Part 4

[The performers at our earlier theatres were distinguished into whole shares, three-quarter sharers, half sharers, seven-and-a-half sharers, hired men, &c. In one scene of the _Histriomastic_, 1610, the dissolute performers having been arrested by soldiers, one of the latter exclaims, "Come on, players! now we are the sharers, and you the hired men;" and in another scene, Clout, one of the characters, rejects with some indignation the offer of "half a share." Gamaliel Ratsey, in that rare tract, _Ratseis Ghost_, 1606, knights the principal performer of a company by the title of "Sir Three Shares and a Half;" and Tucca, in Ben Jonson's _Poetaster_, addressing Histrio, observes, "Commend me to Seven shares and a half," as if some individual at that period had engrossed as large a proportion. Shakspeare, in _Hamlet_, speaks of "a whole share" as a source of no contemptible emolument, and of the owner of it as a person filling no inferior station in "a cry of payers." In _Northward Ho!_ also, a sharer is noticed with respect. Bellamont the poet enters, and tells his servant, "Sirrah, I'll speak with none:" on which the servant asks, "Not a player?" and his master replies:

"No, though a sharer bawl: I'll speak with none, although it be the mouth Of the big company."

The value of a share in any particular company would depend upon the number of subdivisions, upon the popularity of the body, upon the stock-plays belonging to it, upon the extent of its wardrobe, and the nature of its properties.--See Collier's _English Dramatic Poetry_, vol. iii. p. 427.]

_Madden's "Reflections and Resolutions proper for the Gentlemen of Ireland."_--This work, by the Rev. Samuel Madden, was first published in Dublin in 1738, and was reprinted at the expense of the late Mr. Thomas Pleasants, in one vol. 8vo., pp. 224, Dub. 1816. I possess two copies of the original edition, likewise in one vol. 8vo., pp. 237, and I have seen about a dozen; and yet I find in the preface to the reprint the following paragraph:

"The very curious and interesting work which is now reprinted, and intended for a wide and gratuitous circulation, is also of uncommon rarity; there is not a copy of it in the library of Trinity College, or in any of the other public libraries of this city, which have been searched on purpose. (One was purchased some {200} years ago for the library of the Royal Dublin Society, if I mistake not, for 1l. 6s., or rather more.) The profoundly learned Vice-Provost, Doctor Barrett, never met with one; and many gentlemen well skilled in the literature of Ireland, who have been applied to for information on the subject, are even unacquainted with the name of the book."

Of Dr. Madden, known as "Premium" Madden, few memorials exist; and yet he was a man of whom Johnson said, "His was a name Ireland ought to honour." The book in question does not appear to be of "uncommon rarity." Is it considered by competent judges of "exceeding merit?" I would be glad to know.

ABHBA.

[Probably, from this work having appeared anonymously, it was unknown to the writers of his life in Chalmers' and Rose's _Biographical Dictionaries_, as well as to Mr. Nichols, when he wrote his account of Dr. Madden in his _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. ii. p. 32. A volume containing the _Reflections and Resolutions_, together with the author's tragedy, _Themistocles_, 1729, and his tract, _A Proposal for the General Encouragement of Learning in Dublin College_, 1732, is in the Grenville Collection in the British Museum. This volume was presented by Dr. Madden to Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, as appears from the following MS. note on a fly-leaf: "To his Excellency the Right Hon. Philip Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, these Tracts, writ (how meanly soever) with a real zeal for the service of that country, are most humbly presented by the author, his most obedient humble servant."]

_King Edward I.'s Arm._--Fuller, speaking of the death and character of King Edward I., winds up with these words:

"As the arm of King Edward I. was accounted the measure of a yard, generally received in England; so his actions are an excellent model and a praiseworthy platform for succeeding princes to imitate."--_Church History_, b. iii., A.D. 1307.

Query, Is there historical proof of this statement of "honest Tom?" He gives no reference apparently considering the fact too well established to require any.

