Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 03, November 17, 1849», sayfa 3

MISQUOTATIONS

Mr. Editor,—The offence of misquoting the poets is become so general, that I would suggest to publishers the advantage of printing more copious indexes than those which are now offered to the public. For the want of these, the newspapers sometimes make strange blunders. The Times, for instance, has lately, more than once, given the following version of a well-known couplet:—

 
"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen."
 

The reader's memory will no doubt instantly substitute such hideous for "so frightful," and that for "as."

The same paper, a short time since, made sad work with Moore, thus:—

 
"You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will hang by it still."
 

Moore says nothing about the scents hanging by the vase. "Hanging" is an odious term, and destroys the sentiment altogether. What Moore really does say is this:—

 
"You may break, you may ruin the vase if you will,
But the scent of the roses will cling round it still."
 

Now the couplet appears in its original beauty.

It is impossible to speak of the poets without thinking of Shakspeare, who towers above them all. We have yet to discover an editor capable of doing him full justice. Some of Johnson's notes are very amusing, and those of recent editors occasionally provoke a smile. If once a blunder has been made it is persisted in. Take, for instance, a glaring one in the 2nd part of Henry IV., where, in the apostrophe to sleep, "clouds" is substituted for "shrouds."

 
"Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast,
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge,
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deafening clamours in the slippery clouds,
That with the hurly death itself awakes?"
 

That shrouds is the correct word is so obvious, that it is surprising any man of common understanding should dispute it. Yet we find the following note in Knight's pictorial edition:—

"Clouds.—Some editors have proposed to read shrouds. A line in Julius Cæsar makes Shakspere's meaning clear:—

 
"'I have seen
Th' ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threatening clouds.'"
 

Clouds in this instance is perfectly consistent; but here the scene is altogether different. We have no ship-boy sleeping on the giddy mast, in the midst of the shrouds, or ropes, rendered slippery by the perpetual dashing of the waves against them during the storm.

If in Shakspeare's time the printer's rule of "following copy" had been as rigidly observed as in our day, errors would have been avoided, for Shakspeare's MS. was sufficiently clear. In the preface to the folio edition of 1623, it is stated that "his mind and hand went together; and what he thought he uttered with that easinesse that wee have scarse received from him a blot in his papers."

D***N**R.

8th Nov. 1849.

HERBERT AND DIBDIN'S AMES

BORDE'S BOKE OF KNOWLEDGE—BOWLAND'S CHOISE OF CHANGE—GREENE'S ROYAL EXCHANGE

Mr. Editor,—I am induced to mention the following misstatement in Herbert's edition of Ames' Typographical Antiquities, enlarged by Dibdin, not by its importance, but by its supplying an appropriate specimen of the benefits which would be conferred on bibliography by your correspondents complying with Dr. Maitland's recommendations.

"Mr. Bindley," says Dibdin, "is in possession of the original impression of Borde's Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge, which was successively in the collection of West and Pearson. This copy, and another in the Chetham Library at Manchester, are the only ones known with the following imprint: 'Copland in Fletestrete, at the signe of the Rose Garland.' In the Selden Collection, in the Bodleian Library, and in the copy from which Mr. Upcott published his reprint, we read on the recto of the last leaf, 'Imprented at London in Lothbury ouer agaynste Sainct Margaryte's Church, by me Wyllyam Copland.'"

The copy in the Chetham Library, now lying before me, corresponds with the description of the latter impression. Dibdin's mistake perhaps originated in the last page of the work preceding Borde, which is bound up with four other works, having the following: "Imprinted at London in Fleetestrete by Henry Wykes."

This volume contains—

"The Choise of Change: Containing the Triplicitie of Diuinitie, Philosophie, and Poetrie, Short for memorie, Profitable for Knowledge, and necessary for Maners; whereby the learned may be confirmed, the ignorant instructed, and all men generally recreated. Newly set forth by S.R., Gent and Student in the Universitie of Cambridge. Tria sunt omnia. At London, Printed by Roger Warde, dwelling neere Holborne Conduite, at the sign of the Talbot, An. Dom. 1585."

These letters, S.R., are the well known initials of Samuel Rowlands, who appears to have been a Welshman, from his love of Triads, and from the dedications found in this the rarest of his works, and those described by Mr. Collier in his Catalogue of the Bridgewater House Collection. In the same volume is comprised a tract by Greene, with a copy of which Mr. Dyce could never meet, entitled The Royal Exchange, printed in 1590.

