Although most editors have acquiesced in Pope's conjecture 'weep' for 'sing,' we retain 'sing,' which all the Quartos and Folios agree in. The mistake is not one which a transcriber or printer would be likely to make, and the original reading yields a very good sense. The Queen speaks with an emphasis on 'sing:' 'And I could even sing for joy if my troubles were only such as weeping could alleviate, and then I would not ask you to weep for me.'
[Note XXII.]
IV. 1. 52. Pope added to Aumerle's speech three lines he found in the Quarto, beginning 'Who sets me else ...?' without intimating that it contained other five lines, 'I task thee ... thou dar'st,' which he omitted. The omission escaped the notice of Theobald and Warburton. Johnson was the first to supply it. He added in a note: 'This speech I have restored from the first edition in humble imitation of former editors, though, I believe, against the mind of the authour. For the earth I suppose we ought to read, thy oath.'
[Note XXIII.]
IV. 1. 280 sqq. The third and fourth Quartos (the earliest editions which contain this scene) read here:
'... prosperitie.
Was this the face that euery day vnder his
Houshold roofe did keepe ten thousand men?
Was this the face that faast so many follies,
And was ...'
The first Folio has:
'... prosperitie,
Thou do'st beguile me. Was this Face, the Face
That every day, vnder his House-hold Roofe,
Did keepe ten thousand men? Was this the Face,
That like the Sunne, did make beholders winke?
Is this the Face, which fac'd so many follyes,
That was ...'
[Note XXIV.]
V. 1. 88. Sidney Walker (Criticisms, Vol. I. p. 189-193) has collected instances of 'near' and 'far' used in the sense of 'nearer' and 'farther.' For an instance of the latter, see Winter's Tale, IV. 4. 420, 'Far than Deucalion off.'