NOTES ON TITUS ANDRONICUS.

p. 341.

p. 342.

p. 343.

p. 344.

p. 345.

ACT FIRST.

SCENE I.

"I am his first-born son": The folio only misprints, "I was," &c.

"Romans," &c. :- As a matter of orthoepy, it is perhaps worthy of notice that throughout this play, and generally in English books printed before the middle of the seventeenth century, this word is spelled Romaines or Romanes. Romaine could hardly have been pronounced

roman.

"To justice, continence," &c. : - Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 plausibly has, "To justice conscience, and nobility.” —so I do affy":- I have faith,

SCENE II.

There is no change of place here; but as the stage is left vacant, and there is no connection between what has been done by the personages who have just left it and what is to be done by those who are just coming on it, the division made by Malone, and recognized in the concordances and in quotations, had better be left undisturbed. The case is analogous to that of Scene 3 of Act I. of Measure for Measure. See the Note thereon. that hath discharg'd her fraught ": - The folio and both 4tos., by a common typographical error, "his fraught."

"Patient yourself": - The use of 'patient' as a verb was not uncommon with the writers of Shakespeare's time.

p. 348.

p. 349.

p. 351.

p. 355.

here are no storms

:

The second folio ob

tains a fine reading by omitting 'are.'

Solon's happiness" : Solon said that no man

could be called happy before his death.

"Be chosen with proclamations - Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has, speciously, "with acclamations.'

strengthen with thy friends":— The old copies, down to the third folio, (1664,) have the trifling misprint, thy friend."

and noble Tribunes here : So the folio. The 4to. of 1611, "people's Tribunes."

Lavinia will I make my empress - Here and elsewhere in this play 'empress' is a trisyllable, and it is sometimes so printed in the old copies. Five lines above, 'election' is a quadrisyllable, according to a common usage of Shakespeare's day, which is remarked elsewhere in these Notes.

"No, Titus, no," &c.: In the old folio and 4to. copies this line is preceded by the following stage direction: "Enter aloft the Emperour, with Tamora and her two sonnes, and Aron the Moore." They were to appear in the little gallery which was put to such various uses on our old stage. Why they were to go there it is difficult to divine; but Mr. Collier well remarks that "the stage directions in this Scene are not easily understood."

"Was [there] none [else] in Rome," &c. : So the second folio. The earlier editions, "Was none in Rome to make a stale from which, perhaps, were the point of more importance, and relating to another play, it would not be desirable, as it is not necessary, to deviate.

He is not with himself": - The folio omits with,' by manifest accident. The phrase is the converse of 'He is beside himself.'

"The Greeks, upon advice, did bury Ajax":— - The allusion, as Theobald remarked, (whose note Steevens 'conveyed' and presented as his own,) is to a part of Sophocles' tragedy Ajax, in which Ulysses ("wise Laertes' son") and Teucer strenuously and successfully plead with Agamemnon for permission to bury the body of Ajax.

these dreary dumps" :-Dump' originally meant a melancholy passage of poetry or music. The folio has, "sudden dumps," which, as Mr. Dyce has suggested, may be a misprint for sullen dumps.'

p. 355.

p. 356.

"Yes, and will nobly," &c. :

This line, found only in

the folio, is there made a part of Titus' speech, by neglect to give it the proper prefix. As Malone remarked, it is manifestly the reply of Marcus to Titus.

your prize":- Perhaps better, prise a French term of the fencing school.

"And so supplant you":- - Thus the 4to. of 1600. That of 1611 misprinted, "supplant us," which was not corrected in the folio.

p. 358. “[All rise : — Here the old copies read,

p. 359.

"

p. 360.

p. 361.

"Stand up, Lavinia, though you left me like a churl.” But, as Mr. Dyce has suggested, “Stand up is a stage direction which was accidentally added to the line. Senseand rhythm are perfect without these two words; and stage directions used to be written in this brief, imperative style.

ACT SECOND.

SCENE I.

“Advanced above pale envy's," &c.: The folio misprints, "Aduanced about," &c.

