[NOTES.]
[ Note I.]
[I. 1. 41.] Master Page is called ‘George’ in three places, [II. 1. 134] and [142] , and [V. 5. 189], but we have left the text of the Folios uncorrected, as the mistake may have been Shakespeare’s own. It is however possible that a transcriber or printer may have mistaken ‘Geo.’ for ‘Tho.’
In [I. 3. 89, 90], on the other hand, we have not hesitated to correct the reading of the Folio, substituting ‘Page’ for ‘Ford,’ and ‘Ford’ for ‘Page,’ because, as the early Quartos have the names right, it seems likely that the blunder was not due to Shakespeare.
[ Note II.]
[I. 1. 49.] Here again, as in line 40, F2 F3 F4 read ‘good,’ F1 Q3 ‘goot,’ but we have not thought it necessary to do more than give a specimen of such variations. Capell, in order to make Dr Caius’s broken English consistent with itself, corrects it throughout and substitutes ‘de’ for ‘the,’ ‘vill’ for ‘will,’ and so forth. As a general rule, we have silently followed the first Folio.
[ Note III.]
[I. 1. 114.] With regard to this and other passages which Pope, Theobald, Malone, &c. have inserted from the early Quartos, our rule has been to introduce, between brackets, such, and such only, as seemed to be absolutely essential to the understanding of the text, taking care to give in the note all those which we have rejected.