p. 469. inconsequential though it is, has been generally adopted. Biondello tells his master to expect (using the word loosely for consider') that the old people are busied about a counterfeit assurance,' and to take himself assurance of his mistress, &c., &c. Malone read, "I cannot tell; expect; [i. e., wait;] they are busied," &c. SCENE V. "[What] company is coming here?' "What' is not in the folio. It was inserted by Steevens, on Ritson's suggestion; and seems to be required by the sense, to say nothing of the rhythm. The correction is sustained by the corresponding passage in the old play : — But soft, who's this thats comming here?" "Good-morrow, gentle mistress The following lines, from the corresponding passage of the old play, are a favorable specimen of that performance, and will give the reader an opportunity to compare the styles of the original and the imitation, in those passages in which they are most unlike : "Duke. Thus al alone from Cestus am I come, And left my princely court and noble traine, To come to Athens, and in this disguise, To see what course my son Aurelius takes. [FERANDO speaks to the old man. Faire lovely maide, yong and affable, Where glistering Cepherus in silver boures, Sweet Kate entertaine this lovely woman. Duke. I thinke the man is mad; he cals me a woman. Bewteous and stately as the eie-train'd bird, As glorious as the morning washt with dew, Within whose eies she takes her dawning beames, And golden sommer sleepes upon thy cheekes, Wrapt up thy radiations in some cloud, Lest that thy bewty make this stately towne With sweet reflections of thy lovely face. Duke. What, is she mad too? or is my shape trans formed, p. 470. That both of them persuade me I am a woman; [Exit DUKE. Fernando. Why, so, Kate, this was friendly done of thee, And kindly too: why thus must we too live, One minde, one heart, and one content for both; This good old man dos thinke that we are mad, But come, sweet Kate, for we will after him, - or where is thy abode? -The folio has "or whether ; an error which arose from the supposition, that the word in the text was whe'r - a contraction of whether' which often occurs in the literature of Shakespeare's day. p. 472. p. 473. ACT FIFTH. SCENE I. The "Thou liest; his father is come from Pisa" :original has "from Padua," a manifest error, which was strangely left to be corrected by Tyrwhitt. The folio also omits is' in the latter clause of the Pedant's reply, which still more strangely has not been restored until now. thy master's father":-The folio has "thy mistris father," owing probably to a misapprehension of the common contraction, M. in the MS. and a copatain hat”: It is not surely known what a “copatain hat" was; but it is supposed to have had a high conical crown. Mr. Halliwell quotes Kennet as saying, that "in his time a hat with a high crown was called a copped crown hat." "Why, sir, what concerns it you": The original has "what cerns," which Mr. Knight retains as an intentional abbreviation of concerns.' It is merely not impossible that this may be the case. In the Stay, officer, he shall not go to prison": old play the characters of the Induction the Presenters - here break in upon the performance in this fashion : p. 472. "Duke. Peace villaine, lay hands on them, And send them to prison straight. [PHYLOTUS and VALERIA runne away Then SLIE speakes. Slie. I say weele have no sending to prison. Lord. My Lord this is but the play, they're but in jest. To prison thats flat: why Sim, am I not Don Christo Vari? Lord. No more they shal not my Lord, They be runne away. Slie. Are they run away Sim? thats wel. Then gis some more drinke, and let them play againe. [SLIE drinkes and then fals asleepe." SCENE II. A p. 477. "My banquet is to close our stomachs up," &c.: banquet of old meant, not a feast, but a slight repast of sweetmeats, confections, and wine, something like our dessert, served after the "great good cheer," but in another room. Sometimes it was served by itself, no dinner or supper having preceded it. At a solemn banquet,' i. e., a formal one, set speeches were made; and if any one doubts that our ancestors could almost equal their posterity in the unutterable borement of these performances, let him read the Fourth Book of Guazzo's Civile Conversation, "in the which is set downe the fourme of Ciuile Conversation, by the example of a Banquet made in Cassale, betweene sixe Lords and foure Ladies." The word was pronounced banket, and in the passage which is the occasion of this note, is so printed. p. 478. fears his widow": - In this and the two following speeches fear' is used in both its transitive and intransitive sense, the former of which has long been obsolete. "Have at you for a better jest" :- Many editors, following Capell, unwarrantably and needlessly, though plausibly, read, "a bitter jest." p. 479. "I thank thee for that gird":—i. e., for that gibe. So Falstaff says, "all men take pride to gird at me. Henry IV. Part II., Act I. Sc. 2. p. 479. p. 481. p. 482. p. 484. : and it is barely possible that this reading may have been intended. and therefore, for assurance : - The folio misprints "fir assurance.” "Now by my halidom See Note on the same oath. Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Sc. 2. "Hath cost me an hundred crowns has "five hundred," corrected. -The folio a manifest error, which Pope "And, for thy maintenance, commits," &c. : In the original this passage appears thus, "One that cares for thee, And for thy maintenance. Commits his body," &c., and it has hitherto been punctuated in this or a similar manner. But an examination of the context can hardly fail to convince the intelligent reader, that the author intended Katharine to say that the husband commits his body to painful labor for the maintenance of his wife. thou hast tam'd a curst shrew - Some editors spell this word here 'shrow,' because it rhymes with 'so' in the next line. But there is no warrant for the change. 'Shrew' was pronounced shrow in Shakespeare's day, and sometimes even so written. The pronunciation still survives in 'strew,' in 'sew,' and in 'shew,' although the latter is now generally spelled show. In the last lines of Act IV. Sc. 2, 'shrew' and 'shew,' both of course to be pronounced to rhyme with 'so,' are spelled by some editors shrow and show; and certainly if one be so spelled, so must the other. But there is no propriety in the latter case, and if none in that, none in the former. The pronunciation of the present time is not to be considered, unless we wish to do something more than regulate the orthography of these works, and have a Shakespeare according to Noah Webster. But even then the question must needs arise, Shall we conform to the Webster of the first edition, of the second, or of the third; or shall we not wait a little while and conform to that which is about to appear with all the recent improvements ? "Exeunt": — Here in the old play Sly finishes as he began the performance, and in the same condition of life, at least, if not of faculty: [Then enter two bearing of SLIE in his owne apparrell againe, and leaves him where they found him, and then goes out: then enters the Tapster. Tapster. Now that the darkesome night is overpast, And dawning day appeares in cristall skie, Now must I haste abroade: but soft, who's this? Slie. Sim, gives some more wine, what all the Players gone? am not I a Lord? Tapster. A Lord with a murrin: come art thou drunken still? Slie. Who's this? Tapster, O Lord sirha, I have had the bravest dreame to night, that ever thou heardest in all thy life. Tapster. Yea mary, but you had best get you home, For your wife will course you for dreaming heere to-night. Slie. Wil she? I know now how to tame a shrew, I dreamt upon it all this night till now, And thou hast wakt me out of the best dreame That ever I had in my life: but Ile to my wife presently, And tame her too if she anger me. Tapster. Nay tarry Slie, for Ile goe home with thee, And heare the rest that thou hast dreamt to night. [Exeunt omnes.' END OF VOL. IV. |