338 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2nd s. v. 121., April 24. 



•58. 



Tyrwhitt does not notice the word in his Glos- 

 sary, and Halliwell explains it, " a phrase equiva- 

 lent to positively." Mr. Boys interprets the 

 passage, " The night was short, and the day was 

 close at hand, so that Palamon must hide himself, 

 nee procul, nor far off, ne discosto. Having broken 

 prison, he was under the necessity of taking to the 

 nearest cover, or soon the daylight would have 

 betrayed his whereabouts." 



This word is once more employed by Chaucer 

 (as quoted by Mr. Boys) in the Legende of Good 

 Women, 



" Or nediscoste this thing mote have an end," 

 which he explains " not long first;" but in the old 

 editions the line reads, 



« And nedes this thing mote have an ende." 



It appears to me that the word in both instances 

 is an English adverb, of perfectly indigenous 

 growth, and signifies of necessity, necessarily, the 

 idea of which Mr. Boys is, in some measure, 

 forced to admit, in his explanation of the first 

 quoted passage. This word is formed of the geni- 

 tive nedes (often used adverbially by itself), and 

 of cost, manner, way, so as to be equivalent to 

 " by way of necessity," and it is strictly synony- 

 mous with nedwayis in Barbour: 



" The behowis nedwayis, said the king, 

 To this thing here saj' thine awiss." 



Buke xiii. 514. 



The adverb nedescost is not to be met with in 

 the usual glossaries, but I have no doubt it will 

 be found whenever our early writers are more 

 diligently studied than they have hitherto been. 

 At all events I can contribute one more example 

 of its use, taken from an enigmatical collection of 

 tables of Abecedaria, compiled by a writer of the 

 fifteenth century, whose prefatory remarks are so 

 singular that I venture to quote them at length : — 



" Almigthi God fyrst of alle mut be namyd in every 

 beg3'nnyng. Amen. Here folowyn xlviij. Apcyes, the 

 ■whyche what they betokyn & menyn, I canne not telle. 

 But be yt knowyn to all them that seen them, that 

 almyzty God that hathe schewyd on to me the weye to 

 make them, he hathe not schewyd on to me the weye for 

 nowgth nor w'out cause. Wherfor fyrst of alle here folo- 

 wyn xvi. Apcyes, in the whyche v. thyngis bene to be 

 notyd. The first ys, that non of them in no condicj'on ys 

 lyk'e anothyr. The ij^o ys, that on gothe out of anothyr 

 on to the last Apcj', the whyche last Apcy gothe ageyn 

 in to the fyrst Apcy. The iij^e the iiij'*^ & the v". ys, 

 that A ys alwey the fyrst letter, and S alwey the m3'd- 

 dyl lettyr, and V alwey the last lettyr. The whj'che ho 

 so wyl knowe yt and preve yt, yt ys so esj', that the 

 sympylest creature that ys, that canne make lettyrs & 

 wryte, may bothe make them and preve them frome the 

 begynnynge on to the endyng, thow he nevyr hathe 

 copy, except that the first Apcy must nedyscost be wret- 

 tyn on to hym, that ys to sey, v. sythys vii. lettyrs in a 

 lyne. And thow yt be so that there ben wordis myxte 

 w' the lettyrs, zow must cownt the lettyrs, so that in 

 every Apcy be xxxv'' lettyrs & wordis in all. In every 

 Apcy vs thur suche a streke — — — , that vs a tetyl to be 

 c&Wydi':' — MS. Cott. Domit. A. Vlll.f. UV. 



I think it must be admitted that the word here 

 (as I maintain it must elsewhere) can only mean 

 necessarily, of necessity . In favour also of this inter- 

 pretation it must be remarked that this and other 

 similar negative adverbs are always accompanied 

 by the verb must, or by its equivalent, as will ap- 

 pear by the following instances : — 



" Nedes he most abide 

 That he may no ferther fare." 



Sir Tristrem, p. 94. ed. 1806. 



" A man most nedes love, maugre his hed." 



Cant. Tales, 1171. 

 " Y most nedyst lawhe, and thow wer mey dame." 



Ritson, Pop. Poetr. p. 64. 

 " That nedely som word hire must asterte." 



Cant. Tales, 6549. 

 " Now behoyeth me nedely 

 Telle the ever3'del, and why." 



Manuel des PechSs, MS. Harl. 

 1701. f. 83b. 

 " For that ofiice mote nedly be w*oute rwthe and pite." 

 Hampole's Myrrour, f. 90. MS. 



The copy in MS. Harl. 435. reads " behoveth to 

 be." 



" Ho sayd. Sir, nedelongs most I sitte him by." 



Sir Amadace, MS. 

 " And nedlynqez thame byhoved wende armede." 

 MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17. f. 17. {ap. Halliwell.) 



" Your joly wo neidlingis moist I endite." 



Douglas, Virgil, prol. 93. 



Many more examples might be given, but these 

 may suffice, and, to my apprehension, the substitu- 

 tion of the word nedescost might be made in every 

 instance, with precisely the same meaning. 



In conclusion I beg to ask for a reference to 

 any passages in Italian or French writers where 

 such phrases as ne discosto or ne discoste are used ? 



WM. smith's "compendium of the HEBREW 

 BIBLE." 



(2°'^ S. V. 234.) 



Exactly one hundred years ago, " William 

 Smith, A.M." was presented to the deanery of 

 Chester, on the recommendation of the Earl of 

 Derby. Five years previously he had published 

 his well-known translation of the history of the 

 Peloponnesian War, from the Greek of Thucy- 

 dides. The title-page bears the name of the trans- 

 lator, "William Smith, A.M.," who was at the 

 time rector of Holy Trinity, Chester, and chaplain 

 to Lord Derby. This William Smith was born 

 in Worcester, 1711, where his father Richard was 

 rector of All Saints. William, after taking his 

 B. A. degree at Oxford, became " reader " to James, 

 Earl of Derby, by whom he was subsequently pre- 

 sented to the rectory of Trinity, Chester. Shortly 

 after this occurrence the young rector published 

 his translation of Longinus. In 1748, be was ap' 



