[V, iii, 59]. motion—C., f. read motion’s,—an uncalled-for emendation, since ellipsis of is was not infrequent. Cf. Shakespeare, Henry V, IV, i, 197: “’Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill [is] upon his own head.”
[V, iii, 93]. and yet the fault kept from me—loose construction, not easily parsed, though the sense is clear.
[V, iii, 98]. As ... to vndergoe—again a loose construction. It should be, properly: That ... he would undergo, etc.
[V, iii, 107–9]. like the fatall gold, etc.—In this passage the two leaders of the Gauls known to history by the same name appear to be confounded—(1): Brennus, who sacked Rome in 390 B. C., and consented to withdraw after receiving a large ransom of gold;—and (2): Brennus, who led the irruption of the Gauls into Greece in the second century B. C., and attempted to despoil Delphi of its treasure, but did not succeed in doing so. The fact that their respective expeditions are said to have borne an immediate sequel of disaster and death for both alike, may be responsible for the dramatist’s mistake.
[V, iii, 131]. homicide—formerly, as here, = murderer.
[V, iii, 139]. in way of—in the manner of.
[V, iii, 144]. the hate betweene his house and mine—cf. [III, i, 416].
[V, iii, 166]. more presumptions—C., f. read mere presumptions, which is probably correct. An alternative possibility should be noted, however: that presumptions by mis-reading from the Ms. (or by the mere inversion of a u) may be a mis-print for presumptious (presumptuous) = presumptive, in which case more would be retained, with the passage to mean: “You must find other proofs to strengthen these, and they must, moreover, be of a nature to give more reasonable grounds for presumption.”
[V, iii, 174–5].—The last two lines of Charalois’ speech are addressed to his judges; what preceded them to Novall.
[V, iii, 190]. bands—the emendation bawds, proposed by Coxeter and followed by all subsequent editors, seems almost surely correct. “Bawd” prior to 1700 was a term applied to men as well as—and, indeed, more frequently than—to women. Cf. Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, iii, 130.