It is curious to trace the progrefs of conjecture about the meaning of a paffage, that in itself merits no attention, and would gain none, if it were found in any other author but Shakspeare. The critics have been much divided about the fignification of an aukward, ill-founding line in the speech of Leonato, in Much Ado about Nothing (A&t V. Sc. I.). Speaking of a parent whofe diftreffes might be fuppofed as "overwhelming" as his own, he says "If fuch a one will fmile and ftroke his beard; 66 "And I of him will gather patience," Mr. Row, without any authority, altered the line to "And ballow, wag, cry hem," &c. Mr. Theobald, on confulting the old quarto, the firft and" fecond folios, found that the line originally ftood thus And Jorrow, wagge, &c. Hence he hit on an emendation; without any great breach on the letter indeed; but we think to the total annihilation of the fenfe. He would fubftitute wage for wag; and by a licence of fpeech that no grammar will admit of he proposes to read the line And forrow wage, cry hem, &c. "i. e. (fays he) if fuch a one will combat with, ftrive against · forrow, &c." Sir Thomas Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, read waive inftead of wag:-by which term they mean-put afide or Shift off. Dr. Johnfon is much diffatisfied with all the conjectures and emendations of preceding critics, and therefore reads the line as if it begun interjectionally : "Sorrow, wag!". i.e. begone, or as one might fay, wag off! Mr. Tyrwhitt chufeth to read And forrow gagge.” But Mr. Warton dislikes wage,“ i.e. ftop the mouth of it. and waive, and wag, and gag; and therefore (as he fays) with the leaft departure from the old copies, and in entire conformity to the acknowledged and obvious fenfe of the paffage, he ventures to correct it thus: "If fuch a one will fmile "And forrowing, cry hem, &c. Mr. Steevens is willing to let wag ftand; not indeed in the humble ftate of a verb; but in the more important character of, a noun substantive. But to effect this change, he must reduce the confequence of a neighbouring word, and forrow must be converted into a forry adjective. To be as ferious as we can on this subject-though we think Mr. Steevens not quite ferious S 3 himfelf himfelf-we fhall only propofe the ingenious Editor's correetion, and leave it to our Readers to make what use they please of it: "If fuch a one will fmile "And, forry wag! cry hem! &c." The following beautiful paffage in the Merchant of Venice is, we think, judicioufly explained by Mr. Maione: "There's not the fmallest orb which thou behold'st, "Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubims. "But whilst this muddy vefture of decay "Doth grofly clofe it in, we cannot hear it," Part of the difficulty of this paffage was occafioned by a wrong punctuation.- The whole runs thus: There is not one of the heavenly orbs, but fings as it moves, fill quiring to the cherubims. Similar to the harmony they make is that of immortal jauls. Or in other words-Each of us have as perfect harmony in our fouls as the harmony of the spheres, inafmuch as we have the quality of being moved by fweet founds; but our grafs, tereftrial part, which environs us, deadens the found, and prevents our hearing it.' This faves all the confufion which Dr. Warburton has introduced, who refers fouls to orbs; and not being able to reconcile them, changes the word to funds." Doth clofe it in."-This Dr. Johnfon conjectures to have been the original reading, in. opposition to the folios, which read, "Doth grofsly clote in it," Mr. Malone fupports his interpretation of the paffage by a fimilar expreffion in Marfton's Antonio and Melido, 1602. 66 Heav'n's tones "Strike not fuch harmony to immortal fouls, "As your accordance sweet my breast withal. In a note on the word fellow, in A&t IV. Sc. 1. of Taming of the Shrew, we have the following anecdote: In the old play called the Return from Parnaffus, we have a curious paffage, which fhews the opinion of contemporaries concerning the learning of Shakspeare. The use of the word. fellow brings it to my remembrance. Burbage and Kempe are introduced to teach the univerfity-men the art of acting, and are reprefented (efpecially Kempe) as leaden spouts-very illiterate.. "Few of the univerfity, fays Kempe, pen plays well: they fmell too much of that writer, Ovid, and that writer, Metamorphofis-Why here's our fellow Shakspeare puts them all down." On that obfcure expreffion in All's well that ends well [A&I. Sc. II.] -" whose "whofe judgments are "Mere fathers of their garments, whofe conftancies 66 We have the following ingenious conjecture, from Mr. Tyrwhytt. I have a fufpicion that Shakspeare wrote-mere feathers of their garments:" i. e. whofe judgments are merely parts (and infignificant parts) of their drefs, worn and laid afide as feathers are, from the mere love of novelty and change.' The whole paffage confirms this emendation. In the fame comedy we meet with the following very crabbed and almost unintelligible paffage : King. "What dar'it thou venture? "Tax of impudence "A trumpet's boldness, a divulged shame, "Traduc'd by odious ballads; my maiden's name "With vileft torture let my life be ended.” Dr. Johnson obferves, that this paffage is apparently corrupt, and he entertained fmall hopes of rectifying it. The ingenious Mr. Malone hath remarked that the old copy readsnot fear'd but fear'd' The impreffion (fays he) in my book, is very faint, but I think that is the word. In the fame line it reads, not no, but ne-probably an error for the. I would wish to read and point the paffage thus: a divulged fhame "Traduc'd, by odious ballads, my maiden's name; i. e. Let my maiden reputation become the fubject of ballads-let. it be otherwife mangled; and (what is the worst of worst-the confummation of mifery) my body extended on the rack by the moft cruel torture, let my life pay the forfeit