2nd s. NO 63., Mab. 14. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



313 



and unnatural conceits, new created phrases, &c 



Many of these letters were not written until the author 

 of them was in the Fleet, and purposely published to 

 relieve his necessities." . . . 



Wood allows, however, that Howell had — 



"A singular command of his pen both in prose and 

 verse; and that Lloyd mentions him with respect, as 

 the author of many works much admired on their first 

 publication, and as the friend of Sir Kenelm Digby, and 

 other distinguished characters." 



An article in the Gent's Magazine, 1795, p. 726. 

 says : 



" Howell wrote no less than fifty different works j most 

 of them were Written while the author was confined in the 

 Fleet Prison, for debts occasioned by prodigality. They 

 principally consist of translations from the modern lan- 

 guages, and of pamphlets relative to the Civil Wars, in 

 which we find him writing on both sides, now a Repub- 

 lican, now a Royalist." 



Granger describes Howell as — 



" Master of more languages, and author of more books, 

 than any Englishman of his time, having published more 

 than One Hundred Volumes, besides his Londinopolis. . . 

 During the Civil Wars, after having been Member of 

 Parliament, he was committed to the Fleet for his loyalty, 

 and compelled to write for a subsistence." 



I find another note among my papers, to which 

 I have not appended any authority, but I trans- 

 cribed it nearly twenty years aj^o from some au- 

 thentic document, which states that — 



" At the Restoration Howell was appointed Historio- 

 grapher, which post he enjoyed until 1666, when he died, 

 and was buried in the Temple Church, where a monu- 

 ment is erected to his memory." 



The letters contained in the Epistolae Ho- 

 Eliance extend over a period of thirty-seven years, 

 the earliest bearing the date April 1, 1617, and 

 the latest that of St. Innocents' Day (Dec. 28, 

 1654). The first letter from the Fleet Prison is 

 dated March 26, 1643 ; and a letter dated Nov. 

 20, 1643, gives an account of his committal to 

 that prison ; various letters from the Fleet occur 

 during 1644, 1645, 1646, 1647, and 1648, and the 

 last letter from thence is dated Aug. 9, 1648. I 

 quote from the edition of 1 754. The first edition is 

 said to have been published in 1650"; if so, addi- 

 tions were made to subsequent editions. There 

 was an edition printed in 1726, in Svo., and called 

 the ninth edition ; that of 1754 was the eleventh. 



FiSHBT Thompson. 



Stoke Newington. 



The inquiry in "N. & Q." respecting Mr. 

 Howell's writings put me in mind to refer to the 

 above workj which in itself throws considerable 

 light upon the characteristics of the age in which 

 Mr. Howell lived. My copy (edition of 1737) is 

 made more valuable by the many marginal notes 

 which a relative of mme, an antiquary, has made 

 in it, respecting the life of the author, and the 

 pedigrees, &c., of those to whom his letters were 



written, as well^as references to legends and con- 

 temporaneous incidents. 



Allow me, however, to make an inquiry through 

 the columns of " N. & Q." respecting a curious 

 history related by Mr. Howell. On pp. 247-8, I 

 read : 



" As I pass'd by St. Dunstan's in Fleet Street, I stepp'd 

 into a Lapidary or Stone-cutter's shop .... and casting 

 my ej-es up and down, 1 spied a huge marble with a large 

 Inscription upon it." 



And then follow the epitaphs of four persons — 

 John Oxenham, his sister Mary, his son James, 

 and his mother Elizabeth, of all whom it was said 

 that when near death " a bird with a white breast 

 was seen fluttering about " their beds. A mar- 

 ginal note, which is an extract from the Gentle- 

 maiis Magazine, Jan. 17^4, adds : 



"Lately died at Exeter, at the age of 80, Mrs. Eliza- 

 beth Weston, relict of S. Weston, eldest son of Stephen, 

 sometimes Bishop of Exeter. Mrs. E. Weston was the 

 j'oungest daughter of William Oxenham, Esquire, of Ox- 

 enham. The last appearance of the bird mentioned by 

 Howell and Prince is said to have been at Mrs. E. Wes- 

 ton's oldest brother's death-bed." 



Has there been any subsequent narration of the 

 appearance of this bird at the death-beds of the 

 Oxenham family ? Is the tombstone to which 

 Mr. Howell refers still to be seen anywhere ? 



On pp. 417-8 of the Epistola Ho-EUana is a 

 letter devoted exclusively to an enumeration of 

 the medicinal qualities and " various virtues " of 

 tobacco. Varlov ap Ha ret. 



ON rOULOWTNG THE MASS. 



(2°'» S. iii. 167.) 



I will answer, to the best of my power, the 

 three Queries of W. C. 



1. When was the Missal first translated into 

 English for the use of the laity ? Answe?: The 

 entire Missal was first translated into English by 

 the Rev. Mr. Cordell of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

 This was published in 4 vols., the Latin being 

 given throughout with the English, in the year 

 1738. But it is mentioned in the Preface that 

 before this the Daily Mass had often been trans- 

 lated into English, and reference is made to the 

 works of Mr. Gother, first printed in a collected 

 form in 1718, who published the Mass in English. 



2. What is the date of the first English Prayer- 

 Book containing devotions adapted to the Sacri- 

 fice. Answer. The oldest Manual I possess is 

 dated 1728 ; but there is no doubt that this was 

 little more than a reprint of the Prayer Book 

 long before in use among English Catholics. Mr. 

 Gother's works comprise Instructions and Devo- 

 tions for hearing Mass, which contain three 

 methods ; the first for beginners, the second " for 

 well-instructed," and tlie third "for the wore 



