Kitabı oku: «Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies», sayfa 8
TITUS ANDRONICUS
(403,1) It is observable, that this play is printed in the quarto of 1611, with exactness equal to that of the other books of those times. The first edition was probably corrected by the author, so that here is very little room for conjecture or emendation; and accordingly none of the editors have much molested this piece with officious criticism.
I.i.70 (406,2) Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!] [W: my] Thy is as well as my. We may suppose the Romans in a grateful ceremony, meeting the dead sons of Andronicus with mourning habits.
I.i.77 (407,3) Thou great defender of this Capitol] Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was sacred.
I.i.168 (410,5) And fame's eternal date for virtue's praise!] [W: In] To live in fame's date is, if an allowable, yet a harsh expression. To outlive an eternal date, is, though not philosophical, yet poetical sense. He wishes that her life may be longer than his, and her praise longer than fame.
I.i.309 (414,6) changing piece] Spoken of Lavinia. Piece was then, as it is now, used personally as a word of contempt.
II.i (421,8) In the quarto, the direction is, Manet Aaron, and he is before made to enter with Tamora, though he says nothing. This scene ought to continue the first act.
II.i.9 (421,9) So Tamora—/Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait] [W: her will] I think wit, for which she is eminent in the drama, is right.
II.i.116 (425,2) by kind] That is, by nature, which is the old signification of kind.
II.ii (425,3) Changes to a Forest] The division of this play into acts, which was first made by the editors in 1623, is improper. There is here an interval of action, and here the second act ought to have begun.
II.iii.8 (427,6)
And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest,
That have their alms out of the empress' chest]
This is obscure. It seems to mean only, that they who are to come at this gold of the empress are to suffer by it.
II.iii.72 (430,9) swarth Cimmerian] Swarth is black. The Moor is called Cimmerien, from the affinity of blackness to darkness.
II.iii.85 (430,1)
Bas. The king, my brother, shall have note of this.
Lav. Ay, for these slips have made him noted long]
He had yet been married but one night.
II.iii.104 (431,2) Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly] This is said in fabulous physiology, of those that hear the groan of the mandrake torn up.
II.iii.126 (432,3) And with that painted hope she braves your mightiness] [W: cope] Painted hope is only specious hope, or ground of confidence more plausible than solid.
II.iii.227 (435,4) A precious ring, that lightens all the hole] There is supposed to be a gem called a carbuncle, which emits not reflected but native light. Mr. Boyle believes the reality of its existence.
II.iv.13 (438,5) If I do dream, 'would all my wealth would wake me'] If this be a dream, I would give all my possessions to be delivered from it by waking.
III.i.91 (443,8) It was my deer] The play upon deer and dear has been used by Waller, who calls a lady's girdle, The pale that held my lovely deer.
III.i.216 (447,1) And do not break into these deep extremes] [We should read, instead of this nonsense,
—woe-extremes.
i.e. extremes caused by excessive sorrow. But Mr. Theobald, on his own authority, alters it to deep, without notice given. WARB.] It is deep in the old quarto of 1611, (rev. 1778, VIII, 510, 8)
III.ii (450,2) An apartment in Titus's house] This scene, which does not contribute any thing to the action, yet seems to have the same author with the rest, is omitted in the quarto of 1611, but found in the folio of 1623.
III.ii.45 (452,3) by still practice] By constant or continual practice.
IV.i.129 (458,6) Revenge the heavens] It should be,
Revenge, ye Heavens!—
Ye was by the transcriber taken for y'e, the.
IV.ii.85 (461,7) I'll broach the tadpole] A broach is a spit. I'll spit the tadpole.
IV.ii.99 (462,8) Coal-black is better than another hue,/ In that it seems to bear another hue] We may better read, In that it scorns to bear another hue.
IV.iii.88 (466,1) Yet wrung with wrongs] To wring a horse is to press or strain his back.
