1819.] Old Nick, &c.-Bayeux Cathedral.-Horace. signed Palæophilus, is most probably correct in deducing this nick-name of the devil from a malevolent sea Deity, worshippeds by the antient Germans and Danes under the name of Nocca or Nicken, styled in the Edda, which contains the Pagan creed of Scandinavia, Niken, which Keysler derives from the German nugen, answering to the Latin necare. Another vulgar name, Old Scratch, has probably been given from the common pictorial representations of him with enormous crooked talons or claws; and a third appellation sometimes applied to him, of Old Harry, appears to be derived from the verb to harrie, to lay waste, to destroy. (To be continued.) TBcity of Bayeux, in Normandy, Ause, about a league and a half from the sea, is old and very indifferently built. Previous to the Revolution it contained seventeen parish Churches, including the suburbs, and seven convents. The Cathedral (see Plate II.) which was built in 1159 by Bp. Philip de Harcourt, and dedicated to the Virgin, isalarge, in form of a cross, with pointed arches. In the centre of the transepts is a handsome square tower, urmounted by a light and elegant spire. The portal at the West end is flanked by two square towers, each of which terminates in a very lofty spires and the lower part of the whole is formed by five porches. That in the middle has a pointed arch formed by five ogives, the reins and mouldings whereof are enriched with carvings, representing the figures of the principal persons in the Old and New Testament. The mouldings of the sweeps of all the other porches are plain. In the centre pier of the portal stands a statue of the Virgin; and each side are six apostles as large anlife. This portal, with the statues thereon, appears to be coeval with the Cathedral. At Bayeux is preserved the famous embroidered tapestry of Matilda, conssort of William the Conqueror, representing the histories of Harold king of England and William duke of Normandys a particular account of which (compiled chiefly from Montfaucon) GENT, MAG. July, 1819. T 17 may be seen in your vol. LXXIII. Mr. URBAN, June 10. ATELY taking up my Horace, LA and accidentally turning to the third Ode of the first book, my eye was caught by the passage"Qui siccis oculis monstra natantia, Qui vidit mare turgidum," &c. This reading displeased Bentley, who wished to "rectis lis," but for this reading theres ocu not appear sufficient authority to jus the present reading is, that the sight tify the alteration.-The objection to of the dangers or the horrors of the however it might scare or terrify him sea was not likely to produce tears, other classical authors, where the who contemplated them. But if, in lection was never disputed, we have the same idea, it seems unreasonable to refuse to Horace that which is conceded to another. Let us consider the text. Horace is not speaking of one who, from a situation of perfect safety, should view an object so horrid in itself as to tempt him to turn his eyes aside; and that, therefore, he who had magnanimity enough to look at it with unaverted eyes, "Illi must have an heart of brass. The sense of his own tears: and the sorrows which even danger, therefore, might excite his the greatest heroes of antiquity feel, are, by the poets, represented as venting themselves in tears. 2 A 151, speaking of Ulysses, Homer says, Thus in the Odyssey, Book E. verse είδε πολύ όσσε Δακρυόφιν τερσόνια, καλειβεῖο δὲ γλυκυς αίων same kind might be adduced. Here it was grief that made Ulysses weep. In the Iliad, Achilles is represented weeping, as the question TxÃœb865 plainly shews, Book 2. v. 73. In Horace, we are not to consider simply the "Vidit monstra natantia," &c. but the "commisit pelago ratem," which connects the destiny of him that weeps with the evil which he contemplates. Thus, in the 137th Psalm, the captive Jews are represented as weeping at the recollection of Sion, from the circumstance of their destiny being involved in the calamities of Sion. If this interpretation of the text be correct, there seems not the smallest reason for any alteration; it stands on the same foundation as numberless other passages, and, consequently, ought to be left undisturbed. H. H. I Mr. URBAN, Kilkenny, May 12. AM induced to hope that you may consider the following observations not unworthy of insertion in the pages of your valuable Magazine, which, from its commencement, has greatly contributed to the advancement and diffusion of English Literature. Some of the ensuing remarks may prove not wholly uninteresting to those who are critically skilled in the writings of our antient Dramatic Authors: and some, although explanatory of passages, which to well-informed persons are neither difficult or obscure, may yet be acceptable to readers less conversant with such productions, and superficially acquainted with the language and customs of our ancestors. to the octavo edition of Cartwright's Works, 1651. As this book is scarce, and the verses beautiful, many of your readers may be pleased to meet a transcript of them: "I cannot keep my purpose, but must give [grieve Sorrow