this day, not to the careless reader only, but to the most discerning critics, not very clearly distinguishable; and he who, with the efficacy of just discrimination, and in the confidence allied to great ability, should declare, "Thus far our poet wrote; the rest is all im posture:" would claim and deserve a place, "velut inter ignes luna minores," supereminent, indeed, above all his competitors, in the honour of illustrating Shakespeare. This, however, were a project, to the execution of which the present remarker professes himself incompetent. He will, therefore, confine his endeavours to that field of scrutiny which has bounded the ambition of men, much better qualified than he is, to extend its limits; assuming only, as a datum, what no one will deny, that interpolation does exist, and is frequent; and resting thereon, conjointly with the excellence of the poetry, which indisputably is our author's, an argument, that very few of the ungrammatical, unmetrical, or unmeaning sentences, exhibited in these works, have issued from his pen. "As to prosody, or the unskilfulness in that art, so commonly imputed to our author, no charge was ever more unsubstantial; for, to say nothing of Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece, and the Sonnets, all which are finished with a kind of fastidious regularity, there are numberless verses and scenes in the plays, which prove he had an ear as correctly tuned as that of Pope, but far surpassing him in true and various melody, and equal, if not superior, even to Milton himself. Whenever, therefore, we find a passage of general excellence and beauty, disfigured by an uncouth line, or a line itself decrepid or unwieldy, we may reasonably conclude it is the effect of either unfaithful recitation, or hasty transcription." With respect to the usc made by Shakespeare of the dissyllabic and trisyllabic termination, Mr. S. observes thus: " This occasional redundance is, certainly, as Dennis remarked, an improvement in our dramatic metre; though that critic is mistaken, in ascribing to Shakespeare either the invention of ït, or the frequent introduction of the trisyllabic ending: the latter, in truth, is rarely resorted to by our poet, and very few instances of it can be collected throughout his works: neither is the dissyllabic an improvement absolutely; it is no further so, than as it varies and extends the general harmony, and, therefore, should not be called forth too often; but if we find it here, in three successive lines, we shall not want evidence of similar or greater freedom in writers, whose numbers are supposed to be more correct; as in Otway, with whom it abounds, and in Rowe, whose distinguishing merit seems to be the smoothness of his versification. But let us turn to instances more apposite, and compare these casual superfluities with such as are exhibited by contemporaries; by Jonson, Massinger, and Fletcher; who are not satisfied with an incidental or moderate use of the redundant ending, but seem, especially the two latter, to prefer it; giving it place sometimes, without intermission, for many lines, and certainly, throughout their works, with more continuity than the regular heroic. "But there is, further, a conspicuous blemish in the verse of these writers, from which Shakespeare is entirely free: the dissyllabic ending is only adinissible where the accent reposes on the penultia, and is followed by a weak syllable of a constituent word, as "His mother was a votress of my order." er, at least, by a monosyllable, that is, nearly mute, as "To fall in love with what she fear'd to look ŏn.” And in this manner only does our poet employ it, and rather, as it appears, through expediency than choice; whereas, his co-rivals of the day are so enamoured of the excess, that they will often prodigally burthen the ear, to obtain it, at the expence of a new, distinct, and emphatic word. "This uncouth exuberance, so prevalent with Beaumont and Fletcher, as well as Massinger, that it disfigures the greater part of their poetry, is so uncongenial to the style of Shakespeare, that none of his interpolators has ventured to impose it on us, and the poorest lines that bear his name are, with the noblest, alike exempt from it: thus it is evident, that, instead of regarding our poet as chargeable with ruggedness of composition, we should esteem him rather, an exemplar of metrical harmony, and freely join in the praise which Jonson has bestowed on "His well-ton'd and true-filed lines," "The object of the present design is, first, to point out some instances of readings in the early copies, which seem preferable to those adopted by the last editor; secondly, to substitute order for derangement, by dismissing from the text all such words as have intruded to disturb the metre, without any benefit to the sense, as well as to restore others that have been omitted, to the detriment of both;* in the third place, to expose the grammatical anomalies, "In the twilight obscurity of this vast region, where vagrant opinion will, often, be allured by va ity, that ignis fatuus, to tread the perilous wilds of conJecture I pull in resolution.' It will doubtless be objected, by some, that I am here transgressing the boundaries assigned to the critie, who, though licensed by of what kind soever they are; and lastly, to attempt an exposition of many passages, occult or dubious, which appear to have been, by the commentators, either overlooked or misinterpreted. The readings adopted from the early quartos, and proposed for preference, shall appear in their places, as will the notes which are offered in elucidation. It might seem proper here to make some remarks upon the violations of syntax, that occur in these works; but, after a close examination, I believe it will be found that very few of those irregularities are justly ascribable to Shakespeare, and hardly any of them peculiar to him, so that the strictures which they would call