LIBRARY OF OLD AUTHORS. 367 



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

 which an astrolabe is spoken of " with points and cerclea 

 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 

 jwint-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 wj'ld wey I hold it were, 

 The wey to wend, I you swere, 

 Ye bot [by] the dey may se." (Vol. I. p. 19.) 



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

 On page 54 of the same volume we have, 



" Herd i neuere bi no leuedi 

 Hote hendinesse and curteysi." 



The use of the word bi/ as in this passage would seem 

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

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

 Any boy knows that without sometimes means vn/ess 

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



