Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/205

 s. v. MAR. 2, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

165

in English Godfrey. But the name is commonly abbreviated in Domesday Book t "God," and some subsequent writers, taking it for an English name, made it G odric, instead of Godfrey. By this natural explanation Domesday Book, Venasque, aid the family tradition a;jree, and support -each other.

For a full account of the whole question s^s Gent. Mag., 1832, and a fuller one in ' .Miscellaneous Writings of S. Grimaldi,' F.S.A., 1874, p. 56. L. M. R.

c REJECTED ADDRESSES.' Whether this year will be an annus mirabilis is as yet doubtful. At any rate, it is the centennial of ' Rejected Addresses ' and the " grand climacterick " of 'X. & Q.'

The former circumstance ought to revive interest in the brilliant production of the Smith brothers. I therefore make a note of some previous contributions, with one or two extraneous items :

Address I. Loyal Effusion. The burning down of Astley's occurred on 2 Sept., 1803, and is noticed in The Gentleman's Magazine, p. 1877. The rising of the Luddites is the subject of a note by the REV. JOHN PICKFORD (7 S. ix. 485).

Address VII. The Rebuilding. As to Harle- quin's bat, see 7 S. ii. 347, 418. and a later note by MR. JULIAN MARSHALL, with references to prints dated 1735, 1749, &c.

Address VIII. Drury's Dirge. This is attri- buted to " Laura Matilda " : as to whom see 7 S. v. 29, 135, 396.

Address XII. Fire and Ale. As to Vinegar Yard, a corruption of Vine Garden Yard, see OS. i. 492 ; ii. 116.

Address XIII. Playhouse Musings. The trick of bringing live animals on the stage is noticed in ' Curiosities of Literature,' ii. 227. " Grimaldi has his rabbit, Laurent his cat, and Bradbury his pig." says the parody. As to Bradbury'^ the clown, see 7 S. ii. 429, and Donaldson's ' Recollec- tions of an Actor,' quoted 18 Dec., 1886.

As to ' The Real Rejected Addresses,' see The Athenaeum for 20 May, 1.893.

Four years after the ' Rejected Addresses ' appeared, that brilliant genius James Hogg produced ' The Poetic Mirror,' a collection of admirable imitations of Byron, Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, and Wilson, including also a parody of his own style, entitled ' The Gude 'Grey Katt.' This volume I suppose to be scarce. It is noticed in 6 S. v. 228, 359, 377, and was discussed in Macmillan's Magdzine some years ago by Mr. George Saintsbury, who ' pronounced The Poetic Mirror ' to be a fair second to ' Rejected Addresses." as indeed it is.

I am unwilling to close this note without saying that the present generation is in

danger of forgetting some of the finest satires and burlesques in our language, among which,, with the ' Rejected Addresses,' may be- classed Pope's ' Dunciad ' and the ' Biglow Papers.' With the last named most of the younger Americans are totally unacquainted, though they illustrate a highly interesting period indeed, two periods- of history. RICHARD H. THORNTON.

" THE BRASS ANGEL." This, as a sign, is probably unique. I came across it recently in a document at Somerset House* In the will of William Banister, citizen and draper of St. Andrew in the Wardrobe, dated 2 Aug., 1615. proved 23 March. 1615/16 (29 Cope), is a clause :-

" I giue and bequeath all thatmesuage or tene- ment with th'appurtenances commonly called the Brass Angell situate and beying in the saved parishe of St. Anne in the blacke ffryers London- vnto my neiphue William Wytham and to his heires for euer."

I consulted the ' N.E.D./ Creed's ' Signs.' Indexes to ' N. & Q.,' and the fine second edition by Williamson of Boyne's ' Trades- men's Tokens of the Seventeenth Century ' ;-. also Larwood and Hotten's ' History of Sign- boards,' and a few other likely sources of reference ; but without avail. The Angel is a fairly common sign all over the country,, with or without some other object, as Crown or Bible. No. 350 of the London tokens- was issued by John Tudor " at Blak Friears staeares," and bears the letters I.E.T. on the obverse and an angel on the reverse. " The Golden Angel " was the sign of Hogarth's engraving master in Cranborne Alley, and probably the house at Blackfriars 5 Stairs which issued a token with the effigy of an angel on it may have been " The Brass Angel " of the will ; but I have nothing more than conjecture to aid me,

A. RHODES.

ST. JOHN'S GATE INSCRIPTION. At the sale of the library of John Gough Nichols, F.S.A., December, 1874, there occurred as lot 1749 :

" Prior [Maurice] Transcript of severall Coates of Armes of Noble Familyes, their Places of Buriall, Epitaphes and Inscriptions, &c., manu- script, with arms neatly tricked, 1656-57." The late Rev. W. J. Loftie was present at the sale and transcribed the following note from this record :

' Underneath the said 4 coats is an inscription along a ledge that is over the arch of the gate, to be read thus

TOMAS -J- DOCWRA + PRIOR

Anno Dni. 1504. SAXS+RORO. Written several times."