Saracens, and afterwards lived by pillage." Tradition says, he was saved from perdition in consequence of his services against the infidels, but condemned for a certain time to appear nightly on earth, with those of his lineage.

PANTALOON.

The old character of Zany was similar to our modern clown, who now is generally the possessor of all the wit in the performance. The name of Pantaloon is said to be derived from the watchword of the Venetians, pianta-leone; if so (which is doubtful), it must have been applied in derision of their fallen state, as compared with their former splendour.

MERRYANDREW.

Some have derived the term Merryandrew from the time of the Druids, an Drieu, i. e., Arch-Druid; others, from the celebrated Andrew Borde, the writer and empiric. The Merryandrew used at fairs to wear a patched coat like the modern Harlequin, and sometimes a hunch on his back. It has been remarked, that the common people are apt to give some wellknown facetious personage the name of a favourite dish; hence the Jack-pudding of the English; the Jean-potage of the French; the Macaroni of the Italians; the Hans Wurst of the Germans, &c.

GOD SAVE THE KING.

The simplicity and grandeur of "God save the King," is universally admitted; and much research has been bestowed in the endeavour to ascertain its origin. One writer says, This popular song was sung, as an anthem, at the Chapel Royal, in the reign of James II. It is uncertain by whom the words were written, but the music was composed by Dr. John Bull, belonging to the choir of that chapel. It first became a popular song (with the alteration of the name of our James to George), through the late Dr. Arne, who set it in parts, and introduced it at one of the London Theatres during the Irish rebellion in 1746, where it met with unbounded applause, and has continued to be a favourite national air from that period to the present time.

The general opinion is, that it was composed by Henry Carey, as stated by W. Chappell in his National English Airs. About the year 1795, George Savile Carey asserted his father's claim to the authorship of this song, and made a journey to Windsor, hoping to obtain some pecuniary recompense from the king. His claim was acquiesced in by Archdeacon Coxe, in his Anecdotes of J. C. Smith; and by Mr. S. Jones in his Biographia Dramatica. It was also proved, by concurrent testimonies, to have been originally sung, "God save great James our King." Add to this,

that all attempts to prove a copy before Carey's time have failed; moreover, it is admitted that he sang it in public (announcing it as his own production) five years before the first publication; and his not claiming it, when it attained its great popularity in 1745, being explained by his having put an end to his existence three years before, at the advanced age of eighty, and leaving his son an infant.

RULE BRITANNIA.

The words of this celebrated national anthem, or song, were taken from Thomson's "Masque of Alfred," and was composed by Doctor Arne.

DRYDEN'S CELEBRATED ODE.

Dryden's Ode on the Power of Music is the most unrivalled of his compositions. By that strange fatality which seems to disqualify authors from judging of their own works, he does not appear to have valued this piece, because he totally omits it in the enumeration and criticism he has given of the rest, in his preface to his works. "I shall add nothing to what I have already said on this subject (says Dr. Warton in his Essays on the Writings and Genius of Pope, vol. ii.), but only tell the occasion and manner of writing it. Mr. St. John, afterwards Lord Bolingbroke, happening to pay a morning visit to Dryden, whom he always respected, found him in an unusual agitation of spirits, even to a trembling. On enquiring the cause, I have been up all night,' replied the old bard; my musical friends made me promise to write them an Ode for the Feast of St. Cecilia. I have been so struck with the subject which occurred to me, that I could not leave it till I had completed it; here it is, finished at one sitting. And immediately he showed him this Ode, which places the British lyric poetry above that of any other nation. This anecdote, as true as it is curious, was imparted by Lord Bolingbroke to Pope, by Pope to Mr. Gilbert West, by him to his ingenious friend (Richard Berenger, Esq.), who communicated it to me. The rapidity, and yet the perspicuity of the thoughts, the glow and expressiveness of the images, these certain marks of the first sketch of a master, conspire to corroborate the truth of the fact."

CATHERINE AND PETRUCHIO.

The play of Catherine and Petruchio, or the Taming of the Shrew, was derived from an Italian tale, called Silverio and Pizardo. See particulars, which would take up too much space here, in New London Gleaner, vol. ii., 1809.

THE BALLAD, "AULD ROBIN GRAY."

The following extract from a letter, written to the late Thomas Hammersley, Esq., by the Rev. Wm. Jervis, rector of Wrington, in Somersetshire, in June 1812, has been handed to us. It shows that the words of the ballad of Auld Robin Gray were written by Lady Ann Lindsay, and that the music was composed by Wm. Jervis. A gentleman now residing in Edinburgh, and intimately acquainted with the composer, can answer for the authenticity of this letter:

My dear Sir-Anxious as you have ever been for the sake of right, as well as for the fair fame of your friends, you have more than once solicited that I should publicly claim an offspring which, for more than forty years, has been of uncertain origin. Nothing could have induced me to undertake this at my time of life, but the offer of your kind testimony to the genuineness of this my early production, which an acquaintance with it in manuscript, long before it surreptitiously found its way to the public eye, enables you so convincingly to bear. As to the ballad or story, you may remember that I received it from the Hon. Mr. Byron, and understood it to have been written by Lady Ann Lindsay.

