Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/82

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. JAN. 23,

in the east window of the ancient parish church of Binton, is to be seen under 'Binton,' p. 706, in Dugdale's 'Anti- quities of Warwickshire,' published in 1656. The etching is not too distinct, and it is possible the two final words were intended for " Xpo care." Thus Johanna Greville would be invoking her patron saint. " Christo care " defines which of the saints named John is being invoked, viz., our Lord's beloved disciple. The translation would run thus : " O John, dear to Christ, intercede for me " " care " in the vocative case in agreement with Johannes. Dug- dale was not always strictly accurate in his copies, so possibly what appears " Xpn earn "/may have been " Xpo care " in the original. A. M.

[MR. MATTHEW H. PEACOCK thanked for reply making the same suggestion.]

THE TEXT OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS CXXV. AND CXXVI. (US. vi. 446 ; vii. 32). I consider the four Sonnets CXXII. to CXXV. to form a single poem, founded on the fact that Shakespeare had been re- proached by W. H. with neglecting him, and in particular with giving away the tablets which W. H. had presented to the poet. In Sonnet CXXII. Shakespeare ex- cuses himself for this, and finishes by saying, To keep an adjunct to remember thee Were to import forgetfulness in me.

Sonnet CXXIII. goes on in the same style,

No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change, and finishes with the declaration,

This I do vow, and this shall ever be,

I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.

So in Sonnet CXXIV. Shakespeare pro- tests that his love is not " subject to Time's love or to Time's hate," but " was builded far from accident." In Sonnet CXXV. he goes on to complain that W. H. is too exacting he asks for " too much rent,' r and for the " compound sweet " of flattery instead of being contented with the " obla- tion poor but free," and the " mutual render only me for thee," which Shakespeare con siders to be all that can be justly requirec from him. The first lines of this sonnet Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy, With my extern the outward honouring ?

appear to refer to some occasion which hac excited the jealousy of W. H. Sonnets CXVII. to CXX. show that W. H. ad mittedly had some cause for jealousy they may be connected with the later group though separated from it by the mysterious

onnet CXXI. These quarrels and re- roaches seem to have led to a final rupture Detween the two friends.

If the words " Hence, thou suborned Informer ! " are applied to W. H., I do not ee how they can be reconciled with the preceding four lines, or indeed with any
 * >art of the whole volume of sonnets. As

here is nothing in the sonnets to suggest
 * o their being addressed to a third person,
 * hat anybody else had anything to do with
 * he matter. On the other hand, it seems.
 * o me a very natural conclusion to the

rroup of sonnets for Shakespeare to say, ' Away with jealousy ! " He adds the words,

A true soul When most impeached stands least in thv control.

Souls are controlled by passions and not persons. The expression " suborned in- former " seems to me a good description of jealousy, which arises from vague hints and suggestions. The word " informer " may have been put in italics to draw attention to the quotation from ' Venus and Adonis,' with which W. H. was doubtless very familiar, he being probably the original of the Adonis. Mr. Wyndham has shown that the capitals and italics in the sonnets are never due to chance.

As to my proposed emendation of Sonnet CXXVI., of course it is true that the original text can be read to give sense,

Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour.

But it does not seem to me to read like a line of Shakespeare's poetry, or to be in keeping with the smooth and flowing numbers of this particular poem. Many people have supposed the line to be corrupt, and have suggested various emendations. I have suggested another, which seems to me better than those which I have seen.

W. B. BROWN.

EPITAPH AT HARRINGTON (11 S. vii. 28). Amusingly bitter as this epitaph indis- putably is, I wish to put in a plea for the consideration of those who control our cemeteries, whether it would not conduce to a better sentiment among visitors to these " holy places " if, before any inscription were placed upon a memorial stone, it were rigorously " censored " by some respon- sible and qualified person. I am glad to- think no such crudities are possible in Hebrew* cemeteries, because the Burial Committees exercise very proper vigilance over these things always in the interest of public decorum. M. L. R. BRESLAR.