open it. In this drawer he found six Queen Anne's briefs and a Queen Anne sixpence. The amount of collection at All Saints' Church, Claverley, was stated on each brief. The joiner kindly gave the briefs to me, as interested in antiquarian and historical studies. The briefs had evidently been placed in the drawer soon after the collections had been made. After the owner's death the oak desk seems to have passed to other owners until it was purchased in the circumstance mentioned. The late Cornelius Walford, barrister-at-law and author, who, like myself, was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, some years ago read a paper before the Society on 'Kings' Briefs, their Purposes and their History' (printed in the tenth volume of the Transactions of the Society, published in 1882), in which he says: Briefs being returned along with the money collected had the effect of taking them out of circulation: hence they are in some degree scarce; for in truth they were either destroyed as useless or allowed to rot or moulder away. The first instance of a King's Brief being printed was in 1630. The following is an exact copy of one of the briefs found in the secret drawer, which relates to a collection for the rebuilding of Broseley All Saints' Church at a cost of 3,3901. and upwards. A more recent church has been built on the same site, for in Mr. Randall's interesting History of Broseley' it is mentioned that this church was to be rebuilt at the estimated cost of 3,3881. 48." A copy of the brief relating to Broseley so found, with five others, was also given in the antiquarian column called 'Byegones' in the Border Counties' Advertiser, published at Oswestry. At the end of every two years the columns are issued in a volume with a full index. HUBERT SMITH. Brooklynne, Leamington Spa. At the sale, in 1818, of the effects of a dealer in old clothes, furniture, and curiosities, who carried on business in High Street, Barnstaple, an antique chair was included, described as of mahogany, with the seat, back, and arms stuffed and covered with brown leather, and studded with brass nails. There was a large drawer under the seat, and two other drawers were fixed on pivots, so as to turn back under the arms, and were fitted for writing materials, with a brass candlestick attached to each, and a wooden leaf for reading or writing, capable of being raised or depressed. The cabinet-maker to whom it was sent to be repaired found that the drawer under the seat extended only a part of the way to the back, and that the intervening space was occupied by a secret drawer, which was full of manuscripts, which proved to consist of a variety of unpublished poems and other documents of John Gay. The incident created much sensation at the time, and the matter was fully investigated. It was found that the chair had been bought some years previously at the sale of the goods of a Mrs. Williams, a descendant of เ Katherine Baller, Gay's sister. Henry Lee, author of Caleb Quotem,' edited the poems, and published them under the title of Gay's Chair,' with an engraved frontispiece of the chair, evidences and certificates of the facts, and a facsimile of Gay's writing. The first four lines of the principal piece, entitled The Ladies' Petition to the Honourable the House of Commons,' are as follows: Sirs, We, the maids of Exon city, The maids, good lack, the more's the pity! THOS. WAINWRIGHT. “HEN-HUSSEY": "WHIP-STITCH":"WOODTOTER" (10th S. i. 449).-According to the English Dialect Dictionary,' a hen - hussey or hen-huswife means "a woman who looks after poultry; also a meddlesome, officious person." It is there recorded as being known in Wilts, Somerset, and Devon, as well as in America. If your correspondent will be so good as to wait till the last part of the Dictionary comes out, he will then be able to ascertain the facts as to the distribution of the other two words. So far the record ends with the word tommy. WALTER W. SKEAT. MARK HILDESLEY (10th S. i. 344, 414).-He was never elected Lord Mayor or Sheriff or M.P. for London. He was a member of the Vintners' Company, and chosen Alderman of Bread Street Ward 20 September, 1649, of 4004., 15 July, 1651. At that period the and was discharged on payment of a fine changes in the Court of Aldermen were very frequent, and in succession to Hildesley in Bread Street Ward no fewer than nine persons were elected, who paid fines of 15 July and 15 September, 1651. The list of various amounts to avoid service, between persons who had obtained exemption from serving the office of Sheriff in 1652 numbers added in the previous twelve months, Hildesforty-six, of whom twenty-seven had been ley being one of these. ALFRED B. BEAVEN. STEP-BROTHER (10th S. i. 329, 395).