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lation my vigilance ſhould have been overwatched only in eight inſtances; nor, without ſo deciſive a proof as the malignant induſtry of a petty adverſary has furniſhed, could I have believed it. I ſay eight inſtances; for though thirteen over-fights have been enumerated, five of them have no foundation in truth.
i. The firſt of theſe is in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Vol. I. p. 154.
Speed. Item, ſhe can ſew.
Launce. That's as much as to ſay, can ſhe ſo?
"Both the folios," ſays this redoubted critick, "read—ſow, which is manifeſtly requiſite. Probably, however, the editor may ſuppoſe ſew and ſo to have the ſame pronunciation."
With the ſecond folio, here cited, or any other corrupted copy of our author, I have no concern. The firſt and only authentick copy of this play printed in folio, in 1623, (for there is no quarto,) reads, if letters are to be enumerated, not ſow, but ſowe. When a quibble is intended, the word in the old copy is often intentionally miſpelt, in order
