Mr Grant White, in his Shakespeare's Scholar, expressed his approval of this conjecture, changing however, 'and moving' to 'unmoving' in the second line. In his edition he follows, as we do, the second Quarto. 'The time of scorn' (he says) is a phrase like 'the day of sorrow,' 'the hour of joy,' or 'the age of progress.'
Dr Cartwright reads:
'A fixed figure for the time of scorn
To point his cold unmoving finger at.'
Mr Bailey conjectures:
'A fixed figure for the time, in scorn
To point his sly and mocking finger at.'
Mr Bullock proposes to read:
'A fixed figure for the rhymer's scorn,
To point his foul unmoving finger at.'
Note X.
IV. 2. 183. Mr Collier says that the Devonshire copy of F1 has the following: 'I have heard too much: And hell gnaw his bones Performances....' The mistake was discovered and corrected in other copies. This accounts for the 'and' which the corrected copies still retain instead of 'for.'