274 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 76. 



Tyrwhitt saw the necessity of reading hag in- 

 stead of nag, and says what follows seems to 

 prove it : 



" She once being loof d, 

 The noble ruin of her magick, Antony, 

 Claps on his sea-wing." 



It is obvious that the poet would not have made 

 Scarus speak of Antony as the noble ruin of Cleo- 

 patra's magiuir, and of his manhood and honour, 

 and in the same breath designate him as a ribald. 

 He would be much more likely to apply the 

 epithet lewd hag to such an enchantress as Cleo- 

 patra, than that of ribald-rid nag, which I feel 

 convinced never entered the imagination of the 

 poet. 



Imperfect acquaintance with our older language 

 has been too frequently the weak point of the 

 commentators ; and we see here our eminent lexi- 

 cographer confessing his ignorance of a word 

 wliich the dictionaries of the poet's age would 

 have enabled him readily to explain. For although 

 we have not the participle ribaudred, which may 

 be peculiar to the poet, in Bai-et's Alvearie we find 

 " Ribaudrie, vilanie in actes or wordes, filthiness, 

 uncleanness" — "A W6a?<f/ro!w and filtliie tongue, 

 03 obscoenum et impudicum : " in Minsheu, n- 

 baudrie and ribauldrie, which is the prevailing 

 orthography of the word, and indicates its sound 

 and derivation from the French, rather than from 

 the Italian ribalderia. 



That nagge is a misprint for hagge, will be evi- 

 dent from the circumstance, that in the first folio we 

 have a similar error in the Meri-y Wives of Wind- 

 sor, Act IV. Sc. 2., where instead of "you witch, you 

 hagge," it is misprinted " you witch, you rogge." 

 It is observable that hagge is the form in which 

 the word is most frequently found in the folios, 

 and it is the epithet the poet applies to a witch or 

 enchantress. 



I cannot, therefore, but consider the alteration 

 of the text by Steevens as one of the most violent 

 and uncalled-for innovations of which he has 

 been guilty; and he himself seems to have had 

 his misgivings, for his observation that Sliakspeare 

 "is not always very nice about his versification" 

 was meant as an apology for marring its harmony 

 by the substitution of ribald-rid for the poet's own 

 ribaudred. 



It is to me a matter of surprise that Mr. Collier 

 and Mr. Knight, in their laudable zeal for ad- 

 herence as closely as possible to the old co]nes, 

 should not have perceived the injury done both to 

 the sense and harmony of the passase by this 

 unwarrantable substitution. S. W. Singer. 



BROWNE S BRITANNIA S PASTORALS. 



I have lately been amusing myself by readini^ 

 the small volume with this title published in 

 Clarke's Cabinet Series, 1845. 



Among the many pleasing passages that I met 

 with in its pages, two in particular struck me as 

 being remarkable for their beauty ; but I find that 

 neither of them is cited by either Ellis or Camp- 

 bell. (See Ellis, Specimens of the Early English 

 Poets, 4th edition, corrected, 1811; and Campbell, 

 Specimens of the JBritish Poets, 1819.) 



Indeed Campbell says of Browne : 



" His poetry is not without beauty ; but it is the 

 beauty of mere landscape and allegory, without the 

 manners and passions that constitute human interest." 

 — Vol. iii. p. 323. 



Qualified by some such expression as — too often 

 — generally — in almost every instance, — the last 

 clause might have passed, — standing as it does, it 

 appears to me to give anything but a fair idea of 

 the poetry of the Pastorals. My two favourites 

 are the " Description of Night " — 



" Now great Hyperion left his golden throne," &c., 

 (consisting of twenty-six lines) — book ii. song 1. 

 (Clarke, p. 18G.); and the "Lament of the Little 

 Shepherd for his friend Pliilocel " — 



" With that the little shepherd left his task," &c., 

 (fortv-four lines) — book ii. song 4. (Clarke, 

 p. 278.) 



If you will allow me to quote a short extract 

 from each passage, it may enable the reader to see 

 how far I am justified in protesting against Camp- 

 bell's criticism ; and I will then try to support the 

 pretensions of the last, b}' showing that much of 

 the very same imagery that it contains is to be 

 found in other writiuirs of acknowled'^ed merit: — 



I. FROM THE "DK.SCRIPTION OF NIGHT." 



" And as Night's chariot through the air was driven, 

 Clamour grew dumb, unheard was shepherd's song, 

 And silence girt tlie woods : no warbling tongue 

 Talk'd to the echo ; satyrs broke their dance, 

 .\nd all the upper world lay in a trance. 

 Only the curled streams soft chidings kept, 

 .\nd litlle gales that from the green leaf swept 

 Dry summer's dust, in fearful whisp'rings stirr'd, 

 As loath to waken any singing bird." 



II. FROM THE " LAMEXT OF THE LITTLE SHEPHERD." 



" See ! yonder hill where he was wont to sit, 

 A cloud doth keep the golden sun from it, 

 And for his seat, (as teaching us) hath made 

 A mourning covering with a scowling shade. 

 The dew in every flower, this morn, hath lain, 

 Longer than it was wont, this side the plain, 

 Belike they mean, since my best friend must die, 

 To shed their silver drops as he goes by. 

 Not all tlus day here, nor in coming hither, 

 Heard I the sweet birds tune their songs together, 

 Except one nightingale in yonder dell 

 Sigh'd a sad elegy for Philocel. 

 Near whom a wood-dove kept no small ado. 

 To bid me, in her language, ' Do so too ' — 

 The wether's bell, that leads our flock around, 

 Yields, as methinks, this day a deader sound. 



