Act III. Sc. 1.), which, however, will be found at page 389. of Jackson's

book. I may be in error, but I cannot but think such ignorance, on the part of professional Shakspearians, very culpable.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_On Three Passages in "Measure for Measure."_--I have to crave a small space in your columns, which have already done much good service for the text of Shakspeare, to make a very few remarks on three passages in the play of _Measure for Measure_. It is no sweeping change of reading that I am about to advocate, nor, as I think, anything over ingenious; inasmuch as, in two of the passages in question, I propose to defend the reading of the first folio, which, I contend, has been departed from unnecessarily; while, in the third, I suggest the simple change of an _f_ into an _s_.

In Act II. Sc. 4., these lines occur in Angelo's soliloquy, in my folio of 1623:

"The state whereon I studied Is like a good thing, being often read, Growne feard and tedious."

Mr. Knight, and other editors, read _feard_, as in the original, but give no explanation; though such a strange epithet would seem to require one. I propose to read _seared_, _i.e._ dry, the opposite of fresh. This, as the saying is, "requires," I think, "only to be pointed out to be admitted."

Lower down in the same scene we find the following passage, in one of Angelo's addresses to Isabel:

"Such a person, Whose creadit with the judge, or owne great place, Could fetch your brother from the manacles Of the all-building law."

The word _building_ has always been a stumbling-block to editors. Johnson first proposed to read _binding_, and his successors have adopted it, and such is now the generally received reading. Mr. Collier's old corrector is also in favour of the same change. I have always felt convinced, however, that _building_ was the word which Shakspeare wrote. That which answers to it in the A.-S. is _bytling_, _bytleing_, a building; _bytlian_, to build; which are inflected from _byth_, _biotul_, a hammer or mallet (whence our _beetle_); so that the strict meaning of the verb is _firmare_, _confirmare_, to fasten, close, or bind together. This will give much the same meaning to _building_ as that implied in the proposed substitute _binding_.

Not having met with the word used in this peculiar sense by any old writer, I could not venture to maintain the reading of the folio on these grounds, which I have just mentioned, alone. At length, however, I have been successful, and I am now able to quote a passage from a work published very shortly before this play, entitled:

"The Jewel House of Art and Nature", &c., "faithfully and familiarly set downe according to the Author's owne experience, by Hugh Platte, of Lincoln's Inne, gentleman. London, 1594."

in which this word _building_ is used in precisely the same sense as that which I defend. In "the Preface of the Author," the following passage occurs:

"I made a condicionall promise of some farther discouerie in arteficiall conceipts, then either my health {195} or leisure would then permit: I am now resolued (notwithstanding the vnkind acceptation of my first fruits, which then I feared and hath since falne out, is a sufficient release in law of the condition) to make the same in some sort absolute (though not altogether according to the fulnesse of my first purpose), and to become a _building_ word unto me."

I apprehend that this parallel instance is all that is wanting to preserve, for the future, the reading of the first folio unimpaired.

The third passage on which I have a remark to offer, is that much tormented one in Act III. Sc. 1., which stands in my first folio thus:

"_Cla._ The prenzie, Angelo?

_Isa._ Oh, 'tis the cunning liuerie of hell, The damnest bodie to inuest, and couer In prenzie gardes."

I need not say a word about the various suggestions of _primzie_, _priestly_, _princely_, _precise_, &c., which have appeared from time to time; my business is solely with the original word in the first folio. I have always felt sure that this is none other than the poet's own word, and no error of the printer; for how could it be possible to make a gross mistake in a word which occurs twice within four lines, and one, moreover, so unusual; the printer must surely have been able to decipher the letters from _one_ of the two written specimens. It will be observed that there is a comma after _prenzie_ in the original, indicating that the word is a substantive, not an adjective. Now what is the Italian for a prince? Not only _principe_, but also _prenze_; and in like manner we find _principessa_ and _prenzessa_. I have no doubt that what Shakspeare _did_ write was--

"The prenzie, Angelo?"

while a little lower down he converted the word into an adjective:

"To inuest and couer In prenzie gardes."

It is obvious to remark that this meaning of _prenzie_ exactly fits the sense: Angelo was a prince, and he was clad in robes of office, adorned with princely "gardes," or trappings. Shakspeare, no doubt, was very well acquainted with Italian tales and poems; the word may have become quite familiar to him. His intention here, in putting the term in question into Claudio's mouth, may have been to give an Italian character to the scene, introducing thus the _local term of dignity_ of the deputy; thus recalling the audience, by the occurrence of a single word, to the scene of the plot; for though this is said to be in Vienna, yet it is to be observed that not a name throughout the play is German, _everything is Italian_. And let it not be objected that the use of this word involves an obscurity which Shakspeare would have avoided; we are hardly able to judge, now-a-days, whether a particular word was obscure or not in his time: at all events, there would be no difficulty in adducing instances of what we should call more obscure allusions, and I think there can be little doubt that the well-educated in those days well understood the Italian _prenze_ to mean a prince.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

_"Hamlet" and G. Steevens._--In Act I. Sc. 4., Horatio asks Hamlet "_What does this_ mean, my Lord?" (The noise of music within). Hamlet replies:

"The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, Keeps wassel, and _the swaggering up-spring reels_."

