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LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1854

Notes.

GOSSIPING HISTORY.

I do not know by whom or when the above couplet was first imputed to Pope. The following extracts will show how a story grows, and the parasites which, under unwholesome cultivation, adhere to it. The restoration of Shakspeare's text, and the performance of Shylock as a serious part, are told as usual.

"In the dumb action of the trial scene he was amazingly descriptive, and through the whole displayed such unequalled merit, as justly entitled him to that very comprehensive, though concise, compliment paid to him by Mr. Pope, who sat in the stage-box on the third night of the reproduction, and who emphatically exclaimed,—

'This is the Jew

That Shakspeare drew.'"

Life of Macklin, by J. T. Kirkman, vol. i. p. 264.: London, 1799, 2 vols. 8vo.

The book is ill-written, and no authorities are cited.

"A few days after, Macklin received an invitation to dine with Lord Bolingbroke at Battersea. He attended the rendezvous, and there found Pope and a select party, who complimented him very much on the part of Shylock, and questioned him about many little particulars, relative to his getting up the play, &c. Pope particularly asked him why he wore a red hat, and he answered, because he had read that Jews in Italy, particularly in Venice, wore hats of that colour.

'And pray, Mr. Macklin,' said Pope, 'do players in general take such pains?' 'I do not know, sir, that they do; but as I had staked my reputation on the character, I was determined to spare no trouble in getting at the best information.' Pope nodded, and said, 'It was very laudable.'"—Memoirs of Macklin, p. 94., Lond. 1804.

The above work has not the author's name, and is as defective in references as Mr. Kirkman's. It is, however, not quite so trashy. Being published five years later, the author must have seen the preceding Life, and his not repeating the story about the couplet is strong presumption that it was not then believed. It appears again in the Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. p. 469., London, 1812:

"Macklin's performance of this character (Shylock) so forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit, that he as it were involuntarily exclaimed, 'This is,' &c. It has been said that this gentleman was Mr. Pope."

I am not aware of its alteration during the next forty years, but this was the state of the anecdote in 1853:

"Macklin was a tragedian, and the personal friend of Alexander Pope. He had a daughter, a beautiful and accomplished girl, who was likewise on the stage. On one occasion Macklin's daughter was about to take a benefit at Drury Lane Theatre, and on the morning of that evening, whilst the father and daughter were at breakfast, a young nobleman entered the apartment, and, with the most undisguised ruffianism, made overtures of a dishonourable character to Macklin for his daughter. The exasperated father, seizing a knife from the table, rushed at the fellow, who on the instant fled, on which Macklin pursued him along the street with the knife in his hand. The cause of the tragedian's wild appearance in the street soon got vent in the city. Evening came, and Old Drury seldom saw so crowded a house. The play was the Merchant of Venice, Macklin sustaining the part of Shylock, and his interesting daughter that of Jessica. Their reception was most enthusiastic; but in that scene where the Jew is informed of his daughter being carried off, the whole audience seemed to be quite carried away by Macklin's acting. The applause was immense, and Pope, who was standing in the pit, exclaimed,—

'That's the Jew that Shakspeare drew.'

Macklin was much respected in London. He was a native of Monaghan, and a Protestant. His father was a Catholic, and died when he was a child; and his mother being a Protestant, he was educated as such."—Dublin Weekly Telegraph, Feb. 9, 1853.

One more version is given in the Irish Quarterly Review, and quoted approvingly in The Leader, Dec. 17, 1853.

"The house was crowded from the opening of the doors, and the curtain rose amidst the most dreadful of all awful silence, the stillness of a multitude. The Jew enters in the third scene, and from that point, to the famous scene with Tubal, all passed off with considerable applause. Here, however, and in the trial scene, the actor was triumphant, and in the applause of a thousand voices the curtain dropped. The play was repeated for nineteen successive nights with increased success. On the third night of representation all eyes were directed to the stage-box, where sat a little deformed man; and whilst others watched his gestures, as if to learn his opinion of the performers, he was gazing intently upon Shylock, and as the actor panted, in broken accents of rage, and sorrow, and avarice—'Go, Tubal, fee me an officer, bespeak him a fortnight before: I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will: go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.'—the little man was seen to rise, and leaning from the box, as Macklin passed it, he whispered,—

'This is the Jew,

That Shakspeare drew.'

