house without licence, that then he should forfeit twenty shillings, besides three days' imprisonment." "Since making this Statute," he adds, "the number of Ale-houses are so many throughout the whole realm, and many of them placed in such unfit and inconvenient places, that they are hurtful to the state and body of the Commonwealth: and they, or the most part of them, are the chief places in which all unlawful games are; and are the root and ground from whence the multitude of rogues, vagabonds, and the wandering sort of men and women who live by picking, stealing, and deceiving, do come and I grow and are the common places where the lawless and most lewde people of the land are relieved, succoured, and maintained." : Mr. Gorges further complains, that the justices neglect to inforce the recognizances when forfeited, and make no presentment of those who forfeit them. In another volume of the same collection (No. 76., art. 57.) are "Certain Orders conceived and set down by the Lords and others of Her Majesty's Privy Council, for reformation of great disorders committed by the excessive Number of Ale-houses and Tipling-houses, and BREWING STRONGER ALE and BEER than is wholesome for Man's body, which are by the Justices of Peace in the several Counties to be put in execution and strictly looked into, A.D. 1594." The justices were of Ale-houses, Victualling and Tippling Houses in every town, parish, village, and hamlet within their jurisdictions." to take view of the Number "To consider upon view in every place what number of them were necessary and fit: and thereupon to discharge the superfluous number, and to permit and allow a convenient number and no more. "That those that were allowed should be of the antienter sort, of honest conversation, and that had no other means to live by, and to give new Bonds to perform the Orders following: "1. To take strict order with the Brewers that they serve no beer or ale to any Ale-house keeper; but at such rate and price as by the Justices of the Peace should be set down and appointed by the Statute of 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 4. "2. The Justices to set down and appoint such a reasonable price for every barrell and kilderkin, or other Vessell of Beer, as they may afford the same for a halfpenny a quart. And yet the same to be well sodden, and well brewed of wholesome grayne as it ought to be, upon pain, &c. "3. The Ale-house keeper to give bond in a competent sum not to utter any beer or ale but such as is wholsome. "4. The keeper of the Ale-house to certify to the constable of the Parish or Village whereof they be, the names and surnames of all and every person or persons that they shall lodge in their houses or dwelling place, mystery and condition of every of them, and whether every one of them entendeth to travel, as the guest shall inform them, and this to be part of the condition of their bond. "5. Not to have Cards, Dice, or Tables, nor to suffer any to play in their houses, yards, &c. This to be part of the condition of their bond. 6. No Ale-house keeper, &c., to permit any person or persons to lodge in his house above a day and a night, but such as he will answer for, as the Statutes yet in force do require. Also condition of bond. "7. Not to dress, or suffer to be dressed or eaten within his house, any fleshe upon any forbidden day, saving for himself or his servants in cases of necessity, according to the Statute in that behalf provided. Also a condition of bond. 8. That no Victualler, Tipler, or Ale-house Keeper shall permit or suffer any persons dwelling within a mile of their house to come into their houses, to eat or drink, except substantial householders and their wives, children, and servants in their company travelling to the Church, being a mile distant from their houses, or for some other lawful occasion; and that only for their reasonable time of their eating and drinking for their necessary repast and relief. "The Constable to search and enquire after disorders every fifteen days. 66 The Justices dividing themselves into certain limits once in twenty days, to see to the execution of these Articles within their Divisions. (Signed) "JOHN BARNE. RYC. YOUNG. THOMAS WAUD." It may be worth mentioning, in respect of the clause which relates to the quality of the beer to be sold, that in a complaint of one Newdigate to Lord Burghley, in 1586, of the abusive waste of says: strong beer and ale, he "First it is to be remembered, that Noblemen have and use for the provision of their houses, Drowne or Courtbeer, and Court-ale, and a provision of March-beer to save Wine.". See MS. Lansd., No. 49., art. 22. HENRY ELLIS. DIVINATIONS ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. A once extremely popular little folk-book in my collection, entitled The Shepherd's New Kalendar (p. 120.) (without date, but before 1700), contains several pages of prognostications from the day of the week on which the year