that “the old copies read—a warmth breath out of her.” This should seem to be a mistake: the text is simply, “nature awakes a warm breath out of her!” i. e. Cerimon perceives a warm breath come from her. Modern editors (some without the slightest notice, and all without the slightest necessity) alter the text of every old impression to “a warmth breathes out of her.” They besides, in this part of the play, take most unwarrantable liberties with the versification, which is very irregular: no patching and mending can reduce it to strict ten-syllable measure, which probably it was never meant to be.

Note return to page 346 4Yet glance full wanderingly on us.] The old copies have wondringly, and in the preceding line shakes for “shafts,” and haunt for “hurt,” excepting the folio, 1664, which has hate. The several amendments were introduced by Steevens. In the speech of Pericles the folio omits “litigious.” Lower down Malone rejected the epithet “gentle” before “babe.”

Note return to page 347 5Unscissar'd shall this hair of mine remain,] All the old copies read “Unsister'd shall this heir of mine remain,” &c. The latter portion of the play shows this to be a double corruption: the words, “Though I show will in't,” appear to mean “Though I show myself wilful in doing so.”

Note return to page 348 6Even on my yearning time;] The quartos read “learning time,” and the folio “eaning time.” To yearn is to feel that internal uneasiness, which precedes labour in women.

Note return to page 349 P. 322.—Even on my yearning time] The reading of the folio, “eaning time,” seems right, from the Angl. Sax. eanian, parturire. See Way's Promptorium, printed for the Camden Society, p. 140.

Note return to page 350 7Which makes her both the heart and place] The old copies read, “Which makes hie both the art and place.”

Note return to page 351 8&lblank; a wench full grown,] In all the old editions these lines are thus corruptly given:— “And in this kind our Cleon hath One daughter, and a full grown wench.” Steevens restored the intended rhyme.

Note return to page 352 9Even ripe for marriage sight:] i. e. ripe for the sight of marriage;—a very clear reading, requiring no change of “sight” to fight, as Malone altered it. That “sight” is the true word we have this evidence—that in Malone's copy of the quarto, 1609, this passage stands, “Even right for marriage sight;” whereas in the Duke of Devonshire's copy of the same edition, right was corrected (as the sheet went through the press) to “ripe:” if “sight” had been an error, that word would probably not have been passed over. We might possibly read, “Even ripe for marriage rite,” on the supposition that in the manuscript rite was spelt right, and misprinted “sight.”

Note return to page 353 1&lblank; the sleided silk] “Sleided” silk (says Percy) is untwisted silk, prepared to be used in the weaver's sley or slay. The old copies have “they weav'd.”

Note return to page 354 2&lblank; with sharp needle wound] “Needle” is of course here to be pronounced in the time of a monosyllable, as in Vol. ii. p. 433; and Vol. iv. pp. 89 and 209. See also the beginning of Act v. of this play.

Note return to page 355 3&lblank; the night-bird mute,] All the old copies read “night-bed.” It is somewhat strange that so decided and obvious a corruption was repeated in no fewer than nine separate impressions: it shows the carelessness with which reprints of old were made.

Note return to page 356 4Prest for this blow.] “Prest” is ready; prêt, Fr. See Vol. ii. p. 480.

Note return to page 357 5&lblank; inflaming love in thy bosom, Inflame too nicely;] The old copies all read, “in flaming love in thy bosom;” and we may conjecture that the second “inflame” ought to be inform.

Note return to page 358 6&lblank; for her old nurse's death.] Old copy, “She comes weeping her onely mistresse death. As Marina (says Percy) had been trained in music, letters, &c., and had gained all the graces of education, Lychorida could not have been her only mistress. I would therefore read, “Here comes she weeping her old nurse's death.” We adopt the emendation, but not the improvement of the metre.

Note return to page 359 7To strew thy grave with flowers:] So the folio, 1664, and no doubt rightly, correcting an error of the quartos, which have green for “grave.” In the last line of the speech, the folio needlessly substitutes hurrying for “whirring,” but in this change it was preceded by four of the quartos.

Note return to page 360 8&lblank; why do you weep alone?] Malone tells us that the earliest copies read keep for “weep.” Such is not the case with the quarto, 1609, the property of the Duke of Devonshire, which, like all the subsequent impressions, has “weep alone.” Either word may be right, but, from what follows,“weep” seems preferable, and probably was substituted for keep.

Note return to page 361 9A nurse of me.] The quarto, 1609, alone puts this interrogatively, “Have you a nurse of me?”

Note return to page 362 1Leonine, take her by the arm, walk with her.] The metre of this speech, as well as of many others in this play, is very irregular, but we, of course, prefer giving it as in the old editions, to any modern attempts to amend the lines. Steevens and others thrust in various words under this pretext, which we have discarded.

Note return to page 363 2From stem to stern:] In all the old editions it is misprinted, “From stern to stern.” Corrected by Malone.

Note return to page 364 3they're too unwholesome o' conscience.] The old copies all read, “there's two unwholesome o' conscience;” but the Pander does not appear to be speaking of any particular number.

Note return to page 365 4&lblank; so watered, that he went &lblank;] “So” and “that” are not in the first edition, but in all others. Nevertheless, the original reading may be right, and it is intelligible: we should therefore prefer it, if we had not ancient authority to the contrary.

Note return to page 366 5&lblank; and that opinion a mere profit.] i. e. an absolute or, in this place, certain profit.

Note return to page 367 6Unless you play the pious innocent,] It stands “impious innocent” in the quarto, 1609: all the later impressions omit the incongruous epithet. Monck Mason proposed to read “pious innocent,” and his conjecture is fully confirmed by the novel founded upon the play, for there Dionyza says to her husband, “If such a pious innocent as yourself do not reveal it unto him.”

Note return to page 368 7&lblank; his pre-consent,] In the quarto, 1609, “his prince consent.”

Note return to page 369 8She did disdain my child,] Steevens plausibly suggested that we ought to read “distain my child,” inasmuch as Marina did not “disdain” Philoten, but show her off to disadvantage. The old copies afford a clear meaning.

Note return to page 370 9&lblank; and held a malkin,] A “malkin” is a low wench. We have had “kitchen malkin” in “Coriolanus,” Vol. vi. p. 178.

Note return to page 371 1At Tharsus.] Here, according to the folio, 1664, in which the Acts are first marked, Act iv. commences.

Note return to page 372 2&lblank; (to take your imagination,)] In all the old copies, “our imagination.”

Note return to page 373 3Old Escanes, whom Helicanus late, &c.] In every old copy these lines are misplaced:— “Old Helicanus goes along behind Is left to governe it, you beare in mind. Old Escanes whom Helicanus late Advanc'd in time to great and hie estate. Well sailing ships and bounteous winds have brought This king to Tharsus,” &c. The transposition, suggested by Steevens, renders the passage clear.

Note return to page 374 4&lblank; your thoughts grow on] Grone, for “grow on,” in all the old copies.

Note return to page 375 5Now, please you, wit] Now, be pleased to know. The word is still in use.

Note return to page 376 6Thetis, being proud,] Every old copy corruptly reads, “That is being proud.” Malone complains that the strange blunder is committed in the “modern editions,” as if it were not found elsewhere.

Note return to page 377 7&lblank; wholesome iniquity,] “Iniquity” is misprinted impunity in every old copy after the first. The printer of the quarto, 1619, possibly thought “iniquity” a misprint, and himself misprinted impunity for impurity.

Note return to page 378 8Go thy ways.] These words, addressed probably to the Pander, (or possibly to Marina, as a sort of instruction not to be too backward) are only in the quarto, 1609. Some modern editors have assigned them to Lysimachus, without any information as to the change made in the distribution. They may belong to Lysimachus, but we prefer adherence to the old copies, when a change is not required by the sense.

Note return to page 379 9Hath plac'd me in this sty,] Modern editors have re-written this passage as follows:— “Hath plac'd me here within this loathsome sty.” Lower down, they inserted good before “gods.” This is most unwarrantably misrepresenting the ancient text.

Note return to page 380 1&lblank; under the cope,] i. e. under the cope or covering of heaven.

Note return to page 381 2She makes our profession &lblank;] In all the old copies it is, “He makes,” but it was probably a misprint.

Note return to page 382 P. 344.—Come now, your one thing?] The mark of interrogation has accidentally dropped out at the end of this question.

Note return to page 383 3&lblank; to every coystrel.] “Coystrel” seems to be corrupted from kestrel, a bastard kind of hawk. The word has occurred before in Vol. iii. p. 331. In the quarto, 1609, it is spelt custerell.

Note return to page 384 4If that thy master would gain by me,] This line, consisting only of nine syllables, may be considered defective, but it is so in every ancient edition, which we prefer to follow. In this line modern editors insert aught, “If that thy master would gain aught by me,” in order to make up the measure; but what pretence is there for saying that aught was Shakespeare's word, when other monosyllables would have answered the purpose as well? It is surely much better to alter the text as little as possible for the sense, and when words are necessarily inserted, to inform the reader of the fact.

Note return to page 385 5Her inkle,] In a note to “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 315, it is said that “inkle” is a kind of tape, and this passage in “Pericles” is usually referred to; but here it should rather seem to mean a species of coloured thread or worsted, used in the working of fruit and flowers. In this line the old copies have twine for “twin,” which Malone judiciously substituted.

