CHAPTER III.
THE HISTORY OF ' NOTES AND QUERIES.'
1899, Nov. 4
Jubilee of Notes and Queries:
Editor's greeting. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers," were the words of greeting our beloved Editor, Joseph Knight, gave to his con- Jubilee of
tributors on the 4th of November, 1899, being the Jubilee number
of Notes and Queries. The following is the Historical Note which
I wrote at his request, and which appeared on that date:—
This last year but one of the nineteenth century has been remarkable for the number of its centenary and jubilee celebrations.
On the 16th of January three hundred years had passed since the death, at his lodgings in King Street, Westminster, of Edmund Spenser. On the 5th of June the centenary of the Royal Institution was celebrated. On the 13th of the same month was the jubilee of the first municipal public free library in the United Kingdom, that in the Peel Park, Salford. The 28th of August was the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Goethe. Festivities commemorating the event were commenced on the 19th of August, and not concluded until the 6th of September, when the Goethe Platz was decorated and lighted in " hervorragender Weise"; but amid all the rejoicings it is beautiful to record that the graves of Goethe's parents in the old churchyard of St. Peter were not forgotten, lovely wreaths of flowers and laurels being placed upon them. Other events include the centenary of the Church Missionary Society, founded on the 14th of April, 1799 (to commemorate the event Mr. Eugene Stock, the editorial secretary, has written a full history of the Society, published in three volumes) ; the centenary of the Religious Tract Society, founded by the Rev. George Burder, of Coventry, on the 9th of May, 1799 (the Rev. Samuel G. Green, D.D., the secretary, has sketched 'The Story of the Religious Tract Society for One Hundred Years.' This contains a facsimile of Tract No. 6, 'The Repentance and Happy Death of the Celebrated Earl of Rochester.' It is curious to note that the name of the printer of this tract is Rousseau); and the jubilee of "that dream of Father Newman and Father Faber of bringing Rome to London," the founding of the London Oratory, this being opened in King William Street, Strand, on the 31st of May, 1849. Among anniversaries of inventions must be mentioned the diamond jubilee of photography, and the centenary of the yet more important discoveries by Volta as to the properties of electricity. William John Thoms, its founder.It is in this eventful year we celebrate the jubilee of, to speak of it in the terms of its founder, "dear old Notes and Queries," the first number of which was published on the 3rd of November, 1849. In the summer of 1846 Mr. William John Thoms, the founder and first editor of Notes and Queries, wrote to The Athenæum, suggesting that it would be both useful and interesting if it would open its columns to correspondence on the manners, customs, observances, superstitions, ballads, proverbs, &c., of the olden time. Mr. Dilke was so much struck with the idea that he invited Mr. Thoms to call upon him at the office in Wellington Street, when, with certain limitations, the plan was agreed to, and on the 22nd of August the first article appeared, Mr. Thoms writing under the pseudonym of "Ambrose Merton," and giving to his investigations the title of "Folk-Lore." In the number published on the 4th of September, 1847, Mr. Thoms revealed himself to be "Ambrose Merton," and at the same time claimed the honour of introducing the expression "Folk-Lore," "as Isaac D'Israeli does of introducing 'Fatherland' into the literature of the country." The Athenæum of the same date states "that in less than twelve months the word 'Folk-Lore' has almost attained to the dignity of a household word." Mr. Thoms at this time commenced a series of nine articles on the Folk-Lore of Shakespeare, little realizing that this special subject was to assume such dimensions.His articles in The Athenæum on "Folk-Lore." In 1849 it was found that the Folk-Lore articles and correspondence had become so extensive that it was impossible, having regard to the increasing demands that literature, the fine arts, and the other subjects treated in The Athenæum made on its space, that they should be continued. Mr. Thoms, therefore, felt that the time had come when a journal entirely devoted to the subjects in question might be started with a fair chance of success. Title of Notes and Queries.The title of Notes and Queries, "after much cudgelling of brains," was hit upon, and with a hearty greeting from The Athenæum the new paper started on its way.
Mr. Thoms, in his interesting reminiscences of the founding of the journal (5 S. vi. 1, 41, 101, 221; vii. 1, 222, 303), gives a record of the first six numbers, and renders, with true old-world courtesy, full tribute to those whose contributions had been so largely helpful to its success. He also says that the title of Notes and Queries was not considered by many of his friends to be a good one, but that he himself, being so well pleased with it, determined to stand fast by it. Peter Cunningham suggests a Cowper mottoMr. Peter Cunningham suggested for its motto the words of Cowper:—
- By thee I might correct, erroneous oft,
- The clock of History facts and events
- Timing more punctual, unrecorded facts
- Recovering, and mis-stated setting right.
Lady suggests Captain Cuttle. But it was due to the happy suggestion of a lady that Captain Cuttle's favourite maxim became the motto of the new venture. Contents of opening numbers.The first number opened with an address by Dr. Maitland. This was followed by a note by John Bruce, 'On the Place of Capture of the Duke of Monmouth'; then 'Shakespeare and Deer Stealing,' by John Payne Collier; and 'Pray remember the Grotto,' by the Editor. Mr. Dilke and Mr. Albert Way also contributed, and Peter Cunningham gave some 'New Facts about Lady Arabella Stuart.' Strange to say, notwithstanding the variety and interesting character of the paper, only forty copies were sold on the day of publication. In the course of the next few weeks this forty was increased to six hundred, after which the sale gradually but steadily became larger, several of the first issues having to be reprinted. In these early numbers it is curious to note the phraseology of fifty years ago, the complimentary term for contributors being "respectable," while the title of esquire was then so limited that we actually find Mr. Murray in his advertisements adding "Esquire" to the names of most of his authors.
The third number contains some original letters addressed by Lord Nelson's brother to the Rev. A. J. Scott in reference to the arrangements for the removal of the body of the fallen hero from the Victory to Greenwich Hospital. The letters are signed "Nelson," and a postscript to one of them is as follows :—
"It will be of great importance that I am in possession of his last will and codicils as soon as possible—no one can say that it does not contain, among other things, many directions relative to his funeral."
Rev. Alfred GattyThe Rev. Alfred Gatty, who had kindly placed these letters at Mr. Thoms's disposal, adds :—
"The codicil referred to in these letters proved to be, or at least to include, that memorable document which the Earl suppressed, when he produced the will, lest it should curtail his own share of the amount of favour which a grateful country would be anxious to heap on the representatives of the departed hero. By this unworthy conduct the fortunes of Lady Hamilton and her still surviving daughter were at once blighted."
