Note 555:1 — ACT THE THIRD
Reading edition
In MS. II this speech is crossed out, and on the blank page opposite the following is written in Coleridge's hand:—
'Instead of Maria's portrait, Albert places on the altar a small picture of his attempted assassination. The scene is not wholly without poetical merit, but it is miserably undramatic, or rather untragic. A scene of magic is introduced in which no single person on the stage has the least faith—all, though in different ways, think or know it to be a trick——consequently, &c.' P. W., 1893, p. 494, Editor's Note.
In MS. III the following stage-direction is written (in S. T. C.'s handwriting) on the page opposite to lines 113-15:—
'Albert has placed on the altar a small picture representing the attempt to assassinate him, instead of the portrait of Maria which Osorio had given him.'