then managed to turn the conversation to some other subject. (See Lockhart's 'Life of Scott,' sub anno 1815).

With regard to clam, is there not a kind of toffy or "hardbake so called? I do not say that there is; I put it as a question. Is there not also an American dish called clam soup? JONATHAN BOUCHIER.

MAGNA CHARTA (7th S. iv. 153, 191; vii. 398). -Has not the mistake of giving John the title of Duke of Ireland clearly arisen from misreading the contraction for "dominus "" as "dux" instead of "dn's": "Johannes dei Gr'a Rex Angl' Dn's Hyb'n Dux Norman'," &c.? The facsimile published by Pine in 1733 and that in Col. Sir Henry James's 'Facsimiles of National Manuscripts,' 1865, read as given above. HANDFORD.

bers and escaped slaves who laid the foundations of the greatest of empires, and thus of modern civilization. A strange sensation comes over us when we turn from Rawlinson has done for us what Dr. Kenrick did for our Kenrick's pages of 1855 to the volume before us. Prof. fathers; yet how different is the result. If we wish for a standard by which to measure the growth of historical knowledge during one generation, we cannot do better than compare the two volumes. They seem centuries apart. Prof. Rawlinson has had to exercise compression to a far greater extent than his predecessor. We are sorry for this, for his knowledge is, up to our present any of the more important facts omitted, and we are standards, exhaustive, We have not, however, found by no means sure that speculation, even when it has a satisfactory basis to stand upon, is in its proper place in a volume such as the present; in fact, there are several things in the first two chapters where we find it difficult to follow him. When, however, we pass beyond the mythic period, the story is told with striking ability and a sense of proportion which does the writer great credit. The want of an eye for proportion has disfigured many

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (7th S. vii. of our greater historians. It is a vice which shows small

429).

"There is no food in Orleans," he replied.
Southey, 'Joan of Arc,' bk. vi. 1. 41.
FREDK. RULE.

Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

signs of amendment. Prof. Rawlinson is, however, almost entirely free from it. We can, of course, tell what parts of this wonderful tale of splendour and decay interested him the most; but he has not slurred over the dull passages or neglected to stipple in the backgrounds. Nothing can be better than the chapter which deals with the Phoenician colonies, Carthage, Palermo, Malta, and Gades, unless it be the account of Tyre. Here the author subject is treated at once with reverence and freedom. comes in contact with the Biblical narrative, and the the Phoenician religion is worthy of careful attention. The account he afterwards gives of the horrible rites of There are some persons who wonder at the fierce denunciations of the Hebrew prophets, and are moved to remark that we have here a display of the hatred that one national cult too often bears for another. Those who know what were the horrors of that foul worship will at once understand how the prophets of Judah must have been revolted by practices which run counter to the primal instincts of human nature.

A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, A.D. 1450-1889. Vol. IV. Parts XXIII-XXV. Edited by Sir George Grove, LL.D. (Macmillan & Co.) WITH the three concluding parts Sir George Grove's admirable Dictionary of Music and Musicians' is practically completed. It is a sign how different estimate of thoroughness in workmanship than formerly prevailed is now held, that a fifth volume, to consist wholly of index, is promised. It is pleasant to learn that the merits of the work have won recognition, that it has grown steadily in public favour, and that the demand for it is increasing. The three parts which now see the light consist principally of an appendix, issued under the editorship of Mr. J. A. Fuller Maitland, M.A. How important is this is Old Yorkshire. Edited by William Smith, F.S.A.S. New shown in the fact that it occupies six hundred columns. Series. (Longmans & Co.) Under "Brahms" much new matter is given; the MR. SMITH would be the last man to claim for 'Old life of William Byrd has, in consequence of information Yorkshire 'a place among the great county histories. He recently obtained, been rewritten. "Dance Rhythm" has gathered together from newspapers and various other is the subject of an important paper. A biography of sources an immense amount of facts-and fictions-reJ. W. Davison is supplied, and under "Liszt," "Men-lating to the "Queen of Counties." No doubt many of delssohn," "Psalter," "Rome," "Schütz," &c., additions of the utmost importance are made. Up absolutely to date do the final additions carry the work, the dates of death of Josef Gung'l, Jan. 31, 1889; Francis Hueffer (whose biography is in the appendix), Jan. 19; Sir F. A. Gore Ouseley, April 6, 1889; and Carl Rosa, April 30, 1889, being given. The care that marked the production from the beginning becomes increasingly evident as the contributors grow more competent in labour and more practised in research. It is difficult to over-estimate the amount of important information that is embodied in this monumental work.

