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LYDGATE AND COVERDALE, AND THEIR BIOGRAPHERS

Dan John Lydgate, as Warton truly observes, was not only the poet of his monastery, but of the world in general. Yet how has he been treated by his biographers? Ritson, in his Bibliographia Poetica, says, "he died at an advanced age, after 1446." Thomson, in his Chronicles of London Bridge, 2nd edition, p. 11., says, "Lydgate died in the year 1440, at the age of sixty;" and again, at p. 164. of the same work, he says, "Lydgate was born about 1375, and died about 1461!" Pitt says that he died in 1482; and the author of the Suffolk Garland, p. 247., prolongs his life (evidently by a typographical blunder), to about the year 1641! From these conflicting statements, it is evident that the true dates of Lydgate's birth and decease are unknown. Mr. Halliwell, in the preface to his Selection from the Minor Poems of John Lydgate, arrives at the conclusion from the MSS. which remain of his writings, that he died before the accession of Edward IV., and there appears to be every adjunct of external probability; but surely, if our record offices were carefully examined, some light might be thrown upon the life of this industrious monk. I am not inclined to rest satisfied with the dictum of the Birch MS., No. 4245. fo. 60., that no memorials of him exist in those repositories.

The only authenticated circumstances in Lydgate's biography (excepting a few dates to poems), are the following:—He was ordained subdeacon, 1389; deacon, 1393; and priest, 1397. In 1423 he left the Benedictine Abbey of Bury, in Suffolk, to which he was attached, and was elected prior of Hatfield Brodhook; but the following year had license to return to his monastery again. These dates are derived from the Register of Abbott Cratfield, preserved among the Cotton MSS. Tiber, B. ix.

My object in calling the attention of your readers to the state of Lydgate's biography is, to draw forth new facts. Information of a novel kind may be in their hands without appreciation as to its importance.

I take this opportunity of noticing the different dates given of Myles Coverdale's death.

Strype says he died 20th May, 1565, (Annals of Reformation, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 43., Oxf. ed.), although elsewhere he speaks of his as being alive in 1566. Neale (Hist of Pur., vol. i. p. 185.) says, the 20th May, 1567. Fuller (Church Hist., p. 65. ed. 1655) says he died on the 20th of January, 1568, and "Anno 1588," in his Worthies of England, p. 198., ed. 1662.

The following extract from "The Register of Burials in the Parish Church of St. Bartholomew's by the Exchange" sets the matter at rest. "Miles Coverdall, doctor of divinity, was buried anno 1568., the 19th of February."

That the person thus mentioned in the register is Miles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, there can be no doubt, since the epitaph inscribed on the tomb-stone, copied in Stow's Survey, clearly states him to be so. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to observe that the date mentioned in the extract is the old style, and, therefore, according to our present computation, he was buried the 19th of February, 1569.

Can any of your correspondents throw any light upon the authorship of a work frequently attributed to Myles Coverdale, and thus entitled, "A Brieff discours off the Troubles begonne at Frankford in Germany, Anno Domini, 1554. Abowte the Booke off common prayer and Ceremonies, and continued by the Englishe Men theyre, to the ende off Q. Maries Raigne, in the which discours, the gentle reader shall see the verry originall and beginninge off all the contention that hathe byn, and what was the cause off the same?" A text from "Marc 4." with the date MDLXXV. Some copies are said to have the initials "M.C." on the title-page, and the name in full, "Myles Coverdale," at the end of the preface; but no notice is taken of this impression in the excellent introductory remarks prefixed by Mr. Petheram to the reprint of 1846. If the valuable work was really written by Myles Coverdale (and it is much in his style), it must have been interspersed with remarks by another party, for in the preface, signed, as it is said by Coverdale, allusion is made to things occuring in 1573, four years after his death.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

QUERIES

SPECULUM EXEMPLORUM:—EPISTOLA DE MISERIA CURATORUM

Who was the compiler of the Speculum Exemplorum, printed for the first time at Deventer, in 1481? A copy of the fourth edition, Argent, 1490, does not afford any information about this matter; and I think that Panzer (v. 195.) will be consulted in vain. Agreeing in opinion with your correspondent "GASTROS" (No. 21. p. 338.) that a querist should invariably give an idea of the extent of his acquaintance with the subject proposed, I think it right to say, that I have examined the list of authors of Exempla, which is to be found in the appendix to Possevin's Apparatus Sacer, tom. i. sig. β 2., and that I have read Ribadeneira's notice of the improvements made in this Speculum by the Jesuit Joannes Major.

