184
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. i. MARCH 5, im.
in which he has some interesting things to
say about the former. Among others is this
(p. 755) :-
"The correction was of necessity inadequate: 1 am not omniscient, and the vast sphere of my ignorance includes innumerable matters discussed in the dictionary. A book of which it is the essence that every page should bristle with facts and dates is certain to have errors by the thousand, unless it should be supervised by a staff of in- spectors beyond all possibilities." Those accustomed to similar investigations fully realize the difficulties in the way of absolute exactness, and no doubt the uni- versal feeling is one of amazement that so vast an undertaking should yet be so accu- rate. From time to time writers have pointed out in ' N. & Q.' slips that have crept into the ' D.N.B.' May I ask whether a slip has not been made as to the person to whom the sobriquet of " Silly Billy " was given 1
In his sketch of William IV. Prof. J. K. Laughton wrote (Ixi. 328) :
" The total disregard of times and seasons and the feelings or prejudices of his hearers excited an antagonism which took its revenge in nicknaming him ' Silly Billy.' "
In support of his contention that Wil- liam IV. was Silly Billy, Prof. Laughton would be able to cite E. C. Brewer's 'Reader's Handbook' (1880 and 1899), where we read : 41 Silly Billy, William IV. (1765, 1830-1837)." On the other hand, in H. F. Reddall's ' Fact, Fancy, and Fable ' (1889) we read :
" Silly Billy. A nickname conferred on the Duke of Gloucester, one of the sons of George III., on account of the weakness of his intellect.
At 7 th S. vi. 486 DR. BREWER pointed out that William Frederick, second Duke of Gloucester, was a son, not of George III., but of William Henry, first Duke of Glou- cester, who was a brother of George III. Yet DR. BREWER raised no objection to the application of the epithet "Silly Billy" to the second Duke of Gloucester. On the contrary, in 1891 he inserted in his ' Historic Note-Book ' the following :
"Silly Billy. -I. The nickname of William IV. of Great Britain, sometimes called 'The Sailor King,' because he was Lord High Admiral of the Navy (1765, 1830-1837).
" II. William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was the son of William Henry, a younger brother of George III., and died 1&34. He married his cousin Mary, a daughter of George III."
There is, then, uncertainty as to whom the sobriquet of "Silly Billy" properly belongs. Other authorities may therefore be cited. Writing 2 August, 1834, the Marquis of Londonderry said : " Billy of Gloucester was rather for Committee " (in Duke of Bucking-
ham's ' Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets
of William IV. and Victoria,' 1861, ii. 116).
On 3 December, 1834, Thomas Raikes made
this entry in his ' Journal ' :
" On the 20th [an error for the 30th] ultimo died at Bagshot His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester.
He was not a man of talent, as may be
inferred from his nickname of silly Billy." Second edition, 1856, i. 308.
In 1861 or 1862 Capt. Gronow related the following anecdote :
" The Duke of Gloucester. His Royal Highness, who was in the habit of saying very ludicrous things, asked one of his friends in the House of Lords, on the occasion when William IV. assented to Lord Grey's proposition to pass the Reform Bill cofite que coiUe, ' Who is Silly Billy now ? ' This was in allusion to the general opinion that was prevalent of the Royal Duke's weakness, and which had obtained for him the sobriquet of 'Silly Billy.'" 'Reminiscences,' second edition, 1862, p. 229.
This story has been repeated in 'Collec- tions and Recollections ' (1898), p. 237 ; in ' An Onlooker's Note-Book ' (1902), p. 85 ; and doubtless elsewhere.
In 1888 Mr. W. P. Frith introduced an amusing, but possibly apocryphal, story thus :
"The Duke of Gloucester, one of the sons of George ill., was a most amiable prince, but his intellectual powers did not keep pace with his amiability ; so inferior were they, indeed, that he earned for himself the sobriquet of ' Silly Billy.' "- ' Further Reminiscences,' p. 99.
In 1902 Mr. L. G. Robinson wrote :
"The son, William Frederick, who became Duke of Gloucester, born in 1775, was not distinguished by talent, and early in life earned the sobriquet of 'Silly Billy.'" 'Letters of Dorothea, Princess Lieven,' p. 384.
It is thus seen that from 1834 to 1902 various writers, of whom at least two were contemporaries, applied the sobriquet of "Silly Billy " to the Duke of Gloucester. In favour of William IV. we have the bare state- ments of DR. BREWER in 1880 and 1891, and of Prof. Laughton in 1900. DR. BREWER is dead. Cannot Prof. Laughton tell us his authority for applying the epithet to Wil- liam IV. 1 ALBERT MATTHEWS.
Boston, U.S.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLISHING AND
BOOKSELLING. (See ante, pp. 81, 142.)
Deacon's Composition and Style With a complete
Guide to all matters connected with Printing and Publishing. Edited by R. D. Blackman. London, n.d.
Dell, Henry, fl. 1756. The Booksellers, a Poem.
1766.
' A wretched, rhyming list of booksellers in London and Westminster" (Nichols). Dell was a bookseller, first in Tower Street, and afterwards in Holborn. If not the author, he was certainly the publisher of this poem (' D.N.B.').
