UPS. III. MARCH 4, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
169
resided in Milk Street, as an old hook
recently brought before my notice bears this
simple inscription on the fly-leaf, " To be
left at the house of Mr. Butler, Milk Street,"
and it would be interesting to know if the
book was intended for the great satirist.
CONSTANCE ISHERWOOD. Meppershall Rectory, Beds.
SONG WANTED. Will some reader kindly tell me the title, name of author, and name of publisher, of the song which contains the following phrases ?
For I 've a wife in Bristol town,
A wife and children three.
And she keeps watch for me.
Who's for the coach to-night ?
W. H. PARKS. Paris.
- ' CALL A SPADE A SPADE." In spite of the
episcopal dictum that its synonym is "a sanguinary shovel," I incline to think that the spade of the proverb was that of playing cards. I should be glad of evidence for or against my opinion. FRANK REDE FOWKE.
24, Netherton Grove, Chelsea, S.W.
'THE LADY'S MUSEUM': 'MODERN LONDON, 1804. I have several volumes of The Lady's Museum, illustrated, date 1800-5 ; also a book called ' Modern London,' with coloured illus- trations of the cries of London, and numerous copper-plates, date 1804. Can any one tell rue their value ? YLIMA.
['Modern London ' may be worth from one to two pounds, but all depends on condition. It is much better to ask a respectable bookseller than to apply to us. ]
MILLAR'S ' GEOGRAPHY.' Is the following work of any value? "Millar's The New Complete, Authentic, and Universal System of Geography, being a Complete Modern History and Description of the Whole World. By George Henry Millar. Printed for Alex. Hogg at the King's Arms, No. 16, Paternoster Row, in the year 1779, with near two hundred Capital Engravings, containing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America in 8 vols. 4 vols. in each book." ROBT. IBBETSON.
[Apparently not. It seems unmentioned in works of reference, and its author is not in ' D.N.B.']
WOODEN FONTS. In the handbook pub- lished by the Science and Art Department on 'Buildings having Mural Decorations,' it is mentioned that the wooden font at Marks Tey is the only recorded instance in England. Can any reader say if there are other ex- amples in existence ? H. P. P.
"THE GENTLE SHAKESPEARE."
(10 fh S. iii. 69 )
MR. HUTCHINSON'S faith in Shakspeare cannot be of a very stable kind, if it is upset by such considerations as he brings forward on the subject of the word "gentle" when applied to Shakspeare.
The grant of arms was confirmed to John Shakspeare in 1599, and his son's claim to coat armour and the designation of " gentle- man" were certainly admitted, for (1) his arms appear on his monument ; (2) Edmund Howes, in 1614, giving a list of poets of his time, speaks of Mr. William Shakespeare, gentleman. Each one of the twenty-seven names in his list (unless M. George Withers bo an exception) has its proper designation added knight, esquire, or gentleman. (3) In a Foot of Fines for 1610 he is styled yenerosus, though not arniiger ; he appears again as " gentleman " in the conveyance of the Blackfriars house, 10 March, 1612/13, and in the mortgage deed of same the next day ; also in the articles of agreement respecting the Stratford tithes, 28 October, 1614; in his will ; and in the Stratford burial register for 25 April, 1616. Is that sufficient evidence for the legal mind ? But, of course, the word ' : gentle" in Jonson's verses refers also, and mainly, to Shakspeare's character and dis- position. The preface to the First Folio has the epithet again, where the poet is called the "most gentle expresser"of nature, and again in Jonson's eulogy :
Thy art, My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part.
Jonson repeats the adjective a third (if not a fourth) time in his 'Timber' in 1630, when speaking "De Shakespeare nostrat." But even before Jonson, John Davies, of Hereford, in 1603 had written of Burbage and Shak- speare :
And though the stage doth staine pure gentle bloud, Yet generous yee are in minde and moode.
The poet Suckling, writing about 1640, takes up the word from his predecessor, and applies it to hia friend Shakspeare ; while Sir John Denham, in 1647, comparing Jonson and Shakspeare, credits the latter with the "gen- tler muse."
Other epithets applied to Shakspeare by his contemporaries are "sweet" (1595), "friendly" (1604), " deere-lov'd " (1607), "good" (1611), "honest" (1611), "worthy" friend (1623), "beloved" (1623), "open," ' free " (1630).
