98 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Aug. 11. 1855. 



because neither this nor that had become obsolete 

 in their day, nor are they so even at the present 

 hour; and because a multitude of examples in 

 both kinds might be instanced from among our 

 most familiar and household words that must, one 

 -would suppose, have precluded all possibility of 

 misconception. If means be treated as a singular, 

 so also is news, so is pains, so is shears, so is 

 shambles, &c. &c., and let me add, with as good 

 reason, and as commonly, as corpse, horse, &c., 

 are treated as plurals. Again, does any one ques- 

 tion the propriety, or misdoubt the import of the 

 following speech ? " My means do not permit me 

 to indulge in luxurious diet, and if my means did, 

 my health would not." To be understood arigiit, 

 is it necessary to say " my scanty means, and my 

 lad health ? " Does not the obvious drift of the 

 sentence sufficiently define the quality of the 

 means and health, without the adjunct of any 

 epithets ? Yet here have we a word, " health," 

 which in strictness should be unsusceptible of the 

 epithet bad, employed by itself in a sense the very 

 reverse of its etymology, in precise accordance 

 with which it is, however, as might be expected, 

 likewise frequently used, e.g. "my health is re- 

 stored : " there the word bears its full and proper 

 meaning; therefore good health is tautological, 

 indifferent or lad health is a catachresis, or implies 

 a contradiction ; but notwithstanding this, custom 

 sanctions the Coupling of all these adjectives with 

 health, and without any adjective whatever li- 

 censes the context to govern its acceptation. This 

 being so, it certainly appears very hard that the 

 unhappy word " means," which does not ex vi ter- 

 mini import abundance, but both rightfully and 

 customably admits the qualification either of co- 

 pious, or indifferent, or scanty, should be excluded 

 in this passage of Shakspeare, although not in 

 common parlance, from bearing that signification 

 which the context manifestly imposes and requires. 

 Farther, were I to say, " Although neither my 

 means nor my health will permit me to do this, 

 yet do it I would, malgre my health, if my means 

 were greater ; " and one should reply, " Then, sir, 

 your means secure you," could this observation be 

 truly termed either faulty in its phraseology, or 

 ambiguous in its purport ? Gloster stumbled 

 u-hen he saw his means were now curtailed, were 

 straitened, straitened by the loss of his eyes ; and 

 from such straitened means he infers the general 

 sentiment, as admirable for its philosophy as just 

 for its expression, " full oft 'tis seen our meanes 

 secures us ; " which he amplifies and enforces in the 

 ensuing clause, " and our mere defects prove our 

 commodities." If man's power were equal to his 

 will, into what excesses might he not be betrayed, 

 ruinous to himself, as well as hurtful to others ; 

 ^jit happily for him an over-ruling Providence so 

 . i)rdera infitters that man's means, his circum- 

 scribed and limited means, become his security, 

 No. 302.] 



keep him safe. The first error then into which 

 the commentators have stumbled, is about the 

 signification of the word means ; the second relates 

 to its syntactical usage ; for, as was said before, I 

 affirm that not only is means or meanes the right 

 reading, but securss is so likewise ; that is, I 

 affirm the correctness of the two first folios in 

 both these words. And now, having, as I sup- 

 pose, competently asserted the former, I will 

 content myself with adducing half a dozen ex- 

 amples in vindication of the latter. These ex- 

 amples, for reasons hereafter to appear, shall be 

 fetched from the works of Middleton, edited by 

 Mr. Dyce. 



1. The Roaring Girl, Act II. Sc. 1., vol. ir. 

 p. 513.: 



" Seb. Forty shillings is the agreement, Sir, between us ;, 

 Now, Sir, my present means mounts but to half on't." 



2. The Witch, Act III. Sc. 2., vol. iii. p. 30a : 

 " Seb. Because my means depends upon your service." 



most inconsistently altered by Mr. Dyce to de~ 

 pend. 



3. The Widow, Act III. Sc. 1., vol. iii. p. 385. : 



" Martia. It should seem so 

 By the small means was left j'ou, and less manners." 



4. A Fair Quarrel, Act V. Sc. 1., vol. iii^ 

 p. 545. : 



" Rus. Come, Sir, your means is short ; lengthen your 

 fortunes 

 With a fair proffer." 



5. Women leware Women, Act I. Sc. 1., vol. iv> 

 p.519. : 



" Moth. And hitherto your own means has but made shift 

 To keep you single, and that hardly too." 



6. King Lear, Act III. Sc. 2., vol. iv. p. 580. : 

 " Lear. So is all means raised from base prostitution. 



Even like a salad growing upon a dunghill." 



W. R. Arbowsmith. 

 Broadheath. 



WILLIAM ARNALL AND THE " FREE BRITON."" 



By the kindness of a friend I hate lately be- 

 come possessed of two documents which may 

 perhaps be considered to deserve preservation m 

 the columns of " N. & Q.," for they furnish some 

 curious illustration of a passage m the later edi- 

 tions of The Dunciad, which is no doubt famdiar 

 to many readers ; while the passage itself deserves 

 a note as a curious instance of the gradual changes 

 which Pope's immortal satire underwent. _ 



In the first issues (I quote from edition C of 

 "N. & Q.'s" "Bibliography of the Dunciad") 

 we have the following account of "VVelstcd"' 

 plunging for the prize. (Bk. ii. pp. 281-6.) 



« But nimbler W d reaches at the ground. 



Circles in mud, and darkness all around. 



