Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/452

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. XL JUNES, 1915.

Perhaps the first is that which appears in ' The Gentleman's Magazine, ibid., p. 662 (December), where the new version i; headed " An attempt to improve God rave the king, p. 552, the former words having no merit bub their loyalty." In this " im- | provement " the name George occurs three times.

ST. SWITHIN is correct in attributing the ( (probably) latest "improvement," being, tive " milder lines for the mollifying of ' verse 2," to the late Dean Hole.

The following extract is interesting:

" 1794. April 14. A tumult happened at the Theatre in Edinburgh, on the representation of the tragedy of Charles I. ; some refractory persons refused to pay the usual compliment of being uncovered on the performance of the national anthem of God save the King, several officers of the Argylshire fencibles rushed into the pit, and a scuffle ensued, when the malcontents were forcibly turned out, and order was restored." 'The Chro- nological Historian,' by W. Toone, 1826.

ROBERT PIERPOINT.

In reply to ERASDON I may say that when I framed my query I was aware of the uncertainty attaching to the authorship of our National Anthem. I wished to call attention to the confusion arising at the present time from the practice of confining the .National Anthem to two verses, the second verse smvji; being sometimes that beginning " O Lord our God, arise," and sometimes that beginning " Thy choicest gifts in store." As Carey's name has figured prominently in the discussion on the authorship of the National Anthem, and he was dead before the verse beginning "Thy choicest gifts in store " appeared in The Gentleman s Maga- zine, in 1745, I said, when differentiating between the two forms : " Our second verse begins ' O Lord our God, arise,' and may be distinguished as Carey's version," i.e., tMt which he is reputed to have sung, a; opposed to the longer version which ap- peared soon after his death. I did not intend to express any opinion on the actual authorship. J. B. THORNS.

LUDGATE OR GRAFTON PICTURE OF SHAKE- SPEARE (11 S. xi. 321). This picture, which has no solid claim, to be considered the portrait of Shakespeare as a youth, has been fanned into notoriety by all sorts of con- jectures and surmises which, by the per- sistence of persons interested, quickly ap- proached the dignity of a " tradition." 1 The portrait has been * dubbed the " Grafton portrait " (as an alternative title) because a former owner was, or claimed to have been,

gamekeepar to the Duke of Grafton, by whom, it was alleged to have been presented. If so, it suggests what the Duke thought of the panel as a portrait of Shakespeare. As a matter, of fact, however, there is some reason to believe that at the time of the putative ownership of the Duke the Shake- speare identity was not seriously considered, even if it had been invented. * The fact is that Mr. Thomas Kay, excellent fellow though he was, rather lost himself and hurt his reputation for sobriety of judgment through his suddenly developed passion to establish a great past for his new acquisition. It is the distressing fact that three persons, within my own knowledge, have lost their reason through the possession of "an undoubted contemporary portrait of Shake- speare." What wonder, then, if Mr. Kay and his predecessors in the ownership of the Ludgate portrait merely allowed their enthusiasm a little more play in regard to- it than the facts justified ?

M. H. SPIELMANN.

"SOCK" (11 S. xi. 267). This is a Winchester word of old standing. In his ' Wykehamica,' 1878, the late Rev. H. C. Adams included a Glossary, containing a note on the word as follows :

" Sock, ' to hit hard,' ' defeat ' (unless the derivation is to be found in the sound of the ball against the bat, or possibly the nautical practice of thrashing a middy with a stocking or sock,, full of wet sand, I cannot explain this word)."

My own recollection of the use of this word, sixty odd years ago, connects it with a smashing hit at cricket. R. W. M.

DUPUIS, VIOLINIST (11 S. xi. 340, 389).

The Dupuis, French violinist, whom I am anxious to identify, nourished at the end of the eighteenth or the beginning of the nine- teenth century. He is mentioned in John Taylor's 'Records of my Life,' ii. 214-15, published in 1832.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

TRUE BLUE (11 S. xi. 400). In 1906, at North London, the magistrate, Mr. Ford- ham, taking the written declaration of a Mr. Blue :

Surely these names are not correct?

Mr. Blue: Yes, your worship; the names are correct.

Mr. Fordham : " Blue Paper" seems an extra- ordinary name for a man. Is he a Russian ? ^fiJi B1 " e :I don't know, sir. 1 know my name is Blue, and he has always been known to me as- " Blue Paper."

The magistrate took the declaration.

R. J. FYNMORE,