64 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»« S, No 108., Jan. 23. '58. 



Sheldon is generally stated to have been born 

 on July 19, 1598. From this entry it would ap- 

 pear that he was born in the June of that year. 



Sheldon bore his full share of the troubles 

 which fell on all churchmen in the evil days of 

 his early manhood. After his release from the 



Erison he shared with Hammond at Oxford [1648], 

 e retired to the little village of Shelston, in 

 Derbyshire. There he whiled away his time in 

 the pursuit of the " gentle craft." He must have 

 been a keen fisherman. Piscator concludes a 

 minute dissertation on the barbel, by telling the 

 scholar " if he would know more of fishing for the 

 umber or barbel, to get into favour with Dr. 

 Sheldon, whose skill is above all others ; and of 

 that the poor that dwell about him have a com- 

 fortable experience." 



His " fortunate day" came with the Restoration. 

 His old preferments were restored. He succeeded 

 Juxon in the see of London. He enjoyed the 

 confidence of the king. Fuller calls him " chief 

 trustee," in recommending candidates for vacant 

 bishoprics. He performed the marriage cere- 

 mony between Charles and Catherine of Braganza 

 at Portsmouth. Finally, in 1663, he was raised 

 to the see of Canterbury. 



Frequent mention is made of Sheldon by con- 

 temporary writers. Pepys makes sly allusions to 

 his genial nature. One scene, witnessed by him, 

 and duly recorded in the immortal Diary, in 

 which " Cornet Bolton mimicked the presbyter 

 Scots" after dinner, calls forth some indignant 

 comments on the archbishop from Mr. Forster 

 in his brilliant essay on De Foe. Evelyn, while 

 regretting the "great feast" which inaugurated 

 Sheldon's translation from London to Canterbury, 

 is more careful to note the Sheldonian Theatre at 

 Oxford, " now building at an exceeding and royal 

 expense." [September, 1664.] Moreover, he re- 

 cords, that while the populace were rejoicing at 

 the Restoration, and displaying their zeal for 

 monarchy by hanging the remains of the regi- 

 cides, Sheldon preached "before the king on 

 Matthew xviii. 25., concerning charity and for- 

 giveness." 



He lies buried in Croydon church. " The tombs 

 in the church are fine and venerable, but none 

 comparable to that of the late Abp. Sheldon."* 

 He is not to be named with many of the sons of 

 the church his age produced ; but there was much 

 of their spirit in him. And it is to be regretted 

 that no one has yet given to the public a record 

 of Gilbert Sheldon.f J. Virtue Wtnen. 



Hackney. 



* Evelyn, under date July 13, 1700. 



t I am greatly indebted to the Rev. J. M. Middleton, 

 of Stanton, for my information respecting Abp. Sheldon, 

 It is not the least benefit conferred on the public by 

 " N. & Q.," that it produces such friendly oflacea between 

 men. 



JANNET S " BIBLIOTHEQUE ELZEVIRIENNE. 



I resume my account of this collection where I 

 left it. (Cf. " N. & Q." 2"" S, iv. 449.) The 6th 

 volume * of M. de Montaiglon's Poesies Frangoises 

 contains, as I have stated, several curious pieces. 

 The following is the title of a poem referring to 

 the history of England, and therefore likely to in- 

 terest in an especial manner the readers of the 

 " N. & Q." : 



" S'ensuyt le traictddela paix faicte et juree et promise 

 k tout jamais entre le Trfes Crestien Roy de France Loys, 

 douziesme de ce nom, et la Illustrissime Seigneurie de 

 Venise, cr3'^e et publife h Paris le vendredi troisifesme 

 jour de juing mil cinq cens et treze, avec une belle 

 Ballade et le Regrect que faict un Angloys de millort 

 Havart." 



The event to' which allusion is made in the 

 " right merrie ballad " published by M. de Mon- 

 taiglon is the naval fight between Pregent de 

 Bidoux and Lord Howard, the English admiral, 

 in the year 1513. A note subjoined by the learned 

 editor supplies farther details from contemporary 

 historians. 



I quote the first stanza as a curious specimen. 

 It is written in a kind of broken jargon, half 

 French, half English : 



" Plory, plory, plory, d'par tout dyabl, 

 Plory bin fort ; veny goutte h vos yeulx, 

 Tout Angleter plory, point n'a ti fable, 

 Car, by Saint Georg, tout I'a ty malheureux. 

 Ha, King Henry, fa ty bin le piteux. 

 Car ton morel ou ton fians avy, 

 Milord Havart, capitain courageux, 

 II fout mouru : vela faict de son vy." 



2. " L'arrest du roy des Rommains donn^ au grant con- 

 seil de France." 



Reprint of a scarce tract in Gothic characters, 

 composed during the sixteenth century. The 

 subject is the alliance between Louis XII., King 

 of France, Jnd the commonwealth of Venice, 

 against Maximilian ; but the poem supplies allu- 

 sions to the aflfairs of England and Scotland : 



" Le roj' d'Escosse en Terre saincte passe, 

 Et les Germains veulent gangner le pris; 

 Aussi I'Angloys a cuid^, tout compris, 

 Tuer son p^re en venant de la chasse." 



The King of Scotland here mentioned is James 

 VI., who was supposed not to have fallen at Flod- 

 den, but to have gone to the Holy Land. "Z'^n- 

 gloys " is apparently Henry VII. 



3. " Les Efforts et Assauts faicts et donnez a Lusignan 

 la Vigile de No6l, par Monsieur le Due de Montpensier, 

 Prince et Pair de France, Lieutenant Gene'ral au Pais de 

 Guienne, et soubtenus par Monsieur de Frontenay, Prince 

 de Bretaigne, Imprim^ nouvellement, 1575." 



This piece relates to the religious feuds of the 

 sixteenth century ; but it is well known that the 



* " Recueil de poesies fran9oise3 des XV« et XVI« sli- 

 des, morales, fac^tieuses, historiques, r^unies et annotees 

 par M. A. de Montaiglon." 



