Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/201

 10*8. III. MARCH 4, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

161

LOXDOX, SATURDAY, it ARCH It, 1905.

CONTENTS. -No. 62.

NOTES : Mrs. Thrale and Johnson's 'In Theatre,' 11 J3enson Earle Hill, 162-The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly 163 Queen Anne as Amateur Actress, 16-4 Congreve' Birthplace " L'gly rush " Quarfcerstaves The Fitz williams The late Dr. H. H. .Drake- Contempt for th Law in a Will, 165.

QUEKIBS: "Perit" Irritability of Character, 166 " Bottleman "Moscow Campaign Turing : Baunerman Translations of Domesday Kipley Persehouse : Sabin Sir James Cotter, 167 De Morgan : Tuberville Compte Prison Lucas Families Spur-post Abbey of St. Vale'ry sitr-Somme "Pompelmous" " Dinkums " Bidding Prayer Sibilla de Gournay Hertfordshire Iconoclast Sir Alexander Grant's Will Samuel Butler, 1*53 Song Wanted" Call a spade a spade " ' The Lady's Museum ' Modern London,' 1804 Millar's ' Geography ' Wooder Fonts, 169.

REPLIES: "The gentle Shakespeare," 169 "Walkyn Silver," 170 "And has it come to this?" Authors o Quotations Wanted Halls of the City Companies, 171 'Steer to the Nor'-Nor'- West 'Molly Lepel's Descent St. Sepulchre, 172 Birth-MarksGeorge Villiers, Duke o Buckingham Blood used in Building : Sugar in Mortar 173 Cataloguing Seventeenth-Century Tracts Cope o Bramshill Q icen's Surname, 174 Gold r. Silver Patent Medicines Clocks stopped at Death Clergyman as City Councillor Saxton Family, 175 Luther Family Sir El win Arnold" When our old Catholic fathers lived " " Ob ! the pilgrims of Zion " ' Rebecca,' a Novel, 176.

NOTES ON BOOKS :' Hakluytus Posthumus' Kanke's ' History of the Keformati m ' ' Heralds' College and Coats of Arms ' ' Remarkable Comets' 'Browning Calendar' ' Quarterly Review ' ' English Historica Review.'

Bookse'ltrs" Catalogues.

Notices to Correspondents.

gait*.

IN

MRS. THRALE AND JOHNSON'S THEATRO.'

A THRALE - BOSWELL item has recently come into the possession of a local collector, a description of which may be of interest to Johnsonians.

It consists of a card, about 4 inches by 31 inches, on the face of which is written apparently in Mrs. Thrale's hand a copy of the Latin verses ' In Theatro,' composed by Dr. Johnson while attending an oratorio at Covent Garden Theatre with Mrs. Thrale in 1771.

On the reverse is an English paraphrase of the verses unmistakablj 7 in Mrs. Thrale's handwriting made by her at Dr. Johnson's request :

" When we were got home, however, he repeated these verses, which he said he had made at the

oratorio, and he bid me translate them 1 gave

him the following lines in imitation, which he liked well enough, I think." ' Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson,' Piozzi, London, 1786, 72-4.

Above the Latin verses is written in Bos- well's handwriting, "By Samuel Johnson, LL.D." ; above the English verses [translated] "By Mrs. Thrale," and below them, ''Mrs. Thrale gave me this, 1775, James Bos well."

In the manuscript the Latin verses appear exactly as published by Mrs. Piozzi in the 'Anecdotes,' and as reproduced by Dr. George Birkbeck Hill in his 'Johnsonian Miscellanies ' N.Y., 1897, i. 19C-8. In the English para- phrase, however, there are variations in three out of the four verses which may make a comparison of them of some interest.

The manuscript verses are as follow :

When sixty years have chang'd thee quite,

Still can theatric Scenes delight ?

Ill suits this Place with learned Wight

May Belts or Coulson cry. The Scholars pride can Brent disarm ? His heart can soft Guadagni warm ? Or Scenes with sweet delusion charm

The Climacteric Eye ? The social Club, or lonely Towr, Far better suit thy Midnight Hour. Let each according to his Powr

In Worth or Wisdom shine ! And while Play pleases idle Boys, And wanton Mirth fond Youth employs, To fix the Mind and free from Toys

That useful Task be thine !

The verses as published by Mrs. Piozzi read : When threescore years have chill'd thee quite, Still can theatric scenes delight ? Ill suits this place with learned wight,

May Bates or Coulson cry. The scholars pride can Brent disarm ? His heart can soft Guadagni warm ? Or scenes with sweet delusion charm

The climacteric eye ? The social club, the lonely tower, Far better suit thy midnight hour ; Let each according to his power

In worth or wisdom shine. And while play pleases idle boys, And wanton mirth fond youtji employs, To fix the soul, and free from toys,

That useful task be thine.

Dr. Hill identifies (Charlotte) Brent and jfuadagni with well-known singers of the period. Of the other persons named in the verses he writes :

" Bates was perhaps Joah Bates, a musician, in vhose orchestra Herschel, the astronomer, played irst violin. See 'Diet. Nat. Biog.' under 'Bates.'

do not know who Coulson was. It is possible hat he was Johnson's friend, the Rev. John Joulson, Fellow of University College, Oxford 'Letters,' i. 323), and that Bates was another cholar."

It hardly seems probable that a pro- essional musician would have considered hat a theatre at the time of a performance f an oratorio was a place ill-suited to a 'learned wight." But accepting the name s Betts, as written by Mrs. Thrale, and following out Dr. Hill's alternative that Bates was another scholar of University College, the present writer ventures to sug-