[I. 1. 8, 9.] The suggestion that a line has been lost in this place came first from Theobald. It is scarcely necessary to say that there is no mark of omission in the Folios. Malone supposes that a similar omission has been made [II. 4. 123]. The compositor’s eye (he says) may have glanced from ‘succeed’ to ‘weakness’ in a subsequent hemistich.
In order to relieve the plethoric foot-note we set down in this place some conjectures for which we are indebted to Mr Halliwell’s note on the passage.
| (1) | Then no more remains To your sufficiency as your worth is able But that you let than work. Wheler MS. |
| (2) | But task to your sufficience ... Dent. MS. |
| (3) | But that your sufficiency as your worth be able ... Monck Mason. |
| (4) | Then no more remains: To your sufficiency your worth be added, And let them work. T. Hull’s MS. Commentary. |
| (5) | ... I let them work. Chalmers. |
The reading assigned in the foot-note to Steevens is found in a note to the Edition of 1778. He afterwards changed his mind.
[ Note II.]
[I. 2. 15.] Hanmer’s reading is recommended by the fact that in the old forms of ‘graces’ used in many colleges, and, as we are informed, at the Inns of Court, the prayer for peace comes always after, and never before, meat. But as the mistake may easily have been made by Shakespeare, or else deliberately put into the mouth of the ‘First Gentleman,’ we have not altered the text.
[ Note III.]
[I. 2. 22-26.] In the remainder of this scene Hanmer and other Editors have made capricious changes in the distribution of the dialogue, which we have not thought it worth while to chronicle. It is impossible to discern any difference of character in the three speakers, or to introduce logical sequence into their buffoonery.
[ Note IV.]
[I. 2. 110.] We retain here the stage direction of the Folio, ‘Enter ... Juliet, &c.’ for the preceding line makes it evident that she was on the stage. On the other hand, [line 140] shows that she was not within hearing, nor near Claudio while he spoke. We may suppose that she was following at a distance behind, in her anxiety for the fate of her lover. She appears again as a mute personage at the end of the play.