Notes and Queries, Number 02, November 10, 1849

A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC

"When found, make a note of."—CAPTAIN CUTTLE.

A FEW WORDS TO OUR FRIENDS

In our opening Address we carefully avoided any thing at all approaching to a boast of what we would, or even what we hoped to perform. We stated that "we would rather give a specimen than a description." We are now in like manner unwilling to point as exultingly, as we think we might, to the position which we have already taken. But there is a vast difference between vain boasting and the expression of an honest satisfaction; and it would be worse than an affectation of humility—it would be a mean hypocrisy—if we did not express heartily and unreservedly the gratitude we owe and feel to those who have encouraged us by their friendly advice and able pens. We have opened a Literary Exchange, and we have had the gratification to see that men whose learning and talents the public recognise—leaders in their several branches of inquiry—have at once taken advantage of it. They have proved the necessity for some such medium of communication, as well as their good-will to the one now offered to them, by a gathering in its behalf which the public will respect, and of which we may well feel proud.

Some whose good opinion we most value, and who have spoken most warmly in favour of our plan, have proved the sincerity of their praise by suggestions of improvement in its detail, and hints for its further extension. They may feel assured that such hints and such suggestions shall not be lost sight of. For instance, one respected correspondent hints that as we have very properly adopted Dr. Maitland's suggestion with regard to Herbert's edition of Ame's Typographical Antiquities, namely, that of "offering a receptacle for illustrations, additions, and corrections," and invited "our readers to take advantage of our columns to carry out Dr. Maitland's suggestions," we should open our columns with equal readiness to the correction and illustration of more modern and more popular works. We entirely concur with him; but in reference to this subject there is a distinction which must be borne in mind. Our own literature, like that of every other country, consists of two classes of books. We have the books of pretenders to knowledge, the hasty, crude, imperfect, but often for the time attractive and popular volumes of the Ned Purdons of the day. These books have a use—such as it is—and thus answer their purpose; but it would be for the credit of our literature, and save a world of trouble, if they were forgotten as soon as they had done so. To illustrate such books, to add to their information or correct their blunders, would be useless and almost ridiculous. They should be left to die of mere powerlessness and exhaustion, or to wither under the wholesome influence of a just and manly criticism.

But there are books of another kind—books which our worthy bibliopoles designate as "standard works." These are the books of competent workmen—books which are the result of honest labour and research, and which from the moment of their publication assume a permanent station in our national literature. Even in such books there are many things incomplete, many things erroneous. But it is the interest of every man that such books should be rendered as complete as possible; and whatever tends to illustrate or correct works of that class will be sure of insertion in our columns.

We would point to Macaulay's England, and Hallam's Introduction to the Literary History of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, his Middle Ages, and his Constitutional History, and we may add, as illustrations of a different kind, The Annals of the Stage of our excellent friend Mr. Collier, and The Handbook of London of our valued contributor Mr. Peter Cunningham, as examples of the sort of publications to which we allude. Such were the books we had in our mind, when we spoke in our Prospectus of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" becoming, through the inter-communication of our literary friends, "a most useful supplement to works already in existence—a treasury towards enriching future editions of them."

Another correspondent—a bibliographical friend—suggests that, for various reasons, which bibliographers will appreciate, our Prospectus should have a place in the body of our work. We believe that many of our readers concur in a wish for its preservation, and it will therefore be found in the Number now before them.

One suggestion again urges us to look carefully to Foreign Literature, and another points out the propriety of our making our paper as British as possible, so that our topographical facts should, as far as practicable, be restricted to the illustration of British counties, and our biographical ones to such as should contribute towards a Biographia Brittanica.

All these, and many other expressions of sympathy and promises of support, poured in upon us within a few hours after our birth. No one of them shall be forgotten; and if for a time our pages seem to indicate that we have made a QUERY as to the adoption of any suggestion, let our kind contributors be assured that there is no hint which reaches us, whether at present practicable or not, that we do not seriously and thankfully "make a NOTE of."

BISHOP AYLMER'S LETTER, AND THE POEM ON THE ARMADA

As I am in a condition to answer the inquiry of your "Hearty Well-wisher," on p. 12 of your last Number of "NOTES AND QUERIES," I proceed to give him the information he asks. I shall be happy if what follows is of any use to your correspondent, taking it for granted that he is as zealous for your success as his signature indicates.

The "foolish rhyme," to which the attention of the Bishop of London had been directed by Lord Burghley, has the subsequent doggrel title:—

This is as the title stands in the Oxford impression (of which I never saw more than one copy, because, we may presume, it was suppressed by the authorities of the University), and the following is the imprint at the bottom of it:—"Printed at Oxford by Ioseph Barnes, and are to bee sold in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Tygres head, 1589."

