Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/419

 m. MAY e, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

34$

For several sums to furnish you with books. Believe me, sir, your study "s richly furnisht.

S. This villain boy ne'er dresses up the chamber. I pray thee, put these things out of the way.

F. I would I could cast thee out of the way ; And so I should not see my shameless son. Be these the books, sir, that you look upon ?

S. Father, this is as right a fox as e'er you saw, And 's been as soundly tried as any blade in England. F. I trust you'll make me account, sir, of my

money.

S, Indeed, sir, he does rascand very fast i'th' hilts, And is a little crooked at the point.

F. Tom Stukely, what a shame is this for thee, To see so many of thy countrymen Of whom the world did ne'er expect thy hopes So forward and so towardly to the law, And thou, whose infancies did flatter nie With expectation of so many goods, To prove a very changeling and to follow These ruffianly and vile disordered courses.

S. Nay, hark you, father, I pray you be content : I 've done my good will, but it will not do. John a Nokes and John a Style and I cannot cotton. O, this law-French is worse thanbutter'd mackerell, Full o' bones, full o' bones. It sticks here : 'twill

not down.

Aurum potdbile will not get it down. My grandfather bestowed as much of you As you have done of me ; but, of my conscience, You were, as I am, a true man to the house : You took nothing away with you.

F. 0, had thy grandsire been as kind to me As I have been to thee, thou vild, lewd unthrift, I had done well ! S. Nay, so you do, God be thank'd ! But, hark

you, father,

There is a nearer way to the wood than all this A nearer cut than scratching for things out Of a standish all a man's life which I have Found out ; and, if you'll stick to me, I doubt not But you shall think I have bestowed my time well. And this it is : I am in possibility To marry Alderman Curtis's daughter. Now, father, if you will open the bag_pf your affec- tion,

And speak but a few good words for me To the old alderman, she 's mine, horse and foot. F. But with what colour can I speak for thee, Being so lewd and prodigal a spendthrift ? A common quarreller with shame I speak it, That I dare scarcely own thee with my credit ! S- Peace, good father ! no more of that : stick to

me once. If you will but tickle the old fellow in the ear, look

yon,

With a certain word called a jointure, Ha ! that same jointure and a proper man Withal, as 1 am, will draw you on a wench, As a squirrel's skin will draw on a Spanish shoe.

F. Now, afore God, Tom Stukeley, Thy riots are so notorious in the city As I am much afraid the alderman Will not be wrought to yield unto the match. S. Ay, father, this is certain ; but all that 's

nothing.

I have the wench's good will ; and he must yield, Spite of his heart. She's worth forty thousand

pound.

O, father, this is the right philosopher's stone True multiplication, I have found it !

F. Well, sirrah, come, and go with me to supper^. Whither I '11 send for a friend or two of mine, And take their better counsels in the matter.

S. I pray you let it be so. Sirrah boy, Lock the door, and bring my sword.

P. 1 will, sir.

It may be pointed out that more than one- line (e.ff., the last) is trochaic (such lines- being frequent enough in Fletcher) ; and ib- may perhaps be advisable to remark that in the line

"How long has he been here, rogue?" "This two hours,"

" here " is a dissyllable, as it very commonly is with the poets of that period.

E. H. C. O. New South Wales.

(To be continued.)

RESIDENCE DINNERS IN DURHAM. (See- ante, p. 1.) Since I wrote the above note I have gathered a few further particulars from two ladies whose father was one of the old' Prebendaries, and whose recollections of the- residence dinners are very distinct. They confirm what I had gathered before, but supplement those particulars as follows.. During the twenty-one days of residence,. Tuesdays and Thursdays were the days for personal friends. The Mayor and Corpora- tion came on some other day, and the Minor Canons, &c., on another. There would always be one or two Residentiary Canons besides the entertainer at all the above dinners. The- principal tradesmen and the singing men had a dinner together at 2 P.M. (see p. 1), and ; the King's Scholars one on another day at the same hour. Once during each residence the old widows had lunch in the servants' hall at 12 o'clock (see above, p. 2). But my informants do not remember anything about clay pipes, only the hot spiced ale in the grace-cups. The grace-cup went round after all residence dinners, and each King's Scholar as he drank stood and said "Church- Queen-Bishop-Dean-Residentiary," rattling off the words as fast as he could. The grace was always said by a chorister at all dinners during residence, whether public or private, and a different portion of the 119th Psalm- was said each day by a different chorister, so that most of the twenty-two portions were said during the twenty-one days, and each chorister got his turn. There was a drop of a minor third at the last syllable of the psalm and of the response. One of my in- formants writes :

"The choristers' gown was chocolate brown bor- dered with a bright gold-coloured silk braid. Ifc was a loose garment, made of medium size, so that the little fellows tucked it up under each arm as-