2n<» S. V. 130., June 26. '68.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



527 



Paris, and entituled Chronique de Bertrand du 

 GuescUn, gives a representation of him in a com- 

 plete suit of armour, resting on his shield, which 

 appears there to be " a lion ramp, on a chief 3 

 fleurs de lys." Ci.. Hoppbe. 



Stockbrokers (2"^ S. v. 457.)— I do not recollect 

 whether Mr. Francis, in his Chronicles of the 

 Stock Exchange, mentions the following; if not 

 it may be worth preserving. It is from an old 

 paper dated July 15, 1773 : — 



" Yesterday the brokers and others at ' New Jonathan's ' 

 came to a resolution that instead of its being called ' New 

 Jonathan's,' it should be called ' The Stock Exchange,' 

 which is to be wrote over the door. The brokers then 

 collected sixpence each and christened the house with- 

 punch." 



R. W. Hackwood. 



Pearls found in Britain (2°'^ S. v. 258. 400.) — 

 M. H. R. expresses his great surprise that pearls 

 are found in mussels at Conway. M. H. R., I 

 presume, lives away from the sea-coast, or else he 

 would not conclude that pearl mussels are " con- 

 fined to Conway and the west of Scotland." He 

 reminds me of the ingenious inhabitant of Pol- 

 perro who some two or three years ago astounded 

 your readers by making a list of very common 

 words, which he supposed were unknown out of 

 that favoured locality. If M. H. R. will visit the 

 east coast, as Norfolk, Lincolnshire, he will find 

 that the fishermen for a consideration will supply 

 him with pearl mussels in abundance. C. M. A. 



^tScellaucfluS. 



NOTES ON FRENCH BOOKS. 



" T. Jannet's Bibliothfeque Elzevirienne. — Ancien The- 

 atre Fran90is, ou Collection des Ouvrages dramatiques les 

 plus remarquables depuis les Mystferes jusqu'a Corneille, 

 public avec des Notes et Eclaircissements et suivi d'un 

 Glossaire. 10 vols. 1854—1857." 



This remarkable series, now finished, comprises the best 

 plaj-s of every description written by French LittSrateurs, 

 before the time of Corneille. The first three volumes, for 

 the editorship of which M. Anatole de Montaiglon is re- 

 responsible, illustrate the mediaeval period, and are the 

 reprint of a scarce collection purchased in 1845 by the 

 trustees of the British Museum. This petit trtsor, as M. 

 Magnin justly designates it*, contains sixty-four plays, 

 the greater part of which are farces, and were hitherto 

 unknown to the most accurate bibliographers. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of those respecting the printing of which 

 .some chronological indication is given. We leave to 

 savants versed in all the mysteries of mediajval literature 

 the care of assigning the date and establishing the author- 

 ship of these curious little dramas. 



Vol. i. pp. 1 — 10. " Le Conseil du Nouveau Mari^ . . . 

 Cy fine le conseil du Nouveau Mari^. Imprime nouvelle- 

 ment en la maison de feu Barnab^ Chaussard, pres Notre 

 Dame de Confort. Mil cinq cens xlvii." 



Pp. 195 — 211. "Farce nouvelle tres bonne et fort joy- 



* Journal des Savants, Avril 1858. 



euse de Pernet qui va au vin. . . . Cy fine la farce de 

 Pernet qui va au vin. Iniprim^ nouvellement. m.d.xlviii." 



Vol. ii. pp. 140 — 157. " Farce nouvelle d'un Savetier 

 nomm^ Calbain . . . Cy finist la farce de Calbain. Nou- 

 vellement imprim^ ^ Lyon, en la maison de fou Barnabe 

 Chaussard, prfes Notre Dame de Confort. m.d.xlviii." 



