44 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 167. 



The stubborn muse he could not vary. 

 For still the lines would run contrary. 

 Whene'er he thought on Tipperary ; 

 And though of time he was not chary, 

 'Twas thrown away on Tipperary ; 

 Till of his wild-goose chase most weary. 

 He vow'd to leave out Tipperary. 



But, no — the theme he might not vary, 



His longing was not temporary, 



To find meet rhyme for Tipperary. 



He sought among the gay and airy. 



He pester'd all the military, 



Committed many a strange vagary, ' 



Bewitch'd, it seem'd, by Tipperary. 



He wrote post-haste to Darby Leary, 



Besought with tears his Auntie Sairie : — 



But sought he far, or sought he near, he 



Ne'er found a rhyme for Tipperary. 



He travell'd sad through Cork and Kerry, 



He drove ' like mad ' through sweet Dunleary, 



Kick'd up a precious tantar-ara. 



But found no rhyme for Tipperary ; 



Lived fourteen weeks at Stran-ar-ara, 



Was well nigh lost in Glenegary, 



Then started ' slick ' for Demerara, 



In search of rhyme for Tipperary. 



Through ' Yankee-land,' sick, solitary. 



He roam'd by forest, lake, and prairie. 



He went per terrain et per mare. 



But found no rhyme for Tipperary. 



Through orient climes on Dromedary, 



On camel's back through great Sahara ; 



His travels were extraordinary, 



In search of rhyme for Tipperary. 



Fierce as a gorgon or chimsera, 



Fierce as Alecto or Megsera, 



Fiercer than e'er a lovesick bear, he 



Raged through ' the londe ' of Tipperary. 



His cheeks grew thin and wond'rous hairy. 



His visage long, bis aspect ' eerie,' 



His tout ensemble, faith, would scare ye. 



Amidst the wilds of Tipperary. 



Becoming hypochon-dri-ary. 



He sent for his apothecary, 



Who ordered 'balm' and 'saponary,* 



Herbs rare to find in Tipperary. 



In his potations ever wary. 



His choicest drink was ' home gooseberry,' 



On ' swipes,' skim-milk, and smallest beer, he 



Scanted rhyme for his Tipperary. 



Had he imbibed good old Madeira, 



Drank ' pottle-deep ' of golden sherry. 



Of FalstafF's sack, or ripe canary, 



No rhyme had lack'd for Tipperary. 



Or had his tastes been literary, 



He might have found extemporary. 



Without the aid of dictionary. 



Some fitting rhyme for Tipperary. 



Or had he been an antiquary. 



Burnt ' midnight oil ' in his library. 



Or been of temper less ' camsteary,' 



Rhymes had not lack'd for Tipperary. 



He paced about his aviary. 



Blew up, sky-high, his secretary, 

 And then in wrath and anger sware he, 

 There was no rhyme for Tipperary." 



May we not say with Touchstone, " I'll rhyme 

 you so, eight years together ; dinners, and suppers, 

 and sleeping hours excepted : it is the right but- 

 ter-woman's rank to market." J, M. B. 



SHAKSFEARE EMENDATIONS. 



CVol. vi., p. 312.) 



I cannot receive Mr. Cornish's substitution 

 (p. 312.) of "chommer" for clamour in the Win- 

 ters Tale, Act IV. Sc. 3. In my opinion, clamour 

 is nearly or altogether the right word, but wrongly 

 spelt. We have a verb to clam, which, as con- 

 nected with clammy, we use for sticking with glu- 

 tinous matter ; but which originally must, like the 

 kindred German klemmen, have signified to press, 

 to squeeze ; for the kind of wooden vice used by 

 harness-makers is, at least in some places, called 

 a clams. I therefore suppose the clown to have 

 said clam, or perhaps clammer (i. e. hold) your 

 tongues. 



Highly plausible as is Mb. C.'s other emendation 

 in the same place of 2 Henry IV., Act III. Sc. 1., 

 I cannot receive it either. In Shakspeare the word 

 clow7i is almost always nearly equivalent to the 

 Spanish gracioso, and denotes humour ; and surely 

 we cannot suppose it to be used of the ship-boy. 

 Besides, a verb is wanted, as the causal particle /or 

 is as usual to be understood before "Uneasy lies," 

 &c. I see no objection whatever to the common 

 reading, though possibly the poet wrote : 

 " Then, happy hoy, lie down." 



There never, in my opinion, was a happier 

 emendation than that oi guidon for guard; On, in 

 Henry V., Act IV. Sc. 2. ; and its being made by 

 two persons independently, gives it — as Mr. Col- 

 lier justly observes of palpable for capable in As 

 You Like It — additional weight. We are to 

 recollect that a Frenchman is the speaker. I find 

 guidon used for banner in the following lines of 

 Clement Marot (Elegie III.) : 



" De Fermete le grand guidon sulvrons," 

 and — 



" Cestuy guidon et triomphante enseigne, 

 Nous devons suyvre : Amour le nous enseigne." 



The change of a sea of troubles to assay of 

 troubles in Hamlet is very plausible, and ought 

 perhaps to be received. So also is Sib F. Madden's 

 of /ace for case (which last is downright nonsense) 

 in Twelfth Night, Act V. Sc. 1. But I would 

 just hint that as all the rest of the Duke's speech is 

 in rhyme, it is not impossible that the poet may 

 have written — 



« O thou dissembling cub ! what wilt thou be 



■ . When time hath sow'd a grizzle upon thee ? " 



