Notes and Queries, Number 35, June 29, 1850

As to the book, and the name of the author, I may add (with reference to Wood's Athen.), that in the copy before me, which is, like that referred to by Dr. Bliss, of the first edition (not the second mentioned by Aubrey as published in 1659), the author's name does not appear on the title-page at all. There we find only "By W. R. of Gray's Inne, Esq. Experto credo" [sic]; and really one seems as if one could believe any thing from a man who had habitually used such medicines, for I have said nothing of his infusion of tobacco, for which you must—

"Take a quarter of a pound of Tobacco, and a quart of Ale, White-wine, or Sider, and three or four spoonfulls of Hony, and two pennyworth of Mace; And infuse these by a soft fire, in a close earthen pot, to the consumption of almost the one-half, and then you may take from two spoonfulls to twelve [no tea-spoons in those days], and drink it in a cup with Ale or Beer."

One could, I say, believe almost any thing from a gentleman who under such a course of discipline was approaching the age of fourscore; but though the title-page has only his initials, the Dedication to the Marquess of Dorchester, and the letter to Sir Henry Blount, are both signed "Will. Rumsey."

S. R. M.

Queries

QUERIES CONCERNING OLD MSS

I am very desirous of gaining some knowledge respecting the following MSS., especially as regards their locality at the present time. Perhaps some of your numerous readers can help me to the information which I seek.

1. "Whitelocke's Labours remembered in the Annales of his Life, written for the use of his Children." This valuable MS. contains a most minute and curious account of the performance of Shirley's masque, entitled The Triumphs of Peace. In 1789, when Dr. Burney published the third volume of his History of Music, it was in the possession of Dr. Morton of the British Museum.—Query, Was Dr. Morton's library disposed of by auction, or what was its destiny?

2. "A MS. Treatise on the Art of Illumination, written in the year 1525." This MS. is said by Edward Rowe Mores, in his Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders, to have been in the possession of Humphrey Wanley, who by its help "refreshed the injured or decayed illuminations in the library of the Earl of Oxford." The MS. was transcribed by Miss Elstob in 1710, and a copy of her transcript was in the possession of Mr. George Ballard. Where now is the original?

3. "A Memorandum-book in the handwriting of Paul Bowes, Esq., son of Sir Thomas Bowes, of London, and of Bromley Hall, Essex, Knight, and dated 1673." In 1783 this MS., which contains some highly interesting and important information, was in the possession of a gentleman named Broke, of Nacton in Suffolk, a descendant from the Bowes family; but I have not been able to trace it further.

4. "The Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinall." This valuable MS. was in the collection of Dr. Farmer, who wrote on the fly-leaf,—

"I believe several of the Letters and State Papers in this volume have not been published; three or four are printed in the collections at the end of Dr. Fiddes' Life of Wolsey, from a MS. in the Yelverton Library."

If I remember rightly, the late Richard Heber afterwards came into the possession of this curious and important volume. It is lamentable to think of the dispersion of poor Heber's manuscripts.

Edward F. Rimbault.

Minor Queries

Chantrey's Sleeping Children in Lichfield Cathedral.—In reference to a claim recently put forth on behalf of an individual to the merit of having designed and executed this celebrated monument, Mr. Peter Cunningham says (Literary Gazette, June 5.),—"The merit of the composition belongs to Chantrey and Stothard." As a regular reader of the "Notes and Queries," I shall feel obliged to Mr. Cunningham (whose name I am always glad to see as a correspondent) if he will be kind enough to inform me on what evidence he founds the title of Mr. Stothard to a share of the merit of a piece of sculpture, which is so generally attributed to the genius of Chantrey?

Plectrum.

Viscount Dundee's Ring.—In the Letters of John Grahame of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee, printed for the Bannatyne Club in 1826, is a description and engraving of a ring containing some of Ld. Dundee's hair, with the letters V.D., surmounted by a coronet, worked on it in gold; and on the inside of the ring are engraved a skull, and the posey—"Great Dundee, for God and me, J. Rex."

The ring, which belonged to the family of Graham of Duntrune (representative of Viscount Dundee), has for several years been lost or mislaid; perhaps, through some of the numerous readers of the "Notes and Queries," information might be obtained as to the place where that ring is at present preserved, and whether there would be any possibility of the family recovering it by purchase or otherwise.

