2>"> S. N° 109., Jan. 30. '58,] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



91 



Pictures of the late Kivg of Holland. — Can you 

 furnish me with a list of the prices realisect at the 

 sale of the pictures of the hUe Kin;* of Holland, 

 which sale took place at the Hague after his 

 death. C. B. 



[The sale above referred to commenced on August 12, 

 1850, and continued through the eight following da}'S. 

 As the collection consisted of no less than three hundred 

 and fifty- eight pictures, it is obviously impossible for us 

 to give such a detailed list of prices as our correspondent 

 desires. The entire sum for which the pictures were 

 knocked down was about 96,000Z. The Marquis of Hert- 

 ford was the principal purchaser. For particulars of the 

 sale, see Art Journal for the year 1850, p. 306.] , 



Ahdeher. — There was printed, 12mo., London, 

 1754, a book entitled Ahdeher, or the Art of pre' 

 serving Beauty. Translated from an Arabick 

 manuscript. In the Preface it is asserted that the 

 original MS. was brought by DIamantes Utasto, 

 Physician to the Turkish Ambassador, in the year 

 1740, and that " the author of it Is well known 

 among the learned writers of the present age." 

 It professes to Impart all the " mysteries of 

 beauty " in so " engaging a manner " that by 

 reading It, " you will be Instructed in all the 

 secrets of the author's art, though you will be at 

 the same time persuaded that you have road 

 nothing but the history of his amours." Who 

 was the worthy who adopted this agreeable manner 

 of imparting knowledge ? J. M. 



[Par Le Camus, says Barbicr, Diet, des Anonymes.'} 



Boyal Marriages: " in Ambigu." — The Gentle- 

 man^ s Magazine lor April, 1736, in describing the 

 ceremony of tlie marriage of the Prince of Wales 

 with the Princess of Saxe Gotha, which took place 

 on the 27th of that month, says, " At half an hour 

 after ten, their Majesties sat down to supper in 

 ambigu." What is the meaning of this, term? On 

 this occasion the royal party wore very rich and 

 costly dresses of British manufacture, an example 

 which will, I believe, be followed at the approach- 

 ing royal nuptials. J. B. S. 



Woodhayne. 



l_Amhigu (^Fv.), medley, a banquet in which all dishes 

 are fantastically mixed together, iustead of regular 

 courses.] 



Norman Leader. — I find. In Mordant's History 

 and Antiquities of Essex (vol. ii. p. 443.), the fol- 

 lowing : — 



" There was a dispute between William, Lord Maynard, 

 Impropriator of Thaxted, Patron, and Norman Leader, 

 Vicar, who should have the tythe of hops. It was re- 

 ferred to Dr. Laud, then Bishop of London," &c. 



Is anything else known concerning this Norman 

 Leader, or any of his family ? R. E. L. 



[Newcourt, in his Repertorium, ii. 580., furnishes a few 

 particulars of Newman Leader, as he names him. In 

 1012 he was curate of Dunmow-Parva, in Essex, and on 

 Sept. 25 of the same year was collated to the vicarage of 

 Thaxted, which he held till his death in November, 1645. 



Newcourt has also printed Laud's final award or decree 

 between the vicar and patron.] 



WHO COMPOSED "RULE BRITANNIA."? 



(2"'i S. iv. 416.) 



The Interesting communication of Mr. Husk 

 about this question Induced me to make some new 

 investigations, the result of which I beg to lay 

 before your readers. 



I admit as perfectly established by my esteemed: 

 opponent that Alfred, a masque, the words by 

 Thomson and Mallet, the music by Arne, was 

 performed on August 1, 1740, and that in the 

 libretto of It dated the same year Is to be found 

 " Rule Britannia." The Masque of Alfred, which 

 I mentioned as performed in 1751, was entirely 

 remodelled by Mallet alone, and In Its new form 

 acted by Garrick with different music, retaining 

 only two pieces of the score of Arne, according to 

 the following letter of his Inserted In The General 

 Advertiser of Tuesday, February 26tb, 1751 : — 



" To the Publkh. 



" As Mr. Arne originally composed the Musick in the 

 Masque of Alfred, and the Town may probably on that 

 recount imagine the musick as now performed "to be all 

 his production, he is advised by his friends to inform the 

 Publick that but Two of his songs are in that performance, 

 viz., — the first song beginning, '0 Peace thou fairest 

 child of Heav'n,' and the ode in honour of Great Britain, 

 beginning, ' When Britain first at Heav'n's command,' 

 with the Chorus ' Rule Britannia, rule the Waves, Sec.,' 

 which songs he submitted to be mixed with the produc- 

 tions of others to oblige the author of the Poem. 



" Tiio. Auo. AuNB." 



I can now add that the music in Alfred, pub- 

 lished by Oswald in 1751 without the name of any 

 composer, was the new music used by Garrick. 

 Why only two pieces by Arne were kept, I do 

 not know. 



Arne went to Ireland in 1742 ; he gave miscel- 

 laneous concerts there with his sister Mrs. Gibber. 

 Amongst the inquiries that I made when I was 

 In Dublin lately, I found, with my friend Mr. 

 Townsend, the author of Handel's Visit to Dublin, 

 In Faulkener's Journal, July 20th to July 24th, 

 1743, the advertisement of one of these concerts, 

 in which there Is mentioned, " ' O Peace thou 

 fairest Child of Heaven,' from Mr. Arne's Masque 

 of Alfred," but nothing of " When Britain." In 

 the London Magazine, March 1751, It is said : — 



" A new Masque called Alfred, wrote by Mr. Mallet, 

 having been lately acted with success at the Theatre 

 Roj'al Drury Lane, we shall give our readers some ac- 

 count of it as follows : — " 



Here a description of the piece is given in not 

 less than five columns, finishing with these words : 



" And the Masque ends with a prospect of the ocean, 