Story of the Nations.-Phoenicia. By George Rawlinson. (Fisher Unwin.)

SOMEWHAT more than thirty years ago Dr. Kenrick published his work on Phoenicia. It is a monument of learning. In its pages were stored all that was then known of that great race whose galleys ruled the great inland sea when Jerusalem was a threshing-floor and the seven hills of Rome were a thicket, where the beasts of the field had not yet given way to the obscure band of rob

the details in the present volume would have remained buried for many years to come had not Mr. Smith embodied them in his discursive pages. No one who is collecting books published by natives of Yorkshire, or works in any way relating to the county, should pass over Mr. Smith's contributions to the mass of literature that will have to be thoroughly sifted in the days to come before a really trustworthy history of Yorkshire can be written. The history of Yorkshire is the history of every great movement that has taken place in this country north of the Trent. No county can be isolated from its surroundings, and least of all the great northern heart of England.

Old Bibles: an Account of the Early Versions of the English Bible. By J. R. Dore. (Eyre & Spottiswoode.) THIS is a second and much improved edition of Mr. Dore's valuable bibliographical history of the English Bible, and is characterized by the minute and personal acquaintance which he evidently possesses with a large number of exemplars which have from time to time passed through his hands. The collations in every case

seem very full and accurate, and a large number of
specimen passages, extracted literatim and sometimes in
facsimile, relieve the monotony of the technical biblio-
graphy, and save it from being a biblion a-biblion. Mr.
Dore points out, among other things, that there was
little or no demand for the first translations of the Scrip-
tures into English, whatever Foxe may say to the con-
trary, inasmuch as royal proclamations and penal enact-
ments had to be put forth in order to stimulate their
sluggish circulation and force a sale. It argues a
deficient sense of the relative proportion and value
of things when the author devotes a special para-
graph of his preface to expressing his thanks to the
Bishop of Salisbury "for his kind permission to avail
himself of the consent [!] of the late Right Rev.
Lord Bishop of Lincoln to have his name placed on
the title-page." Turning to the title-page itself we find
what all this réclame is about-merely that "the preface
to the version of 1611 [is] added at the request of the
late Right Rev. Christopher Wordsworth," &c. This is
surely being elaborately thankful for a very small mercy
indeed!! And why does Mr. Dore use such an ugly mal-
formation as "duglot "?

Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers. By Arthur Edward
Waite. (Redway.)

WE have abridged a long title. Mr. Waite's compilation
is based on collections made at the beginning of the cen-
tury. He is a believer in the possibility of the trans-
mutation of metals, and thinks that the feat has been
performed. He further thinks he sees how the prin-
ciples of the old alchemists may be applied to the moral
We have read what
and spiritual elevation of mankind.

he says, but cannot follow him. Physical science we
know, and also theology; but the strange blending of
two things whose lines are not in real life wont to cross
each other produces an effect which we shall not cha-
racterize further than by saying that it is utterly beyond
our comprehension. There are, we know, not a few who
We have done
will be glad to read Mr. Waite's pages.
so as a matter of duty, but pleasure therein we found
none. In these days of rapid and far-reaching discovery
it is not safe, perhaps, to say that anything is impossible
which is not a plain contradiction in terms. We think,
however, we may venture to say that the alchemical
beliefs which Mr. Waite cherishes are as nearly impos-
At the end of
sible of realization as anything can be.
the volume is 'A Bibliography of Alchemy and Hermetic
Philosophy,' which some persons may find of occasional

service.

