Chapter LVI: Act III

SC. 1. "And fools are as like _to_ husbands as pilchards are to
herrings."

It might be better to omit the second 'are.'

* * * * *

"And _not_ like the haggard cheek at every feather."

The negative is absolutely necessary. Collier's folio, Johnson, and Dyce, read '_Not_ like'; but 'And' should be retained.

* * * * *

"But wise men's folly fallen quite taint their wit."

So the folio reads; Theobald and Tyrwhitt 'wise men folly-fallen.' I agree with them, and have so printed it. Some read 'taints.'

* * * * *

"I mean to go _in_, sir, to enter."

* * * * *

"Hideth my heart. So, let me hear you speak."

The usual reading is 'Hides my _poor_ heart'; but this simple change, made also by Delius, fully restores the metre. The printer may, however, have substituted 'Hides' for _conceals_ or _covers_.

* * * * *

"Do not extort thy reasons from this clause."

Perhaps for 'thy' we should read _my_.

* * * * *

SC. 2. "Did she see _thee_ the while, old boy?"

The 3rd folio first added _thee_.

* * * * *

"Challenge me the Count's youth to fight with him."

I think 'him' should be _thee_. Ritson read _you_.

* * * * *

SC. 3. "And thanks, and ever _thanks_. Good turns oft."

Here we have an instance of the advantage of transposition, for the folio has "oft good turns." 'Turns' is a dissyllable. Theobald read '_thanks, and_ oft.'

* * * * *

"For which if I be lapsed in this place."

We should surely read _latched_, i.e. caught, taken. See on M. N. D. iii. 2. Mr. Hunter, I find, read as I do.

* * * * *

SC. 4. "He's coming, madam, but in _a_ very strange manner."

* * * * *

"No dram of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple."

Surely the poet's word must have been _ounce_ for the last 'scruple.'

* * * * *

"He is a knight, dubbed with unhatched rapier."

Malone proposed '_an_ hatched,' and he was probably right.

* * * * *

"Ay, is it, I warrant him. Do but read _it_."

* * * * *

"That, honour sav'd, _I_ may upon asking give."

ACT IV.

SC. 3. "Yet there he was, and there I found this credite_d_."

So it is in the folio, with the omission of the last letter, which had either been effaced in the MS. or was left out by the printer. Mason seems also to have seen the truth: yet no one followed him!

* * * * *

"That my most jealous and too doubtful soul
May live at peace. He shall conceal it,
Whiles you are willing it shall come to note."

The second line is imperfect. In my Edition I added _still_ (printed, or perhaps written, _till_), and we might also read _closely_ or _truly_, i.e. faithfully. 'Whiles' is to be understood as till whiles. (See Index _s. v._) We might also end the line with it, and begin the next with _That_; as _while_ and _whiles that_ occur in Chaucer, Golding, and others.

ACT V.

SC. 1. "A bawbling vessel was he captain of."

We should perhaps read 'bauble-vessel,' as in Tr. and Cr. i. 3.

* * * * *

"Then he's a rogue and a passy-measures panyn."

The 2nd folio, which is generally followed, reads _pavin_, which is a dance, and so could hardly be used of a man.

* * * * *

"First told me thou wast mad. Then cam'st in smiling,
And in such forms which here were presuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter."

For 'Then' I read '_Thou_.' (Introd. p. 68.) Theobald read 'cam'st _thou_.' In the next line we should probably read _as_ for 'which.'

* * * * *

"Of our dear souls. Meantime, sweet sister."

We might read '_In the_ meantime,' but there is no necessity whatever for change.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.