Sir George Cornewall Lewis.In the fourth number appears a query from Sir George Cornewall Lewis, who continued to be a constant contributor, his last paper appearing only two days before his death, which took place on the 13th of April, 1863. To enumerate all the chief contributors would be to give almost every known name in literature. Many, like Mr. Dilke, chose to remain anonymous, but among those whose names appear in the early numbers may be mentioned Mr. William Bernard MacCabe suggests General Indexes. William Bernard MacCabe, the author of the 'Catholic History of England,' and the first to suggest the publication at stated intervals of those General Indexes of which Lord Brougham said that "they double the value and utility of Notes and Queries" Names of contributors. John Wilson Croker, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Strangford (whose translation of Camoens earned him a place in the 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers'), Lord Braybrooke, John Britton, James Robinson Planché, Henry Hallam, Prof. de Morgan, J. 0. Halliwell, Douglas Jerrold, R. Monckton Milnes (afterwards Lord Houghton), Dr. Doran, W. Moy Thomas, E. F. Rimbault, Peter Cunningham, and Samuel Weller Singer, who told Mr. Thoms that "Notes and Queries had served to call him into a new literary existence." Mr. Thoms, indeed, stated it as his belief that but for Notes and Queries "the lovers of Shakespeare would never have seen Mr. Singer's most valuable edition of their favourite poet."
The first volume of Notes and Queries was completed with the thirtieth number, May 25th, 1850, the second volume running from the 1st of June to the end of the year, after which the volumes were issued each half year, the First Series being completed on the 22nd of December, 1855.
By the close of the first twelve months Mr. Thoms had the delight of knowing that the objects he had in view in starting his paper had been, to a large extent, fufilled; he had laid down his "literary railway," and it had been "especially patronized by first-class passengers," his aim being, as he tells us in his introduction to the fifty-second number,
"to reach the learning which lies scattered not only throughout every part of our own country, but all over the literary world, and to bring it all to bear upon the pursuits of the scholar; to enable, in short, men of letters all over the world to give a helping hand to one another."
And this end had, to a certain extent, been accomplished.
"Our last number," continues Mr. Thoms,
"contains communications not only from all parts of the metropolis, and from almost every county in England, but also from Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and even from Demerara."
Hundredth number. A further note of congratulation is added in "Our Hundredth Number," when Mr. Thoms claims" the privilege of age to be garrulous." He states that
"during the hundred weeks our paper has existed we have received from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France—from the United States—from India—from Australia—from the West Indies from—almost every one of our Coloniee—letters expressive of the pleasure which the writers (many of them obviously scholars 'ripe and good,' though far removed from the busy world of letters) derive from the perusal of Notes and Queries"
Mr. Thoms adds: " How many a pertinent Note, suggestive Query, and apt Reply have reached us from the same remote quarters!" Reference is also made to the good service rendered to men of letters here at home, as well as to a goodly list of works of learning and research, such as Cunningham's 'Handbook of London Past and Present,' " published when we had been but a few months in existence, down to Wycliffe's 'Three Treatises on the Church,' recently edited by the Rev. Dr. Todd."
Many suggestions have been made by contributors from time to time with a view to increasing the usefulness of Notes and Queries. Among these was one made by Mr. F. A. Carrington on the 15th of November, 1856, that " 'N. & Q.' would have great additional value if the contributors of Notes (Queries do not signify) would give their names." This elicited from "C." on the 6th of December a reply against the proposal :—
"Those who please may, and many do sign, and others who give no name are as well known as if they did; but as a general rule the absence of the name is, I am satisfied, best. It tends to brevity—it obviates personalities—it allows a freer intercommunication of opinion and criticism."
Then "C." closes with a prediction that must have set the editor all of a tremble: "If we were all to give our names 'N. & Q.' would, in three weeks, be a cock-pit."
Photography: the first specimens.Notes and Queries during the first few years took up a wide range of subjects. It was the first journal to open its pages to a record of photographic discovery and progress, and gave full instructions for the successful practice of photography. Among contributors on the subject was Dr. Diamond Dr. Diamond. He was the first to take a negative and print from it a positive copy of an old manuscript. Mr. Thoms would often mention with what delight Sir Frederic Madden examined the first specimens, as he saw every line, letter, and contraction copied with a truthfulness no human hand could approach, and learnt that, the negative once accurately taken, copies of it might be produced in any number. Mr. Thoms always felt that his friend Dr. Diamond's share in photographic discoveries had not been sufficiently recognized; and I can well imagine how he would have put on one of his humorous smiles and styled the jubilee celebration of photography a truly "Diamond" one.
Notes and Queries continued to allow much space to photographers until the science of photography had sufficiently advanced for them to have a journal of their own, so that the early numbers contain a full history of its progress. The advertisements of the various firms who dealt in the chemicals and apparatus required are full of interest. A note is made of the fact that Yarmouth first to use photography for copying Corporation records.Yarmouth was the first town to adopt photography for the purpose of copying Corporation records. It is also recorded that George Shaw Lefevre, being present at the fall of Sebastopol on the 8th of September, 1855, took photographs immediately after the Russian retreat. The views, twelve in number, were published in aid of the Nightingale Fund. A remarkable use of photography in time of war is noted in the number of the 4th of February, 1871: 'How The Times was sent to Paris during the Siege.' The pages of the paper containing communications to relatives in Paris were photographed on pieces of thin and almost transparent paper about an inch and a half in length by an inch in width. The photographs were sent to Bordeaux, thence by carrier pigeon to Paris, where they were magnified by the aid of the magic lantern, and the messages sent off to the places indicated by the advertisers. From a note made by Mr. John Macray in the number of the 8th of December. 1860, it would appear that Lord Brougham was the discoverer of photography. Mr. Thoms, on the llth of October, 1879, in a pathetic appeal to photographers, asks them to make a small return for the service rendered to photography in its early days by Notes and Queries:—
"Among the collection of photographic portraits of old friends, literary and personal, which I possess, many are fast fading away several of friends now no longer living. Is it possible to revive them? Surely the Photographic Society ought to have among its men of science remedy for this great evil, or some simple mode of so printing photographs as to ensure their not fading."
In the indexes to the eighth and ninth volumes the plan was adopted of denoting unanswered queries with an asterisk, but the increasing number of queries rendered the labour of such a record too great. The indexes to the first three Series were the work of James Yeowell.Mr. James Yeowell, and the plan and methods originated by him have been carefully preserved in the succeeding issues. Of his services to the publication I shall again make mention.
Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862.Notes and Queries has from the first taken advantage of current events in order to deal with them from its own. special standpoint. The opening of the Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations in 1851, and that of the Exhibition of 1862, are referred to in its columns. On the 6th of December, 1851, "an imperishable monument" of the great gathering of the nations is reviewed 'The Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue,' together with Robert Hunt's 'Handbook to the Official Catalogues.' The three octavo volumes of the former work contain an account of every article shown by the fifteen thousand exhibitors, illustrated with twelve hundred woodcuts. The publishers, Messrs. Spicer & Sons, were the exhibitors of a large roll of paper 46 inches wide and 2,500 yards in length; this was the first time that paper had been made beyond the then ordinary lengths, and it attracted much attention. The daily papers are now all printed from long rolls, that of The Times being two miles in length.
Death of the Duke of Wellington: Times memoir.On Tuesday, the 14th of September, 1852, the Duke of Wellington died suddenly at Walmer Castle, and Notes and Queries, in the number published on the 25th, makes reference to the memoir of the Duke that had been given in The Times, the first portion, twenty-one columns in length, appearing on the morning following his decease, "a memoir worthy alike of its subject and of the journal in which it appeared." Needless to say that the numbers containing the memoir were immediately out of print,[1] and permission was granted to Messrs. Longman to publish it in "The Traveller's Library," where it forms the thirty-first part. It is rather remarkable that following this notice is a review of Victor Hugo's 'Napoleon the Little.' "The admirable likeness of the Duke painted by the late Count d'Orsay" is referred to on the 2nd of October as holding "a foremost place, not less for its own great merit than for the curious fact that the Duke, having occasion to select a portrait on which to affix his autograph," chose an engraving from the D'Orsay picture for that purpose; and in the following week Mr. Thoms noticed a Characteristic statuette. "very characteristic statuette of 'The Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords' " as an admirable memorial of him modelled by Mr. George Abbott from a sketch by Alfred Crowquill, and executed in Parian.
"A pretty frequent opportunity of seeing the Greatest Man of his Age in that House of which he was the ornament enables us to speak with confidence of the admirable manner in which the artist has caught the Duke's usual quiet unaffected attitude, as he sat with his legs crossed, and his hands on his knees, the observed of all observers."
A coincidence is noted by Mr. Yeowell in the number for the 24th of December, 1853. On the news of the death reaching Trim the Dean (Butler) caused the muffled chimes to be rung. The large bell, which was considered one of the finest and sweetest in Ireland, had hardly tolled a second time when it suddenly broke, and on examining the bell it was found to have been cast in the very year the Duke was born, 1769.
Materials for his biography in 'N. & Q.'Materials helpful to a life of the Duke abound in the pages of Notes and Queries. The date of his birth, his Irish origin, his early days, his residence in Dublin, his missing correspondence, his sayings, all find a place. Some correspondents bestowed much labour in searching for the derivation of "Wellesley." Mr. Henry Walter (1 S. No. 201) states that Wellington's clerical brother was entered on the Boards of St. John's College, Cambridge, as Wesley, and the name continued to be spelt as Wesley in the calendars until 1809, when it was altered to Wellesley.
The Waterloo dispatch.During 1858 there was a discussion as to the Waterloo dispatch arriving in London some hours after the news of the battle had become known. J. M., in the number for December 18th, relates that on the 1st of February, 1822, he heard the Duke explain the matter by stating that, from his respect for the royal family of France, and considering the great interest they had in it, he thought it proper that the earliest intelligence of the event should be communicated to Louis XVIII., then residing at Ghent. A Jew, who was in front of the house, had his curiosity excited by observing signs of joy among the royal party, went in, obtained the news, hastened to London, and carried it to Lord Liverpool and some others before the arrival of Capt. Percy with the dispatches.
Did Wellington and Nelson ever meet?On the 25th of February, 1860, Mr. Robert Rawlinson, in reply to the query, Did Wellington and Nelson ever meet ? relates that Mr. Henry Graves asked the Duke, who replied, "Well, I was once going upstairs in Downing Street, and I met a man coming downstairs. I was told that man was Lord Nelson. So far as I know, that was the only occasion on which I ever met or saw him."
Death of the Prince Consort.On the 21st of December, 1861, Notes and Queries appeared with its front page in mourning for the Prince Consort, and Mr. Thoms makes sympathetic reference to the great national loss. "The millions sorrow as one, with a sorrow of which the depth is only equalled by its sincerity."
Death of |Charles Wentworth Dilke.On August 13th, 1864, Mr. Thoms thus records the death of his friend Charles Wentworth Dilke :
"In the death of Charles Wentworth Dilke 'N. & Q.' has sustained a great loss; for, among the many able writers who have from time to time contributed to its pages, no one has enriched them with so many valuable papers illustrative of English History and Literature as he whose death it is now our painful duty to record. Mr. Dilke was one of the truest-hearted men, and kindest friends, it has ever been our good fortune to know. He died on Wednesday last, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The distinguishing feature of his character was his His love of truth.singular love of truth, and his sense of its value and importance, even in the minutest points and questions of literary history. In all his writings the enforcement of this great principle, as the only foundation of literary honour and respectability, was his undeviating aim and object. What the independence of English Literary Journalism owes to his spirited exertions, clear judgment, and unflinching honesty of purpose, will, we trust, be told hereafter by an abler pen than that which now announces his deeply lamented death."
'Papers of a Critic.'On the 10th of July, 1875, Mr. Thoms reviews "The Papers of a Critic, selected from the Writings of the late Charles Wentworth Dilke, with a Biographical Sketch by his Grandson, Sir Charles W. Dilke, Bart., M.P.," 2 vols. (Murray). Mr. Thoms in his review states that there was no more successful clearer-up of vexed questions in social, political, or literary history than the late Mr. Dilke,
"for the simple reason that he brought to the work persistent industry, earnestness, and an honest spirit of truthfulness; and he delivered no judgment till he was thoroughly satisfied that it was correct on every point, and in no part assailable. But the readers and contributors of 'N. & Q.' do not require to be told of the rare qualities which distinguished Mr. Dilke as a critic. They will be glad to possess the papers which his grandson has collected, and which prove that he stood unrivalled as a great master of the art of criticism. They who had the honour of possessing his friendship have a loving and undying memory of what Mr. Dilke was as a man. To those who were strangers to him we heartily recommend a perusal of the memoir, in which his grandson tells the story of a thoroughly honest man's honest and useful life."
