so controverted lands
Scape, like Angelica, the strivers hands
compare Chaucer's
We strive as did the houndes for the boon
Thei foughte al day and yet hir parte was noon:
Ther cam a kyte, whil that they were so wrothe,
And bar away the boon betwixt hem bothe.
And therfore at the kynges country brother
Eche man for himself, there is noon other.
_Knightes Tale_, ll. 319 ff.
ll. 45-6. _powre of the Courts below Flow._ Grosart and Chambers
silently alter to 'Flows', but both the editions and MSS. have the
plural form. Franz notes the construction in Shakespeare:
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope,
Have lost their quality.
_Hen. V_, V. ii. 18.
All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience.
_Lear_, III. v. 4.
The last is a very close parallel. The proximity of the plural noun in
the prepositional phrase is the chief determining factor, but in
some cases the combined noun and qualifying phrase has a plural
force--'such venomous looks', 'his mental powers or faculties.'
PAGE =170=, l. 61. _heavens Courts._ There can be no doubt that the
plural is right: 'so the Roman profession seems to exhale, and refine
our wills from earthly Drugs, and Lees, more then the Reformed, and so
seems to bring us nearer heaven, but then that carries heaven farther
from us, by making us pass so many Courts, and Offices of Saints in
this life, in all our petitions,' &c. _Letters_, 102.
ll. 65-8. Compare: 'If a Pursevant, if a Serjeant come to thee from
the King, in any Court of Justice, though he come to put thee in
trouble, to call thee to an account, yet thou receivest him, thou
entertainest him, thou paiest him fees.' _Sermons_ 80. 52. 525.
Gardiner, writing of the treatment of Catholics under Elizabeth, says:
'Hard as this treatment was, it was made worse by the misconduct of
the constables and pursevants whose business it was to search for the
priests who took refuge in the secret chambers which were always to
be found in the mansions of the Catholic gentry. These wretches, under
pretence of discovering the concealed fugitives, were in the habit
of wantonly destroying the furniture or of carrying off valuable
property.' _Hist. of England_, i. 97.
PAGE =171=, l. 91. The right reading of this line must be either (_a_)
that which we have taken from _N_ and _TCD_, which differs only by a
letter from that of _1633-69_; or (_b_) that of _A25_, _B_, and other
MSS.:
And div'd neare drowning, for what vanished.
The first refers to the suitor. He, like the dog, dives for what _has_
vanished; goes to law for what is irrecoverable. The second reading
would refer to the dog and continue the illustration: 'Thou art
the dog whom shadows cozened and who div'd for what vanish'd.' The
ambiguity accounts for the vacillation of the MSS. and editions. The
reading of _1669_ is a conjectural emendation. The 'div'd'st' of some
MSS. is an endeavour to get an agreement of tenses after 'what's' had
become 'what'.