I have very recently become possessed of a curious printed fragment,
which is worth notice on several accounts, and will be especially
interesting to persons who, like myself, are lovers of our early ballad
poetry. It is part of an unknown edition of the celebrated poem relating
to the adventures of Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of
Cloudesly.
There are (as many of your readers will be aware from Ritson's small
volume, Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry, 8vo. 1791) two old
editions of Adam Bell, &c., one printed by William Copland,
without date, and the other by James Roberts in 1605. The edition by
Copland must have preceded that by Roberts by forty or fifty years, and
may have come out between 1550 and 1560; the only known copy of it is
among the Garrick Plays (at least it was so when I saw it) in the British
Museum. The re-impression by Roberts is not very uncommon, and I think
that more than one copy of it is at Oxford.
When Copland printed the poem, he did not enter it at Stationers'
Hall; comparatively few of his publications, generally of a free,
romantic, or ludicrous character, were licensed, and he was three times
fined for not first obtaining the leave of the Company. Nevertheless, we
do find an entry of a "book" called "Adam Bell," &c., among the
memoranda belonging to the year 1557-8, but it was made at the instance,
not of Copland, but of John Kynge, in this form:
"To John Kynge, to prynte this boke called Adam Bell, &c., and for
his lycense he geveth to the howse"—
What sum he gave is not stated. Again, we meet with another notice of
it in the same registers, under the date of 1581-2, when John Charlwood
was interested in the undertaking. I mention these two entries
principally because neither Ritson nor Percy were acquainted with them;
but they may be seen among the extracts published by the Shakspeare
Society in 1848 and 1849.
No impressions by Kynge or Charlwood having come down to us, we have
no means of knowing whether they availed themselves of the permission
granted at Stationers' Hall; and, unless I am deceived, the fragment
which occasions this Note is not from the presses of either of them, and
is of an earlier date than the time of Copland; the type is much better,
and less battered, than that of Copland; at the same time it has a more
antique look, and in several respects, which I am about to point out, it
furnishes a better text than that given by Ritson from Copland's edition,
or by Percy with the aid of his folio manuscript. I am sorry to say that
it only consists of a single sheet; but this is nearly half the
production, and it comprises the whole of the second, and two pages of
the third "fit." The first line and the last of the portion in my hands,
testify to the greater antiquity and purity of the text there found; it
begins—
"These gates be shut so wonderly well;"
and it ends,
"Tyll they came to the kynge's palays."
It is "wonderous well" in Copland's impression, and palace is
there spelt "pallace," a more modern form of the word than palays.
Just afterwards we have, in my fragment,
"Streyght comen from oure kyng,"
instead of Copland's
"Streyght come nowe from our king."
Comen is considerably more ancient than "come nowe;" so that,
without pursuing this point farther, I may say that my fragment is not
only an older specimen of typography than Copland's impression, but older
still in its words and phraseology, a circumstance that communicates to
it additional interest. I subjoin a few various readings, most, if not
all, of them presenting a superior text than is to be met with elsewhere.
Speaking of the porter at the gate of Carlisle, we are told—
"And to the gate faste he throng."
Copland's edition omits faste, and it is not met with in Percy.
In another place a rhyme is lost by an awkward transposition, "he saide"
for sayd he; and farther on, in Copland's text, we have mention
of
"The justice with a quest of squyers."
instead of "a quest of swerers," meaning of course the jury who
had condemned Cloudesly "there hanged to be." Another blunder committed
by Copland is the omission of a word, so that a line is left without its
corresponding rhyme:
"Then Clowdysle cast hys eyen aside,
And sawe his two bretheren stande
At the corner of the market-place,
With theyr good bowes bent in theyr hand."
The word I print in Italics is entirely wanting in Copland. It is
curious to see how Percy (Reliques, i. 157., ed. 1775) gets over
the difficulty by following no known copy of the original:
"Then Cloudesle cast his eyen asyde,
And saw hys brethren twaine
At a corner of the market-place,
Ready the justice for to slaine."
Cloudesly is made to exclaim, in all editions but mine, "I see
comfort," instead of "I see good comfort." However, it would
perhaps be wearisome to press this matter farther, and I have said enough
to set a few of your readers, zealous in such questions, rummaging their
stores to ascertain whether any text with which they are acquainted,
tallies with that I have above quoted.
