66 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[2*» S. IX. Jan. 28. '60. 



Anna Cornelia Meerman. — I have a copy of 

 Sermons and Discourses, by ray late kinsman, Dr. 

 George Skene Keith, minister of Keith Hall and 

 Kinkell, Aberdeenshire; London, J. Evans, 1785, 

 on the title-page of which is this autograph in- 

 scription by the Doctor's cousin and patron : " To 

 Anna Cornelia Meerman, by Anthony Earl of 

 Kintore, Sept. 11, 1785." Can any of your readers 

 tell me who Anna Cornelia Meerman was ? I have 

 a confused notion that I remember her name in 

 connexion with literature. Kirktown Skene. 



Aberdeen. 



[This lady seems to be Anna Cornelia Mollerus, who 

 was first married to Mr. Abraham Perrenot, Doctor of 

 Laws, celebrated for his writings on philosophical subjects 

 and on jurisprudence, and for some Latin Poems. His 

 widow married the Hon. John Meerman, first counsellor 

 and pensionary of the city of Rotterdam, and author of 

 Thesaurus Juris Civilis et Canonici, and numerous other 

 works. Mrs. Meerman accompanied her husband in his 

 various travels, and was his constant and happy com- 

 panion till his death in 1815. The Meerman Library was 

 sold by auction in 1824, and produced 131,000 florins.] 



Rev. J. Plumptre's Dramas. — The Rev. J. 

 Plumptre, vicar of Great Gransden, published in 

 1818, a volume of Original Dramas. Could you 

 oblige me by giving the dranuitis persona, &c. 

 of three of these little dramas, having the follow- 

 ing titles : Winter, The Force of Conscience, The 

 Salutary Reproof. Zeta. 



[1. Winter; a Drama in Two Acts. Characters: Mr. 

 Paterson, pastor of the village; Richard Wortham, a 

 farmer; his sons John, William, and Robert; Henry 

 Bright, in love with Betsy; John Awfield, a farmer; 

 Thomas, his son ; Kindinan, a publican ; Wm. Richards, 

 parish clerk ; John Bradford, a shepherd ; a waggoner 

 and a boy. Mary Wortham, wife to Wortham ; Betsy 

 and Susan, their daughters; and Mrs. Kindman. Scene: 

 The country. Time : A night and part of the next morn- 

 ing in the depth of winter. 



2. The Force of Conscience, a Tragedy in Three Acts. 

 Characters : Mr. Jones, a clergyman ; Wm. Morris, a 

 blacksmith ; Edw. Selby, his son-in-law ; Robert Ellis ; 

 Geo. Martin; Richard and James, journeymen to Mor- 

 ris ; constable of the village and of the town ; gaoler ; and 

 three spectators. Esther, daughter to Morris; Dame 

 Brown, his housekeeper ; Lucy, sister of Ellis. Scene : a 

 country village, and a neighbouring county town. 



3. The Salutary Reproof, or the Butcher, a Drama in 

 Two Acts. Characters : Lord Orwell ; Sir Wm. Rightly ; 

 Mr. Shepherd, a clergyman; Thomas Goodman, the 

 butcher; Crusty, a baker ; Muggins, a publican ; George, 

 son to Goodman ; servant to Lord Orwell ; Mower. Mrs. 

 Goodman, wife to Goodman ; Ruth, their daughter ; Mrs. 

 Manage, housekeeper to Lord Orwell; Mrs. Crusty, w.':e 

 to Crusty; Susan, servant to Crusty; Mowers, tkc. 

 Scene: a country village about fifty miles from Lon- 

 don.] 



Rev. W. Gilpin on the Stage. — The Rev. 

 J. Plumptre, in 1809, published Four Disco?trses 

 on the Amusements of the Stage. This work at- 

 tracted a good deal of notice at the time. Among 

 other authors quoted by Mr. Plumptre in support 

 of his views regarding the reformation of the 

 stage, I find the name of the Rev. W. Gilpin, 



vicar of Boldre. As- 1 am unable to refer to Mr. 

 Plumptre's volume, could you oblige me by giving 

 the passage in the works of this excellent clergy- 

 man, as quoted by Mr. Phimptre. Zeta. 



[The following extract occurs at p. 112. of Plump- 

 tre's Discourses on the Stage : "Gilpin, in his Dialogues 

 on tlie Amusements of Clergymen, p. 116., in the person of 

 Dr. Stillingfleet, afterwards Bishop of YVorcester, says of 

 the playhouse, ' What a noble institution have we here, 

 if it were properly regulated. I know of nothing that is 

 better calculated for moral instruction — nothing that 

 holds the glass more forcibly to the follies and vices of 

 mankind. I would have it go hand in hand with the 

 pulpit. It has nothing indeed to do with Scripture and 

 Christian doctrines. The pageants, as I think they were 

 called, of the last century, used to represent Scripture 

 stories, which were very improperly introduced, and 

 much better handled in the pulpit : But it is impossible 

 for the pulpit to represent vice and folly in so strong a 

 light as the stage. One addresses our reason, the other 

 our imagination ; and we know which receives commonly 

 the more forcible impression.' " Again, at p. 187., Mr. 

 Plumptre gives the following quotation: "Mr. Gilpin 

 (p. 124.) wishes to have different theatres for the different 

 ranks of life: 'In my Eutopia (says Gilpin) I mean to 

 establish two — one for the higher, the other for the 

 lower orders of the community. In the first, of course, 

 there will be more elegance and more expense; and the 

 drama must be suited to the audience, by the representa- 

 tion of such vices and follies as are found chiefly among 

 the great. The other theatre shall be equally suitable to 

 the lower orders.' "] 



Quotation. — Would you inform me who is 

 the author of a poem entitled " The Fisherman," 

 and in which the following couplet occurs ? 



" There was turning of keys, and creaking of locks, 

 As he took forth a bait from his iron box." 



Constant Reader. 

 [These lines are from " The Red Fisherman," by Win- 

 throp Mackworth Praed. See his Poetical Works, New 

 York, 1844, p. 71.] 



' ; The Votages, etc. of Captain Richard 

 Falconer." — In vain I have tried to get a copy 

 of The Voyages, Dangerous Adventures and Im- 

 minent Escapes of Captain Richard Falconer. 

 According to the Literary Gazette for 1838, p. 

 278., affth 12mo. edition of the work was re- 

 printed in that year from that of 1734, and 

 published in London by Churton. Are these 

 Voyages a fiction, or not ? J. H. van Lennep. 



Zeyst, near Utrecht, Jan. 4, 1860. 



[This was a favourite work of Sir Walter Scott, but 

 the authorship of it was unknown to him. In a letter to 

 Daniel Terry, Esq., dated 20th Oct. 1813, he says: "I 

 have no hobby-horsical commissions at present, unless if 

 you meet with the Voyages of Capt. Richard, or Robert 

 Falconer, in one volume, ' cow-heel, quoth Sancho,' I mark 

 them for my own." On the 10th Nov. 1811, Sir Walter 

 again writes to his Dear Terry, to thank him for Capt. 

 Richard Falconer : " To your kindness I owe the two 

 books in the world I most longed to see, not so much for 

 their intrinsic merits, as because tbey bring back with 

 vivid associations the sentiments of my childhood— I 

 might almost say infancy." On a fly-leaf of Scott's copy, 

 in his own handwriting, is the following note ; " This 



