and the Duke's speech to the Provost. Corrected by Tyrwhitt. The old copies also have "his lords man." But Lo. was often written for Lord, and Lord for Lordship; hence the erratum, probably. Corrected by Pope.

P. 211. Shave the head, and trim the beard; and say it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his death. - The old copies read "and tie the beard." Simpson proposed dye, which is adopted by White; and Mr. Swynfen Jervis, trim, which is adopted by Dyce as better according with bared. Dyce aptly quotes "the baring of my beard" from All's Well that Ends Well, iv. 1.

P. 211. Letters of strange tenour; perchance of the Duke's death; perchance of his entering into some monastery; but, by chance, nothing of what is here writ. — The original lacks of his before entering, and also here before writ. Dyce says that " 'perchance entering' most probably should be 'perchance of his entering'"; and Hanmer supplied here.

ACT IV., SCENE 3.

P. 215. A man of Claudio's years; his beard and head

What if we omit

Just of his colour. This reprobate till he were well inclined.· "What if we do omit "; do being no doubt an interpolation. by Pope.

---

The original reads
Omitted

P. 215. Ere twice the Sun hath made his journal greeting

To th' under generation.

-

So Hanmer; the original text being "To yond generation": a correction made, says Johnson, " with true judgment." See foot-note 5.

P. 216. By cold gradation and well-balanced form. — The original has weale-ballanc'd; an erratum too palpable, perhaps, to deserve notice. Corrected by Rowe.

P. 217. Mark what I say to you, which you shall find

By every syllable a faithful verity. - So Collier's second folio. The original lacks to you. Pope filled out the verse by printing "you shall surely find." Much inferior.

P. 217.
In that good path that I would wish it go,

If you can pace your wisdom

Then you shall have your bosom, &c.—The old copies read "And you shall have" instead of " Then you shall have." Modern editions generally set a (,) after "If you can," thus turning pace into an imperative verb; but that, it seems to me, makes the construction very awkward and un-English. Walker "believes that a line is lost after go." Perhaps so; but the loss, if such it be, is irreparable. The change of And to Then removes, I think, all difficulties of sense and language. Is it a greater change, after all, than the substituting of an imperative for the original can pace? The Cambridge Editors propose still another reading, which may be right, and is certainly better than the common one:

If you can pace your wisdom

In that good path that I would wish it, go,

And you shall have your bosom, &c.

ACT IV., SCENE 4.

P. 220. For my authority bears so credent bulk,

So Dyce.

That no particular scandal once can touch, &c. The original reads "beares of a credent bulke"; which surely cannot be right. Various other changes have been made or proposed; but I think that in the text is the simplest in itself, and gives the clearest

sense.

ACT IV., SCENE 5.

Valentinus

P. 220. To Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus.— The original has Valentius, which leaves one syllable wanting to the verse. is Capell's reading. Pope printed "Unto Valentius."

P. 221.

ACT IV., SCENE 6.

Yet I'm advised to do it;

He says, to 'vailful purpose. — Hanmer's correction of vaile full, the original reading. Collier's second folio makes the same change. Theobald has t' availful.

ACT V., SCENE I.

P. 222. ACT V. SCENE I. A public Place near the City-gate. I am all but certain that the fifth Act ought not to begin here, but with

the fifth scene of the preceding Act. Surely there is, in this place, no such pause in the action as to call for, or to justify, so marked a division as that between Act and Act. The business of this scene follows immediately upon that of the preceding scene: at any rate, there is no more than the ordinary pause, or lapse of time, between scene and scene. Near the close of iv. 3, the Duke makes his last appointments and gives his last directions for the final proceedings, the catastrophe, of the play. Then, in the scene following, iv. 4, Angelo and Escalus also make their final arrangements for meeting the Duke" at the gates" the next morning. Thereupon follows a pause of a whole night. In the next scene, iv. 5, the Duke is in "the fields without the town," and all the other parties are in their places; and thenceforward the action proceeds without any pause whatever, save for the requisite changes of So that the Act-division clearly ought to be made there. — I do not know whether any one has remarked this; but I think it can hardly have escaped all the editors.

scene.

