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DICK SHORE—ISLE OF DOGS—KATHERINE PEGG

I entirely concur in the opinion of your able correspondent, Mr. P. Cunningham, that Pepys's Diary is well deserving all the illustrative light which may be reflected upon it from your useful pages. In submitting the following Query, however, my object is to glean a scrap of information on a point connected with the neglected topography of the east end of London, taking Pepys for my text. In the Diary, the entry for January 15th, 1660-61, contains this passage:—

"We took barge and went to Blackwall, and viewed the Dock and the new west Dock which is newly made there, and a brave new merchantman which is to launched shortly, and they say to be called the Royal Oake. Hence we walked to Dick Shoare, and thence to the Towre, and so home."—Vol. i. p. 178. new Ed.

I shall be glad to learn from any of your readers what part of the northern bank of the river, between Blackwall and the Tower, was called Dick Shore. It is not marked on any of the old maps of London I have been able to consult; but it was probably beyond the most easterly point generally shown within their limits. The modern maps present no trace of the locality in question.

The dock-yard visited by Pepys was long one of the most considerable private ship-building establishments in England. For may years it was conducted by Mr. Perry, and subsequently, under the firm of Wigram and Green, the property having been purchased by the late Sir Robert Wigram, Bart. The extensive premises are still applied to the same use; but they have been divided to form two distinct yards, conducted by separate firms.

The origin of the name (Isle of Dogs), given to the marshy tract of land lying within the bold curve of the Thames between Blackwall and Limehouse, is still undetermined. The common story is, that it receives its name from the king's hounds having been kept there during the residence of the royal family at Greenwich. This tradition is wholly unsupported; nor is it very probable that the king's hounds would be kennelled in this ungenial and inconvenient place, while they could be kept on the Kentish side of the river, in the vicinity of Greenwich Castle, then occupying the site of the present Observatory.

The denominations "isle" and "island" appear to have been bestowed on many places not geographically entitled to them. The Isle of Dogs, before the construction of the canal which now crosses its isthmus, was in fact a peninsula. Pepys spent a night in the "isle of Doggs," as appears by his entry for July 24th, 1665, and again, on the 31st of the same month, he was compelled to wait in the "unlucky Isle of Doggs, in a chill place, the morning cool and wind fresh, above two if not three hours, to his great discontent."

To the account of Katherine Pegg, given by your correspondents, pp. 90, 91, may be added, that, besides Charles Fitz-Charles, Earl of Plymouth, she had, by Charles II., a daughter, who died in her infancy. Mrs. Pegg was one of the three wives of Sir Edward Greene, of Sampford (not Samford), near Thaxted, Essex, created a baronet 26th July, 1660 (within two months of the Restoration), to whom she seems to have been not unfitly matched; for it is recorded of him that, "by his extravagancy and love of gambling, he entirely ruined his estate, and his large inheritance passed from his family." He had issue two daughters, who married.—See Burke's Extinct Baronetage.

I do not think that Katherine Pegg, whose son by the King was born in 1657, was "the pretty woman newly come called Pegg," saluted by Pepys, 7th May, 1668, as Mr. Cunningham surmises.

J.T. HAMMACK.
December.

MINOR QUERIES

The Strand Maypole.—"E.F.R." inquires what was the ultimate fate of the "tall Maypole" which "once o'erlooked the Strand"? It was taken down about the year 1717, when it was found to measure a hundred feet. It was obtained by Sir Isaac Newton, and borne on a carriage, for timber, to Wanstead, in Essex, the seat of the Earl of Tylney, where, under the direction of the Reverend Mr. Pound Breton, it was placed in the Park, for the erection of a telescope, the largest then in the world, presented by a French gentleman to the Royal Society.

To Fettle.—What is the derivation of the verb "to fettle?" In the North it means to amend—to repair—to put a thing, which is out of order, into such a state as to effectuate, or to be effectual for, its original, or a given purpose; e.g. a cart out of order is sent to the wheelwright's to be fettled. It has been suggested that the word is a verbalised corruption of the word "effectual." Bailey, in his Dictionary, has designated it as a north country word: but it is evident that he misunderstood its entire meaning; for he has merely "to fettle to," and seems to have been ignorant of the use of the word "fettle" as a verb active. To revert to my former example of its use—An injured cart is fettled by the wheel-wright; the wheelwright fettles the injured cart.

L.C.R.

Greek Verse.—Can any of your readers inform me who is the author of the line—

"[Greek: Pollai men thnaetois glottai, mia d' athanatoisi]?"

C.

