VII - SPECIAL TRANSCRIPT OF THE THREE PAGES

Summary

The three pages of the Harleian manuscript written in hand D have twice already been reproduced in typefacsimile, first as part of the Malone Society's edition of the play (M), and later in Sir Edward Maunde Thompson's book on Shakespeare's Handwriting (T). In making yet another essay faithfully to interpret the sometimes obscure original for the use of modern readers, I have, of course, availed myself to the full of previous attempts. If the three prints are compared they will be found to differ in a number of details, which fall into several distinct groups, (i) Sir Edward's minute study of the manuscript, and the fact that, at his suggestion, the second page was relieved of its covering of tracing-paper, enabled him to correct certain happily small errors of M. These corrections were silently made and have been silently incorporated in the present text, (ii) I have also in general followed T in those details of capitalization and punctuation which must be classed as matters of opinion, (iii) Further, I have gladly availed myself of the readings of T in passages which were marked as indecipherable in M, though a fresh examination of the original has not always enabled me to distinguish quite as much as Sir Edward, and I have felt bound to record an occasional doubt in the notes.