The speaker was Alexander Pope, and, in that age, from his judgment in criticism there was no appeal."

No reference to cotemporary testimony is given by these historians.

Galt, in his Lives of the Players, Lond. 1831, does not notice the story.

Pope was at Bath on the 4th of February, 1741, as appears from his letter to Warburton of that date; but as he mentions his intention to return to London, he may have been there on the 14th. That he was not in the pit we may be confident; that he was in the boxes is unlikely. His health was declining in 1739. In his letter to Swift, quoted in Croly's edition, vol. i. p. lxxx., he says:

"Having nothing to tell you of my poetry, I come to what is now my chief care, my health and amusement; the first is better as to headaches, worse as to weakness and nerves. The changes of weather affect me much; the mornings are my life, in the evenings I am not dead indeed, but sleepy and stupid enough. I love reading still better than conversation, but my eyes fail, and the hours when most people indulge in company, I am tired, and find the labour of the past day sufficient to weigh me down; so I hide myself in bed, as a bird in the nest, much about the same time, and rise and chirp in the morning."

I hope I have said enough to stop the farther growth of this story; but before laying down my pen, I wish to call attention to the practice of giving anecdotes without authorities. This is encouraged by the newspapers devoting a column to "varieties," which are often amusing, but oftener stale. A paragraph is now commencing the round, telling how a lady took a linendraper to a barber's, and on pretence of his being a mad relative, had his head shaved, while she absconded with his goods. It is a bad version of an excellent scene in Foote's Cozeners.

H. B. C.

Garrick Club.

WORKS ON BELLS.

I have a Note of many books on bells, which may be acceptable to readers of "N. & Q." Those marked *, Cancellieri, in his work, calls Protestant writers on the subject.

* Anon. Recueil curieux et édifiant sur les Cloches de l'Eglise, avec les Cérémonies de leur Bénédiction. Cologne, 1757.

Barraud (Abb.). Notice sur les Cloches. 8vo., Caen, 1844.

Boemeri (G. L.). Programma de Feudo Campanario. Gottingæ, 1755.

Buonmattei (Ben.). Declamazione delle Campane, dopo le sue Cicalate delle tre Sirocchie. Pisa, 1635.

Campani (Gio. Ant.). Opera. The frontispiece a large bell. Roma, 1495.

Cancellieri (F.). Descrizione della nuova Campana Magiore della Basilica Vaticana. Roma, 1786.

Cancellieri (F.). Descrizione delle due nuove Campane di Campidoglio beneditte del Pio VII. Roma, 1806, 4to.

* Cave (G. G.). An Turrium et Campanarum Usus in Repub. Christ. Deo displiceat? Leipsiæ, 1709, 4to.

Conrad (Dietericus). De Campanis. Germanice.

* Eggers (Nic.). Dissertatio de Campanarum Materia et Forma.

Eggers (Nic.). Dissertatio de Origine et Nomine Campanarum. Ienæ, 1684.

Eschenwecker. De eo quod justum est circa Campanas.

Fesc (Laberanus du). Des Cloches. 12mo., Paris, 1607-19.

* Goezii. Diatriba de Baptismo Campanarum, Lubecæ, 1612.

Grimaud (Gilb.). Liturgie Sacrée, avec un Traité des Cloches. Lyons, 1666, 4to. Pavia, 1678, 12mo.

* Hilschen (Gio.). Dissertatio de Campanis Templorum. Leipsiæ, 1690.

* Homberg (Gas.). De Superstitiosis Campanarum pulsibus, ad eliciendas preces, quibus placentur fulmina, excogitatis. 4to., Frankfortiæ, 1577.

Lazzarini (Alex.). De vario Tintinnabulorum Usu apud veteres Hebræos et Ethnicos. 2 vols. 8vo., Romæ, 1822.

Ludovici (G. F.). De eo quod justum est circa Campanas. Halæ, 1708 et 1739.

Magii (Hier.). De Tintinnabulis, cum notis F. Swertii et Jungermanni. 12mo., Amstelodamæ et Hanoviæ, 1608, 1664, 1689. "A learned work."—Parr.

Martène. De Ritibus Ecclesiæ.

* Medelii (Geo.). An Campanarum Sonitus Fulmina, Tonitura, et Fulgura impedire possit. 4to. 1703.

Mitzler (B. A.). De Campanis.