Who was the writer of the Epistola de Miseria Curatorum? My copy consists of eight leaves, and a large bird's-cage on the verse of the last leaf is evidently the printer's device. Seemiller makes mention of an Augsburg edition of this curious tract. (Biblioth. Acad. Ingolstad. Incunab. typog. Fascic. ii. p. 142. Ingolst. 1788.)

R.G.

THE SECOND DUKE OF ORMONDE

The review of Mr. Wright's England under the House of Hanover, illustrated by the Caricatures and Satires of the Day, given in the Athenæum (No. 1090.), cites a popular ballad on the flight and attainder of the second Duke of Ormonde, as taken down from the mouth of an Isle of Wight fishmonger. This review elicited from a correspondent (Athenæum, No. 1092.) another version of the same ballad as prevalent in Northumberland. I made a note of these at the time; and was lately much interested at receiving from an esteemed correspondent (the Rev. P. Moore, Rochenon, co. Kilkenny), a fragment of another version of the same ballad, which he (being at the time ignorant of the existence of any other version of the song) had taken down from the lips of a very old man of the neighbourhood, viz.:—

 
"My name is Ormond; have you not heard of me?
For I have lately forsaken my own counterie;
I fought for my life, and they plundered my estate,
For being so loyal to Queen Anne the great.
Queen Anne's darling, and cavalier's delight,
And the Presbyterian crew, they shall never have their flight.
I am afraid of my calendry; my monasteries are all sold,
And my subjects are bartered for the sake of English gold.
 
 
But, as I am Ormond, I vow and declare,
I'll curb the heartless Whigs of their wigs, never fear."
 

I do not quote the versions given in the Athenæum, but, on a comparison, it will be seen that they all must have been derived from the same original.

The success of your queries concerning the Duke of Monmouth impel me to propose a few concerning the almost as unfortunate, and nearly as celebrated, second Duke of Ormonde. Many scraps of traditionary lore relative to the latter nobleman must linger in and about London, where he was the idol of the populace, as well as the leader of what we should now call the "legitimist" party.

With your leave. I shall therefore propose the following Queries, viz.:—

1. Who was the author of the anonymous life of the second Duke of Ormonde, published in one volume octavo, some years after his attainder?

2. Was the ballad, of which the above is a fragment, printed at the time; and if so, does it exist?

3. What pamphlets, ballads, or fugitive pieces, were issued from the press, or privately printed, on the occasion of the Duke's flight and subsequent attainder?

4. Does any contemporary writer mention facts or incidents relative to the matter in question, between the period of the accession of George I., and the Duke's final departure from his residence at Richmond?

5. Does any traditionary or unpublished information on the subject exist in or about London or Richmond.

JAMES GRAVES.

Kilkenny.

MAYORS.—WHAT IS THEIR CORRECT PREFIX?

I wish to ask, of any of your numerous readers, what may be considered the most proper official prefix for Mayors, whether Right Worshipful or Worshipful? Opinions, I find, differ upon the subject. In the Secretary's Guide, 5th ed. p. 95. it is said that Mayors are Right Worshipful; the late Mr. Beltz, Lancaster Herald, was of opinion that they were Worshipful only; and Mr. Dod, the author of a work on Precedence, &c., in answer to an inquiry on the point, thought that Mayors of cities were Right Worshipful, and those of towns were only Worshipful. With due deference, however, I am rather inclined to think that all Mayors, whether of cities, or of towns, ought properly to be styled "the Right Worshipful" for the following reason:—all Magistrates are Worshipful, I believe, although not always in these days so designated, and a mayor being the chief magistrate ought to have the distinctive "Right" appended to his style. And this view of the subject derives some support from the fact of a difference being made with regard to the Aldermen of London (who are all of them magistrates), those who have passed the chair being distinguished as the Right Worshipful, whilst those below the chair are styled the worshipful only; thus showing that the circumstance of being Mayor is considered worthy of an especial distinction. Probably it may be said that custom is the proper guide in a case like this, but I believe that there is no particular custom in some towns, both prefixes being sometimes used, and more frequently none at all. It seems desirable, however, that some rule should be laid down, if possible, by common consent, that it may be understood in future what the appropriate Prefix is. I shall be glad if some of your heraldic or antiquarian readers will give their opinions, and if they know of any authorities, to quote them.

J.