Replies to Minor Queries.
_Prenzie_ (Vol. iii., p. 401.)--Several words have been suggested to
take the place of the unintelligible "_prenzie_" in _Measure for
Measure_; but none of them appear to me to satisfy all the four
conditions justly required by Leges.
I would suggest _phrensied_ or _phrenzied_, a word extremely like
_prenzie_ both in sound and appearance, and of the proper metre, thus
perfectly satisfying two of the conditions.
With respect to the propriety of using this word in the two instances
where _prenzie_ occurs, Claudio, in the first place, when informed by
his sister of the villany of Angelo, may well exclaim in astonishment--
"The _phrenzied_ Angelo?"
_i.e._ "What, is he mad?" or, with a note of admiration, "Why, Angelo
must be mad!" Then, I think, naturally follows Isabella's reply:--
"O 'tis the cunning livery of Hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In _phrenzied_ guards!"
that is, in the disguise or under the cloak of madness.