P. 138. (52) "[Exit with Gaoler and Wooer." "The following is made a separate scene in the former editions; but it is evident that the Jailer and his Daughter were placed in the same situation as Emilia is afterwards, -a garden overlooked by the prison in which Palamon and Arcite were confined. But there is considerable difficulty how the subsequent conversation with the Jailer is to be carried on. In the ancient theatres this was easily accomplished by the platform of the stage representing the garden, and the permanent gallery at the back the inside of the tower in which Palamon and Arcite were immured." WEBER.-The two prisoners were no doubt supposed to appear at the window (Palamon, p. 145, says to Arcite,

"Put but thy head out of this window more,
And, as I have a soul, I'll nail thy life to't!");

and in all probability they entered on the raised platform or upper-stage: see the Memoir of Shakespeare, p. 42. It is most probable that the Gaoler reëntered there also.

The old eds. have "Strucke" and "Struck;" and so the modern editors."To preserve the similitude of the quiver, we must certainly read 'Stuck." HEATH (Ms. Notes).

Seward printed "lazily;" and so the editors of 1778.- "The import of the word 'lastly' is, that which is worst of all." MASON. -The metre of this line, as it now stands, is not objectionable, for "lastly" may be read as a trisyllable: compare a line in p. 143,

"For when the west wind courts her gently;"

where "gently" is evidently used as a trisyllable.

Seward silently printed "twinn'd together;" and so his successors, Weber excepted. This scene is undoubtedly by Fletcher; and compare his Lovers' Progress, act ii. sc. 3;

"To see two hearts that have been twin'd together,
Married in friendship," &c.

P. 140. (59)

"prison holy sanctuary,"

Seward printed "prison a holy sanctuary."

P. 141. (60)

"Grave"

i. e. Bury. The old eds. have "Crave;" and so the editors of 1778 (who, without attempting to explain it, call it "easy and intelligible"!), and Weber and Mr. Knight (who each offers a very strange and forced interpretation).Seward printed "Reave." Theobald proposed "Craze," Sympson "Carve," Mason "Cleave," and Heath (Ms. Notes) "Raze." -Strange that not one of them should have hit upon what the poet evidently wrote, "Grave."

P. 142. (61)

"This garden has a world of pleasures in't."

Stands in the old eds. as a portion of the preceding speech.

P. 144. (62)

“who shall deny me?

Pal. I, that first saw her;"

Walker (after observing, "of course, I do not quote this as Shakespeare's") bids us read

P. 150. (68)

"Swifter than wind upon a field of corn,
Curling the wealthy ears, ever flew."

Mason's correction; and so Mr. Knight. The old eds. have

"Swifter, then [folio of 1679, than] winde upon a feild of

"Read 'And, seeing." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 343.

The modern editors, Weber excepted, print "prove."

Heath (Ms. Notes) conjectures "stand."-I suspect that we ought to read "laund" (an old form of "lawn"), which occurs in The Third Part of King Henry V1, act iii. sc. 1, and in Venus and Adonis.

Seward's correction. -The old eds. have "pace."

Sympson's correction. -The old eds. have "voydes."

P. 156. (75)

"give me language such

As thou hast show'd me feat!"

"i.e. let your language correspond with the vileness of your actions." MASON.

"i. e. if my stomach were not,' &c." Walker's Crit. Exam. &c. vol. iii. p. 343.

Theobald's correction, adopted by Weber and Mr. Knight.-The old eds. have "Beake" and "Beak."-Seward printed "beck" (i. e. small stream); and so the editors of 1778.-Nares thinks that "beck," in the present passage, is "an excellent and undoubted emendation, because the Jailer's Daughter had appointed Palamon to wait for her at a cedar 'fast by a brook." Gloss. in v. But, as Mason observes, "it is out of a bush or brake that Palamon issues when he quarrels with Arcite, p. 156; and in the 6th scene of the present act Arcite says,

'O, retire,

For honour's sake and safety, presently
Into your bush again, sir."

P. 159. (81)

“Food took I none these two days; once, indeed,
I sipp'd some water; I've not clos'd mine eyes,
Save when my lids scour'd off their brine."

The old eds. have

"Food tooke I none these two daies.

Sipt some water. I have not closd mine eyes," &c.

Seward printed

"Food took I none these two days, only sipt

Some water, two nights I've not clos'd mine eyes," &c.

Sympson proposed to read

"Food took I none these two days, 'cept some water;

I have not clos'd mine eyes,
Save when," &c.;

which Mason thinks right.-The editors of 1778 followed the old eds.; and so Mr. Knight. --Weber violently altered the arrangement of the lines. -That some words have dropt out is quite evident.

'Theseus' is Shakespeare's pronunciation, not Fletcher's (see MidsummerNight's Dream); besides, the sentence seems to require 'No'." Walker's Crit. Exam, &c. vol. ii. p. 147.

So Weber (who compares a passage in Fletcher's Double Marriage, act ii. sc. 1;

"Down with the foresail too! we'll spoom before her").

The old eds. have "Vpon her," with which Mr. Knight is satisfied.-Seward gave Sympson's conjecture, "Up with her;" and so the editors of 1778.— Theobald proposed "Spoon her." - Nares (Gloss. in v.) thinks that in the present passage "Spoom her” is not the right reading.

"Is an abbreviation of 'he shall, still common among the vulgar; and there is no occasion to read with Mason 'he'll'." WEBER.

The old eds. have "ye jave Iudgements;" and so Weber.-Seward printed "ye sleave judgments;" and so the editors of 1778.- Heath (Ms. Notes) proposes "ye jaw judgments" (a conjecture which also occurred to Weber). -Mr. Knight gives "ye jape judgments." It is really extraordinary that, when Seward got so far as to observe that, "whether 'jave' be some sort of coarse cloth as well as frieze, or a mistake of the press, must be uncertain," &c., neither he nor his successors should have discovered the right word: "jave" is undoubtedly a misprint for "jane," a stuff well known in England long before the present play was written: "Fustian called Jean," &c. The Rates of the Custome-house, &c. 1582, sig. с 2.- With the present passage we may compare the following lines of Taylor the water-poet;

"And with Mockado mouth, and judgement Rash,
And tongue of Saye, thou'lt say all is but trash."

P. 165. (87)

A Reply as true as Steele, &c. 1641, p. 6 [5].

"A fire ill take her!"

Seward printed "A feril take her !" "because the dialogue is with a schoolmaster, who says of himself [p. 167] that

'He humbles with a ferula the tall ones. "

Weber proposes to read "An ill fire take her!"-Nares (Gloss. in v. Ferril) says that "A fire-ill take her' is doubtless equivalent to 'p-x take her. " -After all, is not the right reading “A wildfire take her"? That expression is very common: so, in Fletcher's Mad Lover, act v. sc. 3, Chilax exclaims to the Priestess, "A wildfire take you!"

Added by Seward; and so his successors - Weber excepted, who inserts "we."