70
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io i " s. in. JAN. as, uos.
position ? If the former, how is it appro-
priate ? Did not the heralds refuse his claim
to the right of bearing arms ? And did not
Jonson himself ridicule his claim ? If the
latter, what evidence is there that he de-
served it ? Are there not indications in the
known facts concerning him that he did not?
Was he not litigious and a relentless creditor ?
And did not Jonson speak of his "saucy
jests," and Greene of his "tiger's heart
wrapped in a player's hide " ?
_ These matters seem contradictory, and give
rise to the suggestion that Jonson had some
one else in his mind when speaking of " the
gentle Shakespeare," Who was it ? Was it,
as the Baconians say, Francis Bacon, who
assumed the name of "Shakespeare," and
wrote under it as a pen-name 1 If so, does
not the meaning of the inscription become
clear, and susceptible of the following para-
phrase and interpretation (I assume that
readers have the inscription before them or
in their memory) ?
" The figure or portrait above was cut (engraved) and inserted ^here for (instead, or in the place, of) the Gentle Shakespeare (the Shakespeare of the following plays Francis Bacon, who was 'gentle' both by birth and disposition).
"In executing it the engraver endeavoured to produce a likeness more lifelike than nature.
" could ke have drawn his wit (the Gentle Shakespeare's) as well in brass as he has hit his face (the features of the other), the print would have surpassed in beauty any engraving before pro- duced.
"But, since he cannot (or could not). Reader, look (for that wit) not at his picture (the Stratford man's picture), but hit book (' the Gentle Shake- speare's ' book)."
Now, I do not think I should have ven- tured to make these inquiries and sugges- tions, but that I see the same view taken by a recent writer, Mr. Pitt-Lewis, K.C., a well- known authority on the law of evidence, who, moreover, places side by side on the cover of his book (' The Shakespeare Story ') the por- traits of " Shakespeare " and Bacon, by way of contrast, and, as it were, of antithesis, pointing out that round the latter is printed the legend, " Si tabula daretur digna animam mallem" the text, as it would seem, of Jonson's reflections on and under the other.
All these things seem to me perplexing, and I see no way out of my perplexities at present except through the Baconian heresy. Can any readers of 'X. & Q.' save me from the consequences ? JOHN HUTCHIXSON.
Middle Temple Library.
[1. " Gentle " means of a character appropriate to good birth ; see the ' N.E.D.' Surely it was in those days a traditional term of compliment. Is there anything heraldic in "Gentle shepherd, tell me where ? 2. Unless this adjective is unsuitable to
Shakespeare, the whole inscription is as clear with
the ordinary interpretation as without it clearer,
indeed, since " his " has not, to refer to two different
persons in one sentence.]
WEEPER IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. In that very curious book 'The Court of Cacus,' by Alex. Leighton (1861, p. 46), reference is made to " the weeper in the House of Com- mons, who cried like a crocodile with his hands in his breeches pockets." What is the origin of this jocosity? JAMES HOOPER.
Norwich.
VERSES : AUTHOR WANTED.
The waking lark y* earely knows to draw the night
awaye Puts in my minde the trumpe y* blowes before the
latter daye.
The... to invite the great god sent a starre, Whose friends and nerest kin great princes are. Who though they run the waie (?) or sin and dye, Death seames but to refine ther maiestye. So died the Queene and did her courte remove ffrom this base earth to be enthronde above. Then she is changde, not dead no good prince dies, But onlye, like the sun, doth set to rise.
This verse, with some riming proverbs in the same handwriting (early seventeenth cen- tury), is on a fly-leaf of a copy of Philip Barrough's ' Method of Phisick,' R. Field, 159G. I send it to ask if it is known.
H. H. PEACH.
37, Belvoir Street, Leicester.
" STICKPENNY." In 1601 all the inhabitants of Cawston, Norfolk, had rights of pasture on the common, or Common Bruery, for all sorts of beasts, and might take heath, ling, flags, &c., on paying the queen 13s. 4d. a year, by the name of "Stickpenny." Else- where it is stated that they gave lOd. yearly for "stick pence," collected by the hey ward, at Michaelmas. Was "stickpenny" a recog- nized legal term? or was it peculiar to this Norfolk parish ? JAMES HOOPER.
Norwich.
RUPERT AS A CHRISTIAN NAME. The Taller of 26 Oct., 1904, had a picture of the German Crown Prince and a small boy. Beneath is a note of the family of the King of Bavaria, and the statement that the eldest son of the Arch- duchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este " bears the fine old Stuart name of Rupert." I always thought Rupert was a German name, and I shall be glad if any one can tell me if any of the kingly house of Stuart ever had such a Christian "name, except Rupert Prince Pala- tine who can hardly be called a Stuart. Ordinary information is one matter, but historical accuracy is a necessity.
HERBERT SOUTHAM.