commences. You ought to have a specimen, in order to render your curious series complete: "Observations on the Year beginning on a Thursday. Mur "This produces a long winter, mostly dry with cold winds, yet wholesom and healthy. The summer (a good part of it) temperate, though (in harvest) much rain will fall, with thunder and lightning, doing much mischief to the corn; yet there will be no want of plenty. murings and discontents will be among people, and mischief ensue thereon: people much given up to vice, particularly adultery. The bloody flux and small-pox very rife." And in another part we are told — "If New Year's Day, in the morning, open with dusky red clouds, it denotes strifes and debates among great ones, and many robberys to happen that year." It may be new to many of your readers to hear, that in many cottage homes of the Midland Counties, it is customary on New Year's morning to try the Sortes Sanctorum. I hardly know a prettier subject for a bit of English life than this little ceremony: -The good man sitting in his arm chair, under the canopy of holly, with the old Bible across his knees, and a group of chubby - faces of all sizes around him, all eager with expectancy of the dip into futurity. The book is opened with closed eyes; and the first passage touched by the finger expounded, after the manner of one of Oliver's chaplains, to refer to coming events. Another divination is also practised by observing narrowly the atmospheric changes of the first twelve days of the year; each day representing a month, and forming an index to the weather of the period for which it stands. VINCENT STERNBERG. THE IMPERIAL DICTIONARY. In your periodical (2nd S. ii. 377.), which has only recently come under my observation, I find an article ("Check") which intimately concerns myself, as Editor of the Imperial Dictionary. The writer of that article, who subscribes himself Q., charges me with wholesale plagiarism from Webster's Dictionary. He says, "There is not one word in that gentleman's [Dr. O.'s] Dictionary which is not conveyed,' as Antient Pistol, or 'lifted,' as Dr. Ogilvie's countrymen would say, from the pages of our Transatlantic brother Noah Webster." Again, he remarks, "In how many other instances, indeed in how great a portion of the entire work it may be traced that similar conveyances' or 'liftings' have been perpetrated, I am not prepared to say. Certain I am, in far too many to allow of an excuse, under the plea of general acknowledgment." It is not very easy to reconcile with each other the two paragraphs above quoted. According to the first, the whole of the Imperial has been "lifted from Webster; and, according to the second, other portions of the former work, besides the whole, have been "lifted" from the latter. Q. will no doubt assert that, in the first paragraph, he merely refers to the article check. Be it so; his words, notwithstanding, must convey, to the cursory reader at least, an impression that the Imperial Dictionary is nothing else than a reprint of Webster under a false name. But what are the facts? In the title-page of the Imperial it is clearly indicated that the work is on the basis of Webster's English Dictionary, and the same fact is explicitly stated in p. 2. of the Preface. In p. 3. of Preface the following statement occurs: "In adopting Webster's Dictionary as the basis of the Imperial Dictionary, the great object of the Editor in preparing the latter has been to correct what was wrong, and to supply what was wanting in Webster, in order to adapt the new work to the present state of literature, science, and art. Accordingly, every page of Webster has been subjected to a careful examination; numerous alterations and emendations have been made, a vast number of articles have been re-written, very many of Webster's explanations of important terms have been enlarged, and many new and more correct definitions of others given; new senses have been added to old words, where they were found wanting, and a multitude of new words and terms have been introduced, especially in the scientific and technological departments." Thus it is abundantly evident that the charges and innuendos of Q. are void of foundation;-that I have not "lifted" from Webster in a furacious manner, as he asserts, nor claimed for myself any undue degree of merit. I have openly and avowedly taken Webster as the basis, that is, the foundation, of the Imperial, incorporating his materials, so far as they suited my plan, with my own; and in this manner have I raised, I venture to say, a good superstructure upon an excellent foundation. It may be proper to add here that I have also written a Supplement to the Imperial, containing upwards of 400 pages; and hence, in forming a correct estimate of my labours, the two works ought to be taken together. I trust, Mr. Editor, you will do me the favour to give this letter a place in your periodical, and do an act of justice to JOHN OGILVIE. Strawberry