378 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 181, 



Much Ado about Nothing, Act IV. Sc. 1., 

 p. 72. : 



'• Myself would on the hazard of reproaches 

 Strike at thy life." 



When fathers kill their children, they run the 

 risk not merely of being reproached, but of being 

 hanged ; but this reading is a mere sophistication 

 by some one who did not understand the true 

 ]"eadlng, rearward. Leonato threatens to take his 

 daughter's life after having reproached her. 

 Taming of the Shrew, p. 145. : 



'• O, yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face, 

 Such as the daughter of Agenor's race," &c. 



'* The daughter of Agenor's race " for " the 

 daughter of Agenor " is awkward, but there is a 

 far more decisive objection to this alteration. To 

 compare the beauty of Bianca with the beauty of 

 Europa is a legitimate comparison ; but to compare 

 the beauty of Bianca with Europa herself, is of 

 course inadmissible. Here is another corruption 

 introduced in order to produce a rhyming couplet ; 

 restore the old reading, " the daughter of Agenor 

 had" 



The Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. 2., p. 191. : 



" If, &c. , let me be enrolled, and my name put in the 

 book of virtue." 



We have here an abortive attempt to correct the 

 nonsensical reading of the old copies, unrolled; 

 but if enrolled itself makes sense, it does so only 

 by introducing tautology. Besides, it leads us 

 away from what I believe to be the true reading, 

 unrogued. 

 King John, Act V. Sc. 7., p. 212. : 



*' Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts. 

 Leaves thera unvisited ; and his siege is now 

 Against the mind." 



How could death prey upon the king's outward 

 parts without visiting them ? Perhaps, however, 

 we have here only a corruption of a genuine text. 

 Query, " t7^-visited." 



Troilus and Cressida, Act T. Sc. 3., p. 331. : 



" And, with an accent tun'd in self-same key. 

 Replies to chiding fortune." 



This, which is also Hanmer's reading, certainly 

 makes sense. Pope read returns. The old copies 

 have retires. I believe Shakspeare wrote " Re- 

 chides to chiding fortune." This puzzled the 

 compositor, who gave the nearest common word 

 without regard to the sense. 



Troilus and Cressida, Act V. Sc. 1,, p. 342. — 

 The disgusting speeches of Thersites are scarcely 

 worth correcting, much less dwelling upon ; but 

 there can be little doubt that we should read 

 *^ male harlot" for "male uar^ef;" and "prepos- 

 terous discoverers " (not discolourers) for " pre- 

 posterous discoveries." 



Coriolanus, Act V. Sc. 5., p. 364. : 



"I . . . help to reap the fame 

 Which he did ear all his." 



To ear is to plough. Aufidius complains that hff 

 had a share in the harvest, while Coriolanus took 

 all the ploughing to himself. We have only, 

 however, to transpose reap and ear, and this non- 

 sense is at once converted into excellent sense^ 

 The old corrector blindly copied the blunder of a 

 corrupt, but not sophisticated, manuscript. This, 

 has occurred elsewhere in this collection. ; 



Antony and Cleopatra, Act I. Sc. 5., p. 467. : 



•' And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed." 



This reading was also conjectured by Hanmer.. 

 The folios read arme-gaunt. This appears to me 

 a mere misprint f6r rampaunt, but whether ram- 

 paunt was Shakspeare's word, or a transcriber's 

 sophistication for ramping, is more than I can un- 

 dertake to determine. I believe, however, that 

 one of them is the true reading. At one period 

 to ramp and to prance seem to have been syno- 

 nymous. Spenser makes the horses of night 

 " fiercely ramp," and Surrey exhibits a prancing- 

 lion. 



This communication is, I am afraid, already tod 

 long for " N. & Q. ; " I will therefore only add my^ 

 opinion, that, though the old corrector has re- 

 ported many bad readings, they are far outnum- 

 bered by the good ones in the collection. 



W.N.L. 



Mr. Collier'' s "Notes and Emendations : " Passage 

 in " The Winters Tale." — At p. 192. of Mr. Payne 

 Collier's new volume, he cites a passage in The- 

 Winters Tale, ending — 



" , . . .1 should blush 



To see you so attir'd, sworn, I think 

 To show myself a glass." 



The MS. emendator, he says, reads so worn for 

 sworn ; and adds : 



" The meaning therefore is, that Florizel's plain 

 attire was 'so worn,' to show Perdita, as in a glass,, 

 how simply she ought to have been dressed." 



Now Mr. Collier, in this instance, has not, ac- 

 cording to his usual practice, alluded to any com- 

 mentator who has suggested the same emendation. 

 The inference would be, that this emendation is it 

 novelty. This it is not. It has been before the 

 world for thirty-four years, and its merits have 

 failed to give it currency. At p. 142. of Z. Jack- 

 son's miscalled Restorations, 1819, we find this: 

 emendation, with the following note : 



" So worn, i. e. so reduced, in your external appear- 

 ance, that I should think you intended to remind me 

 of my own condition ; for, by looking at you thus- 

 attired, I behold myself, as it were, reflected in a glass, 

 habited in robes becoming my obscure birth, and equally 

 obscure fortune." 



