Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/306

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. APRIL 19, 1913

gives a list of " errata " at the end, wanting in the first impression.

On p. 60 of one impression and p. 61 of the other there is the following passage about Peters :

" He also, during his imprisonment in the Tower, wrote some sheets of Paper to his daughter, leaving them with her as his last legacy, containing in it very much sound and wholesome advice as to her soules health. It carries with it such a savour as denotes it proceeds from a spirit that hath learned experience in Christ's schoole and hath been ac- quainted sometimes with sunshine as well as foul weather, it's too long here to be incerted, but if it be made publick by it selfe, doubtlesse the Ex- perienced Reader will be no looser by perusing this legacy."

Accordingly there appeared in the same year, 1660 (which may mean up to 25 March, 1661),

"A Dying father's last legacy to an only child : or, Mr. Hugh Peter's advice to his daughter. Written by his own hand, during his late imprison- ment in the Tower of London ; And given her a little before his death. London. Printed for G. Calvert and T. Brewster and are to be sold at the Black Spread Eagle, and at the three bibles at the West end of Paul's, 1660." (Reissued during Oates's plot in 1683.)

This book was not likely to be followed by a prosecution for high treason, like the ' Speeches and Prayers,' and thus no risk attached to its publication. But it stands or falls with them, and is not a whit more truthful. Calvert and Brewster, with Live- well Chapman, gave Dover and Creeke their instructions to print the ' Speeches and Prayers,' and as regards the first two men something may be here added to the informa- tion given in Mr. H. R. Plomer's * Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers.' Brewster died in Newgate in April, 1664, when im- prisoned for his share in the ' Speeches and Prayers,' but Calvert died in August, 1663, his will, dated 11 Aug., being proved by his widow Elizabeth on 28 Aug., 1663 (P.C.C. Juxon 106).

Elizabeth Calvert survived her husband until 1675, when she also died, bequeathing her body "to be decently buried among the baptists." Her will Was proved on 5 Feb., 1675 (P.C.C. Dycer 12). The fact that the Calverts published large numbers of Quakers' tracts up to the Restoration is explained when I point out that Martha Simmons, the noted Quakeress, was Calvert's sister, and that Calvert Was one of the few pub- lishers who dared to attack Cromwell. The Preface to the " Dying father's " legacy is initialled " G. F. N. B." The reader will not, therefore, need to be told that this was an impudent attempt to father the work upon George Fox and Broad, the Quaker

who concealed Peters. After this the Cal- verts never again published for the Quakers.

The book itself is, of course, a fabrication, and the idea of it was taken from " F. S. Gent.'s" 'A Dying Father's Living Legacy to his Loving Son,' printed in January, 1660. It appears from loyal tracts that Peters 's- daughter visited him every day while he was in prison, so that there Was no necessity for him to Write anything for her benefit. Nor was she a child.

Most of my readers will be aware that these ' Speeches and Prayers,' under one or other of their titles, have been much quoted in modern times, as if they were genuine, though their mere perusal should convince any one that he is reading a mass of horribly blasphemous lies (I shall set out the evidence refuting them in later articles) ; but ' State Trials ' has been entirely responsible for the excision of the preface of six pages to the ' Exact Narra- tive ' of the trial of Twyn and the other printers, which states :

" As to the pamphlets whereupon the other three [Brewster, Dover, and Brooks] were indicted, viz., ' The Speeches and Prayers of some of the late King's judges,' c. Be it known to the reader, that this book was not, as it pretends to be, a true account of the words (written, or spoken) of dying men, but a meer forgery and imposture, fathered upon those that were executed ; but contrived by the traytors that 'scaped ; as deeming it their safest way to publish the designs of the living in the words of the dead ; and the most conducing to their project of destroying the present King to persuade the multitude into a good opinion of the murder of the last; To conclude. Notorious it is that the whole libel is a cheat, the letters and speeches a counterfeit and framed only by recommending one rebellion to stir up another." ' An Exact Narrative of the tryal and condemnation of John Twyn,' &c. t 1664, Preface, p. 3 (British Museum press-mark, 1132. b. 57).

I may add that if the regicides had written their speeches, as Was frequently done by those executed for high treason, there would be something to be said for the book. But the document expressly states that they did not do so, and the great length to which the book runs renders it ridiculous on the face of it.

J. B. WILLIAMS. (To be continued.)

"GUTHUDA": THE FOLK-NAME OF THE GOTHS.

A LITTLE while ago one of our foremost philologists referred me to the ' Gotisches Element arbuch,' ed. 3 (1910), for a correct estimate and elucidation of the form of the national name " Goth." On reading Prof.