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DORNE THE BOOKSELLER

Mr. Editor,—I beg to add my protest to your own, respecting the conclusion drawn by your valuable correspondent W. as to his competency to his arduous task, which no person could doubt who knows him. My remarks had reference to the supposed scribe of the catalogue, whose brains, according to W., were in some degree of confusion at times. His name is still in obscuro, it seems. "Henno Rusticus" is clear. W., I trust, will accept my apology. I say with Brutus, verbis paulo mutatis—

"By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to plant
In the kind bosom of a friend a thorn,
By any indirection."

J.I.

REV. WM. STEPHENS' SERMONS

Sir,—Amongst the books wanted in your sixth number is "a Tract or Sermon" of the Rev. Wm. Stephens. It is a sermon, and one of four, all of which are far above the ordinary run of sermons, and deserving of a place in every clergyman's library. They are rarely met with together, though separately they turn up now and then upon book stalls amongst miscellaneous sermons; it is a pity they are not better known, and much is every day republished less deserving of preservation. The author's widow published her husband's sermons in two volumes; but, strange to say, these, which are worth all the rest, are not included in the collection. The titles of the four sermons are—

"The Personality and Divinity of the Holy Ghost proved from Scripture, and the Anti-Nicene Fathers." Preached before the University of Oxford, St. Matthias' Day, 1716-17. Third Edition, 1725.
"The Catholic Doctrine concerning the Union of the Two Natures in the One Person of Christ stated and vindicated." Preached at the visitation of the Bishop of Oxford, 1719. Second Edition, 1722.
"The Divine Persons One God by an Unity of Nature: or, That Our Saviour is One God with His Father, by an External Generation from His Substance, asserted from Scripture and the Anti-Nicene Fathers." Preached before the University of Oxford, 1722. Second Edition, 1723.
"The Several Heterodox Hypotheses, concerning both the Persons and the Attributes of the Godhead, justly chargeable with more inconsistencies and Absurdities than those which have been groundlessly imputed to the Catholic system." Preached at the visitation of the Bishop of Exeter, 1724.

I shall be glad to learn from any of your readers whether the author published any other sermons or tracts which are not included in the two volumes of his sermons.

WM. DENTON

Shoreditch, Dec. 11. 1849.

ROGER DE COVERLEY

Sir,—In No. 4 of your "NOTES AND QUERIES" it is asked, if any notice of the tune called Roger de Coverley is to be met with earlier than 1695, when it was printed by H. Playford in his Dancing Master? I am happy in being able to inform your correspondent that the tune in question may be found in a rare little volume in my possession, entitled "The Division-Violin, containing a Choice Collection of Divisions to a Ground for the Treble-Violin. Being the first Musick of this kind ever published. London, Printed by J.P. and are sold by John Playford, near the Temple-Church, 1685, small oblong."

I have every reason to believe, from considerable researches, that no earlier copy can be found in print.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

MINOR NOTES

Omission of the Words DEI GRATIA from the new Florin.

Ruding, in his Annals of the Coinage, iv. 9., furnishes a precedent for the omission of the words DEI GRATIA from the coinage, in the case of the Irish half-pence and farthings coined at the Tower in 1736-7. And he supplies, also, a precedent for the dissatisfaction with which their omission from the new florin has been received, in the shape of two epigrams written at that time, for which he is indebted (as what writer upon any point of English literature and history is not) to Sylvanus Urban. The first (from the Gentlemen's Magazine for June, 1837) is as follows:—

"No Christian kings that I can find,
However match'd or odd,
Excepting ours have ever coin'd
Without the _grace of God_.

"By this acknowledgment they show
The mighty King of Kings,
As him from whom their riches flow,
From whom their grandeur springs.

"Come, then, Urania, aid my pen,
The latent cause assign,—
All other kings are mortal men,
But GEORGE, 'tis plain, 's divine."

The next month produced this address:—

To the Author of the Epigram on the new Irish Halfpence

"While you behold th' imperfect coin
Receiv'd without the grace of God,
All honest men with you must join,
And even Britons think it odd.

The grace of God was well left out,
And I applaud the politician;
For when an evil's done, no doubt,
'Tis not by God's grace, but permission."

Grace's Card, the Six of Hearts.

