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Line 2743+13 - Commentary Note (CN) More Information

Notes for lines 2023-2950 ed. Frank N. Clary
For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.
2743+13 {To pay fiue duckets, fiue I would not farme it;}4.4.21
1819 Jackson
Jackson
2743+13 fiue ducats, fiue] Jackson (1819, p. 357): “I cannot see why five should be repeated. In my opinion, the Captain, to show his utter contempt of the disputed patch of ground, says—‘To pay five ducats; fly! I would not farm it;’ Meaning: that though it were given him, conditionally, that he should cultivate it, he would not accept it.”
1854 del2
del2
2743+13-2743+15 fiue . . . rate] Delius (ed. 1854): “wenn ich dafür fünf Dukaten bezahlen sollte, so würde ich es nicht pachten wollen; auch würde es keinen fetteren, reichlicheren Preis (ranker rate) bringen, wenn der Norweger oder der Pole sich damit gegen einen jährlichen Zins belehnen liesse.” [if I could have it by paying five ducats, I would not lease it; also it would bring in no fatter or richer profit (ranker rate) if the Norwegian or Pole gave it out as a fief for a yearly rent.]
1866a dyce2
dyce2: J. Jones, Macleod
2743+13 fiue ducats, fiue] Dyce (ed. 1866): “Mr. John Jones obligingly sends me a printed note on this passage, in which he proposes to read ‘five ducats fine,’ understanding ‘fine’ either as a market denomination (see Macleod’s Dictionary of Political Economy, p. 69), or in the sense of ‘rent.’”
1869 tsch
tsch: Dyce (contra Jones)
2743+13 fiue . . . fiue] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Iteration des Zahlworts five nach ducats ist eine aus dem Leben genommene Ausdrucksweise, die keiner Aenderung bedarf, weshalb Dyce VII. 233. mit Recht den an sich sinnreichen Einfall des Herrn John Jones, fine für five, ablehnt.” [The repetition of the numerical expression five after ducats is an expression taken from real life that needs no alteration. For this reason Dyce VII. 233, correctly rejects the otherwise clever idea of Mr. John Jones, fine for five.]
1872 del4
del4 = del2
1872 cln1
cln1: theo
2743+13 fiue duckets, fiue] Clark and Wright (ed. 1872): “Theobald conjectured ‘five ducats fine,’ but he did not adopt it in his text. The meaning is ‘I would not farm it on the condition of paying a rent of five ducats, only five.’”
1877 dyce3
dyce3 = dyce2
1878 rlf1
rlf1 ≈ cln1 minus theo
2743+13 five duckets, five] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “’A rent of five ducats, only five’ (Wr.).”
rlf1: R2 //
2743+13 farme] Rolfe (ed. 1878): “Take on lease. S. uses the verb only here and in R2 [1.4.45 (619)]: ‘to farm out royal realm.’”
1881 hud3
hud3: Burke analogue
2543+13 To pay . . . farme it] Hudson (ed. 1881): “The meaning is, ‘I would not pay five ducats for the exclusive privilege of collecting all the revenue it will yield to the State.’ To farm or farm out taxes is to sell commissions for collecting them, the buyers to have the privilege of making what they can by the process. Burke uses the word in a like sense in his Articles of Charge against Hastings: ‘The farming of the defence of a country, being wholly unprecedented and evidently abused, could have no real object but to enrich the contractors at the Company’s expense.’—To pay has the force of by paying. See vol. x. page 160, note 10.”
1882 elze
elze: xref.
2743+13 duckets] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare note on § 88 (A hundred duckets).”
1891 dtn
dtn
2743+13 Deighton (ed. 1891): “I would not pay five ducats, not even five, for the lease of.”
1903 rlf3
rlf3
2743+13 fiue duckets, fiue] rolfe (ed.1903): “The repetition of five is contemptuous = ‘only five.’”
rlf3 = rlf1 for farme
1904 ver
ver
2743+13 fiue duckets, fiue] Verity (ed. 1904): “the numeral is repeated to emphasise the triviality of the stake at issue.”
1913 tut2
tut2: xref.
2743+13 To pay . . . fiue Goggin (ed. 1913): “for the construction cp. [4.2.12-13 (2642)]. The repetition of the number five emphasises the smallness of the amount”
1931 crg1
crg1
2743+13 farme it] Craig (ed. 1931): “take a lease of it.”
1939 kit2
kit2
2743+13 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “I would not take it on lease at a rental of five ducats a year.”
1947 cln2
cln2
2743+13 To pay] Rylands (ed. 1947): “at a rent of.”
1957 pel1
pel1 ≈ cln2
2743+13 To pay] Farnham (ed. 1957): “i.e. for a yearly rental of.”
1958 mun
mun: theo, Culpin, Greg, Bliss
2743+13 five duckets, five] Munro (ed. 1958): “Furness, 1: 323, records that Theobald suggested Five ducats fine. The same was proposed by A. E. Culpin in TLS, 15 Nov., 1947, and was commented on by Greg in TLS, 22 November. William Bliss in TLS, 13 Dec., 1947, advocated ‘To pay five ducats—five! (derisively)—I would not farm it (contemptuously).’”
cam1 notes the theo conj. was “withdrawn. cln1 notes that theo ‘conjectured “five ducats, fine” but he did not adopt it in his text.’ theo conj. is not in theon or theo 1, 2, or 4.”
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ pel1
2743+10 To pay] Evans (ed. 1974): “i.e. for an annual rent of.”
evns1 ≈ crg1
2743+10 farme] Evans (ed. 1974): “lease.”
1980 pen2
pen2
2743+13 fiue duckets, fiue] Spencer (ed. 1980): “The repeated numeral emphasizes its smallness: it would not be worth paying an annual rent of a mere five ducats (a coin worth about nine shillings) for the lease of the land as a farm.”
1982 ard2
ard2: xref.
2743+13 duckets] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “See n. [2.2.366 (1412)].”
ard2: theo, dyce; TLS
2743+13 fiue] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “Usually taken as derisory repetition, but Theobald and others have conjectured a misreading of fine (see Nichols, Illust. Of Lit. Hist., ii.575; Dyce; TLS, 1947, pp. 591,603). In the sense of a contractual payment on admission to a lease or tenancy, the emendation would be almost irresistible if it could be shown (as it has not been) that fine without any preposition was as idiomatic then as it would be now.”
ard2
2743+13 farme] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “take a lease of – often at an annual rent, but alternatively, as possibly here, on payment of a (non-recurrent) fine.”
1984 chal
chal = ard2 (xref. only)
2743+13 duckets] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “[2.2.366 (1412)].”
chal
2743+13 farme] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “rent.”
1988 bev2
bev2
2743+13 To pay] Bevington (ed. 1988): “i.e., for a yearly rental of.”
bev2 ≈ ard2 minus “often . . . fine”
2743+13 farme] Bevington (ed. 1988): “take a lease of it.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: Mahood
2743+13 Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “’The line places the speaker: he is a tenant farmer in civilian life’ (Mahood, Bit Parts, 40).”

ard3q2: standard
2743+13 farm] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “i.e. rent it as a farm.”
2743+13