Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/347

 iv. OCT. 7. loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 285 game of kings, and this tragedy is a regal one. Further, chess is pre-eminently an intellectual game, and this drama is a struggle of intellects, in which the dynamic point is the breaking down of a noble mind. "THE TEMPEST,' V. i. 199-203 :— Mir. Sweet lord, you play me false. ftr. No, my dear'st love, I would not for the world. Mir. Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, And I would call it fair play. Furness cites the following interpretations:— " Warburton : ' That is, if the subject or bet were kingdoms.' Dr. Johnson : ' I take the sense to be only this : Ferdinand would not, he says, play her false for the world; yes, answers she, 1 would allow you to do it for something less than the world, for twenty kingdoms, and I wish you well enough to allow you, after a little wrangle, that your play was fair.' " W. A. Wright: 'The usage of should and would in this sentence becomes like our own by a very >light change, " for a score of kingdoms should you wrangle, I would call it fair play." This is merely an illustration of the manner in which the sentence would be changed in adopting it to modern habit. Another modern form would be obtained by sub- stituting "might" for "should."' " These interpretations do not only seem strained and obscure, but they fail to take into account Miranda's character. She, of royal birth, being brought up without the effeminating influence of women, is not the woman weakly to tell her lover that matters of State importance might cause him to be untrue to her and she would smile acqui- escence. She is a girl of fine womanly instinct, yet with all a man's openness of mind and freedom from suspicion, and she is not any more likely to suppose Ferdinand, whom she regards as the soul of princely honour, guilty of dishonesty, than is Ferdinand, likely to cheat her in a game. The passage has no reference to weak sub- mission on her part. She and her love have been playing a game at which we may be sure she has become a skilful opponent to her father. Ferdinand has been putting up no defence, supposing that an easy victory will please her. She is piqued at his slight of her ability : " Sweet lord, you play me false."_ You wrong me in so doing. Ferdi- nand, in his most sentimental manner, assures his dearest love that he would not for the world. "Yes," says she, "it is a game of chess, a royal game; the score is of kingdoms, and <>u should wrangle, you should contest your point, as a true king defend your side, and that I would call fair play." "Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, and I would call it fair play." R. M. GAREETT. Seattle High School, Seattle, Wash., U.S. ' LOVE'S LABOUR 's LOST,' IV. iii. 335-6 :— A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound, When the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd. The page of quoted critical comment given in the ' New Variorum ' proves the second line of this passage to have been a fruitful source of controversy. The point is, Shall we take the meaning, " Head of theft (thief) suspicious," where " suspicious " modifies- "Head of theft (thief)"? or is the meaning, " Head suspicious of theft "—a departure from the verbal order of the text 1 Furness agrees with Farmer, who declares for the latter explanation. I hardly think we are justified in assuming an inversion to be intended where a much clearer sense can be obtained without it. The mental picture of a thief, listening for any sound to warn him of possible detection and the frustration of his designs, is very vivid. The thief may b& supposed to work silently, but the approach of an intruder upon the scene would likely be heralded by some sound. The head sus- picious of theft is the exception, while the suspicious head of theft is the rule. E. MERTON DEY. St. Louis. 'HAMLET,' I. IV. 36: "DRAM OF EALE."— That " eale" is " evil " is certain, from "devil" being twice spelt "deale11 in the same Second Quarto in which " eale " appears ; but confirmation of this is afforded by the occurrence of "ele" for "evil" in Mirk's 'Festial'or ' Liber Festivalis,' now in the press for the Early English Text Society, under the editorship of Dr. Erbe : " Teching hem to have deth in mynde, and J>e hyllyng of hure [covering of their] grave, and so, for drede, levon ]>e ele and done ]>e gode'" (p. 291, 11. 24-6). F. J. FURNIVALL. ' TIMON OF ATHENS," I. ii. 251-4:— "Thou givest so long, Timon. I fear me thou wilt give away thyself in paper shortly : what need these feasts, pomps, and vain-glories?" A number of alterations and improvements upon the words "in paper'' have been sug- gested here: in proper (Warburton), in per- petuum (Hanmer), in person (Kinnear), in querpo (Deighton, " Arden" edition, p. 39). I think the old pun paper and pauper, which is often met with, explains the situa-^ tion. Compare Webster's ' Westward Ho !' II. i. : " more suppliant than clients that sue in forma paper." Dyce, in a note here, gives another example from Rowley's ' When you