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 adeiiiver love." Here is Mr. Halliwell's note. 

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

 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 alderhefste 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 Delia Cruscaii's notions of con- 

 serving are. Here is a specimen : 



