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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. i. APRIL 29, me.
letters patent (as in the Globe Shakespeare)
should be letters-patients.
'Tempest,' IV. i. 182. For "filthy mantled pool " read " filth-ymantled." Cp. Milton's " star-y pointing pyramid " in his lines to Shakespeare.
' Measure for Measure,' II. iv. 80 :
As these black masks
Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder Than beauty could displayed. ' The italicized word here does not seem correct. It does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare, and should in any case be enshielded. I would suggest inshelled, which occurs in ' Coriolanus,' IV. vi. 45 : 'Tis Aufidius
Thrusts forth his horns again into the world, Which were inshelled when Marcius stood for
Borne, And durst not once peep out.
' L. L. L.,' I. ii. 180. Should not Shake- speare have added here, after Samson and Solomon, " Yet was Adam so led astray, and he was in Eden" ? Compare in Howell's 'Familiar Letters' (issued 1655): '"Tis a powerful sex. They were too strong for the first, the wisest, and the strongest man that ever was."
' L. L. L.,' IV. ii. 15 :
" As it were, in via, in way, of explication ; facere, as it were, replication, or rather ostentare, to show, as it were, his inclination." After ja cere "to make" has clearly dropped out.
' L. L. L.,' V. ii. 68 : So perttaunt-like would I o'ersway his state That he should be my fool and I his fate. No one has guessed this riddle. The obvious suggestion " patent-like ," where " potent " = potentate, as elsewhere in Shakespeare, will occur to every one, and has of course been made. It does not quite satisfy the con- ditions, though not unlike the corrupted word. Perhaps " planet-like" though further from the word in the text, goes better with " o'ersway " and " fate." Shake- speare has many allusions to the influence of planets on human destiny.
M. N. D.,' II. i. 251:
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine. This is obviously wrong, both in metre and meaning. Shakespeare uses " luscious " only once elsewhere, applied to locusts as food. Read lush, which he uses elsewhere of grass.
'Merchant of Venice,' I. ii. 17 :
" I can easier teach twenty what were good
to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow
my own teaching."
Should not easilier be read, which is much
more correct, and could easilier be corrupted
to the present reading than vice versa ?
'All's Well,' IV. iii. 163:
" Monsieur Parolles, the gallant militarist that was his own phrase that had the whole theoric of war in the knot of his scarf, and the practice in the chape of his dagger."
Should we not write practic, as in ' Hen. V.,' I. i. 51, where "practic" and* "theoric" are again contrasted ? But in ' Othello,' I. i. 24-6, we again find " bookish theoric... : mere prattle, without practice." There also perhaps practic should be written. It is worth while to observe that militarist is not a Shakespearian word, and the author here half apologizes for using it. It occurs in 'The Raigne of K. Edward III.,' but not in a Shakespearian passage of it (III. iii. 174).
' Twelfth Night,' II. v. 43 :
" The lady of the Strachey married the yeoman of the wardrobe."
This famous crux has so far defied solution. I think possibly *t may have chanced on the word that has been corrupted into Strachey. The old word " achatrie " or " acatrie " (afterwards " eatery ") meant " provisions," and there was an official, the Serjeant of the Achatrie or Catery. He might well be coupled with a lady of the Wardrobe. Here the words " lady " and " yeoman " are purposely misplaced. A certain John Haynes, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, was Serjeant of the Catery to the Queen, and with his brothers Groom of the Chamber and Yeoman of the Guard.
' 1 Hen. IV.,' II. i. 10 :
" Robin Ostler."
This should be printed with small o, " Robin ostler "; cp. elsewhere "William cook" ('2 Hen. IV.,' V. i.), " Thomas tap- ster " (' Measure for Measure,' I. ii. 115), and so always.
' 1 Hen. IV.; IV. i. 98 :
All plumed like estridges that with the wind, Baited like eagles having lately bathed.
Here with evidently makes nonsense. A verb is clearly wanted ; so read vie. It is quite in Shakespeare's manner to use " vie the wind " instead of " vie with the wind."
' Henry V.,' III. vi. 31 :
" By your patience, Aunchient Pistol."
As Fluellen speaks, this should be Py ; and so pritche for " bridge " in line 3.
