p. 244. P. 275. Sig. e. 5. "Our Lorde that shope both sonne and mone 'Lend us spending in our purse." Workshop' is a pleonasm. "Tent in my cheeks": - The following passage from a poet of the Elizabethan period, whose name I do not remember, (it has been torn off the bottom of my memorandum,) strongly supports the text and the explanation of it given in the Note : 61 doting sires Carped and cared to have them lettered; But their kind college from the teat did tent, And forced them walk before they weaned were." Here tent' plainly means take. "but he has a merit" :- - Two half lines or more seem to have been lost before these words. "Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair," &c.: The greater part of the Note upon this passage is superfluous. The passage is far from being so obscure as it appeared to me when looked at through a cloud of commentary. Aufidius is impressing upon his hearers the consequences of Coriolanus's inflexible, impracticable nature. He tells them that our virtue lies in the interpretation of the time, that is, we must be rated according to the disposition of those around us; as Rosaline says that "a jest's prosperity lies in the ear of him that hears it, never in the tongue of him that makes it." He then adds, as a corollary, that power, self-sufficient and self-complacent, has not so sure, so manifest, a grave as the very seat of authority to which its deeds have raised it, and which its over-weening egotism is likely to use in such a manner as to alienate those to whom it owes its elevation. VOL. XI. I have thought it desirable to notice more of the various readings of the first two quarto copies of this play (both published in the same year) than are mentioned in the Notes. A careful collation of the originals with each other and with the folio has led me to suspect that no other editor has had the opportunity or taken the trouble of performing this laborious but interesting task with thoroughness. The variations are very numerous, and most of them are not very important. In the large majority of instances they are unimportant; and the readings peculiar to the quartos are almost invariably inferior to those of the folio. Only those are mentioned which are of some real significance. The 4to which has no place of sale mentioned upon the title page is called the second. p. 207. for qualities are so weighed": -The 4tos, "for equalities," &c. p. 209. p. 210. p. 212. p. 213. p. 215. p. 220. p. 222. p. 223. p. 230. p. 235. "Where nature doth with merit challenge" - The 4tos, "Where merit doth most challenge it." : "[Sir] I am made of that self metal as my sister The folio omits Sir.' The 4tos have, "of the self same metal that my sister is." "Than that conferr'd on Goneril":-The 4tos, "Than that confirmed," &c. - The 4tos, "vassal recreant." - The 4tos, Revoke thy doom." "O, vassal miscreant " :- days," &c.; and in the next line, "on the fift.” tection." แ Friendship lives "When it is mingled with regards," &c. : "When it is mingled with respects." and fathers declin'd, the father": The 4tos, "and fathers declining, his father." "That's my fear": brother." The 4tos, "That's my fear, "To hold my course":· -The 4tos, perfecting the verse, "To hold my very course.' 64 if I had a monopoly out, they would have part on't, and loads too": Read, and ladies too." This is the reading of the first 4to, and gives the true text, as the whole context shows. Ladies were as fond of speculating in monopolies in England in Shakespeare's time as in South Sea stock in John Law's, or as nowadays they are said to be of taking shares in blockade runners. Besides, see the last word in the sentence. This passage is not in the folio; and editors say that "the old copies give loads and lodes; " Mr. Collier censuring those who read ladies "without the slightest authority, when the old copies have not a word about ladies." But of Mr. Lenox's copies of the two editions of 1608, the one with the place of sale named in the imprint has, "and Ladies too;" the other, " and lodes too." The 4tos, "Let it be so I have another daughter": p. 241. " p. 242. p. 244. the revenging gods": - The 4tos have "the revengive gods." "Bringing the murtherous coward": - The 4tos, "murtherous caitiff." 661 posure." would the reposal": - The 4tos, "could the re "To have the expense and waste of his revenues The first 4to has, "the waste and spoyl," &c. The second 4to, "To have these- and waste of this his revenues." "Good dawning to thee, friend": The 4tos, "Good even," &c. p. 253. p. 254. " - -The 4tos, "When he, con "That, sir, which seeks," &c.:- Read, "That sir which seeks," &c., without the commas. "They are sick they are weary?"- Read, with the 4tos, " They're sick? they're weary?" 64 Fiery? what quality?" The 4tos, "What fiery quality? : p. 310. "I fear I am not in my perfect mind". - The 4tos, "perfect in my mind." P. 317. p. 322. "More than in your addition":-The 4tos, "in your advancement." "Never (0 fault!) revealed myself": The 4tos, "Never (O father !)" &c., which may well be the true text, and which has a tenderness not found in the reading of the folio. p. 36. p. 115. VOL. XII. Antony and Cleopatra. "And made their bends adornings": Read, of course, "And make their bends, adoring," as the Note requires. |