G. 481. W. 437.-No tragedy to thee.] i. e. "no tragic fate." False and nonsensical. Read: My tragedy to thee. Bianca is enumerating her dying bequests: she bequeaths her tragedy to her husband, who had just poniarded her, her heart to her lover Fernando, and dies with the word on her lips. The reader, who has seen and admired Mr. Weber's happy discovery of the great similarity between the Edgar of King Lear and the drivelling idiot of this play, will not be unprepared to find him detecting another wonderful resemblance between the chaste, faithful, broken hearted Calantha, and the shameless and abandoned character before "In Love's Sacrifice," he says, we have two very striking resemblances-Mauruccio is another Cuculus; and the identity of Bianca and Calantha will become more and more obvious, as we approach towards the catastrophe"! p. 396.-i. e. as the libidinous propensities of the former become more open and avowed! us. G. 481. W.437.-I'll slake no time. 66 Read: I'll slack no time, i. e. I'll hasten. G.482. W.438. Read: none of sprucest. 'tis none of the sprucest. G. 402. W.369.-Thus bodies walk unsoul'd. "A very quaint word coined by Ford." It was a word in common use before Ford was born. Spenser has it in the Faery Queene "Ne aught to see, but like a shade to ween. Unbodied, unsoul'd, unheard, unseen." And I could easily trace it down, through a variety of writers, to the present day. So much for this "quaint coinage of Ford's brain"! It was not discovered, till the preceding sheet was printed off, that this passage had been dislocated from the note, p. cxxix. k G. 483. W. 439.-Duke. Stand, and behold thy executioner. This loses much of its effect from the total omission of the preceding speech. Read: Nibrassa. Look to yourself, my lord! the Duke comes. [Enter Duke with his sword drawn. Duke. Stand, and behold thy executioner. G. 386. W.355.-Would tie the limits of our free effects. fections. Would tie the limits of our free affects, i. e. af G. 488. W.443.-Fellow, learn to new live the way to thrift. This is a strange passage. Read: Fellow, learn to new live. The way to thrift i. e. The way for thee to thrive in grace, is, &c. G. 489. W.443.-" Associate. i. e. companion." No doubt. G. 489. W.443.-" Else. i. e. otherwise." Clearly; it stands so in "Daniel Fenning, Philomath." Read: Pouring oblations of a wounded heart We have a similar expression in the Ladies Trial. 66 My sister shall to me stand an example Of pouring pure devotions for your safety." What is this, but pouring oblations, &c.? G. 492. W.447.-" Period. i. e. end." Very good; you have judiciously given us Shakspeare's authority for it; and all doubt is over. VOL. II. PERKIN WARBECK. P. 3. Weber." Ford's play is founded upon the chronicles of the reign of Henry VII. and particularly upon the history of that monarch by the celebrated Lord Bacon, as appears from the beginning of the Dedication." And this is all Mr. Weber says on the subject. It seems extraordinary that he should not once turn to the History from which this drama is confessedly taken; but such evidently is the case: he never opened the volume, and all he knows of the fact is contained in the short passage just quoted from the author. Weber, 4.—" The excellence of this piece must have insured it good reception, and the praises of such a man as Dr. Donne were certainly not misapplied." This is the fourth repetition of the ridiculous blunder noticed in the former volume. As Mr. Weber gets older he gets never the wiser. Dr. Donne died in the spring of 1631, and the editor has just informed us that this drama did not appear till the year 1634, so that the praises of the good Doctor, like Bottom's dream, must have been sung three years 66 after death." The verses prefixed to this play were written by George Donne, (a person of no note whatever,) who leaves Mr. Weber no pretext for his gross ignorance, as he signs his name at full length. The celebrated Dean of St. Paul's, as every schoolboy knows, was John Donne. G. 3. W. 6.-The monuments of times. Read: The monuments of Time. Mr. Weber does not appear to know what the author means. G. 10. W.11.-At once both th'roughly cur'd and set in safety. The king could not say this, for the operation, as he had just observed, had been laborious, and the effect gradual. Read: At last, both thoroughly cured, &c. G. 10. W. 12.—In sending to this blood-shrunk commonwealth. Read: In lending to this blood-shrunk, &c. . G. 11. W. 13.-Of troubles and seditions. Read: Of troubles and sedition. G. 11. W. 13.-Nor are her birth as other mothers' are. G. 13. W.14.-Will you all confess? Here is no thought of putting a question; the king takes the fact for granted. Read: G. 18. W. 18. You will all confess, &c. and in the highest line Derive my pedigree, &c. This is wrong; the speaker means in the most direct line. and in the rightest line, Read: Derive, &c. G. 21. W. 20.-My faultering tongue. Read: My faulting tongue. ploy." which is hardly sense here, G.21. W.21.-To side thy equals.] And for-" am I to emread-I am to employ. "This is a singular use of the verb, to side, which was originally a technical term at card-playing." Nothing can be more absurd. the familiar and proper sense, to Side, in Ford, is used in keep pace with, to be equally forward; whereas the word in Massinger, from the index of which Mr. Weber has innocently taken it, signifies set, or party; and the expression there used-" to pull down a side," means-to occasion the loss of the game. G. 23. W.22.-Proclaims it, in the best, a president. Read: Proclaims it, in the best, a precedent. G.24. W.23.-A secretary from the duke of York. This destroys all the contempt meant to be conveyed by the speaker. Read: A secretary from a duke of York. G. 26. W.25.-Let my weak knees rot to the earth. Read: rot on the earth. i. e. before I rise. G. 28. W.26.-List. "An old word for choose"! G. 32. W.29.-When counsels fail, and there's no man to trust. Read: When counsels fail, and there's in man no trust, G. 33. W.30.-Careful, “i. e. full of cares." Very good indeed. G. 37. W.33.-Reserving the relation to the secrecy Read: Of your own princely care. of your own princely ear. G. 40. W.36.-Exeunt king Henry. Mr. Weber seems to have an odd taste in these matters. The ex. of the old copy is alternately converted by him into exeunt and exit; by way, apparently, of keeping as even a hand as possible between them. He seems not to have the slightest suspicion of any difference in the meaning of the two words; so that it is all pure conscience with him G. 42. W. 37. You so desir'd to speak with. G. 42. W.37.-What? I am abused? Read: What! am I abused? |