yard. The upper stories are approached by an antique oak staircase, and in addition to a spacious drawing-room there are nine rooms. The floors are principally fine old oak." "The property is freehold, except a small encroachment on the street, granted by the Corporation by leases from time to time to the Johnson family and to Mr. Clarke at the annual rent of two shillings."

The sale was truly Johnsonian. It was held at the old "Three Crowns," where Dr. Johnson put up whenever he visited his native city; the auctioneer seated himself in "the doctor's chair" while he discoursed on the antiquarian interest and value of the house; and finally, to complete the story of the sale, the purchaser was none other than Mr. G. H. Johnson, of Southport, who, although no relation or descendant of the doctor, bought the property for 8001. " to save it from the hands of spoilers." A full account of the house and its descent will be found in the Lichfield Mercury of Oct. 21, 1887, in which the interesting letters on the title deeds to the property printed in the Times are reproduced.

and the curious error in the spelling of the name of the father is noteworthy.

The gravestone which formerly covered the remains of the Johnsons in St. Michael's having long since disappeared during some so-called restoration (and probably in the same manner as the gravestone of Edward Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College, as pointed out by me in 'N. & Q.,' July 11, 1885), my worthy and much-lamented friend the late rector (the Rev. J. J. Sergeantson), after an exhaustive and fruitless search for the missing stone, about three years before his untimely death, laid down a new stone in his church with a copy on it of the old inscription.

The statue of Dr. Johnson, by T. C. Lucas, in the Market-place, opposite the house, was erected in August, 1838, and the original model of it is now in the museum at Lichfield, where also is to be seen the original vote of thanks awarded to the donor (the Rev. J. T. Law, Chancellor of the diocese) by the Town Council of the city. A plaster cast of the subject of the penance on one side of the pedestal was taken in September, 1878 for reproduction on the Uttoxeter monument.

There are many interesting relics of the doctor and the Johnson family to be found in the Lichfield Museum cases, and I would refer any one to notes on some of these printed by me in the Builder, Jan. 4, 1879, and March 25, 1882, in two articles

Having detailed the most recent of Johnsonian events, I will now give a few interesting facts relating to the doctor, which I think ought to find a permanent place in the pages of 'N. & Q.' They have been collected after some diligent research for a new edition of my history of the Fleet Street district (Memorials of Temple Bar'), in which neigh-on bourhood Dr. Johnson so long lived, and where, in one of its then quiet aristocratic courts (Bolt Court), he died Dec. 13, 1784.

Messrs. Barnes, of Lichfield, possess the original documents relating to Dr. Johnson's house for 200 years, and among these the marriage settlement, dated June 11, 1706, between Michael Johnson, of Lichfield, bookseller (and others as trustees), and Sarah Ford, spinster, daughter of Cornelius Ford, of Packwood, co. Warwick, gent. In March, 1707, the house called "in Saddler's Street, alias Markett Street......in the corner over against the Markett Crosse," was conveyed to Michael Johnson by Nathaniel Barton, silkman of the City of London, to whom it was bequeathed by his mother, Sarah Barton, of Coventry, widow.

In the baptismal register of St. Mary's Church, Lichfield, which church faces the Johnson house, are the following entries :

14.

1709, Sept. Bapt. Sam', son of Mich' Johnson, gent. 7. 1712, Oct. Bap Nathaniel, son of Mr Mich' Johnson.

These were the doctor and his brother. Next, in the burial register of St. Michael's, Lichfield, are these entries :

1731. Dec. 7. Buried Mr Michael Jonson, a Magistrate of y' City.

1736/7. Mar. 5. Buried Nathaniel Johnson.

1759, Jan 23. Burd Mr Johnson, Widow, aged 89. These refer to the burial of the parents and brother,

Lichfield and its associations. I may. however, add that at the sign of the "Johnson Head' in Bird Street (and at the corner of Market Street which leads to the Market-place) the present mayor of the city (Mr. A. C. Lomax) and his father before him (mayor fifty years ago) have carried on the business of booksellers and stationers since the good old days when George III. was king. The present representative of the city when I was n Lichfield exhibited before me with well-merited pride a very interesting collection of Johnsonian relics, among which may be mentioned the doctor's walking-stick, Prayer Book, table, the bust by Nollekens, Mrs. Johnson's wedding-ring (which I had the curiosity to put on my own finger), ivory tablets, &c., all of which were purchased of Barber, so well known by readers of Boswell.