J. M. B.

[Ask that staunch and sturdy royalist, Peter Heylin, whether Old Tom is not sometimes more facetious than correct; and whether, in the extract given above, we should not read _Richard I._ for Edward I. In Knyghton's _Chronicle_, lib. II. cap. viii. sub Hen. I., we find, "Mercatorum falsam ulnam castigavit adhibita brachii sui mensura." See also William of Malmsbury in Vita Hen. I., and Spelm. Hen. I. apud Wilkins, 299., who inform us, that a new standard of longitudinal measure was ascertained by Henry I., who commanded that the ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to the modern yard, should be made of the exact length of his own arm.]

_Elstob, Elizabeth._--Can any of your numerous correspondents state where that celebrated Saxon linguist, Mrs. Elizabeth Elstob, was buried? In Chambers's _Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire_, she is said to have been buried at Saint Margaret's, Westminster; but after every inquiry, made many years since of the then worthy churchwarden of the parish, our researches were in vain, for there is no account of her sepulture in the church or graveyard.

J. B. WHITBOURNE.

[Most of the biographical notices of Mrs. Elizabeth Elstob state that she was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster. We can only account for the name not appearing in the register of that church, from her having _changed her name_ when she opened her school in Worcestershire, as stated, on the authority of Mr. Geo. Ballard, in Nichols's _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. iv. p. 714. Ballard's Correspondence is in the Bodleian.]

_Monumental Brasses in London._--Can any of your correspondents favour me with a list of churches in London, or within a mile of the same, containing monumental brasses? I know of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, only.

J. W. BROWN.

[As our young crypto-antiquary dates his letter from Crosby Hall, he will probably find in its library the following works to assist him in his researches:--_List of Monumental Brasses in England_ (Rivington), _Manual for the Study of Monumental Brasses_ (Parker), and Sperling's _Church Walks in Middlesex_ (Masters). Two are noticed in Waller's _Monumental Brasses_, fol., 1842, viz. Dr. Christopher Urswick, in Hackney Church, A.D. 1521, and Andrew Evyngar and wife, in All-Hallows Barking Church. If we mistake not, there is one in St. Faith's, near St. Paul's.]

* * * * *

Replies.

RAPPING NO NOVELTY; AND TABLE-TURNING.

(Vol. viii., pp. 512. 632.; Vol. ix., pp. 39. 88. 135.)

"There is a curious criminal process on record, manuscript 1770, noticed by Voltaire as in the library of the King of France, which was founded upon a remarkable set of visions said to have occurred to the monks of Orleans.

"The illustrious house of St. Memin had been very liberal to the convent, and had their family vault under the church. The wife of a Lord of St. Memin, Provost of Orleans, died, and was buried. The husband, thinking that his ancestors had given more than enough to the convent, sent the monks a present, which they thought too small. They formed a plan to have her body disinterred, and to force the widower to pay a second fee for depositing it again in holy ground.

"The soul of the lady first appeared to two of the brethren, and said to them, 'I am damned, like Judas, because my husband has not given sufficient.' They hoped to extort money for the repose of her soul. But the husband said, 'If she is really damned, all the money in the world won't save her,' and gave them nothing. Perceiving their mistake, they declared she appeared again, saying she was in _Purgatory_, and {201} demanding to be disinterred. But this seemed a curious request, and excited suspicion, for it was not likely that a soul in purgatory would ask to have the body removed from holy ground, neither had any in purgatory ever been known to desire to be exhumed.

"The soul after this did not try _speaking_ any more, but haunted everybody in the convent and church. Brother Peter of Arras adopted a very awkward manner of conjuring it. He said to it, 'If thou art the soul of the late Madame de St. Memin, strike four knocks,' and the four knocks were struck. 'If thou art damned, strike six knocks,' and the six knocks were struck. 'If thou art still tormented in hell, because thy body is buried in holy ground, knock six more times,' and the six knocks were heard still more distinctly. 'If we disinter thy body, wilt thou be less damned, certify to us by five knocks,' and the soul so certified. This statement was signed by twenty-two cordeliers. The father provincial asked the same questions and received the same answers. The Lord of St. Memin prosecuted the father cordeliers. Judges were appointed. The general of the commission required that they should be burned; but the sentence only condemned them to make the 'amende honorable,' with a torch in their bosom, and to be banished."

