NOTES AND QUERIES:

A

Medium of Intercommunication

FOR

LITERARY MEN, GENERAL READERS, ETC.

"When found, make a note of."-CAPTAIN Cuttle.

TWELFTH SERIES.-VOLUME I.

JANUARY-JUNE, 1916.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED AT THE

OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, E.C.

By J. EDWARD FRANCIS.

o

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1916.

CONTENTS.-No. 1.

NOTES:-The Baddeley Cake at Drury Lane, 1-Sir John
Schorne, 3-Huntingdonshire Almanacs, 5-Dante and
Poliziano-Hogarth: a Contemporary Italian Admirer
Notes on Kentish Wills, 8- Caterpillar Tractors "-
Halley and Peake Families in Virginia, 9.
QUERIES:-Motto of Richard III. -Heraldic Query
Ferrers, 9-The British Army: Mascots-"Fat, fair, and
forty"-Baron Westbury: Mock Epitaph-Gunfire and
Rain-Ecclesiastical Folk-Lore-Authors Wanted-The
Moray Minstrels, 10-Biographical Information Wanted
-Robert Child, M.P., the Banker-John Willett, Mer-
chant-Author of French Song Wanted-Oudart and
Worting Families, 11.

REPLIES:-The Society for Constitutional Information, 11
-The Vicar of Bray-Thomas Griffin Tarpley, 12-The
Newspaper Placard-Hagiography of Cyprus-All's fair
in love and war"-Anastatic Printing, 13-Ensigns in the
Royal Navy-Portraits Wanted-"Yes, Sir"-Archbishop
Bancroft Loath to Depart-Colton-J. G. Le Maistre,
Novelist, 14-Cat Queries-Pronunciation: Regularity in
Misconduct Etruscan Surgical Instruments, 15 Goats
with Cattle-Othello-Joseph Sturge-"Shiffles".
Christ's "Seven Eyes" in Welsh Poetry-St. Swithin
and Eggs, 16-Gower Family of Worcestershire, 17-The
Water of the Nile-Baron Westbury: Mock Epitaph-
Dr. Johnson on Fishing, 18-Betham, Artist-Red Earth

"Jerry-Builder," 19.

NOTES ON BOOKS:-Lowland Scotch, as Spoken in the
Lower Strathearn District of Perthshire The Greek

Tradition'-'A Handbook to Kent Records.'
Notices to Correspondents.

Notes.

THE BADDELEY CAKE AT

DRURY LANE.

IN my collection of West's juvenile theatrical
prints I have one of which I have never seen
another copy, except that in the Print Room
of the British Museum. This latter is laid
down and bound up at p. 43 of the fourth of
the nine folio volumes comprising the splen-
did collection endorsed "West's Toy Theatre
Prints," which was bought of me for the
nation by Sir Sidney Colvin in 1886. Need-
less to say that nothing but the direst
necessity made me part with it. The
collection includes one of every print I
then had, and also a number of sheets I
believe to be unique, for I have no copies,
though I have assiduously collected since.
I estimate the Print Room collection to be
now worth four times what I got for it. At

all events, the Cruikshank sheets, which, I then thought worth a shilling apieće, Capt. R. J. H. Douglas in his .Catalogue values at 10s. each.

66

To return to West's print with which I began; it bears no title, and the only mscription outside the margin is :-" London,. Published Jan 1, 1827, by W. West, at his Theatrical Print Warehouse, 57, Wych Street, Opposite the Olympic Theatre, Strand." It represents a number of actors round a table; on the tablecloth in front is the lettering, West's New Theatrical Twelfth Night," and on the cake above, "Rich Treasury Cake." There is no description, and most probably none was necessary; all Londoners knew the characters. It might the Drury Lane pantomime produced at have been expected to bear some relation to Christmas, 1826, which was The Man in the Moon; or, Harlequin Dog-Star,' by William Barrymore; but that is not so. It seems clear that the engraving is only intended to be generally representative of celebrated performers who appeared at Drury Lane Theatre at different times, and not at the particular time of the previous year's celebration, namely, 1826. Thus at the head we have Edmund Kean, in costume as Richard III., saying to Robert William Elliston, who is in the act of cutting the cake, Give me another Slice! Fill out the Wine! Do justice, Bobby!"

Elliston was lessee of Drury Lane Theatre from 1819 to 1826, but he did not act there after the expiration of his lease. Genest in his English Stage' (1832, vol. ix. p. 336) says, "In point of versatility he was scarcely inferior to any actor that had ever trod the stage." I have one of West's prints, dated as early as 1811, of Elliston in the character of Duke Aranza in The Honeymoon.' copy of this is also in the Print Room (vol. iv. p. 50), but it is of later date, as it has been worked on to remedy the defects caused by taking numbers of impressions.

66

A

holding his goblet in his left hand and cake
The figure just under Kean's right arm,
in his right hand, is probably James Wallack,
who withdrew to the United States in
1845," the 'D.N.B.' says; but read 1851,
as he was then at the Haymarket Theatre.
The man just below him, who is also cutting
the cake, bears a striking resemblance, both
in face and figure, to Charles Kemble as he
is depicted in the character of Thomas
Cromwell in the splendid mezzotint engrav-
ing by G. Clint, A.R.A., after the well-known
picture by G. H. Harlow entitled
Court for the Tryal of Queen Katharine,'

The

published Jan.. I. 1818.* Eighteen of the figures are portraits, Mrs. Siddons being the Queen, and Charles Kemble the central figure at the table. But Kemble, though he acted frequently in the old theatre, only acted once or twice, on the occasion of a benefit, in the present Drury Lane Theatre.

. I am unable to say why Elliston is dressed as an officer in a costume much resembling that of "The Governor in The Exile,

have a sheet of West's characters in The Exile,' by W. Heath, on which plate ii. gives the Governor's costume. It is dated 16 Jan., 1822. This plate is in the Print Room collection, vol. i. p. 66. I also have West's Theatrical Portrait' of Mr. Farren as the Governor, so I presume he acted the part at the revival of 1821. The Farren portrait I only acquired in 1915; it is a quarto representation by William Heath of the

London Published Jan 1.1827. by W. West. at his Theatrical Print Warehouse 57 Wych Street Oppelite the Olympic Theatre Strand (Reduced from a Print in the possession of MR. RALPH THOMAS)

revived at Covent Garden in 1821. It may be intended as symbolical of his being in command at Drury Lane Theatre.

I

*This plate was printed in such numbers that it was worn almost to a shadow. It was reworked and published" with the permission of the Duke of Devonshire on March 2, 1829. If the Duke, who, I presume, owned the picture, could have had any idea of the deterioration the plate had undergone, he would never have consented to his name being used. In this issue the fine

small one in the sheet of characters abovementioned.

To return to the print: on the extreme left is John Liston as Paul Pry, with his portrait of Charles Kemble is almost unrecognizable. However, the likeness is worse still in a wood engraving of the same size (22 by 30 inches) as the original mezzotint, which was issued with No. III. of Reynolds's Miscellany (about 1848) as The Trial of Queen Catherine' at the price of threepence.