ouses: lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.'

NOTE XIII.

III. 1. 29. Mr Collier's copy of the second Folio has 'sire.' _Notes and
Queries_, Vol. VI. p. 141.

NOTE XIV.

III. 1. 56, 57. The metrical arrangement is uncertain here. It is not
probable that the last word of the Duke's speech, 'concealed,' should be
the first of a line which would be interrupted by his exit. Perhaps,
too, the true reading of the following line may have been:

'As comforts all are good, most good indeed.'

NOTE XV.

III. 1. 91, 94. The word 'prenzie,' occurring, as it does, twice in this
passage, rests on such strong authority that it is better to seek to
explain than to alter it. It may be etymologically connected with
'prin,' in old French, meaning 'demure;' also with 'princox,' a
'coxcomb,' and with the word 'prender,' which occurs more than once in
Skelton: e.g.

'This pevysh proud, this prender gest,
When he is well, yet can he not rest.'

Mr Bullock mentions, in support of his conjecture, that 'pensie' is
still used in some north-country dialects. 'Primsie' is also found in
Burns' poems with the signification of 'demure, precise,' according to
the glossary.

NOTE XVI.

III. 1. 118. Johnson says the most plausible conjecture is 'benighted.'
It does not appear by whom this conjecture was made.

NOTE XVII.

III. 1. 168. We must suppose that Claudio, as he is going out, stops to
speak with his sister at the back of the stage within sight of the
audience.

NOTE XVIII.

IV. 2. 91. This is a case in which we have thought it best to make an
exception to our usual rule of modernizing the spelling. The metre
requires 'Haply' to be pronounced as a trisyllable. Perhaps it would be
well to retain the spelling of the first two Folios 'Happely,' and as a
general rule it would be convenient if an obsolete spelling were
retained in words used with an obsolete meaning. We have, however,
abstained from introducing on our own authority this, or any other
innovation in orthography. In IV. 3. 126, we have retained 'covent,'
which had grown to be a distinct word from 'convent,' and differently
pronounced. Shakespeare's ear would hardly have tolerated the
harsh-sounding line

'One of our CONvent and his CONfessor.'

NOTE XIX.

IV. 3. 17. The reading 'cry' (i.e. 'crie') for 'are' was suggested by a
passage in Nashe's _Apologie for Pierce Pennilesse_, 1693, quoted by
Malone: 'At that time that thy jo