made somewhat
more probable by the existence of copies of F1 in which the word
appears 'lans.' A corrector would naturally change this rather to
'lands' than to 'lanes,' because of the rhyme.
NOTE VI.
IV. 2. 46. The Folios have 'send him Mistris redemption,' and Rowe, by
his punctuation and capital R, made Dromio call Luciana 'Redemption.'
Pope and Theobald seem to have followed him, though they give the small
r. The Folios cannot be made chargeable with this error, for the comma
does not regularly follow vocatives in these editions where we expect
it. There is no comma, for instance, following the word 'Mistress' in
IV. 3. 75 or in IV. 4. 39.
NOTE VII.
IV. 4. 29. The word 'ears' might probably be better printed ''ears' for
'years;' for a pun--hitherto, however, unnoticed--seems to be indicated
by the following words. A very farfetched explanation has been offered
by Steevens, and accepted by Delius and, we believe, by all the modern
editors, namely, that Antipholus has wrung Dromio's ears so often that
they have attained a length like an ass's.
NOTE VIII.
V. 1. 1. Shakespeare uses the words 'Priory' and 'Abbey' as synonymous.
Compare V. 1. 37 and V. 1. 122.
NOTE IX.
V. 1. 235. It might possibly be better to print this line as two lines,
the first being broken:
'By the way we met
My wife....'
But the place is probably corrupt.
NOTE X.
V. 1. 399. The number Thirty-three has been altered by editors to bring
the figures into harmony with other periods named in the play. From
I. 1. 126, 133 the age of Antipholus has been computed at twenty-three;
from I. 1. 126 and V. 1. 308 we derive twenty-five. The Duke says he has
been patron to Antipholus for twenty years, V. 1. 325; but three or five
seems too small an age to assign for the commencement of this patronage.
Antipholus saved the Duke's life in the wars 'long since,' V. 1. 161,
191. His 'long experience' of his wife's 'wisdom' and her 'years' are
mentioned, III. 1. 89, 90. But Shakespeare probably did not compute the
result of his own figures with any great care or accuracy.
* * * * *
* * * *
* * * * *
Sources:
The editors' Preface (e-text 23041) discusses the 17th- and
18th-century editions in detail; the newer (19th-century) editions
are simply listed by name. The following editions may appear in the
Notes. All inset text is qu
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