As a note to the communications which have lately amused your readers, respecting the nine of diamonds, and the curse of Scotland, allow me to remind you of another card which has a peculiar name, the origin of which is better ascertained.

At the Revolution of 1688, one of the family of Grace, of Courtstown in Ireland, raised and equipped a regiment of foot and a troop of horse, at his own expense, for the service of King James, whom he further assisted with money and plate, amounting, it is said, to 14,000l. He was tempted with splendid promises of royal favour, to join the party of King William. A written proposal to that effect was sent to him by one of the Duke of Schomberg's emissaries. Indignant at the insulting proposal, the Baron of Courtstown seized a card, which was accidentally lying near him, and wrote upon it this answer: "Go, tell your master, I despise his offer! Tell him that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow!" The card happened to be the "six of hearts," and to this day that card is generally known by the name of "Grace's card," in the city of Kilkenny.

I derive these particulars principally from the Memoirs of the Family of Grace, by Sheffield Grace, Esq. 4to. London, 1823, p. 42.

W.L.

Florins.

The following extract from the Issue Roll of Easter I Edward III. 1327, may interest the inquirers into the antiquity of the FLORIN, lately introduced into our coinage:—

"To Robert de Wodehouse, keeper of the King's Wardrobe, for the price of 174 florins from Florence, price each florin as purchased, 39-1/2_d_. paid to the same keeper by the hands of John de Houton, his clerk, for one pound and one mark of gold, to make oblations on the day of the coronation for the Lord the King:—and in the manner was delivered 104 florins and a mark of 70_s_. by the king's command, under the privy seal, which was used before he received the government of this kingdom,—£28.12.6."
Φ.

John Hopkins, the Psalmist.

Sir,—Little is known of the personal history of John Hopkins, the coadjutor of Sternhold in the translation of the Psalms. It is generally agreed that he was a clergyman and a schoolmaster in Suffolk, but no one has mentioned in what parish of that county he was beneficed. It is highly probably that the following notes refer to this person, and if so, the deficiency will have been supplied by them.

In Tanner's List of the Rectors of Great Waldingfield in Suffolk, taken from the Institution Book at Norwich, there is this entry:—

In the Parish Register of Great Waldingfield is the following:—

"Buried, 1570. Mr. John Hopkins, 23rd Oct."

D.

NOTES IN ANSWER TO MINOR QUERIES

Genealogy of European Sovereigns.

Sir,—Perhaps the following books will be of service to your correspondent Q.X.Z., viz.:—

"A Genealogical History of the present Royal Families of Europe, the Stadtholders of the United States, and the Succession of the Popes from the 15th century, &c. &c., by the Rev. Mark Noble." London, 1781.
"Historical and Genealogical, Chronological, and Geographical Atlas, exhibiting all the Royal families in Europe, their origin, Descent, &c., by M. Le Sage." London, 1813.
"Complete Genealogical, Historical, Chronological, and Geographical Atlas, &c., by C.V. Lavoisne." Philadelphia, 1821.
W.J.B.

Countess of Pembroke's letter—Drayton's Poems—A Flemish Account—Bishop Burnet.

Your correspondent, at p. 28., asks whether there is any contemporary copy of the celebrated letter, said to have been written by Anne, Countess of Pembroke, to Sir Joseph Williamson? I would refer him to Mr. Hartley Coleridge's Lives of Distinguished Northerns, 1833, p. 290. His arguments for considering the letter spurious, if not conclusive, are very forcible, but they are too copious for this paper.

Your readers, who may not be conversant with that undeservedly neglected volume, will confess their obligation, when they have consulted its pages, in having been directed to so valuable and so original a work. It may be observed, that those letters of the Countess which are authentic, are certainly written in a very different style to the one in question; but this letter, if addressed by her to Sir Joseph Williamson, would be written under peculiar circumstances, and being in her 84th year, she might naturally have asked the assistance of the ablest pen within her reach. I have the copy of an interesting letter, addressed by the late Mr. John Baynes to Ritson, in 1785, stating his admiration of the Countess's "spirit and industry, having seen the collections made by her order relative to the Cliffords—such as no other noble family in the world can show."

