voured faithfully to record any variation of reading,
however minute (except, as before said, mere differences of spelling or
punctuation), adopted by any editor, and to give that editor's name.
Sometimes, however, we have passed over in silence merely arbitrary
rearrangements of the metre made in passages where no change was
required and no improvement effected.

In recording conjectures, we have excepted only (1) those which were so
near some other reading previously adopted or suggested, as to be
undeserving of separate record, and (2) a few (of Becket, Jackson, and
others) which were palpably erroneous. Even of these we have given a
sufficient number to serve as samples.

We will now proceed to explain the notation employed in the foot-notes,
which, in some cases, the necessity of compressing may have rendered
obscure.

The four Folios are designated respectively by the letters F1, F2, F3,
and F4, and the quarto editions of separate plays, in each case, by the
letters Q1, Q2, Q3, &c.

When one or more of the Quartos differ so widely from the Folios that a
complete collation is impossible, the letters which designate them are
put between brackets, for the sake of keeping this difference before the
mind of the reader. Thus, in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, the two
earliest Quartos differ widely from the Folios, while the third Quarto
(1630) is printed from the first Folio. Hence, they are designated thus:
I. 4. 20, _Cain_] F3 F4. _Kane_ (Q1 Q2). _Caine_ F1 Q3 F2.

When no authority is given for the reading in the text, it is to be
understood that it is derived from such of the Folios as are not
subsequently mentioned. Thus, in the _Comedy of Errors_, II. 2. 203,
_the eye_] _thy eye_ F2 F3 indicates that F1 and F4 agree in reading
'the eye.'

In the same scene, line 191, the note '_or_] _and_ Theobald' means, that
the four Folios, followed by Rowe and Pope, agree in reading 'or.'

When the difference between the reading adopted and that given in one or
more of the Folios is a mere difference of spelling, it has not been
thought worth while to record the name of the first editor who
modernized it: for instance, in the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, II. 6.
35, the note is: _counsel_] _counsaile_ F1 F2. _councel_ F3.
_council_ F4.

We have given at full the name of the editor who first introduced a
particular reading, without recording which of his successors adopted
it. Thus, in _Measure for Measure_, III. 1. 138,