* * * * *
_A Word for "the Old Corrector."_--Allow me, as an avowed enemy to "the Old
Corrector's" _novelties_, render "the Great Unknown" one act of justice. I
am convinced there are but two practically possible hypotheses, on which to
account for the MS. emendations: either the emendations were for the most
part made from some authoritative document, or they are parts of a modern
fabrication. No third supposition can be reasonably maintained. MR.
KNIGHT'S view, for example, gives no account of the _immense_ number of
coincidences with the conjectural emendations of the commentators.
Whichever of the two hypotheses be the true one, I need hardly say that MR.
COLLIER'S name is a sufficient guarantee for all honorable dealing, so far
as he is connected with the MS. corrections.
Permit me farther to do an act of justice to MR. COLLIER himself. In my
note on a passage in _The Tempest_, I stated that _Mr. Collier_ had
overlooked a parallel passage in _Richard II._ It was I who had overlooked
MR. COLLIER'S supplemental note. However, I must add, that how MR. COLLIER
could persuade himself to print _heat_ for "cheek," in his "monovolume
edition," after he had seen the passage in _Richard II._, is utterly beyond
my power of comprehension.