CASES OF NOUNES. Nounes be declined with sixe cases, Singularly, and Plurally, the Nominative, the Genitive, the Dative, the Accusative, the Vocative, and the Ablative. The Nominative case commeth before the Verbe, and aunswetreh (sic) to this question, Who or what: as Magister docet, The mayster teacheth. The Genitive case is knowne by this token Of, and auns wereth to this question, Whose, or where of: as Doctrina magistri, The learning of the mayster. The Dative case is knowne by this token To, and auns wereth to this question, to whome, or to what: as Do librum magistro. I give a booke to the mayster. The Accusative case followeth the Verbe, and auns wereth to this question, whome or what: as Amo magistrū, I love the mayster. The Vocative case is knowne by calling or speaking to: as O magister, O mayster. The Ablative case is commonly ioyned with Prepositions serving to the Ablative case: as De magistro, Of the mayster. Coram magistro, Before the mayster. Also In, with, through, for, from, by, or then, after the Comparative degrée, be signes of the Ablative case. ARTICLES. Singulariter. Articles are borowed of the Pronoune, and be thus declined. Genders of Nounes be seven: the Masculine, the Feminine, the Neuter, the Commune of twoo, the Commune of thrée, the Doubtfull, and the Epicene. The Masculine Gender is declined with this Article Hic: as Hic vir, à man. The Feminine Gender is declined with this Article Hæc: as Hæc mulier, a woman. The Neuter gender is declined with this Article Hoc: as Hoc Saxum, a stone. The Commune of twoo is declined with Hic, and Hæc: as Hic & hæc Parens, a father or mother. The Commune of thrée is declined with Hic, hæc, and Hoc: as Hic, hæc & hoc Felix, Happy. The Doubtfull Gender is declined with Hic or Hæc: as Hic vel hæc Dies, a Day. The Epicene Gender is declined with one Article, and under that one article both kindes be signified; as Hic passer, a Sparrow. Hæc aquila, an Aegle, both hée and shée. THE DECLENSONS (sic) OF NOUNES. There be five Declensons of Nounes. etc. etc.1 II A NOTE ON THE SENTENTIÆ PUERILES. The Sententiae Pueriles, mentioned so frequently as a Shakespearean school-book ever since Malone wrote his observations on the point (Var. Ed. II, 104), deserves a passing notice. It is a little manual consisting of brief Latin sentences collected from divers authors by Leonhard Culmann of Krailsheim and completed probably not long before 1544. The 'sententia[e] 'pueriles in laten' was entered on the Stationers' Registers in 1569-70 and is referred to in a document of 1584 (Arber I, 418; II, 789). In 1612 the book was translated into English by John Brinsley. Halliwell-Phillipps, in his 'Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare', p. 53, writes: "The Sententiae 'Pueriles was, in all probability, the little manual by the aid of which he 'first learned to construe Latin, for in one place, at least, he all but literally 'translates a brief passage, and there are in his plays several adaptations 'of its sentiments.' I cannot say exactly what the 'brief passage' is, which Halliwell-Phillipps refers to. The following are some sentences which have a resemblance to passages in Shakespeare. But they are so general in character, that we can scarcely infer anything definite from them. Belli exitus incertus. Compare Coriol., V, 111, 140: "Thou know'st, great son, "The end of war's uncertain." Doloris medicus tempus. Comp. Gent. of Ver., III, II, 15: "A little time, "my lord. will kill that grief." Comp, too, Act III, 1, 243; and Cymbeline III, v, 37: "The cure whereof, my lord, "Tis time "must do." 1 I have compared a copy of Lily's Grammar published in 1566—7, in the Bodleian Library; but I can find no difference, apart from variations in spelling, between this and the copy of the edition of 1577 in the British Museum. The Latin part is, however, bound before the English portion, which is exceptional. сору of 1572, of the Bodleian, is also identical with the copy I am quoting from. A Varia et mutabilis semper fœmina. Compare 1. Henry IV., Act II, III, 111: "constant you are, But yet woman." Somnus mortis imago. Compare Cymb., II, 11, 31: "O sleep, thou ape of "death;" or Macbeth, II, III, 81: "sleep, death's counterfeit." A curious difficulty in connexion with the Sententiae Pueriles is presented by the following passage in George Peele's 'Edward I': "Tis an 'old said saying, I remember I read it in Cato's Pueriles, that Cantabit 'vacuus coram latrone viator; a man's purse-penniless may sing before a 'thief.' Now, this quotation occurs neither in Cato's Disticha de Moribus nor in the Sententiae Pueriles. But it occurs in Lily's Grammar (Part II., Syntax of Adverbs), where Juvenal is mentioned as the author of the phrase. Peele, therefore, seems to have suffered a lapsus calami. III- A NOTE ON THE ABC WITH THE CATECHISM. No Elizabethan ABC Book with the Catechism seems to be extant, though thousands, if not millions, were produced. The Bodleian Library possesses a fragment of four