J. Payne Collier.
Observing that you have lately admitted some articles on witchcraft,
it may be interesting to make a note of two or three original papers, out
of some in my possession, which were given to me many years ago by an old
general officer, who served in the American war, and brought them with
him to England about 1776. I send exact copies from the originals.
H. T. Ellacombe.
Rectory, Clyst St. George.
Whereas several persons, being by authority comitted to Ipswich Goall for fellony and witchcraft,
and order being given that search should be made carefully upon their
bodyes, to see if there nothing appeared preternaturall thereon: for that
end, on July ye 4th, 1692, a Jurie of one man and
eight women were sumoned to attend, and sworne
to make dilligent search, and to give a true account of what they found,
vizt.—
Doctor Philemon Dance,
Mrs. Johana Diamond, midwife,
Mrs. Grace Graves,
Mrs. Mary Belcher,
Mrs. Gennet Pengery,
Ann Lovell,
Francis Davis,
Mary Browne,
Who, after search made in particular, give this account,
vizt.—Upon the body of goodwife Estue they find three
unnaturall teats, one under left arme, and one on the back side of her
sholder-blade, one near to her secret parts on one thigh, which, being
pricked throw with a pin, remained without sense, and did not bleed.
2. Upon ye veiwing and searching ye body of
Sarah Cloice, there was nothing unnaturall appeared on her.
3. Upon searching ye body of Mrs. Bradbury, there was
nothing appeared unnaturall on her, only her brest were
biger than usuall, and her nipples larger than one yt did not
give suck, though her body was much pined and wasted, yet her brests
seemed full.
4. Upon ye searching ye body of ye
wife of Giles Cory, there was severall darke moulds, one of which was
upon one of her buttocks, and being pricked with a pin, it was without
sence, and did not bleed.
5. Upon ye searching ye body of Widow Hoer,
nothing appeared on her unnaturall, only her body verry much scratched,
and on her head a strange lock of haire, verry long, and differing in
color from ye rest on her head, and matted or tangled
together, which she said was a widow's lock, and said, if it were cutt
off she should die.
6. Upon searching ye body of Rachell Clenton, there was
found an unnaturall teat on one side, something lower than just under her
arme, which teat having a pin thrust throw it she was not senceable of,
till by scratching her side, pricked her fingers with ye pin
yt was then in ye teat; neither did ye
teat bleed.
There was also ordered, with ye foresaid Doctr, four other
men, vizt, Mr. Har. Symonds, Samuel Graves, Senr,
Thomas Knewlton, and John Pinder, to search ye body of Giles
Cory, and they returned yt they, having searched him, found
nothing unnaturall upon him.
The truth of which I heare attest.
(Signed) Thos Wade, J.P.
Province of Massachusettes Bay,
New England, Essex.
Anno R. R. et Reginæ Gulielmi et Mariæ Angliæ, &c. quarto, annoqu
Dom. 1692.
The Jurors for our Sovn Lord and Ladye the King and Queen
present—
That Abigail Barker, wife of Ebenezer Barker of Andiver, in the County
of Essex aforesaid, about two years since, at and in the town of Andiver
aforesaid, wickedly, maliciously, and felloniously, a covenant with the
Devill did make, and signed the Devill's Booke, and by the Devill was
baptized, and renounced her former Christian baptism; and gave herselfe
up to the Devill to serve him, and for the Devill to be her lord and
master; by which wicked and diabollicall couvenant, shee the said
Abigaill Barker is become a detestable witch, contrary to the peace of
our Soveraigne Lord and Lady the King and Queene, their crowne and
dignity, and the law in that case made and provided.
Sep., '92. The examination and confession of Abigail Barker,
taken before John Hawthorn, Esq., and other their Majesties Justices:
Q. How long have you been in the snare of the Devil?
A. Not above two yeares and a half.
Q. At what place were you first overtaken?
A. I am at present very much bewildered.—But a little
after she said as followes:—About two yeare and a half agoe she was
in great discontent of mynd, her husband being abroad, and she at home
alone; at which tyme a black man appeared to her, and brought a book with
him, to which he put her finger and made a black mark. She saith, her
memory now failes her now more than ordinary; but said she gave herself
up to the Devil to serve him, and he was her lord and master; and the
Devil set a mark upon her legg, which mark is black and blue, and she
apprehends is a witch mark; and said that she is a witch, and thinks that
mark is the cause of her afflicting persons, though she thought nothing
of it then till afterwards she heard of others having a mark upon them.
