i.e. armed lightly,—whether we choose to understand “lightly” in its usual sense, or in that of quickly, soon (“Lightly or sone." Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499).—Theobald substituted (most vilely) "harness-dight."-Heath understands "lightly" to mean "ready for action."

Here,—as in Hamlet, “You shall do marvell's wisely," &c. act ii. sc. 1,— "marcell's" is an abbreviation of marvellous.

The old eds. have, both in the present and in the next speech of Pandarus, “— two and fifty,”—which Theobald altered as above, observing, “How else can the number make out Priam and his fifty sons?" and this rectification of an error, which probably arose from the Ms. having had the numbers in figures, was adopted by all subsequent editors till Mr. Knight and Mr. Collier brought back into the text the corrupted reading.—It is not to be doubted that Shakespeare knew the exact number of sons which from the earliest times had been assigned to Priam,-even supposing that the following passage was by another dramatist;

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'Romans, of five-and-twenty valiant sons,

Half of the number that King Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive, and dead!"

Titus Andronicus, act i. sc. 2;—

and it is utterly improbable that here he would needlessly deviate from the Homeric tradition.—Mr. Knight, in defending "two and fifty," remarks that "The Margerelon of the romance-writers, who makes his appearance in Act V., is one of the additions to the old classical family." But Margerelon is not to be considered as an addition to the family (which, in all conscience, was large enough already): the romance-writers merely bestowed that name on one of the fifty sons whom antiquity had left unnamed.

P. 16. (12)

"Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by.

Cres. To bring, uncle.

Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus."

After "To bring, uncle," the quarto has a colon; the folio, a full-point.— When Pandarus says, "I'll be with you, niece, by and by," Cressida catches at the words "I'll be with you," and subjoins "to bring,"-just as Pandarus catches at "to bring," and adds “ Ay, a token," &c.-See Gloss. sub "bring," &c.

P. 16. (14) "Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech :” Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "Achiev'd men still command," &c.: but if the text requires alteration (of which I have yet to be convinced), Mr. Harness's reading, "Achiev'd men us command," &c. is far preferable.—See Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. ii. p. 313, where this passage is quoted without any suspicion of its being corrupt; and the editor's note ibid.

So Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector.-The old eds. have "workes;" which Walker (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 192) pronounces to be "palpably wrong."

P. 18. (16)

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"fled"

'Perhaps 'flee'," says Walker (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. ii. p. 68); which Capell gives.

So I conjectured in my Few Notes, &c. p. 107; and so too Mr. Grant White. -The quarto has "Retires;" the folio, "Retyres."-Pope printed "Returns ;" Hanmer, "Replies," which is the reading of Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector.Mr. Staunton gives "Re-chides."

The old eds. have "Thou."-Corrected by Hanmer.

66

66

Here "expect" is explained to mean expectation.-I have no doubt that the line is corrupted.-Pope gave we less expect," &c.; Capell, "And we less expect," &c.; and Mr. W. N. Lettsom conjectures, we no less expect," &c. i.e. we are as sure of a bad speech from you as of a good one from Thersites. Ulysses makes a similarly inverted or ironical comparison below, . p. 21;

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'as near as the extremest ends

Of parallels; as like as Vulcan and his wife.'”—

This speech is not in the quarto.

The folio has "Masticke."-This speech is not in the quarto.

P. 19. (21) 66 Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions." Hanmer omitted the first "Hollow;" Steevens proposes to omit the second.

P. 19. (22) "When that the general is not like the hire," &c. "The meaning is,-When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each par

ticular resorts with whatever he has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage? The sense is clear, the expression is confused." JOHNSON.-Warburton reads "When that the general not likes the hire," &c.; Heath proposes "When that the general's not the life of th' hire," &c.; and Capell prints "When that the general is not lik'd o' the hire," &c.

Mr. Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c. p. 192) reads "ether:" in opposition to which reading Mr. Grant White observes, "It is not Sol's place in the ether, but his supremacy amidst the other' heavenly bodies, which Ulysses wishes to impress upon his hearers." Shakespeare's Scholar, &c. p. 354.

6

So the quarto ("primogenitie”).—The folio has "primogenitiue."

