have occurred to any reasonable man! I believe that here is again a dislocation, and would read, without much effort― Some way I must try G.310. W. 284. To outdo art, and jealousy decry... if out of those inventions Which flow in Athens, thou hast there engross'd Engrossed, i. e. taken a sketch, or a general idea of." What is Mr. Weber thinking of? Engrossed is simply "made thyself master of." It occurs in the very same sense in Love's Sacrifice, Act iv. s. i, G.312. W.285.-Wish him thrift in all his best desires. 66 'Thrift is not used in its usual sense, but in that of thriving." To copy such hopeless imbecillity is almost too much for any patience; to observe upon it, is impossible. G.315. W.288.-But] 'i. e. only!' G. 315. W.288.-To wait on thy direction. read directions. G. 317. W.290.-When any troubled passion makes us halt No absurdity, however gross, could raise any suspicion of inaccuracy in Mr. Weber's mind, and tempt him to recur to the original. This blundering passage is one of many, equally incorrect, quoted by the Edinburgh Reviewers, without the smallest apparent doubt of its fidelity. In Massinger they could find errors in every page; but in the publication before us, their lynx-eyes wearied themselves in vain to detect a mistake. G. 317. W.290.-Speak; and enjoy it. "The old copy reads, Speak, I enjoy it.;”— which Mr. Weber, with vast parade, and the assistance of a grammatical friend, corrects as above; "the old compositor having mistakingly substituted" (as he learnedly phrases it) "the pronoun for the common sign of abbreviation, used for the conjunctive particle." The two Priscians have carefully attended to honest Dogberry's advice, and let "their reading and writing appear when there was no need of such vanities." Calantha means as she says, "Proceed, I take pleasure in it." Three times in the course of this very scene, she repeats the same sentiment. Were any alteration necessary (which there is not) we might read, at once, G.318. W.291.-Rather than raging of the blood. Read: Rather than ranging of the blood. How Mr. Weber could read the sweetly chaste speech of Penthea, and wilfully corrupt " ranging" to "raging," surpasses all conception. G. 319. W.292.-What say'st thou? Read: What saidst thou? A far better reading. G. 323. W.295.-My lord, ye were too froward.:. G. 328. W.298.-The balsam of a supple patience. G. 328. W.299.-" List, i.e. hearken"! Mille graces! G. 331. W. 301.-I who was made a monarch Of what a heart could wish, of a chaste wife. "The old copy reads, for a chaste wife." Here again Mr. Weber's meddling folly is inexcusable. Read, with the original— I who was made a monarch Of what a heart could wish for, a chaste wife. G.331. W.302.-To redeem a sacrilege so impious Humility shall pour before the deities. I have incensed a largess of more patience For this nonsense, read, To redeem a sacrilege so impious, G.332. W.302.-Practise no farther. Directly the reverse of the speaker's meaning. Read, G 332. W.302.-May the death of love to her. May thy death of love to her, &c. G.334. W.304.-Every antick rapture. "A metaphor, taken from the caricature of dramatic entertainments, puppet-shows." This is in Mr. Weber's best style. G.341. W. 310. Read: our labouring age draws to a rest: But must Calantha quail to that young grape. our labouring age draws to a rest; But must Calantha quail too? that young grape? This speech is taken by Mr. Weber from the king, to whom it characteristically belongs, and given to Armostes: yet he has a note on it! G. 344. W.313.-Have I kept my word? Read: Have I now kept my word? The omission not only destroys the metre, but the point of the verse. G. 344. W.313.-Rich fortune's guard. Mr. Weber, who has an explanatory note here, too, has missed the poet's meaning after all. Read: Rich fortunes guard! i. e. may they, &c. G. 344. W.313.-Ho, here's a swinge in destiny! Apparent "Apparent, i. e. apparently." Read: Ho, here's a swing in destiny apparent! G. 347. W.315.-Fortends it Jove. "The 4to reads, fortends, which was never, I believe, used in the sense of forefend." The 4to clearly and distinctly reads, forefend, i.e. forbid. G. 348. W. 316. Scene IV. « A chair with an engine." On this unfortunate chair Mr. Weber is quite facetious. "This most wonderful chair, (he says) should it ever be introduced, must be furnished with a trap to catch the person who unwarily attempts to rest upon it, &c. According to our ideas, the contrivance is very ludicrous; but Ford was probably thinking of some horrible instrument of torture, in the contrivance of which our ancestors were not only ingenious, but attempted to be elegant."— Has the reader had enough of this despicable trash? To the credit of Mr. Weber however, (and equally to the credit of themselves,) the Edinburgh, Monthly, and Critical Reviewers chime in with his mirth. What Mr. Weber 66 thought of," it would be hard to tell at any time; but Ford was thinking of the theatre in the Black Friars, where a chair, such as he describes, was a well-known property, and used in various plays then on the stage. This "horrible instrument of torture," this most wonderful compound of "ingenuity and elegance," was, in fact, neither more nor less than a common elbow-chair, which, by means of a couple of leathern hinges and a yard or two of packthread, was made to cross its arms over the breast of the person seated in it. To suppose that Mr. Weber should know any thing that was not to be met with in the Index to Shakspeare, would be the extreme of simplicity; but surely his learned critics ought to have hinted to him that such an "engine" was of classical authority may be, they did not know it themselves. While on the subject, I will subjoin a passage which has just occurred to me. "Enter Lucretia, with a chair in her hand, which she sets on the stage." It was not a very ponderous "machine," as the reader sees. -But hear the lady: Luc. I have devised such a curious snare As jealous Vulcan never yet devised, Το grasp his armes, unable to resist, Death's instrument inclosed in these hands. And accordingly Gismond sits down, is "grasped," like Ithocles, and stabbed without resistance by his wife; who retires, as she entered, "with the chair in her hand." This is taken from the Devil's Charter, which appeared on the stage nearly thirty years before the Broken Heart. G. 351. W:320. Read: now-move to heaven. ་ A slight error; but which mars the sense of a very pathetic passage. |