Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/93

 s. in. JAX. 28, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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No. 312. Du Meril says (p. 350), " The first verse prevents us from attributing it to any other writer" (i.e., than Matthieu de Ven- dorne). If this were so, it would seem to be unquestionably the source of Boccaccio's tale ; but the ascription of it to Matthieu de Vendorne is, notwithstanding what Du Meril says, anything but certain, and until his assertion can be proved it seems far more likely that the poem was derived from Boccaccio than the reverse.

It may, perhaps, be worth mention that there is a curious converse form of the story in Nicholai Pergami, ' Dial.,' 78 (p. 223 of the edition cited), where a young and virtuous wife does not tell her husband of his breath being offensive, as she did not know but that all men were alike in this respect.

The story in this last-mentioned form will be also found, but in a more extended form, j in the seventh of the 'Novelle Inedite di Giovanni Sercambi,' 'De Puritate' ("C/olle- zione di Operette Inedite e Kara Pubblicata della Libreria Dante in Firenze"); and it also is to be found in ' Hieronym. advers. Jovi- nium,' i. 27, which is quoted by Prof. Ales- sand ro d'Ancona in his notes, p. 70, to the above-mentioned edition of Sercambi.

A. COLLINGWOOD LEE. Waltham Abbey.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON DICKENS AND THACKERAY (10 th S. iii. 22). The absence, j noted by COL. PRIDEAUX, of reference to the ] opera of ' The Mountain Sylph ' by writers on Thackeray, is owing to the fact that there is no occasion for any. The opera was written, not by William Makepeace, but by T. J., Thackeray. I have no knowledge of their relationship, or of the names represented by the initials. My information as to the point in question, namely, the connexion of W. M. Thackeray with 'The Mountain Sylph,' is derived from my father-in-law, the late John Barnett, who composed the music, and from the title-page of the pianoforte arrangement of the songs. E. E. FRANCILLON.

In his interesting notes from The Carlton Chronicle scrap-book, COL. PRIDEAUX quotes "See Thwackaway's 'Mountain Sylph,' " and goes on to say that this opera has been ignored by writers on Thackeray. As I have pointed out in another place, it has been so ignored because it was the work not of W. M., but of T. J. Thackeray. ' The Mountain Sylph ' libretto by T. J. Thackeray and music by John Barnett was produced at the English Opera-House (Lyceum Theatre) in August, 1834. The opera was highly praised in The

Athenaeum at the time of its production,. though the critic consistently spelt the librettist's name "Thackwray"; it will alsa be found dealt with under Barnett in Grove's- 'Dictionary.' WALTER JERROLD.

Hampton-on-Thames.

BRIDGES, A WINCHESTER COMMONER (10 th S, iii. 7). This Commoner, who was admitted in the autumn of 1837, was evidently distinct from William Thomas Bridges, the Scholar mentioned by MR. WAINEWRIGHT. Both boys appear on the school "Long Koll" dated 11 November, 1837, but unfortunately by their surnames only. The practice of printing Christian names as well as surnames on the Roll was not introduced until 1854. H. C.

SIR T. CORNWALLIS (10 th S. iii. 29). I have a most remarkable document, partly in print and partly in MS., dated " the last day of July," 1604, explaining in a most friendly manner how and why King James I. was horribly hard up. It appears to be a warrant to "Sir Charles Cormvallis Knight whom we have appcjinted to be our collector in our Countie of Norfolk " to raise forced (?) loans of 20. each, to be repaid on 24 March, 1605. It is signed by Thomas Kerry, accepted rather like a bill by one Thps. Welch, and the receipt of the 20. is signed Charles Cornwalys and dated 13 October, 1604. It is finely printed in court hand.

EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.

TARLETON, THE SIGN OF " THE TABOR," ST. BENNET'S CHURCH (10 th S. iii. 7, 55). As the distinguishing marks of Patch the fool were his fantastic costume and his bauble, so the wandering clown mounted his platform to the strumming of his tabor, from which he was inseparable. Hence the probabilities are all in favour of the sign of Dick Tarleton, actor and clown, having been " The Tabor " and not " The Saba," although " The Saba " is printed, I believe, in an early edition of Tarleton's 'Jests,' where, however, its point- lessness compared with " The Tabor " suggests that it is a misprint for the latter. In the passage in 'Twelfth Night^' _ quoted by QUIRINUS the clown's reply to Viola's ques- tion, " Dost thou live by the tabor 1 " imputes a second possible interpretation of the- question, namely, ff Dost thou live by [the- sign of] the tabor 1 ?" Viola's real meaning having been " Dost thou gain thy living in the calling of which the tabor is the symbol 1 "

St. Benet's Church, Gracechurch Street, was one of the twenty-nine City churches- pointed out in 1854 for erasement. It was completed by Wren in 1685. Daniel), in his