of the effigy-a badge worn by every officer of the court in the sixteenth century. The same thing appears in the brass to Robert Rochester, Sergeant of the Pantry, 1514, in the church of St. Helen, Bishopsgate.

The figure of the lady is the same length as that of her husband. She wears a close-fitting robe, and a narrow girdle; the ends of which, hanging down, support a square of embroidery with "I. H. S." The sleeves are puffed and ribbed, but close fitting and gathered at the wrists. The dress opens at the breast, displaying the partlett beneath, type of the modern habit-shirt. The head-dress is a cap of horseshoe shape, and has a lappet behind—a species of head gear which became historical as the Mary Queen of Scots' сар.

That Thynne held Protestant views of religious matters is confirmed not only by the above quoted epitaph and will, but also by what Francis Thynne declares of his father's admission of "The Plowman's Tale" into the second edition (1542) of the Collected Works of Chaucer-a poem full of reflections upon the evil lives of the clergy,

and for his interest in which he incurred the dis

pleasure of Cardinal Wolsey and the bishops, who forced him to omit this tale from his first edition.* For a complete account of Thynne, see H. J. Todd's Illustrations of Gower and Chaucer; Anthony Wood's Athena Oxonienses; Erasmus, Epistola XV., Ep. XIV.; Blakeway's Sheriffs of Shropshire; B. Botfield's Stemmata Botevilliana. JUXTA TURRIM.

It is curious that Steevens, in a note on this

last passage, states that brides (and among them Anna Boleyn) formerly walked to church with their hair hanging loose behind, and yet missed the meaning of "untrimmed bride," so far as to give a ludicrous explanation of it.

be that the loosened hair was intended to denote

Is the origin or meaning of this custom known? Looking to the Scotch maiden's snood, may it not that period between maidenhood and matron life, when the bride could not as yet wear the hair matron-fashion; but was preparing for it, and casting off the confining band could walk without it, and without shame, before God and man? Or was it simply a custom taken from the six locks phrase (1 Cor. xi. 15), that long hair was the of the Roman brides, and justified by St. Paul's glory of a woman? Should the first conjecture be correct, it would follow that no widow, nor any but a virgin, could on her marriage day appear thus untrimmed; and that this word would, therefore, signify virgin in both its senses.

3. "Nym. I will incense Page to deal with poison; I will dangerous."-Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I. Sc. 3. possess him with yellowness, for the revolt of mine is

In an after passage Nym, in explanation of his treachery, and as a hint to Page, says: "I love not the humour of bread and cheese." And, in fact, neither he nor Pistol are men enough to seek revenge for revenge sake; but are mere mercenary rogues, who only look upon it as they would on gourds and fullams, or a short knife and a throng, or any such means of beguiling one of a tester. In accordance with this, Nym is made to talk of revenge, but shown to think more of gaining by it; and, in his fantastic way, quibbles and says: "I will possess Page with yellowness, for the revolt of mine, of my yellows, the loss of my gold is dangerous." Yellow-boys, in the slang of our day, is a synonym for guineas; and I was led to the above explanation by finding, in the Cambridge Shakspeare, that the corresponding phrase in the first edition of the play was-"I'll pose him with yellows." It seemed to me likely that, when Shakspeare came to re-write this play, his quick wit took the conceit at sight of the word "yellows;" though he altered the phraseology, so as to make it less of a verbal and more of a mental pun.

Since then, I have come across the word “revolt" in an exactly similar sense in Northward Ho! (Act II. Sc. 2), where Greenshield says: —

"I could not have told what shift to have made, for the greatest part of my money is revolted."

Hence it would seem, either that the phrase was (like Nym's humours) one of the known affectations of the day, or that, as in other instances, Webster has industriously remembered "the right happy industry of Master Shakspeare."

4. Having no other place for it, might I add to these stray jottings a suggestion as to the part played by Richard Perkins in Vittoria Corombona? In the postscript of the play, Webster says:

"In particular, I must remember the well-approved industry of my friend Master Perkins, and confess the worth of his action did crown both the beginning and end.”

