Part 2

_On a Passage in the Second Part of Henry IV.--The Death of Falstaff._--I have read with much pleasure your very temperate remarks on the fiery contributions of some of your correspondents; and I trust that, after so gentle a rebuke from certainly the most good-natured Editor living, all will henceforth go "merry as a marriage bell." Amongst the lore that I have picked up since my first acquaintance with "N. & Q.," is that profound truth,

"'Tis a very good world that we live in:"

but I must say I think it would be a very dull one if we all thought alike; as "N. & Q." would be a very dull book if it were not seasoned with differences of opinion, and its pages diversified with discussions and ingenious argument. And what can be more agreeable, when, like an animated conversation, it is conducted with fairness and good temper?

However, now we are to start fair again; and to begin with a difference, I must presume to question a decision of your own which I would fain see recalled. I believe with you that MR. COLLIER'S _Notes and Emendations_ gives the true reading of the passage in _Henry V._, "on a table of green frieze," and I, moreover, think that Theobald's conjecture "and 'a babbled o' green fields," was worthy of any poet. Theobald was engaged in the laborious work of minute verbal correction, and necessarily took an isolated view of particular passages. Presenting the difficulty which this passage did, his suggestion was a happy and poetical thought. But when you say that the scholiast excelled his author, we must take another view of the case. The question is not as to which passage is the most poetical, but which is most in place; which was the idea most natural to be expressed. And in this I think you will admit that Shakspeare's judgment must be deferred to, and that taking the character of Falstaff, _together with the other circumstances detailed of his death_, it is not natural that he should be represented as "babbling o' green fields."

You are aware that Fielding, in his _Journey from this World to the next_, met with Shakspeare, who, in answer to a similar question to that put to Göthe, gave a like answer to the one you report. This arises in a great measure from the imperfection of language; the most careful writers at times express themselves obscurely. But with regard to Ben Jonson, I should say that, though neither a mean nor an unfriendly critic, he was certainly a prejudiced one. He saw Shakspeare from the conventional-classic point of view, and {314} would doubtless have "blotted" much that we should have regretted submitting to his judgment. Yet, after all, the anecdote is not according to the fact. Shakspeare _did_ "blot" thousands of lines, probably many more than Ben Jonson himself ever did; and of this we have the best evidence in whole plays almost re-written. Even in the single instance rare Ben gives of Shakspeare's incorrectness, published many years after the latter's death, the memory or hearing of the former either were at fault, or the line had been "blotted."

Absolute perfection is, of course, not to be looked for; there is no such thing in reference to human affairs, unless it be in constant and unobstructed growth and development. This is exhibited in Shakspeare's writing to a degree shown by no other writer. The shortcomings of Shakspeare are most evident when he is compared with himself,--the earlier with the later writer. But take his earliest work, so far as can be ascertained, in its earliest form, and the literature of the age cannot produce its equal.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

"I knew there was but one way, for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields."--_Shakspeare._

"I knew there was but one way, for his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze."--_Shakspeare corrected._

Some of the alterations in the manuscript corrections in MR. COLLIER'S old edition of Shakspeare's plays I agree with, but certainly not in this one, since we lose much and gain nothing by it. Shakspeare, in drawing a character such as Falstaff, loaded with every vice that flesh is heir to, and yet making him a favourite with the audience, must have been most anxious respecting his death, and therefore awakened our sympathy in his favour. In ushering in the account of the death-bed scene, he makes Bardolph say:

"Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven or in hell."

This expression Burns the poet considered the highest mark of regard that one man could pay to another, for in his poem on a departed friend, he says:

"With such as he, where'er he be, May I be saved, or damn'd."

Mrs. Quickly, in describing the scene, says:

"He's in Arthur's (Abraham's) bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom child; for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his finger's ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a _babbled of green fields_."

