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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. in. FEB. n, m

1601. But in the dedication to William Covell an important passage, overlooked by editors, fixes the date of composition :

"This Poem (Right Wor:) which I present to vour learned view, some two yeares agoe was made fit for the Print; that so long keeping the corner of my studie, wherein I vse to put waste paper : This first trew Oldcastle, thought himselfe iniurde, because he might not bee suffered to sustaine the second Martyrdome of the Presse."

" This first trew Oldcastle " alludes to the stage caricatures. Shakespeare's 'Henry IW Part I., is entered on the Stationers' Re- gisters, 25 Feb., 1598; Part II., 23 Aug., 1600. The evidence that the Falstaff part was originally Oldcastle is convincing. Two

Blays on 'Sir John Oldcastle,' written by rayton, Munday, Hathway, and Wilson, and acted in October, 1599, are registered on 11 Aug., 1600. The first, which has survived, is written to vindicate Oldcastle, and the pro- logue to it is an attack on Shakespeare. With the tone of this play Weever would be in com- plete sympathy, and the point of his remark in the dedication to ' The Mirror of Martyrs ' therefore is : "My poem was written in 1599, and as a sketch of the real Oldcastle precedes the play." It follows that ' Julius Csesar ' was written and acted in 1599.

Some confirmation of this may be gained from the unhistorical " Et tu, Brute! " which Shakespeare borrowed from ' The True Traged y of Richard, Duke of York,' 1595. The words occur, in a mocking context, in Jonson's 'Every Man out of his Humour,' acted in 1599. In Act V. sc. iv. Sir Puntarvolo beats Carlo Buffbne, calls for candle and sealing-wax, and seals up his lips; Macilente, Carlo's supposed friend, instead of helping him, holds the candle for Puntarvolo. Carlo's last words before his mouth is closed are " Et tu, Brute! " addressed to Macilente. The jest would have great point if ' Julius Csesar ' had immediately preceded, or was then on the stage. Jonson, who knew his Suetonius, would be aware that what the dying Csesar said was something different, and he may have been girding at the error.

A less certain reference to ' Julius Csesar ' may be found in the same play (Act III. sc. i.) where Clove, who talks fustian, begins a speech, " Then coming to the pretty animal, as Reason

long since is fled to animals, you know "

The blank-verse line may be an echo of O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason

misquoted at a time when the play was not accessible in print. PERCY SIMPSON.

PARISH REGISTERS : PUTNAM FAMILY. The following extract from the North Bucks Herald

of 23 April, 1898, may interest some of your readers and may perhaps induce the vicars of other parishes to imitate the example of the vicar of Stewkley :

"Age has had such a disastrous effect on some of the ancient parish registers that lovers of the his- tory of bygone days must rejoice at the efforts which are being made in many quarters and in many ways to preserve these interesting documents. The re- gisters of the parish of Stewkley, from 1545 to 1653, have recently been ' repaired ' and bound in vellum by the binder employed by Her Majesty's Public Record Office. When the Rev. R. Bruce Dickson became vicar of the parish, in 1890, the old registers were a mass of loose sheets, becoming more and more illegible from damp and decay. A young friend, while on a visit at the vicarage, carefully arranged them in order. Later on Mr. Charles Putnam, of Boston, U.S.A., called and asked to see ' the records of the parish,' stating that the records in America bore witness that some of his ancestors had left Aston Abbotts not later than 1640, and that the family had enjoyed property in Stewkley as well as in that place, and that Nicholas, the father of the emigrant, John Putnam, had lived some time in Stewkley. After a diligent search the baptisms of Richard Putnam in 1590, and of William Putnam in 1592, were found. These were descended from William Puttenham, of Puttenham, near Tring, Herts, and of Penn, Bucks, who lived in the latter part of the fourteenth century, and belonged to a family of considerable importance, which was connected with the Hampdens, vVarbletons, Pigotts, and other old Buckinghamshire families. Though the family has almost died out in England, it has increased and multiplied in America, and is now one of the most numerous and best-known families there. In many professions and callings it has had many celebrated sons; one of these is Mr. Eben Putnam, of Salem, Mass., U.S., the well-known compiler of genealogical records. On hearing about the entries in the Stewkley register, he applied to the vicar for a copy of the whole of the old registers. As these could only be read and copied by an ex- pert, the vicar, oil the recommendation of the Record Office, obtained the services of Mr. A. F. Heintz, of Clifford's Inn. As the expense of repair- ing, binding, and copying the register was between 101 and 2QL, Mr. Putnam undertook to furnish some

Srinted copies, the sale of which should help to de- ray the cost. Thus an ancient register of an im-

tor future generations." Canonbury Mansions, N.

JOHN HEBB.

"ARE WE BETTER?" (ROM. in. 9.) This is a rather remarkable instance in which the American Committee have preferred the old translation of the Authorized Version to that adopted by our Revisers, " Are we in worse case than they?" The latter rendering, in fact, takes the Trpoexo^Oa as passive, whereas both Alford and Wordsworth take it as middle, "Have we [the Jews] any preference?" or, "Are we in a better position [than the Gentiles]? " which is far more in accordance with the scope of the argument than the