I must own, I know no fuch Term; but there is one so very near it in Sound, and one which fuits the Author's Meaning in Senfe fo aptly, that it is not improbable but he might write originally;

and now reigns here

A very, very, PADDOCK.

Here you have the old Word itself which Minshew derives from
padde, Bufo, a Toad. *Our Author was very well acquainted with
the Word, and has ufed it more than once, or twice.
First Witch-Scene of his Macbeth, we have thefe Words.

In the

Where the Haggs fpeak, of the Screaming of the Cat, and the Croaking of the Toad, which they are fuppofed to hear from the Organs of their Familiars. But what makes it the more probable that this Term fhould be used here, Hamlet, again, afterwards, fpeaking of his Uncle to the Queen his Mother, among other contemptuous Additions, gives him this very Appellation of Paddock.

'Twere good, you let him know;

For who, that's but a Queen, fair, sober, wife,
Would from a PADDOCK, from a Bat, a Gib,
Such dear Concernings hide?

Second Con

jecture.

jecture.

But, again: If we will, with Mr. POPE, fuppofe, that the Poet Third Co alludes to the Eagle, and fome inferior Bird in Quality that has got the Start of him; another fmall Variation from the Text will bring us to all we want for this Purpose. Why, then, might not the Poet make his Hamlet say,

and now reigns here

A very, very PUTTOCK.

* Idem, in Paddock.

i. e.

Various Reading, and Pointing.

i. e. a ravenous Kite, a mere Bird of Prey; a Devourer of the State and People; without any of the Excellencies and defenfive Virtues of the Royal Eagle, his Father? Here again we have a Word, which the Poet was as well acquainted with, as with the two already quoted.

Second Part of King HENRY VI. pag. 160.

Who finds the Partridge in the PUTTOCK's Neft,

But may imagine how the Bird was dead,

Although the Kite foar with unbloodied Beak?

But what might go a good Way towards fupporting a Conjecture that this was our Author's Word here, is, that there is a particular Passage in another of his Plays, where the Eagle and Puttock are placed comparatively, and in a Light of Opposition to one another.

I fhall leave these Conjectural Readings entirely to the Arbitration of better Judgments: But, I think, I may with Modefty affirm every one of them to be more juft, and better grounded, than that efpoufed by the Editor; and that therefore the Peacock may e'en be content to wait for another Election.

LXVII. Ibid. Page 415.

Ob wonderful fon, that can so astonish a Mother [.] But is there no fe quel at the heels of this Mother-Admiration?

Correct, as fome of the better Books exhibit it;

LXVIII. Ibid. Page 416.

Haml. Methinks it is like an † Ouzle.
Pol. It is black like an Ouzle.

+An Ouzle, or Black-Bird, it has been printed by Mistake a Weefel, which is

not black.

I have nothing to object against this Alteration made by Mr. POPE; or, why an Ouzle may not be as proper as a Weefel: But I am afraid his Reasoning, that it has been printed by Mistake a Weesel, because a Weefel is not black, will not be altogether fo inconteftible; when we come to fee that the Second Edition in Folio, and feveral other of the Copies have a various Reading, in which there is not the leaft Intimation of Blackness. There, you read

it,

Haml. Methinks, it is like a Weefel.

Polon. It is BACK'D like a Weefel.

LXIX. Ibid.

Various

Reading.

ing.

Haml. Then will I come to my Mother by and by; they fool me to the False Printtop of my bent. I will come by and by. Leave me, friends.

I will fay fo. By and by is easily said.

We have already, in the Course of these Remarks, convers'd with a Place or two, which have given Reason to prefume, that, if corrected at all, they could be corrected only by the Servants at the Prefs. Here again is a Paffage fo confused, and fo indiscriminately printed, that it furnishes a strong Sufpicion of never having been revised by the Editor. Could fo nice a Judge as Mr. POPE pass over fuch abfurd Stuff as is jumbled here together, and not obferve a Fault that is fo plain and palpable? Correct it with all the Editions that I have ever feen, except the Quarto's of 1637, and 1703. in which the Text is likewife fhuffled and faulty;

Falfe Print

ing.

I will speak daggers to her, but use none.

My Tongue and foul in this be hypocrites!

The Editor might have taken Notice that a Couplet follows here,
in feveral of the printed Copies, which he mistrufted not to be
SHAKESPEARE's. I will not warrant the Lines to be his, but
they are obfolete enough in the Phrafe to be fo; neither are
they fo bad, as to be pofitively difputed. He has many Coup
lets full as bald and poor in the Diction; and These have an
Authority as old as the fecond Folio Edition, and have found
a place in most of the more modern Copies too. The Verses
are thefe.

I will speak Daggers to her, but use none.
My Tongue and Soul in This be Hypocrites!
How in my Words foever She be†fhent,
To give them Seals never my Soul confent.

† put to Confufion, roughly treated.

LXXI. Act 3. Scene 9. Page 417.

I like him not, nor ftands it fafe with us

To let his Madness rage.

Reftore, with all the Editions,

To let his Madness range.

Exit.

LXXII. Ibid.

Moft holy and religious fear it is,

To keep those many bodies fafe, that live
And feed upon your majesty.

The last Line here is lame, and fhorter by a Foot than it should
be, without any Neceflity. The fecond Folio Edition is like-
wife faulty, for there the last Line but One is defective, and
the Verfes are plac'd thus.

To keep those many Bodies fafe,

That live and feed upon your Majefty.

A different Difpofition of the Verfes, and of fo long a Date,
gives a Proof of a Fault, and a fort of Inlet to the Cure.
The Quarto Edition of 1637, is the only One that I have
obferv'd, which makes the Verfes compleat; and adds a fine
and forcible Emphasis to the Sentence, by the Repetition of one
Word; a Figure (as I have before obferv'd in the Remark, No.
XI.) very familiar with SHAKESPEARE. Reftore them thus:
Moft holy and religious Fear it is,

To keep those many, many, Bodies fafe,
That live and feed upon your Majefty.

LXXIII. Ibid. Page 418.

Oh my offence is rank, it smells to heav'n,
It hath the primal eldeft curfe upon it,

[ ] A Brother's murther. Pray, I cannot, &c.

Here again the last Verse halts in the Measure, and, if I don't mistake, the Senfe is a little lame too. Was a Brother's Murther the eldest Curfe? Surely, it was rather the Crime, that was the Cause of this eldest Curse. We have no Affiftance, however,

Correction, from Various Reading.

Conjecture,