Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/162

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NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. x. A. 22, WM.

A JUSTIFICATION OF KING JOHN (11 S. vii. 43; ix. 63, 155, 257). The death of King Henry II. is stated to have been caused by the disclosure of the name of his son John at the head of a list of those whom he was to pardon for deserting him, and doing homage to his son Richard, who, in alliance with Philip, the French king, had recently defeated him. To obtain peace King Henry was obliged to submit to any terms the conquerors chose to impose, this pardoning of the rebels being one of them. Nearly all our histories refer to a list of rebels, but Lhe only name qxioted from it is that of John.

Is there any chronicle or history in which all the names as originally written in the list are given ? Can any of your readers kindly tell me where the original list was deposited, and, if it has escaped the ravages of time and destruction, where can it now be seen ? Was such a list ever compiled "?

Dr. Stubbs in his ' Early Plantagenets ' tells us that

wards Archbishop of York, was with him, and the poor father clung to him in his despair. To him, through his friend Giraldus Camtsrensis, ice one the story of these sad days."
 * Geoffrey, his natural son and Chancellor, after-

This mention of Prince John's name at the head of the list of rebels to be pardoned by his father is the only account we have of any variance between King Henry and his youngest son ; and as both Geoffrey and Gerald were bitter enemies of John, would it be very unreasonable to suggest that the story of Prince John's desertion of his father was the invention of Geoffrey, and published by Gerald for the purpose of defaming King John, as he does King Henry and his sons in his ' De Principis Instructione ' ?

R. C. BOSTOCK.

JOSHUA WEBSTER, M.D., 1777 (US. ix. 8). The Dean of St. Albans, who has been making local inquiries regarding Joshua Webster, writes that the only information he can discover from local records concerning him is the following extract from ' The Old Inns of St. Albans,' by the late F. G. Kitten, which in itself seems worthy of a place in
 * :N T . & Q.' :

" ' The White Hart ' is doubtless the veritable hostelry at which the Scotch lord, Simon Lovat, tested in 1710 during a sudden illness while on his way to London for committal to the Tower, and here Hogarth painted the famous portrait oi his lordship at the express invitation of Dr. Webster, who was a notable St. Albans man and a friend of Samuel Ireland, the biographer of Hogarth. This picture, which is now in the National Portrait Gallery, was painted in great haste probably

at one sitting for Dr. Webster, who attended Lord Lovat professionally : it is said to have been lound eighty years afterwards in the house ot a poor person in the neighbourhood ot St. Albans a singular fact regarding it being that until its discovery such a portrait was not known to be in existence."

F. DE H. L.

SHAKESPEARE AND THE WARWICKSHIRE DIALECT (11 S. ix. 288, 337, 376, 394). Over and over again it has been stated that in the plays we find Warwickshire words, peculiarly Warwickshire, and used in no other part of the country than Warwickshire. ' The English Dialect Dictionary ' completely dis- proves this. The contention is supposed to get rid finally of the Baconian authorship of the dramas. But what is the actual state of affairs ? I have been unable to trace a purely Warwickshire word in the plays. Once upon a time Mr. Appleton Morgan, President of the Shakespeare Society of New York, gave a glossary of 518 words which he claimed as pure Warwickshire words, and presumably used by Shakespeare. Then a leading member of the Bacon Society came forward and proved conclusively that of the 518 " pure Warwickshire words " there were only 46 which are not as current in Surrey Sussex, Kent, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Lin colrishire, and Leicestershire as they are Warwickshire, and that not one of these 46 words, not recognized as common in the southern and eastern counties, is to be found in Shakespeare ! This is entirely confirmed by ' The English Dialect Dictionary.'

For instance, we are informed that the word " moither " " is indigenous to the soil of urban as well us rural Warwickshire." It is nothing of the kind. The Dictionary says, " It is in dialect use in Scotland, Ire- land, and the Midland Counties, in Rutland, Montgomery, and Gloucestershire." And so with dozens of other words claimed as " pure Warwick shire. ' ;

Edinburgh. GEORGE STRONACH.

MAIMONIDES AND EVOLUTION (11 S. 47). The claim that Maimonides anticipat Darwin rests upon a misappreciation of Darwin's work, and reading into Maimonides what he did not say. Darwin is not looked upon as the founder of the theory of evolu- tion, nor did he so regard himself. His work was to present a theory as to the cause and method of evolution, to adduce facts to prove the theory, and to discuss the diffi- culties that have been raised against it. Maimonides' language, at the reference give: indicates merely that the Jewish scho!"