Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/294

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. vm. OCT. n, 1913.

MR. DENNIS AND ' THE CONSCIOUS LOITERS.' Bound up with my copy of Sir Richard Steele's comedy are two pam- phlets, the first of which is entitled :

" Bemarks | on a | Play | call'd, | The Conscious Lovers, | a | Comedy.

For, changing Rules, of late, as if Men writ In spite of Reason, Nature, Art, and Wit, Our Poets make us Laugh at Tragedy, 4nd with their Comedies they make us cry.

Prologue to the Rehearsal.

It appears from Consideration of ancient, | as well as modern Time, that the Cause | and Interest of Criticks is the same with | that of Wit, Learn- ing, and good Sense. | The late Earl of Shaftes- bury's Cha- ] racteristicks, vol. i. p. 260. By Mr. Dennis.

London,

Printed for T. Warner at the Black-Boy in

Pater- Xoster-Row. MDCCXXIII.

Price One Shilling.

This pamphlet is divided into two sec- tions, the first of which, consisting of thirteen pages, is entitled ' Remarks j on the | Preface | to the | Conscious Lovers.' The second section is called ' Remarks | on the | Conscious Lovers.' Its pages are numbered 14 to 42, and the number 38 is repeated, with an asterisk, on six following pages.

The second pamphlet, consisting of ninety- five pages, is entitled :

The Censor Censured ;

or the

Conscious Lovers Examin'd :

in a

Dialogue

between

Sir Dicky Marplot

and Jack Freeman

into which

Mr. Dennis is introduced by way of

Postscript ;

with some

Observations

on his late

Remarks.

Descriptas servare vices, operumque colores, Cur ego, si nequeo, ignoroque, Poeta salutor ?

Hor.

London : Printed for T. Warner, at the

Black Boy in Pater- Noster- Row 1723.

(Price One Shilling.)

It would appear that both are written by Dennis, though the second does not bear his name. It reads like an eighteenth-century comedy itself, with an amusing, but openly abusive dialogue throughout, and I should be much obliged to know the name of the writer. It will be observed that both pamphlets are printed for the same man, and although suggesting by its title that it

is a reply to the criticism contained in the first, the second pamphlet is really a further animadversion on the original play, and both were printed and published in the same- year as the play 1723.

In the ' Postscript ' Dicky Marplot (Sir Richard Steele) is made to say to Jack Freeman (Mr. Dennis) :

" Thou Generalissimo of Bear-garden Criticks. I and my Victorious Tonsor dare engage thee at any weapons." There is a foot-note to this :

" One Victor, a Barber, wrote a Defence of the Conscious Lovers against Mr. D. . . .s." Is there any truth in this ? and, if so, who was the literary barber ? Or is it all just a part of the criticism ?

One is irresistibly reminded throughout* by the critic's handling of his subject, of what a " smart fellow " was alleged to have said :

" Dennis was the fittest man in the world to instruct a dramatic writer ; for he laid down rules for writing good plays, and shewed him what were bad by his own."

WM. NORMAN.

THROWING A HAT INTO A HOUSE. I read in ' County Folk-Lore, Printed Extracts : No. 2, Suffolk,' p. 102, that the following " little superstition " attaches to the oil- skin headgear used by fishermen :

" The sailor, arriving from the North Sea at nightfall, may go to his home, where his wife is sitting alone, thinking or not of him : just opening the door wide enough, he pitches his sou'-wester into the room. The true good wife will run to the door at once, not minding the sou'-wester."

The above custom reminds me of the following North Lincolnshire story. About half a century ago lived a horse-dealer, Z, who was far from being the steadiest of men, but, nevertheless, a faithful husband. It happened, however, that a cousin of his, being for a while in Yorkshire, seduced a girl, pretending to be Z. Some time later the girl was brought by her mother to one of the ferries on the Lower Trent, to pass into Lincolnshire in search of the faithless lover. The mother confided in the ferryman, and learnt that Z was a married man. Dis- heartened by this information, she took her daughter home. Meanwhile the innocent Z heard of their expedition from the ferry- man, and went home in trepidation, for though neither he nor the ferryman had any difficulty in guessing the identity of the delinquent, he feared what might happen if the two women visited Mrs. Z. Doubtful of the reception which might be accorded to