“The Coronation”
Act i. Speech of Seleucus:—
“Altho’ he be my enemy, should any
Of the gay flies that buz about the court,
Sit to catch trouts i’ the summer, tell me so,
I durst,” &c.
Colman’s note.
Pshaw! “Sit” is either a misprint for “set,” or the old and still provincial word for “set,” as the participle passive of “seat” or “set.” I have heard an old Somersetshire gardener say:—“Look, Sir! I set these plants here; those yonder I sit yesterday.”
Act ii. Speech of Arcadius:—
“Nay, some will swear they love their mistress,
Would hazard lives and fortunes,” &c.
Read thus:—
“Nay, some will swear they love their mistress so,
They would hazard lives and fortunes to preserve
One of her hairs brighter than Berenice’s,
Or young Apollo’s; and yet, after this,” &c.
“Thĕy woŭld hāzard”—furnishes an anapæst for an iambus. “And yet,” which must be read, anyĕt, is an instance of the enclitic force in an accented monosyllable. “And yēt,” is a complete iambus; but anyet is, like spirit, a dibrach u u, trocheized, however, by the arsis or first accent damping, though not extinguishing, the second.