III.
The evidence presented here, supported by the evidence that previous investigators have
brought to light, demonstrates, I hope, that F was indeed set up from a copy of Q. The
implications of this fact may now be briefly considered.
We can, first of all, define the authority of the two extant early printed editions of
the play. W. W. Greg writes:
"In seeking to determine which is the most authoritative
edition, an editor should distinguish between 'substantive' editions, namely those not
derived as to essential character from any other extant edition, and 'derivative'
editions, namely those derived, whether immediately or not and with or without minor
intentional modification, from some other extant edition. It may be taken that the
most authoritative edition will be a substantive one, but the distinction is in
practice sometimes difficult to draw, so that this has less significance than at first
appears."
[33]
The 1609 quarto of Troilus and Cressida is a 'substantive'
edition, and the 1623 folio text of Troilus and Cressida is a
'derivative' edition. But it is demonstrable that F is not wholly a derivative edition,
for it has some thirty various lines that are not found in Q.[34] These lines are all clearly genuine and have
been accepted as such by all editors. Since these lines were not in Q, from which F was
set, they must have been supplied from some outside source, i.e. a manuscript.[35] This manuscript supplied not
only the lines wanting in Q but also almost certainly some of the substantive variant
readings found in F.[36] The
folio text of Troilus and Cressida must therefore be defined as a
derivative edition containing some substantive readings emanating from an independent
source.
But defining the authority of Q and F solves only the first of a series of problems
confronting the editor of the play. He must next investigate the origin and nature of
the manuscript behind the substantive readings in F, as well as the origin and nature of
the manuscript from which Q was set; he should, however, make Q—the only
substantive edition of the play—the copy-text for his edition. The use of F's
variant readings, except to repair obvious corruption in Q, would be dependent on the
editor's estimate of the nature and authority of the manuscript from which they
come.[37]
