Notes and Queries, Number 185, May 14, 1853. Various

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      INEDITED LETTER

      Dear S^r,

      I heartily thank you for the favour of your letter, and to shew itt will not fail to write as often as anything does occurr worth sending, if you think the accountt I give not troublesome. Dr. Adams, Dr. Rudston, and Delaune have promis'd to write this post: we remembred you both before and after your letters came w^th S^r John Matthews, who staid here 3 nights this weeke. Our militia is gone home cloath'd in Blew coates but many coxcombs of this city have refused to pay their quota towards the buying of them, railing against my L^d Abington, who has smooth'd the mob by giving a brace of Bucks last Friday in Port Meed. J. M. has bin expected here this fortnight: the Lady that calls herselfe by his nane has bin a good while at Astrop, and has discover'd her displeasure there, that her husband as shee calls him keeps the coach so long from her at Oxford: upon hearing of w^ch S^r W. H. in a blunt way gave her the old name, w^ch caus'd some dissatisfaction and left her smal acquaintance: I heare that the understanding between our Friend and his uncle is not so good as formerly, but I do not think it will end in Abdication. Mr. Painter is admitted Rector of Exeter. The Naked Gospel3 was burnt on y^e 19th in the Scholes Quadrangle. The Regents first drew up a Petition to have it censured; then some others more busy than wise tooke upon them to gett it subscribed, and went to coffee houses and taverns as well as colleges for that purpose: these proceedings being ag^st statute, and reflecting upon the vice ch., gave great offence; at last he call'd a meeting of y^e heads of houses, who deputed 6 to examine it: they pick'd several Proposit. w^ch were read. The sentence was in this form: Propositions &^c tanquā falsas et impias in Chris. Relig. et in Ecc. præcipue Anglicanā contumeliosas damnamus, plerasq; insuper hæreticas esse decernimus et declaramus, &^c. This was first subscribed by all y^e heads of Coll. and then condemn'd unanimously in a full convocation. The Decree is printed, but is too large to send. The Author of y^e Booke has sent about a soft vindication of himselfe, that he is unwilling to be accounted a Socinian, &c. If I can gett a sight of it I will send you the contents. I do not know how far you are in the right about guessing at a Bursar: Tim. seems resolv'd to act according to y^e song; but I to shew good nature even w^thout a tree have promis'd to make him a Dial: and when that's done I will doe y^e like at Astrop. I am

      If you see Coll. Byerly, give my service to him.

      Directed thus: These to George Clark, Esq., Secretary of War in Ireland.

      By y^e way of London.

      Indorsed: W. Rooke, Rec^d at Tipperary, Sept. 7th.

      A SHAKSPERIAN BOOK

      "There exists," says Mr. John Wilson, "as it were a talismanic influence in regard to the most trivial circumstances connected with Shakspeare," and yet this enthusiast has not, in his Shaksperiana, alluded to the dramatic works of Mary Hornby, written under, and dated from, the dear old roof at Stratford-upon-Avon!

      It was my late good fortune, after filling my pockets from the twopenny boxes of the suburban bookstalls, to find, on turning out the heterogeneous contents, that I had accidentally become possessed of The Broken Vow, a comedy by the aforesaid lady, who waits to be enrolled in that much wanted book, a new edition of the Biographia Dramatica. This Broken Bow which looks like a re-cooking of the Merry Miller of Thomas Sadler, 1766, bears to be "printed at Stratford-upon-Avon, for the Author, by W. Barnacle, 1820." Mary Hornby, following the example of the preoccupier of the butcher's shop, tries her hand at both tragedy and comedy; in the first line she stands charged with the perpetration of The Battle of Waterloo, which, I doubt not, rivalled its original enactment in its sanguinary character. I have not been lucky enough to fall in with this, which was a hit; our fair authoress, in her preface to the comedy under notice, modestly attributing its great success more to the kindness of her friends than to its literary merit.

      Mrs. Hornby sustains the dignity of the drama by adhering to her five acts, with prologue and epilogue according to prescription. Looking to the prologue for the who, the why, and the wherefore, I am sorry to say I find no materials for the concoction of a biographical note; upon the second point, the why, she tells us:

      That her literary accouchement should not be a failure, she further says:

      I take the expressive use of the word "some" here to indicate her predecessor, the ancient occupier of the tenement, who certainly was a protégé of the said parties.

      Mrs. Hornby then goes on to relate how that during her gestation she invoked Apollo, Thalia, and Erato:

      I leave the reader to judge for himself whether the Muses really "came to laugh" with Mary Hornby, or whether, under the belief of the immortality of our Bard, they did not rather expect a pleasant soirée with Gentle Will, and naturally enough went off in a huff when they found themselves inveigled into a tea-party at Mrs. Hornby's.

      Mr. Wilson, in the work above quoted, does condescend to notice Mrs. Hornby,—

      Not a word, you will see, about the poet's mantle having descended upon the shoulders of our Mary,—which was unpolite of him, seeing that both the tragedy and comedy had the precedence of his book by some years. Not having before me the later history of Shakspeare's house, I am unable to say whether our subject deserved more consideration and gallant treatment at the hands of Mr. Collier, when he and his colleagues came into possession.

      Minor Notes

      Shakspeare's Monument.—When I was a young man, some thirty or forty years ago, I visited the monument of Shakspeare, in the beautiful church of Stratford-upon-Avon, and there copied, from the Album which is kept for the names of visitors, the following lines: