S-xiS. No 111., Feb. 13. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



133 



Jlomanorum Pontijiciim Amplissima CoUectio, published in 

 14 vols. foL at Rome, between the years 1739 and 17G2, 

 and which contains no less than forty-four Bulls hi extenso 

 of Pope John XXI. ("dictus XXII."), one only refers to 

 Ireland, namely, the twenty-fourth in order. The title is 

 as follows : " Mandatum Archiepiscopis et Episcopis An- 

 f^liie, ut eos publico denuncient excommunicatos, qui 

 contra Sedis Apostolice prohibitionem Iliberniam Armis 

 inipetere, coedibusque, et rapinis miscere ausi fuerant." 

 This Bull was published in the fourth year of John's pon- 

 tificate, and bears date December 27, 1319. Vide torn, iii. 

 p. 177.] 



Dancing in Churchyards. — In St. Alphage 

 Churchyard, Canterbury, there was a few years 

 since a tombstone bearing an epitaph to Agnes 

 Halke, who died a.d. 1502, as follows : 



" In this churchyard was so her chance. 

 First, after the hallowing of the same. 

 Afore all others to begin the dance, 

 Which to all creatures is the loth game." 



Can you throw light upon the practice herein de- 

 scribed, of dancing in churchyards, " after the 

 hallowing of the saine?" It must have beeneDon- 

 sidered of some importance to*haYe been recorded 

 in an epitaph. J. Beent. 



[Our correspond eiJi has misapprehended the allusion 

 conveyed in the above lines. In the celebrated curious 

 series of engravings called "The Dance of Death," of 

 course the king and the queen begin the dance, then fol- 

 low the bishop, the lawyer, the lover, &c., and ends with 

 a child ; or, as avb read in Pierce Plowman's Visions, — 



'* Death came driving after, and al to dust pashed 

 Kyngs and Kaisars, Knights and Popes." 



Agnes Halke appears to have been the first person in- 

 terred in the churchyard of St. Alphage " after the hal- 

 lowing of the same." In a figurative sense she led the 

 Dance of Death, " which to all creatures is the loth game." 

 The allusion is curious, as indicating the period when a 

 churchyard was added to the ecclesiastical building in 

 question, and the better practice of burying without in- 

 stead of within its walls was adopted.] 



Brandegose Bell. — In Boys's History of Sand- 

 ivich it is stated that " the sexton formerly had an 

 annual allowance of 4s. from the Corporation for 

 ringing at this (Sandwich) church 'Brandgose' 

 bell at one, and the ' curfu ' at eight o'clock." In 

 another paragraph it is termed "Brandegoose bell." 

 What is the meaning of this term ? T. N. B. 



Chester, 



[Brandgose is a Teutonic word signifying "wild goose," 

 the name given to the bell in question. Bo3's says in his 

 History, p. 311., "when the Mayor comes into the hall, 

 a bell at St. Peter's, called Brandegoose bell, shall begin 

 to ring," &c. ] 



" Palsgrave." — Whence is the name borrowed 

 in the following passage of the Hind and Panther 

 transversed, where the City and Country Mouse are 

 riding through London ? 



" But now at Piccadilly they arrive. 

 And, taking coach, t'wards Temple-Bar they drive ; 

 But, at St. Clement's church, eat out the back. 

 And, slipping through the Palsgrave, bilked poor hack." 



" Bayes. Many a young Templar will save his shilling 

 by this stratagem of my mice. 



" Smith. Why, will any young Templar eat out the 

 back of a coach ? 



" Bayes. No, egad ! But you'll grant, it is mighty na- 

 tural for a mouse." — See Scott's Dryden, vol. x. p. 94. 



J. E. J. 



^In Palsgrave Court, in the Strand, near Temple Bar, 

 there was a tavern having for its sign the head of the 

 Palsgrave, the husband of Princess Elizabeth, only daugh- 

 ter of James I. Here Prior and Montague make the 

 Country Mouse and the City Mouse bilk the hackney 

 coachman. — Cunningham's Hand-Book of IfCndon. ] 



PLATS AT PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



(2°'J S. V. 75.) 



The quotation made by the Rev. Macken- 

 zie Walcott from Dr. Hessey's notice of Mer- 

 chant Taylors' School, in reference to dramatic 

 performances, induces me to offer you a farther 

 Note which I have made on this subject. The 

 " Tounley " of I)r. Hessey's note is the reverend 

 gentleman who, just ninety-nine years ago, pro- 

 duced the still popular farce of High Life below 

 Stairs ; a farce at one time erroneously attri- 

 buted to Garrick. This was rather a descent from 

 the style and subject of old Merchant Taylors, — 

 of Chapman, or of Wilde, or of tuneful Shirley, 

 a greater dramatist than Wilde. 



For a long period the faces and opinions of the 

 head-masters of Merchant Taylors were fixedly 

 set against the iniquity of plays and players ; but 

 when young Buckingham, a 'former pupil of the 

 school, wrote his Scipio Africamis., and the piece 

 was announced for representation at the theatre in 

 Lincoln's Inn Fields, the masters grew interested 

 in the success of the piece and the honour of the 

 school, and they sent the boys into the most licen- 

 tious of the London pits, to clap the tragedy. 

 This was in 1718. The performance of Scipio by 

 Quin gave rise to a fondness for theatricals in the 

 school. This only slowly, and not very satisfac- 

 torily, developed itself, by a reverend head-master 

 himself becoming the author of a farce. The 

 fashion flickered and went out for a while, but it 

 was revived in 1762-3, and Terence was en- 

 throned on the stage of Merchant Taylors. Some 

 of the results of this enthronement are worth 

 noticing. Dr. Hessey speaks of a portion of the 

 Phormio being played " more privately " than the 

 JEunuchus, in the year of the revival. But Gar- 

 rick was present, and he was so pleased with the 

 delivery of the prologue, by Sylvester, that he en- 

 ticed the boy to turn actor. Poor Sylvester never 

 did much, but he was willing to do anything; and 

 his readiness to act every character, from Hamlet 

 to Harlequin, was subsequently immortalised by 

 the younger Bannister, in the yreU-known sketcl^ 



