"Forsothe yee moste dere, one thing _dare_ you nougt (or be not
unknowen): for one day anentis God as a thousande yeeris, and a
thousande yeer as one day."--_C^m 3^m Petre 2._, Wycliffe's
translation:

in the Latin Vulgate, _latet_ and _lateat_ respectively; in the original,
[Greek: lanthanei] and [Greek: lanthaneto]. Now the book is before me, I
beg to furnish MR. COLLIER with the references to his usage of _terre_,
mentioned in Todd's _Dictionary_, but not given (Collier's _Shakspeare_,
vol. iv. p. 65., note), namely, 6th cap. of Epistle to Ephesians, _prop.
init._; and 3rd of that to Colossians, _prop. fin._

* * * * *

_Die and live._--This _hysteron proteron_ is by no means uncommon: its
meaning is, of course, the same as live and die, _i. e._ subsist from the
cradle to the grave:

" . . . Will you sterner be.
Than he that _dies and lives_ by bloody drops?"
First Fol., _As You Like It_, Act III. Sc. 5.

All manner of whimsical and farfetched constructions have been put by the
commentators upon this very homely sentence. As long as the question was,
whether their wits should have licence to go a-woolgathering or no, one
could feel no great concern to interfere: but it appears high time to come
to Shakspeare's rescue, when MR. COLLIER'S "clever" old commentator, with
some little variation in the letters, and not much less in the sense, reads
"kills" for dies; but then, in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act II. Sc.
3., the same "clever" authority changes "cride-game (cride I ame), said I
well?" into "curds and cream, said I well?"--an alteration certainly not at
odds with the host's ensuing question, "said I well?" saving that that, to
liquorish palate, might seem a rather superfluous inquiry.

"With sorrow they both _die and live_
That unto richesse her hertes yeve."
_The Romaunt of the Rose_, v. 5789-90.

"He is a foole, and so shall he _dye and liue_,
That thinketh him wise, and yet can he nothing."
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 67., by Alexander Barclay, 1570.

{543}

"Behold how ready we are, how willingly the women of Sparta will _die
and live_ with their husbands."--_The Pilgrimage of Kings and Princes_,
p. 29.

Except in Shakspeare's behalf, it would not have been worth while to
exemplify so unambiguous a phrase. The like remark may also be extended to
the next word that falls under consideration.