II. iii. 4 l. 5. A pleasing vaine of glory vaine did find] A pleasing vaine of glory he did find 1590. It is natural to regard the second ‘vaine’ as a mere printer’s repetition of the first. But the collocation of ‘glory’ and ‘vaine’ appears in two other descriptions of Braggadocchio, viz. III. viii. 11 ll. 8 and 9; IV. iv. 14 l. 5. And the play on words is quite Spenserian; cf. I. iv. 6 l. 6 array ... arras; II. i. 37 l. 9 leaue ... leaue; II. ii. 12 l. 3 fairely fare.
II. iii. 10 l. 1. On the spelling of Braggadocchio see Introduction, p. vi. In the second volume of 1596 we find cc in IV. ii. 4; IV. iv. 14; IV. iv. 20; c in IV. iv. 8; IV. iv. 10; IV. v. 23; IV. v. 26; and always in V. iii.
II. iii. 20 l. 5. their haire on end does reare] does vnto them affeare 1590: vnto corr. to greatly F. E. It seems as if Spenser originally wrote ‘appeare’, forgot this when he made F. E., and in turn forgot F. E. when he corrected the copy for 1596; or knowingly changed his mind twice.
II. iii. 28 l. 7. play] sport conj. ed. See Introduction, p. viii. I do not wish to read ‘sport’ in the text, as the form of the footnote might imply. This substitution does not seem to have been noticed by previous editors.
II. iii. 38 l. 4. haue I] I haue 1590. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.
II. iii. 45 l. 4. one] on 1590, 1596. For the converse misprint cf. II. i. 31 l. 4.
II. iii. 46 l. 9. erne] yerne 1609. These two words are regularly interchanged in 1609, in accordance with modern usage. Cf. VI. vii. 15 l. 9.
II. iv. 17 ll. 6, 8, 9. A striking instance of author’s correction in 1596. Spenser seems to have shrunk from the forms ‘trech’, ‘ketch.’
II. iv. 35. This is the stanza quoted by Fraunce in 1588. See Introduction, p. xi.
II. iv. 41 l. 8. A hexameter in the eighth line. It might be corrected by omitting ‘is sonne’; but for this there is no authority. See Introduction, p. vii.