Replies.
Reading edition
BISHOP PURSGLOVE (SUFFRAGAN) OF HULL.
(Vol. vii., p. 65.)
Some time since, when at Tideswell (which is in Derbyshire, not Devonshire), I made a rubbing from the brass of Bishop Pursglove, from which I have copied the inscription asked for by A. S. A., on a plate of brass underneath the figure.
"Under this stone as here doth ly, a corps sumtime of fame, In Tiddeswall bred and born truely, Robert Pursglove by name; And there brought up by parents' care, at schoole and learning trad; Till afterwards, by Uncle dear, to London he was had, Who, William Bradshaw hight by name, in pauls wch did him place, And yr at schoole did him maintain full thrice three whole years' space; And then into the Abberye was placed as I wish, In Southwarke call'd, where it doth ly, Saint Mary Overis. To Oxford then, who did him send, into that Colledge right, And there fourteen years did him find wh. Corpus Christi hight; From thence at length away he went, a Clerke of learning great, To Gisburn Abbey streight was sent, and plac'd in Prior's seat. Bishop of Hull he was also, Archdeacon of Nottingham, Provost of Rotheram Colledge too, of York eak Suffragan. Two Gramer Schooles he did ordain with Land for to endure, One Hospital for to maintain twelve impotent and poor. O Gisburne, thou, with Tiddeswall Town, lement and mourn for may, For this said Clerk of great renoun lyeth here compact in clay. Though cruell Death hath now down brought this body wc here doth ly, Yet trump of Fame stay can he nought to sound his praise on high."
"Qui legis hunc versum crebro reliquum memoreris Vile cadaver sum, tuque cadaver eris."
The inscription is in black letter, except the words which are in small capitals.
On a fillet round the slab, with the evangelistic symbols at the corners,—
" Christ is to me as life on earth, and death to me is gaine, Because I trust through Him alone saluation to obtaine; So brittle is the state of man, so soon it doth decay, So all the glory of this world must pas and fade away.
"This Robert Pursglove, sometyme Bishoppe of Hull, deceased the 2 day of Maii, in the year of our Lord God, 1579."
Wood says (Ath. Oxon., edit. Bliss, ii. c. 820.), that about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign he was made Archdeacon of Nottingham, and suffragan Bishop of Hull; but Dr. Brett, in a letter printed in Drake's Eboracum, 1736, fol., p. 539., says he was appointed in 1552, the last year of the reign of Edward VI.
John I. Dredge.
In Wharton's List of Suffragan Bishops, the following entry occurs:
"Robertus Silvester, alias Pursglove, epūs Hullensis, 1537, 38."
But this is probably a mistake, as, in a short account of his life by Anthony à Wood (vol. ii. col. 820., Athen. Oxon., edited by Bliss), I find it stated, that "on the death of Rob. Sylvester about the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, he was made Archdeacon of Nottingham, and suffragan Bishop of Hull, under the Archbishop of York." Wood afterwards adds:
"After Queen Elizabeth had been settled in the throne for some time, the oath of supremacy was offered to him, but he denying to take it, was deprived of his archdeaconry and other spiritualities."
Tyro.
It appears, from Dugdale's Warwickshire, that Pursglove assented to the suppression of Gisburne in December, 1540, and became a commissioner for persuading other abbots and priors to do the same. It is doubtful at what time he was appointed to the see of Hull; whether in the last year of Edward VI. or in Queen Mary's reign, though it is certain, in 1559, he refused to take the oath of supremacy to Elizabeth.
The hospital and schools mentioned in the epitaph are Gisborough and Tideswell.
R. J. Shaw.
THE GREGORIAN TONES.
(Vol. vi., pp. 99. 178.)
I have neither time nor inclination to expose all the errors and fallacies of Mr. Matthew Cooke's article on "Gregorian Tones;" but I cannot resist pointing out certain statements which are calculated to mislead the readers of "N. & Q." in no trifling degree. The writer says:
"The most ancient account we have is, that St. Ambrose of Milan knew of four tones in his day, and that he added four others to them; the former being those termed authentic, the latter the plagal modes."
Now the fact is, that St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (A.D. 374 to 397), chose from the ancient Greek modes four series or successions of notes, and called them simply the first, second, third, and fourth tones; laying completely aside the ancient heathen names of Doric, Phrygian, Lydian, Ionic, &c. St. Gregory the Great, who governed the Christian Church from A.D. 591 to 604, added the four additional tones. These eight ecclesiastical successions or scales, which still exist as such in the music of the Roman Liturgy, are called Gregorian after their founder. Thus the old Ambrosian chant is known at present only through the medium of the Gregorian.
The writer continues his statement in these words—
"Some years since, the renowned French theorist, Mons. Fetis, went to Milan for the express purpose of consulting the celebrated Book of Offices, written by St. Ambrose in his own handwriting, which is there preserved [the Italics are added]; and in his work, published in Belgium, he says that he collated them with those known and received amongst us; and that the variations were of the slightest possible character, the tones being ostensibly the same."
This extraordinary statement cannot be accepted without the title of M. Fetis' work, and the passage upon which it rests, verbatim in the author's own words. But I have no hesitation in saying that it is founded in error.
Thibaut (Ueber der Reinheit der Tonkunst, pp. 28-30.) speaks of a MS. of the Gregorian chants at St. Gall, in Switzerland, as old as the ninth century. This is believed, by all accredited modern writers upon music, to be the oldest MS. of the tones extant.
Edward F. Rimbault.