Critical Notes.

BY ISRAEL GOLLANCZ.

I. i. 55. meaner, S. Walker's conjecture; Folio 1 'meane' Folio 2' poor meane.'

I. i. 79. the latter-born'; line 125 below seems to imply that this should be 'elder-born,' a change adopted by Rowe; but probably the children became exchanged in the confusion during the breaking-up of the ship.'

I. ii. 41. the almanac of my true date,' because both were born in the same hour.

I. ii. 64. 'I shall be post indeed'; a post stood in the middle of the shop, on which the scores of the customers were scored, or marked with chalk or notches.

I. ii. 66. clock'; Pope's emendation for 'cook,' the reading of the Folios.

II. i. 109-113. These lines read as follows in the Folio:

'I see the lewell best enameled

Will loose his lustre; yet the gold bides still

That others touch, and often touching will,

Where gold and no man that hath a name,' etc.

The change of where to wear in the last line has been generally accepted, as also and though for yet in the second line; yet for and in the third; and so a man for and no man in the fourth; Warburton paraphrases this passage thus emended:-" Gold, indeed, will long bear the handling; however, often touching (i.e. assaying) will wear even gold: just so the greatest character, though as pure as gold itself, may in time be injured by the repeated attacks of falsehood and corruption." The Cambridge editors wisely abstain from these wholesale emendations, though so far no satisfactory explanation has been given of the lines. May not the meaning of the passage depend on some such interpretation as this:-The wife (the jewel) soon loses her beauty and ceases to attract, but man (the gold) still stands the test, assayed by other women, and although gold wears out if assayed

too often, yet a man of good reputation is not shamed by his falsehood and corruption. 'Wherefore,' says Adriana, since I (the jewel) cannot please his eye, I'll weep what's left away,' etc.

II. ii. 89. 'jollity'; Staunton suggested that the reading is an error for 'policy,' and the reading has been adopted by some modern editors.

II. ii. 119. As the line stands, it reads as an Alexandrine. Walker suggested carv'd thee for carved to thee; others propose the omission of to thee; neither change seems desirable.

II. ii. 147. I live distain'd, thou undishonoured'; so read the Folios; distain'd has been changed to unstain'd in most modern editions; Heath proposed 'I live distained, thou dishonoured.' The line as it stands in the text seems to mean, 'I live distained (i.e. stained), if untrue to my marriage vows; you, however, live undishonoured, however false you may be.'

II. ii. 186. this are sure uncertainty'; i.e. 'This to her surely a thing uncertain.'

II. ii. 191. The second folio reads and Elves Sprites, which Rowe altered to Elvish sprites, a reading adopted by most editors. Theobald proposed to change owls to ouphes.

II. ii. 195. ́thou drone,' Theobald's emendation; Folio 1'thou Dromio!'

II. ii. 200. ''tis to an ass'; the words remind one of Bottom's transformation in the Midsummer-Night's Dream.

III. i. 53. If thy name be called Luce'; 'Luce'='pike'; there is perhaps a play upon 'pike' in the sense of 'spear,' cp. 'Shall I set in my staff?' line 51.

III. i. 54. Probably a line has been lost rhyming with this; the rhyming word was perhaps rope.

III. ii. 66. I am thee'; this reading of the Folio may surely, without risk, be emended:- I aim thee,' i.e. I aim at thee'; the transitive use of aim is found in Elizabethan writers.

III. ii. 124. armed and reverted, making war against her heir'; Folio 2 substituted hair for heir, but the play upon words is the whole point of the passage, an allusion being intended to the War of the League against Henry of Navarre, the heir of Henry III. of France, whose cause was supported by Elizabeth; in 1591 she sent a body of 4,000 men under Essex to help him. 'Mistress Nell's brazen forehead seemed to push back her rough and rebellious hair, as France resisted the claim of the Protestant heir to the throne" (Clarke).

66

English enthusiasm for Henry of Navarre found expression, too, in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (cp. Preface).

As regards the peculiar use of reverted, i.e. 'turned back,' Schmidt suggests that there may be a play upon the sense of 'fallen to another proprietor.'

IV. i. 21. 'I buy a thousand pound a year'; some point in these words, familiar to Shakespeare's audience, is lost to us, and no satisfactory explanation has as yet been given, though Halliwell's comparison of the line with 3 Henry VI., II. ii. 144, is noteworthy :

A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns,
To make this shameless callet know herself."