Michael Johnson, of "the City and County of Lichfield, Bookseller," was associated with one John Adderley in the bond, inventory, an administration of the goods, &c., of Thoma Adderley, Vicar of Eccleshall, Feb. 7, 1690/1 and signed the papers "Mich. Johnson. Richard Wakefield, of Lichfield, gent., by wil proved in February, 1733/4, bequeathed 66 to my Godsons Mr. Richard Bayley and Mr. Samuel Johnson 5l. each." It would be interesting to know whether this Samuel was our doctor.

The last fact of interest to note is at the present time not the least in value. In the William Salt Library at Stafford the courteous librarian, Dr.

the late Dr. C. M. Ingleby's edition of 'Cymbeline' (1886). Upon finding that so thorough a scholar as Ingleby had omitted to notice the similarities that had struck me, I concluded that the discovery, if such it was, was worth publishing.

Mazzinghi, permitted, at my request, a full inspection of the original papers relating to the sale of the Johnson house at Lichfield in 1785. In the accounts we read, "For the purchase of Dr. Johnson's House. Sold for 235l.," a year's rent, 127. Among the payments-a year's land tax, 13s.; a 'The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune' year's rent due to the Corporation, 2s. 6d. (it is opens with a quarrel between Venus and Fortune now 2s.). In accordance with the codicil of Dr. which, upon being submitted to the decision of Johnson's will, the money realized by the sale Jupiter, leads to their both trying their power (after paying all expenses), 215l. 10s., was upon a couple of lovers, the Imogen and Postdivided between Thomas and Benjamin Johnson, humus of Shakespeare, the Fidelia and Hermione William Whiting and Ann his wife, and Mary of the play before us. The parallelism of the two Bill, whose signatures and receipts are appended to plays upon many points will be apparent from the the papers, the whole account being "settled and following sketch of the plot of the 'Rare Triumphs':allowed by us to be true and correct," July 17, A noble lord, Bomelio (Shakespeare's Belarius), after 1786, so that it is a curious coincidence that a few serving his king, Phizanies (Shakespeare's Cymbemonths after the century since the sale Dr. John-line), in war, is banished from the court owing to son's house has again been sold, and sold this time to another representative of the name. T. C. NOBLE.

Greenwood Road, Dalston.

SHAKSPEARIANA.

ORIGINAL OF CYMBELINE' AND POSSIBLY OF "THE TEMPEST.-Many commentators have pointed out the difficulty of tracing the source of Shakespeare's Cymbeline,' while in the case of "The Tempest' they have been completely baffled. To the former play Holinshed's 'Chronicle' contributed the quasi-historical setting, and the 'Decamerone' the Iachimo element of the plot; but for the banished Belarius and Leonatus Posthumus it has been felt that Shakespeare must have drawn upon another source. This source Mr. W. W. Lloyd, in his 'Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare,' supposes to have been an early play, now lost, in which Belarius and Posthumus were originally one, and out of which they were subsequently duplicated by Shakespeare (ed. 1875, p. 489). This conjecture was natural under the circumstances; but, as I hope to show, is unsupported by facts. For the original of part of Cymbeline,' as well as of the character of Prospero and several incidents in The Tempest,' will be found in 'The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune,' originally printed in black-letter quarto in 1589, reprinted and edited by J. Payne Collier for the Roxburghe Club in 1851, and subsequently again in 1874 in Mr. Carew Hazlitt's edition of 'Dodsley's Old English Plays' (vol. vi.).

