167 with great art, Ille venena colchica et quicquid, &c. All is contrived to fhew the hurry and confufion of the poet. As foon as he gets breath, the first reflection is very natural upon the dangers conftantly threatning human life. "Quid quifque vitet, nunquam homini fatis I fhould like this reading timent better, if authorized by any book: for the transition, from the fingular to the plural, is not only an clegant variety, but even the verse seems to require it. The poet next begins to think how near he was vifiting the regions below, and feeing his lyric friends; at the very mentioning of whom, he starts out into enthusiastic rapture, and forgets every misfortune of human life. This is the true fpirit and genius of lyric poetry. In the feventh epode a flight pointing fets to right the following verses, 2 Fugit juventas, et verecundus color 2 Fugit Juventas, et verecundus color My "Quibus My youth is fled, and my blooming colour bas for faken me: my bones are covered with skin all wan and pale. And in the fecular poem : 3 Vofque veraces ceciniffe, Parcae, (Quod femel dictum eft ftabilifque rerum And ye, O weird fifters, ever true in your prophetic verses, (and, ob, may a stable period of these things preferve what ye have once declared!) add bappy deftinies to thofe already paft. 'TIS time now to return to our dramatic poet; and I fhall here lay before the reader fome t "Quibus verbis olim offenfus vir magnus Julius Scaliger, Quis, inquit, dicat colorem reliquisse ossa? non igitur debuit "dicere offsa amicta pelle, fed reliquisse pellem amicientem ossa. "Nihil hac cenfura juftius clariufve dici poteft." So far Bentley; he alters therefore the paffage thus ; Fugit juventas et verecundus color Reliquit ORA, pelle amicta lurida. Thus printed in Dr. Bentley's edition, Vofque veraces cecinisse Parcae, Quod femel dictum STABILIS PER AEVUM Terminus fervet, bona jam pera&tis few paffages, where not a word is changed, but only the pointing; and shall submit to his judgment whether or no any further alteration is required. In Measure for Measure, A&t IV. "Aug. But that her tender shame "Will not proclaim against her maiden loss, "How might fhe tongue me? Yet reafon "For my authority bears a credent bulk, "That no particular scandal once can touch; "But it confounds the breather." Were it not for her maiden modefty, how might the Lady proclaim my guilt? Yet (you'll fay) fhe bas reafon on her fide, and that will make her dare to do it. I think not; for my authority is of fuch weight, &c. The Taming of a Shrew, Act I: "Pet. Such wind as fcatters young men thro❜ "the world, "To feek their fortunes farther than at home, 4 Tet reafon dares her : "The old folio impreffions read, yet reason dares her no :"perhaps, dares her note: i. e. ftifles her voice: frights "her from speaking." Mr. Theobald. " Where "Where small experience grows. But in a few, Signior Hortentio thus it ftands with me, "Antonio my Father, &c." In Coriolanus. A& I. "Mar. May these fame inftruments which 66 you profane, "Never found more! when drums and trum"pets fhall "I'th' field prove flatterers, let courts and cities "Be made all of falfe-fac'd foothing.. "When steel grows foft as the Parafite's filk, "Let Him be made an overture for th' wars." Marcus Coriolanus fays this after a flourish of drums and trumpets, and the acclamations of the people: The whole difficulty of the paffage, 5 But in a few, viz. Words: fed paucis. Which is thus corrected in a late edition, "Where small experience grows but in a Mɛw." I leave this to the reader's ridicule. In Hamlet Polonius thus fpeaks to his daughter, "IN FEW, Ophelia "Do not believe his vows, for they are broken." In K. Henry VIII. A&II. "Gent. I'll tell you IN A LITTLE." 171 (if any) confists in the last line, "Let HIM, &c." Which he fpeaks ftriking his hand upon his heart: Jexlixt, as the Grammarians term it. The editors not seeing this, have strangely altered the whole. In Cymbeline, A& V. "Pofthumus. Muft I repent? "I cannot do it better than in gyves, "Defir'd, more than constrain'd. To fatisfic, (If of my freedom 'tis the main part) take "No ftricter render of me, than my all." Muft 1 repent? (fays Pofthumus in prison) I cannot repent better than now in gyves; defir'd, more than conftrain'd. To make what fatisfaction I can for my offences, (if this be, as really 'tis, the main part left of my freedom,) take no Ariller furrender of me than my all, my life and fortune. In Othello, Act I. The Moor is afking leave for Defdemona to go with him to Cyprus, 6 'Tis printed in Mr. Theobald's edition, by conjecture, To fatisfie I d'off my freedom. I there |