2°^ s. NO 73., May 23. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



419 



Great Seal of England, extenils from the accession of 

 William and Mary to the death of Lord Harcourt in 

 1727; and embraces biographies of Maynard, Trevor, 

 Lord Somers, Wright, Lord Cowper, and Lord Harcourt. 



Mr. Smith, having taken up the fanciful, if not in- 

 genious, theory that the plaj's attributed to Shakspeare 

 were in reality written by Bacon, not discouraged by the 

 failure of his first attempt to establish his opinion, has 

 issued a larger book upon the same subject, Bacon and 

 Shakspeare, an Inquiry touching Plays, Playhouses, and 

 Play -writers in the Days of Elizabeth, by W. H. Smith. 

 Mr. Smith assumes that Shakspeare's is a negative his- 

 tor}' : " of his life all that we positively know is the period 

 of "his death." We, in our simplicitj', think that the 

 entry of his baptism in the Stratford Kegister is as good 

 evidence of his birth, as that of his burial is of his death. 

 This is one specimen of the style of argument brought 

 forward by Mr. Smith. Another is, that "there is not, 

 among all the records and traditions handed down to us, 

 any statement that he was ever seen writing or producing 

 a manuscript." Is this an argument ? If it is, we can by 

 the same process show that Chaucer did not write The 

 Canterbury Tales, or Spenser The Fairy Queen. Again, 

 we read if the works now attributed to Shakspeare " had 

 descended to us without any tradition as to the name of 

 the author, and our only information respecting then} had 

 been an exact knowledge of the period at which they 

 were written, that we should in that case have attributed 

 them to William Shakspeare is in the highest degree 

 doubtful." Not at all : if they had been anonj'mous, and 

 we had never heard of Shakspeare (and it is only his 

 writings which have made Shakspeare known), it is not 

 doubtful, but decided ; we should never have attributed 

 the plaj's to Shakspeare. Such being Mr. Smith's style 

 of argument, the reader will j.udge how far he is likely to 

 make out the very absurd case — for absurd we must now 

 pronounce it — which he has undertaken to establish. 



A sale of autograph letters, chieflj' of foreign auto- 

 graphs, but including some few English celebrities, which 

 took place at the auction-rooms of Messrs. Puttick and 

 Simpson, in Piccadillj', on Wednesday and Thursday week, 

 serves to show that rare autographs, not less than rare 

 books, bear a rapidly -increasing price, many of the ar- 

 ticles in this sale having produced three and four times 

 the sums for which they were purchased no longer ago 

 than last season : — Lot 11. A most charming letter from 

 Princess Amelia, 3'oungest daughter of George III., ad- 

 dressed " My poor Mary," to an orphan who had enjoyed 

 her protection, but had been guilty of some misconduct, 

 and filled with most touching appeals to the erring girl to 

 retrace her steps, sold for 3/. 10s. (This letter was pur- 

 chased in Mr. Ray's sale for 10s.) — Lot 6G. Bishop Bos- 

 suet, a letter concerning the reading of mystic authors, 

 &c., 2Z. 4s. — Lot 92. Lodovico Carracci, a letter relative 



to some picture, 21. 10s Lot 118. Pope Clement VIII., 



who gave absolution to Henry IV. on his abjuration of 

 Protestantism, a letter apologising for something which 

 had given offence to the King, 3Z. 3s. — Lot 145. Eichard 

 Cromwell's signature to a lease, 3/. — Lot 159. Diane de 

 Poictiers, Mistress of Francis I. and Henry II., a letter, 

 Al. 8s. — Lot 166. Edward IV. of England, letter to the 

 Duke of Brittany, about some slanders which had been 

 circulated, lOZ. 10s. — Lot 216. Thomas Gray, poet, letter 

 to the Rev. W. Robinson ; commences " Dear (Reverend) 