Now he could not have acted Brachiano: first, because Burbadge played that part; and secondly, because Brachiano dies long before the conclusion of the piece. But, without a doubt, the most difficult character to sustain and express is that of Flamineo; and it is not only an impersonation which would require great care, study, and talent to present in all its varied phases, and to prevent its becoming other than a monstrum informe too horrible to be borne, but in conformity with Webster's words, it is one which is a conspicuous and principal one, from the beginning to the very end. Again S. Sheppard, in his epigram on "Mr. Webster's most excellent Tragedy," as quoted by Mr. Dyce, says:

-

"Flamineo such another The Devil's darling, murtherer of his brother, His part most strange (given him to act by thee), Doth gain him credit and not calumnie."

So that we have a staunch friend and supporter of Webster giving to the actor who took Flamineo and to no other, such praise as Webster himself gives to Perkins and to no other; while he tells us that Webster either wrote the part for him, or gave it to him as its fittest representative. Seeing, therefore, how all these allusions dovetail in one with another, I think it may be reasonably concluded that Perkins played Flamineo.

BENJ. EASY.

P.S. Allow me also to correct an erratum in my Note on versification ("N. & Q.," 3rd S. iv. 202, col. 2). I, or the printer, have accidentally put, were kindness," instead of "were kindness." It is well known that ess, as in duchess, &c., is often considered as absorbable.

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SHAKESPEARE AND NED ALLEYN.-Your correspondent INQUISITOR (antè, p. 203), asks for traces of certain letters of Shakespeare, cautiously suggesting that the mention of them, which he quotes from a periodical of 1802, may have been a hoax. Permit me to follow up the question. The folly of a hoax on such a matter will be pardoned if a hearty discussion of the proper way to discover familiar remains of the great poet can be obtained.

Shakespeare had Sussex connections; the Buckhurst Lord, and Thomas, Earl of Arundel -8

magnificent man, must have been among his honored patrons. Ned Alleyn, the noble founder of Dulwich College, his dear friend, had possessions in Sussex, and corresponded with one, or both, of these most learned persons.

The treasures at Knole, in Kent, at Wittyham, at Arundel Castle, at the seat of the Shirleys, Weston, at that of the Ashburnhams, and at a dozen other places in Kent, Surrey, and above all, Sussex, ought to be carefully searched for Shakspeariana. MR. PAYNE COLLIER once worked upon Alleyn's MSS. at Dulwich College. Is anything more doing with them?

- a

This is an important topic every way. Alleyn belonged to the household of Prince Henry paragon. Shakespeare hailed his advent. This is clear from passages in two plays. Ben Jonson joins us in the chorus on that head.

It is not too late to discover writings from these heroes of our race, that will surpass in interest the storied stones of Nineveh and the gold SEARCHER. of Australia.

PASSAGE IN "HAMLET," Act III. Sc. 4. (3rd S. iv. 121.)-With deference to MR. KEIGHTLEY, there surely is meaning in the line from Hamlet

"That monster, Custom, which all sense doth eat," and a meaning which would be entirely inverted by the proposed substitution of create for eat. That Hamlet means to say of "Custom," that it eats, or destroys, our sense, or perception, of what we are accustomed to, seems absolutely proved by the fact, that in the very same scene he has already announced, in other words, such a thought with respect to "Custom":"Peace, sit you down,

And let me wring your heart; for so I shall,
If it be made of penetrable stuff;
If damned Custom have not braz'd it so,
That it is proof and bulwark against sense.”
ALFRED ROFFE.

99

Somers Town.

"A Jubilee, as it hath lately appeared, is a public invitation, circulated and urged by puffing, to go post without horses, to an obscure borough without representatives, governed by a mayor and aldermen who are no magistrates, to celebrate a great poet whose own works have made him immortal, by an ode without poetry, music without melody, dinners without victuals, and lodgings without beds; a masquerade where half the people appeared barefaced, a horse-race up to the knees in water, fireworks extinguished as soon as they were lighted, and a gingerbread amphitheatre which, like a house of cards, tumbled to pieces as soon as it was finished."