There exists several exemplars of the London edition—"Imprinted at London for Toby Cooke, 1589,"—the title-page of which, as well as the rest of the poem, differs only literally from that of Oxford, excepting that to the latter is appended a Latin version, also in rhyme, and in close imitation of the English. I subjoin a brief specimen of it:—

The whole production consists only of ten leaves, 4to., and the Latin portion, which has the subsequent separate title-page, occupies four of them:—

I shall not here introduce any part of the English version, because one or two long quotations will be found in the introductory portion of the Rev. A. Dyce's excellent edition of Skelton's Works (2 vols. 8vo. 1843). Respecting the Latin portion I have been more particular, because the learned editor was not aware that the production had come from the press of Barnes of Oxford, nor that a Latin version was appended to it.

I may take the liberty of adding here a mention of Skelton which escaped notice, and which is from one of the tracts against Thomas Nash, produced by Gabriel Harvey, the friend of Spenser. He couples Skelton and Scoggin together, in no very respectful manner, and completes the triumvirate by Nash, whom he here calls Signor Capriccio:—"And what riott so pestiferous as that which in sugred baites presenteth most poisonous hookes? Sir Skelton and Master Scoggin were but innocents to Signior Capricio."

This quotation is the more noticeable, because it recognises the sacred character of Skelton (however unworthy of the gown) in the prefix "Sir," which, as most people are aware, was then generally given to clergymen: Scoggin, on the other hand, is only styled "Master Scoggin."

[The preceding communication was already in type when we received the following from Mr. Bolton Corney, which we gladly print, inasmuch as it illustrates some points not touched upon by Mr. Collier.]

QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 1

It is not without some slight reluctance that I notice anonymous communications, but shall endeavour to repress such feelings with regard to the modest students who may choose to announce their desiderata through the convenient channel of the "NOTES AND QUERIES." A hearty well wisher to so commendable an enterprise, shall have my first responsive scrap.

The inquiry affords no scope for ingenuity of conjecture! The foolish rime to which bishop Aylmer refers, is undoubtedly the pamphlet thus entitled:—

The Oxford edition is recorded by Ames, and there is a copy of the London edition in the British Museum. Strype, in his account of bishop Aylmer, gives the substance of the letter as his own narrative, almost verbatim—but fails to identify the pamphlet in question. Park briefly describes it in Censura Literaria, 1815, ii. 18.; and there is a specimen of it in The Poetical Works of John Skelton, as edited by the Reverend Alexander Dyce, 1843.

While queries evince a sharp mental appetite, answers help to satisfy it; and so, by their united influence, a brisk circulation of ideas may be produced—which, as master Burton assures us, wards off melancholy.

NOTES UPON "NOTES, NO. 1."

Sir,—I take the liberty to send you one or two Notes on your first Number, just as they occur to me in looking it over. I will not trespass on you by preface or apology.

The "bibliographic project" I shall rejoice to see carried out; and though neither an unemployed aspirant nor a fortunate collector (of which class I hope many will be stimulated by the proposition), yet, as I once took some trouble in the matter, I should be happy to contribute some Notes then made whenever the plan is matured and the proposed appeal is made—provided (I must add, and to you I may add) I can find them.

The Liber Sententiarum was printed by Limborch, at Amsterdam, in 1692. It forms the greater part, as, indeed, it was the occasion, of his folio volume, entitled "Historia Inquisitionis cui subjungitur Liber Sententiarum Inquisitionis Tholosanæ ab anno Christi Cl[*C]CCCVI ad annum Cl[*C]CCCXXIII." Gibbon, in a note on his fifty-fourth chapter, observes that the book "deserved a more learned and critical editor;" and, if your correspondent will only place the Book of Sentences before the public in a readable form, with a map, and (by all means) a few notes, he will be doing a great service to all persons who take an interest in ecclesiastical history, or, indeed, in history of any kind. In the year 1731 Chandler published a translation of the History of the Inquisition, with a long Introduction of his own, but did not meddle with the Book of Sentences, except so far as to introduce into the text of the History some passages from it, which Limborch (as he appended the whole book) did not think it necessary to quote. I remember seeing the MS. in the British Museum within these ten or twelve years, and, according to my recollection, it was accompanied by papers which would furnish an interesting literary history of the volume. I hope your correspondent will give us farther information.

[Mr. Brooke, of Ufford, has also kindly replied to the Query of INQUISITORIUS, by referring him to Limborch.]

