342
NOTES AND QUERIES. [10* s. i. APRIL so, 190*.
of the Cold Harbour (&c.) for a summer or
winter shelter, in the matters of aspect, pro-
tection from wind, supply of water, &c
8. Suitability for a drovers' camp. 9. Suit-
ability (especially if far from any known
main road) for a great fold or cattle shelter.
10. Evidence that a hostelry, caravansary, or
built shelter-house anciently existed. 11.
Earlier spellings of the name, and earliest
date at which it is known to have been used
(on maps, deeds, &c.) in any of its forms.
12. If on Ordnance map, state the fact ; if
not, give bearings from nearest town, village,
farm, &c., also height above sea- level, and
nature and aspect of situation.
A reader who can do no more than care- fully search a few sections of the Ordnance map, and drop me a line stating which sections he has examined, and giving brief particulars of the Cold Harbours (&c.) found, or a statement that none are to be found, in the sections in question, will materially help.
^ If particulars are sent to me I will carefully sift and digest them. With anything like a general response from your readers, it should Be possible to prepare a most interesting report, for which room may possibly be found in your pages. H. SNOWDEN WARD.
Hadlow, Kent.
SHAKESPEA RIANA.
HORSE. If ever there was an emendation to be made in Shakespeare that is certain and obvious, it is that "horses," in 'Macbeth,' II. iv. 13, is a mere misprint for horse.
The First Folio prints it in a peculiar way, which intimates that the printers missed the scansion of the line. It appears thus :
Rosse. And Duncans Horses, (A thing most strange, and certaine) Beauteous and swift, &c.
The right reading is :
And Duncan's horse (a thing most strange and
certain), Beauteous and swift, &c.
The point is simply that, being a neuter noun with a long stem, the A.-S. hors was unchanged in the plural, like our modern sheep and deer. The same is true for Middle English generally for Chaucer, and (what is here very material) for Shakespeare also. Indeed, we find it again in the very same play ! In ' Macbeth,' IV. i. 140, we find " the galloping of horse"
In further proof of the point, take the fol- lowing examples, which are all from Shake- speare :
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their
horse. Sonnet 91.
A team of horse shall not pluck that from me.
4 Two Gentlemen,' III. i. 265.
Another tell him of his hounds and horse.
' Tarn. Shrew,' Induct., 6L
Or horse or oxen. ' 1 Hen. VI.,' I. v. 31. Oxen, sheep, or horse. Id., V. v. 54.
So also ' 3 Hen. VI.,' IV. v. 12 ; ' Titus,' II. ii 18 ; ' Ant.,' III. vi. 45 ; III. vii. 7, 8.
The pi. horses also occurs, as in Sonnet 91 :. but it is clear that the older plural was still well known.
The passage is noted in Abbott's 'Shak. Gram.,' 471, under the statement :
"The plurals and possessive cases of nouns in- which the singular ends in s, se, ss, ee, and ge, are frequently written, and still more frequently pro- nounced, without the additional syllable."
That may be true enough, but it has nothing to do with the present passage. His alter- native note, that horse is the old plural," is alone correct here ; and surely it suffices. In Sonnet 91 it rhymes with/orce.
The final s ought, in fact, to be struck out, because it contradicts Shakespeare's usage- in many other passages.
WALTER W. SKEAT.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLISHING AND
BOOKSELLING. (See ante, pp. 81, 142, 184, 242, 304.)
Scott, Sir Walter, 1771-1832. The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, 1825-32, from the Original Manu- script at Abbotsford. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1890. See throughout.
Seeley, The House of. The Bookman, with por- traits, April, 1904.
Shaylor, Joseph. On the Selling of Books. Nine- teenth Century, December, 1896.
Booksellers and Bookselling. Nineteenth Century, May, 1899.
On the Life and Death of Books. Chambers's Journal, 1 July, 1899.
Bookselling and the Distribution of Books. Literature, 9 Feb., 1901.
Sixty Years of Bookselling. Publishers* Circular, 5 June, 1897.
A Few Words upon Book Titles. Ditto, 27 Nov., 1897.
Bookselling and some of its Humours. Ditto, 5 March, 1898.
Fiction : its Classification and Fashion. Ditto, 14 May, 1898.
The Revolution in Educational Literature. Ditto, 13 August, 1898.
Some Old Libraries. Ditto, 14 Jan., 1899.
More Bookish Humour. Ditto, 12 May, 1899.
On the Manufacture of Books. Ditto, 17 Nov.,. 1900.
On the Decline in Religious Books. Sunday Magazine, June, 1898.
