Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/529

 ii s. vi. NOV. 30, i9i2.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

437

meadows, or manor meadows, yet were truly any flat open meadows that lay adjoining to any vill or firm."

See Cowel, ' Law Diet.' ; Dufresne, ' Glos. I quote as above from ' Local Etymology,' by Richard Stephen Charnock, 8vo, Houlston, 1859, p. 34. W. H. PEET.

Burymeadow, on the outskirts of this city, during the cholera visitation in 1832 was used as a burial-ground for the victims of the epidemic. It is now a well-kept recreation ground, mainly used by nurses and children. HAKKY HEMS.

Pair Park, Exeter.

SHAKESPEARE'S SIGNATURES (US. v. 490 ; vi. 72, 153, 255, 338). There has always seemed to be good reason for believing that Shakespeare in his boyhood enjoyed such educational advantages as were available in his day, and that the late Prof. Baynes was justified in adducing substantial infer- ences from the facts he utilized in his essay ' What Shakespeare learned at School.' Looking. to his conclusions, one had come to think, not only that such elementary accomplishments as reading and writing were within the young scholar's grasp, but that he had more classical store than is implied in the famous phrase " small Latin and less Greek." That this plirase is Ben Jonson's is, presumably, still believed. That being so, it seems odd that the same observer should have likewise proclaimed, as he is now said to have done in ' Every Man out of his Humour,' that Shakespeare could neither read nor write. Perhaps, in the interests of the uninitiated, SIR EDWIN DTJRNTNG LAWRENCE will kindly vouchsafe us some guidance. It is surely not unfair to ask for explicit evidence in support of the announcement that Shakespeare, as Jonson's butt, " is spoken of with great contempt." Till such proof is forthcoming, one may be pardoned for holding that what is said of William in ' As You Like It ' is negligible. THOMAS BAYNE.

After studying SIR EDWIN BURNING LAWRENCE'S reply at the last reference I read through again the part of Insulso Sogliardo (senseless lubbard) in Ben Jon- son's ' Every Man out of his Humour.' But despite the motto "Not without mustard," I can find no certain reference to Shakespeare the actor, who took part in Jonson's plays ' Every Man in his Humour ' I and ' Sejanus.' In fact, crest and motto | would seem more applicable to an aspirant to heraldic honours of the sacred name of

Bacon. It is true that Shakespeare was born near the Forest of Arden, that his mother's surname was Arden, and that there are milestones on the Dover Road ; but I cannot see that these facts prove in any way that Queen Elizabeth, Lord Bur- leigh, or Bacon wrote the plays and poems formerly attributed to William Shakespeare. A. R. BAYLEY.

AMERICAN LIVINGSTONES (11 S. vi. 307). In reply to the question of BETA as to the descent of the American Livingstons, permit me to state that they are not descended from James I. Their descent from the house of Callendar will be found, correctly given, in ' The Livingstons of Livingston Manor,' by Edwin B. Livings- ton. A copy of this work is in the Library of the British Museum.

JOHN HENRY LIVINGSTON. Clermont, Tivoli on Hudson, N.Y.

ROWE FAMILY (11 S. v. 363). There was a Henry Rowe, Vicar of East Tytherley (Hampshire) in 1574, and the next incum- bent following was in 1622. In the Burial Register of Hursley is " Henricus Rowe. Clericus, Sepultus fuit 17 Aprilis 1609." The list of East Tytherley vicars is very imperfect, as is also that of Hursley. Rowe is not named among the latter incumbents by Miss Yonge in her ' Keble's Parishes,' which gives William Symmons as vicar from 1581 to 1616. Who was the Rev. Henry Rowe buried in 1609 ? and, for that matter, who was and whence came Symmons? F. H. SUCKLING.

" VISTO" = " VISTA" (11 S. vi. 27, 95, 158, 238). In the first edition of ' An Evening Walk ' (1793) Wordsworth makes use of the word vislo :

Beyond, along the vislo of the brook,

Where antique roots its bustling path o'erlook,

The eye reposes on a secret bridge.

The lines may have been written as early as he year 1787. In the edition of 1820 the reading continues to be msto. In 1827, lowever, it changes to vista.

LANE COOPER. Ithaca, New York.

RHETORIQUE FAMILY (11 S. v. 506). In 619 probate was granted to the will (P.C.C., 46 Parker) of Richard Retorick, *' notary publique," son and heir of John Retorick the elder, merchant, deceased, sometime dwelling in Tavistock, Devon ; Ide, Devon.

AP THOMAS.