human
What wheels? what racks? what fires? W. T. iii. 2, is printed,
gpt
What wheels? racks? fires? There is another instance in the same play, and many in the other plays. In Chaucer the instances are numerous. Addresses, as _sir_, _my lord_, etc., are sometimes left out, as also are _pray_, _now_, _only_, and others which are not absolutely necessary for the sense--and even two or more words; in all which cases the omission is indicated by the defect of metre. This the reader will do well to keep constantly in mind. For an example see on Tam. of Shrew, i. 1. It is surprising how often the negative particle is wanting in these plays of Shakespeare's. I have discovered its absence in between twenty and thirty places, not one-half of which had been observed by preceding editors. But not merely single words have been left out by printers; want of rime or want of connexion shows that entire lines have been omitted. Mr. Collier observes that three lines are wanting in various places of the Variorum Shakespeare; and such being the case in the present century, we need not wonder at so many having been passed over by the original printers. The reader will find about two dozen such cases noticed in my Edition and in the following pages, not one-half of which had been observed by preceding editors. Shakespeare himself furnishes the following remarkable instance. In Com. of Err. ii. 2, the three last folios omit the two lines beginning with
human
Wear gold and no man,