2"^ S, X. Jdly 28. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



65 



w*^'' I conceive are much concerned in it, and bis 

 just reparacion, recomend it to your favour; de- 

 siring you would with all speed acquaint the pari' 

 with the substance of this peticion, and my hum- 

 ble and earnest request that he may receive the 

 intended benefit of his articles and be freed from 

 these pressures that are now upon him, his cause 

 having been thought just by the army, and so 

 formerly recoraended to y" honorable speaker. 

 And by this favour, not doubting your effectual 

 endeavours herein, you will much engage 



Your humble servant, 



O. Chomwell. 

 Copp w"'ln Scotland, 

 July 26, 1650. 



I refer you for a more particular knowledge of 

 this busines to M"" Att^ Gen\ who hath long had 

 a report in his hands concerning the same from 

 the Comm" for Articles. 



(Addressed) For S' Henry Vane, jun''. 



These. 

 « Ithubiel. 



ARE CRITICS LOGICIANS? 



I always thought they were, and that logic 

 was of the very essence of criticism, till I read 

 the following passage in Mr. Collier's last, and not 

 best, edition of Shakspeare, *' Logic has seldom 

 formed any part of the qualifications of a com- 

 mentator." But perhaps, as this seems to have 

 been meant for the late Mr. Singer, it may be 

 ironical. Still, to judge by what we see, it seems 

 to have some truth in it ; but I am charitable, 

 and I deny not logic to critics, I only suppose 

 that it goes sometimes to sleep, for opere in longo 

 fhs est ohrepere somnum. Moreover, as the igno- 

 rant think all must be true that is printed in a 

 book, so we are, all of us, more or less inclined to 

 think all is right when we see it in print, 



I shall give now two or three instances of this 

 oscitancy of the logical faculty from the editions 

 of our old dramatists, and I take the first from 

 the only play that Fletcher ever printed, and 

 where he may actually have read the proofs him- 

 self. 



In the Faithful Shepherdess (Act III. Sc. 1.) 

 that rascal the Sullen Shepherd says of Amoret, 



" She was alooe 

 With me ; if then her presence did so move 

 Why did I not assay to win her love.' 

 She would not sure have yielded unto me ; 

 Women love only opportunity, 

 And not the man. Or if she had denied, 

 Alone I might have forced her to have tried 

 Who had been stronger." 



As Mr. Dyce has no note on this, I suppose 

 none of his predecessors, no more than himself, 

 had seen any difiiculty in it : yet if / have any 

 logic the Shepherd gives the very reason why she 



should have yielded, and if she had not yielded 

 what was the use of his putting the additional 

 case of her refusal ? Most certainly Fletcher 

 wrote " She would most sure have yielded." 



That is bad enougli, but the next is worse. 

 Only think of such nonsense as I am about to 

 produce having eluded the acute intellects of 

 Johnson and Warburton ! 



In Troilus and Cressida (Act III. Sc. 2.) the 

 latter says, — 



" But you are wise, 



Or else you love not ; for to be wise and love 



Exceeds man's might ; that dwells with gods above." 



Was there ever such a reason given ? . He is 

 , wise and in love because it was impossible for him 

 to be so ! Of a verity Shakspeare wrote no such 

 nonsense ; his words must have been " but you 

 are not wise." By the way there are five and 

 twenty places in this poet in which the negative 

 is certainly or probably omitted, and yet the 

 critics have observed but seven of them. Where 

 was their logic ? 



Among the objects of terror in the* soldier's 

 dream enumerated by Mercutio, one is — 



" 0( healths Gve fathom deep." 



Now a health is a moral idea, a mere wish; and 

 what that has to do with long measure it is not 

 easy to see. But it may be said health is used 

 here for the cup or vessel from which the health 

 was drunk. I have met with no instance of this 

 sense ; and even if there .be one it does not mend 

 the matter, for Master Silence, who was no man 

 of war, sings, — 



"Fill the cup and let it come, 

 I'll pledge you a mile to the bottdm." 



A cup only five fathom deep could have but 

 little terror then for a soldier. 



The fact is Shakspeare must have written a 

 different word, and 1 incline to think that that 

 word was trenches, which has in its favour the 

 ductus literarum, and its throwing the metric ac- 

 cent on five, which increases the terror. 



There are other places where the corruption has 

 been perceived, and may be easily cured, though 

 the attempts of the commentators have been utter 

 failures. For example : — 



" Earth's encrease, foison plenty, 

 Barns and garners never empty, 

 Vines with clustering bunches growing, • • 



Plants with goodly burden bowing, 

 Spring come to thee, at the farthest, 

 In the very end of harvest. 

 Scarcity and want shall shun you; 

 Ceres' blessing is upon you I " 



Tempest, Act IV. Sc. 1. 



Now this sets grammar at defiance, and the fifth 

 line is pure nonsense. Spring come at the end of 

 harvest ! But read Shall instead of Spring, and 

 we at once get grammar and sense. But Shall is 

 not like Spring. All I can say is, that not long 



