As has already been said, blunders are
often made by those who are what we
usually call ``too clever by half.'' Surely
it was a blunder to change the time-
honoured name of King's Bench to
Queen's Bench. A queen is a female
king, and she reigns as a king; the
absurdity of the change of sex in the
description is more clearly seen when
we find in a Prayer-book published soon
after the Queen's accession Her Majesty
described as ``our Queen and _Governess_.''

Editors of classical authors are often
laughed at for their emendations, but

sometimes unjustly. When we consider
the crop of blunders that have gathered
about the texts of celebrated books, we
shall be grateful for the labours of brilliant
scholars who have cleared these away
and made obscure passages intelligible.

One of the most remarkable emendations
ever made by an editor is that of
Theobald in Mrs. Quickly's description of
Falstaff's deathbed (_King Henry V_., act ii.,
sc. 4). The original is unintelligible:
``his nose was as sharp as a pen and a
table of greene fields.'' A friend suggested