Oct. 1. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



313 



should draw and engrave for him a natui*al his- 

 tory ; and this promise was faithfully performed, 

 and a series of three hundred cuts given lo him 

 immediately. Besides these, he executed nume- 

 rous commissions for Mozley, Darton and Harvey, 

 Arliss's Pocket Magazine, and other works ; in all 

 which a strong natural feeling and vigorous draw- 

 ing were leading characteristics. 



In 1809 he visited London for a short time, and 

 returned to Colchester ; and resided there till 1819, 

 when he settled in London. In 1822, Mr. C. 

 Whittingham published an edition of Robinson 

 Crusoe, the illustrations to which were drawn and 

 engraved by the subject of this notice; and the 

 freedom of handling, as compared with cotem- 

 porary works, was conspicuous. After these, Trim- 

 mer's Natural History, published by Whittingham; 

 the illustrations to Wiffin's Garcilasso de la Vega ; 

 and other works, showed his talents as a designer 

 as well as engraver. 



In 1825, William Hone started his Every -Day 

 JBook, employing Mr. Williams to make the draw- 

 ings for the " Months," and other illustrations; and 

 the peculiar style, like pen-and-ink sketches, at- 

 tracted much notice, the freedom and ease of these 

 drawings being greatly admired ; and some of our 

 present artists confess to having been first taught- 

 by copying the free oS'-hand sketches in Hone's 

 JEvery-Day Book. A second volume followed in 

 1846, and the Table Book in 1847 ; in 1848 the 

 Olio was published, and afterwards the Parterre ; 

 both Avorks remarkable for their spirited illustra- 

 tions. Several of the engravings to the London 

 Stage, 1847, displayed great variety of expression 

 in the figures and faces. Howitt's Rural Life of 

 England, Selby's Forest Trees, Thomson's Sea- 

 sons (the edition published by Bogue), Miller's 

 Pictures of Country Life, all drawn and engraved 

 by him, exhibit exquisite rural " bits," in which, 

 like Bewick, Samuel Williams could express with 

 the graver the touch of his pencil, thus far excel- 

 ling his cotemporaries. The Memorials of the 

 Martyrs was the last work on which be exercised 

 his double skill. Of works not drawn by himself, 

 Wiffin's Tnsso shows some of his best efforts ; but 

 as for years past he had been engaged on most of the 

 best works of the day, it is impossible to specify all. 

 Had he devoted his time to painting, which the 

 constant employment with pencil and graver 

 prevented, he would have taken high rank as a 

 painter of rural life, as his pictures of " Sketching 

 a Countryman," and " Interior of a Blacksmith's 

 Shop," exhibited in the Royal Academy when at 

 Somerset House, testify, as they are marked by 

 perfect drawing and admirable expression. Some 

 miniatures on ivory, painted in his very youthful 

 days, are marvellous for close manipulation and 

 correct likeness. After a long and painful ill- 

 ness, borne with great fortitude, Mr. Williams ex- 

 pired on the 19th September, his wife having pre- 



deceased him not quite six weeks, leaving behind 

 him four sons. J. T. 



SIIAKSPEARE COKEESPONDENCE. 



On a Passage in the Second Part of Henry IV. 

 — The Death of Falstaff. — I have read with 

 much pleasure your very temperate remarks on 

 the fiery contributions of some of your corre- 

 spondents ; and I trust that, after so gentle a 

 rebuke from certainly the most good-natured 

 Editor living, all will henceforth go " merry as a 

 marriage bell." Amongst the lore that 1 have 

 picked up since my first acquaintance with 

 " N. & Q.," is that profound truth, 



" 'Tis a very good world that we live in : " 



but I must say I think it would be a very dull 

 one if we all thought alike ; as " N. & Q." would 

 be a very dull book if it were not seasoned with 

 differences of opinion, and its pages diversified 

 with discussions and ingenious argument. And 

 what can be more agreeable, when, like an ani- 

 mated conversation, it is conducted with fairness 

 and good temper ? 



However, now we are to start fair again ; and 

 to begin with a difference, I must presume to 

 question a decision of your own which I would 

 fain see recalled. I believe with you that Mr. 

 Collier's Notes and Emendations gives the true 

 reading of the passage in Henry V., " on a table 

 of green frieze," and I, moreover, think that 

 Theobald's conjecture " and 'a babbled o' green, 

 fields," was worthy of any poet. Theobald was 

 engaged in the laborious work of minute verbal 

 correction, and necessarily took an isolated view 

 of particular passages. Presenting the difficulty 

 which this passage did, his suggestion was a happy 

 and poetical thought. But when you say that the 

 scholiast excelled his author, we must take an- 

 other view of the case. The question is not as to 

 which passage is the most poetical, but which is 

 most in place ; which was the idea most natural to 

 be expressed. And in this I think you will admit 

 that Shakspeare's judgment must be deferred to, 

 and that taking the character of Falstaff, together 

 with the other circumstances detailed of his death, it 

 is not natural that he should be represented as 

 " babbling o' green fields." 



You are aware that Fielding, in his Journey 

 from this World to the next, met with Shakspeare, 

 who, in answer to a similar question to that put 

 to Gothe, gave a like answer to the one you re- 

 port. This arises in a great measure from the 

 imperfection of language ; the most careful writers 

 at times express themselves obscurely. But with 

 regard to Ben Jonson, I should say that, though 

 neither a mean nor an unfriendly critic, he was 

 certainly a prejudiced one. He saw Shakspeare 

 from the conventional-classic point of view, and 



