though even this is awkward." W. N. Lettsom says:

"Read,

You throw a strange regard on me; by that
I do,' etc.

'And' is wretchedly flat here; it probably crept in from the line above. Pope and others have on me, by which,' etc."

246-248.

to a captain in this town,

Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help
I was preserved to serve this noble count.

The folio reading. Dyce reads “captain's,” “maid's,” and "preferr'd," - the first change being from the Collier Ms., the others from Theobald.

273. A most extracting frenzy. So the first folio. The second folio alters "extracting" to "exacting." Hanmer substitutes "distracting." Malone defends the old reading by citing from The Historie of Hamblet, “to try if men of great account be extract out of their wits;" and Steevens, by quoting from William de Wyrcester, "ita quod extractus a mente videbatur." W. N. Lettsom remarks: "Grant White says that in Shakespeare's time ,6 'extracting was used in the sense of distracting.' If so, how does it happen that nobody has produced a second instance of it? Why did Malone and Steevens attempt to defend the old text by two quotations that are nothing to the purpose? I infer that they had nothing better to produce. At any rate, it is impossible that Shakespeare could have written 'extracting' in the sense of 'distracting' in this line, when he had written distract' in the line above. He would either have placed 'distracting' here, or employed a word in no manner connected with 'distract,' or referring to it. Perhaps extracting' is a

6

mere printer's blunder for enchanting.' In iii. 1. 109 we have After the last enchantment you did here.'

305. the alliance on't, so please you.

Dyce reads "on's.”

The folio reading.

336. then. Rann and Dyce read "thou."

349. We had conceived against him. The folio reading. Rann and Dyce read "in him.”

356. poor fool. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "poor soul;" a reading now adopted by Collier, in the very face of the following passages of Shakespeare, which demonstrate that "poor fool" was neither more nor less than a sort of term of endearment :

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. 1. 282,

"Yea, my lord; I thank it [my heart], poor fool, it keeps on the windy side of care.”

As You Like It, ii. 1. 22,

"the poor dappled fools,” etc.

3 Henry VI. ii. 5. 36, –

"So many weeks ere the poor fools will yean," etc.

"The poor fool prays her that he may depart," etc.

358. thrown.

Is "thrown" (instead of "thrust ") an oversight of the author, or an error of the scribe or printer? To the preceding query Staunton has returned the following answer: "We believe it to be neither one nor the other, but a purposed variation common to Shakespeare in cases of repetition, possibly from his knowing, by professional experience, the difficulty of quoting with perfect accuracy.”

370. Of our dear souls. Meantime, sweet sister. Walker (Shakespeare's Versification, p. 209), after expressing his uncertainty whether or not "sister" be used as a trisyllable in this line, asks: "Can Shakespeare have written 'sister-in-law' by anticipation? It is well known that words sometimes drop out at the end of a line in the Folio. Yet this seems harsh." Very "harsh," surely. Hanmer printed "Of our dear souls. In the mean time, sweet sister."

375-394. The Song which the Clown here sings, and which Steevens calls "some buffoon actor's composition," is probably an old ditty slightly altered by Shakespeare. A stanza of a ballad with the same burden is sung by the Fool in King Lear, iii. 2. 74-77. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, i. 225) says: "The Fool's song, which forms the Epilogue to Twelfth-Night, is still sung on the stage to this tune [When that I was and a little tiny boy]. It has no other authority than theatrical tradition." It may not be amiss to notice that "and" (in line 375) is used redundantly, as it sometimes is in old ballads.

381. 'Gainst knaves and thieves. "Must evidently be 'Gainst knave and thief.' When I was a boy, my folly and mischievous actions were little regarded; but when I came to manbood, men shut their gates against

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me, as a knave and a thief." So says Farmer, who requires greater precision of language than is to be looked for in such a composition.

387. beds. The folio reading, like “heads” in line 389. Hanmer and Dyce read "bed” and “head."

GLOSSARY

ΤΟ

TWELFTH NIGHT

BEAGLE, a small dog; ii. 3. 168. ANATOMY, body (used contemp- BEFORE ME = by my soul; ii. 3.

AND, used redundantly, as in the BELIKE, I suppose; iii. 3. 29.