Note return to page 386 6&lblank; tumbled and tost; And, driven before the winds,] We follow here the quarto, 1619, and the later impressions: the first quarto reads, &lblank; “we there him left Where driven,” &c. but the same information has been given in a previous part of the line. Malone substituted lost for left; but Pericles was not there lost; and even if lost for a time be the supposed meaning, the poet would hardly have used an expression so ambiguous.

Note return to page 387 7&lblank; with fervour hies.] Malone's copy of the quarto, 1609, reads “with former hies:” this is another passage corrected as the play went through the press, because the copy in the library of the Duke of Devonshire has the true word “with fervour hies.”

Note return to page 388 8Greet him fairly.] So the quarto, 1609: the later editions, them; but Helicanus refers to Lysimachus, who had been mentioned by the Tyrian sailor; and by “some of worth,” Helicanus, of course, means some person of worth. Modern editors, not perceiving this, have, without warrant or notice, thrust a word into the line, and read “some one of worth.” However, this is a trifling liberty, compared with others they have not scrupled, silently or avowedly, to take with the old text.

Note return to page 389 9Yet let me obtain my wish.] In the quarto, 1609, alone, these words are made part of the speech of Helicanus. The next speech was therefore assigned to Lysimachus. “Mortal night” is misprinted “mortal wight” in all the old editions.

Note return to page 390 10&lblank; through his deafen'd parts,] The old copies all read “defended parts:” the alteration was by Malone, but we are by no means sure that it ought to be followed. Three lines lower, the old copies are corrupt by omitting “with,” and “is,” both necessary to the sense.

Note return to page 391 1Let us beseech you,] Here Malone added “further,” without any authority, and merely because he seems to have thought the line too short.

Note return to page 392 2Is't not a goodly presence?] “Present” in the old impressions.

Note return to page 393 3&lblank; all goodness that consists in bounty] In the original copies, beauty is put for “bounty,” to which Steevens plausibly altered it. In the next line but one, “artificial feat” is misprinted “artificial fate.”

Note return to page 394 4Marina sings.] No song is given in the play, but according to the novel founded upon “Pericles,” the following is what is sung by Marina on the occasion; and, excepting in the omission of a concluding couplet, “He will not let, in care and thought, You still to live, and all for nought,” which is not in the same measure as the rest, it agrees very nearly with the version of the words in the Gesta Romanorum, translated by Twine, and quoted by Malone:— “Amongst the harlots foul I walk,   Yet harlot none am I: The rose among the thorns it grows,   And is not hurt thereby. “The thief that stole me, sure I think,   Is slain before this time. A bawd me bought, yet am I not   Defil'd by fleshly crime. “Were nothing pleasanter to me   Than parents mine to know: I am the issue of a king;   My blood from kings doth flow. “I hope that God will mend my state,   And send a better day. Leave off your tears, pluck up your heart,   And banish care away. “Show gladness in your countenance,   Cast up your cheerful eyes: That God remains that once of nought   Created earth and skies.”

Note return to page 395 5Here of these shores?] For “shores,” both in this and the next line, the old copies read shews.

Note return to page 396 6You make more rich to owe?] i. e. to own. We have so frequently had “owe” for own or possess, that it is unnecessary to refer to instances.

Note return to page 397 7Didst thou not say,] All the old copies misprint, “Didst thou not stay.”

Note return to page 398 8How lost thou them?] Malone added “them” to the text, and it seems necessary.

Note return to page 399 9At sea! what mother?] So the quarto, 1609, completing the line: later editions have “At sea! who was thy mother?” In the next line but one, modern editors have silently foisted very into the verse, though not found in a single ancient edition.

Note return to page 400 1You scorn:] So every old copy, and rightly, with reference to what Pericles has just said. Malone altered the text to “You'll scarce believe me,” &c., but quite unnecessarily.

Note return to page 401 2And another like to Pericles thy father.] This is the ancient text: Monck Mason would change “like” to life, and Malone would read “A mother like,” &c. We see no sufficient reason for alteration.

Note return to page 402 3&lblank; for yet he seems to doubt,] In the old copies, “doubt” is printed doat. The mistake is evident.

Note return to page 403 4Hangs upon mine eyes: let me rest.] Malone, without even the excuse that it corrects the measure, much less that there was any corruption, reads “Hangs on mine eye-lids.” Other modern editors adhere more nearly, though not closely, to the text, by giving “Hang on mine eyes.” This variation, where the measure is generally so uncertain and irregular, is of trifling importance.

Note return to page 404 5&lblank; repetition to the life.] In the old copies it stands “to the like,” which was most probably an error of the press. This mistake gives more countenance to Monck Mason's conjecture respecting a former line, p. 356.

Note return to page 405 6Do't, and be happy,] “Be,” necessary to the sense and measure, is omitted in all the old editions.

Note return to page 406 7I have another suit.] “Suit” is misprinted sleight in the old editions. Malone made the correction.

Note return to page 407 8This, as my last boon,] “As” is wanting in the old copies. Modern editors mention this insertion, but say nothing about adding has before “thriv'd,” below; an addition that is on no account required, if only the full point be observed in reading the line.

Note return to page 408 9Voice and favour!] “Favour” is of course here, as in many other instances, countenance.

Note return to page 409 1What means the woman?] So the quarto, 1619, and subsequent editions: the quarto, 1609, “What means the mam?” which may have been a misprint for nun: it would suit the measure better, and it would not be unprecedented to call a priestess of Diana a nun.

Note return to page 410 2&lblank; And now, This ornament, Makes me look dismal, will I clip to form,] i. e. “My beard, that makes me look dismal, will I clip to form.” Modern editors, under pretence of correcting the irregular verse, insert, among other words, “my lov'd Marina,” in this passage, without the slightest authority. How do we know that Shakespeare completed the metre in this way, or that he did purposely leave the line irregular and abrupt?

Note return to page 411 3Sir, lead's the way.] i. e. “lead us the way;” a very common contraction, and found in all the old copies. Modern editors have printed, “Sir, lead the way.”

Note return to page 412 4Virtue preserved &lblank;] Old copies, “Virtue preferr'd.”

Note return to page 413 5The gods for murder seemed so content] So all the editions after the first of 1609, which reads to contend for “so content.” In the next line, “them,” which is wanting in the old copies, quarto and folio, was supplied by Malone.

Note return to page 414 “Venvs and Adonis. Vilia miretur vulgus: mihi flauus Apollo Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua. London Imprinted by Richard Field, and are to be sold at the signe of the white Greyhound in Paules Church-yard. 1593.” 4to. 27 leaves. The title-page of the edition of 1594, 4to. does not differ in the most minute particular from that of the edition of 1593, excepting that there is a full point after the word “London.” It also has 27 leaves. “Venvs and Adonis. Vilia miretur vulgus: mihi flauus Apollo Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua. Imprinted at London by R. F. for Iohn Harison. 1596.” 8vo. 27 leaves. Field's device of the Anchor is found upon each of the above impressions. The edition of 1600, 8vo., only varies from that of 1596 in the imprint, which is “London. Printed by I. H. for Iohn Harison. 1600.” The imprint of the 8vo. Edinburgh edition runs thus: “Edinburgh, Printed by John Wreittoun and are to be sold in his Shop a little beneath the salt Trone. 1627.”

Note return to page 415 1The memorandum of it in the Stationers' Registers runs thus:— “18 April 1593. “Richd Field] Entered as his Copy, licensed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Wardens, a book intitled Venus and Adonis.”

Note return to page 416 2Malone adverts to Richard Barnfield's notice of “Venus and Adonis,” and “Lucrece,” in 1598, (reprinted in 1605; see Bridgewater Catalogue, 4to, 1837, p. 23) as well as to William Barksted's allusion to it in 1607, in his “Myrrha the Mother of Adonis.” To these may be added the praise of Shakespeare, and of his “Venus and Adonis,” and “Lucrece,” in the play of “The Return from Parnassus,” which was certainly produced before the death of Queen Elizabeth.

Note return to page 417 P. 370.—The date of 1604 is erroneously given to “Salmasis and Hermaphroditus,” imputed, probably falsely, to Beaumont: it was first printed in 1602. The error is also corrected in Vol. i. p. cxvi.

Note return to page 418 1&lblank; blames her 'miss; What follows more she murders with a kiss.] The word “amiss” was not unfrequently used as a substantive in the time of Shakespeare. “She murders with a kiss” is the reading of the editions of 1593, 1594, and 1596: the editions of 1600 and 1620, as well as that printed at Edinburgh in 1627, have smothers for “murders.”

Note return to page 419 2Forc'd to content,] i. e. Forc'd to be content, or compell'd to acquiescence.

Note return to page 420 3&lblank; a river that is rank,] “A river that is rank” is a river that is already full. See Vol. vii. p. 49. Drayton, in his “Barons' Wars,” b. i. has “Fetching full tides, luxurious, high and rank.”

Note return to page 421 4For to a pretty ear she tunes her tale;] So all the old copies; but possibly “ear” was originally a misprint for air.

Note return to page 422 5&lblank; yet her fire must burn:] This is the reading of the editions of 1593, 1594, and 1596: that of 1600, and the Edinburgh impression, have “yet in fire must burn.”

