EMENDATION.

So in ROMEO and JULIET, Page 280.

Signior Romeo, bon jour; --- there's a French Salutation to your French
SLOP.

'Tis true, Mr. POPE has printed it here your French STOP. But it must be corrected
as I have restored it from the fecond Folio Edition, and the other better Copies, or We come
at no Senfe.
Those wide-kneed Breeches were the Garb in fashion in our Author's Days,
(as we may obferve from old Family-Pictures,) as well off, as upon the Stage: And
that they were the Mode in France too, is plainly hinted in another of our Author's Plays.
See K. HENRY V. Page 448.

Dauph. Oh, then belike he was old and gentle, and you rode like a Kerne of Ireland,
your French HOSE off, and in your ftreight Stroffers.

Hofe and Slops were fynonymous Terms, and ufed to fignify the self-fame Accoutrement. I'll throw in one Inftance more of our Author's being acquainted with the Word Slops, because the Paffage is not to be found in the common Editions; but I'll reftore it from an old One in Quarto, (publish'd for Andrew Wife and William Afpley, in 1600) an Edition which Mr. POPE never faw, or at leaft never collated.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Page 516.

There is no Appearance of Fancy in him, unless it be a Fancy that he hath to ftrange Difguifes, as to be a Dutchman to day, a Frenchman to morrow; or in the shape of two Countries at once, as a German from the Waste downward, all SLOPS; and a Spaniard from the Hip upward, no Doublet, &c.

LVII. MERRY WIVES of WINDSOR, Page 244.

Falf.

Sometimes the Beam of her Eye GUIDED my Foot, Sometimes my portly
Belly.

Falstaffe is here talking how Mrs. Page look'd upon him, and furvey'd him all over, and exa-
min'd his Parts with very good Liking. But how did her Eye guide his Foot? &c. Cer-
tainly, this can never mean, guided itfelf towards his Foot. Falstaffe feems to me here to
fpeak as a Man in Love, with much Complaifance; and as comparing his Mistress's Eye to
the Sun for Brightnefs, and for a Power of brightening the Object which it darted on: I
therefore queflion not but it fhould be corrected thus;

Sometimes the Beam of her Eye GUILDED my Foot, fometimes my portly
Belly.

It is a poetical Expreffion to fay that her Eye, like the Sun, gilded (or, guilded, as of old
they wrote it) what Part it fhone upon; and I am the rather perfuaded that my Correction is
right, from the immediate Reply of Piftol, which keeps up the Metaphor;

Then did the SUN on Dunghill fhine.

LVIII. Ibid. Page 311.

EMENDATION.

Mrs. Ford. Mrs. Page is come with me, Sweet-heart.
Fall.

Divide me like a BRIB'D buck, each a baunch.

I must confefs, I don't understand the Meaning of a brib'd Buck: If I conceive the Author's
Senfe at all, it ought to be reftor'd;

Divide

Divide me like a BRIBE-Buck, each a Haunch.

i. e. as a Buck fent for a Bribe betwixt You. So it becomes a Term of Art, and a very proper One; and it brings to my Mind what is recorded in Print concerning my Lord Chief Justice HALE; that when he went the Circuit, if any Gentleman, who had a Caufe to come before him, fent him Venifon, he conftantly refused it, saying, It is a BRIBE-Buck, and

I'll have None of it.

LIX. K. LEAR, Page 9.
Cordel.

Peace be with Burgundy,

Since that Refpe& AND Fortunes are his Love,

I fhall not be his Wife.

The Duke of Burgundy had made his Addreffes to Cordelia, and was to have her to Wife with a Third Part of her Father's Kingdom in Dowry; but her Father falling out with, and difinheriting her, asks Burgundy if he will take her in that Condition, and dowerlefs: Burgundy excufing himself, and that he cannot take her without the propos'd Portion, Cordelia thus replies to his Refufal. But what does the Poet mean by Respect and Fortunes? What Refpect? If Lear would have beftowed the third Part of his Dominions, as he had contracted, that was all the Refpect which Burgundy would have ftood upon with her. I would willingly restore it with my Quarto Edition, publifh'd in 1655, which I prefume never came to the Editor's View.

Peace be with Burgundy!

Since that Refpe&ts OF Fortune are his Love,

I fhall not be his Wife.

i. e. fince his profeft Love and Addreffes to Me, were only on Account of the Dowry which he hop'd to have with me.

LX. Ibid. Page 10.

Time fhall unfold what PLIGHTED Cunning bides.

There is no good Senfe in this Epithet, plighted, here, and therefore there is Reafon to fufpect it a Corruption. The Meaning of the Poet certainly is, that Time fhall discover what intricate, perplex'd, involv'd Cunning labours to conceal. It must be reftor'd therefore either thus; Time fhall unfold what * PLEACHED Cunning bides.

