tic would
venture on.

In short, the kind of disappointment which many of these corrections
unavoidably give to the reader, is with me an argument in favour of their
genuineness, not against it.

And, lastly, in so very corrupt a text, it is _a priori_ probable that many
phrases which appear to need no correction at all, are misprints or {98}
mistakes nevertheless. It is probably that 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_, which
happens to lie before me,--none of them necessary 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 possibility
of deceit. But I must say that the doctrine of probabilities seems to me to
furnish strong arguments 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. Aristotle's 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 man 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 _check_ was the reward of
valour."

"_Antony._ This is a soldie