440 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 237. 



Person with John Wilson, Doctor of Musick, in the 

 University of Oxford, a.d. 1644." 



It would be out of place here to dwell upon this 

 publication ; suffice it to say, that all the inform- 

 ation I have since collected, tends to confirm the 

 hypothesis advanced. One extract from this 

 brochure will show the connexion that existed 

 between Shakspeare and Wilson : 



" Wilson was the composer of four other Shak- 

 spearian lyrics, a fact unknown to Mr. Collier, when 

 he wrote the article in the Shakspeare Papers : * Where 

 the hee sucks,' ' Full fathom five,' ' Lawn as white as 

 driven snow,' and ' From the fair Lavinian shore.' 

 They are all printed in the author's Cheerfull Ayres or 

 Ballads, Oxford, 1660. We have now evidence from 

 this work, that Wilson was the original composer of 

 the music to one of Shakspeare's plays. He says in his 

 preface, ' some of these ayres were originally composed 

 by those whose names are affixed to them, but are here 

 placed as being new set by the author of the rest. The 

 two songs, ' Where the bee sucks,' and ' Full fathom 

 five,' have appended to them the name of ' R. Johnson,' 

 who, upon this evidence, we may undoubtedly con- 

 clude was the original composer of the music in the 

 play of the Tempest. The song • Lawn as white as 

 driven snow,' from the Winter's Talc, has the name of 

 'John Wilson' attached to it, from which it is equally 

 certain that he was its original composer. In my own 

 mind, the circumstances connected with the Shak- 

 spearian lyrics in this book are almost conclusive as to 

 the identity of John Wilson the composer with John 

 Wilson the singer. Unless the composer had been 

 intimately acquainted with the theatre of Shakspeare's 

 day, it is not likely that he would have remembered, 

 so long after, the name of one of its composers. 

 Nor is it likely, being so well acquainted with the 

 original composers of the Shakspearian drama, and so 

 anxious as he appears to have been to do justice to 

 their memory, that he would have omitted informing 

 us, who was the original composer of the song in the 

 Winter s Tale, had it been any other than himself. The 

 Winter s Tale was not produced before 1610 or 1611, 

 at which period Wilson was sixteen or seventeen years 

 old, an age quite ripe enough for the production of 

 the song in question." 



A reviewer of my little publication in the 

 Athenceum (Nov. 8, 1846) makes the following 

 remark : 



" Let us observe, in conclusion, that Dr. Rimbault 

 is better read in Jack Wilson than Ben Jonson, or we 

 should never have seen Mr. Shakspeare's ' Rime' at 

 the ' Mitre,' in Fleet Street, seriously referred to as a 

 genuine composition. It is a mere clumsy adaptation, 

 from Ben's interesting epigram ' Inviting a Friend to 

 Supper.' " 



It is really too bad to be charged with ig- 

 norance unjustly. I have on my shelves the works 

 of glorious Ben, three times over : in folio 1616-31; 

 in folio, 1692 ; and in nine volumes octavo (Gif- 

 ford's edition), 1816; all of which I will freely 

 give to the " reviewer," if he can prove that one 



line of " Shakspeare's Rime at the Mytre" is taken 

 from the aforesaid epigram. I heartily agree with 

 him in admiration of Jonson's spirited imitation of 

 Martial, which I have transcribed as a pleasant 

 relish towards digesting these rambling remarks : 



" INVITING A FRIEND TO SUPPER. 



" To-night, grave Sir, both my poor house and I 

 Do equally desire your company : 

 Not that we think us worthy such a guest, 

 But that your worth will dignify our feast, 

 With those that come ; whose grace may make that 



seem 

 Something, which else could hope for no esteem. 

 It is the fair acceptance, Sir, creates 

 The entertainment perfect, not the cates. 

 Yet shall you have, to rectify your palate, 

 An olive, capers, or some better salad, 

 Ushering the mutton ; with a short-legg'd hen, 

 If we can get her, full of eggs, and then, 

 Limons, and wine for sauce : to these, a coney 

 Is not to be despair'd of for our money ; 

 And though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks, 

 The sky not falling, think we may have larks. 

 I'll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come : 

 Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some 

 May yet be there ; and godwit if we can ; 

 Knat, rail, and ruff too. Howsoe'er my man 

 Shall read a piece of Virgil, Tacitus, 

 Livy, or of some better book to us, 

 Of which we'll speak our minds, amidst our meat ; 

 And I'll profess no verses to repeat : 

 To this if aught appear, which I not know of, 

 That will the pastry, not my paper, show of. 

 Digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be ; 

 But that which most doth take my muse and me, 

 Is a pure cup of rich Canary wine, 

 Which is the Mermaid's now, but shall be mine : 

 Of which had Horace or Anacreon tasted, 

 Their lives, as do their lines, till now had lasted. 

 Tobacco, nectar, or the Thespian spring, 

 Are all but Luther's beer, to this I sing. 

 Of this we will sup free, but moderately, 

 And we will have no Pooly', or Parrot by ; 

 Nor shall our cups make any guilty men : 

 But at our parting, we will be, as when 

 We innocently met. No simple word, 

 That shall be utter'd at our mirthful board, 

 Shall make us sad next morning ; or affright 

 The liberty, that we'll enjoy to-night." 



Edward F. Rimbault. 



ROUS, THE SCOTTISH PSALMIST, PROVOST OP ETON 

 COLLEGE : AND HIS WILL. 



Looking over some back Numbers of "N.& Q.," 

 I see an inquiry (Vol. v., p. 81.) after Francis Rous. 

 G. N. will find an account of him in Chalmerses 

 Biographical Dictionary, gathered out of Wood's 

 Athena; Noble's Memoir of Cromwell, vol. i. 



