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M.

Concolinel (Vol. ii., p. 217.).—I have been many years engaged in researches connected with the original music of Shakspeare's Plays, but it has not been my good fortune to meet with the air of Concolinel. The communication of your correspondent R. is of the greatest interest, and I should be for ever grateful if he would allow me to see the manuscript in question, in order that I might test the genuineness of the air "stated, in a recent hand, to be the tune of Concolinel mentioned by Shakspeare."

This air has double claims on our attention, as its existence, in any shape, is placed amongst the "doubtful" points by the following note extracted from the Rev. J. Hunter's New Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 268.:—

"Concolinel. In the absence of any thing like sufficient explanation or justification of this word, if word it is, I will venture to suggest the possibility that it is a corruption of a stage direction, Cantat Ital., for Cantat Italicé; meaning that here Moth sings an Italian song. It is quite evident, from what Armado says, when the song was ended, 'Sweet air!' that a song of some sort was sung, and one which Shakespeare was pleased with, and meant to praise. If Moth's song had been an English song, it would have been found in its place as the other songs are."

I, for one, cannot subscribe to Mr. Hunter's suggestion that our great poet intended an Italian song to be sung in his play and for this reason, that Italian music for a single voice was almost unknown in this country in 1597, at which date we know Love's Labour's Lost was in existence. Surely Concolinel is just as likely to be the burden of a song as Calen o Custure me, mentioned in Henry the Fifth (Act iv. sc. 4.), of which there is now no doubt.

I may just mention, in passing, that I have discovered the air of Calen o Custure me in a manuscript that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth, and have ample proof that it was an especial favourite with her maiden majesty. The commentators were at fault when they pointed out the more modern tune of the same name in Playford's Musical Companion, 1667.

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

S. Augustus Square, Regent's Park.

Andrewes's Tortura Torti (Vol. ii., p. 295.).—On what forms Mr. Bliss's third quotation, which does appear in some shape in Bernard, De Consid. ad Eugen., iii. 4. 18., the Bibliotheca Juridica, &c., of Ferraris observes, under the head of Dispensatio: "Hinc dispensatio sine justa causa non dispensatio sed dissipatio dicitur communiter a doctoribus, ut observant et tenent Sperell;" then referring to several Romish canonists, &c., the last being Reiffenstuel, lib. i., Decretal, tit. 2., n. 450., of which I give the full reference, his volumes being accessible in the British Museum, if not elsewhere.

NOVUS.

Swords worn in Public (Vol. ii., p. 218.)—A very respected and old friend of mine, now deceased, used to relate that he had often seen the celebrated Wilkes, of political notoriety, walking in the public streets, dressed in what is usually termed court dress, wearing his sword. Wilkes died in 1797. In connexion with this subject it may be interesting to your readers to know that in 1701 it was found necessary to prohibit footmen wearing swords. An order was issued by the Earl Marshal in that year, declaring that—

"Whereas many mischiefs and dangerous accidents, tending not onely to the highest breach of the peace, but also to the destruction of the lives of his Ma'ties subjects, have happend and been occasioned by Footmen wearing of Swords, for the prevention of the like evill accidents and disturbance for the future, I doe hereby order that no Foot-man attending any of the Nobilitye or Gentry of his Ma'ties Realms, during such time as they or any of them shall reside or bee within the Cities of London or Westm'r, and the Liberties and Precincts of the same, shall wear any Sword, Hanger, Bagonet, or other such like offensive weapon, as they will answer the Contempt hereof." Dated 30th Dec. 1701.

F.E.

Speech given to Man to conceal his Thoughts (Vol. i., p. 83.).—The maxim quoted by your correspondent F.R.A. was invented, if I may rely upon the notebook of memory, by the Florentine Machiavelli. The German writer Ludwig Börne says:—

"Macchiavelli, der die Freiheit liebte, schrieb seinem Prinzen so, dass er alle rechtschaffenen Psychologen in Verlegenheit und in solche Verwirrung gebracht, dass sie gar nicht mehr wussten, was sie sprachen und sie behaupteten, Macchiavelli habe eine politische Satyre geschrieben."

Le style c'est l'homme!

JANUS DOUSA.

