284 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2°* S. VIII. Oct. 8, '59. 



" I have acknowledged that I went from Sir Evereds 

 to Coughton, and stayed 2 or 3 daj'es after my lady went 

 to London, and then rode away alone. 



" Also that Bates and Greenway mett by chaunce, and 

 Greenway said all Catholicks were undone, not as they 

 would have it that Jesuits only were discredited. I read 

 the letter before Bates and Greenwaj-. My Lady Digby 

 came in. What did shee? Alas, what but cry. 



" My answer was to Bates by word of mouth. I am 

 sorry they haue without advise of frends adventured in so 

 ivicked an action. Lett them desist. In Wales I neither 

 can nor will assist them. And if Wales were so disposed 

 as they require, j^et were all too late. 



" I must needs acknowledge my being with the two 

 sisters, and that at White webbs as is trew, for they are 

 so jealous of White webbs that I can in no way else 

 satisfy. My names 1 all confess but that Last. Appoint 

 some'place neere where this bearer may meete some trusty 

 frend. Where is M" Anne ? " 



No date. No endorsement ; but written ap- 

 parently in February, 1603-6. W. O. W. 



SHAKSFEABIANA. 



Shdkspeare and Chaucer on the Continent. — 

 The Germans boast that they have adopted Shak- 

 speare as one of their own children, and cherish 

 a love and veneration for him of corresponding 

 intensity. The translations of his dramas with 

 which Schlegel, Tieck, and others have enriched 

 their native literature, fully entitle them to take 

 a high tone in their remarks and criticisms on the 

 great bard of Avon ; and we are not surprised to 

 hear that Ulrici, one of the most distinguished 

 among German commentators on Shakspeare, in 

 a recent review of Tycho-Mommsen's critical 

 edition of Romeo and Juliet, expresses a hope that 

 his country's scholars will henceforward bestow 

 on Shakspeare that philological profoundness and 

 scientific criticism which they have devoted, with 

 so much success, to Classical and Oriental litera- 

 ture. Mommsen's Romeo and Juliet (Oldenberg, 

 1859), consists of a careful reprint of the first two 

 4to. editions of the play (1597 and 1599), the first 

 of which is pronounced clearly to have been a 

 pirated edition, printed without the knowledge or 

 permission of the author. The second edition, in 

 all probability, was the only one in which Shaks- 

 peare took any part, and is, therefore, entitled to 

 be considered of decisive authority. Mommsen 

 has inserted the various readings with a valuable 

 introduction, containing essays on the structure 

 of Shakspeare's verse, the syncope of some gram- 

 matical terminations, &c. 



While Germany is occupied with Shakspeare, a 

 French scholar has devoted an 8vo. volume to an 

 E'tude sur Chaucer, considere comme Imitateur des 

 Trouveres. The author is M, E. G. Sandras, 

 Agrege of the University. M. Sandras states in 

 his introduction that he was induced to undertake 

 the work, because the greater part of the writers 

 who supplied Chaucer with his materials were 



Frenchmen, whose rights have not hitherto been 

 sufficiently established. In inquiring after the 

 different masters who inspired the muse of Chau- 

 cer, the author thinks he has written a page in the 

 literary history of his country : and we are sure 

 that his researches will be received with respect 

 and gratitude by English scholars. J. M. 



Oxford. 



Portrait of Shdkspeare. — In the possession of 

 Mr. Archer, of the Royal Library, Weymouth, is 

 an oil painting representing a man apparently of 

 thirty-two years of age, or thereabouts, with small 

 pointed beard and moustache, and large rufl'. In 

 the upper right hand corner (facing the spectator) 

 is written in yellow paint in an Italic hand, " W. 

 Shakespeare." I believe Mr. Archer obtained it 

 from a family at Bath. The picture is apparently 

 as old as Shakspeare's time. Of its authenticity 

 I offer no opinion, but merely wish to make a 

 Note of the circumstance. I shall add that, 

 speaking from recollection, it has a great simi- 

 larity to the Chandos Portrait, but represents a 

 younger man. Arthur Paget. 



Cranmore. 



Shakspeare : the Homilies. — Read as they were 

 over and over again in church, the Homilies could 

 not fail to leave many of their thoughts and 

 phrases impressed upon the minds of the learners. 

 But there is a very familiar passage in Shakspeare 

 which shows their influence upon the poet like- 

 wise : — 



" Who steals my purse," &c. 



Othello, iii. 3. 



" And many times cometh less hurt of a thief than of 

 a railing tongue : for the one taketh away a man's good 

 name ; the other taketh but his riches, which is of much 

 less value and estimation than is his good name." — 

 Homily against Contention, p. 137.* 



E. Marshall. 



Oxford. 



Ducddme. — As You like it. Act II. Sc. 5. — Sir 

 Thomas Hanmer thought this word to be a cor- 

 ruption of the Latin, due ad me, "lead him to me." 

 Farmer, Malone, and most others not being satis- 

 fied with this interpretation, have considered it 

 " a word coined for the nonce." Is it not lite- 

 rally as written due da me, " lead him from me ? " 

 Amiens has been describing the generous soul "who 

 does ambition shun," &c., and welcomes him with 

 a " come hither, come hither." Jaques is describ- 

 ing the opposite character who thinks " a stubborn 

 will to please," and goes on with his parody, " keep 

 him from me," instead of " come hither." Da is 

 the Italian preposition " from," answering to the 

 Latin a, ab, abs. A. A. 



Poets' Corner. 



* Preface, p. xxix. ; Homilies, Oxf. 1869. ed. Griffiths. 



