Measure for Measure The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
NOTE XVIII.
IV. 2. 91. This is a case in which we have thought it best to make an exception to our usual rule of modernizing the spelling. The metre requires 'Haply' to be pronounced as a trisyllable. Perhaps it would be well to retain the spelling of the first two Folios 'Happely,' and as a general rule it would be convenient if an obsolete spelling were retained in words used with an obsolete meaning. We have, however, abstained from introducing on our own authority this, or any other innovation in orthography. In IV. 3. 126, we have retained 'covent,' which had grown to be a distinct word from 'convent,' and differently pronounced. Shakespeare's ear would hardly have tolerated the harsh-sounding line 'One of our cónvent and his cónfessor.' IV. 3. 17. The reading 'cry' (i.e. 'crie') for 'are' was suggested by a passage in Nashe's _Apologie for Pierce Pennilesse_, 1693, quoted by Malone: 'At that time that thy joys were in the _fleeting_, and thus _crying_ 'for the Lord's sake' out at an iron window.'
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.