Mr. Thoms then gives in full a birthday letter from Mr. Dilke to his son, of which he says :—
"The columns of 'N. & Q.' have contained many beautiful letters written by men who now, as the phrase is, 'belong to history '; but we question if there is one among them all which is so tender and wise."
His contributions to 'N. & Q.'Mr. Dilke's contributions to Notes and Queries were very large, but as in its pages he had, as he said, "as many aliases as an Old Bailey prisoner," it is difficult to trace some of them. In 'The Papers of a Critic' we are helped to a solution." He nearly always used the initials of the first three words of the heading of his contributions. Suppose, for instance, it was ' The Carylls of Ladyholt,' it would be signed T. C. O." Among the subjects treated upon were Pope, Junius, Wilkes, Burke, 'Hugh Speke and the Forged Declara- tion of the Prince of Orange' (a series of notes in which Mr. Dilke defended one of the leaders of Monmouth's rebellion against Macaulay), centenarianism, and various others. Memoir in 'Dictionary of National Biography.' In the memoir which appears of Mr. Dilke in the 'Dictionary of National Biography' it is stated that "the best comments on his character and his literary work were those of his old friend Thoms in Notes and Queries"
I will add only this testimony from myself: no words can express the affection and regard that my father and all of us in our home in Wellington Street had for him.
'A Parting Note' from Mr. Thoms. The number for the 28th of September, 1872, opens with 'A Parting Note' from Mr. Thoms :—
"There is something very solemn in performing any action under the consciousness that it is for the last time.
"Influenced by this feeling, it had been my intention that this the last number of Notes and Queries edited by me should not have contained any intimation that the time had arrived when I felt called upon to husband my strength and faculties for those official duties which form the proper business of my life.
"But the fact having been widely announced, I owe it to myself, and to my sense of what is due to that large body of friends, known and unknown, by whom I have been for three-and-twenty years so ably and generously seconded, to tender them my public and grateful acknowledgments for their long-continued kindnesses.
- With conscious pride I view the band
- Of faithful friends that round me stand ;
- With pride exult that I alone
- Have joined these scattered gems in one ;
- Rejoiced to be the silken line
- On which these pearls united shine.
"This pride is surely a most justifiable one ; and he who could separate himself from the pleasant associations which I have thus enjoyed for nearly a quarter of a century, without deep pain and emotion, must be made of sterner materials than I can boast.
"That pain would be yet greater, that emotion yet more deep, did I not feel assured that in resigning my 'plumed' sceptre into the hands of Dr. Doran, I entrust it to one who not only desires to maintain unchanged the general character of this Journal, but will by his intelligence, courtesy, and good feeling, secure for dear old Notes and Queries the continued allegiance of those kind and intelligent friends who have made it what it is.
"To those friends, one and all, I now with the deepest gratitude, and most earnest wishes for their welfare and happiness, tender a hearty and affectionate Farewell."In publicly acknowledging how great are my obligations to my accomplished friend Mr. James Yeowell, for his valued and long-continued assistance, I am doing a simple act of justice which it affords me the highest gratification to perform."
Dr. Doran Editor. The editorship of Dr. Doran commenced on the 5th of October, Notes and Queries having been purchased by Sir Charles W. Dilke, its publication was removed to 20, Wellington Street, the office of The Athenaeum, and my father became its publisher. For the first fourteen years it was published by Mr. George Bell, of Bell & Daldy, now the well-known firm of George Bell & Sons. Mr. Bell took great interest in its progress, and regretted much having to sever his connexion with it; but with the increase of his own business, and the fact that Notes and Queries now required an office of its own, it was not possible to combine the two. When Mr. Thoms decided upon the change he consulted with my father, who took in hand all the business details until Notes and Queries was safe in its new home.
On the 3rd of January, 1874, Dr. Doran, in introducing the first number of the Fifth Series, states that Mr. Thoms, when commencing the Third Series, quoted the lines addressed by Ben Jonson to Selden
"as lines the applicability of which to this journal had been pointed out by one of the first and most valued of our contributors. They are lines which will bear repeating here, for their application, it is hoped, is as well founded now as in 1862 :—
- What fables have you vexed, what truth redeemed,
- Antiquities searched, opinions disesteemed,
- Impostures branded, and authorities urged!
- What blots and errors have you watched and purged,
- Records and authors of, how rectified,
- Times, manners, customs, innovations spied!
- Sought out the fountains' sources, creeks, paths, ways
- And noted the biginnings and decays!
- What is that nominal mark, or real rite,
- Form, act, or ensign that hath escaped your sight?
- How are traditions there examined! how
- Conjectures retrieved! and a story, now
- And then, of times (besides the bare conduct
- Of what it tells us) weaved in to instruct!"
Dr. Doran mentions as a matter for congratulation that
" 'N. & Q.' has lost no valuable contributor (except by death or infirmity) since Mr. Thoms retired, and that new and well-endowed correspondents have supplied the places of the departed. To all these the tribute of thanks and good wishes is heartily rendered."
Thoms's preface to Fourth General IndexMr. Thoms, in his preface to the Fourth General Index, written by him at the request of Dr. Doran, points to the success of Notes and Queries as furnishing an unanswerable proof
"that the literary jealousy of each other, so persistently charged against literary men, is without real foundation; and that the noble eulogy in which Chaucer summed up his character, on the Clerk of Oxford,
- And gladly wolde he learne and gladly teche,
is as justly applicable to all real lovers of literature at the present day as it was when the great Father of English poetry sketched, with his matchless pencil, the motley group which started from the Tabard on their never-to-be-forgotten pilgrimage."
Death of James Yeowell.Mr. James Yeowell, who had been the active sub-editor for more than twenty years, died on Friday, the 10th of December, 1875, and the number for the 18th opens with a beautiful tribute to his memory by Mr. Thoms, who said of him that he was "one who had many friends, but never an enemy." The Athenæum, in its obituary notice of the same date, states of this "simple-minded worshipper of strict accuracy" that "no man was ever more fortunate in finding in his daily occupation the labour in which he delighted," and suggests that his large collection of cuttings, jottings, and notes illustrative of the biography of the "illustrious obscure" of our literature should be secured by the British Museum.
