NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUJI OF INTER-COMMUNICATION 



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LITERx\.RY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



" 'WTien found, make a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 38.1 



Saturday, July 20. 1850. 



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 t Stinnped Edition ^^^ d. 



CONTENTS. Page 



Notes : -~ 



Meaning of " Delighted " as used by Shakspeare, by 



S. Hickson 11.3 



Authors of " Tlie Kolliad," by Lord Braybrooke] - 114 



Notes on Milton ------ 113 



Derivation of Easter, by J. Sansom _ . . 115 

 Folk Lore ; — Passages of Death, by Dr. Guest— Divina- 

 tion at Marriages ------ 116 



Francis Lenton the Poet, by Dr. Rimbanlt - - 117 

 Minor Notes: — Lilburn or Prynne — Peep of Day — 



Martinet — Guy's Porridge Pot - - - - 118 



QOERIES : — 



Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding, by John Mlland 

 Stukeley*s *' Stonehenge," by Henry Cmiliffe 

 Athelstane's Form of Donation — Meaning of " Somagia," 



by J. Sansom ------ 



Miiior Qu'-ries : — Charade — " Smoke Money" — " Ra- 



pirto contrarius orbi " — Lord Richard Christophilus — 



Fiz-gigs — Specimens of Erica in Bloom — Miciiael 



Scott the Wizard— Stone Chalices 



Replies : — 



Ulrich Ton Hutten and the " Epistola; Obscurorum 



Virorum," by S. W Smger - - - . 



Caxton's Printing-office, by J. G. Nichols 



The New Temple .-..-. 



Strangers in the House of Commons - - - 



Replies to Minor Queries: — Morganatic Marriage — 



Umbrellas — Bands — Scarf — Jpwisli Music — North 



Side? of Churchyards unconsecrated — "Men are but 



Children " &c Ventriloquism — Cromwell's Estates 



— Magor — Vincent Gookin — ,All-to brake - 



MiSCELLANEOlS : — 



Notes on Books, .Sales, Catalogues, Sales, &c. 

 Books anil Odd Volumes Wanted . - - 



Notices to Correspondents . - - - 



Advertisements ...... 



119 

 119 



120 



- 120 



121 

 l-i2 

 123 

 124 



125 



127 

 127 

 127 



128 



flate^. 



WHAT IS THE MEANING OF " DELIGHTED," AS 

 SOMETIMES USED BY SHAKSPEAHE. 



I wi.sli to call attention to the peculiar use of a 

 word, or rather to a peculiar word, in Shakspeare, 

 which I do not recollect to have met with in any 

 other writer. I say a " pecidiar word," because, 

 althoiijih the verb To dellf^/u is well known, and 

 of general use, the word, the same in form, to 

 which I refer, is not only of different meaninj^, but, 

 as I conceive, of distinct derivation ; the non- 

 recognition of which has led to a misconception of 

 the meaning of one of the finest passages in Shak- 

 speare. Tiie first passage in which it occurs, that 



I shall quote, is the well-known one from Jifeasttre 



for Measure : 



" Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ; 

 To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; 

 This sensible warm motion to become 

 A kneaded clod ; and the deliyhted spirit 

 To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 

 In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice ; 

 To be imprison'd in the viewless winds, 

 And blown with restless violence round about 

 The pendant world." Act iii. So. I. 



Now, if we examine the construction of this 

 passage, we shall find that it appears to have been 

 the object of the writer to separate, and place in 

 juxtaposition with each other, the conditions of the 

 body and the spirit, each being imagined under 

 circumstances to excite repulsion or terror in a 

 sentient being. The mind sees the former lying 

 in "cold obstruction," rotting, changed from a 

 " sensible warm motion " to " a kneaded clod," 

 every circumstance leaving the impression of dull, 

 dead weight, deprived of force and motion. The 

 spirit, on the other hand, is imagined under cir- 

 cumstances that give the most vivid picture con- 

 ceivable of utter powerlessness : 



" Imprison'd in the viewless winds, 

 And blown with restless violence round about 

 The pendant world." 



To call the spirit here " delighted," in our sense 

 of the term, would be absurd; and no explanation 

 of the passage in this sense, however ingenious, is 

 intelligible. That it is intended to represent the 

 spirit simply as lightened, made light, relieved from 

 the weight of matter, I am convinced; and this is 

 my view of the meaning of the word in the pre- 

 sent inst.ince. 



Delight is naturally formed by the participle 

 de and light, to make light, in the same way as 

 "debase," to make base, " defile," to make foul. 

 The analogy is not ([uite so perfect in such words 

 as "define^" "defile" (file), "deliver," "depart," 

 &c. ; yet they all may be considered of the same 

 class. The last of these is used with us only in the 

 sense of to go away; in Shakspcare's time (and 

 Shakspeare so uses it) it meant also to part, or 

 part with. A correspondent of Mr. Knight's sug- 



^VoL. IT.— No. 38. 



