"--P.R. IV. 131-133.
[363] If things are to be scanned so micrologically, what weighty
inferences might not be drawn from Mr. Masson's invariably printing
[Greek: _apax legomena_!]
[364]
"That you may tell heroes, when you come
To banquet with your wife."
_Chapman's Odyssey_, VIII. 336, 337.
In the facsimile of the sonnet to Fairfax I find
"Thy firm unshak'n vertue ever brings,"
which shows how much faith we need give to the apostrophe.
[365] Mr. Masson might have cited a good example of this from
Drummond, whom (as a Scotsman) he is fond of quoting for an authority
in English,--
"Sleep, Silence' child, sweet father of soft rest."
The survival of _Horse_ for _horses_ is another example. So by a
reverse process _pult_ and _shay_ have been vulgarly deduced from the
supposed plurals _pulse_ and _chaise_.
[366] Chapman's spelling is presumably his own. At least he looked
after his printed texts. I have two copies of his "Byron's
Conspiracy," both dated 1608, but one evidently printed later than
the other, for it shows corrections. The more solemn ending in _ed_
was probably kept alive by the reading of the Bible in churches.
Though now dropped by the clergy, it is essential to the right
hearing of the more metrical passages in the Old Testament, which are
finer and more scientiflc than anything in the language, unless it be
some parts of "Samson Agonistes.
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