524
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io th s. n. DEC. 31, iow.
he had annotated Shakspeare's plays, he
would have made the correction that Pope
has made. E. YARDLEY.
" MICHING MALLICHO " (9 th S. xi. 504 ; 10 th
S. i. 162, 344). With the light thrown upon it by the best commentators there does not seem to be any difficulty about the reading of this phrase. I have myself heard it in common use to-day, "miching" or " mouch- ing " about, meaning to hang about for no .good purpose, to skulk. Perhaps the French "miche," a loaf, has some connexion with our word "loafing," and consequently with " miching." At all events a " mouchard " is a spy, and Nugent's French dictionary of 1793 gives "muche muche"=in secret. So Prof. Skeat has, "Mich, to jkulk, play truant (French). M.E. michen; also mouchen, moo- rhen. Old French mucir, mucier, later musser, to hide, conceal (hence to skulk). Origin un- known." But why not from miche, a manchet or loaf ? In Australian and Bush slang, " to do a mike" is to bolt *' unbeknown," and in Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Scornful Lady' .(IV.i.):-
Sure she has some meeching rascal in her house.
.Mallicho is a Spanish word meaning an
" evil action," whence it is transferred in
" miching mallecho" to the evil-doer himself.
'The words Hamlet would have used had he
lived in these days would probably be
Marry, there is mischief brewing, in allusion to a vague foreboding of the poisoning scene. J. HOLDEN MAC MICHAEL.
"PUCELLE" IN '1 HENRY VI.' I do not know whether it has ever been noted (I find no mention of the matter in any editions of Shakspeare or in 'N. & Q.') that according to the First Folio, which is the sole authority, " Pucelle " is treated as a surname. We have (in various spelling) Pucelle, Joan Pucelle, and Joan de Pucelle, and herewith agrees the Dauphin's address to her in Act 1. sc. ii. :
Excellent Puzil, if thy name, be so. " De Pucelle " occurs five times : thrice in the text, and twice in stage directions. Later editors have chosen tosubstitute" the Pucelle," with no sort of right, as it seems to me. Difficilior lectio proz&tat. That Heminge and Condell, if they had "the Pucelle" in their MS., should have been so wrong-headed as to alter it into "de Pucelle," is a thing well-nigh inconceivable ; nor is it much more likely that the printers should have made the same blunder five times running over one word. All men wish to think that the treat- ment of ;Joan of Arc in the play, especially the foul aspersions in Act V., did not come
from Shakspeare's hand. Possibly this may
be a small contribution on the negative side.
With all his carelessness, Shakspeare must
have known better than to take Pucelle for a
surname. C. B. MOUNT.
P. S. Since this was written, I have found that Butler in ' Hudibras' (Part iii., ' Lady's Answer,' 1. 285) has :
Or Joan de PuceFs braver name.
"THE PENALTY OF ADAM," 'As You LIKE IT,' II. i. :-
Here feel we not the penalty of Adam, The seasons difference, as the icie phange And churlish chiding of the winters wind, Which when it bites and blowes upon my body Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say Thine is no flattery : these are counsellors That feelingly persuade me what I am.
So much has been written as to what Shake- speare meant by " the penalty of Adam " that it furnishes the Variorum editor occasion for one of his longest notes. The poet's obliga- tion to Golding's translation of Ovid has been so frequently asserted that I submit the following extract as possibly having suggested the passage to Shakespeare. It is from the * Epistle Dedicatory,' verso of A3 , edition of 1612 : Moreover, by the Golden Age what other thing is
ment,
Than Adam$ time in Paradise, who being innocent Did lead a blest and happie life, untill that thorough
sinne He fell from God? From which time forth all
sorrow did beginne. The earth accursed for his sake, did never after
more Yeeld food without great toyle. Both heat and
cold did vexe him sore. Disease of body, care of mind, with hunger, thirst,
and need, Feare, hope, joye, griefe and trouble fell on him
and his seed.
CHAS. A. HERPICH. New York.
' PERICLES/ I. iv. 69, 70 :
And make a conquest of unhappy me,. Whereas no glory 's got to overcome.
Malone (1780) reads men, Steevens conjectured ive. The text, I think, might be improved by substituting Cleon for me. False rimes are common enough in the choruses. In the fourth chorus Cleon is made to rime with grown ; and in the second chorus home with drone. All the speeches in this scene end with a riming couplet, the exception being the one quoted. TOM JONES.
"THE" AS PART OF TITLE. (See 9 th S. ix.
428 ; x. 13, 338, 415.) A couple of years ago
a short correspondence took place on this
