Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/358

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354 Mason column: for "Rhewny" read "Rhewmy." Page 482, line 4, first column: insert comma after "stock. " VI. ERRORS IN COLLATION It is a pity that Mr. Furness tamely followed his predeces- sors in practically ignoring the six post-Restoration quartos, for had he collated them he might have enriched his edition with many interesting new readings as well as by recording the earliest appearances of many readings at present credited to eighteenth century editors as original emendations; and he might likewise have avoided several errors. On page 122, e.g., in the footnote on II, ii, 114, he wrongly asserts that "the reading of all the Quartos is proceedings," whereas in the copies that I have examined 3 the First and Sixth Quartos, dated 1684 and 1691 respectively, agree with the four Folios in eliminating the final "s." Again, on page 85, in the textual note and footnote on II, i, 95, he follows the Cambridge Editors and R. G. White in asserting that the Quarto of 1691 reads hath, whereas in the copies that I have examined 4 it is only the Fourth Quarto, undated, that reads hath, while the Sixth Quar- to, of 1691, agrees with the First, Second, Third, and Fifth Quartos, and the four Folios, in reading path. Now the Pollard- Bartlett " Census" credits Mr. Furness with the ownership of a 1691 Quarto, and it is entirely possible that his copy like those cited by the Cambridge Editors and R. G. White actually contains this variant reading; but surely it is also possible that the Cambridge Editors and R. G. White consulted 8 On this point I have consulted, through the courtesy of various owners or librarians, three copies of Q 1 (Mr. W. A. White's, Mr. M. J. Perry's, and the Boston Public Library's), four copies of Q 2 (Mr. W. A. White's, Mr. H. E. Huntington's, the Elizabethan Club's, and the Boston Public Library's [this last copy Miss H. C. Bartlett apparently rejects as a facsimile reproduction, not a genuine original; one hesitates to disagree with so formidable a bibliographer, but one would like to consider the evidence before accepting the verdict]), three copies of Q 3 (Mr. W. A. White's, Mr. H. E. Huntington's, and the Yale Univer- sity Library's), three copies of Q 4 (Mr. W. A. White's, the Boston Public Libra- ry's, and the New York Public Library's), one copy of Q 5 (Mr. W. A. White's: only two others have been identified), and four copies of Q 6 (Mr. W. A. White's, Mr. M. J. Perry's, the Boston Athenaeum's, and the Boston Public Library's). 4 On this point, in addition to the copies listed in Note 3, 1 have also been enabled, through the courtesy of his Secretary, Miss Morris, to consult Mr.

D. P. Kingsley's copies of Q 4 and Q 6.