SCENE V.

P. 258. Modern editors have needlessly changed the prefixes of the folios in this part of the scene: the corrector of that of 1632 has altered two small words, and made the dialogue run quite consistently. Simple tells Falstaff and the Host that he had other things to have spoken on behalf of his master to "the wise woman of Brentford:"

"Fal. What are they? let us know.

Host. Ay, come; quick.

Fal. You may not conceal them, sir.
Host. Conceal them, and thou diest."

The common method has been to put I may not conceal them, sir," into the mouth of Simple, followed by a mark of interrogation; and the Host's next speech has been invariably printed "Conceal them, or thou diest." The Host was desirous that Simple should reveal, and would not, therefore, threaten death if he disclosed them. Dr. Farmer wished reveal to be substituted for "conceal," but the only alteration here required is and for "or,"-" Conceal them and thou diest." Such is the emendation of the corrector of the folio, 1632.

P. 258. Bardolph, rushing in, complains of cozenage, and the Host inquires what has become of his horses? Bardolph, in all editions, replies,

"Run away with the cozeners;"

as if the horses had run away with the cozeners against their will. The manuscript-corrector of the folio, 1632, inserts by in the margin,

"Run away with by the cozeners,"

and the rest of Bardolph's speech confirms this interpretation: as soon as they had thrown him off into the mire, the cozeners "set spurs and away" with the Host's horses.

ACT V. SCENE III.

P. 265. The text of the folios, "Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies? and the Welsh devil, Herne," is certainly wrong. Theobald altered "Herne" to Hugh, and he was, of course, right as to the person intended; but the manuscriptcorrector of the folio, 1632, erases Herne," and inserts Evans, as the proper reading. Had "Hugh" been the word, it seems probable that Mrs. Ford might have paid him the respect of calling him Sir Hugh.

SCENE V.

P. 267. We have the evidence of the corrected folio, 1632, in favour of "bribe-buck," instead of "brib'd-buck," of the early printed copies. This was Theobald's emendation.

P. 267. In several preceding scenes we are informed that Anne Page was to represent the Fairy Queen in the attack upon Falstaff in Windsor Park. Nevertheless, Malone and others assigned all her speeches to Mrs. Quickly, the only excuse being that the first of the prefixes is "Qui." The manuscript-corrector of the folio, 1632, changed it to Que, and made it Que. (for Queen) in all other places; and after the printed stage-direction, "Enter Fairies," he added, with the Queen, Anne. It does not, indeed, appear that Mrs. Quickly took any part at all in the scene, although she most likely in some way lent her assistance, in order that she might be on the stage at the conclusion of the performance.

P. 268. The whole of what is delivered by the Queen and the rest of the Fairies is in verse, with the exception of two lines, which have constantly been misprinted thus:

"Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap:

Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths unswept," &c. There is no doubt that this was originally a couplet, until a corruption crept in, which no editor felt himself competent to set right. Tyrwhitt, indeed, does not seem to have been aware of the defect; but it struck the corrector of the folio, 1632, who, by manuscript changes in the margin, in

forms us that the lines ought to run as follows, by which the rhyme is preserved :

"Cricket, to Windsor chimneys when thou'st leap't,

Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths unswept,
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry," &c.

This must have been the way in which the passage originally stood. Lower down in the same page, for

"raise up the organs of her fantasy,"

the same authority reads, "Rouse up the organs," &c. He removes the vulgarism, in the next line but one, by reading, "But those that sleep," &c., instead of "But those as sleep," &c., which, however, was sometimes the language of the day.

P. 272. Ford calls Falstaff, not "a hodge-pudding," as it has always been printed, but "a hog-pudding," which is probably right.

P. 274. Fenton, vindicating his conduct in marrying Anne Page against the will of both her parents, says, in all impressions of the play,

"And this deceit loses the name of craft,

Of disobedience, or unduteous title," &c.

"Title" sounds like a misprint, and so it appears to be; the true word, which entirely corresponds with the preceding line, having perhaps been misheard by the copyist. The corrector of the folio, 1632, inserts what he tells us is the proper reading in the margin :

"Of disobedience or unduteous guile."

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Vol. II. p. 7. The Duke, in all editions of this play, observes to Escalus, after calling him to his side,

"Of government the properties to unfold,

Would seem in me t' affect speech and discourse;
Since I am put to know, that your own science

Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then, no more remains,
But that, to your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work."

This reading has been derived from the four folios; but, according to the corrected folio, 1632, it is erroneous in three particulars: the first is not of any great consequence, inasmuch as "Since I am put to know" is as intelligible and proper as "Since I am apt to know;" but the great improvement is in the sixth line quoted above, in which "that" is a misprint for add, and into which the conjunction as, and the two words at the end have, accidentally perhaps, been foisted. The correct reading, with the aid of the manuscript in the margin of the folio, 1632, is as follows:

"Since I am apt to know, that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then, no more remains,
But add to your sufficiency your worth,

And let them work."

These small changes remove what has always been a difficulty on the very threshold of this play.

P. 9. It has been made a question between Johnson, Steevens, and Tyrwhitt, whether, when the Duke says,—

"Hold, therefore, Angelo,"

he offered to his intended deputy the commission which had been prepared for him. Now, the manuscript stage-directions in the folio, 1632, make it certain that at the words "Hold, therefore, Angelo," the Duke tendered the commission to Angelo, but did not actually place it in his hands until he finished his speech with "Take thy commission." The point would scarcely be worth notice, if it had not been dwelt upon by the commentators.

SCENE II.

P. 12. Near the end of Mrs. Overdone's speech, "is" is required before the words "to be chopped off"-" and within three days his head is to be chopped off." It is deficient in all printed copies, and is inserted in manuscript in the margin of the corrected folio, 1632. In the same way, the word "bawdy" is omitted in the Clown's speech (p. 13): "All bawdy houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down." The proclamation was against "bawdy houses in the suburbs," and not against other houses there. The word wanting is supplied in manuscript, which accords with Tyrwhitt's suggestion.

SCENE III.

P. 14. The division Scena tertia is struck through, and properly, because there is clearly no change of place, the Provost, Claudio, and Officers walking in, as the Clown, Bawd, &c. make their exit. Juliet is mentioned as one of the characters entering, but her name is erased by the corrector of the folio, 1632, for it does not appear that she took any part in the scene, and in fact is spoken of by Claudio as absent. Nevertheless, in all editions the scene is erroneously marked as a new one, and Juliet is stated to have come on the stage with Claudio, and to have listened patiently to the description of her offence. It was, therefore, not the practice of our stage, when the folio of 1632 was corrected, to place her in a situation so painful and indelicate, and Shakespeare could hardly have intended it.