Notes and Queries, Number 185, May 14, 1853 | Page 6

Meed. J. M. has bin expected here this fortnight: the Lady that
calls herselfe by his nane has bin a good while at Astrop, and has
discover'd her displeasure there, that her husband as shee calls him

keeps the coach so long from her at Oxford: upon hearing of w^{ch}
S^r W. H. in a blunt way gave her the old name, w^{ch} caus'd some
dissatisfaction and left her smal acquaintance: I heare that the
understanding between our Friend and his uncle is not so good as
formerly, but I do not think it will end in Abdication. Mr. Painter is
admitted Rector of Exeter. The Naked Gospel[3] was burnt on y^e 19th
in the Scholes Quadrangle. The Regents first drew up a Petition to have
it censured; then some others more busy than wise tooke upon them to
gett it subscribed, and went to coffee houses and taverns as well as
colleges for that purpose: these proceedings being ag^{st} statute, and
reflecting upon the vice ch., gave great offence; at last he call'd a
meeting of y^e {474} heads of houses, who deputed 6 to examine it:
they pick'd several Proposit. w^{ch} were read. The sentence was in
this form: Propositions &^c tanqu[=a] falsas et impias in Chris. Relig.
et in Ecc. præcipue Anglican[=a] contumeliosas damnamus, plerasq;
insuper hæreticas esse decernimus et declaramus, &^c. This was first
subscribed by all y^e heads of Coll. and then condemn'd unanimously
in a full convocation. The Decree is printed, but is too large to send.
The Author of y^e Booke has sent about a soft vindication of himselfe,
that he is unwilling to be accounted a Socinian, &c. If I can gett a sight
of it I will send you the contents. I do not know how far you are in the
right about guessing at a Bursar: Tim. seems resolv'd to act according
to y^e song; but I to shew good nature even w^{th}out a tree have
promis'd to make him a Dial: and when that's done I will doe y^e like at
Astrop. I am
Your very humble serv^t, W. R.
If you see Coll. Byerly, give my service to him.
Directed thus: These to George Clark, Esq., Secretary of War in
Ireland.
By y^e way of London.
Indorsed: W. Rooke, Rec^d at Tipperary, Sept. 7th.
[Footnote 3: [For some account of this work, by Arthur Bury, and the

controversy respecting it, see Wood's Athenæ, edit. Bliss, vol. i. p. 483.
William Rooke, the Writer of the letter, was of Queen's College; made
B.A., May 16, 1674; M.A., Oct. 30, 1677; B.D., April 12, 1690.--ED.]]
* * * * *
A SHAKSPERIAN BOOK.
"There exists," says Mr. John Wilson, "as it were a talismanic influence
in regard to the most trivial circumstances connected with Shakspeare,"
and yet this enthusiast has not, in his Shaksperiana, alluded to the
dramatic works of Mary Hornby, written under, and dated from, the
dear old roof at Stratford-upon-Avon!
It was my late good fortune, after filling my pockets from the twopenny
boxes of the suburban bookstalls, to find, on turning out the
heterogeneous contents, that I had accidentally become possessed of
The Broken Vow, a comedy by the aforesaid lady, who waits to be
enrolled in that much wanted book, a new edition of the Biographia
Dramatica. This Broken Bow which looks like a re-cooking of the
Merry Miller of Thomas Sadler, 1766, bears to be "printed at
Stratford-upon-Avon, for the Author, by W. Barnacle, 1820." Mary
Hornby, following the example of the preoccupier of the butcher's shop,
tries her hand at both tragedy and comedy; in the first line she stands
charged with the perpetration of The Battle of Waterloo, which, I doubt
not, rivalled its original enactment in its sanguinary character. I have
not been lucky enough to fall in with this, which was a hit; our fair
authoress, in her preface to the comedy under notice, modestly
attributing its great success more to the kindness of her friends than to
its literary merit.
Mrs. Hornby sustains the dignity of the drama by adhering to her five
acts, with prologue and epilogue according to prescription. Looking to
the prologue for the who, the why, and the wherefore, I am sorry to say
I find no materials for the concoction of a biographical note; upon the
second point, the why, she tells us:
"When women teem, be it with bad or good, They must bring

forth--forsooth 'tis right they should, But to produce a bantling of the
brain, Hard is the task, and oft the labour vain."
That her literary accouchement should not be a failure, she further says:
"Lord, how I've bother'd all the gods and graces, Who patronize some
mortals, in such cases."
I take the expressive use of the word "some" here to indicate