VOL. III. THE MAD LOVER. PROLOGUE............ And you our noble merchants, for your treasure Share equally our fraught, we run for pleasure. The sense of this passage is destroyed by the false punctuation. It should run thus-- And you our noble merchants for your treasure, Share equally our fraught;—we run for pleasure. Meaning, that pleasure was the fraught they run for, which the audience should share with them. Page 219. LUCIPPE........ Madam, the van's your's; Keep your ground sure; 'tis for your spurs. That is, it is your first exploit; and to establish your character, you must behave with spirit. It is a common phrase in the old French writers, when a young man behaved gallantly in his first action, to say, qu'il a bien gagnè ses Eperous; that is, that he has earned his spurs well. The phrase owes its origin to the antient method of conferring knighthood; one of the ceremonies of which was, the tying on the spurs of the new made knight; and it was usual to defer the In the Loyal Subject, Alinda says to Archas-- You are a knight, a good and noble soldier ! Page 223. EUMENES........ Is it possible the wild noise of a War, And what she only teaches, should possess you? We should read with the second folio-- The wild noise of war, Instead of a war. What she only teaches, means nothing but what she teaches. Page 226. PAGE........Well advanced, fool. The old reading is-- Advance it, fool. And should not have been changed. Advance it, fool, means, go on with that joke, or in that strain. A similar expression occurs in the last Act, where Chilax says to the fool-- Fool up, sirrah! And in the Little Thief, Wildbrain says-- You're merry, aunt, I see, and all your company. Page 226. FOOL............ Now the drum's dubb's o'er. All the old foxes hunted to their holes. Fox is the old name for a broad sword. To that the Fool alludes. Beaten about the ears with bawling sheepskins; Cut to the soul for summer. As I can find no sense in this last line as it stands, I should be inclined to read with Theobald-- Cut to the soul for honour. Page 229. MEMNON........ Your courtly worship, How to put off my hat. The old reading, worships, need not have been changed, as these words might have been addressed to more than one. Page 233. MEMNON........She that I love, Whom my desires shall magnify, time stories; We should read, time story, instead of time stories; shall, the sign of the future tense, refering to story, as well as to magnify: and the meaning is this-- She whom I love, whom my desires shall magnify, Page 234. MEMNON........ There love is everlasting; ever young; Free from diseases, ages, jealousies, &c. Seward says, that ages, in the plural, may very probably signify old age; but he does not prove this assertion by any example, and I am confident that no such example can be produced. The last Editors seem to be of his opinion, and say, that in this place ages would form an antithesis; but, in my opinion, instead of any antithesis, it would form a very dull tautology, if Memnon, after saying in the line preceding, that love was ever young, should add, that he was free from old age. Theobald and Sympson reads aches, instead of ages: but the true reading is agues; by which Memnon means, those momentary intervals of languor which are felt, at times, even by the truest and most ardent lovers. Page 235. MEMNON..... Bawds, beldames, pandars, purgers. The old reading is, bawds, beldames, painters, purgers, which Seward has injudiciously changed to pandars; saying, that every one must allow that pandars are more proper companions to bawds and beldames, than painters. But I cannot allow, that it is proper for the Editors to make the poets use three words successively to ex press the same idea; for there is in truth no difference between bawds, beldames, and pandars, as they all mean the same thing. Painters is, therefore, the true reading; Memnon considering the sophisticated faces of women as one of the plagues attending love in this world. Page 236. MEMNON........ For, sir, I will be strong as brave That is, I will be strong, as well as fine and glorious. As the sentence, in this sense, is complete, there should not be a break after brave. Page 240. CHILAX........ You are as fine company as can be fitted, Your worship's fairly met. That is, your worship is well suited with a companion. These words certainly belong to Chilax. Page 242. MEMNON........ For the loves we now know, Are but the heats of half an hour, and hated; The word bated, in this passage, will bear but a harsh construction; and heated, which Sympson and Seward wish to read, would make a wretched tautology. Were we to leave out the word entirely, it would improve the sense. Page 244. MEMNON........ Lend me thy knife, and help me off. That is, help me off with me off with my clothes. |