Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/542

 444 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.ix. DEC. 3,1921, shown by the following item in, the Fabric j Rolls. " 1796. To Mrs. Peckitt for three j windows of painted glass, viz., Abraham, i Solomon and Moses, 32 Os. 4d." This item is incorrect as the first two were given. Browne (' Hist, of York Minster,' 1847, p. 317) states that the 32 was " instead of the glass of the old window's," and that he derived his information from Miss Peckitt. There is nothing, however, either in Peckitt's | will or the Fabric Accounts to support ! this, and Miss Peckitt might easily be | mistaken with regard to what occurred forty or more years previously, at which time she was only twenty years of age. Peckitt probably thought the early sixteenth- century figure of the glass-painter in the third light spoiled the effect, and wanted all four windows filled with his work. On ' the other hand, he might have wanted to | get hold of the figure of Sir John Petty for his friend and patron Horace Walpple to fix up in one of the windows of Straw- berry Hill, and Miss Peckitt's state- ment, " instead of the glass of the old windows," adds some colour to this. Walpole certainly would not have had any qualms of conscience over such & deal. Charles L. Eastlake (' Hist, of the Gothic Revival,' p. 48), says of him, "It is to be feared that his lordship's enthusiasm . . . led him . . . to appropriate fragments of an ancient structure," and Walpole himself, after eight of his ancient windows had been blown in by the explosion of a powder mill, wrote the Countess of Ossory in 1772, "I dare not tell how many churches I propose to rob to repair my losses." now in the last window of the northern nave triforium, and some heraldic work are probably also by Peckitt. Bentham the antiquary, writing in 1770, stated that Bishop Mawson had offered to fill the eight eastern lancets with stained glass, " an elegant design for which has been settled and is to be executed by an eminent Artist under the inspection of a Gentleman of the most approved taste." The death of the bishop in 1771, however, evidently put an end to further progress through lack of funds to carry it out. At Harpham, near Driffield, in the chapel of the St. Quentin family, Peckitt executed coats of arms showing the uninterrupted succession in the male line of the family from the year 1080 until 1777. At My ton- on.- Swale, the east window (now removed to another part of the church) contained figures of St. Peter and St. Paul and the arms of the Stapleton family by Peckitt. Miss Peckitt, in the letter to The Gentleman's Magazine previously men- tioned, stated that " the books of my late Father shew the names of near 300 Noblemen and Gentlemen of the three kingdoms evincirg the patronage he re- ceived." In concluding the above notice of Peckitt, the present writer wishes to- express his indebtedness and grateful acknowledgments to his father, Mr. J. W. Knowles, and to Mr. C. F. Bell, of the Ash- molean Museum, for very considerable help and assistance. JOHN A. KNOWLES. THE CENTENARY OF SHAKESPEARE IN ENGLISH ON THE FRENCH STAGE. NEXT year (1922) will be the centenary of the first performances of Shakespeare's plays in English in France, and to celebrate the anniversary a lady of Toulouse, Mile Germaine Audry, has written, as a " Memoire pour le Diplome d' Etudes superieures," a lengthy essay entitled ' Shakespeare sur la Scene franchise au Debut du Romantisme (1822-29).' The first venture, the enterprise of an actor -manager, Penley, was by no means successful. The opening performance with ' Othello ' at the Porte- Saint-Martin, on July 31, 1822, Mile Audry says, provoqua immediatement des scenes de desordre,. Fhostilite se manifesta des le debut quand on entendit les acteurs parler anglais ; ce fut bientdt une explosion de sifflets et de huees : " A bas Shakespeare, c'est un aide de camp du general Wellington ! Pas d'etrangers en France ! Au troisieme acte il se produisit un mouvement de fuite ; 1'orchestre fut franchi ; 1'avant-scene etant envahie, les gendarmes se porterent sur les autres parties de la scene pour arreter 1'escalade. L' intervention de la police deplace le courroux des spectateurs et ' 1'acteur francais Pierson reussit a retablir un peu d'ordre en faisant sortir les spectateurs armes. La representation cependant continua, mais au moment oii Othello etouffe Desdemone, 1'agitation des spectateurs fut portee a son comble et la scene se termina dans un tumulte indescriptible. The following evening the English .com- pany made another attempt with Sheridan's ' School for Scandal ' with no better result : La scene fut inondee de projectiles, oranges, oeufs, pommes de terre, pieces de monnaie ; une actrice, Miss Gaskill, atteinte d'un gros sou au front se trouva mal. On dut baisser le rideau. This was the end of the season at the-
 * At Ely Cathedral the figure of St. Peter,