Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Come, Proteus; 'tis your penance but to hear
The story of your loves discovered:

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours;
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

171 loves discovered] love discovered

Pope. Loves discoverer Collier MS. Loves discovery Collier MS. (obliterated).

172, 173 That...happiness] Spoken by

the Duke, Williams conj.

170

[Exeunt.

172 That done, our...yours] Our day of marriage shall be yours no lesse Collier MS.

NOTES.

NOTE I.

DRAMATIS PERSONE. We have followed Steevens and the later editors in reading 'Proteus' for 'Protheus'; for though the latter form is invariably used in the Folios, and was, in all probability, what Shakespeare wrote, yet in choosing the name he doubtless meant to compare the fickle mind of the lover with the changeable form of the god. We have written 'Panthino,' not 'Panthion,' because the authority of the first Folio preponderates in favour of the former, in itself the more probable form of an Italian proper name. 'Panthion' occurs in F1, among the names of all the actors,' and in a stage direction at the beginning of Act II. Sc. 2, but never in the text. 'Panthino' is found twice in the text, and once in a stage direction at the beginning of Act 1. Sc. 3. The blunder 'Panthmo,' 1. 3. 76, which is the reading of F,, shows that the original MS. had 'Panthino,' not 'Panthion.'

I. 1. 28 sqq.

NOTE II.

Mr Sidney Walker (Criticisms on Shakespeare, 111. p. 9) says we ought 'perhaps' to read

'No,

I will not, for it boots not.'

Doubtless he meant also to re-arrange the following lines, and so get rid of the Alexandrine at 30; thus:

[blocks in formation]

In love, where scorn is bought with groans; coy looks
With heart-sore sighs; one fading moment's mirth,' &c.

VOL. I.

13

NOTE III.

1. 2. 53. The first Folio reads 'What 'foole is she,' doubtless to indicate an ellipsis of the indefinite article, which, for the sake of the metre, was to be slurred over in pronunciation. As we have not followed the Folio in reading th' or th for the before a consonant, so we have. thought it best to insert here the omitted letter a, especially as the use of the apostrophe is by modern custom much more restricted than it was in the Folio. For example, we find 'Save for God save (Tempest, II. 1. 162), and at 'nostrils for at 's nostrils or at the nostrils (Id. 11. 2. 60).

[In the first edition the editors printed 'What a fool is she'; but the omission of the article in such cases is not without example. See Twelfth Night, 11. 5. 104.]

NOTE IV.

II. 1. 68, 69. This passage is corrupt. The usual explanation, which satisfies Delius, is inadmissible, because Valentine would certainly not appear, like the Knight of La Mancha, without his hose. A rhyming couplet was probably what the author intended. Many conjectures might be made, as for example:

'For he, being in love, could not see to garter his hose;

And you, being in love, cannot see to beyond your nose.'

Or, 'to put spectacles on your nose.' Or possibly, 'to put on your shoes,' the point of which remark Valentine's disordered dress might make clear to the audience. Rosalind, when enumerating the marks of a man in love, mentions the untied shoe as well as the ungartered hose, As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 2. The same misprint, 'hose' for 'shoes,' occurs in the first edition of Greene's Groatsworth of Wit. See Mr Dyce's preface to his edition of Greene's Dramatic Works, p. xxviii. Keightley suggested 'clothes.' Mr Daniel conjectures 'to button your shoes.'

NOTE V.

II. 4. 7, 95, 111. As Speed after line 7 does not say a word during the whole of this long scene, we have sent him off the stage. It is not likely that the clown would be kept on as a mute bystander, especially when he had to appear in the following scene.

The Folios give line 110 to Thurio, who, if the reading be right, must have quitted the stage during the scene. The most probable time for this

would be on Proteus' entrance, line 95. Mr Dyce however argues that "Thurio, after what the Duke, in the presence of Silvia, had said to him about welcoming Proteus, would hardly run off the moment Proteus appeared.' [He adds another reason that in line 113 the words 'I wait upon his pleasure' are not addressed to Thurio but to the Servant.] But Thurio is not held up as a model of courtesy, and he might as well be off the stage as on it, for any welcome he gives to Proteus. Besides, in line 101 Valentine ignores Thurio altogether, who, if he had been present, would not have remained silent under the slight.

On the whole, we think that the arrangement we have given is the best, as involving no change in the original reading. The question however is a difficult and doubtful one-indeed, far more difficult and doubtful than it is important, or instructive.

[In the present edition I have restored Theobald's arrangement in lines 111-113. W. A. W.]

NOTE VI.

II. 4. 192. Theobald's correction, 'mine eye,' or as Mr Spedding suggests, 'my eye' ('my eie' in the original spelling), is supported by a passage in the Comedy of Errors, III. 2. 55:

It is a fault that springeth from your eye.'

If this were not satisfactory, another guess might be hazarded :

'Is it mine unstaid mind or Valentine's praise.'

The resemblance of 'mine' and 'mind' in the printer's eye (final d and final e being perpetually mistaken for each other) might cause the omission of the two words. Valentine' is found as a dissyllable 1. 2. 38, 'Sir Valentine's page, &c.': perhaps also III. 1. 192:

6

'There's not a hair on 's head but 'tis a Valentine,’

and, if Capell's arrangement be right, v. 2. 35.

NOTE VII.

II. 5. 1, III. 1. 81, and v. 4. 129. We have retained 'Padua' in the first of these passages and 'Verona' in the second and third, because it is impossible that the words can be a mere printer's, or transcriber's, error. These inaccuracies are interesting as showing that Shakespeare had written the whole of the play before he had finally determined where the scene was to be laid.

« ZurückWeiter »