IV.iv.90 (472,4) With words more sweet, and yet more dangerous,/ Than baits to fish, or honey-stalks to sheep] Honey-stalks are clover-flowers, which contain a sweet juice. It is common for cattle to over-charge themselves with clover, and die.
V.i.102 (476,7) As true a dog, as ever fought at head] An allusion to bull-dogs, whose generosity and courage are always shown by meeting the bull in front, and seizing his nose.
V.ii.189 (484,1) And of the paste a coffin will I rear] A coffin is the term of art for the cavity of a raised pye.
V.iii.19 (486,2) break the parley] That is, begin the parley. We yet say, he breaks his mind.
(492) General Observation. All the editors and critics agree with Mr. Theobald in supposing this play spurious. I see no reason for differing from them; for the colour of the stile is wholly different from that of the other plays, and there is an attempt at regular versification, and artificial closes, not always inelegant, yet seldom pleasing. The barbarity of the spectacles, and the general massacre, which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived tolerable to any audience; yet we are told by Jonson, that they were not only borne, but praised. That Shakespeare wrote any part, though Theobald declares it incontestible, I see no reason for believing.
The testimony produced at the beginning of this play, by which it is ascribed to Shakespeare, is by no means equal to the argument against its authenticity, arising from the total difference of conduct, language, and sentiments, by which it stands apart from all the rest. Meeres had probably no other evidence than that of a title-page, which, though in our time it be sufficient, was then of no great authority; for all the plays which were rejected by the first collectors of Shakespeare's works, and admitted in later editions, and again rejected by the critical editors, had Shakespeare's name on the title, as we must suppose, by the fraudulence of the printers, who, while there were yet no gazettes, nor advertisements, nor any means of circulating literary intelligence, could usurp at pleasure any celebrated name. Nor had Shakespeare any interest in detecting the imposture, as none of his fame or profit was produced by the press.
The chronology of this play does not prove it not to be Shakespeare's. If it had been written twenty-five years, in 1614, it might have been written when Shakespeare was twenty-five years old. When he left Warwickshire I know not, but at the age of twenty-five it was rather too late to fly for deer-stealing.
Ravenscroft, who in the reign of Charles II, revised this play, and restored it to the stage, tells us, in his preface, from a theatrical tradition, I suppose, which in his time might be of sufficient authority, that this play was touched in different parts by Shakespeare, but written by some other poet. I do not find Shakespeare's touches very discernible, (see 1765, VI, 364) (rev. 1778, VIII, 559)
Vol. IX.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
Prologue. (4,2)
And hither am I come
A prologue arm'd; but not in confidence
Of author's pen, or actor's voice; but suited
In like conditions as our argument]
I come here to speak the prologue, and come in armour; not defying the audience, in confidence of either the author's or actor's abilities, but merely in a character suited to the subject, in a dress of war, before a warlike play.
I.i.12 (8,3) And skill-less as unpractis'd infancy] Mr. Dryden, in his alteration of this play, has taken this speech as it stands, except that he has changed skill-less to artless, not for the better, because skill-less refers to skill and skilful.
I.i.58 (10,4) The cignet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense/Hard as the palm of ploughman!] In comparison with Cressid's hand, says he, the spirit of sense, the utmost degree, the most exquisite power of sensibility, which implies a soft hand, since the sense of touching, as Scaliger says in his Exercitations, resides chiefly in the fingers, is hard as the callous and insensible palm of the ploughman. WARBURTON reads,
—SPITE of sense:
HANMER,
—to th' spirit of sense.
It is not proper to make a lover profess to praise his mistress in spite of sense; for though he often does it in spite of the sense of others, his own senses are subdued to his desires.
I.i.66 (10,5) if she be fair, 'tis the better for her; an she be not, she has the mends in her own hands] She may mend her complexion by the assistance of cosmeticks.
I.ii.4 (12,1) Hector, whose patience/Is, as a virtue, fix'd] [W: Is as the] I think the present text may stand. Hector's patience was as a virtue, not variable and accidental, but fixed and constant. If I would alter it, it should be thus:
—Hector, whose patience
Is ALL a virtue fix'd,—
All, in old English, is the intensive or enforcing particle.
