The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-23

, bed, was oto rake up the fire. by covering
| the burning brands with ashes, to preserve
7 them for lighting a fire the next morning.
| And servants were liable to reproof for neglect
! of this duty the same as in England (see
| BferyV Wives of Wiudsor), as it was not only
unsafe, but made IL necessary to run to the
neighbors in the morning TO fetch live ooas.'*
(20.) "But with longer tether may he
walk. TO explain the meaning of the word
'tether" to any American reader would be
quite superhuous.
(21.) "Hunts not the trail of policy so
sure" and "On the false trail they ory.''--It
will be long while-generations or even CEN
turies, perhaps-before the word 'trail" ceases
to be used by Americans; but even now it
seems that English readers of Shakespeare
require to have its meaning explained to them.
(22.) "We will have, if this fudge not, an
antic. TO "fadge" continues to be used in
America as a somewhat vulgar synonym for
to answer the purpose, to succeed, or to work
well.
This probably does not include all of the
Americanisms, as l have ventured to term
them, to be found in Shakespeare's plays, as
have only just noted such as attracted my at
tention while occupied with a much more i'm
pOrtant and agreeable task.
There are not only words, but also things
and facts to be found in Shakespeare which
England, but which we Americans have pre-
served and can readily understand at the pre-
sent day. There are, indeed, many passages
in Shakespeare reminding us that, at the time
he wrote, England was comparatively new
country as America is at the present day.
Thus, "Macbeth" says
The mind Sl0ay by and the heart bear
snail never So9g with doubt, nor shake with
This truly sublime figure of speech comes
from homely source, being suggested by the
necessary and almost exclusive use of timber
as building material in a new country, not
only for houses, but especially for bridges, as
happens to be the case in America at the pre-
sent day. A piece of timber will 'sagg'' from
the gradual effect of weight or pressure upon
it; but it Shakes or vibrates from the appli-
cation of some sudden and transient force.
And this is also the different operation of
doubt and fear on the mind. The first is a slow
and lasting change, while the latter is only
momentary impression.
Again, "Duncan's" horses are saidto have
"Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung
Contending 'gainst obedience -"
This wss doubtless what is known in Anne
RIGA by the Mexican word "stampede"-a sort
of panic which, from some cause generally
unknown, seizes upon horses and (more
rarely) other domestic animals. 1t is probably
unknown IN England at the present day, and
only happens in parts of this country compare
lively thinly inhabited-as the far West and
some Southern districts. The same phenome-
non is referred to where "Glendower" says:-
"The goats ran from the mountains, and the
herds
Were strangely clamorous to the frighted
fields"
Again, of "Dmean's" horses:--
"'Tis said they ate each other"
,ss,1 1o,, of l. IL
a poetical exaggeration. Yet it happens to be
true that horses when loose and engaged in
teeth, and aim to get at one another's throats,
but never use their heels. They kick only
when quarrelling, or when they are tied or
hampered in some way.
For the confirmation of this last statement l
have the authority of the colonel of one of our
(regular) cavalry regiments, who was himself
brought up on hOrse-raising farm in Vir-
ginia, and who has since had thirty years. ex-
perience in United States frontier service.
- c. w. S.
We are here reminded that much of the
material for poetry is likely to be destroyed by
the changes rapidly going on in the customs
life. Twenty years hence, when cast-iron cook
ing ranges have wholly displaced the old mas
sive brick ovens, this couplet may require ex-
| planation:-
"And criekets sing at the ovens mouth,
AS the blither for their drouth.
-PeT1cLeS Act III. Cover.
! For then, probably, no one Will hear aud few
! remember ever TO nave heard this evening
| music once familiar in every home. In like
! manner, and for the same reason, it may hap-
pen, after steel pens have been in use a century
/ longer, a note by some future editor of Byrou
! may be needed to explain what he meant by
| his apostro pbe to his "grey goose quill"