Chapter M: J. T

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SHAKSPEARE'S "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA."

(Vol. iii., p. 139.)

The scene in _Antony and Cleopatra_ contains two expressions which are in _Henry VIII._--

"Learn this, Silius."
"Learn this, brother."--_Hen. VIII._

"The Captain's captain."
"To be her Mistress' mistress, the Queen's queen."--_Hen. VIII._

The first of these passages is in a scene in _Henry VIII._, which MR. HICKSON gives to Fletcher (and of which, by-the-bye, it may be observed, that, like the scene in _Antony and Cleopatra_, it has nothing to do with the business of the play). The other is in a scene which he gives to Shakspeare.

But, perhaps, there may be doubts whether rightly. I am exceedingly ignorant in Fletcher; but here is a form of expression which occurs twice in the scene, which, I believe, is more conformable to the practice of Fletcher:--

"_A_ heed was in his countenance." "And force them with _a_ constancy."

There is very great stiffness in the versification: one instance is quite extraordinary:

"Yet I know her for
A spleeny Lutheran; and not wholesome to
Our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of
Our hard rul'd king."

There is great stiffness and tameness in the matter in many places.

Lastly, what MR. HICKSON hopes he has taken off Shakspeare's shoulders, the compliments to the Queen and the King, is brought in here most forcedly:--

"She (_i.e._ A. Boleyn) is a gallant creature, and complete
In mind and feature. I persuade me, from her
Will fall some blessings to this land, which shall
In it be memoriz'd."

But there is also the general question, whether, either upon _a priori_ probability, or inferences derived from particular passages, we are bound to suppose that the two authors wrote scene by scene. Shakspeare might surely be allowed to touch up scenes, of which the mass might be written by Fletcher.

As to the dates, MR. COLLIER is persuaded that _Henry VIII._ was written in the winter of 1603-4. The accession of James was in March, 1603. MR. COLLIER thinks that the compliments to Queen Elizabeth were not written in her lifetime. He thinks that, even in the last year of her long reign, no one would have ventured to call her an "aged princess," though merely as a way of saying that she would have a long reign; and he says, there is not the slightest evidence that the compliment to King James was an interpolation. But surely it is strong evidence that if there is no interpolation, this passage--

"As when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,"

afterwards--

"When Heav'n shall call her from this cloud of darkness,"

and then, after disposing of the King--

"She shall be to the happiness of England
An aged princess . . .
. . . . . .
Would I had known no more--but she must die;
She must--the saints must have her yet a virgin," &c.

{191} would be ridiculous. All that can be said is, that either way it is partly ridiculous to make it a matter of prophecy and lamentation that a human being must, sometime or other, die.

But it is very difficult to conceive that the compliments to Elizabeth should have been written after her death.

Fletcher, born in 1579, did not, in Mr. Dyce's opinion, bring out anything singly or jointly with Beaumont till 1606 or 1607.

The irrelevant scenes, like that of Ventidius, are introduced with two objects--one to gain time, the other for the sake of naturalness: of the latter of which there are two instances in _Macbeth_; one where the King talks of the swallows' nests: the other, relating to the English king touching for the evil, seems remarkably suited to the mind of Shakspeare.

C. B.

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"SUN, STAND THOU STILL UPON GIBEON!"

(JOSH. x. 12.)

(Vol. iii., p. 137.)

The observations of I. K. upon this passage have obviously proceeded from a praiseworthy wish to remove what has appeared to some minds to be inconsistent with that perfect truth which they expect to be the result of divine inspiration. I. K. doubtless believes that God put it into the heart of Joshua to utter a command for the miraculous continuance of daylight. But why should he expect the inspiration to extend so far as to instruct Joshua respecting the manner in which that continuance was to be brought about? Joshua was not to be the worker of the miracle. It was to be wrought by Him who can as easily stop any part of the stupendous machinery of His universe, as we can stop the wheels of a watch. Joshua was left to speak, as he naturally would, in terms well fitted to make those around him understand, and tell others, that the sun and moon, whom the defeated people notoriously worshipped, were so far from being able to protect their worshippers, that they were made to promote their destruction at the bidding of Joshua, whom God had commissioned to be the scourge of idolaters. And when the inspired recorder of the miracle wrote that "the sun stood still," he told what the eyes saw, with the same truth as I might say that the sun _rose_ before seven this morning. Inspiration was not bestowed to make men wise in astronomy, but wise unto salvation.