I.ii.8 (13,2) Before the sun rose, he was harness'd light] [Warburton stated that "harnessed light" meant Hector was to fight on foot] How does it appear that Hector was to fight on foot rather to-day than on any other day? It is to be remembered, that the ancient heroes never fought on horseback; nor does their manner of fighting in chariots seem to require less activity than on foot.
I.ii.23 (14,4) his valour is crushed into folly] To be crushed into folly, is to be confused and mingled with folly, so as that they make one mass together.
I.ii.46 (15,6) Ilium] Was the palace of Troy.
I.ii.120 (17,7) compass-window] The compass-window is the same as the bow-window. (1773)
I.ii.212 (20,2)
Cre. Will he give you the nod?
Pan. You shall see.
Cre. If he do, the rich shall have more]
[W: rich] I wonder why the commentator should think any emendation necessary, since his own sense is fully expressed by the present reading. Hanmer appears not to have understood the passage. That to give the nod signifies to set a mark of folly, I do not know; the allusion is to the word noddy, which, as now, did, in our author's time, and long before, signify, a silly fellow, and may, by its etymology, signify likewise full of nods. Cressid means, that a noddy shall have more nods. Of such remarks as these is a comment to consist?
I.ii.260 (22,3) money to boot] So the folio. The old quarto, with more force, Give an eye to boot. (rev. 1778, IX, 25, 1)
I.ii.285 (22,4) upon my wit to defend my wiles] So read both the copies) yet perhaps the author wrote,
Upon my wit to defend my will.
The terms wit and will were, in the language of that time, put often in opposition.
I.ii.300 (23,5) At your own house; there he unarms him] [These necessary words added from the quarto edition. POPE.] The words added are only, there he unarms him.
I.ii.313 (23,6) joy's soul lies in the doing] So read both the old editions, for which the later editions have poorly given,
—the soul's joy lies in doing.
I.ii.316 (23,7) That she] Means, that woman.
I.iii.31 (25,2) With due observance of thy godlike seat] [T: godlike seat] This emendation [for goodly seat] Theobald might have found in the quarto, which has,
—the godlike seat.
I.iii.32 (25,3) Nestor shall apply/Thy latest words] Nestor applies the words to another instance.
I.iii.54 (26,7) Returns to chiding fortune] For returns, Hanmer reads replies, unnecessarily, the sense being the same. The folio and quarto have retires, corruptly.
I.iii.62 (27,8)
both your speeches; which are such,
As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
Should hold up high in brass; and such again,
As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,
Should with a bond of air (strong as the axle-tree
On which heaven rides) knit all the Greekish ears
To his experienc'd tongue]
Ulysses begins his oration with praising those who had spoken before him, and marks the characteristick excellencies of their different eloquence, strength, and sweetness, which he expresses by the different metals on which he recommends them to be engraven for the instruction of posterity. The speech of Agamemnon is such that it ought to be engraven in brass, and the tablet held up by him on the one side, and Greece on the other, to shew the union of their opinion. And Nestor ought to be exhibited in silver, uniting all his audience in one mind by his soft and gentle elocution. Brass is the common emblem of strength, and silver of gentleness. We call a soft voice a silver voice, and a persuasive tongue a silver tongue.—I once read for hand, the band of Greece, but I think the text right.—To hatch is a term of art for a particular method of engraving. Hatcher, to cut, Fr.
I.iii.78 (28,1) The specialty of rule] The particular rights of supreme authority.
I.iii.81 (29,2) When that the general is not like the hive] The meaning is, When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each particular resorts with whatever be has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage? The sense is clear, the expression is confused.
