In general, we do not alter any passage merely because the grammar is
faulty, unless we are convinced that the fault of grammar was due to the
printer altogether, and not to Shakespeare. We look upon it as no part
of our task to improve the poet's grammar or correct his oversights:
even errors, such as those referred to in note (VII) to the _Two
Gentlemen of Verona_, and notes (I) and (X) to the _Merry Wives of
Windsor_, because we thought them to be Shakespeare's own blunders, have
been allowed to stand. But many phrases that are called bad grammar by
us, and rightly so called, were sanctioned by usage among the
contemporaries of Shakespeare, especially, no doubt, by the usage of
conversation, even among educated persons. And as a learned
correspondent (Dr B. Nicholson) remarks, this would naturally be the
style of English which Shakespeare would purposely use in dramatic
dialogue.
As examples of the anomalies of grammar sanctioned by Elizabethan usage
we may mention:--
Singular verbs, with plural nouns, especially when the verb precedes its
nominative:
Hath all his ventures failed? What; not one hit?
_Merchant of Venice_, III. 2.
Nominatives for accusatives:
She should this Angelo have married.
_Measure for Measure_, III. 1. 204.