G. Steevens, in a note of this passage, says: "The _swaggering up-spring_ was _a German dance_." Is not the allusion directed to the king, whom Hamlet describes as "a swaggering _up-spring_," or "_upstart_?" Should not the line--

_"O horrible, O horrible, most horrible!"_

in the Ghost's narrative in the _fifth scene_, be given to Hamlet?

JAMES CORNISH.

Falmouth.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Sir Francis Drake._--Having traversed the globe within three years, his travels were thus noticed by a poet of his day:

"Drake, pererrati novit quem terminus orbis, Quemque semel mundi vidit uterque Polus. Si taceant homines, faciant te sidera notum, Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui."

CLERICUS (D.)

_Similarity of Idea in St. Luke and Juvenal._--Examples of identity of expression existing between the Scriptures and ancient heathen writers have already appeared in "N. & Q." Permit me to add the following passages, which appear to me to afford an instance of similarity of idea:

"Λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐὰν οὗτοι σιωπήσωσῖν, οἱ λίθοι κεκρὰξονται."--_Luc._ cap xix. v. 40.

"Audis, Jupiter, hæc, nec labra moves, quum mittere vocem Debueras, vel marmoreus, vel aëneus?"

Juven. _Sat._ xiii. v. 113.

The satirist would seem to say (taking the sceptic's view), that even if Jupiter existed only in brass and marble, the very statues would "cry out" against the impious perjury.

I drop my initials, and beg to subscribe myself

ARCH. WEIR.

_Sincere._--Trench, _On the Study of Words_, 4th ed., p. 197., says:

"They would be pleased to learn that 'sincere' may be, I will not say that it is, without wax (sine cerâ), as the best and finest honey should be."

{196}

Is not this derivation erroneous? _Sincere_ does not mean "pure, like virgin-honey;" but it expresses the absence of deception. I doubt not that it is derived from--

"The practice of Roman potters to rub wax into the flaws of their unsound vessels when they sent them to market. A sincere [without wax] vessel was the same as a sound vessel, one that had no disguised flaw."

So says Bushnell (_God in Christ_, p. 17.). The derivation is no novelty. I reproduce it merely to correct an error which is obtaining currency under the name of Mr. French. I should be obliged to any of your correspondents who would refer me to, or still better cite, any passages in the Latin classics relating to the practice I have mentioned.

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_Epitaph in Appleby Church-yard, Leicestershire._--

"I was a fine young man, As you would see in ten. And when I thought of this, I took in hand my pen, And wrote it down so plain That every one might see; How I was cut down, Like blossoms from a tree."

J. G. L.

* * * * *

Queries.

THE CRESCENT.

I shall be obliged to any correspondent of "N. & Q." who will point out the period at which the crescent became the standard of Mahometanism. Poets and romancers freely bestow it upon any time or scene in which Mussulmans are introduced; Sir Walter Scott mentions it in the _Talisman_, but after the strange liberties he has taken with Saladin and Richard, he becomes, on such a question, no higher authority than writers of meaner name. I cannot find it in the history of Mahomet, or in that of his immediate successors. The first time Michaud, in his fine _Histoire des Croisades_, speaks of it is in the reign of Mahomet II., which is many centuries after periods at which modern poets, and even historians, have named it as the antagonistic standard to the cross. The crescent is common upon the reverses of coins of the Eastern empire long before the Turkish conquest, and was, I have reason to believe, in some degree peculiar to the Sclave nations. Was it the standard of the Turks, as contradistinguished from other Saracens? or, was it adopted by Mahomet II. after his conquests of Constantinople and the eastern countries of Europe? I am aware that if this last idea be substantiated, it will make it much more modern than it is generally supposed to be, but our ideas of everything, Turkish were for so long a time mixed with the wonderful and the romantic, that we must not expect much correctness on such points. The Turks came into fearful contiguity with the West in the fifteenth century; Europe had as much to dread from them then as from the Russians now. This event and the art of printing were almost cotemporary, and the crescent has been presented to us as the symbol of Mahometanism ever since; but I much doubt it can be proved to have been so at a far remoter period.

W. ROBSON.

Stockwell.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_The Hebrew Testament._--Having lately completed the above work, so as to be "ready for the press" without much delay, I should be glad before I resign the MS. to the hands of the printer, to have the advantage of the suggestions of those of your erudite readers who have made sacred criticism their study.

MOSES MARGOLIOUTH.

_Dr. Franklin._--I possess the following lines in the handwriting of Dr. Franklin, written in the year 1780. Can any of your readers tell me who was the author of them, and when and where they were first printed?

"When Orpheus went down to the Regions below, Which men are forbidden to see; He tun'd up his Lyre, as historians show, To set his Euridice free. All Hell was astonish'd, a person so wise Should so rashly endanger his life, And venture so far! But how vast their surprise When they heard that he came for his wife.