I.iii.101 (30,5) Oh, when degree is shak'd] I would read,
—So when degree is shak'd. (see 1765, VII, 431, 5)
I.iii.103 (30,6) The enterprize] Perhaps we should read,
Then enterprize is sick!—
I.iii.104 (30,7) brotherhoods in cities] Corporations, companies, confraternities.
I.iii.128 (31,8) That by a pace goes backward] That goes backward step by step.
I.iii.128 (31,9) with a purpose/It hath to climb] With a design in each man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior.
I.iii.134 (31,1) bloodless emulation] An emulation not vigorous and active, but malignant and sluggish.
I.iii.152 (31,2) Thy topless deputation] Topless is that has nothing topping or overtopping it; supreme; sovereign.
I.iii.167 (32,3) as near as the extremest ends/Of parallels] The parallels to which the allusion seems to be made are the parallels on a map. As like as East to West.
I.iii.179 (32,4)
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals of grace exact,
Atchievements, plots]
The meaning is this, All our good grace exact, means of excellence irreprehensible.
I.iii.184 (32,5) to make paradoxes] Paradoxes may have a meaning, but it is not clear and distinct. I wish the copies had given,
—to make parodies.
I.iii.188 (33,6) bears his head/In such a rein] That is, holds up his head as haughtily. We still say of a girl, she bridles.
I.iii.196 (33,7) How rank soever rounded in with danger] A rank weed is a high weed. The modern editions silently read,
How hard soever—
I.iii.202 (33,8) and know by measure/Of their observant toil the enemies' weight] I think it were better to read,
—and know the measure,
By their observant toil, of th' enemies' weight.
I.iii.220 (34,1) Achilles' arm] So the copies. Perhaps the author wrote,
—Alcides' arm.
I.iii.262 (35,4) long continu'd truce] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very act it is said, that Ajax coped Hector yesterday in the battle.
I.iii.270 (36,7) (With truant vows to her own lips he loves)] That is, confession made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves.
I.iii.319 (37,1) nursery] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery.
I.iii.341 (38,4) scantling] That is, a measure, proportion. The carpenter cuts his wood to a certain scantling.
I.iii.343 (38,5) small pricks] Small points compared with the volumes.
II.i (40,1) The Grecian camp. Enter Ajax and Thorsites] ACT II.] This play is not divided into acts in any of the original editions.
II.i.13 (41,2) The plague of Greece] Alluding perhaps to the plague sent by Apollo on the Grecian army.
II.i.15 (41,3) Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak] [T: unwinnow'dst] [W: windyest] Hanmer preserves whinid'st, the reading of the folio; but does not explain it, nor do I understand it. If the folio be followed, I read, vinew'd, that is mouldy leven. Thou composition of mustiness and sourness.—Theobald's assertion, however confident, is false. Unsalted leaven is in the old quarto. It means sour without salt, malignity without wit. Shakespeare wrote first unsalted; but recollecting that want of salt was no fault in leaven, changed it to vinew'd.
II.i.38 (42,5) aye that thou bark'st at him] I read, O that thou bark'dst at him.
II.i.42 (42,6) pun thee into shivers] Pun is in the midland counties the vulgar and colloquial word for pound. (1773)
II.i.125 (45,1) when Achilles' brach bids me] The folio and quarto read, Achilles' brooch. Brooch is an appendant ornament. The meaning may be, equivalent to one of Achilles' hangers on.
II.ii.29 (47,2) The past-proportion of his infinite?] Thus read both the copies. The meaning is, that greatness, to which no measure bears any proportion. The modern editors silently give,
The vast proportion—
II.ii.58 (48,4) And the will dotes that is inclinable] [Old edition, not so well, has it, attributive. POPE.] By the old edition Mr. Pope means the old quarto. The folio has, as it stands, inclinable.—I think the first reading better; the will dotes that attributes or gives the qualities which it affects; that first causes excellence, and then admires it.
II.ii.60 (48,5) Without some image of the affected merit] The present reading is right. The will affects an object for some supposed merit, which Hector says, is uncensurable, unless the merit so affected be really there.