Note return to page 423 6To toy,] So the editions of 1593 and 1594: those of 1596, 1600, and Edinburgh, 1627, have coy. To coy may be right, as in “Midsummer Night's Dream,” Vol. ii. p. 443, we have it used in the sense of to caress:— “While I thy amiable cheeks do coy.”

Note return to page 424 7&lblank; nor know not what we mean.] The word “what” is omitted in Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, vol. xx. p. 17. It is merely an error of the press, as “what” is found in all the early editions.

Note return to page 425 8&lblank; all compact of fire,] “Compact” is made up or composed. “The Frenchman (says Nash) is wholly compact of deceivable courtship.”—“Pierce Penniless,” printed by the Shakespeare Society, p. 25. See also Vol. iii. p. 39. In “Skialetheia,” 1598, we read, “Thou must have words compact of fire, and rage.”

Note return to page 426 9From morn till night,] So every old edition; but Malone and all modern editors read corruptly, “From morn to night.”

Note return to page 427 1Souring his cheeks,] “So wring his cheeks,” in the edition of 1593; but corrected in that of 1594, and in the later impressions.

Note return to page 428 2&lblank; contemn me this?] Steevens would read “contemn me thus,” in opposition to all the old copies, but that printed at Edinburgh in 1627. He was not, however, aware of this feeble support.

Note return to page 429 3I'll be a park,] The copies of 1593 and 1594 have “a park;” the edition of 1596, and others after it, read “the park.” Malone, when he published his “Supplement,” in 1780, printed “the park,” from the edition 1600.

Note return to page 430 4&lblank; 'tween his teeth,] The edition 1594 alone misprints “his” hir: few mistakes could be more common, arising from the fact, that her was formerly often printed hir.

Note return to page 431 5And this I do] So the editions of 1593 and 1594: in the later impressions, “And thus I do.”

Note return to page 432 6To bid the wind a base &lblank;] i. e. to challenge the wind to a contest of speed, as at the game of prison-base, or prison-bars. See this Vol. p. 235.

Note return to page 433 7All swoln with chafing,] All modern editors misprint “chafing” chasing: “chafing” is the word in the editions of 1593, 1594, and 1596: the edition of 1600 first substituted chasing, by a mere error of the press, and Malone of course adopted it in his “Supplement,” 1780, printed from that edition: the next line seems to show that “chafing” is the true word. “Banning,” there also used, is of course cursing. See Vol. v. p. 90. 148; Vol. vi. p. 556.

Note return to page 434 8With tears, which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain.] In this couplet we have an obvious allusion to the dumb shows, and accompanying choruses, of our old stage. Malone, perhaps hastily, infers from this passage, that “Venus and Adonis” was not written until after Shakespeare quitted Stratford.

Note return to page 435 9To love's alarms &lblank;] “Alarms” is the reading of every old edition anterior to that of 1600: but Malone and other modern editors' have preferred a corruption to the author's original text, although he maintained (and upon this point we agree with him) that “all the changes in the copy of 1600 were made without any authority.”

Note return to page 436 1Gusts and foul flaws &lblank;] A “gust” and a “flaw” seem to have been nearly synonymous. See Vol. v. p. 162; Vol. vii. p. 329.

Note return to page 437 2&lblank; and all the earth relieveth:] So the edition of 1593, which was corrupted to world in the copy of 1594, and has so been handed down in all the modern editions.

Note return to page 438 3&lblank; and honour's wrack.] The almost invariable mode of spelling wreck of old, and here necessary to be preserved on account of the rhyme.

Note return to page 439 4To clip Elysium,] i. e. to embrace Elysium. See Vol. vi. p. 233, &c.

Note return to page 440 5Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;] Malone refers to a passage in Golding's Ovid's Metam., 1567, b. viii. here closely imitated.

Note return to page 441 6&lblank; to overshut his troubles,] This is the reading of all the old copies, but Steevens suggested that it was a misprint for overshoot. On the other hand, Malone takes “overshut” in the sense of shut up or conclude.

Note return to page 442 7The many musets &lblank;] “Musets” seems employed as the diminutive of muse,—the aperture in a hedge made by the hare in its frequent passage through it: possibly from the Ital. muso, and musetto.

Note return to page 443 8And sometime sorteth &lblank;] i. e. consorteth or accompanies; from sort, which was often of old used for a company.

Note return to page 444 9&lblank; and frenzies wood,] “Wood” is mad. See Vol. ii. p. 410; and Vol. v. p. 83.

Note return to page 445 10&lblank; my heart of teen:] “Teen” is sorrow. See previous instances of its use in Vol. v. p. 41; Vol. vi. p. 388.

Note return to page 446 1&lblank; she coasteth to the cry.] She approaches, as it were side-long, the cry. See “Troilus and Cressida,” Vol. vi. p. 100, where this passage is quoted in illustration of the words “a coasting welcome.”

Note return to page 447 2&lblank; and her spirit confounds.] So spelt in all the old copies, and though a dissyllable, to be pronounced in the time of one syllable: modern editors have printed it spright. Sprite is a monosyllabic mode of spelling “spirit.”

Note return to page 448 3&lblank; her senses all dismay'd,] So the edition of 1593, which Malone calls “our author's own edition,” confirmed by that of 1594: nevertheless he, and other editors, arbitrarily print “sore dismay'd,” from the impression of 1596.

Note return to page 449 4&lblank; is mated with delays,] i. e. is confounded with delays. We have frequently had the word in this sense. See Vol. ii. p. 142; Vol. v. p. 159; Vol. vii. p. 173.

Note return to page 450 5Full of respects,] The two earliest editions have “respects,” no doubt the true reading; the later impressions, respect, which is adopted by all modern editors. Shakespeare constantly uses the word in the plural, as in “King Lear,” Vol. vii. p. 365:— “Love is not love When it is mingled with respects, that stand Aloof from the entire point;” and again, lower down in the same page, “Since that respects of fortune are his love, I shall not be his wife.” “Respects” there, as well as above in the text, means considerations, a sense it not unfrequently bears in old authors.

Note return to page 451 6She vail'd her eye-lids,] i. e. she lowered her eye-lids. Few words not now in use have occurred more frequently than the verb to vail. See Vol. ii. p. 89. 361. 476, &c. It occurs just as frequently in other authors of the time as in Shakespeare.

Note return to page 452 7As falcons to the lure,] So the editions of 1593, 1594, and 1596: the impression of 1600 first introduced falcon, and that word has been adopted by modern editors, as if it had been the most ancient and authentic reading. In the last line but one of this stanza, we prefer “as” to are of the copy of 1593, because it seems required, and because we find the change made in the edition of the following year, which is supported by those of 1596 and 1600: the Edinburgh impression of 1627 has are.

Note return to page 453 8&lblank; threw unwilling light] “Light” is the word in the two earliest editions of 1593 and 1594: in that of 1596, night (not right, as Malone states) was substituted, and it became sight in the impression of 1600, and in that of Edinburgh, 1627.

Note return to page 454 9&lblank; was drench'd:] Here we necessarily follow the copy of 1600, for all the earlier impressions read “had drench'd.”

Note return to page 455 1&lblank; because he would not fear him;] i. e. alarm or frighten him: this use of the verb “to fear” was common. See Vol. iv. p. 430; Vol. v. p. 294. 323.

Note return to page 456 2&lblank; urchin-snouted boar;] An “urchin” is, properly, a hedge-hog, and it is so employed in Vol. vi. p. 301; but in “The Tempest,” Act i. sc. 2, it rather means an evil spirit or fairy.

Note return to page 457 3Who did not &lblank;] Thus the quarto, 1593. The editions of 1594 and 1596 read “Who would not,” which was followed in all the subsequent copies.

Note return to page 458 4That, thou being dead,] So the editions of 1593, 1594, &c., until that of 1600, which has you. Malone followed the latter, and modern editors followed Malone. The error is trifling, but it is as well to be right.

Note return to page 459 “Lvcrece. London. Printed by Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, and are to be sold at the signe of the white Greyhound in Paules Churh-yard. 1594.” 4to. 47 leaves. “Lvcrece At London, Printed by P. S. for Iohn Harrison. 1598.” 8vo. 36 leaves. “Lvcrece London. Printed by I. H for Iohn Harrison. 1600.” 8vo. 36 leaves. “Lvcrece. At London, Printed be N. O. for Iohn Harison. 1607.” 8vo. 32 leaves.

Note return to page 460 1&lblank; my duty would show greater;] Some of the later impressions, the editions of 1607 and 1624 for instance, read should for “would.” In Malone's Shakspeare, by Boswell, the word “all,” before “happiness,” is omitted.

Note return to page 461 1What needeth, then, apologies be made] The editions of 1594, as remarked in the Introduction, sometimes vary from each other. The copies of the Duke of Devonshire and of the late Mr. Caldecot read “apologies” in this line; that of Malone, apologie, the s having perhaps accidentally dropped out in the press as the poem was worked off.

Note return to page 462 2Suggested this proud issue of a king;] “Suggested” is instigated, the word used just afterwards. See also Vol. iv. p. 115; Vol. v. p. 507.