Those who think that the inspired penman should have said "the earth stood still," in order to give a perfectly true account of the miracle, have need to be told, or would do well to remember, that the stopping of the diurnal revolution of the earth, in order to keep the sun and moon's apparent places the same, would not involve a cessation of its motion in its orbit, still less a cessation of that great movement of the whole solar system, by which it is now more than conjectured that the sun, the moon, and the earth are all carried on together at the rate of above 3700 miles in an hour; so that to say "the earth stood still" would be liable to the same objection, viz., that of not being astronomically true. I. K. carries his notion of the "inseparable connexion" of the sun "with all planetary motion" too far, when he supposes that a stoppage of the sun's motion round its own axis would have any effect on our planet. The note he quotes from Kitto's _Pictorial Bible_ is anything but satisfactory; and that from Mant is childishly common-place. Good old Scott adverts with propriety to the Creator's power to keep all things in their places, when the earth's revolution was stopped; but when he endeavoured to illustrate it by the little effect of a ship's _casting anchor when under full sail_, he should have consulted his friend Newton, who would have stopped such an imagination. Another commentator, Holden, has argued, in spite of the Hebrew, that "in the midst of heaven" cannot mean mid-day, having made up his mind that the moon can never be seen at that hour!

Such helpers do but make that difficult which, if received in its simplicity, need neither perplex a child nor a philosopher.

H. W.

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Replies to Minor Queries.

_Ulm Manuscript_ (Vol. iii., p. 60.).--The late Bishop Butler's collection of manuscripts is in the British Museum. I send you a copy of the bishop's own description of the MS. (which should be called the _St. Gall MS._), from the printed Catalogue, which was prepared for a sale by auction, previous to the negociation with the trustees for the purchase of the collection for the nation.

"Acta Apostolorum. Epistolae Pauli et Catholicae cum Apocalypsi. Latine.
Saeculi IX. Upon Vellum. 4to.

The date of this most valuable and important manuscript is preserved by these verses:

'Iste liber Pauli retinet documenta sereni
Hartmodus Gallo quem contulit Abba Beato,
Si quis et hunc Sancti sumit de culmine Galli
Hunc Gallus Paulusque simul dent pestibus amplis.'

Which I thus have tried to imitate:

Thys boke conteynes the doctrynes of Seynct Paull,
Hartmodus thabbat yeve yt to Seynct Gall;
Gyf any tak thys boke from hygh Seynct Gall,
Seynct Gall appall hym and Seynct Paull hym gall.

Hartmodus was Abbot of St. Gall in the Grisons from A.D. 872 to 874. The MS. therefore may be earlier than the former, but cannot be later than the latter date. {192}

This MS. is of the very highest importance. It contains the celebrated passage of St. John thus: 'Quia tres sunt, qui testimonium dant, Spliritus, aqua, et sanguis, et tres unum sunt. Sicut in coelo tres sunt, Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus, et tres unum sunt.' This most important word _Sicut_ clearly shows how the disputed passage, from having been a Gloss crept into the text. And on the first page prior to the Seven Catholic Epistles is the Prologue of St. Jerome, bearing his name in uncials, which Porson and other learned men think spurious. See Porson's _Letters to Travis_, p. 290."--Bp. Butler's Manuscript Catalogue.

H. Foss.

Rotherhithe, Jan. 29. 1851.

_Harrison's Chronology_ (Vol. iii., p. 105.).--To the querist on William Harrison all lovers of bibliography are under obligations. At Oxford, amid the Bodleian treasures, he could not have had many questions to ask: at Thurles the case may be much otherwise, and he is entitled to a prompt reply.

After examining the _Typographical Antiquities_ of Ames and Herbert, and various bibliographical works, relying also on my own memory as a collector of books for more than thirty years, I may venture to assert that the _Chronology_ of W. Harrison has never been printed. I can further assert that no copy of the work is recorded in the _Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae_, Oxoniae, 1697.

The best account of Harrison is given by bishop Tanner, in his _Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica_. Wood, however, should be consulted. With reference to the events of his life, it is important to observe that the date of his letter to sir William Brooke, which may be called an autobiography in miniature, is 1577.

Assuming that this question could not escape the notice of other contributors, I had made no researches with a view to answer it, and shall be happy to remedy the defects of this scrap at a future time.

BOLTON CORNEY.

_Mistletoe on Oaks_ (Vol. ii., pp. 163, 214.).--Is it ever found now on _other_ trees? Sir Thos. Browne (_Vulg. Err._ lib. ii. cap. vi. Sec. 3.) says, "We observe it in England very commonly upon _Sallow_, _Hazell_, and Oake." By-the-bye, DR. BELL (p. 163.) seems to adopt the belief, which it is Browne's object in the section referred to above to refute, viz., that "Misseltoe is bred upon trees, from seeds which birds let fall thereon." Have later observations shown that it was Browne himself who was in error?

ACHE.

