Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/137

 .v. FEB. io, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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MS. be consulted? If Tatham knew Blak personally (as I gather was the case), hi statements as to the artist's career shouk possess great authority ; yet I do not fine this work of Tatham's among the list of 1m publications in the British Museum Cata logue, either under his own name or that o: William Blake. Perhaps some of your readers who are students and lovers o Blake may be in a position to supply me with the desired information.

CHARLOTTE MOWBRAY.

ERNEST AUGUSTUS STEPHENSON. I have in my possession a miniature painted on ivory, and at the back is written the above name and date June 17th 1822. I should be glad of any particulars of himself or his family. Please reply direct. E. MARTIN.

The Cottage, West-hope, Craven Arms.

PASSOW'S GREEK-GERMAN LEXICON. Can any reader of ' N. <fe Q.' say what progress is being made in the preparation of Dr. W. Cronert's new edition of Passow's great Greek- German lexicon ? Has any volume or part of it yet appeared ? KOM OMBO.

NOVEL : TITLE WANTED. Will any one kindly tell me the title of a book in which the heroine leads a double life at one time an angel of virtue and beauty in her father's parish, and the next minute leading the life of the most notorious woman in Paris. She is red-haired, and the local squire says he does not believe in such a combination as "red hair and the Bible." Her father is a dipsomaniac who claims descent from the Stuarts. R. M. Ross.

Calcutta.

SAMUEL WILLIAMS, DRAUGHTSMAN. Is there any published portrait of this excellent artist and engraver on wood (1788-1853).

W. SANDFORD.

JENKYN, LITTLE JOIIN,&C. In the fifteenth- century Cornish miracle play * Beunans Meriasek ' is a cleric who assists a quack doctor in a scene of vulgar clowning. This worthy is called "bakcheler Jenkyn." I have before me an old manuscript acting copy of the Cornish Christmas play (alas ! not now performed) of * St. George.' In this one of the comic characters comes on the the stage with the words :

Here ccmes I, little man John, with a sword in my

hand, And if any offend me I will make him to stand.

This " little John" appears to have been the doctor's assistant here also.

In 'The Shipman's Prologue' in 'The Canterbury Tales' the host addresses the

parson, "O Jenkin, be ye there? I smell

a loller in the wind."

Referring to the play of 'St. George' (in spite of verbal variations, evidently the same play as in my MS.), W. S. in The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1830, speaks of "the doctor," who is generally the Merry Andrew of the piece."

Is this use of the name Jenkyn or Little John traditional 1 I should be grateful for any instances of it elsewhere. Robin Hood's Little John was merry, but certainly not a vulgar clown, as are those in the two Cornish plays.

In the same play of 'St. George,' where most of the dialogue is very straightforward, we suddenly encounter a burst of poetry, though it is not divided into lines :

"Hark ! hark ! what sound invades my ears? The conquerors approach; I hear 'tis Henry's march, 'tis Henry's tune. I know he comes. He comes victorious. Henry comes, with hautbois, trumpets, fifes and drums. Send from afar and sound of war [$ic]. Full of grief and every wind from walk to walk, from shade to shade, from stream to pooling stream conveyed, through all the mingling of the grove, through all the mingling tracks of love, turning, burning, changing, ranging, full of grief and full of woe, impatient from [? for] my lord's return."

Can any reader of 'X. & Q.' help me to the correct words ? I have had to modify the spelling of the extract, as the original is rudely phonetic, the opening line, e.g., being " Hark nark wot sounding vads my ears the conquars a porch," and so on. There is no point of any kind in the entire MS., and the names of the characters are not indicated, but only those of the performers, Penty Landin, &c., except one " William Williams, King of Egipt." YGREC.

SPINOLA'S WHALE.' The Whigs' Lamenta- ion, J 1683, speaks of Spinola's whale, that should have been " hir'd to have drown'd London by snuffing up the Thames and spouting it upon the City." Where can I ind more information about this monster ?

L. L. K.

HETMAN : ATAMAN. It is worth noting

hat the former title denoted an elective

H-ince of Little Russia, while the latter was

a chief promoted on account of superior

jourage and skill in battle. The last hetman

was Count Razumovsky, a favourite of the

Psaritsa Elizabeth. The famous Platov, who

larassed Napoleon's troops during the re-

reat from Moscow in 1812, and accompanied

is imperial master (Alexander I.) on a visit

o England, is often erroneously described

as hetman by historians, whereas he was