The Works of William Shakespeare

P. 17. (44)

"The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner

Called the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles ;"

The folio has "The Earle of Bedford," &c.—I am not sure about the metre of the second line: the folio has "Call'd the braue Lord Ponton de Santrayle;" and see Walker's Shakespeare's Versification, &c. p. 35,

The folio has "so pil'd esteem'd,”—evidently a mistake for “so vild esteem'd” (with its usual inconsistency in spelling, the folio has in some places “vild,” in others "vile"),

P. 18. (46)

"Here, through this secret grate, I count each one,"

The word "secret" is not in the folio.-The editor of the second folio thus restored the line to at least its proper dimensions; "Here, through this grate, I can count every one," &c.: but his corrections are, of course, merely arbitrary; and the alteration of "I count" [i.e. I am in the habit of counting] to "I can count," is a more than doubtful change. - Malone and some other editors have fancied that all is set right by printing "Here thorough this grate I count each one," &c. !—(As to the reading which I now give, compare, in p. 17, "Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars," &c.)

So the second folio, except that it adds "will" to these words.-The first folio has merely "and like thee;" and hence Malone gives "and like thee, Nero:" but, as Steevens observes, "Surely there is some absurdity in making Talbot address Plantagenet and invoke Nero in the same line." Walker, who (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 150) pronounces the reading "and like thee, Nero" to be "certainly wrong," conjectures" and like the Roman."

Walker (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 150) says, "Perhaps, thy name.""

P. 20. (50) "Then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen dare." The folio has " And then," &c.-Steevens proposes "Then try we what," &c.; Walker (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 150), “And then try what," &c.

The folio has "thy hungry-starued men." (As the compound "hungerstarved" occurs in The Third Part of Henry VI. act i. sc. 4, it is, we cannot doubt, the true reading here.-Mr. Collier remarks that "if hungry, starved men,' as Boswell would have printed it, had been intended, and not

a compound word, the hyphen in the old copy would have been omitted:" but that by no means follows; for afterwards in this play, p. 48, the folio has "his tender-dying eyes,"—p. 64, "his puny-sword:" and see note 107 on King John,

P. 21. (52) "Sheep run not half so timorous from the wolf," Pope's correction.-The folio has "Sheepe run not halfe so trecherous from," &c. (Mr. Knight, and the Rev. J. Mitford (Gent. Magazine for Nov. 1844, p. 457), conjecture "Sheep run not half so from the treacherous wolf," &c.: but surely the adjective is not to be separated from "so.")-1864. In the preceding line is not the reading "soil" (spelt Soyle" in the folio) very questionable? I once conjectured "style:" but an heraldic term seems to be required; qy."scroll"?

P. 21. (53)

"Rescu'd is Orleans from the English:

Divinest creature, Astræa's daughter,"

The editor of the second folio chose to print

"Rescu'd is Orleance from the English wolves:

Divinest Creature, bright Astræa's Daughter," &c.;

and so, among others, the two latest editors, Mr. Collier and Mr. Knight [1864, and Mr. Halliwell]." The word 'wolves,' " says Mr. Collier, "seems necessary, though Malone strangely contends that 'English' ought to be pronounced as a trisyllable:"-and Malone was right; compare a line in Richard II. act iv. sc. 1,

"Than Bolingbroke's return to England;"

and see Walker's Shakespeare's Versification, &c. p. 7, and his Crit. Exam. &c. vol. i. p. 7.-"Malone," continues Mr. Collier, "goes the absurd length of insisting that 'Astræa' ought to be pronounced Asteræa:”—in which Malone was mistaken; for here "creature" (see Walker's Shakespeare's Versification, &c. p. 85, and his Crit. Exam. &c. vol. ii. p. 19) is to be read as a trisyllable.

P. 21. (54)

The folio has "Garden."

P. 21. (55)

"gardens,"

"Why ring not out the bells throughout the town?”

