Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/374

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NOTES AND QUERIES, no* s. m. APRIL 22, IMS.

Laertes bear a very striking resemblance to Burleigh's precepts to his son Robert on the eve of the latter's departure for Paris. The matter has been several times referred to in ' N. <fe Q.,' but not, so far as I have seen, the particular phase of it which follows, and which, if I am right, goes to confirm Mr. French's surmise. Why did Hamlet call Polonius a fishmonger? Various reasons have been suggested ; but if by Polonius was meant Burleigh, the answer is rather clear. I copy the following from the 'Encyc. Brit.,' art. 4 Cecil':

" To make up for the loss to the shipping which the downfall of Catholicism had caused by diminishing the demand for fish, he [Burleigh] obtained the passing of a curious law which made the eating of flesh on Friday and Saturday, and on Wednesday, unless fish dishes were also placed on the table, a misdemeanour."

When the law was new and fresh in the minds of the people the topical allusion could hardly fail to appear very pointed and amusing to every one but the Lord Treasurer.

But there are two other points on which T seek enlightenment. In the early version of the play (1603) Polonius is called Corambis, and his servant Reynaldo is called Montana Why were these changes made ? Webster's dictionary says that Cecil is from the Latin, meaning dim-sighted. Corambis might be derived from coram and bis, and suggest seeing double, or perhaps from corymbe, cori/mbis, the name of a herb supposed to cause dimness of vision. In either case it would seem like a play on Burleigh's family name. This being so, it would seem likely that, after Burleigh's death in 1598, some- body thought it best to change the name to prevent the satire appearing too obvious. Again, it is well known that Burleigh was not above using spies, of whom he employed many. If one of these was named Hill or Mount, or something similar, it would account for the original name of Reynaldo, who is set by Polonius to spy upon Laertes.

Does Cecil mean dim-sighted ? and is there any evidence that Lord Burleigh had a ser- vant with a name anything like Montano, especially one employed on secret service 1 ? ISAAC HULL PLA.TT.

New York.

SIR TIMOTHY BALDWIN. (See 6 th S. x. 267.) - This successful lawyer was the second of the three sons of Charles Baldwyn (died 14 February, 1674), of Elsich, in Diddlebury, Shropshire, by his wife Mary, daughter and coheiress of Francis Holland, of Burwarton in the same county, and was baptized on

28 September, 1619 (Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society, ix. 291, 298). He made his will on 1 May, 1685, as "S r Timothy Baldwyn of Bockleton in the county of Worcester, K fc, being of sound and perfect memory, though languishing and weak in Body," and desired to be " buried privately in the Church att Bockleton (if I there dye)." Liberal provision was made for his "dearly beloved wife, all which is to little for her great care and Love to me, and which I hope she will continue to her daughter my dear neece for her care and piety towards me." Two nieces are mentioned : Mrs. Ottley, wife of Thomas Ottley, Esq., of Pitchford, Shrop- shire, and Miss Anne Baldwyn. He gave to "little Acton Baldwyn all his Books att London." Sir Timothy lived for several years longer. Hiswill(P.C.C. 24, Pyne) was proved on

22 February, 1696 [-7], by his nephew Charles Baldwyn, Esq. From his monument, given in Nash's ' Worcestershire' (i. 117), we learn that Charles Baldwyn was Chancellor of the diocese of Hereford and father of the" little Acton " referred to. These scraps may pos- sibly interest those who are acquainted with the excellent article on the worthy knight in the'D.N.B.' GORDON GOODWIN.

ALEXANDER LUDERS. By way of supple- ment to the account given in the ' D.N.B.' (xxxiv. 252) of this legal and historical writer, who died at Widcombe, Bath, in his sixty-fourth year, on 25 November, 1819 (Gentleman's Magazine, Ixxxix. ii. 569), it may be added that from time to time be- tween 1777 and 1800 he attended the annual Wykehamist dinner at the "Crown and Anchor" Tavern in the Strand, and is there- fore presumably to be identified with the Luders who, according to the school rolls, was a commoner at Winchester College 1768- 1770. He married a "Miss Scawell [? read Seawell ; cf. Ix. 186], of Gower Street," on

23 November, 1787 ; and his wife is said to have died at Bath on 22 December, 1806 (Gentleman's Magazine, Ivii. ii. 1125 ; Ixxvi. ii. 1253). He claimed to be a Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, and therefore I sup- pose that his father, whom the ' Dictionary ' speaks of as Theodore Luders, of Lyncombe and Widcombe, Somerset, was identical with the "Theodore, Baron de Luders, a Knight of the most Holy lioman Empire," who died at Bath on 5 or 6 December, 1774 (Gentleman's Magazine, xliv. 598: 'Annual Register,' xvii. 199), and was buried on 13 December in Bath Abbey ('Bath Abbey Registers," Had. Soc. Pub., ii. 460). Had the claim to such knight- hood any solid basis? If it was fictitious, it was a stroke of genius on the part of the