IV. 1. 46. Mr Dyce says that Theobald omitted the words 'Help her:' but this is a mistake. They are retained by Theobald, and by every other editor we know of.
Note VII.
IV. 2. 100. 'Seems' is an error of Johnson's own printer. In his note on the passage, he conjectures that 'scorns' is the true reading, without knowing that it was to be found in every edition previous to his own. For an instance of similar carelessness, see Note VI. to The Third Part of King Henry VI.
Note VIII.
IV. 2. 178. Mr Collier, in his Appendix to Coleridge's Lectures, states that his MS. corrector substitutes 'thrive' for 'feed' in this line, while, in the note to his second edition of Shakespeare, he says that the substitution is made in the next line, 'thrive on curds, &c.'
In IV. 4. 37, we have assigned a reading to the MS. corrector, because we find it in Mr Collier's one-volume edition, though he has not mentioned it elsewhere.
In IV. 4. 113, he gives, in the Appendix to Coleridge's Lectures, and in his second edition of Shakespeare, 'Then go incessantly, and plead 'fore him,' as the reading of the MS. corrector, while in the one-volume edition, he gives, on the same authority, 'Then go successfully, and plead 'fore him.' We have left unnoticed other discrepancies, where, as is usually the case, they were unimportant to the sense. We mention the fact once for all, in order to defend ourselves from the charge of inaccuracy. Indeed, it is on this ground alone that we ever call attention to those errors of our predecessors, which are, in themselves, venial and unimportant.
Note IX.
IV. 4. 8. Steevens says that the first Folio here has 'the law.' It is 'law' in every copy which we have been able to consult.