230 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2°'» S. No 64., Mar. 21. '57. 



Sachville's Sonnets. — Heywood's translation of 

 the T'hycstes speaks of 



" Sackvj'lde's sonnets sweetly saufte." 



Can any information be given where these are to 

 be found? The allusion is to Thomas Sackville, 

 Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset, who wrote 

 the tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex, and the " In- 

 duction" to the Mirror for Magistrates. W. 



[In Bell's Annotated Edition of the English Poets occurs 

 the following notice respecting these sonnets: — "It has 

 been conjectured, in consequence of an allusion to some 

 sonnets of Sackville's by Jasper Hej'wood in 1560, that 

 he published a volume of poems previousl3' to that time. 

 But no such publication has been discovered. There can 

 be no doubt that he wrote pieces of that description ; and 

 one of them, alluded to by Ritson, prefixed to Sir Thomas 

 Hoby's translation of Castillo's Courtier has been pre- 

 served. [Mr. Cooper has printed it in his Introduction 

 to Gordubuc.'] Mr. Collier has also recovered some ele- 

 giac verses by Sackville on Sir Philip and Sir Thomas 

 Hoby [printed in the Shakspeare Society Papers, vol. iv.] ; 

 but, with these exceptions, the only poetical remains of 

 Sackville known to be extant are the two pieces in the 

 Mirror for Magistrates, and the tragedy of Gordubuc."^ 



Petition inti-oduced into the Litany. — At the 

 churches in the Isle of Man I found, last summer, 

 that a petition was always introduced into the 

 Litany, the words of which I cannot exactly re- 

 member, but it was to this effect : " That it may 

 please Thee to give and preserve to our use the 

 kindly fruits of the earth, and continue to %s the 

 blessings of the sea" &c. I should be glad to see 

 the petition correctly recorded in " N. & Q," and 

 to know whether anything of the sort is customary 

 at other sea places. Alfred Gatty. 



[Lord Chancellor King once remarked, that "if the 

 ancient discipline of the Church be lost, it may be found 

 in all its purity in the Isle of Man." Hence we find that 

 no Act of Uniformity (with all its advantages) forbids 

 this Island Church from that liberty, which every Church 

 has ever possessed, of making alterations or additions, as 

 may seem to the ecclesiastical governors necessary or 

 expedient. Accordingly we find Bishop Wilson, although 

 he tells us " the religion and worship is exactly the same 

 with that of the Church of England," prescribing, on his 

 own authority, " A Form of Prayer to be used by his 

 Clergv, who, according to a laudable custom, are bound 

 to attend the boats during the herring fishing;" also 

 "Forms of Excommunication and of Receiving Peni- 

 tents;" as well as "A Form of Consecrating Churches, 

 Chapels, Churchyards, and Places of Burial." The Bishop 

 also adds, " There is a petition inserted in the Litany, 

 and used in the public service throughout the j'ear, for 

 the blessings of the sea, on which the comfortable sub- 

 sistence of so many depends ; and the law provideth that 

 every boat pay tythe fish, without any pretence to pre- 

 scription." In the Manx Book of Common Prayer, 1765, 

 translated under the direction of Bishop Hildesley, the 

 petition reads as follows: — "Dy gooidsave Ihiat dy 

 choyrt as dy reayll gys yn ymmyd ain messyn dooie y 

 thallooin (as dy chur er-ash as dy hannaghtyn dooin 

 bannaghtyn ny m.-irrey), myr shen ayns nyn imbagh 

 cooie dy vod mayd yn soylley oc y gbeddyn."^ 



Ancient Devotions. — Can any correspondent 

 point out the author of an old Romish book of de- 

 votions, the title as following : Devotions in the 

 Ancient Way of Offices, with Psalms, Hymns, *and 

 Prayers for every Day in the Week, and every 

 Holiday in the Year, 12mo. Rouen, 1668, 1672, or 

 1684, which book was condemned and publicly 

 burnt in London ? D. S. 



[The author of this remarkable devotional work was 

 John Austin, born at Walpole in Norfolk, and educated 

 at St. John's College, Cambridge. About 1640 he joined 

 the Roman Church, and entered himself at Lincoln's Inn. 

 He died in Bow Street, Covent Garden, in ] 669. He was 

 the author of The Christian Moderator, under the name 

 of William Birchley, and many other tracts. Dodd 

 {^Church History, iii. 256.) saj's, "His time was wholly 

 spent in books and learned conversation, having the ad- 

 vantage of several ingenious persons' familiarity, who 

 made a kind of junto in the way of learning, namely, Mr. 

 Thomas Blount, Mr. John Serjeant, Mr. Belson, Mr. 

 Keightley, &c. His work. Devotions in the Ancient Way 

 of Offices, was Reformed by a Person of Quality, and 

 published with a long Preface by Dr. George Hickes, and 

 passed through many editions. This work was also re- 

 published, with alterations, by Theophilus Dorrington, 

 rector of Wittresham, and is highly commended bj' Job 

 Orton in his Letters to a Young Clergyman, letter x., as 

 well as by Thoresby in his Diary, vol. i. p. 420. See also 

 The Christian Remembrancer for January, 1844.] 



Italian Opera. — Addison, in a paper on the 

 Italian opera (Spectator, No. 18.), says : 



" Arsinoe was the first opera that gave us a taste of 

 Italian music." 



And then proceeds to speak of the bad taste of 

 translating the Italian words in such cases into 

 English. After which he continues : 



" The next step to our refinement was the introducing 

 of Italian actors into our opera, who sung their parts in 

 their own language, at the same time that our country- 

 men performed theirs in our native tongue. The king or 

 hero of the play generally spoke in Italian, and his slaves 

 answered him in English. The lover frequently made his 

 court, and gained the heart of his princess, in a language 

 which she did not understand. One would have thought 

 it very difficult to have carried on dialogues after this 

 manner, without an interpreter between the persons that 

 conversed together; but this was the state of the English 

 stage for about three years." 



Will some correspondent say which years are 

 referred to, and also give the date of the produc- 

 tion of Arsinoe ? R. W. Hackwood. 



[According to Baker's Biographia Dramatica, Arsinoe, 

 Queen of Cyprus, an Opera after the Italian manner, by 

 Peter Motteux, first appeared in 1705, and was performed 

 at Drury Lane theatre in 1707.] 



Origin of the Name of the Exchequer. — What 

 is the real origin of the name of the Exchequer 

 Court ? and what is the direct authority for its 

 origin ? I have read with great curiosity and 

 surprise the opinions of Maunder and other 

 learned authors and compilers, and consider its 

 derivation as yet very inexplicit and unsatisfac- 

 tory. Can it be possible that the trivial circum- 