She sayes, that some tyme after this the black man carryed her singly
upon a pole to 5-mile pond, and there were 4 persones more upon another
pole, viz. Mistriss Osgood, Goody Wilson, Goody Wardwell, Goody Tyler,
and Hanneh Tyler. And when she came to the pond the Devil made a great
light, and took her up and dypt her face in the pond, and she felt the
water, and the Devil told her he was her lord and master, and she must
serve him for ever. He made her renounce her former baptisme, and carryed
her back upon the pole. She confesses she has afflicted the persones that
accused her, viz. Sprague, Lester, and Sawdy, both at home and in the way
comeing downe. The manner thus:—The Devil does it in her shape, and
she consents unto, and clinches her hands together, and sayes the Devil
cannot doe it in her shape without her consent. She sayes she was at a
meeting at Moses Tyler's house, in company with Mistriss Osgood, Goody
Wilson, Goody Tyler, and Hanah Tyler. She said the mark above was on her
left legg by her shin. It is about two yeare agoe since she was baptized.
She said that all this was true; and set her hand to the original as a
true confession. Noate, that before this her confession she was
taken dumb, and took Mr. Epps about the neck and pulled him down, thereby
showing him how the black man bowed her down; and for one houre's tyme
could not open her lips.
I, underwritten, being appointed by authority to take the above
examination, doe testify upon oath taken in court, that this is a true
coppy of the substance of it to the best of my knowledge.
Wm. Murray.
6th July, 1692/3.
The above Abigail Barker was examined before their Majesties Justices
of the Peace in Salem.
(Atest.) John Higginson, Just. Peace.
Owned before the Grand Jury.
(Atest.) Robert Payne, Foreman.
6th January, 1692.
Our ancestors had three verbs and three corresponding substantives to
express the growth of plants, namely, spring, shoot, and
sprout,—all indicative of rapidity of growth; for
sprout, (Germ. spriessen) is akin to spurt, and
denotes quickness, suddenness. The only one of these which remains in
general use is shoot: for sprout is now only appropriated
to the young growth from cabbage-stalks; and spring is heard no
more save in sprig, which is evidently a corruption of it, and
which now denotes a small slip or twig as we say, sprigs of laurel, bay,
thyme, mint, rosemary, &c.
Of the original meaning of spring, I have met but one clear
instance; it is, however, an incontrovertible one, namely,
"Whoso spareth the spring (i. e. rod, switch), spilleth
his children."—Visions of Piers Plowman, v. 2554., ed.
Wright.
Perhaps this is also the meaning in—
"Shall, Antipholus,
Even in the spring of love thy love-springs rot?"
Com. of Errors, Act III. Sc. 2.
and in "Time's Glory"—
"To dry the old oak's sap and cherish springs."
Rape of Lucrece.
Spring afterwards came to be used for underwood, &c.
Perhaps it answered to the present coppice, which is composed of
the springs or shoots of the growth which has been cut down:
"The lofty high wood and the lower spring."
Drayton's Muses' Elysium, 10.
"The lesser birds that keep the lower spring."
Id., note.
It was also used as equivalent to grove:
"Unless it were
The nightingale among the thick-leaved spring."
Fletcher's Faith. Shep., v. 1.
where, however, it may be the coppice.
"This hand Sibylla's golden boughs to guard them,
Through hell and horror, to the Elysian springs."
Massinger's Bondman, ii. 1.
In the following place Fairfax uses spring to express the
"salvatichi soggiorni," i. e. selva of his original:
"But if his courage any champion move
Too try the hazard of this dreadful spring."
Godf. of Bull., xiii. 31.
and in
"For you alone to happy end must bring
The strong enchantments of the charmed spring."
Id., xviii. 2.
it answers to selva.