The Breitmann Ballads. By Charles G. Leland. (Trübner & Co.)

To their pretty "Lotos Series " Messrs. Trübner & Co. have added a complete edition-the only one in existence -of the 'Breitmann Ballads.' Many of the ballads are in the possession of Mr. Trübner, and are still copyright. The new volume of the series cannot fail to be attractive. It has a capital glossary, due to Mr. Nicholas Trübner. Somewhat more than mere occasional verses are these clever productions of Mr. Leland, and the collection will have enduring interest. Not a few of the poems have established a position in literature. pretty and amusing a gift-book as this volume constitutes does not often see the light.

So

who was familiar alike with the Spaniard and English
population. Thanks are due to the author for the index,
a want often felt by those who read books of travel.
Le Livre for June 10 contains an excellent portrait
of Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly by M. Henri Toussaint, to
accompany a brilliant sketch of the eminent poet and
novelist supplied by M. Uzanne. Portrait and article
together furnish a life-like picture of a quaint, distin-
guished, and striking individuality. M. Fernand Drujon
continues his profoundly interesting study of La Biblio-
lytie,' otherwise the voluntary destruction of books.
Many books are, of course, destroyed by the authors in
an access of penitence on account of the impurity or the
ineptitude of the work; others are called in by the
family of the writer. The outbreak of the Revolution ar-
rested or destroyed many important works. Englishmen
will hear with some astonishment that 'L'Angleterre
vue a Londres et dans ses Provinces,' by the General
Pillet, caused so much indignation in this country that
copies whenever found were destroyed by Englishmen,
and that the life of the author was in danger. A curious
MS. in the possession of M. Uzanne is described by M.
G. Dancieux.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY of Mr. Ruskin, to be edited by Mr. Thos. T. Wise, honorary secretary of the Shelley Society, will shortly be issued in a quarto volume. Not more than 250 copies will be issued, and of these many are already subscribed for. Mr. G. C. Moody, assistant secretary of the Ruskin Reading Guild, 27, Knowle Road, Brixton, S.W., receives applications.

Notices to Correspondents.

We must call special attention to the following notices:
ON all communications must be written the name and

address of the sender, not necessarily for publication, but
as a guarantee of good faith.

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate."

O. S. (" Bibles").-The edition printed at Carmarthen by John Ross, 1789, is, apparently, a reprint of that published in Edinburgh, 1770. The Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, by which it was recommended, is still in existence, and is certainly not confined to Wales.

EDWIN HERON ("Recitations").-Apply to Messrs. French & Co., in the Strand.

HENRY DRAKE ("Position of Pulpit").-See ante, p. 394, under Pulpits in Churches.'

J. RUTGERS LE ROY ("Claypole Family").-1" S. v. 298, 381; xi. 384, 472; 2nd S. viii. 114, 382, 392, 456; 4th S. x. 418, 476; xi. 66; 5th S. vi. 108.

GUALTERULUS ("Disremember ").-We have known
this word for a quarter of a century.
CORRIGENDUM.-P. 477, col. 1, 1. 27 from top, for
Epotræ" read Epocha.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 1889.

CONTENTS.-N° 183.

