The list of Unadopted Conjectural Emendations

fills a small, but not insignificant place in our project. This appendix contains conjectures that no editor adopted, but which are preserved as part of the history of emending the text. These are listed at the end of a New Variorum Edition, and sometimes discussed in the CN. We include them on the sample page for demonstration purposes only.

For an explanation of some of the notation and abbreviations below, see the TN page.

Here is the example from the sample page, reproduced here (and in red boldface in its context below):

944  Secrets]  secret  CAPN (V.R. p. 17, item 32.16)
946 Knocke]  Om.  m{FL}

For TLN 944, Edward Capell, in his Notes and Various Readings (1783), speculates that the singular form, “secret,” would be a more accurate reading because Brutus' only known secret from Portia is his part in the conspiracy. No other editor, however, has adopted this conjecture, perhaps because there does not seem to be sufficient evidence that she knows this crucial piece of information that would warrant such an emendation. For TLN 946, the editor or scribe of the Folger MS of the play (c. 1665-95), perhaps an acting edition or promptbook, suppresses the stage direction of the convenient knock that interrupts the marital conversation. Again, no other editor adopts such a reading, appears to have known of it, or seems to have taken it seriously.

881 Om.  m{FL}
883 me]  one m{FL}
884  scratch’d your head]  Smote your brow  AYSmFL8
892 houre]  pow’r  m{TBY}4 
893 It] I  m{CAP}2  (withdrawn) 
912 charme]  conjúre  {SEYMOUR} (1805, 2:15) [Sh. intended the word with emphasis on second syllable, but to prevent unmetrical con-jure, he substituted “charme.”]
915 to me, selfe; your halfe] to me, your half-yourself  (withdrawn);  your self to me, your half (withdrawn);  to me, your half, your self  m{TBY}4
925  or]  &  m{FL}
927  talke to you sometimes] talk t’you sometimes {WALKER} (1860, 1:221); sometimes talk t’you  {ELZE} (1889, p. 284)
933  this secret] your hart  m{FL}   
940  Counsels, I will not]  secrets, come at length  m{FL}
944  Secrets]  secret  CAPN (V.R. p. 17, item 32.16)
946 Knocke]  Om.  m{FL}