Chapter XXVII: Act III

SC. 1. "If I were _so_, fair Thisby, I were only thine."

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"So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape."

This and the two following lines are transposed in Roberts' 4to and the folio.

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SC. 2. "Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep
And kill me too."

Mr. Dyce, with whom I agree, adopts the excellent reading of Coleridge and Sidney Walker, '_knee_-deep.'

"Once o'er shoes we are straight o'er head in sin."

Woman Killed with Kindness.

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"And from thy hated presence part I _so_."

Pope added _so_, which is required by metre and rime, and yet is wanting in all the old editions.

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"This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss."

For 'princess' Hanmer read _pureness_; Collier proposes _impress_; but no change is needed. 'White' is whiteness, and 'princess of pure white' is sovereign lady of whiteness, _i.e._, white in the highest degree. I suspect that Chaucer wrote _emperes_ in

"The _emprise_ and the flower of flowers alle."
Leg. of Good Women.

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"For parting us.--Oh! is _this_ all forgot?"

The 2nd folio read 'O _and_ is'; Malone added _now_; we might also add _then_. A syllable certainly is wanting.

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"But miserable most to love unlov'd...
This you should pity rather than despise."

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"Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers."

Here 'prayers' is the correction by Theobald of _praise_ of the original editions.

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"Away you Ethiop.--No, no, sir, seem
To break loose; take on as you'd follow _me_,
But yet come not. You are a tame man, go."

This is the reading of the folio, which, with the addition of _me_--evidently rubbed out at the end--gives excellent sense and metre. For 'sir' the 4tos read _he'll_, which makes the passage abrupt.

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"Out loathed medicine! [O] hated potion, hence!"

The same omission was made by Pope.

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"Hate me! wherefore? O me! What news, my love?"

For 'news' Collier's folio, followed by Singer, reads _means_. I think they are right.

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"I with the morning's love have oft made sport."

Rowe read _light_ for 'love,' and Johnson and Singer have followed him. But it seems to be Cephalus that is meant.