The Athenæum of the following week mentions that
"amongst other minor matters involving research to which Mr. James Yeowell devoted much attention may be named his efforts to prove the authorship of the well-known lines
- He that fights and runs away
- May live to fight another day. in Notes and Queries for July 25th, 1863, Mr. Yeowell thought that he had discovered the author to be Oliver Goldsmith, inasmuch as the couplet, slightly varying from the way we give it, occurs in 'The Art of Poetry on a New Plan,' compiled by John Newbery (the chief publisher of juvenile literature more than a century ago), and revised and enlarged by Goldsmith. But the lines have since been found in Ray's
'History of the Rebellion,' published in 1749, thirteen years before the first edition of 'The Art of Poetry ' was issued."
Death of Dr. Doran:
Memoir by Thoms.On the 2nd of February, 1878, the front page appears in mourning— "the accomplished gentleman and warm - hearted scholar" Dr. Doran was dead. The short 'In Memoriam' written by Mr. Thoms records that he died, after a short illness, on Friday, the 25th of January, in his seventy-first year :—
"Receiving his early education in France and Germany, and gifted with a memory which never failed him, Dr. Doran was eminently fitted to discharge the responsible duties of an editor duties calling for a combination of firmness in maintaining the character of the journal under his charge with a delicate regard for the susceptibilities of contributors. Dr. Doran was, I believe, under twenty when his 'prentice hand directed The Literary Chronicle; and, for the last quarter of a century, hardly a publishing season has returned without producing some valued work from his pen. During the whole of this time he was a constant contributor to various literary journals ; and yet such was his industry, that all this labour did not compel him to withdraw from that society where he was always so heartily welcomed, and where his loss will be so deeply deplored."
Tribute from a contributor.The same number contains the following tribute from a correspondent :—
"I am sure there is not a contributor to 'N. & Q.' who will not mourn for our late Editor as for a father a father both kindly and wise; as kindly when he wisely suppressed as when he courteously accepted the communications sent him. A week has not elapsed since I wrote to thank him for the kindly reception with which I, a stranger both to him and to fame, had met from him."
The Athenæum notice.The Athenaeum, in its biographical notice, stated of him :—
"Perhaps no critic ever did his full duty to the public with so much tenderness towards writers. 'You are not mistaken, my dear fellow, as to your facts,' he once remarked in his kindliest way to a young writer,' but don't hurt people needlessly with that strong pen of yours. When you come to be as old as I am, you will be sorry to remember that you have been guilty of needless cruelty to any one.' "
French tribute.The French Notes and Queries, L'Intermediaire des Chercheurs et Curieux, in its issue of the 25th of February, made graceful reference to Dr. Doran, as is noted in the number of the 9th of March.
H. F. Turle Editor.Mr. H. F. Turle succeeded Dr. Doran as editor. He brought with him a thorough knowledge of the work in all its details, having been assistant to Mr. Thoms since the resignation of Mr. Yeowell, and afterwards to Dr. Doran, who so much valued his services that, in reply to a letter he received from Mr. Thoms congratulating him on the progress Notes and Queries was making, he wrote :—
"If what we are doing deserves praise from you and your late aide-de-camp we may well be satisfied. I say we, for Mr. Turle merits half at least of your good opinions, so indefatigable and cheerfully willing is he in the work."
He had a great love for Notes and Queries, and in every way proved himself to be a most painstaking editor.
Thoms writes preface to Fifth General Index.Mr. Thoms again appears before the readers of Notes and Queries in the preface to the Index to the Fifth Series, as well as in the first number of the Sixth, in which, with an old man's privilege, he makes sorrowful reference to those contributors who had passed away since he had called the journal into existence some thirty years before :—
"Many of these were dear personal friends, 'not of the roll of common men.' Peace to their honoured memories!
"Happily for the cause of good earnest inquiry after literary and historical truth, their places have been supplied by worthy successors, as a glance at the contents of this the opening number of our Sixth Series will abundantly testify. It is a number to which the editor may point in every way with justifiable pride, as an evidence of the high esteem in which 'N. & Q.' is held by men of eminence in literature and position.
"Long may my offspring occupy the position which it so worthily fills; and long may the contributors to dear old 'N. & Q.' greet each new series as I do this, Floreat! Floreat! Floreat!"
In this number (January 3rd, 1880) Dean Stanley writes on 'The Morosini Palace at Venice'; James Gairdner on 'The Maiden Election of 1699'; George Scharf on 'Another Old View of Covent Garden Market'; Mr. Thoms on 'Chap-Book Notes' (suggested by Mr. Ebsworth's article 'A Lament of the Chapmen,' which had appeared on the 13th of December, 1879) ; Prof. Skeat on 'A Puzzle Solved'; and Mr. Walcott on 'Notes on Chichester,' in which he says, "What a boon an analysis of episcopal registers would be!" Other contributors are W. R. S. Ralston and Hermentrude (Miss Emily Holt, a short obituary of whom appeared in 'N. & Q.' on January 6th, 1894).
Austin Dobson contributes a Rondeau.Mr. Austin Dobson contributes the following to the Christmas number of December 23rd, 1882:
A RONDEAU.
In 'N. & Q.' we meet to weigh
The Hannibals of yesterday;
We trace, thro' all its moss o'ergrown,
The script upon Time's oldest stone,
Nor scorn his latest waif and stray.
Letters and Folk-lore, Art, the Play;
Whate'er, in short, men think or say,
We make our theme,—we make our own,—
Stranger, whoe'er you be, who may
From China to Peru survey,
Aghast, the waste of things unknown,
Take heart of grace, you 're not alone;
And all (who will) may find their way
AUSTIN DOBSON.
- December, 1882.
It is pleasant to record that there are in this number the signatures of many present contributors Lady Russell, Prof. Skeat, W. T. Lynn, the Rev. John Pickford, S. O. Addy, Col. Prideaux, and others.
Death of Turle.Mr. Turle survived Dr. Doran only five years and a few months. He died very suddenly on the evening of Thursday, the 28th of June, 1883, the first anniversary of his father's death. He had on the Wednesday visited the grave at Norwood, and placed some flowers in anticipation of his sisters' going there on the following day. The 'In Memoriam ' which appeared in Notes and Queries on the 7th of July included a few words signed A. J. M. :—
"I ask leave to say a word, prompted only by private friendship and private sorrow, about the sad and sudden death of our genial Editor. His judgment and tact and temper in the conduct of 'N. & Q.' were singularly fine and accurate, and the loss of them is grievous to us all. But there are many, and I am one of them, who will feel even more deeply than this. They will feel, as I do now, that they have lost a friend; a man whose hearty, cheerful kindness and personal regard were always at one's service and were always welcome. His memory will live with that of 'N. & Q.,' which is no light nor trivial touch of fame."
