VARIOUS READINGS.

"Fast asleep! It is no matter; Enjoy the heavy honey-dew of slumber." ACT II., Sc. 1.

The original has "honey-heavy lew." "The compositor was guilty of a transposition," says Mr. Collier. "Honey-dew is a well known glutinous deposit upon the leaves of trees." Such is the manuscript emendation.

Poor guilty compositor! He should have carried his notion of language a hundred years forward; rejected all Shakspere's compound epithets, and believed that he had no intention of describing the sweet heaviness of sleep, but thought only of glueing-up eyes.

"CINNA. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand.

CASCA. Are we all ready?

CÆSAR.

What is now amiss,

That Cæsar, and his Senate, must redress?" ACT III., Sc. 1.

In the original Cæsar says, Are we all ready?" Mr. Collier's corrections give the words to Casca; as Ritson also did.

The distribution seems plausible. But Brutus has just said of Cæsar, "he is address'd," which means "he is ready." Casar, being ready himself, looks to the senate, and says "Are we all ready?"

"BRUTUS. I had rather be a dog, and bait the moon,

Than such a Roman.

"All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a generous, honest thought
Of common good to all, made one of them."

The original has

"He only, in a general honest thought,

And common good to all."

The MS. Corrector gives generous. "The scribe mis-heard," says Mr. Collier.

(ACT V., Sc. 5.) The other conspirators had personal motives of envy. Brutus, only, had a thought for the general welfare. The introduction of generous sounds very modern.

GLOSSARY.

ADDRESS'D. Act III., Sc. 1.

"He is address'd."

Address'd is ready, prepared. So in 'Love's Labour 's Lost'"He and his competitors in oath

Were all address'd to meet you."

ARE. Act V., Sc. 1.

"The posture of your blows are yet unknown."

When a plural noun in the genitive case immediately preceded the verb, the writers of Shakspere's time frequently disregarded the real singular nominative; and such a construction as the above must not be imputed to grammatical ignorance, but to a licence warranted by the best examples. ARRIVE. Act I., Sc. 2.

"But ere we could arrive the point propos'd."

Milton has a similar use of the verb arrive without the preposition at, in-—

Brought is here used for accompanied. To bring one on his way is to accompany him.

BY HIM. Act II., Sc. 1.

"Go along by him."

By him is here used for by his house.

CAUTELOUS. Act II., Sc. 1.

"Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous." Cautelous men, are men who are circumspect, wary. DINT. Act III., Sc. 2.

"The dint of pity."

A dint is an impression; the same word here as dent. FACTIOUS. Act I., Sc. 3.

"Be factious for redress of all these griefs."

To be factious, in its original Latin sense, is to be doing, and
Johnson considers that the meaning here is active, but
Malone suggests that it is to be understood as "embody a
party or faction."

FAVOUR. Act II., Sc. 1.

"By any mark of favour."

Favour here, as in other passages, is countenance.

FORMER. Act V., Sc. 1.

"On our former ensign

Two mighty eagles fell."

The former ensign is the foremost, the ensign in the van.

GRIEFS.

Act IV., Sc. 2.

"Speak your griefs softly."

Griefs are grievances.

HAVOCK. Act III., Sc. 1.

66

"Cry 'Havock,' and let slip the dogs of war."

Sir William Blackstone says that in ancient military operations, havock was the word by which declaration was made that no quarter would be given.

HURTLED. Act II., Sc. 2.

"The noise of battle hurtled in the air." This fine old word means to rush with a noise, and it is so used by Spenser. It is probably the same word as Hurled, which, according to Phillips (New World of Words,' 1696) to fling or cast; also, an old word, to make a noise." Shakspere, with the boldness of genius, makes the action give the sound. Gray has used it more strictly in accord ance with the original meaning :

is

"Iron-sleet of arrowy shower

Hurtles in the darken'd air."

LETHE. Act III., Sc. 1.

"Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe."

Lethe is used in its Latin sense of murder. Lethal, in the sense of deadly, dangerous, was formerly in frequent use, and is still a term in Scottish law proceedings.

PATH. Act II., Sc. 1.

"For if thou path, thy native semblance on."

Path is used as an active verb, to walk on a trodden way, to move forward amidst observation, in thy natural unobscured form.

REMORSE. Act II., Sc. 1.

"Remorse from power."

Shakspere here uses remorse, as in several other places, in the sense of pity or tenderness.

WARN. Act V., Sc. 1.

"They mean to warn us at Philippi here."

Warn is used in the sense of summon.

WHEN. Act II., Sc. 1.

This was a common expression of impatience. It is used in the same sense by John of Gaunt in Richard II.'