what Shakespeare would mean by writing "men make-rope us in such a scarre."
There has been much clinging to the apostrophe in the word rope's because it is thus found in the First and Second Folios; but this is due to the fact that no possible solution presented itself and this seemed to offer a different way out, whatever it might signify. However we must remember that the Second Folio had no independent source; it was copied from the First Folio; and the First Folio has thousands of errors in punctuation which have been corrected without question. The fact that a mistake has been copied does not lend it any authority, though many editors have seemed to reason that it does. The editor of the Second Folio was human; and, as he probably did not understand the line himself, he simply put down what he found in the First Folio.
Following is a list of emendations, beginning with Rowe (1709):
Rowe—make hopes in such affairs.
Malone—make hopes in such a scene.
Becket—make mopes in such a scar, or make japes of such a scathe.
Henley—make hopes in such a scare.
Singer—make hopes in such a war.
Mitford—make hopes in such a cause.
Collier—make slopes in such a scarre, or make ropes in such a stairs.
Dyce—make hopes in such a case.
Staunton—make hopes in such a snare.
Collier MSS.—make hopes in such a suit.
Williams—may cope's in such a sort.
