Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/421

 10 s. x. OCT. 31, 1908.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

345

I thank DR. KRTJEGER for showing that the sense is clear : by retaining the old reading with a new punctuation the general tenor of Lord Bardolph's reply -to Hastings is fully explained. TOM JONES.

'HENRY IV.,' PART II., I. ii. 45 (10 S- x. 164). " And if a man is through with them in honest taking-up, then they must stand upon security." Pope's emendation, " thorough " for " through," is no doubt useful to modern readers, though hardly necessary, as " through " for " thorough " is common, and its meaning well known. But apart from this, the meaning of the sentence is plain enough, and is only made difficult by the glosses of Schmidt and Deighton. Falstaff is declaiming against the moneylenders, like many spendthrifts of far later times. He harps on the word " security," with which they have so con- veniently put him off. The " yea-forsooth knaves," as he calls them, in allusion to their smooth words, ought to feel honoured by the condescension of a titled client, and be only too glad to lend him money without hope of payment. Instead, they are making for- tunes, wearing high shoes, and living in luxury generally; and even if a man be thoroughly honest in taking up (i.e., borrow- ing), they still protect their overgorged and bloated purses with this same cursed " security." The very word, he says, is poison to him. J. FOSTER PALMER.

8, Royal Avenue, S.W.

' ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA,' I. iii. 6-12 (10 S. x. 165). The weakness of the expres- sion " I wish, forbear," may be removed by an aposiopesis. Charmian is about to remon- strate in such terms as " I wish you would not be so shrewish "; but, as that would be too impertinent, suddenly changes her thought to " forbear." TOM JONES.

' CYMBELINE,' III. iii. 29-35 (10 S. x. 165). MR. I. H. PLATT'S emendation of " forbid " for " a-bed " may be correct; but as he asks for any explanation of the present reading, I offer the following two.

I. Belarius has bid the lads

revolve what tales 1 have told you, Of courts, of princes, of the tricks of war, &c. Guiderius answers :

Out of your proof you speak; we poor unfledged,

Have never wing'd from view of the nest

unto us [this life] is

travelling a-bed.

That is, you have travelled and seen the world; our knowledge of the world is all " in the mind's eye "; our travelling is like

that of a man who, lying a - bed, roams abroad only in imagination or in dreams.

II. Restore the original word " travail- ing," and read : A cell of ignorance; travailing a-bed; A prison for a debtor. T....

That is, the narrow round of our life, com- prising nothing but alternate toil and sleep, is like life in a prison. J. P. MALLESON.

Great Tew Vicarage, Oxori.

If Pope's emendation of " for " in place of " or " is adopted, there should be no diffi- culty in the passage. The phrase ' ' travelling ' ' or " travailing " (which is the same thing) " a-bed " is an example of the construction well known to students of the Greek drama,, in which an adjective so far qualifies its' noun that it contradicts it; and it means " travelling which is no travelling, which goes no further than one's bed." " You are* free! " says Belarius. " Free? " says his son. " Yes! but free to do nothing! "

The phrase " a prison for a debtor " seems to me much more difficult; and most com- mentators seem to disregard the word ' 'dares.' As I understand it, the meaning is this : " We who are shut out from the world are like men in a prison; and our prison would be suitable for a debtor who does not dare to go abroad for fear of meeting a creditor; who y in fact, is content with being shut out from the world." In the ordinary interpretation the word " debtor " is meaningless, and the word " dares " is used in a strained sense.

T. O. HODGES.

Kumbakonara, S. India.

The meaning is surely obvious without any alteration in the text. The speaker says somewhat sarcastically : " To us this life is a cell of ignorance. We travel but only within the narrow limits of our own bed. It is a prison for a debtor who dares- not put his foot outside." W. E. WILSON. [Other correspondents write to the same effect.]

[We must ask our correspondents not to send any more Shakespeariana at present, as we have a considerable amount of copy in hand. General expositions and paraphrases of passages ar e not so much desired as special points. Finally, we note that the sending of matter followed by rev isions of the same at a later date is apt to cause co illusion. As there is no occasion for haste, we ma y fairly expect to receive matter in the form in wh ich our correspondents wish it to appear.]

'THE SHAKESPEARE APOCRYPHA.' In looking through Mr. Tucker Brooke's comprehensive and much-needed jwork 1 The Shakespeare Apocrypha ' I n oticed an