Mrs. Quickly, after describing the outward signs of decay and second childishness, tells us he _babbled_. Shakspeare, as the only means of gaining our forgiveness, makes him die in repentance for his sins, and seems to have had the Twenty-third Psalm in his mind, where David puts his trust in God's grace, when amongst other passages it says: "He maketh me lie down in _green pastures_," and further on, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." I have endeavoured to give you a reason why I prefer the _old_ reading of the text: if any of your correspondents will give a better for the _new_, I shall be glad to see it, as I am convinced the more we examine into the works of our wonderful bard, the more we shall be convinced of his superhuman genius; we are, therefore, all indebted to MR. COLLIER for his searching investigations, as they set us in a reflective mood.

J. B.

Your just remarks on Theobald's "'a babbled of green fields" recalls to me a note which I find appended to the passage in the margin of my Shakspeare,

"'A babbled of green fields, _i.e._ singing snatches of the 23rd Psalm:

'In pastures green He feedeth me,' &c. 'And though I walk e'en at death's door,' &c."

This note I jotted down in my schoolboy days, and thirty years' experience at the beds of the dying only convinces me of its correctness. Again and again have I heard the same sweet strains hymned from the lips of the dying, and soothing with hope the sinking spirit, ay, even of great and grievous sinners. Indeed, I have come to stamp it as a sure mark of impending death, and have said with the dame, "I knew there was but one way, for 'a babbled of green fields;" though I trust with different doctrine than her's, viz. that religion is the business of none but the dying, and thence, that to talk of religion is a sure sign of approaching death.

When Falstaff "babbled of green fields," he was labouring under no "calenture." His heart was far away amid the early fresh pure scenes of childhood, and he was babbling forth snatches of hymns and holy songs, learned on his mother's knee, and now called up, in his hour of need, to cheer, as best they might, his parting spirit. Strange is it that Theobald, when he suggested so happy an emendation, missed half its beauty and its real bearing.

Throughout the whole passage it is evident that Falstaff was ejaculating scraps of long forgotten hymns and Scripture texts, which were utterly incomprehensible to those about him. "'A babbled of green fields,"--"he cried out of sack,"--"and of women,"--"incarnate,"--"whore of Babylon,"--all suggest holy ejaculations, perverted by the ignorance of the godless bystanders.

In all Shakspeare there is hardly to be found a more touching scene, or one more true to nature; {315} it is most graphic and characteristic. The loneliness of the dying sinner, with none to stand by him but the godless companions of his riot and debauchery; the eagerness of the despairing man to catch at anything of the semblance of hope that he could recall from the lessons of his childhood, "He shall feed me in a green pasture," &c.--then--ere he could reach those assuring words, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me," the miserable consciousness that it is all too late, "So 'a cried out God, God, God;"--then--the utter want of religious sympathy in the bystanders, Nym, Quickly, Bardolph, Boy, in their misinterpretations, and perverse commentaries on his ejaculations, just such as we might expect from hearts gorged to the full with vice and sensuality;--then--the redeeming touch of tenderness in the Dame, beaming through all her benighted efforts to cheer, in her own way (awful to think on, the only way known to her), the last hours of her dear old roysterer, "Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God, I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet;" and the undying fondness with which she upholds his memory, and will not brook a word of ribaldry, or what _she_ deems slander, against it, all evidencing that--

"The worst of _sin_ had left her woman still."

Surely a scene more characteristic of all the parties in it, is not to be found in Shakspeare.

NEMO.

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Doings of the Calf's Head Club._--In an old newspaper called _The Weekly Oracle_, of Feb. 1, 1735, is the following curious paragraph:

"Thursday (Jan. 29) in the evening a disorder of a very particular nature happened in Suffolk Street; 'tis said that several young gentlemen of distinction having met at a house there, calling themselves the Calf's Head Club; and about seven o'clock a bonfire being lit up before the door, just when it was in its height, they brought a calf's head to the window dressed in a napkin-cap, and after some huzzas, threw it into the fire. The mob were entertained with strong beer, and for some time hallooed as well as to best; but taking a disgust at some healths which were proposed, grew so outrageous that they broke all the windows, forced themselves into the house, and would probably have pulled it down, had not the guards been sent to prevent further mischief. The damage is computed at some hundred pounds. The guards were posted all night in the street for the security of the neighbourhood."