Note return to page 463 3Virtue would stain that o'er with silver white.] “O'er” is spelt ore, as was not unusual, in the quarto, 1594, but the later editions supplied an apostrophe, o're, to show that an abbreviation of over was intended. This early mode of printing the word serves to prove the fallacy of Malone's conjecture, that the heraldic French word or, gold, ought to be substituted, because, as he supposed, the poet meant to make an opposition between or and “silver white.” This attempt affords a remarkable instance of misapplied ingenuity, in rendering that obscure which is otherwise plain; and if any opposition to “silver white” had been intended, the proper word would have been gules, not or.

Note return to page 464 4And every one to rest themselves betake, Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds that wake.] Here again Malone's copy of “Lucrece,” 1594, at Oxford, differs from those of the Duke of Devonshire and the late Mr. Caldecot: it reads, without regard to grammar, “And every one to rest himself betakes, Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds that wakes.” The correction (which, however, still leaves an error in the first line of the couplet) must have been made as the poem went through the press.

Note return to page 465 5&lblank; the sneaped birds &lblank;] Shakespeare uses “sneaping” in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 286, and in “The Winter's Tale,” Vol. iii. p. 431, for snipping or nipping; and here “the sneaped birds” seem to mean the birds that had been nipped by the frost.

Note return to page 466 6&lblank; under the gripe's sharp claws,] According to Cotgrave, a “gripe” is a griffin; but it is also used for a vulture, as in “Ferrex and Porrex,” cited by Reed: &lblank; “Ixion's wheel, Or cruel gripe to gnaw my growing heart”

Note return to page 467 7&lblank; as thou hast pretended;] The most usual sense of to “pretend” of old was to intend, as in “Henry VI.” part i. Vol. v. p. 65, &lblank; “but such as shall pretend Malicious practices against his stale.” Innumerable instances might be adduced to the same effect. On p. 418 we have had “intending” used in the manner we should now employ pretending— “Intending weariness with heavy sprite.”

Note return to page 468 8Thou back'st reproach against long-living laud,] Modern editors have misprinted “long-living” of the quarto, 1594, long-lived.

Note return to page 469 9And let thy musty vapours &lblank;] Modern editors, following the later impressions, have, with Malone, printed “musty” misty: the context shows that “musty,” the word in all the copies of the edition of 1594, is right: in the previous part of the stanza we have had “rotten damps,” and “unwholesome airs,” and “musty vapours” is quite consistent with them. “Misty vapours” is mere tautology, since vapours are necessarily misty. Of all authors, perhaps, Shakespeare is least guilty of this fault.

Note return to page 470 1Will quote my loathsome trespass &lblank;] i. e. will note or observe. See Vol. iv. p. 74; Vol. vi. pp. 106. 393; Vol. vii. p. 234.

Note return to page 471 2&lblank; may read the mot afar;] The “mot” is the word of reproach, from the French: we generally now resort to the Italian, motto. In “Pericles,” p. 298, where Thaisa repeats the inscriptions on the shields of the knights, Shakespeare uses “word” as he employs “mot” in our text.

Note return to page 472 3Yet am I guilty &lblank;] Malone altered “guilty” to guiltless, but he was clearly wrong: Lucrece first accuses herself of being guilty by entertaining Tarquin, and then excuses herself by adding that she did it for her husband's honour. “Wrack,” at the end of the line, is the old spelling of wreck; and it is here, as on p. 389, necessary to preserve it for the sake of the rhyme.

Note return to page 473 4When wilt thou sort an hour &lblank;] i. e. select or choose an hour. See Vol. v. p. 335. Steevens refers to the line, “But I will sort a pitchy day for thee,” as if it were in “Richard III.” It is in fact in “Henry VI.” part iii.; but the scene was made a portion of “Richard III.” as it was acted in the time of Steevens, and in our own, and hence, perhaps, his mistake.

Note return to page 474 5Time's office is to fine the hate of foes;] To “fine” is here used for to conclude or end. “Fine” is often met with as a substantive, but only here, that we are aware of, as a verb.

Note return to page 475 6&lblank; I force not argument a straw,] I do not value, or care not for argument a straw. See Vol. ii. p. 367.

Note return to page 476 7My restless discord loves no stops nor rests;] “Stops” and “rests” are both terms in music. Others occur afterwards.

Note return to page 477 8Distress like dumps,] A “dump” was a melancholy piece of music, and it was sometimes used for a species of song. See Vol. vi. p. 478.

Note return to page 478 9While thou on Tereus descant'st, better skill.] i. e. with better skill; unless we suppose “descant'st” used as a verb transitive. The substantive “descant” seems to have meant what we now call variation.

Note return to page 479 1Her sacred temple &lblank;] In Malone's Shakespeare by Boswell, vol. xx. p. 173, we find the passage printed, “Her sacred table spotted, spoil'd, corrupted,” &c. It was probably an error of the press, because it stands “temple” in Malone's “Supplement,” 1780, and in every old edition: modern editors have avoided this gross mistake.

Note return to page 480 2Which by him tainted &lblank;] Malone states that his copy of the edition 1594 reads, “Which for him tainted.” The Duke of Devonshire's “Lucrece,” 1594, has “Which by him tainted,” so that the error was discovered and corrected in the press.

Note return to page 481 3Thou, Collatine, shalt oversee this will;] In the time of Shakespeare it was usual for testators to appoint not only executors, but overseers of their wills. Such was the case with our poet, when he named John Hall and his daughter Susanna executors, and Thomas Russell and Francis Collins overseers of his last will and testament.

Note return to page 482 4&lblank; she hoarsely calls her maid,] So the ancient editions, changed to “call'd her maid” in all the modern editions. The alteration is trifling, but it is also unnecessary.

Note return to page 483 5O! let it not be hild] Thus the old copies; and it may be necessary to preserve the false orthography for the sake of the rhyme. Elsewhere we have observed the same rule with respect to the words wrack and than.

Note return to page 484 6Even so, this pattern of the worn-out age] Here we have another instance of variation in different copies of the quarto, 1594. The usual and, no doubt, true reading is that of our text; but in the Duke of Devonshire's copy the line is thus given:— “Even so the pattern of this worn-out age,” which seems contrary to what was meant. In general the “Lucrece,” 1594, in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire, is more correct than that among Malone's books at Oxford, but this instance is an exception.

Note return to page 485 7&lblank; all boll'n and red;] “Bollen” means swollen, and it is used by Chaucer, as well as by later writers.

Note return to page 486 8&lblank; so compact, so kind,] i. e. so natural, so according to kind.

Note return to page 487 9&lblank; and than] For the sake of the rhyme, it is necessary here to preserve the old orthography of than, and on a former page (451) we have printed “hild” instead of held for the same reason. Malone tells us that Shakespeare here availed himself of “the licence of changing the terminations of words, in imitation of the Italian writers;” but the fact is, that than was formerly much the most common mode of spelling “then.”

Note return to page 488 10&lblank; where all distress is steld.] We print this word (of the use of which no other instance has been pointed out) precisely as it stands in the original edition of 1594. Malone remarks, that in Sonnet xxiv. Shakespeare uses steel'd (so there printed, although it rhymes with “held”) nearly in the same manner with reference to painting:— “Mine eye hath play'd the painter, and hath steel'd Thy beauty's form in table of my heart.” We might suppose that “steel'd” in this place meant engraved as with steel, and such, by rather a bold licence on the part of the poet, may possibly be the case with the passage under consideration.

Note return to page 489 1&lblank; of many mo?] A form of more, often in use of old, particularly when the rhyme required it; but we sometimes meet with it in prose, or in blank verse, as if the writer preferred it in point of sound.

Note return to page 490 2&lblank; here Troilus swounds;] i. e. swoons, as we now pronounce and spell it.

Note return to page 491 3&lblank; too beguil'd] Modern editors read, “so beguil'd.”

Note return to page 492 4Both stood like old acquaintance in a trance,] This is the text of every old impression: in every modern edition, But has been substituted for “Both,” to the so manifest injury of the text, that it is surprising the error did not ere now detect itself. Malone committed the error in his “Supplement,” 1780, and it seems to have been repeated ever since.

Note return to page 493 P. 462.—And when the judge is rob'd the prisoner dies] In this line for “rob'd” read robb'd.

Note return to page 494 5&lblank; carv'd in it with tears.] Here, in the quarto, 1594, we meet with a slight inversion, “carv'd it in with tears.” The error detects itself, and it was subsequently corrected.

Note return to page 495 6&lblank; a watery rigol goes,] A “rigol” is a circle. See Vol. iv. p. 431. “That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd So many English kings”—

Note return to page 496 7so thick come in his poor heart's aid,] “So thick” is with such rapidity. See Vol. iv. p. 377, and Vol. vi. p. 68.

Note return to page 497 8I ow'd her,] i. e. “I own'd her.”

Note return to page 498 9The Romans plausibly did give consent] In Shakespeare's time, “plausibly” was generally used in the sense of received with applause. The poet says the same thing in other words in the argument at the commencement:— “Wherewith the people were so moved, that with one consent and general acclamation the Tarquins were all exiled,” &c.