When Milton makes his Eve say—
"While I
In yonder spring of roses intermix'd
With myrtles find what to redress till noon."
Par. Lost, ix. 217.
he had probably in his mind the cespuglio in the first canto of
the Orlando Furioso; for spring had not been used in the
sense of thickets, clumps, by any previous English poet. I am of opinion
that spring occurs for the last time in our poetry in the
following lines of Pope:
"See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs."
Messiah, 93.
Johnson renders the last line—
"Cinnameos cumulos, Nabathæi munera veris;"
and this is probably the sense in which the place has generally been
understood. But let any one read the preceding quotations, and reflect on
what a diligent student Pope was of the works of his predecessors, and
perhaps he will think with me.
Thomas Keightley.
(Vol. vii., pp. 6. 80.)
Essay IX. p. 21. (note a). "They used the word 'præfiscini.'"
See e. g., Plaut. Asin., ii. 4. 84. (Weise):
"Præfiscini hoc nunc dixerim: nemo etiam me adcusavit
Merito meo."
(Leonida boasts of his integrity.)
Ditto, p. 22. (note c). "From the Stichus of Plautus,"
ii. 1. 54.
Ditto, p. 23. "Which has the character of Adrian the Emperor." See
Hist. Aug. Script., i. 149., ut supr. (Spartian. Vit.
Hadrian. cap. 15.)
Ditto p. 26. "It was well said." By whom?
Essay X. ditto. "A poor saying of Epicurus." Where recorded?
Ditto, p. 27. "It hath been well said, 'That the arch flatterer,'"
&c. By whom, and where?
Ditto, ditto. "It hath been well said, 'That it is impossible,'"
&c. By whom and where?
Ditto, ditto. "The poet's relation." Ovid. Heroid. xvi.
163.
Essay XI. p. 28. "Cum non sis qui fueris," &c. Whence?
Ditto, p 29. "Illi mors gravis incubat," &c. Seneca,
Thyest. 401. (ed. Lemaire), Act II. extrem.
Ditto, p. 31. "That was anciently spoken." By whom?
Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus of Galba." Tac. Hist., i. 49.
Ditto, ditto. "Of Vespasian." Tac. Hist., i. 50.
Essay XII. ditto. "Question was asked of Demosthenes." See Cic. De
Orat., III. 56. § 213.
Ditto, p. 32. "Mahomet's miracle." Where recorded?
Essay XIII. p. 33. "The desire of power," &c. Cf. Shaksp. Hen.
VIII., III. 2. "By that sin (ambition) fell the angels," &c.
Essay XIII. p. 33. "Busbechius." In Busbequii Legationes Turciæ
Epist. Quatuor (Hanoviæ, 1605), p. 133., we find this told of
"Aurifex quidam Venetus."—N. B. In the Index (s. v. Canis)
of an edition of the same work, printed in London for R. Daniel (1660),
for 206 read 106.
Ditto, ditto (note b). Gibbon (Miscellaneous Works,
iii., 544., ed. 1815) says, "B. is my old and familiar acquaintance, a
frequent companion in my post-chaise. His Latinity is eloquent, his
manner is lively, his remarks are judicious."
Ditto, p. 34. "Nicholas Machiavel." Where?
Ditto, p. 35. "Æsop's cock." See Phædrus, iii. 12.
Essay XV. p. 38. "Ille etiam cæcos," &c., Virg. Georg. i.
464.
Ditto, ditto. "Virgil, giving the pedigree," &c. Æn. iv.
178.
Ditto, p. 39. "That kind of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of."
Bacon quotes, from memory, Tac. Hist., ii. 39., "Miles alacer, qui
tamen jussa ducum interpretari, quam exsequi, mallet."
Ditto, ditto. "As Machiavel noteth well." Where?
Ditto, p. 40. "As Tacitus expresseth it well." Where?
Ditto, p. 41. "Lucan," i. 181.
Ditto, ditto. "Dolendi modus, timendi non item." Whence?
Ditto, ditto. "The Spanish proverb." What is it? Cf. "A bow long bent
at last waxeth weak;" and the Italian, "L'arco si rompe se sta troppo
teso." (Ray's Proverbs, p. 81., 4th edit., 1768.)
