Notes and Queries, Number 49, October 5, 1850

I was indebted to MR. SINGER for one of the best emendations in the edition of Shakspeare I superintended (vol. vi. p. 559.), and I have too much respect for his sagacity and learning to pass, without observation, his remarks in "NOTES AND QUERIES" (Vol. ii., p. 259.), on the conclusion of the speech of Ferdinand, in "The Tempest," Act iii., Sc. 1.:—

"But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours;
Most busy, least when I do it."

This is the way in which I ventured to print the passage, depending mainly upon the old copies. In the folio, 1623, where the play for the first time appeared, the last line stands:

"Most busie lest, when I doe it;"

and in that of 1632,

"Most busie least, when I doe it:"

so that the whole merit I claim that of altering the place of a comma, thereby, as I apprehend, rendering the meaning of the poet evident. The principle upon which I proceeded throughout was that of making as little variation as possible from the ancient authorities: upon that principle I acted in the instance in question, and I frequently found that this was the surest mode of removing difficulties. I could not easily adduce a stronger proof of this position, than the six words on which the doubt at this time has been raised.

Theobald made an important change in the old text, and his reading has been that generally adopted:—

"Most busy-less when I do it."

In restoring the old text I had, therefore, to contend with prepossession, against which, it seems, the Rev. Mr. Dyce was not proof, although I only know it from MR. SINGER'S letter, never having looked into the book in which I suppose, the opinion is advanced.

One reason why I should reject the substitution of "busy-less," even if I had not a better mode of overcoming the difficulty, is properly adverted to by MR. SINGER, viz. that the word was not in use in the time of Shakspeare. The only authority for it, at any period, quoted in Todd's Johnson, is this very (as I contend) corrupted passage in the Tempest; I have not met with it at all in any of the older dictionaries I have been able to consult; and unless the Rev. Mr. Dyce have been more fortunate, he was a little short-sighted, as well as a little angry, when he wrote his note upon mine. Had he taken more time to reflect, he might have found that after all Theobald and I are not so much at odds, although he arrives at his end by varying from, and I at mine by adhering to, the ancient authorities. In fact, I gain some confirmation of what, I believe, is the true meaning of Shakspeare, out of the very corruption Theobald introduced, and the Rev. Mr. Dyce, to my surprise, supports. I should have expected him to be the very last man who would advocate an abandonment of what has been handed down to us in every old edition of the play.

The key of the whole speech of Ferdinand is contained in its very outset:—

"There be some sports are painful, and their labour
Delight in them sets off;"

and the poet has said nearly the same thing in "Macbeth:"

"The labour we delight in physics pain."

It is because Ferdinand delights in the labour that he does not feel it irksome:

"This my mean task
Would be as heavy to me as odious; but
The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead,
And makes my labours pleasure."

He, therefore, tells us, at the close, that his labours are refreshed by the sweet thoughts of her; that, in fact, his toil is no toil, and that when he is "most busy" he "least does it," and suffers least under it. The delight he takes in his "mean task" renders it none.

Such I take to be the clear meaning of the poet, though somewhat obscurely and paradoxically expressed—

"Most busy, least when I do it;"

and when Theobald proposed to substitute

"Most busy-less when I do it,"

he saw, though perhaps not quite distinctly, that such was the poet's intention, only, as I have said above, he arrived at it by altering, and I by adhering to, the poet's language. I may be allowed to add that I came to my conclusion many years before I was asked to put my name to an edition of Shakspeare, which interrupted one of the most valuable friendships I ever formed.

MR. SINGER will see at once that my interpretation (which I consider quite consistent with the character of Shakspeare's mind, as well as quite consistent with the expressions he has used throughout the speech of the hero), steers clear of his proposal to alter "busie lest," or "busie least," of the folios of 1623 and 1632, to busyest or busiest; although everybody at all acquainted with our old language will agree with him in thinking, that if Shakspeare had used "busiest" at all, which he does not in any of his productions, he might have said most busiest without a violation of the constant practice of his day.

    J. PAYNE COLLIER.

September 24. 1850.

GRAY'S ELEGY

Perhaps the HERMIT of HOLYPORT will be satisfied with proofs from GRAY himself as to the time and manner of the first appearance of the Elegy.

GRAY thus writes to Dr. Wharton, under the date of "Dec. 17, 1750." [I quote Mason's "Life" of its Author, p. 216.]

"The stanzas" [which he afterwards called Elegy at the suggestion of Mason] "which I now enclose to you have had the misfortune, by Mr. [Horace] Walpole's fault, to be made still more public," &c.

The next letter in Mason's publication is a letter from "Mr. Gray to Mr. Walpole" (p. 217.), and is dated "Cambridge, Feb. 11, 1751," which runs thus:—

"As you have brought me into a little sort of distress, you must assist me, I believe, to get out of it as well as I can. Yesterday I had the misfortune of receiving a letter from certain gentlemen (as their bookseller expresses it) who have taken the Magazine of Magazines into their hands: they tell me that an ingenious poem, called 'Reflections in a Country Church-yard,' has been communicated to them, which they are printing forthwith; that they are informed that the excellent author of it is I by name, and that they beg not only his indulgence, but the honour of his correspondence, &c.... I therefore am obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately from your copy, but without my name, &c. He must correct the press himself … and the title must be 'Elegy written in a Country Church-yard.' If he would add a line or two to say it came into his hand by accident, I should like it better … If Dodsley do not do this immediately, he may as well let it alone."

Dr. Johnson (Life of Gray) says:

"His next production, 1750, was his far-famed Elegy," &c.

The Doctor adds:

"Several of his [Gray's] pieces were published, 1753, with designs by Mr. Bentley, and that they might in some form or other make a book, only one side of each leaf was printed. I believe the poems and the plates recommended each other so well, that the whole impression was soon bought."

It contains six poems, one being the Elegy. I have before me a copy of this collection, which is folio. The plates are clever, and very curious; a copy was sold at the Fonthill sale for 3l. 4s.! The copy, admirably bound, which I quote, was bought at a bookseller's front-window stall for 4s. The title of this collection is "Designs by Mr. R. BENTLEY, for six poems by Mr. J. GRAY."

According to the title-page, it was "printed for R. DODSLEY, in Pall Mall, MDCCLIII.," two years previously to the date to which your correspondent refers. This (1753) collection gives the line,—

"Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight."

In the Elegant Extracts (verse), ed. 1805, which, it must be needless to mention, was prepared by the able and indefatigable Dr. Vicesimus Knox, the accomplished scholar gives the line—

"Save where the beetle wheels his drony flight."

Dr. Johnson's Dictionary does not insert the word "droning" or "drony;" but among his Illustrations attached to the verb "to drone," there are two from Dryden, each, it may be seen, using the word "droning." There is no quotation containing the word "drony." Gray's language is:

"Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds."

Johnson's second quotation from Dryden may be worth repeating, as showing that Gray's language is not wholly different from his predecessor's:—

"Melfoil and honeysuckles pound,
With these alluring savours strew the ground,
And mix with tinkling brass the cymbal's droning sound."

It is perhaps hardly worth noticing, that there is not uniformity even in the title. Johnson calls it, Elegy in the Church-yard; Dodsley (1753) styles it, Elegy written in a Country Church-yard.