it certainly was! Mr. Garrick, as they must have known, though they did not think it neceffary to notice the fact, had then in his poffeffion a lease or mortgage from Shakspeare of a houfe in Blackfriars, fubfcribed (as we learn from nr. Colmans preface to Beaumont and Fletcher) with his own hand, WM. SHAKSPEARE; which, very luckyly, confirms the alteration made, with lefs authority, by the prefent editors. This deed was discovered among fome old writings by mr. Wallis, of Norfolk-street, who prefented it to mr. Garrick, in the poffeffion of whose widow it, moft probably, ftill remains. Mr. Colman likewise informs us, that the name is, in the poets own county, pronounced with the first a short (1), and, in the register of Stratford church, uniformly entered SHAKSPERE.

P. [294].

(ATTEMPT TO ASCERTAIN THE ORDER IN WHICH THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE WERE WRITTEN [BY MR. MALONE].)

One Hamlet (or Hamnet) Sadler, being a witness to, and mentioned in Shak fpeares will, mr. Malone takes it for granted that he acquired this name from the testators tragedy of Hamlet; and thence infers, at least gives it as one reason, that the play must have been written in 1596; that he might be of what the critic thinks a competent age for a witness. In fact, however, the name of Hamlet was in common use long before Shakspeare was able to write a line; fo that the gentlemans presumption muft, in this inftance, neceffaryly fall te the ground.

"Here under lyeth buried Eleanor Wife of HAMLET Clarke. She dyed on Sunday the 14th of January 1626.

(1) This pronunciation is right. Twice in the body of his will, and once in the margin, that is, except the fignatures, whereever his name occurs, it is written SHACKSPEARE; and the instrument itsself is, by two different indorsements, called MR, SHACKSPEKES Will.

After

After they had been married 33 years and about two months." Stows Survey, by Strype. I. iii. 39.

P. [307].

1

Whenever the Merry Wives of Windfor may have been writte en, it is certain, as well from the enquirers quotations and remarks, as from the play its felf, that the time of action is in the reign of king Henry the fourth. But if it should be placed," fays he, as dr. Johnson obferves it fhould be read, between the Second part of K. Henry IV. and Henry V." (where, however, it cannot be introduced without the most flagrant impropriety) it must be remembered that mrs. Quickly, who is half-bawd, half-hoftefs in K. Henry IV. is, in the Merry Wives of Windfar, Dr. Caius's housekeeper, and makes a decent appearance; and in K. Henry V. is Pistols wife, and dies in an hofpital; a progreffion that is not very natural." It is ftrange enough that the critic fhould not perceive that Dr, Caiuses housekeeper and the landlady of the Boars-bead are totally diftinct characters; and have not, if we except their name, fex, fentiments, and loquacity, a fingle circumftance in common between them. Shakspeare could have been at no loss for one of the fame name and family in any town in England.

TEMPE S T.
p. 6.

Boatf.-If you can command these elements to filence, will not handle a rope more.

This is a very early, though not the moft favourable, fpecimen of the integrity and corre&tnefs of the prefect text Both the folios read-" we will not hand a rope more;"

which is evidently right; that being the proper fea-term in ufe at this day.

4. P. 10.

Mira. More to know..

Did never meddle with my thoughts.

To meddle, fays mr. Steevens, in this inftance, fignifies to mingle. Hence, adds he, the fubftantive medley But it fhould rather mean to interfere, to trouble, to bufy its felf, as ftill used in the North: e. g. Don't meddle with me: i. ẹ. Let me alone; Don't moleft me.

Medley can fcarce be formed of meddle: it is, moft likely, a corruption of the French word, meslee,

And could this bald and threadbare phrafe have passed the examination of judicial collaters and correctors of Shak- fpeares text? Would not rapt have been a fair and probą: ble conjecture, even if it had not been, as it is, the reading of the old editions? And could it, poffibly, have escaped the obfervation of any perfon who had made a conftant comparifon with the most authentic copies ?

Shall, for that vaft of night that they may work,
All exercise on thee.

Spirits, perhaps, in the shape of urchins, or hedge-hogs;
which, as Caliban elsewhere complains, would fometimes
Lie tumbling in his' bare-foot way, and mount
Their prickles at his' foot fall.

In the Merry Wives of Windsor, however, it seems to imply a fpirit or fairy of a peculiar appearance.

Nan Page my daughter, and my little fon,

And three or four more of their growth, we'll drefs
Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white,
With rounds of waxen tapers on their beads,
And rattles in their bands,

P. 30.

Pro.when thou didst not, favage,

Know thy own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing more brutish,

More brutish than what? The old edition reads-" thing most brutish;" and fo fhould this; as the quotation to dr, Warburtons note might have led the editors to fufpect. P. 38.

Mira. Make not too rafh a trial of him, for

He's gentle and not fearful.

That is: Do not rafhly determine to treat him with severity: he is mild and harmless, and not in the least terrible or dangerous.

P. 47.

Gon. You are gentlemen of brave metal.

What metal? Brafs or copper? Read mettle.

P. 59.

Ste.-If I can recover him and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him; he shall pay for him that hath him, and that foundly.

means, any fum, ever so much. Stephano evidently proposes

Too much, fays mr. Steevens, But this can hardly be right. to fell his monster for a good round price; which it would have been rather difficult for him to do, if he were deter

f

mined not to take any fum, ever fo much, for it. He means that he could not rate his purchase too high:-Let me, fays he, get ever so much for him, it fhall not be more than enough.

The old copy, mr. Steevens obferves, reads trenchering: and one might naturally have expected a reason why this did not, as the word is, certainly, not fo very improper. Housing is one of the fame kind. Rightly, trencheren, houfen; trenchers, houfes. The participle beholden is, by a fimilar mistake, every where, in the old editions, beholding.

-P. 74.

St Lead monfter; we'll follow.-I would, I could fee this aborer; he lays it on.

Trin. Wilt come? I'll follow, Stephano.

Is it not evident that the words Wilt come fhould be the laft of the preceding speech?

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

P. 139.

Pro. Oh, how this fpring of love resembleth

The uncertain glory of an April day;

3

Which now fhews all the beauty of the fun, urva Jat And by and by a cloud takes all away!

Refembleth, mr. Tyrwhitt fays, is here used as a quadrifyllable, as if it was written refembeleth. And in fupport of this affertion he inftances the two following lines: the one from the Comedy of Errors, the other from As you like itistas

And these two Dromios, one in femblance. 1 ob ut gratt
The parts and graces of the wrestlers.

And it thould be observed," continues he, " that Shakefpeare takes the fame liberty with many other words, in