"And, with an accent tun'd in self-same key,
Replies to chiding fortune."

This, which is also Hanmer's reading, certainly makes sense. Pope read
_returns_. The old copies have _retires_. I believe Shakspeare wrote
"_Rechides_ to chiding fortune." This puzzled the compositor, who gave
the nearest common word without regard to the sense.

_Troilus and Cressida_, Act V. Sc. 1., p. 342.--The disgusting speeches
of Thersites are scarcely worth correcting, much less dwelling upon; but
there can be little doubt that we should read "male _harlot_" for "male
_varlet_;" and "preposterous _discoverers_" (not discolourers) for
"preposterous discoveries."

_Coriolanus_, Act V. Sc. 5., p. 364.:

"I... holp to reap the fame
Which he did _ear_ all his."

To _ear_ is to _plough_. Aufidius complains that he had a share in the
harvest, while Coriolanus took all the ploughing to himself. We have
only, however, to transpose _reap_ and _ear_, and this nonsense is at
once converted into excellent sense. The old corrector blindly copied
the blunder of a corrupt, but not sophisticated, manuscript. This has
occurred elsewhere in this collection.

_Antony and Cleopatra_, Act I. Sc. 5., p. 467.:

"And soberly did mount an _arm-girt_ steed."

This reading was also conjectured by Hanmer. The folios read
_arme-gaunt_. This appears to me a mere misprint for _rampaunt_, but
whether _rampaunt_ was Shakspeare's word, or a transcriber's
sophistication for _ramping_, is more than I can undertake to determine.
I believe, however, that one of them is the true reading. At one period
to _ramp_ and to _prance_ seem to have been synonymous. Spenser makes
the horses of night "fiercely _ramp_," and Surrey exhibits a _prancing_
lion.

This communication is, I am afraid, already too long for "N. & Q.;" I
will therefore only add my opinion, that, though the old corrector has
reported many bad readings, they are far outnumbered by the good ones in
the collection.

W. N. L.

_Mr. Collier's "Notes and Emendations:" Passage in "The Winter's
Tale."_--At p. 192. of MR. PAYNE COLLIER'S new volume, he cites a
passage in _The Winter's Tale_, ending--

"... I should blush
To see you so attir'd, sworn, I think
To show myself a glass."

The MS. emendator, he says, reads _so worn_ for _sworn_; and adds:

"The meaning therefore is, that Florizel's plain attire was 'so
worn,' to show Perdita, as in a glass