Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/134

 126 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 & vn. Feb. is, ma Liddel, of which copies are preserved in this library, illustrate in a curious manner the vexed question of the authorship of such theses. Thus, " Disputatio de dementis, eluineiitorunnjiie mutua [>ermutatione et mixtione reap. Petrus Ruth- anus, Finno Helmtestadii, 1J96." is practically identical with " Disputationum i»hysiologiearuni prima: De elementis, elementorum mutua permutatione et mixtione resp. Sebastianus Walrabius, Hamb. Helma;8tttdii, 1000"; and also with " Disputationum physiologicarum 1 : De ele- mentis, elementorum mutua )ierinutatione et mixtione. Kesp. Adamo Siferto, Ulogoviensi 8il.," which occupies sign. G'-E in " Disputationum medicinalium Duncani Liddelii Pars prima. Helmsestadii, 1605." Finally, this thesis, which at intervals had served the purpose of at least three respondents, reappears as " De physiologia liber seeundus. De elementis, elementorum mutua permutatione et mixtione. Caput I." of Liddel's " Ars Medica Hamburgi, 1607." All mention of the respondents has now disappeared, and there is nothing what- soever to show that the matter is not wholly Liddel's own. Can any reader of ' X. & Q.' cite a parallel c«fe 1 P. J. Anderson. University Library, Aberdeen. Stratford in 1760.—Halliwell-Phillipps says:— " Among the visitors to the poet's native town in the same year, 1760, was a lady who, after uuoting in a letter tho epitaph on Shakespeare's monument, that part of it referring to 'envious death,' pro- ceeds to say," and then quotes at length from the letter. (See ' Outlines of tho Life of Shakespeare,' 8th ed., 1889, i. 413.) Has it over been shown where ho obtained the letter ? If not, it is worth while to point out that the letter was printed in The London Chronicle of 2 Aug., 1760, viii. 114, under tho heading ' Extract of a Letter from a Lady at Strat- ford upon Avon, in Warwickshire, to her Friend in Kent.* Very likely tho letter went the rounds of tho newspapers, and Halliwell-Phillipps may have obtained it from some other source. He quotes it almost entire. Albert Matthews. Boston. U.S. Orchard House.—Having been asked if there is any historical reason for our giving tho name of Orchard House to our premises 2 and 4, Great Smith Street, Westminster, wo think it will interest readers of ' X. & Q.' to know that the house stands on the site of what was originally the old orchard attached to the Abbey. The building occupies the corner of Great Smith Street and Orchard Street, the latter being so called for the same reason. P. S. King & Sox. [The late Mr. P. S. King was a frequent contri- butor to the Third and Fourth Series of ' N. Jc Q.'] " Take his haste " (' Tlmon,' V. I. 213), meaning " to be Quick." — An almost identical expression with the opposite mean- ing is current in the north of Ireland (I do not know whether it is peculiar to Ulster), " Take your hurry "=not so fast. P. A. McElwaine. Sheridan's ' School for Scandal."—The first edition of this brilliant comedy— Sheridan"s masterpiece—is usually supposed to be the one issued in " Dublin : printed for J. Ewing," 8vo, no date. Although a date is not imprinted, this edition has been ascribed to the year 1778, for what reasons I am not aware. Authoritative opinions have been given, however, that the issue with tho imprint " Dublin : printed in the year 1781 " is the genuine first edition, and that the issue without a date, but ascribed to tho year 1778, was in reality published sub- sequent to the issue of 1781. The reasons advanced have been : (1) that the edition of 1781 has tho earliest dated imprint of any known copy ; (2) that it stands much in need of an Errata ; (3) that, as a fact on record, a MS. copy of the play was sent to Mr. Thomas Ryder, who played the part of Sir Peter at the Theatre Royal, Dublin, and by whom, or at whoso instance, the play was published. These are, no doubt, weighty reasons, if not quite conclusive, in favour of the contention that the edition of 1781 preceded the one printed by J. Ewing, Neither edition, however, in my opinion, is the genuine first edition. In ' Biographia Dramatica.' by David Erskine Baker, published in 1782, particulars are given of R. B. Sheridans ' School for Scandal,' " Comedy, acted at Drury Lane, 1776," and a eulogium is passed on it. A notice follows of a comedy with the same title published in 1778, 8vo. This is de- scribed as "a paltry catchpenny, in- tended to be imposed on the public as the genuine production of Mr. Sheridan. This despicable piece is political." Can it bo that Ewing's edition is this spurious edition, or a copy of it ?