244
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. SEPT. 23, 1911.
than " warray." There is no military sug-
gestion in it ; to array means here simply
to clothe ; the soul, the centre of our com-
posite being, is represented as clad in flesh
- ' sinful earth " one of the commonest
of metaphors. If we look at the original version as given by Main from the quarto, the proposed emendation appears even less likely than when it is compared with some modern versions : Poore soule the center of my sinf ull earth, My sinfull earth these rebbell powres that thee array.
None of the emendations of the first half of the second line is perhaps final, but " these " ought to be allowed to stand, arid " these " evidently refers to actually present objects, the powers of the body. Dyce reads " those," which might refer to distant powers, but "these" cannot. And the whole sonnet is concerned similarly with the antithesis of soul and body in such a way as should make it needless to ques- tion the accepted reading. C. C. B.
MR. WM. WEARE : THURTELL :
WILLIAM WEBB.
(See 6 S. xi. 468 et seq. ; 8 S. iv. 216 et seq.)
THE above references will suffice to put readers of ' N. & Q.' on the track of a con- siderable correspondence which took place in the summer of 1885 and autumn of 1893 .as to the genesis of the well-known Catnach rime
They cut his throat from ear to ear ..a question which was also discussed by George Augustus Sala in his ' Echoes of the Week ' in The Illustrated London News in -the autumn of 1884. The authorship was attributed to Thackeray, Hood, and other eminent personages. It may therefore in- terest some of your readers to revert to the subject, so I give certain particulars I have discovered for what they are worth.
In vol. ii. of The Sporting Review for 1839 Lord William Lennox contributed an article on the ' Industrious Classes of the Metro- polis,' which he entitled ' No. 2. The Last of the Links. '
The subject of his article was one William Webb, otherwise known as " Flare up " alias " Hoppy." He had fallen from the high estate of a tumbler in a perambulating circus to being a linkman. He was trans- ported for stealing the jewels of a prima donna while she was leaving the Opera- House, and died on his way to the Antipodes.
Lord William describes him as very versatile
and witty, and as the author of numerous
proverbs and bon - mots. He attributes
to him the origin of the saying,
He that prigs vot is not his'n,
If he's cotched must go to prison.
That he had a vein of humour is unques- tionable, for, when sentenced to transporta- tion for life, he bowed to the Recorder and asked if he could be favoured with an " addi- tional week." When about to start on his last journey, he wrote to a friend saying that he contemplated a trip to a remote colony, and should shortly embark in a ship that had been provided for him at the expense of the country, adding that he took with him a letter of introduction from the Secretary of State, and was transported at the idea.
Lord William asserts with some confidence that he was the author of the following poem (!), which, it will be seen, includes the lines that have been already so fully dis- cussed :
Air " There is nae luck about the house."
They asked him down from London town A-shooting for to go,
But little did the gemman think As they would shoot him too.
So Ruthven went, from Bow. Street sent,
Searching the country over Until he pitched into Joe Hunt,
John Thurtell, and Bill Probert.
His throat they cut from ear to ear,
His brains they punched in ; His name was Mr. William Weare
Wot lived in Lyon's Inn.
Confined he was in Hertford Jail,
A jury did him try, And worthy Mr. Justice Park
Condemned him for to die.
Now Mr. Andrews he did strive,
And Mr. Chitty too, To save the wicked wretch alive ;
But no ! it would not do.
Upon the gallows tree he hung,
Suspended by the neck. This fatal story have we sung
Foul murder for to check.
Lord William cites the above from memory, he says, but leaves the impression on the reader that there were still other stanzas.
WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S PORTRAITS AT HAMP-
TON COURT BY ZUCCARO OR ZUCCHERO.
(See 11 S. iii. 487.) To one of J. P. R 's
queries an answer may be found in Mrs.
Jameson's ' Handbook to the Public Gal-
leries of Art in and near London,' John
Murray, f 1845.
