Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/159

 12 s. vii. AUG. 14, 1920.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 127 In a letter of May 31, 1830, she writes : 4 'I want to revive Massinger's 'Maid of Honour ' ; I want to act Camiola" ('Record of a Girlhood,' vol. ii. p. 121). On p. 117 we read : " The arrangement of Massinger for the family library by my friend the Rev. Alexander Dyce "was my first introduction to that mine of dramatic wealth. I was so enchanted with these plays of Massinger's, but more especially with the one called ' The Maid of Honour,' that I never rested till I had obtained from the management its revival on the stage. The part of Camiola is revive one or two more of Massinger's plays ; they are such sterling stuff compared with the Isabellas, the Jane Shores, the everything but "Shakespeare. You saw in my journal what I think about Camiola. I endeavour as much as I can to soften her, and if I can manage to do so I shall like her better than any part I have played except my dear Portia, who does not need softening." On this she comments : " My determination to soften the character of Camiola is another indication of my imperfect comprehension of my business as an actress, which was not to reform but to represent certain personages. Massinger's Maid of Honour ' is a stern woman, not without a very positive grain of coarse hardness in her nature. My attempt to soften her was an impertinent endeavour to .alter his fine conception to something more in harmony with my own ideal of womanly per- fection (op. cit. II. pp. 334, 336)." On p. 220, she says: "Mr. Macready revived Massinger's fine play ('The Fatal Dowry') with considerable success," but this seems to be a mistake. Macready notes an his diary that such a revival was pro- posed, but it was performed not by him but by Charles Kean. On Aug. 29, 1845, Macready wrote ('The Diaries of Macready,' vol. ii. p. 302) : " Read the paper, in which I glanced over an account of the production of ' The Fatal Dowry ' at Sadler's Wells. It is an evidence to me what wretched creatures we must be, when I must in candour own that I am annoyed by it ? " From this is will be evident to any one who has read Macready's ' Diaries ' that the production was a success. M. HOPE DODDS. Home House, Low Fell, Gateshead. A GHOST AND A CONFESSION. A singular story, which in these days of psychic study, seems to merit elucidation, is to be found among the State Papers of Commonwealth times. According to the ' Calendar of Domestic State Papers,' 1654 (p. 218), there was received at the Admiralty from the Tiger frigate, a confession dated June 22, 1654, of John Baldock, made before Go. Sands (sic in original), and four others, that three years since he served in the John privateer, under Capt. Jno. Shapman, of East Cowes, Isle of Wight ; and, putting into Guernsey with some prizes, he went on shore with Wm. Gibson. After drinking very hard, they met an English soldier, whom Gibson stabbed, and deponent consented by washing his hands in the blood ; and after they had robbed him of 3<?. 6d. they threw him into a ditch. He had lost sight of Gibson, who lives at Fowey ; but he is so haunted or troubled with the ghost or appearance of the soldier, that he can get no rest until he has publicly confessed. This confession wasjyforwarded to the Admiralty on the following July 10, by Capt. Gabriel Sanders, of the Tiger, " near Breadhempson," who stated that he was plying between Newhaven and Beachey, searching French fishers and all vessels of which he had any suspicion. John Baldock was one of his company, and he had secured him : and he forwarded the confession as it was a matter to be tried in the place where it was committed (Ibid., p. 520). On July 23, he sent a further note of the con- fession (p. 530) ; but nothing additional appears, and it would be interesting to learn whether the criminal archives of Guernsey could throw any light on the affair. ALFRED BOBBINS. THE JUBILEE OF THE UNITED SYNAGOGUE A brief statement of this recent event in Anglo-Jewish history should find itself recorded in 'N. & Q.' On Thursday, July 1, 1920, a vast concourse foregathered within the precincts of the Cathedral Synagogue in Duke's Place, Aldgate, to celebrate the jubilee of the foundation of what is uni- versally known as "the United Synagogue." It was on July 14, 1870, corresponding with the Hebraic date, the 15th of Tammuz, 5630, when a scheme submitted by the then Charity Commissioners received Royal Assent and thenceforth became part of the laws of the kingdom. The scheme embraced the joining up of five synagogues (which are not to be confounded with the " Chevras " or
 * The Maid of Honour ' succeeded on its first