170 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 199. 



ing that " Mr. Singer alone had the good taste to 

 print it (ethics) in his text of 1826." 



Mr. Halliwell, however, in a recent pamphlet, 

 states that — 



" This new emendation has not only been mentioned 

 in a j;;reat variety of editions, but has been introduced 

 into the text by no fewer than fice editors, the first, I 

 believe, in point of time, being the !lev. J. llann, who 

 substituted ethics into the text as early as 1787." 



A. E. B. 



Leeds. 



Critical Digest. — Your readers have seen 

 no more welcome announcement than that con- 

 tained in p. 75. of your present volume, that this 

 project of a work, bringing into one view the 

 labours of preceding editors and commentators, is 

 in good hands and likely to be brought to bear. 

 On ihQ form of such a work it is perhaps prema- 

 ture to offer an observation ; but, to be perfect, it 

 ought to range with that remarkable monument 

 of a lady's patient industry, Mrs. Cowden Clarke's 

 Concordance. On the materials to be employed, 

 all your readers have such an Interest in the sub- 

 ject as to warrant them in making suggestions ; 

 and it will be well to do so before the plans are 

 fully matured. 



It ought, in my opinion, to be more compre- 

 hensive than even the largest scheme suggested by 

 your correspondent ; for, in addition to the com- 

 ments which may be thought most worthy of inser- 

 tion in full, or nearly so, it ought to contain at least 

 a reference to every known comment, in the slightest 

 degree worthy of notice, in relation to any passage 

 in the work. To accomplish this would of course 

 be a work of enormous labour, and the object of 

 the present Note is to suggest, as a first step, the 

 circulation of a list of works intended to be con- 

 sulted, for the purpose of inviting additions ; not 

 that such a list should encumber the pages of 

 "N. & Q.," but I am much mistaken if you would 

 not afford facilities for receiving the communica- 

 tions asked for. This course is the more necessary, 

 inasmuch as, in addition to works written exclu- 

 sively on the subject of Shakspeare, there is a 

 vast amount of Shakspearian criticism spread over 

 works, the titles of which give no indication of the 

 necessity for consulting them. For instance, up- 

 wards of two hundred pages of Coleridge's Literary 

 Remains are so employed; and though, perhaps, 

 the work is so well known that it would have 

 found a place in the first copy of the list I have 

 suggested, it may serve as an illustration of the 

 sort of information which it would be desirable to 

 invite. J. F. M. 



MOTTOS OF THE EMPEBOHS OF GERMANY. 



I was much interested in the lists given in 

 '* N. & Q." last year of the mottos adopted by 



serjeants-at-law on arriving at that dignity ; and 

 it then occurred to me, that it would be curious 

 to collect in like manner a complete list of the 

 sentences, which, as Is well known to students of 

 history, the Emperors of Germany were accus- 

 tomed to assume at their coronations. A recent 

 visitto Frankfort has given me an opportunity of 

 making and sending you such a list. The materials 

 are collected from inscriptions on a series of im- 

 perial portraits which adorn the principal cham- 

 ber In the Eomer or town hall of that city. The 

 list. If it have no other interest, will at least serve 

 to remind us that some of the Latin aphorisms and 

 "wise saws" current among us now, have been 

 doing duty in the same capacity for centuries : 



Conrad I. 911. (Franconia.) Foi-tuna cum Uan- 



dltur fallit. 

 Henry I. 918. (Saxony.) Ad vindictam tardus, ad 



heneficexitiam velox. 

 Otho I. (The Great.) 936. (Saxony.) Satius est 



ratio?ie cequitatis mortem oppetere, quam fugere et 



inhonesta vivere. 

 Otho II. 974. (Saxony.) Cum omnibus pacem ; 



adversus vitia hellwn. 

 Otho III. 983. (Saxony.) Facile singula rum- 



puntur jacula ; non conjuncta. 

 Henry II. 1002. (Bavaria.) Nildl impense a7nes, 



itafiet vt in nidlo contristei'is. 

 Conrad II. 1024. (Franconia.) Omnium mores, 



imprimis ohservato. 

 *IIenryIII. 1039. (Franconia.) Qui litem avfert ; 



execrationem in benedictionem mutat. 

 Henry IV. 1056. (Franconia.) Multi multa sciunt, 



se autem nemo. 

 Henry V. 1106. (Franconia.) Miser qui mortem 



appetit, miserior qui timet. 

 Lothaire. 1125. (Saxony.) Audi alteram partem. 

 Conrad III. 1137. (Swabia.) Paucacumaliis,nnilta 



tecum loquere. 

 Frederick I. (Barbarossa.) 1152. (Swabia.) PrcB- 



stat uni probo quam mille iniprohis plncere. 

 Henry VI. 1190. (Swabia.) Qui tacendi non 



Jiabet artem, nee novit loquendi. 

 Philip. 1197. (Swabia.) Quod male cceptum est, 



ne pudeat mutasse. 

 Otho IV. 1208. (Brunswick.) Strepit anser inter 



olores. 

 Frederick II. 1218. (Swabia.) Complurimum 



Thriorum, ego strepitum audiri. 

 1250 — 1272. Grand interregnum. (See Hallam, 



Middle Ages, ch. v.) 

 Kodolph of Hapsburgh. 1273. Melius bene im- 



perare quam imperium ampliare. 



* Hallam says, that the imperial prerogative never 

 reached so high a point as in the reign of this monarch. 

 The succession to tlie throne appears to have been 

 regarded as hereditary ; and a very efficient control 

 preserved by the emperor over the usually insubordi- 

 nate confederacy. 



