ACT II., SCENE 1.

P. 90. Look, when I serve him so, he takes it ill. So the second folio; the first, "he takes it thus"; a manifest error.

P. 90. Men, more divine, the masters of all these,

Lords of all the wide world, &c. Instead of Men, masters, and Lords, the original has Man, Master, and Lord; a reading which, I believe, no modern editor retains. The last line of the speech but one corrects the error.

P. 91. How if your husband start some other hare? So Johnson proposed to read. The original has " some otherwhere." See foot-note 2.

P. 94. I see the jewel best enamelled

Will lose his beauty; and though gold bides still

The triers' touch, yet often-touching will

Wear gold and so a man, that hath a name,

By falsehood and corruption doth it shame.—This passage is so crowded with errors in the original, that nothing will do but to quote the old reading literatim:

I see the Jewell best enameled

Will lose his beautie: yet the gold bides still
That others touch, and often touching will,
Where gold and no man that hath a name,
By falsehood and corruption doth it shame.

Much labour and ingenuity have been spent by divers editors in trying to bring some sort of order and sense out of this confusion and nonsense. I have combined the results of their several labours according to my best judgment. Probably there will never be a full agreement as to how the errors should be corrected. The change of "That others touch" to "The triers' touch" is Singer's. Heath proposed the reading, "and so a man."

ACT II., SCENE 2.

P. 95. Your sauciness will jet upon my love,

And make a common of my serious hours. - The original reads "will jest upon "; probably, as Dyce observes, from the occurrence of

jest a little before and a little after. The happy correction, for such I deem it, is Dyce's; who notes upon the passage thus: "The second line so obviously leads to the correction which I have now made, that I wonder how it escaped the commentators." See foot-notes 1 and 2.

P. 98. Nay, not sure, in a thing falling. - The old copies read "in a thing falsing." Falling was proposed by Heath, and is adopted by White, who shows conclusively, I think, that falsing has no coherence with the context; and asks, as he well may, "in what possible sense is the hair falsing?"

P. 98. The one, to save the money that he spends in trimming. — So Rowe and Dyce. The original has trying, which Pope changed to tiring. As Dromio is speaking of the hair, trimming is evidently more suitable.

P. 98. Namely, no time to recover hair lost by nature. So the second folio; the first, "namely in no time," &c.

P. 99. How comes it now, my husband, O, how comes it,

That thou art thus estrangèd from thyself? So Rowe and Collier's second folio. The original reads "That thou art then estranged."

P. 99. I am possess'd with an adulterate blot;

My blood is mingled with the grime of lust. -The old copies read "the crime of lust." The word blot, in the preceding line, makes, as Warburton remarks, strongly in favour of grime, which means stain or smut; and Dyce, who adopts grime, notes that "our early printers often confounded the letters c and g at the beginning of words.”

P. 99. I live unstain'd, thou undishonoured.—So Hanmer. The original has "I live distain'd," which gives just the opposite of the sense required. It seems needful to remark, here, that the form of the letter v was very often used for u in the Poet's time. Dyce notes that "the manuscript had vnstain'd, and the original compositor mistook the initial v for d." He adds, "The proneness of printers to blunder in words beginning with is very remarkable." And he quotes from various old plays, showing how daunt got misprinted for vaunt, times for vines, sin for vein, due for vice, bones for vaines, that is, veins, and oil for veil.

P. 101. To me she speaks; she means me for her theme. So Collier's second folio, followed by Singer; the old copies, "she moves me for her theme."

P. 101. Until I know this sure uncertainty,

I'll entertain the offer'd fallacy. —So Capell. The original has "the free'd fallacy," which is both nonsensical and unmetrical. Offer'd suits the context well, and implies an easier misprint than proffer'd, the reading of Collier's second folio. Mr. White prints "the forced fallacy," which seems to me a rather forced reading.

P. 101. We talk with none but goblins, elves, and sprites.—The original here reads "We talke with Goblins, Owles, and Sprights"; the second folio, "We talke with Goblins, Owles, and Elves Sprights." I do not well see what owls should have to do in such company. Theobald, seeing the unfitness of that word, printed "with goblins, ouphs, and elvish sprites." Lettsom, who seems to have thought the same of owls, proposed, "We talk with ghosts and goblins, elves and sprites." Finally, Dyce, to complete the verse, which clearly ought not to be left incomplete, inserted none but, in consequence of what Antipholus of Syracuse says in iii. 1, "There's none but witches do inhabit here.' Thus the reading in the text has grown into being.

