TO DAY IN HISTORY

Southland Times, Issue 20613, 11 October 1928, Page 6

TO DAY IN HISTORY

OCTOBER II Born: Eeasmus Reinhold, astronomer, Salfeldt, 1511; Dr Samuel Clarke, theological writer, Norwich, 1675; James Barry, historical painter, Cork, 1741; Philip Astley, founder of Astley’s amphitheatre, Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1742. Died: Louis V. emperor of Germany, 1347; Ulrich Zwingli, Swiss reformer, killed at Cappel, 1531; Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder, poet and statesman, Sherbourne, 1542; Thomas Stackhouse, biblical writer, Benham, 1752 ; Anne, Countess of Macclesfield, mother of poet Savage, London, 1753; Samuel Wesley, musician, 1837. Death of Zwingli. Inferior‘to Luther and Calvin in points of genius and mental vigour, Ulrich Zwingli, or as his name is Latinized, Zuinglius, the great Swiss reformer, is better fitted as a man to command our love and esteem. The purity and amiableness of his character are universally admitted, whilst the honour unquestionably belongs to him of being the earliest of the ecclesiastical reformers of the sixteenth century. In his death too, he may be regarded as a martyr to his principles, having accompanied at the desire of the council of Zurich, a body of troops, sent during a civil war between the Catholic and Protestant cantons, to the relief of their countrymen at Cappel, where an action ensued, and the devoted pastor was struck down in the act of encouraging the soldiers. The victory turned against the Protestants, and Zwingli, left dying on the battlefield, was run through by the sword of a Catholic soldier, who was ignorant of his quality, but. discovered him to be a heretic from his declining, by signs, to avail himself of the offer of a confessor, and recommend his soul to the Virgin. On his body being found and recognized next day, a group of spectators assembled to gaze on the remains of the renowned pastor of Zurich. One of these who had been his colleague in his days of Catholicism, looked long and earnestly into the lifeless face and then exclaimed: “Whatever may have been thy faith, I am sure thou wast always sincere and that thou lovedst thy country. May God take thy soul to His mercy!” The fanatical fury of a bigoted mob was, however, incapable of any such generous appreciation, and a proposal to burn the heretical corpse was received with acclamations, and forthwith carried into execution. When Zwingli thus met an untimely death he had only attained the age of forty-seven. Harry Rowe. In the earlier half of October, 1800, there died in the poor house of York one Harry Rowe, a well-known character in his locality, who made a good deal of noise in the world while he lived, and caused considerable speculation among Shakespearean commentators after his death. For Harry had many years held the distinguished post of trumpet-major to the high-sheriffs of Yorkshire, and was also the reputed author of an ably commentated edition of “Macbeth,” and a musical farce, entitled “No Cure, No Pay,” a trenchant satire on quack doctors, and the shameful facility with which medical diplomas and degrees were then obtained by illiterate adventurers. Rowe was born at York in 1726. He served as trumpeter in the Duke of Kingston’s regimen; of light horse at the battle of Culloden, and after he retired from the army, attended in the same capacity the sheriffs and judges of the York assizes for nearly half a century. Rowe was also the master of a puppet-show, and for many successive years he opened his little theatre in York during the winter months, making a regular circuit to various parts of the country in the summer season. By these means he long supported hs poor and aged parents, never allowing them to receive any other aid than that amply provided for them by his own exertions. In his own case he was less fortunate. When overtaken by age and poverty, Rowe was forced to seek an asylum in the poor-house, where he died.

The puppet-showman had a rough, ready, caustic wit, with which he interlarded the speeches of his wooden comedians to the great delight of the audience. And so many actually thought that the edition of “Macbeth,” bearing Rowe’s .name on the titlepage, was really written by him, to the great mystification of later commentators. In the preface, Harry is made to say: “I am the master of a puppet-show, and as, from the nature of my employment, I am obliged to have a few stock-plays ready for presentation whenever I am accidentally visited by a select party of ladies and gentlemen, I have added the tragedy of Macbeth to my green-room collection. The alterations that I have made in this play are warranted, from the careful perusal of a very old manuscript in the possession of my prompter, one of whose ancestors by his mother’s side, was a rush-spreader and candle-snuffer at the Globe playhouse, as appears from the following memorandum on a blank-page of the manuscript : This day, March 4, received the sum of seven shillings and fourpence for six bundles of rushes and two pair of candle-snuffers.* ” The work cleverly satirises Johnson’s, Steven’s, and Malone’s editions of Shakespeare, and was written as well as “No Cure, No Pay,” by Dr Andrew Hunter of York, a skilful physician and able man of letters. The profits were given to Rowe, to support hixn in a long and painful illness; and, when unable to manage his wooden company, the old trumpet major sold the works of the charitable but satirical physician in all parts of the city of York, as his own composition.