Note 73 — ACT I. SCENE I.
Reading edition
Clean. And so it does; The church-book overthrows it, if you read it well.] “Cleanthes and the lawyer are at cross purposes. The latter observes, that the church-book (by which he means the register of births kept there) overthrows all demur; to which the former replies, that it really does so, taking the holy Scriptures for the church-book.
“To observe upon the utter confusion of all time and place, of all customs and manners, in this drama, would be superfluous; they must be obvious to the most careless observer.”—Gifford.