7 



dinous green seas one red. Staunton finds it necessary to read, " mak- 

 ing the green zone red." ' 



So where Macbeth defies Banquo's ghost, ho says, " if trembling I 

 inhabit then, protest me the baby of a girl." "Inhabit" has dis- 



the sense of "stay within doors." Others suggest "inhibit," " in- 

 herit," " exhibit," "evitate," "evade it," "flinch at it," "I inhabit 

 then,"" I unknight me then." But Mr. White has hit the true sense of 

 the word when he cites "oh Thou who inhahites! the praises of Israel." 



Indeed, the amount of stupid and unnecessary criticism that is in- 

 flicted on our great poet is almost beyond belief. For instance, in re- 

 spect to the passage in Romeo and Juliet where Nurse, calling for 

 Jiflirt, says, " What lamb ! what lady-bird ! God forbid ! Where's 

 this girl?" so sensible an editor as Staunton remarks on the words 

 "lady-bird," that they were a term applied to women of light and in- 

 delicate behavior, and that Nurse remembering this, suddenly checks 

 herself, and exclaims, "God forbid" — that I should apply such a 

 name to my charge ! Hereupon, Mr. Dyce deems it necessary to re- 

 mark, " Staunton is certainly wrong," and to explain that the mean- 

 ing is, " God forbid" that any thing should have happened to Juliet. 

 One hardly knows which the more to admire, the folly of Staunton or 

 the simplicity of Dyce. If we could be permitted a suggestion, we 

 would say that the reference was unquestionably to the popular Mother 

 Goose melody : 



Nurse meant " God forbid" that any such bad fortune should come, 

 on Juliet as the incremation of her palace and the contingent young 

 Capulets with which it might be stocked. This now, is something 



Or take Lord Campbell in his conjectural pamphlet on the question 

 whether Shakespeare was a lawyer, in which he comes to the conclu- 

 sion that there is a good deal to be said on both sides, and very little 

 certain on either. Among the arguments in favor of the affirmative, 

 his lordship adduces the lines : 



Seals of love, but sealed in vain." 

 If this sort of seals were now in vogue among the legal profession, 

 a seal would probably be deemed necessary for every conceivable legal 

 document, and consequently, there would be even more lip-service 

 among lawyers than at present. 



