Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/516

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. NOV. 28, IQOS.

Pathetically he adds that he lives " but in pain and misery," by reason of a stone fixed in his bladder, which, he says, -"will bear me company to my grave. I cannot ride, nor go well on foot. However, I hope to see my native soil this year, if God spares my life, that my bones may rest as near my old friends as I can contrive."

ALEYN LYELL READE.

Park Corner, Blundellsands, near Liverpool. (To be continued.)

SHAKESPEARIANA.

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA,' I. i. 50-51 --(Folio) :

when such a mutuall paire, Arid such a twaine can doo't.

(Globe, I. i. 37-8.)

In "A New Variorum Edition " we find the following :

" Staunton (Atheiwum, 12 April, 1873) : Here the words ' such a mutual pair And such a twain 'are tautologous and feeble. Besides which, they fail to .account for the Queen's rejoinder, ' Excellent false- hood ! ' I cannot but think that Shakespeare wrote, ' And such a constant twain,' or ' such a faithful twain.' Some epithet implying an indefeasible affection seems imperatively called for. (The addition of a disyllable mars the metre, but this would be venial, if the need were beyond question. Does not, however, any epithet weaken 'such,' which, in its full force, may imply constant, faithful, lotiaL steadfast, and all other appropriate epithets ? -ED.)."

In the foregoing comment the force of " mutual " and " pair," together with the contrasted word " twain," seems to have been overlooked. Both " mutual " and " pair " indicate a reciprocal relation. " Such a mutual pair " refers to the love which Antony and Cleopatra bear for each other, their exceptional character as lovers. In the following line " such a twain " indi- cates only their high station as two of the greatest person - in the world. "Twain," of course, signifies merely two, and is thus used in contrast with " pair." Therefore " such," in its full force, may be taken to carry the idea noble, in connexion with " twain," but it could not imply the reci- procal, lover-like attributes, constant, faith- ful, &c., suggested by Furness, and mis- takenly thought by Staunton to be called for.

Further, since Antony, in calling himself and Cleopatra " a mutual pair," asserts that he is the Queen's lover, we see that Staunton is also incorrect in stating that Antony's speech fails to account for the Queen's rejoinder, " Excellent falsehood ! "

III. xii. 18 (Folio) :

He Lessons his Requests.

(Globe, III. xii. 13.)

Furness quotes without comment, Thiselton (p. 20) :-

"'Lessons' is undoubtedly Shakespeare's word here in the sense of schools or disciplines. The initial capital indicates an emphasis which the feeble lessens would hardly carry, but which the metaphorical * Lessons ' carries easily. The fact that the ambassador is on this occasion a school- master should have been sufficient to have warded off the sacrilegious hand of the emendator."

If, instead of " Requests," the ambassador had used a word to denote that which originated the requests, we might agree that such originating force could be schooled or disciplined. " Lessons his desires " would, perhaps, not be objectionable. " Requests," however, denotes a product which Antony, in obedience to Caesar's pleasure, properly " lessens," as in the emended texts.

V. ii. 105-7 (Folio) :

For his Bounty,

There was no winter in 't. ,An Anthony it was

That grew the more by reaping.

(Globe, V. ii. 86-8.)

Theobald, in suggesting the reading autumn for " Anthony " of the Folio, remarked : " The reason of the depravation might easily arise from the great similitude of the two words in the old spelling, Antonie and Automne " ; to which Furness replies: " The name is spelt Anthony in this play in the Folio without an exception, I think ; which injures the literal ' similitude ' not a little." Furness seems to overlook the fact that the " literal similitude " of the rarely occurring Automne and the frequently occurring Antonie, which deceived the eye of the one who read to the compositor, must have appeared in the original manuscript. Therefore the form Anthony, adopted for the Folio text, does not affect the issue.

Spedding (5 S. i. 303) remarks, in sup- port of the reading autumn, "surely it makes better sense and better poetry," &c., on which Furness comments : " When Spedding becomes eloquent over the beauty of ' autumn,' he seems to forget that he is exalting not Shakespeare, but Theobald." This attempt to take refuge behind au- thority suggests the inquiry, Who definitely settled the question as to which reading " Anthony " or autumn is Shakespeare's word ? The mere fact that " Anthony " appears in the 'Folio does not prove its genuineness ; otherwise, what is to become of the many accepted corrections of the Folio text ? The " New Variorum " editor himself at times praises an emendation,