I that, O this conscience makes cowardes of us all.
Lady in thy orizons, be all my sinnes remembered.
33: On closely examining the copy of Montaigne's Essays in the British
Museum, which bears Shakspere's autograph on the title-page, we
found--long after our treatise had been completed--that on the
fly-leaf at the end of the volume is written: _Mors incrta_,
(Written somewhat indistinctly, meaning probably _incerta_.
It might also be an abbreviation of 'incertam horam' [_incr.
ho_.], as contained in the Latin verse on p. 626:--
Incertam frustra, mortales, funeris horam
Quaeritis, et qua sit mors aditura via.)
626, 627. These two numbers, apparently, refer to the corresponding
pages of Montaigne's work, which contain nothing but thoughts
about the uncertainty of the hour of death and the hereafter. On
p. 627 there is the speech of Sokrates, which in Florio's
translation, as shown above, bears such striking resemblance to
Hamlet's monologue. There are other Latin sentences on the same
fly-leaf, pronounced by Sir Frederic Madden to be written by a
later pen than Shakspere's. To us, at any rate, the above words
and numbers appear to proceed from a different hand than the other
sentences. Judgments thereon from persons well versed in the
writings of that time would be of great interest.
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