"Is ebony like her? O wood divine! A wife of such wood were felicity." The 'wood' of the first line is Rowe's certain correction of _word_. * * * * * "The hue of dungeons and the school of night." It is most certain that 'school' cannot have been the poet's word. The usual reading is that of Warburton, _scowl_; but that substantive is not used by Shakespeare, and it gives but an indifferent sense. Theobald read _stole_, which also is not Shakespearian; I myself _cloak_, as the "cloak of night" occurs in R. and J. ii. 2, Rich. II. iii. 2. But the Cambridge editors seem to have hit on the exact word, _suit_ written, as pronounced, _shoot_. In the Puritan (ii. 1), we have a play on _suitor_ and _archer_, _i.e._ shooter; we retain this sound in _sure_ and _sugar_. In Hamlet we have "suits of solemn black" and "suits of woe" (i. 2), and "suit of sables" (iii. 2) for mourning, and in Rom. and Jul. iii. 2, "Come civil Night, Thou sober-_suited_ matron all in black!" * * * * * "Have at you then, Affection's men at arms." Capell sagaciously saw that in this speech, from "For when would you" to "From whence doth spring," and from "For where is any" to "And in that vow," are passages which the poet had cancelled in the "corrected and augmented" play. The same occurs in Rich. III. v. 3, and on a much smaller scale, however, in Rom. and Jul. iii. 3, iv. 1. * * * * * "Why, universal plodding prisons up." There can be no doubt of this, the reading of Theobald--prisons for _poisons_. * * * * * "For where is any author in the world Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye." As beauty is not taught, we should perhaps read _wisdom_. Perhaps, however, the error may be in 'Teaches.' * * * * * "And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony." Though this passage be very obscure, I doubt if it be corrupt. By 'voice' may be meant the assenting voice, the voices all sounding in unison, which induces repose over heaven. Compare the opening of Gray's Progress of Poesy. The original editions commit the usual error of putting 'make' for 'makes.' * * * * * "And plant in tyrants mild humility." The reading of Griffith and Collier's folio _humanity_ is, I think, right. I have adopted it in my Edition. * * * * * "_Allons, allons!_" The correction of Theobald for 'Alone, alone!' of the originals. The poet, however, does not use French words in this play, and I think we should read _All on, all on!_ or rather _Along, along!_ (See on Temp. v. 1.) "_Along_ my lords! Well, Cromwell is half dead."--Thomas Cromwell, iv. 5. * * * * * "Or for love's sake, a word that loves all men."