Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 11.djvu/53

 ii s. XL JAN. IB, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

this incouragement, for I read the lecture every night myselfe, ' Quod tu sinistre legis, nos dextre accipimus ' [! ! !]." Ibid., No. 95, 20-27 Oct., 1648, p. 705.

" I have been much solicited by Gentlemen, who see how much they have profited that have come to learne the Hebrew of me in so short a time, and are desirous to enjoy the like benefit themselves, and they have prevailed with me to read another Hebrew lecture on Frydaies in the afternoone, from two a clock untill three. And I intend to begin on Friday next and they that will may come, next dore to the Fountaine in King street at Westminster, every Friday at two a clocke," &c.Ibid., No. 100, 24 Nov.-l Dec., 1648, p. 731.

This is the last reference to the lectures in 1648. They then appear to have been stopped, because of Cromwell's return, and were not resumed until September 1649, after he had left for Ireland.

Cromwell again left London for Ireland on Tuesday, 10 July, 1649, and Walker noted the fact in his Perfect Occurrences for 6-13 July, as follows :

" The House being up, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland [Cromwell] took his leave of Mr. Speaker and all the members then present. And about 6 a clock he went out from his house in King streete with his life guard."

Cromwell never returned to King's Street, and when he came back to London from Ireland lived at "The Cockpit." "The Fountain " in King's Street seems then to have been abandoned entirely to Walker, who set up a registry office in it, calling it an " Office of Entries." In Perfect Occur- rences for 10-17 Aug., 1649, he announced this office as follows :

" There is an office of Entries to be erected on Monday next.... The office is to be opened on Monday morning next, at the Fountain in King's street."

He then resumed his Hebrew lectures, which, it will be noted, he was no longer compelled to deliver in the yard ; so that, presumably, Mrs. Cromwell had departed to the country :

" The publick Hebrew lecture is this present Fryday at 2 a clock in the afternoon, at the Fountain in Kings' street, Westminster, and so continue every Fryday." Perfect Occurrences, No. 144, 28 Sept.-4 Oct., 1649.

" The publicke Hebrew lecture also continues every Friday at the said Fountaine, which is a private house, it is read in the great Hall under the Entrance office," &c. Perfect Occurrences, No. 145, 5-12 Oct., 1649.

This was the final number of Perfect Occurrences, and is the last reference to the subject, but the chain of circumstantial evidence is fairly complete. It is increased bv the fact that when Cromwell selected a

preacher to address himself and his army on- the eve of their departure to Scotland in 1650, he chose Henry Walker. The sermon was printed, to bear witness to the fact. The "Great Hall" would have been a suit- able meeting-place for Cromwell's clique the " Brothers Fountain " and Walwin the Leveller's 'Fountain of Slander Dis- covered,' published in 1649, an attack upon a number of Cromwell's supporters, seems to be a direct allusion to the fact that they met at "The Fountain."

J. B. WILLIAMS*

(To be continued.)

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THOMAS- HOLCROFT.

(See 11 S. x. 1, 43, 83, 122, 163, 205, 244,. 284, 323, 362, 403, 442, 484; xi. 4.)

1798. " Knave, or Not ? a comedy : in five acts.. As performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury- Lane. By Thomas Holcroft. London : Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row.. 1798." Octavo, 8 + 1-88 pp.

This play was produced 25 Jan., 1798,. and the Preface was dated 1 Feb., 1798. The book was noticed in The Monthly- Review for April, 1798 (25: 471), and The British Critic for August, 1798 (12: 183). A copy in the Yale University Library bears; the autograph of John Genest. There is clear reference to the piece in, ' Memoirs ' (pp. 159, 199). I have indication of a " second edition," dated the same year: " Knave, or Not ? a comedy : in five acts. As performed at the Theatre Royal, Dmry-Lane. By Thomas Holcroft. Second Edition. Lon- don : Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson,. Paternoster Row. MDCCXCVIII." Octavo, 8 + 1-88 pp.

This impression seems to be similar in every respect to the original edition, and the statement on the title-page is the only dis- tinguishing mark.

There is in the Columbia Dramatic Museum, however, the following :

" Knave or Not ? a comedy in five acts, as performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. By Thomas Holcroft. Dublin : Printed by William Porter, for P. Woean, W. Porter,. W. Jones, T. Rice, G. Folingsby, & T. Burn- side. MDCCXCVIII." Octavo, 6+7-81 pp.

This is the only other impression I know of.

1798. " He 's Much to Blame, a comedy: in five acts. As performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. London : Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row.. MDCCXCVIII." Octavo, 4 + 5-96 pp.