The following pamphlets appeared at the time:

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'Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew, As falcon doth the fowl."

Measure for Measure (Claudio), III. 1. Whoever has observed how game will not rise, but lie close, or huddle together for shelter, or how small birds seek covert and cease their twitterings when a hawk is circling above them, will at once understand the force of emmew in this passage; and how Angelo's sharp swoops on " follies,' Pompeys and Pompeys' mistresses, ended either in his emmewing them in prison, or in their emmewing themselves, not merely in the suburbs, their generally tolerated covert, but in its baths. The quotation from Nash, to my mind, shows clearly that enew was not Shakspeare's word, nor could give his meaning, for Angelo's swoops were too sudden and certain; there was no playing with his prey. In all probability also the em of emmew is not so much the causal prepositive en- as the euphonic variant of in-mew, to mew up closely, like "insheltered and embayed" (Othello), or

that sweet breath, Which was embounded in this beauteous clay." King John. BENJ. EASY.

BACKARE (3rd S. iv. 203.)-I cannot at all agree with MR. THOS. KEIGHTLEY in his suggestion that this word is a corruption of the French bigarré, "brindle," and has primarily nothing to do with the Anglo-Saxon back. Is it not probable that the address of Mortimer to his sow, as occurring in the

[3rd S. IV. Nov. 7, '63.

stinacy and stupidity of pigs when it is attempted to Roister Doister, has reference to the proverbial obdrive them singly? The quotations from Heyquestionably point to the word back as the essential wood's Epigrams and the Taming of the Shrew unpart of the etymology of backare. In a esting note by Mr. T. Rodd (Pictorial Shakspeare, very interIllustrations to King Lear, III. 4), backarè is considered as a term of somewhat cognate meaning with aroint, whose etymology is supposed to be Greek(?) and Gothic languages, in the sense of from ar or aer, a very ancient word common to the two words, it is said, occur in the German Version of Luther(?) (Luke iv. 8). Hynt ar me thu to go," and hynt, i. e. "hind or "behind." The Sathanas. Are not these words Gothic? The term aroint then="go behind," and backarè="go back." (See further remarks in Mr. Rodd's note.) W. H.

66

volume before it found its present secure restingplace, are, I think, worthy of a place in the first The following adventures which befel this very rank of bibliographical romance.

written on bibliographical matters by the Rector The story has never, so far as I know, been of Pilham, in 1847, to the Rev. S. R. Maitland. published; and originally formed part of a letter By the kind permission of the latter gentleman, I have been allowed to copy it:

:

the great value of the book. While he was examining the book, Stark, a very intelligent bookseller, came in, to whom Mr. Bird at once ceded the right of pre-emption. Stark betrayed such visible anxiety that the vendor, Smith, declined settling a price. Soon after, Sir C. came in, and took the book to collate; and brought it back in the morning, having found it imperfect in the middle, and offered 51. for it. Sir Charles had no book of reference to guide him to its value; but in the mean time, Stark had employed a friend to obtain for him the refusal of it, and had undertaken to give a little more than Sir Charles might offer. On finding that at least 52. could be got for it, Smith went to the owner and gave him two guineas, and then proceeded to Stark's agent and sold it for 74. 7s. Stark took it to London, and sold it to the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville for 70 or 80 guineas.

"It must now be stated how it came to pass, that a book without covers of such extreme age was preserved. About fifty years since, the Library of Thonock Hall, in the parish of Gainsboro', the seat of the Hickman family, underwent great repairs; and the books were sorted over by a most ignorant person, whose selection seems to have been determined by the coat. All books without covers were thrown into a great heap, and condemned to all the purposes which Leland laments in the sack of the Conventual Libraries by the visitors. But they found favour in the eyes of a literate gardener, who begged leave to

take what he liked home. He selected a large quantity of Sermons before the House of Commons, local pamphlets, tracts from 1680 to 1710, opera books, &c., &c. He made a list of them, which was afterwards found in his cottage; and No. 43, was Cotarmouris.' The old fellow was something of a herald, and drew in his books what he held to be his coat. After his death, all that

could be stuffed into a large chest were put away in a garret; but a few favourites, and The Boke among them, remained on the shelves of the kitchen for years, till his son's widow grew so stalled of dusting them that she determined to sell them."