NOTES:-Drake, 501-Shakspeariana, 503-Prices of Jacobean Quartoes, 504-Dickens Coincidence-Bicentenary of Richardson-Jeremy Taylor-Whorwood Family-Quotes-Parmesan Cheese-Lord Zevemberghes-Charles I. at Windsor, 505-Irish Ecclesiastical Appointments-Lilliput-Mortars Othello' with MS. Notes-Chinelickums: Slick, 506

Lincoln's Inn, 507.

district. Then of the hundred, more or less, freeholders and leaseholders to be won over the chief were bound to him by family ties or friendship, and others were, fortunately, Plymouthians. He himself was rich, with the Queen at his back. His lawyer, Serjeant Hele, as one of the neighbourhood, knew how the tinners, under cover of their charter, had set Parliaments at defiance, and that their charter, involving an ancient royal revenue (Hearne, 'Lib. Nig. Scac.,' 360), would not be annulled to gratify Plymouth. Parliamentary powers of the most stringent kind were indispensable, and a private Act would be impotent; therefore Hele decided to play off the safety of the state, or the very national existence, against the royal revenue, by petitioning Parliament, in the name of the Mayor and Commonalty of Plymouth, 511-Darcy-Sir N. Wentworth's Bequest-Winter-Bed for powers to bring in the river Meavy, ostensibly staff, 512- Boswell's Johnson'-Vase Chapman's All Fools'-Herodotus, 513-Charles Owen - Marriage-The for the preservation of the haven of Plymouth, "a Etonian, 514-Otherwise-Cromwell's Descendants-Crématter moaste beneficiall to the Realme" (Act_27 billon-Erasmus Earle, 515- Acrostic - Oxford Divinity Degrees-Walking Stationer-Heraldic-Mock Mayor, 516- Eliz.) and the supply of Her Majesty's Navy. The Gloves of Charles I.-Black Men as Heralds-Gray-Plurali- town was to elect for burgesses Drake's personal zation-Hark! the herald angels," 517-St. Andrew's friends, C. Harris and Henry Bromley.*

QUERIES:-Selina-Brief History of Birmingham'-Hersey
-Stone Coffins-Pale Ale-Fleet on the Serpentine, 507-
St. Paul's Deanery Cemetery Guides - Burials in West-
minster Abbey-Marie Lachensten-Lines on Music-Stag
Match-"How much the wife is dearer than the bride," 508
Wishing-bone-Claypole-John Cholmley, M.P.-Soinswer
- View of the Creation'-Paignton, 509.
REPLIES:-"Idol shepherd," 509- Gothic Inscription
Bytake-Aitken, 510-Fluck-Rev. W. Palmer-Punning
Motto-" Dogmatism" and "Puppyism"-Crabbe's Tales,"

Church-Dorchester School-Medal-Monogram-Saying of Lord Beaconsfield-Victualler-Bishop Ken, 518-Trial of Bishop King-"Arrant Scot"-Authors Wanted, 519. NOTES ON BOOKS:-Bertran y Bros's Rondallistica '

After obtainining the Act the powers conferred on the Corporation were to be temporarily transferred to Drake by means of the customary com

Dictionary of Roman Coins Annual Register'-Elvin's positions before described, and it seems that this

⚫ Dictionary of Heraldry.' Notices to Correspondents.

Notes.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE AND THE PLYMOUTH

LEAT.

was the very best method that could have been de-
vised under the circumstances. Many years ago
my cousin, once Mayor of Plymouth, informed me
of the composition, and that Drake's gift was
doubted. I insisted on the strength of the people's
tradition, and he was struck by the absurdity of
the idea that Plymouth, a town far from wealthy,
should have volunteered to undertake the state's
As the Act
duty of preserving Plymouth Haven.
of Parliament was delusive, he concluded that there
was more behind the composition than we can
understand_ now. Though a lawyer, he was no
antiquary, I believe.

pretext and strategy were necessary when fiction entered so largely into legal procedure.† Had the