II.ii.71 (48,7) unrespective sieve] That is, into a common voider. Sieve is in the quarto. The folio reads,
—unrespective fame;
for which the modern editions have silently printed,
—unrespective place.
II.ii.88 (49,9)
why do you now
The issue of your proper wisdoms rate;
And do a deed that fortune never did,
Beggar that estimation which you priz'd
Richer than sea and land?]
If I understand this passage, the meaning is, "Why do you, by censuring the determination of your own wisdoms, degrade Helen, whom fortune has not yet deprived of her value, or against whom, as the wife of Paris, fortune has not in this war so declared, as to make us value her less?" This is very harsh, and much strained.
II.ii.122 (50,2) her brain-sick raptures/Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel] Corrupt; change to a worse state.
II.ii.179 (52,3) benummed wills] That is, inflexible, inmoveable, no longer obedient to superior direction.
II.ii.180 (52,4) There is a law in each well-ordered nation] What the law does in every nation between individuals, justice ought to do between nations.
II.ii.188 (52,5) Hector's opinion/Is this in way of truth] Though considering truth and justice in this question, this is my opinion; yet as a question of honour, I think on it as you.
II.ii.196 (53,6) the performance of our heaving spleens] The execution of spite and resentment.
II.ii.212 (53,7) emulation] That is, envy, factious contention.
II.iii.18 (54,8) without drawing the massy iron and cutting the web] That is, without drawing their swords to cut the web. They use no means but those of violence.
II.iii.55 (55,1) decline the whole question] Deduce the question from the first case to the last.
II.iii.108 (57,6) but it was a strong composure, a fool could disunite] So reads the quarto very properly; but the folio, which the moderns have followed, has, it was a strong COUNSEL.
II.iii.118 (57,7) noble state] Person of high dignity; spoken of Agamemnon.
II.iii.137 (58,8) under-write] To subscribe, in Shakespeare, is to obey.
II.iii.215 (60,2) pheese his pride] To pheese is to comb or curry.
II.iii.217 (60,3) Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel] Not for the value of all for which we are fighting.
II.iii.267 (62,6)
Ajax. Shall I call you father?
Nest. Ay, my good son]
In the folio and in the nodern editions Ajax desires to give the title of father to Ulysses; in the quarto, more naturally, to Nestor.
III.i.35 (64,1) love's invisible soul] love's visible soul.] So HANMER. The other editions have invisible, which perhaps may be right, and may mean the soul of love invisible every where else.
III.i.83 (65,3) And, my lord, he desires you] Here I think the speech of Pandarus should begin, and the rest of it should be added to that of Helen, but I have followed the copies.
III.i.96 (65,4) with my disposer Cressida] [W: dispouser] I do not understand the word disposer, nor know what to substitute in its place. There is no variation in the copies.
III.i.132 (67,6) Yet that which seems the wound to kill] To kill the wound is no very intelligible expression, nor is the measure preserved. We might read,
These lovers cry,
Oh! oh! they die!
But that which seems to kill,
Doth turn, &c.
So dying love lives still.
Yet as the wound to kill may mean the wound that seems mortal, I alter nothing.
III.ii.25 (69,1) tun'd too sharp in sweetness]—and too sharp in sweetness,] So the folio and all modern editions; but the quarto more accurately,
—tun'd too sharp in sweetness.
III.ii.99 (71,4) our head shall go bare, 'till merit crown it] I cannot forbear to observe, that the quarto reads thus: Our head shall go bare, 'till merit lower part no affection, in reversion, &c. Had there been no other copy, hov could this have been corrected? The true reading is in the folio.
III.ii.102 (72,5) his addition shall be humble] We will give him no high or pompous titles.
III.ii.162 (74,6)
but you are wise,
Or else you love not; to be wise and love,
Exceeds man's might]
I read,
—but we're not wise,
Or else we love not; to be wise and love,
Exceeds man's might;—
Cressida, in return to the praise given by Troilus to her wisdom, replies, "That lovers are never wise; that it is beyond the power of man to bring love and wisdom to an union."
