very clear that the old corrector was right when he altered objects" to abjects. Mason would preserve "objects" (abjects having been proposed by Farmer) because it is stated in "Troilus and Cressida," Act IV. Scene V., that Hector "subscribes to tender objects." This is only justifying one corruption by another, for "objects" in both cases ought to be abjects, as is evident from the context in each place, abjects being taken for unresisting adversaries, or pitiable persons: in "Troilus and Cressida" it is: "For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes In the play before us, Timon tells Alcibiades, "Swear against abjects; Put armour on thine ears, and on thine eyes, Abjects is used in this way by other authors of the time. There are few instances where mishearing on the part of the scribe has been the origin of a corruption of the text more striking, than the blunder we are next to point out, and set right, on the authority of the annotator of the folio, 1632. It is where Phrynia and Timandra entreat Timon to give them some of his gold, and ask if he has more: he replies, Enough to make a whore forswear her trade, Johnson strives hard to extract sense from this last clause, for of course the meaning of the first is very evident: it is in the hemistich that the error lies, for we ought beyond dispute to read, "Enough to make a whore forswear her trade, And to make whores abhorr'd." Whoever read, or recited, to the copyist dropped the aspirate, and induced him, merely writing mechanically and without attending to the sense, to put "a bawd" for abhorr'd. P. 565. In the same way ingenuity has been strained by the same commentator to reconcile us to the word marrows," where Timon is imprecating the earth in future to bring forth nothing but monsters, and to put an end to the race of "ingrateful man :" 'Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas." What connexion is there between " marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas?" We ought surely to read with the corrector of the folio, 1632, "Dry up thy meadows, vines, and plough-torn leas." Parch them up, that they may produce no "liquorish draughts" or "morsels unctuous" for the gratification and sustenance of man. P. 567. Timon reproaches Apemantus with his base origin, and tells him that he had never known luxury, adding,— "Hadst thou, like us, from thy first swath, proceeded To such as may the passive drugs of it Freely command, thou wouldst have plung'd thyself "The passive drugs" of the world surely cannot be right. Timon is supposing the rich and luxurious to be, as it were, sucking freely at the "passive dugs" of the world; and an emendation in manuscript, which merely strikes out the superfluous letter, supports this view of the passage, and renders needless Mason's somewhat wild conjecture in favour of drudges. P. 572. The accidental omission of him has induced editors to convert a participle and preposition into a sort of substantive, by a hyphen. One of the Banditti says of Timon, as the words have been ordinarily printed, "the falling-from of his friends drove him into this melancholy." May we not feel satisfied, upon the assurance of the old corrector, that the sentence ran thus?" The mere want of gold, and the falling from him of his friends, drove him into this melancholy." P. 575. It is not necessary to do more than observe, that Warburton's authoritative declaration in favour of mild over "wild," is sanctioned in the folio, 1632, the m and w having been again confounded. ACT V. SCENE I. P. 577. The mercenary Poet and Painter visit Timon at his cave to ascertain the truth of the report, that he has still abundance of gold. In all editions the latter says to the former, "It will show honestly in us, and is very likely to load our purposes with what they travel for." This is very like nonsense, although no correction of it has ever been recommended: the annotator of the folio, 1632, thus tells us what was in the author's mind: "It will show honestly in us; and is very likely to load our purses with what we travel for:" referring, of course, to Timon's wealth. This, as far as regards purses, may be said to be one of the emendations that requires. no authority: it carries conviction on the face of it. The literal errors, from the carelessness of the printer, are extremely numerous in this part of the play. SCENE IV. P. 586. The old introduction to this scene is, Enter a Soldier in the woods, seeking Timon, to which is added, in manuscript, the necessary information, finding his grave. Modern editors say, and a Tomb-stone seen, but we meet with nothing of the kind in the early copies: that there must, however, have been some rude erection, or pile of earth, visible to the audience, is clear from the soldier's words,— "Some beast rear'd this; there does not live a man." The folios have it, "Some beast read this;" but it is undoubtedly an error, and the old corrector converts read into "rear'd." Such has always been the word since Warburton's time. P. 588. The last noticeable emendation, although it may deserve to be so termed, is certainly not one of the changes that must be adopted, since the ordinary text will serve well enough it occurs where the Senators of Athens are pleading to Alcibiades for the lives of the citizens: "All have not offended; For those that were, it is not square to take The correction in the folio, 1632, puts it as an interrogative appeal, and substitutes another word for the rather uncouth, but by no means unwarranted (even in Shakespeare) expression, "it is not square: :" "All have not offended; For those that were, is't not severe to take Steevens altered "revenge" to revenges, for the sake of the metre, and very justifiably, since the word occurs just above in the plural, but the annotator leaves it in the singular. Prol. and Epilogue is written at the end in a blank space, and perhaps it was meant only as a note that they were deficient; but such has been the case with the tragedy immediately preceding, and with others, to which no such words are appended. The stage-directions, added in manuscript, are not always as complete and precise as would seem to be convenient; and the division into Acts and Scenes does not, in some instances, accord with modern editions: the old copies are destitute of any such distinctions: Act IV. in the folio, 1632, is made unusually long, while Act III. and Act V. are too short: Act IV. begins, rather injudiciously, with Timon's banquet of hot water, and in the next scene he is outside the walls of Athens, cursing the city. JULIUS CESAR. ACT I. SCENE I. Vol. vii. P. 7. The Acts, but not the Scenes, are distinguished in the old copies of this tragedy: the latter are supplied in manuscript in the folio, 1632, but they do not always tally with the same divisions as contained in modern editions. The economy of our early stage, and the deficiency of mechanical and other contrivances to denote changes of place, frequently rendered it necessary to continue the same, or nearly the same objects before the eyes of the audience, although by the characters and dialogue it appeared that the scene was altered. As an illustration, it may be mentioned that the fifth Act of "Julius Cæsar" is divided by Malone and others into five Scenes, by representing that what occurs passes on as many different parts of the field of Philippi; whereas the old annotator of the folio, 1632, makes the Act consist of only two Scenes, the first where the forces under Octavius and Antony march in, and the second wherè Brutus endeavours, after the battle, to persuade one of his friends to kill him, in order that he may not survive the freedom of his country. According to this arrangement, Cassius dies on the same ground that had been occupied by his enemies. SCENE II. P. 14. The two following lines have always been printed thus: "When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome, |