2»<« S. IX. Jan. 21. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



49 



at least from November, 1644, to about February, 1645 : 

 their names, as recorded iu an act passed by notary, 

 were : Jeremias Kite, William Coock, Thomas Loffday, 

 Edward Schottnel [sj'c], Nathan Peet and his son. 

 (Dingtalen 's Hofs, Keg. No. 25.) It does not appear 

 actresses belonged to this troop. 



"To such of my readers, however, as ask me what kind 

 of representations these stagers used to give, I, to my 

 disappointment, cannot supply the information wanted : 

 but 1 deem it probable that, with other plays, they also 

 will have performed the pieces of Shakspeare, Marlowe, 

 Ben Jonson, and their cotemporaries. For only with this 

 supposition I am able to explain to myself how the works 

 of the poet I named first came already to be known 

 here so early, and so soon were translated into Dutch : 

 and this at a period when they were yet unnoticed else- 

 where. Thus, already in 1G1S, the well-known Jan 

 Jansz. Starter gave his version of Shakspeare's Much 

 Ado about Nothing in his Blyendigh Truysspel van Timbre 

 de Cardone ende Fenicie van Messine (Merrily-ending Tra- 

 gedy of Timbre de Cardone and Fenicia of Messina) ; 

 Leeuwarden, 1618, in 4to. See van Halmael, Bijdragen 

 tot de Geschiedenis van het Tooneel [Contributions towards 

 the History of the Stage]: Leeuwarden, p. 82. Starter's 

 performance, being very rare, never came under my 

 hands. I may, however, not pass under silence that one 

 of my friends, who read Starter's comedy, did not judge 

 it an imitation after Shakspeare, but rather a working 

 up of an old novel. If it bo so, I, of course, retract my 

 surmise.* Jacob Struys, in 1634, gave the dramatic 

 play of Romeo en Juliette, which was personated in the 

 old chamber of the Rhetoricians at Amsterdam, and 

 which, to all probabilitj', also, is followed after Shak- 

 speare : whilst Jan Vos's notorious tragedy of Aran en 

 Titus, of which already in 1656 there appeared a fifth 

 edition, is nothing else, as Bilderdijk has demonstrated, 

 but a free imitation of the English poet's Titus Androni- 

 cus. Perhaps more examples are extant of such trans- 

 lations, but how is their earliness to be explained other- 

 wise than by- the supposition that beforehand their 

 originals had become known by the English comedians 

 of that time?" 



I conclude with a Letter of Credence, addressed 

 to the States General in favour of a Company of 

 English Comedians, and communicated by M. van 

 den Bergb, LI, p. 41 . lie says : — 



"This document, recently discovered by the Clark - 

 chartermaster J. A. de Zwaan Cz., in a bundle of letters 

 belonging to the States General, I thought too interesting 

 not to publish it, now the occasion offers. By it we see 

 that, already in 1591, in various towns of Holland, and 

 probably too at the Hague, English comedians were seen, 

 personating tragedies, comedies and histories, quite ac- 

 cording to the difference, also made by Shakspeare, with 

 whom, for instance, the pieces of which kings are the 

 heroes in the same way are called histories. The fact 

 that the company was in the service of a private gentle- 

 man reminds us of the custom in the middle ages, also 

 with us, that the principal barons usually retained one 

 or more players, a custom of which the baronial accounts 

 furnish many an example. The agilitez [see " N. & Q." 

 2 1 " 1 S. vii. 36.] were tricks, whether of legerdemain [leap- 

 ing] or otherwise, performed in the interludes mean- 

 whiles to divert the public." 



Follows tlic letter: — 



" Messieurs, commeles presents porteurs Robert Browne 



• The titlo of Starter's production abundantly shows 

 Shakspeare v.os not imitated by him. 



[" N. & Q." 2"<i S. vii. 36.], Jehan Bradstriet, Thomas 

 Saxfield, Richard Jones, avec leurs consorts, est.mts mes 

 joueurs et serviteurs, ont delibere de faire ung voyage en 

 Allemagne, avec intention de passer par les pais de Zea- 

 lande, Hollande et Friso, et, allantz en lour diet voyage, 

 d'exercer leurs qualitez en faict de musique, agilitez et 

 joeux de commedies, tragedies et histoires, pour s'entre- 

 tenir et fournir a leurs despenses en leur diet voyage. 

 Cestes sont partant pour vous requerir monstrer et 

 prester toute faveur en voz pais et jurisdictions, et leur 

 octroyer en ma faveur vostre ample passeport soubz le 

 seel des Estatz, afin que les Bourgmestres des villes es- 

 tantz soubz vos jurisdictions, ne les empeschent en pas- 

 sant d'exercer leur dictes qualitez par tout. En quoy 

 faisant, je vous en demeureray a tous oblige, et me trcu- 

 verez tres appareille a me revencher de vostre courtoisie 

 en plus grand cas. De ma chambre a la court d'Angle- 

 terre, ce x e jour de Febrier, 1501. 



" Vostre tres affecsione' a vous 



Zevst, near Utrecht, 

 "Dec. 21. 1859. 



" fayre plaisir et sarvis, 



" C. Howard." 



J. II. VAN LeNNEP. 



THE DE HUNGERFORD INSCRIPTION. 

 (2" d S. viii. 464.) 



This inscription is printed by Mr. Gough in his 

 Sepulchird Monuments, vol.i. p. 107., and engraved 

 in his Plate xxxvni. It is also engraved by Sir 

 Richard C. Hoare, in his Modern Wiltshire, "Hun- 

 dred of Heytesbury," Plate viii. But unfortu- 

 nately neither of these plates is from an accurate 

 tracing or rubbing. Sir Richard Hoare's, indeed, 

 is a mere copy of Mr. Gough's, except that some 

 corrections are made in the French inscription, 

 and he has left the escocheon blank, where Mr. 

 Gough represented the arms of Heytesbury, be- 

 cause (he says) " no armorial bearings were ever 

 engraved on it." This probably is to be explained 

 by the fact of the arms having been painted, not 

 " engraved," or carved, for it is not likely that 

 Mr. Gough supplied them ; and, if painted, they 

 were probably obliterated when the stone was re- 

 moved from the south wall of the church to the 

 north, as Sir R. C. Hoare records. 



Neither Mr. Gough's nor Sir R. C. Hoare's 

 copies of the inscription are perfectly correct; 

 nor is that furnished to " N. & Q." by Mr. Hop- 

 per immaculate. In the fifth line, instead of 

 iour we si ould read com, the phrase tant com being 

 a repetition of that spelt tunt cu in the second line. 

 In the sixth the word queried by Mr. Hopper 

 is non. The whole (when the contractions are 

 extended) then reads as follows : — 



" Ky por monsire Robert de Hungerford taunt cum il 

 vivera et por l'alme de Iy aprcs sa mort priera, synk centz 

 et sinquante jours de pardon avera, grante de qatorse 

 Evesques taunt cum il fuist en vie : Par quei en noun de 

 cfaarite Pater et Ave." 

 i. e. : — 



"Whoso shall pray for Sir Robert de Huncerford whilst 

 he shall live, and for his soul after his death, shall have 



