96 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 196. 



but if he remained, some one present might point 

 out to him the spider in the cup, and then " he 

 cracks his gorge," &c. 



In p. 4(30. Mr. Collier says that the passage, 

 " dangerous, unsafe lunes i' the king," is mere 

 tautology, and therefore he follows the old cor- 

 rector in substituting " unsane lunes." Now it 

 strikes me that there is quite as much tautology 

 in " unsane lunes " as in the double epithet, " dan- 

 gerous, unsafe." It is, in fact, equivalent to " in- 

 sane madness ; " and, moreover, drags in quite 

 needlessly a very unusual and uncouth word. 



In p. 481. we have the last word of the follow- 

 ing passage — 



" I never saw a vessel of like sorrow, 

 So fill'd and so becoming," — 

 converted into " o''er-7'unning." This may possibly 

 be the correct reading ; but, seeing that it is im- 

 mediately followed by the words — 



« . . , in pure white robes. 



Like very sanctity," 



I question whether " becoming " is not the more 

 natural expression. 



" There weep — and leave it crying," 

 is made — 



" There wend — and leave it crying," 



which I submit is decidedly wrong. I will not be 

 hypercritical, or I might suggest that in that case 

 the words would have been '■'■thither wend ;" but I 

 maintain that the change is contrary to the sense. 

 The spirit of Hermione never could have been in- 

 tended to say that the child should be left crying. 

 She would rather wish that it might not cry ! The 

 meaning, as it seems to me, is, that Antigonus 

 should weep over the babe, and leave it while so 

 weeping. 



In p. 487. the words " misslngly noted" are 

 altered to " musingly noted," which is a very ques- 

 tionable improvement. Camillo, missing Florigel 

 from court, would naturally note his absence ; and 

 he may have mused over the causes of it, but 

 there could be no necessity for musing to note the 

 fact of his absence : and I cannot help thinking 

 that the word missingly is more in Shakspeare's 

 style. 



I cannot subscribe at all to the alteration in 

 p.492. of the word " unrolled " to "enrolled." To be 

 enrolled and placed in the book of virtue is very 

 like tautology ; but I conceive Shakspeare meant 

 Autolycus to wish that his name might be unrolled 

 from the company of thieves and gypsies with 

 whom he was associated, and transferred to the 

 book of virtue. 



I am entirely at issue with the old corrector 

 upon his emendation in p. 498. : 



" . . Nothing she does or seems, 



But smacks of something greater than herself; " 

 he says, ought to be : " Nothing she does or says." 

 And how does Me. Collier explain this misprint? 



Why, by stating that formerly "says" was often 

 written " sales." Now, I cannot for the life of me 

 discover why the word "saies" should have been 

 mistaken for " seems," any more than the word. 

 " says." But surely the phrase, " nothing she 

 does or seems," is far more poetical and elegant. 

 than the other. It says in effect : there is nothing: 

 either in her acts or her carriage, " but smacks of 

 something greater than herself." We have posi- 

 tive evidence, however, that the passage could not 

 have been " nothing she does or says," viz. that 

 this speech of Polixenes immediately follows a 

 long dialogue between Florizel and Perdita, which 

 could not have been overheard, because Camillo 

 directly afterwards says to the king : 



" . . He tells her something, 



That makes her blood look out." 



Thereby clearly proving, that the king could not 

 have been remarking on what she said. 



The transformation of the last-mentioned line 

 into — • 



" That wakes her blood — look out ! " 



cannot, I think, be justified on any ground. He 

 tells her something which " makes her blood look 

 out." That is, something which makes her blush 

 rush to the surface to look out upon it ! What 

 can be more natural ? The proposed alteration is 

 not only unnecessary, but awkward ! 



In p. 499., if the words " unbraided wares" must 

 be altered, I see no reason for the change to " em- 

 broided" wares. It seems to me that emb7-aided 

 would be the most proper word. 



What possible reason can there be for convert- 

 ing " force and knowledge," in p. 506., to " sense 

 and knowledge ? " If I may be excused a play 

 upon the words, I should say the sense of the pas- 

 sage is not at all improved, and the force is enr 

 tirely lost. 



I must protest most decidedly against the cor- 

 rection of the following lines, p. 507. : 



« . . . . Can he speak ? hear ? 



Know man from man? dispute his own estate?" 



Dispute his own estate means, defend his property, 

 dispute with any one who questions his rights. 

 The original passage expresses the sense quite 

 perfectly, while "dispose his own estate" appears 

 to me poor and insipid in comparison. 



Mr. Collier's objection to the speech of 

 Camillo, in p. 514., 



« . . it shall be so my care 



To have you royally appointed, as if 

 The scene you play were mine ; " 

 is, that to make the scene appear as if it were 

 Camillo's, could be of no service to the young 

 prince. Now Camillo says nothing about the scene 

 appearing as his. He says he will have the prince 

 royally appointed, as if the scene he played were 

 really his own : that is, as if he were the party 

 interested in it, instead of the prince. 



