SEBASTIAN.

ACT IV.

SCENE III.-page 392.

Where's Antonio then?

I could not find him at the Elephant:

Yet there he was; and there I found this credit
That he did range the town to seek me out.

This credit, is a letter left by Antonio at the Elephant for Sebastian, and which he should hold in his hand. There wants this stage direction: (He takes a letter from his pocket,) which letter displays at once what this credit means.

ACT V.

SCENE I. page 416.

OLIVIA. And now I do bethink me, it was she

First told me, thou wast mad; then came in smiling, &c. A slight alteration gives the original. We should read: And now I do bethink me, it was she

First told me thou wast mad,--Thou cam'st in smiling, &c. Thus corrected, the text corresponds with the elucidation given by Mr. Steevens. The ou in manuscript, might very easily be taken for en.

Much ado about Nothing.

BENEDICT.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-page 47.

-it is the base, the bitter disposition of Beatrice, that puts the world into her person, and so gives me out. Dr. Johnson's elucidation is perfectly correct: he, however, could not reconcile how "base and bitter are inconsistent; or, why what is bitter should not be base." Truly, he might well make this observation, the passage being corrupt.

The old copies read-"base though bitter disposition:" And here we find two bad qualities, with an unprecedented aim to soften one, by making it exceptionable, as though there was some goodness attached to it. The Author's text, however, can only be obtained by means of the old reading-" base though bitter," &c.

-it is the base, tough, bitter disposition of Beatrice, &c.

Thus he points out three bad qualities in Beatrice, to prove that her evil reports proceed from a malevolent disposition. She is base, (wicked) tough, (vicious) and bitter, (sharp.) The compositor, having merely glanced at the copy, mistook tough for though: the omission of an h corrects the error.

BENEDICT.

SCENE I.-page 49.

huddling jest upon jest, with such impossible conveyance, upon me, that I stood like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at me:

I find it utterly impossible to extract any sense from the censurable word, in its present place; nor can I receive any light from the forced elucidations before me.

From the characteristics attributed to Beatrice by her antagonist, she seems to be totally destitute of pity: I, therefore, not only think, but am confident, that our Author wrote:

Huddling jest upon jest with such impitiable conveyance upon me, that I stood like a man at a mark, &c.

In this speech, Benedick calls her the infernal Até (the goddess of Revenge) and where revenge is a prevailing passion, pity never enters.

The compositor took but a cursory view of his copy, and read, impossible for impitiable.

SCENE I.-page 53.

BEATRICE. Good lord, for alliance!

Beatrice plays on the word cousin, as used by Claudio, and turns its sense from cousin (a relation) to cozen (to cheat)—meaning, that Hero, by telling Claudio he is in her heart, has cheated him into an alliance. In representation, Beatrice should follow the word cousin immediately, to give the idea the same force as though she said, she cozens, good lord, for alliance.

Our Author frequently plays on this word: one apposite example may be necessary.-See HENRY IV. Act I. sc. iii. where Hotspur, speaking of Henry, says: "Look,—when his infant fortune came to age, And,-gentle Harry Percy,-and kind cousin, O, the devil take such cozeners!”

BEATRICE.

SCENE I.-page 53.

Thus goes every one to the world but I, and

I am sun-burned, &c.

The transcriber mistook the sound of the word: the

error lies in the word to. We should read:

Thus goes every one through the world but I, and I am sunburned, &c.

D

Beatrice means, that Hero, in having cozened Claudio, has only acted like the rest of her sex, when striving to obtain a husband; and "thus," she observes, "goes every one through the world, (cheating) but, I;" and, as I am ingenuous and veil not my true sentiments of mankind, but expose them, as I do my honest countenance, to the rays of the sun, I am neglected and may sit in a corner, and cry, heigh ho! for a husband.

If the r in through be not sounded, it nearly resembles to. There are many persons who sound to-tho: but, however the error took place, the correction manifestly displays its own value.

DON PEDRO.

SCENE I.-page 56.

I will, in the interim, undertake one of Hercules' labours; which is, to bring Signior Benedick and the lady Beatrice into a mountain of affection, the one with the other.

The labour is Herculean, because there are many obstructions to remove; but, when overcome, as the union of bodies forms a mountain; so will their union prove in affection.

URSULA.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-page 84.

Signior Benedick,

For shape, for bearing, argument, and valour,
Goes foremost in report through Italy.

Thus the text makes Benedick support a greater weight than any porter in all Italy. For argument, I shall only say, it is the very worst recommendation to a lady's love,

as it is not only productive of serious quarrels abroad, but also the strongest poison to domestic happiness.

Dr. Johnson, in his elucidation of argument, gives it the most favourable meaning:-discourse, or the powers of reasoning." But the powers of reasoning scent too strongly of an argumentative disposition, to prove a recommendation: In fact, the Doctor and his contemporaries wanted their accustomed penetration. Our Author wrote:

Signior Benedick,

For shape, forbearing argument, and valour,
Goes foremost in report through Italy.

Thus the recommendation is strong; for, though Benedick is the most valorous man throughout Italy, yet, he ever forbears argument, in order to avoid dissention: such endowments, I think, could not fail of finding sufficient influence in the heart of Beatrice.

BEATRICE.

SCENE IV.-page 110.

For the letter that begins them all, H.

However poor this jest appeared to Dr. Johnson, I think he mistook its meaning. Heigh ho! always comes with a thoughtful sigh-a want of something: not an exclamation resulting from pain.

Margaret, who is privy to the trick played on Beatrice, follows up the heigh ho! with-"for a hawk, a horse, or a husband." Now, Margaret only demands, which of the three she sighs for; and Beatrice, that her secret wish may remain unknown, answers-H; meaning, each-she would have the three. Margaret knows the wish of her heart, and in a subsequent speech, addrest to Beatrice, says, "God send every one their heart's desire."