The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 7 of 9]Shakespeare, William
General
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 7 of 9]
Shakespeare, William
English drama
The first Folio follows the third Quarto as usual without any variation
of importance.
The second Folio, followed by the third and fourth, inserts, '_Exit_'
after the word 'breast,' adopts the reading of the first down to the
end of Romeo's speech, and makes the Friar's begin at line 5, thus:
'_Fri._ Now ere the Sun advance his burning eye, &c.'
Pope restored the true arrangement. In the fourth line of the Friar's
speech he introduced 'pathway made by Titan's wheels' from the passage
as first given in Q2 Q3 F1.
NOTE VII.
II. 5. 15, 16. The second Quarto reads here:
'_M._ And his to me, but old folks, many fain as they wer dead,
Vnwieldie, slowe, heauie, and pale as lead.'
And this is followed with slight variations of spelling by the third.
The fourth and fifth omit the _M._, as do the Folios, which give the
passage thus:
'And his to me, but old folkes,
Many faine as they were dead,
Vnwieldie, slow, heauy, and pale as lead.'
Pope omits the lines 'But old folks ... lead,' thinking probably that
they are due to interpolation, a supposition which the unmeaning '_M._'
in the earlier Quartos seems to confirm.
Mr Collier's MS. corrector has (Shakespeare, Ed. 2, Note ad loc.):
'As his to me: but old folks seem as dead,
Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and dull as lead.'
This is not mentioned in his _Notes and Emendations_.
For 'many' Johnson substitutes 'marry;'
'But old folks, marry, feign as they were dead, &c.'
NOTE VIII.
III. 3. 38-46. Instead of the lines which he put in the margin, Pope
inserted the following, copied with some alterations from the first
Quarto:
'But Romeo may not, he is banished!
O father, hadst thou no strong poison mixt,
No sharp ground knife, no present means of death,
But banishment to torture me withal?'
NOTE IX.
III. 3. 40-43. The Quarto of 1599 reads as follows:
'This may flyes do, when I from this must flie,
And sayest thou yet, that exile is not death?
But _Romeo_ may not, he is banished.
Flies may do this, but I from this must flie:
They are freemen, but I am banished.'
The same order is followed in the subsequent Quartos. The reading of
the first Quarto will be seen in the reprint which follows the play.
The first Folio gives:
'This may Flies doe, when I from this must flie,
And saist thou yet, that exile is not death?
But _Romeo_ may not, hee is banished.'
This reading is followed by the other Folios, Rowe, Theobald,
Warburton, and Johnson. Hanmer follows Pope in his text (see Note
VIII), omitting altogether the lines which Pope put in the margin.
Capell has:
'Flies may do this, but I from this must fly;
They are free men, but I am banished.'
Steevens (1773) reads:
'Flies may do this, when I from this must fly;
They are free men, but I am banished.
And say'st thou yet, that exile is not death?
But Romeo may not;--he is banished.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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