Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/403

 i. APRIL 23, 1904.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

331

SHAKESPEARE'S GRAVE (10 th S. i. 288). Whj should MR. I. H. PLATT go out of the trenc of his argument to assert repeatedly tha the quatrain on Shakespeare's tombstone i doggerel 1 Surely no one on this side of the pond will thank him for it.

"The lines are said to have been written b_ Shakespeare himself; but may we not rather sup pose that the sentiment alone is his, and that the words in which it is conveyed were supplied by a reverential survivor?" 'Beauties of England anc Wales.'

MR. PLATT asks if there is any earlier authority than Dugdale's 'Warwickshire. If he is a Shakespearian student he shoulc know that the monument was erected within the seven years preceding Shakespeare's death, and that a prevailing tradition is that the bust was copied from a cast after nature. There can be no question as to the slab with the " doggerel " lines covering the actua! burial-place of the "immortal bard." "With- in this monument " must, of course, not be taken literally ; but doubtless the following from the Warwickshire volume (1814) of the 'Beauties of England and Wales' will help MR. PLATT to grasp more fully the situation :

"About five feet from the floor, on the north wall, is a monument raised by the grateful tender- ness of those who did not venture to apprehend that the works of such a man must embalm his memory through every succeeding age. Inarched between two Corinthian columns of black marble, with gilded bases and capitals, is here placed the half-length effigies of Shakespeare, a cushion before him, a pen in the right hand, and the left resting on a scroll. Above the entablature are his armorial bearings (the tilting spear point upwards ; and the falcon supporting a spear for the crest). Over the arms, at the pinnacle of the monument, is a death's head ; and on each side is a boy figure, in a sitting attitude, one holding a spade, and the other, whose eyes are closed, bearing with the left hand an in- verted torch, and resting the right upon a chapless skull. The effigies of Shakespeare was originally coloured to resemble life, and its appearance, before touched by innovation, is thus described : ' The eyes were of a light hazel, and the hair and beard auburn. The dress consisted of a scarlet doublet, over which was a loose black gown without sleeves. The lower part of a cushion before him was of a crimson colour, and the upper part green, with gilt tassels.' "

This is a quotation from Wheler's 'Strat- ford,' p. 72. In 1748 this monument was repaired by a company of strolling players, who raised money for that purpose by per- forming in Stratford the play of 'Othello.' In this repair the colours originally bestowed on the effigies were carefully restored by a limner residing in the town ; but in 1793 the bust and figures above it were painted white at the request of Malone. The inscrip-

tion on the monument bears date and concludes as follows : " Obiit Ano. Doi. 1616. ^Etatis 53. Die 23. Ap."

MR. PLAIT'S researches would be greatly simplified and augmented by a reference to the afore-mentioned work.

CHAS. F. FORSHAW, LL.D., F.R.Hist.S.

Baltimore House, Bradford.

FOOTBALL ON SHROVE TUESDAY (10 th S. i. 127, 194, 230). Sunday football used to be common. Until 1825 an annual match, beginning on the racecourse, was played at Beverley on the Sunday preceding the races (W. Andrews's 'Old Church Lore,' 1891, p. 96). Can any one tell me whether in this game, and in Shrovetide football in Derbyshire, as played, for instance, at Ash- bourne and Derby also in the Shrovetide football at Chester-le-Street the opposed sides were players from different townships, districts, or trades 1

From the information afforded by corre- spondents of 'N. & Q.' I judge that Shrove Tuesday football is nearly allied to "camp- ing," a once popular East Anglian sport, which has, I fancy, been already discussed in these pages. Certain French ecclesiastical ball-games, supposed to be remnants of sun- worship, should also be remembered in this
 * onnexion, and I believe that India affords

xamples of a similar kind. G. W.

' EDWIN DROOD ' CONTINUED (9 th S. xii. 389, 510; 10 th S. i. 37). Although Wilkie ollins did not write a continuation to Edwin Drood,' there is such a continuation attributed to him, now on sale in the United States, and possibly also in Britain. Its title- page reads :

" ' John Jasper's Secret.' Sequel to Charles Dickens' 'Mystery of Edwin Drood,' by Charles )ickens the Younger, and Wilkie Collins. R. F. Tenno & Co., 9 and 11, East Sixteenth Street, New York City, 1901."

This work was written by Henry Morford, New York journalist, assisted by his wife. They spent several months in England in the ummerof 1871, living in London and working at the libraries, but also visiting Rochester, jradshill, Cobham, and district once or twice each week. They worked upon " hints upplied by him [Dickens], unwittingly, for, much closer estimate of the bearings of hose portions remaining unwritten than he ould probably have believed while in life," ind upon " many other particulars, labo- iously but lovingly procured.'' The work vas published anonymously, as a weekly erial, in the Chimney Corner (London and York) in 1871 \ as a monthly serial in