334 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s, NO 43,, Oct. 25. '56. 



called the Gift, of God," " To make a Plalster that 

 Sir William Ferrinjrton let a Squire that was his 

 Prisoner goe for, quite without ransome," &c. &c. 

 I will only mention one more work to enlarge 

 our glimpse at the medical practice of former 

 times, and this is Select Observations on English 

 Hodies of Eminent Persons in desperate Diseases, 

 by Mr. John Hall, Physician, who married Shak- 

 speare's daughter. The remedies in some cases 

 will amuse your readers. For example : 



" John Ernes of Alcester, aged 15, was cured of p g 



in bed thus: take the Windpipe of a Cock dried, and 

 made into powder, and with Crocus Martis given in a 

 rear Egg every morning." 



" Mrs. Hall of Stratford, my Wife *, being miserably 

 tormented with the cholick, and appointed to inject a 

 Pint of Sack, made hot. This presently brought forth a 

 great deal of Wind, and freed her from'all Pain." 



Tlie case of " Mr. Drayton, an excellent Poet, 

 labouring of a Tertian," is given ; and that of 

 " Elizabeth Hall, my only Daughter," whom he 

 mentions visiting London In April, 1624, and 

 taking cold on her return home ; Mr. Queeny, 

 Mrs. Combs, the only son of Mr. Holy- oak (which 

 framed the Dictionary), with many other interest- 

 incr names, and singular treatment for their various 

 ailments. H. B., F.R.C.S. 



Warwick, 



BLOOD THAT WILL NOT WASH OUT. 



(2"'» S. i. 374. 419. 461.501.) 



All arguments on this subject, pro and con, are 

 not worth a rush, which are founded on the sup- 

 posed fact that the stain on the floor of the small 

 dark chamber in Holyrood Palace is caused by 

 the blood of David Rizzio. The thing was always 

 treated as a hoax by Sir Walter Scott ; and he 

 makes it the foundation of a very pleasant little 

 anecdote, in the introductory chapter to the 

 Second Series of the Chronicles of the Canongate. 

 Chambers too, and there can scarcely be a higher 

 authority on such a point as this, asserts that the 

 statement is a traditionary absurdity ; since the 

 boards are comparatively modern, the floor which 

 is now in existence not having been laid down 

 till long after the murder of Rizzio. The old floor 

 was worn out ; the present floor supplies its place. 

 How the stain was made I know not. I do not, 

 for a moment, believe it was caused by the blood 

 of a human being ; perhaps by the blood of a pig 

 or a bullock, very likely tiot by blood at all. The 

 show-apartments at Holyrood are a perfect mu- 

 seum of spurious relics. Not long ago (perhaps it 

 is the case to this day) a set of armour was ex- 

 hibited as having been used by Henry Darnley, 

 which it is a physical impossibility he ever could 

 have worn. But worse than this ; there was a 



block of marble which was stated to have been 

 the seat on which Mary Queen of Scots sat at her 

 coronation, — an event, by the way, which took 

 place at Stirling, when Mary was only between 

 eight and nine months old : this same block having 

 been originally Introduced into the kitchen at 

 Hamilton Palace by a French cook for the pur- 

 pose of kneading his pastry on it ; from which 

 place it was subsequently ejected as being too 

 cumbrous, and was then transported to Holyrood, 

 when it was at once unblushingly dubbed " the 

 coronation stone of Queen Mary." 



On the general question ; I do not believe that 

 stains made by human blood will not wash out 

 solely and expressly because they are made by 

 human blood. Spill the blood of a man or a pig 

 on soft wood, or porous stone, and in a very few 

 hours it will sink so deeply in, that nothing but a 

 plane or a chisel can eradicate the stain ; but spill 

 the blood on close-grained wood or hard stone, 

 and, even if it Is allowed to remain there for some 

 time, the stain will wash clean out at once, whether 

 it is caused by the blood of a man or a pig. 



Henby Kensington. 



* Susanna Shakspeare. 



" GOD SAVE the KING." 



(2"'> S. ii. 96. 137.) 

 A serious illness has prevented my earlier 

 noticing Db. Rimbault's remark on my Note 

 touching the real composer of this tune. Since 

 that note was written, Mr. Richard Clark has 

 been gathered to his fathers ; and Dr. John Bull's 

 melody will probably soon pass into other hands, 

 and appear before the public In its original and 

 authentic shape. Any doubt respecting the origin 

 of an old tune may be fairly considered to have 

 arisen from the fact that there exists no authentic 

 transcript of the composer : for example, had 

 there been no authentic publication of the canon 

 tune, composed by Tallis for Archbishop Parker, 

 who could have believed that that tune, as pub- 

 lished in modern days, was a tune of the Tudor 

 epoch? Dr. Crotch, In illustrating the church 

 music of Thomas Morley of 1590, committed a 

 very grave mistake in printing any music of that 

 date in two-minim time, i. e. one semibreve in the 

 bar ; for no such time was then known in the 

 Church, and, as a consequence, no such quick 

 action or re-action of the scale then existed. My 

 point was this : that Dr. Crotch had mistaken 

 music of the Georgian period for music of the 

 Tudor, — a period of 140 years. Db. Rimbault 

 thereupon comes to the rescue of Dr. Crotch, and 

 affirms I have made a " ludicrous mistake," for this 

 period was in fact only 120 years ; and he comes 

 armed with proof — his copy of the Clieque-book 

 of the Chapel Royal. He says, "you describe 

 William Morley of 1740, whereas he died nineteen 



