the process of inhalation was effected. The boat for which they waited turned out to be an open barge, and, as sitting or standing was alike rendered impracticable by the lowness and frequency of the bridges crossing the canal, the Ambassador and his suite were forced to lie down in the pouring rain all night long on the straw at the bottom of the barge. Once at Amsterdam, however, Busino's good temper returns. He explored the city, and is eloquent in praise of its neatness, cleanness, and convenience. He notes especially the bridges of stone and oak over the waterways, so constructed that they opened in the centre by themselves, on the masts of approaching vessels striking certain projecting arms, which turned on pivots. Their next stage was Rotterdam, whence, by order of the States General, a sumptuous ship of war carrying six guns conveyed them to Flushing. Here they entered the packet boat for England, expecting to have it to themselves; but they found it crowded with passengers-musicians, women, merchants, Jews, tatterdemalions, and gentlemen and his Excellency's cabin in the stern was so low and narrow that it could not even contain four persons. The wind was high and the sea was rough, and it was a sick and weary company that disembarked on the English shore 37 days after leaving Venice, and 46 days after the Ambassador received his commission. They put up at the Post at Gravesend, pending arrangements for their state entry into London; and from this point their adventures can be read in the Calendar of State Papers above referred to. TWO MALCOLM LETTS. LETTERS BY THOMAS HOLCROFT. THE following letters are mentioned at 11 S. xi. 245, at the end of my 'Bibliography of Holcroft,' as printed in Dunlap's American Theatre.' Their inaccessibility and the fact that they are hidden away unindexed in that work, on a remote subject, seem to afford reason for reprinting in N. & Q.' The first (see Dunlap's 'Hist. of the American Theatre,' pp. 180-82) was addressed to Thomas Cooper on the occasion of his being approached by Wignell with offers of an American tour engagment :— You do not like the word lamentation. You will less like the word I am going to use. But before I use it I will most sincerely assure you I mean : it kindly. I do not like rhodomontade heroics. They are discordant, grating, and degrading. them to be. It was not from report, but from They are the very reverse of what you imagine your letter itself, that I collected my idea of lamentation, and compared to your sufferings, I repeat, Jeremiah never lamented so loudly at least, such is my opinion, and I hope you do not deter me from saying that which I think may intend, by a hackneyed and coarse quotation, to awaken your attention. If you did, it was in a moment of forgetfulness; for you know that a man of principle ought not to be so deterred. I so long have cherished, of rousing you at once speak plainly from the very sincere wish, which to the exertions of genius, and the sagacity of benevolence and urbanity. It is to exercise benevolence and urbanity myself that I am thus intent in wiping from your mind all impressions you. of supposed rudeness or rigour in thus addressing And now to business: after just reminding you that, though you did not wish me to apply for a London engagement for you, it would have looked quite as friendly had you written to me without this personal motive. Mr. Wignell, the manager of the theatres of Philadelphia and Baltimore, in America, has applied to me, offering you four, five, and six guineas a week, forty weeks each year, for three amount of a hundred and fifty guineas. I have succeeding years; and ensuring benefits to the reflected on the subject, and have consulted your other true and tried friend, Mr. Godwin; and notwithstanding that this offer is so alluring, it is our decided opinion that, were it ten times as great, it ought to be rejected. As an actor, you would be extinct, and the very season of energy and improvement would be for ever passed. 