NOTE V.
[II. 1. 125–132.] In the first Folio this passage stands as follows:
‘Then Saunder, sit there,
The lying’st Knave in Christendome.
If thou hadst beene borne blind,
Thou might’st as well haue knowne all our Names,
As thus to name the seuerall Colours we doe weare.
Sight may distinguish of Colours:
But suddenly to nominate them all,
It is impossible.
My Lords, Saint Albone here hath done a Miracle:
And would ye not thinke it, Cunning to be great,
That could restore this Cripple to his Legges againe.’
Pope alters the first four lines thus:
‘Saunder, sit there, the lying’st knave in christendom.
If thou hadst been born blind,
Thou might’st as well know all our names, as thus
To know the several colours we do wear.’
The following is Hanmer’s reading of the first six lines:
‘Then, Saunder, sit thou there, the lying’st knave
In christendom. If thou hadst been born blind,
Thou might’st as well know all our names, as thus
To know the several colours we do wear.
Sight may distinguish colours: true, but suddenly
To nominate them all, it is impossible.’
In the rest of the scene several arbitrary changes have been made by different editors for the sake of the metre.