—I think, with all due deference, that MR. WILSON is mistaken in his reply to MISS BLAIKLEY. A person and his step-brother cannot have a common parent; if he had, they would be half-brothers, not step-brothers. The sons of a widower married to a widow are stepbrothers to the children born of her first marriage. MR. WILSON goes on to say, "If brought up in one family they would naturally be called brothers or brother and sister; the marriage between such a brother and sister is, of course, perfectly legal"; and so far he is quite right. He adds, "If two men, not related, marry two sisters, they do not thereby become brothers-in-law." Here again I think he is wrong. Two men, otherwise not related, marrying two sisters, become brothers-in-law. The late Cardinal Manning and the late Bishop Wilberforce, of Winchester, married two sisters, and were always held to be brothers-in-law in con THE SUN AND ITS ORBIT (10th S. i. 329, 435).-MR. PARKER may like to have Mädler's own words. On p. 44 of his 'Die Centralsonne,' published in 1846, the following passage occurs :— "Ich bezeichne demnach die Plejadengruppe als die Centralgruppe des gesammten Fixsternsystems bis in seine äussersten, durch die Milchstrasse bezeichneten Grenzen hin; und Alcyone als denjenigen einzelnen Stern dieser Gruppe, der unter allen übrigen die meiste Wahrscheinlichkeit für sich hat, die eigentliche Centralsonne zu sein." architect also illustrates therein stone pulpits of fifteenth-century date at Nailsea, Winchcombe, Glastonbury, Cheddar, and Banwell (all in Somerset), as well as at North Cerney (Gloucestershire) and at Totnes (Devon). Miss Barr Brown's somewhat sensational note in the Antiquary for April, that the pulpit at Wolverhampton "is cut out of one entire stone," and that "a figure of a grotesque animal has guarded it for more than 800 years," has not the least foundation in fact. HARRY HEMS. Fair Park, Exeter. chester Guardian of 10 May contained the CASTING LOTS (10th S. i. 366).-The Manfollowing comment on this subject : ་་ writer in Notes and Queries, may be found in "A striking instance, not mentioned by the Thomas May's translation of Barclay's 'Icon Animorum,' a rare as well as a curious book. Speaking of English courage, he states that during the war in the Netherlands some soldiers of the Spanish party were taken prisoners by the Dutch, who decided to make reprisals for the previous cruelty of their enemies. Out of four-and-twenty men eight thrown into a helmet,' says May, and the prisoners were to be hanged. There were lots, therefore, were commanded to draw their fortunes-whoever should draw a blank was to escape, but whosoever should draw a black lot was to be hanged presently. They were all possessed with a great apprehension of their present danger; especially one Spaniard, with pitiful wishes and tears, in some of the standers-by did move pity, in others laughter. There was besides in that danger an Englishman, a common soldier, who, with a careless counten ance, expressing no fear of death at all, came boldly to the helmet and drew his lot. Chance favoured him; it was a safe lot. Being free himself from danger, he came to the Spaniard, who was yet fatal helmet, and receiving from him ten crowns he timorous, and trembled to put his hand into the entreated the judges-oh, horrid audacity !-that, again to try his fortune. The judges consented to dismissing the Spaniard, they would suffer him the madman's request, who valued his life at so low a rate, and he again drew a safe lot.' May foolhardy Englishman, whom he denounces as a seems rather to regret the second escape of the wretch, unworthy not only of that double, but even of a single preservation, who so basely had undervalued his life.'" J. R. NUTTALL. WOLVERHAMPTON PULPIT (10th S. i. 407).— There is nothing exceptional about this pulpit, although its approach is particularly fine. But even the latter is by no means unique. I examined an old stone one (of what in England we call Jacobean character) in the ancient parish church at Malmö, in Sweden, a few weeks ago. Its stairs are constructed upon almost exactly the same lines as are those at Wolverhampton; but taken all in all, the Scandinavian rostrum (pulpit and approach alike) is far and away the better and more ornate of the two. There are scores of pulpits, however, to be seen in this country of the same type, and of much about the same date (A.D. 1480), "THE GLORY OF THE METHODISTS " as that at St. Peter's, Wolverhampton. S. i. 406).