Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/340

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. i. APK. 23, 1910.

The title was ' Alonzo the Brave ; or, The Spectre Bridegroom.* It opens with a recitative :

" In days of old, a warrior bold, encased from helm to heel in armour of wrought iron, was known the hero of Cast-ille," &c. ;

then followed words to the airs of ' Nae Luck,* ' Come to Me, 1 ' Oh ! Summer Night, 1 ' Old Robin Gray,* ' Robin the Beau, 1 ' Haste to the Wedding,' &c.

Years passed away, and the style of entertainment changed. Sam Co well ap- peared on the scene, and he appears to have copied Hugo Vamp's business, though in a varied form. I remember him singing ' The Ratcatcher's Daughter.'- His version of ' Alonzo the Brave * was very different, even assuming he wrote the words. I have not seen the copy mentioned by ME. WILLOUGHBY MAYCOCK, but know one published by Hutchins & Romer, 9, Conduit Street, Regent Street, in 1868. It began with a recitative :

" Oh, I am going to sing to you a story which I suppose you all know. At least 'twas told to me a very long tune ago ; ' Tia all about a young fellow by name Alonzo, And amongst the female population he was quite a beau."

Then followed words to various tunes, such as ' The Fine Old English Gentleman ? and ' Sprig of Shilelah,' winding up with ' Kitty Clover.* This music was arranged by J. Harrowby, R.A., who seems to have been a voluminous and versatile musical hack, his effusions comprising dance music, ballads, comic songs (including ' Who's your Hatter '), and several arrangements in imitation of Hugo Vamp, such as ' Macbeth * (included in the British Museum Catalogue under Locke, Matthew), and a scena, ' Sir Ribston of Pippintree.*

As for Sam Cowell himself, there seems little doubt that his name, like those of Joe Miller, Penkethman, Andrew Borde r and others, was attached to chapbooks as an attraction to buyers, but without any right as author. As in the music-halls to-day, the audience do not know and do not care who may be the author or composer of the lucubrations they hear, but consider only the " star " for the moment. Sam Co well's father was a clever and all-round man, scene painter, singer, and actor, and Sam may justly be described as the originator of the modern music-hall comedian ; but there is no evidence of either father or son ever having been known as a literary or musical originator, their spheres being confined to interpreting the creations of others.

A. RHODES.

EDINBURGH CLUBS (11 S. i. 248). Much information about old Edinburgh clubs, and hints as to where more may be obtained, will be found in Wilson's ' Memorials of Edin- burgh,' 1891, 2 vols., passim ; in Chambers's ' Traditions of Edinburgh,* new edition, especially the chapter on ' Convivialia,* p. 152 ; and in Grant's ' Old and New Edin- burgh,* in., p. 122. The rules and regula- tions of many of these clubs appear to be tolerably well known. Lists of members of several of them may be constructed from hints furnished in the references given above ; but the minutes of all of them, I should imagine, must by this time have hopelessly perished. Chambers alludes to the ' ' soiled and blotted records " of the Boar Club, which in 1824 were scarcely legible.

W. SCOTT.

SOWING BY HAND (11 S. i. 46, 133, 216). In my reply at p. 133 I used the word " bushel, 24 but meant to say peck measure. To sow corn with one hand would involve going over the ground twice, as it would mean sowing from right to left across the field, then turning to come back, and again throwing from right to left, and this method would be a double sowing with more fatigue and loss of time. The true sower throws from right to left as he steps with the right foot, and from left to right as he steps with the left foot. The sowing " skeps " were made of willow " twithies ** woven basket fashion, with handles, and that part of the "skep' 2 which had to rest on the sower's body was somewhat flattened whilst the material was dried. When all the sowing was by hand, a skep of some sort was used : hoppers only came in with the machines for sowing corn. A Lincolnshire farmer tells me that some called the " skeps " hoppers. THOS. RATCLIFFE.

Worksop.

' THE DEATH-KILLING DOCTOR * : HART ABRAHAMS = ABRAHAM HART (11 S. i. 249). This small mezzotint engraving (5| in. by 3^ in.) is excessively rare. The travelling quack is seated at a table, exclaiming, " No pay no Cure of this be sure." He has a stick in his right hand, and with his left grasps a bottle to which a label is attached, which reads " An Ease to evry Pain." On the table a small jar is placed, marked ' ' And Salve for ev'ry Strain." At the right-hand corner a spider's web can be faintly seen ; and a dried specimen of a lizard-like creature is suspended from a nail on the wall. Above the head of the figure,