Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, To stubborn harshness:-And, my gracious duke, Consent to marry with Demetrius, I beg the ancient privilege of Athens; THE. What say you, Hermia? Be advis'd, fair maid: To you your father should be as a god; One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one To whom you are but as a form in wax, By him imprinted, and within his power But, in this kind, wanting your father's voice, HER. I would my father look'd but with my eyes. THE. Rather your eyes must with his judgment look. HER. I do entreat your grace to pardon me. I know not by what power I am made bold, THE. Either to die the death, or to abjure Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires, For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd, To live a barren sister all your life, Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon. But earthly happier is the rose distill'd, Than that, which, withering on the virgin thorn, Or else, to wed Demetrius, as he would; For aye, austerity and single life. DEM. Relent, sweet Hermia;-And, Lysander, yield Lys. You have her father's love, Demetrius; Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him. Lys. I am, my lord, as well deriv'd as he, A As well possess'd; my love is more than his; Earthly happier-more happy in an earthly sense. The reading of all the old copies is earthlier happy, and this has been generally followed, although Pope and Johnson proposed earlier happy, and Steevens earthly happy. We have no doubt that Capell's reading, which we have adopted, is the true one; and that the old reading arose out of one of the commonest of typographical errors. The orthography of the folio is earthlier happie;—if the comparative had not been used, it would have been earthlie happie; and it is easy to see, therefore, that the r has been transposed. Lordship-authority. The word dominion in our present translation of the Bible (Romans, ch. vi.) is lordship in Wickliffe's translation. • This is one of those elliptical expressions which frequently occur in our poet. The editor of the second folio, who was not scrupulous in adapting Shakspere's language to the changes of a quarter of a century, printed the lines "Unto his lordship, to whose unwish'd yoke," &c. The to must be understood after sovereignty. In the same manner, the particle on must be understood in a passage in Cymbeline:' "Whom heavens, in justice, (both on her and hers,) The same elliptical construction occurs in Othello's speech to the Senate:- I won his daughter." (with.) My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd, If not with vantage, as Demetrius'; And, which is more than all these boasts can be, I am belov'd of beauteous Hermia: Why should not I then prosecute my right? And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes, Upon this spotted and inconstant man. THE. I must confess that I have heard so much, And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof; My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come; I have some private schooling for you both. I must employ you in some business Of something nearly that concerns yourselves. EGE. With duty and desire, we follow you. [Exeunt THES., HIP., EGE., DEM., and train. Lys. How now, my love? Why is your cheek so pale? The course of true love never did run smooth: HER. O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to lowe! a Spotted-stained, impure; the opposite of spotless. b Beteem-pour forth. • The folio omits the "Eigh me!" of the quartos. 4Ever I, in the folio. I could ever, in the quartos. • The quartos and the folio, read "O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to love." Theobald altered love to low; and the antithesis, which is kept up through the subsequent lines, justifies the change:-high-low; old—young. Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, So quick bright things come to confusion. Then let us teach our trial patience, Because it is a customary cross; As due to love, as thoughts, and dreams, and sighs, Lys. A good persuasion; therefore, hear me, Hermia. Of great revenue, and she hath no child; From Athens is her house remov'd seven leagues; ■ Friends. So the quartos. In the folio we find— "Or else it stood upon the choice of merit." The alteration in the folio was certainly not an accidental one; but we hesitate to adopt the reading, the meaning of which is more recondite than that of friends. The "choice of merit" is opposed to the "sympathy in choice;"-the merit of the suitor recommends itself to "another's eye," but not to the person beloved. Momentary. So the folio of 1623; the quartos read momentany, which Johnson says is the old and proper word. Momentany has certainly a more antique sound than momentary; but they were each indifferently used by the writers of Shakspere's time. We prefer the reading of the folio, because momentary occurs in four other passages in our poet's dramas; and this is a solitary example of the use of momentany, and that only in the quartos. The reading of the folio is invariably momentary. • Collied-black, smutted. This is a word still in use in the Staffordshire collieries. Shakspere found it there, and transplanted it into the region of poetry. In a spleen-in a sudden fit of passion or caprice. Fancy's followers-the followers of Love. Fancy is here used in the same sense as in the exquisite song in The Merchant of Venice:' "Tell me where is fancy bred." The word is repeated with the same meaning three times in this play: in Act II., Scene 2"In maiden meditation, fancy-free;" in Act III., Scene 2 "All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer;"— and in Act IV., Scene 1— "Fair Helena in fancy following me." 'Remov'd—the reading of the folio. In the quartos we find remote. The reading of the folio is supported by several parallel passages; as in Hamlet,— "It wafts you to a more removed ground;" I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow; By the simplicity of Venus' doves; By that which knitteth souls, and prospers loves; When the false Trojan under sail was seen; By all the vows that ever men have broke, Lys. Keep promise, love: Look, here comes Helena. HEL. Call you me fair? that fair again unsay. Demetrius loves your faira: O happy fair! Your eyes are load-stars*; and your tongue's sweet air When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear. Sickness is catching; O, were favourb so, (Your words I catch,) fair Hermia, ere I go, and in 'As You Like It'-" Your accent is somewhat finer than you could purchase in so removed a dwelling." Milton has in 'Il Penseroso,'— "Some still removed place will fit." Upon this line Warton observes, "Removed is the ancient English participle passive for the Latin remote." Fair-used as a substantive for beauty. As in 'The Comedy of Errors,'— "My decayed fair A sunny look of his would soon repair.” This is the reading of the quartos. In the folio we have “ you fair." Favour-features-appearance-outward qualities. In 'Cymbeline' we find— "I have surely seen him; His favour is familiar to me;" in 'Measure for Measure,' "Surely, sir, a good favour you have;" and in Hamlet,'"Tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come." • The reading of all the old editions is, Your words I catch. The substitution of Yours would I catch was made by Hanmer. We leave the text as in the old editions. It is in the repetition of |