(Concluded from p. 443) Thomas, the youngest brother and heir of Sir Francis Drake, married Mrs. Elford, a widow, whose house, near the head of the leat at Sheepstor, was pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Meavy, which coursed through her land. Drake's relative, John Amadas, was Mayor of PlyCertainly the Mayor and Corporation would not mouth in 1574-5. The succeeding mayor sent seriously have presented such a petition if unmen to view a river (Plymouth Corporation Ac- countenanced in high quarters; it would have counts)-probably the rivulet running to Penny-been a mockery and an offence to common sense, but comquick, near Plymouth-or possibly to consider the feasibility of leading in the Plym, but not the Meavy to a moral certainty. In 1581-2, Drake, himself being mayor, knew that Plymouth wanted water; and the conjecture is reasonable that, when visiting Sheepstor and observing a mountain stream running to waste higher above the sealevel than the highest ground in Plymouth, he reflected how easily the ancient Peruvians would have conducted such water to a distant town. He well knew how the intervening hills and valleys resounded with the ceaseless clamour of the tinners' clash mills, and that he could count on the support of his cousin Richard Drake, a God-fearing Puritan, wealthy and childless, who happened to be the principal mill-owner and tinner in the

to whom Drake had presented 800l. worth of plate * Henry Bromley was the son of the Lord Chancellor, (Froude, Engl.,' xi. 403). Minsheu, in dedicating his Spanish Dictionary' to him, mentions that he bountifully maintained poor scholars at the university. See his portrait in Nash, Worcester,' ii. 444).

Preservacon of the Haven of Plymowth." As it can be †The Act 27 Eliz., c. 20, is entitled "An Acte for read at any time in the Round Room at the Record Office or in the British Museum Reading Room, a brief outline of the petition will suffice here. It represents that Plymouth had a haven safe for Her Majesty's ships and others; that the inhabitants and mariners had occasionally to go a mile for fresh water, and, consequently, these frequently lost the advantage of a favourable wind; that the haven daily filled up with sand from the

10s. for six days' work, "plannynge & vewinge the grounde." One Haywoode received 8s. 6d. for six days' "newe writinge the vewe four tymes," and one Jeane received 3s. for four days' assistance. The balance was "for their dyett" (Plymouth Corporation Accounts). This is all the surveying expense mentioned. But the main work of selecting the ground and taking the levels, over twentyfive miles of hilly country, with the rude instru

public duty assumed by Plymouth not been illusory, the means devised were utterly inadequate. The Act empowered her to dig a trench six or seven feet broad and two feet deep (Plym. Trans., vii. 469). The water, discharged through it slowly, was to scour the haven of tinners' sand brought down by rivers of, say, twenty times the volume in ordinary seasons and many hundredfold the volume in flood time.* But writers who stood committed to a literal inter-ments of the period, would have involved more pretation of the Act argued that Plymouth Haven meant Sutton Pool. This explanation is inadmissible, for Stonehouse, in her Water Act (Private Act, 36 Eliz., No. 21), claimed to be on Plymouth Haven, which is laid down as an arm of the sea of 66 more than 10 miles circuit" (Add. MS. 16,370). Leland describes Mount Edgcumbe as on the Haven ('Itin.,' iii. 32). Tinners' refuse never entered Sutton Pool, and a contemporary plan of the leat (Charity Com., Thirty-Second Rep., pt. ii., 1837-8) proves that it flowed in another direction.t

Unquestionably Plymouth was at some expense, if only to save appearances. Thirty shillings in all were expended on plans necessary to be submitted to the assessors and Judges of Assize on their first visit. Out of this Robert Lampen, surveyor, received

tin-works and mines adjoining, and would soon be utterly decayed if some speedy remedy was not had; that the river Meavy, distant eight or ten miles, could be brought into Plymouth over hills and dry land that would be bettered by a leat which would scour and cleanse some part of the haven "to the perpetuall contynewance of the same Haven, a matter moaste beneficiall to the Realme." Powers were asked "to digge and myne a Diche or Trenche conteynenge in Bredthe betwene sixe or seaven Foote over in all Places" to convey the Meavy to Plymouth. The Act obtained the royal assent March 29, 1585 (D'Ewes, Journal '). We may remark that shipmasters could always fill their kegs at Barn Pool, or other points on the coast, without going a mile inland

for water.

