Aug. 30. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



159 



sented by the " vapour" for which A. E. B. con- 

 tends. As, however, this gentleman says such is 

 its meaning " beyond all doubt," (a rather dog- 

 matic way of settling the question, by the way, 

 seeing that a doubt had been thrown upon it in 

 the very paper he has engaged himself to answer,) 

 I should like to be informed if there is any autho- 

 rity for the use of the word in Shakspeare, or his 

 cotemporaries, as mere "haze" or "vapour." I 

 have generally understood it to mean a particular 

 description of cloud, or, as some say, more pro- 

 perly, the course of the clouds in motion. 



In fine, as Prospero did undoubtedly point to 

 the dissolution of the globe and all that it con- 

 tained, it is quite clear that it could in such case 

 leave neither "cloud" nor "vapour," nor any- 

 thing else behind it. The simple question then 

 remains : Is the word rack^ as elsewhere used by 

 Shakspeare and his contemporaries, logically ap- 

 plicable there ? A Looker-on. 



Dawlish, Aug. 16. 1851. 



Wolken Zug, English Term corresponding to. — 

 Coleridge {Death of Wallensteiji, Act V. Sc. 1.) 

 gives the lines — 



" Fast fly the clouds, the sickle of the moon 

 Struggling, darts snatches of uncertain light." 



as a translation of 



" schnell geht 



Der Wolken Zug ; die Mondes fichel wankt 

 Und durch die Nacht zuckt ungewisse Helle." 



In a note on this passage he says : 



" The words wanken and schweben are not easily 

 translated. The English words by which we attempt 

 to render them are either vulgar or pedantic, or not of 

 sufHciently general application. So 'der Wolken Zug,' 

 the draft, the procession of clouds, the masses of the 

 clouds sweep onward in swift stream." 



On reading this, it struck me that the English 

 word rack exactly expresses the meaning of " der 

 Wolken Zug." 



Malone, in his note on the Tempest, Act IV. 

 Sc. 1., says: 



" Rack is generally used for a lody of clouds, or 

 ratlier for the course of clouds in motion." 



I add a few instances of the use of this word, 

 many of which are collected in the note I have 

 referred to. 



In Antonij and Cleopatra — 



" That which is now a horse, even with a thought 

 The rack dislimns." 



In Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess — 

 " shall I stray 

 In the middle air, and stay 

 The sailing rack." 



In Dryden's tenth JEncid — 



" the doubtful rack of heaven 

 Stands without motioa." 



The term scud, used by sailors, seems to express 

 the same idea. X. Z. 



BICHABD BOLLE OF HAMPOLE. 

 (Vol. iv., pp. 49. 116.) 



The productions of the writer known by the 

 name of the Hermit of Hampole have been 

 hitherto much neglected : they afford copious 

 illustrations of ancient manners, and are very 

 valuable in a philological point of view. I would 

 especially name the Speculum Vita, or Mirrour of 

 Life, of which I possess two MSS. in entirely dis- 

 tinct dialects. 



Your Cambridge correspondent has shown that 

 the Metrical Sermons contain interesting passages 

 also illustrative of manners ; and as the extracts 

 he has made have given occasion to some glossarial 

 Queries from an Oxford correspondent, J. E., 

 should they not be more satisfactorily answered 

 by C. H., to whom they are addressed, perhaps the 

 following attempt to resolve them may not be 

 unacceptable. 



1. By the devetiisch most probably the Danish 

 is meant, which we find elsewhere written Deniske, 

 Daniske, and Danske. 



2. Guijstroun should be qwjstroun, which is used 

 by Chaucer in the Itomaunt of the Rose, and sig- 

 nifies a scullion, as is evident from this passage. 

 It is from the O. Fr. quistron or cuistron. Thus in 

 K. Alisaunder (Weber's Metr. Rom.), v. 2511.: 



" Ther n'as knave no quistron 

 That he no liadde god waryson." 



3. By Chaunsemlees we may probably under- 

 stand schoon-semeles, signifying, no doubt, sandals. 



4. " Hir chere was ay semand sori," which your 

 correspondent says is " an expression very strange 

 to English verse," is nothing more than the old 

 form of seeming : her cheer was ever sorrowful or 

 sad-seeming. The termination and or ande, as well 

 as inde, was formerly used where we now have 

 ing. E.xamples are numerous of this form ; as 

 semand and setmjnd, spekand, strikinde, &c. &c. 



In Gawin Douglas, Eneados, we have glaid- 

 semhland for an appearance of joy or gladness, a 

 cheerful countenance ; and in b. ii. v, 159. : 

 " As that drcry unarmyt wicht was sted 

 And with eine* blent about semynful red." 



There are other words which appear in an un- 

 common form in these extracts; for instance, telid 

 and telilh, hirchtd and hirching ; and the Ibllowing 

 plural ibrm I do not recollect to have observed 

 elsewhere : 



" For ser deyntes and many mes 

 Make men falle in many sichies." 



* Your correspondent's extract has ane; but ei/es 

 are evidently meant. 



