_Miching malicho_ (Vol. iii., p. 3.).--Your correspondent MR. COLLIER is
probably not aware that his suggestion respecting the meaning of _Malicho_
had been anticipated upwards of twenty years since. In the unpretending
edition of Shakspeare by another of your correspondents, MR. SINGER,
printed in 1825, I find the following note:--
"_Miching malicho_ is lurking mischief, or evil doing. _To mich_, for
to skulk, to lurk, was an old English verb in common use in
Shakspeare's time; and _Malicho_, or _Malhecho_, misdeed, he has
borrowed from the Spanish. Many stray words of Spanish and Italian were
then affectedly used in common conversation, as we have seen French
used in more recent times. The Quarto spell the word _Mallicho_. Our
ancestors were not particular in orthography, and often spelt according
to the ear."
I have since looked at MR. COLLIER'S note to which he refers, and find that
he interprets _miching_ by _stealing_, which will not suit the context; and
abundant examples may be adduced that to _mich_ was to _skulk_, to _lurk_,
as MR. SINGER has very properly explained it. Thus Minsheu:--
"To MICHE, or secretly hide himself out of the way, as TRUANTS doe from
Schoole, vi. _to hide_, to cover."
and again--
"A _micher_, vi. _Truant_."
MR. COLLIER'S text, too, is not satisfactory, for he has abandoned the old
word _Malicho_, and given _Mallecho_, which is as far from the true form of
the Spanish word as the old reading, which he should either have preserved
or printed _Malhecho_, as Minsheu gives it.
I am glad to see from your pages that MR. SINGER has not entirely abandoned
Shakspearian illustration, for in my difficulties I have rarely consulted
his edition in vain; and, in my humble opinion, it is as yet the most
practically useful and readable edition we have.