Aug. 27. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



195 



or leisure would then permit : I am now resolued 

 (notwithstanding the vnkind acceptation of my iirst 

 fruits, whidi then I feared and liath since faine out, is 

 a sufficient release in law of the condition) to make the 

 same in some sort absolute (tliough not altogether 

 according to the fulnesse of my first purpose), and to be- 

 come a building word unto me." 



I apprelicnd that this parallel instance is all 

 that is wanting to preserve, for the future, the 

 reading of the first folio unimpaired. 



The third passage on which I have a remark to 

 offer, is that much tormented one in Act III. 

 Sc. 1., which stands in my first folio thus : 

 " Cla. The prenzie, Angelo? 



ha. Oh, 'tis the cunning liuerie of hell, 

 The damnest bodie to inuebt, and couer 

 In prenzie gardes," 



I need not say a word about the various sug- 

 gestions of prinizie, jyriestly, princely, precise, &c., 

 which have appeared from time to time ; my 

 business is solely with the original word in the 

 first folio. I have always felt sure that this is 

 none other than the poet's own word, and no error 

 of the printer ; for how could it be possible to 

 make a gross mistake in a word which occurs 

 twice within four lines, and one, moreover, so un- 

 usual ; the printer must surely have been able to 

 decipher the letters from one of the two written 

 speciu\ens. It will be observed that there is a 

 comma after prenzie in the original, indicating 

 that the word is a substantive, not an adjective. 

 Now what is tlie Italian for a prince? Not only 

 principe, but also prenze ; and in like manner we 

 find principessa and prenzessa, I have no doubt 

 that what Shakspeare did write was — 

 " The prenzie, Angelo ? " 



while a little lower down he converted the word 

 into an adjective : 



" To inuest and couer 

 In prenzie gardes." 



It is obvious to remark that this meaning of 

 prenzie exactly fits the sense: Angelo was a prince, 

 and he was clad in robes of office, adorned with 

 princely " gardes," or trappings. Shakspeare, no 

 doubt, was very well acquainted with Italian 

 tales and poems ; the word may have become 

 quite familiar to him. His intention here, in put- 

 ting the term in question into Claudio's mouth, 

 may have been to give an Italian character to the 

 scene, introducing thus the local term of dignity of 

 the deputy ; thus recalling the audience, by the 

 occurrence of a single word, to the scene of the 

 plot ; for though this is said to be in Vienna, yet 

 it is to be observed that not a name throughout 

 the play is German, everything is Italian. And 

 let it not be objected that the use of this Avord 

 involves an obscurity which Shakspeare would 

 have avoided; we are hardly able to judge, now- 

 a-days, whether a particular word was obscure or 



not in his time : at all events, there would be no 

 difficulty in adducing instances of what we should 

 call more obscure allusions, and I think tliere can 

 be little doubt that the well-educated in those 

 days well understood the Italian prenze to mean a 

 prince. H. C. K. 

 Rectory, Hereford. 



"Hamlet" and G. Steemns. — In Act I. Sc. 4., 



Horatio asks Hamlet : " What does this mean, my 



Lord?" (The noise of music within). Hamlet 



replies : 



" The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse. 



Keeps wassel, and the swaggering up-spring reels." 



G. Steevens, in a note of this passage, says: 

 " The swaggering up-spring was a German dance." 

 Is not the allusion directed to the king, whom 

 Hamlet describes as " a swaggering up-spring,'' or 

 " upstart ?" ShoiUd not the line — 



" O horrible, horrible, viost horrible ! " 



in the Ghost's narrative in the Jlfth scene, be given 

 to Hamlet ? James CoRNisn. 



Falmouth, 



i&inax J2atc5. 



Sir Fj-ancis Drake. — Having traversed the 

 globe within three years, his travels were thus 

 noticed by a poet of his day : 



" Drake, pererrati novit quern terminus orbis, 

 Quemque semel mundi vidit uterque Polus. 

 Si taceant homines, faciant te sidera notum, 

 Sol nescit coraitis non memor esse sui." 



Cleric US (D.) 



Similarity of Idea in St. Lulie and Juvenal. — 

 Examples of identity of expression existing be- 

 tween the Scriptures and ancient heathen writers 

 have already appeared in " N. & _Q." Permit me 

 to add the following passages, which appear to me 

 to afford an instance of fcimilarity of idea : 



" Aeyco viiiv, Zri eav ovroi aLtaTr'fjffOKUV, ol KiOoi iceKpa- 

 lorrai." — Luc. cap xix, v. 40. 



" Audis, 

 Jupiter, li£ec, nee Libra moves, quum mittere vocem 

 Debueras, vel raarmoreus, vel aeneus? 



Juven. Silt. xiii. v. 113. 



The satirist would seem to say (taking the scep- 

 tic's view), that even if Jupiter existed only in 

 brass and marble, the very statues would " cry 

 out " against the impious perjury. 



I drop my initials, and beg to subscribe myself 



Arch. Weir. 



Sincere. — Trench, On the Study of Words, 4th 

 ed., p. 197., says : 



" They would be pleased to learn that ' sincere ' may 

 be, I will not say that it is, without wax (sine cera), 

 as the best and finest honey should be." 



