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P. 12. (17)

"Le Beau. Three proper young men, of excellent growth and presence, with bills on their necks,

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Ros. Be it known unto all men by these presents,'-"

In the folio the words "with bills on their necks" are the commencement of Rosalind's speech. Farmer (who showed that Shakespeare might have found this very expression in Lodge's Rosalynd, the novel which furnished the plot of the play,—"Rosader came pacing towardes them with his forrest bill on his neck," p. 84 of reprint in Shakespeare's Library) assigned them to Le Beau; and no doubt rightly;-for, if they are spoken by Rosalind, the whole humour of the passage evaporates. By "bills" Le Beau means the weapons carried by foresters: Rosalind chooses to understand that he means scrolls, advertising bills.

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The folio has "see."-"Feel,' surely; and so Johnson conjectures, although he doubts whether any change is required." Walker's Crit. Exam, &c. vol. ii. p. 299.-The error "see" was evidently derived from the close of the speech, "Shall we see this wrestling, cousin ?"

P. 13. (19)

"Duke F. You will take little delight in it, I can tell you, there is such odds in the men. In pity of the challenger's youth, I would fain dissuade him," The folio has " such oddes in the man," &c.,-which has been explained, "the challenger (Orlando) is so little of a match:" but if Shakespeare had here written "man" (meaning Orlando), he surely would not immediately after have written "In pity of the challenger's youth," &c., but "In pity of his youth," &c. Nor, on carefully considering the passage, can I think more favourably of the old reading, because a critic in Blackwood's Magazine for August 1853, p. 197, confidently maintains that it means "there is such superiority (of strength) in the man (Charles)." A little above, “man" is applied to Orlando ("Is yonder the man?"), and, a little below, to Charles ("cruel proof of this man's strength”): here the two “men,” Charles and Orlando, are spoken of.

P. 13. (20)

"Duke F.

Speak to him, ladies; see if you can move him.

Cel. Call him hither, good Monsieur Le Beau.

Le Beau. Monsieur the challenger, the princess' call for you.
Orl. I attend them with all respect and duty."

According to the folio, Le Beau says, the princesse cals for you."Theobald's alteration is, "the princesses call for you:"-but I prefer "the princess' call for you:"—the plural form “princess'" occurs in The Tempest (vol. i. p. 182), while "princesses" is not found once throughout the whole of Shakespeare's works. Still, whether we read "the princess calls," &c., or "the princess' call," &c., an inconsistency will remain.—Mr. W. N. Lettsom not improbably conjectures that the speech now given to Celia, "Call him VOL. III.

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hither," &c., should have the double prefix "Cel. and Ros. :" "this notion," he adds, "is in some degree supported by the Duke's immediately preceding words, 'Speak to him, ladies;' as well as by the fact that Rosalind is the first to address Orlando, which is not altogether consistent with Celia only requesting Le Beau to call him. At any rate it seems quite impossible, if 'princess' is a singular, to explain 'I attend them,' though Caldecott, Knight, and Collier have made the attempt."-1863. Mr. Grant White and the Cambridge Editors also make very unhappy attempts to explain "them."

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The folio has “your eyes

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our judgment,"

your judgment."-Corrected by Warburton; and so Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector. (Mr. Grant White pronounces the old reading to be right: he says that "eyes' and 'judgment' are the emphatic words here.")

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The folio has "wherein,"-which Walker (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. i. p. 309) justly suspects.-I adopt Mason's emendation.

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Theobald conjectured "An you mean;" Mason, "If you mean.”

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P. 15. (24) "But justly, as you have exceeded promise,” "The old copy, without regard to the measure, reads. all promise.' STEEVENS.-Hanmer printed - as you've here exceeded promise."-Walker (Crit. Exam. &c. vol. i. p. 288) would read “—— as y'have here excell'd all promise."

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The folio has "misconsters." See note 25 on the Merchant of Venice, vol. ii. p. 419.

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So Rowe (in his sec. ed.) and Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector.-The folio has “taller,”—which is certainly wrong: see the next scene, p. 19.-" I suspect this ['taller'] is a slip of Shakespeare's pen. The word he had in his thoughts was probably shorter' (and so Pope and others), not smaller,' which in this sense belongs to later English." Walker's Crit. Eram. &c. vol. iii. p. 60.Mr. Spedding proposes "lesser."

P. 16. (28)

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"Cel. But is all this for your father?

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Ros. No, some of it is for my father's child."

So Rowe (in his sec. ed.), Coleridge, and Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector.-The

folio has " – for my childes Father;" which could only be right, if Celia's question had been, “But is all this for your child ?”

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"Strange,' I think [and so the third folio]." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 23.

