I. 1. 153. It cannot be doubted that there is some omission here. The editors, except Steevens, who is satisfied with the text as it stands, substantially agree either with Hanmer's emendation or Malone's. Mr Grant White, however, thinks that in either case the transition would be too abrupt and that the passage omitted was longer and more important. If it were not for the 'Pretty fond adoptious christendoms That blinking Cupid gossips,' we should be inclined to suppose that the whole passage was by another hand. Indeed all the foregoing dialogue between Helena and Parolles is a blot on the play. Mr Badham (_Cambridge Essays_, 1856, p. 256) would strike out the whole passage (105-152) from 'Ay, you have &c.' to 'Will you any thing with it?' as an interpolation. NOTE III. I. 3. 50. No one has been able to discover the origin of the names 'Charbon' and 'Poysam,' or to guess at any probable meaning for them. Yet it is not likely that they should have been given at random. Is it possible that Shakespeare may have written 'Chairbonne' and 'Poisson,' alluding to the respective lenten fare of the Puritan and the Papist? The same suggestion was made independently by Mr Easy (_Notes and Queries_, 3rd S. IV. 106) after the present note was in the printers' hands (Ibid. p. 203). NOTE IV. I. 3. 106. We have not inserted Theobald's admirable emendation in the text, because it is probable that something more has been omitted, perhaps a whole line of the MS. Becket would transpose the sentences and read thus: '... level. This she delivered ... exclaim in.--Queen of Virgins! that ... afterward. This I held....' We take this opportunity of saying that many of Becket's proposed changes are so sweeping that we found it impossible to record them in the compass of a foot-note, and at the same time so improbable, that we did not think it worth while to record them separately at the end. NOTE V. I. 3. 118. We have followed the Folios in placing Helena's entry after line 118, rather than after 126, as most recent editors have done. The Countess may be supposed to be observing Helena earnestly as she enters with slow step and downcast eyes. Her words have thus more force and point. NOTE VI. II. 1. 1, 2. The editors have for the most part followed Hanmer's correction 'lord ... lord' for 'lords ... lords,' the reading of the Folios, on the ground that there is no reason why the lords who are taking leave should be divided into two sections. But from the stage direction 'divers young Lords,' it is clear that there are more than two. Mr Staunton thinks that the king first addresses himself to the young lords in general, and then turns to the two who are spokesmen in the scene and bids them share in the advice just given to their companions. We rather incline to think that the young lords are divided into two sections according as they intended to take service with the 'Florentines' or the 'Senoys.' The king had said, I. 2. 13-15]