Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/293

 11 S. X. OCT. 10, 19H.3

NOTES AND QUERIES.

287

and memory for an interior, and, though no <loubt ships may figure on plates in other places, it is tempting to conjecture that when he wrote ' David Copperfield ' he had .an inward vision of some plate decorated by Absolon once seen at Yarmouth or thereby.

EDWAKD BENSLY. Reydon, Southwold, Suffolk.

" RENT "= PL ACE RENTED. The ' N.E.D.' gives this sense as "obs.," without qualifica- tion. It is no more obsolete in America than " apple " or " railroad," and must be vsed a million times a week, being part of our linguistic daily bread. " I have got a cheap rent " (not a low one, but a hired tenement at a low price) ; "a very desirable rent " ; " How do you like your rent ? " " Buy a house or take a rent," &c., are heard and printed constantly.

Hartford, Conn. FoBBEST MOBGAN.

" M O B A L L," ' MlDSUMMEB >. NlGHT'S

DKEAM,' V. i. 207-9 :

thus Wall away doth go. Exit. Thes. Now is the morall downe betweene the t-\vo Neighbors.

This is the reading of the Folio. For morall downe the Quarto has moone vfed. The word represented by morall should be some word implying "partition." No suit- able word has hitherto been found. But morall could easily be a misreading for tnoiall, the horizontal stroke over o standing for n. And monial, as explained in the the upright bar or partition between the lights of a window or (see " munnion," ibid.) of a gallery in a ship. The Folio similarly omits n from Atiopa, II. i. 80. It prints the horizontal line correctly in theselues, I. i. 7.
 * New English Dictionary,' means mullion,

The word monial, written moneulle, might be misread as mone vfde, out of which the "Quarto printers may have made their moone vfed. They have a special liking for doubled vowels ; and, if they dropped out the short word downe here, it is only one of several instances where they have omitted a word wanted for the sense or the rhythm. Thus :

II. ii. 104 : " nature [here] shews art."

III. ii. 220 : " I am amazed at your [passionate] words."

IV. i. i;!3 : " My Lord, this [is] my daughter here asleep."

IV. i. 212 : " if he go about [to] expound this dream."

In rjich of these instances the word bracketed i* omitted by the Quarto and supplied by the Folio text.

If we make the proposed correction, the Clown, who has been standing, as Wall, with arm outstretched, is likened to an upright whitewashed (?) dividing-post. Could a heel- post, which supports a bale or partition divid- ing two stalls of a stable, be named monial ?

The French muraille, which has been suggested as explaining morall in the present passage, seems to mean " walling," " ram- part," or the like a sense which is hardly in keeping with the speech that follows. A wall between neighbours should be a party- wall. P. Z. BOUND.

8, Linden Mansions, Hornsey Lane, N.

BENJAMIN D'ISBAELI THE ELDEB AT STOKE NEWINGTON. In some MSS. relating to Stoke Newington recently secured there occurs a statement signed by many of the principal residents who, in support of a Royal Proclamation, pledge themselves to observe in their respective families the greatest economy and frugality in the consumption of bread and in the use of every species of grain. This is signed by D'Israeli, 18 Dec., 1800.

James Wadmore's Map of the Prebendal Manor or Lordship shows that he was a leaseholder of a house, coachhouse, stable, and garden, having a total area of 32 poles. The house then 7, Church Row is now 170, Church Street. It is safe to assume by his being a leaseholder that he was in occu- pation at least from Michaelmas, 1800.

The 'D.N.B.' gives 1801 as the year of his settlement in this house.

ALECK ABBAHAMS.

R. ZOUCHE AND THE PlAYS ' THE SOPHTS- TEB ' AND ' FALIJVCY.' ' The Sophister,' printed in 1639, has been generally ascribed to Richard Zouche. Mr. W. C. Hazlitt has also attributed to Zouche the play ' Fallacy ' (Harleian MS. 6869), on account of the initials " R. Z." appearing above the title. It has not, however, been noticed that ' Fallacy,' dated by its scribe " Aug. 13, 1631," is, in fact, an earlier form of 'The Sophister.' There is, therefore, further reason for attributing ' The Sophister ' to Zouche.

The play was probably written much earlier than 1631, but later than 1610, as there is a reference in Act II. sc. i. to " the year 1610, when all artificers and Tradesmen became Gentle -men . " It reflects the controversy between civilians and com- mon-lawyers.

' The Sophister ' gives an abridged text of ' Fallacy,' and contains errors which the