May 7. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



451 



the comedies of the Bard, and occurs repeatedly in 

 his works. The passage would then run thus — 

 " If such a one will smile and stroke his beard, 

 Bid sorrow loag — cry hem ! when he should groan." 



In p. 73. we find — 



" Soul-tainted flesh," &c. 



substituted for '•'■foul tainted flesh;" and we are 

 told that the critics liave been all wrong who sup- 

 posed that Shakspeare intended any " metaphor 

 from the kitchen ! " If so, what meaning can be 

 attached to the line — 



" And salt too little which may season give?" 



If that is not a metaphor from the kitchen, I know 

 not what could be ? I still believe that " foul 

 tainted flesh " is the correct reading. The expres- 

 sion " sow/- tain ted flesh" is not intelligible. It 

 should rather be '■'•soul-tainting flesh." Tlie soul 

 may be tainted by the flesh : but how the Jlesh can 

 be soul-tainted, I cannot understand. 



Turning further back, to p, 69., we find it 

 asserted, quite dogmatically, that the word 

 " truths " of the folios ought to be " proofs ; " but 

 no reason whatever is offered for the change. I 

 cannot help thinking that " seeming truths " is 

 much the most poetical expression ; while in 

 " seeming proofs " there is something like redun- 

 dancy, — to say nothing of the phrase being infi- 

 nitely more common-place ! 



In the play of the Tempest, p. 4., the beautiful 

 passage — 



" he being thus lorded 

 Not only with what my revenue yielded," &c., 



is degraded into " he being thus loaded,^'' &c. Can 

 there be a moment's doubt that " lorded " was 

 the word used by Shakspeare ? It is completely 

 in his style, which was on all occasions to coin 

 verbs out of substantives, if he could. " He being 

 thus lorded" i. e. ennobled " with what my reve- 

 nue yielded," is surely a far superior expression 

 to " being thus loaded" — as if the poet were speak- 

 ing of a costermonger's donkey ! 

 Again, in p. 10. : 



" Wherefore this ghastly looking ? " 



or, this ghastly appearance ? Who will venture to 

 say, that the substitution of " thus ghastly looking " 

 is not decidedly a change for the worse ? 

 In the Merchant of Venice, p. 118.: 



" and leave itself unfurnished," 



is altered to " leave itself unfinished !" I confess 

 I cannot see the slightest warrant for this change. 

 The words — 



" having made one, 

 Methinks it should have power to steal hoth his," 



distinctly show that the author was alluding to the 

 eye only, and not to the poi^trait : and how could 

 the eye (already made') describe itself as unfinished? 



Surely the sense is unfurnished; that is, unfur^ 

 nished with its companion, or probably with the 

 other accessories required to complete the portrait. 

 P. 119. has the line — 



" And swearing 'til my very roof was dry," 

 transmogrified into — 



" And swearing 'til my very tongue was dry." 



Now, why " this lame and impotent conclusion ? " 

 What can be a more common expression than the 

 "roof of the mouth?" and it is just the part 

 which is most affected by a sensation of dryness 

 and pricking, after any excitement in speaking, 

 whereas the tongue is not the member that suffers! 

 In As You Like It, p. 127., in the line — 

 " Mistress dispatch you with your safest haste," 



the last two words are made " fastest haste ; " 

 which, to say the least, are tautology, and are like 

 talking of the " highest height," or the " deepest 

 depth ! " Surely, the original form of words, 

 " Dispatch you with your safest haste;" that is, 

 with as much haste as is consistent with your per- 

 sonal safety — is a much more dignified and 

 polished address from the duke to a lady, and at 

 the same time more poetical ! 

 In p. 129., 



" The constant service of the antique world," 

 is converted into 



" The constant favour of the antique world : " 



in which line I cannot discover any sense. If I 

 might hazard a guess, I should suggest that the 

 error is in the second word, " service, * and that it 

 ought to be " servants : " 



" When servants sweat for duty, not for meed." 



In the Taming of the Shreiv, p. 143., the substi- 

 tution oi '■'■ Warwickshire ale" for "sheer ale" 

 strikes me as very far-fetched, and wholly unne- 

 cessary. There is no defect of sense in the term 

 " sheer ale." Sly means to say, he was " fourteen 

 pence on the score for ale alone:" just as one 

 speaks of " sheer nonsense," i. e. nothing but non- 

 sense, " sheer buffoonery," " sheer malice," &c. 

 Why should Sly talk of being in debt for War- 

 wickshire ale at Wincot ? If he had been drinking 

 ale from Staffordshire, or Derbyshire, or Kent, he 

 might possibly have named tlie county It came 

 from ; but to talk of Warwickshire ale within a few 

 miles of Stratford-on-Avon seems absurd. It is as 

 If a man came from Barclay and Perkins's, and 

 talked of having been drinking " London porter." 



In p. 144., I submit, with great deference, that 

 turning " Aristotle's checks " Into " Aristotle's 

 ethics" is the very reverse of an improvement. 

 What can be more intelligible than the line — 

 " And so devote to Aristotle's checks;" 



that is, to the checks which Aristotle's rules im- 

 pose upon profligacy ? The Idea Is more poetical, 