 Billy," 21. 2s. — Lot 234. Henry IV. of France, a lettre 

 d'amour to Gabrielle d'Estrees, containing some amatory 

 and free allusions, 6Z. 6s. — Lot 301. Louis XIV., letter to 

 D'Aguesseau, on the death of his Queen, Marie Therese 

 d'Autriche, 3?. 5s. — Lot 332. Sign Manual of " Marye 

 the Queen " to a Wardrobe Warrant, dated June 20, 1557, 

 Al. 6«. — Lot 383. Napoleon I., a scheme for the fortifica- 

 tion of the harbour of Portovecchio, in Corsica, three 



pages, 3/. — Lot 481. A most interesting Letter from 

 Robert Southey to R. Duppa, Nov. 22, 1805, Al. ; giving 

 particulars of a recent tour in Scotland, visit to Melrose, a 

 day's salmon-spearing (« a singular, savage sport "), visit 

 to Sir Walter Scott ("a pleasant man, of open and 

 friendly manners, so full of topographical anecdote, that 

 having seen him j-ou must be perfectly well satisfied how 

 well history may be preserved by tradition ") ; his meet- 

 ing with Jeffrey, &c. Relative to the review of Madoc 

 by the latter, he says, " a man who has been reviewed 

 about fifty times, which is my case, is hardened to such 

 things ; besides, by God's blessing, such praise or such 

 censure as can be bespoke for five guineas a sheet can 

 neither help nor harm me now. The}' who fling dirt at 

 me will only dirt their own hands, for I am out of reach." 

 — Lot 490. Dean Swift's letter to Mr. Philips, at Copen- 

 hagen, March 8, 1708-9; believed to be unpublished, 

 bl. 7s. Gd. In this letter he says, " Critic Dennis vows to 

 G — these operas will be the ruin of the nation, and 

 brings examples from antiquity to prove it. A good old 

 lady five miles out town askt me tother day what these 

 uproars were that her daughter was always going to." — 

 Lot 494. Torquato Tasso, a Poetical Letter, entirely au- 

 tograph, 13/. — Lot 513. Louise de la Misericorde, the 

 famous Duchesse de la Valliere, a letter to ISI. Daulier, 

 bl. 2s. 6d. — Lot 515. Paul Veronese, painter, letter to his 

 patron, M. A. Gandini, 3/. 7s. 



Books Received. — Tobacco, its History, Cultivation, 

 Manufacture, and Adulterations. Its Use considered with 

 reference to its Influence on the Human Constitution. By 

 A. Steinmetz, Esq. A clever little book, well deserving 

 perusal at the present time, when the Tobacco Contro- 

 versy is exciting so much attention. 



A Treatise on the Cure of Stammering, by James Hunt, 

 Ph. D., &c. In this third edition of his Treatise, Jlr. 

 Hunt's object is for the first time to furnish a clear and 

 comprehensive account of the numerous causes producing 

 impediment of speech, and the various means proposed 

 for their removal. 



The History and Description of the Walls of Colchester, 

 by P. M. Duncan. A reprint from the Transactions of 

 the Essex Archccological Society of Dr. Duncan's learned 

 and interesting dissertation on the walls of Colonia Camu- 

 lodunum. 



Notices of the Ellises of France (from the Time of 

 Charlemagne), and of England (^from the Conquest), to the 

 Present Time, by W. Smith Ellis, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. 

 No. 1. To be continued Quarterly. Tlie author, obvioush' 

 an enthusiast, announces that if the work is sufficiently 

 encouraged to ])revent pecuniary loss, the second Number 

 shall contain Pedigrees of all the Ellises and Fitz- 

 Ellises. 



River Gardens, being an Account of the Best Methods of 

 Ctdtivating Fresh-water Plants in Aquaria, in such a 

 Manner as to afford suitable Abodes to ornamental Fish 

 and many interesting Kinds of Aquatic Animals, by H. 

 Noel. This is a companion volume to the Ocean Gardens 

 by the same author, noticed by us some few months since. 



BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES 



WANTED TO rURCIIASE. 



Swift'.'! liETTEiis. 8vo. Txmdon, I7tl . 



Quarterly Revfkw. No3. 1. to 5. 12, 13. 19. 187. 10.5. 197, 19?. 211. 



Loudon's SunuRn. Hobticult. No9. 5, 6. 8, 9, 10. Published by W. 



Smith, Fleet Street. 

 P.KPvi' Memoirs. Last Edition. "Vol. IV. 

 Bvron's Works. 10- Vol. Edition. Vol.11. 12mo. 

 The Freebooter. 181i3-4. A Periodical. 



• «• Letters, statin? particulars and lowest price, carriage fref, to be 

 sent to Messrs. Hell & Daluv, PubUshers ot " NOTES AND 

 CiUEKIHJS." 186. Elect Street. 



