NOTES.Note I.In the spelling of the name of ‘Solinus’ we have followed the first Folio. In the subsequent Folios it was altered, most probably by an accident in F2to ‘Salinus.’ The name occurs only once in the copies, and that in the first line of the text. The name which we have given as ‘Antipholus’ is spelt indifferently thus, and ‘Antipholis’ in the Folios. It will hardly be doubted that the lines in the rhyming passage,III. 2. 2, 4, where the Folios read ‘Antipholus,’ are correctly amended by Capell, and prove that ‘Antipholus’ is the spelling of Shakespeare. Either word is evidently corrupted from ‘Antiphilus.’ These names are merely arbitrary, but the surnames, ‘Erotes’ and ‘Sereptus,’ are most probably errors for ‘Errans,’ or ‘Erraticus’ and ‘Surreptus,’ of which the latter is plainly derived from Plautus’Menæchmus Surreptus, a well-known character in Shakespeare’s day: see Brian Melbancke’sPhilotimus(1582), p. 160: ‘Thou art like Menechmus Subreptus his wife ... whose “husband shall not neede to be justice of peace” for she “will have a charter to make her justice of coram.”’ SeeMerry Wives, I. 1. 4, 5. In spelling ‘Syracusian’ instead of ‘Syracusan’ we follow the practice of the Folios in an indifferent matter. ‘Epidamnum’ not ‘Epidamium’ is found in the English translation of theMenæchmi, 1595, so the latter form in F1is probably a printer’s error.Note II.I. 2. 1. That this scene is laid at the Mart appears from Antipholus’s allusion to this place inII. 2. 5, 6:‘I could not speak with Dromio since at firstI sent him from the mart.’As this play is derived from a classical prototype, Capell has supposedno change of scene, but lays the whole action in ‘a Publick Place;’ evidently with much inconvenience to the Persons.Note III.II. 1. 30. Johnson’s ingenious conjecture may have been suggested to him by a passage inAs you like it, IV. 3. 17:‘Her love is not the hare that I do hunt.’But the received reading of the Folios is perhaps confirmed by a line in the present play,III. 2. 7:‘Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth.’Note IV.II. 1. 108 sqq.The only correction of this passage which we believe to be quite free from doubt is that inline112, ‘Wear’ for ‘Where.’ Accordingly, with this exception, we have retained the precise words of the first Folio.Note V.IV. 2. 38. Grey’s conjecture of ‘lanes’ for ‘lands’ is made somewhat more probable by the existence of copies of F1in 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’ inIV. 3.75or inIV. 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. CompareV. 1. 37andV. 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 metMy 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. FromI. 1. 126,133the age of Antipholus has been computed at twenty-three; from I. 1. 126 andV. 1. 308we 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.
In the spelling of the name of ‘Solinus’ we have followed the first Folio. In the subsequent Folios it was altered, most probably by an accident in F2to ‘Salinus.’ The name occurs only once in the copies, and that in the first line of the text. The name which we have given as ‘Antipholus’ is spelt indifferently thus, and ‘Antipholis’ in the Folios. It will hardly be doubted that the lines in the rhyming passage,III. 2. 2, 4, where the Folios read ‘Antipholus,’ are correctly amended by Capell, and prove that ‘Antipholus’ is the spelling of Shakespeare. Either word is evidently corrupted from ‘Antiphilus.’ These names are merely arbitrary, but the surnames, ‘Erotes’ and ‘Sereptus,’ are most probably errors for ‘Errans,’ or ‘Erraticus’ and ‘Surreptus,’ of which the latter is plainly derived from Plautus’Menæchmus Surreptus, a well-known character in Shakespeare’s day: see Brian Melbancke’sPhilotimus(1582), p. 160: ‘Thou art like Menechmus Subreptus his wife ... whose “husband shall not neede to be justice of peace” for she “will have a charter to make her justice of coram.”’ SeeMerry Wives, I. 1. 4, 5. In spelling ‘Syracusian’ instead of ‘Syracusan’ we follow the practice of the Folios in an indifferent matter. ‘Epidamnum’ not ‘Epidamium’ is found in the English translation of theMenæchmi, 1595, so the latter form in F1is probably a printer’s error.
I. 2. 1. That this scene is laid at the Mart appears from Antipholus’s allusion to this place inII. 2. 5, 6:
‘I could not speak with Dromio since at firstI sent him from the mart.’
‘I could not speak with Dromio since at first
I sent him from the mart.’
As this play is derived from a classical prototype, Capell has supposedno change of scene, but lays the whole action in ‘a Publick Place;’ evidently with much inconvenience to the Persons.
II. 1. 30. Johnson’s ingenious conjecture may have been suggested to him by a passage inAs you like it, IV. 3. 17:
‘Her love is not the hare that I do hunt.’
But the received reading of the Folios is perhaps confirmed by a line in the present play,III. 2. 7:
‘Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth.’
II. 1. 108 sqq.The only correction of this passage which we believe to be quite free from doubt is that inline112, ‘Wear’ for ‘Where.’ Accordingly, with this exception, we have retained the precise words of the first Folio.
IV. 2. 38. Grey’s conjecture of ‘lanes’ for ‘lands’ is made somewhat more probable by the existence of copies of F1in which the word appears ‘lans.’ A corrector would naturally change this rather to ‘lands’ than to ‘lanes,’ because of the rhyme.
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’ inIV. 3.75or inIV. 4. 39.
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.
V. 1. 1. Shakespeare uses the words ‘Priory’ and ‘Abbey’ as synonymous. CompareV. 1. 37andV. 1. 122.
V. 1. 235. It might possibly be better to print this line as two lines, the first being broken:
‘By the way we metMy wife....’
‘By the way we met
My wife....’
But the place is probably corrupt.
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. FromI. 1. 126,133the age of Antipholus has been computed at twenty-three; from I. 1. 126 andV. 1. 308we 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.