ON A CELEBRATED PASSAGE IN "ROMEO AND JULIET," ACT III. SC. 2.

Few passages in Shakspeare have so often and so ineffectually been "winnowed" as the opening of the beautiful and passionate soliloquy of Juliet, when ardently and impatiently invoking night's return, which was to bring her newly betrothed lover to her arms. It stands thus in the first folio, from which the best quarto differs only in a few unimportant points of orthography:

The older commentators do not attempt to change the word run-awayes, but seek to explain it. Warburton says Phœbus is the runaway. Steevens has a long argument to prove that Night is the runaway. Douce thought Juliet herself was the runaway; and at a later period the Rev. Mr. Halpin, in a very elegant and ingenious essay, attempts to prove that by the runaway we must understand Cupid.

Mr. Knight and Mr. Collier have both of them adopted Jackson's conjecture of unawares, and have admitted it to the honour of a place in the text, but Mr. Dyce has pronounced it to be "villainous;" and it must be confessed that it has nothing but a slight similarity to the old word to recommend it. Mr. Dyce himself has favoured us with three suggestions; the first two in his Remarks on Collier and Knight's Shakspeare, in 1844, where he says—

"That ways (the last syllable of run-aways) ought to be days, I feel next to certain; but what word originally preceded it I do not pretend to determine:

The correctors of Mr. Collier's folio having substituted—

Mr. Dyce, in his recent Few Notes, properly rejects that reading, and submits another conjecture of his own, founded on the supposition that the word roving having been written illegibly, roavinge was mistaken for run-awayes, and proposes to read—

Every suggestion of Mr. Dyce, certainly the most competent of living commentators on Shakspeare, merits attention; but I cannot say that I think he has succeeded in either of his proposed readings.

Monck Mason seems to have had the clearest notion of the requirements of the passage. He saw that "the word, whatever the meaning of it might be, was intended as a proper name;" but he was not happy in suggesting renomy, a French word with an English termination.

In the course of his note he mentions that Heath, "the author of the Revisal, reads 'Rumour's eyes may wink;' which agrees in sense with the rest of the passage, but differs widely from run-aways in the trace of the letters."

I was not conscious of having seen this suggestion of Heath's, when, in consequence of a question put to me by a gentleman of distinguished taste and learning, I turned my thoughts to the passage, and at length came to the conclusion that the word must have been rumourers, and that from its unfrequent occurrence (the only other example of it at present known to me being one afforded by the poet) the printer mistook it for runawayes; which, when written indistinctly, it may have strongly resembled. I therefore think that we may read with some confidence:

It fulfils the requirements of both metre and sense, and the words untalk'd of and unseen make it nearly indisputable. I had at first thought it might be "rumorous eyes;" but the personification would then be wanting. Shakspeare has personified Rumour in the Introduction to the Second Part of King Henry IV.; and in Coriolanus, Act IV. Sc. 6., we have—

I am gratified by seeing that I have anticipated your able correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Arrowsmith, in his elucidation of "clamour your tongues," by citing the same passage from Udall's Apophthegmes, in my Vindication of the Text of Shakspeare, p. 79. It is a pleasure which must console me for having subjected myself to his just animadversion on another occasion. If those who so egregiously blunder are to be spared the castigation justly merited, we see by late occurrences to what it may lead; and your correspondent, in my judgment, is conferring a favour on all true lovers of our great poet by exposing pretension and error, from whatever quarter it may come,—a duty which has been sadly neglected in some late partial reviews of Mr. Collier's "clever" corrector. Mr. Arrowsmith's communications have been so truly ad rem, that I think I shall be expressing the sentiments of all your readers interested in such matters, in expressing an earnest desire for their continuance.

S. W. Singer.

Mickleham.

ON THE PASSAGE FROM "KING LEAR."

(Vol. vii., p. 592.)

Will you allow me to suggest to your ingenious Leeds correspondent (whose communications would be read with only the more pleasure if they evinced a little more respect for the opinions of others) that before he asserts the existence of a certain error which he points out in a passage in King Lear to be "undeniable," it would be desirable that he should support this improved reading by other passages from Shakspeare, or from cotemporary writers, in which the word he proposes occurs? For my own part, I think A. E. B.'s suggestion well worthy of consideration, but I cannot admit that it "demonstrates itself," or "that any attempt to support it by argument would be absurd," for it would unquestionably strengthen his case to show that the verb "recuse" was not entirely obsolete in Shakspeare's time. Neither can I admit that there is an "obvious opposition between means and defects," the two words having no relation to each other. The question is, which of two words must be altered; and at present I must own I am inclined to put more faith in the authority of "the old corrector" than in A. E. B.

Having taken up my pen on this subject, allow me to remark upon the manner in which Mr. Collier's folio is referred to by your correspondent. I have carefully considered many of the emendations proposed, and feel in my own mind satisfied that so great a number that, in the words of your correspondent, demonstrate themselves, could not have been otherwise than adopted from some authority. Even in the instance of the passage from Henry V., "on a table of green friese," which A. E. B. selects, I presume, as being especially absurd, I think "the old corrector" right; although I had frequently cited Theobald's correction as particularly happy, and therefore the new version was at first to me very distasteful. But, whatever opinion may be held as to the value of the book, it is surely unbecoming to the discussion of a literary question to indulge in the unsparing insinuations that have been thrown out on all sides respecting it. I leave out of question the circumstance, that the long and great services of Mr. Collier ought to protect him at least from such unworthy treatment.

