tion may serve for almost any book that has, is, or shall
be published."

Where we must supply _been_ after _has_. But in the passage I attempted,
and I think successfully, to set right, admitting that custom would allow
of the ellipsis of the participle _been_, after the auxiliary _have_, to
what can "am, have, and will be" possibly refer?

" . . . . . I do professe
That for your highness' good, I euer labour'd
More then mine owne, that am, haue, and will be."

What? Add _true_ at the end of the line, and it mars the verse, but make
the probable correction of _true_ for _haue_, and you get excellent sense
without any ellipsis. I am as averse to interpolation or alteration of the
text, when sense can by any rational supposition be made of it, as my
opponent, or any true lover of the poet and the integrity of his language,
can possibly be; but I see nothing rational in refusing to correct an
almost self-evident misprint, which would redeem a fine passage that
otherwise must always remain a stumbling-block to the most intelligent
reader. We have all I trust but one object, _i. e._ to free the text of our
great poet from obvious errors occasioned by extremely incorrect printing
in the folios, and at the same time to strictly watch over all attempts at
its corruption by unnecessary meddling. This, and not the displaying of our
own ingenuity in conjectures, ought to be our almost sacred duty; at least,
I feel conscious that it is mine.

S. W. SINGER.

"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
_Hamlet_.

The notable quotation of this line by the Earl of Derby, in the Lords, on
Monday evening, April 25, has once more reminded me of my unanswered Query
respecting it, Vol. vi., p. 270.

On the 26th February (Vol. vii., p. 217.) MR. COLLIER was good enough to
say, that his only {450} reason for not answering it was, that he had not
then within his reach the copy of "N. & Q." wherein it had been proposed;
politely adding, that if I would reprint the Query, he would at once answer
it.

Supposing, however, that MR. COLLIER'S absence from his library would be
only temporary, I deemed it less troublesome to the Editor of "N. & Q." to
wait until MR. COLLIER could refer to the Query, as already printed.

Two months have since elapsed, and I now no longer hesitate to ask the
Editor for an opportunity of again referring to it, trusting that a
sufficient excuse will be found