136 



l^OTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 171. 



So brittle is the state of man, so soon it doth 



decay. 

 So all the glory of this world must pas and fade 

 away. 

 " This Robert Pursglove, sometyme Bishoppe of Hull, 

 deceased the 2 day of Maii, in the year of our Lord 

 God, 1579." 



AVood says (Ath. Oxon., edit. Bliss, ii. c. 820.), 

 that about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign 

 he was made Archdeacon of Nottingham, and suf- 

 fragan Bishop of Hull ; but Dr. Brett, in a letter 

 printed in Drake's Eboracum, 1736, fol., p. 539., 

 says he was appointed in 1552, the last year of the 

 reign of Edward VI. John I. Dredge. 



In Wharton's List of Suffragan Bishops, the fol- 

 lowing entry occurs : 



" Robertas Silvester, alias Pursglove, epus HuUen- 

 sis, 1537, 38." 



But this is probably a mistake, as, in a short ac- 

 count of his life by Anthony a Wood (vol. ii. 

 col. 820., Athen. Oxon., edited by Bliss), I find it 

 stated, that " on the death of Rob. Sylvester 

 about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, he 

 was made Archdeacon of Nottingham, and suffra- 

 jjan Bishop of Hull, under the Archbishop of 

 York ." Wood afterwards adds : 



" After Queen Elizabeth had been settled in the 

 throne for some time, the oath of supremacy was of- 

 fered to him, but he denying to take it, was deprived 

 of his archdeaconry and other spiritualities." 



Ttko. 



It appears, from Dugdale's Warwickshire, that 

 Pursglove assented to the suppression of Gisburne 

 in December, 1540, and became a commissioner 

 for persuading other abbots and priors to do the 

 same. It is doubtful at what time he was ap- 

 pointed to the see of Hull ; whether in the last 

 year of Edward VI.. or in Queen Mary's reign, 

 though it is certain, in 1559, he refused to take 

 the oath of supremacy to Elizabeth. 



The hospital and schools mentioned in the epi- 

 taph are Gisborough and Tideswell. R. J. Shaw. 



THE GREGOBIAN TONES. 



(Vol. vi., pp. 99. 178.) 



I have neither time nor inclination to expose all 

 the errors and fallacies of Mr. Matthew Cooke's 

 article on " Gregorian Tones ; " but I cannot 

 resist pointing out certain statements which are 

 calculated to mislead the readers of " N. & Q." in 

 no trifling degree. The writer says : 



" The most ancient account we have is, that St. Am- 

 brose of Milan knew o( four tones in his day, and that 

 he added four others to them ; the former being those 

 termed authentic, the latter the plagal modes." 



Now the fact is, that St. Ambrose, Bishop of 

 Milan (a.d. 374 to 397), chose from the ancient 



Greek modes four series or successions of notes, 

 and called them simply the first, second, third, 

 and fourth tones; laying completely aside the 

 ancient heathen names of Doric, Phrygian, Lydlan, 

 Ionic, &c. St. Gregory the Great, who governed 

 the Christian Church from a.d. 591 to 604, added 

 the four additional tones. These eight ecclesias- 

 tical successions or scales, which still exist as such 

 in the music of the Roman Liturgy, are called 

 Gregorian after their founder. Tims the old 

 Ambrosian chant is known at present only through 

 the medium of the Gi'egorian. 



The writer continues his statement in these 

 words — 



" Some years since, the renowned French theorist, 

 Mons. Fetis, went to Milan for the express purpose of 

 consulting the celebrated Book of Offices, written by 

 St. Ambrose in his own handwriting, which is there pre- 

 served [the Italics are added] ; and in his work, pub- 

 lished in Belgium, he says that he collated them with 

 those known and received amongst us ; and that the 

 variations were of the slightest possible character, the 

 tones being ostensibly the same." 



This extraordinary statement cannot be accepted 

 without the title of M. Fetis' work, and the pas- 

 sage upon which it rests, verbatim in the author's 

 own words. But I have no hesitation in saying 

 that It Is founded in error. 



Thibaut (Ueber der Reinheit dcr Tonkunst, 

 pp. 28 — 30.) speaks of a MS. of the Gregorian 

 chants at St. Gall, in Switzerland, as old as the 

 ninth century. This is believed, by all accredited 

 modern writers upon music, to be the oldest MS. 

 of the tones extant. Edward F. Rimbadlt. 



love's labour's lost, act v. sc. 2. 



(Vol. vi., pp. 268. 296.) 



Of this passage we might almost say conclama- 

 tum est; for really no good sense has yet been 

 made of It, except by bold alterations. For my 

 own part, I agree with A. E. B., that no alteration- 

 is required except In the punctuation, and not 

 much even then. The text of the folios is given 

 by Mr. Singer (Vol. vi., p. 268.), and I would 

 read It thus : 



" Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now. 

 That sport best pleases that doth least know how. 

 Where zeal strives to content, and the contents 

 Dies with the zeal of that which it presents. 

 Their form confounded makes most form in mirth. 

 When great things labouring perish in the birth." 



The whole difficulty seems to lie in the word 

 dies In the fourth line, and that I think may be 

 removed by merely changing i Into y, and reading 

 dyes. The meaning then will be : That sport will 

 yield most pleasure In which, though the .nctors. 

 are devoid of skill, they are zealous and anxious 

 to give pleasure for their zeal in the endeavour. 