Or rather,

* i. c. twisted, intangled, &c. See MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Page 512; ANTONY
and CLEOPATRA, Page 402; and HENRY V. Page 489.

Time fhall unfold what PLAITED Cunning hides.

Each of the Terms anfwer the Idea required in this Place; but I prefer the latter, because it fignifies wrapt in Folds, and is more directly oppofite in Senfe to unfolding. The Word might poffibly, according to the old Spelling, be wrote thus, plaighted; and fo the Miftake arife by an easy Corruption of it into plighted.

But that thy ftrange Mutations make us HATE thee,
Life would not yield to age.

This, I think, is as remarkable a Paffage, as has at all fall'n under my Confideration. It has
neither been fufpected, nor attempted; tho', 'tis evident, it carries a flat Contradiction to
the Sentiment which the Poet would infer. If the Viciffitudes in the World make us bate

A a 2

the

EMENDATION.

EMENDATION.

EMENDATION,

172

EMENDATION.

EMENDATION.

the World, is that a Reaton why we should fubmit to live to be old? I fhould rather have thought it an Argument for the putting an End to a miferable Life. There is fo flagrant a Paradox in Senfe, as the Text now ftands, that, tho' all the Editions unhappily countenance it, I conceive, Mr. POPE might very fafely have indulg'd his private Sense here. I communicated my Objections upon this Place (as I have upon many others) to my late ingenious Friend Dr. SEWEL, (whom Death has fince robbed me of, tho' his Merit will long out-live these poor Sheets:) who gave me this Conjecture upon It.

i. e. if the many Changes in Life did not induce us to abate from, and make Allowances for, Some of the bad Cafualties, we fhould never endure to live to old Age.

This is excellent good Senfe and Reasoning, and certainly comes very near to our Author's Meaning. I have fince ventur'd to try my own Strength upon the Paffage; and the Doctor was fo complaifant to think my Conjecture lefs ftrain'd, and the more probable One. I fufpect, the Poet wrote it thus;

O World! World! World!

But that thy ftrange Mutations make us WAITE Thee,

Life would not yield to Age.

i. e. if the Number of Changes and Viciffitudes, which happen in Life, did not make us
waite, and hope for fome Turn of Fortune for the better, we could never support the Thought
of living to be old, on any other Terms.

LXII. First Part of K. HENRY IV. Page 223.
P. Hen.

Did'st thou never see Titan kifs a Dish of butter? pitifull-hearted TITAN,
that melted at the fweet Tale of the Sun? if thou didst, then behold that Com-
pound.

This abfurd Reading poffeffes all the Copies that have ever fallen in my Way; and tho' it
has pafs'd thro' fuch a Number of Impreffions, is Nonfenfe which we may pronounce to
have arifen at firft, from the Inadvertence and Blunder of the Compofitors to the Prefs. "Tis
well known, Titan is one of the poetical Names of the Sun; but we have no Authority
from Fable for Titan's melting away at his own fweet Tale, as Narciffus did at the Reflec-
tion of his own fweet Form. The Poet's Meaning was certainly this: Sir John Falstaffe
enters in a great Heat, after having been robb'd by the Prince and Poines in Difguife: And
"Do but
the Prince, feeing him in fuch a Sweat, makes the following Simile upon Him:
"look upon that Compound of Greate; his Fat dripps away with the Violence of his
"Motion, just as Butter does with the Heat of the Sun-Beams darting full upon it." Cor-
rect therefore, as common Sense requires.

P. Hen. Did'ft Thou never fee Titan kifs a Difh of Butter? Pitiful-hearted BUTTER that melted at the fweet Tale of the Sun? If Thou didst, then behold that Compound.

LXIII. LOVE'S LABOUR LOST, Page 117.

These are Complements, these are Humours, thefe betray nice Wenches that would be betray'd without thefe, and make THEM men of Note: do you note Men that most are affected to these?

The Speech here is a Defcription of the odd Altitudes and Affectations which Men in Love affume, and thereby feduce young Girls into that Paffion. But do thefe Affectations make Wenches Men of Note too? This is a Transformation, which, I dare fay, the Poet never

thought

thought of. His Meaning is, as I conceive, that they not only inveigle the young Girls, but make the Men taken Notice of, who affect them. Correct therefore;

and make * THE MEN Men of Note: Do you note Men,

that are most affected to Thefe.

* Or, the Men of Note.

This is not the only Paffage of our Author, where, in the printed Copies, I have observ'd them thro' Error to have ufurp'd the Place of Men.

COMEDY OF ERRORS, Page 432.

Ant.

Why is Time fuch a Niggard of Hair, being, as it is, so plentiful an Excrement? S. Dro. Because it is a Bleffing that he bestows on Beafts; and what he hath fcanted THEM in hair, he hath given them in Wit.

