242
NOTES AND QUERIES, [n s. VIIL SEPT. 27, 1913.
Of the most recent editors or writers on
Gay, Aitken, Hansen, Plessov, Regel, and
Wright receive no notice. The omission
of Aitken and Wright is especially to be
regretted. For to G. A. Aitken all Gay
students are deeply indebted for his scholarly
articles on Gay's life and works which ap-
peared in The Academy, The Athenceum, and
The Westminster Review. As to W. H. K.
Wright, he is known to have edited one of
the three best editions of Gay's ' Fables,'
in which he has given us a valuable memoir
based on the new material brought to light
by the Gay Bicentennial, and a very com-
prehensive ' Chronological List of the Various
Editions of Gay's Fables.' This omission is
the more strange as (if we except the Gay
items in the British Museum Catalogue) it
is the only printed bibliography of Gay or
any of his works that is worthy of the name.
Of course, it is both impossible and in- advisable for such a work as * The Cam- bridge History of English Literature ' to give a complete bibliography of Gay in the space at its command. Indeed, all that the editors claim to give is a " sufficient " biblio- graphy ; but I think these notes show that what it gives is hardly " sufficient " for either the student or the general reader of Gay. ERNEST L. GAY.
Royal Societies Club.
THE FORGED 'SPEECHES AND
PRAYERS' OF THE REGICIDES.
(See 11 S. vii. 301, 341, 383, 442, 502; viii. 22, 81, 122, 164, 202.)
XIII. ERRORS IN THE 'D.N.B.': JOHN BARKSTEAD, JOHN OKEY, AND MILES CORBET.
IN the last edition of the 'D.N.B.,' as well as in the volume of Errata, Barkstead is described as " Sir " John Barkstead, yet he never was a knight of England, and the
- D.N.B.' should state that Cromwell alone
thus styled him. Barkstead was also a Cromwellian " Lord," but his name does not appear in ' The Extinct Peerage.'
Barkstead kept a shop in Fleet Street, and sold penny thimbles, thimble - making being his trade. There was a satire on the subject, published on 3 April, 1648 (E. 434 [16]), entitled ' Whitehall Fayre ; or, Who buys good penniworths of Barkstead,' and there are more allusions to this in the song, published on 27 Jan., 1648 (669 f. 11 [122]), entitled :
" The Cities welcome to Colonell Rich and Colonell Baxter [sic, a common misspelling] with
their sollemne invitation to the Sainted com-
manders in the army to come and quarter among-
them."
The first verse runs :
If we may, dare to say
That you most welcome are, Most Holy Holy Collonells,
Great Moguls of the warre. Our blessed Parliament Most wisely for you sent Your forces near to draw For to keep us in awe.
Subsequent verses contain biographical matter about Hewson, Pride, Okey, and Staines, and one of the last runs :
Whitehall now, I know not how,
Is topsie turvie turned ; The thimble makers [Col. Baxter's} bonny boyes
Have private mansions scorned. Kings' houses onely be Fit for our soulderie. Parliament, Army, all Are kings in general!.
As Cromwell's gaoler at the Tower, Bark- stead earned just hatred, and another tract, published after his execution, gives a long account of his cruelty (in selling his prisoners as slaves to Algiers) and extortion in this capacity. It is entitled :
" The Traytor's Perspective Glass ; or, Sundry Examples of God's Just Judgments executed upon many Eminent Regicides .... and . . ' Charac- ters of those late-Executed Regicides Okey, Corbet, and Barkstead.' By I. T. Gent. 1662." (Press- mark 1326 c. 10.)
Very full accounts of the capture, senten- cing, and execution of Barkstead and the other two regicides are in the newsbooks. Mercurius Publicus for 6-13 March, 1661/2, printed a long letter from the Hague, de- scribing their apprehension, and the some- what disgusting result of Corbet's state of extreme fear ; and the same periodical for 10-17 April, 1662 (missing in the Thomason collection, but to be found in the Burney collection), gives a long account of their arraignment and sentence on the 16th. On the 19th they were executed at Tyburn, and The Kingdom's Intelligencer for 14-21 April, 1662 (as also Mercurius Publicus for 17-24 April), gave an account of their speeches and behaviour five pages in length. This Was obviously done in order to antici- pate fraudulent accounts, and it tallies with the fuller account given in the following tract, which, since it Was not advertised in the newsbooks, does not appear to be official :
" The Speeches and Prayers of John Barkstead, John Okey, and Miles Corbet. Together with several passages at the time of their execution at Tyburn, the nineteenth of April 1662. With
