Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/353

 9* s. vii. MAY 4, i9oi.i NOTES AND QUERIES.

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show to surpass the others." The felicity of the language depends upon the relation of "exquisite" to "question," the latter being the process by which the applicability of the former will be established.

ALFRED E. THISELTON.

1 KING JOHN,' II. i. 574. Commodity, the bias of the world, The world, who of itself is peised well, Made to run even upon even ground, Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias, This sway of motion, this Commodity, Makes it take head from all indifferency, From all direction, purpose, course, intent.

Compare Bacon, ' Essays,' * Of Wisdom for a Man's Self,' xxiii. : (Bad servants) "set a bias upon the bowl of their own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow of their master's great and important affairs." The parallel is not noted in any edition which I have seen. PERCY SIMPSON.

'As You LIKE IT,' II. vii. 53-7 (9 th S. vi. 364 ; vii. 22).

Hee, that a Foole doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart Seeme senselesse of the bob. If not, The Wise-mans folly is anathomiz'd Euen by the squandring glances of the foole.

Folio.

DR. SPENCE has doubtless overlooked the fact that in the Folio there is a period after " bob." It may not be considered as doing any particular violence to grammatical form to allow this punctuation to remain, although the colon has been generally adopted.

I cannot but think that MR. HOLCOMBE INGLEBY fails to discriminate between his paraphrase, " pretend not to notice the hit," and " seem senseless of the bob." The " wise man " does notice the hit, and, by joining in the laugh, seems senseless of it unhurt by it. Again, MR. INGLEBY says, " the fool will lay their folly bare by his squandering glances to the company." The text, however, reads contains nothing about "to the company," with the implied subsequent and special appeal. This is all one general statement of the effect of a fool's gibes. This very " bob " is one of the "squandering glances." The meaning to be taken is a unit that the safety of the wise man lies in good-humoured indifference and apparent insensibility where the licensed jester has "liberty withal, as large a charter as the wind."
 * is anatomized," not will be anatomized, and

E. MERTON DEY.

PATMORE AND SWEDENBORG. Mr. Henry Septimus Sutton, from whose correspondence with Coventry Patmore some selections appear

n the biography of the latter, contributes to }he New Church Magazine for April some )ersonal recollections of the poet. These may serve as a useful supplement to the not wholly adequate appreciation displayed by ris biographer of ratmore's indebtedness to he teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. In the May issue of the same periodical the Rev. A. E. Beilby purposes to appraise Patmore
 * rom the Swedenborgian standpoint.

CHARLES HIGHAM.

MAY DAY AND MAY BUTTER IN 1490. Two extracts from the * Malleus Maleficarum ' c. 1490?), fo. 70 b, 89:

1. " Astutiam diaboli quis explicare potest ? Novi llos in quadam societate constitutes qui, dum tem-

ppre May butirum maycum comedere affectarent, eis in itinere existentibus et in prato circa tor- rentem consedentibus, unus ex eis quo pacto cum demone per antea sive tacito sive expresso inito, dixit, * Ego optimum butirum maycum procurabo.' Et statim depositis vestimentis et torrentem intrans non stando sed sedendo contra aquae fluxum dorsum vertebat. Et ceteris conspicientibus ipse dum certa verba protulisset et aquam manibus post tergum movisset, ]3ost paululum butirum formatum ad modum quo villanse tempore May yendere in foro solent in magna quantita[te] apportavit. Et aliis gustantibus optimum fuisse butirum affirmarunt."

2. "In partibus Sue vise plurimum practicatur quod prima die May ante ortum solis mulieres villanse exeunt et ex silvis vel arboribus deferunt ramos de salicibus vel alios frondes et ad modum cireuli plectentes in introitu stabuli suspendunt, asserentes quod per integrum annum jumenta cuncta illsesa a maleficis remanent et preservantur ; hoc quidem remedium secundum opinionem illorum qui mount vana vanis contundere posse, non esset illicitum ; sic nee etiam qui per carmina ignota morbos expellerent. Sed sine offensione precedendo dicamus quod si prima die vel secunda mulier vel quicunque egrediatur, non habens respectum ad solis occasum vel ortum, colligit herbas frondes aut ramos, cum oratione dominica aut simbolo fidei, suspendit ilia super hostium stabuli, bona fide, com mittens effectum divinse voluntati, non erit reprehensibilis."

SHAKESPEARE'S EPITAPH IN LABOURDIN BASKISH.* Composed soon after noon on 23 April, after laying flowers on Shakspere's grave :

Jesusen izena gatik, ez otoi ! lagun ona, Ez phalaz idok ak hem en zerratu den erhautsa ! Benedicatu harri hek gupidets dituena, Ta bedi ene hezurren higitzen maradica !

EDWARD SPENCER DODGSON.

"INAM." The Times is not to be congratu- lated on its press-reading of Oriental words. In its issue of 12 April we have, speaking of the Koja murders in Bombay, "the seces-

spere's day of French Basque, Castilian Bascuence.
 * Basquish was the English equivalent in Shak-