Note (11). Ib. Line 262,

"Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue,-
A curse shall light upon the heads of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife," &c.

Compare Rich. III. iii. 4, 95,

"O Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse
Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head!"

Lucrece, 1480,—

"Let sin, alone committed, light alone
Upon his head that hath transgressed so."

So Ham. v. 1, 270,—

"O, treble woe fall-on that cursed head."

Rich. III. iii. 3, 15,

"Now Margaret's curse is fall'n upon our heads."

Hy. VIII. ii. 1, 138, "it calls-too many curses on The folio has "the limbes of men

their heads." Dyce prints "minds," after Swynfen Jervis. The

other compared eds. retain "limbs."

mark the text as corrupt.

The Camb. eds.

Note (12.) Act IV. Scene 2, Line 7,—

"Bru.

Your master, Pindarus,

In his own charge, or by ill officers,

Hath given me some worthy cause to wish
Things done, undone.”

Act iv. 3, 9,

"Bru. But let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself
Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm ;
To sell and mart your offices for gold

To undeservers."

The folio has" In his own change "-a misprint which occurs also in A. and C. i. 2, 5, folio,

"must change his horns with garlands.”

and Cor. v. 3, 152, folio,

"And yet to change thy sulphur with a bolt."

The correction is by Warburton.

All the compared eds. retain "change." In the line cited, Act iv. 3, 9,

"Bru. But let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself."

The folio omits "But”—probably the transcriber was confused by the abbreviation "Brut" for Brutus, which occurs in this scene and elsewhere in the folio. Dyce prints" And let," after Capell. The other compared eds. retain the old text.

Note (13.) Act IV. Scene 3, Line 88,—

"Cass. A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Bru. I do not: 'tis you practise them on me.
Cass. You love me not."

Compare line 43,—

"Bru. Go show your slaves how choleric you are, And make your bondmen tremble.

Must I budge?

Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch

Under your testy humour?”

"practise them on me”—i.e. make me an object for exercising your humours on.

The folio has,—

"I do not, till you practice them on me."

a speech Brutus could not have made. pared eds. retain the old text.

All the com

MACBETH.

Note (1.) Act I. Scene 2, Line 21,—

"For brave Macbeth,-well he deserves that name,-
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smok'd with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion,

Carv'd out his passage till he fac'd the slave;
And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements."

=

"And ne'er shook hands" wished good-bye, parted with him. So A. and C. iv. 12, 20,

"Fortune and Antony part here; even here

Do we shake hands."

The

The Clar. P. eds. cite from Lyly's Euphues, "to shake handes with chastitie "-in the same sense. meaning of the line is similar to (Act v. 8, 34),—

"Before my body

I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,

And damn'd be him that first cries Hold, enough!''

"Hold!" I yield—and so (1 Hy. IV. iv. 1, 123),—

66

Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,

Meet, and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.”

The folio has "Which neu'r "-caught from three lines above; the error is sufficiently evident. Capell made the correction, which is adopted by Dyce and Singer. The other compared eds. retain "Which." The Camb. eds. mark the text as corrupt.

Note (2.)

Act I. Scene 3, Line 15,—

"And the very ports they blow,

All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card."

"ports" = gates, the four gates of the heavens—the four quarters of heaven-as is explained by the next two lines. So Rich. II. iii. 3, 64,—

"From out the fiery portal of the east."

M. N. D. iii. 2, 391,—

"Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red."

they blow" is used for "blow from". -as we say the wind is in the east,--a west wind blowing-i.e. the wind is from those quarters. Davenant so understood the text, and gives his version,

"And then from every port they blow,
From all the points that seamen know."

Note (3.) Ib. Line 97,—

"As thick as tale

Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.”

post with post" post by post, i.e. one after the other. "As thick as tale" as quick as enumeration, reckoning, i.e. as fast as they could be counted. Compare W. T. iv. 4, 185,

"he sings several tunes faster than you'll tell money." Compare also A. and C. i. 5, 63,—

"Cleo.

Met'st thou my posts?

Alex. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers :

Why do you send so thick?"

An example of like rapid yet distinct succession is given in Temp. i. 2, 280,-

"Where thou didst vent thy groans

As fast as mill-wheels strike."

Singer and Staunton retain "tale." The other compared eds. alter to "hail," after Rowe. The folio has the misprint "as thick as Tale Can post."

after Rowe, to "came."

Note (4.)

Act I. Scene 4, Line 27,

"Macb. The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part Is to receive our duties; and our duties

All alter,

Are to your throne and state children and servants,
Which do but what they should by doing everything,
Slaves toward your love and honour."

"Slaves"—i.e. subjected-compare Hy. VIII. i. 2,

64,

"And it's come to pass,

That tractable obedience is a slave
To each incensed will."

So (Ham. iii. 2, 198) "Purpose is but the slave to memory." (R. and J. v. 3, 221) "let mischance be slave to patience." (T. and C. iii. 2, 90) "the act a slave to limit." The folio has,

"By doing euery thing safe toward your Loue"

All the compared eds. retain "safe." The passage cited (T. and C. iii. 2, 90),—

"the desire is boundless, and the act a slave to limit."

has its counterpart in Act ii. 1, 18,—

"Being unprepar'd,

Our will became the servant to defect;

Which else should free have wrought."