"Upon her will”: — Although the old copies have, "Upon her wit," and Tamora has wit, I have no doubt that Warburton and Mr. Collier's folio of 1632, in reading, "Upon her will," corrected the very easy mistaking of wil for wit.

and servile thoughts":

So the 4to. of 1600. The 4to. of 1611 has, by some error we may be sure, “and idle thoughts," which poor reading was left uncorrécted in the folio.

this nymph": So the 4to. of 1600. The 4to. of 1611 has, "this queen," with manifest error; the word having been caught from the end of the preceding line. The error was not corrected in the folio.

"Clubs! clubs !

This was the cry of the London 'prentices in a tumult, as all readers of The Fortunes of Nigel will remember.

on

See the Note

"It is to jet," &c. : — i. e., to encroach.
begins to jut," Richard the Third, Act II. Sc. 4,

p. 288. The folio misprints, "It is to set.'

whom I love": - The folio has, very redundantly, "whom I do love," in which it but copies a misprint of the 4to. of 1611.

p. 362.

"A speedier course than ling'ring languishment": All editions before Rowe's had, "A speedier course this," &c.

p. 363.

with her sacred wit -i. e., her accursed wit. Where an Englishman uses the national oath a Frenchman exclaims, Sacré !

file our engines with advice"

: - i. e., facilitate

the working of our machinations by her advice.

till I find the stream": - The folio has the misprints, "the streams," and, in the next line, "their fits."

SCENE II.

p. 364.

p. 366.

p. 367.

p. 368.

The folio only omits

"I have been [broad] awake :
'broad,' accidentally, without a doubt.

"Makes way, and run," &c. : -The folio misprints, "and runnes.”

SCENE III.

"And never after to inherit it" A very clear and marked instance of the use of inherit' in the sense of acquire, possess.

"Unfurnish'd of her well beseeming troop : So the 4to. of 1600; that of 1611, "our well beseeming troop," in which misprint it was followed by all other old editions.

"Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs": Mr. Collier's folio of 1632, with specious literalism, has, “Should dine," &c. The 4to. of 1611 has, “his newtransformed limbs," in which it was followed by subsequent old copies.

"Accompanied [but] with," &c.: The 4to. of 1611 omitted but,' and was followed by the folio.

shall have note of this": - The folio and the 4tos. have, "shall have notice," &c. erroneously, as Steevens observed, and as the next line shows.

"Why have I patience?" The folio and the 4tos., "Why I have," &c.; but the interrogation mark at the end of the line shows that this is the result of mere accidental transposition.

as many urchins":— i. e., hedgehogs.

"Or be ye not," &c.: - It seems to me more than probable that this line was written,

"Or be not henceforth call'd my childeren."

p. 368.

p. 369.

p. 372.

p. 374.

p. 375.

"Ay, come, Semiramis : Semiramis was noted not only for the unrestrained indulgence of natural sexual passion, but for unnatural and monstrous appetites.

"And with that painted hope braves your mightiness":— A line manifestly, and it would seem hopelessly, corrupt. But perhaps we might read, “And with that faint hope braves," &c.

the honey ye desire : 4tos. and folio, "we desire," which was corrected in the second folio.

"What! wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard?" Lavinia says nothing about Chiron's father; but his reply would justify the belief that Tamora had played false with a true Milesian. How was he to prove himself "a bastard," by being unlike his mother ?

SCENE IV.

like to a slaughter'd lamb":

misprints, "the slaughter'd lamb."

the dead man's earthy cheeks":

The folio only

So the 4to. of 1600; the 4to. of 1611 misprinted, "earthly cheeks,” and was followed by the folio.

"Some never-heard-of torturing pain": — 4tos. and folio have, "tortering paine" - a common spelling, and, indicative of the common pronunciation of ure in Shakespeare's time.

can scowl."

SCENE V.

she can scrowl” : The folio misprints, "she

p. 376. "As have thy love : The old copies, absurdly, "As half thy love. The error was independently corrected by Theobald and Mr. Dyce, and in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632.

some Tereus hath defloured thee" Tereus, King of Thrace, married Progne, to whose sister Philomela he was much attached, and of whom he at last became desperately enamored. He ravished her, and, to free himself from her reproaches and her accusations, cut out her tongue. She finally made known her situation by means of her needle, (sampler fashion): she was succored by her sister Progne, who took revolting and unnatural vengeance upon Tereus. Progne was changed into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. goes the old story.

So