261

P. 418.

STEVE

HAMLET.

ACT I. SCENE I.

TEEVENS conjectured that instead of "'tis now struck twelve" we should read "'tis new struck twelve," and the correctors adopt his reading; this is another coincidence.

P. 419. The adoption of the reading of the quartos, lawless for "landless," and morn instead of " day," may have been derived from any of the editions that notice these variations; the adoption was, of course, a matter of taste in the correctors.

SCENE II.

Ib. The substitution of night-like for "nighted" in the line,Good Hamlet cast thy nighted colour off—

is certainly no improvement, but as the folios have nightly, it may have suggested it.

SCENE III.

P. 420. I cannot think with Mr. Collier that " bechill'd to jelly with the act of fear," is a superior reading to that of the quartos, distilled; but it is of course a mere matter of " taste," only the reading of the quartos is undoubted, and therefore to be preferred to any conjecture.

Ib. The substitution of choice for "chief" in the lines of the advice of Polonius to his son,—

And they in France, of the best rank and station,
Are of a most select and generous chief in that—

is adopted from the suggestion of Steevens; but he himself reads,

Are most select and generous, chief in that—

which is, I think, to be preferred.

P. 421. Theobald's correction of "Sanctified and pious

bawds," instead of the misprint bonds has never for a moment been doubted; and the correctors adopt it of course. The change of" slander" to squander, in the passage of Polonius's advice to Ophelia, is quite uncalled for, and most assuredly

erroneous:

I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment's leisure,

As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet.

It is doubtful if Shakespeare would have used squander here, indeed it is rarely used at all by him; but we have in Cymbeline a similar figurative use of slander. Cloten says of Imogen,

But

Disdaining me, and throwing favours on

The low Posthumus, slanders so her judgment, &c.

We must therefore adhere to the authentic old text, and reject the innovation of the correctors.

The interpolation of so now in the line at the end, is of course unwarranted intrusion on the text.

SCENE V.

P. 422. The adoption of Heath's reading "confined to lasting fires," instead of "fast in fires," is the expression of a preference for that reading, but nothing more except that it is another coincidence.

Ib. "Regarding the subsequent lines, as invariably printed, an advantageous proposal is made in the corrected folio, 1632:

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand,

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd.

"Dispatch'd' cannot be right, and why should Shakespeare employ a wrong word when another, that is unobjectionable, at once presented itself, viz.

Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despoil'd?

"Misreading was, most likely, the cause of this blunder; the

earliest quarto, 1603, has depriv'd for dispatch'd,' of the other quartos and folios; but we may feel confident that the poet's misprinted word was despoil'd. It is written upon an erasure, and possibly the old corrector first inserted depriv'd, and afterwards saw reason to change it to despoil'd, as the true language of the poet."

This is another unnecessary interference with the old authentic reading, and there is not much probability that dispatch'd could have been misprinted for despoil'd. The reading of the quartos deprived is however perhaps to be preferred as being of more undoubted authority. There is not the slightest reason to "feel confident that the poet's word was despoil'd."

ACT II. SCENE II.

P. 423. The correction of the misprint news for fruit, the reading of the quartos, having been made in all editions, has consequently been adopted from one of them; it is mere assumption that the correctors had all the quartos at their command, unless we are to suppose they lived in our times, which is most probably the case.

Ib. The same remark applies to the correction of "mean" to read, which, however, was obvious without recourse to any copy.

Ib. Pope's correction of salt for "sallets" is properly adopted from him or one of the successive editors.

P. 424. The interference with the text in altering "passion" to passionate in the lines,—

Would have made milch the burning eye of heaven,

And passion in the gods

is entirely supererogatory. To have made "passion in the gods" would have been to move them to compassion. So in Titus Andronicus, Act iii. Scene 2:

Alas! the tender boy, in passion mov'd,

Doth weep to see his grandsire's heaviness.

Ib. To substitute transgression for "oppression" is not to improve the language of the poet. We should probably read,—

To make aggression bitter—

aggression might easily be mistaken for oppression. Aggression is defined in the old dictionaries "a setting upon, or entrance into an assault."

ACT III. SCENE I.

Ib. To change "beck" for back would be an undoubtedly injurious change. The very context "than I have thoughts to put them in" indicates that "more offences at my beck" must bear the construction Steevens gives to it "always ready to come about me."

P. 425. Theobald had long since proposed to read "so you must take your husbands," and the correctors probably followed his suggestion or the mention of it; but there is no valid reason for departing from the reading of all the old copies, "so you mistake your husbands," i. e. you do amiss for yourselves to take husbands for the worse.

Ib. The correctors show a remarkable sympathy with Mr. Collier's suggestion to read "raised shoes" instead of "rac'd" or "raz'd." Steevens had the merit of first proposing this reading, which is most probably the true one.

SCENE III.

P. 426. As Mr. Collier, on more mature consideration, abandons the meddling substitution of purse for "prize" in the passage of the king's soliloquy :

Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,

And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law.

what becomes of the "authority" of the correctors here?

SCENE IV.

Ib. The correctors with their usual tact at coincidence, have

followed even Mr. Hunter's reading of "I'll sconce me e'en here," instead of "I'll silence me e'en here ;" Mr. Collier himself reads silence, and did not even dream of its requiring explanation. In the exposition of sconce he follows Mr. Hunter.

P. 427. I must confess that I cannot see the advantage that stoop would have over the old reading "step" in the following passage in Hamlet's remonstrance with his mother :

And waits upon the judgment; and what judgment
Would step from this to this.

and why should the old text, which is most likely the language of the poet, be considered " feeble and inexpressive?"

Ib. The determination to improve upon the language of the poet is so evident at every step, that we are not surprised to find a change proposed where the reading is undoubted and the alteration a detriment; such is the substitution of fume for "time," in the following passage of Hamlet's address to the Ghost::-

Do you not come your tardy son to chide,
That, laps'd in time and passion, lets go by
The important acting of your dread command?

Mr. Collier himself is obliged to confess that "the old reading may be right," and interference with it therefore impertinent.

ACT IV. SCENE III.

P. 427. To do Mr. Collier justice I must here give the whole of the argument.

"The emendation next to be noticed is well worthy of consideration, and perhaps of adoption. The King asks Hamlet where Polonius is at supper, and the answer is this in the quartos:

Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet, &c.