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between "Muster'd" and "March'd" (for the style of this play is any thing but elliptical) goes far to prove that the line was omitted in the folio by an error of the printer. In act ii. sc. 6, p. 272, Mr. Collier inserts a line from The True Tragedy, which he observes "is obviously necessary to the sense," and adds, “how it became [sic] omitted in the folio, it is vain at this time of day to conjecture." For several minor corrections and additions (see pp. 231, 233, 238, 262, 284, 304,) he is also indebted to the original drama.

ACT II.

SCENE 5.-C. p. 270; K. p. 214.

"Fath. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet;

My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre,

For from my heart thine image ne'er shall go.
My sighing breast shall be thy funeral bell;
And so obsequious will thy father be,
Man, for the loss of thee, having no more,
As Priam was for all his valiant sons."

"The folio, 1623, reads, by a misprint, thee.' The father is addressing his dead son. Sad."

COLLIER.

Men for the loss of
Rowe substituted

Since we find in the fourth line above of the present speech,

"My heart, sweet boy, shall be thy sepulchre,"

and in the preceding speeches of the Father,

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O boy! thy father gave thee life too soon,"

Ah, boy! if any life be left in thee,"

it appears wonderful to me that Steevens should have proposed (even timidly as he did) the reading which Mr. Collier has admitted into the text.

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Both Malone and Mr. Knight are contented with Rowe's Sad," which is an emendation made at random, without any regard to the ductus literarum. Surely "Men" must be a misprint for " E'en.”

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ACT III.

SCENE 1.-C. p. 276.

"K. Hen. From Scotland am I stol'n, even of To greet mine own land with my wishful sight. No, Harry, Harry, 'tis no land of thine;

pure love,

Thy place is fill'd, thy sceptre wrung from thee,
Thy balm wash'd off wherewith thou wast anointed:
No bending knee will call thee Cæsar now,
No humble suitors press to speak for right,
No, not a man comes for redress of thee,
For how can I help them, and not myself?

Let me embrace the sour adversaries;

For wise men say, it is the wisest course."

To say

So the folio, and very intelligibly, without altering the text to these sour adversities, as was done originally by Pope, and by some modern editors without notice, though professing to adhere to the text of the folio. Of old, adversary' was sometimes accented like adversity, and thus the line is rendered more rhythmical." COLLIER. The reading of the folio is flagrant nonsense. nothing of the awkward use of " the," since, from the earliest times down to the present moment, the substantive "adversaries" has had no other meaning than opponents, and has been applied only to PERSONS, it could not possibly be used in reference to the adverse CIRCUMSTANCES which Henry has just enumerated,—the loss of his throne, &c.

The reading of Pope, which has been adopted by all the modern editors except Mr. Collier, is at least sense: but qy. did not Shakespeare write,

"Let me embrace thee, sour adversitie (adversity)" ?

ACT IV.

SCENE 3.-C. p. 304.

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Now how to shroud yourself from enemies."

Read "Nor."

KING RICHARD III.

[Vol. v. COLLIER; vol. vi. KNIGHT.]

ACT II.

SCENE 4.-C. p. 401; K. p. 394.

"Insulting tyranny begins to jet

Upon the innocent and aweless throne."

"To 'jet' is to strut. The quartos all have 'jet,' and the folio jut, which, no doubt, was meant for the same word." COLLIER.

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"To jet upon" means here boldly to encroach upon.' In this passage Mr. Knight (like Malone) gives,

"Insulting tyranny begins to jut," &c.

which is certainly wrong. But in the following passage of Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 1, (where Malone,—though the variæ lectiones are only "jet" and "set,”- chooses to print "jut"!) Mr. Knight gives,

“and think you not how dangerous

It is to jet upon a prince's right?"

Compare a passage in the play of Sir Thomas More (MS. Harl. 7368, fol. 1); "It is hard when Englishmens pacience must be thus jetted on by straungers."

ACT III.

SCENE 4.-C. p. 420; K. p. 413.

"And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch,
Consorted with that harlot, strumpet Shore,

That by their witchcraft thus have marked me."

Malone and Mr. Knight also give the above erroneous punctuation. Here "harlot" is an adjective; and the line should be pointed,

"Consorted with that harlot strumpet, Shore."

(so in the Comedy of Errors, act ii. sc. 2, "my harlot brow.")

Gloster in his next speech varies the epithet;
"If! thou protector of this damned strumpet.”

ACT IV.

SCENE 4.-C. p. 456.

that call'd your grace

To break fast once forth of my company."

"He [Malone] and other editors probably commit an error in printing breakfast' as one word: the allusion is not to a particular meal, but to breaking the fast or eating at any time." COLLIER.

In the first place, the rhythm requires the single word; as in Henry VIII. act iii. sc. 2;

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And, after, this; and then to breakfast, with
What appetite you have."

Secondly, if a particular meal had not been alluded to, the expression would have been "break your fast" (though that form is frequently used when the morning meal is spoken of).

KING HENRY VIII.

[Vol. v. COLLIER; vol. vii. KNIGHT.]

ACT I.

SCENE 1.-C. p. 502; K. p. 139.

"The two kings,

Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst,

As presence did present them;

him in eye,

Still him in praise; and, being present both,

'Twas said, they saw but one: and no discerner
Durst wag his tongue in censure.”

Mr. Knight explains "censure-comparison,”—a meaning which the word never bore: it always signifies, 'judgment, opinion.'

ACT II.

SCENE 1.-C. p. 529; K. p. 170.

"There cannot be those numberless offences

'Gainst me, that I can not take peace with: no black envy
Shall make my grave. Commend me to his grace;

And, if he speak of Buckingham, pray, tell him," &c.

Mr. Knight, adhering to the arrangement of the folios,

prints;

"There cannot be those numberless offences

'Gainst me that I cannot take peace with:

No black envy shall make my grave.

Commend me to his grace;

And if he speak of Buckingham, pray tell him," &c.

with the following note;

"These short lines are not introduced without a meaning. With those pauses in the delivery that properly belong to one speaking under such circumstances, they add to the pathos. They are ordinarily printed after the uniform metrical fashion of the modern editors," &c.

Steevens, and those of his school, having formed their taste on the plays of Rowe, Home, &c., were altogether unable to

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