obtained from Apollo the promise that she should live as many years as there were grains of sand in ber hand. 121 I pray God grant] Q; I wish F. In 1605 an Act of Parliament imposed a fine of ten pounds for each offense upon any person who should 'in any Stage-play,... jestingly or profanely speak or use the holy Name of God, or of Jesus Christ, or of the Holy Ghost, or of the Trinity.' Hence, the Folio omits nearly everything in the nature of an oath. 134 This line is omitted in the Folio, perhaps rightly. iii. 1 ducats, large coins, bearing the stamp of an 20 the Rialto, the Venetian Exchange. 46 usance, interest. The lending of money on in- 80 eanlings, young lambs. pied, spotted. 85 pil'd, peeled; spelled 'pilled' in the source of these lines, Genesis XXX, 38. me, the so-called 'ethical dative,' which merely suggests a certain degree of interest on the speaker's part. 86 kind, nature. 89 Fall, let fall. 106 beholding, indebted. 113 gaberdine, a long coarse cloak. Instead of be- 141 doit, a very small Dutch coin. Eight doits made 143 This . . . offer. As often, a relative pronoun is omitted: "This, which I offer, is kind.' 162 suspect, to suspect. 167 A six-foot line. i. 14 nice, capricious. 17 scanted, restricted. 18 wit, wisdom. ACT II 25 Sophy, the ruler of Persia. The term 'Shah' did the Persians in 1535. cules, innocently presents his master with the pois- hero into the Euboean Sea. ii. 11 Via] Rowe; fia Q F. 29 incarnation. Launcelot blunderingly thinks of the word as a prepositional phrase, in carnation'; he means, of course, 'incarnate.' The Roberts Quarto reads incarnall. 47 God's sonties, perhaps mimicking the Scotch pronunciation of 'God's saints' (saunties). 100 fill-horse, corruption of 'thill-horse,' draft-horse. 115 me. See note on I. iii. 85. 167 table, the palm of the hand; a term in palmistry. iv. 5 spoke us yet of, yet bespoken. F, changes 'us' 41 Hyrcanian deserts, a large district south of the Caspian Sea, known to the Elizabethans as the home of tigers. 42 throughfares, the logical spelling of 'thoroughfares,' 'through' being generally employed as preposition and thorough' as adjective. They are really the same word. 56 coin... angel. This gold coin was so called 57 insculp'd upon, engraved on the outside.. 32 Hercules and Lichas are characters in the ninth viii. 10 certified, assured. 102 Hard food for Midas. The embarrassing consequences of the boon granted by Bacchus, that all which Midas touched should turn to gold, are related in Ovid, Metamorphoses, Bk. XI. John Lyly's play of Midas, published in 1592, dramatized the situation. 106 paleness. A great many editors follow Warburton in altering this word to plainness. 127 unfurnish'd, unaccompanied by the other features, which the blind painter would be unable to depict. 131 continent, containing vessel. 150 me, Lord] Q; my Lord F. 160 nothing] F; something Q. 163 happier than this. The Second Folio substitutes happier than in this and a great many emendations have been suggested, but the original is probably correct. The pause after learn' fills out the line. Portia means 'happier than this (is the fact that) iv. 2 conceit, conception, understanding. 25 husbandry and manage, care and management. 49 Padua] Theobald; Mantua Q F. In IV. i. Bellario is three times said to live in Padua, the great seat of legal learning in northern Italy. 52 imagin'd speed, the speed of imagination. 53 tranect, a word of unknown origin. Rowe substituted traject, which he assumed to be the English form of traghetto, the contemporary Venetian name of a ferry. 72 I could not do withal, I could not help it. 84 twenty miles. Whether this represents the distance from Belmont to Venice or the total distance covered on the journey and return is disputed. K. Elze points out (Essays on Shakespeare, p. 279) that the fashionable residential district of Dolo on the Brenta river is exactly twenty miles from Venice and within a short distance of Padua. On evidence of this kind it is assumed that Shakespeare had visited Italy. v. 3 fear you, fear for you. 57 cover, cover the table, lay the cloth. Wher Lorenzo repeats the word in the next line, Launcelot pretends to think he means 'cover the head, put on his hat,' which, in the presence of a superior, would be against his 'duty.' 74 tricksy, sportive, full of tricks. 75 How cheer'st thou, what cheer. The Roberts Quarto changes 'cheer'st' into the commonplace 'far'st.' 82, 83 it Is reason, it is right; the Folio reading. The original (Heyes) Quarto misprints in for Is, which the later (Roberts) Quarto retained, altering the preceding word it into then in the effort to make sense. L 20 remorse, pity. ACT IV 24 loose. Whether the modern 'lose' or loose' is meant can hardly be determined; both will make sense here, and in Shakespeare's time both were commonly spelled as in the text. 26 moiety, a portion; properly a half, but not always so used by Shakespeare. See note on 1 Henry IV III. i. 96. 