Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 12.djvu/82

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. XIL JULY 25, 1903.

" The whole legislative and judicial systems were trampled down for the purpose of taking a single head,"

and when this had been done, no abandon- ment of the Anglican episcopate would have saved the king ; but it is at least doubtful whether an earlier abandonment would not have prevented the triumph of the repub- licans. JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

AUTHORS OF BOOKS WANTED (9 th S. xi. 468). 'Novelty Fair' appears to be by Albert Smith and Tom Taylor. 'D.N.B.' gives Albert Smith as sole author of ' Valentine and Orson,' Christmas, 1844 ; ' Whittingtori and his Cat,' Easter, 1845 ; while it advances Tom Taylor as sole author of 'Valentine and Orson,' March, 1844; 'Whittington and his Cat,' Easter- Monday, 1844; and 'Cinderella,' Whib-Mon- day, 1844. As all these are stated to have been performed at the Lyceum, they would seem, notwithstanding the difference of dates, to have been written by Smith and Taylor conjointly. ADRIAN WHEELER.

This is the complete title of Cokain's play : " Trapolin creduto Principe ; or, Trapolin sup- posed a Prince, an Italian Tragi- Comedy, printed in 8vo, London, 1658. The design of this play is taken from one he saw acted at Venice ; it has been since altered by Mr. Tate, and acted at the theatre in Dorset Garden, 1684, under the title of * Duke and No Duke ' " (' Memoir of Cokain,' 1753).

I should say there was little doubt of Jas. Thorne being the author of ' Knight's Excursion Companion.' He wrote the pleasant ' Rambles by Rivers ' for Knight's weekly volumes.

The style of the ' Life of Gresham ' is very like Macfarlane's. He and Mr. Craik did a great deal of literary work for Knight ; but Mr. Craik's work, I think, always bears his name. G. T. SHERBORN.

Twickenham.

' Novelty Fair ' is by Albert Smith and Tom Taylor ; * Oberon ' (Drury Lane, 1826) by George Macfarren. WM. DOUGLAS.

125, Helix Road, Brixton Hill.

"WELTER" (9 th S. xi. 369, 457).-! think W. T. is right, that u swelter" is quite a different word, being from the Saxon sweltan, to die, to be faint with heat, with which are connected "sweltry" and "sultry"; while "welter" is from the Saxon weltan, to roll or to wallow. What, then, is the sense of "welter-weight" as applied to a racehorse, or to one that runs in a steeplechase ? It seems to apply to the action of a stout or heavy -bodied animal as it swerves in its gait.

The famous horse Eclipse, which ran a four- mile race in eight minutes, carrying 12 st., requiring neither whip nor spur, would no doubt be called a welter-weight. Eclipse died in 1789, and the only original portrait of him used to be preserved in the subscrip- tion-room at Tattersall's. If this can be shown more decisively to be the meaning of the word, then the * Century Dictionary ' is decidedly wrong in saying that "in early racing lists the first element in 'welter- weight' is said to be 'swelter,' for which 'welter' would be a substitute. 'Swelter' would allude to the overheating of the heavily weighted horses." A propos of W. T.'s allusion to Milton's use of the word "welter" in his 'Lycidas,' it occurs again in his ' Hymn on the Nativity,' bearing, of course, its original and true meaning :

While the Creator great

cast the dark foundations deep, And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. Stanza xii. 1. 124.

Here the action of the waves is that of rolling to and fro. The latest instance of the use of the word is perhaps that by Mr. Thomas Hardy in a poem entitled ' The Pine Planters,' the second stanza of which describes the trials that the tall pine under- goes in its weather experiences : Grieving that never

Kind Fate decreed It could not ever Remain a seed, And shun the welter Of things without, Unneeding shelter From storm and drought.

Cornhill Magazine, June, 1903.

J. HOLDEN MAcMlCHAEL.

SHAKESPEARE'S RELIGION (9 th S. xii. 29). Shakspeare is included in Gillow's 'Biblio- graphical Dictionary of the English Catholics,' vol. v. p. 498. It is there stated that the poet's father suffered much for adhering to the ancient faith, and that Shakspeare's practice of the paternal religion " has been a constantly cherished tradition among English Catholics." Tradition also alleges that he was brought up by an old Benedictine monk, Dom Thomas Combe ; and a near relative of this monk, W. Combe, of Old Stratford, was an intimate friend of the poet in his later years. Shakspeare is said to have received the last rites of the Catholic Church upon his deathbed from a member of the Bene- dictine Order. It is added that the hypothesis of Shakspeare's Catholicism would throw a light upon the mystery of his later years, and upon the posthumous destruction of his