Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/11

 12 S. V. JAN., 1916.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

IB dout (do out) to be taken as meaning "put out," "extinguish" ? This is con- sonant with the idea of liquid in dram. Or as meaning " eject," " expel" ? One objec- tion that I have seen to the word often, viz., that it is too limited, is sufficiently refuted by oft in 11. 23 and 28.

In a MS. the most likely word to be misread as dout would be clout. Clout patch gives no sense ; but a noun clout is another form of clot, and the participle . clouted, of clotted. The ' N.E.D.' admits under clouted that a verb clout for clot is conceivable, though no instances are listed. To revert to a notion indicated above, if eale could be a lost word for vinegar, or be a printer's misreading for esil (Esile in the Folio), we should gain a good and clear metaphor : "It often happens that a email portion of vinegar dropped into a nobler substance (such as milk) curdles it all."

That the operation of acids on milk was in Shakespeare's mind at the time is shown by I. v. 69.

D. "To his own scandal." Three mean- ings are possible, (a) His own refers to the subject, dram ; to is used of result, as in Lamech's " I have slain a man, to his hurt." The phrase then means "so as to incur blame for its operation."

(b) His own refers to the object, " the noble substance"; then to=into: "spoils the noble substance by turning it into a corruption of itself." This is better suited than (a) to the general context and the scope of the metaphor ; but the construction with dout is not very happy. It would suit clout well.

(c) His own means " the depraved man's." This remoteness of reference, and false con- cord, is more licentious writing, but thoroughly Shakespearean in style.

H. K. ST. J. S.

Among the six pages of closely written notes on this passage in Furness's Variorum edition is one from the First Series of ' N. & Q.' (v. 377) resembling the emenda- tion now suggested by PROF. ELLERSHAW. The writer of the note in 1852 advocated the reading " o'er a doubt," which he explained as " doth cast a doubt over all the noble substance, bring into suspect all the noble qualities" ; and H. D. in The Athenaeum of Aug. 18, 1866, suggested " overdout." Dyce, it appears, agreeing with Lettsom, considered that " a verb must lurk under the corruption ' a doubt ' or ' doubt ' with

the signification of turn, pervert, corrupt, or the like. Shakespeare's meaning evidently is that a little leaven leavens the whole lump."

Prof. Elze's reading is quoted in The Athenaeum of Aug. 11, 1866, pp. 217-18, viz., " often daub " ; and if these words were merely altered to " overdaub," the change would, I think, supply much the best sense and rhythm to the passage hitherto forthcoming :

The dram of eale

Doth all the noble substance overdaub To his (its) own scandal.

Compare ' King Lear,' IV. i. 51, " Poor Tom's a-cold. I cannot daub it further," which Warburton rendered " disguise further" ; and 'Richard III.,' III. v. 30 :

So smooth he daub'd his vice with show of virtue, and the following quotation from 1543 in the ' N.E.D.' : " Perjury cannot escape unpunished, be it never so secretly handled and craftily daubed." N. W. HILL.

35 Highbury Place, N.5.

The passage may, I think, be read as

The dram of eale (alloy) Doth all the noble substance often dout To his own scan tie.

As thus rendered, the meaning would be that the dram of alloy doth all the noble substance often put out, or put down, to its own diminishment or abasement. The words " dout " and " scan tie " are to be found in the ' N.E.D.' and Wright's ' Dialect Dictionary.' I cannot find any authority for the word " eale " as meaning alloy, but it may perhaps be discovered in some old alchemical work. H. R. D.

SHAKESPEARE : A SURVIVAL or AUGURY. At 12 S. iii. 297 I referred to a possible use by Shakespeare of oral tradition. In Ire- land there is a widespread belief that it is unlucky to see one magpie, but lucky to see two. I believe there are other traditional facts available concerning the magpie, but this particular case is interesting as Shake- speare referred to the bird as a means of augury as follows :

Stones have been known to move and trees to

speak ;

Augurs and understood relations have By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought

forth The secret'st man of blood.

' Macbeth,' Ill.'iv. 123-6. See Furness, * Variorum Shakespeare.*

J. J. MACSWEEXEY.