THE LASS OF RICHMOND HILL.

This celebrated song was composed by William Upton, who published Poems on Several Occasions, 1788; and a Collection of Songs sung at Vauxhall, 1798. It was long popularly ascribed to the Prince Regent (George IV.)

THE POPULAR ROMANCE, "CASTLE OF OTRANTO."

The ingenious author of this popular romance, in a letter to Mr. Cole, now in the British Museum, gives the following account of its origin :-"I waked one morning in the beginning of last June from a dream, of which all I could recover was, that I had thought myself in an ancient castle, and that on the uppermost banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening I sat down, and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate. The work grew on my hands, and I grew fond of it, so that I was very glad to think of any thing rather than politics. In short, I was so engrossed with my tale, which I completed in less than two months, that one evening I wrote from the time I had drank tea (about six o'clock) till half an hour past one in the morning, when my hands and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold my pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella talking in the middle of a paragraph."

EASTWARD HOE.

The title of "Eastward Hoe" was taken from the exclamations of watermen plying for fares on the Thames. Of this the play of "Eastward Hoe" furnishes some evidence; but with regard at least to another play, "Westward Hoe," it is clearly shown by the following quotation from George Peele's old historical play of Edward the First, printed in 1593. The Queen is at Potter's (afterwards called Queen's) Hithe, and the stage direction when she has entered is

(Make a noise-Westward, How!)

Queen.-Woman, what noise is this I hear?

Potter's Wife. And like your Grace, it is the watermen that call for passengers to go to Westward, How.

VELUTI IN SPECULUM.

The stage motto, Veluti in Speculum, or, As in a Mirror, was first used in the Theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the reign of George I., about the same period when soldiers first mounted guard at the Theatres-Royal.

THEATRICAL BENEFITS.

Mrs. Barry is recorded as the first performer, male or female, who ever had what is now understood by the term, a benefit. This privilege was procured for her through the influence of James II., and she alone possessed it, until just before the commencement of the 18th century. The poverty of the divided theatrical companies then, induced the managers to employ this expedient for paying their actors and actresses more directly out of the pockets of the public; and it not unfrequently happened (at least the performers made the accusation) that the patentees appropriated to themselves all the proceeds, under the pretext of house expenses, and left the performers to their remedy.

UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, SCHOOLS, PUBLIC LIBRARIES, RELIGIOUS SECTS, ORIGIN OF NICENE CREED, INQUISITION, &c.

UNIVERSITIES

Those of

Had their first rise in the 12th and 13th centuries. Paris and Bologna Salerno are said to be the first that were set on foot; but then they were on a different footing from the Universities among us. Our own Universities of Oxford and Cambridge

H

seem entitled to the greatest antiquity of any in the world; and Balliol and Merton Colleges in Oxford, and St. Peter's in Cambridge, all made Colleges in the 13th century, may be said to be the first regular endowments of this kind in Europe. For though University College in Cambridge had been a place for students ever since the year 872, yet this, like many of the other ancient Colleges beyond sea, and Leyden to this day, was no proper College; but the students, without any distinction of habit, lived in citizens' houses, having only meeting-places to hear lectures and disputes. In after times there were houses built for the students to live in society, only each to be at his own charge, as in the inns of court; these at first were called inns, but now halls. At last plentiful revenues were settled on several of these Halls, to maintain the students in diet, apparel, &c., and these were called Colleges. In the University of Oxford there are 2220 members of convocation, and 4792 members on the boards. In the University of Cambridge there are 1854 members of the senate, and 4866 members on the boards, making a total of 9658 students on the boards at both Universities. In 1748, there were 1500 members on the Cambridge boards; in 1813, there were 2805; in 1825, they had increased to 4700; and in 1826, to 4866, as above stated. The Universities of Scotland are four, St. Andrew's, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. In Ireland there are two Universities, that of Dublin, incorporated 1591, and Queen's, incorporated 1850.

BALLIOL COLLEGE

Was founded by John Balliol, or De Baliol, of Barnard Castle, in the County of Durham, about the year 1268, and from whence it derives the appellation of Balliol College.

ORIEL COLLEGE.

This College was founded by King Edward the Second in 1326.

SORBONNE COLLEGE.

Sorbon, or Sorbonne College, was the first and most considerable of the University of Paris. It was founded in the reign of St. Louis, 1252, by Robert Sorbonne, which name is sometimes given to the whole University of Paris.

MERTON COLLEGE.

Merton College, in Oxford, derives its name from Walter de Merton, Bishop of Rochester, who founded it in 1274.

EXETER COLLEGE.

Exeter College, in Oxford, so denominated from Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, who founded it in 1314.