M8 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. lo9- 



EPITAPH. 



(Vol. vi., p. 340.) 



A. A. J), makes inquiry about an epitaph of a 

 rather curious character having a local habitation ; 

 which Query I cannot solve, but can give him a few, 

 I think, equally remarkable, wliose genuine local 

 habitations I can vouch for. The two following I 

 have just copied within Ashburton Church, Devon- 

 shire ; and the third had an existence tliere also 

 about thirty years ago, since which time, it being 

 engraved on slate, it lias become almost obliter- 

 ated, in consequence of the water finding its way 

 within the crevices of the stone, becoming frozen 

 in the winter months, and consequently enlarged 

 in volume, which has caused the slate to desqua- 

 mate in large scales. 



1. On Thomas Harris, tanner, who died Sep- 

 tember 30th, 1637: 



" Fear not to die ; 

 Learn tliis of me. 

 No ills iu death, 

 If good thou be." 



2, On Thomas and George Cruse, brothers, who 

 died in the year 1649 : 



, " Within this space two brothers heere confin'd, 



Though by death parted, yet by death close join'd : 

 The eldest of these two, plac'd in his tomb, 

 Greeted the younger with a welcome home. 

 They liv'd, they lov'd, and now rest in tomb, 

 Together sleeping in their mother's womb." 



The third, which is still fresh in the recollection 

 of the sexton, ran thus (I should have said that a 

 part of tlie stone (slate) still exists, imbedded in 

 the wall, just outside the chancel door) : 

 "Elizabeth Ireland, died in 1779. 



" Here I lie, at the chancel door ; 

 Here I lie because I'm poor. 

 The farther in, the more you pay. 

 Here lie I as warm as they." 



The two following, I am credibly informed, are 

 to be seen in the undermentioned churchyards, or, 

 I should have said, did exist there a few years 

 since. 



Portsea Cemetery : 

 " What was she ? 

 What every good woman ought to be,"" 

 That was she." 



Stepney Churchyard : 



" My wife she's dead, and here she lies; 

 There's nobody laughs and nobody cries ; 

 Where she's gone, and how she fares, 

 Nobody knows, and nobody cares." 



In worse taste, I fear, than the one forwarded by 

 A. A. D. H. H. 



SHAKSPEAKE EMENDATIONS. 



(Vol. vi., pp. 135. 423.) 



The doubt your correspondent C. expresses 

 about the phrase " I am put to knoiv" may be satis^ 

 factorily answered from the pages of the poet, who 

 uses similar phraseology in other places. It evi- 

 dently signifies " I ani obliged or constrained to 

 know." Thus in Cymheline, Act II. Sc. 3. : 

 " I am much sorry, Sir, 

 You put me to forget a lady's manners, 

 By being so verbal." 

 So In Coriolanus, Act III. Sc. 2, : 



" You have put me now to such a part, which never 

 I shall discharge to the life." 



And in 2 King Henry VL, Act III. Sc. 1.: 



" And, had I first been put to speak my mind, 

 I think I should have told your Grace's tale." 



I was much pleased to see the Query respecting^ 

 the passage in As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 5., re- 

 specting the words " all at once." It was one of 

 the passages I had marked as requiring attention. 

 I agree with your correspondent in thinking it, as 

 it stands, " not merely surplusage, but nonsense." 

 It is somewhat singular that it should hitherto 

 have passed unquestioned, and that it should have 

 escaped the attention of the two acute and able 

 correspondents who discussed the passage for other 

 purposes. 



I now feel assured that it is to be placed in the 

 numerous list of printer's errors, and is not with- 

 out a remedy, and that not so forced and Impro- 

 bable as the substitution of a Voutrecuidance, pro- 

 posed by Mr. Forbes. The printer, misled pro- 

 bably by a blurred or illegible manuscript, has 

 substituted the word all for rail, and we should 

 undoubtedly read, 

 " And why, I pray you? who might be your mother?' 



That you insult, exult, and rail, at once 



Over the wretched ? " 



Should any exception be taken to the phrase 

 "rail over the wretched," I answer that the poet 

 uses to rail on and to rail upon in other places. 



The printer does not seem to have been more 

 vigilant here than elsewhere ; for just above, in 

 Phoebe's speech, he has given us capable instead of 

 palpable. I read : 



" Lean but upon a rush, 

 The cicatrice and palpable impressure 

 Thy palm some moment keeps ;" 



not being content with the attempts of Johnson 

 and Malone to make sense of " capable impres- 

 sure," or with Mr. Knight's gloss which Interprets 

 it able to receive ! S. W. Singer. 



Mickleham. 



As I started the doubt which Mr. C. Forbes of 

 the Temple has attempted to clear up, I may be 



