257
9.3 History of What’s Moreand perfection, doth consist/ In this same change, (1598 Brandon, The tragi-
comoedi of the vertuous Octauia [EEBO])
b. A seruile man, contriuer of woe,/ And from all honor doth degenerate? Nay
what is more , tis said he doth pretend,/ To worke our ruine, and our fatal end.
(1598 Brandon, The tragicomoedi of the vertuous Octauia [EEBO])
In the seventeenth century, the construction becomes more common. It occurs
in a range of text types, including science (8a), high verse drama (8b), popular
verse drama (8c, d), and fi ctionalized letters (8e):
(8) a. And what is more , the same water distill’d from a gallon to a pint, a fourth
part of that pint will make a curd, when the distill’d (1676 Guidott, A dis-
course of bathe [Lampeter])
b. ist not pitty/ That thou that art the fi rst to enter combat/ With any woman, and
what is more , orecome her (1621 Fletcher, The tragedy of Thierry, King of
France [EEBO])
c. As I am a very woman, I like Signiour Soranzo , well;/ hee is wise, and what
is more , rich; and what is more then that,/ kind, and what is more then all this,
a Noble- man (1633 Ford, ’Tis pitty shee’s a whore [ED])
d. You will destroy the life, and what is more ,/ The Honor of an unfortunate
Lady (1671 Etherege, She wou’d if she cou’d [ED])
e. You have the Authority of a Father, or what’s more , of a Friend over me
(1692 Gildon, The post- boy rob’d of his mail [EEPF])
My data for the eighteenth century are rather limited (9); Koops and Hilpert
( 2009 : 221) fi nd what they call “copula- less pseudoclefts ,” which include what
is more constructions, to be most frequent in the eighteenth century, when they
constitute almost half of their attested pseudo- clefts.
(9) a. What’s more , I wish we’re not bereft/ Of what small Reputation’s left (1735
Kelly, The plot [ED])
b. the wounded Gentleman, who, is out of all Danger of Death, and what is
more , declares he fell upon poor Mr. Jones himself, and beat him. (1749
Fielding, Tom Jones [ECF])
c. the whole machine, in general, has been kept a- going; – and, what’s more ,
it shall be kept a- going these forty years, if it pleases the fountain of health
to bless me so long with life and good spirits. (1760 Sterne, Tristram
Shandy [ECF])
d. I vanish: but if I don’t appear,/ And what’s more , appear perfect, hoot at me
(1783 Dudley , The magic picture [ED])
Corpus evidence suggests increasing frequency of what is more in the nine-
teenth century (10):
(10) a. So they may to every creed you can name, and, what is more they have a
right so to do (1828 Caldwell, A discourse on the genius and character of
the Rev. Horace Holley, LL.D. [COHA])