Dec. 11. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



559 



and widow of Josceline Earl "of Northumberland. 

 The property descended to the Earl of South- 

 ampton from the Leiyh family, who possessed 

 it in the beginning of the reign of Queen Eliza- 

 beth. See Dugdale's Warwickshire (Thomas's 

 edition, 1730), p. 101. J. S.s. 



Should a surgeon have been present at the ex- 

 humation at Nuneham Regis, the corpse of the 

 Duke of Monmouth might have been partly iden- 

 tified by traces of the clumsy manner in which 

 the executioner performed his office in severing 

 the head from the body. W. G. 



Reform Club. 



PABOCHIAI, LIBBABIES. 



(Vol. vi., p. 432.) 

 Mr. Newton, in his History and Antiquities of 



AWLi. j.icnbuii, 111 uia j.j.1. 



Maidstone, 1741, observes : 



" In the large and commodious vestry of this church 

 (All Saints) is a large and useful parochial library; 

 this was begun many years ago, but was lately (1735) 

 much augmented by a valuable collection of books, 

 which thnt public-spirited man, Dr. Thomas Bray, 

 late perpetual curate of the church of St. Botolph, 

 Aldgate, ordered to be sold for 50/. on assurance given 

 <»f their being placed in some town corporate in South 

 Britain for a parochial library." 



In 1736 a catalogue of the books was taken and 

 printed by the Rev. John Lewis, the compiler of 

 the History and Antiquities of the Isle of Thanet ; 

 and subsequently, in 1810, the library was re-ar- 

 ranged, and a new catalogue made by the Rev. 

 John Finch, then curate, but not, I believe, 

 printed. This library most probably was one of 

 those contemplated by the act of Anne, but not- 

 withstanding the wise precaution thereby enacted 

 for the preservation of the books, and for the 

 better encouragement of similar benefactions, it 

 would appear from a Topography of Maidstone, 

 published in 1839, that of about 800 volumes, 

 which, inclusive of Dr. Bray's collections, consti- 

 tuted the library, no less than one-eighth of them 

 were missing and decayed at the period of Mr. 

 Finch's overhaul. Among the missing were two 

 •copies of Bishop Walton's Polyglot Bible (one of 

 which was presented to the library by the cor- 

 poration), Calvin's works, and many valuable 

 theological commentaries. There still, however, 

 remains, quoting the same authority, a folio MS. 

 Latin Bible, many of the leaves of which have 

 been sadly mutilated, and all the illuminations cut 

 out. The act of Anne would therefore seem, in 

 the eyes of the men of Kent, to have been more 

 honoured in the breach than the observance of it. 



Any respectable inhabitant can obtain admit- 

 tance to the library on application to the minister 

 or clerk. Roffa. 



I recollect hearing, about twelve or fourteen years 

 ago, of a parochial library, in some part of Oxford- 

 shire— Wendlebury, I think, — and that it con- 

 sisted of some very excellent old divinity. The 

 volumes composing it having fallen into a state of 

 dilapidation, were carefully repaired and made fit 

 for use by the new rector of that time. I under- 

 stood that the library was one of those originally 

 set on foot by Dr. Bray, through whose exertions, 

 and those of Lord Chancellor King, an act was 

 passed in the seventh year of Queen Anne, en- 

 titled "An Act for the better Preservation of 

 Parochial Libraries, in that Part of Great Britain 

 called England." J. M. 



FIEST FOLIO SHAKSPEAEE. 



(Vol. vi., p. 470.) 



I fear your correspondent Mr. Heath will be 

 altogether unable to perfect his copy of the first 

 folio, as it is imperfect exactly in the places where 

 the leaves are the rarest to be met with. A friend 

 at Stratford-on-Avon some time ago placed in my 

 hands a copy of the work in a similarly imperfect 

 state, in the hope I might succeed in finding a 

 copy in London which might at least partially 

 supply its deficiences ; and I am most anxious to 

 do so, especially as it is the only copy of the first 

 folio which has found its way to the place of the 

 poet's nativity. The search will, I suspect, be 

 fruitless, the verses by Ben Jonson, the title-page, 

 and the last leaf being next to impossible to pro- 

 cure. I possess no less than three copies of the 

 first folio — Dr. Dibdin would have told me I was 

 " trebly blessed " — one in an absolutely perfect 

 state in the minutest particular, the other two 

 more or less imperfect. It will give me much 

 pleasure to show these copies to Mb. Heath, or to 

 give him any advice in my power respecting his 

 copy, if he will communicate with me. 



J. O. Halliwell. 



Avenue Lodge, Brixton Hill. 



CATCALLS. 



(Vol. vi., p. 460.) 



I have inquired among veteran play-goers, and 

 cannot find one who has seen a catcall, or heard 

 one since the O. P. riots. They describe the noise 

 as sirnilar to, but quite distinguishable from 

 whistling through the fingers, as now practised by 

 the galleries. A full and minute history of the 

 O. P. is to be found in The Covent Garden Journal, 

 London, 1810. The contest began September, 

 1809 ; at p. 150. it says, — 



"Mr. Kemble made his appearance in the costume of 

 Macbeth, and amid vollies of hissing, hooting, groans, 

 and catcalls, seemed as though he meant to speak. 



