What hath been seen,
Either in snuffs and packings of the dukes;
Or the hard rein, which both of them have borne
Against the old kind king; or something deeper,
Whereof, perchance, these are but furnishings._
[But, true it is, from France there comes a power
Into this scatter'd kingdom; who already,
Wise in our negligence, have secret fee
In some of our best ports, and are at point
To shew their open banner.--Now to you:]]
The true state of this speech cannot from all these notes be discovered.
As it now stands it is collected from two editions: the lines which I
have distinguished by Italics are found in the folio, not in the quarto;
the following lines inclosed in crotchets are in the quarto, not in the
folio. So that if the speech be read with omissions of the Italics, it
will stand according to the first edition; and if the Italics are read,
and the lines that follow them omitted, it will then stand according to
the second. The speech is now tedious, because it is formed by a
coalition of both. The second edition is generally best, and was
probably nearest to Shakespeare's last copy, but in this passage the
first is preferable; for in the folio, the messenger is sent, he knows
not why, he knows not whither. I suppose Shakespeare thought his plot
opened rather too early, and made the alteration to veil the event from
the audience; but trusting too much to himself, and full of a single
purpose, he did not accommodate his new lines to the rest of the
scene.
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