2nd g. No 41., Oct. 11. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



283 



Peace), so that j'C Pet"^ may receive y® Arriers 

 of his Pension, to discharge his Debts, and that 

 lie maj' be Restor'd to his Pension of 40" p' 

 Month, that he and his distressed Family may 

 not starve for want of Bread, and that yo"^ poor 

 Pef may not give yo"^ Ma'y any further trouble. 

 "And yo"^ Pef shall ever pray, &c." 



[In dorso.] 



" D'' Gates, 

 " To the Treasury, 



" To be layd before y« K." 



In tbe Treasury Minute Book for 1697, we 

 find, among the proceedings on December 8, 

 when the petition was read, the following entry : 

 « D' Gates, Peticon read, 50"." 



And on July 15, 1698, another minute was 

 made to this effect : 



" D"" Gates called in, my Lords tell him that pursuant 

 to tlie King's command he is to have 500" to pay his 

 debts, and 300" p' ann from Mids"" last, during his and 

 his wife's life, out of the Revenues of the Post Oifice, and 

 be is to expect noe more out of secret service money." 



On August 15, 1698, 5001. was paid to Gates 

 out of the Exchequer, in pursuance of this order. 

 William Heney Haet. 



Albert Terrace, New Cross. 



SHAKSPSAEIANA. 



Falstaff''s Death. — If one is but vigilant in 

 newspaper reading, how much may be culled from 

 current events in evidence of Shakspeare's truth- 

 fulness and accuracy in dealing with human na- 

 ture. I read in The Times of Aug. 23, 1856, in 

 the trial of Betsey McMuIIen for the murder of 

 her husband, the following facts given in evidence. 



James Dorien, surgeon, says : 



" Gn Monday before his death a little sallowness ap- 

 peared on his skin. Gn Tuesday this was well developed, 



AHA. he picked the bed clothes He rambled much in his 



conversation. He died on Wednesday morning." 



Samuel Taylor Chadwick, surgeon, deposes : 



" I have attended cases of gastro-enteritis which have 

 proved fatal. It is frequently followed by a typhoid fever, 

 and the patients are out of their minds, and clutch at the 

 clothes." 



How forcibly is one reminded of Mrs. Quickly's 

 description of FalstaiTs death in Hen. V. Act II. 

 Sc. 3. : 



" For after I saw him fumble with the sheets, &c. I 

 knew there was but one way." 



Mr. Chadwick told the jury that this complaint 

 is caused by " alcohol or other irritant substances." 

 Does it not seem to follow that poor Falstaff fell 

 a victim to gastrO'enteritis caused by excessive 

 indulgence in sack, &c. ? 



C. Mansfield Ingleby. 



Birmingham. 



Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. 3. (2°^ S. ii. 206.) — I can- 

 not agree with Mr. Inglebt that this is " one of 

 the most certain restorations of the text of Shak- 

 speare that has ever been effected by the reading 

 and ingenuity of critics." For I think that un- 

 likely to be a correct restoration which requires 

 two pages of print to render it intelligible, while 

 the original reading may be shown to be more 

 proper and pregnant in two lines. 



I have more than once in these pages endea- 

 voured to vindicate the correctness of the Ji7^st 

 folio, and the more I study it the more thoroughly 

 I am convinced of its exceedingly great value. 

 Most people confess it to be our only authority, 

 but strangely enough they are always wishing to 

 meddle with its text, as if it were of no authority 

 whatever in cases where (as I have frequently 

 shown in these pages) it is only their own acumen 

 which is at fault. Mk. Ingleby is actually worse 

 than many, for he misquotes the text of the first 

 folio; or, perhaps I ought to say, he ignores it, 

 and sets up the first quarto in its place. 



The passage as it stands in my first folio is as 

 follows, literatim : 



" Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy ; 

 But not exprest in fancie ; rich, not gawdle : 

 For the apparell oft proclaimes the man. 

 And they in France of the best ranclc and station, 

 Are of a most select and generous cheflf in that." 



A cheff, or cheffc, as any one may see in Skin- 

 ner, is a measure by which cloth and fine lineu 

 was sold. H. C. K. 



Rectoiy, Hereford. 



Adulteration of Food in Shakspeare's Day. — 

 At this present time, when John Bull is just be- 

 ginning to be alive to the danger of eating and 

 drinking poisoned victuals, it becomes interesting 

 to inquire whether these malpractices were re- 

 sorted to by dishonest dealers in Shakspeare's 

 day. I say by dishonest ones, for it is, no doubt, 

 quite a modern custom for honest ones to sell a 

 scorpion for a fish, or a stone for a loaf of bread. 



In 1 Henry IV., Act II. Sc. 4., we find an al- 

 lusion to the practice of adulterating sack with 

 lime : 



" Falstaff. You rogue, there is lime in this sack too : 

 There is nothing but roguer}"- to be found in villainous 

 man : Yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime 

 in it." 



Again in The Alchemist, Act I. Sc. 1., Face speaks 

 of the excellent quality of the tobacco sold by 

 Drugger : 



" He does not 

 Sophisticate it with sack-lees or oil, 

 Nor washes it in muscadel and grains, 

 Nor buries it in gravel, underground, 

 Wrapp'd up in greasy leather, or p — 'd clouts." 



These examples will serve to start the game. 

 Doubtless some of your correspondents who are 