Dr. Dee's petition to James I.—"E.F.R." states that he has lately discovered, in the lining of an ancient trunk, two or three curious broadsides, one of which purports to be Dr. Dee's petition to James I., 1604, against the report raised against him, namely, "That he is or hath bin a Conjurer and Caller, or Invocator of Divels." He would be glad to know whether this curious broadside has been printed in any memoir of Dr. Dee.

Vondel's Lucifer.—"F." desires to be informed whether the tragedy or dramatic poem Lucifer, of the Dutch poet Vondel, which has been said to bear some analogy to Paradise Lost, has ever been translated? and if not, why not? The French writer, Alfred de Vigny, in Stella, calls Vondel (Wundel in his spelling) "ce vieux Shakspeare de la Hollande."

Discurs Modest.—In Bishop Andrewes' Reply to the Apology of Bellarmine, chap. i. p. 7, ed. 4to. London, 1610, certain jesuits in prison are reported to have confessed, Rem transubstantiationis patres ne attigisse quidem; as authority for which is quoted Discurs Modest, p. 13. From this work apparently the passage is copied by Jeremy Taylor, Real Presence, sect. 12. § 16; Dissuasive, part i. chap. 1. § 5, and part 2. book 2. sect. 3. 3: also by Cosin on Transubstantiation, chap. 6. § 17. Can any of your readers favour me with a clue to the Modest Discourse?

A.T.

Ptolemy of Alexandria.—"QUERY" wishes to be informed what works of Ptolemy of Alexandria are to be met with in an English translation.

Vanbrugh's London Improvements.—In the London Journal of March 16th, 1722-23, there is the following paragraph:—

"We are informed that Sir John Vanbrugh, in his scheme for new paving the cities of London and Westminster, among other things, proposes a tax on all gentlemen's coaches, to stop all channels in the street, and to carry all the water off by drains and common sewers under ground."

Sir John Vanbrugh was chiefly known as an architect of noblemen's and gentlemen's mansions. Can any of your readers supply me with a reference to any detailed plan, from Sir John, for the general improvement of the metropolis?

B.M.

Becket's Grace-Cup.—The inscription round the neck of this so-called cup, of which a representation is given in No. 1. of Mr. Scott's Antiquarian Gleanings, is thus printed by him—GOD FERARE—: to which he adds, in explanation, "probably the name of the goldsmith." At the foot of an earlier print of this relic, the inscription is given thus—FERARE GOD—and till the appearance of Mr. Scott's version, I had considered the former word as an accidental error of the engraver, instead of FEARE; which would present a moral motto, suiting the SOBRII ESTOTE round the lid.—As Mr. Nichols, in his recent interesting work on Pilgrimages to Walsingham and Canterbury, noticing the misnomer of the cup (p. 229, n.), indicates its date to be of "the early part of the sixteenth century," perhaps some one of your well-informed readers could state if any artist-goldsmith of that era, and of that name, be known.

ALICUI.

Sir Henry Herbert's Office-Book.—I should be glad to know if any of your readers can tell me the "whereabouts" of Sir Henry Herbert's Office-Book, a MS. frequently referred to by Malone, Chalmers, and Collier. Sir Henry Herbert was Master of the Revels to King James the First, and the two succeeding kings, and the said MS. contains an account of almost every piece exhibited at any of the theatres from August, 1623, to the commencement of the rebellion in 1641. Malone, in his Historical Account of the English Stage (edit. Boswell, iii. 57.), says, in a note—

"For the use of this very curious and valuable manuscript I am indebted to Francis Ingram, of Ribbisford, near Bewdley, in Worcestershire, Esq., Deputy Remembrancer in the Court of the Exchequer. It has lately been found in the same old chest which contained the manuscript Memoirs of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, from which Mr. Walpole, about twenty years ago, printed the life of that nobleman, who was elder brother to Sir Henry Herbert."

In another place, Malone adds:—

"This valuable manuscript, having lain for a considerable time in a damp place, is unfortunately damaged, and in a very mouldering condition; however, no material part of it appears to have perished."

Such being the case, it becomes more than ever desirable that this interesting volume should be sought after, and the whole of its contents put on record before its total decay. Surely, if its depositary is known, and accessible, it is well worth the attention of the Shakespeare Society, or some other learned body instituted for the preservation of documents of this nature.

A biographical account of the various persons that have held the appointment of "Master of the Revels," with such particulars of the stage as would necessarily fall in, would form a valuable Prolegomena to the publication of Sir Henry's Office-Book. We have, it is true, much information upon this subject, but in a very scattered form.

I have now before me a list of the "Masters of the Revells," with the dates of their patents, which I beg to transcribe. It is of more than ordinary value, being in the handwriting of Sir Henry Herbert himself, and copied at the back of the worthy knight's "Petition to Charles the Second against the Grant to Killegrew and Davenant to form Two Companies of Players."

"Masters of ye Revells.