and Verse their way; nor will I Longer in silence; no,that poor, poor part Of Nature's legacy, verse void of art, And undissembled teares, Cartwright shall have [grave. Muses, I need you not; for Grief and I Fixt on his hearse, and wept into his Can in your absence weave an Elegy: Which we will do; and often interweave Sad looks and sighs; the ground-work must receive Such characters, or be adjudg'd unfit For my Friend's shroud; others have shew'd their wit, Learning, and language fitly; for these be Debts due to his great merits; but for me, My aymes are like myself, humble and low, [to show Too mean to speak his praise, too mean The World what it hath lost in' losing thee, [harmony. But now 'tis lost; lost in the silent Whose words and deeds were perfect [have Lost to us mortals, lost, till we shall Admission to that Kingdom where he sings Harmonious anthems to the King of [Kings. Sing on, blest Soul! be as thou wast below, [show A more than common instrument to Thy maker's praise; sing on, whilst I grave, lament Thy loss, and court a holy discontent, The 4th, 5th, and 6th lines (espequite decisive of the truth of Mr. Gifcially the words in Italic letters) are ford's assertion, that the custom of affixing short poems to the hearse or grave of eminent persons was once prevalent in England.. In page 202 of the same volume, a passage in Jonson's "Discoveries" is thus printed: "Have I not seen the pomp of a whole Kingdom, and what a foreign King could gazed and wondered at, laid forth as bring hither? Also to make himself it were to the shew, and vanish all away in a day." A gross error has plainly crept in here; no stop whatever should inter vene 1819.] Shakspeare, Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher. vene between the words "hither" and "also:" by this arrangement of the text, Jonson's allusion to the vain and fleeting splendour of two great Monarchs becomes intelligible. monger In volume VIII. page 29, of the same work, Mr. Weber is justly ridiculed for presenting us with these lines in his late edition of Beaumont and Fletcher; see vol. II. p. 55: "May't rain above all almanacks, till The carriers sail, and the King's fish [London." Ride like Bike Arion upon a trout to Mr. Weber unquestionably conceived that Bike was the prænomen of Arion; but it is (as Mr. Gifford observes) merely an accidental repetition of the preceding word "like" in the old copies. I suspect that Mr. Weber was actually ignorant of the correct pronunciation of Arion's name, as he has given it with a false prosody in this passage, and also in another occurring at page 151 of vol. VII. in "The Bloody Brother," where the Cook humourously boasts to his companions, "For fish, I'll make you a standing lake of white broth, And pikes come ploughing up the plums before them; [chrymæ." Arion-like on a dolphin, playing La The very rare first quarto copy of this play, printed at London in 1639, is in my possession; it reads, "Arion, like a dolphin, playing Lachrymæ;" but the second quarto, printed at Oxford in 1640, gives us, "Arion on a The dolphin, playing Lachrymæ.' latter is plainly the correct text; for the figure of Arion upon the dolphin's back was a favourite in the spectacles exhibited upon the water in Eliza beth's time; and the Cook, with ludicrous pomposity, assures his friends that his skill can furnish this capital embellishment. As the lines now stand in Mr. Weber's edition they are destitute of meaning; the semicolon at the end of the second line alone prevents us from concluding that Mr. Weber had supposed that "the pikes" were to sit "Arion-like on a dolphin," playing popular tunes! In "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," Act iii. Sc. 2, the Host of the Bell-inn says to Ralph, "Therefore, gentle Knight, twelve shillings you must pay, or I must cap you." The concluding words have sorely puzzled 19 Mr. Weber, who declares himself utterly ignorant of the nature of the punishment (as he terms it) threatened against Ralph. The phrase "to cap" is still in general use throughout Ireland, amongst the keepers of publichouses and those persons who sell goods at standings in the streets, by whom the punishment is frequently inflicted upon fraudulent customers, when attempting to retire without making a fair payment: it consists in forcibly taking off the hat from the insolvent's head, and detaining it as a pledge for the money. Of this practice, which is also common amongst schoolboys, I have witnessed many instances. On examination of the context, it will be found that this interpretation correctly and fully explains the term: the Host proceeds to seize Ralph's cap, when the Citizen interferes to prevent his apprentice from suffering so foul a disgrace, and exclaims, "Cap Ralph ? no; hold your hand, Sir Knight of the Bell! there's your money," &c. The word "capping," which occurs in Mr. Weber's quotation from "Ward's London Spy," is used in precisely the same sense. In Shakspeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," Activ. Sc. 10, Antony thus taunts the Queen of Egypt: --"Let him (i. e. Cæsar) take thee, And boist thee