16 



NOTES AND QtlEHIES. 



t2««»S.N«63.,JAN.3.'57. 



and well watred," &c. (Ellis's Original Letters, 

 Third Series, vol. ii. p. 301.) See also note of 

 the editor prefixed to this letter. Wm. Dbnton. 



ANTIQUITT OF THE PAMILY OF BISHOP BUTTS. 



(2"" S. ii. 17. 478.) 



The well-known Mrs. Sherwood (who was 

 originally a Miss Butt) inserts in her Autobiogra- 

 phy the pedigree of her family. The lady is con- 

 scious that this may be considered as inconsistent 

 in one who incessantly proclaimed that all was 

 vanity ; and her apology for the insertion m.ay 

 raise a smile, and remind the reader of the haugh- 

 tiness of humility : " I do not like," she says 

 (p. 6.), " not to insert our family pedigree, as we 

 have one, and a good one too !" Her chief reason 

 for being proud of it was, that therein was shown 

 "our connection with the noble and ' talented 

 family of Bacon." In this pedigree, the family of 

 Butts (the s was first dropped by Timothy Butt, 

 who married Miss Hayes, at the beginning of the 

 last century,) is described as descending from a 

 Butts who married Constance, daughter and heir 

 of Sir William Fitzhugh, Knt., of Congleton and 

 Elton, county of Chester. Their son and heir 

 (who married Alicia, daughter of Sir Ranulph 

 Cotgrave, Lord of Hargrave, county of Chester), 

 is thus described : — 



" Sir William Butts, Knight, Lord of Shoiildham 

 Thorpe, county of Norfolk, and Congleton, county of 

 Chester, slain in the battle of Poictiers," — See Camden. 



Bishop Butts, of Ely, appears to have been the 

 twelfth m descent from this pair. Mrs. Sherwood 

 is puzzled on the question of the derivation of her 

 maiden name of Butts. She is inclined to see its 

 origin in some ancestor who may have signalised 

 himself in shooting at " the Butts," in the days of 

 archery ; and yet she is inclined to believe that 

 the stars or, on the field azure, of the family coat 

 of arms, may point to "Butt" as its origin, "from 

 the German Bott (Bot), a guide : . . for a star, in 

 the language of heraldry, denotes a guide." May 

 it not be derived front the Danish But, blunt or 

 rough ? August F. Pott's great work on die Fami- 

 liennamen und ihre Entstehungsarten, may be pro- 

 fitably consulted on this matter. I may observe 

 that Hoffmann von Fallersleben, in his pleasant 

 little book, on the names of the citizens of Hano- 

 ver, has amongst them Bott ; which he describes 

 as implying Gebot, an order, or commandment. 

 But the derivation of the word is beside the pur- 

 pose. I had in yiew of suggesting to your cor- 

 respondent G. H. D., that an examination of the 

 pedigree inserted in Mrs. Sherwood's Autobio- 

 graphy may lead hiru to a conclusion already 

 arrived at by E. D. B. J. Dokan. 



BID HANDEL POSSESS A MUSICAIi LIBEAHT ? 



(2"" S. i. 75.) 



In seeking information respecting Handel's 

 musical library I had a threefold object in view. 

 1. To ascertain whether he possessed any of 

 Bach's vocal works ? 2. What had become of 

 his fat or feeding book, a selection of the choicest 

 compositions of the old masters, and in his own 

 handwriting? 3. Where was his theatrical li- 

 brary, that is to say, the copies of his oratorios 

 and operas from which he had conducted their 

 public performance ? 



Leaving for the present the first two points, aa 

 to the third it was known that the conductor's 

 scores were not in the Royal Library ; that Dean 

 Ireland's set was not the performance scores ; and 

 that, in fact, no MSS. scores in Smith's hand- 

 writing bearing any marks of having been Han- 

 del's orchestral copy had ever appeared in any 

 public auction of this century. Handel's original 

 MSS. in the Royal Library are beyond measure 

 interesting, showing how he wrote his music, and 

 of course amply contradicting Coxe's ridiculous 

 notion that Handel made his music on the harpsi- 

 chord; but, however interesting the original MSS., 

 the performance copy must ever be the appeal 

 when that copy was used by the composer him- 

 self. Little did I imagine, when I made this in- 

 quiry, that Handel's performance library was in 

 the hands of Mr. Kerslake, of Bristol, and had 

 been purchased by him about three or four years 

 ago at a public auction in Winchester for a sun^, 

 as I hear, under ten pounds. It would seem this 

 library passed from Smith to Archdeacon Coxe, 

 and from him into the Rivers family, and about 

 three or four years ago sold almost as waste paper. 

 It consists of nearly 200 volumes, and is so richly 

 interspersed with Handel's own handwriting, that 

 Mr. Kerslake, in announcing it for sale about five 

 months ago, described it as an autogra|)h library 

 of the composer. Dr. Schoelcher, of Richmond, is 

 the fortunate possessor, and it passed from Mr. 

 Kerslake for 45/. It is not too much to say that 

 it is fully worth the 2000/. " the great Frederick 

 King of Prussia offered Smith for the original 

 MSS." 



Perhaps Mr. Kerslake will be so kind as to 

 supply the date and particulars of the sale at 

 Winchester. It is well worthy of record. The 

 following is extracted from Mr. Kerslake's Cata- 

 logue : 



"HANDEL'S AUTOGRAPH SCORES of many of 

 his Oratorios, Operas, &c., in many places parts are 

 altered by having slips tacked over the original Composition, 

 ad libitums are inserted in pencil and many other alterations, 

 in some the names of the Solo singers are inserted at their 

 cues, altogether above 200 vols., some in folio, some in 

 oblong 4to. 46 guineas. Contains : — 



"Dyexti del Sigr. Giorgio Tederico Hemdel, auto* 