These rivers conveyed from the tin-works "a mervelous greate quantitie of Sande, Gravell, Stone, Robell, Erthe, Slyme, and Filth into the said Ports and Havens, and have so filled and choked the same that where before this tyme a Shippe for portage of viije (800 tons burden) myght have easely entered at a lowe water into the same, nowe a Shippe of a hundred can skantly entre at the halfe fludde" (Act 23 Hen. VIII., c. 8, 1531-2).

leat 46

Hollar's map of Plymouth, 1643, names the Sir Francis Drake's water" (King's Pamph., No. 141, and Worth, Hist. Plym.,' p. 64). Perceiving that the 3007, named would not cover the costs and compensations, it was insisted by some that the leat for half its course was an ancient leat to Warliegh Mill utilized (Plym. Trans., vii, 468). The only comment needed is to direct the reader to two contemporary plans of the leat (one Cott., Aug., i. p. 1, No. 41; and Lord Burghley's copy at Hatfield, for which see Plym. Trans., viii. 82). These duplicates trace the complete course from Sheepstor to Plymouth, and show no leat to Warleigh. The assertion rested on the authority of one "Old Giles," but the Plymouth tradition rested on the authority of population.

a

than six days and the labour of a large staff of assistants at a heavier cost than 30s. However, this is of minor import comparatively with the fact that all the tinners had to be canvassed for their assent; and considering Drake's family, local, and court influence, and how he was worshipped as the hero of the day, he alone, of all men, could have prevailed all round; and with this closing remark I trust I have satisfactorily established the four points named at the commencement, though to my mind the strongest argument rests in the inherent force and internal evidence of the popular tradition.

Some parties, repenting of their bargain, attempted in 1593 to alter or explain away the Act, and the attorney of the duchy was placed on the committee not "because Sutton Pool, which the leat was intended to scour, was then, as now, part of duchy property " (Plym. Trans., viii. 518), but because the profits of the Stannary Courts had been assigned to the Prince of Wales (Act 38 Hen. VI.).

In 1602, after Drake's death, Mr. William Crymes, lord of the manor of Buckland Monachorum, deposed that, as one of the assessors, he had consented to the cutting of the leat, and had recently erected tin clash mills on Roborough Down, which he worked by diverting water from the Plymouth leat (by virtue of the tinners' charter), for so it happened that one tinner of Buckland Monachorum, who had been overlooked, had reserved his rights, and this tinner deposed that the men of his class had assented without fully weighing the consequences (Star Chamber Depositions). Mr. Crymes sustained his right, and paid the Corporation a nominal quit rent, a shilling a year, for forty years (the Rev. J. Erskine Risk, Plym. Trans., viii. 377).

Drake's munificence went further. He provided Plymouth with ample means for keeping the leat in repair, by giving her the reversion of certain grist mills, erected by him, which returned a handsome and increasing yearly income. These he might have reserved in fee to his family, with free water power in perpetuity.

It commonly happens that the excitement of party spirit incapacitates the understanding for weighing the evidence of facts, and leads writers to catch at those which they can most easily mould to their purpose, or, as George Eliot expresses it,

:

And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Showed like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak :-
For brave Macbeth, like Valour's minion-
Well he deserves that name-disdaining Fortune,
With his brandished steel,

"where adverse evidence reaches demonstration parenthetical brackets have accidentally changed they must resort to devices and expedients in places. Read, therefore, thus:order to explain away contradiction" (Evangelical Teaching,' p. 158).* Their readers, who have neither leisure nor opportunity to search and examine for themselves, rely on their statements, and become the innocent means of spreading error or curtailing truth. For instance, a recent biography of Drake limits his action to sitting on a committee of the Water Act ('Dict. Nat. Biog'). Again quoting George Eliot, "A distinct appreciation of the value of evidence-in other words, the intellectual perception of truth-is more allied to truthfulness of statement, or the moral quality of veracity, than is generally admitted" (op. cit., p. 156). H. H. DRAKE.

SHAKSPEARIANA.