Here ends the material part of the story. The volume was afterwards splendidly bound, and is now the only copy in the British Museum. WILLIAM BLADES.

11, Abchurch Lane.

CHRISTIAN NAMES.

In its critique on The History of Christian Names, by Miss Yonge, The Times (Oct. 22) mentions some of its omissions, and further says,

"Many an unhappy child, when school-life has been made a torment to him through the name which he has received at baptism, would rejoice if the practice prevailed in the English Church, which is common among Romanists, of assuming a new name at confirmation. It seems doubtful whether this has ever been done among us; but the industrious correspondents of Notes and Queries might, perhaps, be able to discover one or two examples of it. The surname, we all know, can be altered with ease, even when an obstinate Lord-Lieutenant would stop the way; but Christian names appear to be by law unchangeable."

With regard to its omissions, the reviewer says, "We once knew a Shadrach in the West of England." I also knew one in Worcestershire, where he now lives as a country gentleman, whose name, when we were at school together, was commonly

abbreviated to "Shade." Then Miss Yonge says (according to The Times reviewer, for I have not yet seen her book) that "the only known river names are Tiberius and Jordan," and Derwent and Rotha. But, besides the Thames Darrell of Ainsworth's fiction, I might mention Mr. Severn Walker of Worcester, the able and active honorary secretary to the Worcester Diocesan Architectural Society. Then there was Sabrina Sidney (the Shrewsbury orphan, named after the Severn), who was selected and educated to be the model wife of the eccentric Thomas Day, the author of Sandford and Merton. Has Miss Yonge given any Christian names taken from towns and villages wherein the children were born, or where were the family estates? I know of more than one such instance. Or, of Christian names from seasons of the year? as Spring Rice, and Winter Jones. And, although I suppose that the Christian name of "Christmas' is not very common, yet it so happens that in this little village from whence I write this note, two out of its twelve houses are ruled over by a Christmas, here from opposite ends of the county, and not the two men living two doors apart, having come being of kin. One of the men is my gardener, and procures his cabbage plants, &c. from Christmas Q-, a famous market gardener, who lives four miles off. Then there are Christian names as

imaginative as that given by Sydney Smith to his daughter:

"Being now in possession of a daughter, it became necessary to give her a name: and nobody would believe the meditations, the consultations, and the comical discussions he held on this important point. At last he determined to invent one; and Saba was the result."-Sydney Smith's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 22.

I have quoted this as a heading to my tale of "Mareli," in The Curate of Cranston, where Mareli is supposed to be a girl so named after her two godmothers, Mary and Elizabeth, neither of whom would permit her name to come second; in which conjuncture the father hit upon the idea of coining the one name of Mareli out of the two sponsorial names. Although the incidents of the sketch are purely fictitious, yet it was a fact (as I was assured on good authority) that a girl was named Mareli for the above reasons; and it was upon this hint that I framed the sketch. I also headed that sketch with a second quotation, from an article on "Curiosities of Registration" in Chambers's Journal; I neglected to note the date, but it was prior to 1862:

•

"No names are too absurd for parents to give their children. Here are innocents stamped for life as 'Kidnum Toats,' Lavender Marjoram,' Patient Pipe,' 'Tais one called Eli Lama Sabacthani Pressnail.' litha Cumi,' Fussy Gotobed,' and, strangest of all, here

•

999

The Times' reviewer says, "Tabitha Cumi People" was registered a few years since.

CUTHBERT BEDE.

The above is at present hidden by recent improvements. It is written from memory and therefore the spelling is modern.

