seems to mean only, that they who are to come at this gold of the empress are to suffer by it. 12 JOHNSON. -swarth Cimmerian-] Swarth is black. The Moor is called Cimmerian, from the affinity of blackness to darkness. 13 A precious ring-] 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. JOHNSON. 14 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. 15 -two ancient urns,] Urns was first supplied by the Oxford Editor. It had before been corrupted to two ancient ruins. 16 Give me a sword, I'll chop off my hands too;] Perhaps we should read, or chop off, &c. It is not easy to discover how Titus, when he had chopp'd off one of his hands, would have been able to have chopp'd off the other. STEEVENS. 17 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. 18 Writing destruction on the enemy's castle?] Thus all the editions. But Mr. Theobald, after ridiculing the sagacity of the former editors at the expence of a great deal of aukward mirth, corrects it to casque; and this, he says, he'll stand by: and the Oxford editor, taking his security, will stand by it too. But what a slippery ground is critical confidence! Nothing could bid fairer for a right conjecture; yet 'tis all , imaginary. A close helmet, which covered the whole head, was called a custle, and, I suppose, for that very reason. Don Quixote's barber, at least as good a critic as these editors, says, (in Shelton's translation, 1612,) I know what is a helmet, and what a morrion, and what a close castle, and other things touching warfare, lib. iv. cap. 18. And the original, celeda de encaxe, has something of the same signification. Shakspeare uses the word again in Troilus and Cressida; and Diomede Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton's proof (says Mr. Heath) rests wholly on two mistakes, one of a printer, the other of his own. In Shelton's Don Quixote the word close castle is an error of the press for a close casque, which is the exact interpretation of the Spanish original, celada de encaxe. His other proof is taken from this passage in Troilus and Cressida, -and Diomede Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head. wherein Troilus doth not advise Diomede to wear a helmet on his head, for that would be poor indeed, as he always wore one in battle; but to guard his head with the most impenetrable armour, to shut it up even in a castle, if it were possible, or else his sword should reach it. STEEVENS. If the authority of Grose may be depended on, Dr. Warburton is right, in this passage, and the author of the Revisal wrong. At page 12 of his Treatise of ancient Armour, castle is said to signify a close helmet. 19 Scene II.] 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. JOHNSON. 20 still practice-] Still here means constant, continual. 21 lamenting doings:] Lamenting doings is a very idle expression, and conveys no idea, I read The alteration which I have made, though it is but the addition of a single letter, is a great increase to the sense; and though, indeed, there is somewhat of a tautology in the epithet and substantive annexed to it, yet that's no new thing with our author. 22 THEOBALD. the woful feere,] The old copies do not only assist us to find the true reading by conjecture. I will give an instance, from the first folio, of a reading (incontestibly the true one) which has escaped the laborious researches of the many most diligent critics, who have favoured the world with editions of Shakspeare. In Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Scene 1. Marcus says, My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel; And father of that chaste dishonour'd dame, Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape. What meaning has hitherto been annexed to the word peer, in this passage, I know not. The reading of the first folio is, feere, which signifies a companion, and here metaphorically a husband. The proceeding of Brutus, which is alluded to, is described at length in our author's Rape of Lucrece, as putting an end to the lamentations of Collatinus and Lucretius, the husband and father of Lucretia. TYRWHITT. 25 Revenge the heavens-] We should read, Revenge thee, heavens ! It should be, Revenge, ye Heavens! WARBURTON, Ye was by the transcriber taken for y', the. JOHNSON. 2+ I'll broach the tadpole-] A broach is a spit. I'll spit the tadpole. 25 Go pack with him-] Pack here seems to have the meaning of make a bargain. Or it may mean, as in the phrase of modern gamesters, to act collusively. And mighty dukes pack knaves for half a crown. POPE. 26 Enter NUNTIUS EMILIUS.] Thus the old books have described this character. In the author's manuscript, I presume, it was writ, Enter Nuntius; and they observing, that he is immediately called Æmilius, thought proper to give him his whole title, and so clapped in Enter Nuntius Æmilius.-Mr. Pope has very critically followed them; and ought, methinks, to have given his new-adopted citizen Nuntius a place in the Dramatis Personæ. THEOBALD. 27 honey-stalks to sheep:] Honey-stalks are clover-flowers, which contain a sweet juice. It is common for cattle to overcharge themselves with clover, and die. 23 —a ruinous monastery.] Shakspeare has so perpetually offended against chronology in all his plays, that no very conclusive argument can be deduced from the particular absurdity of these anachronisms, relative to the authenticity of Titus Andronicus. And yet the ruined monastery, the popish tricks, &c. that Aaron talks of, and the French salutation from the mouth of Titus, are altogether so very much out of place, that I cannot persuade myself even our hasty poet could have been guilty of their insertion, or have permitted them to remain, had he corrected the performance for another. STEEVENS. 29 Get me a ladder, &c.] All the printed editions have given this whole verse to Aaron. But why should the Moor here ask for a ladder, who earnestly wanted to have his child saved? THEOBALD. 30 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. JOHNSON. |