Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

"Thou my Servant,

"As thou report'ft thyfelf, was then her Slave."

The fame kind of tranfpofition is in Measure for Measure. A& III.

"Ifab. This outward-fainted Deputy, "Whofe fettled vifage and delib'rate word "Nips youth i'th' head; and follies doth

"emmew,

"As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil: "His FILTH within being caft, he would appear "A POND as deep as hell.”

How much better thus,

"His POND within being caft, he would "A FILTH as deep as hell."

appear

i. e. If the water within was caft out and emptied, (which now covers his filth) he would appear a quagmire of filth and mud, as deep as hell.

"F. Strang. Why this is the world's foul; "Of the fame piece is every flatterer's sport.

[ocr errors]

Let these two words foul and sport change places, and we have this very good reading,

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

"1. Strang. Why, this is the world's Sport; "Of the fame piece is every flatterer's foul.".

In the II part of K. Henry IV, Act II.

[ocr errors]

P. Henry. "From a God to a bull? a heavy "declenfion; it was Jove's cafe. From a prince "to a prentice, a low transformation; that shall "be mine for in every thing, the purpose "must weigh with the folly."

It would be more accurate if the words were tranfpofed, and we should read,

P. Henry. "From a God to a bull? a heavy "transformation; it was Jove's cafe. From "a prince to a prentice a low declenfion; that "fhall be mine, &c."

In Cymbeline, A&t II. Jachimo is describing to the husband his wife's bedchamber:

"Jach. The roof o'th' chamber

2

"With golden cherubims is fretted, &c."

Pofthumus

1 Mr. Theobald reads fpirit. But in my change not one word is altered.

2 So Milton I, 717.

The roof was fretted gold."

Our

Pofthumus replies:

"This is her honour :

"Let it be granted you have seen all this, &c."

Mr. Theobald faw the abfurdity of the reading, and corrects

"What's this t' her honour."

But why may it not be red, without altering one word, only by an easy tranfpofition,

Is this her honour?

Is this any way relating to the honour of my wife, which is the thing in queftion? or perhaps he speaks ironically,

"This is her honour !

Our poet in Hamlet. A&t 2. "This majestical roof fretted "with golden fire." from the Anglo-S. fretwan ornare. This word I would restore to Chaucer in the Romaunt of the rofe. 3204.

"For round environ her crounet
"Was full of riche ftonies afret.”

read, pfret, or, ifret.

So Spencer. B. 2. c. 9. ft. 37.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

In Much Adoe about Nothing. Act III. There is a trifling transposition of a fingle letter.

"Hero. If it prove fo, then loving goes by "haps,

"Some Cupids kill with arrows, fome with "traps."

Which should thus be set right,

"Some Cupid kills with arrows, fome with "traps."

A

SECT. XII.

UTHORS are not careful enough of their copies, when they give them into the printer's hand; which, often being blotted or ill written, must be help'd out by meer guefswork. Printers are not the best calculated for this critical work, I think, fince the times of Aldus and the Stephens's. What wonder therefore if in fuch a cafe we meet, now and then, with ftrange and monftrous words, or highly improper expreffions, and often contradictory to the author's defign and meaning?

Hence came the following paffage to be corrupted in Romeo and Juliet, Act II.

"Young

"Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so true, "When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar maid."

Shakespeare wrote, Young Adam Cupid, &c. The printer or tranfcriber, gave us this Abram, mistaking the d for br: and thus made a passage direct nonfenfe, which was understood in Shakefpeare's time by all his audience: for this Adam was a moft notable archer; and for his fkill became a proverb. In Much Adoe about Nothing, Act I." And he that hits me, let him "be clapt on the fhoulder, and called ADAM." Where Mr. Theobald's ingenious note is worth reading. His name was Adam Bell. So that

I

1 This Adam Bell: I accidentally met with in a collection of old Ballads, among which was one intitled, Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudeffe: In the fame collection was, Syr Bevis of Hampton: And, The Wife lapped in Morells fkin, or the Taming of a Shrew. Thefe may all ferve to illuftrate, fome where or other, Shakespeare.-Adam Bell is likewife mentioned in the Art of English Poefie. p. 69. And in an old Ballad of Bold Robin Hood, printed in Dryden's Mifcell. by Tonfon, vol. 6. p. 347.

"For he brought ADAM BELL and Clim of the Clough, "With William of Cloudellee,

"To fhoot with our forefter for forty mark,

"And the forefter beat them all three."

But he is not mentioned in Ascham's Toxophilus, as Mr.

Theobald gueffes.

R 4

here,

« AnteriorContinua »