35 possess'd, informed. See I. iii. 65. 43 is it answer'd? is it not sufficient answer to say that it is merely my humor? 46 ban'd, poisoned, as with rats-bane. 51 Mistress] Thirlby; Masters Q F. 56 of force, necessarily. 72 main, ocean. 73, 74 This is a very corrupt passage. Line 73 is given as in the Folio; different copies of the first (Heyes) Quarto differ among themselves, some omitting entirely the first words, Or even as, while other copies, followed by the later (Roberts) Quarto, substitute You may as. In line 74 some copies of the Heyes Quarto, followed by the Folio, omit the first words, Why he hath made, which other copies of the Heyes Quarto, followed by the Roberts Quarto, insert. 128 inexecrable, one who cannot be execrated in proportion to his deserts. 142 cureless, incurable. The folios read endless. 162 to let him lack, such as may cause him to lack. 180 danger, power. 251 more elder. Double comparatives and superlatives, like double negatives, are in Shakespeare's language regular means of emphasis. 255 balance, scales; thought of as a plural. 268 use, habit. For still see note on I. i. 17. 275 speak me fair, speak favorably of me. 278 not] F; but Q. 328 substance, amount. This word is to be taken with line 330: 'in the amount of one poor scruple, or even in the division of the twentieth part of one.' 331 estimation, value, weight. 368 the difference of our spirit, our difference in disposition. 399 ten more; i. e., to make up a jury. 412 cope, match, offer as an equivalent or reward. ii. 15 old, great; a common Shakespearean meaning. ACT V L 4-6 Troilus... Cressid. These lines are a reministence of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseide, bk. V. 666, etc.: 'Upon the walles faste ek wolde he walke, Or elles yonder ther (where) the tentes be! And thennes (thence) com'th this eir (air) is so swote (sweet), That in my soule I fele it doth me bote!" 'Before the Moon should circle-wise close both her horns in one, Three nights were yet as then to come. As soon as that she shone Most full of light, and did behold the earth with fulsome face, Medea with her hair not trussed so much as in a lace, But flaring on her shoulders twain, and barefoot, with her gown Ungirdled, gate (got) her out of doors and wandering up and down, Alone the dead time of the night. Both man and beast and bird Were fast asleep, the serpents fly in trailing forward stirred So softly as ye would have thought they still asleep had been. The moisting air was whist (still), no leaf ye could have moving seen. The stars alonely fair and bright did in the welkin shine, To which she lifting up her hands did thrice herself encline: And thrice with water of the brook her hair besprinkled she: And gasping thrice she oped her mouth, and bowing down her knee Unto the bare hard ground, she said: O trusty time of night, Most faithful unto privities (secrets), O golden stars whose light Doth jointly with the Moon succeed the beams that blaze by day, And thou three-headed Hecate, who knowest best the way To compass this our great attempt and act our chie fest stay: Ye Charms and Witchcrafts, and thou Earth which both with herb and weed Of mighty working furnishest the wizards at their need: Ye Airs and Winds, ye Elves of Hills, of Brooks, of Woods alone, Of standing Lakes, and of the Night, approach ye everychone (every one), Through help of whom, the crooked banks much wondering at the thing, I have compelled streams to run clean backward to their spring. By charms I make the calm seas rough, and make the rough seas plain, And cover all the sky with clouds and chase them thence againe; By charms I raise and lay the winds, and burst the viper's jaw, And from the bowels of the earth both stones and trees do draw; Whole woods and forests I remove; I make the mountain shake, And even the earth itself to groan and fearfully to quake. I call up dead men from their graves, and thee, O lightsome Moon, I darken oft, though beaten brass abate thy peril soon. Our sorcery dimmes the morning fair, and darks the sun at noon.' 42 Master] Roberts Q; & Master Heyes Q F; and Mrs. F3. 49 expect, await. 59 pattens, patines, thin plates of metal. Furness explains it as alluding to the bits of moonlit cloud, rather than to the stars. Fa reads patterns, which may be right. 62 quiring, singing in unison. 79 the poet, Ovid, who relates the legends, Metamorphoses bk. X, XI. 99 without respect, irrespectively of circumstances. 121 S. D. tucket, a trumpet call. 127, 128 If you would walk about at night, we should have day when the Antipodes have it (i. e., from sunset to sunrise). 132 sort, dispose. 141 breathing courtesy, courtesy of mere breath or words. 