Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/348

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. ix. MAY 2, 191*.

George Veseler. The 12 of Septembre, 1621. (Black-letter.)

17. (12 Sept., 1621.) The Courant out of Italy and Germany, &c. At Amsterdam. Printed by George Veseler. The 12 of Septembre, 1621. (Black-letter. This is not a duplicate of No. 16, but contains different news.)

18. (18 Sept., 1621.) The Courant out of Italy and Germany, &c. At Amsterdam. Printed by George Veseler. The 18 of Septembre, 1621. (Black-letter.)

19. (24 Sept., 1621.) Corante ; or, newes from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine, and France, 1621. London. Printed for N. B. September the 24, 1621. Out of the Hie Dutch Coppy printed at Franckford.

20. (30 Sept., 1621.) Corante ; or, weekely newes from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France, and the Low Countreys. Printed at London for N. B. according to the Dutch copy, the 30 of Septemb., 1621. (Black- letter.)

21. (6 Oct., 1621.) Corante; or, weekly newes from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France, and the Low Countreys. Printed at London for N. B. according to the Dutch copy, the 6 of October, 1621. (Black-letter.)

22. (2 Oct., 1621.) Corant ; or, weekly newes from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Pplonia, Bohe- mia, France, and the Low Countries. London. Printed for N. B. October the 2, 1621. Out of the Hie Dutch Coppy. (Black-letter.)

23. (11 Oct., 1621.) Corant; or, weekly newes from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Pplonia, Bohe- mia, France, and the Low Countries. London. Printed for N. B. October the 11, 1621. Out of the Low Dutch Coppy. (Black-letter.)

24. (22 Oct., 1621.) Corant; or, weekly newes from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Polonia, Bo- hemia, France, and the Low Countries. London. Printed for N. B. October the 12, 1621. Out of the High-Dutch Copy. (Black-letter.)

I hope that some Dutch reader of ' N. & Q.' will enlighten us as to who "M. H." of Alt- more and " Adrian Clarke " of the Hague were. I believe that this latter name was an Anglicized Dutch surname, like " Broyer Johnson's." In my article I expressed the opinion that when " Broer lonson " (or Jansz.) described himself as " Corranter to his Excellencie," he was referring to the English general, Vere, who had set sail for Holland a year previously, on his way to the Palatinate. Some of my Dutch friends have criticized this opinion, on the ground that " his Excellency " in Holland would have been taken to refer to the Stadhouder, Prince Maurice. I considered this point before I wrote my article, and nothing that has been urged in its favour seems to me to affect the following facts :

1. " Excellency " was a term given in Holland to all generals, to Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and to Spinola, as well as to Prince Maurice.

2. Prince Maurice was usually termed his "Princely Excellency " in Holland, and was

always thus styled by Jansz. (even before he became Prince of Orange).

3. At the time in question Jansz. was actually styling himself " out courantier int r Leger van sijn Prince. Excel.," or " formerly courantier in the army of his Princely Excel- lency." It is obvious that if " Corranter to his Excellencie " referred to Prince Maurice, he was styling himself by a term in Dutch which was distinctly contradictory.

4. Lastly, the English " Corantos " were for an English public. I cannot think it, probable that English folk, accustomed as they were to speak of " Grave " (Graf) or " Count " Maurice of Nassau, previous to 1618 (when he became Prince of Orange), and " Prince Maurice " after 1618, would have taken the term " Excellency," without any other qualification, to refer to any one- but their own General Vere, who had set sail for Holland a year previously ; more especi- ally as they had been accustomed thus to term both Leicester and Sir Francis Vere in years gone by, during their Dutch cam- paigns. None the less Jansz. may have been> designedly ambiguous in his use of the word.

At 11 S. viii. 327, an American reprint of a " Coranto " belonging to Mr. Charles Feleky, and dated 11 Oct., 1621, was noted. This Coranto and another dated 12 Sept.* 1621, were some time ago sent for me to see. They were both printed for " N. B.," and therefore fill gaps in the preceding list. That dated 12 Sept. is now the first known English paper published in England ; though,, of course, it is liable to be ousted at any time by the discovery of those printed by Thomas Archer, mentioned in my article in The Nineteenth Century.

No authority at all can, as a rule, be given to Nichols's almost worthless list of periodicals; in the fourth volume of his * Literary Anec- dotes ' ; but, as a matter of fact, he seems at some time to have seen another missing Coranto, judging by the following entry on p. 38 of that volume :

" Courant, or weekly newes from foreign parts ; a half sheet in the black letter, 4to, out of High Dutch, printed for Nathaniel Butter, Oct. 9^ 1621."

This entry is less erroneous than all the rest on the same page, and merely contains one omission and two mistakes. The sign " &c." should have been added to the title ; and it is perfectly certain that the document was not quarto, and did not profess to have been printed for Nathaniel Butter. It must have stated that it was printed for " N. B.," who, as I have shown, was Nicholas Bourne- at this time. J. B. WILLIAMS.