Mr. Turle was the fourth surviving son of the well-known organist of Westminster Abbey, and was born on the 23rd of July, 1835. In September, 1841, the family went to live in the cloisters of the Abbey, and Turle was educated at Westminster School, under Dr. Williamson in the first instance, and from 1846 under Dr. Liddell. He had from his early boyhood a fondness for archæology, and particularly for church architecture and antiquities. The Athenæum obituary notice."Westminster Abbey," says The Athenæum in its obituary notice obituary on the 7th of July, "endeared to him by associations of family, notice. friends, and long residence, was the centre of his affections in the world of architecture." He very kindly gave the workers at the Athenæum Press evidence of this by procuring for them an invitation from Dean Stanley to go over the Abbey, when the Dean spent the best part of an afternoon in explaining the various portions of the building and its monuments, and afterwards entertained them at tea in the Jerusalem Chamber.
During his short editorship of Notes and Queries Mr. Turle devoted all his energies to its welfare. Nothing in connexion with his work was too much trouble for him; he regarded the paper with enthusiastic affection, and I am sure that he would have cordially approved the prediction of the critic in The Saturday Review that Notes and Queries is perhaps the only weekly newspaper that will be "consulted three hundred years hence." His kindly nature had endeared him to all, and great was the sorrow caused by his sudden loss. On the Sunday evening following his death the remains were removed to the Chapel of the Savoy, where they rested until the Tuesday, when, after a service by the Dean of WestminsterHis funeral from the Savoy., he was laid to rest with his father at Norwood, his friend Canon Prothero reading the last words at the grave. In the cloisters of Westminster Abbey a tablet has been placed to the memory of Mr. Turle's father, and by special permission his own name has been included. In Notes and Queries of November 28th, 1885, appears a review of 'Psalm and Hymn Tunes,' composed by James Turle, formerly organist and master of the choristers of Westminster AbbeyJames Turle's 'Psalm and Hymn Tunes.', collected and edited by his daughter S. A. Turle. Mr. Turle's compositions range over a long period —from 1824 to 1878. He was appointed organist to the Abbey in 1831, and so remained until September 26th, 1875. He still retained a titular connexion with the Abbey, and lived in his house in the Cloisters until his death on June 28th, 1882. Dean Farrar has well said of him: "He breathed through all his life the music of a sympathetic kindness and of an invincible modesty, the music which ever seemed to be slumbering on the instrument of his gentle life."
Joseph Knight becomes Editor.Mr. Joseph Knight, who succeeded Mr. Turle, has now been our Editor for nineteen years. Both contributors and readers will heartily congratulate him on this our Jubilee day, and all will join in the desire that he may be spared to celebrate many future birthdays of 'N. & Q.' The welcome words of greeting with which he opens this number will find ready response.
As we all too sadly know, Knight lived to celebrate only seven more birthdays of 'N. & Q.'
Death of Thoms.Saturday, the 15th of August, 1885, was a day of deep mourning for Notes and Queries. The kind-hearted, genial scholar, its founder and first editor, was dead. The obituary notice, written by Mr. Knight, which appeared the following week, renders full tribute to his sound learning, his genial fancy and humour, as well as to his social gifts, which caused him to be a favourite in all companies, while his good nature and tact saved him from being mixed up in archaeological feuds, and preserved to him throughout his life a record of intimacies and friendships unbroken by a single quarrel.
Obituary notices. Although the daily papers at the time, as well as The Athenæum, gave obituary notices, and the 'Dictionary of National Biography' contains particulars of his life written by Mr. E. Irving Carlyle (how proud Thoms would have been of the constant reference made to 'N. & Q.' in its pages!), some record may be made of him here. Mr. William John Thoms was born on the 16th of November, 1803, so that he was the junior of his friend Mr. Dilke by fourteen years. He was the son of Nathaniel Thoms, who had been for many years a clerk in the Treasury. Mr. T. C. Noble, in 'N. & Q.' of the 17th of October, 1885, records that a curious error was made in the register of his baptism in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, December 15th, 1803, in which his name is given as simply "John Thoms, son of Nathaniel by Ruth Ann, [born] November 16." This was corrected in 1857 by a sworn affidavit before Mr. Arnold, the magistrate, and at the foot of the page was then written, "This should be William John Thoms, according to the declaration of Mary Ann Thoms annexed hereto. Mercer Davies, curate, June 5, 1857." Mr. Thoms was for twenty years in the Secretary's office at Chelsea Hospital. In 1845, additional clerks being required, on account of the great railway pressure, for service in the House of Lords, Mr. Thoms was appointed to a clerkship. He was for many years head of the Printed Paper Office, where, The Athenæum says, his literary knowledge and research soon became known, and it was not long before he
"had drawn to his room for unofficial purposes the great lawyers and politicians of the recent past, Lord Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst, and Lord Campbell; the eminent historians Lord Macaulay and Earl Stanhope; and to these may be added the names of the Earl of Ellenborough, Lord Broughton … but a complete list would include most of the distinguished names among the members … of the Upper House."
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.As early as 1838 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Society of Antiquaries, in the work of which he took an active part, and did Antiquaries, his best to prevent the election to membership of those who, with only a superficial knowledge, sought to add the distinction of F.S.A. to their names.
In the same year he was appointed secretary of the Camden Society, a position which he held for thirty-five years. In 1863 Mr. Thoms was appointed Deputy Librarian of the House of Lords; this post, in consequence of old age, he resigned in 1882.
His first work, Early Prose Romances.'Mr. Thoms's first work, 'Early Prose Romances,' was published in 1827-8, followed in 1834 by 'Lays and Legends of Various Nations,' issued in monthly parts at half-a-crown, Mr. Thoms choosing for his motto the words of Sir John Malcolm, "He who desires to be well acquainted with a people will not reject their
'The Book of the Court.popular stories or local superstitions." In 1838 he wrote 'The Book of the Court, giving the Origin, Duties, and Privileges of the Nobility and of the Officers of State.' And in 1845, to show that he was not always engaged on historic doubts, he published under the title of 'Gammer Gurton's Pleasant Stories ' a delightful little Christmas book for children, beautifully illustrated, and printed by the Chiswick Press. "Ambrose Merton."The book is inscribed by Ambrose Merton, Gent., F.S.A., who, "in all hearty good will and affection, dedicates these world-renowned Stories to the Parents and Children of Merrie England." He also completed an edition of Stow's 'Survey of London' and various other works, among these two volumes of 'Choice Notes from Notes and Queries: History and Folk-lore,' 1858 and 1859, long since out of print. Thoms also published three notelets on Shakespeare, articles from Notes and Queries, and a book on 'The Longevity of Man, its Facts and its Fictions.' In my much-valued copy the author has written, "With the writer's best regards."His friend F. Norgate. The publisher of this was his friend and an old contributor, Mr. F. Norgate.
