2»d S. VIII. Oct. 1. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



S66 



the arrangements for the amateur performances in 

 that city, principally, 1 believe, from feelings of 

 personal regard for Mr. Knowles, whose interests 

 were then supposed to be identified with the suc- 

 cess of the experiment. 



Whether the Prologue was ever offered to the 

 amateur actors, my friend did not inquire : that it 

 was not spoken I know, having been myself pre- 

 sent at all their performances in the Glasgow 

 theatre. 



The original MS. has the initial B. subscribed to 

 it. This, however, seems to be in the handwriting 

 of Mr. D., who stated to my friend that it was the 

 composition of a member of the University; and 

 the initial will apply to more than one individual 

 in that learned body. 



The verses having never before been published, 

 should they appear to you deserving of a place in 

 " N. & Q." and prove the means of eliciting an 

 answer to the Query I have proposed, or any in- 

 formation of interest regarding the fortunes and 

 fate of Shakspeare's house at Stratford, my friend 

 authorises me to place them at your disposal. 



M. (2.) 



Helensburgh, 31st August, 1859. 



" Lines intended to be spoken as Prologue, ^c. 



" In ancient times when glorious Greece bore sway 

 In arts and arms the Albion of her day, 

 Could some fond finger, pointing to his hearth, 

 Proclaim ' 'Twas here Maeonides had birth : — 

 Here was his cradle : — toils and triumphs by 

 Here came at last the blind old man to dy,' — 

 O, with what pride had sage, had poet knelt 

 Beneath the roof where mighty Homer dwelt, 

 Worshipp'd each relic as a thing divine. 

 The house a temple, and the hearth a shrine ! 



"And lo! from every land, from every sea. 

 Troop pilgrim crowds to fair Parthenope, 

 Left unregarded, half thy wonders, Rome, 

 To gaze and flow at Virgil's honour'd tomb ! 

 Sacred from change see proud Arezzo keep 

 The home that hush'd her Petrarch's infant sleep, ' 

 From change Ferrara fence the modest cell 

 Where Ariosto wove his wizard spell ! 



" And shall thy sons on whose world-circling away 

 Ke'er sets the summer, and ne'er sinks the day. 

 Millions in every clime who own the tongue 

 In which thj' Shakspeare thought, thy Shakspeare sung, 

 Shall they who know where drew his earliest breath 

 Our more than Homer, where his last in death, 

 Profan'd to vulgar uses or forgot 

 A common ruin yield that hallow'd spot ? 



" Britain ! forbid — forbid so foul a brand 

 Should stamp for scorn thy Shakspeare's father-land. 

 From Vandal's touch, from time, from tempest's rage. 

 Be his hearth sacred still, from age to age, 

 A nation's care, a wide world's pilgrimage ! 



" There youthful genius where great Shakspeare trod 

 Shall find his call, and own th' inspiring God ; 

 There musing mindful of the mighty dead 

 Shall statesmen, orators, and sages tread ; 

 And while they ponder on his matchless line. 

 Where wit with wisdom strives, and both divine. 

 High thoughts shall trance them, and high fancies feast. 

 The house a fane, a poet for its priest ! 



" Ah ! yes — a poet for its priest — how meet ! 

 And needs an actor too ? In both complete 

 See Nature boon to j'our own Knowles impart 

 The poet's fancy, and the actor's art I 



" Here where kind hearts his merits prompt to scan 

 Admir'd the poet as they lov'd the man, 

 Fann'd his first soarings with their fond acclaim, 

 Nerv'd his young wing and cheer'd him forth to fame, 

 Not here — not here — fair daughters of the Clyde, 

 Our plea for genius shall be coldly tried : — 

 No spur needs here to willing hearts that yearn 

 To cast their stone on Shakspeare's hallowed calm ! 



" And O ! count mockery the barren aid 

 Would starve the living, and endow the dead ! 

 Discreetly generous, be it yours to yield 

 Due meed to both : — from shameful ruin shield 

 On Avon's bank that consecrated dome, — 

 Give Shakspeare honour, and give Knowles a home ! " 



APHAKA BEHN. 



Glimpses of occult history may not unfre- 

 quently, like spai'ks from a flint, be struck out of 

 a neglected petition or a spurned memorial. The 

 brief story of a life, the notings of family or de- 

 scent, with other genealogical or biographical 

 memoranda, recorded truthfully no doubt (for the 

 writer, being generally in some position of distress 

 or grievance, would hardly adduce facts unable to 

 bear the severest scrutiny,) may be gathered from 

 the few lines addressed to those in power by way 

 of petition. 



Some are written evidently by the elegant quill 

 of a professional scribe, with every embellishment 

 of penmanship, as though the prayer would be 

 entitled to attention by the carefulness of its calli- 

 graphy. Some are dashed off with an impatient 

 and careless scrawl — a few are to be found bear- 

 ing the signatures of the writer; but rarely ever 

 do we meet with any to which the date is attached. 

 The rationale of this is dubious. Why not date a 

 petition ? Many, unread, doubtless have been 

 tossed among a heap of similar documents, and 

 unnoticed have been destined to the fire. Papers 

 of this description, if unresponded to after a long 

 period, might be considered as too remote to de- 

 serve attention ; but by undating it, the petition 

 was preserved as it were evergreen, and ready to 

 be used on any occasion or presented at any con- 

 venient season. 



Under these circumstances a clue is to be sought 

 for in the references and reports which are some- 

 times inscribed upon the memorial itself, but 

 oftener to be found in an especial book kept for 

 this purpose. I have met with a few of Mrs. 

 Aphara Behn ; in one of which she for some pur- 

 pose curiously appears to have transposed her 

 baptismal name, and rendered it Fyhare. By 

 changing the position of letters, we have Afhyre, 

 which approximates closely to Aphara as she calls 

 herself in petition No. 2. No. 3. has the initial 

 only, " Mrs. A. Behn." My inquiry is directed 