-MR. CORFIELD'S Wesley letter Measured drawings of the latter may be is evidently addressed to James Rogers, found in Dollman's 'Examples of Ancient well known as one of his preachers. "Dear Pulpits (1849), and the same accomplished Jemmy" was, at the date of the letter, 447).Whether B.C. 485, given on p. 220 of the EURIPIDES: DATE OF HIS BIRTH (10th S. i. first edition (1886) of my Greek Literature, was a slip of my own or a printer's error, I cannot say. It was corrected to B.C. 480 in the second edition (1889). F. B. JEVONS. (10th living in Macclesfield, the home of "Hetty Roe" (Hester Ann Roe), whom he wedded in second marriage on 19 August, some three months after the date of the letter. If the sermon referred to by Wesley be one of Rogers's own, nothing published by him so early as 1784 appears in Osborn's 'Methodist Literature.' H. J. FOSTER. "JENION'S INTACK" (10th S. i. 407).— Although it does not mention the intack, the following note, from the original document, may be of use: 8 March, 30 Charles II., 1678, lease by Richard Pye, of Whitbie, co. Chester, yeoman, son of John Pye, late of the same, yeoman, deceased, to John Jannian, of the same, yeoman, and Martha his wife, late wife of the said John Pye, of a close at Whitbie, called the Marsh, for 99 years, at a pepper. corn rent, in lieu of Martha's dower out of John Pye's estate. Whitby is north of Chester, between that city and the Mersey, and between Capenhurst and Ellesmere. W. C. B. 'THE YONG SOULDIER' (10th S. i. 428).Saye, never very loyal, became a member of the "Committee of Safety" 4 July, 1642, and shortly afterwards was given the command of one of the twenty infantry regiments and of one of the seventy-five squadrons of horse of which the rebel army was composed (see Guizot's 'English Revolution,' Bohn's ed., pp. 160, 446, 447). A Capt. Rainsford was one of the garrison of Worcester at its surrender, 20 July, 1646; and in the 'Calendar of State Papers, 1651-3,' one John Rainsford appears as having incurred the suspicion of the Government. If these are to be identified with our author, we may further conjecture him to be the brother of two other Rainsfords, Henry and Francis, whose names occur in the same volume of the 'Calendar.' Col. Henry Rainsford, of Clifford, Glouc., and Combe, Hants, fought for the king, and was imprisoned at Oxford. He compounded in 1646, was imprisoned in the Gatehouse for high treason, December, 1651, but was subsequently liberated, and died in the East In Lincolnshire, and I believe in several Indies, administration being granted 5 Dec., 1659. He was grandson of Sir Henry Rainsother counties, intack signifies land taken in ford, Knt., of Clifford, and son and heir of from a waste place, or from a common or Sir Henry Rainsford, Knt., of Clifford and tidal river. In the manorial records of Scotter Combe, who was M.P. for Andover from for 1629 it is recorded that Richard Huggit 1640 to his death in 1641, and nephew surrendered to Thomas Stothard land in of Capt. Sir Francis Rainsford, Knt., Scotter called "le long intaakes." There Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey, who died was in Winteringham certain land called the "intake" which had been reclaimed from the Humber in 1881. It has now, I have understood, been almost entirely washed EDWARD PEACOCK. away. Wickentree House, Kirton-in-Lindsey. PASTE (10th S. i. 447).-If recipe references are of use to DR. MURRAY, he will find several in the old cookery books. The recipe for anchovy paste is given in Cooley's 'Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts,' 1872, p. 885. " WM. JAGGARD. "PURPLE PATCH (10th S. i. 447). - The quotation is from Horace's 'Ars Poetica,' ll. 15, 16:— Purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT. 11 June, 1635. Francis entered Winchester In Peacock's 'Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers, 1642,' a foot-note, p. 24, runs: "John Rainsford, killed by Cavaliers from Pontefract Castle in an attempt to take him prisoner at Doncaster, 29 Oct., 1648. Buried at Wapping, Nov. 14. He was 'lieutenant in His Excellencies Regiment, draughted out of the Earl of Essex's Regt. into that of Sir Thomas Fairfax,' March, 1644." At p. 29 he appears as senior lieutenant in MARTELLO TOWERS (10th S. i. 285, 356, 411). -The following extract from a letter written by Lord Hood, and dated "Victory, St. Fiorenzo, February 22, 1794," may be of interest : "On the 7th the Commodore anchored in a bay to the westward of Mortella Point, with the several ships and transports under his command. The troops were mostly landed that evening, and possession taken of a height which overlooks the tower of Mortella. The next day, the General and Commodore being of opinion that it was advisable to attack the tower from the