" . . . it shall be so my care
To have you royally appointed, as if
The scene you play were mine;"
is, that to make the scene appear as if it were Camillo's, could be of no service to the young prince. Now Camillo says nothing about the scene appearing as his. He says he will have the prince royally appointed, as if the scene he played were really his own: that is, as if he were the party interested in it, instead of the prince.
The reading of the old corrector—
" . . . . As if
The scene you play were true,"
would be nonsense; because, so far as the prince appearing to be Bohemia's son (which was what he was most anxious about), the scene to be played was really true!
The last correction I have now to notice is in the soliloquy of Autolycus in p. 522.: where Mr. Collier proposes to read, "who knows how that may turn luck to my advantage," instead of "may turn back to my advantage." I see no advantage in the change, but the very reverse. "Who knows but my availing myself of the means to do the prince my master a service, may come back to me in the shape of some advancement?" This seems to me to be the author's meaning, and it is legitimately expressed. How frequently it has been said that an evil deed recoils upon the head of the perpetrator! Then why not a good deed turn back to reward the doer?