Aug. 23. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



135 



" Minstrel's " information, that the bridal actually 

 " befel in a short space ; " 



" And how brave sons and daughters fair 

 Blest Teviot's flower and Cranstoun's heir." 

 And now a word touching M.'s hint of giving 

 a corner in the " Notes and Queries " to the 

 " Prophecy of Criticism." If ho will forgive me 

 the remark, I do not think the phrase a very happy 

 one. Criticism does not prophecij, it pronounces, 

 and Is valuable only in proportion to the judgment, 

 taste, and knowledge displayed in its sentence. 

 Above all, the critic should be impartial, and by 

 no means allow himself to be biassed by either 

 prejudice or prepossession, whether personal or 

 political. Still less should he sacrifice his subject 

 iu order to prove the acuteness and point of his 

 own weapon, which is too often dipped in gall 

 instead of honey. To what extent these qualifi- 

 cations are found in our modern reviewers let each 

 man answer according to his own experience : but 

 as critics are not infallible, and as authors generally 

 see more, feel more, and think more than the 

 ordinary run of critics and readers give them credit 

 for, I doubt not that a place will always be open 

 in the " Notes and Qderies," in answer to the 

 fallacies of criticism, wherever they may be 

 detected. A Eori>erek. 



MEANING OF " PRENZIE." 



(Vol. iv., pp. 63, 64.) 



As your correspondent A. E. B. has endeavoured 

 t« strengthen the case in favour of the word precise 

 being tiie proper reading of " prenzie," will you 

 allow me to suggest a few flirther points for con- 

 sideration in inquiring into the meaning of this 

 "word ? 



I am afraid )'our etymological readers are in 

 danger of being misled by the plausible theory 

 that "prenzie" is not an eiTor of the press or 

 copyist, but a true word. In reference to this 

 view of the case, as taken by your several corre- 

 spondents, allow me to suggest, first : that Shak- 

 speare was no word-coiner ; secondly, that, for 

 application in a passage of such gravitj, he would 

 not have been guilty of the affectation of using a 

 -newly-imported Scotch word ; and, thirdly, that, 

 as we may reasonably infer that he was essentially 

 popular in the choice of words, so he used such as 

 were intelligible to his audience. A word of force 

 and weight sufficient to justify its use twice in the 

 passage in question, if merely popular, would surely 

 not so entirely have gone out of use; whereas if 

 merely literary it would still be to be found in 

 books. 



My greatest objection to the word precise is its 

 inharmoniousness in the position it holds in the 

 verse ; and this objection would not be removed 

 by adopting Ma. Singer's suggestion of accen- 



tuating the first syllable, which must then be 

 slioit, and the word pronounced pressis ! How 

 horrible ! Besides, if that were tlie case, as Shak- 

 speare does not vary in his accent, the corrobora- 

 tory passage on which the advocates of precise 

 depend would read, then, thus : 



" Lord Angelo is pressis. 

 Stands at a guard with envy, scarce confisses," &c. ; 



the double ending rhyme giving it the air of bur- 

 lesque. Tiie ap[)ropriateness o? precise, moreover, 

 depends chiefly upon its being assumed to express 

 the quality of a precision, wliieh has not only not 

 been proved, but which I am inclined very much 

 to doubt. 



Has it not been a true instinct that has guided 

 the early English commentators to the choice of 

 words of the form of " princeZy," " priestZy," and 

 myself to " samtli/ ; " and do not the two passages 

 taken together require this form in reference to a 

 character such as that of a prince, a priest, or a 

 saint f For instance, the term pious might be 

 applied to Angelo, equally well with priestly or 

 saintly ; but it could not correctly be applied to 

 garb or vestments, while either of the latter could. 



In what respect is the "cunning" of the "livery 

 of hell" shown, if "the damnedst body" be not 

 invested in "guards" of the most opposite charac- 

 ter ? Shakspeare never exactly repeats himself, 

 though we frequently find the same idea varied 

 in form and differently applied. The following 

 passage from Othello, Act II. Sc. 3., appears to 

 be intended to convey the same idea as the one in 

 question, and thus strengthens the opinion that, if 

 not saintly, one of like form and meaning was 

 intended : 



" Divinity of hell ! 

 When devils will their blackest «ins put on, 

 They do suggest at first with ueavenly shows, 

 As I do now." 



Any of your readei-s who are acquainted with 

 the common careless handwriting in use at the 

 time, will greatly oblige by informing me if it be 

 beyond likelihood that a word commencing with 

 the letter s should have been read as though it 

 began with p. 



I have no intention of continuing the contest on 

 the meaning of " eisell," nor sliould I have felt it 

 nec'fssary to notice the remarks of J. S. W. in 

 No. 91. '^^'^ they been .avowedly in opposition to 

 mine and 21^- Singer's. But when the advocate 

 assumes the eriT^i'iCj and proceeds to sum up the 

 evidence and piiss judgment, I feel it only right 

 that those points in w.'uch he has misrepresented 

 my argument should not be passed over. I did 

 nrttfiAy '.'tha|-tjie word cannot mean a river be- 

 cause the definite article is omitted before it." 

 What I did say was, that " English idiom requires 

 an article unless it be personified.'" Milton's lines 

 merely 'jonflrm this, though, I am willing' to admit 