Bank, Aberdeen. MARGARET HUGHES, THE MISTRESS OF PRINCE RUPERT. The story of Sophia Howe and Nanty Lowther has been made familiar to many readers by Pope's Lord Hervey, and by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. Miss Howe was maid of honour to Caroline, Princess of Wales (afterwards Queen Caroline), and grand-daughter of Prince Rupert by Margaret Hughes, an actress at the King's House. Some of Sophia's letters are printed in the first volume of that agreeable and well-edited work, The Correspondence of Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk. The anonymous editor was the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker. In one of her letters, dated October 1, 1719, Miss Howe desires to be excused from attendance at court, for, as she observes, "my grandmother is dead." Now, no book on the stage that I have seen informs us when Margaret Hughes died. Mr. Croker's note on the passage is, "This must have been Margaret Hughes." My object in calling attention to this passage in Miss Howe's letter is to confirm Mr. Croker's statement, and to do justice to the sagacity of Lysons. In the burial register of Lee, in Kent, Lysons observed the following entry : "Mrs. Margaret Hewes, from Eltham, buried Oct. 15, 1719." On which he observes: "It is not improbable that this was the same Mrs. Margaret Hewes, or Hughes, a vocal actress of some eminence, and mistress to Prince Rupert." Compare the date of Miss Howe's letter with the burial entry, and we ascertain with certainty that Peg Hughes, the actress and mistress of Prince Rupert, died in October, 1719. Of Mrs. Hughes there is an excellent portrait by Lely at Lord Jersey's, at Middleton in Oxfordshire; and of Ruperta, her daughter by Prince Rupert, and the mother of Sophy Howe, there is a characteristic full length by Kneller at Lord Sandwich's, at Hinchinbrooke. She is dark, and like what Prince Rupert was when old. Kensington. PETER CUNNINGHAM. "Quæ adhuc disputavi, ea ad illam fere partem consilii mei pertinent, quod statui conservare quantum in me est, Horatii verba, ordinemque poematum, ut ea ex antiquis libris ad nos pervenere. Nisi ita mollis, ita liquida, ita clara, ita unica sit emendatio, plane uti dubitare homini rerum perito non liceat, modestiæ nostræ et bonorum librorum integritati potius ita consulamus, ut in margine, quid nobis videatur, indicemus. Dici non potest, quam facile sit hic falli, labi, corrumpere quod emendare velis." - J. M. GESNERUS, 1752. "I have discharged the dull duty of an editor [of Shakspere], to my best judgment, with more labour than I expect thanks, with a religious abhorrence of all innovation, and without any indulgence to my private His genuine text [i. e. the text of Shakspere] is for the most part religiously adhered to, and the numerous faults and blemishes, purely his own, are left as they were found. Nothing is altered but what by the clearest reasoning can be proved a corruption of the true text, and the alteration a real restoration of the genuine reading." - Lewis THEOBALD, 1733. "As the corruptions [of the text of 1623] are more numerous and of a grosser kind than can well be conceived but by those who have looked nearly into them; so in the correcting them this rule hath been most strictly observed, not to give a loose to fancy, or indulge a licentious spirit of criticism, as if it were fit for any one to presume to judge what Shakespeare ought to have written, instead of endeavouring to discover truly and retrieve what he did write.". Sir Thomas HANMER, 1744. "The whole a critic can do for an author who deserves his service, is to correct the faulty text, to remark the peculiarities of language, to illustrate the obscure allusions, and to explain the beauties and defects of sentiment or composition; and surely, if ever author had a claim to this service, it was our Shakespeare."- William WARBURTON, 1747. "That many passages [in Shakspere] have passed in a state of depravation through all the editions is indubitably certain; of these the restoration is only to be attempted by collation of copies or sagacity of conjecture. As I practised conjecture more, I learned to trust it less; and after I had printed a few plays, resolved to insert none of my own readings in the text. Upon this caution I now congratulate myself, for every day encreases my doubt of my emendations."