Ditto, p. 43. "The poets feign," &c. See Iliad, i. 399.
Ditto, ditto (note y). "The myth is related in the Works and
Days of Hesiod," vv. 47-99., edit. Göttling.
Ditto, p. 44. "Sylla nescivit." Sueton. Vit. Cæs., 77.
Ditto, p. 45. "Galba." Tac. Hist., i. 5.
Ditto, ditto. "Probus." Bacon seems to have quoted from memory, as we
find in Vopiscus (Hist. Aug. Script., ut supr., vol. ii. 679.
682.), as one of the causæ occidendi, "Dictum ejus grave, Si
unquam eveniat salutare, Reip. brevi milites necessarios non
futuros."
Ditto, ditto. "Tacitus saith." Hist., i. 28.
P. J. F. Gantillon, B.A.
(To be continued.)
The Passage in King Henry VIII., Act III. Sc. 1. (Vol. vii.,
pp. 5. 111. 183. 494.).—Mr. Ingleby has
done perfectly right to "call me to account" for a rash and unadvised
assertion, in saying that we must interpolate been in the passage
in King Henry VIII., Act III. Sc. 2., after have; for even
that would not make it intelligible. So far I stand corrected. The
passages, however that are cited, are not parallel cases. In the first we
have the word loyalty to complete the sense:
" · · · · · My loyalty,
Which ever has [been] and ever shall be growing."
In the second, the word deserved is clearly pointed out as
being understood, from the occurrence of deserve after
will:
"I have spoken better of you than you have [deserved] or will deserve
at my hands."
I will assist Mr. Ingleby's position with
another example from Rich. II., Act V. Sc. 5.:
" · · · · · like silly beggars,
Who sitting in the stocks, refuge their shame,
That many have [sat] and others must sit there."
And even from a much later writer, Bolingbroke:
"This dedication may serve for almost any book that has, is, or shall
be published."
Where we must supply been after has. But in the passage
I attempted, and I think successfully, to set right, admitting that
custom would allow of the ellipsis of the participle been, after
the auxiliary have, to what can "am, have, and will be" possibly
refer?
" · · · · · I do professe
That for your highness' good, I euer labour'd
More then mine owne, that am, haue, and will be."
What? Add true at the end of the line, and it mars the verse,
but make the probable correction of true for haue, and you
get excellent sense without any ellipsis. I am as averse to interpolation
or alteration of the text, when sense can by any rational supposition be
made of it, as my opponent, or any true lover of the poet and the
integrity of his language, can possibly be; but I see nothing rational in
refusing to correct an almost self-evident misprint, which would redeem a
fine passage that otherwise must always remain a stumbling-block to the
most intelligent reader. We have all I trust but one object, i. e.
to free the text of our great poet from obvious errors occasioned by
extremely incorrect printing in the folios, and at the same time to
strictly watch over all attempts at its corruption by unnecessary
meddling. This, and not the displaying of our own ingenuity in
conjectures, ought to be our almost sacred duty; at least, I feel
conscious that it is mine.
S. W. Singer.
"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
Hamlet.
The notable quotation of this line by the Earl of Derby, in the Lords,
on Monday evening, April 25, has once more reminded me of my unanswered
Query respecting it, Vol. vi., p. 270.
On the 26th February (Vol. vii., p. 217.) Mr.
Collier was good enough to say, that his only reason for
not answering it was, that he had not then within his reach the copy of
"N. & Q." wherein it had been proposed; politely adding, that if I
would reprint the Query, he would at once answer it.
Supposing, however, that Mr. Collier's absence
from his library would be only temporary, I deemed it less troublesome to
the Editor of "N. & Q." to wait until Mr.
Collier could refer to the Query, as already printed.
Two months have since elapsed, and I now no longer hesitate to ask the
Editor for an opportunity of again referring to it, trusting that a
sufficient excuse will be found in the importance of the subject, as
affecting the fundamental sense of a passage in Shakspeare.
A. E. B.
Leeds.
