The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Volume 2Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
History
The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Volume 2
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
Literature -- History and criticism; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Criticism and interpretation
'Fal.' I would you had but the wit; 'twere better than your
dukedom.--Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love
me;--nor a man cannot make him laugh.
Act ii. sc. 1. Second Carrier's speech:--
... breeds fleas like a _loach_.
Perhaps it is a misprint, or a provincial pronunciation, for 'leach,'
that is, blood-suckers. Had it been gnats, instead of fleas, there might
have been some sense, though small probability, in Warburton's
suggestion of the Scottish 'loch.' Possibly 'loach,' or 'lutch,' may be
some lost word for dovecote, or poultry-lodge, notorious for breeding
fleas. In Stevens's or my reading, it should properly be 'loaches,' or
'leeches,' in the plural; except that I think I have heard anglers speak
of trouts like _a_ salmon.
Act iii. sc. 1.
'Glend.' Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.
This 'nay' so to be dwelt on in speaking, as to be equivalent to a
dissyllable--[Symbol: written as a U-shape, below the line], is
characteristic of the solemn Glendower: but the imperfect line
_She bids you_ Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, &c.
is one of those fine hair-strokes of exquisite judgment peculiar to
Shakspeare;--thus detaching the Lady's speech, and giving it the
individuality and entireness of a little poem, while he draws attention
to it.
HENRY IV. PART II.
Act ii. sc. 2.
'P. Hen'. Sup any women with him?
'Page'. None, my lord, but old mistress Quickly, and mistress Doll
Tear-sheet.
'P. Hen'. This Doll Tear-sheet should be some road.
I am sometimes disposed to think that this respectable young lady's name
is a very old corruption for Tear-street--street-walker, 'terere stratum
(viam.)' Does not the Prince's question rather show this?--
'This Doll Tear-street should be some road?'
Act iii. sc. 1. King Henry's speech:
...Then, _happy low, lie down_;
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
I know no argument by which to persuade any one to be of my opinion, or
rather of my feeling; but yet I cannot help feeling that 'Happy
low-lie-down!' is either a proverbial expression, or the burthen of some
old song, and means, 'Happy the man, who lays himself down on his straw
bed or chaff pallet on the ground or floor!'
'Ib.' sc. 2. Shallow's speech:--
_Rah, tah, tah_, would 'a say; _bounce_, would 'a say, &c
That Beaumont and Fletcher have more than once been guilty of sneering
at their great master, cannot, I fear, be denied; but the passage quoted
by Theobald from the Knight of the Burning Pestle is an imitation. If it
be chargeable with any fault, it is with plagiarism, not with sarcasm.
HENRY V.
Act I. sc. 2. Westmoreland's speech:--
They know your _grace_ hath cause, and means, and might;
So hath your _highness_; never King of England
Had nobles richer, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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