D.
Scandal against Queen Elizabeth (Vol. ii., p. 393.).—Although many of your correspondents must be well able to reply to P.T.'s Query, I have seen no notice of it as yet. The note to Burton's Diary, in citing Osborn, ought to have begun with the word which precedes the words quoted. The note would then have run thus:—
"That Queen Elizabeth had a son, &c., I neglect to insert, as fitter for a romance than to mingle with so much truth and integrity as I profess."
In the Add. MSS. 5524. is an apparently modern note, stated to be in the handwriting of Mr. Ives, to the following effect:—
"I have heard it confidently asserted, that Queen Elizabeth was with child by the Earl of Essex, and that she was delivered of a child at Kenilworth Castle, which died soon after its birth, was interred at Kenilworth, and had a stone put over it, inscribed 'Silentium.'"
This is doubtless one of the many tales, which, as Osborn says, "may be found in the black relations of the Jesuits, and some French and Spanish Pasquilers." These slanderers were chiefly, I believe, Parsons or Persons, and Sanders, who scrupled at nothing that would tend to blacken the character and reputation of Elizabeth. Thus besides the above, and other stories of Elizabeth herself, it was stated by Sanders that her mother, Anne Boleyn, was Henry VIII.'s own daughter; and that he intrigued, not only with Anne's mother, but with her sister. P.T. will find these points, and others which are hardly suited for public discussion, noticed in the article on ELIZABETH in Bayle's Dictionary.
CUDYN GWYN.
Church of St. Saviour, Canterbury (Vol. ii., p. 478.).—I would submit to Sir Henry Ellis, that the church at Canterbury which is mentioned in the charter from which he quotes, is termed Mater et Domina, not on account of its greater antiquity, but by reason of its superior dignity; and that the church referred to is clearly the cathedral church. The charter is one of confirmation of privileges: it proceeded upon the "admonition of the most pious Archbishop Liuingus," and "upon consideration of the liberties of the monasteries situated within Kent." It granted that the church of the Saviour (ecclesia Salvatoris), situated in Canterbury, the mother and lady of all the churches in the kingdom of England, should be free, and that no one should have any right therein save the archbishop and the monks there serving God. The whole tenor of the charter, and more particularly the words last referred to, "archiepiscopum et monachos ibidem deo famulantes," seem to me to indicate the cathedral church, and no other. If it be inquired, How then came it to pass that the cathedral, which is dedicated to Christ, should be described as ecclesia Salvatoris? some persons may answer, that this apparent blunder is an indication that the charter is not genuine. But that is not my opinion. The charter is printed from the register of the cathedral, and if it had been forged by the monks, they would scarcely have made a mistake upon such a point as the dedication of their own church. Coming out of such custody, the unusual designation, as we now esteem it, seems clear proof that the charter is genuine. I would suggest, either that the cathedral, or a part of it, was really dedicated to the Saviour; or that the words are to be understood not as indicating the church of St. Saviour, but the church of the Saviour, that is, Christ.
JOHN BRUCE.
Pope Ganganelli (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—In reply to the inquiry of CEPHAS, I give you the following anecdote, in the words of the Rev. Dr. Kirk, of Lichfield, who still survives (and long may he yet survive!) to bear testimony to its correctness:—
"Charles Plowden travelled with Mr. Middleton; and when at Rome, he called with Mr. Thorpe to see me at the English college. We walked together for some time in St. George's Hall, and he quite scandalised me with the manner in which he spoke of Ganganelli. There is no doubt that Mr. Plowden had a principal hand in the Life of Ganganelli, which was published in London in 1785. Father Thorpe supplied the materials (J.T. is subscribed to the letters printed), and Mr. Plowden arranged them. I brought a packet of letters from Mr. Thorpe to Mr. C. Plowden, and one or two other packets were brought from him to Mr. Plowden by other students. 'The contents were so scandalous,' said Bishop Milner in my hearing, at Oscott, 'that Mr. Weld, with whom Mr. C. Plowden lived, insisted on the work being suppressed.' The copies were all bought up, and I have never seen or heard of a copy since I saw it in Coghlan's shop in 1785. Mr. Cordell, of Newcastle, wrote some observations upon it. Mr. Conolly, S.J., told me at Oxford, October 17, 1814, that he 'once saw in a corner of Mr. C. Plowden's room, a heap of papers, some torn, and put there apparently to be burnt. I took up one of them,' he said, 'which was torn in two.' It contained anecdotes and observations against Ganganelli."
It was doubtless from this collection that Mr. Keon was supplied with those papers, which he published in Dolman's Magazine in 1846, concerning "The Preservation of the Society of Jesus in the Empire of Russia."
M.A. TIERNEY.
Arundel.
Pope Ganganelli (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—The Rev. Charles Cordell, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, who was stationed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne about the date mentioned by your correspondent CEPHAS (he was there in 1787), was the translator of the letters of Pope Clement XIV. (Ganganelli); but as I have not the book, I do not know whether it contained also a life of that pontiff. Mr. Cordell was editor of other works.
W.S.G.
Nicholas Ferrar's Digest (Vol. ii., p.446.).—One of the copies of the Gidding Digest of the History of our Saviour's Life, inquired after by J.H.M. (a most beautiful book), is in the library of the Marquis of Salisbury. I believe it to be the copy presented to Charles I.
W.H.C.
