Edwardum occidere nolite, timere bonum est.
Kill not the king, ’tis good to fear the worst.
Unpointed as it is, thus shall it go, &c.
Mr. Collier appends the following note:—
Sir J. Harington has an Epigram [L. i., E. 33] “Of writing with double pointing,” which is thus introduced:—“It is said that King Edward, of Carnarvon, lying at Berkely Castle, prisoner, a cardinal wrote to his keeper, Edwardum occidere noli, timere bonum est, which being read with the point at timere, it cost the king his life.”
The French have a proverb, Faute d’un point Martin perdit son ane, (through want of a point [or stop] Martin lost his ass,) equivalent to the English saying, A miss is as good as a mile. This proverb originated from the following circumstance:—A priest named Martin, being appointed abbot of a religious house called Asello, directed this inscription to be placed over his gate:—
Porta patens esto, nulli claudatur honesto.
(Gate, be thou open,—to no honest man be shut.)
But the ignorant painter, by placing the stop after the word nulli, entirely altered the sense of the verse, which then stood thus:—
Gate, be open to none;—be shut against every honest man.