Note return to page 499 “Shake-speares Sonnets. Neuer before Imprinted. At London By G. Eld for T. T. and are to be solde by William Aspley. 1609.” 4to. 40 leaves. “A Louers complaint. By William Shake-speare,” occupies eleven pages at the end of this volume. The late Mr. Caldecot presented a copy of “Shakespeare's Sonnets” to the Bodleian Library, with the following imprint: “At London By G. Eld for T. T. and are to be solde by Iohn Wright, dwelling at Christ Church gate.” It is no doubt the same edition as that “to be solde by William Aspley,” for in other respects they agree exactly, excepting that the copy bearing the name of Iohn Wright has no date at the bottom of the title-page: it was very possibly cut off by the binder.

Note return to page 500 1In a small pamphlet, entitled, “On the Sonnets of Shakespeare, identifying the Person to whom they were addressed, and elucidating several points in the Poet's History. By James Boaden.” 8vo. 1838. The whole substance of the tract had been published in 1832 in a periodical work. We differ from Mr. Boaden with the more reluctance, because it appears that his notion was supported by the opinion of Mr. B. Heywood Bright, well known for his acuteness and learning, who, without any previous communication, had fallen upon the same conjecture before it was broached by Boaden.

Note return to page 501 2Upon this particular point we concur with Mr. Peter Cunningham, in a note to his excellent edition of Mr. T. Campbell's “Specimens of British Poets,” (Essay, p. lxxi.) but we can by no means follow him in thinking that Shakespeare's Sonnets have been “over-rated,” or that the Earl of Pembroke could not have been addressed in them, because he was only nine years old in 1598. Shakespeare had written sonnets at that date, according to the undoubted testimony of Meres, but those in which the Earl has been supposed to be addressed may have been produced at a considerably later period. Still, at the early age of eighteen or nineteen, which the Earl reached in 1609 [Subnote: P. 473.&lblank; Still at the early age of eighteen or nineteen, which the earl reached in 1609] There is an evident error here, inasmuch as the Earl of Southampton was thirty-six in 1609: having been born in 1573, he was twenty-five when Meres published his Palladis Tamia in 1598.] , it does not seem likely that Shakespeare would have thought it necessary, with so much vehemence, to urge him to marry.

Note return to page 502 3The following are the words Meres uses:—“As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and hony-tongued Shakespeare: witnes his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends, &c.”—Palladis Tamia, 1598, fo. 281, b.

Note return to page 503 4This is the poet whom Shakespeare (Son. lxxx.) calls “a better spirit,” and of whom he also speaks in Son. lxxxiii. lxxxv. &c. Some have supposed that he meant Spenser, others Daniel; but Mr. P. Cunningham has pointed out an apparent allusion to Drayton, (and to his collection of Sonnets, published in 1594 under the title of “Idea's Mirror”) in Shakespeare's twenty-first Sonnet, in these lines:— “So is it not with me, as with that muse, Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse, Who heaven itself for ornament doth use, And every fair with his fair doth rehearse,” &c. It may be doubted whether in these, and the succeeding lines, Shakespeare had any individual reference. Drayton's “Idea's Mirror” has only been discovered of late years; and it seems not improbable that, like his “Endymion and Phœbe,” (see the Bridgewater Catalogue, p. 108) he, for some reason, suppressed it. Only a single copy of each has been preserved.

Note return to page 504 1&lblank; whose un-ear'd womb] “Un-ear'd” is un-ploughed. See Vol. iv. p. 169, and this Vol. pp. 11 and 21.

Note return to page 505 2Which, used, lives th' executor to be.] So the old edition. Modern editors read “thy executor,” forgetting that “used” is a dissyllable, and, unprecedentedly, substituting y for an apostrophe.

Note return to page 506 3Leese but their show;] “Leese” is an old form of lose. In Shakespeare's time it was not generally adopted, unless it were wanted for the rhyme.

Note return to page 507 4That use is not forbidden usury,] “Use” and usance were the old terms for interest of money. See Vol. v. p. 572; and this Vol. p. 380, where the same thought is expressed in nearly the same terms.

Note return to page 508 5Music to hear,] i. e. Thou, to whom it is music to listen.

Note return to page 509 6&lblank; like a makeless wife;] i. e. like a mateless wife: make and mate were sometimes used indifferently. Chaucer always has make, and Spenser and Shakespeare generally mate.

Note return to page 510 7&lblank; she gave the more;] So the old editions, quite intelligibly: modern editors have needlessly substituted thee for “the.” The meaning seems to be, that nature gave the more to those whom she endowed with her best gifts. The comparison is between those who are “harsh, featureless, and rude,” and those to whom nature has been more bountiful of beauty.

Note return to page 511 8And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white;] The quarto, 1609, has “or silver'd o'er with white,” an evident error of the press.

Note return to page 512 9That this huge stage &lblank;] All modern editors, from not consulting the original copy, but following Malone implicity, misprint “stage” state. It is strange that the context alone never led them to discover the error.

Note return to page 513 1&lblank; would bear your living flowers,] This is the reading of the quarto, and it is clearly right, though Malone changed “your” to you.

Note return to page 514 2A man in hue, all hues in his controlling,] “Hues” is spelt Hews in the old copy, with a capital letter, and hence Tyrwhitt supposed that Shakespeare meant to play upon the word, and that this sonnet and others were addressed to a person of the name of Hughes. See the Introduction.

Note return to page 515 3Then look I death my days should expiate;] In “Richard III.” Vol. v. p. 417, Shakespeare uses the word “expiate” exactly in the same sense, i. e. terminate:— “Make haste: the hour of death is expiate.” Shakespeare was not peculiar in this respect; but the quotation made by Malone from “Locrine,” 1595, is hardly in point:— “Lives Sabren yet to expiate my wrath?”

Note return to page 516 4&lblank; in table of my heart;] The word “table” was frequently used for picture; but it seems properly to have meant the material upon which a picture was painted, and, perhaps, called a “table” because, at an early date, it was ordinarily of wood. This passage is quoted on p. 456 of this Vol. with reference to the meaning of the word “steld,” there employed.

Note return to page 517 P. 487.&lblank; in table of my heart] So in “Skialetheia,” by Edward Guilpin, 1598. “Consider what a rough worme-eaten table By well-mix'd colours is made saleable.” Sign. C. 6.

Note return to page 518 5&lblank; famoused for fight,] “Fight” was substituted by Theobald for worth, which does not suit the rhyme.

Note return to page 519 6Presents thy shadow &lblank;] The quarto reads corruptly, “their shadow.”

Note return to page 520 7When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even:] To “twire” occurs in Chaucer, in the sense of susurro, as Tyrwhitt remarks, and that may be the meaning here, though Steevens supposes that “twire” is only a corruption of quire. Ben Jonson, in his “Sad Shepherd,” uses the word “twire” for peep, and such is the sense his last editor assigns to it in the line in our text (Works, by Gifford, vol. vi. p. 280). In the old copy, the letter d, by an error of the press, is omitted in “gild'st.”

Note return to page 521 8&lblank; make grief's length seem stronger.] It is possible that the old compositor misprinted “length” for strength; but as the text affords a meaning, no change is desirable.

Note return to page 522 9&lblank; and obsequious tear] i. e. a tear as at the obsequies of the dead. Shakespeare has before several times employed the word in this manner. See Vol. v. pp. 270. 352; Vol. vii. p. 206. In the last instance “obsequious sorrow” is used precisely as here we have “obsequious tear.”

Note return to page 523 1&lblank; hidden in thee lie!] The quarto, 1609, has there for “thee;” an evident misprint.

Note return to page 524 2&lblank; the strong offence's cross.] The old copy has loss, instead of “cross,” which Malone judiciously substituted.

Note return to page 525 3Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are:] In this line in the old copy “thy” is twice misprinted their. The same error occurs in Sonnet xxxvii., and we have had it before in Sonnet xxvii.

Note return to page 526 4&lblank; so sweetly doth deceive,] In the quarto it is printed “dost deceive,” and, possibly, it is right.

Note return to page 527 5&lblank; if thou thyself deceivest] The quarto reads, “if thou this self deceivest.”

Note return to page 528 6&lblank; therefore to be assailed;] See “Henry VI.” pt. i. Vol. v. p. 91.

Note return to page 529 7&lblank; because thou know'st I love her;] So the old copy, and rightly: modern editors have changed “know'st” to knew'st.

Note return to page 530 8&lblank; thy fair imperfect shade] “Their fair imperfect shade” in the old copy. There must have been some peculiarity in the old manuscript, rendering this error of such frequent occurrence.

Note return to page 531 9Of thy fair health,] The old copy has “their fair health.” The same error occurs in the next sonnet, in the line “Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar.” Considering the manner in which the sonnets were handed about, it is, perhaps, surprising that they were not more importantly corrupted.

Note return to page 532 1To 'cide this title &lblank;] To “'cide” for to decide. “A quest of thoughts” in the next line is, of course, an inquest or jury of thoughts.

Note return to page 533 2The clear eye's moiety,] “Moiety,” in the time of Shakespeare, was not used merely for half, but for any portion or share. See Vol. iv. p. 283; Vol. vii. p. 355. In the dedication of his “Lucrece,” Shakespeare speaks of “a superfluous moiety,” for a superfluous part.—In the two next lines of this sonnet, “thine” is misprinted in the quarto, 1609, their.

