Act II.
"Chor. Linger your patience on, and we'll digest
The abuse of distance, force a play."
Here 'Linger' is a causative verb. (Introd. p. [71]). Editors, in their ignorance of the meaning of 'digest,' to regulate, arrange, read well. By 'abuse of distance' is meant the abuse we make of it by transporting the audience from one country to another. For 'force a play,' which makes no sense, and to complete the measure, I read 'as we forge our play,' as we being, I am almost certain, the omitted words; forge is frequent in the sense of shape, form. The confusion of our—the r being hardly sounded—and a was natural; it occurs again, I think, in 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1. At the end of this Chorus we have "We'll not offend one stomach with our play," where, by the way, the allusion is to sea-sickness.
"The sum is paid, the traitors are agreed."
This line is out of place. In my Edition I have put it after "Confirm'd conspiracy," etc., evidently its right place.
"But till the King come forth—and not till then."