in the quarto, 1603. (The verb yaw, as well as the substantive, was formerly in common use: see my Remarks on Mr. Collier's and Mr. Knight's eds. of Shakespeare, p. 220.) P. 571. (96) "The king, sir, hath wagered with him," &c. So the quartos, 1604, &c.-The folio has "The sir King ha's wag'd with him," &c., the "wag'd" having perhaps grown out of the spelling "wagerd" in the quartos. Compare afterwards in this page, "The king, sir, hath laid," &c. (Here the quarto, 1603, has "The King, sweete Prince, hath layd a wager on your side," &c.) P. 572. (97) "a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fanned and winnowed opinions," &c. The quartos, 1604 and 1605, have “. the most prophane and trennowed opinions," &c., and so the later quartos, except that they have "trennowned." -The folio has " the most fond and winnowed opinions," &c.-In my Remarks on Mr. Collier's and Mr. Knight's eds. of Shakespeare, p. 220, I maintained that “fond and winnowed" had been rightly altered to "fanned and winnowed;" and I still think that it is an alteration which most probably restores the true reading, though Mr. Grant White (Shakespeare's Scholar, &c. p. 422) pronounces it to be altogether wrong. He says that "carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions" means, "they go through and through [they stop at no absurdity in] the most fond [affected or foolish] and winnowed [elaborately sought out] opinions,”— -an interpretation which, in my judgment, the words cannot possibly bear. P. 573. (98) “since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes ?” A suspicious passage. I give it as it stands in the folio.-The quartos, 1604, &c. have "since no man of ought hee leaues, knowes what ist to leaue betimes, let bee." The old eds. have " She sounds," &c.-See note (87), p. 88. Here Caldecott, Mr. Knight, and Mr. Collier, most unaccountably print, "How? let the," &c.,-retaining the old spelling of some of the quartos and of the folio. P. 578. (101) "Take So the quartos, 1604, &c.—The folio has "Take up the body," &c.,-which VOL. V. Caldecott, Mr. Knight, and Mr. Collier, adopt, though it is such a manifest error, that, even without the authority of any old copy, an editor would be bound to make the word plural. Fortinbras is now speaking of the bodies generally, of Hamlet, the King, the Queen, and Laertes, who are all lying dead, and who, he says, present a spectacle that only becomes the field of battle. It would almost seem that the restorers of "body" had forgotten what precedes the present speech, viz.,— "Hor. give order that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view; And let me speak to the yet unknowing world," &c. I find that in note (20), p. 583, I have made a slight mistake in quoting Delius's unhappy emendation: he reads,— "the dram of bale Doth all the noble substance off and out To his own scandal." KING LEAR. ACT I. SCENE I. A room of state in King LEAR'S palace. Enter KENT, GLOSTER, and EDMUND. Kent. I thought the king had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall. Glo. It did always seem so to us: but now, in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most; for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety. Kent. Is not this your son, my lord? Glo. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge: I have so often blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to't. Kent. I cannot conceive you. Glo. Sir, this young fellow's mother could: whereupon she grew round-wombed, and had, indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault? Kent. I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper. Glo. But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account: though this knave came something saucily into the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair; there was good sport |