Mr. J. Payne Collier's "Notes and Emendations."—There can
be no doubt that many of these emendations are rational and judicious;
but I cannot help thinking, on the whole, that Mr. Collier has rather overrated their value, and
placed too implicit faith in the infallibility of his unknown guide. At
all events, there is not a shadow of authority given for any one of the
corrections, and we have therefore a full right to try them, as the
lawyers would say, "upon the merits;" or, in other words, to treat them
as mere speculative alterations, and to adopt or reject them, as may
appear advisable in each particular case. It is difficult to conjecture
what can have been the position in life, or the occupation of this
mysterious annotator. That his pursuits were not purely literary, I think
is plain: first, from the very circumstance of his not authenticating any
of his notes, which a literary inquirer would certainly have done; and,
secondly, from the very minute attention which is paid to the
business of the scene and the movements of the actors. These
considerations, coupled with the fact of his frequently striking out
whole passages of the text (which a literary enthusiast would not
have done), would at first lead us to suppose that the writer was a
theatrical manager, and that the alterations were made to suit either the
fancies, or perhaps the peculiar qualifications of certain performers.
But in this case one can hardly suppose that the remarks would have
extended to more than a certain number of plays, which were most
frequently acted. Thus much, however, appears certain, that the
commentaries are rather those of an habitual play-goer, than of a
studious critic; and it will be easy to show that a great portion of the
new readings he proposes are really changes for the worse, while a
still larger number are at least unnecessary! I shall content myself with
only a few instances, on this occasion, as I am unwilling to encroach too
far on your space; but I can easily multiply them, if I am encouraged to
renew the subject.
In the first place, I differ from Mr. Collier
entirely as to the famous passage from Henry VIII., p. 324., which
he brings so prominently forward as to give it special notice in his
Introduction. To me, I confess, the phrase—
"To steal from spiritual labour a brief span,"
appears quite tame and poor in comparison with
"To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span,"
and, moreover, destroys all the poetry of the thought. Nor can I see
the slightest difficulty in the sense of the original passage. The
king means to say that Wolsey cannot steal from the little leisure
afforded him by his spiritual labours "a brief span, to keep his earthly
audit:" and surely this is much more poetical than the substituted
passage.
In p. 323., from the same play, we have—
"to the sharp'st kind of justice,"
transformed to "sharp'st knife of justice:" but I cannot assent
to this change. The obvious meaning of the poet is, that the contempt of
the world, "shutting all doors" against the accused, is a sharper
kind of justice than any which the law could inflict: but, to be
given up to "the sharp'st knife of justice" could only mean, being
consigned to the public executioner,—which was just what Katherine
was deprecating.
In p. 325. the lines relating to Wolsey's foundations at Ipswich and
Oxford are printed thus in the folio—
"one of which fell with him,
Unwilling to outlive the good that did it:"
that is, unwilling to outlive the virtues which prompted it,—a
passage teeming with poetical feeling: but the commentator has ruthlessly
altered it to—
"Unwilling to outlive the good man did it;"
which, I submit, not only destroys all the poetry, but is decidedly
not English!
The next passage I would notice is from Much Ado about Nothing,
p. 76. How, I would ask, can the phrase—
be a misprint for "call sorrow joy?" No compositor, or scribe either,
could possibly be misled by any sound from the "reader" into such a
mistake as that! The words "and sorrow wag," I admit, are not sense; but
the substitution of "call sorrow joy" strikes me as bald and common-place
in the extreme, and there is no pretence for its having any authority.
If, then, we are to have a mere fanciful emendation, why not "bid sorrow
wag?" This would be doing far less violence to the printed text, for it
would only require the alteration of two letters in the word "and;" while
it would preserve the Shakspearian character of the passage. "Wag" is a
favourite expression in the comedies of the Bard, and occurs
repeatedly in his works. The passage would then run thus—
"If such a one will smile and stroke his beard,
Bid sorrow wag—cry hem! when he should groan."
In p. 73. we find—
"Soul-tainted flesh," &c.
substituted for "foul tainted flesh;" and we are told that the
critics have been all wrong, who supposed that Shakspeare intended any
"metaphor from the kitchen!" If so, what meaning can be attached to the
line—
"And salt too little which may season give?"
If that is not a metaphor from the kitchen, I know not what could be?
