Which he did ear all his."
To ear is to plough. Aufidius complains that he had a share in the harvest, while Coriolanus took all the ploughing to himself. We have only, however, to transpose reap and ear, and this nonsense is at once converted into excellent sense. The old corrector blindly copied the blunder of a corrupt, but not sophisticated, manuscript. This has occurred elsewhere in this collection.
Antony and Cleopatra, Act I. Sc. 5., p. 467.:
"And soberly did mount an arm-girt steed."
This reading was also conjectured by Hanmer. The folios read arme-gaunt. This appears to me a mere misprint for rampaunt, but whether rampaunt was Shakspeare's word, or a transcriber's sophistication for ramping, is more than I can undertake to determine. I believe, however, that one of them is the true reading. At one period to ramp and to prance seem to have been synonymous. Spenser makes the horses of night "fiercely ramp," and Surrey exhibits a prancing lion.
This communication is, I am afraid, already too long for "N. & Q.;" I will therefore only add my opinion, that, though the old corrector has reported many bad readings, they are far outnumbered by the good ones in the collection.
W. N. L.
Mr. Collier's "Notes and Emendations:" Passage in "The Winter's Tale."—At p. 192. of Mr. Payne Collier's new volume, he cites a passage in The Winter's Tale, ending—
"... I should blush
To see you so attir'd, sworn, I think