Samuel Hickson.

P.S.—Since writing the above, I have seen Mr. Keightley's letter. I hope he will not deprive the readers of "N. & Q." of the benefit of his valuable communications for the offences of one or two. He might consider, first, that his own dignity would suffer least by letting them pass by him "as the idle wind;" and, secondly, that some allowance should be made for gentlemen who engage in controversy on a subject which, strangely enough, next to religion, seems to be most productive of discord.

S. H.

Does not Shakspeare here use secure as a verb, in the sense "to make careless?" If so, the passage would mean, "Our means," that is, our power, our strength, make us wanting in care and vigilance, and too self-confident. Gloucester says, "I stumbled when I saw;" meaning, When I had eyes I walked carelessly; when I had the "means" of seeing and avoiding stumbling-blocks, I stumbled and fell, because I walked without care and watchfulness. Then he adds, "And our mere defects prove our commodities." Our deficiencies, our weaknesses (the sense of them), make us use such care and exertions as to prove advantages to us. Thus the antithesis is preserved.

How scriptural is the first part of the passage!

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."—1 Cor. x. 12.

"He hath said in his heart, Tush, I shall never be cast down; there shall no harm happen unto me."—Ps. x. 6.

The second part is also scriptural:

"My strength is made perfect in weakness."—2 Cor. xii. 9.

"When I am weak then am I strong."—2 Cor. xii. 10.

In Timon of Athens we find secure used as verb "Secure thy heart."—Act II. Sc. 2.

Again, in Othello:

"I do not so secure me in the error."—Act I. Sc. 3.

In Du Cange's Gloss. is the verb "Securare nudè pro securum reddere." In the "Alter Index sive Glossarium" of Ainsworth's Dictionary is the verb "Securo, as ... to live carelessly." In the "Verba partim Græca Latinè scripta, partim barbara," &c., is "Securo, as securum reddo."

The means of the hare in the fable for the race (that is, her swiftness) secured her; the defects of the tortoise (her slowness) proved her commodity.

F. W. J.

MANNERS OF THE IRISH.

The following are extracts from a MS. volume of the sixteenth century, containing, inter alia, notes of the Manners and Superstitions of the Celtic Irish. Some of our readers may be able to elucidate the obscure references:

The next appears to be a scrap of a woman's song:

John Devereux was Justiciary of the Palatinate Liberty of Wexford in the early part of Henry VIII.'s reign. That Palatinate was then governed by a seneschal or "senscal." The justice would seem to have been a gallant and sensual man, and the song may have been a little satirical. Among the notes of the "Manners" of the Irish, it is declared that—

"Sett them a farme—the grandfather, father, son, and they clayme it as their own: if not, they goe to rebellion."

Will any antiquary versed in Celtic customs explain whether this claim of possession grew out of any Celtic usage of tenancy? And also point out authorities bearing upon the customs of Celtic agricultural tenancy?

The next extract bears upon the communication at Vol. vii., p. 332.:

"An Ultagh hath three purses. He runneth behind dore to draw his money: one cutteth the throte of another."

Now, was an Ultagh an Irish usurer or money-lender? Your correspondent at page 332. requests information respecting Roger Outlaw. Sir William Betham, in a note to the "Proceedings against Dame Alice Ugteler," the famous pseudo-Kilkenny witch, remarks that "the family of Utlagh were seated in Dublin, and filled several situations in the corporation." Utlagh and Outlaw are the same surnames. The named Utlagh also occurs in the Calendar of Printed Irish Patent Rolls. William Utlagh, or Outlaw, was a banker and money-lender in Kilkenny, in the days of Edward I. He was the first husband of the witch, and brother of Friar Roger Outlaw. In favour of the latter, who was Prior of Kilmainham, near Dublin, a mandamus, dated 10 Edw. II., was issued for arrears due to him since he was "justice and chancellor, and even lieutenant of the justiciary, as well in the late king's time as of the present king's." He was appointed Lord Justice, or deputy to the Lord Lieutenant, by patent dated Mar. 15, 9 Edw. III.

Many of the Irish records having been lost, your correspondent will do an obliging service in pointing out the repository of the discovered roll. Perhaps steps might be taken for its restoration.

H.

[The following communication from our valued correspondent, the Rev. H. T. Ellacombe, affords at once a satisfactory reply to H's Query, and a proof of the utility of "N. & Q."]

Roger Outlawe (Vol. vii., p. 559.).—Thanks to Anon. and others for their information.

As for "in viiij mense," I cannot understand it: I copied it as it was sent to me. B. Etii was an error of the press for R. Etii, but I purposely avoided noticing it, because my very first communication on the subject to "N. & Q.," under my own name and address, opened a very pleasing correspondence, which has since led to the restoration of these Irish documents to their congeners among the public records in Dublin; a gentleman having set out most chivalrously from that city at his own cost to recover them, and I am happy to say he has succeeded; and in the English Quarterly Magazine there will soon appear, I believe, an account of the documents in question. It would not, therefore, become me to give in this place the explanation which has been kindly communicated to me as to the meaning of the last conquest of Ireland; but I have no doubt it will be explained in the English Quarterly.

H. T. Ellacombe.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.