QUERY AS TO REFERENCES

Sir,—May I be permitted to suggest one way in which you may be of great service to many literary men, and indeed to the cause of literature in general; and this, too, without much trouble to yourself? Would you be willing to receive "Queries" respecting references? They frequently puzzle those who are engaged in literary works, and indeed those who are merely readers, and who have not access to public libraries or the manuscript treasures of the metropolis and the universities. If, for instance, a clergyman or squire, interested in the history of his parish, should find in the county historian something which his own local or genealogical knowledge leads him to think erroneous, vouched for by a reference to the Cotton or Harleian MSS., might he apply to you? It may be supposed that you are not very far from some one of the great fountains of information, and have easy access to all; and it is probable that you might not only do a personal favour to the inquirer, but confer a benefit on the public, by correcting an erroneous statement. Of course you would subject yourself to unreasonable requests, but the remedy would always be in your own hands.

Yours, &c.

[The Editor inserts this letter because he is sure that it comes from a friendly quarter, and he knows that something like what it suggests is very much wanted. He would feel great diffidence as to his powers of fulfilling all that might be expected if he were simply to reply in the affirmative: but he is quite willing to make the trial, and he thinks that (though sometimes perhaps with a little delay) he could in general obtain any information of this kind which could be reasonably sought.]

LINES IN THE STYLE OF SUCKLING

Mr. Editor,—The following lines are written in pencil on sheet 61. of the Notes of the Debates in the Long Parliament, taken down in the House of Commons by Sir Ralph Verney. The Notes of Debates, but not these lines, were published by the Camden Society in 1845. For any thing that appears to the contrary, these lines may have been written in the House as well as the Notes of Debates. The sheet 61. refers to debates which took place in March 1641-2. I am not aware that the lines have been published, nor can I assign them to their author. If any of your readers can tell me anything about them, I shall esteem it a favour.

24th Oct. 1849

NOTES UPON ANCIENT LIBRARIES

A knowledge of the intellectual acquirements of the middle ages must be mainly formed upon a consideration of the writings which directed them, or emanated from them. Unfortunately such materials are very imperfect, our knowledge of the existence of works often resting only upon their place in some loosely-entered catalogue—and of the catalogues themselves, the proportion still remaining must be small indeed. Under these circumstances the following documents, which are now for the first time printed, or even noticed, will be found to be of considerable interest. The first is, in modern language, a Power of Attorney, executed by the Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, appointing two of the monks of his church to be his procurators for the purpose of receiving from the convent of Anglesey, in Cambridgeshire1, a book which had been lent to the late Rector of Terrington. Its precise date is uncertain, but it must be of about the middle of the thirteenth century (1244-1254), as Nicholas Sandwich, the Prior of Christ Church, was the second of four priors who presided between the years 1234 and 1274.

"N. Prior Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis discretis viris et religiosis Domino Priori de Anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro conventui salutem in Domino. Cum sincera semper caritate noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres Gauterum de Hatdfeld et Nicolaum de Grantebrigiense Ecclesiæ nostræ monachos latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. Johannes Crisestomus de laude Apostoli. In quo etiam volumine continentur Hystoria vetus Britonum quæ Brutus appellatur et tractatus Roberti Episcopi Herfordiæ de compoto. Quæ quondam accommodavimus Magistro Laurentio de Sancto Nicholao tunc Rectori ecclesiæ de Tyrenton. Qui post decessum præfati Magistri L. penes vos morabatur et actenus moratur. In cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus."

The contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not common.

In the Reverend Joseph Hunter's valuable treatise upon English Monastic Libraries2 occurs a notice of an indenture executed in A.D. 1343, whereby the priory of Henton lent no less than twenty books to another monastic establishment. The deed is described, but not printed. It will be seen that the instrument we have given above is nearly a century earlier; and the minute description of the book given in this document supplies some very curious facts illustrative of the mode of putting together ancient books, which have not hitherto been remarked, for the simple reasons that no opportunity for comparison like that presented by the present case has yet been noticed. Among the Cottonian MSS. (Galba E. iv.) is a perfect specimen of an ancient Library Catalogue, which, although not altogether unnoticed, deserves a more careful examination than it has yet received. It relates to the magnificent monastic foundation from which emanated the deed we have printed above, and is headed "Tituli librorum de libraria Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis et contenta in eisdem libris tempore H. Prioris." It is written in that bold hand which prevails so extensively in ecclesiastical MSS., with but little variation, from the middle of the fourteenth century, to the end of the fifteenth,—a hand which is not always clearly written, and which therefore, in itself, does not materially assist in the distinction of a date. Now having first assigned the credit of this noble Catalogue—in which are entered about 600 volumes, in nearly every one of which, besides the substantive (or initial?) work, are particularised numerous detached writings, varying from two or three to five-and-forty distinct "tracts"—to Prior Henry Chichely (1413—1443), the founder of All Souls' and St. John's Colleges, Oxford, and who, "built the library of the church, and furnished it with books," we will see whether the book "qui intitulatur Johannes Crisestomus," &c. was returned to Canterbury, and had a place in the list;—and this, we think, is satisfactorily shown by the following entry:—

