Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/371

 io" s. ii. OCT. i5,i9w.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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high point its coup de grdce. Wycliffe's Old Testament, fifteenth century, still uses : as the principal mark (ornamented M ).

11. Jno = John. This has some modern origin, probably fanciful. In theMSS.Iwavvrys, Johannes, Joannes, &c., are regularly abbre- viated, but always with the first two letters in proper order, lo. Illustrations, with dates, from Capelli will be given later.

It has thus nothing in common with IHS, which is nearly as old as our era. The Greek forms of the letters of the first parts of XPI2TO2 and of IH20Y2 were (from rever- ence?) unchanged in passing into Latin MSS. Hence IHesum, XPI (Christi), XPO (Christo), &c. (This X = Chi survives in Xmas, which therefore should never be pronounced or written Xmas.) Mr. A. E. Bernays writes : " This origin of IHS is prettily put by Skeat in his Chaucer, v. 179."

12. Paragraph, IF. This is not a P turned round. Cp. the fifteenth-century printed form *.

13. The Greek interrogation. This is a ; (semicolon). It is a mark much used in mediaeval MSS., especially for abbreviation. It is also used as a separate punctuating

mark, and sometimes in Greek MSS. The Laurentian Sophocles (Saec. XI.) has some questions marked with 10, some without. By tne sixteenth century its use is confined to interrogation and is quite regular. In printed Greek of Venice, early sixteenth century, we have ; used to translate Latin a (question mark), while remaining punctuation is re- presented by the period.

14. ; in neq; in M, and z in viz. Yes, they are all three the same. ^ is sometimes hardly distinguishable from 10.

15. y in y e (=the) is not a conscious archaism of modern printers. Rather it is the modernizing of a very late survival of )> ( = th). The printers used the y of their founts as being very like it, just as quite

Palseo- Science The

correct forms (j>, ') would have required new- type, so the most approximate were chosen. From this it follows that we should never pronounce ye (the) as ye, but always as the. F. W. G. FOAT, D.Lit. ( To be continued.)

rounts as oemg very iiKe it, just as q recent printers (see, e.fl., Thompson's 'Pa graphy' in the "International Sci< Series") have printed 1 for the MS. f.

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JOHN WEBSTER AND SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

(See ante, pp. 221, 261.)

DYCE has noted several instances of the repetition by Webster of whole lines, and even of douole lines, in his various works, and it is by no means a difficult task to add to Dyce's list. These repetitions really form part of a long series of notes, carefully pre- pared beforehand, which Webster has scattered throughout his writings. They stand out from the rest of his work, and are easily recognized. In old writings such sentences are often marked by a hand in the margin, to denote that they are worthy of more than passing consideration ; or they might be put between inverted commas, to emphasize their

wit or wisdom. Sometimes they are brought in very awkwardly, and do not harmonize with surrounding matter ; and sometimes the speakers follow up their wise saws by remarks which indicate very plainly that they are conscious of having given utterance to something beyond the common. But, whether awkwardly introduced or otherwise, these notes, whether cast into the form of proverbs or shaped to rime, stand out from the text and rivet one's attention. I will deal with some of these notes, and show that in many cases they should be put between inverted commas, not merely to show up their wisdom or beauty, but because they are actually quotations pure and simple.

Let us take one of the repetitions noted by Dyce and trace it to its source :