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Mr. Malone says, the false concord cannot be corrected, I think it would be better to pronounce trifle as a monosyllable, and read---each trifle, unwitnessed, &c. EDITOR.

P. 45, 1. 1. Unwilling sight. In the first edition it was night.

Ib. 1. 2. Had trench'd.

Fr. MALONE.

Trench'd is cut. Trancher,

Ib. 1. 4. Was drench'd. First octavo--had drench'd: the compositor having caught the word had from the line above. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 9. Dumbly she passions; i. e. vents her passion. Qur author occasionally makes substantives verbs.

See note upon p. 43, 1. 11.

Ib. 1. 13. Upon this hurt.

Ib. 1. 23.

EDITOR.

Read---his hurt.

Mine eyes as fire. The edition of 1596 reads-red as fire. In the copy of 1600 red is omitted, and as retained. Other copies read-mine eyes' red

fire.

P. 46, 1. 5. The flowers, &c. I suspect Shakespeare wrote-Thy flowers, &c. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 9. Having no fair to lose, you need not fear. Fair was formerly used as a substantive in the sense of beauty. It appears from the corresponding rhyme, and the jingle in the present line, that the word fear was pronounced, in the time of Shakespeare, as if it were written fare. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 20. He wou'd not fear him; i. e. terrify him. From the rhyme in this verse, fear is according to the present pronunciation. In a succeeding verse we find spear as rhyme for there, (p. 47) and several other con

tradictory instances appear, which leave Mr. Malone's observation (as in the preceding note) rather doubtful. The truth is, poets, in Shakespeare's days, were by no means nice in their rhyme. EDITOR. P. 47, l. 7. Urched-snouted boar. snouted. An urchin is a hedge-hog.

Read---urchin

Ib. 1. 17. And nousling. Read---nuzzling.
Ib. 1. 22. My mouth with his.

The first editions have it my youth, which Mr. Malone thinks right, for Adonis had granted her a kiss.

P. 48, 1. 6. Two lamps burnt out, in darkness lies. In order to remove this false concord, I think it would be better to render eyes, in the preceding line, eye, (as in poetry the singular is often used for the plural) and consequently lies, lie. EDITOR.

This inaccuracy may be found in every page of our author's works, as well as in those of many of his contemporaries and predecessors. In every place either the metre or the rhyme render it incurable. MALONE. Ib. 1. 11. This is my spite. This is done purposely

to vex and distress me. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 16 and 17.

for to, read but.

Fine sweet, &c. Read-find; and

Ib. 1. 21. O'er-straw'd.

So the old copy, and

such, perhaps, was the pronunciation of o'er-strew'd in our author's time. Formerly, however, our poets often changed the termination of words for the sake of rhyme. MALONE.

P. 49, 1. 2. To tread the measures; i. e. to dance. P. 50, l. 13. Here is my breast. As Venus sticks the flower to which Adonis is turned, in her bosom, I

think we must read against all the copies, and with much more elegance

"Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast."

For it was her breast which she would insinuate was Adonis's. The close of the preceding stanza partly warrants this change :--

"But know it is as good

"To wither in my breast as in his blood."

As the succeeding lines in this stanza likewise do:"Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy rest."

THEOBALD.

TARQUIN AND LUCRECE.

A book, entitled The Ravishment of Lucrece, was entered on the Stationers' Register by Mr. Harrison, Sen. May 1, 1594; and the poem was first printed in 4to. in the same year. It was again published, in small oc

tavo, in 1598, 1600, and 1607. It is said there were editions of it in 1596 and 1602. In 1616 another edi

tion appeared, which, in the title page, is said to be newly revised and corrected.

P. 57, 1. 3. Lust-breathing Tarquin.

have it--Lust-breathed.

Other copies

Ib. 1. 10. Did not let ; i. c. Did not forbear. MA

LONE.

Ib. 1. 13. Where mortal star. Read--stars; i. e. eyes.

Ib. 1. 17. What prizeless. Read---priceless.

Ib. 1. 20. At so high a rate.

it---At such high-proud rate.

The first editions havė

Ib. 1. 22. But king nor prince. In the first editions we read---But king nor peer.

P. 58, 1. 2. And done; i. e consumed, as in the preceding poem.

Ib. 1. 3. As if. Read--is; an error of the first editions.

Ib. 1. 5. A date expired, &c. In the first editions: "An expired date, cancell'd ere well begun." The above is certainly more harmonious.

Ib. 1. 7. Here weakly fortrest. Read-fortress'd. Ib. 1. 10. What needed, &c. Other copies have it, (and which is better)

"What needeth then apology be made."

Ib. 1. 14. From thievish cares. The first editions read-thievish ears.

Ib. 1. 16. Suggested here means---tempted, prompted, instigated. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 26. In his liver glows. Some copies have it grows. The liver was formerly supposed to be the seat of love. MALONE.

Ib. 1. 28. Thy hasty spring still blasts, and ne'er grows old. Like a too early spring, which is frequently checked by blights, and never produces any ripened or wholesome fruit, the irregular forwardness of an unlawful passion never gives any solid or permanent satisfaction. Blasts is here a neutral verb. MALONE.

P. 59, 1. 7. Virtue would stain that o'er with silver white. The original edition has it ore, which might certainly have been intended for o'er; the word over, when

contracted, having been formerly written ore.

But in

Vir

this way the passage is not reducible to grammar. tue would stain that; i. e. blushes, &c. The word intended, was, perhaps, or; i. e. gold, to which the poet compares the deep colour of a blush. In Hamlet ore is used by our author, manifestly in the sense of or, or gold. The terms of heraldry, in the next stanza, seem to favour this supposition; and the opposition between or and the silver white is entirely in Shakespeare's manSo afterwards :--

ner,

"Which virtue gave the golden age, to gild

"Their silver cheeks." MALONE.

It is evident, that or signifing gold, or gold colour was originally written ore, to distinguish it from the conjunction or, and that the e was afterwards abolished to distinguish it from ore, unrefined metal. There is no doubt but gold was the author's meaning, and that the above reading is a corruption. EDITOR.

Ib. 1. 8. In that white intituled. I suppose he means, that consists in that whiteness, or takes its title from it. STEEVENS.

Ib. 1. 12. Her silver, &c. Read--

Their silver cheeks and call'd it then their shield.

There is

Ib. 1. 22, 23, &c. This silent war, &c. here much confusion of metaphor. War is, in the first line, used merely to signify the contest of lilies and roses for superiority; and in the third as actuating an army which takes Tarquin prisoner, and encloses his eye in the pure ranks of white and red. MALone.

Field is here equivocally used. The war of lilies and roses requires a field of battle: the heraldry, in the

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