2nd s. X. Dec. 29. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



507 



the m3'stery. I don't suppose any of your critics 

 will allow it (the behaviour of Tom Sayers being 

 fresh in ray memory), and do not write to make a 

 discovery — a thing which people in general ac- 

 cept very ungraciously, since the hunting for any- 

 thing, as Lessing or Pascal says, is always liked 

 better than the catching of it. The most inter- 

 esting part of the subject in my mind is the fact, 

 that long before Moore's time the Irish melodies 

 made a famous incursion into England, where they 

 were well received, not in the neat Anglo-Saxon 

 longs and shorts, but in the glibbe, and coolin, and 

 cotamore, so to speak, of the wild old motherland ; 

 not in English, but in veritable Irish. They were 

 sung in a state of nature at the picturesque and 

 high-spirited court of the Tudor Lioness ; and we 

 may fancy their influence on the gallant circle of 

 poets, soldiers, and " shepherds of the ocean " that 

 bent their heads before the hard, grey glance of 

 that indomitable eye. Sydney and Spenser have 

 recorded their admiration of the Irish music, and 

 Surrey a little before might have nourished his ro- 

 mance about the fair Geraldine upon the plaintive 

 and touching harmonies of her ancestral home. I 

 can fancy that British queen herself strumming my 

 old tailor's tune on the " virginals " * before Scotch 

 Melvil, giving the Collino custure me the lugubrious 

 long shake natural to it, just to let him see, and 

 to let that " other queen " know, by his next de- 

 spatches, that there be musical fancies and delecta- 

 ble poesies to be heard now and then at Nonsuch 

 or Westminster, as well as at Holyrood or Lin- 

 lithgow, among the Gows and the Dows, and the 

 vagabond Italian fiddlers and guisers of those 

 parts — Gad's Death I It was surely the queen's 

 own pronunciation of those Irish words which 

 helped to puzzle the British critics for so many 

 generations. That is no scandal against Queen 

 Elizabeth I hope. 



A little Irish is a handy thing, even in a Shaks- 

 pearean criticism ; and perhaps if the old language 

 were more generally cultivated, we should have 

 better guesses at the cognate Etruscan of the 

 Gubblo slabs (no offence to Sir W. Betham), and 

 even at that bit of Punic in Plautus. Mr. Lover, 

 no doubt, will be glad to see the critical virtue 

 that may be lurking in an Irish melody — not, 

 however, without a slight clutch at his hair to 

 think it is an American citizen of the great sherry- 

 cobbler metropolis who has " gone and done it." 

 And yet he should recollect that this here is the 



[ * There is little doubt that our correspondent is cor- 

 rect in this supposition. On referring to Mr. Chappell's 

 Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 793., it will be seen 

 that among three Irish Airs found in Queen Elizabeth's 

 Virginal Book, which, having never been quoted or 

 printed, Mr. Chappell submits to his readers, is Callino 

 Casturame, which he describes as alluded to by Shak- 

 .ipeare, and being " as rhythmical as could be desired." — 

 Ed. " N. & Q."] 



traditional ground of Irlande it mikla. The criti- 

 cism is pretty much at home. William Dowe. 

 New York. 



WILL OF LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU. 



As a new edition of the Works of this accomplished 

 and remarkable woman is about to appear, under the 

 editorship of Mr. Moy Thomas, perhaps you may think 

 the following copy of her will may be of interest to that 

 gentleman, as well as to the readers of " N. & Q." gene- 

 rally. W. L. M. 



LADY MART WORTLEY MONTAGUE's WILL, 



Extracted from the Registry of the Prerogative 

 Court of Canterbury. 



In the name of God, Amen. I give and 

 bequeath to her Grace Margaret Duchess of 

 Portland a white brilliant ring, with this motto 

 enamelled, Maria Henrietta. I give to SIgnora 

 Chiara Michielle Brlgadlne, her choice of all 

 my rings, excepting that already bequeathed to 

 the Duchess of Portland. I give to Doctor Julio 

 Bartholomew Moco, who hath faithfully served 

 me seven years, five hundred pounds sterling. I 

 give to Maria Fromenta all my wearing apparel, 

 either made or not made, and all my linen, either 

 for the bed, table, or my person. I give to my 

 son, Edward Wortley, one guinea, his father 

 having amply provided for him. I give to the 

 Hon. James Stewart Mackenzie, one large gold 

 octagon snuflf-box. To my dear daughter Mary, 

 Countess of Bute, I give and bequeath whatever 

 I am possessed of, all my messuages, lands, tene- 

 ments, and hereditaments, whether now in pos- 

 session, or in reversion, desiring her to see duly 

 executed this last will and testament of her affec- 

 tionate mother. I give to all the servants living 

 with me at the time of my decease a year's wages 

 each ; and if there are among them any foreigners, 

 their charges to their own country ; and ten gui- 

 neas above the said legacy to Maria Anna Smith 

 Fromenta. I hereby publish and declare this to 

 be my last will and testament ; in witness whereof 

 I have to two parts of this my will set my hand 

 and seal, this 23d of June, 1762. 



Mary Wortley Montague. 



Signed, sealed, published, and declared by the 

 said testatrix, as and for her last will and testa- 

 ment, in the presence of us, who have hereunto 

 subscribed our names as witnesses thereof, in 

 the presence of the said testatrix, and at her 

 request, and in the presence of each other (the 

 words and hereditaments being first interlined). 

 David Rees, 

 John Lane, 

 Thomas Burch. 