148 posy, the same word as poesy, and so spelled in F. 156 respective, careful. The lasting hold which Golding's dashing version of Ovid had over Shakespeare's imagination is in- 157 no, God's my judge] Q; but well I know F. dicated by the fact that, while the first part of the See note on I. ii. 121. passage quoted suggested the lines in the text of 162 scrubbed, stunted, scrubby. The Merchant of Venice, the last fifteen verses 201 contain, retain. many lears later inspired one of the most eloquent 249 wealth, welfare. speeches in Shakespeare's valedictory play, The 288 road, harbor. Tempest (See Tempest V. i. 33-50 and the note on 306 fear, feel anxiety about; a common meaning. that passage). RICHARD II SOURCES—The good and ill fortunes of Richard | the announcement of the sentence, but some time the Second fill some of the best pages of Raphael later. Richard was already in Northumberland's Holinshed's Chronicles of England. The first edition hands when Bolingbroke arrived at Flint Castle (III. of this famous book had appeared in 1578; Shake- iii.). The rivals entered London on successive days, speare evidently used the second edition of 1586-7, not on the same day. Finally, the proceedings in as is shown by his use of a note in that issue, which Parliament (Act IV.) occupied three sessions which tells of the bay-trees withering, a portent related by are here telescoped into one. Modern stage versions the Welsh Captain in the play (II. iv. 8). The fidel- of Shakespeare's play have justified these condensaity with which the historian's account is followed by tions. To-day, one scene is made of I. i. and I. iii.; the dramatist is remarkable; in this play, perhaps and the Parliament scene is confined to the abdication. more than in any other of the chronicle plays, history To Shakespeare's intuition alone must be ascribed is really dramatized. The scenes which supplement the picture of Richard as a weak Italianate prince, the unrelieved narrative of Holinshed are chiefly epi- despising English fashions and men. Still more cersodes in which women may appear, notably the Duch- tainly his are the deft touches by which Bolingbroke ess of Gloucester (I. ii.), the Duchess of York (V. ii. becomes, though losing none of his own individuality, and iii.), and Queen Isabel (II. ii., III. iv. and V. i.); the instrument of English greatness to come; his while the character-studies of Gaunt and Boling- somewhat theatrical claims to being "a gentleman," broke, both of whom are shown in distinctly favor- "a true-born Englishman"; and most of all John of able lights, were provided to enhance the dramatic Gaunt's speech of prophecy. This last, theatrically appeal to patriotic feeling. For several alterations one of the most effective pieces of fine-writing in all Shakespeare seems to have found hints in Samuel Daniel's historical poem, The Civil Wars between the Tiro Houses of Lancaster and York, entered in the Stationers' Register in October, 1594, and published (in four of the seven books) in 1595. From this work Shakespeare appears, as Knight suggested, to have got the conception of introducing the Queen as a young bride (in reality she was a child of eight), and of placing upon the stage the affecting interview between her and Richard. Bolingbroke's subtle campaign for popularity; his entry in triumph into London, bringing in his train the disgraced Richard; and King Richard's soliloquy just before his murder are other points in which Shakespeare's play and Daniel's poem agree, and other accounts differ from them. The hints, if taken from Daniel, were, however, only of the barest kind; and here as elsewhere we see the skill with which all knowledge becomes tributary to genius. the plays, was early recognized as a masterpiece; it was extracted and printed separately in 1600, in Allot's England's Parnassus, and has since become the favorite patriotic declamation of English schoolboys. Thus the essentially selfish and crafty natures of both men are rhetorically colored, to make Lancaster appear a worthy means of Heaven's wrath upon Richard. In one slight detail, the story of Mowbray's life as a Crusader, Shakespeare must have studied Stowe's Annals, or some similar source; for Holinshed mentions only his death at Venice. The dramatist no doubt desired this incident as a suggestion of Bolingbroke's proposal of like atonement for a like complicity in murder (V. vi. 49). To appreciate the dramatic feeling which was thus transforming history one must put single scenes side by side for comparison. The brief episode before Flint Castle (III. iii.), for instance, might be profitably studied with the following extract from Holinshed on which it is based: The events portrayed in the drama cover only the last two years of Richard's reign. Thus few changes were needed in order to meet the demands of dra- "The king, accompanied with the bishop of Carmatic time. Richard's remission of four years' exile lisle, the earl of Salisbury, and Sir Stephen Scroop, to Bolingbroke did not take place immediately upon knight, (who bore the sword before him,) and a few |