Page:The king's English (IA kingsenglish00fowlrich).pdf/320

306

But the greatest wrong is done to readers when a passage that may not improbably be unknown to them is altered.

Before leading question or the exception proves the rule is written, a lawyer should be consulted; before cui bono, Cicero; before more honoured in the breach than the observance, Hamlet. A leading question is one that unfairly helps a witness to the desired answer; cui bono has been explained on p. 35; the exception, &c., is not an absurdity when understood, but it is as generally used; more honoured, &c., means not that the rule is generally broken, but that it is better broken. A familiar line of Shakespeare, on the other hand, gains by being misunderstood: 'one touch of nature makes the whole world kin' merely means 'In one respect, all men are alike'.