1 speak of men as they are now constituted; and after the manner, as experience tells me, that Mr. Goawin indeed expresses himself with great their habits become fixed; ineradicably fixed. force, mixed with some little dread, lest money be a temptation you could not withstand. However, we both knew it to be but right that the decision should be entirely your own; and I therefore send you this information. enough to return me your answer; and without regarding my or any man's opinion, judge for yourself. It is right that Mr. Wignell should not be kept in suspense. Yours kindly and sincerely, T. HOLCROFT. September 3d, 1796. Be kind The above is a transcript of a letter which was dated August the 26th, and directed to you at Swansea, where I suppose it is left. Let me request an immediate answer. A gentleman has just been with me on the part of Mr. Daly, who is to be in town in nine or ten days, and wishes to engage you for the winter season, but this I think as prejudicial, except that it is something nearer home, and not so durable an engagement as America. Ireland is certainly the school of idleness. However, all these matters must be left to yourself. Dunlap comments as follows: 66 This was directed Mr. Cooper, Theater, Cheltenham,' by as true a friend as ever man had, but the views of youth are ever widely different from those of age. Cooper chose to embark upon the sea of adventure, and the Atlantic, and I am not certain that the man of literature is to try a new scene in a New World." not benefited by these little jolts that awaken him, or rather endeavour to awaken: but I The second (ibid., 159 ff.) is addressed to know from experience he is very unwilling to William Dunlap himself : DEAR SIR, I received your last letters dated May and October; as I had done others some months ago, in which you wished me to read your manuscripts. Your friend, Mr. Brewer, offered to put these manuscripts into my hands; this I declined, and I will state my motives. The reading of manuscripts I have found to be attended with danger. I once read two acts of a manuscript play, and was afterwards accused of having purloined one of the characters. The accusation had some semblance of truth: latent ideas floated in my mind, and there were two or three traits in the character drawn by me similar to the one I had read; though I was very unconscious of this when I wrote the character. me notice them, they therefore easily slip his memory. cannot be effectually discussed in a letter: but T. HOLCROFT. ELBRIDGE COLBY, BRITISH ISLES. (See 10 S. xi., xii.; 11 S. i.-xii., passim.) PIONEERS AND PHILANTHROPISTS (continued). COUNTESS WALDEGRAVE. Hastings. Near the church of the Holy Trinity in Robertson Street, the first stone of which was laid by the Countess Waldegrave in 1851, a drinking fountain was erected to her memory by the inhabitants of Hastings in 1861. It is constructed of Portland stone, and beneath a groined canopy over the fountain are represented figures of our Saviour and the Woman of Samaria. The canopy is surmounted by richly carved finials, and supported by four marble columns. At the corners are figures of the Four Evangelists. Over the fountain is the following inscription : A still more potent reason is the improbability STATUES AND MEMORIALS IN THE of good that is to result from reading manuscripts. To read carefully, examine conscientiously, and detail with perspicuity the errors which the judgment of a critic might think deserving of amendment, is a laborious task: it devours time and fatigues the mind, and but seldom to any good purpose. Books of criticism abound, and may be consulted by an author who is anxious to improve. I grant that the critical remarks of a friend may be of great service. If a man have attained that elegance of diction, depth of penetration, and strength of feeling which constitute genius, to criticize his works before they are presented to the public may be a useful and a dignified task. Men acquire these high qualities gradually, when compelled by that restless desire which is incessant in its endeavours after excellence, and for these gradations the books already written are, in my opinion, sufficient. Your friend gave 'William Tell to read it proves you have made some progress; but it likewise proves, so far as I am a judge, that much remains for you to accomplish. Common thoughts, common characters, and common sensations have little attraction: we must soar beyond them, or be contented to walk the earth and join the crowd. Far be it from me to discourage these efforts of mind in which I delight: but far be it from me to deceive. If you would attain the high gifts after which you so virtuously aspire, your perseverance must be energetic and unremitting. I consider America as unfavourable to genius: not from any qualities of air, earth, or water: but because the efforts of mind are neither so great, nor so numerous, or so urgent as in England or France. You wish for an independence. That man is independent whose mind is prepared to meet all fortunes, and be happy under the worst; who is conscious that industry in any country will supply the