Hamlet

L. 132. L. 164. editors.

L. 168.

Singer's correction "affects" is very plausible.

"leave" seems to be the true reading, overlooked by the

Steevens proposes "Or", and Staunton "Oft", for "Of". Theobald, at the suggestion of Thirlby, alters "devill” to “evil”.

L. 175. A verb seems to be left out after "either". Malone supplies "curb", Singer "quell". Collier adopts the reading of E "master" (a clumsy correction, if not a mistake for "either") which suits neither the metre, nor the context. Dyce combines the readings of ABC and DE, printing "And either master the devil".

Act. IV. Sc. 1. indicated in the quarto of 1676.

L. 40. There is evidently a gap, which is filled up with "for haply slander", by Theobald, "so, haply, slander", by Capell, "so viperous slander", by Malone, "by this, suspicion", by Tschischwitz. I think the last reading is the most suitable, but it might perhaps be improved by substituting "so that", for "by this".

Sc. 2. according to Pope.

L. 17.

Sc. 3.

Sc. 4.

“apple” in ABC is a mistake, or pretended correction.

L. 70. Tschischwitz proposes to read "will ne're be gun".
Pope; Sc. 2. Rowe,

L. 17. In order to improve the metre, some editors add "sir", after "speake".

L. 30. The quarto of 1676 reads "b'w' ye". The modern editors print "be wi' you", without any authority.

Sc. 5. L. 17-20 are marked with inverted commas in ABC, not for the purpose, observes Collier, of showing that the passage was a quotation, but to enforce it as an axiom.

L. 23. In D the song of Ophelia is printed in Italics.

L. 39. Pope, Theobald, Warburton, Singer, Dyce, Clark and Wright print "did go”, in opposition to all the old editions, and without knowing the original ballad from which the line is taken.

L. 57. The sign? is often used in D to mark an exclamation.

L. 65. The modern editors, of course, print "An". See note on I. 5. 177.

L. 74. I suppose the poet first wrote "and now behold", for which he then substituted "O Gertrude, Gertrude".

L. 86. Johnson thinks "Feeds on his wonder" the true reading, which is adopted by all the subsequent editors.

L. 117. The quarto edition of 1676 reads “brows".

L. 140. Johnson, Singer, and Collier tacitly print "sweepstake", Dyce "swoopstake".

L. 149. “peare" is a misprint for "pearce", as I. 1. 118 "feafe" for "fearce".

L. 150. "noise", I rather suspect, is a misprint for "uoise" (voice). The modern editors print "Danes".

L. 165. is printed in Italics, as the song, in D.

Sc. 6. according to Capell.

L. 12. The letter is printed in Italics in D.

Sc. 7. L. 21. Elze, in the Athenaeum, 1869, I, 284, judiciously proposes to read "graves" for "graces".

L. 22. All the modern editors adopt the reading of D, which however is very negligently printed here.

L. 62. "checking at" is obviously the true reading, supported by the mistake "the king at" of A; "liking not" in BC, a conjectural emendation of the senseless reading of A.

L. 122. Singer prints "a spendthrift's sigh", and observes, The reading of the old copies, which I have restored, had been altered in the modern editions to "a spendthrift sigh", without reason. Dyce adopts “a spendthrift sigh", with the observation, This passage is only in the quartos, all which, except that of 1637, have “a spend-thrifts sigh", — quite rongly, I conceive, though Capell, Collier and Knight think otherwise.

L. 159. Collier thinks "prefer'd" to be the true reading.

L. 191. If "doubts" is = douts, it will suit the context better than "drownes". Nares (Glossary 254) produces "it douts the light" from Sylvester, and "dout a candle" is still used in Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Yorkshire.

Act. V. Sc. 1. in the quarto edition of 1676.

L. 60. Collier observes, The "o" and the "a" in this line are only the interjections of the Clown in his double exertion of singing and digging.

L. 179. The folio, "jeering"; but the scull did not jeer, though it grinned. Collier. Instead of "chopfalne" all the editors arbitrarily print "chap-fallen."

L. 218. The modern editors, of course, adopt the reading of F, "pebbles".

L. 287. There can be little doubt that "thirtie" is a misprint for "thereby"; most of the editors, however, adopt the conjectural emendation of D, "shortly".

Sc. 2. according to Rowe.

L. 9. Instead of "fall", Pope prints "fail", and is followed by Theobald, Warburton, and Dyce Singer and Collier adopt the reading of A, "pall". "Learne" (docere) is usual to Shakespeare (see Rich. II. IV, 1, Temp. I, 2, Cymb. I, 5), yet Singer, Collier, and Dyce prefer the supposed correction of D, "teach".

L. 29. Capell and Singer print "villanies".

L. 44. As "know" cannot be, nor has ever been, used substantively it must be a misprint in D; however it is adopted by Collier. For the use of "knowing" as a monosyllable, see Shakespeare's Versification etc. by S. Walker, p. 119.

L. 63. S. Walker (Shakespeare's Versification p. 281) shows that in

Shakespeare's time "thinks't thee" occurs in the sense of μov doxet oot. Singer and Collier adopt the reading of C.

L. 78. Instead of "count", Rowe, Theobald, and Dyce print "court". L. 110. Dyce prints "it", instead of "yet". Singer and Collier prefer "raw" to "yaw".

L. 175. Singer and Dyce adopt the reading of D, of course modernized to "bevy".

L. 178. "fond" is possibly. as Warburton supposes, a misprint for "fand" (fanned). Tschischwitz amends "prophane" to "profound".

L. 206. If "ha's" in D is a mistake for "knowes", the passage may originally have run, as Johnson prints it, "since no man knowes ought of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?" The quarto of 1676 has "'tis" for "is't".

L. 237. "on" seems to be a mistake for "one": the foils are taken 1. 247, and the summons "come on" is made 1. 263.

L. 291. The editors correct "swoons" (Delius and Tschischwitz "swoonds"). See Beiträge zu einem wörterb. der engl. sprache p. 501.

L. 327. It can hardly be denied, that the reading of ABC is more natural than that of D, which however is preferred by all the editors. See note on III. 4. 164.

L. 374. "will drawe on more", scil. voices; referring to the declaration of Hamlet, "he has my dying voice'. Collier.

CORRECTIONS.

Page 4, line 43, read BC for C

43, add 139 Exit Ghost. not in ABC.
43, read thee for the