[iii. 1. 2.] Capell appears to have considered the reading ‘marvailes’ of Q1 as representing the vulgar pronunciation of ‘marvellous,’ and he therefore printed it ‘marvels,’ as in iv. 1. 23.
Note III.
[iii. 2. 257], 258. In this obscure passage we have thought it best to retain substantially the reading of the Quartos. The Folios, though they alter it, do not remove the difficulty, and we must conclude that some words, perhaps a whole line, have fallen out of the text.
Note IV.
[iii 2. 337.] We retain the reading of the old copies in preference to Theobald’s plausible conjecture. A similar construction occurs in The Tempest, ii. 1. 27, ‘which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?’
Note V.
[iii. 2. 204.] Although Pope’s reading of this line was followed by all editors down to Capell it is rendered extremely improbable by the occurrence of the word ‘Have’ at the beginning of the line in all the old copies, and could only have been suggested by what Pope considered the exigencies of the metre. ‘Needles’ may have been pronounced, as Steevens writes it, ‘neelds;’ but, if not, the line is harmonious enough.
Note VI.
[iv. 1. 1.] Johnson says, ‘I see no good reason why the fourth Act should begin here when there seems no interruption of the action;’ but he does not alter the arrangement of the Folios, which, in the absence of any good reason to the contrary, we also follow.