P. 17. (30)

"Ros. No, faith, hate him not, for my sake.

Cel. Why should I? doth he not deserve well?”

The folio has "Cel. Why should I not? doth he not deserue well?”—a manifest error, in consequence of "not" occurring just before and just after.— (Mr. Grant White, who adheres to the reading of the folio, says that "doth he not deserve well" means "doth he not deserve well to be hated,"-which is utterly inconsistent with the declaration in Celia's preceding speech, "yet I hate not Orlando.")

P. 17. (31)

"Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste,"

The Ms. Corrector reads ". your fastest haste," and, according to Mr. Collier, he is "supported by obvious plausibility:" but, as a critic in Blackwood's Magazine for August 1853, p. 198, observes, “Rosalind is allowed ten days to take herself off in."-1863. Mr. Collier now says that here "change seems undesirable."

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Is Mr. Singer right in considering this as parallel to the form of expression in King John, act iv. sc. 2, "No had, my lord!" (on which vide note)?—“I think Mr. Singer is mistaken. The case would be different, if Shakespeare had written 'No hath'." W. N. LETTSOM.

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So Theobald (Warburton).—The folio has "thee."

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The first folio has "your change upon you;" the second folio, "your charge upon you."—I adopt the emendation of Mr. Singer (who supposes that here the printer mistook “ 'ye charge" of the Ms. for "y" charge”).

P. 19. (35)

Hanmer substituted "I'll."

"We'll"

P. 20. (36)

"Now go we in content,"

So the second folio.-The first folio has "Now go in we content,”—which is preferred by Caldecott and Mr. Knight!

P. 20. (37)

"Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,

The seasons' difference; as, the icy fang"

The folio has "Heere feele we not the penaltie of Adam," &c. Theobald altered "not" to "but" (words very frequently confounded in early books). -"For the plural followed by a single instance, compare act iv. sc. 3 ;

P. 20. (38)

Tears our recountments had most kindly bath'd,
As, how I came into that desert place.""

"I would not change it."

W. N. LETTSOM.

In the folio these words begin the next speech. It seems strange that no one before Upton should have seen that they must belong to the Duke, and still stranger that, after the error was once pointed out, any editor should persist in retaining it.

P. 21. (39)

"his weeping in the needless stream;"

The folio has "his weeping into the needlesse streame," the ranscriber's or compositor's eye having caught "into" from the preceding line. (“In” was formerly often used for "into," e. g.

"But first I'll turn yond fellow in his grave."

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Mr. Grant White prints take, "Thus the original.")

Richard III. act i. sc. 2.—

into th' needless stream;" and states, by mis

P. 21. (40) "To that which had too much? then, being alone,"

The folio has "To that which had too must: then being there alone.”—Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector and Mr. Singer read “ To that which hath too much,” &c.

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The folio has "his veluet friend;" which Caldecott, Mr. Knight, and Mr. Collier retain in consequence of Whiter's observation, that "the singular is often used for the plural with a sense more abstracted, and therefore in many instances more poetical"!

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Mr. W. N. Lettsom observes that "fail' [Mr. Lloyd's conjecture] seems more appropriate here than 'quail'."

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The folio has "bonnie;" which some editors retain,-most improperly, I think. (As Charles is here called "bony," so in the preceding scene he is called “sinewy.”)

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Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector very erroneously reads "beneath this roof.”— Compare

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"He answer'd him; Ile tell all strictly true,

If time, and foode, and wine enough acrue
Within your roofe to vs," &c.

Chapman's Odyssey, B. xiv. p. 216, ed. folio.

Minerua, who in Joues high roofe, that beares the rough shield," &c.

Chapman's Iliad, B. i. p. 6.

P. 24. (49) "Of a diverted blood and bloody brother."

"The language is so strikingly Shakespearian, that nothing but the most extreme obtuseness can excuse the Ms. Corrector's perverse reading,

"Of a diverted, proud, and bloody brother.'"

Blackwood's Magazine for August 1853, p. 198.

"in"

P. 24. (49*)

Qy. "to"?

P. 24. (50)

"The constant service of the antique world,
When service swet for duty, not for meed!"

"I believe that the former service' is the corrupt one; yet I can imagine Shakespeare having written

'When duty swet for duty, not for meed.'"

Walker's Crit. Exam, &c. vol. i. p. 293,-

where his editor conjectures "The constant temper of," &c.-Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector reads "The constant favour of," &c.

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"Ros. O Jupiter, how weary are my spirits!

Touch. I care not for my spirits, if my legs were not weary.

Ros. I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel, and to cry like a woman;"

The folio has "O Iupiter, how merry are my spirits!" &c.; and so Caldecott

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