268 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 151. 



en Grece, Asie, Judee, Egypte, Arable, et autres 

 pays etranges, Redigees en trois livres, par Pierre 

 Belon du Mans: Anvers, 1555. The type is wholly 

 Italic, and the Roman used, as we use Italic, for 

 emphatic or remarkable passages. The woodcuts 

 are good, as well as the plans of towns. The 

 animals of the different countries are well de- 

 lineated, but there are several fabulous species, 

 one of which is the Flying Dragon, or Serpent 

 Alle. The work, evidently a compilation, is ex- 

 ecuted with a fidelity apparently rare in those 

 times. The portrait of the author represents him 

 with a most venerable beard and doctor's cap, 

 aged thirty-six. I have seen no account of this 

 book anywhere before. Cyrus Redding. 



"The Chain of Salvation." — I recently tran- 

 scribed the following from a curious old MS. 

 containing music, recipes, and other miscellaneous 

 matter : 



" The Chain of Salvation. 



Ordained 



Promised 



Merited 



Sealed 



Received 



Confessed 



Sanctified (?)_ 



God 



The'Word 



Christ 



" Heaven 

 Scripture 

 Man's nature 



- By •{ Sacraments f- In <{ The Church 



Faith 

 The mouth 

 Works 



The heart 

 I Martyrdom 

 L Regeneration." 

 E. K 



Manumission of Villeins. — The following cu- 

 rious extract from an ancient MS. now in the 

 possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., of 

 Broadway, contrasts strangely with the views of 

 liberie, egalite, &c. of the nineteenth century : 



" Nota admission! primo dominus dabit corpus sui 

 villani aliqui libero per chartam suam cum tota se- 

 quela et omnibus suis catallis deinde ille liber donata- 

 rius dabit ilium nativura tanquam manumissum et a 

 curia sui primi Domini per capillos dicti manumissi 

 extra faciei deinde primus Dominus dabit dicto manu- 

 missi suam terram quam primus tenuit in villenagio 

 libere pro certo servitio militari seu soccagio pro ut 

 sibi placuerit et hoc per suam chartam." 



J. NOAKE. 



Worcester. 



^ucn'tiS. 



QUERY ON A CORRUPT PASSAGE IN " LOVE S 



labour's lost," act V. SC. 2. 



One of the most incorrigibly corrupt passages 

 in the old editions of Shakspeare occurs in Love's 

 Labour s Lost, Act V. Sc. 2., where the King of 

 Navarre opposes the entry of the personators of 

 the nine worthies, and the Princess remonstrates 

 with him. In the old copies the passage is thus 

 given : 



" Nay, my good Lord, let me ore-rule you now ; 

 That sport best pleases, that doth least know how. 



Where zeale strives to content, and the contents 

 Dies in the zeale of that which it presents. 

 Their forme confounded, makes most forme in mirth. 

 When great things labouring perish in their birth." 

 Dr. Johnson proposed to read : 



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

 Monck Mason, objecting that Johnson's amend- 

 ment makes it grammatical, but does not make It 

 sense, says, " what does he mean by the contents 

 that die in the zeal of him who presents them ? " 

 And adds, " The word contents, when signifying an 

 affection of the mind, has no plural." He then 

 proposes to read thus : 



" Where zeal strives to content, and the content 

 Lies in the zeal of those which it presents." 



Malone reads : 



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



Saying, " which for who is common in our author," 

 and that the word it he believes refers to sport; 

 but afterwards adds, " It hov/ever may refer 

 to contents, and that word may mean the most 

 material part of the exhibition." 



The passage therefore stands in Boswell's edi- 

 tion thus : 



" That sport best pleases, that doth least know how ; 

 Where zeal strives to content, and the contents 

 Die in the zeal of them which it presents. 

 Their form confounded makes most form in mirth ; 

 When great things labouring perish in their birth." 



Mr. Collier adopts this reading ; and, contrary 

 to his usual custom, passes over the variations from 

 the old copy in silence. Mr. Knight says : 



" With a slight alteration of punctuation, we print 

 two of these lines as in the original ; altering their of 

 the third line to the. In the ordinary reading of the 

 second line, that is altered to them; and this altered 

 form of the modern editions is less intelligible than the 

 original. We understand the reading thus : — Where 

 zeal strives to give content, and the contents (things 

 contained) die in the zeal, the form of that which zeal 

 presents, being confounded, makes most form in mirth.' 



None of the proposed emendations seem to me 

 to have done much toward the elucidation of this 

 obscure passage ; and in the hope of something 

 better from some of your correspondents who have 

 turned their attention to the pages of the poet, I 

 will merely state the points in which the cor- 

 ruptions of the text appear to lie. These are of 

 course the words which have been changed in the 

 corrections proposed : contents in the second line ; 

 Dies, zeal, that, and presents, in the third line ; and 

 Their in the fourth. 



I must apologise for the length of this Query, 

 but it was necessary to state what has been sug- 

 gested for the convenience of such of your readers 

 who may not have immediate access to the Va- 

 riorum Shakspeare ; and your pages have already 



