Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/10

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vi. JAN., 1920.

However, I doubt if we can rely on this alleged charter, which first notifies the king's gift of Maisemore, then confirms gifts by the wife of Roger de Ivry (" Jureio ' is obviously a misreading of Ivreio), Roger de Gloucester (as above), and Hugh de Laci. There is a much shorter charter notifying the king's grant of Maisemore (ibid., ii. 22), without referring to other gifts, which I should think more likely of the two to represent a genuine charter. No doubt when Mr. Davis publishes the next volume of the 'Regesta Regum Anglo-Norman- norum,' we shall get an expert opinion on these charters.

n.

The two passages quoted above are the only references to Herbert, and make it clear that, if he existed at all, he was the brother of Roger de Gloucester. Yet in the index he is described as: "Gloucester, Herbert, brother of Walter of." This may have led to the similar error by Mr. Ellis, whose reputation, of course, stands too high to be affected by one of those slips to which we are all liable.

In another place Mr. Ellis suggested that the Herbert who held Dene and Lesburne in 1086 of Walter de Gloucester, "was, no doubt, his own brother, who must have died not long after, for the monks of Gloucester were to pray for his soul by desire of Walter, when giving or confirming Westwood (p. 78). It is not unlikely that in this brother Herbert we have that Herbert, the chamberlain, who was holding two manors in Hants of the king and another of Hugh de Port." (op- cit., p. 81). No evidence is adduced in support of either suggestion, and the latter is hardly com- patible with the dates; for Mr Eyton showed that Herbert the Chamberlain did not die until about 1129 (' Antiquities of Shropshire,' vii. 146-8). It is true that Mr. Eyton does not trace this Herbert back earlier than 1101, and it might be argued that he was the son of the Domesday tenant. But the Abingdon Chronicle shows that the Herbert who was Chamberlain under Henry I. was the same man as Herbert the Chamberlain living temp. William II., before the death of Abbot Rainald in 1097 (' Chron. Mon. de Abingdon,' Rolls Series, 11. 42-3, 86 134) ; and Dr. Round considers him as identical with the Domesday tenant ('Victoria County History of Hampshire, i 425 ; cp. ' The King's Sergeants,' pp. 121, 322) Also it may be doubted whether a grandson of Durand de Gloucester would have been of age to act as Chamberlain even in 1101. And if the Herbert of 1086 were

the brother of Roger de Gloucester, his descendants, the Fitzherberts, would have been Roger's heirs ; unless Roger himself left a daughter. G. H. WHITE.

23 Weighton Road, Anerley.

SHAKESPEARIAN A.

'TWELFTH NIGHT,' II. ii. :

She sate like Patience on a monument Smiling at grief.

The sense is, She, smiling at grief ^suffer- ing), sat like Patience on a monument. Is the figure a likely invention of the poet ? Does it recall some allegory, or has it any other origin ? What explanation can be given of the idea T TOM JONES.

SHAKESPE ABE'S SONGS. In Playford's 'Musical Companion,' 1667, there are settings of four songs from Shakespeare : ' What Shall He Have that Killed the Deer ? ' ' Jog On, Jog on, the Footpath Way,' ' Where the Bee Sucks," ' Orpheus with His Lute.' The text follows the Folio, except that Autoly - cus's song has two extra stanzas : Yon paltry Moneybags of Gold

What need have we to stare for .' When little or nothing soon is told, And we have the less to care for ? Cast care away, let sorrow cease,

A fig for Melaccholy. Let's laugh and sing, or if you please,

We'll frolick with sweet Molly. However unimportant, they are worth indicating. H. DAVEY.

89 Montpelier Road, Brighton.

' HAMLET,' I. iv. 36-8 (12 S. iv. 211 ; v. 4, 115) _it was Theobald who, having regard to the proper interpretation of the passage, first altered "eale" into "base," an emenda- tion that was afterwards adopted by Heath, Malone, Steevens, and Singer ; but though the right sense is thus obtained, the phrase "dram of base" jars somewhat on the ear, as well as being unpoetic in expression. To overcome this difficulty. would therefore propose "lees, a word that might easily have been mistaken m copying for " eale." What lends probability to this reading, as well as to the substitution " overdaub " for " of a doubt " (as suggested ante, p. 4), is the existence of a practice evidently known to the acting profession of bygone days, if not to the present generation, which is described in a quotation of the vear 1763 given in that invaluable granary of English speech, the ' N.E.D.' : " Thespis and his Company bedaubed their Faces with