* Nerturgii (Mar.). Campanula Penitentiæ. 4to., Dresden, 1644.

Paciaudi. Dissertazione su due Campane di Capua. Neapoli, 1750.

Pacichelli (Ab. J. B.). De Tintinnabulo Nolano Lucubratio Autumnalis. Neapoli, 1693. Dr. Parr calls this "a great curiosity."

Pagii. De Campanis Dissertatio.

Rocca (Ang.). De Campanis Commentarius. 4to. Romæ, 1612.

* Reimanni (Geo. Chris.). De Campanis earumque Origine, vario Usu, Abusu, et Juribus. 4to., Isenaci, 1769.

Saponti (G. M.). Notificazione per la solenne Benedizione della nuova Campana da Collocarsi nella Metropolitana di S. Lorenzo. Geneva, 1750.

Seligmann (Got. Fr). De Campana Urinatoria. Leipsiæ, 1677, 4to.

* Stockflet (Ar.). Dissertatio de Campanarum Usu. 4to., Altdorfii, 1665, 1666.

* Storius (G. M.). De Campanis Templorum. 4to., Leipsiæ, 1692.

Swertius (Fran.).

Thiers (G. B.). Des Cloches. 12mo., Paris, 1602, 1619.

Thiers (J. B). Traité des Cloches. Paris, 1721.

* Walleri (Ar.). De Campanis et præcipuis earum Usibus. 8vo. Holmiæ, 1694.

Willietti (Car.) Ragguaglio delle Campane di Viliglia. 4to., Roma, 1601.

Zech (F. S.). De Campanis et Instrumentis Musicis.

Without enumerating any Encyclopædias (in most of which may be found very able and interesting articles on the subject), in the following works the best treatises for all practical purposes will be found:

Pirotechnia, del Vannuccio Biringuccio, nobile Senese, 1540, 1550, 1559, 1678. There is a French translation of it by Jasper Vincent, 1556—1572, 1627. The tenth chapter is about bells. Magius refers to it in these words:—"In illa, perscriptum in Italico Sermone, et delineatum quisque reperiet, quicquid ad artem ediscendam conducit, usque adeo, ut et quo pacto, Campanæ in turribus constituantur ac moveantur, edoceat, optimeque figuris delineatis commonstret."

Ducange in Glossario, in vocibus Æs, Campana, Codon, Cloca, Crotalum, Glogga, Lebes, Nola, Petasus, Signum, Squilla, Tintinnabulum.

Mersenni (F. M.). Harmonicorum Libri XII. Paris, 1629, 1643. (Liber Quartus de Campanis.) This and Biringuccio contain all the art and mystery of bell-casting, &c. &c.

Puffendorff. De Campanarum Usu in obitu Parochiani publice significando, in ejus Observationibus. Jur. Univers., p. iv. No. 104.

And now with regard to our English authors; their productions seem to be confined chiefly to the Art of Ringing, as the following list will show:

Tintinalogia, or the Art of Ringing improved, by T. W[hite]. 18mo., 1668. This is the book alluded to by Dr. Burney, in his History of Music, vol. iv. p. 413.

Campanalogia, or the Art of Ringing improved. 18mo., 1677. This was by Fabian Steadman.

Campanalogia, improved by I. D. and C. M., London scholars. 18mo., 1702.

Ditto 2nd edition 18mo., 1705.

Ditto 3rd edition 18mo., 1733.

Ditto 4th edition 18mo., 1753.

Ditto 5th edition, by J. Monk. 18mo., 1766.

The School of Recreation, or Gentleman's Tutor in various Exercises, one of which is Ringing. 1684.

Clavis Campanalogia, by Jones, Reeves, and Blackmore. 12mo., 1788. Reprinted in 1796 and 1800?

The Ringer's True Guide, by S. Beaufoy. 12mo., 1804.

The Campanalogia, or Universal Instructor in the Art of Ringing, by William Shipway. 12mo., 1816.

Elements of Campanalogia, by H. Hubbard. 12mo., 1845.

The Bell: its Origin, History, and Uses, by Rev. A. Gatty. 12mo., 1847.

Ditto, enlarged. 1848.

Blunt's Use and Abuse of Church Bells. 8vo., 1846.

Ellacombe's Practical Remarks on Belfries and Ringers. 8vo., 1850.

Ellacombe's Paper on Bells, with Illustrations, in the Report of Bristol Architectural Society. 1850.

