Note XI

II. 1. 79. Theobald, who is followed by Hanmer, Warburton, and Johnson, reads 'loose' for 'foul'd,' on the authority as he says of 'the elder Quartos.' It is not the reading of any of the first six, but of those of 1676, 1683, 1695 and 1703. Had Capell been aware of this, he would scarcely have designated Theobald's mistake as 'a downright falsehood.' Theobald, at the time of writing his 'Shakespeare Restored,' knew of no Quarto earlier than that of 1637 (Shakespeare Restored, p. 70), and it is just possible that some copy of this edition (Q₆), from which that of 1676 was printed, may have had the reading 'loose.' We have given in the note to III. 4. 59 an instance of different readings in two copies of Q₆.