98 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 196. 



takes nevertheless. It is probable tbat the true 

 text of the poet contained many variations utterly 

 unimportant, as well as others of importance, from 

 the printed one. Now here it is precisely, that 

 we find in the corrector what we should anticipate, 

 and what it is difficult to account for on any 

 theory disparaging his authority. What could 

 have induced him to make such substitutions as 

 swift for " sweet," then for " there," all arose for 

 " are arose," solemn for " sorry," fortune for 

 *' nature," to quote from a single play, the Comedy 

 of Errors, vfhich happens to lie before me, — none 

 of them necessai'y emendations, most of them 

 trivial, unless he had under his eye some original 

 containing those variations, to which he wished 

 his own copy to conform ? It is surely wild 

 guessing to attribute corrections like these to a 

 mere wanton itch for altering the text ; and yet no 

 other alternative is suggested by the corrector's 

 enemies. 



I am myself as yet a sceptic in the matter, 

 being very little disposed to hasty credulity on 

 such occasions, especially where there is a possi- 

 bility of deceit. But I must say that the doctrine 

 of probabilities seems to me to furnish strong ar- 

 guments in the corrector's favour; and that the 

 attacks of professed Shakspearian critics on him, 

 both in and out of " N. & Q.," have hitherto 

 rather tended to raise him in my estimation. 



H.M. 



\ Aristotle's Checks v. AristotWs Ethics. — 



" Only, good master, while we do admire 

 This virtue, and this moral discipline, 

 Let's be no stoicks, nor no stocks, I pray ; 

 Or so devote to Aristotle's checks. 

 As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd." 



Taming of the Shrew, Act I. Sc. 1 . 



The following are instances of the use of the 

 substantive check by Shakspeare : 



" Orlando. A tnan that had a wife with such a wit, 

 might say, — ' Wit whither wilt?' 



" Rosalind. Nay, you might keep that check for it, 

 till you met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's 

 bed." 



" Falstaff, I never knew yet, but rebuke and ehech 

 was the reward of valour." 



" Antony. This is a soldier's kiss ; rebukable. 

 And worthy shameful check it were to stand 

 On more mechanic compliment." 



" Belarius. . . . , O, this life 



Is nobler, than attending for a check. " 



" lago. However, this may gall him with some 

 check." 



" Desdemona, And yet his trespass, in our common 

 reason 



is not almost a fault 

 To incur a private check." 



These instances may show that the word in 

 question was a favourite expression of the poet. 

 It is true there was a translation of the Ethics of 

 Aristotle in his time, The Ethiques of Aristotle. 

 If he spelt it ethiques, no printer would have blun- 

 dered and substituted checks. 



Judge Blackstone suggested ethicks, but John- 

 son and Steevens kept to checks. And Johnson, 

 in his Dictionary, sub voce Devote, quotes the pas- 

 sage, but which, by a strange printer's misreading, 

 is referred to " Tim. of Ath." instead of Tam. of 

 Sh. In Todd's edit, oi Johnson's Dictionary (1818). 



W. N. 



Pall Mall. 



EPITAPH AND MONUMENTS IN WINGFIELB CHURCH, 

 SUFFOLK. 



I am not aware If the following epitaph has 

 yet appeared in print ; but I can safely assert 

 that it really has a sepulchral origin ; unlike those 

 whose doubtful character causes them to be placed 

 by your correspondent Mr. Shirley Hibberi> 

 among the " gigantic gooseberries " (" N. & Q. ," 

 Vol. vil., p. 190.). I copied it myself from a gi-ave- 

 stone in the churchyard of the village of Wing- 

 field, Suffolk. After the name, &c. of the de- 

 ceased is the following verse : 



" Pope boldly says (some think the maxim odd), 

 ' An honest man's the noblest work of God ; ' 

 If Pope's assertion be from error clear. 

 The noblest work of God lies buried here." 

 WIngfield Church Itself is an interesting old 

 place, but has been a good deal mauled In times 

 past ; and the brasses, of which there were once 

 several, are all gone. It is, I believe, a good deal 

 noted for a parvise, or room over the porch, from 

 which, by an opening in the wall, a view of the 

 altar is obtained. There are two or three piscinas 

 In different parts of the church, and a sedilla near 

 the altar. The most Interesting objects are, how- 

 ever, three altar tombs, with recumbent figures of 

 the Earls of Suffolk ; the earliest, which Is of 

 wood, representing either the first or second peer 

 of the family, with his spouse. The next in date 

 is that of the celebrated noble who figures in 

 Shakspeare's Henry VL The monument is, if I 

 recollect right, of alabaster. The figure Is attired 

 in complete armour, and was originally painted ; a 

 good deal of the colour still remaining. This and 

 the following monument are partly let into the 

 wall, and are surmounted by beautiful Gothic 

 canopies. The third Is, I believe, also of alabaster^ 

 and is the effigy of (I think) the nephew of Mar- 

 garet of Anjou's earl, and who lies by the side of 

 his wife, one of Edward IV.'s family. 



It is very likely that all I have been writing Is 

 no news to any one. In that case I have but to 

 ask your pardon for troubling you with such a 

 worthless Note. Pictor- 