It may perhaps be supposed that this proves too much, as, besides the direct title of the volume, eight "tracts" are here entered, while in the Power of Attorney only two are noticed. But we would maintain, nevertheless, that it is the identical book, and explain this variation in the description by the circumstance that the library having, in the space of nearly two centuries, been materially enriched, numerous works, consisting in many cases only of a single "quaternion," were inserted in the volumes already existing. An examination of the structure of books of this period would confirm this view, and show that their apparent clumsiness is to be explained by the facility it was then the custom to afford for the interpolation or extraction of "sheets," by a contrivance somewhat resembling that of the present day for temporarily fixing loose papers in a cover, and known as the "patent leaf-holder."

The second document is a list of certain books, belonging to the monastery of Anglesey, early in the fourteenth century, allotted out to the canons of the house for the purpose of custody, or, perhaps, of study or devotion.

"Isti libri liberati sunt canonicis die … anno regni Regis Edwardi septimo"3 (7 Edw. II. A.D. 1314.)

Penes Dominum Priorem; Parabelæ Salomonis; Psalterium cum …

Penes Dominum J. de Bodek.; Epistolæ Pauli…; Quædam notulæ super psalter et liber miraculorum … Mariæ cum miraculis sanctorum.

Sub-priorem; Liber vitæ Sancti Thomæ Martiris.

Penes E. de Ely; Quartus liber sententiarum cum sermo…; Liber Reymundi; Liber de vitiis et virtutibus et pastorale.

Penes R. Pichard; Liber Alquini; Liber Johannis de Tyrington cum Catone et aliis.

Penes Henrici Muchet; Liber de vita Sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ et remediarum (?)

Penes Walteri de Yilwilden; Liber S … ligatus in panno ymnaro glosatus cum constitutionibus; Belet ligatus et vita sanctorum.

Penes Ricardi de Queye; Omeliæ Gregorii (?) super Evangelistos ligatæ in nigro corio.

In commune biblia; Decreta; Decretales; Prima pars moralium Job; Liber de abusionibus.

Liber justitiæ; penes Magistrum Adam de Wilburham.

Penes Walteri de Wyth; Liber Innocentii super sacramenta cum Belet et introductione in uno volumine.

Item penes Sup-priorem; Psalterium glosatum duod fuit in custodia Magistri Henrice de Melreth.

Item aliud psalterium glosatum inpignoratum penes Isabellam Siccadona.

Several of these descriptions are highly curious; particularly the last item, which describes one of the "glossed" psalters as being "in pawn," a fact which, in itself, tells a history of the then condition of the house.

The first document, taken in connection with that referred to by Mr. Hunter would seem to establish the existence of a system of interchanging the literary wealth of monastic establishments, and thereby greatly extending the advantages of their otherwise scanty stores. Both are executed with all the legal forms used in the most important transactions, which would support the opinion of their not being special instances: but they are, in either case, curious and satisfactory evidence of the care and caution exercised by the monks in cases where their books were concerned; and one cannot but regret that when the time came that the monasterias were destined to be dissolved, and their books torn and scattered to the winds, no attention was paid to Bale's advice for the formation of "one solemne library in every shire of England."

PEDLAR'S SONG ATTRIBUTED TO SHAKSPERE, AND TRADITION CONNECTED WITH SHAKSPERE'S "HAMLET."

The following verses, which would form a very appropriate song for Autolycus, were arranged as a glee for three voices by Dr. Wilson about the year 1667. They are published in Playford's Musical Companion in 1673; in Warren's Collection of Glees and Catches; and in S. Webbe's Conveto Harmonico. The words were, I believe, first ascribed to Shakspere by Clark, in 1824, in his Words of Glees, Madrigals, &c.; but he has not given his authority for so doing. It has been stated that they have since been discovered in a common-place book written about Shakspere's time, with his name attached to them, and with this indirect evidence in favour of their being written by him, that the other pieces in the collection are attributed to their proper writers. The late Mr. Douce, who was inclined to believe the song to have been written by Shakspere, once saw a copy of it with a fourth verse which was shown to him by the then organist of Chichester. The poem is not included in Mr. Collier's edition of Shakspere, nor in the Aldine edition of Shakspere's Poems, edited by the Rev. A. Dyce. Perhaps if you will be good enough to insert the song and the present communication in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," some of your readers may be enabled to fix the authorship and to furnish the additional stanza to which I have referred.