The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-06
The Sims Of shakespeare.

1t IS greatly to be regretted that a writer in
the EdjabUTgh ReCjClr, for July, should have
seen fit to revive the business of setting the
public to puzzling over the real meaning of
certain doubtful or misprinted words in
Shakespeare. We had supposed that this
business was pretty much over some years
ago, and to bring it up again at time when
the English journals are hard up for topics.
and when the mammoth gooseberry is already
going the rounds, is cruel. We foresee that
all the commentators, un-cOmmentators and
wOuld-be commentators on both sides of the
Atlantic will be prompted to persecute as well
as puzzle the public with new readings and
romancings from and concerning Shake
speare.
Already the London Ne,cs and one of the
naorning papers in New York present a few of
the EdiH6VFgh RcCjcJc writer's conundrums,
but decline to attempt solution. Here are
one or two of the freshly presented puzzles: -
What does Ophelia mean when she says to
the Queen, You may wear your rue with a
difference!' What was the precise signif-
canoe of the croRtS laid upon Ophelia's bier
What is the exact meaning of the phrase
used by Tranio, to 'balk logic 2
Now, unquestionably, Shakespeare's chief
sin was that he wrote a villainously bad hand;
and of this he was quite as conscious as his
printers were. And no doubt he was eX-
CGGOuuRlN AtuSlNlNc dDOuU IL: else WHY (llu ne
take particular pains to destroy every scrap of
his own handwriting, excepting the three ex-
tant autographs? which, by-the-by, are suf-
iciently indicative of what the rest of his
copy must have been. Then, too, the printers
of the period what reckless as we'll as
ignorant fellows they were The folio of
lG23-there is a copy in the Astor Library,
which can be seen. under certain restrictions,
whenever the excellent institution is open to
the pubGc-is filed with what are palpably
mere typographical errors, and the folio of
1852 is one mass of blunders. OF course, the
earliest Shakespearian commentators corrected
the errors in the first folio by the blunders in
the second; and a nice mess indeed they made
of it. The trouble, too, with commentators
in all periods is, that they forget that
"a mans best things are nearest him.
Lie close about his feet;'
and so, instead of accepting what is or may
be made to seem perfectly plain and obvious,
they soar after the indefinite and dive after
the unfathOmable, in labored search for
something which is sure to make the possibly
plain utterly incomprehensible. Many years
ago then celebrated clergyman in Connecti-
cut printed a pamphlet to explain the mean
ing of a Hebrew point, and came very near
creating dissension, if not division, in his
denomination-only, fortunately, a careful
examination of the clergymans copy of the
Hebrew Bible showed that the doubtful and
dstracting point was, after all, only fy-
speck. In like manner, if Shallespearian com
mentators would only allow for Shalespeares
copy-his head and heart were all right but
his ''hand, without doubt, was horrible-and
! assume that compositors in 1923 and 1892
were quite as careless as they are in 1869, what
a world of worry and conundrlm-makinp
would be saved, Thus a little knowledge of
German would tell anybody that the ''crants"
laid on 'Ophelias' bier was q wreath-Ger-
man ''kranz; and Tranio must have known.
II modern commentators do not, that il is not
difficult to ''balk' some peoples logic.
Some time ago, when the evil that now
threatens us once more was epidemic, and
the magazines and newspapers were punish
ing the public for the sins of Shakespeare
and his printers, all England was puzzled
over the precise meaning of Shalzespeare's
cup of sheer ale The nearest English
approach to a satisfactory explanation was
that it was particularly strong ale, the old
october or genuine stunning of the time,
which was given to the wet and oVer-worked
men IN sheep-shearing time. But thereupon
turned up a Yankee who showed plainly
enough that ''sheer ale in Shakespeare's
day meant simple ale and nothing else, just
as as sheer nonsense means simple nonsense.
Inc word, like many others now obsolete
IN old England, has been preserved
IN Its original use and meaning in New Eng,
land, Just as the provincial pronunciation OF
the New. England States is a handed-down
importation from England more than two
hundred years ago, and is not indigenous TO
Down East soil, as many people suppose
Inc pronunciation of such words as down,
round, blue, and the like, in this manner,
''da-own, ''ra-ound, " ''ble-ue, is quite COM
mon in some parts of England, and in this
connection we have only to remind those
who saw and heard the burlesque blondes at