Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/296

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. OCT. 7, wie.

" MR. DAVIS," FRIEND OF MRS. SIDDONS : HIS IDENTITY. A letter-writer sent in 1779, in a letter to Mrs. Siddons, his best wishes to " Mr. Davis." A correspondent in London hi'- sent me the following suggestions ; but I am still in doubt as to the real identity of this " Mr. Davis," friend of the Kembles, Siddons, and other theatrical folk. Further references from your readers will be gladly received.

(a) In the ' Green-Room Mirror,' anon., 1786 (press-mark " Dramatical Tracts 4, 641. e. 26 "), " Clearly delineating our Present Theatrical Performers," the third name given is Mr. Davies, over the motto : New ways I must attempt, my grov'ling name To raise aloft, and wing my flight to fame.

Then below (IF- follows :

" As attention and study is a sure guide to excellence, it would be unjust to reflect on an adherent, who may, perhaps, when divested of inanimation and a bustle for court dress, become a respectable performer, and do more ample justice to a superior character than a Dumb Lord."

(6) In ' Dramatic Miscellanies,' by Thomas Davies, author of the ' Life of David Garrick,' in vol. ii. p. 11, appears the following :

" Under the direction of Mr. Garrick in 1757 ' All's well that Ends well ' was again revived .... Davies =the King."

(c) In Baker's ' Biographia Dramatica ' there is : Mr. William Davies, author of the comedies 'Better Late than Never,' 1786; ' Genero\is Counterfeit,' 1786 ; ' Man of Honour,' 1786, &c., written for a private theatre and published in one volume.

(rf) From ' Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Samuel Foote, Esq.' (1778) :-

" When Mr. Foote was giving out the parts of his New Pieces to the several performers, he usually had something to say to each of them. In delivering those of ' The Minor,' he gave of [sic Loader to Mr. Davis. ' Now, Davis,' says he ' you will be at home to a hole ; only be yoursell through the part, and you cannot play it amiss.' '" P. 48.

(This extract seems to show that the actor w;>.s called sometimes " Davis " and some- times " Davies.")

(e) ' The Thespian Dictionary,' 1805 :

" Davies, Thomas, author of ' Dramatic Mis cellanies,' &c. ; was an actor under the manage ment of Henry Fielding, and the original repre sentative of Young Wilmot. He played in the tragedy of ' Fatal Curiosity,' at the Haymarket in 1736. Afterwards he commenced bookseller in Duke's Court : but met with misfortunes which induced him to return again to the stage. Fo several years he belonged to various companies at York, Dublin, &c. At the former place he married the daughter of a Mr. Yarrow, an acto then belonging to the York theatre. He returned

to London 17.">2, when he and Mrs. Davies were engaged at Drury Lane Thf.it n>. Mrs. Davids w.-is sometimes c;ill<xl upon to perform Mrs. Gibber's parts, particularly Cordelia (King Lear), and her person, look, and deportment were so correspondent with the idea of that amiable character, that she was received with .... approbation. She was a brtti-r performer than her husband, who fell under the ridicule of Churchill's ' Rosciad.' He quitted the stage in 17(i2 ;md returned to his former business, having opened another bookseller's shop in Russel Street, Covent Garden."

EI.BRIDGF. COLBY. New York.

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. Written (incised) on a window-pane in an Id house at Culross (Fife) is the follow-

LOVEIVY BETTY. She has no fault,

Or I no fault can spy. She is all beauty, Or all blindness I.

R. R. 1790.

Is it possible that Burns wrote these mes ? Unhappily the signed initials read

1) R. R. and not R. B., but of course the

2) date is possible. Also (3) Burns visited he above place and undoubtedly knew of a 4) Betty Thompson. Will some of yo\ir readers clear up my suspense ?

WINDSOR FRY.

1. Though lost to sight, to memory dear.

2. Draw, Cupid, draw, and make that heart to

know

The mighty pain this suffering swain does for it undergo.

3. Oh, do not forget me though, out of your sight,

To roam far away be my doom ; My thoughts are stUl with you by day and by

night, And will be till laid in my tomb.

The above appear on engraved coins, of the class commonly known as " Love tokens."

IGNORAMUS.

[1. The authorship of "Though lost to sight, to memory dear," has been discussed at some length in N. * Q.' See 10 S. xi. 249, 317, 438, 498, 518 ; xii. 55, 288. Mr. Gurney Benham in the 1912 revised edition of 'Cassell's Book of Quotations,' p. 450, says : " This occurs in a song by George Linley (c. 1835), but it is found as an ' axiom ' in the Monthly Magazine, Jan., 1827, and is probably of much earlier date. Horace F. Cutter (pseudonym Ruthven Jenkyns) uses the expression in the Green- wich Magazine for Mariners, 1707, but this date is fictitious." " Cutter " should be " Cutler," and the words " this date is fictitious " will hardly con- vey to the general reader the fact that the Green- icich Magazine for Mariner*, or, as MR. H. P. BOWIE names it at 10 S. xi. 249, the Magazine for the Marine*, owes its existence to the imagination of an American who died only a few years ago. Mr. Benham's date of 1827 seems, however, the earliest yet found for the line in question.]