378
NOTES AND QUERIES.
s. n. NOV. 5, im.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
Memoirs of the Verney Family during the Seven- teenth Century. Compiled from the Papers, and illustrated by the Portraits, at Claydon House. By Frances Parthenope Verney and Margaret M. Verney. 2 vols. (Longmans & Co.) IN two handsome and well-illustrated volumes we have here the contents of the four volumes of the history of the Verneys published by two successive Lady Verneys between 1892 and 1899. Full tribute to the value of these records has been paid, and the completed work is recognized as one of the most edifying, interesting, and delightful contributions ever made to our knowledge of the political and social life of the seventeenth century. Our own estimate of the work may be read by those who will turn to the reviews of the original edition which appeared 8 th S. i. 465 ; yii. 169 ; and 9 th S. iii. 78. A family more representative than the Verneys of Eng- land at its best, and occasionally at its worst, is not easily to be found. The part they took in the Civil Wars was prominent, and sometimes heroic, and the fate of Sir Edmund Verney, who held the royal standard at Edgehill, is genuinely tragic. Called upon to resign the flag which he held or to lose his life, he declared that his life was his own and the standard was his sovereign's. When the banner was captured his hand, cut off at the wrist, is said still to have clasped it. The story has more than once previously been told, but bears repetition.
We congratulate readers upon the opportunity of possessing one of the most interesting and instructive of works. To the bibliophile the first edition, with its fine type and its admirable illus- trations from the pictures in Claydon House and from other sources, will make the more direct appeal. For the purpose of the student who wishes to treat a fine book with becoming reverence, the present will prove a more useful and familiar friend. It also is abundantly illustrated, the subjects depicted being generally the same, though the designs are different. The family portraits are singularly attractive, and we know few works that offer a collection so interesting in itself or so calculated to repay attention. Some attempt at condensation is apparent in the new edition, but the treatment has been reverent, and such difference as is apparent is due to the correction of errors or the receipt of further information. No historical library can afford to be without these memoirs, which, more- over, are eminently readable and attractive, and may be perused with the certainty of delight. To her daughter Ruth, "a diligent gleaner in old Claydon's harvest fields," Lady Verney dedicates her book. It is gratifying to find that the literary traditions of the female side of the family are likely to be maintained.
Henslowe's Diary. Edited by Walter W. Greg,
M.A.-PartI. Text. (Bullen.) AN edition in library form of Henslowe's * Diary ' is one of the desiderata that might have been expected from a publisher such as Mr. Bullen, to whom the student of Tudor history is under a great and constantly augmenting load of obligation. So far as the text is concerned, this is now supplied. It is in the main in facsimile, and will be the edition henceforth employed by scholars. The history of
the precious document is too well known to call for
further comment. It has, moreover, been the subject
of special attention in our columns. Few works are
now more familiar or more serviceable to the close
student than the 'Catalogue of the Manuscripts
and Muniments of Alleyn's College of God's Gift afc
Dulwich,' compiled for the Governors by Mr. George-
F. Warner, of the British Museum, and published
for them in 1881 by Messrs. Longman. In this,
saddening record of neglect of priceless possessions
appears, pp. 157 et seq., the first authoritative-
account of the forgeries interpolated in the work
by John Payne Collier, a part of that terrible
system of falsification to which that industrious
and, in some ways, capable scholar was addicted.
What was the extent of his individual guilt in con-
nexion with the MSS. in our national collection-
will never, probably, be found out, any more than-
the extent of the mutilations by Malone or another
to which the Henslowe ' Diary ' has been subjected*
These things are dealt with in the introduction
to the present volume, what is said having the
unimpeachable authority of Mr. Warner. Up to
now our knowledge of the contents of the diary has
been due to Collier's ' Transcripts,' printed for the
Shakespeare Society in 1845, the extracts given by
Malone as a supplement to the ' Variorum Shake-
speare ' of 1821 being inadequate to satisfy general
requirements. From Colliers work the present
edition differs widely, numerous variations occur-
ring on every page. It is needless to say that the-
advantage is in every case on the side of Mr. Greg's-
edition, which is dedicated to Mr. Warner. It is-
unnecessary to dwell upon the merits and claims of a,
work which brings us into closest association with-
the writers and actors of Tudor times, and lets in a
flood of light as to their habits and needs. No less
superfluous is it to tell afresh the story of the
vicissitudes of the MS., portions of which, known
to have been in existence during the last century,
are now lost. Quotations are made by Malone
many of them of abundant interest of matter
which has disappeared, and for which he is
now our only authority. To the list of forgeries
given by Mr. Warner and in our columns by Mr
C. M. Ingleby (see 6 th S. iv. 103) Mr. Greg adds one
more. Among those whose handwriting appears in
the volume are George Chapman, Henry Chettle,
John Day, Thomas Dekker, Michael Drayton,
William Haughton, Henry Porter, and Samuel
Rowley. These things are known, however, and
our duty to our readers is fulfilled in announcing
the appearance, in a handsome and convenient
shape, of a work which is indispensable to every
worker in the fields of the drama.
Worke for Cvtlers ; or, a Merry Dialogue betweene Sivord, Rapier, and Dagger. Edited by Albert Forbes Sieveking, F.S.A. (C. J. Clay & Sons.) PERFORMANCES at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, on 23 July, 1903, and in the Hall of Gray's Inn on 7 Jan., 1904, have been instrumental in bringing about the issue of a new and an annotated edition in facsimile of a rare and curious Jacobean dialogue first "Acted in a Shew in the famous Universitie of Cambridge. London, Printed by Thomas Creede t for Richard Meighen and Thomas lones ; and are to be sold at S. Clements Church without Temple- Barre. 1615," 4to. Concerning the original work little is known. A copy, long supposed to be unique, of which the present is "an exact line-for-line and word-for-word reproduction," is in the British