I still believe that "foul tainted flesh" is the correct reading. The
expression "soul-tainted flesh" is not intelligible. It should
rather be "soul-tainting flesh." The soul may be tainted by
the flesh: but how the flesh can be soul-tainted, I
cannot understand.
Turning further back, to p. 69., we find it asserted, quite
dogmatically, that the word "truths" of the folios ought to be "proofs;"
but no reason whatever is offered for the change. I cannot help thinking
that "seeming truths" is much the most poetical expression, while
in "seeming proofs" there is something like redundancy,—to
say nothing of the phrase being infinitely more common-place!
In the play of the Tempest, p. 4., the beautiful
passage—
"he being thus lorded
Not only with what my revenue yielded," &c.,
is degraded into "he being thus loaded," &c. Can there be a
moment's doubt that "lorded" was the word used by Shakspeare? It is
completely in his style, which was on all occasions to coin verbs out of
substantives, if he could. "He being thus lorded," i. e.
ennobled "with what my revenue yielded," is surely a far superior
expression to "being thus loaded,"—as if the poet were
speaking of a costermonger's donkey!
Again, in p. 10.:
"Wherefore this ghastly looking?"
or, this ghastly appearance? Who will venture to say, that the
substitution of "thus ghastly looking" is not decidedly a change
for the worse?
In the Merchant of Venice, p. 118.:
"and leave itself unfurnished,"
is altered to "leave itself unfinished!" I confess I cannot see
the slightest warrant for this change. The words—
"having made one,
Methinks IT should have power to steal both his,"
distinctly show that the author was alluding to the eye only,
and not to the portrait and how could the eye (already
made) describe itself as unfinished? Surely the sense is
unfurnished, that is, unfurnished with its companion, or
probably with the other accessories required to complete the
portrait.
P. 119. has the line—
"And swearing 'til my very roof was dry,"
transmogrified into—
"And swearing 'til my very tongue was dry."
Now, why "this lame and impotent conclusion?" What can be a more
common expression than the "roof of the mouth?" and it is just the part
which is most affected by a sensation of dryness and pricking, after any
excitement in speaking, whereas the tongue is not the member that
suffers!
In As You Like It, p. 127., in the line—
"Mistress dispatch you with your safest haste,"
the last two words are made "fastest haste," which, to say the least,
are tautology, and are like talking, of the "highest height", or the the
"deepest depth!" Surely, the original form of words, "Dispatch you with
your safest haste;" that is, with as much haste as is consistent
with your personal safety—is much more dignified and polished
address from the duke to a lady, and at the same time more
poetical!
In p. 129.,
"The constant service of the antique world,"
is converted into
"The constant favour of the antique world:"
in which line I cannot discover any sense. If I might hazard a guess,
I should suggest that the error is in the second word, "service,"
and that it ought to be "servants:"
"When servants sweat for duty, not for meed."
In the Taming of the Shrew, p. 143., the substitution of
"Warwickshire ale" for "sheer ale" strikes me as very far-fetched,
and wholly unnecessary. There is no defect of sense in the term
"sheer ale." Sly means to say, he was "fourteen pence on the score
for ale alone:" just as one speaks of "sheer nonsense," i. e.
nothing but nonsense, "sheer buffoonery," "sheer malice," &c. Why
should Sly talk of being in debt for Warwickshire ale at Wincot?
If he kind been drinking ale from Staffordshire, or Derbyshire, or Kent,
he might possibly have named the county it came from; but to talk of
Warwickshire ale within a few miles of Stratford-on-Avon seems
absurd. It is as if a man came from Barclay and Perkins's, and talked of
having been drinking "London porter."
In p. 144., I submit, with great deference, that turning "Aristotle's
checks" into "Aristotle's ethics" is the very reverse of an improvement.
What can be more intelligible than the line—
"And so devote to Aristotle's checks;"
that is, to the checks which Aristotle's rules impose upon profligacy?
The idea is more poetical, and the line runs more smoothly; while
the altered line is prosaic in comparison, and the metre is not
correct.
My dwindling space warns me that I must very soon pause; but these
examples can be extended ad infinitum, should another opportunity
be afforded me.
The instances of alterations simply unnecessary are too
numerous to be recorded here. I have already a list of forty odd,
selected from only eight plays.
Cecil Harbottle.