Collation: one leaf, containing the title-page on the recto, verso
blank; second leaf with signature A_2 (?), containing a device (St.
Francis preaching to the birds [?]), and the persons of the play on
the recto, and a device (a saint pointing to heaven and hell) and the
prologue on the verso. Then the play proper; B-I in fours; K (one
leaf). The first two leaves are unnumbered; then 1-66 (35 wrongly
numbered 39).
1692. The edition of 1692[8] is a reprint of 1631, but furnishes
evidence of some editing. Most of the nouns are capitalized, and
a change of speaker is indicated by breaking the lines; obvious
misprints are corrected: e. g., 1. 1. 98, 101; the spelling is
modernized: e. g., 1. 1. 140 Tiborne] Tyburn; and the punctuation is
improved. Sometimes a word undergoes a considerable morphological
change: e. g., 1. 1. 67 Belins-gate] Billings-gate; 1. 6. 172, 175
venter] venture. Etymology is sometimes indicated by an apostrophe,
not always correctly: e. g., 2. 6. 75 salts] ’salts. Several changes
are uniform throughout the edition, and have been followed by all
later editors. The chief of these are: inough] enough; tother]
t’other; coozen] cozen; ha’s] has; then] than; ’hem] ’em (except G
sometimes); injoy] enjoy. Several changes of wording occur: e.g., 2.
1. 53 an] my; etc.
1716. The edition of 1716 is a bookseller’s reprint of 1692. It
follows that edition in the capitalization of nouns, the breaking up
of the lines, and usually in the punctuation. In 2. 1. 78-80 over two
lines are omitted by both editions. Independent editing, however, is
not altogether lacking. We find occasional new elisions: e. g., 1.
6. 121 I’have] I’ve; at least one change of wording: 2. 3. 25 where]
were; and one in the order of words: 4. 2. 22 not love] love not. In
4. 4. 75-76 and 76-78 it corrects two wrong assignments of speeches.
A regular change followed by all editors is wiues] wife’s.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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