But if he had studied the context he would have perceived that the "helpful ship" was not a goodly argosy, as he has depicted it, but "a small spare mast, such as seafaring men provide for storms." Now, it must not be said that the inadvertence is Shakspeare's, because the term _helpful_, indicative of sudden resource, and these lines immediately following-- "So, that in this unjust divorce of us Fortune had left to both of us alike What to delight in--what to sorrow for"-- prove that Shakspeare never for a moment lost sight of the circumstances he was describing. I was endeavouring to discover what particular nautical technicality might justify this application of _ship_ in the sense of _raft_ or _float_, when I recollected that sailors call the little float by which the log-line is held stationary in the water, by the term _log-ship_; and, by a rather singular coincidence, the origin of this very word _log-ship_ is made the subject of comment in a recent number of "NOTES AND QUERIES" (p. 254.), by a West Indian correspondent, A. L., who thinks the term log-_chip_. His story, however, if it be not altogether the offspring of his own ingenuity, appears quite unsupported by evidence; nor, even if authenticated, would it be conclusive of the inference he draws from it. For, surely, the same origin might be attributed to _log_ itself, with equal, or even with greater probability. The very nature of log is, not only to float, but to remain sluggish or stationary in the water: and as it might not be convenient to provide a fresh log (or chip) for every occasion, there would be a clear advantage in tying a string to it, for the purpose of hauling it inboard again, to serve another turn. Moreover, I must remind A. L. that sailors do not say, "Heave the _chip_," but "Heave the _log_." This same passage in the _Comedy of Errors_ suggests another consideration; which is, that Shakspeare appears to have used _league_ and _mile_ synonymously. When Ægeon's "helpful ship" was "splitted in the midst," it was "ere the ships" (approaching to his rescue) "could meet by thrice five leagues;" so that each ship must have been at least five leagues distant when discovered. Now Shakspeare was too good a sailor to suppose that a ship could be visible to a man on the surface of the water a distance of _fifteen_ miles; but at _one-third_ of that distance it might be so. Therefore it would be necessary to take _league_ as synonymous with _mile_ in this instance, even if it were not corroborated by the necessity for a similar understanding in other places. But wherever Shakspeare uses the word _league_, its equivalence with _mile_ is not only consistent with the sense, but, in some cases, absolutely necessary to it.