104 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 276. 



and he saide to him, ' Thou hast herd yat kyng 

 Richard is alive, and art glad yereof ?' Ye frere 

 answerde : ' I am as glad as a man is glad of ye 

 liff of his friende, for I am holden to him . . .' 

 Ye kyng saide : ' Thou hast noised and told 

 openli yat he livith, and so thou hast excited and 

 stirid the peple agens me.' Ye frere saide, ' Nay.' 

 Thanne saide ye kyng : ' Tell me trouthe, as it is 

 in thi herte, yf thou sawest kyng Richard and me 

 in ye feld fighting togedir, w* whom woldest thou 

 holde ?' ' Forsoth,' saide ye frere, ' with him ; for 

 I am more beholde to him.' Thanne saide the 

 kyng : ' Thou woldest yat I and alle ye lordis of 

 my reme were ded?' Ye frere saide, 'Nay.' 

 ' What woldest thou do with me,' saide ye kyng ; 

 *yf thou haddest ye victory ovyer me ?' Ye frere 

 saide : ' I wolde make you duke of Lancaster.' 

 ' Thou art not my friend,' saide ye kyng ; ' and 

 yerefor thou shalt lese thin hed.' And thanne he 

 was dampned . . . ." 



Other interesting conversations follow on the 

 same subject. But I have already to apologise 

 for the length of this letter. Can you inform me 

 what my chronicle is ; and also, whether such an 

 one has ever been printed ? J. S. D. 



Oxford. 



[The chronicle would appear, at first sight, to be a 

 version of the " Brut." It is obviously one deserving of 

 farther examination; and if our correspondent would 

 entrust it to us for a short time, we think we may pro- 

 mise him a satisfactory report upon it. — Ed. " N. & Q."] 



MABVELLS "REHEARSAL TRANSPROSED. 



Is there an annotated edition of this witty and 

 learned production ? * The work is not infrequently 

 spoken of as The Rehearsal Transposed, and two 

 instances of this error are now before me. One 

 occurs in vol. iv. p. 226. of Fletcher's History of 

 the Revwal and Progress of Independency in Eng- 

 land (4 vols. 12mo., 1849). The other is to be 

 found in " N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 513. As the latter 

 is in a quotation, the error may probably be found 

 also in the volume whence the passage is taken. 

 There is not, I believe, in Marvell's pages, any 

 explanation of the meaning which he attached to 

 the word " transprose<l ; " but in his day it would 

 be so well understood as to need none. The best 

 that has fallen in my way is to be found in the 

 Co?igregafional Magazine for June, 1821 (vol. iv. 

 p. 318.). Under the head of " Literaria Rediviva, 

 or The Book-worm," Marvell's work is reviewed ; 



[* There is a work, entitled A Common-place Book out 

 of the "Rehearsal Transprosed," with useful Notes, 8vo., 

 London, 1073 ; but we have never met with it. Marvell 

 seems to have taken the title of his work from the comedy 

 of The Rehearsal, written by John Sheffield, Duke of 

 Buckingham, in revenge for the character drawn of him 

 by Dryden under the character of Zimri. ] 



and the writer's opening remarks, which I tran- 

 scribe, contain the explanation to which I refer : 



" The title of the work which we here introduce to our 

 readers is taken, as well as numerous allusions in the 

 body of the performance, from the celebrated satirical 

 play of the Duke of Buckingham, called the Rehearsal ; 

 in which the principal dramatic writers of the age of the 

 Restoration were severely, but justly, ridiculed. The 

 hero of the Duke of Buckingham's satire is an ignorant 

 and bloated play-writer, called Bayes. This wretched 

 and affected scribbler invites two friends to witness a 

 rehearsal of a new play which he has just finished ; and, 

 as the rehearsal is proceeding, he entertains his friends, 

 by disclosing to them the rules by which he composed 

 his plays. The following brief extract from the Duke's 

 Rehearsal, will explain the design of Marvell in calling 

 his work the Rehearsal Transprosed, as well as throw 

 some light upon the character of the ambitious eccle- 

 siastic whom the author has dubbed Mr. Bayes. Marvell, 

 by this ingenious artifice, shielded himself from the legal 

 consequences which, in that intolerant age, the infuriated 

 churchman might have brought upon him. Bayes says : 



" ' My first rule is the rule of transversion, or regular 

 duplex; changing verse into prose, or prose into verse, 

 alternative as j'ou please. 



" ' Smith. Well, but how is this done by rule, Sir? 



" ' Bayes. Why thus, Sir ; nothing is so easy when 

 understood. I take a book in my hand, either at home 

 or elsewhere, for that's all one ; if there be any wit in't, 

 as there is no book but has some, I transverse it : that is, 

 if it be prose, put it into verse (but that takes up some 

 time) ; and, if it be verse, put it into prose. 



" ' Johnson. Methinks, Mr. Bayes, that putting verse 

 into prose should be called transprosing. 



" ' Bayes. Sir, it's a very good notion, and here- 

 after it shall be so.' " 



H. Martin. 



Halifax. 



WELLS PROCESSION. 



The following curious poem is copied from an 

 old MS. formerly in the possession of one of the 

 eathedral dignitaries, and there is good reason for 

 believing that it has never appeared in print. If 

 any of the readers of " N. & Q" can give me any 

 infbrmati(m as to the author or the circumstances 

 to which it refers, I should esteem it a very great 

 favour. Tlie original MS. is indorsed " Wells 

 Procession, 1716." 



"wells processiok, 

 In a Letter to Sir Will. W—d—m. 

 " In eighty -six, when tricksters rul'd the State, 

 And tools of Rome in Aron's chair were sett. 

 When grave processions march'd in solemn pomp. 

 And brawny Jesuits lampoon'd the rump ; 

 Fine sights there were, that pleas'd the giddy mob ; 

 Each priest was then ador'd as much as G — d ; 

 And justly too, for every man must own, 

 If Levites can make gods, their work's their own : 

 Yet their processions, and their noise of bells, 

 Were trifles all compar'd to ours at Wells, 

 Where Querpo march'd in state, and sable drest, 

 Mounted on Horner's steed above the rest, 

 Attended by our rake-hell lilly white, 

 Who loudly roar'd, ' I'm for the Churches right ! * 