This sentence is of the 18th of February, 1535. Vide Abbe Langlet's _History of Apparitions_.

From the above extract, and from what your correspondents MR. JARDINE and R. I. R. have written, it is satisfactorily shown that rapping is no novelty, having been known in England and France some centuries ago. MR. JARDINE has given us an instance in 1584, and leads us to suppose that it was the earliest on record. I now give one as early as 1534; and it would be interesting to know if the monks of Orleans were the first to have practised this imposition, and to have been banished for their deception and fraud.

WILLIAM WINTHROP.

Malta.

In Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. XXIX. cap. i. p. 552. of a Paris edition, 1681, two persons, Patricius and Hilarius, charged with disseminating prophecies injurious to the Emperor Valens, were brought before a court of justice, and a tripod, which they were charged with using, was also produced. Hilarius then made the following acknowledgment:

"Construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinae similitudinem Delphicae, diris auspiciis, de laureis virgulis infaustam hanc mensulam quam videtis; et imprecationibus carminum secretorum, choragiisque multis ac diuturnis ritualiter consecratam movimus tandem; movendi autem, quoties super rebus arcanis consulebatur, erat institutio talis. Collocabatur in medio domus emaculatae odoribus Arabicis undique, lance rotunda pure superposita, ex diversis metallicis materiis fabrefacta; cujus in ambitu rotunditatis extremo elementorum viginti quatuor scriptiles formae incisae perite, dijungebantur spatiis examinate dimensis. Hac linteis quidam indumentis amictus, calciatusque itidem linteis soccis, torulo capiti circumflexo, verbenas felicis arboris gestans, litato conceptis carminibus numine praescitionum auctore, caerimoniali scientia perstitit; cortinulis pensilem anulum librans, sartum ex carpathio filo perquam levi, mysticis disciplinis initiatum: qui per intervalla distincta retinentibus singulis litteris incidens saltuatim, heroos efficit versus interrogationibus consonos, ad numeros et modos plene conclusos; quales leguntur Pythici, vel ex oraculis editi Branchidarum. Ibi tum quaerentibus nobis, qui praesenti succedet imperio, quoniam omni parte expolitus fore memorabatur et adsiliens anulus duas perstrinxerat syllabas, [Greek: THEO] cum adjectione litterae postrema, exclamavit praesentium quidem, Theodorum praescribente fatali necessitate portendi."

In lib. XXXI. cap. ii. p. 621. of same edition, a method of prognostication by the Alami is described; but there is no mention of tables there. The historian only says:

"Rectiores virgas vimineas colligentes, easque cum incantamentis quibusdam secretis praestituto tempore discernentes, aperte quid portendatur norunt."

H. W.

The mention of table-turning by Ammianus Marcellinus reminds me of a curious passage in the _Apologeticus_ of Tertullian, cap. xxiii., to which I invite the attention of those interested in the subject:

"Porro si et magi phantasmata edunt et jam defunctorum infamant animas; si pueros in eloquium oraculi elidunt; si multa miracula circulatoriis praestigiis ludunt; si et somnia immittunt habentes semel invitatorum angelorum et daemonum assistentem sibi potestatem, _per quos_ et caprae et _mensae divinare consueverunt_; quanto magis," &c.

Here table divination by means of angels and demons seems distinctly alluded to. How like the modern system! The context of this passage, as well as the extract itself, will suggest singular coincidence between modern and ancient pretensions of this class.

B. H. C.

* * * * *

GENERAL WHITELOCKE.

(Vol. viii., pp. 521. 621.)

Much interesting information concerning General Whitelocke, about whose conduct some difference of opinion appears to exist, will be found in the Rev. Erskine Neale's _Risen from the Ranks_ (London, Longmans, 1853); but neither the date nor the place of his death is there given. The reverend writer's account of the general's conduct is not at all favourable. After alluding to him as "a chief unequal to his position," he says:

"John Whitelocke was born in the year 1759, and received his early education in the Grammar School at Marlborough. His father was steward to John, fourth Earl of Aylesbury; and the peer, in {202} acknowledgment of the faithful services of his trusted dependent, placed young Whitelocke at Lochee's Military Academy, near Chelsea. There he remained till 1777, when, the Earl's friendly disposition remaining in full force, and the youth's predilection for a military career continuing unabated, an ensigncy was procured him, through Lord Aylesbury's intervention, in the 14th regiment of Foot."--_Risen from the Ranks_, p. 68.

