22 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2«-i S. VIII. July 9. '5?. 



ciety), a Richard Jones, avIio evidently belonged to the 

 company of plaj-ers connected with Henslowe, is fre- 

 quently mentioned between 1593 and 1601. The question 

 arises whether these two and the one mentioned in the 

 passport are identical. It maj* be conjectured that a man 

 who sold his theatrical property in 1589 might have 

 done so with a view to go abroad, and that in 1593 — the 

 year when his name first occurs in Henslowe's Diary — he 

 may have returned. We find in the Alleyn Papers (edited 

 by J. P. Collier for the Shakspeare Society), p. 19., a 

 curious document, of some importance, as it throws addi- 

 tional light on the matter in hand. It is a letter from 

 Richard Jones — evidently the one mentioned in the 

 passport — to Edward Alleyn, to the following effect: — 

 " ' Mr. Allen,— I commend my love and humble duty 

 to you, geving you thankes for j'o'' great bounty bestoed 

 upon me in my sicknes, when I was in great want : god 

 blese you for it. Sir, this it is, I am to go over beyond 

 the seeas w' Mr. Browne and the com pan j', but not by 

 his meanes, for he is put to half a shaer, and to staj' hear, 

 for they ar all against his going : now, good Sir, as A'OU 

 have ever byne my worthie frend, so helpe me nowe. I 

 have a sute of clothes and a cloke at pane fo"" three pound, 

 and if it shall pleas you to lend me so much to release 

 them, I shall be bound to pray fo' you so longe as I leve ; 

 for I go over, and have no clothes, I shall not be esteemd 

 of; and by god's help, the first mony that I get I will 

 send it over unto you, for hear I get nothinge: some 

 tymes I have a shillinge a day, and some tymes nothinge, 

 so that I leve in great poverty hear, and so humbly take 

 my leave, prainge to god, I and my wifie, for yo"" health 

 and mistris Allene's, which god continew. — Yo"^ poor 

 frend to command, Richard Jokes.' 



" Unfortunately, no date is affixed to this letter. There 

 can be no doubt, however, that the writer and the person 

 mentioned in the passport are identical, nor yet that the 

 * Mr. Browne ' alluded to is the same person mentioned 

 first in the passport. Mr. Collier, in his preliminary re- 

 marks to that letter, informs us that Malone was in pos- 

 session of a copy of it, but that he was not aware of its 

 importance in connexion with the history of the early 

 English stage ; and, further, Mr. Collier regrets having 

 no clue to a date, nor to the identity of ' Mr. Browne.' 

 The clue to both will be found in the above passport. 

 ' Mr. Browne,' who was up to this day a mysterious per- 

 son, and whom Mr. Collier supposes to have been 'some 

 connexion of Alleyn,' now turns up as Richard Browne, 

 the principal of a company of English players going 

 ' over beyond the seeas.' It is probable that he was one 

 of Henslowe's players. Richard Jones, as it appears from 

 his letter, left England ' in great poverty,' in the hope of 

 bettering his circumstances abroad. If we may suppose 

 that he succeeded in doing so, it is not improbable that 

 he returned to England, and that he might be the person 

 mentioned in Henslowe's Diary, from 1593 to 1601. If 

 so, it is probable tliat he was in some way acquainted 

 ■with Shakspeare, as the company of plaj'ers to which 

 Shakspeare belonged, and that connected with Henslowe, 

 were acting, if not in concert, in the joint occupation of 

 the same theatre for two whole years, from June, 1594, to 

 July, 1596, -while the ' Globe ' was in the course of con- 

 struction, 



"As to the two remaining names mentioned in the 

 passport, Jehan (John) Bradstriet and Thomas Saxfield, 

 hitherto I have not been successful in identifying their 

 persons. Albeet Cohn." 



I trust that in thus directing the attention of 

 the readers of "N. & Q." to this very interesting 

 question, I shall not only promote the object of 

 Mr. Cohn's communication — "namely, to induce 



English writers to investigate this remarkable 

 phenomenon hitherto so insufficiently illustrated" 

 — but also lead to the identification of " Thomas 

 Saxfield (who will probably turn out to be a 

 Thomas Sackville) and John Bradstriet." 



William J. Thoms. 



GLEANINGS FROM WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH 

 CENTURY, ILLUSTRATIVE OF PROVERBS, WORDS, 

 ETC. 



(^Concluded from p. 8.) 



Miscellaneous. — 



" I have seen a practise at many dinners made at mar- 

 riages, after the offerings are made, the Brides gloves are 

 thrown on the table, and then two of the young men who 

 will show their gallant spirits, offer for the gloves : one 

 offers so much, the other more ; the other offers again, 

 and out-bids him ; so they go on till one layes down so 

 much that the other will not out-bid him, then he that 

 offers most carries away the gloves in triumph, the stan- 

 ders-by applauding him ; the gloves not worth a quarter 

 of the money that he hath layed down, only he hath 

 shown his gallantry, got some credit — a friend to the 

 Bride; this contents him." — Firmin's Real Christian, 

 p. 176. 



" As it is a thing familiarly used among those goers 

 about which do use the art of Jugling, and present merry 

 plays and sights to the people for money, to place in a 

 Cauldron an iron needle, between two loadstones, which 

 they carry hid in their hands, that it runs here and there 

 uncertainly, wavering between both, one while following 

 the stone which draws it unto it at first," &c., &c. — 

 Ward on the Wonders of the Loadstone, London, 1640. 



" It is also a usuall thing with Couseners of plain 

 Country people, and for Mountebancks, under pretence of 

 the vertues and effects thereof, to seek earnestly for credit 

 and estimation to that plaister which in Latin is tearmed 

 Armarium, and is commonly called the weapon salve, 

 having sympathy with other things, and wrought upon 

 by the Stars." — lb., 250. 



" You have heard of the weapon salve, that it cures 

 wounds at a distance ; such a kind of salve is Hope." — 

 Gurnall's Christian in Armour, iii. 34. 



(See Notes and Queries, 2'»'» S. vii. 231.) 



"An ill complexion may have a painted face; and 

 prosperity is no other to a wicked man, than a painted 

 face to a foul woman." — Burroughs on Hosea, i. 278. 



" I make use of this hour to preach in ; though I make 

 use of it in a holy duty, I make it no further holy than a 

 man doth his spectacles that he useth to reade the Scrip- 

 tures by."— 76., 292. 



" As the paper and thread in a shop is given in to the 

 commodity." — lb., 332. 



" Those kind of fruits, as your Apricocks and your May 

 cherries, that grow by a wall in the open sun shine, and 

 have the hot reflection of the sun, come to be sooner ripe," 

 &c. — J6., 462. 



" Some, not contented with ordinary plain letters, make 

 such flourishes about them that you can scarce tell what 

 they are." — Vol. ii. 37. 



"" If possibly there could be imagined any use for them 

 (t. e. ceremonies in worshipping God) at the first, the 

 best is that they were but as Horn-books and fisticues for 

 the childhood and infancy of the Church. And is it 

 seemly always to learn upon them? What knowledge 

 shall you get if, when you set your children to learn to 



