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QUERIES

LOVE, THE KING'S FOOL OF THAT NAME

In Rawlinson's Manuscripts in the Bodleian (c. 258.), which I take to have been written either in, or very soon after, the reign of Henry VIII., there is a poem thus entitled:—

"THE EPITAPHE OF LOVE, THE KYNGE'S FOOLE."

Can any of your readers furnish me with information regarding him? He was clearly a man worthy of notice, but although I have looked through as many volumes of that period, and afterwards, as I could procure, I do not recollect meeting with any other mention of him. Skelton, who must have been his contemporary, is silent regarding him; and John Heywood, who was also living at the same time, makes no allusion to him that I have been able to discover. Heywood wrote the "Play of Love," but it has nothing to do with the "King's fool."

The epitaph in question is much in Heywood's humorous and satirical style: it is written in the English ballad-metre, and consists of seven seven-line stanzas, each stanza, as was not unusual with Heywood, ending with the same, or nearly the same, line. It commences thus:

"O Love, Love! on thy sowle God have mercye;
For as Peter is princeps Apostolorum,
So to the[e] may be sayd clerlye,
Of all foolys that ever was stultus stultorum.
Sure thy sowle is in regna polorum,
By reason of reason thou haddest none;
Yet all foolys be nott dead, though thou be gone."

In the next stanza we are told, that Love often made the King and Queen merry with "many good pastimes;" and in the third, that he was "shaped and borne of very nature" for a fool. The fourth stanza, which mentions Erasmus and Luther, is the following:—

"Thou wast nother Erasmus nor Luter;
Thou dyds medle no forther than thy potte;
Agaynst hye matters thou wast no disputer,
Amonge the Innocentes electe was thy lotte:
Glad mayst thou be thou haddyst that knotte,
For many foolys by the[e] thynke them selfe none,
Yet all be nott dead, though thou be gone."

The next stanza speaks of "Dye Apguylamys," who is told to prepare the obsequy for Love, and of "Lady Apylton," who had offered a "mass-penny," and the epitaph ends with these stanzas:

"Now, Love, Love! God have mercy on thy mery nowle;
And Love! God have mercye on thy foolysche face,
And Love! God have mercye on thy innocent sowle,
Which amonges innocentes, I am sure, hath a place,
Or ellys thy sowle ys yn a hevy case;
Ye, ye, and moo foolys many [a] one,
For foolys be alyve, Love, though thou be gone.

"Now, God have mercye on us all,
For wyse and folysche all dyethe,
Lett us truly to our myndes call;
And to say we be wyse owr dedes denyethe,
Wherefore the ende my reason thys aplyethe:
God amend all foolys that thynke them selfe none,
For many be alyve, thoughe Love be gone."

It is very possible that I have overlooked some common source of information to which I may be referred; and it is very possible also, that this epitaph has been reprinted in comparatively modern times, and I may not know of it. This is one of the points I wish to ascertain.

J. PAYNE COLLIER.

[Was there no such person as Love, and does the writer mean merely to pun upon the word? Cupid certainly played the fool in the court of Henry VIII. as much as any body.]

MARE DE SAHAM—POSTUM PUSILLUM—WATEWICH

I am much obliged by J.F.M's answers respecting those places. If he will look to the Historia Eliensis, lib. ii. c. 84, 85. vol. i. pp. 200-204. (Anglia Christiana), he may be certain whether or not he has correctly designated them. He may at the same time, if he be well acquainted with Cambridgeshire, give me the modern interpretation for Watewich, also mentioned in chap. 84. of the Hist. Eliens.

W.B.M.

THE ADVENT BELLS

The Advent bells are ringing in many parishes throughout various parts of England during this month of December, if I may judge from my own neighbourhood—on the western borders of Berks—where, at least three times in the week, I hear their merry peals break gladsomely upon the dark stillness of these cold evenings, from many a steeple around. In the Roman States and the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the "pifferari" go about playing on a kind of rough hautboy and bag-pipes, before the pictures of the Madonna, hung up at the corners of streets and in shops, all through Advent time; but why are the church bells rung in England? What reference in ancient documents can be pointed out for the meaning or antiquity of the usage?

He who draws upon a joint-stock bank of literature as rich as yours, Mr. Editor, already is, should bring a something to its capital, though it be a mite. Allow me, then, to throw in mine. At p. 77. "A SUBSCRIBER" asks, "if William de Bolton was an ecclesiastic, how is it that his wife is openly mentioned?" For one of these two reasons: 1st. By the canon law, whether he be in any of the four minor orders, or in any of the three higher or holy orders, a man is, and was always, called "Clericus," but clerks in lower or minor orders did, and still do, marry without censure; 2d. The Church did, and still does, allow man and wife to separate by free mutual consent, and to bind themselves by the vows of perpetual continence and chastity, the man going into a monastery, or taking holy orders, the woman becoming a nun. Such, I suspect, was the case with Sir William de Bolton ("Sir" being the ancient title of a priest) and his wife, whose joint concurrence in the transfer of property by charter would be legally required, if, as is likely, she had an interest in it.

Your correspondent "MUSAFIR," while on the subject of the Flemish account, p. 74., is in error, in assigning to a Count of Flanders the "old story" of the cloaks; it belongs to Robert, Duke of Normandy, who played off the joke at Constantinople in the court of the Greek emperor, as Bromton tells us (ed. Twysden, i. 911.)

CEPHAS

THE POETS

Many years ago a Sonnet, by Leigh Hunt, characterising the poets, appeared in the Examiner. Can any of your readers inform me whether the following, which I quote from memory, is correct?

