Note VII.
I. 2. 171, 172. We have printed this passage as prose, as it is difficult to say from the arrangement of the lines in the first and second Folios, whether or not it was intended to be read as two lines of verse, the first ending 'thee,' as it certainly is in the third and fourth Folios. Pope printed it as prose. Capell eked out the metre thus:
'Me near? why, then another time I'll hear thee:
I pr'ythee, let us be provided now
To shew them entertainment.'
Steevens suggested 'provided straight' in the second line.
In many parts of this play it is difficult to say whether the lines are intended to be read as irregular verse, or as rhythmical prose, and we have therefore left them as they stand in the Folios.