of my prefump tion.' Dr. Johnson obferved, in a former Edition of our Author, that a clown, in his dramas, is commonly taken for a licensed jefter or domeftic fool. This circumftance is confirmed by Mr. Steevens in a note on the 3d Scene, Act I. of the forementioned comedy, where the perfons introduced are the Countefs, Steward, and Clown. This dialogue (fays the Editor) or that in Twelfth Night, between Olivia and the Clown, feems to have been particularly.. cenfured by Cartwright in one of the copies of verses prefixed to the works of Beaumont and Fletcher: "Shakespeare to thee was dull, whofe beft jeft lies "Old fashion'd wit, which walk'd from town to town, In the MS. regifter of Lord Stanhope of Harrington, Treafurer of the chamber to King James I. from 1613 to 1616, are the following entries: "Tom Derry, his Majesty's fool, at 2 s. per diem, 1615. Paid John Mawe for the diet and lodging of Thomas Derrie, her Majefty's jefter, for thirteen weeks, 10 l. 18 s. 6 d. 1616. Malvolio in Twelfth Night, fays" the Lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe." Dr. Warburton, according to custom, alters the word, in order, if poffible, to extract fome meaning out of it. He propofes to read Trachy, i. e. Thrace. This alteration, in the opinion of Dr. Johníon, added little to the credit of the text, whatever honour might accrue from it to the fagacity of the critic. He honeftly confeffed his ignorance of the circumstance or ftory to which the expreffion alluded. Mr. Smith conjectures that the word Strachy is derived from the Italian word Straccio, and fignifies clouts or tatters. Mr. Steevens sports an hypothefis, for which he makes fo ingenuous an apology, that we should be difpofed to indulge him even if it were lefs probable than it is. He would alter, by a very easy tranfpofition of a letter, Strachy to Starchy; i. e. the room in which linen underwent the once moft complicated operation of ftarching. The alteration (fays he) was fuggefted to me by a typogra phical error in The World tofs'd at Tennis, 1620, by Middleton and Rowley, where ftraches is printed for ftarches. I cannot fairly be accused of having dealt much in conjectural emendation, and therefore feel the lefs reluctance to hazard a guess on this defperate paffage! Mr. Steevens indeed hath a right with the first critics on Shakspeare to amufe himself with the play of conjecture. His abilities entitle him to this indulgence in common with other commentators. But it is very feldom that he hath availed himself of the privilege. He adheres to the fimple text as long as he finds any thing in it to fupport him: and when he departs from it, it is always with diffidence and reluctance. The true reading of a moft obfcure paffage in Act IV. Sc. III. of Twelfth Night, is, we think, reftored by Mr. Tyrwhytt, and its meaning, with much probability, conjectured by the help of Sir John Hawkins's explanation of a term which occurs in it. Sir Toby (drunk himself) fays of Dick the furgeon (who, as the Clown informs him, had been "drunk above an hour agone") "Then he's a rogue, and a passy-measure pavin: Paffy-meafure is a corruption of the Italian word passamezzo: it was a favourite air in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The pavan, from pavo, a peacock, is a grave and majeftic dance. The method of dancing it was anciently by gentlemen dreffed, with a cap and fword-by thofe of the long robe in their gowns by princes in their mantles-and by ladies in gowns with long trains, the motion whereof in the dance refembled that of a peacock's tail. · By the affiftance of the above explanation, given by Sir. John Hawkins, I think (fays Mr. Tyrwhytt) I now see the meaning of this paffage. The fecond folio reads "after a paffy measure pavin So that I fhould imagine the following regulation of the whole" fpeech would not be far from the truth: "Then he's a rogue :-after a passy-measure or a pavin "I hate a drunken rogue." i. e. next to a paffy-meafure or a pavin I hate a drunkard. It is in character that Sir Toby Belch fhould express a strong diflike of ferious dances, &c. fuch as the passamezzo and the pavan are described to be.' Mr. Steevens hath reftored the true reading of a corrupted paffage in Act I. Sc. II. of the tragedy of Macbeth : "Till he difburfed at St. Colmes' kill ifle." This is very erroneous, though adopted by all the modern editors. The folio reads at Saint Colmes' ynch. i. e. Colmes Inch, or as it is now called Inchcomb, a small island lying in the Firth of Edinburgh, with an abbey upon it, dedicated to St. Columb, called by Cambden Inch Colum, or the Ifle of Columba. Colum kill is quite a different ifland. This latter was the very celebrated Iona, that was anciently the refidence of an abbot, and afterwards an epifcopal fee. It was noted for being the burial-place of the kings of Ireland, Scotland, and Norway. It was the feat of learning to the inhabitants of the northern countries: and the illuftrious fchool from whence iffued fome of the greatest ornaments of the church in the middle ages. This famous inland is fituated among the Hebrides, in the western feas, at a small distance from the ifle of Mull. It was vifited a few years fince by Dr. Johnfon; whofe reflections on its ancient and prefent ftate are equally pious and rational, and every way worthy of the philofopher and the Chriftian. With respect to the ifland fituated in the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh, called Colmes' Inch, Mr. Steevens produces the following paffage from Hollinfhed, to illuftrate the circumstance which this tragedy refers to in the line quoted above. Danes that escaped and got once to their fhips obtained of Mac-beth for a great fum of gold, that fuch of their friends as were flaine might be buried in Saint Colmes' Inch. In memory whereof many old fepultures are yet in the faid Inch graven with the arms |