A genuine centenarian Mrs. Coxeter.In Notes and Queries, February 20th, 1875, appeared, as I have already mentioned (p. 7), a note by my father on 'A Centenarian' known to him, Mrs. Coxeter, of Newbury, born at Witney February 1st, 1775, who had just celebrated her hundredth birthday. Her death is recorded in 'N. & Q.' of December 2nd in the following year, and Mr. Thoms acknowledges the claim to be "well authenticated." The two friends would now and then have some fun over this, when Mr. Thoms would put on his inimitable smile and say, "Ah! Mr. Francis, your friend must have been born in a Witney blanket."
Thoms's letter to Prof. Owen on 'Exceptional Longevity.'Mr. Thoms in a letter addressed to Prof. Owen, entitled 'Exceptional Longevity,' published in 1879, tells the origin of his investigations. For the first twelve months after he had started Notes and Queries he used to insert, without the slightest doubt as to their accuracy, all the various cases of exceptional longevity which were sent to him. Mr. Dilke would good-naturedly quiz him on his fondness "for the big-gooseberry style of communications," so that when Sir George Cornewall Lewis sent to him a paper on 'Centenarians ' (3 S. i. 281) his mind was prepared to go into the question.Dilke and Thoms "book stalling." Mr. Thoms was a great rambler among the London bookstalls, and in this "bookstalling " he and Mr. Dilke were friendly rivals. Mr. Dilke on one occasion wrote to him: "Chancery Lane is my own manor, regularly haunted every Friday, and it is not to be endured that a mere poacher shall shake my own property in my own face." The letter is signed "Yours as you behave yourself."
Mr. Thoms in his 'Gossip of an Old Book-worm,' which appeared in The Nineteenth Century in 1881, gives some interesting particulars as to his search for pamphlets and books among the bookstalls, when he would often meet Lord Macaulay on the same errand.
Thoms loves books but can "handle the gloves."Mr. Thoms tells us that he had a love for books from his earliest Thoms loves years, the taste for them being encouraged by his father, who was a books, but can diligent reader of the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, his library containing a complete set of each. Being very short-sighted, he was not able to join in sports like other boys. "There was only one branch of them in which I was an adept, and in these refined days I almost blush to refer to it. I was said to handle the gloves very nicely."
The year 1872 was full of activity for Mr. Thoms. We find him busy investigating 'Another Historic Doubt' the death-warrant of Charles I. The numbers for July contain his notes on the subject; these were afterwards reprinted, and rapidly passed through two editions. They were dedicated to one dear to him as a brother "To the memory of that model of a Christian gentleman and accomplished scholar, my forty years' friend, John Bruce."
Banquet to Thoms. Then came his farewell to ' N. & Q.,' and only four weeks after his 'Parting Note' a banquet was given in his honour. On the 1st of November such an assemblage as is rarely witnessed met at Willis's Rooms. The chairman was Earl Stanhope; Lord Lyttelton occupied the vice-chair; and the company included, among other equally well-known names, the Earl of Verulam, Sir Frederick Pollock, Sir Charles W. Dilke, Sir Edward Smirke, Prof. Owen, Mr. Joseph Durham, R.A., Mr. Shirley Brooks, Mr. John Murray, and my father.
Earl Stanhope presides. A report of the proceedings is printed on the 9th of November, Earl Stanhope in the course of his speech said that
"it was as Editor of Notes and Queries from its foundation that they were now met to do him [Mr. Thoms] honour. The distinguishing merit of that periodical was that it did not pursue its inquiries into any one branch of knowledge, but invited co-operation from labourers in different fields of knowledge in the elucidation of difficulties."
Among other speakers were Mr. Benjamin Moran, United States Charge d'Affaires, who bore testimony to the appreciation in America of Mr. Thoms's labours; Prof. Owen, who thanked Mr. Thoms in the name of men of science whose researches he had assisted in the pages of 'N. & Q.'; and Sir Frederick Pollock. Mr. Thoms in the course of his reply said that "during all the time he had conducted Notes and Queries he never had so difficult a query proposed as that which occurred to him to-night, 'What have I done to deserve this great honour?'" Among the many letters from friends who wrote to congratulate him upon the success of the evening there was none more valued than that he received from his successor in the conduct of 'N. & Q.' Dr. Doran wrote:—
"Very sincerely do I congratulate you on the way in which you got through your trying position on Friday night. All around me felt for you while you were speaking, and admired how manfully your courage carried you over your emotion. A better speech could not have been made on such an occasion, and more hearty sympathy for the speaker could not have been shown, not merely by the loud applause, but by the quiet friendly and affectionate comments and phrases interchanged among neighbour-guests while you were doing battle with your feelings, and yet preserving your self-possession and your characteristic humour. It was a night to be remembered."
NOTES BY THE WAY. 53
With this celebration Mr. Thoms's public life may be said to have closed. The next thirteen years were passed for the most part quietly in the sanctuary of home, surrounded by those he loved, until the end came, in the old home endeared to him by so many memories. His life had been so long that few of his earlier friends had been spared to follow him to the cemetery at Brompton. My companion on that occasion was one of his oldest friends and con- tributors, Mr. Hyde Clarke, since passed to his rest. The Athenceum Hyde Clarke of the 14th of October, 1899, announced the death of another of his old friends, Col. Francis Grant. Mr. Thoms's library of some fifteen thousand volumes, which included a large collection of works on Pope and Junius, was sold by Messrs. Sotheby in February, 1887.
In this little record of Mr. Thoms's life I have been aided by his eldest son, Mr. Merton A. Thorns, whom I have been trying to persuade to give us a volume about his father, to include some of the rich stores of correspondence now in his possession.
With the death of Mr. Thorns my sketch of Notes and Queries is brought to a close. Only those well acquainted with its pages can realize the pleasure I have enjoyed in reviving so many memories. ' N. & Q.' has been to me a household word for nearly the whole of its existence, and the writing of this history has indeed been a labour of love. It is only by turning over the volumes, as I have done, that one can form any idea of the great storehouses they constitute. The references under Shakespeare alone exceed three thousand four hundred ; the ' Proverbs and Phrases ' number two thousand five hundred ; the ' Quotations ' four thousand ; the ' List of Anonymous Works ' is considerably over three thousand ; the various Folk-lore charms, superstitions, and customs amount to eighteen hundred. There are sixteen hundred remarkable epitaphs, and over four hundred epigrams. Bibliography, heraldry Bible literature, are prominently treated. Much special informa- tion is provided respecting America, its early history, customs, and laws, as well as relating to France and other nations. There are also many details relating to the lives of Nelson, Wellington, Napoleon, and others, not to be found elsewhere. During my search I have observed how helpful ' N. & Q.' must be to the historian and the biographer. I will give just one instance of this.
