These forms in 'y' are common in Sylvester's _Du Bartas_, e.g. 'yerst'. The O.E.D. gives the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries as those in which 'yere' was a recognized pronunciation of 'ear', but it is found sporadically later and has misled editors. Thus in Sir George Etherege's letter to the Earl of Middleton from Ratisbon, printed in Dryden's _Works_ (Scott and Saintsbury), xi, pp. 38-40, some lines run: These formed the jewel erst did grace The cap of the first Grave o' the race, Preferred by Graffin Marian To adorn the handle of her fan; And, as by old record appears, Worn since in Kunigunda's years; Now sparkling in the Froein's hair, No rocket breaking in the air Can with her starry head compare. In a modernized text, as this is, surely 'Kunigunda's years' should be 'Kunigunda's ears'. ll. 93-4. _That I may grow enamoured on your mind, When my own thoughts I there reflected find._ 'I there neglected find' has been the reading of all editions hitherto--a strange reason for being enamoured. PAGE =104=, l. 96. _My deeds shall still be what my words are now_: 'words' suits the context better than either the 'deeds' of _1635-69_ or 'thoughts' of _A25_. PAGE =104=. ELEGIE XIII. PAGE =105=, ll. 13-14. _Liv'd Mantuan now againe, That foemall Mastix, to limme with his penne_ Chambers, following the editions from _1639_ onwards, drops the comma after 'Mastix', which suggests that Julia is the 'foemall Mastix', not Mantuan. By Mantuan he understands Virgil, and supposes there is a reference to the 'flammis armataque Chimaera' of _Aen._ vi. 289. The Mantuan of the text is the 'Old Mantuan' of _Love's Labour's Lost_, iv. 2. 92. Donne calls Mantuan the scourge of women because of his fourth eclogue _De natura mulierum_. Norton quotes from it: Femineum servile genus, crudele, superbum. The O.E.D. quotes from S. Holland, _Zara_ (1656): 'It would have puzzell'd that Female Mastix Mantuan to have limn'd this she Chymera'--obviously borrowed from this poem. The dictionary gives examples of 'mastix' in other compounds. The reference to Mantuan as a woman-hater is a favourite one with the prose-pamphleteers: 'To this might be added _Mantuans_ invective against them, but that pittie makes me refraine from renewing his worne out complaints, the wounds whereof the former forepast feminine sexe hath felt. I, but here the _Homer_ of Women hath forestalled an objection, saying that _Mantuans_ house holding of our Ladie, he was enforced by melancholic into such vehemencie of speech', &c. Nash, _The Anatomy of Absurdity_ (ed. McKerrow, i. 12).