calls a speculation respecting the induction of the moon before the sun, so as to overshadow it, a noble conjecture.' It appears, however, that'shadowing' (often of old spelt shaddowing) is a misprint for shuddering, which is entirely consistent with what precedes, as well as with what follows about trembling and shaking; the old corrector alters the passage in the following manner:

I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shuddering passion, without some instruction. It is not words that shake me thus, &c.

Shadowing passion' seems to have no meaning, but that fancifully suggested by Warburton, where he supposes Othello, in the height of his grief and fury, to illustrate his own condition by reference to an eclipse. It was the mistake of an epithet, very naturally applied to 'passion,' that forced the commentator upon this speculation."

This is interference from an entire misconception of the passage on the part of the correctors, as well as their expositor, who, if he had read the very sensible and satisfactory note on the passage by Sir Joshua Reynolds, would at once have seen that Othello adverts to the story told him about Cassio's dream, and he says, "Nature would not express such adumbrations of passion without some former experience." This is confirmed by the words in a former scene,

Iago.

Nay, this was but his dream.

Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion.

For Sir Joshua Reynolds justly observes, "Othello, in broken sentences and single words, all of which have a reference to the cause of his jealousy, shows that all the proofs are present at once to his mind, which so overpower it that he falls into a trance."

P. 459. There was no great merit in making the correction of the misprint of the folios "conserve" for conster, or construe, of the quarto, in which any of the more recent editions may have been followed; and to change the evident and undoubted "Roman" to o'er me, is to alter the language of the poet; for as Johnson observes, the word "triumph" naturally brought

Roman into the mind, and the word is used ironically. Mr. Collier may well say "it might require considerable courage to insert in the text of our great poet so peculiar an emendation."

Peculiar emendation, indeed!

SCENE II.

Ib. The adoption of Rowe's reading, “ the hand of scorn," instead of "the time of scorn," was no doubt judicious; but Mr. Collier should have told us that "slowly moving," instead of "slow and moving," was Mason's. Mr. Collier himself adopted the reading of the quarto,—

But alas! to make me

A fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his slow unmoving finger at.

But what can "the time of scorn" signify? and finger evidently seems to indicate hand as the true reading.

P. 460. There is not the slightest reason for changing "misuse" to misdeed. Misuse is deceit or guile, and seems to have been used synonymously with abuse. Huloet has "To misuse, deceive or beguile one. Abuser quelqu'un et le tromper."

SCENE III.

Ib. The correction of " singing" to sighing, from the ballad in Percy's Reliques, calls for no remark.

ACT V. SCENE II.

P. 461. The corrections which have been adopted from the quartos in all editions of it for "thee," and Should for "Did," are of course adopted.

The alteration in the line,—

Ay, with Cassio. Nay, had she been true,

by introducing but, is an unwarranted deviation from the authentic reading of the quarto; and the same may be said of

the substitution of wind for "air," and the interpolation of now instead of "here" in Montano's speech. The old copies are to be followed in preference to such capricious variations, even were they improvements, which they certainly are not.

The insertion of them, and the alteration of "where" to when, are also fanciful variations for the sake of doing something to improve upon the old authentic text.

P. 464.

THE

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

ACT I. SCENE I.

HE alteration of "damn" to doom may have been deemed advisable by a player living in times long subsequent to the poet, but damn meant nothing more than condemn in his time, and would not have offended the ears of his cotemporaries. It can only therefore serve as evidence that the note-writer lived at a period in subsequent times when the word had become vulgarised, and had an ill sound. Huloet has "Damne, to condemn. Damnare."

Ib. The substitution of fitly for "fully," although unnecessary, has something specious about it.

SCENE II.

P. 465. "It only requires a brief note to state that Warburton's emendation of fertile,' for foretell of the folios, is not confirmed by the corrector of the folio, 1632: the word in the margin of that impression is fruitful; fertile may come nearer the letters, but fruitful is certainly better adapted to the sense."

If
every of your wishes had a womb,
And fertile every wish, a million.

As the words fertile and fruitful were considered quite synonymous by our ancestors, Warburton's emendation as

nearer to the old reading must be preferred. Huloet has "Fertile woman. Mulier fœcunda."

Ib. To substitute repetition souring for "revolution lowering" in the following lines,

The present pleasure,

By revolution lowering, does become
The opposite of itself.

would be using an unwarrantable license, as the old text is perfectly intelligible. "By the revolution of events and change of circumstances the pleasure of to-day often loses all its value to us and becomes to-morrow a pain." When perfectly good sense can be made of the text, according to Mr. Collier himself, it would be anything but a meritorious deed to attempt alteration.

P. 466. The substitution of credence for "evidence" in the following passage,

My precious queen, forbear;

And give true evidence to his love, which stands

An honourable trial

would be specious, but that the occurrence of trial in the third line, shows that the old text is right, and needs no alteration. Cleopatra had just cast a doubt on Antony's love; he bids her give true evidence in favour of it, not bear false-witness against it, as she had done.

SCENE IV.

Ib. The adoption of Johnson's reading our for "one," and the insertion of the negative there can be no objection to; but it is doubtful whether the change of "call" to fall is necessary. The same may be said of the alteration of "ports" to fleets. Mr. Collier says that “ports answers the purpose quite as well as fleets, and therefore interference with the old text is mere meddling.

SCENE V.

P. 467. The old copies have :

So he nodded,

And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed,

Who neigh'd so high, that I what would have spoke
Was beastly, dumb by him.

U

The correctors would read:

So he nodded

And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed,

Who neigh'd so high, that what I would have spoke

Was boastfully dumb'd by him.

Arm-girt is a very doubtful epithet, and as we have had a much more effective word suggested by Mr. Boaden, which I adopted in my edition in 1826, where arrogant is the word, we may fairly refuse this substitution. That the word arrogant would be fitly applied to the proud steed of Antony will appear from a passage in the Auraco Domado of Lope de Vega,―

Yel cavallo arrogante, en que subido
El hombre parecia

Monstruosa fiera que sies pies tenia.

arrogant answers to the Latin ferox, fierce, proud, and as written in old manuscript might easily be mistaken for armgaunt. There is not the slightest reason to prefer the correctors' boastfully dumb'd to the reading of the old text, beastly dumb, i. e. dumb as a beast, and Mr. Collier sees that as a trisyllable boastfully spoils the verse. Alexas says, The proud steed neighed so loud, that what I would have spoke was made unintelligible, no better than the sound of a dumb animal.

ACT II. SCENE I.

P. 468. As Mr. Collier candidly confesses that even he is not satisfied with the liberties taken with the following passage, in substituting warm for "wan'd," Lay for "Tie," and flood for "field," we may presume that here at least he abandons the notion of "better authorities than we possess." "" The old reading required none of these pragmatic and conceited attempts at improvement of the language of the poet :—

Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd lip.

Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both;

P. 469. The adoption of Warburton's correction of reproof for "proof" was no doubt right; to alter "for" to of was