1.1.149 (319,6)
Think'st thou, that duty shall have dread to speak,
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound,
When majesty stoops to folly. Reverse thy doom,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness: answer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least]
I have given this passage according to the old folio, from which the
modern editions have silently departed, for the sake of better numbers,
with a degree of insincerity, which, if not sometimes detected and
censured, must impair the credit of ancient books. One of the editors,
and perhaps only one, knew how much mischief may be done by such
clandestine alterations. The quarto agrees with the folio, except that
for _reserve thy state_, it gives, _reverse thy doom_, and has _stoops_
instead of _falls to folly_. The meaning of _answer my life my
judgment_, is, _Let my life be answerable for my judgment_, or, _I will
stake my life on my opinion_.--The reading which, without any right, has
possessed all the modern copies is this;
--to plainness honour
Is bound, when majesty to folly falls.
Reserve thy state; with better judgment check
This hideous rashness; with my life I answer,
Thy youngest daughter, &c.
I am inclined to think that _reverse thy doom_ was Shakespeare's first
reading, as more apposite to the present occasion, and that he changed
it afterwards to _reserve thy state_, which conduces more to the
progress of the action.
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