SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.
Shakspeare Emendations.—As this is the age of Shakspeare emendations, I beg to propose the following for the consideration of the numerous readers of "N. & Q." I am the more emboldened to do so, as I find several marginal corrections made from time to time are verified by the manuscript corrections in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632. These proposed are not, however, there, or I would not have troubled you, though it is many months since I first altered the reading of my copy.
Taming of the Shrew, Act V. Sc. 2.—On the exit of Katharina to "fetch" in the disobedient wives, Lucentio remarks:
"Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.
Hort. And so it is. I wonder what it bodes.
Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,
An awful rule, and right supremacy;
And, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy."
For "an awful rule" I propose to substitute and lawful rule, as agreeing better with the text and context; indeed, the whole passage indicates it. Petruchio means that the change in Katharina's temper and conduct bodes love, peace, law, and order, in contradistinction to awe or fear. The repetition of the conjunction and also makes the harmony of the language more equal; "and love, and quiet life, and lawful rule, and right supremacy," rings evenly to the ear. Considering the number and character of the emendations in Mr. Collier's volume, I have the less hesitation in proposing this one. The language of Shakspeare is, as we know it, for the most part so clear, harmonious, distinct, and forcible, that I think we are justified in considering any obscure, inconsistent, or harsh passage, as having met with some mishap either in hearing, transcribing, or in printing. Some months ago, and certainly before Mr. Collier's volume of corrections appeared, I forwarded to "N. & Q." (it never appeared) a correction from Antony and Cleopatra, Act V. Sc. 2., where Cleopatra, contemplating suicide, says it is—
"To do that thing that ends all other deeds,
Which shackles accidents, and bolts up change;
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung.
The beggar's nurse and Cæsar's."
The word "dung" ending the third line, was so evidently dug, or nipple, that I thought no man to whom it was pointed out could have a doubt about it. Mr. Collier remarks in his recent volume, "This emendation may, or may not, have been conjectural, but we may be pretty sure it is right." I doubt if Mr. Collier would have accepted any authority other than that of his own folio, although Shakspeare has frequently used the word dug as a synonym for nipple, as see Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. 3.:
"Nurse. And she was wean'd,—I never shall forget it,—
Of all the days of the year, upon that day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug.
. . . . . .
—but, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool,
To see it tetchy, and fall out with the dug!"
This quotation proves clearly, I consider, that dug was meant by Cleopatra, and not dung; and so I considered before the old manuscript correction of Mr. Collier's appeared. The words "an awful" are as clearly to my mind and lawful. I doubt, however, if they will be so acknowledged, as the use of the words "an awful," it may be contended, are countenanced by other passages in Shakspeare; I quote the following.
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Sc. I.—
"3rd Outlaw. Know then, that some of us are gentlemen,
Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth
Thrust from the company of awful men."
The word "awful" is surely, in this place, lawful; an outlaw would be little inclined to consider men as "awful," but the contrary. Read the last line as under—
"Thrust from the company of lawful men,"
and the meaning is simple and clear. The outlaws were thrust from the company of lawful men, that is, men who obeyed the laws they had broken in "the fury of ungovern'd youth."
In King Richard II., Act III. Sc. 3., the following use of the words lawful and awful occurs:
"K. Rich. We are amazed; and thus long have we stood
To watch the fearful bending of thy knee,
[To Northumberland.
Because we thought ourself thy lawful king;
And if we be, how dare thy joints forget
To pay their awful duty to our presence?"
The meaning in this case is no doubt clear enough, and the words "awful duty" may be the right ones; but had they stood lawful duty in any old copy, he should have been a bold man who would have proposed to substitute awful for lawful.
Second Part of King Henry IV., Act IV. Sc. 1.—
"Arch. To us, and to our purposes, confin'd:
We come within our awful banks again,
And knit our powers to the arm of peace."
The use of the word "awful" in this passage may be right, but, as in the preceding case, I think, had lawful banks stood in any old printed copy, or had it even been found in Mr. Collier's volume, the fitness would have been acknowledged.
Shakspeare used the word "lawful" in many instances where, no doubt, it may with reason, strong as any given here, be changed to awful. In the historical plays, lawful king, lawful progeny, lawful heir, lawful magistrate, lawful earth, lawful sword, &c., may be found. These suggestions, like the pinch of sand thrown on the old woman's cow, if they do no good, will, I trust, do no harm.
Robert Rawlinson.
Shakspeare.—A German writer, Professor Hilgers, of Aix-la-Chapelle, published in 1852 a pamphlet, in which he endeavoured to prove that many passages in Shakspeare, which were originally written in verse, have been "degraded" into prose, and quotes several passages from the plays
in support of his thesis. Professor Hilgers says that emendation of the text, by means of such a mode of correction as would restore the corrupted verses to their original form, has hitherto been almost entirely neglected by commentators, or else employed by them with very little ability and success. I have not seen the Professor's Treatise, and only write from a short notice which I have just perused of it in a German review; but, if what Professor H. states be correct, the subject appears to deserve more particular attention from the writers in the "N. & Q.," who have devoted their ingenuity and research to the illustration of Shakspeare. In the hope of attracting them to "fresh fields and pastures new," in which to recreate themselves, and to instruct and delight the world-wide readers of the great dramatist, I venture to solicit attention to Professor Hilger's pamphlet and its subject. In this I only echo the German reviewer's language, who most highly praises the Professor's acuteness, and the value of his strictures, and promises to return to them at greater length in a future number of the periodical in which he writes.
John Macray.
Oxford.