I join in wishing that Mr. Pickering would add a judicious selection from Drayton's poetical works to his Lives of Aldine Poets. To the list given by your correspondent (p. 28.), may be added a work entitled Ideas Mirrour Amours in quatorzains (London, 1594, 4to. p. 51.), which was lent to me about forty years ago, but which I have not seen since. Some notice of it, by myself, will be found in the Censura Literaria. with the following note by Sir C. Brydges:—"The extreme rarity of this publication renders a farther account desirable, and also more copious extracts. It appears wholly unknown to Herbert, and to all the biographers of Drayton." It is unnoticed by Ritson also. Chalmers, in his Series of English Poets, has referred to this communication, but he has not printed the poem amongst Drayton's works.

The expression "a Flemish account" is probably not of very long standing, as it is not found in the most celebrated of our earlier dramatists, unless, indeed, Mrs. Page's remark on Falstaff's letter may be cited as an illustration:—"What an unweighed behaviour hath this Flemish drunkard picked out of my conversation, that he dares in this manner assay me."

If the habit of drinking to excess prevailed in the Low Countries in the sixteenth century to the extent represented, may not the expression have arisen from that circumstance, and been equivalent to the contempt which is usually entertained for the loose or imperfect statements made by a tipsy or drunken man?

When quoting opinions upon Burnet, we must not forget the brief but pregnant character which Burke has given of the Bishop's History of his Own Times. In his admirable speech at Bristol, previous to the election if 1780, Burke says, "Look into the History of Bishop Burnet; he is a witness without exception."

Dr. Johnson was not so laudatory:—"Burnet is very entertaining. The style, indeed, is mere chit-chat. I do not believe that he intentionally lied; but he was so much prejudiced, that he took no pains to find out the truth."

The reader may refer to Dr. Hickes's Criticism (Atterbury's Correspondence, i. 492.). Calamy's expression is a significant, if not a very complimentary one, as regards Burnet's candour (Life and Times, i. 59.).

I.H.M.

Bath, Dec. 1849.

Viz., why the contracted form of Videlicet.

I shall be much obliged if any one of your readers can inform me of the principle of the contraction viz. for videlicet, the letter z not being at all a component part of the three final syllables in the full world.

[Cross symbol]

[Is not our correspondent a little mistaken in supposing that the last letter in "viz." as originally a letter z? Was it not one of the arbitrary marks of contraction used by the scribes of the middle ages, and being in form something like a "z," came to be represented by the early printers by that letter? In short, the sign3 was a common abbreviation in records for terminations, as omnib3 for omnibus, hab3 for habet. Vi3, corruptly viz. is still in use.]

Authors of Old Plays.

We are enabled by the courtesy of several correspondents, to answer two of the Queries of Q.D., in No. 5. p. 77., respecting the authors of certain old plays.

G.H.B. informs us that Sicily and Naples was written by Samuel Harding; of whom, as we learn from J.F.M., an account will be found in Wood's Athenae.

NASO informs Q.D. that Nero was written by Matthew Gwinne; there are two editions of it, viz. 1603 and 1633,—and that a copy of it may be procured at 17. Wellington Street, Strand, for 2s.

Birthplace of Coverdale.

Can you inform me of the birthplace of Miles Coverdale?

W.C.

["Bishop Myles Coverdale is supposed to have been born in the year of our Lord 1488, in the district of Coverdale, in the parish of Coverham, near Middleham, in the North Riding of Yorkshire; and it is the opinion of the learned historian of Richmondshire, that it is an assumed, and not a family name." These are the words of the Rev. Geo. Pearson, B.D., the very competent editor of the works of Bishop Coverdale, published by the Parker Society. His reference is to Whitaker's Hist. of Richmondshire, vol. i. p. 17.]

Caraccioli—Author of Life of Lord Clive.

In reply to K.'s query in No. 7., I have to inform him that "Charles Caraccioli, Gent." called himself "the Master of the Grammar School at Arundel," and in 1766 published a very indifferent History of the Antiquities of Arundel; and deprecating censure, he says in his preface, "as he (the author) was educated and till within these few years has lived abroad, totally unconversant with the English tongue, he flatters himself that the inaccuracies so frequently interspersed through the whole, will be observed with some grains of allowance." His Life of Lord Clive was a bookseller's compilation.