Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/403

 s. ii. OCT. 22, low.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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the various County and District Councils to offer to undertake the custody of all parish registers and records anterior to, say, 1850? They would be safer and much more acces- sible for reference than they are now. Many Nonconformist bodies have also records of considerable value, which might be cared for in the same way. WM. H. FEET.

It is to be feared that the question raised by WEST-COUNTRY RECTOR is one that more frequently exercises the mind of a student than a custodian, judging by my experience of these priceless parish memorials.

The most satisfactory solution would be for the nation, or the various County Councils, to bear the cost of printing the registers and papers so far remaining unpublished, and then to deposit the originals of a whole diocese with the bishop, or wherever public safety and convenience could best be served. Or each incumbent might prepare a fair manuscript copy for everyday use and place the originals in safe deposit with his bankers.

As a third and less satisfactory course, a baize-lined and air-tight zinc box, made to fit within the church safe, is a good receptacle, provided the safe itself is built into the fabric of the church.

In any case it should be regarded as the sacred duty of each rector to make at least one duplicate copy, with index, of his parish documents and registers. Each one thus doing a little would quickly reduce the moun- tain of work which now lies before the Parish Register Society, and with which that body cannot hope to cope in less than a century or two. WM. JAGGARD.

139, Canning Street, Liverpool.

NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM FAMILY PEDIGREES (10 th S. ii. 268). MR. E. THIRKELL- PEARCE will find a number of Durham pedi- grees in Surtees's ' History of Durham/ also in the proceedings of the Surtees Society. There is a later history of Durham, in 2 vols. quarto, name forgotten, which also contains pedigrees. MAY.

GODFREY HIGGINS (10 th ^S. ii. 184, 276). His publications on lunatic asylums and on Mohammed are duly entered in the notice of him in 'D.N.B.,' xxvi. 369 ; see further 7 th S. xi. 343. W. C. B.

BACON AND THE DRAMA OF HIS AGE (10 th S. ii. 129, 195). It may be interesting to learn that the passage quoted by MR. LYNN at 7 Ul S. v. 484 from 'De Augmentis,' book ii. (1623), does not occur in 'The Advancement of Learning ' (1605). Even when translated,

it does not bear out the contention that Bacon treated the drama with contempt, as he says in the next two sentences :

"It [play-acting] has been regarded by learned men and great philosophers as a kind of musician's bow by which men's minds might be played upon. And certainly it is most true, and one of the great secrets of nature, that the minds of men are more open to impressions and affections when many are gathered together than when they are alone."

In the 'De Augmentis,' book vi., Bacon says :

"It is a thing indeed, if practised professionally, of low repute ; but if it be made a part of disci- pline, it is of excellent use. I mean stage-playing : an art which strengthens the memory, regulates the tone and effect of the voice and pronunciation, teaches a decent carriage of the countenance and gesture, gives not a little assurance, and accustoms young men to bear being looked at."

Bacon then gives an account of the effect of good acting in the case of Vibulenus, once an actor and afterwards a Roman soldier. Bacon, therefore, had a very high idea of the capa- bilities of the drama.

The reference to the " musician's bow " in the first extract is reminiscent of Hamlet's remarks to the players with regard to the pipe ; and in the second extract the reference to the carriage of the actor is not unlike the Shakespearean lines :

As in a theatre the eyes of men, After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next, Thinking his prattle to be tedious.

Then we have Bacon stating in the* Ad- vancement' that dramatic poetry is "history made visible, for it represents actions as if they were present, whereas history represents them as past 1 ' surely sufficient evidence that Bacon had a high idea of the power of dra- matic work.

Next, as to poetry, he says : " For the ex- pression of affection, passions, corruptions, and customs we are beholden to poets more than to philosophers' works"; and he again tells us that poetry is one of the three "godly fields," with observations concerning the "several characters and tempers of men's natures and dispositions" ('Advancement ').

In face of these quotations it is idle to maintain that Bacon did not appreciate the work possible to poetry and the drama. No man knew its value better than did Bacon. GEORGE STRONACH.

EEL FOLK-LORE (10 th S. ii. 149, 231). I live by what remains of Chi-swick Ait, which, in defect of a few piles, is being rapidly washed away. Not long since there was a consider- able storm, including thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain. The next day after this