Note XIII.
III. 5. 49-51. The first Folio has here:
'And the Asse, more Captaine then the Lyon?
The fellow loaden with Irons, wiser then the Iudge?
If Wisedome be in suffering, Oh my Lords,
&c. &c.'
The second Folio:
'And the Asse, more Captaine then the Lyon? the fellow
Loaden with Irons, wiser then the Iudge?
If Wisedome be in suffering. Oh my Lords,
&c. &c.'
The third and fourth Folios, spelling apart, follow the second.
Rowe placed a comma after 'Judge,' and this punctuation was adopted by all subsequent editors.
Pope altered the passage thus:
'The ass, more than the lion; and the fellow
Loaden with irons, &c.'
He was followed by Theobald, Hanmer and Warburton, and by Johnson in his text; the last named however proposed a different arrangement of the preceding line and the substitution of 'felon' for 'fellow' in line 49, thus:
'what make we
Abroad, why then the women are more valiant
That stay at home;
If bearing carry it, then is the ass
More captain than the lion, and the felon
Loaden with irons &c.'
This suggestion was adopted substantially by Rann. The reading 'felon' had been independently proposed by Theobald (Nichols's Illustrations, II. 475).
Capell and Steevens (1773) followed Pope. Steevens (1778) read:
'The ass, more captain than the lion; and the fellow,
Loaden &c.'
In 1793 he read:
'And th' ass, more captain than the lion; the felon,
Loaden &c.'
This was followed in the Variorum Editions of 1803 and 1813.
Malone (1790) read:
'And the ass, more captain than the lion; the fellow,
Loaden &c.'
and was followed by Boswell (1821).
Mr Knight (1839) returned to the arrangement and readings of the first Folio. Singer (ed. 2) adopted this arrangement, but read 'felon' for 'fellow.' In his first edition he followed the arrangement of the second Folio, reading 'felon.'
Mitford suggests:
'The ass more than the lion, and the felon
Loaden &c.'
or:
'And th' ass more than the lion, the felon
Loaden &c.'