In a critical point of view the question is of little or no consequence. After a minute comparison of the two, we have come to the conclusion that neither was printed from the other. We are indebted sometimes to one and sometimes to the other for the true reading, where it is very improbable that the printer should have hit upon the correction. For example, Act II. Sc. 8, line 39, the Roberts Quarto, sig. E. 1. recto, has ‘Slubber not business...’ while the Heyes Quarto, sig. D. 4. recto, has ‘Slumber....’ On the other hand, Act III. Sc. 1, line 6, the Heyes Quarto, sig. F. 2. recto, has ‘gossip report,’ the true reading, while the Roberts Quarto, sig. F. 2. verso, has ‘gossips report.’ Other instances might be brought to prove that neither edition is printed from the other. But there is reason to think that they were printed from the same MS. Their agreement in spelling and punctuation and in manifest errors is too close to admit of any other hypothesis. We incline to believe that this common MS. was a transcript made from the author’s. It is certain, for instance, that the MS. had ‘veiling an Indian beauty’ (Act III. Sc. 2, line 99), and it is equally certain that ‘beauty’ was not the word Shakespeare meant. Other examples of common errors derived from the MS. will be found in our footnotes, and our readers may investigate the question for themselves. Q1 seems to have been printed by a more accurate printer or ‘overseen’ by a more accurate corrector than Q2, and therefore _cœteris paribus_ we have preferred the authority of Q1. The First Folio text is a reprint of the Heyes Quarto, which had doubtless belonged to the theatre library, and, as in other cases, had had some stage directions inserted. The third Quarto, Q3, is also reprinted from Q2. It was published with the following title-page: The most excellent | Historie of the Merchant | of Venice. | With the extreame crueltie of _Shylocke_ | the Iewe towards the said Merchant, in | cutting a just pound of his flesh: and the obtaining of PORTIA by the choice | _of three Chests_. | As it hath beene divers times acted by the | _Lord Chamberlaine his Servants_. | Written by William Shakespeare. | London, | Printed by _M.P._ for _Laurence Hayes_, and are to be sold | at his Shop on Fleetbridge. 1637. The so-called Fourth Quarto differs from Q3 only in having a new title-page. We might have suppressed ‘Q4’ altogether, but having made the collation we allow the record to stand. The title-page of Q4 is as follows: