Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/62

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NOTES AND QUERIES, [io<" s. m. JAN. 21, 1905.

ing legitimate period did not commence til! 1844, when it came under the management o Mr. and Mrs. Keeley. Under them it soor became a favourite house for burlesque anc comedy, and in a year or two was in the front rank of London theatres. ' Jack Sheppard, which was one of Mrs. Keeley's greatesi triumphs ; ' Nicholas Nickleby,' in which she took the part of Smike and in which Charles Dickens much admired her ; ' Martin Chuzzlewit,' in which Mr. Keeley (who often played old women) as Mrs. Gamp was inimitable; and 'Mrs. Caudle,' were amongst their greatest successes. Charles Mathews followed the Keeleys, and thougl all his productions were not successful yet under him the Lyceum kept up its reputation. Henry Irving first appearec there on 11 September, 1871, under the management of Bateman, the father of that very charming actress Miss Isabel Bateman and with his management is very closely identified the rise of Irving to fame. I sup- pose most of us can remember that wonderfu! succession of popular plays, Shakesperian and others, which used to pack the Lyceum from floor to ceiling night after night, and evoked an enthusiasm almost equal to that which greeted Kean. 'Charles the First,' 'The Bells," Hamlet/ ' The Lyons Mail,' and ' Faust ' were amongst the greatest successes of that period, which those who witnessed them can never forget. Never before had such gorgeous settings of any plays been seen in London, and from that time dates the new era of scenic production. Like so many of our old London landmarks, the Lyceum has passed away, but old playgoers will always cherish kindly recollections of it, and of Sir Henry Irving, Miss Ellen Terry, and the 'many other charming actresses and actors who helped to make it one of our greatest homes of the drama.

FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.

[ '[We doubt whether some of the pieces mentioned above were first seen at the Lyceum, and counsel perusal of the account of that theatre by E. L. Blanchard in the Era Almanack of 1877.]

ANNA, LADY CARNEGIE, AFTERWARDS COUNTESS OF SOUTHESK. When editing the 'Memoirs ' of Count Gramraont I overlooked the most interesting account of this lady's last days given in Sir William Fraser's ' His- tory of the Carnegies ' (i. 153-9). A selection of eight letters written by this notorious beauty is printed, and wonderful composi- tions they are. At the time of her lord's death the countess was residing in Paris, from which she wrote, on 9 March, 1688, to Mr. Denis, of London (apparently her banker

there), that she had heard on all hands the news of the loss which she had sustained of a husband whom she lamented as much as he deserved.

In an earlier letter, dated 2 January, 1686, she writes that she is beginning to form the resolution of ending her life in a monastery, insufficiency of this world's money apparently being the cause of this melancholy strain. In another letter, dated Paris, 14 October, 1687, the countess is again the gayest of the gay ; she complains, however, that her coach- man is sick in the hands of surgeons upon her charges, and that he had not been able to drive her except twice since she came to Paris, but she thanks God that her horses are well, and that she has enough money to serve her till the day of payment.

The countess was at Brussels in February and May, 1695. She died in Holland in October of that year. Her body was brought to Scotland, and her funeral took place at Kinnaird on 13 December.

GORDON GOODWIN.

GEORGE ROMNEY, 1610. Among the Ash- molean MSS. (No. 1729, 56, f. 104, a, b) there is a warrant from James I. to the Earl of Salisbury, dated 24 January, 1610, con- cerning one George Romney, of St. Clement's Danes, gent., who is described as one of the six "recusants" whose goods were con- fiscated and bestowed upon the persons named in the warrant. It would be interest- ing to know if this George Romney was in any way connected with the famous artist who came up to London in 1762.

W. ROBERTS. 47, Lansdowne Gardens, Clapham.

"BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THERE GOES

JOHN BRADFORD." (See ante, p. 20.) The late Dean Farrar, whose sermons on ' Eternal Hope' were published in 1878, probably read this saying in the second volume of ' The Writings of John Bradford, M.A.,' Parker Society, Cambridge, 1853. In the 'Biogra- phical Notice,' p. xiiii, we find what follows : "The familiar story, that, on seeing evil-doers taken to the place of execution, he was wont to exclaim, ' But for the grace of God there goes John Bradford,' is a universal tradition, which has over- come the lapse of time. And Yenning, writing in 1653, desirous to show that, * by the sight of others' sins, men may learn to bewail their own sinfulness and heart of corruption,' instances the case of Bradford, who, ' when he saw any drunk or heard any swear, etc., would railingly complain, Lord, I iave a drunken head ; Lord, I have a swearing heart.' "

The reference is to "Ralph Venning, The leathen Improved, an Appendix to Canaan's Flowings, sect. 110, p. 222. Lond. 1653."