TE 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 quoted from the Preface. Folios: F1 1623;
F2 (no date given); F3 1663; F4 1685. "The five plays contained in this
volume occur in the first Folio in the same order, and ... were there
printed for the first time." Early editions: Rowe 1709 Pope 1715 "Pope
was the first to indicat
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