_Golden Frog_.--Ingenious as is the suggestion of "R.R." (No. 18. p.
282.), that Sir John Poley stuck a golden frog in his ear from his
affection for _tadpoles_, I think "R.R.'s" "Rowley Poley" may be
dismissed with the "_gammon_ and spinach" of the amorous frog to which
he alludes.
Conceiving that the origin of so singular a badge could hardly fail to
be commemorated by some tradition in the family, I have made inquiry
of one of Sir John Poley's descendants, and I regret to hear from him
that "they have no authentic tradition respecting it, but that they
have always believed that it had some connection with the service Sir
John rendered in the Low Countries, where he distinguished himself
much by his military achievements." To the Low Countries, then, the
land of frogs, we must turn for the solution of the enigma.
Gastras.
Cambridge, March 9.
_Sword of Charles I._--Mr. Planché inquires (No. 12. p. 183.), "When
did the real sword of Charles the First's time, which, but a few years
back, hung at the side of that monarch's equestrian figure at Charing
Cross, disappear?"--It disappeared about the time of the coronation
of Her present Majesty, when some scaffolding was erected about the
statue, which afforded great facilities for removing the rapier (for
such it was); and I always understood it found its way, by some means
or other, to the Museum, so called, of the notoriously frolicsome
Captain D----, where, in company with the wand of the Great Wizard of
the North, and other well-known articles, it was carefully labelled
and numbered, and a little account appended of the circumstances of
its acquisition and removal.
John Street.
[Surely then Burke was right, and the "Age of Chivalry is
past!"--Otherwise the idea of _disarming a statue_ would never
have entered the head of any Man of Arms, even in his most
frolicsome of moods.]
_John Bull_.--_Vertue MSS._--I always fancied that the familiar name
for our countrymen, about the origin of which "R.F.H." inquires (No.
21. p. 336.), was adopted from Swift's _History of John Bull_, first
printed in 1712; but I have no authority for saying so.
If the Vertue MSS. alluded to (No. 20. p. 319.) were ever returned by
Mr. Steevens to Dr. Rawlinson, they may be in the Bodleian Library, to
which the Doctor left all his collections, including a large mass of
papers purchased by him long after Pepys' death, as he described it,
"Thus et odores vendentibus."
These "_Pepys_ papers," as far as I can recollect, were very
voluminous, and relating to all sorts of subjects; but I saw them in
1824, and had only then time to examine and extract for publication
portions of the correspondence.
Braybrooke.
Audley End, March 25.
_Vertue's Manuscripts_.--The MS. quoted under this title by Malone
is printed entire, or rather all of it which refers to plays, by Mr.
Peter Cunningham, in the _Papers of the Shakspeare Society_, vol. ii.
p. 123., from an interleaved copy of Langbaine. Since the publication
of that paper, the entries relating to Shakspeare's plays have been
given from the original MS. in the Bodleian Library, in Halliwell's
_Life of Shakspeare_, p. 272.