9* S.V.JAN. 27, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.
63
' THE MERCHANT OP VENICE,' I. i. 29-36.
Should I go to church And see the holy edifice of stone, And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, Which touching but my vessel's side Would scatter all her spices on the stream, Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ; And, in a word, but even now worth this, And now worth nothing ?
Furness gives following note : " Dyce (ed. iii.) records Lettsom's opinion that something is wanting between this line (34) and the next, an opinion probably founded on the difficulty of understanding the meaning of ' this ' in line 35. 'The meaning here,' says Clarendon, 'is obscure, and the construction abrupt, if "this "refers to spices and silks just mentioned. As the text stands, the actor may be supposed to complete the sense by a gesture, extending his arnis.' If this is the only explanation, and I can neither find nor offer any better, the gesture as expressive of great wealth is, I am afraid, a little weak."
May we not understand that "this" is used to indicate something definite an actual ascertainable value ; that the merchandise would have brought so much on the market ? "but even now worth so much, and now worth nothing." E. MERTON DEY.
'THE MERCHANT OP VENICE,' I. i. 140-5.
In my schooldays, when I had lost one shaft,
I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight
The selfsame way with more advised watch,
To find the other forth ; and by adventuring both,
I oft found both : I urge this childhood proof,
Because what follows is pure innocence.
The expression "pure innocence" would seem to mean "all honesty of purpose." Bassanio wishes by his present plans to secure a fortune, not in order to indulge in further extravagance, but to repay in kind the advances of his friend. Knowing Portia, and divining her liking for him
Sometimes from her eyes I did receive fair speechless messages
he feels justified in entertaining the hope of winning her if he had but the means to hold a rival place as one of her suitors. Line 143 has a superfluous foot, but scanned
To find | the 6th 1 er forth ; | and by'advent | uring both,
slurring fourth foot as indicated, the difficulty imagined by various commentators dis- appears. E. MERTON DEY. St. Louis.
' HAMLET,' IV. iii.
Kincj. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliances are relieved, Or not at all.
Compare with this the following from a document of 1597 among the Cecil MSS. at Hatfield House, which is thought to be the
copy of a speech in Parliament upon the
subject of enclosures : " Surely, Mr. Speaker,
a desperate disease must have a desperate
medicine" (Historical MSS. Commission,
' Calendar of the Cecil MSS.,' part vii. p. 542).
This is of earlier date than the ' Hamlet ' of
our knowledge. Was the expression pro-
ily " an intelligent anticipation "
verbial, or oni_
of Shakspeare" 1 ?
ALFKED F. BOBBINS.
PARISH AND OTHER ACCOUNTS.
(Concluded from 9 th S. iv. 453.)
Westminster. Extracts from the Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Margaret's, Westminster, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Reprinted from the Builder, August, 1880. 10,347 aa. 8.
Antiquary, First Series.
Ancient Feasting. Account of a banquet in 1309. Antiquary, ii. 9. PP. 1,925 dd.
Prices of Provisions temp. Edward I., Ed- ward II., and Edward III. 76., ii. 28.
Lancaster, Earl of. Domestic expenses for 1313. Ib., ii. 34.
Northamptonshire Prices in 1690. Ib., ii. 242. PP. 1,925 dd.
Ancaster. Extracts from Churchwardens' Ac- counts, seventeenth century. Ib., ii. 235. PP. 1,925 dd.
Prices of Corn in 1587. Ib., iii. 4. PP. 1,925 dd.
Abingdon. Banquet accounts, sixteenth century. 76., iii. 162. PP. 1,925 dd.
List of Inventories of Church goods made temp, Edward VI. Ib., xxi. 165, 210 ; xxii. 28, &c. ; xxiii. 37, 270 ; xxiv. 31, &c. ; xxv. 37 ; xxvi. ; xxvii. 218 ; xxviii. 69, &c. ; xxix. 81 ; and xxx. 26, 164.
Antiquary, Second Series.
A Schoolboy's Bill, A.D. 1547. Ib., i. 277. PP. 1,898 o.
Early Army Accounts. Article by Hubert Hall. Ib.,ii. 41. PP. 1,898 o.
Schoolboy's Bill, A.D. 1598. Ib., ii. 264. PP. 1,898 o.
Lawyer's Bill, temp. Charles I. Ib., iii. 182. PP. 1,898 o.
Exchequer Accounts. Ib., iv. 16. PP. 1,898 o.
Revenue Accounts of the Reign of Richard II. Article by Sir J. Ramsay. 76., iv. 203. PP. 1,898 o.
Accounts of Henry IV. Ib., vi. 100. PP. 1,898 o.
Extracts from Accounts of R. Bax, a Surrey Yeoman, 1648-1662. Ib., vi. 162. PP. 1,898 o.
Bassingbourne. Extracts from Churchwardens' Accounts, 1497-1540. Ib., vii. 24. PP. 1,898 o.
Accounts of Henry V, Ib., viii. 94. PP. 1,898 o.
Accounts of Henry VI. Ib., x. 191 ; and xiv. 96, PP. 1,898 o.
Beginners in Business, 1607. Article containing some merchants' accounts. 76., xv. 100. PP. 1,898 o.
Accounts of Edward IV. Ib., xvi. 185, 237. PP. 1,898 o.
Stanford-in-the-Vale. Extracts from Church- wardens' Accounts, 1552-1602. 76., xvii. 70, 168, 209. PP. 1,898 o.
Winchester. Short extract from Surveyor's Ac- count, 1761. Ib., xvii. 172. PP. 1,898 o.
