230 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. No 116., Mab. 20. '58. 



die : (K\m6vTuv K\-ijpov6fj.wv (defunct heirs, Plato). 

 Conf. iuKonrhs €k tov filov, dead, and \el\pavov, a 

 corpse; tA Kei\pi.iva, in med. Greek, reliquiae, the 

 relics of saints ; and, in med. Latin, eclipticatus 

 (extinctus, deletus). The form nearest to Eclym- 

 pasteire in classical Greek is iWiireffrepov, compa- 

 rative from iWiir-fjs. 



The y of Eclympasteire may be deemed an ob- 

 jection to our derivation from iKXifiirdfu ; but y 

 and i are often used convertibly in old English. 

 Moreover, the same y appears in other derivatives 

 of the same family in med. Latin ; for instance, in 

 eclypsare and eclypsatio. 



The lines cited from Chaucer at the beginning 

 of this paper would, if viewed with their context, 

 suggest some inquiries both as to the mutual re- 

 lationship of Morpheus, Hypnos, and Thanatos, 

 and as to the distinct offices and characters of the 

 two first. But Chaucer (who elsewhere trans- 

 forms Marsyas into a young lady, Mercia by 

 name, " that lost her skinne "), does not appear to 

 have troubled himself with such niceties ; and 

 their discussion here would be foreign to our 

 purpose. 



" Parodic." — 



" Eniong all this, the fine of the jaaz-orf/e 

 Of Hector gan approachin wondir blive." 



Troil. and Cres. v. 1547. 



The more modern editions for parodie have 

 jeopardie. But the old editions have parodie; 

 and as Tyrvvhitt, with an express reference to this 

 passage, places parodie in his list of words not 

 understood, we may take it for granted that, 

 according to his judgment, parodie is the true 

 reading. 



Fully believing that Tyrwhitt is. right, I would 

 suggest that parodie is here to be understood in a 

 sense near akin to that of episode. " Emong all 

 this," &c. — that is, in the midst of these trans- 

 actions affecting the hero and heroine of the 

 poem, cotemporary events proceeded ; and, in 

 particular, the end of Hector's course and history, 

 mentioned hy the way, rapidly approached. 



For attaching this meaning in the passage be- 

 fore us to the word parodie, we are not without 

 some countenance in the Greek language. Eur, 

 Iph. A. 1147, KouKSTt Trapai^ois xp^jc^i/xsor^ alviyixacnv'. 

 iva.p(f>^ols, a proposito alienis, Steph. Th. ; Uaprf^ois 

 alulyi-iaa-iu, riddles, foreign to the purpose, Dun- 

 bar. Or if, instead of deriving parodie as here 

 used from TrapcoSia, we refer it to a different 

 source, we find the expressions /caret irdpobov, ev 

 irapoBcf) (obiter), both from irdpooos. Thus Hector 

 is mentioned iu irapSSif, by the ivay. This, I sub- 

 mit, is " the parodie of Hector." 



Viewed with reference to Troilus and Creseide, 

 who form the subject of the poem, the narrative 

 of what occurred to Hector may very fitly be 

 deemed in some measure episodical, or digressive. 



Troilus has a dream (line 1442.) ; sends for Cas- 

 sandra to expound it (1449.) ; she does so, and 

 leaves him angry at her interpretation (1533.) ; 

 the fortunes of Troy decline (1540.). — And then 

 the poet proceeds to relate how, " Emong all this, 

 the parodie of Hector," that is, the collateral or 

 cotemporary incidents of Hector's life, bearing 

 but indirectly upon the narrative in hand, draw 

 nigh to their termination in his disastrous death. 

 He is slain, and the narrative proceeds (1568.). 



Thomas Boys. 



"atwood's imperial forgerie," &c. 



These very wretched and scurrilous lines — 

 destitute as they are of all poetical merit — are 

 worth preserving, as they contain some curious 

 information relative to Atwood, whose work re- 

 lative to Scotish independence created such a 

 sensation at the time. They occur in a miscella- 

 neous MS. collection of odds and ends in the 

 library of the Faculty of Advocates : ' — 



" Atwood's Imperial Forgerie, or the Justice turned State 

 Mountebank. 



" (A Mock Song.) 



" Room, Room, for Atwood ! grand state quack ; 

 Good Englishmen, what is't you lack ? 

 Here's charters forged by monks — good store, 

 Five hundred lys weall seal'd, and more : 

 As Edgar, Malcolme, and the rest, 

 Pickt out by this poor hungrie beast, 

 To prove us a depending state, 

 Pox on his dull and Logwood pate, 



" Take care ho\Y you censure this rogue o' renown, 

 He has for his patron a mightie Lord Mohun, 

 Who cares not a three pence to drawe and have at ; 

 For so he serv'd IMumfordt, whose punk was the philtre, 

 He drew a long philtre, and ran at his bum for't. 

 [Lord Mohun murder'd Mountfort the actor. It was a 



deed for which he ought to have been hang'd.] 



" Log first a pettie-fogger wes, 

 He plum'd his woodcocks to ane ace; 

 He bauld with stratrophonick voice, 

 When three and sixpence was his prj'ce; 

 Till by law quibbles, quirks, and bulls, 

 He fleec'd so many foolish gulls 

 The knave begane to be afray'd 

 That for his ears he might be tryd. 

 Then Atwood New York thought his safest refuge, 

 Where all the vile outcasts of England did ludge. 

 The rogue there advanc'd to the place of Cheefe .Judge 

 ]'.y brybes; he exhausted ane Estate and great sums, 

 Till at last, he being one of Belzebub's Trustees,' 

 Hell from New York this Logwood sent 

 The nation's discord to foment. 

 For in Old Englend ne're was borne 

 So fitt a rogue for such a turne, 

 Who this state trumperie did advance 

 To save his neck and fill his paunch. 

 Such is the fool, had he been Scotch, . 

 For Scotland he would have said as much. 



" Then Scotland'.? triumph to repair the affront. 

 Let Atwood's effigies and book be brunt. 



J 