III.ii.173 (74,8) Might be affronted with the match] I wish "my integrity might be met and matched with such equality and force of pure unmingled love."
III.ii.184 (75,2) As true as steel, as plantage to the moon] Plantage is not, I believe, a general term, but the herb which we now call plantain, in Latin, plantago, which was, I suppose, imagined to be under the peculiar influence of the moon.
III.ii.187 (76,3)
Yet after all comparisons of truth,
As truth's authentic author to be cited
As true as Troilus, shall crown up the verse]
Troilus shall crown the verse, as a man to be cited as the authentic author of truth; as one whose protestations were true to a proverb.
III.iii.1-16 (77,5) Now, princes, for the service I have done you] I am afraid, that after all the learned commentator's [Warburton's] efforts to clear the argument of Calchas, it will still appear liable to objection; nor do I discover more to be urged in his defence, than that though his skill in divination determined him to leave Troy, jet that he joined himself to Agamemnon and his army by unconstrained good-will; and though he came as a fugitive escaping from destruction, yet his services after his reception, being voluntary and important, deserved reward. This argument is not regularly and distinctly deduced, but this is, I think, the best explication that it will yet admit.
III.iii.4 (78,6) through the sight I bear in things, to Jove] This passage in all the modern editions is silently depraved, and printed thus:
—through the sight I bear in things to come.
The word is so printed that nothing but the sense can determine whether it be love or Jove. I believe that the editors read it as love, and therefore made the alteration to obtain some meaning.
III.iii.28 (79,7)
he shall buy my daughter; and her presence
Shall quite strike off all service I have done,
In most accepted pain]
Sir T. HANMER, and Dr. WARBURTON after him, read,
In most accepted pay.
They do not seem to understand the construction of the passage. Her presence, says Calchas, shall strike off, or recompence the service I have done, even in these labours which were most accepted.
III.iii.44 (80,8) derision med'cinable] All the modern editions have decision. The old copies are apparently right. The folio in this place agrees with the quarto, so that the corruption was at first merely accidental.
III.iii.96 (82,9) how dearly ever parted] I do not think that in the word parted is included any idea of division; it means, however excellently endowed, with however dear or precious parts enriched or adorned.
III.iii.113 (82,2) but the author's drift:/Who, in his circumstance] In the detail or circumduction of his argument.
III.iii.125 (83,3) The unknovn Ajax] Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or use.
III.iii.134 (83,4)
How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall,
While others play the idiots in her eyes!]
To creep is to keep out of sight from whatever motive. Some men keep out of notice in the hall of Fortune, while others, though they but play the idiot, are always in her eye, in the way of distinction.
III.iii.137 (83,5) feasting] Folio. The quarto has fasting. Either word may bear a good sense.
III.iii.145 (84,6) Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back] This speech is printed in all the modern editions with such deviations from the old copy, as exceed the lawful power of an editor.
III.iii.171 (85,2) for beauty, wit,/High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service] The modern editors read,
For beauty, wit, high birth, desert in service, &c.
I do not deny but the changes produce a more easy lapse of numbers, but they do not exhibit the work of Shakespeare, (see 1765, VII, 435, 2)
III.iii.178 (85,3)
And shew to dust, that is a little gilt,
More laud than gilt o'er-dusted]
[T: give to … laud than they will give to gold] This emendation has been received by the succeeding editors, but recedes too far from the copy. There is no other corruption than such as Shakespeare's incorrectness often resembles. He has omitted the article to in the second line: he should have written,
More laud than to gilt o'er-dusted. (1773) (rev. 1778, IX, 93, 7)
III.iii.189 (86,4) Made emulous missions] The meaning of mission seems to be dispatches of the gods from heaven about mortal business, such as often happened at the siege of Troy.
III.iii.197 (86,5) Knows almost every grain of Pluto's gold] For this elegant line the quarto has only,
Knows almost every thing.
