"languages word for word without book, and "hath all the good gifts of nature. Mar. "He hath, indeed, ALMOST natural."

'Tis very plain it fhould be, ALL, MOST natural. The fame blunder we meet with in B. Johnson's Silent Woman. Act IV. Sc. I.

"Cler. But all women are not to be taken "ALWAYS

"Tru. 'Tis true. No more than all birds, or "all fishes,"

Here too a letter has been omitted, and we must restore it as above, ALL WAYS. The whole paffage is plainly translated from Ovid's art of Love, near the end of the firft Book.

Again, in Timon. A& V. Sc. IV.

Mellenger. I met a courier, ONE mine an"cient friend;

"Who, though in general part we were oppos'd, "Yet our old love made a particular force, "And made us fpeak like friends.”

'Tis very plain at first fight that the true reading is,

"I met a courier, ONCE mine ancient friend."

of

I will now give fome inftances of parts words omitted through the haft or negligence of transcribing, and fometimes of printing. In Milton,

"THE paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands

66

"Will keep from wilderness with ease, ix. 244

We must read with the first edition,

"THESE paths and bowers, &c." Sεixlixws. Which adds not a little to the beauty of the paffage. In Shakespeare's Timon. Act IV. Timon is speaking to the two Courtefans,

"Crack the lawyer's voice,

"That he may never more false title plead, "Nor found his quillets fhrilly. HOAR the

"Flamen,

2

"That Scolds against the quality of flesh, "And not believes himself.

Read, HOARSE, i. e. make hoarse: for to be hoary claims reverence: this not only the poets,

2 HOAR the Flamen that SCOLDS.] He never could mean, Give the Flamen the hoary Leprofy that scoldsHOAR in this fenfe is fo ambiguous that the construction hardly admits it, and the oppofition plainly requires the other reading.

but

but the Scripture teaches us, Levit. xix. 32. "Thou shalt rise up before the HOARY head." Add to this, that HOARSE is here most proper, as opposed to SCOLDS.

In King Lear, A& V.

"Lear. Ha! Gonerill! hah, Regan! they "flattered me-when the rain came to wet "me-There I found 'em-Go to, they are not MEN o' their words; they told me "I was every thing; 'tis a lie, I am not ague proof."

Read, they are not WOMEN o' their words.

And to add one inftance more. In the Tempeft,

A& II.

"Ten consciences, that stand 'twixt me and "Milan

"Candy'd be they, and melt, e'er they moleft! We must read,

Difcandy'd be they, and melt e'er they moleft!

Difcandy'd. i. e. diffolved. Difcandy and melt are used as fynonomous terms in Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV.

"The hearts

"That pannell❜d me at heels, to whom I gave "Their wishes, do difcandy, melt their sweets "On bloffoming Caefar.

By the bye, what a strange phrase is this, 3 The hearts that pannell'd me at heels? And how juftly has Mr. Theobald flung it out of the context? But whether he has placed in it's room a Shakespearean expreffion, may admit of a doubt.

"The hearts

"That pantler'd me at heels."

Now 'tis contrary to all rules of criticism to coin a word for an author, which word, fuppofing it to have been the author's own, would appear far fetched and improper. In fuch a cafe there

3 In this fecond edition I thought once to strike out this criticiffi:, because I am perfuaded Shakespeare's words ought not to be changed. Who is fo unacquainted with our author as to be ignorant of his vague and licentious use of metaphors; his sporting (as it were) with the meaning of words? The allufion here, licentious as it is, is to the pannel of a wainscot. But hear the poet himself in As you like it. A& III. Jaq. This fellow will but JOIN "you together, as they JOIN WAINSCOT.” So that by the hearts that pannell'd me at heels, he means the hearts that JOIN'D me, united themselves to me, &c. This might have been lengthened into a fimile, but he chooses to exprefs it more closely by a metaphor.

fore

fore we fhould feek for remedy from the author himself : and here opportunely a paffage occurs in Timon, A& IV.

Apem. Will these moist trees

"That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels "And fkip when thou point'ft out?

From hence I would in the above-mention'd verfes correct,

"The hearts

"That pag'd me at the heels, to whom I gave "Their wishes, &c"

But to return to the place in the Tempeft: The verfe is to be flurr'd in scansion, thus:

Difcandy'd be they and melt | e'er they moleft.

The printers thought the verfe too long, and gave it,

Candy'd be they and melt,

But candy'd, is that which is grown into a confiftency, as fome forts of confectionary ware: Fr. candir. Ital. candire. Hence used for congeal'd, fixt as in a froft. So in Timon.

Will the cold brook, candied with ice, &c. Difcandy'd