2«a s. NO 70., May 2. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



355 



of them, at the sale of Samuel Rogers's library, 

 passed into my hands. I should be happy to pre- 

 sent it to M. N., if it is of any service. J. C. H. 

 Piccadilly. 



Sarsfield Family (2"^ S. iii. 90.) — In your 

 No. of January 31, a Query is made regarding 

 the Sarsfield family, to which, as far as regards the 

 second portion of it, I am enabled to forward you 

 an answer. The male branch of the family is not 

 yet extinct. In the town of Rugeley (now too 

 well known) lives a worthy tradesman — the last 

 of his honourable line — who claims (and I have 

 no doubt rightfully) to be descended from a 

 nephew of the gallant General Sarsfield. This 

 pedigree, written out by himself, in his own way, 

 I enclose. James Sarsfield can give but a very 

 imperfect account of the female branches of his 

 house, and has not any knowledge of an inter- 

 marriage with the Murray family. 



" James Sarsfield, Rugely, Staffordshire, England, Son 

 to James Sarsfield deceased, formerly writer to the Law 

 Court, CO. Fermanagh, Ireland. Son to Domnick Sars- 

 field, Medical Docter, &c.. Groom, co. Limerick, Son to 

 James Sarsfield, Esq., Doolan Castle, co. Clare, whom was 

 Nephew to General Patrik Sarsfield, whom fell at the 

 Battle of Loandon, fighting for France against the Allies." 



Francis Wiiitgreave. 



Burton Manor, Stafibrd. 



The Becktashgee (2°'' S. iii. 169.) — The Beg- 

 taschi (as the name should be written) are a re- 

 ligious order in the Ottoman Empire. The order 

 was founded in the reign of Ourkhan, the second 

 sultan (a.d. 1328), by Hadji-Begtasch, a famous 

 dervisch of the town of Soulidja-Kenariyoun. It 

 was this dervisch who blessed the formation of the 

 corps of Janizzaries, and gave them their name of 

 Yeni-tscheri (" new troop "), of which the term 

 "janizzaries" is a corruption. The long flowing 

 felt appendage to the cap worn by members of 

 this corps, was in honour of the head-dress of the 

 dervisch at the time when he bestowed his bene- 

 diction. The Begtaschi dervisches, as well as the 

 equally celebrated order of the Melewi, have 

 certain signs and secret pass-words by which they 

 may recognise the " true brethren," as the re- 

 ligious orders in Mussulman countries abound in 

 vagabond impostors. For two or three centuries 

 the chaplains of the corps of janizzaries belonged 

 to the family of Hadji-Begtasch ; and it is de- 

 clared by some Ottoman historians that the worthy 

 sheik himself left his tomb or cave at Soubidja, 

 to become colonel of a regimeat of janizzaries. 

 Certain it is that down to the very date of the 

 annihilation of this formidable corps, the 99th 

 regiment always had for its colonel the superior 

 sheik of the order of Begtaschi. 



Geokge W. M. Reynolds. 



The First English Actresses (2'"^ S. iii. 206. 257.) 

 — Allow me to suggest that, interesting as the 



communications of your correspondents have been 

 on the above subject, they have hardly allowed the 

 memories of their reading to go far enough back. 

 Anne of Denmark, wife of James I., although not 

 an Englishwoman, was the first woman who acted 

 a dramatic part in England, by playing in a pas- 

 toral at court. But her Majesty was not a pro- 

 fessional actress ; the first professional actresses 

 in this country were, however, foreigners. At 

 Michaelmas, 1629, there was a play at Blackfriars, 

 in which French actresses appeared, and this was 

 much resorted to. The fashion seems to have been 

 imported from France, for Genest thus quotes 

 Freshwater as writing from Paris, in the very year 

 just i-ecorded : "Yet the women are the best 

 actors ; they play their own parts, a thing much 

 desired in England." Prynne styles the nov-elty 

 of French actresses at Blackfriars " an impudent, 

 shameful, unworaanish, graceless, if not more than 

 whorish attempt." The novelty must have been 

 speedily followed by Englishwomen, for in 1632 

 the Court Lady was acted at the Cockpit, and in 

 the last act Lady Strangelove says, — 



" If you have a short speech or two, the boy's a pretty- 

 actor ; aiid his mother can play her part. The women now 

 are in great request." 



In the following year (1633) Prynne wrathfully 

 recorded that " they have now their female players 

 in Italy and other foreign parts." At first there 

 was probably no complete French company at any 

 English theatre. In 1661 Davenant had per- 

 mission, by patent, to engage a number of actresses 

 for his theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, on the 

 ground that the employment of men in acting fe- 

 male characters had given great offence. This 

 first licensed troupe consisted of Mrs. Saunderson, 

 Mrs. Davenport, Mrs. Davies, Mrs. Long, Mrs. 

 Gibbs, Mrs. Norris, Mrs. Holden, and Mrs. Jen- 

 nings. " The first four," as I have already noticed 

 in Knights and their Days, " were Sir William's 

 principal actresses, and these were boarded in the 

 knight's own dwelling-house. Their title of ' Mis- 

 tress ' does not necessarily imply that they were 

 married ladies, but rather that they were old 

 enough to be so." Mrs. Saunderson, who was the 

 lantbe recorded by Pepys, and who subsequently 

 married Betterton, is said to have been the first 

 regularly engaged actress who opened her lips on 

 the English stage. But there were wandering Ir- 

 regular female " stars " thirty years before her 

 time. J. DoRAN. 



Henderson the Actor (2°'^ S. iii. 188.) — Recent 

 inquiries after Henderson remaining unanswered 

 induces me to throw in some stray thoughts. 



It will be seen in Fulcher's recent Biography 

 of Gainsborough that the great actor's portrait 

 must have been painted by that no less eminent 

 artist, whose letters exhibit the highest sense of 

 approbation. He must have been painted also by 



