Queries.

QUERIES AS TO MR. COLLIER'S "NOTES AND EMENDATIONS."

Query 1. Does Mr. Collier claim a copyright in the Emendations on the Text of Shakspeare lately published by him, and derived from MS. corrections in his old copy of the folio of 1632? He seems to intimate as much in what he says at p. 13. of his Introduction, when he speaks of a certain phrase never being again seen in any edition of Shakspeare, "unless it be reproduced by some one who, having no right to use the emendations of our folio 1632, adheres of necessity to the antiquated blunder, and pertinaciously attempts to justify it."

I doubt much whether he is entitled to any such privilege. If the words as restored were really those of Shakspeare, as is alleged, I do not see how the writer of the MS. corrections could himself claim any property in them; and if he had none, much less can Mr. Collier have. It would be a pity were the public to be deprived of the benefit of the corrections by the use of them being exclusively confined to Mr. Collier's editions.

Query 2. Does the writer of the MS. corrections occasionally give reasons in support of the changes proposed? At p. 306., Mr. Collier says: "The manuscript corrector assures us that although the intention of the dramatist is evident, a decided misprint has crept into the line."

Again, at p. 305., Mr. Collier says: "For 'senseless obstinate,' the corrector of the folio 1632 states that we must substitute words," &c. Again, at p. 352.: "A note in the folio 1632, induces us to believe that Shakspeare did not use the term," &c. The MS. corrector is also sometimes made to tell us, that a certain error is the printer's, and another that of the copyist. Perhaps these are only rhetorical forms of expression, to intimate that certain corrections appeared on the margin of the folio 1632, and Mr. Collier's own opinion of their propriety.

Scotus.

Edinburgh.

HONE'S "HISTORY OF PARODY."

A small collection of the political squibs and pamphlets published by Wm. Hone about 1820, has lately come into my possession. An advertisement in several of these announces that the large material collected for his defence had induced him to prepare, and "very speedily" to publish, A complete History of Parody, "with extensive graphic illustrations." This on March 20. Again, on October 2, same year, he says: "I take this opportunity of announcing that the work will appear in monthly parts, each containing at least five engravings, and that it will probably be completed in eight deliveries at 5s. each. I pledge myself that the First Part shall be published, without fail, on the 1st January next, and respectfully invite the names of subscribers. The money to be paid on the delivery of each Part."

Lastly, in an "Explanatory Address," appended to No. 1. of his Every-Day Book, dated 31st Dec., 1824, Hone says: "The History of Parody, with enlarged reports of my three trials, a royal 8vo. volume of 600 pages, handsomely printed, and illustrated by numerous engravings on copper and wood, plain and coloured, is in considerable forwardness. The price will be 2l. 2s., in extra cloth boards," &c.

Thus, though advertised more than four years previously, this work had not yet come out, and indeed, if not mistaken, I think it never appeared at all. Will some of your bibliographical correspondents inform me if my surmise is correct? and if so, what has become of Hone's MSS., and the large collection he made on the subject of parody?

James B. Murdoch.

162. Hope Street, Glasgow.

THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE'S LETTER TO SIR JOSEPH WILLIAMSON.

Sir Joseph Williamson, Secretary of State to Charles II., having presumed to recommend a candidate for her borough of Appleby, she wrote him the following spirited and well-known reply:

"I have been bullied by an usurper: I have been neglected by a court: but I will not be dictated to by a subject. Your man sha'n't stand.

"Anne Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery."

This statement is taken from A Sermon preached at the Funeral of Anne, Countess of Pembroke, &c., by Bishop Rainbow; with Biographical Memoirs (1839), page of the Memoir xiii. In a note, it is observed that—

"Mr. Lodge questions the genuineness of this letter, which appears to have been first published in The World in 1753."

I concur with Mr. Lodge. The style of the letter is quite modern: the verb "bully" seems also quite a modern coinage and the signature varies from the usual setting forth and sequence of titles contained in the inscriptions which the Countess placed over the gateways of her castles, as she repaired them, and which ran thus, the peerages being placed in the order of their creation, viz.: "Countess Dowager of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery." In support of the genuineness of the letter, it may be urged that Sir Joseph Williamson, from an early period after the Restoration until 1674, when he became Secretary of State, held various offices about the Court that might have thus brought him into collision with the Countess; that he was not a very scrupulous man; that he was the "son of a clergyman somewhere in Cumberland;" and that his highest promotion took place before the death of the Countess in 1675. (For some account of him, see Evelyn's Memoirs, Index.) To this it may be added, that the letter accords with her courageous spirit. Can no earlier authority be given for it than that of The World in 1753?

J. K.

[Although this subject has been already briefly discussed in our columns (see Vol. i., pp. 28. 119. 154.), we think it of sufficient interest to be renewed, now that our increased circulation will bring it under the notice of so many more readers; among whom, perhaps one may be found in a position to solve the mystery in which the authenticity of this oft-quoted letter is at present involved.]