Note return to page 534 3Plods dully on,] A happy emendation by Malone: the old copy has duly for “dully.” In the next sonnet, the horse is called a “dull bearer.”

Note return to page 535 4&lblank; and foison of the year;] “Foison” is plenty. See Vol. vii. p. 165. In this instance it is put for autumn and its abundance.

Note return to page 536 5But for their virtue &lblank;] We have had such repeated instances of it, that it is scarcely necessary to observe here, that “for” is used for because.

Note return to page 537 6Or call it winter,] The old copy reads, “As call it,” &c. The emendation was proposed by Tyrwhitt.

Note return to page 538 7&lblank; or where better they,] So the old copy; the clear meaning being, “whether we have improved, or in what respects were they better.” Malone and modern editors suppose “where” to have been a misprint for whether, and it is true that whether, when it was to be pronounced as a monosyllable, was sometimes printed where, though generally whe'r. However, it is not only needless to suppose any error here in the text, but injudicious to alter it, as the sense is thereby weakened.

Note return to page 539 8Beated and chopp'd &lblank;] We preserve here the old orthography, although beaten was perhaps intended. As Malone remarks, in “Henry V.” we meet with casted, and in “Macbeth” with thrusted; but there casten and thrusten could not be used as the participles of the verbs to cast and to thrust.

Note return to page 540 9Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?] The old copy has “spoil or beauty.”

Note return to page 541 1&lblank; by limping sway disabled,] “Disabled” is here to be pronounced as four syllables. Elsewhere in his works, Shakespeare makes the same use of “redoubled,” “enfeebled,” “unmingled,” &c.

Note return to page 542 2&lblank; give thee that due,] This is Tyrwhitt's emendation of end of the quarto, 1609—“give thee that end.” As Malone observes, the letters in the two words are the same, if the n be inverted. In the next line but one, Their of the old copy ought, in all probability, to be “Thine.”

Note return to page 543 3The solve is this;] i. e. the solution is this. In the old copy, “solve” is printed solye, a very easy error, and very properly corrected by Malone, though Steevens would read sole.

Note return to page 544 4Bare ruin'd choirs,] This is the reading of the edition of these poems in 1640, and no doubt is the true one: the quarto, 1609, misprints “ruin'd” rn'wd. The poet likens himself to a tree in winter, deprived of its leaves, and no longer a shelter for the choir of birds.

Note return to page 545 5&lblank; almost tell my name,] There is little doubt that this correction by Malone is necessary: the quarto, 1609, reads “almost fel my name.”

Note return to page 546 6Commit to these waste blanks;] This sonnet must have been sent with a book with blank leaves: here the old copy reads blacks for “blanks.”

Note return to page 547 7&lblank; fill'd up his line,] Steevens would make out that Shakespeare here meant filed or polished his line, and quoted Ben Jonson's verses upon Shakespeare, where he speaks of his “well-turned and true-filed lines;” but in the first place, the word is spelt fild, (as “fill'd” was usually spelt) and not fil'd, (as in Sonnet lxxxv.) in the quarto, 1609; and in the next, the preposition “up” shows that what the poet meant was “fill'd up” or occupied, and not polished.

Note return to page 548 P. 514.—Or me, to whom gav'st it, else mistaking] The pronoun thou has accidentally dropped out after “whom” in this line.

Note return to page 549 8Thy love is better &lblank;] The old copy has bitter, an error of the press that, perhaps, hardly requires notice, because it does not affect the sense of the passage.

Note return to page 550 9&lblank; mine is thy good report.] This and the preceding line, it will be seen, also close Sonnet xxxvi.

Note return to page 551 1One blushing shame,] In the old copy, “One” is printed Our; no doubt an error of the press. It would be easy for a compositor to read one word for the other in old or modern manuscript.

Note return to page 552 2They had not skill enough &lblank;] The old edition has still for “skill:” the mistake is obvious.

Note return to page 553 3These blenches &lblank;] To “blench” is to start from; and we have had it in Vol. ii. p. 86; Vol. iii. p. 446; and in Vol. vi. p. 14. 47.

Note return to page 554 4&lblank; save what shall have no end:] “Have what shall have no end” in the old edition of these Sonnets: corrected by Tyrwhitt. In the first line of the next sonnet the old copy has wish for “with.”

Note return to page 555 5Potions of eysel &lblank;] i. e. Potions of vinegar, for which “eysel,” or eyesel, was the old name. See Vol. vii. p. 332.

Note return to page 556 6&lblank; methinks they are dead.] In the old copy, “methinks y'are dead.”

Note return to page 557 7&lblank; which it doth latch:] The quarto, 1609, has lack for “latch,” an error corrected by the rhyme. To “latch” is a provincial word for to catch. See Vol. vii. p. 169.

Note return to page 558 8&lblank; thus maketh mine untrue.] Possibly for “mine” we ought to read my eyne, the printer having composed the word from his ear. Malone contends that “untrue” is here used substantively, instead of untruth, and as this supposition renders an alteration of the ancient text needless, we adopt it.

Note return to page 559 9And gain by ill &lblank;] The old copy reads, “And gain by ills,” but the poet has spoken of “ill” in the singular just before. Modern editors here silently alter the quarto, 1609.

Note return to page 560 1&lblank; and wretched minutes kill.] Mynuit in the original edition, as the word is generally there spelt.

Note return to page 561 2And her quietus is to render thee.] At the end of this poem (for sonnet it is not, either in the number of lines, in the distribution of the rhymes, or in any other characteristic belonging to that description of poem) are marks of inclusion in the old copy, as if to indicate the absence of two lines: but the piece seems complete in itself without addition, and probably the author only intended it to consist of six couplets.

Note return to page 562 3Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,] So the original, not “holy hour,” as Malone and all modern editors after him have printed it. “Holy bower” is much more intelligible than “holy hour,” taking “bower,” of course, in the sense of dwelling-place.

Note return to page 563 4Do I envy those jacks,] The “jacks” were the keys of the virginal, on which Shakespeare supposes his mistress playing. The verb “to envy” was at that date most frequently pronounced with the accent on the last syllable.

Note return to page 564 5O'er whom thy fingers walk &lblank;] In the old copy, “thy” is misprinted their, the error most common in the quarto, 1609.

Note return to page 565 6&lblank; and prov'd, a very woe;] This is Malone's amendment of the old copy, which reads “and proud and very woe.” “Prov'd” was probably written in the manuscript with u instead of v, and the compositor misread a for the contraction for and. It seems impossible to make sense of the passage without the proposed alteration.

Note return to page 566 7Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain,] This line is misprinted thus in the quarto, 1609:— “Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain.” It is, in fact, parenthetical; and the meaning of the passage is, that the eyes of his mistress, knowing that her heart torments him with disdain, have put on black: the ordinary reading is little better than nonsense:— “Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, Knowing thy heart, torment me with disdain; Have put on black,” &c. I owe this judicious emendation to an intelligent correspondent who signs himself J. O'Connell.

Note return to page 567 8The statute of thy beauty &lblank;] “Statute,” says Malone, has here its legal signification, that of a security or obligation for money. The whole sonnet is founded upon legal technicalities, and it has been relied upon by those who contend that Shakespeare had once been a lawyer's clerk.

Note return to page 568 9Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,] As there is in this and the next sonnet, as well as in Sonnet cxliii, an obvious play upon the Christian name of the poet, we have printed it exactly as it stands in the quarto, 1609, and as it probably stood in the manuscript from which it was printed.

Note return to page 569 1&lblank; a several plot,] In this and the next line we have the same play upon the words “several” and “common,” as in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 308. “A several plot” is a piece of ground which has been “common” or uninclosed, but has been separated and made private property.

Note return to page 570 2When my love swears &lblank;] This sonnet, with variations, was first printed in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599. It is inserted hereafter as it stands in that work, that the reader may have an opportunity of comparing the two copies.

Note return to page 571 3But my five wits, nor my five senses can] See the five wits and the five senses distinguished in a note to “King Lear,” Vol. vii. p. 426.

Note return to page 572 4Who leave unsway'd the likeness of a man,] Malone, without notice, alters leaves of the old copy to lives. The relative “who” agrees with the five wits and five senses, so that leaves ought to be “leave.”

Note return to page 573 5Two loves I have &lblank;] This sonnet, with some variations, will be found hereafter in “The Passionate Pilgrim.” To “suggest” in the next line is, of course, to tempt or prompt, as we have often before had it employed.

Note return to page 574 6&lblank; from my side,] Misprinted sight in the quarto, 1609.

Note return to page 575 7Those lips that Love's own hand did make,] This octo-syllabic poem can only be called a sonnet in the older sense of the word, when it was often used to express any short lyrical production.

Note return to page 576 8Fool'd by those rebel powers that thee array,] This is Malone's necessary emendation of an evident corruption in the quarto, 1609, which reads, “My sinful earth these rebel powers that thee array;” the words “My sinful earth” having been repeated by the old compositor from the end of the preceding line. Steevens would read, “Starv'd by those rebel powers,” &c.; but we prefer the change made by Malone.

Note return to page 577 9&lblank; to aggravate thy store;] Copies of the same edition of the Sonnets rarely differ, but in this line some of them read “my store.” That belonging to Lord Francis Egerton has it correctly, “thy store,” the error having been discovered as the sheet was passing through the press.