Croome's Few Words on Bells and Bell-ringing. 8vo., 1851.

Woolf's Address on the Science of Campanology. Tract. 1851.

Plain Hints to Bell-ringers. No. 47. of Parochial Tracts. 1852?

The Art of Change-ringing, by B. Thackrah. 12mo., 1852.

To these may be added, as single poetical productions,

The Legend of the Limerick Bell Founder, published in the Dublin University Mag., Sept. 1847.

The Bell, by Schiller.

Perhaps some courteous reader of "N. & Q." may be able to correct any error there may be in the list, or to add to it.

There is a curious collection of MSS. on the subject by the late Mr. Osborn, among the Additional MSS., Nos. 19,368 and 19,373.

H. T. Ellacombe.

Rectory, Clyst St. George.

INEDITED LETTER OF LORD NELSON.

I have in my possession a long letter written by Lord Nelson, sixteen days before the battle of Trafalgar, to the Right Hon. Lord Barham, who was at that time First Lord of the Admiralty. As an autograph collector, I prize it much; and I think that the readers of "N. & Q." might be glad to see it. It has not yet, as far as I am aware, been published:

Victory, Oct. 5th, 1805.

My Dear Lord,

On Monday the French and Spanish ships took their troops on board which had been landed on their arrival, and it is said that they mean to sail the first fresh Levant wind. And as the Carthagena ships are ready, and, when seen a few days ago, had their topsail yards hoisted up, this looks like a junction. The position I have taken for this month, is from sixteen to eighteen leagues west of Cadiz; for, although it is most desirable that the fleet should be well up in the easterly winds, yet I must guard against being caught with a westerly wind near Cadiz: for a fleet of ships, with so many three-deckers, would inevitably be forced into the Straits, and then Cadiz would be perfectly free for them to come out with a westerly wind—as they served Lord Keith in the late war. I am most anxious for the arrival of frigates: less than eight, with the brigs, &c., as we settled, I find are absolutely inadequate for this service and to be with the fleet; and Spartel, Cape Cantin, or Blanco, and the Salvages, must be watched by fast-sailing vessels, in case any squadron should escape.

I have been obliged to send six sail of the line to water and get stores, &c. at Tetuan and Gibraltar; for if I did not begin, I should very soon be obliged to take the whole fleet into the Straits. I have twenty-three sail with me, and should they come out, I shall immediately bring them to battle; but although I should not doubt of spoiling any voyage they may attempt, yet I hope for the arrival of the ships from England, that, as an enemy's fleet, they may be annihilated. Your Lordship may rely upon every exertion from

Your very faithful and obedient servant,

Nelson and Bronte.

I find the Guerrier is reduced to the command of a Lieutenant; I hope your Lordship will allow me to seek Sir William Bolton, and to place him in the first vacant frigate; he will be acting in a ship when the Captains go home with Sir Robert Calder. This will much oblige me.

If any valuable autographs come into my possession hereafter, you may expect to receive some account of them.

Eustace W. Jacob.

Crawley, Winchester.

FOLK LORE.

Herefordshire Folk Lore.—Pray make an imperishable Note of the following concentration of Herefordshire folk lore, extracted from the "Report of the Secretary of the Diocesan Board of Education," as published in The Times of Jan. 28, 1854:

"The observation of unlucky days and seasons is by no means unusual. The phases of the moon are regarded with great respect: in one medicine may be taken; in another it is advisable to kill a pig; over the doors of many houses may be found twigs placed crosswise, and never suffered to lose their cruciform position; and the horse-shoe preserves its old station on many a stable-door. Charms are devoutly believed in. A ring made from a shilling offered at the Communion is an undoubted cure for fits; hair plucked from the crop of an ass's shoulder, and woven into a chain, to be put round a child's neck, is powerful for the same purpose; and the hand of a corpse applied to a neck is believed to disperse a wen. Not long since, a boy was met running hastily to a neighbour's for some holy water, as the only hope of preserving a sick pig. The 'evil eye,' so long dreaded in uneducated countries, has its terrors amongst us; and if a person of ill life be suddenly called away, there are generally some who hear his 'tokens,' or see his ghost. There exists, besides, the custom of communicating deaths to hives of bees, in the belief that they invariably abandon their owners if the intelligence be withheld."

May not any one exclaim: