Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/564

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. IL DEC. 10, 1904.

SHAKESPEARE'S BOOKS.

<See 9 th S. v., vi., vii., viii., xi., xii. ; 10 th S. i. 465.) IN ' Henry V.,' IV. i., Shakespeare supplies an example of merismus or the distributor : Henry. J Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball, The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, 'The intertissued robe of gold and pearl, The farced title running 'fore the king, The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp That beats upon the high shore of this world, No, not all these thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave, Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind 'Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread. This figure is thus described by Puttenham : " Then have ye a figure very meet for Orators or eloquent perswaders such as our maker or Poet must in some cases shew himselfe to be, and is when we may conveniently utter a matter in one entire speech or proposition, and will rather do it peecemeale and by distribution of every part for amplification sake, as, for example, he that might say, a house was outragiously plucked down : will not be satisfied so to say, but rather will speak it in this sort : they first undermined the ground-sills, they beate doune the walles, they unfloored the loftes, they untiled it and pulled doune the roofe. For so indeed is a house pulled doune by circum- stances which this figure of distribution doth set -forth every one apart, and therefore I name him ^the distributor according to his originall."

" The zealous Poet writing in prayse of the maiden Queene would not seeme to wrap up all her most excellent parts in a few words them entirely comprehending, but did it by a distributor or merismus in the negative for the better grace, thus. .Not your bewtie, most gracious souveraine, .Not maidenly lookes, maintenid with maiestie. Your stately port, which doth not match but staine, For your presence, your pallace and your traine, .All Princes Courts, mine eye could ever see : .Not your quick wits, with sober governance : Your clear foresight, your faithful memory, So sweet features, in so staid countenance : Nor languages with plentious utterance, To able to discourse and entertain : Not noble race, for far beyond Caesars reign, Run in right line, and blood of nointed kings : Not large empire, armies, treasures, domaine, Lusty liveries, of fortunes dearest darlings : Not all the skills, fit for a Princely dame, Your learned Muse, with use and study brings. Not true honour, ne that immortal fame Of mayden reign, your only own renown And no Queen's yet such as yeilds your name Greater glory than doth your treble crown.

" And then concludes thus. Not any one of all these honoured parts Your Princely happes, and habites that do move, &c. Where ye see that all the parts of her commenda- tion which were particularly remembered in twenty verses before, are tvrapt up in the two verses of this last part, videl.

Not any one of all your honoured parts Those Princely haps and habits, &c."

The zealous poet does not wrap up all the queen's most excellent parts in a few words.

but he distributes them in the negative for better grace ; and Shakespeare does not wrap up all the king's ceremonial attributes in a few words, but distributes them in the negative.

Puttenham's words are " Not any one of all these," &c. : and Shakespeare's words are " Not all these," &c.

Shakespeare, in distributing the attributes of thrice-gorgeous ceremony, uses not in ex- pressing denial, and nor in introducing other parts of the negative ; and Puttenham makes the same use of not and nor in distributing the excellent parts of the maiden queen.

Shakespeare may also refer to this figure in * Hamlet,' V. ii., where Osric speaks of Laertes as a gentleman of most excellent differences, &c. Hamlet says " to divide him inventorially would dizzy the arithmetic of memory"; and afterwards he says, "Why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath ?" that is, Why do we, instead of dis- tributing every part of Laertes's excellent differences, wrap them up in a few words entirely comprehending them? The "rawer breath" may represent "fewer words." A commentator suggests "warp" for "wrap," but Puttenham uses the word " wrap" twice in his description of this figure, the distri- butor, to which Shakespeare here refers.

Shakespeare also refers to this figure in another part of * Hamlet ' (I. i.) : Ham. Seems, madam ! Nay, it is ; I know not

seems.

'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage, Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, That can denote me truly : these, indeed, seem, For they are actions that a man might play.

In this passage Hamlet uses not in expressing denial, and nor in introducing other parts of the negative. W. L. RUSHTON.

(To be continued.)

ROSSETTI BIBLIOGRAPHY. In the New York Bibliographer for December, 1902, and January, 1903, there was printed a 'Biblio- graphy of the Works of Dante Gabriel Elossetti,' compiled by his brother, Mr. W. M. Elossetti. In the April part of the same periodical I was able to add a few titles that lad escaped the notice of Mr. Rossetti. There is also, as most readers know, a good biblio- graphy of Rossetti's books by Mr. John P. Anderson, of the British Museum, which was appended to Mr. Joseph Knight's valuable ife of the poet-painter (" Great Writers " Series, 1887). Considering, therefore, that-