bay, the Fortitude and Juno were ordered against it, without making the least impression, by a cannonade continued for two hours and a half; and the former ship being very much damaged by red-hot shot, both hauled off. The walls of the tower were of a prodigious thickness, and the parapet, where there were two eighteen-pounders, was lined with bass junk, five feet from the walls, and filled up with sand; and although it was cannonaded from the height for two days, within 150 yards, and appeared in a very shattered state, the enemy still held out; but a few hot shot setting fire to the bass, made them call for quarter. The number of men in the tower was 33: only two were wounded, and those mortally." W. S. Coming of Love,' nor in Borrow's 'Lavengro, Hounslow, W. THOMAS ST. E. HAKE. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. "BARRAR" (10th S. i. 349, 434).-Surely it ought to be distinctly stated that this word, better spelt barrow, is given not only in the E.D.D.,' but in the New English Dictionary' also. The etymology there suggested, from A.S. beorgan, to protect, defend, is surely right. We have the same word over again in the prov. E. Barg-ham, "protection of the hame," given in both the above dictionaries, and in Ham-bargh (N.E.D.'), Ham-duction of the opening volume a Shakespearian burgh (É.D.D.'), i e., "hame-protection." WALTER W. SKEAT. scholar so ripe and trustworthy as Mr. P. A. Daniel and the editor of Lyly, Mr. R. Warwick Bond, one of the latest and most active recruits to the army of editors. He will himself supervise and direct the entire work, and will furnish to it, in a twelfth and concluding volume, the memoirs of the two dramatists and various excursuses, critical and expository, of a kind the value of which we have learnt to estimate. That Mr. Bullen has long been engaged on a task for which he has special and indis putable qualifications had been known, and the fact that he was so employed was calculated to discourage all thought of opposition and rivalry. His first ambi tion extended no further than reprinting that text of the Rev. Alexander Dyce which has won the approval of all scholars, and been depreciated by no one except a rival editor, not to be mentioned in the same century. The expediency of further collation and of the addition of various readings suggested itself, however, during the progress, and the work in its new shape is an advance upon its predecessor. Not quite easy is it to define the exact position of the two dramatists in the Elizabethan firmament Shakespeare, whom they persistently and slavishly imitated, is, of course, beyond all notion of comparison. Ben Jonson eclipses them as a comic dramatist. Marlowe, Ford, and Webster strike deeper notes; and even subordinates, such as Decker and Heywood, are touched to finer issues. Massinger is most closely akin to them, and, while he surpasses them in dramatic grip, comes nowhere near them in poetry or pathos. In respect of a solid mass of high accomplishment they stand all but paramount. Bulk of work, it has to be acknowledged, counts for somewhat, and it is not wholly fortuitous that the best writers are among the most fecund. The dramas of Beaumont and Fletcher constitute a world of romance, in which the sympathetic reader may wander at will and turn his steps in every direction with the certainty of delight. In this respect they have affinities with The Fairy Queen' and the Arcadia,' and seem not wholly remote from the 'Mort d'Arthur.' It is a veritable land of enchantment in which we wander. In spite of Fletcher's quaint notions concerning metre, the plays abound in poetry, and the general versification is, as a rule, superior to that of all the Tudor poets, except the highest. One comes in perusal upon exquisite scenes, and there are passages which Milton did not scorn to imitate, and others which Shakespeare himself need not have disowned. The Faithful Shepherdess' is, in the full sense, immortal, and is still, as a pastoral drama, set occasionally before the public. In lyrics Beaumont and Fletcher come, in Tudor times, next to Shakespeare, and have a grace and beauty which none of their immediate successors, except Milton and perhaps Herrick, could equal. Against these things there is only to be urged a wantonness of speech scarcely to be rivalled in Restoration times, and than which little in the poetry of their own period is more regrettable. Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, which was adequate in all respects, has been virtually for a generation out of print, and is one of the costliest of dramatic works. It forms the basis of the edition now in progress, and will always hold a position in the market and on the shelves. Previous collections -with the exception of the first folio (1647), containing thirty-six plays, and the second (1679), containing fifty-have neither value nor authority, though, in the absence of more trustworthy texts, their price has gone up in the market. The order of arrangement adopted by Mr. Bullen is that of the second folio, which was accepted by Weber in his fourteen-volume edition of the works, and observed in the two-volume edition of Moxon which followed, and has long been the most generally accessible of forms in which the dramatists can be studied. Five plays, happily representative of the various styles of Beaumont and Fletcher, constitute the first volume, and consist of The Maid's Tragedy' and Philaster; or, Love lies Bleeding,' edited by Mr. Daniel, and 'A King and No King,' The Scornful Lady,' and 'The Custom of the Country,' edited by Mr. Warwick Bond. Preliminary matter to each of these supplies all bibliographical particulars, an argument of the playwhich is a distinct boon-and an account of the text, the source, and the history. In four cases out of five the frontispiece to the first quarto is given in facsimile, and there is a beautiful process reproduction of a portrait of Beaumont, from the fine gallery at Knole Park. Some time will probably pass before the entire work is in the hands of the reader. It is hoped, however, that the second volume, containing, like the present, five plays, will be issued during the year. We could write inexhaustibly upon this subject, since for a generation past we have pressed for an edition such as the present. How limited is the space we can allot to reviews is, however, apparent, and we content ourselves with pronouncing the edition the greatest gift for which the Shakespearian student had to hope. Great Masters. Part XVI. (Heinemann.) WITH The Miracle of St. Mark' of Tintoretto, from the Accademia, Venice, the sixteenth part of 'Great Masters' begins. What is the exact nature of the miracle being wrought by the descending saint-who is, of course, the patron saint of Venice-we fail to grasp, and we should have been glad of information which is not vouchsafed us. An eminently dramatic work, crowded with figures, it is interesting, among other things, for giving us among the characters a good portrait of the painter. Next comes Gainsborough's Elizabeth, Viscountess Folkestone,' recently exhibited in the Birmingham Art Gallery. It is from the collection of Mrs. George Holt, and is a fine portrait of a head neither youthful nor beautiful. Don Ferdinand of Austria,' by Velasquez, from the Prado, Madrid, is one of the finest portraits in the world. The cardinal prince is holding a gun and is accompanied by a dog, which also is superbly painted. Last comes, from the Vienna Gallery, Van Dyck's 'The Blessed Herman Joseph,' a striking religious picture, with, as the introduction states, rich pagan types substituted for the ascetic types of medieval painters. IN the Fortnightly Mr. W. S. Lilly writes on Shakespeare's Protestantism.' Like many other Roman Catholics, Mr. Lilly seems to have persuaded himself that Shakespeare was of the ancient faith. When dramatic utterances are taken as personal, it is easy to establish almost anything. Mr. Francis Gribble deals with the autobiography and philosophy of Herbert Spencer, and Canon MacColl with 'Lord Acton's Letters to Mary Gladstone.' Mrs. Rosa Newmarch gives a full account of Vassily Verestschagin: War Painter,' whose loss is recent and lamentable. The Niece of Napoleon' supplies an animated account of the Princess Mathilde. 'The Plague of Novels,' by Mr. Cuthbert Hadden, is more remarkable for smartness than for any other quality.-Mrs. Maxwell Scott writes, in the Nineteenth Century, on 'The Youth of James III.,' the mere title showing the point of view from which her article is undertaken. Like the famous flies in amber, the thing is neither rich nor rare, and we can only wonder how it climbed into the place it occupies. Mr. Lord enunciates some not very important conclusions on 'The Kingsley Novels,' under which title he comprises the novels of Charles and Henry Kingsley, writers who do not seem to have much in common besides the name. Franz von Lenbach' is an interesting study by Anita MacMahon.-A picture by Sir E. J. Poynter, called 'Asteriè,' serves as frontispiece to the Pall Mall. Marie van Vorst supplies a competent and well-illustrated account of Paul Albert Bernard, the Parisian painter, for some time a resident in London. Lady Jersey describes, from personal observation, The Women of India.' Mr. J. A. Hammerton follows on the track of Robert L. |