Folk-lore of Shakespeare (American ed. 1884); Gervinus's Shakespeare Commentaries (Bunnett's translation, 1875); Wordsworth's Shakespeare's Knowledge of the Bible (3d ed. 1880); Elson's Shakespeare in Music (1901).

Some of the above books will be useful to all readers who are interested in special subjects or in general criticism of Shakespeare. Among those which are better suited to the needs of ordinary readers and students, the following may be mentioned: Mabie's William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist, and Man (1900); Dowden's Shakspere Primer (1877; small but invaluable); Rolfe's Shakespeare the Boy (1896; not a mere juvenile book, but treating of the home and school life, the games and sports, the manners, customs, and folk-lore of the poet's time); Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome (for young students who may need information on mythological allusions not explained in the notes).

H. Snowden Ward's Shakespeare's Town and Times (2d ed. 1902) and John Leyland's Shakespeare Country (2d ed. 1903) are copiously illustrated books (yet inexpensive) which may be particularly commended for school libraries.

ABBREVIATIONS IN THE NOTES. - The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's plays will be readily understood; as T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriolanus, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to Venus and Adonis; L. C.

The Passionate Pilgrim; V. and A. to

to Lover's Complaint; and Sonn. to the Sonnets.

Other abbreviations that hardly need explanation are Cf. (confer, compare), Fol. (following), Id. (idem, the same), and Prol. (prologue). The numbers of the lines in the references (except for the present play) are those of the "Globe" edition (the cheapest and best edition of Shakespeare in one compact volume), which is now generally accepted as the standard for line-numbers in works of reference (Schmidt's Lexicon, Abbott's Grammar, Dowden's Primer, the publications of the New Shakspere Society, etc.).

ACT I

DRAMATIS PERSONE.-The following list is given in the folio at

SCENE I.—5. Put to know.

Compelled to acknowledge. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. iii. I. 43: "had I first put to speak my mind ;" and Cymb. ii. 3. 110: "You put me to forget a lady's manners."

6. Lists. Bounds, limits. Cf. Oth. iv. 1. 76: "Confine yourself within a patient list ;" and see also Ham. iv. 5. 99, Hen. V. v. 2. 295, etc.

7, 8. No more remains But that, etc. A passage which has perplexed the commentators.

The folio reads:

"Then no more remaines

But that, to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,

And let them worke: "

Theobald conjectured that something had been lost, and attempted to supply it thus:

and Tyrwhitt conjectured:

But that to your suficiency you put

A zeal as willing as your worth is able."

Sundry other ways of filling the supposed gap have been proposed, but these will serve as samples. Others have assumed that the

=

passage is not defective but corrupt, and have tried to emend it by reading "But that to your sufficiencies your worth is abled;" "But your sufficiency as worth is able; " "But thereto your sufficiency," etc.; "But add to your sufficiency your worth, And let," etc. The pointing in the text is due to White, who takes that to be the demonstrative referring to science, and remains to be is wanting. The meaning then is: "then, as your worth is able [that is, your high character rendering you competent], no more is wanting to complete your capacity for the fulfilment of your trust but that [that is, that knowledge of government of which I have just spoken]; and let them [that is, that knowledge and your worth] work together." If that does not refer to science, it may refer, as Verplanck suggests, "to the commission, which the Duke must have in his hand, or before him," as is evident from 13 just below. Staunton explains that in the same way, and would read:

But that [tendering his commission] to your sufficiency,
And, as your worth is able, let them work."

Clarke finds the antecedent of that in strength = "the governing power embodied in the commission he gives him." Any one of these interpretations of the original text is to be preferred to any of the proposed emendations, except perhaps Tyrwhitt's, which is plausible in thought but not like S. in expression.

10. Terms. "The technical language of the courts. An old book called Les Termes de la ley (written in Henry the Eighth's time) was in Shakespeare's days, and is now, the accidence of young students in the law" (Blackstone).

II. Pregnant. Ready. Cf. T. and C. iv. 4. 90: "most prompt and pregnant." See also Lear, ii. 1. 78, Ham. iii. 2. 66, etc.

14. Warp. Deviate. It is used in a somewhat similar figurative way (change from a straight or proper course) in A. Y. L. iii. 3.90. See also iii. 1. 141 below.

16. What figure of us, etc. How do you think he will represent or personate us?

17. With special soul. This expression has troubled some of the critics, and "roll" and "seal" have been suggested in its place. Of course it is = with special preference, soul being used as heart often

is. Steevens compares Temp. iii. 1. 44:—

"for several virtues

Have I lik'd several women, never any

With so full soul," etc.

20. Deputation. Deputyship, vicegerency. Cf. 1 Hen. IV. iv. 1. 32, iv. 3. 87, etc.

27. Character. In its original sense of writing; as in i. 2. 155 and v. I. II below. Johnson asks, "What is there peculiar in this, that a man's life informs the observer of his history?" and conjectures "look" for life. Mason thought that character and history should be transposed. Of course, no change is called for, the meaning being simply: in the record of your outward life we read your whole history.

29. Belongings. Endowments; used by S. only here.

30. So proper. So personally or peculiarly. Cf. T. of A. i. 2. 106: "What better or properer can we call our own than the riches of our friends?" See also v. I. 110 below.

31. They on thee. Hanmer "corrected" they to "them," and has been followed by many editors; but such slips in pronouns are common in S. Cf. iii. 1. 215 below.

33. For if our virtues, etc. Theobald quotes Horace's

"Paulum sepultae distat inertiae
Celata virtus."

36. To fine issues.

"For high purposes" (Johnson).

38. She determines, etc. "She requires and allots to herself the same advantages that creditors usually enjoy, thanks for the endowments she has bestowed, and extraordinary exertions in those whom she hath thus favoured, by way of interest for what she has lent" (Malone). For use = interest, cf. Much Ado, ii. 1. 288: "He lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it," etc.

40. But I do bend my speech, etc. "I direct my speech to one who is able to teach me how to govern" (Warburton). My part in him my office delegated to him. For advertise = instruct, cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 178:

=

"Wherein he might the king his lord advertise

Whether our daughter were legitimate," etc.

The accent in S. is regularly on the penult. See also v. I. 383 below.

42. Hold, therefore, Angelo. If nothing has been lost here, we must accept Steevens's explanation that this is what the duke says on tendering his commission to him. Hold is often used in this interjectional way both alone and in connection with another verb; as in M. W. i. 3. 88: "Hold, bear you these letters; " Id. i. 4. 166: "Hold, there's money for thee," etc. So also reflexively; as in A. W. iv. 5. 46: "Hold thee, there 's my purse;" J. C. v. 3. 85: "Hold thee, take this garland on thy brow," etc. Johnson explains it: "That is, continue to be Angelo; hold as thou art." Tyrwhitt thinks that "the duke may be understood to speak of himself: Let me therefore hold, or stop," as if checking himself in a needless exhortation.

44. Mortality and mercy, etc. "That is, I delegate to thy tongue the power of pronouncing sentence of death, and to thy heart the privilege of exercising mercy.' These are words of great import, and ought to be made clear, as on them depends the chief incident of the play" (Douce).

46. First in question. "First called for, first appointed"