A LORD OF A MANOR. LONGEVITY.-The following is extracted from the Parish Register of Llanmaes, Glamorgan. The entry is evidently original, and of the date given, and the writing is clear: :

"Ivan Yorath, buried a Saturdaye the xiiii day of July, Anno dōni 1621, et anno regni regis vicesimo primo annoque ætatis circa 180. He was a sowdier in the fighte of Bosworthe, and lived at Lantwitt Major, and hee lived much by fishing."

Also

"Thomas Watkin, sepultus fuit decimo octavo die Martii, Anno Dom: 1628. Etat. circa 100."

C.

LONGEVITY OF INCUMBENTS.-Passing through the churchyard of Great Oxendon, Northamptonshire, a few days ago, I made a note of an inscription on a tomb erected to the memory of the Rev. George Burton, M.A., who was born August 10, 1761, died August 16, 1843, and was fifty-seven years rector of that parish. T. NORTH.

Leicester.

PETER CATHENA.-This author's name is but

very little known, and his works are all very scarce. He was one of those mathematicians who wrote on logic and almanacs. Born at Venice about 1501. He was Professor at the University of Padua. He wrote De Sphæra lib. iv.; De Calculo Astronomico; De primo Mobili; Ephemerides annorum XII.; Oratio pro Methodi, 4to, Pat. 1563; and an Explanation of the mathematical parts of Aristotle's Logic, 4to, Venice, 1556. WM. DAVIS.

MODERN CORRUPTIONS. Allow me to protest against a slipslop custom which is becoming very general, viz. that of giving to certain nouns in the singular number a plural signification-e. g. fowl, chicken, shell (as applied to missiles), fish generally (people even say, a shoal of herring"), with many other examples of a similar kind, which do not at the present moment occur to me. The proper names of Etheldred and Etheldreda are also almost universally corrupted into Ethelred

66

JOHN PAVIN PHILLIPS.

and Ethelreda. Haverfordwest.

-

HIGHLAND LOVE 108 YEARS AGO.-The following brief record of the conduct of "a fickle fair one," and the cool manner in which it was treated

by "the swain," may interest some of the readers of " N. & Q."

"1755, Aug. 24. [The church-session]. Received advice that the purpose of marriage betwixt Peter Wright, in Milltown of Auchollie, and Helen Gray, in Balno, is flowen up upon the bride's side, consequently she has forfeited her pledge, which is a crown; and that the said Peter Wright is again contracted in order to marriage with Barbara Smith, in Upper Achollie, yesternight."

In this case 66 a crown" (the forfeited security) means 5s. Scots money, or 5d. sterling; and the singular graphic expression of "flowen up" appears to be of the same import as that of the saying of "the swine's run throw't," now in common use among the lower classes in Scotland in like circumstances; and of those of "it's all up," or, "the match is broken off," among the better educated. The extract is from the old Session Records of the united parishes of Glenmuick, Tullich, and Glengairn, Aberdeenshire, in which is situated the Prince of Wales's "Highland home" of Birkhall.

A. J.

REV. JOSEPH WILKINSON.-This gentleman may be mentioned as an instance of neglected biography. He was of Queen's College, Oxford; B.A. Nov. 21, 1786. On August 5, 1803, he was presented to the consolidated rectories of East and West Wrotham, in the county of Norfolk, on the presentation of the Right Hon. Thomas Wallace; and, on May 23, 1817, became perpetual curate and sequestrator of Breckles, in the same county. He was also chaplain to the Duke of Gordon. He died Oct. 10, 1831, in the sixtyseventh year of his age; and was buried at Thetford St. Mary, in Suffolk, where is a monument commemorating him and Mary his wife, who died Nov. 20, 1817, aged sixty. His works are: —

1. "Select Views in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire." London, folio, 1812.

2. "Picturesque Tour through Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire." Folio, 1812.

3. "The Architectural Remains of the Ancient Town and Borough of Thetford, in the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk; tending to illustrate Martin's and Blomefield's Histories of Thetford: twenty-five Plates, etched by H. Davy, from Drawings by the Rev. Joseph Wilkinson." London, folio and 4to, 1822.