LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 367 



any kind." Then follows a quotation from Gower, in 

 which an astrolabe is spoken of " with points and cercles 

 merveilous," and the note proceeds thus : " Shakespeare 

 makes use of a similar figure of speech in the Tempest, 

 I. 2, where the following dialogue takes place between 

 Prospero and Ariel : 



' Prosp. Hast thou, spirit, 

 Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee ? 

 Ar. In every article.' " 



Neither the proposed etymology nor the illustration 

 requires any remark from us. We will only say that 

 point-device is excellently explained and illustrated by 

 Wedgwood. 



We will give a few more examples out of many to 

 show Mr. Hazlitt's utter unfitness for the task he has 

 undertaken. In the " Kyng and the Hermyt " are the 

 following verses, 



" A wyld wey, I hold, it were 

 The wey to wend, I you swere, 

 Bot ye the dey may se," 



meaning simply, " I think it would be a wild thing (in 

 you) to go on your way unless you wait for daylight." 

 Mr. Hazlitt punctuates and amends thus : 



" A wyld wey I hold it were, 

 The wey to wend, I you swere, 

 Ye bot [by] the dey may se." (Vol. I. p. 10.) 



The word bot seems a stumbling-block to Mr. Hazlitt. 

 On page 54 of the same volume we have, 



" Herd i neuere bi no leuedi 

 Hole hendinesse and curteysi." 



The use of the word by as in this passage would seem 

 familiar enough, and yet in the " Hye Way to the 

 Spittel Hous" Mr. Hazlitt explains it as meaning be. 

 Any boy knows that urithout sometimes means unless 

 (Fielding uses it often in that sense), but Mr. Hazlitt 