E. G. BALLARD.

_Epitaph by Wordsworth._--There is a beautiful epitaph by Wordsworth in Sprawley Church, Worcestershire, to the wife of G. C. Vernon, Esq., of Hanbury. Wordsworth has made the following slight alterations to it, in his published poems: I quote from the one-volume 8vo. edition of Moxon (1845). The first two lines are not on the tablet. The words within brackets are those which appear in the original epitaph:--

"_By a blest husband guided, Mary came_ _From nearest kindred_, Vernon _her new name_; She came, though meek of soul, in seemly pride Of happiness and hope, a youthful bride. O dread reverse! if aught _be_ so which proves That GOD will chasten whom he dearly loves, Faith bore her up through pains in mercy given, And troubles _that_ [which] were each a step to Heaven. Two babes were laid in earth before she died; A third now slumbers at the mother's side; Its sister-twin survives, whose smiles _afford_ [impart] A trembling solace to _her widow'd lord_ [her father's heart.]

Reader! if to thy bosom cling the pain Of recent sorrow combated in vain; Or if thy cherish'd grief have fail'd to thwart Time, still intent on his insidious part, Lulling the mourner's best good thoughts asleep, Pilfering regrets we would, but cannot, keep; Bear with _him_ [those]--judge _him_ [those] gently who _makes_ [make] known _His_ [their] bitter loss by _this memorial_ [monumental] stone; And pray that in _his_ [their] faithful breast the grace Of resignation find a hallow'd place."

CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A.

_Tailor's "Cabbage."_--

"The term _cabbage_, by which tailors designate the cribbed pieces of cloth, is said to be derived from an old word, 'cablesh,' _i. e._ wind-fallen wood. And their 'hell,' where they store the cabbage, from 'helan,' to hide."

CLERICUS RUSTICUS.

_Misquotations._--1. Sallust's memorable definition of friendship, as put into the mouth of Catiline (cap. 20.), is quoted in the "Translation of Aristotle's Ethics," in Bohn's _Classical Library_ (p. 241. note _h_), as the saying of Terence.

2. The _Critic_ of September 1st quotes the "Viximus insignes inter utramque facem" of Propertius (lib. iv. 11. 46.) as from Martial.

3. In _Fraser's Magazine_ for October 1852, p. 461., we find "Quem patente portâ," &c. quoted from Terence instead of Catullus, as it is correctly in the number for May, 1853.

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

_The Ducking Stool._--In the Museum at Scarborough, one of these engines is preserved. It is said that there are persons still living in the town, who remember its services being employed when it stood upon the old pier. It is a substantial arm-chair of oak; with an iron bar extending {316} from elbow to elbow, just as the wooden one is placed in child's chair to prevent the occupant from falling forward.

W. J. BERNHARD SMITH.

Temple.

_Watch-paper Inscription._--Akin to dial inscriptions are inscriptions on watch-papers used in the days of our grandfathers, in the outer case of the corpulent watch now a-days seldom seen. I send you the following one, which I read many years since; but as I did not copy the lines, I cannot vouch for their being strictly accurate:

"Onward perpetually moving, These faithful hands are ever proving How quick the hours fly by; This monitory pulse-like beating, Seems constantly, methinks, repeating, Swift! swift! the moments fly. Reader, be ready--for perhaps before These hands have made one revolution more Life's spring is snapt--you die!"

F. JAMES.

* * * * *

Queries.

BIRTHPLACE OF GEN. MONK.

In a clever biographical sketch by M. Guizot, originally published in a French periodical (the _Revue Française_) under the title of "Monk, Etude Historique," George Monk, first Duke of Albemarle, is said to have been born on the 6th of December, 1608, at the manor-house of Potheridge, the ancient inheritance of his family, in the county of Devon.