P. 101. Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot! - Instead of drone, the original repeats Dromio. Corrected by Theobald.

ACT III., SCENE I.

P. 104. Thou wouldst have changed thy face for a name, or thy name for a face. So Collier's second folio and White. The old copies have "or thy name for an ass.”

P. 105. Do you hear, you minion? you'll let us in, I hope.- The editors are pretty generally agreed that a line following this, and threatening Luciana with a rope, has been lost. A rhyme for hope is evidently wanted, and rope is just the word for that; and in a later scene Dromio is sent to buy a rope for the purpose which would be thus signified.

-

P. 106. Your cake is warm within; you stand here in the cold. So Capell, with manifest propriety. The original reads "Your cake

here is warme within"; here having been repeated by mistake from the latter half of the line.

P. 108. Enter, from the House, LUCIANA and ANTIPHOLUS of Syracuse. Here modern editions generally begin a new scene, though there is, confessedly, no change of place. The same thing occurs elsewhere.

P. 108. Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous?-The original has buildings and ruinate. The first is against the reason of the passage, the second against the rhyme. As the whole speech is in alternate rhyme, ruinate has been rightly changed to ruinous, for an ending consonous with Antipholus in the second line before. The corrections are Theobald's.

P. 109. Alas, poor women! make us but believe.-The original has "make us not believe." Hardly worth notice.

P. 110. Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs,

And as a bed I'll take them, and there lie.-The first folio has bud instead of bed, which is the reading of the second, while both have thee instead of them. The latter correction, proposed by Edwards, is adopted by Singer and Dyce. Staunton reads, "And as a bride I'll take thee."

P. 110. Let Love be light, being drowned if she sink. The original transposes be and being, which makes the line unintelligible to me. The reading in the text was proposed by Dr. Badham in Cambridge Essays, 1856.

P. 111. Call thyself sister, sweet, for I aim thee. -The original reads "I am thee." Corrected by Capell. See foot-note 29.

P. 113. In her forehead; arm'd and reverted, making war against her hair. So all the editions that I have consulted, except White's, which changes reverted to revolted. I am apt to think the change is right; for I can see the sense and application of revolted in reference to France and her heir, though not in reference to the woman and her hair; while reverted is unintelligible to me in either regard. Perhaps inverted might give a sense that would fit both sides of the quibble. See foot-note 34.

P. 114. I think, if my breast had not been made of flint, and my heart of steel, &c.- The old copies have faith instead of flint, which is Hanmer's reading, and which Dyce considers "a highly probable alteration." The old reading has been explained as alluding to the popular belief that a strong faith was a protection against witchcraft. But that explanation seems rather far-fetched: besides, it does not help the discord between faith and steel.

ACT IV., SCENE I.

P. 117. You promised your presence and the chain.-So Dyce. The original has "I promised," &c. The correction was suggested by what the same person says a little further on, "Your breach of promise to the Porpentine."

P. 118. Either send the chain, or send by me some token. - So Heath and Collier's second folio; the old copies, "send me by some token."

P. 119. And then she bears away. So Capell. The original, "And then sir she bears away"; sir being palpably either a misprint or an interpolation.

Here the orig

P. 119. You sent me, sir, for a rope's-end as soon. — inal has the converse of that remarked in the preceding note: it omits sir, which was supplied by Steevens.

ACT IV., SCENE 2.

P. 120. Mightest thou perceive assuredly in his eye

The old

That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?· - So Heath. text has austerely instead of assuredly. Heath justly remarks that "the word austerly hath no meaning suited to this place."

P. 120. Look'd he or red or pale, or sad or merry. - So Walker and Collier's second folio; the original has merrily instead of merry. Merrily overfills the verse.

P. 122. A fiend, a fury, pitiless and rough.—So Theobald and Collier's second folio, followed by Singer and Dyce. Instead of fury, the old copies have Fairie; a palpable error.

P. 122. But he's in a suit of buff which 'rested him.— Instead of he's, the original has simply is, which is commonly retained on the ground that the Poet sometimes leaves the pronouns understood. But he seems specially needed here as the antecedent of which.