Jan. 11. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



21 



present of some Quinces, and to his sister ■, and 



every Son and Diiighter, and Son in Law and Daughter 

 in Law, Five Guineas each." 



The last-named gift consisted of gold five-guinea 

 pieces of Charles II. and James II., some of 

 which have been preserved in the family. The 

 part of the record, however, which appears to me 

 wortliy of note, is that which concerns the quinces, 

 which brings to one's mind the ancient Greek cus- 

 tom that the bridegroom and bride should eat a 

 qtdnce together, as a part of the wedding ceremo- 

 nies. (See Potter s Grecian Antiquities.) 



Can any of your readers furnish any additional 

 information on this curious point ? H. G. T. 



ELIZABETH WALKER. SHARSPEARE. 



I have before me a reprint (Blackwell, Sheffield, 

 1829) of The Holi/ Life of Mrs. Elizabeth Walker, 

 late Wife of A. Walker, DD., Rector of FijfiM, 

 ill Essex, originally published by her husband in 

 1690. It is a Ijeautiful record of that sweet, 

 simple, and earnest jjiety which characterised 

 many of the professors of religion in the seven- 

 teenth century. It is not, however, the general 

 chai-acter of the book, however excellent, but an 

 incidental allusion in the first section of it, that 

 suggests this communication. The good woman 

 above named, and who was born in London in 

 1623, says, in her Diary : 



" My dear father was John Sadler, a very eminent 

 citizen. He was born at Stratfjrd upon- Avon, where 

 his ancestors lived. My grandfather had a good estate 

 in and about the !own. He was of a free and noble 

 spirit, which somewhat outreached his estate ; but was 

 n it given to any dehauchery that I ever heard of My 

 father's mother was a very wise, pious, and good 

 woman, and lived and died a good Christian. My 

 father had nj brother, but tliree sisters, who were all 

 eminently wise and gojd women, especially his youngest 

 sister." 



It is, I confess, very agreeable to nie, amidst the 

 interest of association created by the world-wide 

 fame of the "Swan of Avon," to record this pleas- 

 ing tribute to the character of the genius loci at 

 so interesting a period. In a passage on a sub- 

 sequent page, Mrs. Walker, referring to some 

 spiritual trcjubles, says : 



" My father's sister, my dear aunt Quiney, a gra- 

 cious good woman, taking notice of Tny dejected spirit, 

 she waylaid me in my coming home from the morning 

 exercise then in our parish.' 



This was in London : but it is impossible to 

 have read attentively some of the minuter memo- 

 rials of Shakspeare {e.g. Hunter's, IlalliweU's, 

 &c.) without rci'ognising in "Aunt Quiney" a 

 collateral relationship to the immortal bard him- 

 self. I am not aware that any Shakspearian reader 

 of the " Notes anu Queries " will feel the 



slightest interest in this remote branch of a gene- 

 alogical tree, whi(;h seems to have borne " diverse 

 maimer of fruits; " but assuredly the better portion 

 of those who most justly admire its exuberance 

 of dramatic yield, will not disparage their taste 

 should they ecpially relish the evangelical flavour 

 of its "holier products," exemplified in the Life of 

 Mrs. Elizabeth Walker. J. H. 



OLD ENGLISH ACTOES AND MUSICIANS IN GERMANY. 



(Vol. ii., pp. 184. 459.) 



The following extracts furnish decisive evidence 

 of the custom of our old English actors' and musi- 

 cians' professional peregrinations on the continent 

 at the beginning of the seventeenth century — 

 a subject which has been aljly treated bj Mr. 

 Thoms in the Athenceum for 1849, p. 8G2. 



In September, 1603, King James I. despatched 

 the Lord Spenser and Sir William Dethick, Gar- 

 ter King-at-arms, to Stuttgart, for the purpose of 

 investing the Duke of AVurtemberg with the en- 

 signs of the Giirter, he having been elected into 

 the order in the 39th year of the late Queen's 

 reign. A description of this important ceremony 

 was published at Tubingen in 1605, in a 4to. 

 volume of 270 pages, by Erhardus Cellius, pro- 

 fessor of poetry and history at that University, 

 entitled : " Eques auratus Anglo- Wirtembergi- 

 cus." At page 120. we are told that among the 

 ambassador's retinue were " four excellent mu- 

 sicians, with ten other assistants." (Four excel- 

 lentes musici, unit cum decem ministris aliis.) 

 These performed at a grand banquet given after 

 the Duke's investiture, and are described at p. 229. 

 as " the royal English music, which the illustrious 

 royal ambassador had brought with him to en- 

 hance the magnificence of the embassy and the 

 present ceremony ; and who, though few in num- 

 ber, were eminently well skilled in the art. For 

 Enrrland produces many excellent musicians, com- 

 medians, and tragedians, most skilful in the his- 

 trionic art; certain companies of whom quitting 

 their own abodes for a time, are in the habit of 

 visitin'T foreign countries at particular seasons, 

 exhibiting and representing their art principally 

 at the courts of princes. A few years ago, some 

 Enirlish musicians coming over to our Germany 

 with this view, remained for some time at the 

 courts of great princes ; their skill both in music 

 and in the histrionic art, having procured them 

 such favour, that they returned home beautifully 

 rewarded, and loaded with gold and silver." 



(Musica Anglicana Ilegi.e, quain Regius illustris 

 Legatus secum ad Legationis et actus luiius magnificeu- 

 tiam adduxerat: non ita multos quidein sed excellenter 

 in hac arte vcrsatos. Profert enim multos et pr;csfantcs 

 Anglia musicos, comnedos, trag.edos, liistrioniciu peri, 

 lissimos, e quibus interdum aliquot consociati sedibus 



