263word or phrase; much more rarely it is clause external and has an entire clause
within its scope (15f). In the latter case, it is always sentence initial, never sen-
tence fi nal, thus, resembling what’s more constructions rather than sentential
relative clauses.
(15) a. Yea and that which is more , that it shoulde kepe her compas thereafter as
the men whom it guyded were able to go? (1561 Calvin, An admonicion
against astrology iudiciall and other curiosities [EEBO])
b. not onelie for their Master, fellowes, and scholers, but also, which is more ,
for their whole, both order of learning, and discipline of maners (1570
Ascham, The scholemaster [HC])
c. Dobgerry: I am a wise fellow, and which is more , an offi cer, and which
is more , a householder, and which is more , as pretty a piece of fl esh
as any in Messina (1598– 99 Shakespeare, Much ado about nothing
IV.ii.77– 80)
d. to haue taken such paine, as to come see vs, and which is more to
haue brought Mistris Du Pont- galliard (1605 Drondell, The French
garden [CED])
e. A gentlewoman, a maide, nay which is more , / An honest maide, and
which is most of all, / A rich and honest maide (1611 Barrey, Ram- alley
[CED])
f. But which is more , the Magnetical Needle , hath no certain Pole in the
Earth at all (1649 Gregorie, The description and use of the terrestrial globe
[Lampeter])
g. He was a Gentleman; An honest man; – and, which is more ; – a proper
Gentleman: (1653 Brome, A mad couple well match’d [CED])
h. You may, and which is more , you must (1679 Fletcher, Thierry and
Theodoret [ED])
The form falls out of use quite quickly in the eighteenth century; my data
show a sprinkling of examples in the eighteenth and nineteenth centu ries
(16), many are most likely used as deliberate archaisms. Poutsma also
fi nds archaic uses extending into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
(1917: 1120, 1348).
(16) a. All’s right again and straight; and, which is more , More wine more wine
(1778 Colman, Bonduca [ED])
b. thou shalt be ever / Virginius’ daughter, and Icilius’ wife, / And, which is
more , I swear to thee, a Roman (1815 Lloyd, Virginia [ED])
c. I will forfeit/ That Reuben’s life – his monies! which is more. (1830 Wade,
The Jew of Arragon [ED])
d. because I remember that mine own voice, ... and, which is more , because
that law had a retrospective to all priests made twenty years before. (1982
Walker, The color purple [COHA])
9.3 History of What’s More