How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall,
While others play the idiots in her eyes!]
To _creep_ is to _keep out of sight_ from whatever motive. Some men
_keep out of notice in the hall of Fortune_, while others, though they
but _play the idiot_, are always _in her eye_, in the way of
distinction.
III.iii.137 (83,5) feasting] Folio. The quarto has _fasting_. Either
word may bear a good sense.
III.iii.145 (84,6) Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back] This speech
is printed in all the modern editions with such deviations from the old
copy, as exceed the lawful power of an editor.
III.iii.171 (85,2) for beauty, wit,/High birth, vigour of bone, desert
in service] The modern editors read,
For beauty, wit, high birth, desert in service, &c.
I do not deny but the changes produce a more easy lapse of numbers, but
they do not exhibit the work of Shakespeare, (see 1765, VII, 435, 2)