W. C. Trevelyan.

Duntrune, near Dundee.

The Kilkenny Cats.—I would feel obliged if any of your correspondents could give me information as to the first, or any early, published allusion to the strange tale, modernly become proverbial, of the ferocity of the cats of Kilkenny. The story generally told is, that two of those animals fought in a sawpit with such ferocious determination that when the battle was over nothing could be found remaining of either combatant except his tail,—the marvellous inference to be drawn therefrom being, of course, that they had devoured each other. This ludicrous anecdote has, no doubt, been generally looked upon as an absurdity of the Joe Miller class; but this I conceive to be a mistake. I have not the least doubt that the story of the mutual destruction of the contending cats was an allegory designed to typify the utter ruin to which centuries of litigation and embroilment on the subject of conflicting rights and privileges tended to reduce the respective exchequers of the rival municipal bodies of Kilkenny and Irishtown,—separate corporations existing within the liberties of one city, and the boundaries of whose respective jurisdiction had never been marked out or defined by an authority to which either was willing to bow. Their struggles for precedency, and for the maintenance of alleged rights invaded, commenced A.D. 1377. (see Rot. Claus. 51 Ed. III. 76.), and were carried on with truly feline fierceness and implacability till the end of the seventeenth century, when it may fairly be considered that they had mutually devoured each other to the very tail, as we find their property all mortgaged, and see them each passing by-laws that their respective officers should be content with the dignity of their station, and forego all hope of salary till the suit at law with the other "pretended corporation" should be terminated, and the incumbrances thereby caused removed with the vanquishment of the enemy. Those who have taken the story of the Kilkenny cats in its literal sense have done grievous injustice to the character of the grimalkins of the "faire cittie," who are really quite as demure and quietly disposed a race of tabbies as it is in the nature of any such animals to be.

John G. A. Prim.

Kilkenny.

Robert de Welle.—Can any of your correspondents inform me of what family was Robert de Welle, who married Matilda, one of the co-heirs of Thomas de Clare, and in 15th Edward II. received seisin of possessions in Ireland, and a mediety of the Seneschalship of the Forest of Essex in her right? (Rotul. Original., Record Commission, pp. 266, 277.) And how came the Irish title of Baron Welles into the family of Knox?

Again, where can I meet with a song called the Derby Ram, very popular in my school-boy days, but of which I recollect only one stanza,—

"The man that killed the ram, Sir,Was up to his knees in blood;The boy that held the bucket, Sir,Was carried away in the flood."

I fancy it had an electioneering origin.

H. W.

Lady Slingsby.—Among many of the plays temp. Car. II. the name of "The Lady Slingsby" occurs in the list of performers composing the dramatis personæ. Who was this Lady Slingsby?

T.

God save the Queen.—Can any correspondent state the reason of the recent discontinuance of this brief but solemn and scriptural ejaculation, at the close of royal proclamations, letters, &c., read during the service of the Church?

J. H. M.

Meaning of Steyne—Origin of Adur.—Can any of your correspondents give the derivation of the word "Steyne," as used at Brighton, for instance? or the origin of the name "Adur," a small river running into the sea at Shoreham?

F.

Col. Lilburn.—Who was the author of a book called Lieut.-Colonel John Lilburn tryed and cast, or his Case and Craft discovered, &c., &c., published by authority, 1653?

P. S. W. E.

French Verses.—Will one of your readers kindly inform me from what French poet the two following stanzas are taken?

"La Mort a des rigueurs à nulle autre pareilles.On a beau la prier,La cruelle, qu'elle est, se bouche les oreilles,Et nous laisse crier."Le pauvre en sa cabane, que le chaume couvre,Est sujet à ses lois;Et la garde qui veille aux barrières du LouvreN'en défend pas les rois."E. R. C. B.

Our World.—I once heard a lady repeat the following pithy lines, and shall be glad if any of your readers can tell me who is the author, and where they first appeared,

"'Tis a very good world to live in—To lend, and to spend, and to give in;But to beg, or to borrow, or ask for one's own,'Tis the very worst world that ever was known."D. V. S.

Home, April 29.

