2»* F. VIII. Oct. 15. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



313 



Throw moss and myres, throw ditches deip we past, 

 Throw pricking thornes, throw water and throw fyre ; 

 Throw dreidful dennes, quhilk made my heart agast : 

 He buir me up quhen I begonth to tyro. 



" Sumtyme we clam on craigie montaneig hie, 

 And sumtymes stayed on uglie brayes of sand ; 

 They war sa stay that wonder was to sie, 

 Bot quhen I feirit, hee held me by the hand : 

 Throw thick and thin, throw sea and eik be land. 

 Throw greit deserts wee wanderit on our way ; 

 Quhen I was walk, and had no force to stand. 

 Yet with ane luik tee did refresh me ay." 



A glimpse of the celestial mansions is vouch- 

 safed by her guardian angel, but she is told that 

 many difficulties intervene before it can be 

 reached ; and, as a set-off to its glories, she has, 

 like Dante, to pass through the regions of dark- 

 ness. Arrived here, we have the following de- 

 scription : — 



" Into that pit quhen I did enter in, 

 I saw ane sicht quhilk maid my heart agast ; 

 Puir damnit saullis, tormentit sair for sin, 

 In flaming fyre, were frying wonder fast ; 

 And uglie spreits ; and as we throcht them past. 

 My heart grew faint, and I begonth to tyre. 

 Or I was war, ane grippit me at last, 

 And held me heich above ane flaming fyre. 



" The fyre was greit, the heit did piers me sair. 

 My faith grew walk, my grip was wonderous small ; 

 I trimbellet fast, my feir grew mair and mair, 

 My hands did shaik, that I him held withall ; 

 At lenth they lousit, than they begonth to fall, 

 I cryit, ' O Lord ! ' and caucht them fast agane ; 

 ' Lord Jesus cum, and red me out of thrall.' 

 ' Curage ! ' said he, ' and now thou art past the 

 payne ! ' " 



At this point excess of fear caused the Dreamer 

 to awake from what the ancient ballad not inap- 

 propriately calls her wilde shreehinge dretne, and 

 the remainder of the book (in all sixty stanzas) Is 

 occupied with the exhortations of the pious writer 

 to a godly and devout life. J. O. 



This curious old ballad, published originally in 

 1603, was reprinted in 1826, and forms a part of 

 that highly valuable collection entitled Early Me- 

 trical Tales, including the History of Sir Egeir, 

 Sir Gryme, and Sir Gray Steill, edited with a 

 preface by David Laing, Esq., Edinburgh, 12mo. 

 In the introductory notice prefixed to this volume 

 will be found much interesting information rela- 

 tive to the authoress (Mistress Elizabeth Melvil) 

 and her dream. Upon a reference also to Dr. John 

 Armstrong's (Launcelot Temple) Miscellanies, 2 

 vols. 12mo., 1770, will be found some little in- 

 formation in respect to the same. T. G. S. 



Edinburgh. 



BOTDELLS SHAKSPEAKE GALLERY. 



(2"" S. viii. 50. 97.) 

 V. H. Q.'s Query and Mr. Bots's answer in- 

 duce me to offer some farther observations. Mr. 



Boys mentions two catalogues, both of high ifi- 

 terest, but it remains to notice that which was in 

 use during the existence of the Gallery in Pall 

 Mall. This was a thick 12mo. volume, stitched 

 in blue covers, according to the fashion of that 

 day, its bulk being occasioned by quotations of 

 the passages in each play which the pictures were 

 intended to illustrate, many of them extending to 

 a whole scene. Like Mr. Boys, I visited the 

 Gallery in my younger days, which certainly was 

 a most interesting and instructive exhibition, 

 although probably two thirds of the pictures 

 would not now rank as specimens of high art. 



It would be too much to expect that " N, & Q." 

 should contain what V. H. Q. suggests, — " A List 

 of the Artists employed, and the Subject each il- 

 lustrated," — but I will mention a few which I 

 best remember, by artists whose reputation re- 

 mains undiminished, as for instance : — 



Reynolds. Macbeth, Scene 4. The Incanta- 

 tion Scene with Macbeth and the Witches. 

 Henry VI. The Death of Cardinal Beaufort ; and 

 Puck. Purchased at the sale by Mr. Rogers, and 

 I believe sold at the disposal of his collection. 



West. Lear in the Storm ; and Ophelia in the 

 Mad Scene, Hamlet, Act IV. 



Romney. The opening scene in the Tempest, 

 or rather, by painter's licence, the first and second 

 scenes amalgamated. The passengers and crew 

 of the sinking ship occupy close two- thirds of 

 the canvass, and Prospero and Miranda the re- 

 mainder. 



Barry. Lear, with the dead body of Cordelia. 



Fuseli. Hamlet and Ghost ; Prospero, Miranda, 

 and Caliban ; and two great gallery pictures of 

 the Fairy Scenes in the Midsummer Nighfs 

 Dream. These two pictures were afterwards at 

 Stowe, and I presume sold on the lamentable 

 break up of the contents of that noble mansion. 



Opie. Talbot at the Castle of the Countess of 

 Auvergne. Henry VI., Part 1. 



Northcote. Richard II. The Entry of Eichard 

 and Bolingbroke into London. This large and 

 conspicuous picture was, I believe, purchased by 

 the Armourers' Company for their Hall, where it 

 may still be, if the Hall still exists, but which 

 may be doubtful, as the old halls of the lesser 

 city companies are fast disappearing. 



Hamilton, Westall, and Wheatley, all E.A.s, 

 were amongst the most numerous of the contri- 

 butors, but their productions would, I conceive, 

 be now but little regarded, although Hamilton's 

 Statue Scene in the Winter's Tale was a very 

 general favourite at the time. 



V. H. Q. rightly observes that this was a bold 

 undertaking. If it had been merely the engage- 

 ment of the artists to paint the pictures, the outlay 

 must have been enormous : but this was only 

 laying the foundation : the main object was ta 

 have them all engraved by the first artists in that 



