The word The being accidentally omitted in the first folio, the editor of the fecond fupplied the defect by reading "Earth hath up fwallow'd all my hopes but the." Again, in the fame play; "I'll lay fourteen of my teeth, and yet, to my teen be it fpoken, I have but four:" not understanding the word teen, he fubftituted teeth inftead of it. Again, ibidem: "Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid-" Man being corruptly printed inftead of maid in the firft folio, 1623, the editor of the fecond, who never examined a fingle quarto copy, corrected the error at random, by reading 2 That this editor never examined any of the quarto copies, is proved by the following inftances : In Troilus and Creffida, we find in the first folio: Finding this nonfenfe, he printed" in unrefpective place." In the quarto he would have found the true word-fieve. Again, in the fame play, the following lines are thus corruptly exhibited : "That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax; "Since things in motion begin to catch the eye, the words" begin to," being inadvertently repeated in the fecond line, by the compofitor's eye glancing on the line above. The editor of the fecond folio, inftead of examining the quarto, where he would have found the true reading : "Since things in motion fooner catch the eye." thought only of amending the metre, and printed the line thus: "Since things in motion 'gin to catch the eye-" leaving the paffage nonfenfe, as he found it. So, in Titus Andronicus: "And let no comfort delight mine ear—" "Prick'd from the lazy finger of à woman.” Again: "Doft thou love me? I know thou wilt say, ay:" The word me being omitted in the firft folio, the editor of the fecond capriciously supplied the metre thus: being erroneously printed in the first folio, inftead of " And let no comforter," &c. the editor of the fecond folio corrected the error according to his fancy, by reading "And let no comfort elfe delight mine ear." So, in Love's Labour's Loft, Vol. VII. p. 96: "Old Mantuan, who understands thee not, loves thee not." The words in the Italick character being inadvertently omitted in the first folio, the editor of the fecond folio, inftead of applying to the quarto to cure the defect, printed the paffage juft as he found it and in like manner in the fame play implicitly followed the error of the firft folio, which has been already mentioned,— "O, that your face were fo full of O's-" though the omiffion of the word not, which is found in the quarto, made the paffage nonfenfe. So, in Much Ado about Nothing: "And I will break with her. Was't not to this end," &c. being printed instead of "And I will break with her and with her father, "And thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end," &c. the error, which arofe from the compofitor's eye glancing from one line to the other, was implicitly adopted in the second folio. Again, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream: "Ah me, for aught that I could ever read, "Could ever hear," &c. the words Ah me being accidentally omitted in the firft folio, inftead of applying to the quarto for the true reading, he supplied the defect, according to his own fancy, thus: Hermia, for aught that I could ever read," &c. Again, in The Merchant of Venice, he arbitrarily gives us"The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold," inftead of Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb." See p. 454. Innumerable other inftances of the fame kind might be produced. "Doft thou love? Q, I know thou wilt fay, ay." This expletive, we fhall prefently find, when I come to speak of the poet's metre, was his conftant expedient in all difficulties. In Measure for Meafure he printed ignominy inftead of ignomy, the reading of the first folio, and the common language of the time. In the fame play, from his ignorance of the constable's humour, he corrected his phrafeology, and fubftituted infiant for diftant; ("at that very diftant time:") and in like manner he makes Dogberry, in Much Ado about Nothing, exhort the watch not to be vigitant, but vigilant. Among the marks of love, Rofalind, in As you like it, mentions "a beard neglected, which you have not ;-but I pardon you for that; for, fimply, your having in beard is a younger brother's revenue." Not understanding the meaning of the word having, this editor reads-" your having no beard," &c. In A Midfummer Night's Dream, Pyramus fays, "I see a voice; now will I to the chink, Of the humour of this paffage he had not the least notion, for he printed, instead of it, "I hear a voice; now will I to the chink, In The Merchant of Venice, Act I. sc. i. we find in the first folio, "And out of doubt you do more wrong—" which the editor of the fecond perceiving to be imperfect, he corrected at random thus: "And out of doubt you do to me more wrong." Had he confulted the original quarto, he would have found that the poet wrote→→→ "And out of doubt you do me now more wrong." So, in the fame play," But of mine, then yours," being corruptly printed inftead of" But if mine, then yours," this editor arbitrarily reads"But first mine, then yours.' Again, ibidem: "Or even as well use queftion with the wolf, the words "Why he hath made" being omitted in the first folio at the beginning of the second line, the fecond folio editor fupplied the defect thus abfurdly : "Or even as well use question with the wolf, In Othello the word fnipe being mifprinted in the firft folio, "If I fhould time expend with such a supe." the editor not knowing what to make of it, subftituted Swain inftead of the corrupted word. Again, in the fame play, "For of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted." being printed in the first folio instead of-" Forth of my heart," &c. which was the common language of the time, the editor of the fecond folio amended the error according to his fancy, by reading For off my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted." Again, in the fame play, Act V. fc. i. not understanding the phrafeology of our author's time, "Who's there? Whose noise is this, that cries on murder?' he fubftituted "Whose noise is this, that cries out murder?" and in the firft Act of the fame play, not perceiving the force of an eminently beautiful epithet, for "defarts idle," he has given us "defarts wild." Again, in that tragedy we find what charms, "What conjuration, and what mighty magick, that is, I won his daughter with; and fo the editor of the fecond folio reads, not knowing that this kind of elliptical expreffion frequently occurs in this author's works, as I have fhown in a note on the last scene of Cymbeline, and in other places.3 In like manner he has corrupted the following paffage in A Midfummer-Night's Dream: "So will I grow, fo live, fo die, my lord, i. e. to give fovereignty to. Here too this editor with the text, and 3 See Vol. XVIII. p. 647, n. 2; Vol. XV. p. 196, n. 4; and Vol. XIX. p. 266, n. 7. |