Sept. 25. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



297 



Now, take the first part^ consisting of the first 

 four lines, of the passage in question : 



" Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now : 

 That sport best pleases, that doth least know how ; 

 Where zeal strives to content, and the contents 

 Dies in the zeal of that which it presents." 



That is, where the zeal to please is great, but 

 where the contents (or the story) dies in the over 

 zeal of the performance which it (sc. the zeal) 

 presents. 



This excuse for the shortcomings of humble 

 zeal was a favourite topic with Shakspeare : com- 

 pare with the present passage that in Midsum- 

 mer Night's Dream, Act V. Sc 1. : 

 " Our sport shall be to take what they mistake," &c. 



In Love's Labours Lost, BIron thinks it good 

 policy " To have one show worse than the King 

 and his company," but the Princess declares that 

 the show prepared by the worthies, absurd as it is, 

 is yet less so than that of the king and his com- 

 pany. It is to the latter, therefore, that she applies 

 the last two lines of her speech, forming the second 

 part of the passage in question, viz. : 

 " Their form confounded, makes most form in mirth. 



When great things, labouring, perish in their birth." 



The justness of which cutting allusion is immedi- 

 ately acknowledged by Biron, who exclaims, 

 " A right description of our sport, my lord. " 



A.E.B. 



Leeds. 



Mb. Singer again does me injustice, I am sure 

 most unintentionally, in his Query of last week 

 respecting " a corrupt passage in Love's Labour s 

 Lost.'' He says, with reference to that passage, 

 that Mr. Collier adopts the reading of Malone's 

 edition of Shahspeare by Boswell, " and, contrary 

 to his usual custom, passes over the variations 

 from the old copy in silence." This is an entire 

 mistake ; I did with that passage as with others, 

 for I showed in a note at the foot of the page 

 (vol. ii. p. 369. note 2.) where the text I adopted 

 differed both from the 4to. of 1598 and from the 

 folio of 1623 : for instance, the 4to. of 1598 has 

 the line, 



" That sport best pleases that doth best know how." 

 which the folio of 1623 alters to 



" That sport best pleases that doth least know how." 



This variation in the two oldest editions is dis- 

 tinctly, though briefly, pointed out by me. Again, 

 both 4to. and folio print another line thus : 



" Dies in the zeal of that which it presents." 



Following Malone, I changed " that " to them, 

 but I also corrected a false concord by which the 

 plural substantive " contents " was made the no- 

 minative case to the singulai' verb dies. This 



course, I apprehend, has always been considered 

 allowable, and the line, as I gave it, therefore 

 stands thus : 



" Die in the zeal of them which it presents." 



My note upon the whole passage merely relates 

 to these emendations (so to call them), because 

 with them I thought the poet's meaning sufficiently 

 clear, although his expressions might be a little 

 obscure ; it was in this form, if, for the sake of 

 clearness, you will allow me to quote it : 



"2 that doth LEAST know how:] Best, Aio., 



1598. Both 4to. and folio, two lines lower, read that 

 for ' them.' " 



I have generally been so particular in showing 

 where the texts of different editions of the same 

 play vary, that I should have been seriously vexed 

 if, on reference to my edition of Love's Labour's 

 Lost, I had found Mr. Singer's statement borne 

 out. I always strove to put my foot-notes in the 

 shortest form, and I dare say that the two lines in 

 small type, last above quoted, escaped his ob- 

 servation. 



Let me add only, that the folio of 1632 exactly 

 reprints the whole passage from the folio of 1623. 

 The word " dies " in my MS. corrected second 

 folio, is accidentally so blurred and defaced, that 

 it is not easy to make it out at all. 



J. Payne Collier. 



VICAES- apostolic. 



(Vol. vi., p. 125.) 



For some time after the Reformation, the English 

 Romanists were governed by an arch-priest. At 

 length, after much entreaty, they obtained the 

 Pope's consent to the appointment of a bishop. 

 Dr. Smith was the person selected for the office. 

 He was consecrated in Paris, and arrived in this 

 country July 30th, 1623. As all the sees in Eng- 

 land were occupied by regular successors of the 

 ancient bishops, he was named Bishop of Chalce- 

 don. This Dr. Smith died April 16th, 1624, aged 

 seventy-one, and in the following year was suc- 

 ceeded by another Dr. (Richard) Smith, who was 

 also entitled Bp. of Chalcedon (not Chalcis). He 

 was obliged to quit the country in 1629 ; when, 

 retiring to France, he exercised his jurisdiction 

 over the English Romanists by vicars-general and 

 other ecclesiastical officers. In his retirement he 

 experienced the kindness of Cardinal Richelieu, 

 who bestowed upon him the Abbey of Chavoux. 

 Richelieu's successor, however, Mazarin, not only 

 withdrew his protection, but even deprived him 

 of his abbey; whereupon he took up his abode 

 in Paris, and died there in 1 655, aged eighty-eight. 



Of the four Vicars-Apostolic appointed in the 

 reign of James II. (who settled upon them a pen- 

 sion of 1000^. per annum payable out of the 