Porson's Imposition.—When Porson was at Cambridge, his tutor lent him a pound to buy books, which he spent in getting drunk at a tavern. The tutor set him an imposition, which he made to consist in a dog-Greek poem, giving an account of the affair. These were the three first lines,—

"Τυτορ ἐμοὶ μὲν πουνδον ἐλένδετο· ῶς μάλα σιμπλοςΤὸν μὲν ἐγὼ σπένδον κατα δώματα ρεδλιονοιο,Δριγκομενος καὶ ῥωρομενος διὰ νυκτὰ βεβαίως."

Then part of another,—

"—αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ μεγάλοις κλυββοῖσιν ἐβαγχθην."

I cannot but think that some Cambridge men know the whole, which would be invaluable to retrieve. There is nothing about it in Kidd.

C. B.

Alice Rolle.—Can any of your readers conversant with Irish pedigrees, if they remember to have met with this lady's name, kindly inform me where it may be found?

S. S. S.

The Meaning of "Race" in Ship-building.—In Hawkin's Voyages ("Hakluyt Society, 1847"), p. 199., he says, "Here is offerred to speak of a point much canvassed amongst carpenters and sea-captains, diversely maintained but yet undetermined, that is, whether the race, or loftie built shippe, bee best for the merchant;" and again, p. 219.: "A third and last cause of the losse of sundry of our men, most worthy of note for all captains, owners, and carpenters, was the race building of our ship, the onely fault she had," &c. Can any of your correspondents explain what is meant by "race"; the editor of the Voyages, Captain C. R. D. Bethune, R.N., confesses himself unable to explain it.

E. N. W.

Southwark, May 27. 1850.

The Battle of Death.—I possess a curious old print entitled "The Battle of Death against all Creatures, and the Desolation wrought by Time." It bears the engraver's name, "Robert Smith," but no date. The figures, however, which are numerous, and comprise all ranks, seem to present the costume of the latter end of the 16th century. There is a long inscription in verse, and another in prose: query, who was the author of the verses, and what is the date of the engraving? As I am on the subject of prints, perhaps some person learned in such matters will also be kind enough to inform me what number constitutes a complete series of the engravings after Claude by Francis Vivares; and who was "Jean Rocque, Chirographaire du Roi," who executed several maps of portions of London, also a map of Kilkenny?

X. Y. A.

Kilkenny, June 8. 1850.

Execution of Charles I.—Is the name of the executioner known who beheaded King Charles I.? Is there any truth in the report that it was an Earl Stair?

P. S. W. E.

Morganitic Marriage.—In Ducange, &c., the adjective morganitic is connected with the morgangab (morning gift), which was usual from a husband to his wife the day after their marriage. How comes this adjective to be applied to marriages in which the wife does not take her husband's rank?

M.

Lord Bacon's Palace and Gardens.—Will any of your architectural or landscape gardening readers inform me whether any attempts were ever made by any of our English sovereigns or nobility, or by any of our rich men of science and taste, to carry out, in practice, Lord Bacon's plans of a princely palace, or a prince-like garden, as so graphically and so beautifully described in his Essays, xlv. and xlvi., "Of Building" and "Of Gardens"?

I cannot but think that if such an attempt was never made, the failure is discreditable to us as a nation; and that this work ought yet to be executed, as well for its own intrinsic beauty and excellence, as in honour of the name and fame of its great proposer.

Effaress.

June 24. 1850.

"Dies Iræ, Dies Illa."—Will any of your correspondents oblige me by answering the following Queries. Who was the author of the extremely beautiful hymn, commencing—

"Dies iræ, dies illa,Solvet sœclum in favillaTeste David cum Sibylla."

And in what book was it first printed?

A copy of it is contained in a small tract in our library, entitled Lyrica Sacra, excerpta ex Hymnis Ecclesiæ Antiquis. Privatim excusa Romæ, 1818. At the end of the preface is subscribed "T. M. Anglus." And on the title page in MS., "For the Rev. Dr. Milner, Dean of Carlisle, Master of Queen's College, in the University of Cambridge, from T. J. Mathia—" the rest of the name has been cut off in binding; it was probably Mathias. As here given, it has only twenty-seven lines. The original hymn is, I believe, much longer.

W. Sparrow Simpson.

Queen's College, Cambridge.

Aubrey Family.—In Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, under the head "Aubrey," I find the following passage:—

"Vincent, Windsor Herald in the time of Elizabeth, compiled a pedigree of the family of Aubrey, which he commences thus:—'Saint Aubrey, of the blood royal of France, came into England with William the Conqueror, anno 1066, as the Chronicles of All Souls College testify, which are there to be seen tied to a chain of iron.'"

