I. i. 87, 88.

Critical Notes.

BY ISRAEL GOLLANCZ.

'These great tears grace his remembrance more
Than those I shed for him;'

i.e. "the big and copious tears she then shed herself, which were caused in reality by Bertram's departure, though attributed by Lafeu and the Countess to the loss of her father; and from this misapprehension of theirs graced his remembrance more than she actually shed for him."

I. i. 156. 'ten year Hanmer, ten years two.

ten,' Cambridge edition, based on ten'; first Folio, 'ten yeare

I. i. 169-173. These lines are struck out by some editors; the Cambridge editors rightly call them 'a blot on the play'; they were probably “an interpolation, ‘to tickle the ears of the groundlings.' The opening words of the speech which follows are obscure, and the enumeration of 'the loves' looks like 'the nonsense of some foolish conceited player.' Hanmer's conjectural reading has been inserted in the text between brackets. There is no stop after yet in the Folios.

I. ii. 47. 'praise he humbled'; Staunton conjectures, 'praise be humbled'; Williams, 'praise the humbler.'

I. ii. 55. 'He scattereth not in ears, but grafted them'; cp. the Collect in the Liturgy: ‘Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words which we have heard this day with our outward ears may through thy grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth the fruit of good living,' etc.

I. ii. 57. this,' so the Folio; Pope read 'Thus,' possibly the right word here.

I. iii. 25. service is no heritage'; the idea seems to be that, ‘if service is no blessing, children are'; Psalm cxxvii. 3 has been appropriately cited in connection with this expresson:-" Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord."

I. iii. 55. Young Charbon the puritan and old Poysam the papist; 'Charbon' possibly for 'Chair-bonne,' and 'Poysam' for 'Poisson,' alluding to the respective lenten fares of the Puritan and Papist (cp. the old French proverb, 'Jeune chair et viel poisson' young flesh and old fish are the best).

queen of virgins'; Theobald inserted 'Dian

I. iii. 168. 'I care no more for than I do for heaven'; Capell, 'I'd care no more for 't, etc.

I. iii. 175. 'loneliness'; Theobald's correction of Folios, loueliness!'

II. i. 1, 2. lords' . . . 'lords'; probably the young noblemen are divided into two sections according as they intend to take service with the 'Florentines' or the 'Senoys' (cp. Note vi. Cambridge edition).

II. i. 12-15. 'let higher Italy,-Those bated,' etc.; the passage is probably corrupt. Higher Italy' has been variously interpreted to mean (1) Upper Italy; (2) the side of Italy next to the Adriatic (but both Florence and Sienna are on the other side); (3) Italy higher in rank and dignity than France; (4) the noblest of Italy, the worthiest among Italians. Johnson paraphrased as follows:-'Let upper Italy, where you are to exercise your valour, see that you come to gain honour, to the abatement, that is, to the disgrace and depression of those that have now lost their ancient military fame, and inherit but the fall of the last monarchy.' Schmidt proposed 'high' for 'higher'; Coleridge hired'; Hammer 'bastards' for 'bated. Knight took 'bated' to mean 'excepted,' Schmidt

'beaten down.'

II. i. 32-3. No sword worn but one to dance with '; alluding to the light swords worn for dancing. (Cp. the accompanying drawing.)

II. i. 64. 'I'll fee'; Theobald's emendation. Folios, 'Ile see!'

II. i. 80-1. To give great Charlemain a pen in's hand'; Charlemagne attempted late in life to learn to write.

II. i. 147. 'fits'; Folios 'shifts,' probably due to misreading of ffits, found in the margin of the Ellesmere First Folio, independently suggested by Theobald.

From an ornament on a pistol of Shakespeare's time, in the Meyrick collection.

II. i. 176.

'ne worse of worst extended,

With vilest torture let my life be ended';

So Folio 1; the other folios read 'no' for 'ne.' Malone's 'nay’ for 'ne' commends itself, though his explanation of 'extended' as 'my body being extended on the rack' seems weak: it is probably used here simply in the sense of 'meted out to me,' or merely used for the purpose of emphasizing 'worse of worst.' A mass of conjectural emendations are recorded in the Cambridge edition of the play.

II. ii. 23. 'Tib's rush for Tom's forefinger'; 'Tib and Tom' were used like 'Jack and Jill'; Tib was a cant term for any low or vulgar woman. 'Rush rings' (see Glossary) were sometimes used at marriage ceremonies, especially where the marriages were somewhat doubtful (cp. Douce's Illustrations, p. 196).

II. iii. 1-41. Johnson changed the distribution of the speakers, so as to bring out 'the whole merriment of the scene,' which, according to him, 'consists in the pretensions of Parolles to knowledge and sentiments which he has not.' Johnson has been generally followed by modern editors. The Folio arrangement has been kept in the Cambridge text.

II. iii. 23. a showing of a heavenly effect in an earthly actor'; the title of some pamphlet is evidently ridiculed in these words. II. iii. 76. ‘Imperial Love'; Folio 1, 'imperiall loue'; Folio 2, 'imperiall Iove'; Folio 3, 'impartiall Jove.'

66

II. iii. 80. 'ames-ace,' i.e. two aces; the lowest throw at dice; one would expect it, from the context, to mean just the contrary, but Lafeu is probably making 'a comparison by contraries,'—' an ironical comparison,' used with humorous effect. One lauding a sweet-songed prima donna," aptly observed Brinsley Nicholson, says, I'd rather hear her than walk a hundred miles with peas in my boots."

66

II. iii. 298. 'detested,' Rowe's emendation; Folios, 'detected.' II. v. 28. 'end'; the Folios have 'And'; the correction, from the Ellesmere copy of the First Folio, has been generally adopted. II. v. 49. 'Have or will to deserve'; Malone proposed 'have qualities or will, etc.; Singer, 'wit or will'; the later Folios omitto,' and read have, or will deserve'; the reading in the text is that of Folio I.

III. i. 12, 13.

'That the great figure of a council frames
By self-unable motion';