June 7. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



455 



word " pensive," which he proposes instead. In 

 the first place, the passages your correspondent 

 quotes, show Angelo to be "strict," "firm," "pre- 

 cise," to be " a man whose blood is very snow- 

 broth," &c., but certainly not "pensive" in the 

 common acceptation of the word. Secondly, he 

 fails to show that, if Shakspeare meant by " pen- 

 sive " anything more than thoughtful in the passages 

 he cites, he meant anything so strong as religiously 

 melancholy, which would be the sense required to 

 be of any service to him as an epithet to the word 

 " guards." 



I will now, with your permission, call attention 

 to what I consider an oversight of enquirers into 

 this subject. The conditions required, as your 

 correspondent well states, are " that the word 

 adopted shall be (1) suitable to the reputed 

 character of Angelo ; (2) an appropriate epithet 

 to the word ' guards ; ' (3) of the proper metre 

 in both places ; and (4) similar in appearance to 

 the word ' prenzie.' " ISTow, it does not appear 

 to have been considered that this similarity was 

 to be sought in manuscript, and not in print; 

 or, if considered, that much more radical errors 

 arise from illegible manuscripts than the critics 

 have allowed for. In his " Introductory Notice," 

 Mr. Knight says the word {prenzie) " appears to 

 hare been inserted by the printer in despair of 

 deciphering the author's manuscript." Yet in his 

 note to the text he has printed it, together with 

 three suggested emendations, as though he would 

 call attention to the comparative similarity in 

 print. But if, as all have hitherto assumed, the 

 printer had read the first three or four letters 

 correctly, is it not most probable that the context, 

 with the word recurring within four lines, would 

 have set him right? And his having twice in- 

 serted a woi'd having no apparent meaning, is it 

 not as probable that he was misled at the very 

 beginning of the word by some careless combina- 

 tion of letters presenting accidentally the same 

 appearance in the two instances ? Having thus 

 shown that the search for the true word may have 

 been too restricted, I will proceed to make a final 

 suggestion. 



When Claudio exclaims in surprise — 

 " The ( ) Angelo ! " 



it is quite clear that the epithet which has to be 

 supplied is one in total contrast to the character 

 just given of hiin by Isabella. What is this 

 character ? 



" This outward-satnted deputy, — 

 Whose settled visage and deliberate word 

 Nips youtli i' the head, and follies doili eininew, 

 As falcon doth the fowl, — 1» i/et a devil; 

 Hi$ jittli within bciny cast, he would appear 

 A pond as tkep as hell." 



To this it appears to me Claudio would naturally 

 exclaim : 



" The sainlly Angelo I " 



and Isabella, as naturally following up the con- 

 trast, would continue — 



" O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell, 



The damned'st body to invest and cover 



In saintly guards !" 



My acquaintance with the handwriting of the 

 age is very limited ; but I have no doubt there 

 are possible scrawls in which saintlie might be 

 made to look like prenzie. If any one knows a 

 better word, let him propose it ; only I beg leave 

 to warn him against pious, which I have already 

 tried, and for various reasons rejected. 



Samuel IIicksox. 



St. John's Wood, :May 24. 1851. 



^'■Prenzie" in '■'■ Measure for Measure. ^^ — It must 

 be gratifying to the correspondents of " Notes 

 AND Queries" to know that their suggestions re- 

 ceive attention and consideration, even though the 

 result be unfavourable to their views. I am 

 therefore induced to express, as an individual 

 opinion, that the reading of the word " prenzie," 

 as proposed by Leges, does not appear more satis- 

 factory than those already suggested in the various 

 editions. 



Of these, " precise" is by far the most consonant 

 with the sense of the context ; while " pensive," 

 almost exclusively restricted to the single meaning, 

 contemplative, — action of mind rather than strict- 

 ness of manner, — is scarcely applicable to the 

 hypocritical safeguard denounced by Isabella. 



From the original word, too, the deviation of 

 "precise" is less than that of "pensive." Since 

 the former substitutes e for n, and transposes two 

 letters in immediate proximity, while the latter 

 substitutes v for r, and transposes it from one end 

 of the word to tlie other. 



But "precise" has the immeasurable advantage 

 of repetition by Shakspeare himself, in the same 

 play, applied to the same person, and coiqjled with 

 the same word " guard," which is undoubtedly 

 used in both instances in tlie metaphorical sense of 

 clef ensive covering, and not in that of "coimtenance 

 or demeanour," nor yet in that of " the formal 

 trimmings of scholastic robes : " 



" Lord Angelo is precise ; 



Stands at a guard with envy — 



O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell 



The damned'st body to invest and cover 



In precise guards." 

 Therefore, while I cannot quite join with Mr. 

 Knight in understanding "precise" as applicable 

 to the formal cut of Angclo's garments, I never- 

 theless agree with him, on other grounds, in 

 awarding a decided preference to the reading of 

 the German critic. A. E. B. 



The Obsolete Word " Prenzie." — I agree with 

 your correspondent Leges, that the several emen- 

 dations which have been suggested nf the word 

 " prenzie," do not " answer all the necessary con- 