_Swearing by Swans_ (Vol. iii., p. 70.).--An instance of the cognate custom of swearing by pheasants is given by Michelet, _Precis de l'Histoire Moderne_ (pp. 19, 20.). On the taking of Constantinople by the Turks,--

"L'Europe s'emut enfin: Nicholas V. precha la croisade.... a Lille, le
duc de Bourgoyne fit apparaitre, dans un banquet, l'image de l'Eglise
desolee et, selon les rites de la chevalerie, jura Dieu, la Vierge, les
dames, et _le faisan_, qu'il irait combattre les infideles." (1454.)

It seems, however, that in spite of all these formalities, the oath did not sit very heavily on the conscience of the taker: for we are told immediately after that--

"Cette ardeur dura peu.... le duc de Bourgoyne resta dans ses etats."

Michelet gives, as his authority, Olivier de la Marche, t. viii. _De la Collection des Memoires relatifs a l'Hist. de France_, edit. de M. Petitot.

X. Z.

_Jurare ad caput animalium_ (Vol. ii., p. 392; Vol. iii., p. 71.).--Schayes, a Belgic writer (in _Les Pays Bas avant et durant la Domination Romaine_, vol. ii. p. 73. et seq.), furnishes references to two councils, in which this mode of swearing was condemned, viz. Concil. Aurelianense (Orleans), A.D. 541, and Concil. Liptinense (Liptines or Lestines), 743. On the Indiculus Paganiarum of the latter he subjoins the commentaries of Des Roches (_Anc. Mem. de l'Acad. de Brux._), de Meinders (_de statu relig. sub Carolo M._, p. 144.), d'Eckart (_Francia Orient_, lib. i. p. 407.), de Canciani (_de Legibus barbaror._, tom. iii. p. 78.). The enquirer may also consult Riveli Opera on the Decalogue; Petiti, _Observ. Miscell._ lib. iv. c. 7.: "Defenditur Socrates ab improba Lactantii calumnia et de ejus jusjurando per _canem_:" and Alex. ab Alexandro, _Geniales Dies_, lib. v. c. 10.

I may avail myself of this opportunity of noticing the misprint in p. 152., _V_ezron for _P_ezron.

T. J.

_Ten Children at a Birth_ (Vol. ii., p. 459.; Vol. iii., p. 64.).--We are indebted to the obliging courtesy of the editor of the _Leeds Mercury_ for the following extract from that paper of the 9th October, 1781:--

"A letter from Sheffield, dated October 1, says, 'This day one Ann
Birch, formerly of Derby, who came to work at the silk-mills here, was
delivered of TEN children; nine were dead, and one living, which, with
the mother, is likely to do well.'"

Our informant adds--

"I never heard of any silk-mills at Sheffield. If there was a Medical
Society in Sheffield then, its records might be examined."

Can our correspondent N. D. throw any further light upon this certainly curious and interesting case?

_Richard Standfast_ (Vol. iii., p. 143.).--This divine is buried in Christ Church, Bristol; having been rector of that church for the long space of fifty-one years. There is a monument erected to his memory in the above-mentioned building, with the following inscription:-- {193}

"Near this place lieth the body of Richard Standfast, Master of Arts,
of Sidney College in Cambridge, and Chaplain-in-Ordinary to his Majesty
King Charles I., who for his loyalty to the King and stedfastness in
the established religion, suffered fourteen years' sequestration. He
returned to his place in Bristol at the restoration of King Charles
II., was then made prebendary of the cathedral church of Bristol, and
for twenty years and better (notwithstanding his blindness) performed
the offices of the church exactly, and discharged the duties of an
able, diligent, and orthodox preacher. He was Rector of Christ Church
upwards of fifty-one years, and died August 24, in the seventy-eighth
year of his age, and in the year of Our Lord 1681.

He shall live again."

The following additional lines, composed by himself, were taken down from his own mouth two days before his death; and are, according to his own desire, inscribed on his tomb:--

"Jacob was at Bethel found,
And so may we, though under ground.
With Jacob there God did intend,
To be with him where'ver he went,
And to bring him back again,
Nor was that promise made in vain.
Upon which words we rest in confidence
That he which found him there will fetch us hence.
Nor without cause are we persuaded thus,
For where God spake with him, he spake with us."

Besides the work your correspondent mentions, he wrote a book, entitled a _Caveat against Seducers_.

J. K. R. W.

Feb. 22. 1851.

"_Jurat, crede minus_" (Vol. iii., p. 143.).--This epigram was quoted by Sir Ed. Coke on the trial of Henry Garnet. The author I cannot tell, but F. R. R. may be glad to trace it up thus far.

J. BS.

_Rab Surdam_ (Vol. ii., p. 493.; Vol. iii., p. 42.).--May not "Rab Surdam" be the ignorant stone-cutter's version of "resurgam?"