I. Sc. 2._--

"The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,
Dashes the fire out."

"The manuscript corrector of the folio 1632," MR. COLLIER informs us, "has
substituted _heat_ for 'cheek,' which is not an unlikely corruption, a
person writing only by the ear."

I should say very unlikely: but if _heat_ had been actually printed in the
folios, without speculating as to the probability that the press-copy was
written from dictation, I should have had no hesitation in altering it to
_cheek_. To this I should have been directed by a parallel passage in
_Richard II._, Act III. Sc. 3., which has been overlooked by MR. COLLIER:

"Methinks, King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror _than the elements_
_Of fire and water, when their thundering shock_
_At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven_."

Commentary here is almost useless. Every one who has any capacity for
Shakspearian criticism must feel assured that Shakspeare wrote _cheek_, and
not _heat_.

The passage I have cited from _Richard II._ strongly reminds me of an old
lady whom I met last autumn on a tour through the Lakes of Cumberland, &c.;
and who, during a severe thunderstorm, expressed to me her surprise at the
pertinacity of the lightning, adding, "I should think, Sir, that so much
water in the heavens would have put all the fire out."

C. MANSFIELD INGLEBY.

Birmingham.

_The Case referred to by Shakspeare in Hamlet_ (Vol. vii., p. 550.).--

"If the water come to the man."--_Shakspeare._

The argument Shakspeare referred to was that contained in Plowden's Report
of the case of Hales _v._ Petit, heard in the Court of Common Pleas in the
fifth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was held that though the
wife of Sir James Hale, whose husband was _felo-de-se_, became by
survivorship the holder of a joint term for years, yet, on office found, it
should be forfeited on account of the act of the deceased husband. The
learned serjeants who were counsel for the defendant, alleged that the
forfeiture should have relation to the act done in the party's lifetime,
which was the cause of his death. "And upon this," they said, "the parts of
the act are to be considered." And Serjeant Walsh said:

"The act consists of three parts. The first is the imagination, which
is a reflection or meditation of the mind, whether or no it is
convenient for him to destroy himsel