Amongst yourselves in counsel: but beware G. 157. W. 138.—Whether—but he's my brother. G. 157. W. 139.-" Exeunt omnes." One however remains. After a speech of several lines, he also withdraws, and Mr. Weber carefully repeats the "Exeunt." G. 158. W. 141.-You two shall wait upon us. This spoils the verse. Read: You two shall wait on us—with best observance. G. 161. W. 142.-Of what your scrivener, [by] which in effect. "The word in brackets is omitted in the original." And had it also been left out of the copy, no injury would be done either to the sense or the metre. G. 163. W. 144.—Carriage, i. e. behaviour! G. 164. W. 145.-Companion, i. e. fellow! G. 165. W. 146.—Such sights are excellent. Read: Such sights were (would be) excellent. Flavia is pleased to be satirical on the influence supposed to be possessed by some of the ladies of Charles's court. G. 166. W. 147.-Rich services in place, soft and fair lodgings. Rich services in plate, &c. Read: G. 167. W. 147.-For it 'twere. Read: For 'twere, &c. G. 172. W. 151.—"Twould wind-break a moil.] “i. e. a mule.” Very well; but why, after freely modernizing the orthography everywhere else, turn squeamish here? I am not, however, displeased to see it, because it gives me an opportunity of correcting a mistake in the Glossary of Archdeacon Nares. "Mooles," he says, " perhaps for mules. I confess I do not understand the line in which this word occurs. "Content thee, Daphles, mooles take mads, but men know mooles to catch."-Warner's Alb. England, p. 41. "that is, perhaps, Mules take mad fits, but yet men know how to catch them."" My ingenious friend has fallen into two pleasant errors. Mooles are not mules, but moles; and mads are not fits of any kind, but earth-worms, the food of moles. The meaning of the proverb is clear enough, Harm watch, harm catch. G. 174. W. 154.—" Suddenly, i. e. quickly." It is, indeed. - I am furnish'd In mine own hopes, by her unlucky fortunes. Just the reverse of the speaker's meaning. Read: G. 180. W. 159. Read: I am punish'd Thou hast done all cunning. Thou hast out-done all cunning. G. 184. W. 162.-Exit Troylo and Nitido ! G. 185. W. 163.-Thou reply'st. Read: Thou replied'st; which is far more to the purpose. G. 188. W. 166. Struck in mine eyes. Read: in mine eye. The sense of what follows depends upon it. G. 189. W. 166.—-" Exit Camillo and Vespucci." The old copy has Er. In the next page we have, "Exit Julio and Flavia." Three times in the course of two pages! This is really inexcusable. G. 191. W. 168.-O my hope of posterity! I could be in love with him. Read: On my hope of posterity, I could, &c. G. 191. W. 168.-He towzes the ladies' sisters. This is strange nonsense. Read: He towzes the Lady-sisters. i. e. the Fancies. G. 192. W. 169.-Do beyond arithmetic, Spadone! I speak, &c. Read: Do beyond arithmetic! Spadone, I speak, &c. Luckily, Mr. Weber did not understand the speaker, or we should have had a note from Mr. Collins on the subject. G. 204. W. 179.-" Carriage, i, e. behaviour"! G. 204. W. 179.-" A mistress of the trim, i. e. a female coxcomb easy virtue." of "A female coxcomb!" Mr. Weber had only to read the next line to see (if he could ever see any thing) that it meant haughty, insolent, imperious. G.210. W. 184.-What has he done to thee? Read: What wrong has he done to thee? G. 211. W. 184.-Toss-pot. “This was a usual term for a drunkard in our author's days! The etymology is very obvious." The etymology! Good. And this, too, for the second time. G. 211. W. 185.-With a wannion. "A common phrase in old writings, but the particular meaning of the last word has never been explained." And so says Mr. Nares, who wishes to derive it "from the Saxon panung, detriment." In the last edition of Shakspeare, it is said to be a corruption of winnowing: had the editor ever visited the western counties, he would have found a more probable derivation in whang, a lash, or thong, which, as well as whanging, is in daily use for a beating. In fact, however, the word comes from neither; but from wan, (vaande Dutch, a rod or wand,) of which wannie and wannion are familiar diminutives. In one of Andrew Borde's humorous prescriptions for the cure of what he calls "the disease of lourdane," or laziness, he recommends "the application of a wan, or stick, of the bigness of a man's finger, to the patient's shoulders." For what Mr. Weber elsewhere pleases to call the "metaphorical meaning of the phrase," see vol. ii. p. 211. G. 212. W. 186.