ACT I. Sc. 1. (Part 1.) No more the thirsty entrance of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood. For entrance some of the editors would read Erinnys. Shakespeare here uses the term for mouth. The MS. has bosom, and reads the lines very differently. See p. 3. There seems to be no necessity for any alteration, but the reading of the MS. is curious and worthy of consideration. ACT I. Sc. 1. (Part 1.) Forthwith a power of English shall we levy, Whose arms were moulded in their mother's womb To chase these pagans in those holy fields. The MS. reads "from those holy fields." The object of the crusaders was to gain possession of the Holy Land, to chase the pagans from, not in, the "holy fields." ACT I. Sc. 3. (Part 1.) And hid his crisp head in the hollow-bank. The MS. reads crispy, which sounds less harsh, though not so strictly metrical. The word is here used in the sense of wavy, not exactly curled. See Holme's Academy of Armory, 1688, ii., 463; "a curled hair is when a lock of hair turns round and round in itself; a crisped hair is when it lyeth in a kind of wave." Compare the Merchant of Venice, iii., 2, "crisped snaky golden locks." b ACT II. Sc. 4. (Part 1.) Fals. The same mad fellow of the North, Percy; and he of Wales, that gave Amaimon the bastinado, and made Lucifer cuckold, and swore the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh hook,-What, a plague, call you him? Poins. O, Glendower. Fal. Owen, Owen; the same. The MS. makes Poins answer, "Owen Glendower,' and it is easy to see this must be the correct reading from Falstaff's answer. The error is one easily made, initials being constantly written for Christian names. Besides, an exclamation from Poins would be out of place. All modern editors read "That same mad fellow," but are supported by no early authority. ACT III. Sc. 2. (Part I.) The skipping king, he ambled up and down The editors tell us that bavin is brushwood, and the word, though a strange one to be thus introduced, may be warranted by the next line; but perhaps some may prefer the reading of our MS. "rash brain'd wits." ACT III. Sc. 1. (Part 2.) -Then, happy, low lie down! Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. This is the arrangement of these lines in the MS., and appears preferable to "low-lie-down,' 'low-lie-down," as sometimes printed, or, "happy low, lie down," the meaning of which is not very intelligible. The passage is not more obscure than many in Shakespeare. In prose it might be interpreted, "Then lie down low, being happy, for uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." There are many other variations that would probably lead to much discussion, but we purposely refrain from entering upon them at present, merely premising that much caution and attentive deliberation should precede the rejection of readings hitherto received as settled and of good authority. Enough has already been said to convince the reader that there has been no desire on our part to enhance the value of the MS. beyond what so unique a curiosity really deserves; at the same time, we cannot conceal our anxious hope that it may meet with attention from those who have made the text of Shakespeare and the history of his writings a matter of study. It is almost unnecessary to remark that, owing to the activity of the press, MSS. are daily becoming of less value, so that discoveries like the present are necessarily of rare occurrence, and perhaps the day is not far distant when nearly everything of real value in MS. will have been given to the public. It is believed that this publication will be considered as subscribing its humble effort towards a result so "devoutly to be wished." Before these brief observations are brought to a close, it may be as well to mention, and perhaps indeed the admission becomes necessary for the sake of candour, that one exception to the general opinion regarding the age of the Deryng Manuscript has occurred in the belief of an antiquary, whose name I am not sure is permitted to be inserted in support of his singular views in this matter, but who is inclined to assign the writing to the time of Charles II. That such an opinion must at least have been formed on an imperfect knowledge of original documents of the seventeenth century, even admitting the supposition that we had not conclusive evidence the MS. must have been written long previously, I confidently refer to the facsimiles here given in support of my case to those who have no opportunity of consulting the precious volume itself; and I feel no hesitation whatever in saying that no writing of the time of Charles II. can be produced which bears the same characteristics. It is fortunate we possess good evidence in support of its antiquity, for antiquaries have inferred too many wrong conclusions from indifferent premises for their opinions to be considered of much authority with the public; and, indeed, with regard to manuscripts, their age and progress, results have been deduced that would generally be regarded unwarrantable. It is to be hoped that such errors have here been avoided, and that more regard has been paid to utility than mere antiquarian curiosity. 17th March, 1845. J. O. HALLIWELL. " King Henry the Fourth, a manuscript of the time of James I. fol. The unique manuscript, from which the following text is printed, is a small folio volume on paper, slightly stitched and unbound, measuring 11 inches by 73, and written apparently by a scribe, in the handwriting most common at the commencement of the seventeenth century. It contains 55 leaves, exclusive of three fly leaves. On one of the fly leaves is found the mark "A 5," indicating perhaps the pressmark of the MS., which has various alterations and insertions in the handwriting of Sir Edward Deryng, the first baronet of that name. Pains have been taken to present the reader with a faithful copy of the original, and with this view the foot-notes will be found to refer exclusively to the state of the text as given in this manuscript. B |