stoop, was sleep, and it certainly seems a very strange advice in Belarius to desire the princes first to sleep and then to say their prayers. Mr Rowe corrected it to see, and Sir Thomas Hanmer gave very plausibly the present reading. Mr Malone conjectures that the words might be sweet boys, and perhaps some future commentator may give us sweep-boys; but in the mean time let us see if any sense can be made of the poet's words as they are originally handed down to us. I observe, then, that the young gentlemen are supposed to have just risen from bed, and we may therefore infer that they were still somewhat drowsy, which makes Belarius apprehend that they will not pay all the attention which they ought, to the religious instruction which he is proceeding to give them. Before he begins, then, he asks them if they are still sleeping; and I would, therefore, put a point of interrogation after boys, and an apostrophe before sleep, as if it were a contraction for asleep, "'sleep boys?" When he has roused them with this reproachful insinuation, he goes on in his fine vein of piety. Sir Thomas Hanmer's emendation is plausible, because it agrees with what was immediately said before about the lowness of the roof. At the same time there is something ludicrous in Belarius desiring the princes to stoop, as if he were afraid that they would knock their heads as they went out. In two speeches afterwards, there occurs a diffi culty, which, after various attempts at amendment, hath been at last left in the text in a sort of despair. Belarius says, O, this life Is nobler than attending for a check; Richer, than doing nothing for a babe ; Prouder, than rustling in unpaid for silk, &c. The commentators can make nothing of " Doing nothing for a babe." Warburton for babe, reads" bauble." Hanmer reads " bribe," and Dr Johnson suggests a word which doth not exist, "brabe" from some monkish word found in an old dictionary," brabium," a reward. I have even been informed that one ingenious author proposeth "baubee," the Scotch name for a halfpenny. All who have attempted to cure the passage have determined to make away with the poor "babe," with a strange propensity, as it would seem, to childmurder. Now, gentle reader, if thou wilt attend carefully to these three lines here quoted, thou wilt see that, in every one of them, the same small word "for" occurs nearly about the same place in each line, and that it would be very natural for a printer to slip in one of these "fors," by a kind of work of supererogation, especially if it is put in the place of a word somewhat resembling it. Suppose, then, that this second line, "Richer than doing nothing for a babe," ought to be, "Richer than doing nothing from a babe," and thou wilt at once perceive the meaning of the passage. Many rich men, I fear, may be said from the time of childhood upwards, to do nothing; and this is a very natural circumstance in Belarius to pitch upon, when he compares the active life of himself and his two young friends, with the sloth and inactivity of those who were nursed in opulence. "From a child," is a very common phrase, and "from a babe" means the same thing. In this instance, I think myself justified in proposing a slight alteration on the original text; but it is certainly slighter than what hath been proposed by others, and gives, I flatter myself, a very good sense. There is another passage in the second scene of the fourth act, which, as Mr Theobald gives it, (and his reading hath been approved of by the best editors) is as follows. Belarius says of Cloten, Being scarce made up, I mean to man, he had not apprehension Of roaring terrors; for th' effect of judgment Now, the old reading is, " for defect of judgment is oft the cause of fear"-which, contradicting the former part of the sentence, Mr Theobald propounded the reading now adopted. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads " for defect of judgment is oft the cure of fear," preferable perhaps to Theobald's conjecture; but I think a still slighter change on the passage will give a better sense than either. I read, Of roaring terrors, for defect of judgment, In this reading, the poet delivers two truths instead of one; it was defect of judgment which saved Cloten from fear, but it is equally true, and a more common tenet, that defect of judgment is likewise the cause of fear in many instances. The change on the text is quite inconsiderable. Those who think it more natural that the poet should stick to the single truth which he had set out with delivering, may correct the passage in the following manner. He had not apprehension Of roaring terrors, for defect of judgment; It, or judgment, is oft the cause of fear. I am not quite certain which of these readings is the right one, but I am pretty certain that one or other is. I shall only quote one other passage from this play, not for the sake of amending, but of explaining. In the first scene of the fifth act, Posthumus, in a state of repentance for his usage of Imogen, says, Gods! if you Should have ta'en vengeance on my faults, I never Had liv'd to put on this: so had you sav'd Me, wretch more worth your vengeance. But alack MrTheobald says, that it, in the last line, is a relative without an antecedent, and he proposes to read dreaded. Dr Johnson (a genius of a very inferior order to Theobald, if I may judge by his commentaries on Shakespeare, the only part of his writings with which I am acquainted) Dr Johnson reads, but as he says with hesitation, And make them deeded to the doer's thrift. He then says, "I will try again, and read thus," And make them trade it to the doer's thrift. Truly, both these trials seem to me very little to the purpose; and the line is perfectly good sense as it stands. It refers to vengeance, the word which closes the preceding sentence. The meaning is (and the sentiment is a fine vindication of Providence), that the Gods, instead of leaving small offenders that they may repent, and taking away great ones, do just the contrary; by which means they who have offended but little are prevented from becoming more guilty, and the dread |