ART. IX. - Shakespeare's “Venue and Adonis" illustrated by his contemporary, Thomas Heywood.

The edition of Heywood's "Fair Maid of the Exchange," issued by the Shakespeare Society, proves how the work of an old fellow-dramatist sometimes illustrates the text of our greatest stage-poet, not merely generally but particularly. I refer to that part of the excellent comedy, where Bowdler contemplates the courtship of his mistress by quoting to her passages from "Venus and Adonis ;" and as the portion of the scene which relates to "Venus and Adonis is short, it will be more intelligible if I extract it.

Crip. But hear you, sir! reading so much as you have done, Do you not remember one pretty phrase,

To scale the walls of a fair wench's love?

If

"Bow. I never read anything but "Venus and Adonis.” "Crip. Why, that's the very quintessence of love. you remember but a verse or two,

I'll pawn my head, goods, lands, and all, 'twill do.

"Bow. Why, then, have at her!

Fondling, I say, since I have hemm'd thee here,

Within the circle of this ivory pale,

I'll be a park

"Moll. Hands off, fond sir!

"Bow. -' and thou shalt be my deer.

Feed thou on me, and I will feed on thee;

And love shall feed us both.'

"Moll. Feed you on woodcocks; I can fast awhile.

"Bow. Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed."

'Crip. Take heed; she's not on horseback.

"Bow. Why, then, she is alighted.

Come, sit thee down, where never serpent hisses;

And, being set, I'll smother thee with kisses.""

Mr. Collier, in his edition of Shakespeare, was the first to point out this early proof of the popularity of "Venus and Adonis," a circumstance which Mr. Field, the editor of the "Fair Maid of the Exchange," does not advert to, although he adopts both the fact and the observation. Moreover, Mr. Field puts in quotation two lines, as from "Venus and Adonis," which are not found in any copy of that poem, remarking that "all these quotations are from Shakespeare's exquisite young man's poem :" one of them certainly is not, viz.

"Feed thou on me, and I will feed on thee;

And Love shall feed us both."

I take it, that this was an addition by Bowdler, in his opinion in the spirit of the original he had just before quoted. The lines stand thus in "Venus and Adonis ".

"Fondling, she saith, since I have hemm'd thee here,
Within the circuit of this ivory pale,

I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;

Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale.”

Bowdler substituted his "Feed thou on me," &c., for

:

"Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale,"

and he cannot be congratulated on the happiness of his invention the notion of Venus and Adonis feeding on each other does not seem very Shakespearian, but it is a matter of little consequence; only Mr. Field, by his marks of quotation, ought not to have attributed the passage to our immortal poet: the rest, it is true, is from "Venus and Adonis," although there is no indication to that effect in the old copies, beyond the fact that Bowdler says he had never read anything but "Venus and Adonis," and subsequently breaks out with lines which must have been recognised by most of the audience as those of Shakespeare.

But I want to show how such a scene as that above extracted

particularly illustrates the text of our great dramatist; and it may also lead to the conclusion that "The Fair Maid of the Exchange" was written after the appearance of the impressions of "Venus and Adonis" in 1593 and 1594, and before that of 1596 came out. Mr. Field says nothing respecting the period when the comedy was composed; but we know from "Henslowe's Diary," p. 78, that Heywood was a writer for the stage in 1596, and perhaps earlier. Heywood's book," there mentioned, may have been the very play ("book" and "play" were then often synonymous) under consideration; and it contains various indications, besides that I am about to notice, showing that it was produced some years before the death of Elizabeth.

The impressions of" Venus and Adonis," printed by Richard Field, in 4to., in the years 1593 and 1594, have the line quoted by Heywood

"I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;'

whereas, in the edition of 1596, published by John Harison, to whom Field had then disposed of his interest in the poem, it stands

"I'll be the park, and thou shalt be my deer,"

a mistake that runs through all subsequent reprints, adopted by Malone in 1780, (though afterwards corrected by him) and transferred to many modern editions. Heywood, in “The Fair Maid of the Exchange," gives the correct text of the two earliest copies, confirming not only the opinion, which indeed can hardly be doubted, that Shakespeare wrote "I'll be a park," but showing that Heywood used one of the two oldest impressions. It seems not improbable that the edition of "Venus and Adonis," in 1596, had not made its appearance when he composed his play: if it had, it is still very clear that Heywood preferred the correct text, although it would have

answered his purpose just as well to have put "I'll be the park," &c., into the mouth of Bowdler.

Thus we see that apparent trifles, which might be passed over, (and indeed have been passed over by as acute and wellinformed an editor as Mr. Field) when examined, are found to illustrate the true text of Shakespeare, and this is the main object of my communication.

Glasgow, February 10th, 1847.

HUGH ANDERSON.

PS. Mr. Field only mentions impressions of “The Fair Maid of the Exchange" in 1607 and 1637; but I have before me (a rarity, by the way, in Scotland, and perhaps in England) a copy of an intermediate edition in 1625, which establishes the popularity of the comedy: as the title-page differs somewhat from those copied by Mr. Field, I subjoin it, together with the imprint:

"The Fayre Maide of the Exchange: together with the merry Humours, and pleasant passages of the Cripple of Fanchurch. Furnished with varietie of delectable Mirth.-London Printed by I. L., and are to be solde at the signe of the Greyhound in Paules Church-yard. 1625." 4to.

ART. X.-On the earliest Quarto Editions of the Plays of Shakespeare.

There is no edition of Shakespeare, nor any list of his plays, where the title-pages are given exactly as they stand, and in the form in which they are printed, in the original quartos. This is a defect I now propose to supply.

In the impression of the works of our great dramatist, not long since superintended by me through the press, I inserted before each drama the exact words and letters of the old titlepages, (information no where else supplied) but I was unable to give the precise manner in which the words were disposed and arranged, by which a notion, more or less accurate, may be formed of the degree of prominence given by the old printer, under the direction of the author or of the publisher, to particular parts of the title. Thus, in reference to "King Lear," I could not show how unprecedently obvious the name of "M. William Shake-speare" was rendered at the top of the title-page, in order to attract attention to the fact that it was his play, and no other, which was then offered for sale. This, however, is a point of no little importance in connexion with the reputation and popularity of our great dramatist, only two or three years before the termination of his theatrical career. I mention this tragedy only by way of illustration; but, as the reader turns over the following pages, he will become aware of the value of the knowledge to be derived merely from the inspection of the title-pages of the old quartos. The groundwork on which I proceed is, that there is no matter, however minute, in relation to Shakespeare, that is not well worth ascertaining.

I have necessarily had all the early impressions of Shakespeare's Works through my hands within the last few years. The Duke of Devonshire lent me all his copics, and the Earl