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duality and entireness of a little poem, while he draws attention to it." Perhaps such an arrangement would have been a stroke of exquisite judgment, had Shakespeare made it; though that is not so obvious to me, even after Coleridge's setting forth; but Shakespeare did not make it. The arrangement is a mere mechanical consequence of Steevens' finger-counting propensity. It is amusing to see the great critic deceived, with his dwarf predecessors and successors, into giving Shakespeare credit for that which was not in his thought. We may all take warning from it.

Malone says that "the old copies" give the line,

"She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down,"

and Mr. Knight, that "all the old copies give this as one line." They are both wrong. It is one line in all the quartos; but it appears in the first folio, and also in the second, thus:

"Glend. She bids you,

On the wanton Rushes lay you downe."

This seems at first to favor Coleridge's fancy; but it does not, in reality. For there is conclusive evidence that the text of the folio was printed from that of one of the later quartos. The break in the line was merely for typographical convenience. Steevens' printing of the passage,

"She bids you

Upon the wanton rushes," &c.,

was not justified by the folio, and, upon his own confession, was an arbitrary arrangement.

SCENE 3.

"Fal. —but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe."

The commentators give various instances of the use of the phrase "good cheap" for 'a low price;' but none of them seem to me to be so pertinent as the following, from the old Morality Hycke-Scorner :

"Fre-wyll. Even now and ye go thyder, ye shal fynde a grete hepe, And you speke in my name, ye shal have good chepe."

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There has been much perplexity caused by the word "read" in this passage. Some say "read" means 'to see,' others that it is used in its old signification to discover or unravel,' as, 'A rede my riddle.' But is it well to speak of either seeing or discovering by a desperate battle “the bottom and the soul of hope, the list and utmost bound of fortune?" In case of such a battle, the bottom and the soul of hope, the list and utmost bound of fortune, are not seen, not discovered, not read; but they are reached. "Reade," as the word stands in the folio, is an evident and a very easy misprint for reach. In much manuscript ch resembles even d; and in more than half of that which goes to the

press, even nowadays, it could be determined only by the context whether the author meant ch or de. Read therefore:

-"for therein should we reach

The very bottom and the soul of hope;
The very list, the very utmost bound
Of all our fortunes."

"Hot. Come let us make a muster speedily."

The folio and two of the early quartos read "take a muster," and though the misprint would seem obvious, both Mr. Knight and Mr. Collier retain it. They probably forgot the following lines, in the Induction of Part II.

"And who but Rumour, who but only I,

Make fearful musters, and prepar'd defence?"

KING HENRY IV. PART II.

ACT I. SCENE 2.

"Fal. Let him be damned like the glutton! may his tongue be hotter! -A whoreson Achitophel! a rascally yea-forsooth knave; to bear a gentleman in hand, and then stand upon security!"

Falstaff-let not my readers fear yet another essay on the theme, Falstaff is regarded by many as a character, the traits of which are too delicate to admit of its perfectly successful embodiment on the stage; but Mr. Hackett's performance in Henry IV. is the best answer to such objectors. Well may he say: "That the character was designed for stage effect, is evident from his many practically dramatic situations, and the idea that it is beyond the reach of histrionic art to represent him properly, can only originate in a hypercritical and fantastic imagination." → Few of those who see Mr. Hackett play Falstaff, indeed, very few, can discreetly venture to criticise his embodiment of the part, so patiently, so profoundly and so reverently has he studied this master-creation of Shakespeare. There is hardly a gesture, or an expression of countenance, hardly an inflection of voice, even in the most subordinate parts of the play, which is not the fruit of careful investigation of the character and the scene, or

*Falstaff: a Shakesperian Tract, London, 8vo. 1840.

which, if intuitive, has not borne the scrutiny of such investigation. And yet how gracefully and perfectly knit together is the whole! How spontaneously the wit seems to spring when occasion calls it forth! With what freedom and consciousness of power are the broad dashes of humor made! How bold the lies! How ready every reply! How sudden and how genuine the anger! How sneaking the cowardice! How palpable, yet how well graduated the grossness! How fascinating, and yet how detestable the whole character!

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I will not thrust my own ideas upon such a character before my readers; but they cannot be indifferent to the written thoughts of one who, in his embodiment of it, has attained a distinction so honorable to the art of his country. From some MS. Shakesperian Notes kindly lent to me, between six and seven years ago, when I, as little as he, had any thought that I should make such a use of them, I copied this brief but suggestive record of Mr. Hackett's view of the character.

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Shakespeare has invested that philosophic compound of vice and sensuality with no amiable or tolerable quality to gloss or cover his moral deformity, except a surpassingly brilliant and charming wit, and a spontaneous and irresistible flow of humor. But Falstaff is premeditative in some of his wit-as for instance when he endeavors to escape detection in the lies he has told the Prince and Poins about their attack after the robbery-seriously irascible, touchy, fretful, sometimes grave; on some occasions his mirth breaks out, and is marked with strong contrast to his usual deportment. He is of cynical temperament, feels the infirmity of age weighing upon him, has a mental as well as bodily obesity."

On one point I differ with Mr. Hackett; although it is one which has been frequently mooted with regard to his

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