Through the influence of his brother-in-law, General Brownrigge, Whitelocke's promotion was rapid; and in 1807 he was gazetted commander-in-chief of an expedition destined for the recapture of Buenos Ayres. His conduct during this expedition became the subject of a court-martial; he was found guilty, sentenced to be cashiered, and declared to be "totally unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatever."

Judging from the evidence adduced, the conduct of the commander-in-chief was totally unworthy of the flag under which he served, and highly calculated to arouse the indignation of the men whom he commanded; and for some considerable time, whenever the soldiers met together to take a friendly glass, the toast was, "Success to _grey hairs_, but bad luck to _White-locks_!" On the whole, the Rev. E. Neale's account seems to be quite impartial; and most persons, after reading the evidence of the general's extremely vacillating conduct, will be inclined to agree with him in awarding this unfortunate officer the title of the "Flincher-General at Buenos Ayres."

JAMES SPENCE HARRY.

I have only just seen your correspondent's Reply (Vol. ix., p. 87.) respecting General Whitelocke. He is right in stating that the general resided at Clifton: he might have added, as late as 1830; but he had previously, for time, lived at Butcombe Court, Somersetshire.

There is an anecdote still rife in the neighbourhood, that when Whitelocke came down to see the house before taking it, he put up at an inn, and after dinner asked the landlord to take a glass of wine with him. Upon announcing, however, who he was, the landlord started up and declared he would not drink another glass with him, throwing down at the same time the price of the bottle, that he might not be indebted to the general.

Respecting the story of the flints, it is said that he desired them to be taken out of the muskets, wishing that the men should only use their bayonets against the enemy.

ARDELIO.

I remember well that soon after the unsuccessful attack of General Whitelocke upon Buenos Ayres, it was stated that the flints had been taken out of the muskets of some of our regiments because they were quite raw troops, and the General thought that they might, from want of knowledge and use of fire-arms, do more mischief to themselves than to the enemy, and that they had better trust to the bayonet alone. The consequence was, that when they entered the streets of the town, they found no enemy in them to whom they could apply the bayonet. The inhabitants and troops were in the strong stone houses, and fired on and killed our men with perfect impunity, as not a shot could be fired in return: to surrender was their only chance of life. A reference to a file of newspapers of that date (which I am too lazy to make myself) will show whether this was understood at the time to be a fact or not.

J. SS.

In the _Autobiography of B. Haydon_ (I think vol. i.), he mentions that as he was passing through Somersetshire on his way from Plymouth to London, he saw General Whitelocke. A reference to the passage may interest G. L. S.

W. DENTON.

The following charade was in vogue at the time of Whitelocke's death:

"My first is an emblem of purity; My second is that of security; My whole forms a name Which, if yours were the same, You would blush to hand down to posterity."

J. Y.

* * * * *

"MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES."

(Vol. viii., p. 552.; Vol. ix., p. 87.)

1. If your correspondent H. P. will again examine my communication on this subject, he will find that I have _not_ overlooked the view which attributes the _De Imitatione_ to John Gerson, but have expressly referred to it.

2. If Gerson _was_ the author, this will not prove that in quoting the proverb in question, Piers Ploughman quoted from the _De Imitatione_, as H. P. supposes. The dates which I gave will show this. The _Vision_ was written about A.D. 1362, whereas, according to Du Pin, John Gerson was born December 14, 1363, took a prominent part in the Council of Constance, 1414, and died in 1429. Of the Latin writers of the fifteenth century, Mosheim says:

"At their head we may justly place John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, the most illustrious ornament that this age can boast of, a man of great influence and authority, whom the Council of Constance looked upon an its oracle, the lovers of liberty as their patron, and whose memory is yet precious to such among the French clergy as are at all zealous for the maintenance of their privileges against papal despotism."--_Ecc. Hist._, cent. xv. ch. ii. sec. 24.

