LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 229 



only claim to value the moment a doubt is cast upon the 

 accuracy of its inaccuracies. It is a matter of special import to 

 us (whose means of access to originals are exceedingly limited) 

 that the English editors of our old authors should be faithful 

 and trustworthy, and we have singled out Mr. Halliwell s 

 Marston for particular animadversion only because we think it 

 on the whole the worst edition we ever saw of any author. 



Having exposed the condition in which our editor has left the 

 text, we proceed to test his competency in another respect, by 

 examining some of the emendations and explanations of doubt 

 ful passages which he proposes. These are very few ; but had 

 they been even fewer, they had been too many. 



Among the dramatis persona; of the * Fawn, as we said 

 before, occurs * Granuffo, a silent lord! He speaks only once 

 during the play, and that in the last scene. In Act I. Scene 2, 

 Gonzago says, speaking to Granuffo : 



Now, sure, thou art a man 



Of a most learned scilence, and one whose words 

 Have bin most pretious to me. 



This seems quite plain, but Mr. Halliwell annotates thus : 

 Scilence. Query, science ? The common reading, silence, may, 

 however, be what is intended. That the spelling should have 

 troubled Mr. Halliwell is remarkable ; for elsewhere we find 

 god-boy for good-bye, * seace for * cease, * bodies J for 

 boddice, 1 pollice for policy, pitittying for * pitying, 

 scence for sense, Misenzius for Mezentius, Ferazes for 

 Ferrarese, and plenty beside, equally odd. That he should 

 have doubted the meaning is no less strange ; for on p. 41 of 

 the same play we read, My Lord Granuffo, you may likewise 

 stay, for I know you I say nothing ; on pp. 55, 56, This 

 Granuffo is a right wise good lord, a man of excellent discourse 

 and never speaks] and on p. 94, we find the following dialog . 1 , c : 



Con. My Lord Granuffo, this Fawne is an excellent fellow. 



Don. Silence. 



Con. I warrant you for my lord here. 



In the same play (p. 44) are these lines : 



I apt for love ? 



Let lazy idlenes fild full of wine 

 Heated with meates, high fedde with lustfull ease 

 Goe dote on culler [color]. As for me, why, death a sence, 

 I court the ladie ? 



This is Mr. Halliwell s note : Death a sence.&quot; Earth a 

 sense,&quot; ed. 1633. Mr. Dilke suggests : &quot; For me, why, earth s 

 as sensible.&quot; The original is not necessarily corrupt. It may 



