Chester.
*[In the _Harleian Collection_, No. 1927., will be found "A
paper Book in 8vo., wherein are contained, Poems, Impreses,
and other Collections in Prose and Verse; written by Thomas
Chaloner and Randle Holme, senior, both Armes-Painters in
Chester, with other Notes of less value."--ED.]
* * * * *
"ANYWHEN" AND "SELDOM-WHEN:" UNOBSERVED INSTANCES OF SHAKSPEARE'S USE OF
THE LATTER.
(Vol. vii., p. 38.)
MR. FRASER'S remark about the word _anywhen_ has brought to my mind two
passages in Shakspeare which have been always hitherto rendered obscure
by wrong printing and wrong pointing. The first occurs in _Measure for
Measure_, Act IV. Sc. 2., where the Duke says:
"This is a gentle provost: _seldom-when_
The steeled gaoler is the friend of men."
Here the compound word, signifying _rarely_, _not often_, has been
always printed as two words; and MR. COLLIER, following others,
has even placed a comma between _seldom_ and _when_.
The other passage occurs in the Second Part of _King Henry IV._, Act IV.
Sc. 4.; where Worcester endeavours to persuade the king that Prince
Henry will leave his wild courses. King Henry replies:
"'Tis _seldom-when_ the bee doth leave her comb
In the dead carrion."
Here also the editors have always printed it as two words; and, as
before, MR. COLLIER here repeats the comma.
That the word was current with our ancestors, is certain; and I have no
doubt that other instances of it may be found. We have a similar
compound in Chaucer's _Knight's Tale_, v. 7958.:
"I me rejoyced of my lyberté,
That _selden-tyme_ is founde in mariage."
Palsgrave, too, in his _Eclaircissement de la Langue Françoise_, 1530,
has--
"_Seldom-what_, Gueres souvent."
_Seldom-when_, as far as my experience goes, seems to have passed out of
use where archaisms still linger; but _anywhen_ may be heard any day and
every day in Surrey and Sussex. Those who would learn the _rationale_ of
these words will do well to consult Dr. Richardson's most excellent
_Dictionary_, under the words AN, ANY, WHEN, and SELDOM.
This is at least a step towards MR. FRASER'S wish of seeing _anywhen_
legitimatised; for what superior claim had _seldom-when_ to be enshrined
and immortalised in the pages of the poet of the world?