Strange as it may seem, it is certainly a fact, that the unfortunate King Edward the Second lost his life by means of a misplaced comma; for his savage queen, with whom he was at variance, sent to the keeper of the prison in which he was confined, the following lines:
To shed King Edward's blood
Refuse to fear, I count it good.
Had the comma been placed after the word refuse, thus—
To shed King Edward's blood
Refuse,
the sense would have implied that the keeper was commanded not to harm the king, and the remainder of the line
To fear I count it good,
would have signified that it was deemed improper to spill his blood: but the comma being wickedly placed after the word fear, thus—
To shed King Edward's blood
Refuse to fear,
the murder seems commanded, together with a kind of indemnification to the keeper: nay, after this mode of not pointing, the remainder of the line seems to deem the action meritorious—
I count it good.
According to the punctuation, the keeper took the lines in their worst sense, and the king's life was the sacrifice.
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See also
Where to Place the Comma at Luke 23:43 by Chas Ives 1873
The Comma at Luke 23:43 by D.T. Taylor 1877
Robert Carden on the Comma at Luke 23:43
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