NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION 

 LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTiaUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



vWben found, maJce a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 55.] 



Saturday, Novembek 16. 1850. 



f Price Threepence 

 J Stamped Edition 4<'- 



CONTENTS. 



Notes • — 



Authorship of " ttenry VIII.," by SamneV Hickson 

 On Authors and Books, No. IX., bv Bolton Corncy 

 Notes on the Second Edition of Mr. Cunningham's 



Handbook of Lo don, bv E. F. R-iml>anlt 

 Folk-lore : — Laying a Ghost — .A Test of Witchcraft . 

 Mhior Notes : — Qiin's incoherent Story— Touchstone's 

 Dial — ^America .and Tariary— A Deck of Cards — 

 Time when Herodotus wrote — " Dat veniam corvis, 

 &c. - 



Page 



4ni 



403 



404 

 404 



- 40.') 



Queries : — 



Dryden's " .Absalom and Achitopliel " - - - 406 

 Mioor Queries: — The Widow of the Wood — Edward 

 the Confessor's Crucifix ajid Gold Chain — Cardinal 

 Er.«kine — Thomas Kegiolapiilensis—" Her Brow was 

 fair " — Hoods worn by Doctors of Divinity of Aber- 

 deen Irish Brigade — D'tctriiie of immaculate Con- 

 ception — Gospel Oak Tree at Kentish Town — 

 Arminian Nunnery in Huntingdonshire — Ruding's 

 annotated Lan^baine— Mrs. Tempest — Sitting cr. s&- 

 legged — Twickenham : Did Elizabeth visit Bacon 

 thsre ? — Burial towards the West — Medal struck by 

 Charles XII — National Debt — Midwives licensed - 406 



Replies: — 



The Black Rood of Scotland ..... 409 



Replies to Minor Queries : — Hamony — Byron's Birth- 

 place — Modena Family — Nicholas Breton's F.intas- 

 licks — G udentio di Lucca — Weights for weighing 

 Coins — Mrs. Partington — The Kast-Anglian Word 

 " Mauther" — Cheshire Cat — '" Thompson of Ksholt " 

 — Minar's Book of .\ntiquities — ("roziers and Pastoral 

 Stayes — Socinian Boast — MSS. of Locke — Sir Wm. 

 Grant — Tristan d'Acunha — .Arabic Numerals — 

 I.ulher's Hirans — Bollnn's Ace — Hopkins the 

 Witchfinder — .Sir Hichard Steel — Ale-drajter — 

 Georsie Herbert -r- Notaries Public — ^Tobacconists — 

 Vineyards ...... 410 



Miscellaneous: — 



Notes on Books, S.iles,^ Catalogues, &c. - 

 Books and Odd Volumes Wanted 

 Notices to Correspondents 

 Advertisements ... 



. 414 



- 415 

 . 41-5 



- 415 



floM. 



AUTHORSIUP OF HENRY VIII. 



In rcturniiif( to the question of the authorship of 

 Henri/ VI/l., I am anxiotis to remove a miseoii- 

 ceptioii uiiiler which Mil. Spkdding appears to 

 labour rehitive to tlie jmrjjort of a remark I made 

 in my last communication to you (Vol. ii., ]). 198.) 

 on this sui)ject. As we appear to be j)erfeetly 

 agreed as to the rt;asons for assijriiinjr a con.sider- 

 able portion of this play to i'"lutchcr, aud as upon 



this basis we have each worked out a result that 

 so exactly coincides with the other, I conclude 

 that Mr. Spedding, as well as myself, has rested 

 his theory solely on positive grounds ; that is, that 

 he imagines there is strong internal evidence in 

 favour of all that he ascribes to this writer. It 

 follows, therefore, that the " third hand" which he 

 thought he detected must be sought rather in what 

 reuiaiiied to Shakspenre, than in that which had 

 been already taken from him. I never for an in- 

 stant doubted that this was Mr. Spedding's view ; 

 but the inequality which I supposed he had ob- 

 served and accounted for in this way, I was dis- 

 posed to refer to a mode of composition that mu.st 

 needs have been troublesome to Shakspeare. The 

 fact is, that, with one or two exceptions, the scenes 

 contributed by the latter are more tameli/ written 

 than anv but the earliest among his works ; and 

 these, different as they are, they recalled to my 

 mind. But I have no doubt whatever that these 

 scenes were all written about the same time ; my 

 feeling being, that after the opening Shakspeare 

 ceased to feel any great interest in the work. 

 Fletcher, on the other hand, would appear to have 

 made a very great eftbrt; and though some por- 

 tions of the work I ascribe to him are tediims 

 and overlaboured, no censure would weigh very 

 strongly against the fact, that for more than two 

 centuries they htive been applatuled as the work of 

 Shakspeare. 



As to the circumstances under which Henry VIII. 

 was composed, it is an exceedingly dilKcult ques- 

 tion; and if I venture, on the present occasion, to 

 give the impression upon my mind, I do so, re- 

 serving to myself the full right to change my 

 opinion whenever I :^hall have acquired more 

 knowledge of the subject, or, from. any_ other 

 motive, shall see fit to do it. I consider this case, 

 then, as one of joint authorship; in point of time 

 not much later than the Two Noble Khiwien, and 

 in other re.'*pects similar to that play. If the (H)n- 

 clusions of the article in the WextmiiLster Review, 

 to which Mr. Speddino alludes, be accepted, the 

 writer of the introductory notice to Henri/ VIII. 

 in the Illmtrated Sfiok.yx-are, ]>ublislied by Tyas, 

 will recognise the "reverent disciple " whom he 

 hints at, but does not name. In short, I think that 



Vol. II.- 



