Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/371

io'" s. in. APRIL 22, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

303 the pompous self-glorification of the one and the easy banter of the other becomes intensely amusing to all who are in the secret. Glendower begins by asserting, as a matter beyond contradiction, that he is the true shaker, the true Shakespeare:

The rebuff comes promptly:—

Poor Glendower can only repeat himself:—

It is needless to quote the whole passage, which is truly delightful when its secondary meaning is thus read into it. The iteration of "it shook" "did tremble," "In passion shook," is obviously intentional.

Bacon is half inclined to give in, feeling that the contest is becoming unequal:—

The true self-conscious ability of the man breaks out in the irrepressible words:—

The personal reference in those keen words—"deep experiments"—can hardly be missed. But all the reply that is vouchsafed to him is: "I think there is no man speaks better Welsh." And when, even after this, Bacon still persists, Shakespeare roundly tells him that the only way "to shame the devil" is "by telling truth." It was excellent advice.

I saw the original inquiry of (9ᵗʰ S. iii. 349), who quotes from 'Irish Pedigrees' (John O'Hara), but I wonder upon what authority Mr. O'Hara has stated, in referring to "the love letters from Sarah Curran to Robert Emmet," that "Major Sirr of 1798 memory" found them "so pathetic that he says he wept over them."

, at 9ᵗʰ S. iii. 472, quoted from 'Ireland in '98' (compiled by Daly from Madden's 'United Irishmen'), and suggested an examination of "the truculent major's" papers in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, to verify the declaration that Miss Curran's correspondence was burnt by Major Sirr some years before his death. The use of the extremely misleading epithet "truculent," derived from Madden, is a sufficient warning that statements concerning Major Sirr do indeed require verification. An interesting anecdote with which Madden's autobiography ('Memoirs of A. A. Madden,' London, 1891) opens, and which ought to have appeared much earlier in 'The United Irishmen,' shows that "truculent" is not borne out—the 'Dictionary of National Biography' should suffice to satisfy the general reader. Indeed, Madden in this anecdote admits that Major Sirr's consideration possibly saved the lives of both the autobiographer and his mother.

The note at the foot of a letter among the Sirr Papers in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, bears out Mr. Daly's declaration as to the fate of the correspondence between Miss Curran and Emmet. I give a copy of the letter and of the note. The initials J. D. S. are those of Major Sirr's eldest son, the Rev. Joseph D'Arcy Sirr, D.D. Doubtless this note was Mr. Daly's authority:—

I believe I have seen it stated that Curran never forgave his daughter for bestowing her affections on Emmet.

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