very few real wants of his species; and who, while he can enjoy the delicacies of taste as exquisitely as a glutton, can transfer that luxury by the activity of his mind and body to the simplest viands. Every other man is a slave, though he were more wealthy than Midas. I send you my narrative, but am surprised that there should be any difficulty in procuring it at New-York. To a bookseller, the conveyance of such things is familiar and easy; to an individual it has the inconvenience of calling his attention to trifles and disturbing his ordinary progress. To Sarah, Countess Waldegrave, in grateful commemoration of the constant support by her afforded to the religious and benevolent institutions of the borough and neighbourhood. SIR JOSIAH MASON. Birmingham.-In the square at the back of the Town Hall is a seated figure of Sir Josiah Mason. It bears upon it the sculptor's name, F. J. Williamson, Esher, 1885.' The pedestal has the following inscrip tion : 66 Sir Josiah Mason Mason College and Mason Orphanage. Died 16 June, 1881. On the back of the chair in which the figure is seated are: Arms, a lion rampant; crest, a mermaid regardant; motto, "Dum spiro spero." (See also 11 S. ix. 323.) SISTER DORA. OLIVER HEYWOOD. It is the (Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison.) Manchester. Two years after Mr. HeyWalsall.-Sister Dora died at Walsall wood's death a marble statue was erected to his memory in Albert Square. work of Mr. Albert Bruce Joy, R.A., and stands upon a base and pedestal of Aberdeen granite. It is thus inscribed: Oliver Heywood 1825-1892. on 24 Dec., 1878, and practically the whole population followed her remains to the grave. At a cost of 1,050l. they afterwards erected her statue in a prominent part of the town. It is sculptured in white marble by F. J. Williamson, and represents the devoted nurse wearing a cap and apron, and in the act of unrolling a bandage. Just below her feet on the marble are carved the words :Sister Dora. This is the only inscription. Erected by the Citizens of Manchester to com memorate a life devoted to the public good. Liverpool. This statue is erected in St. John's Gardens, overlooking the old The statue is placed on a tall Haymarket. square the The pedestal bears pedestal of Peterhead granite. Each of the following inscription:four sides contain panels in relief illustrative of incidents in Sister Dora's life. They are as follows: 1. Scene after explosion at Birchill's Iron Works, 15 Oct., 1875. 2. Sister Dora conversing with the Chairman of the Hospital while nursing an infant and rocking a cradle. 3. Sister Dora and Dr. Maclachlan watching by a dying patient in the adult ward of the hospital. 4. Scene after the colliery accident at Pelsall, 14 Nov., 1872. This was the first statue erected to a woman (uncrowned) in England. GENERAL BOOTH. Nottingham.-Over the front door of 12 Nolintone Place is a tablet inscribed as follows: : In this house was born, on the 10th April, 1829, William Booth, Founder and General of the Salvation Army. In 1913 a bronze memorial tablet was placed in Wesley Chapel, Broad Street, where General Booth first preached. London.-On 9 July, 1910, a stone slab was Here on Walsall.-On 8 March, 1913, Lady Holden unveiled a tablet placed by the Walsall Evangelical Free Church Council on a house in Hatherton Street to commemorate the fact that William Booth and his wife Catherine Booth, with their son William Bramwell Booth, lived there in the year 1863 whilst conducting religious services in the town. Alexander Balfour His life was devoted to God in munificent efforts SAMUEL SMITH. Liverpool.-On 21 May, 1909, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool (Mr. H. Chaloner Dowdall) unveiled a massive granite obelisk erected to the memory of the Right Hon. Samuel Smith. It stands near the Lodge Lane entrance to Sefton Park. The cost (1,8157.) was all subscribed before the JOHN T. PAGE. memorial was unveiled. Long Itchington, Warwickshire. FOLK-LORE AT SEA.-A short time since a small naval vessel was accidentally burnt to the water's edge, and when her officers (not her crew, be it observed) met again after losing all their possessions, they agreed on three curious facts which, they said, ought to have warned them of impending ill-luck. First, when the Admiralty took over the ship, and the crew were assembled on the poop to hear the articles of war read, the newly hoisted ensign was suddenly carried away. Second, the ship's black cat had mysteriously disappeared a day or two before the disaster. Third, some newly joined subs had talked at mess of how many rabbits they had shot the last day they were out. On hearing of this conversation, a lieutenant observed that, had he been there to hear it, he would rather have taken his baggage off the ship and gone ashore than let the sportsmen tempt fate by uttering the word rabbit." 