"The dram of base Doth all the noble substance often _dull_, To his own scandal."
This reading of mine only makes it necessary to substitute the letters _n_ and _ll_, for _a_ and _o_, in the quarto of 1605.
_Dull_ is a favourite word of Shakspeare's; and surely it makes at least as good sense as any of the other readings. It is questionable whether the lines are Shakspeare's; for the whole passage, from "This heavy-headed revel," to "To his own scandal," is omitted in the first and second folios, and also in the first known quarto of "1603."
To prove how easy it is for printers, or copiers from original manuscripts of authors, to make mistakes, I will call your attention to a serious blunder in the _first edition_ of Ben Jonson's verses addressed to the Earl of Somerset, which are in the _Athenæum_ of Feb. 21st. The twenty-first and twenty-second lines are thus printed:
"So in theyr number may you neuer see Mortality, till you a _mortall_ be."
_Theoloneum_ (Vol. v., p. 105.).--Theoloneum is a toll, _i.e._ the payment made in markets and fairs for goods bought and sold. It was the property of the lord to whom the fair or market belonged by patent from the crown.
Henry III., by letters patent, dated at Windsor 15th May, in the thirty-first year of his reign, grants to the abbot, &c. of Fecamp, the manors at Cheltenham and Slaughter, &c. &c. &c. in exchange for the villes of Winchelsea and Rye, which had been granted to the said abbot, &c. by Edward the Confessor; to hold them--
"adeo libera et quieta sicut antea tenuerunt Winchelsee et la Rye ratione donationis eis facte a felicis memorie sancto Adwardo, et concessionum ac confirmationum postmodum abitarum a Willelmo et Henrico Regibus Anglie de terra de Staniges cum omnibus apendiciis suis. Inter que reputabantur Winchelsee et la Rye. In cujus regis Willelmi carta continebantur hujusmodi libertates; videlicet, quod predicti abbas et monachi Phiscanenses habeant terram de Staniges, cum omnibus omnino apendiciis suis et cum omnibus legibus, libertatibus, liberis consuetudinibus quietanciis placitis, querelis, et causis que sunt vel fore possunt, absque ulla inquietudine et diminutione cujuslibet secularis vel judiciaria potestatis sicut res ad Phiscum dominicum pertinentes et quod predicta terra cum omnibus apendiciis suis libera sit et quieta ab omni consuetudine terrene servitutis et ab omni dominacione et subjeccione Baronum et principum et omnium aliorum. Et quod prefati abbas et Monachi Phiscanenses et eorum ministri habeant omnem regiam libertatem et consuetudinem et omnem justiciam suam de omnibus rebus et negociis que in terra sua evenient vel poterunt evenire, nec aliquis nisi per eos se inde intromittat. Quia hoc totum regale beneficium est et ab omni servitute quietum. Et quod si aliquis quicquam contra hujusmodi concessionem presumat, ad phiscum dominicum coactus auri libras centum persolvat."