66—

Creature: then kisse me hard,

As if he pluckt vp kisses by the rootes,

That grew upon my lippes, laid his Leg ore my Thigh,

And sigh, and kisse, and then cry cursed Fate,

which is adopted by Mr. Knight, who, however, silently introduces in the third line a reading of his own,-"lay his leg o'er my thigh," &c.

The quartos and the folio have "or any, it was hers," &c.,-which the editor of the second folio altered to "or any, if't was hers," &c.—Malone restored the obviously right reading.

P. 60. (53) So the folio.

“Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell!" The quartos have,

“Arise blacke vengeance, from thy hollow Cell,”—

which is the usual modern reading: but, as Mr. Knight remarks, the lection of the folio is the better one on account of the preceding "heaven;" and Steevens aptly compares a line in Jasper Heywood's translation of Seneca's Thyestes,

“Where most prodigious vgly thinges the hollowe hell doth hyde.”

fol. 39, ed 1581.

P. 60. (54) "Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on," &c.

So the quarto of 1630.-The folio has "Neu'r keepes retyring ebbe, but keepes due on," &c.-This speech in the quarto of 1622 is curtailed to,

"Oth. Neuer :

In the due reuerence of a sacred vow,

I here ingage my words."

Southern in his copy of the folio 1685 and Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitute "Ne'er knows retiring ebb," &c.

P. 77. (55)

So the folio.

"Had it pleas'd heaven

To try me with affliction; had they rain'd," &c.

The quartos have "he" instead of "they." But compare

Richard II. act ii. sc. 2;

P. 77. (56)

"Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven,
Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads."

"The fixed figure for the time of scorn

To point his slow and moving finger at!—
Yet could," &c.

In this difficult passage I give the reading of the folio.-The quarto of 1622 has,

"A fixed figure, for the time of scorne,

To point his slow vnmouing fingers at . . oh, oh,
Yet could," &c.

and so the quarto of 1630, except that in the second line it has “finger.”— Rowe substituted "for the hand of scorn;" and Mason proposed "slowly moving finger;"-both which violent alterations are made by Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector.-Mr. Knight adopts Mr. Hunter's conjecture;

P. 78. (57)

"The fixed figure of the time, for scorn

To point his slow and moving finger at," &c.

“Ay, there, look grim as hell!”

The old eds. have "I here [and "heere"] looke," &c.

So all the old eds. (“fopt in it”).-The modern reading is "fobbed in it."

P. 85. (59)

"it is a great price

For a small vice."

Should perhaps be printed as a couplet,-from some song or ballad.

P. 91. (60) "Put out the light, and then put out the light," &c. On the disputed punctuation of this line, see the notes in the Varior. Shakespeare.

P. 94. (61) “O, my good lord, yonder's foul murders done!"

Here several modern editors (even Mr. Collier and Delius) silently print, "O good my lord," &c.,-which perhaps the author wrote, for Emilia has just before twice used that form of expression; but the old copies agree in "O my good lord," &c. Here, too, “murders" is generally altered to “murder.”

Here the old eds. have the spelling "top." See note (50).

P. 97. (63)

"[Falling on the bed.

Here the folio has no stage-direction, but the quartos have as above; which Mr. Collier seems to have forgotten, when, after mentioning that his Ms. Corrector makes Othello here throw himself upon the ground, he speaks of the falling on the bed as a stage-direction only found in modern editions.

P. 98. (64)

"[Exeunt Montano and Gratiano."

So the quartos,-which also have, before the next speech of Gratiano, "Gra. within."-Here the folio has "Exit" (which often stands for "Exeunt"), and it omits the stage-direction before Gratiano's next speech.-Mr. Knight attempts at considerable length to show that when Othello was originally acted, the present scene took place partly on the upper stage, and partly on the stage proper: which appears to me extremely doubtful.

P. 99. (65) "O Desdemon! dead, Desdemon! dead! O!"

So the folio, except that it has “.
Desdemona, Desdemona, dead, O o, 0."

P. 100. (66)

dead. Oh, oh!"-The quartos have "O

"of a damned slave," &c.

The folio has "of a cursed Slaue," &c.: but, with Mr. Collier and Delius, I prefer the reading of the quartos, because Othello has, a little before, exclaimed "O cursèd, cursèd slave !"

On the controversy whether "Indian" or "Iudean" be the right reading, see notes ad l. in the Varior. Shakespeare; my Remarks on Mr. Collier's and Mr. Knight's eds. of Shakespeare, p. 243; and Mr. Grant White's Shakespeare's Scholar, &c. p. 443.

Here most editors have preferred the reading of the quartos, " Their medicinall gum." But in Shakespeare's days was the word "medicinal" ever used with the accent on the third syllable? (See Todd's Johnson's Dict. in v.)

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

TAURUS, lieutenant-general to Cæsar.

CANIDIUS, lieutenant-general to Antony.

SILIUS, an officer in Ventidius's army.

EUPHRONIUS, an ambassador from Antony to Cæsar.

ALEXAS, MARDIAN, SELEUCUS, and DIOMEDES, attendants on Cleo

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE-in several parts of the Roman empire.