On the 8th of January, 1870, Mr. F. Gledstanes-Waugh inquired for particulars about Ebenezer Jones, the Chartist, who had pub- lished a volume in 1843, entitled ' Studies of Sensation and Event.' This brought a reply (which appeared on the 5th of February) from Dante G. Rossetti, who stated that
" this remarkable poet affords nearly the most striking instance of Dante Gabriel neglected genius in our modern school of poetry. This is a more Rossetti on important fact about him than his being a Chartist, which however he Ebenezer
was, at any rate for a time. I met him only once in my life, I believe ^ l ne *! .^
L/Dcirtist.
�� � 54
��NOTES BY THE WAY.
��Gabriel Rossetti.
��Mr. Richard H. Thornton contributes a
list of
deceased con- tributors and ' A Jubilee Greeting.'
��in 1848, at which time he was about thirty, and would hardly talk on any other subject but Chartism. His poems (the ' Studies of Sensa- tion and Event ' ) had been published some five years before my meeting him, and are full of vivid, disorderly power. I was little more than a lad at the time I first chanced on them, but they struck me greatly, though I was not blind to their glaring defects and even to the ludicrous side of their wilful ' newness ' ; attempting, as they do, to deal reck- lessly with those almost inaccessible combinations in nature and feeling which only intense and oft-renewed effort may perhaps at last approach. For all this, these ' Studies ' should be, and one day will be, disinterred from the heaps of verse deservedly buried. Some years after meeting Jones, I was much pleased to hear the great poet Robert Browning speak in warm terms of the merit of his work ; and I have understood that Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) admired the ' Studies ' and interested himself on their author's behalf."
Notes and Queries contains frequent references to the Rossettis, as Dante Rossetti was a contributor as well as his brother William, from whom we still have occasional communications. The two following notes will be read with interest. On November 24th, 1866, Lord Howden refers to having had the honour of being taught Italian by Mr. Gabriel Rossetti at Malta forty years ago ; and Mr. William Rossetti, on the 15th of December, says that his father escaped to Malta by the friendly aid of Admiral Sir Graham Moore. Mr. Rossetti in his reply quotes the first line " from the most famous, perhaps, of all " his father's " national lyrics, com- posed for the day when the Constitution was proclaimed " by " the faithless Ferdinand I. in 1820 ":
Sei pur bella con gli astri sul crine.
I will conclude with the wish expressed by our founder. Long may his offspring occupy the position it so worthily fills, and long may the contributors to " dear old ' N. & Q.' " join in the greeting Floreat! Floreat! Floreat!
It had been my intention to include obituary notices of our late contributors ; but while I was preparing these, one of those many friendly messages we are constantly receiving from that land dear to us all, America, came, and informed me that Mr. Richard H. Thornton, of Portland, Oregon, was compiling a similar list. This was printed in ' N. & Q.' for November 4th.
Mr. Thornton also contributed the following ' Jubilee Greeting,' which appeared on the llth of November. By his kind permission I am able to reprint it :
A JUBILEE GREETING.
Who wrote " Of making many books
There is no end " ? To us it looks
As though he grappled truth with hooks. The feeble flesh much study wearies.
None know it better than the men
Of quite encyclopaedic ken,
Whose hands have held the ready pen
Through fifty years of Notes and Queries.
�� � NOTES BY THE WAY. 55
��King Solomon ! In days long past Were you that rare Ecclesiast Whose watchful eye was daily cast
On scenes of sainting and of sinning ? Great preacher-monarch ! O had you, With largely comprehensive view, Inaugurated ' N. & Q.'
Three thousand years ere our beginning !
You could have said where Tarshish stood, And how King Hiram sawed his wood (He sent you timber that was good),
And whether Homer was a person. (The question oft engenders doubt Among our literary rout, When would-be critics make him out
The product of some Greek Macpherson.)
You could have told us in a trice What cook (before the Age of Ice ?) Composed that very grave advice
To catch one's hare, and then to stuff it. You knew the chalks and marls and clays : Your plant-lore far exceeded Ray's : You saw the spider's works and ways
Long, long before she scared Miss Muffet.
You might have added who the first, When floods upon his shallop burst, And winds and seas were at their worst,
Poured oil upon the troubled waters ; And all the tale of Troy divine, The ins and outs of Pelops' line, The threads of Babel's vast design,
The histories of Nimrod's daughters.
But we, " the lastest seed of Time," Attempting much in prose or rime, With energy almost sublime,
Some from the camp, and some from college, Ranging from Beersheba to Dan, Accumulate, as best we can, Line upon line, and man by man,
An armoury of scraps of knowledge.
Here Thorns, with steady heart and will, Most critical, but kindly still, Wielded the editorial quill,
And Doran, full of curious learning. Here notes from Cuthbert Bede we see, And comments by astute Jaydee, By Hermentrude, by H. B. C.
For these, and more, is no returning !
�� � 56 NOTES BY THE WAY.
When scholars die, forget they all They learned on this terrestrial ball ? Do epics into nothing fall ?
Does naught remain of lines and scansions ? Not so. The seer in Patmos took From angel-hands a little book ; And we, who read, perhaps may look
For volumes in the many mansions."
To this greeting many others were added poems from " St. Swithin " and " KilHgrew," and a note from W. C. B., in which he speaks of ' N. & Q.' as a " treasure-house which, though ransacked every week, is never diminished. . . .Ships sailing over many seas are ever bringing fresh cargoes of rich goods from many lands to replenish this literary storehouse. Each contributor adds a pebble to this ever-heightening monumental cairn."
�� �
- ↑ The sale of newspapers containing memoirs of the Duke was enormous, and Mr. H. M. Bealby, in the number for October 8th, 1853, gives the circulation of The Times on the 19th of November, 1852, the day after the Duke's funeral, as 70,000; while the double number of The Illustrated London News, with a narrative of the funeral, sold 400,000. "During the week of the Duke's funeral there were issued by the Stamp Office to the newspaper press more than 2,000,000 stamps."