Whom fleshy [fleshly?] epicures call virtue's essence, Sways all men's judgments," &c.43 Spenser, Visions of Bellay, vii. Todd, vol. vii. p. 512,— "I saw a river swift, whose fomy billowes Did wash the grondwork of an old great wall: I saw it cover'd all with griessy [surely griesly] shadowes, Harrington's Ariosto, B. i. St. lvi.,— "It might be true, but sure it was incredible, And makes of things not seen a shape to rise." unaccessible-impossible-possible. XVII. As, in the sense of to wit. King Henry VIII. iv. 1, point,— When "Where by the Archbishop of Canterbury She had all the royal makings of a queen As, holy oil, Edward Confessor's crown, The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems— 43 See Mr. Halliwell's edition of Marston, printed from the old copies, vol. iii. p. 200, which confirms Walker's two conjectures. His conjecture griesly in the next quotation is confirmed by the first folio of Spenser.-Ed. As is here used not in the sense of for instance, but in that of namely, to wit; it expresses an enumeration of particulars, not a selection from them by way of example. This is a frequent-perhaps, indeed, the one exclusive-signification of as, when employed in this construction; e.g., 3 King Henry VI., near the end (a striking instance),"What valiant foemen, like to autumn's corn, Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride! Two Cliffords, as the father and the son; And two Northumberlands," &c. This is the true construction of as in a number of passages, where it has been, or is likely to be, mistaken for the modern usage. Hamlet, i. 4, I think, "So, oft it chances in particular men, That for some vicious mole of nature in them, As, in their birth, &c. By the 44 o'ergrowth of some complexion, &c. Or by some habit," &c. 2 King Richard II. ii. 1, "No, it [his ear] is stopt with other flattering sounds, 44 Walker silently adopts Pope's correction, the for their. The latter is the reading of the old quartos. It is not English, and is no doubt derived from the last line but one above. The folios are defective here.-Ed. 45 The earliest quartos (those of 1597 and 1598) according to Mr. Collier, read, "As praises of whose taste the wise are found." Mr. Collier conjectures fond for found, but should we not also read th' unwise for the wise? The reading of the later copies Lascivious metres, &c. Reports of fashions in proud Italy," &c. Hence in As You Like It, ii. 7, "And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant," &c. I have no doubt that Shakespeare wrote, "As, first," &c. (So in Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, Book ii. Song v. Clarke, p. 295, line 7, 't is sentenc'd so by those, That here on earth at destinies dispose read as.) ઃ It occurs also where only one particular is in question. As You Like It, v. 4, "—but when one of the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If, as, 'If you said so, then I said so;' and they shook hands," &c. XVIII. Inversion of the Indefinite Article. Tempest, iv. 1,— i.e., "So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife, ઃઃ Makes this place Paradise;" so rare-wonder'd a father." So King John, iv. 2,"Makes sound opinion sick, and truth suspected, For putting on so new a fashion'd robe." The looks to me like a sophistication for the sake of the sense. variation, however, does not interfere with Walker's interpretation of the word as.-Ed. VOL. I. 9 Comedy of Errors, iii. 2, near the end, there's no man is so vain That would refuse so fair an offer'd chain;' i.e., "so fair- [fairly-] offer'd a chain." (Compare Milton's Masque, 1. 322, "thy honest-offer'd courtesy.") Love's Labour's Lost, i. 1, "Or, having sworn too hard-a-keeping oath, Beaumont and Fletcher, Island Princess, iv. 3, "So brave a mingled temper saw I never; i.e., "a temper so well mixed, so happily balanced." Sir F. Kinaston on Chaucer's Troilus and Cresside, printed 1796, p. 8,-" It cannot be imagined that Chaucer, who was so great a learned scholler, should be ignorant of the story," "a scholar so great-learned;" (compare Sidney, Defence of Poesy, p. 493, 1. 39,-"I shall not do it without the testimonie of great learned [great-learned] men, both ancient and moderne; p. 517, line 15, diverse smalllerned courtiers; " Chapman, Lines to the Reader, prefixed to his Iliad, 4th page, old folio, "those great learn'd men σε that were his [Homer's] com mentars; " and Selden as quoted in Gifford's Jonson, vol. i. p. civ., " a common-learned reader.") Chaucer, Frankeleines Tale, 1. 11825, "Considering the best on every side, That fro his lust yet were him lever abide, Chapman, Odyss. xii. note," But thus they botch, &c.imagining so huge a great body must needs have a voice as huge." XIX. Certain Preterites used as Participles. Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 2, Spoke; and so it is printed in Johnson and Steevens's edition, 1793. Ib., Will Cæsar speak? Cæs. Not till he hears how Antony is touch'd Venus and Adonis, St. clviii., "Hadst thou but bid beware, then he had spoke." And so I think we should read, Winter's Tale, v. 1,— "You might have spoke a thousand things that would Have done the time more benefit." And so write, Fletcher, Valentinian, i. 3, Moxon, vol. i. p. 442, col. 1, "I have spoken too much, sir. Val. Aecius. I'll have all. It fits not Your ears should hear their vanities." The parliamentary spoke is perhaps a relic of antiquity. So chose, took, &c., in the Elizabethan poets, and indeed much later. Gave seems to be used thus, Sonnet clii.,"For I have sworn deep oaths of thy deep kindness, Oaths of thy love, thy truth, thy constancy; And to enlighten thee, gave eyes to blindness, To make them swear against the thing they see; For I have sworn thee fair," &c. |