* * * * * SC. 2. "They know your Grace has cause and means and might ..." There is an evident aposiopesis. * * * * * "To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner-kings, And make their chronicle as rich with praise," etc. Collier's folio reads (I think, well) _train_ for 'fame,' and _his_ or _her_ for 'their.' * * * * * "To tear and havoc more than she can eat." 'Tear' is Rowe's; the 4tos have _spoil_, the folio _tame_. * * * * * "For government, though high and low and lower." It might seem that 'though' was a misprint for _through_. In M. for M. iii. 1, the folio has _through_ for _though_. * * * * * "They have a king and officers of _all_ sorts." * * * * * "And therefore living hence did give ourselves To barbarous licence." We should surely read _thence_ or _here_ for 'hence.' * * * * * "Be like a king and show my sail of greatness." Perhaps 'sail' should be _full_; or 'my sail' _me full_. ACT II. "_Chor._ Linger your patience on, and we'll digest The abuse of distance, force a play." Here 'Linger' is a causative verb. (Introd. p. 71). Editors, in their ignorance of the meaning of 'digest,' to regulate, arrange, read _well_. By 'abuse of distance' is meant the abuse we make of it by transporting the audience from one country to another. For 'force a play,' which makes no sense, and to complete the measure, I read '_as we_ forge our play,' _as we_ being, I am almost certain, the omitted words; _forge_ is frequent in the sense of shape, form. The confusion of _our_--the _r_ being hardly sounded--and _a_ was natural; it occurs again, I think, in 2 Hen. VI. iv. 1. At the end of this Chorus we have "We'll not offend one stomach with _our play_," where, by the way, the allusion is to sea-sickness. * * * * * "The sum is paid, the traitors are agreed." This line is out of place. In my Edition I have put it after "Confirm'd conspiracy," etc., evidently its right place. * * * * * "But till the King come forth--and not till then." For the first 'till,' caused in the usual manner, I read _ere_; for it is just before the King appears that the scene changes. * * * * * SC. 1. "There shall be smiles." Farmer and Collier's folio read _smites_. "Norfolk, we must have knocks" (R. III. v. 3). In Ant. and Cleop. iii. 2, we have also _smile_ for _smite_. See also Tr. and Cr. v. 11. * * * * * "And there's an end." The 4tos read "And there's the humour of it," which is perhaps better. * * * * * "O well a day, Lady, if he be not hewn now."