Can any of your readers give me any information respecting this "Saint Aubrey," whose name I have not been able to find in the Roll of Battle Abbey: or respecting his son, Sir Reginald Aubrey, who aided Bernard de Newmarch in the conquest of the Marches of Wales, and any of his descendants?

Pwcca.

Ogden Family.—The writer is very desirous of information as to the past history of a family of the name of Ogden. Dr. Samuel Ogden, the author of a volume of sermons, published in 1760, was a member of it. A branch of the family emigrated to America about 1700, and still exists there. They yet bear in their crest allusion to a tradition, that one of their family hid Charles II. in an oak, when pursued by his enemies. What authority is there for this story? I shall be grateful for any indications of sources of information that may seem likely to aid my researches.

Twyford.

Replies

SIR GEORGE BUC

It has often been noticed, that when a writer wishes to support some favourite hypothesis, he quite overlooks many important particulars that militate against his own view of the case. The Rev. Mr. Corser, in his valuable communication respecting Sir George Buc (Vol. ii., p. 38.), is not exempt from this accusation. He has omitted the statement of Malone, that "Sir George Buc died on the 28th of September, 1623." (Boswell's Shakspeare, iii. 59.) We know positively that in May 1622, Sir George, "by reason of sickness and indisposition of body, wherewith it hath pleased God to visit him, was become disabled and insufficient to undergo and perform" the duties of Master of the Revels; and it is equally positive that Malone would not so circumstantially have said, "Sir George Buc died on the 28th of September, 1623," without some good authority for so doing. It is only to be regretted that the learned commentator neglected to give that authority.

Mr. Corser wishes to show that Sir George Buc's days "were further prolonged till 1660;" but I think he is in error as to his conclusions, and that another George Buc must enter the field and divide the honours with his knightly namesake.

It is perfectly clear that a George Buc was living long after the date assigned as that of the death of Sir George, by Malone. This George Buck, for so he invariably spells his name, contributed a copy of verses to Yorke's Union of Honour, 1640; to Shirley's Poems, 1646; and to the folio edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's Plays, 1647. Ritson, then, when speaking of Sir George Buc's Great Plantagenet, as published in 1635, was rather hasty in pronouncing it as the work of "some fellow who assumed his name," because here is evidence that a person of the same name (if not Sir George himself, as Mr. Corser thinks) was living at the period. The name, if assumed in the case of the Great Plantagenet, would hardly have been kept up in the publications just alluded to.

In the British Museum, among the Cotton MSS. (Tiberius, E. X.), is preserved a MS. called "The history of King Richard the Third, comprised in five books, gathered and written by Sir G. Buc, Knight, Master of the King's Office of the Revels, and one of the gentlemen of his Majesty's Privy Chamber." This MS., which appears to have been the author's rough draft, is corrected by interlineations and erasements in every page. It is much injured by fire, but a part of the dedication to Sir Thomas Howard, the Earl of Arundel, &c., still remains, together with "an advertisement to the reader," which is dated "from the King's Office of the Revels, St. Peter's Hill, 1619." This history was first published in 1646, by George Buck, Esquire, who says, in his dedication to Philip, the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, "that he had collected these papers out of their dust." Here is evidence that the work was not published by the original compiler; besides, how can Mr. Corser reconcile his author's knighthood with the designations on the respective title-pages of The Great Plantagenet, and The History of Richard the Third? In the former the writer is styled "George Buck, Esquire," and in the latter, "George Buck, Gentleman." It is difficult to account for Mr. Corser's omission of these facts, because I am well assured, that, with his extensive knowledge of our earlier poets, my information is not new to him.

That there were two George Bucs in the seventeenth century, and both of them poets, cannot, I think, be doubted. Perhaps they were not even relations; at any rate, Mr. Corser's account of the parentage of one differs from mine entirely.

"He [Sir George Buc] was born at Ely, the eldest son of Robert Bucke, and Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter Lee of Brandon Ferry; the grandson of Robert Bucke, and Jane, the daughter of Clement Higham; the great-grandson of Sir John Bucke, who, having helped Richard to a horse on Bosworth Field, was attainted for his zeal."—Chalmers' Apology, p. 488.

