suspicion of misconduct

[a little explication de texte royale for ya]

CLARENCE. In God’s name, what art thou?

FIRST MURDERER. A man, as you are.

CLARENCE. But not as I am, royal.

SECOND MURDERER. Nor you as we are, loyal.

—William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third

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Well, here’s a thing that happened.

Points off for the absence of a series comma in “full, fair and proper,” and one would certainly prefer to see a complete sentence commencing after a colon indeed commencing, as complete sentences are wont and intended by God to do, with a capital letter—i.e., “Let me state clearly: The law must take its course.”—which would provide some much-needed oomph. Perhaps they don’t yet have Chicago 18 over on the other side of the big water.

As well, that hyphenated “co-operation” is a bit quaint.¹

OTOH, “in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities” is deftly done.²

The two uses of “this” in the penultimate sentence are not thrilling me, though. Perhaps the second one might do well to be a “the”?

That Charles doesn’t refer to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as his brother is as sad as it’s unsurprising, and yet the concluding sentence is positively murderous, the “Meanwhile” conveying a loftily regal air of staring absently into the middle distance and whistling tunelessly,³ and “my family and I” making it perfectly clear that such a group does not include Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—a real twist o’ the knife.⁴

Gratitude to my pal Mark Harris for, re the sign-off: “I like ‘Charles R.’ You feel it was signed by a very earnest third grader who has stoically accepted that there is always going to be another Charles in his class.”

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Things Found While Looking for Other Things:

Boris Karloff (Mord), Basil Rathbone’s son, Rodion Rathbone, billed as John Rodion (Lord DeVere), and Basil Rathbone (Richard, Duke of Gloucester, eventually, natch, Richard III) in a publicity shot for The Tower of London (1939).

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Cover illustration: Achille-Louis Martinet, Tower of London⁵ (1862)

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All of this A Word About . . . stuff of mine is free and will remain so. If you’d care to become a regular (and free!) subscriber, that’s always a delightful event. If you’d care to become a paying subscriber, you’ll have not only my indelible gratitude for helping to keep the lights on but the privilege⁶ of being able to kibitz, chitchat, and query in the comments (which I do of course read and, as I can, respond to).

One way or another, I am, as always, happy to see you here.

Sallie, on the other hand, was a bit miffed at having to go out in the cold damp just now.

1. At least it’s not, naming no names, “coöperation.”

Also, courtesy of the great Alex von Tunzelmann:

The authorities have our support = normal.

The authorities have our full support = emphatic.

The authorities have our full and wholehearted support = Send him to the Tower and hand me an axe, I’ll do it myself.

2. By which I probably mean that it’s the sort of thing I would do.

3. I’d’ve gone with “Any old how.”

4. My pal Will Weisser contributes:

CE: “The rest of my family and I” . . . ?

AUTHOR: Stet.

5. I’m not italicizing this as I suspect it’s merely a description of content rather than a formal title. And I almost, oops, called it a painting; it’s an engraving.

6. Such as it is, but still . . .