III.iv.88 (271,6) reason panders will] So the folio, I think rightly; but the reading of the quarto is defensible;

  —­reason pardons will.

III.iv.90 (271,7) grained] Dyed in grain.

III.iv.92 (271,8) incestuous bed] The folio has enseamed, that is, greasy bed.

III.iv.98 (271,9) vice of kings!] a low mimick of kings.  The vice is the fool of a farce; from whom the modern punch is descended.

III.iv.102 (272,2) A king of shreds and patches] This is said, pursuing the idea of the vice of kings.  The vice was dressed as a fool, in a coat of party-coloured patches.

III.iv.107 (272,3) lap’s in time and passion] That, having suffered time to slip, and passion to cool, lets go, &c.

III.iv.151 (274,6) And do not spread the compost on the weeds/To make them ranker] Do not, by any new indulgence, heighten your former offences.

III.iv.155 (274,7) curb] That is, bend and truckle.  Fr. courber.

III.iv.161 (274,8) That monster custom, who all sense doth eat/ Of habits evil, is angel yet in this] [Thirlby:  habits evil] I think THIRLBY’s conjecture wrong, though the succeeding editors have followed it; angel and devil are evidently opposed. [Steevens accepted “evil”]

III.iv.203 (277,5) adders fang’d] That is, adders with their fangs, or poisonous teeth, undrawn.  It has been the practice of mountebanks to boast the efficacy of their antidotes by playing with vipers, but they first disabled their fangs.

IV.i (278,l) A royal apartment.  Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern] This play is printed in the old editions without any separation of the acts.  The division is modern and arbitrary; and is here not very happy, for the pause is made at a time when there is more continuity of action than in almost any other of the scenes.

IV.i.18 (278,2) out of haunt] I would rather read, out of harm.

IV.i.25 (279,3)

  his very madness, like some ore
  among a mineral of metals base,
  Shews itself pure]

Shakespeare seems to think ore to be or, that is, gold.  Base metals have ore no less than precious.

IV.ii.19 (281,5) he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw] The quarto has apple, which is generally followed.  The folio has ape, which HANMER has received, and illustrated with the following note.

“It is the way of monkeys in eating, to throw that part of their food, which they take up first, into a pouch they are provided with on the side of their jaw, and then they keep it, till they have done with the rest.”

IV.ii.28 (281,6) The body is with the king] This answer I do not comprehend.  Perhaps it should be, The body is not with the king, for the king is not with the body.