Oct. 23. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



383 



But the whole image is that of a posse of evils 

 thronging to assail us in this life — a mortal coil, 

 as it is afterwards called, in opposition to the im- 

 mortal coil after death of ills we know not of — 

 this attack we may put an end to, or " shuffle off," 

 by taking arms against it, scilicet, " a bare bod- 

 kin ! " Thus the very necessity of the context 

 plainly exacts some word expressive of tumultuous 

 attack ; and such a word we obtain, bearing pre- 

 ■cisely that meaning, by the slight alteration of a 

 sea into assay. 



It is singular that this word assay, which fulfils 

 5n so remarkable a degree all the prescribed con- 

 <3itions, should have been overlooked by Pope and 

 Warburton ; but it is still more singular that 

 lexicographers, amongst the several definitions 

 they have ascribed to it, should have failed to in- 

 clude that one peculiar meaning — charge, or 

 onset — which renders it so appropriate. 



Because that meaning is supported by numerous 

 •examples in the old writers, nay, it is even de- 

 ■ducible from some of the passages cited by these 

 lexicographers themselves. 



Thus, Dr. Johnson's fourth definition is " trial 

 by danger or distress, difficidty, hardship,^^ to illus- 

 trate which these lines are cited from Spenser : 

 " She heard with patience all unto the end, 

 And strove to master sorrowful assay." 

 But here, not one of the definitions suit the pas- 

 sage ; on the contrary, the plain meaning of assay 

 is access (in the medical sense), which again is sy- 

 nonymous with attack. 



In Halliwell's Archaic Dictionary, the fifth de- 

 finition of assay is, " the attempt, the moment of 

 doing it." I do not profess to understand the last 

 branch of this definition, but the lines illustrative 

 of it are these : 



" And ryght as he was at assaye, 

 Hys lyking vanysht all awaye." 



in which, also, the plain meaning of assaye would 

 appear to be onslaitght or attach. 



In other examples the same meaning might be 

 fairly contended for in preference to those usually 

 attributed to them, viz. in Milton : 



" Many a hard assay 

 Of dangers, and adversities, and pains." 

 And in this very play of Hamlet, where Fortin- 

 bras 



*' Malces vow before his uncle never more 

 To give th' assay of arms against your majesty." 

 But it is by Spenser we find the word most fre- 

 quently used, and its meaning most plainly indi- 

 cated — 



" They 'gan with all their weapons him assay, 

 And rudely stroke at him on every side." 



Faeri« Queene, v. ii. 

 ** And now they doe so sharply him assay, 

 That they his shield in peeces battred have." 

 Faerie Queene, v. xi. 



As to probability of substitution, an equally 

 close approximation exists between assay and a 

 sea, as in the similar case of asters and as stars ; 

 nor is it at all certain that even in sound the vowels 

 a and e were so distinctive in those days as they 

 are in our own. If, therefore, asay were spelt, as 

 was often the case, with a single s, a simple mis- 

 conception on the printer's part would sufficiently 

 account for the substitution. 



But the most cogent presumption that assay is 

 the right word, arises from its true Shakspearian 

 fitness. "A siege," "assail," "assailing," would, 

 it is true, satisfy the bare exigency of the context ; 

 but none of them would assist and further it as 

 assay does. That word has all the meaning of the 

 others, with the additional sense, peculiar to itself, 

 of thronging, or simultaneous, onset : and as the 

 illustration of one passage in Shakspeare generally 

 leads to the better understanding of another, so this 

 peculiar sense of assay assists in the interpretation 

 of another expression in the same play (King's 

 soliloquy, Act III. Sc. 3.), where " make assay " 

 receives great force and beauty if interpreted 

 " throng to the rescue :" 



" O limed soul ; that struggling to be free, 

 Art more engaged ! Help, angels, make assay ! " 



Therefore I think a sufficient case is made out 

 to justify the reading I now propose, viz. : 



" Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer 

 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ; 

 Or to take arms against assaye of troubles, 

 And, by opposing, end them." 



A.E.B. 



THE FIRST GENUINE EDITION OF JUNIUS S XETTEES. 



I have received the letter of Franciscus. As 

 space is precious, it is not necessary to publish it ; 

 the greater part being merely a minute description 

 of an edition of Junius's Letters, which he erro- 

 neously assumes that I have not seen ; which he 

 describes, according to the title-page, as pub- 

 lished by " H. S. Woodfall," without date, and as 

 containing a Table of Contents and an elaborate 

 Index (extending, he says, over nineteen pages ; 

 meaning, I presume, nineteen leaves — thirty-eight 

 pages) — which edition he has ever considered the 

 first, and which, " speaking like Junius," he does 

 not " scruple to affirm" is " the first and only au- 

 thentic edition." 



Now, I must observe that my former correspon- 

 dence arose out of the piratical copies in the 

 London Library, to which you directed my at- 

 tention, and that I confined myself exclusively 

 to the piratical editions which preceded the pub- 

 lication of " the author's edition," and made no 

 further reference to any edition published by 

 H. S- Woodfall than was requiaed for the illustra- 

 tion of my subject. I, however, am quite willing 

 to give my reasons for the incidental assertion to 



