The usual punctuation:
And given way unto this course of fortune,
By noting of the lady: I have mark’d, &c.
makes but indifferent sense.
‘I have only been silent’ may mean ‘I alone have been silent.’
Note XXII.
[iv. 2. 1.] The Quarto and Folios agree, with slight differences of spelling, in the stage direction given in the note. The Town Clerk is clearly the same functionary as the Sexton mentioned in the second line.
The first speech is given in the Quarto and Folios to ‘Keeper’—a misprint for ‘Kemp’—the name of the famous actor who played Dogberry. All the other speeches of Dogberry throughout the scene, except two, are given to ‘Kemp,’ those of Verges to ‘Cowley’ or ‘Couley.’ Both Willam Kempt (i. e. Kempe or Kemp) and Richard Cowley are mentioned in the list of the ‘Principall Actors’ prefixed to the first Folio. The speech of Dogberry, line 4, is assigned to ‘Andrew,’ which is supposed to be a nickname of Kemp, who so often played the part of ‘Merry Andrew.’ That in lines 14, 15, is given in the Quarto to ‘Ke.’ and in the Folios to ‘Kee.’ or Keep.,’ a repetition of the error in line 1. The retention of these names in the successive printed copies, as well as that of ‘Jack Wilson’ in a former scene, shows the extreme carelessness with which the original MS. had been revised for the press in the first instance, and supplies a measure of the editorial care to which the several Folios were submitted. All that is known about these actors is collected in a volume edited by Mr Collier for the Shakespeare Society.
Note XXIII.
[iv. 2. 63, 64.] Verg. Let them be in the hands. Con. Off coxcomb! The reading of the Quarto is ‘Couley. Let them be in the hands of coxcombe.’ In the Folio, ‘Sex.’ is substituted for ‘Couley,’ without materially improving the sense. The first words may be a corruption of a stage direction [Let them bind them] or [Let them bind their hands].