ii s. i. APR. 16, mo.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
801
LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1910.
CONTENTS.—No. 16.
Notes.
PROF. BRERETON'S 'ELIZABETHAN DRAMA.'
Prof. J. Le Gay Brereton's book (Sydney, W. Brooks & Co., 1909) consists of articles, many of which have been reprinted from various journals, including The Modern Language Review. These articles have, however, in all cases been closely revised and considerably altered.
A few of the papers deal with larger aspects of certain plays or dramatists ; but the majority are devoted to points of textual criticism. In these Prof. Brereton's caution, acuteness, and great knowledge of Eliza- bethan literature stand him in good stead ; and in a vast number of cases he succeeds in defending the reading of an original text against the alterations introduced by editors, or in suggesting an emendation of his own which puts previous attempts out of the field. His work must, therefore, greatly assist future odttors of the authors whom he discusses.
Having thus expressed my sincere
admiration for Prof. Brereton's work, I
venture to point out certain of his sugges-
tions (only a small proportion of the whole)
which I cannot entirely accept. If my
criticisms have a particle of value, the
credit must still be given to Prof. Brereton
for having stimulated them.
MARLOWE.
P. 4. 'Jew of Malta,' 51, "Wearying." B. " read ' wearing.' ' Even though " wear- ing his fingers' ends " is the usual expression, may not Marlowe have been led to vary it, especially after using the word " tir'd n in the previous line ?
P. 6. ' Dido,' III. i. 127, " meanly clad. ? '- Dyce "seemly,"- Collier and Cunningham " newly. n B. " Qy. ' manly ' ? ?l Qy. "brau'ly n ?
GREENE.
P. 28. 'James IV.,' 2288, " deuide the warre." This B. defends against Collins' s " divert " (borrowed from Dyce). Qy. " decide " ?
KYD.
P. 39. ' Soliman and Perseda,' I. ii. 89-91. B. treats these lines as verse. But the whole passage from 87 to 91 seems to me to be prose.
P. 43. ' First Part of leronimo,' I. ii. 13. B. would alter this line. But it is a per- fectly good verse if we read " thou wouldst " as " thou 'Idst " : If thou wouldst remaine heere with me, and not go.
P. 46. II. iv. 89-92. I cannot accept B.'s rearrangement of the lines, viz. :
Lay hands on him ; [and] some reare up the
bleeding Body to the light.
P. 48. III. ii. 133-4. Nor of these lines : Well, my Lord, to you a while I tender My whole prisoner. Lor. Horatio,
even though I am told that "there is a strong stress on the word my which forms the first foot.' 1
CHAPMAN (3 vols, 1873).
P. 57. ' Charles, Duke of Byron,' II. 256. B. defends " winde " against the emendation " minde " on the strength of another passage in ' The Widdowes Teares ' where I think " windes n should similarly be " mindes.' 1
P. 58. ' May Day,' II. 386, " tame your bald hewed tongue." B. suggests " gall- dew'd.' 1 I would again advance a suggestion I have made before, "bald [or "bold"], lewd. n