IV. ii. 35. A fiend, a fury'; the Folios read 'fairy,' corrected by Theobald, who has been followed by most editors, including the Cambridge editors; a strong case can, however, be made for the original reading (e.g. cp. Hamlet, I. i. 161-163).

IV. ii. 61. 'If Time be in debt'; the Folios read ‘If I, where I is probably an error for 'a (i.e. he) or he; the reading in the text is Rowe's emendation.

IV. iii. 13. 'What, have you got the picture of old Adam newapparelled?' 'The picture of old Adam' the sergeant, who was clad in buff'; in Elizabethan slang this latter phrase was used in the sense of 'bare skin,' i.e. 'naked'; hence the quibble. New-apparelled offers some difficulty, and depends on the general construction of the whole line. It has been ingeniously suggested that the idea is 'got him a new suit,' i.e. 'got rid of him.' On the other hand, there is a possibility that the phrase 'what have you got?' is a vulgarism for 'What have you done with?' Theobald proposed to read' What, have you got rid of the picture,' etc. In the latter cases new-apparelled must be regarded as merely a descriptive epithet, the whole phrase 'the picture of old Adam newapparelled' being an elaborate circumlocution for 'sergeant.'

IV. iii. 58. We'll mend our dinner,' i.e. 'we'll buy something more for our dinner.'

IV. iv. 45. the prophecy like the parrot, beware the rope's end'; the Cambridge editors most ingeniously conjecture that we should read:

'or, rather, 'prospice funem,' beware the rope's-end. Antipholus of E. Wilt thou still talk like the parrot?” Dyce proposed, 'or, rather, to prophecy like,' etc.

Parrots were taught uncomplimentary remarks in Elizabethan times as they are at present; there are many allusions to the very phrase in the text: Ralpho, in Butler's Hudibras,

Could tell what subtlest parrots mean,
That speak, but think contrary clean;
What member 'tis of whom they talk,

When they cry rope, and walk, knave, walk."

V. i. 46. And much different,' etc., the second Folio, for the sake of the metre, reads much, much; a reading which does not commend itself; too much has been conjectured. The line as it stands is certainly doubtful; different does not occur in Shakespeare.

V. i. 66. glanced it'; Pope's conjectural at it is unnecessary, though glance in the sense to hint, used transitively, does not otherwise occur; Folio 1 does not elide the ed of glanced.

V. i. 79. But moody and dull melancholy'; something is obviously amiss with the line; moody moping has been suggested. Kinsman in the next line is used in its general sense of akin, which some editors have unnecessarily substituted; it has even been changed to kins-woman.

V. i. 170. Beaten the maids,' etc., i.e. have beaten; but the previous verb has are-a confusion of constructions which causes little difficulty, and fairly common in Elizabethan English.

V. i. 310. my feeble key of untuned cares?' i.e. the feeble tone of my voice, which gives utterance to nothing but unharmonious grief.'

V. i. 388. these ERRORS are arose,' so the Folios; are has been variously changed by scholars into all, rare, but no change is necessary; as far as rhythm is concerned the Folio reading is certainly preferable.

V. i. 400. Thirty-three years'; this reading of the Folios has been changed to twenty-five by most editors, following Theobald, who calculates the age of the twins by putting together what Ægeon says in Act. I. i. 125 and in line 320 of Act V. Capell suggested twenty-three, from Act I. i. line 125 and line 133. On the other hand, the Duke states in line 326 of the present Act that he has been patron to Antipholus for 'twenty years'; it looks as though Shakespeare changed his idea as to the age of the twins towards the end of the play, without troubling to make all his references fit in with one another.

V. i. 402. 'burthen ne'er,' Dyce; Folio 1, 'burthen are.

V. i. 404. And you the calendars of their nativity;' i.e. the two Dromios; cp. 'Here comes the almanac of my true date,' I. ii. 41. V. i. 406. After so long grief, such nativity!' the labouring line harmonizes well with the emotion of the speaker; the line is evidently intended to be read as follows:

After | so long | grief, súch|natív | ity.'

There seems no reason for changing nativity, though Hanmer's conjecture felicity has been accepted by most editors; Johnson proposed festivity.