So Pope. The folio has "Why ring not out the Bells alowd, Throughout," &c. -Steevens proposes "Why ring not bells aloud throughout," &c,

P. 22. (56)

"Than Rhodope's of Memphis"

So Capell proposed to read.-The folio has "Then Rhodophe's or Memphis," -which is perfect nonsense. "Rhodope [properly Rhodopis ('Podŵnis), the rosy-cheeked] was a famous strumpet, who acquired great riches by her trade. The least but most finished of the Egyptian pyramids (says Pliny, in the 36th Book of his Natural History, ch. xii.) was built by her. She is said afterwards to have married Psammitichus, King of Egypt." STEE

VENS. "The brother of Sappho [Charaxus] was in love with Rhodope, and purchased her freedom (for she was a slave in the same house with Esop the fabulist) at a great price. Rhodope was of Thrace, not of Memphis." MALONE. "The emendation proposed by Mr. Steevens [Capell's] must be adopted. The meaning is-not that Rhodope herself was of Memphis, but -that her pyramis was there. I will rear to her, says the Dauphin, a pyramid more stately than that of Memphis, which was called Rhodope's. Pliny says the pyramids were six miles from that city; and that the fairest and most commended for workmanship was built at the cost and charges of one Rhodope, a verie strumpet.' "" RITSON. Herodotus (ii. 134 sqq.) takes pains to show the absurdity of the story of her having built the pyramid; which is certainly a fable. But it would seem that, in consequence of her name (The rosy-cheeked), she was confounded with Nitokris, the beautiful Egyptian queen.

P. 22. (57) So Hanmer.

"Ever before the kings and queens of France."

The folio has merely "Before the Kings and Queenes of France." -Capell, who retains (with the folio) the comma after "Transported," prints "Before the kings and queens of France upborne." -I formerly proposed "Before the kings and queens and peers of France."

P. 23. (58)

"And"

Probably an interpolation.

P. 28. (59)

"That will I show you presently."

The author most probably wrote, either (as Steevens suggests) "That, madam, will I," &c., or (as Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector, and Walker, Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 150, would read) "That will I show you, lady, presently."

Here the folio has the spelling "misconster, "-inconsistently: see note 25 on The Merchant of Venice.

P. 29. (61)

"Or else was wrangling Somerset in th' error ?”

We are told that here " Or else" is equivalent to "Or in other words."-Qy. "in error"?

P. 31. (62)

"rose,"

The folio has "Roses."

P. 31. (63)

"I scorn thee and thy faction,"

The folio has "I scorne thee and thy fashion."-The correction of Theobald, "faction," is fully confirmed by subsequent speeches in this scene;

"Will I for ever, and my faction, wear."

"Grown to this faction, in the Temple-garden," &c.

The folio has "whipt."-Corrected in the second folio.

Here the editor of the second folio added the "sir;"-" which yet," as Malone observes, "does not complete the metre."

P. 33. (66)

"Nestor-like aged, in an age of care,"

"i.e. an old age of ordinary length, being overburdened with care, has wrought upon me the effect of Nestor's three centuries." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 151. (Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes ". a cage of care.")

The folio has “the Temple, vnto his Chamber." (The second folio, “the Temple, his Chamber.")

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"friend,"

"fading"

'Failing,' surely." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 151.

P. 34. (71)

"his nephew Richard,"

"Thus the old copy. Modern editors read 'his cousin,' but without necessity. Nephew has sometimes the power of the Latin nepos, and is used with great laxity among our ancient English writers. Thus in Othello, Iago tells Brabantio he shall have his nephews (i.e. the children of his own daughter) neigh to him.'" STEEVENS. "It would be surely better to read cousin,' the meaning which 'nephew' ought to have in this place. Mr. Steevens only proves that the word nephews is sometimes used for grandchildren, which is very certain. Both uncle and nephew might, however, formerly signify cousin. See the Menagiana, vol. ii. p. 193. In The Second Part of the Troublesome Raigne of King John, Prince Henry calls his cousin the Bastard uncle.'” RITSON. "I believe the mistake here arose from the [unknown] author's ignorance; and that he conceived Richard to be Henry's nephew." MALONE.

P. 34. (72) "Was, for that-young King Richard thus remov'd,

From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the third son

To King Edward the Third; whereas he"

Here "King" in the first line, and "the" in the second line, were inserted by the editor of the second folio; the third line is corrupted.

P. 35. (73)

"And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd.

But now thy uncle is removing hence;"

"I suspect error here, merely on account of the repetition, for the words themselves are perfectly in place." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. i. p. 311.