74 



15T0TES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 195.. 



to -wbich they belong, the old readings, which, 

 during the last century and a half, have recom- 

 mended themselves for adoption, and have been 

 derived from a comparison of ancient printed 

 editions, have also been incorporated." I do not 

 know how I could have expressed myself with 

 greater clearness ; and it was merely for the sake 

 of distinctness that I referred to the result of my 

 own labom-s in 1842, 1843, and 1844, during which 

 years my eight volumes octavo were proceeding 

 through the press. Those labours, it will be seen, 

 essentially contributed to lighten my task in pre- 

 paring the " monovolume Shakspeare." 



My answer respecting the passage in The 

 Taming of the Shrew, referred to by Mk. Ingleby, 

 will, I trust, be equally satisfactory ; it shall be 

 equally plain, 



I inserted amblei', because it is the word sub- 

 stituted in manuscript in the margin of my folio 

 1632. I adopted mercatante, as proposed by 

 Steevens, not only because it is the true Italian 

 word, but because it exactly fits the place in the 

 Terse, mercatant (the word in the folios) being a 

 syllable short of the required number. In the 

 very copy of Florio's Italian Dictionary, which I 

 bought of Rodd at the time when I purchased my 

 folio 1632, I find mercatante translated by the 

 word " marchant," " marter," and " trader," 

 exactly the sense required. Then, as to " surely " 

 instead of surly, I venture to think that " surely " 

 is the true reading : 



" In gait and countenance surely like a father." 



" Surely like a father " is certainly like a father ; 

 and although a man may be surly in his " counte- 

 nance," I do not well see how he could be surly in 

 his " gait ; " besides, what had occurred to make 

 the pedant suidy ? This appears to me the best 

 reason for rejecting surly in favour of " surely ; " 

 but I have another, which can hardly be refused 

 to an editor who professes to follow the old copies, 

 where they ai'e not contradicted. I allude to the 

 folio 1623, where the line stands precisely thus : 

 " In gate and countenance surely like a Father." 

 The folio 1632 misprinted " surely " iwrZy, as, in 

 Julius CcEsar, Act I. Sc. 3., it committed the op- 

 posite blunder, by misprinting " surly " su7-ely. 

 Another piece of evidence, to prove that " surely " 

 ■was the poet's word in Tlie Taming of the Shrew, 

 has comparatively recently fallen in my way ; I did 

 not know of its existence in 1844, or it would have 

 been of considerable use to me. It is a unique 

 quarto of the play, which came out some years 

 before the folio 1623, and is not to be confounded 

 with the quarto of The Taming of the Shrew, with 

 the date of 1631 on the title-page. This new 

 authority has the line exactly as it is given in the 

 folio 1623, which, in truth, was printed from it. 

 It is now before me. J. Payne Coluer. 



July 10, 



Critical Digest of various Readings in the Works 

 of Shakspeare. — There is much activity in the lite- 

 rary world just now about the text of Shakspeare : 

 but one most essential work, in reference to that 

 text, still remains to be performed, — I mean, the 

 publication of a complete digest of all the various 

 readings, in a concise shape, such as those which we 

 possess in relation to the MSS. and other editions 

 of nearly every classical author. 



At present, all editions of Shakspeare which 

 claim to be considered critical, contain much loose 

 information on readings, mixed up with notes 

 (frequently very difiuse) on miscellaneous topics. 

 This is not in the least what we require : we need 

 a regular digest of readings, wholly distinct from 

 long debates about their value. 



What I mean will be plain to any one who i» 

 familiar with any good critical edition of the 

 Greek New Testament, or with such books as 

 Gaisford's Herodotus, the Berlin Aristotle, the 

 Zurich Plato, and the like. We ought to have, 

 first, a good text of Shakspeare : such as may 

 represent, as fairly as possible, the real results of 

 the labours of the soundest critics ; and, secondly, 

 page by page, at the foot of that text, the follow- 

 ing particulars : 



I. All the readings of the folios, which should 

 be cited as A, B, C, and D. 



II. All the readings of the quartos, which might 

 be cited separately in each play that possesses 

 them, either as a, b, c, d; or as 1, 2, 3, and 4. 



III. A succinct summary of all the respectable 

 criticisms, in the way of conjecture, on the text. 

 This is especially needed. The recent volumes of 

 Messrs. Collier, Singer, and Dyce, show that even 

 editors of Shakspeare scarcely know the history of 

 all the emendations. Let their precise pedigree be 

 in the last case recorded with the most absolute 

 brevity ; simply the suggestion, and the names of 

 its proposers and adopters. 



IV. To simplify this last point, a new siglatlon 

 might be introduced to denote the various critical 

 editions. 



Such a publication should be kept distinct from 

 any commentary ; especially from one laid out in 

 the broad flat style of modern editors. Mr. Col- 

 lier's volume of Emendations, 8fc., for instance, 

 need not have occupied half its present space, if 

 he had first denoted his MS. corrector by some 

 short symbol, instead of by a lengthy phrase; 

 and, secondly, introduced his suggestions by some 

 such formularies as those employed in classical 

 criticisms, instead of toiling laboriously after vari- 

 ations in his style of expression, till we are wearied 

 by the real iteration which lies under the seeming 

 diversity. 



There should be none of this phraseworh in the 

 digest which I recommend. If indeed it were 

 found absolutely necessary to connect it with a 

 commentary, then arrange the two portions of the 



