The edition of 1603 is obviously a very imperfect reproduction of the play, and there is every reason to believe that it was printed from a manuscript surreptitiously obtained. This manuscript may have been compiled in the first instance from short hand notes taken during the representation, but there are many errors in the printed text which seem like errors of a copyist rather than of a hearer. Compare for example lines 37, 38 of Scene iii. of our Reprint, p. 205, with the corresponding lines of the more perfect drama as it was printed in the Quarto of 1604, Act i. Scene 3, lines 73, 74, p. 26.
In the Quarto of 1603 the passage runs thus:
And they of France of the chiefe rancke and station
Are of a most select and generall chiefe in that:
In that of 1604:
'And they in Fraunce of the best ranck and station,
Or of a most select and generous, chiefe in that:'
It is clear that the corruption in both passages is due to an error in the transcript from which both were copied. Probably the author had originally written:
'And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous in that:'
and then given between the lines or in the margin, 'of,' 'chief', meaning these as alternative readings for 'in' and 'best' in the first line. The transcriber by mistake inserted them in the second line. A few lines above both Quartos give 'courage' for 'comrade,' a mistake due undoubtedly to the eye and not to the ear.
We believe then that the defects of the manuscript from which the Quarto of 1603 was printed had been in part at least supplemented by a reference to the authentic copy in the library of the theatre. Very probably the man employed for this purpose was some inferior actor or servant, who would necessarily work in haste and by stealth, and in any case would not be likely to work very conscientiously for the printer or bookseller who was paying him to deceive his masters.