472 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Dec. 15. 1855. 



phrase in the opening of a chant in the same key, 

 thus, — 



("Treble, B I D B I A It 



IBass, G|bg|d|| 



IS It not probable that our present figuring (6) of 

 B in the second bar of this chant is incorrect ? 

 Possibly a reference to the original scores, which 

 I think are preserved in Christ Church College, 

 Oxford, might settle a question which, on a super- 

 ficial view, may appear insignificant enough, but 

 which presents to the mind of a reflecting musi- 

 cian a differential point of some import. 



Philharmonicus. 



[Dr. Gauntlett has kindly favoured us with the follow- 

 ing Reply to this Query : — "It is very doubtful whether 

 Dean Aldrich made any chant whatsoever; the chants 

 ascribed to him were probably' concocted from some pas- 

 sages of his Avorks by some unknown hand, about the 

 commencement of the last century. The chant Phil- 

 HAKMONicus quotes is in the key of G minor, and the 

 first phrase is thus : * 



" Soprano, B | G B | A : 



Alto, D I DG| Ftt: 

 Tenor, B | B D [ D : 

 Bass, G 1 B G 1 D : 



5 I 6 5 

 3 3 3 



"The second phrase is not music at all, and it would be 

 great injustice to the Dean to attribute so much clumsi- 

 ness to his hand. But there is no analogous passage to 

 the first phrase in the Credo of the Dean's service in g. 

 The Credo is in g major. At the words, ' I believe in the 

 Holj' Ghost,' and afterwards at the close, ' And the life of 

 the world to come,' we find this, — 



« Treble ] 

 Bass I 



iBDB|ABDB[A. 

 G B G I D G B G I D. 



6 5 5 

 3 3 3 



5 5 5 5 

 3 3 3 3 



but the triad of b (the sextilian ratio) is not on the great 

 thesis or stress of the bar, and is therefore, although 

 * quaint,' as orthodox in 1855 as 1755."] 



" The Humours of Oxford" — In Vol. iii. passim, 

 of " N. & Q," there are some notes on the " cock- 

 ade," as worn by oflficers. As an illustration of 

 this subject, I quote the following from The 

 Humours of Oxford ; a Comedy, as it is acted at 

 the Theatre Royal, by his Majesty's servants 

 (2nd edition, 1730) : 



" Gainlove. I confess, Ned, I have often shook mj' sides, 

 to see how dexterously she has humbled that warlike 

 covmtenance of thine, till thou hast looked more like a 

 pensioner of Chelsea Hospital than a colonel of the 

 Guards ; and could'st be known to be an officer, like the 

 rest of thy brethren, by nothing but thv cockade. Ha, 

 ha!"— Actl. Sc. 1. 



Who was the " Gentleman of Wa-iham College " 

 vrho wrote the above comedy ? It has a frontis- 



* Warren's edition of Bnyce, vol. iii. p. 469., in which 

 the editor has taken great liberty in ascribing that to 

 Aldrich which Dr. Bovce declines so to do. 



No. 320.] 



piece, engraved by Vander Gucht, designed by 

 Hogarth, and valuable, as showing the academic 

 dress of that day. 



In Act II., Clarinda describes the "round of 

 delight " in a London existence : 



" The toilet, the tea-table, the park, for the day ; and 

 for the evening, that noon of pleasure, operas, masque- 

 rade, assemblies, china-houses, plaj'-houses ! " 



What were " china-houses ? " 



CUTHBERT BeDE. 



[The author of The Humours of Oxford was James 

 Miller, of Wadham College. It was first acted at Drury 

 Lane, Jan. 9, 1730, and repeated for six more successive 

 nights. He sold the copyright for 80/. See Baker's 

 Biographia Dramatica, and " N. & Q.," Vol. ix., p. 49€. 

 In the Spectator, No. 336., is an amusing paper on the 

 curiosity-shops, or china-houses, in which " Rebecca the 

 Distressed " bitterly complains of " j-our idle ladies of 

 fashion, who, having nothing to do, employ themselves 

 in tumbling over my wares ; so that I can compare tliem 

 to nothing but to the night-goblins, that take a pleasure 

 to overturn the disposition of plates and dishes in the 

 kitchens of your housewifely maids."] 



PalcBography. — Is there any printed book by 

 means of which a facility in reading deeds and 

 manuscripts of about the fifteenth and sixteenth 

 centuries may be acquired ? E. W. O. 



Camberwell. 



[Wright's Court Hand is the only English publication 

 of the kind at present ; but we understand Mr. Richard 

 Sims, of the British Museum, has been for some years 

 collecting materials for a Manual of Palceography, which 

 will probably appear early in the next year. There are 

 several good French works of the kind, such as Wailly's 

 Elements de Palcographie, Paris, 1838, 2 vols. 4to. ; Chas- 

 sant's Dictionnaire des Abreviations, Evreux, 1846, 8vo.; 

 Chassant's Paleographie des Charles, Paris, 1847, 8vo. 

 Nor must we forget Tassin's Nouveau traits de Diploma- 

 tique, 6 vols. 4to., Paris, 1750-65.] 



"did EDMUND BURKE WRITE SIR JOSHUA 



Reynolds's discourses?" 

 (Vol. xii., pp. 325. 393.) 



We have recently had an abortive attempt to 

 deprive Sir Walter Scott of his novels ; and we 

 are now called upon to believe that Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds did not write his admirable Discourses. 

 This is too bad. McCormick is poor authority ; 

 and, in an ill-judged zeal for the honour of his 

 countryman Burke, has asserted more than is 

 true. I am happy to have it in my power to 

 vindicate the memory of our illustrious artist, 

 who was incapable of deceit, and who has shown, 

 by some admirable notes on Shakspeare, that he 

 needed no assistance, although his extreme mo- 

 desty might make him defer to judgments even 

 inferior to his own. 



Among the manuscripts of the late James Bos- 



