REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.
REPLIES BY GEORGE STEPHENS.
I beg to encloze ðe following scraps, purposely written on slips, ðat ðe one may be destroyed and not ðe oðer if you should þink fit so to do, and for eaze ov printing.
Pleaze to respect my orþography—a beginning to a better system—if you can and will. Ðe types required will only be ðe Ð, ð, and Þ, þ, ov our noble Anglo-Saxon moðer-tongue, letterz in common use almost down to ðe time ov Shakspeare!
If you will not be charmed, ov course you are at liberty to change it.
I have a large work in ðe press (translationz from ðe A.-Saxon) printed entirely in ðis orþography.
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Stockholm.
[Even our respect for Mr. Stephens' well-known scholarship, fails to remove our prejudices in favour of the ordinary system of orthography.]
On a Passage in "The Tempest" (Vol. ii., pp. 259. 299. 337.).—Will you allow me to suggest that the reading of the original edition is perfectly correct as it stands, as will be seen by simply italicising the emphatic words:—
"Most busie least, when I doe it."
The construction is thus merely an instance of a common ellipsis (here of the word busy), and requires the comma after least. This is another proof of the advantage of being slow to abandon primitive texts.
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Saint, Legend of a (Vol. ii., pp. 267.).—The circumstance alluded to is perhaps that in the legend of St. Patrick. It was included by Voragine in his life of that saint. See the "Golden Legend" in init.
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Cupid and Psyche (Vol. ii., pp. 247.).—This is probably an old Folk-tale, originally perhaps an antique philosophical temple-allegory. Apuleius appears only to have dressed it up in a new shape. The tale is still current, but in a form not derived from him, among the Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Scots, Germans, French, Wallachians, Italians, and Hindoos. See Svenska Folk-sagor och Afventyr, efter muntlig Ofverlemning samlade och utgifna of G.O.H. Cavallius och G. Stephens, vol. i. (Stockholm, 1844-9), p. 323.
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Kongs Skuggsia (Vol. ii., pp 296. 335.).—This noble monument of Old Norse literature was written at the close of the twelfth century by a Norwegian of high rank, but who expresses his resolution to remain unknown, in which he has perfectly succeeded. He probably resided near Trondhjem. See, for other information, the preface to the last excellent edition lately published by Keyser, Munch, and Unger, as follows:—
"Speculum Regale Konungs-Skuggsjá Konge-Speilet et philosophisk-didaktisk Skrift, forfattet i Norge mod slutningen af det tolfte aarhundrede. Tilligemed et samtidigt Skrift om den norske kirkes Stilling til Statem. Med to lithographerede Blade Facsimile-Aftryck."—Christiana, 1848. 8vo.
GEORGE STEPHENS.
Stockholm.
The disputed Passage in the "Tempest" (Vol. ii., pp. 259. 299. 337.).—I am the "COMMA" which MR. COLLIER claims the merit of having removed, and I humbly protest against the removal. I adhere to the reading of the folio of 1632, except that I would strike out the final s in labours. The passage would then read:
"But these sweet thoughts so refresh my labour
Most busy least, when I do it."
That is, the thoughts so refresh my labour, that I am "most busy least" (an emphatic way of saying least busy), "when I do it," to wit, the labour. MR. HICKSON is ingenious, but he takes no notice of—
COMMA.
Viscount Castlecomer (Vol. ii., p. 376.).—S.A.Y. asks whether Lord Deputy Wandesford (not Wanderforde) "ever took up this title, and what became of it afterwards?" He never did; for on the receipt of the patent, in the summer of 1640, Wandesford exclaimed, "Is this a time for a faithful subject to be exalted, when his king, the fountain of honours, is likely to be reduced lower than ever." A few months afterwards he died of a broken heart. We are told that he concealed the patent, and his grandson was the first of the family—apparently by a fresh creation in 1706—who assumed the title. The neglect of sixty-six years, perhaps, rendered this necessary: Beatson does not notice the first creation. The life of this active and useful statesman, the friend and relative of Strafford, was compiled from his daughter's papers, by his descendant, Thomas Comber, LL.D. Of this work Dr. Whitaker availed himself in the very interesting memoir which he has given of the Lord Deputy, in his History of Richmondshire, written, as we may suppose it would be by so devoted
an admirer of Charles I., with the warmest feelings of respect and admiration.
"The death of my cousin Wandesford," said Lord Strafford, "more affects me than the prospect of my own; for in him is lost the richest magazine of learning, wisdom, and piety that these times could boast."
J.H.M.
Bath.
Steele's Burial-place (Vol. ii., pp. 375, 441.).—I have been able to get the following particulars respecting Steele's burial-place. Steele was buried in the chancel of St. Peter's church, Caermarthen. The entry stands thus in the Register:—
"1729.
"Sep. 4. Sr Richard Steel."
There is no monument to his memory in St. Peter's Church; but in Llangunnor church, about two miles from Caermarthen, there is a plain monumental tablet with the following inscription:—
"This stone was erected at the instance of William Williams, of Ivy Tower, owner of Penddaylwn Vawr, in Llangunnor; part of the estate there once belonging to the deservedly celebrated Sir Richard Steele, knight, chief author of the essays named Tatlers, Guardians, and Spectators; and he wrote The Christian Hero, The Englishman, and The Crisis, The Conscious Lovers, and other fine plays. He represented several places in parliament; was a staunch and able patriot; finally, an incomparable writer on morality and Christianity. Hence the ensuing lines in a poem, called The Head of the Rock:—
'Behold Llangunnor, leering o'er the vale,
Pourtrays a scene t' adorn romantic tale;
But more than all the beauties of its site,
Its former owner gives the mind delight.
Is there a heart that can't affection feel
For lands so rich as once to boast a Steele?
Who warm for freedom, and with virtue fraught,
His country dearly lov'd, and greatly taught;
Whose morals pure, the purest style conveys,
T' instruct his Britain to the last of days.'"
Steele resided at White House (Ty Gwyn, as it is called in Welsh), a clean farm-house half way between Caermarthen and Llangunnor church, which is situate on a hill commanding extensive views of one of the prettiest values in Wales. A field near the house is pointed out as the site of Steele's garden, in the bower of which he is said to have written his "Conscious Lovers." The Ivy Bush, formerly a private house, and said to be the house where Steele died, is now the principal inn in Caermarthen.
WM. SPURRELL.
Caermarthen.
Cure for Warts (Vol. i., p. 482.)— In Buckinghamshire I have heard of the charming away of warts by touching each wart with a separate green pea. Each pea being wrapped in paper by itself, and buried, the wart will vanish as the pea decays.
J.W.H.
Etymology of "Parse" (Vol. ii., p. 118.).—Surely to parse is to take by itself each pars, or part of speech. The word does not seem to have been known in 1611 when Brinsley published his Posing of the Parts: or, a most plain and easie Way of examining the Accidence and Grammar. This work appears to have been very popular, as I have by me the twelfth edition, London, 1669. In 1612, the same author issued his Ludus Literarius: or the Grammar Schoole. Both these works interest me in him. Can any of your readers communicate any particulars of his history?
J.W.H.