P. 222. Cannot but yield forth to you public thanks. — The old copies read "yield you forth to public thanks"; which, to say the least, is very strange English, as the Duke's meaning evidently is, to thank Angelo and Escalus publicly. White made the transposition.

P. 223.

For that which I must speak
Must either punish me, not being believed,

Or wring redress from you: hear me, O, hear me ! — The original adds heere, after "O, hear me "; an interpolation, no doubt, and probably thrust in by some one, to make the line end with an Iamb.

P. 223. Is it not strange and strange?

Duke.

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Nay, ten times strange. — The original reads "Nay it is ten times strange." Dyce notes it is as an interpolation, in all probability."

P. 224. Such a dependency of thing on thing,

As ne'er I heard in madness.

- The old copies read “As ere I heard," which is commonly printed "As e'er I heard." Singer explains As by that, and makes the preceding line parenthetical. Capell's happy change of ere to ne'er removes all difficulty.

P. 224. To make the truth appear where it seems hid,

Not hide the false seems true.

- So Warburton and Mason.

The old text has And instead of Not. I do not see how the former

can possibly be tormented into yielding a fitting sense: it gives just the opposite of the sense plainly required.

P. 226. Duke.

This is most like!

Isab. O, that it were as like as it is true! - The original has "This is most likely." The change is Lettsom's; of course suggested by like in the next line.

P. 227. This needs must be practice.· - So Dyce; the original, “be a practice," to the damage alike of sense and metre. The omission of a is further justified by "In hateful practice," which occurs a little before. See foot-note 10.

P. 227. Words against me! 'tis a good friar, belike! —“ This' a good friar" is the reading of the original. Many like instances occur, in some of which I believe no editor scruples the changing of this' into 'tis.

P. 234.

We'll touse you

And then to glance from him
To th' Duke himself, to tax him with injustice ?
Take him hence; to th' rack with him! —
Joint by joint, but we will know your purpose.
What, he unjust!

Dare no more stretch this finger of mine, &c. In the fourth of these lines, the old text reads “know his purpose," which runs quite at odds with "We'll touse you." The correction is from Collier's second folio. To make the language coherent, some would read "We'll touse him.". In the fifth line, again, the old text lacks he. The sense obviously wants it, and the verse cannot go without it. — In the third line, the metre is all out of joint, so that the line cannot be read rhythmically. It might be redressed by reading "Go take him hence "; and so perhaps it should be.

P. 235. How the villain would gloze now, after his treasonable abuses! The old copies have "would close now," which can hardly be made to yield any intelligible meaning. It is something uncertain to whom the credit of the happy correction belongs; as Dyce, White, and Collier's second folio seem each to have made it independently.

P. 238. But, God's peace be with him!— Here again the original omits the name of God; for the same reason, no doubt, as in the cases

already noted. To finish the metre, Hanmer inserted now. Walker proposed the reading in the text.

P. 238. Being criminal in double violation
Of sacred chastity and in promise-breach.

So Hanmer. The

old copies, "and of promise-breach"; the of having probably been repeated by mistake.

P. 242. If he be like your brother, for his sake

Then is he pardon'd; and, for your lovely sake, &c. - So Dyce; the original wanting Then at the beginning of the second line. Hanmer and Capell made other changes, but, on the whole, not so good, I think, as this by Dyce.

P. 242. Her worth work yours! So Walker would read. The original, "Her worth worth yours." See foot-note 50.

P. 243. Wherein have I deservèd so of you

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That you extol me thus ?—The original reads "have I so deserv'd of you," which is evidently wrong. Collier's second folio, SO well deserv'd of you"; Walker, "have I so undeserv'd of you." Both these heal the breach in the verse; but Pope's reading, as in the text, does this equally well, and involves less of change withal.

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