leaves printed in 1549. In the library of Saint Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, is an ABC of the year 1553 (?). The next extant copy of an ABC with the Anglican Catechism is, so far as I am aware, of the year 1680, in the Bodleian. The catechism in both copies of the Bodleian Library is the short church catechism, as contained in the Common Prayer Book. Now, Mr. W. H. Allnutt, in his Introduction to an old ABC in Latin (see post), makes the following observation: 'c. 1585? The ABC 'with the Catechisme, printed by the assigns of John Day. A fragment 'of four leaves in the Library of Worcester College, Oxford.' This entry seemed to me so important that I made personal enquiries at Worcester College. Mr. Daniel, however, as well as the Librarian, Mr. Pottinger, informed me, that Mr. Allnutt's statement was, so far as they either o them knew, erroneous. Mr. Allnutt could no longer give information on the point. He had joined the majority just a fortnight before I came to Oxford, and his mouth was closed for ever. Mr. Daniel has been so obliging as to make diligent search, but without success yet. Meanwhile we must rest satisfied with what information we can derive from those glorious records of the Stationers' Company and other documents, which have escaped the tooth of time: Under the date 1561-2 we find the following entry: 'Recevyd of 'Thomas purfoote for his lycense for pryntinge of an A.bc for chyldren. 'iiij d.' (Arber, Transcr. I, 182). In 1577 John Day and his son Richard 1 Nowell's 'Small Catechism' in English is nearly the same as the small Church Catechism, but has some additional matter. However, no copy is known of it earlier than 1574 (?), see Dict. of Nat. Biogr.-Traces of the catechism in Shakespeare's works will be pointed out in a later chapter on the Bible and the Prayer Book. = Day obtained Letters Patent for the sole privilege to print "the ABC with "the little Catachisme sett forth by her Maiesties Iniunctions for the Instruccon "of Children". And in 1582 one Roger Warde is proceeded against in the Star Chamber for an infringement of this Patent, when he confesses to printing "Twentie Reames of paper' 10,000 copies. In 1585 another case is brought into the Star Chamber against Thomas Dunne and Robarte Robenson for printing "Tenn Thousand of the bookes cauled the A.B.C. "with the lyttell Cathechisme in Englishe". In 1620 the "A.B.C with the "Cathechism" was entered in the Stat. Reg. along with many other schoolbooks. (See Allnutt, ut infra, p. 12; Arber, Stat. Reg. I, 111; II, 753, 790; and III, 670.) For more information, see Mr. H. Bradshaw's paper on 'the ABC as an 'Authorised School-book, in the Sixteenth Century', in the Cambridge Antiquarian Communications, vol. III., 1875, pp. 363-373; E. S. Shuckburgh's Preface to his facsimile reprint of an ABC of c. 1538 (London, 1889); - and W. H. A[llnutt], 'An Early Sixteenth-Century ABC in Latin', 1891.1 The "ABC with the smaller Catechism", I ought to add, was printed until very recently in Scotland (cf. Tuer, ut sup., p. 373), where the catechism is, of course, that of the Presbyterian Church, beginning with the famous question: "What is the chief end of man?". On this point see A. F. Mitchell, 'Catechisms of the Second Reformation', 1886. 1 Privately printed, alas! Not even the British Museum has a copy. The Bodleian Library, of which Mr. Allnutt was a member, possesses only the Introduction to the reprint. Auders, Shakespeare's books. 4 CHAPTER 2. MODERN CONTINENTAL LITERATURE. FRENCH AUTHORS. Whether Shakespeare knew French, is the first question we must try to answer. 'King Henry V.', as is well-known, contains numerous French words and phrases and one entire scene in that language. Over and above this, we find a considerable number of French fragments in other plays, which Schmidt has collected in his ShakespeareLexicon. His list goes to show that of the modern continental languages French must have been the most familiar to the great dramatist. It is, of course, possible that he received assistance from some one conversant with French, when penning Henry V.; but there is no ground for doubting his acquaintance with the language. It is curious to note, that, while Farmer attributed the French dialogue of the play to another hand, other critics made Shakespeare a bad pronouncer of the language' on the score of the following passage, Act IV., IV, 17-21: French Soldier: Est-il impossible d'échapper la force de ton bras? Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat, Offer'st me brass? Impossible though this pun may be with our modern pronunciation, in Shakespeare's days there could be no objection to it, as the final s was still audible in words before a pause, though gradually dropping out of use. See Thurot, 'De la Prononciation Française depuis le Commencement du XVIe siècle' (1881–3, II, 35–36), a work to which I was referred by Professor Dr. Tobler, of the University of Berlin, Even Farmer is so inconsistent as to support this view. |