Note (16.) Act III. Scene 1, Line 15, 66 'My sweet mistress Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labour, "I forget; but these," &c. i.e. I am forgetting my task; "So service shall with steeled sinews toil, Cymb. iii. 6, 31,— "The sweat of industry would dry and die, Compare also R. and J. i. 1, 133,— "I, measuring his affections by my own, That most are busied when they're most alone." So This passage is parallel as to the thoughts, but the men are under different conditions; the affections of Benvolio drive him from society and its interruptions; those of Ferdinand urge him to his task, and are most active when he is earning his mistress. The folio has "labours," the not unfrequent error of inserting the final letter "s;" and sometimes of omitting it; as, a few lines above, "There be some sports are painful, and their labour The Where all the compared eds. correct, and print "sets off." The folio has "Most busie lest, when." correction is by Holt White, and is adopted by Delius and Singer. Dyce prints, "Most busiless " after Theobald. Staunton has "Most busy felt." The Camb. eds. and the Clar. P. ed. retain the text of the folio, considering it corrupt. Dyce, Singer, and Staunton print "labour." Delius retains "labours." Theobald's "busiless," Pope's "least busy," Spedding's "Most busiest when idlest," mistake the meaning of " but,” and “ even refresh my labour; and refer "busy" (or what replaces it) to Ferdinand, not to his thoughts. Note (17.) 66 Act III. Scene 3, Line 48, "Each putter-out of five for one.” Of" on, upon. So, T. S. v. 2, 72,"I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound, But twenty times so much upon my wife." Dyce prints, after Thirlby, "of one for five.” Singer prints "on. Staunton explains "of" as having the meaning of on. Note (18.) Act IV. Scene 1, Line 64,- "Banks" are those which Oberon knew (M. N. D. ii. 1, 249); "brims," used for the rhyme, edges, as "the edge of yonder coppice" (L. L. L. iv. 1, 9). Lilies are not associated with rivers in Shakespeare—thus, T. and C. iii. 2, 13, "Those fields [Elysian] Where I wallow in the lily-beds." Nor in Sonnets 98, 99, where lilies are mentioned, is a river introduced. "Cold nymphs" chaste maids : the opposite to "a wanton ambling nymph" (Rich. III. i. 1, 17); like "Nymph, in thy orisons," &c. (Ham. iii. 1, 89), and, "Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!" (T. G. V. v. 4, 12). They are flesh and blood, like the "dismissed bachelor" in the next line; not Ceres' nymphs, much less river-nymphs, whom "Juno does command" (line 128), "You nymphs, call'd Naiads, of the wandering brooks, The folio has "pioned and twilled brims "—"pioned" is an old form of spelling peoned. For "twilled," an evident misprint, both the ductus literarum, and "chaste crowns" indicate lilied as the true reading; lillied, according to the spelling of lilly elsewhere in the folio. For the formation of the word, compare Cymb. iv. 2, 398, "let us Find out the prettiest daisied plot we can," and, this scene, line 81, "my unshrubb'd down," and line 83, "this short-grass'd green." Henley's explanation that "pioned" meant "dug," and "twilled" (on no authority) bedirted, begrimed, confutes itself. If the banks were not green in March, there could be no April flowers. See Sonnet 98, "When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim.” And Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar, months April and March; also Bacon's Essays, "Of Gardens." Amongst many flowers of April, Spenser has "lovéd lilies,” and “the fair flow'r delice." Bacon has the "Flower de Luces, and Lilies of all natures," and "the Double Peony;" which flowers, according to Henley, never blow at this season. The correction is by Hanmer, and is adopted by Dyce. Singer prints, after Holt, "pioned and tilled." The other compared eds. retain the old text. We are not to suppose that these flowers grew wild; all else men 66 وو tioned employed labour-the rich leas of wheat, &c. -the nibbling sheep on the turfy mountains-the meads with stover-and the pole-clipt vineyard; so, the flowery banks, also, required culture. Ceres' blessing, given afterwards, consists of plenty, the reward of labour. "And thy broad groves, Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, So Spenser, Virgil's Gnat, stanza 4, 66 Through the wide woods, and groves, with green leaves dight." And stanza 5,— "Betwixt the forest wide and starry sky." Shakespeare gives all the earth to Ceres-even, thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard, Where thou thyself dost air." In this enumeration groves or forests could not fail to have a place. For the shade-loving bachelor, compare A. L. I. iv. 1, 221, "I'll tell thee, Aliena, I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando; I'll go find a shadow, and sigh till he come." M. A. ii. 1, 209, Benedick of Claudio, 66 Alas, poor hurt fowl! Now will he creep into sedges.” "This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, And to the nightingale's complaining notes Tune my distresses and record my woes." وو The folio has "broome-groues. A similar misprint occurs Lear, iii. 6, 27, where the quartos have "Come o'er the broome, Bessy, to me," corrected by all the compared eds. to "bourn." The misplacing a hyphen is far from unfrequent in the folio. All the compared eds. retain "broom-groves." "Marses hot Minion is returnd againe." So the folio. The same form occurs in A. W. ii. 3, 300, "Which should sustaine the bound and high curuet Of Marses fierie steed." In Ham. ii. 2, 512, the folio has, "On Mars his Armours, forg'd for proofe Eterne." The quartos have "On Marses." 2, 332, the folio has, So in L. L. L. v. "To shew his teeth as white as Whales bone." So in A. L. I. ii. 4, 50, we have "the Cowes dugs -cow always in the folio (six times), never cowe; and in M. A. i. 1, 265, "the bulles hornes," and in 1 Hy. IV. ii. 4, 271," Bulles-pissell," always spelt bull or bul in the folio (nineteen times). The following instances in Twelfth Night show the practice of modernizing the spelling in the folio, Act i. 5, 320, "Run after that same peeuish Messenger The Countes man: he left this Ring behinde him." Here all the compared eds. alter to "county's man.” Act iii. 3, 26,— "Once in a sea-fight 'gainst the Count his gallies." Act iii. 2, 7, 66 'Marry I saw your Neece do more fauors to the Counts seruing All the compared eds. print "Mars's hot minion." There seems no reason why the old possessive form should be obliterated; but if a change were to be |