66 The first two omens are quite ordinary matica,' Cologne, 1650, where they are (we all remember how the launching mis- assigned to J. C. Scaliger, and in Nicolaus chance made many of us fear that ill-luck Mercerius, De Conscribendo Epigrammate,' would befall the Titanic); but can any Paris, 1653, where the author is given as reader give another instance of rabbits in Scaliger." They will, however, I think, folk-lore? In Western Ireland a fisherman be looked for in vain in J. C. Scaliger's own who meets a hare turns back, and no man volumes of Latin verse. At least they are dare name one at sea any more than he may not included in his Novorum Epigramstick his knife in wood, heedlessly hand any-matum Liber Unicus,' Paris, 1533, nor in thing through a ladder, or mention a clergy- the same reprinted in his Poematia,' Lyon, man. But, unless rabbit is substituted for 1546, nor in the collected editions of his hare in a confused memory of ancient Poemata,' 1574 and 1600. But they are freits," this piece of folk-lore is new to referred to in his 'De Causis Linguæ Latinæ,' me. Can ST. SWITHIN enlighten us? Lyon, 1540, p. 17, lib. i. cap. x. :— Y. T. TURNING THE CHEEK FOR A KISS.-This was considered to be an affront. I have noted three examples : Bef. 1613. Is't for a grace, or is't for some disleeke, the cheeke ? Sir J. Harrington's Epigrams,' iii. 3 (1618). Massinger, The Pictvre,' M 4. 1637. "And as I would not be thought clawing, so not uncivill, especially in religious Ceremonies, in this holy one of the Kisse: which I shall desire you to entertaine fairely and cheerefully, with an even Brow; and not like the coy Dames of our Age, turne the Cheeke for the Lippe, and so lowre [sic] a Kisse into a Scorne."Humphrey Sydenham, Dedication of his 'Osculum Charitatis sermon, preached on Christmas Day, 1635. RICHARD H. THORNTON. AN EPIGRAM BY JULIUS CÆSAR SCALIGER. -In a short notice of E. C. Hills and J. D. M. Ford's Practical Spanish Grammar' in The Athenæum for Aug. 12, 1905, the reviewer remarked :— "Is it, by the way, a fact that even in the days of ancient Rome a Latin wit said that for the Spaniards vivere was the same as bibere? If so, we have a case of unconscious reminiscence in Scaliger's epigram: Haud temere antiquas mutat Vasconia voces Cui nihil est aliud vivere quam bibere." In the Literary Gossip' columns of the next week's number a correspondent is quoted who writes: Surely this epigram, Haud temere antiquas,' &c., is by Martial, and he is the Latin wit meant." 66 Martial, of course, as the correspondent might easily have ascertained, is not the author, but the confident assertion that he was does not appear to have provoked any statement of the evidence for Scaliger's claim. The lines may be seen in more than one collection, e.g. in Carolus a S. Antonio Patavino, Anconitanus, De Arte Epigram "Vasconibus quoque hoc est uitium peculiare, ut eo modo pronuncient B, quo et Græcos dicimus. Itaque lusimus in eos epigrammate, ut eorum Vivere, Bibere, sit." Finally, Scaliger gives the epigram in his posthumously published Poetice,' 1561, lib. iii. cap. cxxvi. :— "Verum ut res aliæ ex aliis suboriuntur, hilariora fiunt omnia ubi literæ syllabæve mutantur, quemadmodum nos: Non temere antiquas mutat Vasconia voces: ROBERT SHORTON, DEAN OF STOKE. The parentage of Robert Shorton, the first Master of St. John's College, Cambridge, and afterwards Dean of the College of Stokeby-Clare, co. Suffolk, has never been ascertained. Baker, in his 'History of St. John's College,' assumes him to be of Yorkshire origin, but the D.N.B.' is silent on the point. An abstract of an official copy of Shorton's will from the original in P.C.C., though it throws but little light on his own family, may, however, be of some interest, and is here subjoined : tenants Will dated Oct. 8, 1535; proved Nov. 8, 1535. Robert Shorton, clerk. Dedication clause, &c. To be buried in the choir of the College of Stoke. 