Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 6.djvu/135

 12 s. VL APRIL io, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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IZAAK WALTON'S STRAWBERRY IN .AMERICA. Roger Williams, in his ' Key to the Language of America ' (chap, xvi., p. of the original edition), comments on the strawberry as follows :

" Obs. This Berry is the wonder of all Fruits growing naturally in these parts ; It is of it selfe Excellent : so that one of the chiefest Doctors of England was wont to say, that God could have made, but God never did make a better 'Berry."

This famous quotation is always thought of in connexion with Izaak Walton, and, so far as I can find, has never been pointed out as occurring in any publication previous to the ' Complete Angler,' chap. v. : -

" Indeed, my good scholar, we may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, ' Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did ' ; and so, if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet,

'innocent recreation than angling."

That Williams did not take his quotation

i from Izaak Walton is plain ; the ' Key ' was published in 1643, the ' Complete Angler ' not until 1653. The probability is then

-either that Williams received the remark direct from its first author, or (more pro- bably) that the remark was a common quotation of the time, and both Williams and Walton quoted it as such. It is hardly

.possible that Walton could have found the

quotation in the ' Key ' and used it. Not to speak of the improbability of honest Izaak Walton's re-quoting a quotation originally

Williams' s without mentioning Williams's name, the very difference in the ways in whjch the two authors speak of "Dr. Boteler " make such a supposition very

/improbable, Williams not mentioning the name of his " one of the chiefest Doctors in England" at all. One would certainly like to trace a connexion between the two books,

'. however, if it were possible ; for they


 * resemble each other strikingly in some ways.

Williams's 'Key ' is no more merely a text-

'book of the Indian language than the ' Complete Angler ' is merely a text-book of fishing. The ' Key ' is full of Roger Williams's keen observation and kindly good nature, and his almost naive affection for the Indians, just as the ' Complete Angler ' contains all of Walton's genial and noble spirit and his love for the country-sides of old England.

None of the commentators on the ' Com- plete Angler ' seems to be absolutely sure who the " Dr. Boteler " was to whom Walton

refers, although all concur with Hawkins in saying he was very probably Dr. William

Butler (1535-1618), one of the most eminent

physicians of his time, and a great humorist and eccentric character. The way in which Williams speaks of the author of the remark on the strawberry seems to me to clinch the matter and make it certain that Walton's " Dr. Boteler " was indeed Dr. William Butler. Fuller ('Worthies') calls Dr. William Butler " the Esculapius of his age " ; Granger (J. Granger, ' Biographical History of England,' 1824) lists him second of the physicians of the reign of James I. (Harvey is listed first) ; and Aikin (John Aikin, ' Biographical Memoirs of Medicine in Great Britain,' 1780) calls him the " most popular and celebrated practitioner of physio in the kingdom." Aikin also remarks : " He never was an author, nor left any writings behind him," so it is impossible, if Aikin is correct, that Williams or Walton could have found the remark in any pub- lished work of Butler.

GEORGE R. POTTER, B.A. 30 Conant Hall, Cambridge, 38, Mass., U.S.A.

GIRALDTJS CAMBRENSIS. Some doubt has been expressed as to whether Giraldus the famous Archdeacon of Brecknock was ever Archdeacon of St. David's. I am sure, if not already noticed, it will interest readers of ' N. & Q.,' and antiquaries generally, to hear of some additional evidence on this point. The Bodleian has a charter (Glouc. 22), which mentions him. It is a Confirma- tion having reference to the Priory of Stanley St. Leonard's, co. Glos., a paper on the history of which I had the honour of reading before the Society of Antiquaries on Nov. 29, 1917. Therein Archbishop Baldwin who was made Legate Jan. 12, 1186, and took the Cross, Feb. 11, 1188, and who preached the Crusade through Wales during Lent, 1188, confirms the settlement of a dispute between Thomas Carbouet, Abbot, and the Convent of Gloucester, and the Prior and Monks of Stanley St. Leonard's of the one part, and William de Berkeley, Lord of Cubberley of the other part, con- cerning the advowson of the church of Cubberley. The principal witness, occupy- ing the place of honour in the test-clause is " Giraldo Archediacono Menevensi." He is followed by "Magistro Petro Blesensi Bathoniciesi Archediacono," and many other west country folk, showing that the Con- firmation must have passed in Lent probably about March 20 in the year 1188. The Archbishop (who is said to -have perished in Palestine in 1190) began his progress through Wales on or about Ash Wednesday, March 2, and after traversing