C. DAY.

"Were I to name, out of the times gone by,
The poets dearest to me, I should say,
Pulci for spirits, and a fine, free way,
Chaucer for manners, and a close, silent eye;
Spenser for luxury and sweet sylvan play,
Horace for chatting with from day to day;
Milton for classic taste and harp strung high,
Shakspeare for all—but most, society.
But which take with me could I take but one?
Shakspeare, as long as I was unoppress'd
With the world's weight, making sad thoughts intenser;
But did I wish out of the common sun
To lay a wounded heart in leafy rest,
And dream of things far off and healing—Spenser."

MR. POORE'S LITERARY COLLECTIONS—INIGO JONES—MEDAL OF STUKELEY—SIR JAMES THORNHILL

Sir,—With thanks for the insertion of my former letter, I proceed to submit a few literary queries for solution through the medium of your pages.

In connection with the country of Wilts, I will first mention the literary collections of the late Edward Poore, Esq., of North Tidworth, which I examined, with much satisfaction, on my visits to him there, in the year 1798 and 1799. Mr. Poore was a man of considerable attainments, and corresponded with many distinguished characters, both at home and abroad. He travelled over many parts of the continent, and his letters and notes relating to public and private occurrences and persons were remarkably curious and interesting. I have long lost all trace of them, and should be glad to ascertain where they are likely to be found.

An immense boon would be conferred on the cause of Architecture and Archæology by the recovery of Inigo Jones's Sketches and Drawings of Ancient Castles. These, together with his Plans, Views, and Restorations of Stonehenge, probably descended to his nephew, Webb. The latter were engraved, and published in Webb's volume on Stonehenge; but the Sketches of Castles have never yet been published. On the ground of Inigo Jones's intimacy with Lord Pembroke, I was referred to the library at Wilton as a probable despositor of his drawings, but without success; as I am informed, they do not form a part of that valuable collection. Perhaps I may be allowed to correct the error which so commonly ascribes the erection of Wilton House to Jones. In the Natural History of Wiltshire, by John Aubrey, which I edited in 1847 (4to.), it is clearly shown that the mansion was built in 1633 by, or from the designs of, Solomon de Caus, architect, who was probably aided by his brother Isaac, and that it was rebuilt in 1648, after an extensive fire, by Webb, who, as is well known, married a niece of Inigo Jones. The latter celebrated architect recommended the employment of these parties, and probably approved of their designs, but had no further share in their production. His advice, however, to the Earl of Pembroke, was the means of preserving the famous Porch at Wilton, ascribed to Hans Holbein, which gives him a peculiar claim to the gratitude of all architectural antiquaries.

I possess a large collection of the manuscript journals, papers, drawings, and correspondence of Dr. Stukeley. To the kindness of my old friend Dr. Ingram, President of Trinity College, Oxford, I also owe a large Bronze Medal, with a medallion portrait of Stukeley on the obverse, and a view of Stonehenge on the reverse. This is evidently a cast from moulds, and rather crudely executed, and I am induced to regard it as unique. I shall be much gratified if any of your correspondents can furnish me with a clue to its history, or to the name of its maker. I would here venture to suggest some inquiry into the biography of Charles Bertram, of Copenhagen, who furnished Dr. Stukeley with the manuscript of the Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, which has led to so much curious discussion. It would be interesting to learn whether Bertram's papers were bequeathed to any public library at Copenhagen.

Sir James Thornhill was in the habit of making sketches and descriptive memoranda in his various travels and excursions. Some years ago one of his pocket-books was lent to me, in which he had not only written notices of the places visited, but made very clever pen sketches of several objects. Whilst in my possession, I copied many pages, and also traced some of the drawings. Among the latter is a Market Cross at Ipswich, long since destroyed, also the Sessions House and the Custom House of Harwich, with various antiquities, &c., at Ryswich, Delph, Tournay, Brussels, and the Hague. I have often regretted that I did not copy the whole volume, as it contained many curious facts and anecdotes. I have tried in vain to ascertain the name and address of the possessor. He was a country gentleman, and lodged in Southampton Row, Russell Square. The volume is dated 1711, and contains full accounts of buildings and works of art. He says, "Killigrew told King Charles that Ipswich had a large river without water, streets without names, and a town without people."

In July, 1817, I published a small volume entitled Antiquarian and Architectural Memoranda relating to Norwich Cathedral, in which were two copper-plates, a ground-plan of the church, and a view of the west front; with woodcuts of the font, and of the Erpingham gateway, both engraved by John Thompson. The plates and cuts were sold by auction (by Mr. Southgate of Fleet Street), with the stock of the work, and have been resold by the purchaser. I have sought in vain to re-obtain the woodcuts, and shall be gratified to find that it is still practicable.

After many years' search for the documents, &c., referred to in this and my preceding letter, I am still reluctant to abandon their pursuit. That valuable collections are sometimes protected from destruction, in obscurity, for years, is shown by the loss and recovery of the well-known collection of Architectural Designs and Drawings by John Thorpe, now in the Soane Museum. That singular and interesting series was in the possession of the Earl of Warwick, in the latter part of the last century. In 1807 I applied to his lordship for permission to examine it; but he informed me that Richard Cumberland, the author, had borrowed it many years before, in order to submit it to Lord George Germaine, and that it had not since been heard of. Thus, from before 1785, when Lord George Germaine died, the drawings were lost until about thirty years afterwards, when I purchased them for Sir John Soane, at the sale of the library of – Brooke, Esq., of Paddington (probably a relative of the Earl of Warwick), into whose possession they had unaccountably passed.