Nov. 10. 1849.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. . 
29 
Acting her passions on our stately stage : 
She is remember’d, all forgetting me, 
Yet I as fair and chaste as e’er was she ;”— 
who remarks upon it as follows: — 
“ A difficulty here may arise out of the fifth line, 
as if Drayton were referring to a play upon the 
story of Lucrece, and it is very possible that one 
was then in existence. Thomas Heywood’s tra- 
gedy, ‘ The Rape of Lucrece,’ did not appear in 
print until 1608, and he could hardly have been 
old enough to have been the author of such a 
drama in 1594; he may, nevertheless, have availed 
himself of an elder play, and, according to the 
practice of the time, he may have felt warranted in 
publishing it as his own. It is likely, however, that 
Drayton’s expressions are not to be taken literally , 
and that his meaning merely was, that the story of 
Lucrece had lately been revived, and brought 
upon the stage of the world: if this opinion be 
correct, the stanza we have quoted above contains 
a clear allusion to Shakspeare’s ‘ Lucrece ;’ and a 
question then presents itself, why Drayton entirely 
omitted it in the after-impressions of his ‘ Matilda.’ 
He was a poet who, as we have shown in the In- 
troduction to ‘ Julius Cesar’ (vol. viii. p. 4.),~ was 
in the habit of making extensive alterations in his 
productions, as they were severally reprinted, and 
the suppression of this stanza may haye proceeded 
from many other causes than repentance of the 
praise he had bestowed upon a rival.”] 
BODENHAM, OR LING’S POLITEUPHUIA. 
Sir, — The following is an extract from a 
Catalogue of Books for sale, issued by Mr. 
Asher, of Berlin, in 1844 : — 
“Bopennam? (Line?), Politeuphuia. Wits 
common wealth ; original wrapper, vellum. Very 
RARE. 
* 80 fr. 8vo. London, for Nicholas Ling, 1597. 
This book, ‘being a methodicall collection of the 
most choice and select admonitions and sen- 
tences, compendiously drawn from infinite va- 
rietie,’ is quoted by Lowndes under Bodenham, 
as first printed in 1598; the Epistle dedicatory 
however of the present copy is signed: ‘ N. 
Ling,’ and addressed ‘ to his very good friend 
Maister I.B.,’ so that Ling appears to have 
been the author, and this an edition unknown to 
Lowndes or any other bibliographer.” 
This seems to settle one point, perhaps a not 
very important one, in our literary history ; 
and as such may deserve a place among 
“ Norzs.” \ 
“ 
your 
Bookworm. 
COLLEY CIBBER’S APOLOGY. 
Mr. Editor, — No doubt most of your 
readers are well acquainted with Colley 
Cibber’s Apology for his Life, &c., first 
printed, I believe, in 1740, 4to, with a por- 
trait of himself, painted by Vanloo, and en- 
sraved by Vandergucht. Chapters IV. and 
VY. contain the celebrated characters he drew 
of the principal performers, male and female, 
in, and just before, his time, viz. Betterton, 
Montfort, Kynaston, &c.; Mrs. Betterton, 
Mrs. Barry, Mrs. Bracegirdle, &c. Upon 
these characters I have two questions to put, 
which I hope some of your contributors may 
be able to answer. The first is, “* Were these 
characters of actors reprinted in the same 
words, and without additions, in the subse- 
quent impressions of Cibber’s Apology, in 
8vyo ?” Secondly, “ Had they ever appeared 
in any shape before they were inserted in the 
copy of Cibber’s Apology now before me, in 
1740, 4to?” ‘To this may be added, if con- 
venient, some account of the work in which 
these fine criticisms originally appeared, sup- 
posing they did not first come out in the 
Apology. I am especially interested in the 
history of the Stage about the period when 
the publication of these characters formed an 
epoch. I am, Mr. Editor, yours, 
DRAMATICUS. 
A MAIDEN ASSIZE—WHITE GLOVES. 
Mr. Editor, —I forward for insertion in 
your new publication the following “ Ngre,” 
taken from the Times of the 20th August, 
1847 : — 
“ A Fortunate County. — In consequence of 
there being no prisoners, nor business of any kind 
to transact at the last assizes for the county of 
Radnor, the high sheriff, Mr. Henry Miles, had to 
present the judge, Mr. Justice Cresswell, with a 
pair of white kid gloves, embroidered in gold, and 
which haye been forwarded to his lordship; a 
similar event has not taken place for a considerable 
number of years in that county. His lordship 
remarked that it was the first time it had occurred 
to him since he had been on the Bench.” 
And I beg to append to it as a “ Query,” which 
I shall gladly see answered by any of your 
correspondents, or my professional brethren,— | 
“ What is the origin of this singular custom, 
and what is the earliest instance of it on 
record ?” A Live or THE Law. 