Note return to page 578 1&lblank; with thee partake?] i. e. “with thee take part.” So in Psalm 1. “Thou hast been partaker with adulterers.”

Note return to page 579 2My nobler part to my gross body's treason;] In Malone's Shakspeare, by Boswell, “gross” is printed great. It was merely an error of the press in that edition, as the word is “gross” in Malone's “Supplement,” 1780.

Note return to page 580 3&lblank; more perjur'd I,] There is no doubt that this is the true reading; but the quarto, 1609, has “more perjur'd eye.”

Note return to page 581 4&lblank; the help of bath desired And thither hied,] As Steevens observes, it may be a question whether “bath” ought not to be printed with a capital letter, the poet referring to the city so called

Note return to page 582 5&lblank; my mistress' eyes.] The original copy has eye, in the singular.

Note return to page 583 6&lblank; water cools not love.] These two last sonnets have no connection with those that precede them. They are, in fact, only to be looked upon as one sonnet, the same thought running through both, as if the author had first composed one, and not quite pleasing himself, had afterwards written the other.

Note return to page 584 1&lblank; from a maund she drew] The word “maund” for a basket is still in use in several parts of the country, particularly in the north. See Holloway's Gen. Prov. Dict. 8vo. 1838.

Note return to page 585 2&lblank; and of bedded jet,] Possibly a misprint for “beaded jet, ” and so, Malone remarks, it was formerly printed; but as the original may mean jet set in metal, we do not alter it.

Note return to page 586 3With sleided silk feat and affectedly] i. e. “Sleided silk” is stated by Percy to be untwisted silk. See this Vol. p. 323. “Feat” is of course neat, nice, and sometimes clever. See this Vol. p. 428.

Note return to page 587 4&lblank; and often 'gan to tear;] The old copy, “and often gave to tear”—an evident misprint.

Note return to page 588 5Toward this afflicted fancy &lblank;] “Fancy,” in Shakespeare, is often used for love, and here it is applied to the subject of the passion. The adverb “fastly” in this line is of uncommon occurrence.

Note return to page 589 6&lblank; in paradise was sawn.] Boswell thought that Shakespeare here meant to use the northern provincialism “sawn” for sown, while Malone contended that “sawn” was put for seen, in the distress of the rhyme. Surely the latter could hardly be Shakespeare's reason for using so irregular and unprecedented a participle, especially when it would have been easy for him to have constructed the passage differently.

Note return to page 590 7Came for additions,] The old copy, “Can for additions:” the correction, which seems necessary, was made by Malone.

Note return to page 591 8&lblank; nor never vow.] So the quarto, 1609, although we may suspect that woo might be the poet's word, misread by the compositor. If, however, woo best suits the rhyme, “vow” seems preferable for the sense.

Note return to page 592 9&lblank; with acture they may be,] This is the word in the old copy, and “acture” is supposed to be synonymous with action, for which word it may easily have been misprinted. Nevertheless, in “Hamlet,” Vol. vii. p. 273, we have enactures in a similar sense.

Note return to page 593 1&lblank; to the smallest teen,] “Teen” is sorrow, a word that has frequently occurred before. See this Vol. p. 397.

Note return to page 594 2&lblank; behold these talents of their hair,] “Talents” seems employed here in reference to the supposed value of the gift. “Impleach'd,” in the next line, means plaited or interwoven. See this Vol. p. 108.

Note return to page 595 3&lblank; his invis'd properties &lblank;] “Invis'd” is explained unseen or invisible. Malone considered it “a word of Shakespeare's coining,” and we have no other example of its use.

Note return to page 596 4&lblank; made the blossoms dote;] Mr. Barron Field would read bosoms for “blossoms,” and refers to a passage in “King Lear,” Vol. vii. p. 478, where, in one of the quarto editions, “bosom” is misprinted “blossom.” This may certainly be so; but as the old text, taking “blossoms” as the flower of the nobility, the “spirits of richest coat,” is intelligible, we refrain from making any change. For the same reason we do not alter “The thing we have not” to “The thing we love not,” which Mr. Barron Field also recommends, and which would certainly make the sense of the poet more evident and forcible.

Note return to page 597 5Paling the place &lblank;] The old copy has “Playing the place,” the compositor having probably, caught “Playing” from the next line. Malone substituted “Paling” with some plausibility, and no better suggestion has yet been offered: he understands “Paling the place” as fencing it; but if the compositor caught “Playing” from the next line, the word rejected might be one of a very different appearance and import, and “paling the place” cannot be said to accord as well as could be wished with the rest of the line: “Planing the place” may possibly be the right word.

Note return to page 598 6She that her fame so to herself contrives,] In “The Taming of the Shrew,” Vol. iii. p. 136, we meet with a somewhat similar use of the verb to “contrive.”

Note return to page 599 7Not to be tempted, would she be immur'd, And now, to tempt all, liberty procur'd.] The passage is thus given in the quarto, 1609:— “Not to be tempted would she be enur'd, And now, to tempt all, liberty procure.” There is little doubt that the lines have been properly amended by Malone.

Note return to page 600 8&lblank; to charm a sacred sun,] Very possibly, as Malone proposes, we ought to read nun for “sun.”

Note return to page 601 9Who, disciplined, I dieted in grace,] Our text is from the quarto, 1609, the property of Lord Francis Egerton. Malone's copy at Oxford has “I died” for “and dieted,” which he substituted at the suggestion of a correspondent. The meaning of the reading we have restored, and which must have been substituted in the press, is very distinct.

Note return to page 602 P. 553.—All vows and consecrations giving place] The conjunction and has by an error been repeated in this line.

Note return to page 603 1Love's arms are peace,] We may suppose a misprint here, but still sense can be made out of the original text. Malone would read “Love's arms are proof;” and Steevens, “Love aims at peace.” If we made any change, we should prefer the recommendation of Malone, but even he did not think it expedient to insert it in the text. We must make “Love,” understood, the nominative to “sweetens.”

Note return to page 604 2O cleft effect!”] The old copy has “Or cleft effect,” doubtless an error, and properly corrected by Malone.

Note return to page 605 3O, all that borrow'd motion, seeming owed,] i. e. seeming owned: Malone explains the passage thus,—that passion which he borrowed from others so naturally, that it seemed real, and his own.

Note return to page 606 The Passionate Pilgrime By W. Shakespeare. At London Printed for W. Iaggard, and are to be sold by W. Leake, at the Greyhound in Paules Churchyard. 1599,” 16mo. 30 leaves. The title-page first given to the edition of 1612 ran thus: “The Passionate Pilgrime. Or Certaine Amorous Sonnets, betweene Venus and Adonis, newly corrected and augmented. By W. Shakespeare. The third Edition. Where-vnto is newly added two Loue-Epistles, the first from Paris to Hellen, and Hellen's answere backe againe to Paris. Printed by W. Iaggard. 1612.” The title-page substituted for the above differs in no other respect but in the omission of “By W. Shakespere.”

Note return to page 607 1It professes to be “printed for W. Jaggard,” but he was probably the typographer, and W. Leake the bookseller. Leake published an edition of “Venus and Adonis” in 1602, contrary to what is stated on p. 369.

Note return to page 608 2This edition of Barnfield's work was unknown to bibliographers until a copy of it was met with in the library of Lord Francis Egerton. See the Bridgwater Catalogue, 1837, p. 21. It was not a mere reprint of the edition of 1598, but it was really “newly corrected and enlarged” by the author, as stated on the title-page; so that Barnfield's attention was particularly directed to the contents of his small volume, and perhaps to the manner in which part of them had been stolen by W. Jaggard in 1599. It is to be remarked also that John Jaggard was not concerned in the second edition of Barnfield's “Encomion,” as he had been in the first: it was printed by W. I. (probably W. Iaggard, the very person who had committed the theft in 1599) and it was “to be sold by Iohn Hodgets.” Both editions contain the tribute to Spenser, Daniel, Drayton, and Shakespeare: the lines to the latter would hardly have been reprinted in 1605, if Barnfield had supposed that Shakespeare had in any way given his sanction to the transference of two pieces from the “Encomion” to “The Passionate Pilgrim.”

Note return to page 609 3On the title-page it is called “the third edition,” but no second edition is known, although it is very probable that it had been republished in the interval between 1599 and 1612.

Note return to page 610 4Nicholas Breton seems to have written his “Passionate Shepherd,” 1604, in imitation of the title and of the style of some of the poems in the “Passionate Pilgrim.” The only known copy of this production is in private hands. It is very possible that a second edition of “The Passionate Pilgrim” (that of 1612, as we have observed, is called “the third impression”) came out about 1604, and that on this account Breton was led to imitate the title, and the form of verse of some of the pieces in it. As “The Passionate Shepherd” is a great curiosity, not being even mentioned by bibliographers, and as it is thus connected with the name and works of Shakespeare, an exact copy of the title-page may be acceptable:— “The Passionate Shepheard, or The Shepheardes Loue: set downe in Passions to his Shepheardesse Aglaia. With many excellent conceited Poems and pleasant Sonnets, fit for young heads to passe away idle houres. London Imprinted by E. Allde for Iohn Tappe, and are to bee solde at his Shop, at the Tower-Hill, neere the Bul-warke Gate. 1604.” 4to.