Ant.

Why, but there's many a Man hath more Hair than Wit.

Sure, this is an evident Paradox, and Contradiction in Senfe. Can Hair be fuppofed a Bleffing that Time bestows on Beafts peculiarly, and yet that he hath scanted them of it too? Correct, as the Context plainly requires;

S. Dro.

Ant.

Because it is a Bleffing that he beftows on Beasts; and what he hath fcanted MEN
in Hair, he hath given them in Wit.

Why, but there's Many a Man hath more Hair than Wit.

So there is a Paffage in Hamlet, (tho' I have pafs'd it over in my Examination of That Play,)
where I have always fufpected, on the other hand, that Men ufurps the Place of them.
HAMLET, Page 405.

Oh, there be Players, that I have seen play, and heard Others praise, and that
highly, (not to speak it prophanely,) that neither having the Accent of Chrif-
tian, Pagan, or Man, have so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought
Some of Nature's Journeymen had made MEN, and not made them well,
they imitated Humanity fo abominably.

What? Is Hamlet fuppofed to reafon here, that, because he had feen a few very prepofterous
Players, therefore he fhould think Nature's Journeymen had made all Mankind? for fo Men
in this Place, without Some or thofe prefixed, muft imply. No, thofe Players were so far
from appearing human Creatures, that he could fcarce imagine them the Handy-Work of
Nature, but of Some of her clumfy Journeymen. If This be his Senfe, might not the Poet
more probably have wrote?

that I have thought Some of Nature's Journeymen had made THEM, and not made them well, they imitated Humanity so abominably.

LXIV. Ibid. Page 173.

An beavy Heart bears NOT an humble Tongue.

From the whole Tenour of this Speech of the Princefs, who is fresh in Sorrow on Account of her Father's Death, and who is making Apologies for any Thing that She may have faid too freely to the King,, 'tis plain, this Sentiment is the direct Oppolite to the Poet's Meaning. Befides, it is true in Nature, that Heavinefs of Heart, and any Oppreffion, always make us humble and fubmiffive. Correct, without Scruple;

An heavy Heart bears BUT an humble Tongue.

The Mistake is eafy upon these Monofyllables, and may be found to have happen'd in feveral other Paffages of our Author. I'll fubjoin two or three Inftances, in which I believe every Body will agree with Me, that the fame Error poffeffes the printed Copies.

Occafional
EMENDATION

Occafional
EMENDATION}

EMENDATION

ALL'S

ift Occasional

EMENDATION. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, Page 439.

Men are to *mell with, Boys are NOT to kiss.

*mell, from meler, to mingle,

Here's a new Maxim obtruded upon Us, that Boys are not to kifs. The Poet's Thought, I am perfuaded, goes further, viz. that Boys are fit only to kifs; Men to mingle with, and give more fubftantial Pleafures. Correct it;

Men are to mell with, Boys are BUT to kifs.

28 Occafional
EMENDATION COMEDY OF ERRORS, Page 440.

Alas, poor Women, make us NOT believe
(Being compact of credit) that you love us;
Tho' others have the Arm, Jhew us the Sleeve,
We in your Motion turn, and
you may move us.

Nothing can be more plain than the Poet's Senfe in this Paffage. Women, fays He, are fo eafy of Faith, that only make them believe you love them, and they'll take the bare Profeffion for the Subftance. Correct it;

Alas, poor Women! make us BUT believe, &c.

Surely, this is fuch a Mock-Reasoning that it cannot be SHAKESPEARE'S, but in its Corruption. What? because he was made fitter to wonder at great Actions, than to perform any, is he therefore forbid to wonder? I think it is evident, to Demonftration, that common Senfe demands this Reading from the Poet.

EMENDATION.

A Fiend, a FAIRY, pitilefs and rough,

A Wolf, nay, worse, &c.

Dromio here bringing Word in hafte that his Mafter is arrested, defcribes the Bailiff by Names proper to raise Horror and Deteftation of fuch a Creature, fuch as, a Devil, a Fiend, a Wolf, &c. But how does Fairy come up to these Ideas? Or with what Propriety can it be used here? Does he mean, that a Bailiff is like a Fairy in ftealing away his Mafter? The trueft Believers of thofe little Phantoms never pretended to think that they ftole any thing but Children. Certainly, it will fort better in Senfe with the other Names annexed, as well as with the Character of a Catch-Pole, to conclude that the Poet wrote;

A Fiend, a FURY, pitiless and rough,

A Wolf, &c.

LXVI. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Page 480.

and

He fet up his Bills here in Meffina, and challeng'd Cupid at the flight; my Uncle's Fool reading the Challenge, fubfcrib'd for Cupid, and challeng'd him at the BURBOLT.

Thus