Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/346

 284 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. iv. OCT. 7, iwe. Place in the House he inhabits, formerly possessed by the said Mr. Williams and afterwards by mysell till my removal to the house I built contiguous to it. . Xli'tiy Any and every just debt may appear I may be owing I desire be discharg'd, which without my recommending to my Widow I am certain sliee '1 take care to do, some there may be that I don't recollect. XHIthiy I bequeath to Mrs. Eliza Agoin of Dublin, my lesser Yellow Diamond Ring as to a person I very much esteem for her own great merit and a most intimate, loving and beloved Friend of my Wife, and provided their respective conve- nieucys will permit it, as I am fully persuaded would correspond to their mutual desire, I recommend to them to live together, in such place as they shall both determine. XIVth1' After the payment of my Lawfull Debts and the several Legacvs herein mentioned I give and bequeath all the Residue of my real and Per- sonal Estate wherever situated and in whatever manner compos'd and of whatever kind it may be, unto my dear wife Mrs. Elizabeth Smith whom I wish long to survive me in the enjoyment of every solid Felicity, which while I liv'd my only aim and desire was to procure to her. and I constitute and appoint mysaicl dear wife Elizabeth Smith sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament, and in regard of the trouble it must entail 1 desire my friends Mr. John Udny, Brittish Consul, and Mr. •Conraed Martens, Consul of Denmark, to be assist- ing to her herein, with their friendly advice and aid in order to realize such Part of my Effects as she shall judge propper to form a settlement for her, in such Place the most to her comfort and satisfac- tion where [she] shall chose to reside ; this Trouble I desire they would moderate and each of them to accept of one hundred ounces of silver wrought Plate and understand it to be a Testimony of Esteem and Friendship of their departed Friend. HORATIO F. BROWN. (To be continued.) SHAKESPEARIANA. ' LEAK,' I. i. 71-7, Furness edition, reads :— Regan. In my true heart I find she names my very deed of love; • Only she comes too short; that I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys Which the most preciom square of sense possesses, And find 1 am alone felicitate ID your dear highness' love. In the interpretation of this passage the editors have held generally to three views: square, a space, held by Wright, and Black- woods Magazine, October, 1853; square, a capacity, held by Johnson, Edwards, Capell, and Hudson ; square, a figure of symmetry, held by Warburton, Holt, Smith,and Schmidt. Moberly explains it as " estimate," and Col- lier, Singer, Keightley, and Bailey alter the text. Has not this passage fallen prey to the symbolism which is the besetting sin of • Shakespeare commentators? Why not ex- plain this as simply a concrete figure from chess? Chess is mentioned in 'The Tempest,' V. i. 198, where Prospero discovers to Alonzo, Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess. In ' The Taming of the Shrew,' I. i. 58, there is a pun on the expression '• to stalemate," when Katherine says, " Sir, is it your will to make a stale of roe among these mates ?" Shakespeare is possibly thinking of check- mate when Macbeth is made to say, " My mind she hath mated, and amazed my sight,'' V. i. 86. Also we have in ' King John,' II. i. 123, " That thou mayst be a queen and check the world." Also in"' 2 Henry VI.,' III. i. 264, — that is good deceit Which mates him first that lirst intends deceit. The senses of the Persian " mate" in "check- mate," and of the Teutonic " mate," to match, are played upon in ' The Comedy of Errors," III. ii. 54, where Antinholus of Syracuse replies to Luciana's "What, are you mad, that you do reason so?" with "Not mad, but mated." Again, may not the passage in 'Troilus and Cressida,' IV. iv. 89, "I can- not play at subtle games to which the Grecians are most prompt," refer to the supposed invention of chess by Palamedes? So much for Shakespeare's allusions to chess. In the light of them our passage may be interpreted : the most precious square, the most advantageous position upon the board, from which one has the board at his command. The joys accruing from having full control over sense, feeling, reason, appre- ciation of all things, are as naught in com- parison with your dear highness' love. The scheming Regan compares her position to the playing of a game of chance and skill. This interpretation casts light on another passage in the same scene. In lines 154-6 Kent uses the figure of chess, possibly with Regan's speech in mind :— My life I never held but as a pawn To wage against thy enemies, nor fear to lose it, Thy safety being the motive. Furness takes this to mean simply a " pledge," yet how much more effective it is to explain the passage as an allusion to chess, since it is the office of the pawn to keep the king from falling ! May not the reference to primero in I. i. 122, " I thought to set my rest on her kind nursery," tiave been attracted l.y the figure of the game ? Such attraction is common in Shake- speare, and we find an unequivocal example of it in this very Act, I. iv. 81-3, where " bandy," a term from tennis, is quickly fol- lowed by " base football player." From the time of Haroun al Raschid to the time of Queen Elizabeth, chess was the