July 14. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



27 



Henry, the author of the play, with the man mur- 

 dered by Sir Edward Bishop : 



" Such were the siidclen and untimely ends of all those 

 ancient play-poets, which should serve as a caveat to our 

 moderne (of whom some have likewise come to desperate 

 ends) to deter them from their ungodly profession. Wit- 



ncsse, Sherli/, slaine suddenly by S'' Edward Bishop, 



while he was drunke, as most report." 



The most particular statement of the circum- 

 stances of this murder is preserved in one of 

 Dr. Birch's Transcripts in the Museum (Add. 

 4177.). Tlie original appears to have been in the 

 State Paper Office ; but I have been unable to 

 discover it, where it ought now to be, among the 

 domestic papers'of the year 1627 : 



" M'' Beaulieu to S'' Thomas Puckering, Bart., London, 

 31 October, 1G27. 



" There is a foul murther committed on Friday last by 

 S'' Edward Bishop, of Sussex, on jM"" Henry Shirley of the 

 same shire, whom he run thro' with his sword (having no 

 weapon about him), as he came to him in his lodging in 

 Chancery Lane to demand of him an annuity of 40/., 

 which the said S'' Edward Bishop was to give him, whose 

 lands (which are reported be of 1500/. or 2000/. by the 

 year) were presently begged or given away, but himself 

 not yet found out." 



The Henry Shirley here mentioned, and who 

 by the preceding extracts is identified with the 

 play-writer, was the second son of Sir Thomas 

 Shirley the younger, of Wiston, in the county of 

 Sussex, by Frances Vavisore, his first wife. He is 

 thus noticed in the Latin pedigrees of the Shirleys, 

 written by Sir Thomas Shirley of St. Botolph's 

 Bridge, in the latter part of the reign of Charles I. 

 (Harl. 4023., p. 125. b.) : 



" Henrlcus Shirleius secundo natus, qui sine sobole 

 occisus est." 



The annuity of 40Z., which was the occasion of 

 his death, was bequeathed to him by his grand- 

 mother, Lady Shirley; who secured it on the 

 estate of her friend Sir Thomas Bishop, Knt., of 

 Parham (father of Sir Edward), and in whose 

 will it is also mentioned. 



I may add as confirmatory of the above, that it 

 appears by the address "to the courteous reader" 

 that the author of The Martyr d Souldlcr was dead 

 in 1638 : 



" But the worke it selfe being now an orphant, and 

 wanting him to protect it thtt first begot it, it were an injury 

 to his memory to passe him unspoken of: for the man, 

 his muse was much courted, but no common mistresse ; 

 and though but seldonie seene abroad, yet ever much 

 admired at," &c. 



And that it had been written some time before is 

 evident from the verses 



" To the Reader of this Flay noic come ui Print. 



" That this play's old, 'tis true; but now if any 

 Should for that cause despise it, Ave have many 

 Reasons, both just and pregnant, to maintaine 

 Antiquity ; and those too not all vaine," &c. 

 No. 298.] 



Henry Shirley was also author of the following 

 plays never printed, but entered on the books of 

 the Stationers' Company, Sept. 9, 1653: IVie 

 Spanish Duke of Lerma : The Duke of Guise ; 

 The Dumb Bawd ; Giraldo, the Constant Lover. 



In the Ashmolean Library there are some verses 

 by, I presume, the same author (see Black's Cata- 

 logue, c. 43.), thus described : 



" The Battaile : the combatants, S'^ Ambrose Vaux, 

 Knt., and Glascott, the Bailey of Southwark ; the place, 

 the Rules of the King's Bench — 'No amorous style affects 

 my pen.' " 



subscribed, " Henrye Sherley." And in the Scourge 

 of Folly (by John Davies of Hereford), London, 

 1611, p. 81., are some verses addressed 



" To my right worthy Friend, and truly generous Gentleman , 

 Henry Sherley, Esquire. 



" Could I but sett thee forth as I desire." 



I wish I could include the more celebrated poet 

 James Shirley — the author of those noble verses, 

 " The glories of our birth and state" — also among 

 the worthies of the family tree ; but the genealogy 

 of the Shirleys of Sussex is so well ascertained, 

 that I fear this to be impossible, and that I must 

 rest contented with the less known name of his 

 supposed kinsman. Evelyn P. Shirley. 



THOMAS SIMON THE AlEDALLIST. 



Can any of your correspondents give me any 

 information concerning Thomas Simon, Simons, 

 or Symonds, the famous medallist, who flou- 

 rished temp. Charles I., the Commonwealth, and 

 Charles 11., and particularly as to the place of 

 his birth ? I believe him to have been a native 

 of the island of Guernsey, and' for the following 

 reasons : 



The name is common in the island, and may be 

 traced back to an early date. Richard Simon was 

 one of the " douzaine," or jury of the parish of 

 Torteval, when the extent of the revenues of the 

 Crown in Guernsey was drawn up in the 5th of 

 Edward HL, and many individuals of the name 

 are at the present day holders of land in the same 

 and neighbouring parishes. 



It is known that Thomas Simon had an elder 

 brother, also an artist, of the name of Abraham, 

 and for many generations his Christian name has 

 been common in the various branches of the 

 family, there being scarcely a household of Si- 

 mons in which it does not occur. 



Thomas Simon himself was married to a Guern- 

 sey woman, daughter and sole heiress of Cardin 

 Fautrart. 



In a complaint about the year 1655, against 

 Peter de Beauvoir, Esq., bailiff of Guernsey, by 