1007. to be distributed amongst twenty towns so that the following sums and towns be of this amount and number-41. to poor parishioners of Segefeld (Sedgefield); 31. to Newport; 21. to to poor Stoke; 21. at Welles; to Lowthe (Louth) a like sum. "To Maister Secretory to the Kinge's Highness now being an Arras of Imagery in number containing five pieces." "To Maister Doctour Legh a gilt salt with a and his wife a basyn and an ewer of silver bought cover antyke." To Maister Thomas Burbage by mine executors of Sir John Mundy of London, Knyght and Alderman.' "To said Thomas Burbage and his wife two of my best feather beddes at Wyndesore (Windsor) with their appurtenances and one hanging of a Chamber. said Thomas Burbage and his wife an obligation of 10l. wherein Robert Collyns of London. Skynner, standeth bound to Sir John Mundy, Knyght." "To 66 "To said Sir John Mundy, Knyght, and my lady his wife and his children two like obligations of 107." To George Colt, Esquire, a like obligation of 101." "To be equally divided between my uncle Rauf Warke, my aunt Barrows, and George Warke of Awsforth (Horsforth) a like obligation of 6l." 401. to be bestowed upon the highways in Essex and Suffolk. Residue in deeds of charity. Executors, George Colt, Esquire, Robert Swymborne, Thomas Howker and Thomas Thomlynson, Clerks. Witnesses, Maister Thomas Hersley, Canon John Dalamero, Clerk, Sir Willm. Dykers, Maister Willm. Lowell, Nicolas Sampson and John Sutton, Clerks. That testator was a bachelor is evident. There are references in 'N. & Q.,' 7 S. v. 151, 218, which tend to prove he was of kin to that branch of the Browne family which gave three Mayors to London at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Sir William Browne, whose daughter Juliane Sir John Mundy married as his second wife, appointed Shorton as assistant to the executors of his will. His uncle Ralph Warke, or Werke, is also mentioned in the will of Sir John Browne. Some little importance seems to have attached to the gift of tapestry. Thomas Legh, writing to Cromwell, said :— "Since I wrote to you last I am certified that the Dean of Stoke is dead. According to promise he made me, he has bequeathed you tive pieces of arras." George Colt also sent from Cavendish, in Suffolk, a letter to Cromwell relating to it (S. P. Dom. Hen. VIII. 1535-6). Robert Shorton died at Stoke Oct. 17, 1535. These arms are attributed to him in the Athenæ Cantab.' Vert, a fesse wavy argent between three caltraps or. It is not improbable that the John Shorton who was a member of the Company of Skynners," London, in 1537, was of his family. 66 Broseley. ERNEST H. H. SHORTING. has not alluded to. A post 8vo oblong yellow handbill before me announces :— "Have you seen the Whale ? Recently Captured and Fresh as when caught, measuring 50 feet in length, and now exhibiting at the Fox under the Hill opposite the Adelphi Theatre, Strand. The Halfpenny Steam Boat Pier. Persons desirous of seeing this mighty monster of the deep, must be early as it can be exhibited only a few days. Admission Threepence." ALECK ABRAHAMS. Queries. formation on family matters of only private interest WE must request correspondents desiring into affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that answers may be sent to them direct. A GENERATION CIRCA A.D. 1250 (FEET OF FINES, CO. DEVON). On the 1st of July, 1250, Mark, the Prior of Montacute, in Somerset, by John de Wylton, his monk, granted to Richard, son of John, tenant, one and a half ferling of land in Moneke Culum (in Cullompton parish, Devon), to have and to hold to the said Richard and Isabella his wife during the lives of the prior and his successors and his church the said land, and the whole of that land which is called La More, at a quitrent of 108. a year, payable quarterly. And likewise the prior undertook for himself and his successors and his church that should John, the eldest son of the aforesaid Richard, survive Richard and Isabella, the whole of the said land should remain to the said John, &c. Would it have been possible for John, the father of Richard, Richard himself, and John his son, to have been born within the fifty years preceding the year 1250, or would it have been more probable that John, the grandfather, was born between the years 1189 and 1199? favour me with an opinion on this point. Perhaps some correspondent will kindly A. J. MONDAY. Taunton. 6 BARKER, CHAPLAIN TO QUEEN KATHARINE OF ARAGON, was imprisoned Dec. 19, 1533, and sent to the Tower of London on the following Dec. 27. He was removed to Newgate before Easter, 1537 (Camm, Lives of the English Martyrs,' i. pp. 465, 473), where, according to the late Major Hume (Chronicle of King Henry VIII. of England,' p. 42, n.), he died. What was his Christian name? what ecclesiastical preferments did he hold, if any? and when precisely did he die? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. |