194 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 253. 



activity been evinced in erecting sacred buildings 

 as at the present day. Ben. Ferret. 



Irish Characters on the Stage (Vol. x., p. 135.). 

 — See the character of Antonio in Beaumont and 

 Fletcher's Coxcomb., where he enters his own 

 house in the disguise of an Irish footman. 



W. J. Bernhard Smith. 



William III. and Cooper (Vol. x. p. 147.). — 

 William Prince of Orange, whose portrait by 

 Alexander Cooper was engraved by H. Hondius 

 in 1641, must have been the Father of our King 

 William III., and husband of Mary the daughter 

 of Charles I. 



It does not seem likely that Samuel Cooper 

 painted a portrait of King William III. at about 

 the age of twenty-one ; for although Samuel 

 Cooper resided for some time in Holland, he is 

 supposed to have returned to England about the 

 time of the Restoration, when William III. was 

 only about ten years of age ; and I am not aware 

 that he was ever in England till became to marry 

 the Princess Mary in 1678, six years after Samuel 

 Cooper's death. M. H. 



Sepulchral Monuments (Vol. x., p. 152.). — I 

 do not perceive in this note anything leading to 

 the inference that C. T. in his able essay, pp. 514., 

 539., and 586., Vol. ix., was unacquainted with 

 the Royal French effigies, as formerly preserved 

 in the Musee des Monumens Frangais, and now 

 restored to the Abbey of St. Denis. My only 

 reason, however, for observing on the note is, 

 that in noticing the figures of three monarchs, the 

 date is given of the death of one of them only, viz., 

 Henry II., which is stated to be 1580, instead of 

 1559, a noticeable error. M. H. 



" The Dunciad" (Vol. x., passim). — I have a 

 very good copy of the edition printed for A. Dod, 

 1729, with the engraved title page of The Ass with 

 the Owl, 4to., and apparently in its original bind- 

 ing, which I should be happy to produce to any 

 of your correspondents interested in the question. 

 I do not suppose, however, it is very rare, as I 

 purchased it for a trifle at a book-stall some forty 

 jears ago or more. M. H. 



Clairvoyance. — With reference to Db. Matt- 

 land's inquiry (Vol. x., p. 7.) I have to inform 

 him, that Professor Simpson, of this city, has re- 

 peatedly given challenges of the nature referred 

 to. Unfortunately, however, for the cause of 

 clairvoyance, no one has yet deemed it prudent 

 to come forward to vindicate it from such telling 

 onslaughts and suspicions; and I doubt not, at 

 this day, the learned professor will be quite pre- 

 pared to renew his challenge " to all whom it may 

 concern." David FoBsyTH. 



Edinburgh. I; 



''While" (Vol. X., p. 100.). — In this part of 

 Yorkshire, the lower orders invariably use while 

 for " up to the time when ; " and till (though less 

 commonly) is used for " during the time when : " 

 thus reversing the ordinary usage of these words. 

 Thus, "I'll wait of you, while twelve o'clock;" 

 " He never ate nor drunk nothing, till the fever 

 was so bad on him;" (both which expressions 

 were used to me yesterday). H. T. G. 



Hull. 



" The Village Lawyer" (Vol. ix., p. 493.). — 

 There has always been a great deal of mystery 

 as to the authorship of the English version of 

 L'Avocat Pateliii, which is called The Village 

 Lawyer. The MS. is generally understood to 

 have been sent anonymously to Mr. Colman, and 

 to have remained in his possession a considerable 

 time without being noticed. It was first produced 

 at the Haymarket Theatre on August 28, 1787, 

 for the benefit of Mr. Edwin, and met with great 

 success. Your correspondent Sigma is correct in 

 saying it has been ascribed to the late William 

 Macready. Mr. Daniel, the writer of the prefa- 

 tory notices to Cumberland's British Theatre, 

 appears to favour the idea of Macready being the 

 author. On the other hand, Mr. Thomas Marshall, 

 in a short biography of " W. C. Macready and his 

 father," published by Appleyard in 1847, says, 

 that in 1794, the elder Macready "foolishly suf- 

 fered his name to appear as the author of The 

 Village Lawyer, a farce of which he had not the 

 honour of writing one line;" and asserts, upon 

 what authority I know not, that the real author is 

 Mr. Charles Lyons ; who, at the time of the farce 

 being brought out, was " conductor of an academy 

 near Dublin, where he was living in 1834." 



Mr. Adolphus' remarks on The Village Lawyer 

 are worth transcribing : 



"This farce, which may probably with justice be 

 termed the most ancient in existence, is derived from a 

 French piece called L'Avocat Patelin. It is frequently 

 mentioned, and its specific incidents — the same which are 

 represented at this day — are referred to by Rabelais in 

 his immortal history of Gargantua. M. Le Duchat tells 

 us that, from internal evidence, the farce appears to have 

 been written about the year 1470. Early in the sixteenth 

 centurj', it was printed in Paris. It was translated into 

 Latin, and went through several impressions more or less 

 correct. Who was the translator is doubtful." — Me- 

 moirs of John Bannister, vol. i. pp. 175, 176. 



Robert S. Salmon. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



Justice George Wood (Vol. x., p. 102.). — In a 

 former communication (Vol. vii., p. 95.) I stated, 

 from Berry's Hampshire Visitation (p. 71.), that 

 Chief Justice Thomas Wood left only a daughter, 

 who married Sir Thomas Stewkley. Justice 

 George Wood, consequently, could not be a lineal 

 descendant ; but he might be, and probably was, 

 the nephew or grand-nephew of the Chief Justice ; 