'MACBETH,' I. ii. 14.-The First Folio, the only authority for the text of 'Macbeth,' thus prints :And Fortune on his damned Quarry smiling Shew'd like a Rebell's Whore: but all 's too weake: For brave Macbeth (well hee deserves that Name) Disdayning Fortune, with his brandisht Steele Which smoak'd with bloody execution

(Like Valour's Minion) carv'd out his passage,
'Till hee fac'd the Slave:

Which nev'r shooke hands, nor bad farwell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the Nave to th' Chops,
And fix'd his Head upon our Battlements.
Capell's unimpeachable correction of the eighth
line-

And ne'er shook hands, &c.

is neglected, with too many the like, by most later editors; the Globe, however, drawing attention to such negligence by obelizing the line. Steevens, justly perceiving that "Till he faced the slave" was the end, not the beginning of a line, printed,

Carved out his passage, till he faced the slave; but in ignorance (at that time general) of Shakespeare's frequent employment of interlaced or runon lines, he left "Like Valour's minion" disturbed, as a gasping half-line.

Which smoked with bloody execution,
Carved out his passage till he faced the slave,
And ne'er shook hands nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chaps,
And fixed his head upon our battlements.
Malone, referring to Holinshed, corrected quarry in
W. WATKISS LLOYD.
the first line.

'KING JOHN,' III. i. (7th S. vii. 383).—
It is religion that doth make vows kept;
But thou hast sworn against religion,

By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st,
And makest an oath the surety for thy truth
Against an oath: fthe truth thou art unsure

To swear, swears only not to be forsworn :
Else what a mockery should it be to swear!

Globe edit. 11. 279–285.

If, as I presume is the case, MR. C. J. FLETCHER has made his début in 'N. & Q.' with the excellent paper at the reference above, he deserves a hearty welcome from older contributors as a valuable accession.

I am not surprised that reader or compositor, or both, got confused in dealing with the very subtle dialectic of his Eminence Cardinal Pandulph. From some cause confusion has crept into the text, but happily not, as I think, beyond detection and removal by simple process. I propose to amend the passage thus:— But thou hast sworn against religion It is religion that doth make vows kept; By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swar'st And makest an oath the surety for thy truth Against the truth-an oath thou art unsure To swear. Swear only not to be forsworn: Else what a mockery should it be to swear!

1. In 1. 3 I think it is evident that in the second un-instance we should read swar'st for "swear'st." Pandulph was contrasting Philip's new oath of Mitford perceived that the clause in parenthesis alliance with John with his old oath of obedience -("Like Valour's minion")-was out of place, to the Holy See. Swear'st and swar'st being and made a gallant attempt to reduce the dis-identical in sound, the cause of misprint is obvious. location by the transposition,

Disdaining Fortune, like Valour's minion.

He so far did well in retaining a capital letter for "Valour," and thus placing it in directest opposition to Fortune. Macbeth is, in fact, contrasted, as the minion of Valour, with Macdonwald flattered by smiling Fortune; but even so the terms of the antithesis are too remote from each other to tell as intended. I do not doubt that the two clauses in

Indeed the ingenious devices employed to explain away Drake's gift are colourless in the fresh light brought to bear upon them, and their purpose glares through all the overlay of laborious and transparent patchwork in the Transactions quoted.

2. The transposition of "an oath" and "the truth," in 1. 5, must, I think, commend itself. "Against the truth" is equivalent to "against religion" in 1. 2.

3. "Surety" being used in the sense of warrant, "unsure," as its opposite, must mean unwarranted. Unsure in Shakspeare is by no means limited to the sense of uncertain, the sense which MR. FLETCHER assigns to the word. In '2 Henry IV.,' I. iii. 89, we find it in the sense of unsafe, a sense which would suit this passage very well, though, for the reason stated, " unwarranted" is preferable.

4. Those who know how frequently final s unwarrantably intrudes itself in the text of the First