Ferrar, Nicholas.—The following extract from a very interesting paper on "Illustrated Books" in the Quarterly Review, vol. lxxiv. p. 173, will aid J.H.M. in his researches after the curious volumes arranged by the members of the Ferrar family:
"King Charles's statues, pictures, jewels, and curiosities, were sold and dispersed by the regicide powers; from this fate, happily, the royal collection of manuscripts and books was preserved; neither was it, like the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth, doled out piecemeal to Hugh Peters and his brother fanatics. This good service was mainly owing to Bolstrode Whitelocke. When the British Museum was founded, King George II. presented to it the whole of the royal library; and Ferrar's Concordance, with another similarly illustrated compilation by him, is there preserved in safety. The Rev. Thomas Bowdler of Sydenham, the representative of the last baronet of the Cotton family, the founders of the Cottonian Library, possesses another of the Ferrar volumes. Of those which were presented by Ferrar to George Herbert and Dr. Jackson, no record remains."
JOHN I. DREDGE.
Cardinal Erskine (Vol. ii., p. 406.) flourished later than your correspondent G.W. supposes. He was in communication with Mr. Pitt about 1799-1800. Query, was he then in England?
W.H.C.
The Author of Peter Wilkins (Vol. ii., p. 480.).—An advertisement prefixed to the edition of this remarkable work in Smith's Standard Library, 1839, gives the following information respecting the author:—
"In the year 1835, Mr. Nicol the printer sold by auction a number of books and manuscripts in his possession, which had formerly belonged to the well-known publisher Dodsley; and in arranging them for sale, the original agreement for the sale of the manuscript of 'Peter Wilkins,' by the author, 'Robert Pultock of Clement's Inn' to Dodsley, was discovered. From this document it appears that Mr. Pultock received twenty pounds, twelve copies of the work, and 'the cuts of the first impression,' that is, a set of proof impressions of the fanciful engravings that professed to illustrate the first edition, as the price of the entire copyright. This curious document was sold to John Wilks, Esq., M.P. on the 17th December, 1835."
Mr. Leigh Hunt, in his Book for a Corner, remarks upon this,—
"The reader will observe that the words 'by the author,' in this extract, are not accompanied by marks of quotation. The fact, however, is stated as if he knew it for such, by the quoter of the document."
The difference mentioned by DR. RIMBAULT between the initials in the title-page and those appended to the dedication, occurs also in Mr. Smith's edition. But the dedication to which the initials R.P. are affixed, speaks of the book as the work of the writer in the most unmistakeable terms. Was the S. in the place of the P. a typographical error, perpetuated by carelessness and oversight; or a mystification of the author, adopted when the success of the book was uncertain, and continued after the dedication had contradicted it, by that want of attention to minutiæ which was more frequently manifest in former times than at present?
Mr. Leigh Hunt informs us that the Countess of Northumberland, to whom the dedication is made, was the lady to whom Percy addressed his Reliques of Ancient Poetry. "She was a Wriothesley descended of Shakspeare's Earl of Southampton, and appears to have been a very amiable woman."
Permit me to take this opportunity of saying, that there is a misprint in the poem by Barry Cornwall (Vol. ii., p. 451.), by which the title of a poem from which a quotation is made, appears as the name of a dramatis persona. "Paris" is the title of a poem by the Rev. Geo. Croly, from which the "motto" is quoted.
G.J. DE WILDE.
Peter Wilkins (Vol. ii., p. 480.).—In the preface to a garbled and mutilated edition of this work, which appeared Lond. 1839, sq. 12mo., it is stated that the author was Robert Pultock, of Clement's Inn, which is in accordance with the initials to the dedication. Those of R.S. on the title I consider as mere fiction. Lowndes gives the 1st ed. 1750, 2 vols. 12mo. and I have a note of a reprint, Dublin, Geo. Falkner, 1751, 2 vols. 12mo., "illustrated with several cuts." My copy is Lond. 1816, 2 vols. 12mo., with a few indifferent engravings.
F.R.A.
"The Toast," by Dr. King (Vol. ii., p. 480.).—DR. RIMBAULT will find the key to the characters named in this poem printed in Davis's Second Journey round the Library, &c., p. 106.
F.R.A.
[W.A. informs us that there is a key to this work in Martin's Account of Privately Printed Books.]
The Widow of the Wood (Vol. ii., p. 406.).—The history of this publication can hardly be given without raking up a piece of scandal affecting an honourable family still in existence. If DR. RIMBAULT wishes to see the book, and has any difficulty in meeting with it, I shall be happy to forward him my copy by the post on learning his address. I inclose you mine, and will thank you to communicate it to him if he should wish for it.
The maiden name of this "widow" was Anne Northey. Her second husband was Sir Wm. Wolseley; her fourth, Mr. Hargrave, father of the celebrated jurist. Every copy of the work which could be found was destroyed by the latter gentleman.
H.C.
Damasked Linen (Vol. ii., p. 199.).—It may interest R.G.P.M. to learn that portion of the damasked linen which formed part of the establishment of James II. when in Ireland, still exists in the possession of R. Ely, Esq., of Ballaghmore Castle in the Queen's County. I have seen with that gentleman several large napkins beautifully damasked with the then royal arms, together with the initials J.R. of large size, and elaborately flourished. The tradition of the family is, that they were obtained from the plunder of James's camp equipage, after the defeat of the Boyne. Mr. Ely's ancestor was in William's army.
X.Y.A.