the text by the inadvertent transcriber's cafting his eyes too hastily on the fucceeding line, where the word again occurs. But perhaps the occafion of the blunder might be more accurately traced. There was fome little machinery neceffary to be furnished out in the acting of this plot, with fairy dancing, &c. The management of this was left to Mr. Herne, then belonging to the house, who is mention'd by Johnfon in his Masque at Whitehall, February 2, 1609. where fpeaking of the magical dances of the witches, he fays, " All which were excellently "imitated by the maker of the dance, M. "Hierome Herne, whose right it is here to "be named." In the prompter's copy therefore the words feem to have been written after this manner, Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies, and the Welch Devil? Herne. i. e. Herne was to be called to order the fairydance, and the machinery going forward. I don't fee, without recurring to the abovemention'd expediency of emendation, what tolerable fenfe can be made of the following paffage in Julian's Caefars, which I will cite from the folio edition of Spanheim. p. 310. T Κλαυδία Κλαυδία δὲ ἐπεισελθόντος, ὁ Σειληνὸς ἄρχεται τις Αρι σοφάνες Ἱππέας ᾄδειν ανὶ τὸ Δημοσθένες, κολακεύων δῆθεν τὸν Κλαύδιον. Εἶτα πρὸς τὸν Κυρῖνον ἀπιδών, Αδικεῖς, εἶπεν, ὦ Κυρῖνε, τὸν ἀπόδονον ἄδων εἰς τὸ συμπ πόσιον, δίχα τῶν ἀπελευθέρων Ναρκίσσα καὶ Πάλλαντος. Claudio introeunte, Silenus principium comoediae Aristophanis, quae- equites infcribitur, canere incepit, loco Demofthenis, fcilicet ipfi Claudio gratificans. Deinde converfus ad Quirinum, Injurius es, inquit, ô Quirine, qui bunc tuum nepotem in hoc convivium, inducas fine libertis Narcillo & Pallante. 'Tis not easy to find the tranflator's meaning, Koλακεύων δῆθεν τὸν Κλαύδιον, fcilicet ipfi Claudio gratificans; it feems as if he meant ironically, making as if he would flatter him, but really ridiculing bim: fuppofing the Greek would admit this interpretation, how heavily comes in, dili Anas. Befide Silenus is faid to recite the words of Aristophanes, or rather as the original word fignifies, to recite them with a tragic voice and accent, to make the ridicule appear still the ftronger. But where are the verses of Ariftophanes? In other places we have the citations themselves; and indeed one piece of wit, that runs thro' this treatise, confifts in the parodies. 2 2 ade, cantare, the proper word for the tragedian; as faltare, for the comedian. In a word, I should make no fcruple of altering after the following manner, Τα Κλαυδία δὲ ἐπεισελθόντος, ὁ Σειληνὸς ἄρχεται της Αριςοφάνες Ιππέας άδειν, Ιαταβαιαξ τῶν κακῶν, Ιατλαλαί. Κακῶς Παφλαγόνα τὸν νεώνητον κακόν, Εἶτα πρὸς τὸν Κυρῖνον ἀπιδῶν, Ἀδικεῖς, εἶπεν, ὦ Κυρίνε, κ. 1. τ. Some one had written in the margin of his book, απὶ τῇ Δημος κολακεύων δῆθεν τὸν Κλαύδιον, this heavy interpretation was admitted, and, to make room for it, the tranfcriber removed those well applied verses of Ariftophanes. The meaning of which the reader will understand, if he turns to a fatirical treatise of Seneca written to ridicule Claudius and to flatter Nero; but not to be compared in philofophical wit and humour to this fatyr of Julian. Indeed when thefe gloffes are abfolutely false, or very ridiculous, 'tis eafy to difcover them. So in Plato's laws, L. I. p. 630. edit. Steph. Ποιητὴν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς μάρτυρα ἔχομεν, Θέοίνιν, [πολίτην τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ Με[αρέων,] ός φησι. κ. τ. λο Now 1 Now this glofs is not true, for Theognis was of Megara in Attica, not Sicily; as is too well known to need any proof. And therefore without further ceremony, this glofs might be removed. In Cicero, de nat. D. I, 34. Zeno quidem non eos folùm, qui tum erant fed Socratem ipfum, parentem philofophiae, [Latino verbo utens] SCURRAM Atticum fuiffe dicebat. As the falsehood discover'd the glofs in Plato, fo the ridiculoufnefs fhews it here. There are other kind of gloffes, being verbal interpretations of the more obfolete and difficult words, which have been taken into the text, to the utter extirpation of the old poffeffors. The Ionic dialect in Herodotus, the Attic in Plato, the Doric in Theocritus, are changed oftentimes into the more ordinary ways of writing and fpeaking. The true readings therefore of ancient books can never be retrieved without the affiftance of manufcripts. If our modern Homers had ὀργὴν δε Θεά, inftead of Μήνιν άειδε Θεά. And, ψυχὰς ᾅδῃ προέπεμψεν, inftead of tuxa's didi weofaber. I don't fee without the προίαψεν. citations of the ancients, or without the aid of old old copies, how we fhould ever be able to retrieve the original words; but must have been contented with the interpretation of a scholiaft. Nay perhaps half the readers of Homer would have liked the one as well as the other. But what fhall we fay if Shakespeare's words have been thus altered? If the original has been removed to make room for the glofs? How shall our author be restored to his priftine state, but by having recourse to the oldest books, and esteeming these alone of weight and authority? A fhort fpecimen of thefe gloffes, which might be greatly enlarged, is as follows, Hamlet Act I. the fwaggering upfpring reels: Glofs, upstart. A& II. The youth you breath of: Glofs, fpeak of Othello, A&t I. F take this, that you call love to be a fect or fyen: Glofs, a flip or feyon. A&t III. A Sybill that had number'd in the world The fun to courfe two hundred compaffes: Glofs, of the fun's course. Macbeth, Act I. which fate and metaphyfical aid: Glofs, Metaphyfic. A&t II. For fear thy very stones prate of my where-about : Glofs, of that we're about. Julius Caefar, A&II. Caius Ligarius doth bear Caefar hard: Glofs, bear Caefar batred. Antony and Cleopatra, A& IV. The band of death has raught him: Glofs, caught bim. |