May 21. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



503 



ibishop in pontificals, * I pray for all.' Third, a 

 lawyer in his gown, * I plead for all.' Fourth, a 

 soldier in his regimentals, ' I fight for all.' Fifth, a 

 poor countryman with his scythe and rake, ' I pay for 

 all ! ' "] 



Corvizer. — In a deed of the middle of the last 

 -century, I find this addition to the name of a 

 person residing at Conway. The word is similarly 

 ^employed in a list of intei-ments of some " common 

 people," contained in Browne Willis's account of 

 ^Bangor Cathedral. What does it mean, and 

 whence is it derived ? H. B. 



Bangor. 



[An obsolete word for a cordwainer or shoemaker. 

 •See Ash's Dictionary.'] 



ENGLISH COMEDIANS IN GERMANY. 



<Vol. ii., pp. 184. 459. ; Vol. iii., p. 21. ; Vol. vii., 

 pp. 114. 360.) 



In 1605 the English comedians first appeared in 

 Prussia. In October they performed before the 

 Duchess Maria Eleonora at Koningsberg, for which 

 they were well paid ; they then proceeded to Elbing, 

 ■whence they were dismissed with twenty thalers, 

 since they produced scandalous things (" well sie 

 ^chandbare Dinge fiirgebracht"). In 1607, they 

 were again sent away, after they had performed 

 the preceding year at Rostock. Some time after, 

 the Elector of Brandenburg, Joh. Sigismund, em- 

 ployed a certain noble, Hans von Stockfisch, to 

 -obtain a theatrical company from England and 

 the Netherlands. A troop of nineteen comedians, 

 under the direction of John Spencer, came with 

 sixteen musicians to add lustre to the electoral 

 feasts. In 1611, they received 720 marks, as well 

 as many hundred ells of various stuffs for cos- 

 tumes and decorations ; of which great quantities 

 were used in 1612. Many a time was it necessary 

 to ransom them at great cost from inns and lodg- 

 ing-houses ; so that the prince, in 1613, resolved 

 to rid himself of these dear guests, and gave them 

 a recommendation to the Elector of Saxony. In 

 1616 we find them in Dantzic, where they gave 

 ■eight representations ; and two years later, the 

 Electress of Brandenburg, through Hans von 

 Stockfisch, procured eighteen comedians, who per- 

 formed at Elbing, Koningsberg, and other places, 

 .and were paid for their trouble (" fiir ihre gehabte 

 Miihe eins fiir alles") 200 Polish guilders. 



In 1639, English comedians are again found in 

 Koningsberg ; and, for the last time, in 1650, at 

 Vienna, where William Roe, John Waide, Gideon, 

 Crellius, and Robert Casse, obtained a license from 

 Ferdinand I. 



In 1620 appeared a volume oi Englische Come- 

 dien und Tragedian^ Sfc. (2nd edit., 1624), which was 

 followed by a second ; and in 1670 by a third : 



in which last, however, the English element is not 

 so prominent. 



These statements of Dr. Hagen are confirmed 

 by numerous quotations from original documents, 

 published by him in the Neue Pretiss. Provincial 

 Blatter, Koningsb,, 1850, vol. x. ; vid. et Gesch. 

 der Deuts. Schampielk., by E. Devrient, Leipzic, 

 1848. _ Professor Hagen maintains, that in the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century, the English, 

 comedies were performed in Dutch ; and that, in 

 Germany, the same persons were called indiffer- 

 ently English or Dutch comedians. They were 

 Englishmen who had found shelter under the 

 English trading companies in the Netherlands 

 (" Es waren Englander die in den englischen 

 Handelscompagnien in den Niederlanden ein Un- 

 terkommen gefunden.") — From the Navorscher. 



J.M. 



A GENTLEMAN EXECUTED FOR WHIPPING A 8LAVB 

 TO DEATH. 



(Vol. vii., p. 107.) 



The occurrence noticed by W. W. is, I believe, 



the only instance on record in the West Indies 

 of the actual execution of a gentleman for the 

 murder, by whipping or otherwise, of a slave. 

 Nor is this strange. In the days of slavery every 

 owner of slaves was regarded in the light of $ 

 gentleman, and his "right to do what he liked 

 with his own " was seldom called in question by 

 judges or juries, who were themselves among the 

 principal shareholders. The case of Hodge was, 

 however, of an aggravated character. For the 

 trivial offence of stealing a mango, he had caused 

 one of his slaves to be whipped to death ; and this 

 was, perhaps, the least shocking of the repeated 

 acts of cruelty which he was known to have com- 

 mitted upon the slaves of his estate. 



During slavery each colony had its Hodge, and 

 some had more than one. The most conspicuous 

 character of this kind in St. Lucia was Jacques 

 O'Neill de Tyrone, a gentleman who belonged to 

 an Irish family, originally settled in Martinique, 

 and who boasted of his descent from one of the 

 ancient kings of Ireland. This man had long 

 been notorious for his cruelty to his slaves. At ' 

 last, on the surrender of the colony to the British 

 in 1803, the attention of the authorities wag 

 awakened; a charge of murder was brought 

 against him, and he was sentenced to death. From 

 this sentence he appealed to a higher court ; but 

 such was the state of public feeling at the barQ 

 idea of putting a white man to death for any 

 offence against a slave, that for a long time the 

 members of the court could not be induced to 

 meet ; and when they did meet, it was only to re- 

 verse the sentence of the court below. I have 

 now before me the proceedings of both courts. 



