P. 366. Yet I'm advised to do it, he says to vailfull purpose. I do not know how Mr. Pope understood this; but surely it should be, t' availfull purpose. P. 372. In this I'll be impartial: be you judge Of your own cause. Surely this Duke had odd notions of impartiality, to commit the decision of a cause to the person accused of being criminal. He talks much more rationally in this affair, when he speaks in the character of the Friar, p. 376: The Duke's unjust, Thus to retort your manifest appeal, And put your trial in the villain's mouth, Sure, it should be, In this I will be partial. P. 376. Stand like the forfeits in a Barber's shop, As much in mock as mark. I have no notion what these forfeits are; but, I am sure, the allusion is most absurd in the Duke's mouth; it is a mere Poeta loquitur: as again Hamlet, when dying, talks of Death as of a Serjeant arresting him. P. 377. Shew your sheep-biting face, and be hang'd an hour. Is this, an hour, do you think, genuine? I much suspect it. P. 380. For Angelo, his act did not o'ertake his bad intent, And must be buried but as an intent That perish'd by the way: Thoughts are no subjects to which qualities are adjoin'd? What does she mean by buried? forgot, buried in silence? And how is subjects to be understood, as with the Philosophers? And so ends the First Volume with me. I will proceed to fill up the remainder of my paper with the Comedy of Errors. V 2 There There are many things I set right in this Play by collation with the old folio, many of which I need not trouble you with. P. 7. A doubtful warrant of immediate death. It plainly appears by the context that they were certain of immediate death: I rather think therefore the Poet wrote, A dreadful warrant, &c. Ibid. Of Corinth that, of EPIDAURUS this. I strongly suspect this a corruption from EPIDAMNUS: and I think the Abbess's speech, in p. 58, seems to warrant my suspicion : By men of EPIDAMNUM he and I, and the twin Dromio, all were taken up, &c. P. 8. For ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues. I cannot tell how to be satisfied with this passage. Ægeon and his wife were lashed to two several masts, expecting wreck; and, floating with the stream, as soon as it was morning, they saw two vessels making amain to them, and yet these vessels were no less than ten leagues from each other. This seems a very wild story to me, that am but a freshwater sailor. P. 9. Now trust me, were it not against our laws, Which princes would, they may not disannul. The pointing is certainly wrong in the last line, and the order of the verses too, perhaps, is to be disputed. Will the verb disannul answer properly to all these substantives? How might he be said to disannull his crown, in shewing pity? What if we should regulate the lines thus? Now trust me, were it not against our laws, P. 10. Till that I'll view the manners of the town, Peruse the traders. Here is a like transposition, which, Mr. Pope might have observed, is set right by the first folio edition. Within this hour Till that I'll view Peruse the traders P. 16. Now, Sir, I will present you with a passage, that will give you some employment in conjecture to rectify. After this couplet, Yet the gold bides still That others touch, and often touching will. The first folio edition adds: Wear But Where gold, and no man that hath a name, P. 20. Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed, I live distain'd, thou undishonour'd. Surely, this cannot be our Poet's meaning; if they both of them were true to wedlock, why should she be stained, and yet he undishonoured? It must either be, I live unstained; or else, with a disjunction, dis-stained. P.... We talk with goblins, owls, and elvish sprights, &c. They might fancy they talked with goblins, and sprights, but why with owls, in the name of Nonsense? I make no doubt but we must read, with goblins, ouphes, and elvish sprights. So, in the Merry Wives, p. 289: And Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room, Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white, &c. P. 24. I think thou art an ass. E. Dro. Marry, so it doth appear By the wrongs I suffer, and the blows I bear. Certainly, this is cross-purpose reasoning. It appears Dromio is an ass, by his making no resistance, because an ass, being kicked, kicks again. I would read, Marry, so it doth n't appear. P. 27. You have prevail'd; I will depart in quiet, And, in despight of MIRTH, mean to be merry. In despight of what mirth? We do not find that it was any joke, or matter of mirth, to be shut out of doors by his wife. May May we not restore it, And, in despight of WRATH, mean to be merry. His passion is plain enough all through this scene; and again, at p. 45, he confesses how angry he was: And did not I in RAGE depart from thence? As this puts an end to a scene, so it must close this Letter. On Saturday, God willing, I will pursue the remainder of this Play, and attack Much Ado about Nothing. Believe me, dear Sir, with the greatest sincerity and gratitude, unalterably, your affectionate and obliged friend and humble servant, LEW. THEObald. LETTER XIX. To the Rev. Mr. WARBURTON. DEAR SIR, Nov. 29, 1729. This, as I promised, shall trouble you with the Ev'n in the spring of Love, thy Love-springs rot? I doubt not but you have observed that this scene, for 52 lines running, is strictly in alternate rhyme; saving that it is broke in the second and fourth verses of these two first couplets. Sure this must then be through the fault of the Editions. Besides, what conceit could our Editors have of Love in buildings growing ruinate? Sure, they did not dream of Love made under an old wall! I have ventured to supply the passage two ways, and shall be glad to know which of them you approve for me. (It is certain, I think, a monosyllable has dropped from the tail of the second line.) And may it be, that you have quite forgot A husband's office? Shall, Antipholis, thus *, Ev'n in the spring of Love, thy Love-springs rot? Shall Love, in building, grow so ruinous †? * Or, hate? P. 31. S. Ant. What's her name? † ruinate? S. Dro. Nell, Sir; but her name is three quarters, &c. This is a very odd and intricate passage, and has given me much trouble. I hope, it has given you a stop. I can at last make some sense of it; I won't be certain I have hit upon the Poet's meaning; but, if I have not, I believe, it will be past my discovery. S. Dro. NEL, Sir;-but her name ‡ and three quarters (i. e. an ell and three quarters) will not measure her from hip to hip. Ibid. In her forehead; arm'd and reverted, making war against her hair. Is there any equivocal joke here aimed at betwixt hair and heir? You know the stir about that time in France, to exclude Navarre from the Crown; and that Queen Elizabeth sent forces in aid of his cause, one that countermands P. 38. The passages of Allies In one of yours, last season, I remember you proposed we should read here countermines; but, if you please to observe, rhyme seems designed here by the Poet; and therefore I suspect it should be commands. What is meant, a little lower in this speech, of hounds running counter, and drawing the foot, I am too raw a sportsman to guess at. P. 39. Adr. As if Time were in debt, how fondly dost thou reason? S. Dro. Time is a very bankrout, and owes more than he's worth. Nell, i. e. an ell. Mr. Pope will call this restoring lost puns. |