Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/170

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166


NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. VIL MAR. i, 1913.


^Virginia as his slave, lays hands upon her, thereupon the Clown (her servant) exclaims : "Do you press women for soldiers....? By this light, if thou hast any ears on thy head, as it is a question, I '11 make my lord pull you out by the ears, though you take a castle." Webster's

  • Works,' ed. Dyce, p. 164.

This seems to bear out Warburton's and Nares's statement that the term " castle " was applied to a particular kind of helmet, fitting close to the head and covering the ears. H. D. SYKES,

Enfield.

THE BUST OF SHAKESPEARE : EVIDENCES OF REMODELLING. It is recognized that the bust differs essentially from the other authentic portrayals of Shakespeare (the three engraved portraits by Droeshout, Marshall, and Faithorne), notably in the abnormally short nose and long upper lip ; also that most of the features are badly modelled, even as mortuary art ; but the following peculiarities have hitherto been overlooked, namely, that the left side of the face is much smaller than the right, is totally different in contour, and has no hair on the left temple to correspond with the right. 'The inference is that the nose, mouth, and left side of the face have been injured, and the injured parts clumsily remodelled, no special importance attaching to an image of Shakespeare at the time.

Owing to the otherwise inaccessible position of the bust, these injuries must have Ibeen done by a person standing on the altar- tomb of Dean Balsall, immediately to the left of the Shakespeare monument, where he would be just level with, and within arm's length of, the bust ; but the right, undamaged ide would be out of reach. He would appear to have struck the bust, which is of soft stone, with a sword possibly, injuring the nose, the mouth (lower lip) lips origin- ally closed as in the other portraits cutting off a lock of hair from the left templs, and generally injuring the left side of the face. There are no other signs of injury, restora- tion, or decay on the bust itself, except two broken fingers ; but restorations to other parts of the monument are recorded.

The contour of the undamaged right side agrees fairly with the Marshall, probably the most accurate in general outline of the three engravings before mentioned.

There are no grounds for the supposition that the figure is not original, similar ones being quite numerous. The Treherne figure in Southwark Cathedral by the same sculp- tor is, as far as possible, identical, with the exception of the high ruff.


Another instance of mutilation and restora- tion at Stratford is the tomb with the re- cumbent effigies of William Clopton and his wife Anne. The face of the former has evidently been greatly damaged, especially the lower part of it, and has been remodelled into some semblance of a face, a mere apology for one. The damage to the other figure is slight ; the tomb is otherwise in a good state of preservation; the figures are finely sculptured, excepting the remodelled parts.

The monument of John Coombe, a friend of Shakespeare, is another case of injury and repair of the nose.

The only monument in the church at this time which escaped injury appears to be that of the Earl and Countess of Totness.

J. R. P. PUBCHAS.

THE LORD OF BURLEIGH AND SARAH HOGGINS. (See ante, pp. 61, 83, 143.) The present owner of Burleigh Villa, formerly Bolas Villa, the house which Mr. " John Jones " erected at Great Bolas, has kindly given me some additional information from the title-deeds which it would be well to place on record in ' N. & Q.'

The Rev. Creswell Tayleur, who was lord of the manor of Bolas, and a large property- owner there, as welt as curate of the parish, in consideration of 2001. conveyed, on 29 Sept., 1789, to " John Jones " a cottage and tenement with the garden thereto belonging, situate on Bolas Heath, and four pieces of land adjoining thereto, in the holding of Sarah Brindley, and also two closes of land adjoining the said premises, in the occupation of Widow Harris, which premises contained altogether 7 a. 1 r. 37 p. " Mr. Jones " evidently pulled down the cottage, and erected a new house (Bolas Villafon its site, and here he lived with his second wife. On 1 Jan., 1798, "Henry, Earl of Exeter," conveyed the same land, and all that new messuage, &c., to the Rev. Creswell Tayleur, who gave the Earl 200/. for the property.

These deeds disprove the statement that " John Jones " built the house on waste lands which the lord of the manor allowed him to have gratis, and also that when he left Bolas he gave this property to his godchild, the Rev. Creswell Tayleur's son.

Hulbert in his ' History and Description of the County of Salop,' 1838, p. 154, has this statement about the erection of Bolas Villa :

" To erect this dwelling there was more difficulty than in common cases - the builders refused to work