Two Gentlemen of Verona The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
NOTE IV.
II. 1. 68, 69. This passage is corrupt. The usual explanation, which satisfies Delius, is inadmissible, because Valentine would certainly not appear, like the Knight of La Mancha, without his hose. A rhyming couplet was probably what the author intended. Many conjectures might be made, as for example: 'For he, being in love, could not see to garter his hose; And you, being in love, cannot see to beyond your nose.' Or, 'to put spectacles on your nose.' Or possibly, 'to put on your shoes,' the point of which remark Valentine's disordered dress might make clear to the audience. Rosalind, when enumerating the marks of a man in love, mentions the untied shoe as well as the ungartered hose, _As You Like It_, Act III. Sc. 2. The same misprint, 'hose' for 'shoes,' occurs in the first edition of Greene's _Groatsworth of Wit_. See Mr Dyce's preface to his edition of Greene's _Dramatic Works_, p. xxviii.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.