Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/362

 356

NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 B. u. OCT. a, MM.

is fart JUT worihy of record that this writer quotes ivfcivurc- to the book he so worthily edited (' Introduction,' Ixii., Ixiv.) in 1 S. ii. 203 ; 4 S. ii. 378. J. B. McGovERN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.

GLOVES : SURVIVALS OF OLD CUSTOMS (12 S. ii. 308). The mediaeval custom of baring a hand for the shake and of going glovele.ss into a church was still prescribed in France in the eighteenth century ; and I should doubt if even now such formalities be altogether extinct in the provinces. I do remember, however, a delicately tinted glove being dipped in a holy -water stoup at Morlaix towards the latter end of last century.

In ' Les Magazlns de Nouveautes,' torn. ii. pp. 115, 116, Franklin quotes as follows from a " Civilite" of 1782 :

" Quaiul on donne la main a quelqu'un pour marquer d'amitie il faut toujours presenter la main nue et il est centre la biensance d 'avoir alors un gant a la main. Mais quand on la pre"sente pour tircr quelqu'un d'un in nivais pas, ou meme a une fenime pour la conduire il est de I'hoiinetete' de la faire le gant a la main

" II faut oter ses gauts quand on entre k 1'eglise avant que de prendre de 1'eau bdnite, quand or veut prier Dieu, et avant que de se mettre k table."

In ' Habits and Men, 1 a former editor of ' X. & Q.,' Dr. Doran, tells a story of " the late Duke of Orleans " visiting wounded men in a hospital at Antwerp and kindly shaking hands w T ith them. One bluntly remarked that when the Emperor so saluted the wounded he ungloved his hand (p. 192).

There is a pleasant though sketchy chapter on ' The History of Gloves ' in Disraeli's ' Curiosities of Literature ' (vol. i. pp. 235-9).

ST. SWITHIN.

I remember in 1887, when on my way as a Doctor of Divinity to attend upon the Chancellor of the University, who was to present an address of congratulation to Queen Victoria upon the occasion of her jubilee, in the train between Oxford and Windsor, Dr. 'Bellamy, President of St. John's, who was then Vice-Chancellor, observing that I had gloves on, said : " You'll have to take those off when you come into the Queen's presence." He explained, I think, at the same time, that it was this court regulation which was the cause of the fashion of taking gloves off when going into church. I have always supposed that the cause of the court regulation was to obviate the risks to the royal person which might arise from poisoned gloves, or a concealed weapon like the celebrated tiger-claw of Shivaji. Any- how, ten years later, when, on a similar mission to Windsor on the occasion of the

diamond jubilee, I had as Yk'i--( 'hancellor to- " kiss hands," it was a bared right hand I lifted with the palm downward for the Queen to rest her hand on while I saluted it. Soldier officers on duty are, as I understand r the only men allowed to wear gloves in the presence of royalty.

JOHN R. MAGRATH.

AUTHOR OF POEM WANTED (12 S. ii. 291)- The poem on ' Ugbrooke Park,' published in 1776, was written by Joseph Reeve (1733- 1820), Father, S.J., who was chaplain there. A second edition was published in Exeter in 1794. A list of Reeve's works will be found in the ' D.N.B.,' and in Gillow's ' Catholic Bibliography.' M.

Kindly allow me to mention that, through the courtesy of the City Librarian of the Royal Albert Memorial Public Library at Exeter, I have been supplied with an answer to my query as to the authorship of ' Ug- brooke Park : a Poem.' It was written by the Rev. Joseph Reeve, and the second edition, issued in 1794, gives his name.

CECIL CLARKE.

[MR. HEXRY GRAY and MR. H. TAPLEY-SOPER thanked for replies.]

AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (12 S. ii. 290). Lines by Christopher Codrington in Garth's ' Dispensary ' :

Ask me not, Friend, what I approve or blame i

Perhaps I know not why I like or damn ;

I can be pleased, and I dare own I am.

I read thee over with a lover's eye ;

Thou hast no faults, or I no faults can spy r

Thou art all beauty, or all blindness I.

R, H. C.

[Mr. C. B. WHEELER, who gives the dates, (Codrington, 1668-1710, ' The Dispensary,' 1699), thanked for reply.]

" MR. DAVIS," FRIEND OF MRS. SIDDONS - His IDENTITY (12 S. ii. 290). There is no doubt in my mind but that the letter to Mr-. Siddons, mentioning " Mr. Davis," though the name. w r as wrongly spelt, referred to Thomas Davies, mentioned in the extracts cited by MR. COLBY. Further information about his record is to be found in the ' D.N.B.,' wherein he is said to have been driven from the stage by a sneer in Churchill's ' Rosciad.' Perhaps the fullest record is that given in the ' Dictionary of the Drama/ by W. Davenport Adams, which, owing to the death of the author, unhappily never got beyond the letter O, or it would certainly have proved one of the most valuable con- tributions to dramatic literature ever com- piled. As MR. COLBY may not have access