After reading the play the similarity between the 'Rare Triumphs' and 'Cymbeline' appeared to me so striking that I was astonished to find that it had escaped Collier's notice. At least, he made no mention of it in his "General Introduction," which is reprinted in Hazlitt's Dodsley. Knowing that the old play had been accessible so long, I hesitated to communicate what must be to most scholars a "chestnut" until I had consulted

some slander. In this strait he takes up his abode in a cave not far off, and is known as the "old hermit." Here he, like Prospero, studies magic, and some time before the commencement of the play he had given his son Hermione (Shakespeare's Posthumus) to the king "for a jewel of some price." Since this transaction Hermione, like Posthumus, has lived in court, enjoying "the king's gracious countenance," and what more natural than that he should attract the affections of the king's daughter Fidelia (Shakespeare's Imogen)? The play begins with Fidelia's brother Armenio (Shakespeare's Cloten) discovering the loves of Hermione and Fidelia, whereupon a quarrel takes place, ending in a passage of arms between Hermione and Armenio (as in Shakespeare), in which Armenio is wounded. Hermione is promptly banished from the court, but before leaving secures, as he thinks, a faithful go-between for himself and Fidelia in the person of Penulo, a courtier and parasite. Hermione hies off to the old hermit's cave, where he is recognized by Bomelio as his son. Hermione accordingly sends through Penulo to ask Fidelia to join her lover in the hermit's cave; but, unlike Posthumus's Pisanio, Penulo proves false, and dispatches Armenio after his sister. She is accordingly dragged back to court, but Armenio is struck dumb by Bomelio's sorcery. The sequel of the play is not much to our purpose. Bomelio, in the disguise of an "uplandish" physician, visits the court, and offers to cure Armenio of his dumbness, managing meanwhile to abduct Fidelia for his son. The dénoument takes place in the cave, whither the king and courtiers resort. As in Cymbeline,' we have a theophany (Mercury, Venus, and Fortune) taking part with the mortals in the action of the play. It ends with the restoration of Bomelio to court and of Armenio to speech, while Fidelia gets her Hermione.

Besides the general similarity of the 'Rare Triumphs' and 'Cymbeline,' there are several points to be noticed in detail. The character, such

of Sonnet XXXI. :—

Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts

Which I by lacking have supposed dead: And there reigns love, and all love's loving parts, And all those friends which I thought buried. ROBERT F. GARDINER. There is nothing unmetrical in the line

And strength by limping sway disabled. The word is to be pronounced disabeled, as four syllables; and disabled gives excellent sense, whether we understand it as meaning impaired or disparaged. Cf. 'Merchant of Venice,' I. i. 123; 'As You Like it,' V. iv. 80. D. C. T. Warpenden Rectory, Guildford.

nuisance, which is supposed to be of French origin, is also a form of the French barre, for in the dictionary of the French Academy and in Bescherelle I find one of the meanings given certaines maladies," though I cannot find it in Littré. A French friend tells me, however, that one still often hears people say in France, when they have a cramp or colicky pain running across the stomach or abdomen, "Je me sens [or j'ai, or j'ai comme] une barre dans l'estomac [or le ventre]." F. CHANCE. Sydenham Hill.

LORD NELSON'S DRESS AT TRAFALGAR.-In an article in the Daily Telegraph (Oct. 22, 1887) on the Victory, Nelson's ship at Trafalgar, there occurs the following description of the hero enter

:

meeting of two tides or by the rushing of the tide up a narrowing estuary." No. 1 meaning does not seem to be satisfactorily established, for it is marked with?, but it is supposed to come from "O.N. bára, wave, billow." And as for No. 2 meaning," malaise qu'on éprouve au travers du ventre dans it is considered doubtful whether it is the same word, and no other origin is offered. Still it is the only meaning with which we are familiar at the present time. Now, on September 23, an accident to à vessel (apparently an English one) was recorded in the Daily News as having taken place on the 22nd near Villequier, at no great distance from the mouth of the Seine, in consequence of the "great tidal bore wave which rises on the Seine near Caudebec whenever a high flood-tide sets in strongly against the downward course of the river." I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for making out the real French equivalent for bore in this sense,t and I accord-ing into the battle: ingly referred to the French Figaro of the same date, and there, in the description of the same accident, the word used was barre ("une barre, haute de dix pieds, a pris en travers le navire, qui a été balayé et a chaviré "). This looks as if bore and barre were the same word, and, if so, the French word is evidently the older. We can perfectly understand also why the word barre (=bar) has been applied to such a tidal wave, for this forms just as great a barrier for the time being as the bar of a river (also called barre) does permanently. The Daily News speaks of this frequently occurring tidal wave in the Seine as "this wall of water." The only difficulty is, Why is the French barre ordinarily represented by bar in English, and in this particular case by bore?§ It is possible, however, that bore="malady of ennui" ('N.E.D.'), whence ennui, annoyance,

