E.H.Y.
* * * * *
MEANING OF EISELL.
(Vol. ii., pp. 241. 286. 315. 329)
After all that has been written on this subject in "NOTES AND QUERIES,"
from MR. SINGER'S proposition of wormwood in No. 46., to MR. HICKSON'S
approval of it in No. 51., the question remains substantially where
Steevens and Malone had left it so many years agone.
It is not necessary to discuss whether vinegar, verjuice, or wormwood be
the preferable translation of the Shakspearian word; for before either of
them can be received, the advocate is bound to {67} accommodate his
exposition to Shakspeare's sentence, and to "get over the _drink up_,"
which still stands in his way as it did in that of Malone.
MR. SINGER get over the difficulty by simply saying "to _drink up_ was
commonly used for simply to _drink_." The example he quotes, however,--
"I will drink
Potions of eysell,"--
is not to his purpose; it is only an equivalent by the addition of the
words "_potions of_" to give it the same definite character. Omit those
words, and the question remains as before.
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