Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/201

 10 s. vm. AUG. 31, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Maria, eldest d. of J. W. Gregg, Dublin, w. of Thos. T. Pattison, ob. 7 Oct., 1870, a. 20. Christ. Pattison, ob. 17 May, 1872, a. 29. Margaret Taylor, ob. 10 Jan., 1873.

G. S. PARRY, Lieut.-Col. 18, Hyde Gardens, Eastbourne.

(To be continued.)

SHAKESPEARIANA.

' THE WINTER'S TALE,' II. i. 143-57 :

Ant. Be she honour-flaw'd,

I have three daughters ; the eldest is eleven ; The second and the third, nine, and some five ; If this prove true, they '11 pay for 't ; by mine honour, I '11 geld 'm all ; fourteen they shall not see, To bring false generations : they are co-heirs ; And I had rather glib myself than they Should not produce fair issue.

Leon. Cease ; no more.

You smell this business with a sense as cold As is a dead man's nose ; but I do see 't and feel 't, As you feel doing thus ; and see withal The instruments that feel.

Ant. If it be so,

We need no grave to bury honesty : There 's not a grain of it the face to sweeten Of the whole dungy earth.

The generally accepted explanation that Leontes, on saying, "As you feel doing thus," lays hold of either the beard or arm, or some other part of Antigonus is a grossly literal, and, I believe, we shall see, an erroneous interpretation.

While not crediting the charge against the queen, Antigonus has fiercely expressed his feelings in saying what he would dp to his daughters were he convinced of the inherent unchastity of woman ; whereupon Leontes takes him at his word, and replies that, although Antigonus does not see the queen's guilt, he (Leontes) sees it, and feels as savagely inclined as Antigonus does in thus saying what he would do under such condi- tions ; " but I do see 't, and feel 't, As you feel doing thus." We are not to understand " As you feel (on my) doing thus." The poet says nothing of the kind. " Doing thus " plainly refers to Antigonus " As you (Antigonus) feel (in) doing thus" making it impossible for his daughters to bring false generations. The king adds " and see withal The instruments that feel " " and, what is more, I see those things in present conditions which are instrumental in making me feel." Under the usual explanation the commentators are forced to take " and see withal The instruments that feel " as referring to Antigonus that he (Antigonus) sees the fingers pulling his beard, &c. : whereas the meaning is that, while Antigonus works himself into a frenzy

at the mere thought 'of such feminine frailty,, the king, who is equally sensitive on this; point, has in addition the actual infidelity to deal with the contrast between a theory and a condition.

The next speech shows that the thought has not been interrupted, and that Anti- gonus is not cowed, as would have been the case had the king resorted to an act of physical violence to carry his point.

E. MERTON DEY.

St. Louis.

' As You LIKE IT,' IV. iii. 102 : " CHEW- ING THE FOOD OF SWEET AND BITTER FANCY."

A number of eminent editors have in the past fifty years attacked the integrity of this line, and the Clarendon Press editor sees here an allusion to Lodge's novel, p. 100. But it seems safe to aver that we have Shakespeare's words correctly given. Com- pare Lyly's ' Gallathea,' HI. i. : " What have we here, all in love ? no other food then fancie, no, no, shee shall not have the faire boy." CHAS. A. HERPICH.

' MEASURE FOR MEASURE,' II. iv. 94 : " ALL-BUILDING." It is very dangerous- to tamper with any of Shakespeare's epithets merely because they do not square with our expectations, or are not in accord- ance with modern usage ; but " the all- building law," which is the reading of the folios in the above passage, comes upon us- as a surprise, somewhat perplexes us, and tempts the ingenious critic to hazard an, emendation. Rowe would have replaced it by all-holding, Johnson by all-binding ; but alterations like these, suggested probably by " manacles " in the preceding line, do- not fit in naturally and easily with, nor do they add much force to, the word with which they are to be connected. If, with the Cambridge editors, we retain all-building, how are we to understand it ? I suppose it would be meant to express the con- structive power of law : law builds up and strengthens nations, law builds up and edifies individuals. But law does not merely construct ; it has a larger power still ; the- world is upheld, regulated, governed by law. It would hardly be too much to say that law has universal sway; it wields every- thing. By a minute change, by supposing that 6 has been miswritten for w, all- building melts into all-wieldina ; thus would law be presented to us in all the fullness of its power, and such a sweeping generaliza- tion, conveyed by a single epithet, would be quite in the manner and spirit of Shake- speare. PHILIP PERRING.