Chapter CII: Act I

SC. 1. "Out of his self-drawing web. Oh! gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way."

So the folio reads. Steevens and Malone read 'he gives us note,' and Singer 'Oh, _it_ gives us note.' Mr. Collier says, very plausibly, that the 'Oh' arose from '_a_ being written for _he_. I read "Out of his self-drawing web--Oh, give it note!"

* * * * *

"A gift that Heaven gives for him, which buys."

Perhaps 'for' should be _to_.

* * * * *

"A new hell in himself _now_.--Why the Devil."

* * * * *

"And his own letters,
The honourable board of Council out,
Must fetch in him he papers."

'Papers' is here evidently a verb, as Pope saw, in the sense of 'puts on paper'; but we have no other instance of it. Mr. Staunton proposes _paupers_, a verb equally unknown and still more devoid of meaning here. I cannot regard 'papers' as right; yet I know not what to propose in its place. Possibly the original may have been _puts there_.

* * * * *

"A beggar's book
Outworths a noble's blood."

Collier's folio reads _brood_ for 'book,' and a rime may have been intended.

* * * * *

SC. 2. "To you that chok'd it."

'Chok'd' is a very bold term in this place; perhaps the word was _check'd_.

* * * * *

"I am solicited, not by a few, _to tell you_--
And those of true condition--that your subjects
Are in great grievance."

It is quite evident something has been lost here.

* * * * *

"That tractable Obedience is a slave."

For 'That' the folio has _This_.

* * * * *

"There is no primer business."

'Business' is the correction of both Southern and Warburton for _baseness_ of the folio, and is deservedly adopted by most editors.

* * * * *

"What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours, or not allow'd."

'By' would seem to be here the same as _apud_ or _bei_, Germ., a sense it sometimes bears (see Index _s. v._). Steevens gives instances of 'once' in the sense of sometimes; but I should incline to read _or_ or _and_, with those whom he terms "the modern editors." I suspect that 'sick' may have been _such_.

* * * * *

"State statues only.--Things done well."

Perhaps _my lord_ or _lord cardinal_ has been effaced at the end.

* * * * *

"Almost with listening ravish'd, could not find."

The folio has 'ravish'd listening.'

* * * * *

"This dangerous conception in this point."

The first 'This' should be perhaps _His_ or _The_.

* * * * *

"By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins."

The folio has _Henton_, the name of his convent, for 'Hopkins.'

* * * * *

"Whom after under the confession's seal."

The folio reads _commission's_; the correction is Theobald's.

* * * * *

"The monk might be deceiv'd, and that 'twas dangerous for him."

In the folio it is 'for _this_'; Rowe corrected it.

* * * * *

"As he made semblance of his duty _he_ would."

* * * * *

SC. 3. "The spavin,
A springhalt reign'd among them."

For 'A' Collier's folio reads _Or_; I read _And_. See on Temp. i. 2.

* * * * *

"For I was spoke to, with Sir Henry Guildford ...
This night to be comptrollers."

I think we should punctuate thus to get rid of the grammatical difficulty. We have precisely such another in 3 Hen. VI. i. 2.

* * * * *

SC. 4. "My lord Sands.--Yes, if I _can_ make my play."

* * * * *

"Because they speak no English, thus they prayed _me_."