170
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. ix. MARCH i, 1902.
the Church of England,' this is all that I find :
"Which brings into my mind a sharp, but
shrewd character of the king, occurring in the
writings of some, but more common in the
mouths of many, that is to say, that he
- never spared woman in his lust, nor man in
his anger'" (vol. i. p. 30, Cambridge, 1849). It is, therefore, a quotation, but Heylin supplies no reference, and, from his indefinite language, was apparently ignorant of the author's name. The book fust quoted was published in 1661, but the phrase is to be found in a volume printed exactly twenty years before that date. In Sir Robert Naun- ton's 'Fragmenta Regalia 'we find it given thus: "The atrocity of the father's nature was rebated in her [Elizabeth], by the mother's sweeter inclinations ; for (to take, and that no more than the character out of his own mouth) ' he never spared man in his anger, nor woman in his lust.'" I quote from the reprint in the fifth volume of the ' Har- leian Miscellany,' p. 122. But it will take much stronger evidence than this to make one believe that Henry himself was the originator of so cynical a phrase. Until such be forthcoming, we may well believe that the " character " is, so to speak, a crystallization of the sayings of several writers, among whom the first is the one cited by Robert Burton in his 'Anatomy' (part iii. sec. ii. mem. ii. subs, i.) : " Nicholas Sanders relates of Henry VIII. (I know not how truly), Quod paucas vidit pulchriores quas non concupierit, et paucissimas concupierit quas non violarit. He saw very few maids that he did not desire, and desired fewer whom he did not enjoy." Burton's reference is simply "Vita ejus," but this must mean the celebrated work ' De Schismate Anglicano' (to give the short title used by Fuller and Heylin), which was pub- lished long before the close of the sixteenth century. This is surely authority enough for the first part of the saying ; 'if .any be wanted for the second, we find it in the words of Sir Walter Raleigh in the preface to his ' History of the World,' p. 8. London, 1614 : " If all the pictures and patterns of a merci- less prince were lost in the world, they might all again be painted to the life, out of the story of this king." And yet Peter Heylin (who quotes these words), Thomas Fuller, and Gilbert Burnet would have us believe that this " Moloch's " vices were redeemed by his virtues, and that he was a chosen instrument of the Almighty to do great things.
JOHN T. CURRY.
_ In Thomas Ward's 'England's Reforma- tion, from the Time of King Henry VIII to the End of Oates's Plot, a Poem in Four
Cantos,' 1716, Henry is described as one
who
In his hate spared no man,
Nor in his lust spared any woman ;
Who ne'er was rul'd by any law,
Nor gospel valued he a straw.
I quote from memory, so may not be verbally accurate. K. P. D. E.
This terrible epigram has been long familiar to me as occurring in Naunton's 'Fragmenta Regalia.' I quote from the first edition (1641), p. 3. Naunton is writing of Queen Elizabeth :
" The atrocitie of the Fathers nature was rebated in her, by the Mothers sweeter inclinations for to take, and that no more then the Character out of his owne mouth, he never spared man in his Anger, wor woman in his Lu*t."
Is it possible that this attribution of the words to King Henry VIII. rests on any earlier authority than Naunton's ?
C. E. D.
' THE PALATINE'S DAUGHTER ' (9 th S. viii. 505). The bilingual verses quoted may be compared with those (A.-S. and Lat.) in the ' Oratio Poetica,' published in * Be Domes Drege' (E.E.T.S.), the reading of which is, as will be seen, continuous. I append four lines :
& se soSf testa . sum mi films .
fo on fultuni . factor cosmi .
Se of reSelre wres . virginis partu .
Cl?ne acenned . Christus in orbem .
The alliteration of luces and virginis may be noted, though well known. H. P. L.
FATHER PAUL SARPI'S 'LETTERS,' 1693 (9 th S. ix. 81). Edward Browne, who was collated to the rectory of Sund ridge, Kent, on 29 January, 1688/9, was described in the certificate of his collation as "clericus, artium magister." His degree may possibly provide a clue to further particulars of him. Edward' Tenison, his successor in the rectory, was collated on 12 October, 1698. H. C.
STAUNTON, WORCESTERSHIRE (9 th S. viii. 383, 510; ix. 11, 92, 110). If SIR CHARLES DILKE is able to say that there was a family of Staunton which derived its surname from Staunton in Worcestershire, cadet qucestio. The Staunton near Coleford, in Gloucester- shire, certainly gave its name to a baronial house. Johannes de Staunton and Alicia relicta Philippi de Staunton are rated to the Subsidy of 1327, under the heading " Libertas de S'c'o Briauell', Villa de Staunton," i.e., Staunton juxta Coleford. The county his- tories seem to imply that it was a Staunton of this house who was married to Sir William
