Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
"The way to dusty death.”

is changed to

"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to study death."

In King Richard II. Bolingbroke fays,

"And I must find that title in your tongue," &c.

i. e. you must addrefs me by that title. But this not being understood, town is in the fecond folio fubftituted for tongue.

The double comparative is common in the plays of Shakspeare. Yet, instead of

[ocr errors][merged small]

"More worthier than their voices."

Coriolanus, A& III. fc. i. First Folio.

we have in the fecond copy,

[ocr errors]

"More worthy than their voices."

So, in Othello, Act I. fc. v.-" opinion, a fovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer voice on you," is changed in the fecond folio, toopinion, &c. throws a more fafe voice on you." Again, in Hamlet, Act III. fc. ii. inftead of→ your wifdom fhould fhow itself more richer, to fignify this to the doctor;" we find in the copy of 1632, your wifdom fhould fhow itself more

[ocr errors]

rich," &c.

In The Winter's Tale, the word vaft not being understood,

they shook hands as over a vast." First Folio.

we find in the fecond copy, "-as over a vaft fea."

In King John, Act V. fc. v. firft folio, are these lines:

The English lords

"By his perfuafion are again fallen off."

The editor of the fecond folio, thinking, I fuppose, that as these lords had not before deferted the French king, it was improper to say that they had again fallen off, fubftituted "are at last fallen off;" not perceiving that the meaning is, that these lords had gone back again to their own countrymen, whom they had before deserted.

In King Henry VIII. A& II. fc. ii. Norfolk, fpeaking of Wolfey, fays, "I'll venture one have at him." This being misunderstood, is changed in the fecond copy to-" I'll venture one heave at him."

Julius Cæfar likewife furnishes various fpecimens of his ignorance of Shakspeare's language. The phrafe, to bear hard, not being understood, instead of

"Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæfar hard." First Folio.

we find in the fecond copy,

"Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæfar hatred.”

and from the fame caufe the words dank, bleft, and hurtled, are difmiffed from the text, and more familiar words fubftituted in their room.'

I

"To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours
"Of the dank morning." First Folio.
"Of the dark morning." Second Folio.
"We are bleft that Rome is rid of him."
"We are glad that Rome is rid of him."
"The noise of battle hurtled in the air."
"The noise of battle hurried in the air."

First Folio. Second Folio.

Firft Folio.

Second Folio.

In like manner in the third Act of Coriolanus, fc. ii. the ancient verb to owe, i. e. to poffefs, is discarded by this editor, and own fubftituted in its place.

In Antony and Cleopatra, we find in the original copy thefe lines:

[ocr errors]

I fay again, thy fpirit

"Is all afraid to govern thee near him,
"But he alway, 'tis noble."

Inftead of restoring the true word away, which was thus corruptly exhibited, the editor of the fecond folio, without any regard to the context, altered another part of the line, and abfurdly printed— "But he alway is noble.”

In the fame play, Act I. fc. iii. Cleopatra fays to Charmian-" Quick and return;" for which the editor of the fecond folio, not knowing that quick was either used adverbially, or elliptically for Be quick, fubftitutes-" Quickly, and return.'

In Timon of Athens, are thefe lines :

"And that unaptnefs made your minifter
"Thus to excufe yourself."

i. e. and made that unaptness your minifter to excuse yourself; or, in other words, availed yourself of that unaptnefs as an excufe for your own conduct. The words being inverted and put out of their natural order, the editor of the fecond folio supposed that unaptnefs, being placed first, must be the nominative cafe, and therefore reads

"And that unaptnefs made you minifter,
"Thus to excufe yourself."

In that play, from the fame ignorance, inftead of Timon's exhortation to the thieves, to kill as

well' as rob." Take wealth and lives together," we find in the fecond copy, "Take wealth, and live together." And with equal ignorance and licentioufnefs this editor altered the epitaph on Timon, to render it what he thought metrical, by leaving out various words. In the original edition it appears as it does in Plutarch, and therefore we may be certain that the variations in the fecond copy were here, as in other places, all arbitrary and capricious.

Again, in the fame play, we have-

and

"I defil'd land."

"O, my good lord, the world is but a word," &c.

The editor not understanding either of these paffages, and fuppofing that I in the firft of them was ufed as a perfonal pronoun, (whereas it ftands according to the usage of that time for the affirmative particle, ay,) reads in the first line,

"I defy land;"

and exhibits the other line thus:

"O, my good lord, the world is but a world," &c.

Our author and the contemporary writers generally write wars, not war, &c. The editor of the fecond folio being unapprifed of this, reads in "Cæfar Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. fc. v: having made ufe of him in the war against Pompey,"-inftead of wars, the reading of the original

copy.

The feventh scene of the fourth act of this play VOL. I.

G g

concludes with thefe words: " Defpatch.-Enobarbus!" Antony, who is the speaker, defires his attendant Eros to defpatch, and then pronounces the name Enobarbus, who had recently deferted him, and whofe lofs he here laments. But there being no perfon on the fcene but Eros, and the point being inadvertently omitted after the word dispatch, the editor of the fecond folio fuppofed that Enobarbus muft have been an error of the prefs, and therefore reads:

[ocr errors][merged small]

In Troilus and Crefsida, Creffida fays,

Things won are done; joy's foul lies in the doing." i. e. the foul of joy lies, &c. So, "love's vifible foul," and " my foul of counfel;" expreffions likewife ufed by Shakspeare. Here also the editor of the fecond folio exhibits equal ignorance of his author; for instead of this eminently beautiful expreffion, he has given us

[ocr errors]

Things won are done; the foul's joy lies in doing."

In King Richard III. Ratcliff, addreffing the lords at Pomfret, fays,

"Make hafte, the hour of death is expiate."

for which the editor of the fecond folio, alike ignorant of the poet's language and metre, has fubftituted,

"Make hafte, the hour of death is now expir'd."

So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"The earth hath fwallow'd all my hopes but she."

« ÎnapoiContinuă »