LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 309 



of average wits cannot be reckoned upon, as we see, to 

 drive them up as far as the temperate degree of mis 

 prints in one syllable, and those, too, in their native 

 tongue. A fortiori, then, Mr. Halliwell is bound to lend 

 us the aid of his great learning wherever his author has 

 introduced foreign words and the old printers have 

 made pie of them. In a single case he has accepted his 

 responsibility as dragoman, and the amount of his suc 

 cess is not such as to give us any poignant regret that 

 he has everywhere else left us to our own devices. On 

 p. 119, Vol. II., Francischina, a Dutchwoman, exclaims, 

 " 0, mine aderliver love." Here is Mr. Halliwell's note. 

 " Aderliver. This is the speaker's error for alder-liever, 

 the best beloved by all." Certainly not "the speaker's 

 error," for Marston was no such fool as intentionally to 

 make a Dutchwoman blunder in her own language. But 

 is it an error for alderliever ? No, but for alderliefster. 

 Mr. Halliwell might have found it in many an old Dutch 

 song. For example, No. 96 of Hoffmann von Fallersle- 

 ben's " Niederlandische Volkslieder" begins thus : 



"Mijn hert altijt heeft verlanghen 

 Naer u, die alderliefsle mijn." 



But does the word mean "best beloved by all'"? No 

 such thing, of course; but "best beloved of all," 

 that is, by the speaker. 



In "Antonio and Mellida" (Vol. I. pp. 50, 51) occur 

 some Italian verses, and here we hoped to fare better ; 

 for Mr. Halliwell (as we learn from the title-page of his 

 Dictionary) is a member of the " Reale Academia di 

 Firenze? This is the Accademia della Crusca, founded for 

 the conservation of the Italian language in its purity, and 

 it is rather a fatal symptom that Mr. Halliwell should in 

 dulge in the heresy of spelling Accademia with only one c. 

 But let us see what our Della Cruscan's notions of con 

 serving are. Here is a specimen : 