- Samuel JOHNSON, 1765. The extract from Gesner, while it refers to Horace alone, is quite as applicable to an English classic. It is a capital summary of editorial duties. The other remarks are copied from the prefaces to the plays of Shakspere; and there cannot be much temerity in asserting that the writers have rather shown their acquaintance with the ARS CRITICA, and courted public favour by the pretence of editorial fidelity, than fairly described their own proceedings. Now come the promised remarks on errors of the press, which were all made by the same person in the years 1620, 1623, and 1628. "The printer to the discreet and curious reader. "After so much as you haue read heere, vttered in their iust commendation [i. e. the author and translator], let it be my minute, to be heard in a line or two for my selfe: which is, that you would be pleased not to lay my faults on them. I will neither pretend badnesse of copy, or his absence, whose prouince it was to correct it; but pray the amendment of these few escapes (as you finde them here-vnder noted,) before you begin to reade: with hope of your pardon, the rather, because it hath beene my care they should be no more.". Guzman de Alfarache, part I. 1623. Folio. "The printer to the curious reader. "It were a hard taske and rarely to be performed, for any printer to vndertake the printing of a booke of this bulke and nature, without some faults; yea, were his copy neuer so fayre, or his apprehension so quicke. It is a decorum in Guzman to commit many solecismes, whose life was so full of disorders. This life of his being 26. seuerall times printed in the Spanish tongue in a few years, did neuer appeare to the world, but with errata: which makes me the more presuming on your humane courtesie: and as in the first, so in this second part, vouchsafe with your pen, the amendment of these few faults, before you begin to read the rest of his life.". Guzman de Alfarache, part II. 1623. Folio. "To the reader. "If any faults haue escap'd the presse, (as few bookes can bee printed without), impose them not on the author I intreat thee; but rather impute them to mine and the printers ouersight, who seriously promise on the re-impression hereof, by greater care and diligence for this our former default, to make thee ample satisfaction."-Microcosmographie, 1628. 120. In the Hora subseciva, twenty-five errors are noticed. Some are material; as least for most, nations for natures, must for much, prescription for proscription. Others are slight, or relative to punctuation. In Guzman de Alfarache we have forty errors save one. Examples: time for ayre, in clearing for indearing, many for money, top for toy, cartas for cantos, indisposition for in disposition, the for they, ad ebbe for an ebbe, &c. The last error noticed is a turned letter! Whatever be the merits or defects of the folio of 1623, and whatever may have been the prevailing state of the press at that period, it is manifest that the author of the above addresses To the reader was perfectly aware of the importance of typographic correctness, and very anxious to secure it. Now, the author of those addresses was no other than the aforesaid Edward Blount; and it is my conviction, which I can justify by a variety of circumstantial evidence, that he was the real editor of the FIRST FOLIO SHAKESPEARE. The Terrace, Barnes. Minor Notes. BOLTON CORNEY. Inn-Signs painted by Eminent Artists. The Birmingham Journal of Dec. 13. contains an interesting article (copied, with additions, from the Brighton Gazette,) entitled "An Artist's Haunt," descriptive of Bettws-y-Coed and David Cox. It states, that the sign of "The Oak," at Bettws, was painted by Mr. Cox; and amusingly tells how that bold landscape painter, while mounted upon a ladder, and working away at his sign, was caught in the very act by one of his lady-pupils. Then follows this extract: 66 Size and Sizings. — Richardson, in his Dictionary, explains our Cambridge word size and sizings thus: size, the same as assize, means to "allot," "weigh," or "portion out;" hence, "sizings, the allotted part," (I am quoting from memory). In Matthew Robinson's Biography, edited by Mayor, we find (p. 23.) an extract from Strype's letter to his mother; in which he says he sometimes got a ciza, i. e. a farthingworth of beer from the butteries: and also, that his breakfast cost five farthings; two farthings for his bread, and two for his butter or cheese, and a cize of beer. I wish to know whether sizings, &c., may not come from this word ciza? I will just add, that I do not find this word in either Richardson or Webster. B. A. H. Trin. Coll. Camb. The peasantry Adjuration in Pembrokeshire. of Pembrokeshire are still in the habit of using a form of adjuration which has descended to them from the old Roman Catholic times. They swear to this day "By our Lady," although they have corrupted the phrase into "b'lady," and are quite ignorant of its origin: still it forms a curious link between the past and present, and shows how forms of speech will linger in the memory, when the time and circumstances which gave them their origin have passed away. JOHN PAVIN PHILLIPS. Haverfordwest. Cardinal Wiseman and "Nice." - The cardinal, in a very ingenious lecture, delivered by him in April last, at the Marylebone Institution, remarks on the vague and indiscriminate use of the word "Nice," and the necessary result, "vague and indiscriminate thoughts." But the cardinal is himself in great error in insisting that the word in the English language properly designates “accuracy, precision, discrimination," and seeks to confirm his assertion by a reference to any old dictionary. Such old dictionaries as Ainsworth and Johnson are in his favour; but our older dictionaries (which Sign painting has been the occasional amusement of the cardinal cannot have consulted) all agree that "nice" primarily means "soft," whence, continues Mr. Smart, who with his usual good sense adopts their interpretation, "delicate, tender, dainty," &c. It is agreed by our etymologists that "nesh and nice" are the same word differently written. "Nesh," I have in my younger days frequently heard used in the Midland counties. -as Junius explains it — tener frigoris. In Richardson's Supplement are two (to modern ears) rather curious usages of this word from Wiclif: "God hath maad neische myn hert (mollivit), "A nessh answere (mollis) breketh wrathe." The explanation and etymology (from Skinner) correspond. Yet something may be said in favour of nice, as used in some of the cardinal's instances. Things that are nice are also pleasing, agreeable; a nice day, a nice man, or a pleasant day, a pleasant man. We have many very loose expressions, as a good dinner, a good whipping; which latter good thing was about, the other day, not very nicely, to be bestowed on the wrong member of the family. The cardinal makes some strong and just remarks on the force of our word" murther," and of the more powerful import of child-murther than infanticide, and of self-murther than suicide; and he might have taxed his ingenuity to account for the absence from the language of our ancestors of such words as would correspond to the Latinisms, parricide, matricide, fratricide; complex terms, which, as Locke would strangely contend, gave to the Romans so many more complex ideas than the circumlocutions killing of a father, killing of a mother, &c., could denote. Q. Bloomsbury. The Oldest Proverb. It appears from 1 Sam. xxiv. 13., that the oldest proverb on record is, "Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked;" since David declared it to be "the proverb of the aneients." Consequently it must be older than any proverb of his son Solomon. ABHBA. Oliver Cromwell's Coach: Destruction of the Great Seal in 1660.—I have before me a fragment of the proceedings of the House of Commons for Monday, May 28, 1660, from which I make the following curious extracts:* "The House being informed, that a rich Coach, heretofore bought by Oliver Cromwell, and paid for at the public Charge, is seized by the Serjeant-at-Arms attending this House, but detained by a Coachmaker, upon Pretence of an Attachment for a Debt; "Ordered, That it be referred to the Members of this House, who are of the Council of State, to examine the Matter; and whether there be any such real Debt; and to give such Order for the securing the same, for his Majesty's Service, as upon Examination, they shall ind just and meet. "Resolved, That the Great Seal, in the Custody of Sir [These extracts are printed in The Journals of the House of Commons, vol. viii. p. 47.— ED.] Three ma Simon's "Account of Irish Coins.". nuscript volumes of Minutes of the Physico-Historical Society of Dublin are deposited in the library of the College of Physicians, Dublin, and contain the following particulars relative to Simon's well-known work on Irish coins: "Monday, December 7, 1747. Mr. Simon produced an Essay on Irish Coins, which is referred to the perusal of Dr. Corbet [Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin], and Mr. Harris [Editor of Sir James Ware's Works.].' "Monday, January 4, 1747-8. Mr. Harris reported, that on the perusal of Mr. Simon's Account of Irish Coins by himself and the Rev. Dr. Corbet, it appeared to them worthy of publication. "Ordered, that Mr. Simon's Account of Irish Coins be published by, and with the approbation of, this Society." "Monday, October 3, 1748. Ordered, that the sum of six pounds, eight shillings, be paid to Mr. James Simon, for eight copper-plates, for his Essay on Irish Coins." The charge of sixteen shillings for each plate is by no means high. Авива. Queries. PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS BY HOLBEIN AT GREYSTOKE CASTLE. Amongst the valuable productions of art in the possession of Henry Howard, Esq., at Greystoke Castle, a small highly finished portrait of Erasmus has been preserved, which has been mentioned in certain published accounts of Greystoke, as has also an inscription on the back of the portrait. This inscription, however, which may be regarded as nearly contemporary with the painting, has not been perfectly decyphered. The correct reading appears to be as follows: "Haunze Holbeine me fecit Johanne Novye me dedit Edwardus Banyster me possidit." Who were the persons thus commemorated, through whose hands this interesting picture is thus recorded to have passed? ALBERT WAY. BALLAD UPON RICHARD III. Again about an old ballad. My inquiry through "N. & Q." was so successful last time I |