The only example given is, curiously enough, spelled bare, and it seems to me somewhat doubtful whether it is a substantive at all. Stratmann, however, has four examples of the form bare (he writes it bare), to which he gives the meaning of "bore, fluctus, unda "; whilst in the N.E.D.,' s.v." Bare," this meaning is not even mentioned and no reference is given to bore. In Ducange I find the Low Latin bara fluctus, unda.

†The only equivalent I had hitherto been able to find was ras (or raz) de marée (see Gasc and Littré), but according to Littré this is an upheaval of the sea due to something more than the tide.

Littré's definition of barre in this sense is "les premières lames que la marée montante pousse dans un fleuve." Bescherelle's, which pleases me better, is "ligne ou vague élevée, transversale, constante, que produit le choc des eaux des grands fleuves, descendant avec force contre les eaux de la mer, qui remontent par

l'effet de la marée."

§ It is admitted in the N.E.D.,' however, that bore wave was at one time spelled bare. See note*. And boar (the animal) was sometimes spelled bare in M.E. (N.E.D.), whilst in Old French barre was sometimes spelled bare, especially when it meant barrier (Godefroy and Littré). Very probably there has been some confusion with the name of the animal. See note .

6

tripping forth upon his quarter-deck, dressed to the "The memory pictures the dauntless little sea-lord nines, as if for a court day or ball, with gold-bound coat, epaulettes, and glittering orders upon his breast, jewelled sword at his side, gay with the gladness of a heart," &c.

Now it so happens that my late father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Scott, who was Lord Nelson's chaplain, and was with him when he died, has appended a note, now before me, in correction of an equally stilted account of the hero's dress given in Harrison's 'Life of Lord Nelson':

"This is wrong: he wore the same coat he did the day before, nor was there the smallest alteration in his dress whatsoever from other days. In this action he had not his sword with him on deck, which in other actions he had always carried with him.-A. J. SCOTT."

ALFRED GATTY, D.D.

"OTHER" AS A PLURAL.-It is common to illustrate the plural use of other from writers not later than the Elizabethan age, and thus to convey the impression that it is not to be found later than the seventeenth century. Thus Dr. Morris, in his English Accidence,' p. 150, gives "some other" as used by Ascham and Shakespeare, and "other some" as occurring in Acts xvii. 18; and then adds, "A new plural was afterwards formed by the ordinary plural suffix s." Dr. Abbott ('Shakespearian Grammar,' p. 25), after explaining the correctness of other as a plural, proceeds, "Our modern 'others said' is only justified by a custom." It would be important to settle at what period the plural use of the form was discontinued and the modern practice established. The following sentence, which occurs in one of the letters of Beattie, author of 'The Minstrel,' and a reputed stylist in his day, shows that "some other" was still in fashion in 1759. Speaking of Richardson's

Clarissa,' which was then a new book, Beattie observes, "They who read more for amusement than instruction will not be so much captivated with 'Clarissa as with some other of our English

novels." See Forbes's 'Life of Beattie,' vol. i.
p. 48.
Is the usage known in the nineteenth
century?
THOMAS BAYNE.
Helensburgh, N.B.

ficient abundance to repay this "dreadful trade." There are several plants now known as samphire; for instance, we have golden samphire, prickly samphire, marsh samphire, rock samphire. But, before dealing with their several claims, I may 'GREATER LONDON': AN INACCURATE QUOTA-state that I cannot trace samphire in Anglo-Saxon TION. I am wondering how far I may depend upon times. Our early ancestors knew all about fennel, Mr. Edward Walford's accuracy when in Greater pimpernel, and hemlock; rock_parsley was stonLondon' he quotes inscriptions. I visited Little suc, safflower was lybcorn, but I cannot recognize Ilford parish church the other day, and in the little any synonym for a samphire. mortuary chapel attached to the edifice I copied down the following inscription from the monument erected to the memory of Smart Lethieullier, the antiquary:

