And to my state grew stranger, being transported, And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle— Dost thou attend me? Mira. Sir, most heedfully. Pro. Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom To trash11 for overtopping; new created The creatures that were mine, I say, or chang'd them, Pro. I pray thee, mark me. 11 To trash means to check the pace or progress of any one. The term is said to be still in use among sportsmen in the North, and signifies to correct a dog for misbehaviour in pursuing the game; or overtopping or outrunning the rest of the pack. Trashes are clogs strapped round the neck of a dog to prevent his overspeed. Todd has given four instances from Hammond's works of the word in this sense. 66 'Clog and trash"-" encumber and trash"-" to trash or overslow"-and "foreslowed and trashed." There was another word of the same kind used in Falconry (from whence Shakspeare very frequently draws his similes); Trassing is when a hawk raises aloft any fowl, and soaring with it, at length descends therewith to the ground."― Dictionarium Rusticum, 1704. Probably this term is used by Chapman in his address to the reader prefixed to his translation of Homer. "That whosesoever muse dares use her wing When his muse flies she will be trass't by his, 66 And show as if a Bernacle should spring Beneath an Eagle." There is also a passage in the Bonduca of Beaumont and Fletcher, wherein Caratach says: "I fled too, But not so fast; your jewel had been lost then, Young Hengo there, he trasht me, Nennius." i. e. checked or stopped my flight. The Editor has thought himself justified in changing trace rash in Othello. Act ii. Sc. I. See note thereon, vol. x., p. 53. I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicate 12 As my trust was; which had, indeed, no limit, To credit his own lie,--he did believe He was indeed the duke; out of the substitution, Mira. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness. Pro. To have no screen between this part he play'd And him he play'd it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan. Me, poor man !—my library Was dukedom large enough; of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable: confederates (So dry he was for sway) with the king of Naples, To give him annual tribute, do him homage; 12 The old copy has, dedicated. 13 Alluding to the observation that a father above the common rate of men has generally a son below it. Heroum filii noxa. 41 Unto truth. The old copy reads into truth. The correction is by Warburton. The meaning is, Who having made his memory such a sinner to truth as to credit his own lie.' Shadwell, in his preface to the Sullen Lovers, has the following passage which may serve to show that the idea was familiar at least to him. "I freely confess my theft, and am asham'd on't, tho' I have the example of some that never wrote a play without stealing most of it, and (like men that Lye so long, till they believe themselves,) at length by continual thieving reckon their stolen goods their own too." Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend Mira. O the heavens! Pro. Mark his condition, and the event; then tell me, If this might be a brother. Mira. I should sin To think but 15 nobly of my grandmother : Pro. Now the condition. This king of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; Out of the dukedom; and confer fair Milan, 15 But is here used in its exceptive sense of be out, i. e. otherwise than. Tooke, in his Diversions of Purley, has clearly shown that we use one word, But, in modern English, for two words Bot and Būt, originally (in the Anglo Saxon) very different in signification, though (by repeated abbreviation and corruption) approaching in sound. Bot is the imperative of the A. S. Botan to boot. Būt is the imperative of the A. S. Be-utan, to be out. By this means all the seemingly anomalous uses of But be may explained; I must however content myself with referring the reader to the Diversions of Purley, vol. i. p. 190. Merely remarking that BUT (as distinguished from Bot) and BE-OUT have exactly the same meaning, viz. in modern English, except. 16 In lieu of the premises; that is, "in consideration of the premises, &c." This seems to us a strange use of this French word, yet it was not then unusual. "But takes their oaths in lieu of her assistance." Beaumont and Fletcher's Prophetess. 17 The corrector of Mr. Collier's folio substitutes practice. Me, and thy crying self. Mira. Alack, for pity! I, not remembʼring how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again; it is a hint 18, Pro. Hear a little further, And then I'll bring thee to the present business Which now's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent. Mira. That hour destroy us? Pro. Wherefore did they not Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not, Bore us some leagues to sea; where they prepar'd Instinctively have quit 20 it; there they hoist us, Mira. Was I then to you! Pro. Alack! what trouble O! a cherubim Thou wast, that did preserve me! Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, 18 Hint is here for cause or subject suggesting. Thus in a future passage we have:-" Our hint of woe.' 19 The old editions read-butt. Rowe made the necessary correction. To think of the CARCASS of a BUTT not RIGG'D, without tackle, sail, or mast, is surely absurd. Yet the two last Editors have restored it! Whoever looks at the whole context with attention must see the necessity of reading boat. 20 Quit was commonly used for quitted. When I have deck'd 21 the sea with drops full salt; Against what should ensue. Mira. Pro. By Providence divine, How came we ashore? Some food we had, and some fresh water, that Out of his charity, (who being then appointed Mira. But ever see that man! 'Would I might Pro. [Puts on his robe] Now I arise :— you (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm? Pro. pray Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, 21 To deck, or deg, is still used in the northern counties for to sprinkle. a The old copy has princesse. |