Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/429

 )> S. III. JUNE 3, '99.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

423

' TEMPEST,' II. i. 251-4. \A e all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again, A id by that destiny, to perform an act "^ hereof what 's past is prologue; what to come, Ii yours and my discharge. T ie idea of destiny should not be lost sight ot in explaining this passage, as Antonio uses it in support of his positive statement of what i tl ey are to do.

In Steevens's 1793 " what to come, In yours and my discharge" (with the punctuation hi;re given), is explained to mean "depends on what you and I are to perform." This ! ineaof a subsequent event depending on their present act is not Antonio's thought. The correct punctuation, as given in the First Folio, " what to come In yours, and my dis- charge," gives a different meaning. Carrying j the "is," before "prologue," forward to the next clause, where it is understood after " come " " what 's past is prologue what to come (is) In yours, and my discharge " we j find that the emphasis of the uninterrupted charge" what to come is for us to do and 1 that by " what to come " is meant the very i act itse'lf which they are to perform, and not i) some result that depends on such act.
 * thought falls on "In yours, and my dis-

E. MERTON DEY. 'TEMPEST, II. ii. 18-9.

Here 's} neither bush nor shrub, to bear off any i weather at all, and another storm brewing.

In the First Folio the comma is placed after "bush," instead of "shrub," from which we are justified in reading, "Here's neither bush I (to shelter us), nor (even a) shrub to bear off ! any weather at all," " at all " referring to the I smaller portion of the storm which a shrub ! would bear off, as contrasted with the greater protection afforded by a bush.

E. MERTON DEY.

'TROILUS AND CRESSIDA,' I. i. 31. So (Traitor) then she comes, when she is thence. This is the reading of the Folio, and prac- tically that of the Quartos. The modern reading,

So, traitor! "When she comes!" When is she thence ?

which originated with Kowe, may perhaps (seem to have become so firmly embedded in the text that any attempt to dislodge it in favour of its predecessor may savour of temerity. But there appears to me to be a very material distinction between the two readings which has been overlooked. The modern version makes Troilus accuse himself of treachery towards himself, on the ground that it is not really true that Cressida is ever absent from his thoughts ; the original makes

him accuse himself of treachery towards Cressida, since, on his own admission, she must be at times absent from his thoughts, or it could not be said that she came into them. As the latter is, I submit, the more natural position for a youthful lover, like Troilus, to take, I would certainly advocate a reversion to the original text.

ALFRED E. THISELTON.

1900. More years have elapsed than the " oldest inhabitant " can conveniently remem- ber since it was possible to express the year of our Lord in three figures. But 1900 will be MCM. J. ELIOT HODGKIN.

[See ' Roman Numerals,' ante, pp. 90, 214.]

JACK PLACKETT'S COMMON. (See 9 th S. ii. 508.) The following is a cutting from a weekty paper :

" With a view to making the entrance to Isling- ton near the 'Angel' as picturesque as possible, the united parishes of Islington and Clerkenwell have been endeavouring to purchase a plot of land at the junction of City and Goswell Roads, for the purpose of laying it out as an open space. Origin- ally it was enclosed with iron rails, and grass and trees grew there ; but for some years it has been a bill-posting station, and, inside the hoarding, a builder's yard. This huge posting-station is an eyesore to the two vestries, out the price asked for the land 5,000*?. for 5,120 superficial feet [or about 42,500^. per acre] appears to be prohibitive. Mr. Johnson, at the last meeting of the Clerkenwell Vestry, said he had searched local history on the subject, and found that a little more than a century ago the site in question was common land, known as ' Jack Plackett's Common,' because of a notori- ous highwayman of that name having been hanged there, and his body (with a stake through it) subse- quently buried there. Consequently he (Mr. John- son) would like to see the freeholder's title to the place."

The worthy vestryman's antiquarianism is slightly at fault. It was not the custom to bury highwaymen on commons with a stake through their bodies, although a somewhat similar practice prevailed formerly with regard to suicides, who were buried at cross- roads with a stake through them. The bodies highwaymen were gibbeted after death on the scene of their exploits. JOHN HEBB.

WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH. (See ante, pp. 186, 271, 331.) I have heard that 'Old St. Paul's' proved so unattractive to the readers of the Sunday Times in 1841 that the Droprietors of the paper wished for its dis- continuance, but that the author declined to comply with their request. Be it remem- Dered that in those days newspapers were comparatively few in comparison with those at the present time, The weird -like