Pp. 303 — 325. " Farce nouvelle triis bonne et fort r^- 

 cr^ative pour rire des Cris de Paris. . . . Cy fine la farce 

 des Cris de Paris. Imprim^e nouvellement k Lyon, en 

 la maison de feu Barnab^ Chaussard, pres Nostre Dame 

 de Confort. m.d.xlviii." 



Pp. 388 — 405. "Farce nouvelle de Colin Filz deThevot 

 le Maire. . . . Icy fine la farce de Tbevot et Colin son Filz. 

 Imprim^ nouvellement h, Lj'on, en la maison de feu Bar- 

 nabe Chaussard, prfes Nostre Dame de Confort. Mille 

 cinq cens quarante et deux. Le xx de juing." 



Vol. iii. pp. 127 — 170. " Moralite' nouvelle d'ung Em- 

 pereur. . . . Imprime nouvellement h, Lyon, en la mayson 

 de feu Barnabe Chaussard, prfes Nostre Dame de Confort. 



M.D.XLIII." 



Pp. 171 — 186. " Morality ou Histoire Rommaine . . . 

 Cy fine I'Histoire Rommaine. . . . Imprime nouvellement 

 k Lyon en la Maison de feu Barnabe Chaussard, prfes 

 Nostre Dame de Confort, m.d.xlviii." 



Pp. 300 — 324. " Farce nouvelle des Cinq Sens de 

 I'Homme. . . . Imprime nouvellement k Lyon, h, la maison 

 de feu Barnabe Chaussard, prfes Nostre Dame de Confort, 

 I'an mil cinq cens quarante et cinq, le ix jour de Sep- 

 tembre." 



Vol. iii. pp. 425 — 478. " Le Chevalier qui donne sa 

 Femme au Dyable . . . Cy fine le mystere du chevalier 

 qui donna sa femme au dyable. Imprime k Lyon, a la 

 maison de feu Barnabe Chaussard, prfes Nostre Dame de 

 Confort, m.d.xliiij, le xvi* jour de Juillet. 



From a passage in the Farce nouvelle du Fasti et de la 

 Tarte (vol. ii. pp. 64 — 79) M. Magnin is led to fix 1421 

 m the probable date ofthe composition of that play. One 

 of the characters exclaims : — 



" Je ne trouvay aujourd'hui homme 

 Qui me donnast un seul Nicquet." 



Now the Nicquet was an old coin struck for the first time 

 in 1421, and which, according to Monstrelet, remained 

 current " trois ans tant seulement." 



In the second volume (pp. 326 — 337) M. de Montaiglon 

 has reprinted from the volume in the British Museum 

 the Farce nouvelle du Franc Archier de Baignolet. It 

 would be interesting to compare the text of this play 

 with the one given by M. Paul Lacroix in the Elzevirian 

 edition of Villon's works (edit. Jannet, pp. 296—315.) It 

 seems probable, as the last-named gentleman suggests, 

 that the language of the farce of the Franc Archier was 

 modernised a little about the middle of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, with a view to its representation on the stage. 

 Respecting M. de Montaiglon's preface, I would only re- 

 mark that it gives a concise but complete account of the 

 origins of the French drama. 



Vol. iv. (with notices by M. Viollet-le-Duc.) This 

 volume, as well as the two next, embraces the period 

 of the Renaissance, and contains three works by Jodelle, 

 one of Jacques Grevin, and one of Remy Belleau. With 

 Jodelle, French tragedy and comedy may be said to have 

 really begun; and the regularity of his plots, the intro- 

 duction of Alexandrine couplets, were considered as such 

 unwarranted innovations that no actors could be found to 

 perform in Eugene (comedy, 1552) Clenpatre Captive 

 (tragedy, 1552), and I>idon(lo58, traged3'.) 



Vol. V. — vii. (notices by MM. Jannet and Viollet-le- 

 Duc). Pierre de Larivej', whose works occupy the greater 

 part of these three volumes, typifies the influence of 

 Italian literature upon the French theatre. He translated 

 into prose the tales of Straparola, and borrowed, as the 