-—A simple alcatote. "I have never met with this term before, but suspect that it is the same with alcatraz, a Spanish term for a species of sea-fowl, similar to a sea-gull." I do not find fault with Mr. Weber for his ignorance of the meaning of alcatote; but with his hardihood in asserting that the alcatraz (of which he knows nothing) is like the sea-gull, of which he only knows that it is mentioned by Steevens. See the word, in its place. G. 213. IV. 187.-Are thy mad brains in thy mazer now? "Ma zer, i. e. the face." Brains in the face are well enough! To prove that this is the proper place for them, Mr. Weber quotes a passage from the Variorum, where mazer decidedly means skull. G.213. W. 187.-They are agreed to run me out of my wits. By consent, this hobet-a-hoy is a pandar, &c. Read: They are agreed to run me out of my wits, by consent. (confederacy). This hobeta-hoy is, &c. G. 216. W. 190.-Not the strain in ordinary. "The word occurs in a similar manner in the Merry Wives of Windsor, where Mrs. Page says, "Unless he knew some strain in me, he would never have boarded me in this fury." Good! Strain, in Ford, means stile of conversation; in the quotation from Shakspeare, it means vicious conduct. Such are the advantages of reading our old poets by an index! G. 218. W. 191. O pardon, If I presume to name him. A wanton perversion of the author's meaning. Read: O pardon, If I forget to name him. G.219. W. 192.—I have made discovery Of famous novels. "Cotgrave explains nouvelle, a novell, news, tidings," &c. Without troubling Cotgrave about the matter, it may be sufficient to say, that Ford means merely novelties. The word is used in the same sense by Heath and others, and, though it escaped Mr. Weber, by Ford himself, in the Prologue to the Sun's Darling. G. 219. W. 193.-Liv. This may be bold intrusion. Flav. Not by me, sir. Read: Liv. This may be held intrusion. Flav. Not by me, sir. G. 221. W. 194.-Yet he abates in this. G. 222. W. 195.--For he can live without a wife and purchase. "Purchase.] "This word is evidently used for inheritance.” Always most positive when most wrong. The critic takes purchase for a substantive, whereas it is a verb; and used in direct opposition to inheritance. But Mr. Weber neither understands himself nor his author. Romanello retorts the words of Livio, (p. 152.) and the drift of his argument is" Marriage is expensive; but if I do not charge myself with a wife, I shall not only be able to live, but to buy an estate." This is the constant meaning of the verb in our old dramatists: as a substantive, purchase was cant term for the produce of pilfering, &c. G. 223. W. 195.-So would the He you talk to, Romanello, a "It is difficult," Mr. Weber says, " to conceive what our author meant by this strange phrase;" which, accordingly, he grossly misinterprets. It seems almost impossible to blunder on so simple an expression. "I would act in the same manner as yourself, Romanello, without storming, as you do, about it." G. 223. W. 196.-This your courtesy Foil'd me a second. "i. e. the nature of your courtesy has prevented me from offering another act of courtesy to you, by accepting yours"! This is really too bad: but the editor sinks into the very abyss of dotage in his notes on this play. All that Ford means, and all that he says is, "I was deceived for an instant by your kindness." "This very quaint and inaccurate sentence seems to mean, 'I'll swear that not even he (Nitido) has not been amongst the ladies,' by which I shall forswear myself," &c. This incomparable nonsense is extracted solely out of his own blunder! Read: Nitido, I'll forswear thee, too. |