The Character "&,", and Meaning of "Parse" (Vol. ii., pp. 230. 284.).—This character, being different from any of the twenty-four letters, was placed at the end of the alphabet, and children, after repeating their letters, were taught to indicate this symbol as and-per-se-and. Instead of spelling the word and, as composed of three letters, it was denoted by a special symbol, which was "and by itself, and." Hence the corruption, an ampussy and.

The word parse is also derived from the Latin per se. To parse a sentence is to take the words per se, and to explain their grammatical form and etymology.

L.

Wife of Edward the Outlaw (Vol. ii., p. 279.).—With reference to the Query of E.H.Y. (Vol. ii., p. 279.), there seems to be much confusion in all the accounts of Edward's marriage. I think it is evident, from an attentive consideration of the various authorities, that the Lady Agatha was either sister to Giselle, wife of Stephen, King of Hungary (to whom the young princes must have been sent, as he reigned from A.D. 1000 till A.D. 1038), and sister also to the Emperor Henry II., or, as some writers seem to think, she was the daughter of Bruno, that emperor's brother. (See a note in Dr. Lingard's History, vol. i. p. 349.)

That she was not the daughter of either Henry II., Henry III., or Henry IV., is very certain; in the first case, for the reason stated by your correspondent; and in the second, because Henry III. was only twelve years old when he succeeded his father Conrad II. (in the year 1039), which of course puts his son Henry IV. quite out of the question, who was born A.D. 1049. It strikes me (and perhaps some of your correspondents will correct me if I am wrong) that the two English princes may have respectively married the two ladies to whom I have referred, and that hence may have arisen the discrepancies in the different histories: but that the wife of Edward the Outlaw was one of these two I have no doubt.

O.P.Q.

Translations of the Scriptures (Vol. ii., p. 229.).—C.F.S. may perhaps find The Bible of every Land, now publishing by Messrs. Bagster, serviceable in his inquiries respecting Roman Catholic translations of the Scriptures. The saying of the Duke of Lancaster is found in the first edition of Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and in the modern reprint, iv. 674.; the original of the treatise from which it is taken being in C.C. College, Cambridge. (See Nasmith's Catalogue, p. 333.)

NOVUS.

Scalping (Vol. ii., p. 220.).—W.B.D. confounds beheading with scalping. In the American war many British soldiers, it was said, walked about without their scalps, but not without their heads.

SANDVICENSIS.

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC

No one branch of antiquarian study has been pursued with greater success during the last few years than that of Gothic Architecture; and, to this success, no single work has contributed in any proportion equal to that of the Glossary of Terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic Architecture. Since the year 1836, in which this work first appeared, no fewer than four large editions, each an improvement upon its predecessor, have been called for and exhausted. The fifth edition is now before us; and, we have no doubt, will meet, as it deserves, the same extended patronage and success. When we announce that in this fifth edition the text has been considerably augmented by the enlargement of many of the old articles, as well as by the addition of many new ones, among which Professor Willis has embodied a great part of his Architectural Nomenclature of the Middle Ages; that the number of woodcuts has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred; and lastly, that the Index has been rendered far more complete, by including in it the names of places mentioned, and the foreign synonyms; we have done more to show its increased value than any mere words of commendation would express. While the only omission that has been made, namely, that of the utensils and ornaments of the Mediæval Church (with the exception of the few such as altars, credences, piscinas, and sedilias, which belong to architectural structure and decoration), is a portion of the work which all must admit to have been foreign to a Glossary of Architectural Terms, and must therefore agree to have been wisely and properly left out. The work in its present form is, we believe, unequalled in the architectural literature of Europe, for the amount of accurate information which it furnishes, and the beauty of its illustrations; and as such, therefore, does the highest credit both to its editor and to its publisher; if, indeed, the editor and publisher be not identical.

Mr. L.A. Lewis, of 125. Fleet Street, has commenced a series of weekly Book Sales, to take place every Friday during the months of October and November, and has arranged that parties sending large or small parcels of books for sale during the one week, may have them sold on the Friday in the week following.

We have received the following Catalogues:—Bernard Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 19. for 1850 of Oriental Literature, Manuscripts, Theology, Classics, &c.; John Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 12. for 1850 of History, Antiquities, Heraldry, &c., and Conchology, Geology, and other popular Sciences.