Hen. V, V. ii. 18.
All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience.
Lear, III. v. 4.
The last is a very close parallel. The proximity of the plural noun in the prepositional phrase is the chief determining factor, but in some cases the combined noun and qualifying phrase has a plural force—'such venomous looks', 'his mental powers or faculties.'
Page 170, l. 61. heavens Courts. There can be no doubt that the plural is right: 'so the Roman profession seems to exhale, and refine our wills from earthly Drugs, and Lees, more then the Reformed, and so seems to bring us nearer heaven, but then that carries heaven farther from us, by making us pass so many Courts, and Offices of Saints in this life, in all our petitions,' &c. Letters, 102.
ll. 65-8. Compare: 'If a Pursevant, if a Serjeant come to thee from the King, in any Court of Justice, though he come to put thee in trouble, to call thee to an account, yet thou receivest him, thou entertainest him, thou paiest him fees.' Sermons 80. 52. 525. Gardiner, writing of the treatment of Catholics under Elizabeth, says: 'Hard as this treatment was, it was made worse by the misconduct of the constables and pursevants whose business it was to search for the priests who took refuge in the secret chambers which were always to be found in the mansions of the Catholic gentry. These wretches, under pretence of discovering the concealed fugitives, were in the habit of wantonly destroying the furniture or of carrying off valuable property.' Hist. of England, i. 97.
Page 171, l. 91. The right reading of this line must be either (a) that which we have taken from N and TCD, which differs only by a letter from that of 1633-69; or (b) that of A25, B, and other MSS.:
And div'd neare drowning, for what vanished.
The first refers to the suitor. He, like the dog, dives for what has vanished; goes to law for what is irrecoverable. The second reading would refer to the dog and continue the illustration: 'Thou art the dog whom shadows cozened and who div'd for what vanish'd.' The ambiguity accounts for the vacillation of the MSS. and editions. The reading of 1669 is a conjectural emendation. The 'div'd'st' of some MSS. is an endeavour to get an agreement of tenses after 'what's' had become 'what'.