214 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 174. 



and advocated in his writings. Still the piece 

 belongs to a later period, perhaps between the 

 years 1618 and 1630, when the disputes with Re- 

 monstrants, Socinians, and Kooledsjanten (^Colle- 

 .gianten, collegians, sectarians of the van der 

 Kodde's) had reached their highest point. It is 

 known that the Rhetoricians frequently meddled 

 with these contending parties, to the great dis- 

 pleasure of the Synods, which more than once con- 

 trived to elicit severe measures from tlie magistrates 

 against them. How far the Haarlem Societies 

 made themselves justly liable to such interferences, 

 I have not been able to discover ; but it might be 

 ascertained by means of one or other of their works 

 published about that time, as, Der Wit-Angieren 

 JEerenkruns : ghesproten nyt de Flaemsche Natie, 

 ter eeren dei' Slaghet van Rederyche tot Haerlem, 

 J 630, 4to , or the Refereinen en Liedehens vaiit 

 Jlemelert, 1648. 



The verses, excepting the last but one, which is 

 sorely maimed, are easily to be explained. Whe- 

 ther the figures be portraits, I cannot decide with- 

 out ocular inspection of the painting. 



CONSTANTEE. 



Amsterdam. 



This reply was written before the publication 

 of your last notices (" N. & Q.," Vol. vii., pp. 46. 

 and 97.). The verses you mentioned in the last- 

 named part are, in English, " Here one must 

 guess To wash glasses And to p — s in them Would 

 not be fit." I entirely agree with the poet. 



Could you not acquaint me with the length, 

 breadth, and height of the picture, and with the 

 painter's name ? 



THE "PERCY ANECDOTES." 



(Vol. vii., p. 134.) 



I have much pleasure in replying to the in- 

 quiries of Uneda. The Percy Anecdotes, published 

 in forty-four parts, in as many months, com- 

 mencing in 1820, were compiled by " Sholto and 

 Reuben Percy, Brothers of the Benedictine Mo- 

 nastery of Mont Benger." So said the title- 

 pages, but the names and the locality were sup- 

 pose. Reuben Percy was Mr. Thomas Byerley, 

 who died in 1824 : he was the brother of Sir John 

 Byerley, and the first editor of the Mirror, com- 

 menced by John Limbird in 1822. Sholto Percy 

 was Mr. eJoseph Clinton Robertson, who died in 

 1852 : he was the projector of the Mechanics'' 

 Magazine, which he edited from its commence- 

 ment to his death. The name of the. collection of 

 Anecdotes was not taken from the popularity of the 

 Percy JReliques, but from the Percy Coffee-house 

 in Rathbone Place, where Byerley and Robertson 

 were accustomed to meet to talk over their joint 

 "work. The idea was, however, claimed by my 

 clever master and friend, Sir Richard Phillips, 



who stoutly maintained that it originated in a 

 suggestion made by him to Dr. Tilloch and Mr. 

 Mayne, to cut the anecdotes from the many years' 

 files of the Star newspaper, of which Dr. Tilloch 

 was then editor, and Mr. Byerley assistant editor ; 

 and to the latter overhearing the suggestion. Sir 

 Richard contested, might the Percy Anecdotes be 

 traced. I have not the means of ascertaining 

 whether Sir Richard's claim is correct ; and I 

 should be equally sorry to reflect upon his state- 

 ment as upon that of Mr. Byerley, my predecessor 

 in the editorship of the Mirror. The Percy Anec- 

 dotes were among the best compilations of their 

 day : their publisher, Mr. Thomas Boys, of Ludgate 

 Hill, realised a large sum by the work; and no in- 

 considerable portion of their success must be re- 

 ferred to Mr. Boys's excellent taste in their pro- 

 duction; the portrait illustrations, mostly engraved 

 by Fry, were admirable. John Timbs. 



LADY NEVILLS MUSIC-BOOK I MODE OF BEADING 

 THE ANCIENT VIRGINAL MUSIC. 



(Vol. vii., p. 59.) 



The index to Lady NevilVs Music-hook, printed 

 by your correspondent L. B. L., was made known 

 to the public in 1789, in the third volume of Dr. 

 Burney's History of Music. In addition to the 

 information given in " N. & Q.," the doctor adds : 



" Besides the great number of Bird's compositions 

 for keyed instruments, which .ire preserved in the 

 Virginal hook of Queen Elizabeth (now in the Fitz- 

 william Museum), another manuscript collection of his 

 pieces still subsists, under the title of Lady NeviVs 

 Music-book. It is a thick quarto, very splendidly 

 bound and gilt, with the family arms beautifully em- 

 blazoned and illuminated on the first page, and the 

 initials H. N. at the lowest left-hand corner." — P. 91. 



The MS. in question was the property of Dr. 

 Burney, at whose sale, in 1814, it was purchased 

 for lOZ. lOs. by Mr. Thomas Jones, of Nottingham 

 Place. At the sale of the latter, about ten years 

 afterwards, it was bought by Triphook, the book- 

 seller, and by him sold to Lord Abergavenny. I 

 remember seeing the book when in Triphook's 

 possession, since which time I had lost sight of it, 

 until the notice by L. B. L. in your pages. 



Mr. Thomas Jones was a well-known musical 

 antiquary, and possessed many rare tieasures in 

 this department. One of the most important was 

 the original MS, of Lady NeviWs Music-hook, in 

 the handwriting of William Byrd the composer. 

 This valuable relic is now in my library. 



John Baldwine, the person who made the 

 splendid copy for the use of Lady Nevill, was a 

 singular character. I have some materials for his 

 biography which may one day see the light. He 

 was a poet in his own time, and wrote a metrical 



