ALFRED GATTY.
ON A PASSAGE IN KING HENRY IV., PART I. ACT V. SC. 2.
Pursuant to my conviction that most of the obscure passages in our great poet's dramas arise from typographical errors in the early editions, I submit the following suggested correction of an error in a noble passage, which has hitherto passed unnoticed, to the candid consideration of those who can enter into the spirit of the poet, and are not pertinaciously wedded to the lapses of a very careless printer; to whom, in my opinion, the editors of the first folio confided its correction. Otherwise, we must presume they were unaccustomed to such labour, and in the hurry of active life did their best, however imperfectly.
I must be indulged with rather a long extract, that the reader may be enabled at once to judge whether the words I impugn are in harmony with the tone and spirit of Hotspur's speech.
"Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord, here are letters for you.
Hot. I cannot read them now.——
O gentlemen, the time of life is short;
To spend that shortness basely, were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,