we 
386 NOTES AND QUERIES. [No. 24. 
Portrait by Boonen.—Can any of tyour corre- 
spondents state the precise time when Boonen, 
said to be a pupil of Schalcken, flourished? And 
what eminent geographer, Dutch or English, lived 
during such period? ‘This question is asked with 
reference to a picture by Boonen, —a portrait of 
a singular visaged man, with his hand on a globe, 
now at Mr. Peel’s, in Golden Square ; the subject 
of which is desired to be ascertained. It may be 
the portrait of an astrologer, if the globe is ‘or 
Beaver Hats.—On the subject of beaver hats, 
I would ask, what was the price or value of a 
beaver hat in the time of Charles II.? I find that 
Giles Davis, of London, merchant, offered Timothy 
Wade, Esq., ‘five pounds to buy a beaver hat,” 
that he might be permitted to surrender a lease of 
a piece of ground in Aldermanbury. (Vide Judi- 
cial Decree, Fire of London, dated 13. Dec. 1668. 
Add. MS. 5085. No. 22.) F. KE. 
REPLIES. 
BLUNDER IN MALONE’S SHAKSPEARE. 
I regret that no further notice has been taken of 
the very curious matter suggested by “ Mr. Jess” 
(No. 14. p.213.), one of the many forgeries of 
which Shakspeare has been the object, which 
ought to be cleared up, but which I have neither 
leisure nor materials to attempt ; but I can afford 
a hint or two for other inquirers. 
1. This strange intermixture of some John 
Shakspeare’s confession of the Romish faith with 
William Shakspeare’s will, is, as Mr. Jebb states, 
to be found in the Dublin edition of Malone’s 
Shakspeare, 1794. v.i. p.154. It is generally sup-~ 
posed that this Dublin edition was a copy (I be- 
lieve a piracy) of the London one of 1790; but by 
what means the three introductory paragraphs of 
John Shakspeare’s popish confession were foisted 
into the real will of William is a complete mystery. 
2. Malone, in a subsequent part of his prolego- 
mena to both those editions (Lond. vy. i. part ii. 
162., and Dublin, v.ii. p.139.), printed a pretended 
will or confession of the faith of John Shakspeare, 
found in a strange, incredible way, and evidently 
a forgery. ‘This consisted of fourteen articles, of 
which the three first were missing. Now the three 
paragraphs foisted into William's will would be 
the kind of paragraphs that would complete Join’s 
confession; but they are not in confession. Who, 
then, forged them 2 and who foisted them—which 
Malone had never seen—into so prominent a place 
in the Dublin reprint of Malone’s work ? 
3. Malone, in his inquiry into the Zreland for- 
geries, alludes to this confession of faith, admits 
that he was mistaken about it, and intimates that 
he had been imposed on, which he evidently was ; 
but he does not seem to have known any thing of 
the second forgery of the three introductory para- 
-and other materials suitable to the purposes of in- 
eraphs, or of their bold introduction into William 
Skakspeare’s will in the Dublin edition of his own 
work, : 
It is therefore clear that Mr. Jebb is mistaken 
in thinking that it was “a blunder of Malone's.” 
It seems, as far as we can see, to have been, not a 
blunder, but an audacious fabrication ; and how 
it came into the Irish edition, seems to me incom- 
prehensible. The printer of the Dublin edition, 
Exshaw, was a respectable man, an alderman and 
a Protestant, and he could have no design to make . 
William Shakspeare pass for a papist; nor indeed | 
does the author of the fraud, whoever he was, at- 
tempt that; for the three paragraphs profess to be 
the confession of John. So that, on the whole, the . 
matter is to me quite inexplicable; it is certain 
that it must have been a premeditated forgery and | | 
fraud, but by whom or for what possible purpose, 
I cannot conceive. C. 
HINTS TO INTENDING EDITORS. 
Beaumont and Fletcher ; Gray; Seward; Mil- 
ton.—By way of carrying out the suggestion 
which you thought fit to print at page 316, as to 
the advantages likely to arise from intimations in 
your pages of the existence of the MS. annotations, 
tending editors of standard works, I beg to men- 
tion the following books in my possession, which 
are much at the service of any editor who may 
apply to you for my address, viz. : — 
1. A copy of Tonson’s 10 vol. edit. of Beaumont 
and Fletcher (8vo. 1750.), interleaved and copiously 
annotated, to the extent of about half the plays, 
by Dr. Hoadly. 
2. Mr. Haslewood’s collection of materials for 
an edit. of Gray, consisting of several works and 
parts of works, MS. notes, newspaper cuttings, &c., 
bound in 6 vols. 
3. A collection of works of Miss Anne Seward, 
Mr. Park’s copy, with his MS. notes, newspaper 
cuttings, &e. 
As a first instalment of my promised notes on 
Milton’s AZinor Poems, I have transcribed the fol- 
lowing from my two copies, premising that “ G.” 
stands for the name of Mr. Gilchrist, and “ D.” for 
that of Mr. Dunster, whose name is misprinted in 
your 316th page, as “‘ Dunston.” 
Notes on Lycidas. 
On 1.2. (G.) :— 
“ O’er head sat a raven, on a sere bough.” 
Jonson’s Sad Shepherd, Act I. Se. 6. 
On 1.26. (D.) :— 
“ Whose so early lay 
Prevents the eyelids of the blushing day.” 
Crashaw’s Music’s Duel. 
On 1. 27. (D.) :— 