This Potheridge (otherwise Pen-the-ridge) is, it appears, a village or hamlet situated "on the ascendant ridge of a small hill," in the parish of Merton, about four miles south-west of Torrington. As M. Guizot's statement, in so far as locality is concerned, seems open to doubt at least, if not positive exception, I wish to elicit, and place on record, through the medium of "N. & Q." if I can, some farther and perhaps more decisive information on the subject. In opposition to M. Guizot's authority (whence derived or whatever it might be), Lysons, in his account of Devonshire in the _Magna Britannia_, positively lays the _venue_ of Monk's birth in the parish of Lancros or Landcross, near Bideford, confirmatorily alleging that his baptism took place there on the 11th of December in the year above mentioned. In another account, a notice of the Restoration by M. Riordan de Muscry, appended to Monteth's _History of the Rebellion_, he is said to have been born in Middlesex, an assertion to which (in the absence of all authority) little value can, of course, be given. The slightest local investigation, including a reference to the parochial registers of Landcross and Merton, would, however, probably at once solve the difficulty. But for the known fidelity of Lysons, and the probability of his possessing superior information on the specific point at issue over that of M. Guizot, I should be most reluctant to impeach the accuracy of any statement of fact, however trifling or minute, emanating from that distinguished writer. Few indeed there are, even amongst our own historians, whose claims on our faith, arising from close and accurate research, intimate knowledge, clear perception, and thorough comprehension of the events of that most eventful period of English history, commencing with the Revolution of 1640, can (as manifested in their published works at least) vie with those of M. Guizot. With some few of the opinions, interpretations, constructions, and comments passed or placed by M. Guizot on the life and actions of Monk in this same "Etude Historique," I shall, perhaps (with all deference), be tempted to deal on some future occasion. An able translation of the work, from the pen of the present Lord Wharncliffe, appeared in 1838, the year immediately succeeding its first publication. The prefatory observations and valuable notes there introduced richly illustrate the text of M. Guizot, whose labours, in this instance, are certainly not discreditably reflected through the medium of his English editor. With one expression of Lord Wharncliffe's, however (in the note to which this paper chiefly refers), I take leave to differ, wherein he hints that the question of Monk's birthplace can have little interest beyond the limits of the county of Devon, clearly a palpable error.

F. KYFFIN LENTHALL.

* * * * *

Minor Queries.

_Harmony of the Four Gospels._--Can any of your correspondents furnish me with the date of the earliest Harmony, or the titles of any early ones? Any information on the subject will much oblige

Z.4.

_The Noel Family._-Will any of your readers be kind enough to give me information on the following point? About the commencement of the last century, a Rev. Wm. Noel lived at Ridlington, county of Rutland: he was rector of that parish about the year 1745. What relation was he to the Earl of Gainsborough then living? Was it not one of the daughters of this clergyman who married a Capt. Furye?

TEECEE.

_Council of Trent._--References are requested to any worlds illustrative of the extent of knowledge attainable by the Romish clergy at the sittings of this council, in (1.) ecclesiastical antiquities, (2.) historical traditions, (3.) biblical hermeneutics.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Birmingham.

{317}

_Roman Catholic Patriarchs._--Has any bishop in the Western Church held the title of patriarch besides the Patriarch of Venice? And what peculiar authority or privileges has he?

W. FRASER.

Tor-Mohun.

_The "Temple Lands" in Scotland._--I am anxious to learn some particulars of these lands. I recollect of reading, some time ago, that the superiorities of them had been acquired by John B. Gracie, Esq., W. S. Edinburgh; but whether by purchase or otherwise, I did not ascertain. Mr. Gracie died some four or five years ago. Perhaps some correspondent will favour me with some information on the subject. In the Justice Street of Aberdeen, there is a tenement of houses called Mauchlan or Mauchline Tower Court, which is said to have belonged to the order. In the charters of this property, themselves very ancient, reference is made to another, of about the earliest date at which the order began to acquire property in Scotland.

ABREDONENSIS.