Note return to page 611 5It is as small a poetical volume as we remember to have seen, excepting a copy of George Peele's “Tale of Troy,” which was reprinted in 1604, of the size of an inch and a half high by an inch broad. It contains some curious variations from the text of the first edition in 1589. 4to.

Note return to page 612 6It is called “Love's Martyr, or Rosalin's Complaint.” Of the author or editor nothing is known; but he is not to be confounded with Charles Chester, called Carlo Buffone in Ben Jonson's “Every Man out of his Humour,” and respecting whom see Nash's “Pierce Penniless,” 1592, (Shakespeare Society's reprint, pp. 38. 99) and Thoms's “Anecdotes and Traditions,” (printed for the Camden Society) p. 56. Charles Chester is several times mentioned by name in “Skialetheia,” a collection of Epigrams and Satires, by E. Guilpin, printed in 1598, as well as in “Ulysses upon Ajax,” 1596.

Note return to page 613 1When my love swears &lblank;] This sonnet is substantially the same as sonnet cxxxviii. in the quarto published by Thorpe in 1609. There are, however, many verbal differences, and as it was printed ten years before the collection of “Shakespeare's Sonnets” was printed, we give it here from the earliest copy, and by referring to p. 536, the reader will be able to compare the two.

Note return to page 614 2Two loves I have &lblank;] This sonnet is also included in the collection of 1609 (Sonnet cxliv.), but with some verbal variations, which the reader may ascertain by comparison. See p. 539.

Note return to page 615 3Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye,] This sonnet is found in “Love's Labour's Lost,” (Vol. ii. p. 333) but with some slight variations: that play was published in 1598, the year preceding the appearance of the first edition of “The Passionate Pilgrim,” but, perhaps, W. Jaggard employed some manuscript copy.

Note return to page 616 4&lblank; to delight his ear;] The editions of 1599 and 1612 both read ears, evidently an error.

Note return to page 617 5&lblank; her figur'd proffer,] We may suspect, notwithstanding the concurrence of the two ancient editions in our text, that the true reading was “sugar'd proffer,” the long s having been, as in other places, mistaken for the letter f. Sugar'd was an epithet not in uncommon use, and Meres in 1598 talks of Shakespeare's “sugar'd sonnets.”

Note return to page 618 6If love make me forsworn,] This poem is read by Sir Nathaniel in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 328. It is not necessary here to point out the verbal or other variations, as the reader will see them at once by comparison.

Note return to page 619 7If music and sweet poetry agree,] This poem was published in 1598, in Richard Barnfield's “Encomion of Lady Pecunia.” There is little doubt that it is his property, notwithstanding it appeared in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599; and it was reprinted as Barnfield's in the new edition of his “Encomion,” in 1605.

Note return to page 620 8Fair was the morn, when the fair queen of love,] The next line is wanting in both editions of “The Passionate Pilgrim:” of course it would rhyme with “wild,” which closes the fourth line, and it would not be difficult to supply the deficiency.

Note return to page 621 1Venus with Adonis sitting by her,] This sonnet, with considerable variations, is the third in a collection of seventy-two sonnets, published in 1596, under the title of “Fidessa,” with the name of B. Griffin as the author. A syllabic defect in the first line is there remedied by the insertion of “young” before “Adonis.” A manuscript of the time, now before us, is without the epithet, and has the initials W. S. at the end.

Note return to page 622 2And as he fell to her, she fell to him.] So the line stands in both editions of “The Passionate Pilgrim,” and in the contemporaneous manuscript; but in Griffin's “Fidessa” it is, “And as he fell to her, so fell she to him.”

Note return to page 623 3&lblank; each minute seems a moon;] In both the old editions it stands “each minute seems an hour;” but the rhyme shows that there must have been a misprint, and Steevens' emendation of “a moon” seems to set all right.

Note return to page 624 4It was a lording's daughter,] This is the first piece in the division of “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599, called “Sonnets to sundry Notes of Music.” As the signatures of the pages run on throughout the small volume, we have continued to mark the poems by numerals, in the order in which they were printed.

Note return to page 625 5On a day (alack the day!)] This poem, in a more complete state, and with the addition of two lines only found there, may be seen in “Love's Labour's Lost,” Vol. ii. p. 335. The poem is also printed in “England's Helicon,” (sign. II) a miscellany of poetry, first published in 1600, where “W. Shakespeare” is appended to it. It is not necessary for us here to point out the more minute variations.

Note return to page 626 6My flocks feed not,] In “England's 'Helicon,” 1600, this poem immediately follows “On a day (alack the day!)” but it is there entitled “The unknown Shepherd's Complaint,” and it is subscribed Ignoto. Hence we may suppose that the compiler of that collection knew that it was not by Shakespeare, although it had been attributed to him in “The Passionate Pilgrim” of the year preceding. It had appeared anonymously, with the music, in 1597, in a collection of Madrigals by Thomas Weelkes.

Note return to page 627 7Love is dying,] “Love's denying” in “England's Helicon.”

Note return to page 628 8Heart's denying,] “Heart's renying” in “England's Helicon.”

Note return to page 629 9My shepherd's pipe can sound no deal,] “Deal” is part, and “no deal” is therefore no part.—“My shepherd's pipe cannot sound.”

Note return to page 630 1My sighs so deep,] Both editions of “The Passionate Pilgrim” have With for “My,” which last not only is necessary for the sense, but is confirmed as the true reading by Weelkes' Madrigals, 1597.

Note return to page 631 2Green plants bring not Forth their dye;] So both editions of the “Passionate Pilgrim” and “England's Helicon.” Malone preferred the passage as it stands in Weelkes' Madrigals:— “Loud bells ring not   Cheerfully.” But the variation was, perhaps, arbitrarily introduced for the sake of the music. Malone says, by mistake, that “The Passionate Pilgrim” reads “Forth: they die,” and modern editors have followed him in this error, not having consulted the old copies.

Note return to page 632 3Farewell, sweet lass,] “The Passionate Pilgrim” and “England's Helicon” both have love for “lass,” which the rhyme shows to be the true reading, as it stands in Weelkes' Madrigals, 1597.

Note return to page 633 4&lblank; the cause of all my moan:] So “England's Helicon” and Weelkes' Madrigals: “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599, has woe for “moan.”

Note return to page 634 5When as thine eye hath chose the dame,] In some modern editions, the stanzas of this poem have been given in an order different to that in which they stand in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599: to that order we restore them, and that text we follow, excepting where it is evidently corrupt. The line, “As well as partial fancy like,” we have corrected by a manuscript of the time. The edition of 1599 reads, “As well as fancy party all might,” which is decidedly wrong. Malone substituted “As well as fancy, partial tike.” The manuscript by which we have corrected the fourth line of the stanza also gives the two last lines of it thus:— “Ask counsel of some other head, Neither unwise nor yet unwed.” But no change from the old printed copy is here necessary. In the manuscript the whole has the initials of Shakespeare's names at the end.

Note return to page 635 6And set thy person forth to sell.] So the manuscript in our possession, and another that Malone used: the old copies read, with obvious corruption, “And set her person forth to sale.”

Note return to page 636 7She will not stick to warm my ear,] So the manuscript in our possession: “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599, has it, “She will not stick to round me on th' ear,” which cannot be right.

Note return to page 637 8Live with me and be my love,] This poem, here incomplete, and what is called “Love's Answer,” still more imperfect, may be seen at length in Percy's “Reliques,” vol. i. p. 237. They belong to Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh: the first is assigned by name to Marlowe in “England's Helicon,” 1600, (sign. A 2) and the last appears in the same collection, under the name of Ignoto, which was a signature sometimes adopted by Sir Walter Raleigh. They are, besides, assigned to both these authors in Walton's “Angler” (p. 149. edit. 1808) under the titles of “The milk maid's song,” and “The Milk-maid's Mother's answer.”

Note return to page 638 9As it fell upon a day] This poem is contained in R. Barnfield's “Encomion of Lady Pecunia,” 1598. It is also inserted in “England's Helicon,” 1600, (H. 2) under the signature of Ignoto; but as Barnfield reprinted it as his in 1605, there can be little doubt that he was the author of it.

Note return to page 639 1Which a grove of myrtles made,] Some modern editors state, that in “England's Helicon,” 1600, “grove” is printed group: the fact is otherwise; the mistake having arisen from not consulting the original edition of that poetical miscellany: it is group in the reprint of “England's Helicon” in 1812.

Note return to page 640 2Careless of thy sorrowing.] “England's Helicon” here adds this couplet:— “Even so, poor bird, like thee, None alive will pity me.”

Note return to page 641 3Whilst as fickle fortune smil'd,] This is the last poem in “The Passionate Pilgrim,” 1599. It is a separate production, both in subject and place, with a division between it and Barnfield's poem, which precedes it: nevertheless they have been incautiously coupled in some modern editions.

Note return to page 642 4The Phœnix and Turtle.] This poem is printed, as we have given it, with the name of Shakespeare, in Robert Chester's “Love's Martyr, or Rosalin's Complaint,” 1601. It occurs near the end, among what are called on the title-page “new Compositions of several modern Writers, whose names are subscribed to their several Works.”

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