III.iii.201 (86,7) (with which relation/Durst never meddle)] There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever able to discover.
III.iii.230 (87,9)
Omission to do what is necessary
Seals a commission to a blank of danger]
By neglecting our duty we commission or enable that danger of dishonour, which could not reach us before, to lay hold upon us.
III.iii.254 (88,1) with a politic regard] With a sly look.
IV.i.11 (91,1) During all question of the gentle truce] I once thought to read,
During all quiet of the gentle truce.
But I think question means intercourse, interchange of conversation.
IV.i.36 (92,4) His purpose meets you] I bring you his meaning and his orders.
IV.i.65 (93,6)
Both merits pois'd, each weighs no less nor more,
But he as he, the heavier for a whore]
I read,
But he as he, each heavier for a whore.
Heavy is taken both for weighty, and for sad or miserable. The quarto reads,
But he as he, the heavier for a whore.
I know not whether the thought is not that of a wager. It must then be read thus:
But he as he. Which heavier for a whore?
That is, for a whore staked down, which is the heavier.
IV.i.78 (94,7) We'll not commend what we intend to sell] I believe the meaning is only this: though you practise the buyer's art, we will not practise the seller's. We intend to sell Helen dear, yet will not commend her.
IV.ii.62 (96,4) My matter is so rash] My business is so hasty and so abrupt.
IV.ii.74 (97,6) the secrets of neighbour Pandar] [Pope had emended the Folio's "secrets of nature" to the present reading] Mr. Pope's reading is in the old quarto. So great is the necessity of collation.
IV.iv.3 (99,1) The grief] The folio reads,
The grief is fine, full perfect, that I taste,
And no less in a sense as strong
As that which causeth it.—
The quarto otherwise,
The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste,
And violenteth in a sense as strong
As that which causeth it.—
Violenteth is a word with which I am not acquainted, yet perhaps it may be right. The reading of the text is without authority.
IV.iv.65 (101,3) For I will throw my glove to death] That is, I will challenge death himself in defence of thy fidelity.
IV.iv.105 (103,5)
While others fish, with craft, for great opinion,
I, with great truth, catch mere simplicity.]
The meaning, I think, is, while others, by their art, gain high estimation, I, by honesty, obtain a plain simple approbation.
IV.iv.109 (103,6) the moral of my wit/Is, plain and true] That is, the governing principle of my understanding; but I rather think we should read,
—the motto of my wit
Is, plain and true,—
IV.iv.114 (103,7) possess thee what she is] I will make thee fully understand. This sense of the word possess is frequent in our author.
IV.iv.134 (104,9) I'll answer to my list] This, I think, is right, though both the old copies read lust.
IV.v.8 (105,1) bias cheek] Swelling out like the bias of a bowl.
IV.v.37 (106,3) I'll make my match to live./The kiss you take is better than you give] I will make such bargains as I may live by, such as may bring me profit, therefore will not take a worse kiss than I give.
IV.v.48 (107,4) Why, beg then] For the sake of rhime we should read,
Why beg two.
If you think kisses worth begging, beg more than one.
IV.v.52 (107,5) Never's my day, and then a kiss of you] I once gave both these lines to Cressida. She bids Ulysses beg a kiss; he asks that he may have it,
When Helen is a maid again—
She tells him that then he shall have it:
When Helen is a maid again—
Cre. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due;
Never's my day, and then a kiss for you.
But I rather think that Ulysses means to slight her, and that the present reading is right.
IV.v.57 (107,6) motive of her body] Motive for part that contributes to motion.
IV.v.59 (107,7) a coasting] An amorous address; courtship.
IV.v.62 (107,8) sluttish spoils of opportunity] Corrupt wenches, of whose chastity every opportunity may make a prey.
IV.v.73 (108,9) Aga. 'Tis done like Hector, but securely done] [Theobald gave the speech to Achilles] As the old copies agree, I have made no change.
