514 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"' S. VII. June 25. '59. 



formances, so that the probability is in favour of the 

 companies having been united. While the companies 

 ■were thus performing at the same house, several pieces 

 were produced of which the least to be said is that they 

 were on the same subjects as some of Shakspeare's 

 dramas. We find mention of Hamlet, The Taming of the 

 Shrew, Andronicus, Ccesar, Harry V., and The Venetian 

 Comedy. These might have been the productions of 

 Shakspeare, or (and this is more probable, considering 

 that the date is early) they might have been older plays 

 on subjects to which his attention might thus have been 

 directed, or which he might have felt authorised to use, 

 so far as answered his purpose, from having been a mem- 

 ber of the company. Thus, so far as this period in the 

 life of the great dramatist is concerned, it is not impro- 

 bable that the Woodward family may be in possession of 

 papers by which light might be thrown upon his life or 

 works. 



" And here the probability would end, but for a re- 

 markable document which has been preserved among the 

 papers at Dulwich College. This is a letter from Al- 

 leyne's wife, written in October, 1603, just after the ac- 

 cession of James the First, and when Alleyne was in the 

 provinces with his company, — the London theatres 

 being closed in consequence of the Plague. The value of 

 it for our present purpose consists in the fact of its show- 

 ing that Shakspeare was on good terms with Alleyne's 

 family. The following occurs near the end ; it is imper- 

 fect in consequence of the paper being in a fragmentary 

 state. I modernise the spelling : — 



" ' About a week ago there came a youth who said he 

 was Mr. Francis Chaloner, who would have borrowed 10/. 

 to have bought things for . . . and said he was 

 known unto you and Mr. Shakspeare, of the Globe, who 

 came . . said he knew him not, only he heard of him 

 that he was a rogue . . . so he was glad we did not 

 lend him the money. Richard Johns [went] to seek and 

 enquire after the fellow, and said he had lent him a horse. 

 I fear me he gulled him, though he gulled not us. The 

 youth was a prettj' j'outh, and handsome in apparel ; we 

 know not what became of him.' 



" This proof of intimacy subsisting between ' Mr. Shak- 

 speare, of the Globe,' and the AUeynes three years after 

 their connexion for business purposes at Newington 

 Butts, is, I think, the strongest ground on which any 

 hope in the Woodward papers may be based. Mr. 

 Cooper may be in possession of additional facts ; but so 

 far as mj' investigations have led me, I must confess that 

 I am not very sanguine as to the nature of the disclosures 

 of the Woodward papers, so far as regards Shakspeare. 

 At the same time it is, of course, highly desirable that 

 Mr. Morgan, of Uckfield, should lose no time in fulfilling 

 his promise to ascertain the real nature of the Woodward 

 archives." 



William Sawyee. 



Brighton. 



[Having sent a slip of the foregoing article to Mr. 

 DuRRANT Cooper, that gentleman has kindly returned 

 it, with the following remarks.] 



To the preceding extract from the Brighton 

 Herald of 21st May, which is a fair precis of the 

 published particulars as to Alleyne, Henslowe and 

 the Woodwards, I can add that John, Francis, 

 and Matthew Woodward were bailiffs and re- 

 ceivers of the rents for the Viscounts Montagu of 

 Cowdry Park and Battle Abbey, of whom Alleyne 

 held property in Southwark. 



Francis Chaloner was eldest son of Thomas 



Chaloner of Kenwards in Lindfield, Sussex (father 

 and son are mentioned as borrowing money of P. 

 Henslowe ; the son in June, 1592, and paying lOOZ. 

 to him on a bond in 1603), and Mary, sister of 

 Francis, married John Langworth of the Broyle 

 (of the family of Langworth of Canterbury). Un- 

 luckily the registers of Ringmer are lost at this 

 period, and the Langworths left soon after 1610, 

 being succeeded by the still more eminent family 

 of the Springetts. 



Philip Henslowe was himself a Sussex man, 

 being the fourth son of Edniond Hensley (or 

 Henslowe) of Lindfield, who was of a Devonshire 

 family, but came into Sussex and married Margaret 

 Ridge. Philip Henslowe's only sister Margaret 

 married Ralph Hogge of Buxted, the iron-founder. 



In addition to the property in Sussex referred 

 to by Mr. Sawyer, P. Henslowe, In 1593, bought 

 land in Buxted, and in 1609 had property in East 

 Grinstead, and lent money to Mr. Freeman and 

 other Sussex men. Wm. Durrant Cooper. 



Minnx cattertetf. 



Dr. Blisses Athence Oxon. — It is perhaps known 

 to you that Dr. Bliss left to the Bodleian Library 

 his interleaved copy of the Athena Oxonienses, in 

 which he had inserted many corrections and some 

 additional matter. As a Delegate of the Press, I 

 have undertaken to examine his notes with a view 

 to a new edition ; and I shall be grateful to any 

 of your readers who will help to make it accurate 

 by favouring me with a notice of errors or de- 

 fects in the present volumes. John Griffiths. 



St. Giles's, Oxford, June 18. 1859. 



Alex. Gordon. — Can you give me any inform- 

 ation regarding Alexander Gordon, author of 

 Lupone, or. The Inquisitor, a comedy, 8vo., 1731. 

 Is he the same A. Gordon who is author of Itine- 

 rarium Septentrionale, folio ; Lives of Pope Alex- 

 ander VI. and his Son Ccesar Borgia, folio, &c. ? 



Sigma. 



Mence or Mense Family. — About 1 30 years ago 

 the Rev. John Mence, descended from an old 

 Worcestershire family, was recommended by Lord 

 Sandys to the Archbishop of York, who presented 

 him to the vicarage of Barnsley, and his son and 

 grandson succeeded to the incumbency : the 

 family were founder's kin of Worcester College, 

 Oxford, being descended maternally from a sister 

 of Sir Thomas Cookes, and several members ob- 

 tained Fellowships. The Rev. John Wm. Mence, 

 curate of Holm, co. Leicester, recently deceased, 

 the last male descendant of the family, stated 

 some years ago that his father once had a copy of 

 a very ancient pedigree of the family ; but that, 

 although he had searched the family papers, he 

 could not find it. Can any of your correspondents 



