ced no doubt to the same origin, and involves a further deviation from the sense of the original, ich is literally let him die by death' (avár (θανάτῳ EUTάTU), and means, according to a Hebrew idiom, 'Let him certainly die.' And so we read in Levit. xx. 9, where the Septuagint has the same Greek words, he shall surely be put to death.' See also Ecclesiasticus xiv. 17. The covenant from the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death. But now to turn to Shakspeare. He has several times used the expression, ' to die the death;' e. g. in Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 2; in Cymbeline, Act iv. Sc. 2, and again in Midsummer Night's Dream, Act i. Sc. 1, where in reply to Hermia's question what is to befall her in case she refuses to mar:、 Demetrius, Theseus says : Either to die the death, or to abjure For ever the society of man. There can be little doubt that our poet took the phrase (as Steevenst observes) from the Bible; but whether he attached the right meaning to it we cannot tell. Dr. Johnson, with less accuracy than might have been expected from him, remarks that 'this seems to be a solemn phrase for death inflicted by law.' The simple form of expression, as first cited from the Acts, the death,' is to be found frequently in Chaucer, e. g. The deth he feeleth through his herte smite. Comp. Ibid xviii. 11, (wî (nʊúμεÔа. + Vol ix. p. 52. Tyrwhitt has suggested that it seems to have b This and much more, much more than twice all this, And again in King Henry V. Act iv. Sc. 1, 'Where they feared the death, they have borne life away.' The usage is a curious one. (See Appendix, p.360.) 2. The use of the Indefinite Article prefixed to plural substantives, especially nouns of number, is also one which admits of similar illustration. In S. Luke ix. 28, we read, 'It came to pass about an eight days after these sayings.' The questionable expression an eight days' has been retained from Tyndale's translation in 1534. In like manner we find in the Apocryphal Book, 1 Macc. iv. 15, 'There were slain of them upon a three thousand The same use of the indefinite article is to be met with more than once in Shakspeare. Thus in King Richard III. Act iii. Sc. 7, Buckingham describes Lady Grey, afterwards married to King Edward IV., as A care-crazed mother to a many sons. See also Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 5, a many fools.' I 3. To pass on from the Article to the Noun. am not aware that our translators of the Bible afford any example of an anomaly, or, to speak more plainly, a false concord, not unfrequent in Shakspeare,* whereby plural substantives are constructed as if singular, and vice versâ, except in the two cases of 'means' and 'alms,' the former of which, perhaps on account of the biblical authority in its favour, is so employed to the present day. We certify the king,' write the adversaries of the Jews in the Book of Ezra iv. 16, 'that if this city be builded again by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river.' Johnson, under the word 'mean,' remarks, 'It is often used in the plural, and by some not very grammatically with an adjective singular, as by this means.' So too Shakspeare and the Bible use alms' indifferently both as singular and plural. In like manner the two nouns of similar meaning, tidings' and 'news,' are used by our Poet as of both numbers. Thus we find in him, 'It is a tidings,' and 'this tidings,' as well as 'these tidings;' also, 'This news is mortal,' and 'These news are everywhere.' In the Bible we have these news,' 1 Kings i. title, and so is good news,' Prov. xxv. 25; but 'tidings' occurs only as plural, e. g. 'these glad tidings,' Luke i. 19.† 4. ' ' The formation of our genitive case, originally by the addition of the syllable 'is,' as 'Godis As our remedies lies' in Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3 ; mamers urges,' in King Lear, v. 3 ; scope Hamlet, i. 2. See the critics upon Cymbeline, ii. 3.—Vol. xiii. † On 'riches,' as sing., see Appendix, p. 360. P. 70, sq. grace,' afterwards shortened into the letter 's' with an apostrophe, as 'God's grace,' has led to a corruption with which our printers seem most unwilling to part, I mean the transformation of 'is' into 'his.' Thus in Gen. xvii. title, 'Abram his name' and 'Sarah her name;' Deut. x. title, 'Moses his suit;' S. Mark v. title, 'Jairus his daughter,' Ibid.x. title, 'Bartimæus his sight.' And it is a curious instance of the arbitrariness or incomplete accuracy which is apt to prevail in such matters, that while these three examples (and perhaps others) of the corruption in question are allowed still to remain in our Bible, two other examples which Bishop Lowth pointed out, viz. ‘Asa his heart,' 1 Kings xv. 14, and Mordecai his matters,' Esth. iii. 4, have been set right. The same usage occurs at the end of the Prayer for all conditions of men in the Prayer Book ;— and this we beg for Jesus Christ His sake.' In the Variorum Shakspeare I have noticed six examples; all, except one, after words ending in s: three in King Henry VI. 1st Part, one in King Henry V., and one in Troilus and Cressida. It is not a little remarkable that so great a master of the English language as Addison, and at a date so late as 1711, should have been under the impression that 'his' in these cases. is correct, and intended to represent the pronoun. See Spectator, No. 135. If this were so, how could we account for our genitives plural, as childen's bread,' and genitives singular of females or feminine names, as 'Persia's king?' See Lowth's Grammar, P. 42, note; who further observes that the direct derivation of this case from the Saxon genitive is sufficient of itself to decide the matter.' In one of the three examples in King Henry VI., Bowdler has very improperly altered the text France his sword' into France's sword,' not considering, probably, that France is there to be understood not of the country, but of the French king. Besides, if the alteration is to be made in one instance, it should be made in all. (See Appendix, p. 361.) 5. Proceeding to the Pronouns, I notice first the elliptic use, still common in many phrases, of the dative case of the personal pronouns; e. g. 'me,' 'us,' instead of 'for me,' 'for us.' Thus in 2 Sam. xix. 26, I will saddle me an ass,' i. e. for myself; where the idiom in question represents the force of the middle verb in Greek. So also in Deut. x. 1. 'Make thee an ark ;' in Josh. xxii. 26, 'Let us now prepare to build us an altar;' and ibid. 16, Ye have builded you an altar;' in Judges vi. 2, The children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains.' Again, where the notion of the verb is not reflexive: In 1 Kings xiii. 13, 'He said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. sddled him the ass; and he rode thereon.' In likt manner, Shylock in the Merchant of Venice:— So they Act i. Sc. 3. |