If the reading and punctuation given in our text be right, the words seem to be addressed to Guildenstern. Mr Knight, however, suggests that 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have intimated, by some signal, that they wish to speak with Hamlet in private.'
Note XIX.
III. 2. 366—371. In this passage we have followed the distribution of the Folios. In the Quartos it stands thus:
'They foole me to the top of my bent, I will come by and by,
Leaue me friends.
I will, say so. By and by is easily said,
'Tis now &c.'
In the Quarto of 1676 the words 'I will come ... said' are marked in inverted commas to indicate that they were omitted by the actors. Pope following the arrangement of the Quartos, reading 'I will say so' with the Quarto of 1676.
Note XX.
III. 4. 4. We have adopted Hanmer's correction 'sconce' for 'silence' because in the corresponding passage of the first Quarto Polonius says: 'I'le shrowde my selfe behinde the Arras.' The Quartos of 1676, 1683, 1695 and 1703 give 'I'll here conceal my self.'
In the Quarto of 1603 there is also a trace of the following speech of Hamlet, omitted in the subsequent Quartos but given in the Folios.