"To find out a punishment due to the fault Old Pluto had puzzled his brain; But Hell had not torments sufficient he thought, So he gave him his _wife_ back again. But pity succeeding, soon mov'd his hard heart, And, pleas'd with his playing so well, _He took her again_, in reward of his Art; Such power had Music in Hell!"

G. M. B.

_Flemish Refugees._--In the troubled times of the Reformation, England was not seldom the refuge for Flemings who, for the sake of religion, abandoned their country. Among these was Mr. Joos Tuck, who, according to a consistorial decision of Dec. 14, 1582, was proposed by G. Van Den Haute, then pastor at Sluis, to the brethren of the Flemish Class, since "they had taken knowledge of the sound and good gifts of their brother." He left Sluis soon after, probably in July, 1583, and withdrew to England. I should be glad to learn what befell him there.

Peter Lambert was a student of the University of Ghent: though, as far as I am aware, he is not {197} mentioned in Te Water's _History of the Reformed Church and University in Ghent_. On July 21, 1583, a student made known his wish to propose himself as candidate for the ministry; and on August 4 appeared Peter Lambert, student of the University of Ghent, before the consistory, requesting the brethren to grant him the twenty-five guilders which had been promised; because, on account of the troubled state of the country, he wished to flee to England, on which request was decided: "Since a well-known and pious brother, who is compelled to flee, is in need of help, let the deacons and _pensionary_ of the town be addressed thereon." Very probably, therefore, he also took refuge in England. Can any one give me farther information?--From the _Navorscher_.

J. H. VAN DALE.

_"Sad are the rose leaves," &c._--Can you or any of your correspondents tell me whence come the following lines?--

"Sad are the rose leaves which betoken That there the dead lie buried low; But sadder, when the heart is broken, Are smiles upon the lips of woe."

They are quoted from memory from the album of a lady friend.

ISELDUNENSIS.

_Wanted, the original_ habitat _of the following Sentences_:

1. "Ministeriun circa, non magisterium supra, Scriptures."

2. "Virtus rectorem ducemque desiderat, vitia sine magistro discuntur."

3. "In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in omnibus charitas."

4. "Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse." Wetstein assigns this last to Seneca, _Epist._ 17.; but there is some error. It very likely is in Seneca.

5. "Verbum audimus, motum sentimus, præsentiam credimus, modum nescimus." Durandus is the author.

6. "En rem indignam! nos qui jam tot annos sumus doctores S. Theologiæ, denuo cogimur adire ludos literarios." Spoken by the adversaries of Erasmus.

What is the earliest authority for the story of St. John and his partridge?

Will MR. BOLTON CORNEY be kind enough to explain the occasion of Porson's notable speech recorded on the last page of his _Curiosities Illustrated_?

His sagacity was not at fault in suspecting a French origin for D'Israeli's story, p. 89. See Bassompière, in _Retrospective Review_, xiii. 346.

S. Z. Z. S.

_Tea-marks._--Accident threw in my way lately a catalogue of a large sale of teas in Mincing Lane; and my attention was drawn to certain marks against the several lots, which appeared to indicate particular qualities, but to me, as uninitiated, perfectly incomprehensible. In this dilemma I asked one of our principal brokers the meaning of all this, and I was informed that teas are sampled and tasted by the brokers, and divided in the main into seven classes, distinguished as follows:

Can any of your correspondents tell us when this classification was first introduced, or the origin of the first two characters? Can they be Chinese, and the names given from some fancied resemblance to the gallows, or the letter _T_ turned sideways? My friend the broker, though a very intelligent man, could give me no information whatever on these points.

W. T.

42. Lowndes Square.

_William the Conqueror's Surname._--Had William a surname? If so, what was it? By surname I mean such as is transmitted from father to son, not the epithets he used to bestow on himself in documents, as "I, William the Bastard," "I, William the Conqueror," &c.

TEE BEE.

_Old Saying._--

"Merry be the first And merry be the last, And merry be the first of August."

Having frequently heard this old saying, I take the liberty of asking, through your much valued paper, it any of your readers are able to tell me its origin?

EDM. L. BAGSHAWE.

Bath Literary Institution.

_To pluck a Crow with One._--It is a common expression in all ranks, I believe, of this country, to speak of "plucking a crow" with such a one; meaning to call him to account for some delinquency. Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of the phrase?

W. W.

_"Well's a fret."_--When, after a short pause in conversation, any one utters the interjection, "Well!" it is a very common practice in Nottingham to say:

"... and _well's a fret_, He that dies for love will not be hang'd for debt."

I have asked a great number of persons for an explanation, but they all use the phrase without any meaning. Can you, or any of your readers, tell me if it have any; or if it be only nonsensical doggrel?

DEVONIENSIS.

{198}

_Pay the Piper._--This expression surely has a firm foundation. Can any of your correspondents trace it?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

_Greek Inscription upon a Font, mentioned by Jeremy Taylor._--

"This was ingeniously signified by that Greek inscription upon a font, which is so prettily contrived, that the words may be read after the Greek or after the Hebrew manner, and be exactly the same:

'Νίψον ἀνόμημα, μὴ μόναν ὄψιν,'

'Lord, wash my sin, and not my face only.'"--_Life of Christ_,