_Cottons of Fowey._--A family of "Cotton" was settled at Fowey, in Cornwall, in the seventeenth century. The first name of which I have any notice is that of Abraham Cotton, who married at Fowey in 1597. They bore for their arms, Sable, a chevron between three cotton-hanks, Or a crescent for difference: crest, a Cornish chough holding in the beak a cotton-hank proper. William Cotton, mayor of Plymouth in 1671, was probably one of this family. The name is not Cornish; and these Cottons had without doubt migrated at no distant period from some other part of the kingdom. Any information relating to the family or its antecedents will be very gratefully received by

R. W. C.

_Draught or Draft of Air._--Will some of your contributors inform a reader what term or word may be correctly used to signify the phrase "current of air" up the flue of a chimney, or through a room, &c.? The word _draught_ or _draft_ is generally or universally used; but that signification is not to be found attached to the word _draught_ or _draft_ in any dictionary accessible to the inquirer. The word is used by many English scientific writers, and was undoubtedly used by Dr. Franklin to signify a current of air in the flue of a chimney (see also Ure's _Dict._). Yet the word cannot be found in Johnson or Ogilvie's _Imp. Dict._ with this signification. The word "tirage" is also used by French writers with the above signification; and though in French dictionaries its meaning is nearly the same, and nearly as extended as the English word _draught_ or _draft_, yet it cannot be found in the _Dict. de l'Acad._ to signify as above.

New York.

_Admiral Sir Thomas Tyddeman_ commanded the squadron sent during the war with the Dutch in the reign of Charles II. to assist in the capture of certain richly laden merchant vessels which had put into Bremen, but (owing to the treachery of the Danish governor, who instead of acting in concert with the English, as had been agreed, opened fire upon them from the town) was unable to effect his purpose.

After the admiral's return to England, a question was raised as to his conduct during the engagement; and some persons went so far as to accuse him of cowardice; but the Duke of York, who was then in command of the fleet, entirely freed him from such charges, and declared that he had acted with the greatest discretion and bravery in the whole affair.

He died soon after this, in 1668, according to Pepys's account, of a broken heart occasioned by the scandal that had been circulated about him, and the slight he felt he was suffering from the Parliament. Perhaps some of your readers can inform me where I may meet with farther particulars relating to Admiral Tyddeman. I am particularly desirous to gain information as to his family and his descendants; also to learn upon what occasion he was created a baronet or knight.

CAPTAIN.

_Pedigree Indices._--Is there any published table of kin to Sir Thomas White, the founder of St. John's College, Oxford, or of William of Wykeham, after the plan of _Stemmata Chicheliana_?

Is there any Index to the Welsh and Irish pedigrees in the British Museum? Sims' valuable book is confined to England.

Are there Indices to the pedigrees in the Lambeth Library, or the Bodleian Library at Oxford?

The proper mode of making a search in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge wanted?

Y. S. M.

_Apparition of the White Lady._--I observe in two works lately published, an allusion made to an apparition of the "White Lady," as announcing the death of a prince; in the one case of the throne of Brandenburgh[3], the other that of France.[4] Can any of your readers point out the origin of this popular tradition?

C. M. W.

[Footnote 3: In Michaud's _Biographie_.]

[Footnote 4: _Louis XVII._, by A. De Beauchesne.]

_Rundlestone._--Can any information be given of the origin of the term "Rundlestone," as applied to a rock off the Land's End; and also to a remarkable stone near Hessory Tor? (Vide Mr. Bray's Journal, Sept. 1802, in Mrs. Bray's work on the Tamar and Tavy: and see also in the Ordnance Maps.)

J. S. R.

Garrison Library, Malta.

{318}

_Tottenham._--What is the derivation of Tottenham Park, Wilts, and of Tottenham Court Road? The ancestor of the Irish family of that name was from Cambridgeshire.

Y. S. M.

_Duval Family._--Is or was there a French family of the name of Duval, gentilhommes; and if so, can any relationship be traced between such family and the "Walls of Coolnamuck," an ancient Anglo-Norman family of the south of Ireland, who are considered to have been originally named "Duval?"

H.