Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/33

9* S. IV. July 1, '99.] 19 NOTES AND QUERIES. and, and Feveraham, and by the Lords Wenlock, Wentworth, Colville of Culross, Arundell of War- dour, and Houghton. Since that time no action has been taken. Simon Thomas Scrope died in 1872, and Simon Conyers Scrope, who now claims to be lie jure the twenty-first Earl of Wiltshire, may apply to the Crown, as is urged upon him by Mr. Metcalfe, by petition of right. That injustice was done is the opinion of many best qualified to judge. A question of the kind cannot conveniently be opened out in these columns. Mr. Metcalfe puts the case strongly, and his arguments may be com- mended to our readers. His book is, however, that of a historian as well as that of an advocate. It supplies an account of the great historic family the Scropes of Yorkshire, including the Lord') Scrope of Bolton, the Lords Scrope of Masham, and the Scropes of Danby. To those who know the place occupied in history and literature by the Scropes no accession of rank would bring an increase of consideration, and even so great an earldom as that of Wiltshire might easily be foregone. That a dis- tinction might be foregone constitutes no reason, however, why a privilege should be withheld, and an appeal to the Crown to reverse a decision appa- rently unjust is natural and commendable under the circumstances. A chief objection to the claim was that it had been so long withheld. Sufficient reasons for delay are furnished in the volume. In the 'Extinct Peerage' of Burke it is simply chro- nicled that this peerage is forfeited. Such was not and could not be the case, since, as is shown, the attainder was invalid, the taking up arms for a monarch then regnant being incapable of being construed into an act of treason. Leaving, how- ever, the region of legal subtleties, we may draw attention to the references to the Earl of Wiltshire and his brother. Sir Stephen Scroop or Scrope, in Shakespeare's ' Richard II.' (see Act III. sc. ii.). Four Scropes have been immortalized in the historical plays of Shakespeare, two in the ballad of ' Flodden Field,' and one in that of ' Kinmont Willie.' In addition to the Earl of Wiltes, two Scropes have been beheaded. Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, 1398-1405, after his informal condemnation by Sir William Fulthorpe, who was not a judge, was executed under the walls of York, and was buried in York Minster, where his tomb, still existing, was held for some time to work miracles. He was the noted par- ticipant in the rising of the Percies, for which see Shakespeare's ' King Henry IV.' The third was Sir Henry le Scrope, third Baron Scrope of Masham, who was beheaded for his share in the con- spiracy to dethrone Henry Y. in favour of the Earl of March. It is, naturally, hopeless for us to follow the fortunes of the Scropes, with which those of the ancestors of Mr. Metcalfe were at one time allied. Their story is well told by Mr. Metcalfe, who warmly espouses their cause. The present volume will be welcome in the dales of the North Riding watered by the Swale and the Ure, and throughout Yorkshire generally. Its interest will not, indeed, be confined to the three Ridings, but will extend wherever history and, we may add, literature are studied. The illustrations include a splendid armorial book-plate, a portrait of the Earl of Wiltes, &c, for a description of which see 9th S. i. 480. A pedigree showing the descent of the present claimant of the earldom is a feature in a book which is issued by subscription. A few copies —they are but few—are accessible to the student. The Roxburghe Ballad*. Edited by Joseph Wood- fall Ebsworth, F.S.A. Part XXVII. Vol. IX. ^ (Ballad Society.) So much matter of highest interest has come into the hands of Mr. Ebsworth since he undertook the eighth and final volume of ' The Roxburghe Ballads' that he has been compelled to divide it in two, and the series now extends to nine volumes. The whole of this is in print, and though more valuable and interesting matter is to be had for the asking, the editing and publication of ' The Roxburgho Ballads' are accomplished. Since the death of Mr. Chappell, by whom the first volumes were edited, the work has been entirely in the hands of Mr. Ebsworth, to whose zealous, untiring, and unremu- nerated labours we have constantly drawn attention. It will convey some idea of the amount of labour involved when we say that Mr. Ebsworth has con- tributed to the Ballad Society 6,052 pages of not far short of four hundred words to a page. This task has been achieved by one man without any form of acknowledgment or recompense, the miser- able dole of thanks even, which one would have thought inevitable, having been withheld. Societies, like corporations—according to the famous mot of Sydney Smith—have no souls to be saved, and no more to be kicked than have the cherubim. If, however, one spark of gratitude lingers in the minds of those whose interests Mr. Ebsworth has so well served, an opportunity still presents itself. Material for a small index volume remains unpub- lished. This, if printed, will consist of a thin half- part, of some hundred and sixty pages, containing an index of historical persons and events, which is obviously necessary to the completeness and utility of the collection. If this is to see the light, one of two things must happen. Either voluntary subscriptions to the cost must be made by possessors of the set, or the editor must add to his self-imposed labours of editing and illustrating the part after the fashion in which previous parts nave been edited and illustrated the cost of printing—a burden which surely should not be imposed upon him, and which it is too much to expect him to undertake. Having made this further protest and appeal— for, in fact, it is both—we turn to the contents of the part itself. These are sufficiently interesting and miscellaneous, including, among other things, admirable frontispieces to vols, i., ii., and hi., and a ballad index to vol. viii. The volume opens with a collection of Restoration ballads, reprinted from editions supposedly unique. These deal with sub- jects such as General Monck, the destruction of the Rump, the festivities in London upon the return of the king and upon his coronation, together with congratulations upon the execution of the regicides. Two of them are concerned, moreover, with the escape of Charles after the defeat at Worcester, and his preservation in the royal oak. A quaint illus- tration to the last shows him in the tree, a large and not too well-favoured bird, with three crowns adhering in a sufficiently uncomfortable fashion to his head. The ballads which follow are of a more amorous complexion, and consist of wooing-songs of Kent, circa 1553 and 1611, one of the best being 'Fair Susan of Ashford.' We have then 'The Inconstant Maiden; or, the Forsaken Young Man,' ' The Praise of Saviors,' ' How Oxford Scholars spent their Time, Robin Goodfellow: the King of Pharies,' ' Pyramus and Thisbe ; or, Love's Master- piece,' &c. Most of these have admirable and quaint illustrations. In addition to the designs Mr. Ebs-