62 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'«i S. N» 56., Jan. 24. '57. 



John Astley? which, "in the opinion of a judge 

 ■whom few can doubt (Stuart, the portrait painter,) 

 was far preferable to the famous bead in the col- 

 lection of the Duke of Chandos." So said the 

 European Mag., 1787, Dec. S. P. 



Shahspeare and Sir John Fahtaff (2°'' S. ii. 369.) 

 — The extract which Ci.. Hopper found on the 

 fly-leaf of a printed book is from " The Legend 

 and Defence of the Noble Knight and Martyr Sir 

 John Oldcastel," an unpublished MS. in the Bod- 

 leian Library (MS. James, 34.). It occurs in 

 the dedication " To my noble friend Sir Henrye 

 Bourchier." Dr. James, the author, died at the 

 close of the year 1638, and consequently the work 

 is of the Shaksperian era. 



Dr. James's dedicatory epistle is given entire 

 in a clever essay On the Character of Sir John 

 Falstaff, by J. O. Halliwell, Esq., 12mo. 1841. 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



je in Hamlet. — When Hamlet says : 

 " Nay, then let the devil wear black, for I'll have 

 a suit of sables," the passage is without meaning, 

 if, by a suit of sables, a suit of mourning is meant. 

 Therefore some commentators have pretended that 

 it has not that meaning, but the contrary : sables 

 being an expensive fur, worn on occasions of 

 splendour. This seems to me forced ; and I 

 would ask, whether it has ever been suggested to 

 read : " Nay, then let the devil wear black 'fore 

 (before) I'll have a suit of sables?" In other 

 words : " Nay, if ray father has been so long dead, 

 the devil may wear black for me." Sttlites. 



PROFESSOR PORSON. 



The original of the following letter, addressed 

 to Mr. Upcott, is in the possession of the Rev. 

 H. R. Luard, Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, 

 who has kindly given me permission to make this 

 communication. The interview between Mr. 

 Hughes and Porson probably took place towards 

 the end of the year 1807, as Mr. Hughes proceeded 

 B.A. in January, 1808 ; though in the memoir of 

 him, prefixed to his Essay on the Political System 

 of Europe, (Lond , 1855) it is erroneously stated 

 that he took his degree in 1809. I have endea- 

 voured, without success, to discover the name of 

 Mr. Hughes's tutor, who was not of St. John's 

 College, as is evident from the letter. 



One of the juvenile dramas mentioned by Por- 

 son is preserved in Trinity College library ; to 

 which it was presented by Dr. Maltby, late Bishop 

 of Durham. It is entitled Out of the Frying-pan 

 into the Fire. 



I trust that others, acquainted with facts re- 



lating to the Professor, will be induced to com- 

 municate them to your valuable journal. 



" My dear Sir, 

 " I wish it was in my power to give you a more de- 

 tailed account of my interview with your celebrated pre- 

 decessor, than mj' memory will now permit. It was the 

 only one I ever had with him. It occurred when I was 

 an undergraduate ; and I unfortunately made no notes of 

 it at the time, being then busily engaged in reading for 

 my degree, which occupied almost all my thoughts. 

 This interview took place in the rooms of my private 

 Tutor, between whom and Porson a great intimacy sub- 

 sisted. After about an hour spent in various subjects of 

 conversation, during which the Professor recited a great 

 many beautiful passages from his authors in Greek, Latin, 

 French, and English, my Tutor foreseeing the visitation 

 that was evident!}' intended for him, feigned an excuse 

 for going into the Town, and left Porson and myself to- 

 gether. I ought to have observed that he had'already 

 produced one bottle of sherry to moisten the Professor's 

 throat, and that he left out another, in case it should be 

 required. Person's spirits being by this time elevated by 

 the juice of the grape, and being pleased with a well- 

 timed compliment which I had the good luck to address 

 to him, he became very communicative : said he was glad 

 that we had met together, desired me to take up my pen 

 and paper, and directed me to write down, from his dic- 

 tation, many curious Algebraical problems, with their 

 solutions; gave me several ingenious methods of sum- 

 ming series, and ran through a great variety of the pro- 

 perties of numbers. After almost an hour's occupation 

 in this manner, he said, laj'' aside j^our pen, and listen to 

 the History of a man of letters — how he became a sordid 

 miser from a thoughtless prodigal — a * * * from a * * * 

 — and a misanthrope from a morbid excess of sensibilit}'. 

 (I forget the intermediate step in the climax.) He then 

 commenced a narrative of his own life, from his entrance 

 at Eton School thro' all the most remarkable periods to 

 the day of our conversation. I was particularly amused 

 with the account of his school anecdotes, the tricks he 

 used to plaj' upon his master and schoolfellows, and the 

 little dramatic pieces which he wrote for private repre- 

 sentation. From these he passed to his academical 

 pursuits and studies — his election to the Greek Profes- 

 sorship, and his ejection from his fellowship thro' the 

 influence of Dr. Postlethwaite, who, though he had pro- 

 1 mised it to Porson, exerted it for a relation of his own. 

 ' I was then (said the Professor) almost destitute in the 

 wide world, with less than 40/. a year for my support, 

 and without a profession, for I never could bring myself 

 to subscribe Articles of Faith. I used often to lie awake 

 through the whole night, and wish for a large pearl.' 

 He then gave me a history of his life in London, where 

 he took chambers in the Temple, and read at times im- 

 moderately hard. He very much interested me by a 

 curious interview which he had with a girl of the Town, 

 who came into his chambers b}' mistake ; and who shewed 

 so much cleverness and ability, in a long conversation 

 with him, that he declared she might with proper culti- 

 vation have become another Aspasia. He also recited to 

 me, word for word, the speech with which he accosted 

 Dr. Postlethwaite when he called at his chambers, and 

 which he had long prepared against such an occurrence. 

 At the end of this oration the Doctor said not a word, 

 but burst into tears and left the room — Porson also burst 

 into tears when he finished the recital of it to me. In 

 this manner five hours passed away ; at the end of which 

 the Professor, who had finished the second bottle of mj 

 friend's sherry, began to clip the King's English, to cry 

 like a child at the close of his periods, and in other re- 

 spects to show marks of extreme debility. At lengtli he 