T. JONES.

NOTES FROM FLY LEAVES, NO. 3

The following lines are copied from the fly leaf of a copy of the Necessary Doctrine and Erudition. Are they original?

Anno Dni md 47

E P

 
Davyd's seat vnto the we comend
Salomon's wysdome god the send
Iohnes valiauntnesse in the reste
Theys iij in oon be in thy brest.
 

A Description of a Kyng after Scripture

 
Prov. 21 The hart of a kyng is in goddes hande
Sap. 6 The strengthe of a realme ys a ryghteouse kyng
Deut. 17 The kyng ought to kepe hym in the bande
Reg. 20 Of the lawe of God the same readynge
Prov. 20 Kyngs be happye in mercy doyng
3 Reg. 3 Askynge wysdome of god omnipotent
To discerne good from an evyll thyng
Prov. 25 Take away vngodlines from the Kyng
And his seat shall be stablyshed with ryght judgmet
Let vs pray for the Kyng and hym honour
EDWARD the sext our earthlye socour God save ye Kyng.
 

ABDICATION OF JAMES II

Mr. Editor,—The recent publication of Macaulay's History of England, and the fresh prominence given thereby to the occurrences of the Revolution of 1688, have induced me, joined to a wish for the success of your happily-conceived work, to send you the following "Note." It was drawn up by the late Sir Harris Nicolas, and printed in the Proceedings of the late Record Commissioners. As, however, only fifty copies were printed for the use of the Commissioners, and a copy is rarely met with, perhaps this Note may have sufficient novelty for insertion. Sir Harris Nicolas, as editor of the Proceedings of the Privy Council, would doubtless, had that work been continued to 1688, have used the MSS. if attainable.

"Notice of manuscript in the possession of the Rev. Sir Thomas Miller, Bart., containing the original Minutes of the Assembly of Peers and Privy Councillors that met at Guildhall, upon the flight of James II. from London.

"Extracts from Memorandum of a MS. in the possession of the Rev. Sir Thomas Miller, Bart. shown to Mr. Cooper, Secretary to the Record Commissioners, to Sir Harris Nicolas, and to Mr. Hardy, in May, 1833, at Sir Thomas Miller's lodgings in the Edgeware Road.

"Immediately after the flight of James the Second from London, on the 11th of December, 1688, a tumult arose among the citizens which created considerable alarm; and with the view of preserving the peace, of imparting public confidence, and of providing for the extraordinary state of affairs, all the Peers and Privy Councillors then in the vicinity of the metropolis assembled at Guildhall. Of this important Assembly Bishop Burnet's notice is very brief, and it would appear from his statement that it was called by the Lord Mayor.⁵ A more full account of the Convention is, however, given in the Memoir of James the Second published by Dr. Clarke: 'It seems, upon the King's withdrawing from London, the lords about town met at Guildhall to consult what was fit to be done. They looked upon the present state of affairs as an interregnum, that the government was in a manner devolved upon them, and were in great haste to make a present of it to the Prince of Orange.'⁶ Other acts of this Assembly are then mentioned; and its proceedings are among the most interesting and important events in English history, not only from their forming a precedent in a conjuncture of affairs for which no express provision is to be found in the constitution, but from the first regular offer of the throne to the Prince of Orange having emanated from this Convention. No Record of its proceedings has, it is presumed, been hitherto known to exist; and the fact that so valuable a Document is extant, cannot be too generally stated, for it is obvious that it has high claims to the attention of historians.

"Sir Thomas Miller possesses the original Minutes of this Assembly of the Peers in the handwriting of a Mr. Glyn, who acted as secretary. His appointment to that situation is also preserved; and, as it is signed by all the Lords who were present, it affords evidence of the names of the Peers who took part in the business of the Assembly, and contains a very interesting collection of autographs.

"The MS. itself is a small folio, but not above fifty pages are filled. It comprises the period between the 11th and the 28th December, 1688, both days inclusive, and appears to be a perfect Record of every act of that memorable Assembly. The indorsement on the cover merits notice: it states with singular minuteness the precise hour of James's abdication, namely at one in the morning of the 11th of December, 1688."

Sir Thomas Miller also possessed a manuscript, containing an "Account of the Earl of Rochester, Captain Kendall, and the Narrator's Journey to Salisbury with King James, Monday, Nov. 19. to Friday, Nov. 23. 1688, inclusive."

In connection with this subject, it may be noticed that there is no entry of any payment in the Issue Books of the clerks of the Pells between Tuesday, 11th December, and Monday, 24th December, 1688. J.E.

[Perhaps some of our correspondents could inform us where the MSS. in question are now deposited.]