up to the shouting Ple beians: Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot Of all thy sex; most monster-like be shown For poor'st diminutives, to dolts!" The closing words of this extract are very obscure, and have, in my opinion, baffled the acumen of Warburton and Tyrwhitt; Steevens (who in fact perceived not their great difficulty) agrees with Tyrwhitt; but Malone candidly avows that none of the comments afford a satisfactory explanation. I regret that no notice of this obscure passage occurs amongst the many admirable remarks explanatory of Shakspeare's language, which Mr. Gifford has introduced in his notes upon Massinger and Jonson, in which he has evinced such sound judgment and masterly knowledge of our antient language and customs, as prove him fully competent to give to his native country an edition of her favourite Poet, surpassing in solid worth Isaac Reed's celebrated variorum edition of 1803. But 1 much fear, from Mr. Gifford's 1 Gifford's expressions in his Memoirs of Jonson (vol. I. p. 244), that he has finally abandoned his intention of executing a work which would be joyfully received by every lover of English literature, and that Shakspeare must continue for some time encumbered by the ponderous ignorance of his commentators. As to the lines before us, I am convinced that Warburton and Tyrwhitt have affixed a meaning to the word "dimiDutives" which it never bore in any author; the term also occurs in a passage of "Troilus and Cressida," where Shakspeare uses it in the very sense which it appears to bear in the verses under consideration: "How this poor world is pestered with such waterflies! diminutives of nature!" Act v. Sc. 1. I understand "diminutives" to mean dwarfs, or persons by any striking deformity "curtailed of man's fair proportion," who were often in former times, and are in our own days, the unhappy subjects of public exhibition. The received interpretation cannot be correct; it is far-fetched, and irreconcileable with the tenor of the whole passage; for if the word "diminutives" really signified "the smallest pieces of money," then Shakspeare has made Antony express the exact reverse of what he intended, which unquestionably was to threaten Cleo, patra with being exhibited grutui tously to the Roman populace, as the "shouting Plebeians" were to behold her following Cæsar's chariot in open disgrace. I therefore propose the following explanation, not as satisfactory, but as more fairly deducible than any hitherto advanced :-"Be thou, who in beauty, elegance, and diguity of personal appearance, excellest allinortals, exhibited in the place of monsters, and as a substitute for deformed and hideous creatures, to the gaze of the stupid and brutal rabble of Rome."-I trust the candid reader will allow that this interpretation has not been elicited by wresting words from their usual signification. The passage appears corrupt, and calls for the aid of a skilful commentator. Act iv. Se. 2, Lusurioso assures the brothers of a lady that he had indignantly resisted the arts of a pander who had encouraged him to debauch her: "I, far from thinking any virgin harm, Especially knowing her to be as chaste As that plant which scarce suffers to be touch'd; The Eye, would not endure him." ludicrous specimen of a commentator The notes upon these lines are a tortured by his own absurdity: “Plant the sensitive plant. The quarto reads Part. S." (i. e. George Steevens.) Then in the Additional Notes, vol. XII. p. 394, he adds, "I believe here is some corruption. I do not understand the passage. Perhaps we should read, 'As that plant which scarce suffers to be touch'd By the Eye." "Touch him but with thine Eye,' is a threat in some dramatic performance that has passed through my hands: I think in one of Shakspeare's. S." It is surprising that any man of learning could have written such wretched nonsense, and so grossly mistake the grammar of a plain passage. Dodsley's first edition follows the reading of the quarto copy, which is perfectly correct, except in having a comma after "touched," which must be omitted; "the Eye" is "that part" of the human frame to which the Poet justly ascribes a delicate sensi tiveness that shrinks from the slightest touch. As the passage now stands in the modern copies (for the Editor of “The Antient British Drama" has not removed the blemish from his text), the words "The Eye," in the last line of the extract, are left in an unintelligible state which (thanks to hypercriticism!) defies explication. Yours, &c. W. SHANAHAN, M.D. (The second Letter shall appear in our next Number.) YOUR ON THE CLERICAL DRESS. Mr. URBAN, July 4. OUR Correspondent Sigismund has afforded me much entertainIn Isaac Reed's edition of Dodsley'sment and, information, in his reOld Plays (1780), vol. IV. p. 383, we searches and recommendations to the find the text of a passage strangely Clergy, to wear their clerical dress in spoiled by a capricious departure from common. I have followed him the old copy of "The Revenger's through his Letters with pleasure, Tragedy" in the following lines, though they have not any where con |