to Charles," instead of "near kin to Charles," as we find it in the margin, quite consistently with what Gloster says afterwards, that Armagnac is "near kinsman unto Charles." Neither emendation is necessary, though both may be expedient.

SCENE III.

P. 90. The introduction to this scene (after the Fiends have vanished) is erroneous in the early impressions, for they represent Burgundy as fighting with La Pucelle, whereas York ought to contend with her. A correction in the folio, 1632, sets this matter right, and adds, what is wanting in modern, as well as ancient, editions, that York overcomes Joan. In the previous interview between Joan and her preternatural agents, she says, not that they are "cull'd" out of the regions under the earth, but call'd out of those regions: the mistake seems obvious, but "cull'd" is defensible.

Capel was justified in transposing three lines near the bottom of this page, where Suffolk lays his hands “gently on the tender side" of Margaret, and afterwards kisses her fingers. The old corrector always indicates an error of this kind by figures, and 1, 2, 3, in the margin instructs us to read Suffolk's speech thus:

"For I will touch thee but with reverent hands,

And lay them gently on thy tender side.

I kiss these fingers for eternal peace, &c. [kissing."

In the old copies the second line is the third, and the third the second.

P. 91. Much of Suffolk's speech is in rhyme; and when he exclaims, as Margaret is about to depart,

"O, stay!—I have no power to let her pass;

My hand would free her, but my heart says-no,"

we might be tolerably certain, even without the correction in the margin of the folio, 1632, that the lines were originally thus written :

“O, stay !—I have no power to let her go;

My hand would free her, but my heart says-no."

The two last lines of this speech have given great trouble to the commentators, which would have been avoided had they been able to detect the blunder, of the printer or of the copy

ist, which the corrector distinctly points out: the text in the old editions, is this:

Aye; beauty's princely majesty is such,

Confounds the tongue and makes the senses rough."

Sir Thomas Hanmer printed crouch for "rough ;" and Malone was obliged to pass over the passage by saying that the meaning of "rough" is not "very obvious." Read with the aid of the marginal notes in the folio, 1632, and the obscurity is at an end :

"Aye; beauty's princely majesty is such,

Confounds the tongue, and mocks the sense of touch."

Here, again, who is to determine whether the preceding emendation were derived from some good authority, or whether it was only a lucky guess on the part of the individual through whose hands this copy of the folio, 1632, passed? Certain it is, that not one of the many editors of Shakespeare was ever so fortunate as to stumble on the meaning, which is thus rendered obvious, while, at the same. time, the intended rhyme is preserved: the princely majesty of beauty confounded the power of speech, and mocked all who dared attempt to touch it.

P. 92. By the same authority we are assured that another portion of this scene between Suffolk and Margaret is especially corrupt. We will first give the text as represented in all editions, and follow it by the text as recommended in manuscript-corrections:

"Marg. Tush! women have been captivate ere now.

Suff. Lady, wherefore talk you so?

Marg. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo.

Suff. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose
Your bondage happy, to be made a queen?

Marg. To be a queen in bondage is more vile
Than is a slave in base servility,

Suff.

For princes should be free.

And so shall you,

If happy England's royal king be free."

All this appears to have been mangled, both as regards meaning, metre, and rhyme. We now give this part of the dialogue as it stands in a corrected state in the folio, 1632, where the fitness of every thing seems restored :—

"Marg. Tush! women have been captivate ere now.
Suff. Lady, pray tell me, wherefore talk you so?
Marg. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo.
Suff. Say, gentle princess, would you not then ween
Your bondage happy, to be made a queen?
Marg. A queen in bondage is more vile to me
Than is a slave in base servility,

For princes should be free.

Suff.

And so shall you,

If happy England's royal king be true."

We have, as usual, marked by Italic type the words written in the margin, which we are willing to think were those of our great poet, his original language having been, almost unaccountably, disfigured. Other portions of the same scene are marked by the old corrector as more or less defective: thus, according to him, Margaret says "I give consent," and Suffolk's line is well completed by the addition of down after coming."

P. 95. The suggestion thrown out in note 6, that "mad" is to be read mid in the following passage,

"Bethink thee on the virtues that surmount,

Mad natural graces that extinguish art,"

is fully borne out by a correction in the folio, 1632, the meaning being, that the virtues of Margaret (with whom Suffolk is secretly in love) are pre-eminent 'mid the natural graces by which she is adorned.

SCENE IV.

P. 97. The new pointing of the two lines contended for in note 9 is exactly that of the old corrector, excepting that he places only a comma after "No."

P. 100. By the insertion of r for o, he changed "poison'd” to prison'd, in the following passage :

:

"Speak, Winchester; for boiling choler chokes

The hollow passage of my poison'd voice."

Pope printed prison'd, and appears to have arrived at the author's meaning, though some more modern editors have adhered to "poison'd."

P. 101. We have here another of the many emendations rendered necessary by the mistake of the person who wrote by his ear the manuscript used by the printer. It is the last of any consequence in this play, and it occurs at the very close of the scene between the English and French commanders, when a peace is negotiated. All parties are agreed upon a league of amity, and York, addressing the Dauphin, says,

"Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,

For here we entertain a solemn peace."

The corrector of the folio, 1632, reads the last line thus:

"For here we interchange a solemn peace,"

the agreement for a peace being mutual. It cannot be said, however, that the change is imperatively called for, though recommended on strong presumptive evidence.

THE SECOND PART

OF

KING HENRY VI.

ACT I. SCENE I

P. 112. A question has arisen whether to read,—

"And was his highness in his infancy

Crowned in Paris, in despite of foes?"

or as follows:

"And hath his highness in his infancy

Been crown'd in Paris, in despite of foes?"

Some editors have given the couplet in one way, and some in another; but the old corrector of the folio, 1632, informs us that the last is the true reading, been having probably dropped out at the commencement of the second line.

P. 116. York introduces a simile of pirates sharing pillage in the presence of the owner of it,

"While as the silly owner of the goods

Weeps over them, and wrings his hapless hands."

hap

A correction in the folio, 1632, instructs us to erase less" in favour of helpless, which certainly seems the fitter epithet; but it is impossible to maintain that "hapless" does not fit the place, and might not be the poet's word. The allusion to Althea's brand, in four lines just below, is for some reason struck out.