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

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

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

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

In Timon of Athens, are thefe lines:

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

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

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

In that play, from the fame ignorance, inftead 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 fame 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 paffages, and fuppofing that I in the firft of them was used as a perfonal pronoun, (whereas it ftands 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.

Our author and the contemporary writers generally write wars, not war, &c. The editor of the fecond folio being unapprifed of this, reads in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. sc. v: "Cæfar having made ufe of him in the war against Pompey, "-inftead of wars, the reading of the original

copy.

The seventh scene of the fourth act of this play
VOL. I.

Gg

concludes with these words: " Despatch.-Enobarbus !" Antony, who is the fpeaker, defires his attendant Eros to defpatch, and then pronounces the name Enobarbus, who had recently deferted him, and whofe lofs he here laments. But there being no perfon on the fcene but Eros, and the point being inadvertently omitted after the word dispatch, the editor of the fecond folio fuppofed that Enobarbus muft have been an error of the prefs, and therefore reads:

"Dispatch, Eros."

In Troilus and Crefsida, Creffida fays,

"Things won are done; joy's foul lies in the doing." i. e. the foul of joy lies, &c. So, "love's vifible foul," and "my foul of counfel;" expreffions likewife ufed by Shakspeare. Here alfo the editor of the fecond folio exhibits equal ignorance of his author; for instead of this eminently beautiful expreffion, he has given us

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

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

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

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

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

So, in Romeo and Juliet:

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

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

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

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

Again, ibidem:

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

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

2

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

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

the remainder viands

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

Finding this nonfenfe, 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 ftirs."

rr

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

"Since things in motion fooner 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 nonfenfe, as he found it.

So, in Titus Andronicus:

"And let no comfort delight mine ear

"Prick'd from the lazy finger of a woman.”

Again:

"Doft thou love me? I know thou wilt fay, ay:"

The word me being omitted in the first folio, the editor of the second capriciously supplied the metre thus:

being erroneously printed in the firft folio, inftead of "And let no comforter," &c. the editor of the fecond folio corrected the error according to his fancy, by reading

"Old ManThe words in

"And let no comfort elfe delight mine ear." So, in Love's Labour's Loft, Vol. VII. p. 96: tuan, who understands thee not, loves thee not." the Italick character being inadvertently omitted in the firft folio, the editor of the fecond folio, inftead of applying to the quarto to cure the defect, printed the paffage juft as he found it and in like manner in the fame play implicitly followed the error of the first folio, which has been already mentioned,

O, that your face were fo full of O's-"

though the omiffion of the word not, which is found in the quarto, made the paffage nonsense.

So, in Much Ado about Nothing:

"And I will break with her. Was't not to this end," &c.

being printed inftead of

"And I will break with her and with her father,

"And thou shalt have her. Was't not to this end," &c. the error, which arofe from the compofitor's eye glancing from one line to the other, was implicitly adopted in the second folio. Again, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream:

"Ah me, for aught that I could ever read,

"Could ever hear," &c.

the words Ah me being accidentally omitted in the first folio, inftead of applying to the quarto for the true reading, he supplied the defect, according to his own fancy, thus:

Hermia, for aught that I could ever read," &c. Again, in The Merchant of Venice, he arbitrarily gives us "The ewe bleat for the lamb when you behold,"

instead of

Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb." See p. 454. Innumerable other instances of the fame kind might be produced.