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we find in the second copy, -as over a vast fea."

In King John, Act V. fc. v. first folio, are thefe lines :

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The editor of the second folio, thinking, I suppose, that as these lords had not before deserted the French king, it was improper to say that they had again fallen off, substituted " are at last fallen off;" not perceiving that the meaning is, that these lords had gone back again to their own countrymen, whom they had before deserted.

In King Henry VIII. Act II. fc. ii. Norfolk, fpeaking of Wolfey, says, "I'll venture one have at him." This being misunderstood, is changed in the second copy to-" I'll venture one heave at him."

Julius Cæfar likewise furnishes various specimens of his ignorance of Shakspeare's language. The phrase, to bear hard, not being understood, instead

of

"Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæfar hard." First Folio. we find in the second copy,

"Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæfar hatred."

and from the fame cause the words dank, blest, and hurtled, are dismissed from the text, and more familiar words substituted in their room.

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"To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours

"Of the dank morning." First Folio.
"Of the dark morning." Second Folio.

"We are blest that Rome is rid of him."
"We are glad that Rome is rid of him."
"The noise of battle hurtled in the air."
"The noife of battle hurried in the air."

First Folio.
Second Folio.

First Folio.
Second Folio.

In like manner in the third Act of Coriolanus, fc. ii. the ancient verb to owe, i. e. to poffefs, is discarded by this editor, and own substituted in its place.

In Antony and Cleopatra, we find in the original copy these lines :

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- I say again, thy spirit
" Is all afraid to govern thee near him,
"But he alway, 'tis noble."

Instead of restoring the true word away, which was thus corruptly exhibited, the editor of the fe cond folio, without any regard to the context, altered another part of the line, and abfurdly printed" But he alway is noble."

In the same play, Act I. fc. iii. Cleopatra says to Charmian-" Quick and return;" for which the editor of the second folio, not knowing that quick was either used adverbially, or elliptically for Be quick, substitutes-" Quickly, and return."

In Timon of Athens, are these lines :

"And that unaptness made your minifter
"Thus to excuse yourself."

i. e. and made that unaptness your minister to excuse yourself; or, in other words, availed yourself of that unaptness as an excuse for your own conduct. The words being inverted and put out of their natural order, the editor of the second folio fuppofed that unaptness, being placed first, must be the nominative case, and therefore reads

" And that unaptnefs made you minister,
"Thus to excuse yourself."

In that play, from the same ignorance, instead of Timon's exhortation to the thieves, to kill as

well! as rob.-" Take wealth and lives together," we find in the second copy, "Take, wealth, and live together." And with equal ignorance and licentiousness this editor altered the epitaph on Timon, to render it what he thought metrical, by leaving out various words. In the original edition it appears as it does in Plutarch, and therefore we may be certain that the variations in the second copy were here, as in other places, all arbitrary and capricious.

Again, in the same play, we have-

and

"I defil'd land."

"O, my good lord, the world is but a word," &c.

The editor not understanding either of these passages, and supposing that I in the first of them was used as a personal pronoun, (whereas it stands according to the usage of that time for the affirmative particle, ay,) reads in the first line,

" I defy land;"

and exhibits the other line thus :

"O, my good lord, the world is but a world," &c.

" Cæfar

Our author and the contemporary writers generally write wars, not war, &c. The editor of the second folio being unapprised of this, reads in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. fc. v: having made use of him in the war against Pompey," instead of wars, the reading of the original copy.

The seventh scene of the fourth act of this play Gg

VOL. I.

concludes with these words: "Despatch.-Enobarbus!" Antony, who is the speaker, defires his attendant Eros to defpatch, and then pronounces the name Enobarbus, who had recently deferted him, and whose loss he here laments. But there being no person on the scene but Eros, and the point being inadvertently omitted after the word dispatch, the editor of the second folio supposed that Enobarbus must have been an error of the press, and therefore reads:

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In Troilus and Cressida, Creffida says,

Things won are done; joy's foul lies in the doing."

i. e. the foul of joy lies, &c. So, "love's visible foul," and "my foul of counsel;" expressions likewife used by Shakspeare. Here also the editor of the fecond folio exhibits equal ignorance of his author; for instead of this eminently beautiful expreffion, he has given us

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Things won are done; the foul's joy lies in doing."

In King Richard III. Ratcliff, addreffing the lords at Pomfret, says,

"Make haste, the hour of death is expiate."

for which the editor of the second folio, alike ignorant of the poet's language and metre, has substituted,

"Make hafte, the hour of death is now expir'd."

So, in Romeo and Juliet :

"The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she.",

The word The being accidentally omitted in the first folio, the editor of the second supplied the defect by reading

" Earth hath up swallow'd all my hopes but she."

Again, in the same play; "I'll lay fourteen of my teeth, and yet, to my teen be it spoken, I have but four:" not understanding the word teen, he substituted teeth instead of it.

Again, ibidem:

" Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid-"

Man being corruptly printed instead of maid in the first folio, 1623, the editor of the second, who never examined a fingle quarto copy, corrected the error at random, by reading

2 That this editor never examined any of the quarto copies, is proved by the following instances :

In Troilus and Creffida, we find in the first folio :

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"We do not throw in unrespective fame,
"Because we now are full."

Finding this nonsense, he printed " in unrespective place." In the quarto he would have found the true word-fieve.

Again, in the fame play, the following lines are thus corruptly exhibited:

"That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;

"Since things in motion begin to catch the eye,
"Than what not stirs."

the words " begin to," being inadvertently repeated in the second line, by the compofitor's eye glancing on the line above. The editor of the second folio, instead of examining the quarto, where he would have found the true reading:

"Since things in motion sooner catch the eye." thought only of amending the metre, and printed the line thus: "Since things in motion 'gin to catch the eye-"

leaving the paffage nonsense, as he found it.

So, in Titus Andronicus:

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