The MS. now in Mr. Corser's possession occurs in the Bibliotheca Heberiana, Part xi. No. 98., and I observe, by referring to that volume, that the compiler has the following note:—

"This MS. is entirely in the handwriting of Sir George Buck, Master of the Revels in the reign of James I., as prepared by him for publication. The initials G. B. correspond with those of his name, and the handwriting is similar to a MS. Dedication of his poem to Lord Chancellor Egerton, which is preserved at Bridgewater House."

The authorship of The Famous History of St. George, then, rests solely upon the initials "G. B.," and the similarity of the handwriting to that of Sir George Buc. Now it must be remembered that the MS. dedication was written in 1605, and the history after 1660! Surely an interval of fifty-five years must have made some difference in the penmanship of the worthy Master of the Revels. I think we must receive the comparison of handwritings with considerable caution; and, unless some of your readers can produce "new evidence" in favour of one or other of the claimants, I much fear that your reverend correspondent will have to exclaim with Master Ford in the play,—

"Buck. I would I could wash myself of the Buck!"Edward F. Rimbault.

I am not quite certain that I can satisfactorily answer Mr. Corser's query; but at least I am able to show that a Sir George Buck, seised in fee of lands in Lincolnshire, did die in or about 1623. In the Report Office of the Court of Chancery is a Report made to Lord Keeper Williams by Sir Wm. Jones, who had been Lord Chief Justice in Ireland, dated the 10th Nov. 1623, respecting a suit referred to him by the Lord Keeper, in which Stephen Buck was plaintiff and Robert Buck defendant. In this report is contained a copy of the will of Sir George Buck, whom I supposed to be the Sir George Buck, the master of the Revels; and the will containing a singular clause, disinheriting his brother Robert because he was alleged to be a Jesuit, and it having been supposed that Sir George Buck died intestate, I published an extract from it in my Acta Cancellariæ (Benning, 1847). On further examination of the whole of the document in question, I find it distinctly stated, and of course that statement was made on evidence adduced, that Sir George Buck was seised in fee of certain lands and tenements in Boston and Skydbrooke, both of which places, I need scarcely say, are in Lincolnshire. It is therefore, at least, not improbable that the testator was a native of Lincolnshire. It also appears that the proceedings in Chancery were instituted previously to June, 1623; and, inasmuch as Sir George Buck's will is recited in those proceedings, he must have died before they were commenced, and not in September, 1623, as I once supposed. It may, perhaps, aid Mr. Corser's researches to know that the will (which is not to be found at Doctors' Commons) mentions, besides the brother Robert, a sister, Cecilia Buck, who had a son, Stephen, who had a son, George Buck, whom his great uncle, Sir George, made ultimate heir to his lands in Lincolnshire.

Cecil Monro.

Registrars' Office, Court of Chancery.

"A FROG HE WOULD A-WOOING GO."

Your Sexagenarian who dates from "Shooter's Hill," has not hit the mark when he suggests that Anna Bouleyn's marriage with Henry VIII. (in the teeth of the Church) is the hidden mystery of the popular old song,—

"Sir Frog he would a-wooing go,Whether his mother was willing or no."

That some courtship in the history of the British monarchy, leaving a deep impression on the public mind, gave rise to this generally diffused ballad, is exceedingly probable; but the style and wording of the song are evidently of a period much later than the age of Henry VIII. Might not the madcap adventure of Prince Charles with Buckingham into Spain, to woo the Infanta, be its real origin? "Heigho! for Antony Rowley" is the chorus. Now "Old Rowley" was a pet name for Charles the Second, as any reader of the Waverley Novels must recollect. No event was more likely to be talked about and sung about at the time, the adventurous nature of the trip being peculiarly adapted to the ballad-monger.

Francis Mahony.

"A Frog he would a-wooing go" (Vol. ii., p. 45.)—Your correspondent T. S. D. is certainly right in his notion that the ballad of "A frog he would a-wooing go" is very old, however fanciful may be his conjecture about its personal or political application to Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. That it could not refer to "the Cavaliers and the Roundheads," another of T. S. D.'s notions, is clear from the fact, that it was entered at Stationers' Hall in November, 1581; as appears by the quotation made by Mr. Payne Collier, in his second volume of Extracts, printed for the Shakspeare Society last year. It runs thus:—