The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] · William Shakespeare
LINENOTES TO I KING HENRY VI.
I. 3. 59. The insertion made by the Editor of the second Folio for the sake of the metre shows that a change had already taken place in the pronunciation of the word ‘Mayor,’ which in Shakespeare’s day was sometimes written and pronounced ‘Major.’ See _1 Henry IV_. II. 4. 473: ‘I deny your major; if you will deny the Sheriff, so; let him enter.’ In line 84 of the present scene, however, the ‘Maior’ of the first Folio becomes ‘Major’ in the second--probably from inadvertence. I. 4. 16–18. We leave this corrupt passage as it stands in the first Folio. In the second Folio, which is followed as usual by the third and fourth, it is thus given: ‘And fully even these three dayes have I watcht, If I could see them. Now Boy doe thou watch, For I can stay no longer.’ Pope omits the words ‘For...longer.’ Malone has: ‘And even these three days have I watched, If I could see them. Now do thou watch, for I can stay no longer.’ Mr Collier: ‘And even these three days have I watch’d, if I Could see them. Now, do thou watch, for I can stay no longer.’ III. 2. 17. All editors previous to Capell, except Hanmer, follow the Folios in making Reignier speak without having brought him on the stage, and all subsequent editors follow Capell in giving Reignier’s speeches to Alençon, without noting that he had made any change. Hanmer altered Alençon to Reignier in the stage-direction, line 16, and Reignier to Alençon in the stage-direction, line 40.
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