To the Memory

Of SMART LETHIEULLIER Esq' of ALDERSBROKE
A Gentleman of polite Literature and elegant Taste
An Encourager of Arts and ingenious Artists

A studious promoter of Literary Inquiries
A Companion and Friend of Learned Men
Judiciously versed in the science of Antiquity
And richly possessed of the curious Productions of Nature

But

Who modestly desires no other Inscription on his Tomb
Than what He had made the Rule of his Life
An Admonition to Thee Reader by Example
To do justly

To love mercy

And to walk humbly with thy God
Born Nov 3 1701

Deceased without Issue Aug. 27 1760.
After the statement "The inscription runs as
follows," this is how Mr. Walford copies it on
p. 501, vol. i., of 'Greater London':-

"In memory of Smart Lethieullier, Esq., a gentleman of polite literature and elegant taste, an encourager of art and ingenious artists, a studious promoter of literary inquiries, a companion and a friend of learned men; industriously versed in the science of antiquity, and richly possessed of the curious productions of nature, but who modestly desired no other inscription on his tomb than what he had made the rule of his life-to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with his God. He was born Nov. 3rd, 1701, and died without issue Aug. 27th, 1760."

Holmby House, Forest Gate.

Queries.

JOHN T. PAGE.

We must request correspondents desiring information on family matters of only private interest, to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

JAMES II. AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS.-James II., when Duke of York, often stayed for months at a time at Tunbridge. Can any one give me information as to where he lived there? Was there any royal residence near Tunbridge Wells in Charles II.'s reign?

WOLSELEY.

66

It seems that popular opinion among us clings to rock samphire as the original, because the prefix rock" is recognizable in Petrus crescentius, so perce pierre, herbe de St. Pierre, and finally samphire, but I do not find that it was ever called "rock-cress" in England; if not, what was its name before samphire came into use upon the above barbarous corruption? I see that 1580 is the earliest approximate date quoted by Prof. Skeat, so the mention in Lear' of 1608 is an early instance of its use. Did Shakspere mean safflower? But, to resume. Rock samphire is botanically known as Crithmum maritimum; it is universally known, and some nations call it a fennel. Perhaps the Anglo-Saxons recognized it thus. It certainly would not have done for Shakspere to dilate on the dangers of gathering fennel, which is a common pot-herb, yet found "in dry chalky soil near the sea." A writer in the nearly obsolete 'Penny Cyclopædia,' vol. xx. p. 354, puts it thus, "The true samphire (Crithmum maritimum) is found on the cliffs at Dover, and has been immortalized by Shakspere. Sowerby disposes of it more shortly as "growing sparingly on the white cliffs of Dover."

In the present day samphire is still recognized as a "pickle," and I find that marsh samphire is the popular favourite, meaning Salicornia herbacea, or salthorn; it is also known as glasswort, because of its economic use as an alkaline called barilla. It seems to me to be true kelp, or a genuine seaweed, that has changed its habitat and become a root or vegetable; it now belongs to the Chenopodiaceae, and it is of great interest to note that it is classified next to the beets, all derived from Batis maritima, or sea beet, which thus, under cultivation, furnishes another good "pickle."

Golden samphire belongs to the Composite, being called Inula crithinoides; it frequents salt marshes and rocks, having a bright yellow daisy-like flower. Does it pickle? Prickly samphire, or Echinophera spinosa, is called extinct in Britain; the plant flowers like the Crithmum maritimum, and comes next in classification to the ill-omened hemlock. Would the latter prove innocuous if grown in a saline region, and does the E. spinosa pickle?

In concluding I renew the question, What comSAMPHIRE.-Shakspere's reference to the sam-mercial use did Shakspere imply by the dreadful phire in ‘Lear,' IV. vi., points to a plant the uses of which should be well known, and found in suf

trade he so graphically described; and are we to assume that people hawked this plant about, as