P. 20. (26)

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an universal wolf,

an universal prey,"

“[The first 'universal'] wrong, surely." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. i. p. 307.

i. e. over-wound,—as with a wrest (for tuning harps).—The old eds. have "ore-rested."

So the second folio.-The quarto and the first folio have "god;" which in my former edition I wrongly retained.-On the words "good" and "god" confounded in our early writers, see Crit. Exam, &c. vol. i. p. 304, by Walker, -who compares with the misprint in the present passage a similar misprint of the folio in Coriolanus, act iii. sc. 1;

"Shall? O God! but most vnwise Patricians: why," &c

P. 22. (31)

"What trumpet? look, Menelaus."

Capell prints "What trumpet's that? look, Menelaus.”—Steevens would omit "Menelaus."-Qy.

Menelaus, look"?

"Perhaps the author wrote 'Alcides arm'." JOHNSON.

Theobald takes this for an ablative absolute," when Jove shows himself on their side:" but it is very doubtful if we have the true text here.-Malone (badly) conjectures "Jove's a god;" Steevens (as badly), "Love's a lord;" and Mason (absurdly), "Jove's own bird."-The quarto has "great Ioues accord."

P. 23. (34)

"that praise, sole pure, transcends."

Here Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector alters "sole pure" to "soul-pure,”—which seems to convey no meaning at all.

P. 24. (35)

"Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;"

So the folio. The quarto has " Then euer Greeke did couple in his armes,” which Mr. Collier persists in adopting. He says; "The Rev. Mr. Dyce does not understand (Remarks,' p. 151) the expression 'couple in his arms.' We are sorry for it: to other people the words may be more intelligible; and, with all respect, we cannot alter the language of Shakespeare in deference merely to Mr. Dyce's want of perception. It is only a figurative mode of saying, 'did embrace in his arms,' but the folio sacrifices the figure: so when old Talbot, in 'Henry VI., Part I.,' A. iv. sc. 7, clasps his dead son, he says that they are 'coupled in bonds of perpetuity.' The arms of the Greek are what are termed 'couples' in the language of the chase."-I now repeat the words which I used long ago,-that here "couple" is neither English nor sense; and I would ask, what has become of Mr. Collier's "perception" when he can see no difference of expression between "a Greek coupling a lady in his arms" and old Talbot and his son "being coupled in bonds of perpetuity"?

"Mr. Collier, following his annotator, reads 'reputation;' neither being aware that 'imputation' was often used [nearly] in that sense: see Hamlet, act v. sc. 2, ‘I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed." STAUNTON.

So the second folio.-The first folio has "are in his."-This is not in the

quarto.

P. 26. (39)

"perchance, that they will sell;"

The old eds. have "perchance theile [and they'l] sell.”

P. 26. (40)

"The lustre of the better yet to show,

Shall show the better. Do not, then, consent”

So the folio, except that it omits "then," which was supplied by Pope.—Mr. Grant White conjectures

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Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector reads " sore."-Mr. Staunton proposes cur."From Johnson's Dictionary, sub "Core," we learn that the word is used in the sense of a body or collection (French, corps) by Bacon in the following passage of his History of King Henry the Seventh; "But hee was more doubtfull of the raysing of forces to resist the rebels, then of the resistance it selfe; for that he was in a core of people, whose affections he suspected." p. 17, ed. 1641,-on the strength of which passage Mr. Grant White here substitutes "corps" for "core."

P. 27. (43)

"thou vinewedst leaven, speak: I”

The quarto has “thou vnsalted leauen, speake, I:" the folio, "you whinid'st leauen speake, I."-The sense seems to require“.

Hanmer gave.

speak, or I," which

P. 28. (44)

"Ajax. Mistress Thersites !" &c.

So the folio.-The quarto has

"Aiax. Mistres Thersites.

Ther. Thou shouldst strike him. Aiax Coblofe,

Hee would punne thee into shiuers with his fist, as a sayler
breakes a bisket, you horson curre. Do? do?

Aiax: Thou stoole for a witch."

Nares in his Gloss, writes as follows: "COB-LOAF. A large loaf. Cob is