3. Gerson was not a Benedictine monk, but a Parisian cure, and Canon of Notre Dame:

"He was made curate (_cure_, parson or rector) of St. John's, in Greve, on the 29th of March, 1408, and {203} continued so to 1413, when in a sedition raised by the partizans of the Duke of Burgundy, his house was plundered by the mob, and he obliged to fly into the church of Notre Dame, where he continued for some time concealed."--Du Pin, _History of the Church_, cent. xv. ch. viii.

It is said that the treatise in question first appeared--

"Appended to a MS. of Gerson's _De Consolatione Theologiae_, dated 1421. This gave rise to the supposition that he was the real author of that celebrated work; and indeed it is a very doubtful point whether this opinion is true or not, there being several high authorities which ascribe to him the authorship of that book."--Knight's _Penny Cyclopaedia_, vol. vi. art. "Gerson."

Was there then _another_ John Gerson, a monk, and Abbot of St. Stephen, between 1200 and 1240, to whom, as well as to the above, the _De Imitatione_ has been ascribed? This, though not impossible, appears extremely improbable. Is H. P. prepared with evidence to prove it?

Du Pin, in the chapter above quoted, farther says, in speaking of the _De Imitatione Christi_:

"The style is pretty much like that of the other devotional books of Thomas a Kempis. Nevertheless, in his lifetime it was attributed to St. Bernard and Gerson. The latter was most commonly esteemed the author of it in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Afterwards some MSS. of it were found in Italy, where it is attributed to one Gerson or Gessen, to whom is given the title of _abbot_. Perhaps Gersen or Gessen are only corruptions of the name of Gerson. Notwithstanding, there are two things which will hardly let us believe that this was Gerson's book; one, that the author calls himself a monk, the other, that the style is very different from that of the Chancellor of Paris. All this makes it difficult to decide to which of these three authors it belongs. We must leave Thomas a Kempis in possession of what is attributed to him, without deciding positively in his favour."

J. W. THOMAS.

Dewsbury.

This saying is quoted twice, as follows, in _The Chronicle of Battel Abbey from 1066 to 1177_, translated by Mr. Lower, 8vo., London, 1851:

"Thus, '_Man proposes, but God disposes_,' for he was not permitted to carry that resolution into effect."--P. 27.

"But, as the Scripture saith, '_Man proposes, but God disposes_,' so Christ suffered not His Church to want its ancient and rightful privileges."--P. 83.

Mr. Lower says in his Preface, p. x.:

"Of the identity of the author nothing certain can be inferred, beyond the bare fact of his having been a monk of Battel. A few passages would almost incline one to believe that Abbot Odo, who was living at the date of the last events narrated in the work, and who is known to have been a literary character of some eminence, was the writer of at least some portions of the volume."

It is stated at the beginning to be in part derived from early document and traditional statements.

E. J. M.

Hastings.

* * * * *

NAPOLEON'S SPELLING.

(Vol. viii., pp. 386. 502.)

The question as to Napoleon's spelling may seem, at first sight, to be one of little importance; and yet, if we will look at it aright, we shall find that it involves many points of interest for the philosopher and the historian. During a residence of some years in France, I had heard it remarked, more than once, by persons who appeared hostile to the Napoleon dynasty, that its great founder had, in his bulletins and other public documents, shown an unaccountable ignorance of the common rules of orthography: but I had never seen the assertion put forth by any competent writer until I met with the remarks of Macaulay, already quoted by me, Vol. viii., p. 386.

In reply to my inquiry as to the authority for this statement, your correspondent C. has readily and kindly furnished a passable from Bourrienne's _Memoires_, in which it is alleged that Napoleon's "orthographe est en general _extraordinairement estropiee_."

From all this it must be taken for granted, as, indeed, it has never been denied, that Napoleon's spelling is defective; but the question to be considered is, whether that defectiveness was the effect of ignorance or of design. That it did not arise from ignorance would seem probable for the following reasons.