forth, must necessarily wander into an abstract treatise of philology; they shall, therefore, be referred to the several passages, with care (in instances similar) to avoid the tediousness of repetition, by a significant mark, or by reference to what had preceded. : "Nothing now remains, by way of preface, but to say a few words upon the notes, which are presented, in illustration of these, a few will be advanced, with confidence, as the suggestions of some valued friends, eminently qualified for any work of criticism, and intimately conversant with the genuine style and spirit of our poet, prescription to commend or censure, can claim no privilege to alter: unquestionably, where the text of an author has come attested to the world, as his own unadulterated performance, any attempts at emendation are unwarrantable, and I have always viewed, with indignant astonishment, the desperate temerity of Bentley, as exercised on Milton; but if we, for a moment, contemplate the different circumstances attending that great poet and our dramatist, we must perceive that no comparison, on this ground, can be made between them. During the life time of Milton, two genuine editions of the Paradise Lost were pubfished; and, besides the change in the number and disposition of the Books, in the second copy, we see, by a new title page, and a table of errata, annexed, but two years afterwards, to the first, that the illustrious author had bestowed upon it the greatest attention, even to the most minute peculiarities of orthography: how foreign from this is the case of Shakespeare! Unmindful of every thing but his ease and profit, and wholly indifferent to the applause of posterity, he abandoned his works to the disposition of chance'; and they came forth, accordingly, altered, augmented, and depraved, as suited, alternately, the caprice, the avarice, and the ignorance of players, managers, and publishers. Upon a revisal, therefore, of compositions so abused, correction cannot, fairly, be deemed arrogance, nor alteration sacrilege; and if casual improvement be not imperiously dictated, but modestly suggested; not imposed as authentic, but submitted as convenient; not rashly usurping a station in the text, but humbly waiting for judgment in the margin, and implicitly abiding the sentence of the reader, whether for acceptance or rejection, the attempt will at least be pardonable. The notes by these gentlemen, though of themselves they might be sufficiently distinguishable, shall be marked with an initial letter, C. S. or L. Concerning the others, the author of them will neither affect modesty, nor display arrogance: they will, doubtless, in many instances be found weak, superfluous, and erroneous; but so likewise have been not a few of those, to which are annexed names with whom it may be honourable to be associated, even in miscarriage: thus far only, will he presume to emulate his critical predecessors, in a desire to make the brightness of Shakespeare's genius, still more conspicuous, and should it be found that he has effected this purpose in any material degree, his ambition will be gratified, and his industry rewarded." CURSORY REMARKS ON THE PHILOCTETES OF SOPHOCLES. SOPHOCLES has committed, in the latter part of the play, a strange oversight, for Philoctetes say, -οἶτε σε καθυβρισαν Γερας παίρος συλῶντες, οἱ τον αθλιον ΟδυσΓεως εκριναν.-1414. For the only time when Ajax is, except in the present instance, mentioned, is in the intelligence given of his death by Neoptolemus, at which Philoctetes expresses his surprise. Vide 425. And indeed it would be highly improbable, if not impossible, that Philoctetes should be acquainted with this event. But this very same objection still remains, with regard to the dispute of Ajax and Ulysses; unless it should be argued in defence, that he (Philoctetes) might have been informed of it by the mariners who occasionally touched there. Vide 320, and 508. But surely, if that were the case, he would also have heard of Ajax's death, which followed so immediately; or, at least, have questioned Neoptolemus respecting the event. We must therefore confess that Sophocles has been inaccurate, or, which is nearer the truth, some preceding passage, relative to the one in question, has not escaped the hand of time. ( Dr. Franklin, however, in his translation, makes no application of persons: "I rather had believed Thou wouldst have sent me far, far off from those Who have defrauded thee of thy just right, And gave thy arms away." V. 1049. Change Juxny to puny. Thus 549. Αοικον εισοικησιν. Euripides Hec. νυμφον τ' ανυμφον, &c. A form of speech frequent in the tragic and comic poets. Αλεὴς ύπνος εσθλος. For though Neoptolemus says, v. 848, that his body distilled with sweat, yet aλsns cannot be admitted; as sleep accompanied with perspiration, could no more further their design, than if they were not combined; whereas, by the proposed alteration, the sense will be this: sleep gives us opportunity for flight. 66 V. 36. και πυξεί ομε ταδε is interpreted “ jars or pipkins,” perhaps made of clay, and hardened by fire. Franklin translates it, a few sticks for fuel." This is certainly better; but I think it would be more significant, if construed "flints;" as in a subsequent part of the play, Philoctetes himself (V.308) says, · είτα τους αν 8 παρην Αλλ' εν πετροισι πετρον εκτριβων, μόλισ (See a former note.) We have a word similar to this in our own language; viz. "firestone." Thus zugesov from wvg, fire. V. 130. Alter Texvov to Tea For though the chorus (Verse 141) and Philoctetes (248) call Neoptolemus Texvov, yet Ulysses never does. Besides, the tragic poets generally use the penultimate short in Texvov, as in the instance above quoted (248) 312, and 482. And this not only in Texvov, but frequently in words of the same kind, as mvua, 484, &c. V. 1435. Read με for ye. V. 1498. Read Instead of —ἡ γαρ ευσέβεια συνθνησκει βροτοις γαρ ευσέβεια ο θνησκει βροτοις. |