282
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* s. m. APRIL 15, 1905.
lunar month) were called Quartodecimans,
and it was thought better not to agree with
this at any time, whether a Sunday or not.
It would undoubtedly be much better now if some plan could be agreed upon in the Christian Church to abolish all these com- plicated rules and keep Easter Day on the second Sunday in April, when the first in all probability took place. W. T. LYNN.
Blackheath.
GEORGE DYER.
WE have all of us a warm corner in our hearts reserved for George Dyer, " the dear, blundering soul," who, as Lamb " verily believed, was born without original sin." Mr. E. V. Lucas, in a recent article, has said nearly all there is to be said on such an enticing subject; but the picture may perhaps be made a little more complete by a few additions.
Mr. Lucas sets out with a statement with which one is somewhat inclined to disagree, namely, that but for certain letters of Lamb's and the two oft-read Elia essays, "Dyer's name would now be unknown." This seems unlikely, seeing that so many people all friends' of Dyer's have had much to say about his unique personality. There are, hidden away in various books, mostly out of print, many details that should be welcomed by all who take an interest in Lamb and his friends.
We all know of Dyer's wish to offer his hand to the widow of John Clarke, in the event of her not having been left well off, and Mr. Lucas would appear to be under the impression that this early love of George Dyer for her, when he and Clarke were assistants in Dr. Hyland's school at North- ampton, was his first and last romance. Mr. Lucas writes :
" As we have seen, he had once loved : he had not married, one suspects simply because, since that time, no woman had asked him, or, rather, had not bidden him to."
There was a time, however, when Dyer actually did, by letter, make a proposal of marriage, the lady thus honoured being the widow of Gilbert Wakefield. What would one not give to be privileged to see that letter ! The story is related by the grand- daughter of Gilbert Wakefield, Mrs. Le Breton, in her interesting ' Memories of Seventy Years,' as follows :
"Mrs. Wakefield, who had been beautiful, and still looked very young (her husband never men- tions her in his letters to her daughters but as ' your lovely mother'), had been the object of Mr. Dyer's devotion for years, and he at last ventured to send her a proposal of marriage. My aunt has described
her to nie coming flushed and indignant into the
room with an open letter in her hand, which she
flu/ig to them, saying, 'There, girls, you must
answer this for me ; I will have nothing to say to
him.' It was long before she would forgive him, or
allow him to resume his visits to her house. I do
not think that any man could have persuaded her
to be untrue to the beloved husband of her youth
(she was married toGilbert Wakefield at seventeen),
but certainly George Dyer would have been the
last person to please so delicate and fastidious a
lady."
Mrs. Le Breton has more to tell us that is very interesting and characteristic of Dyer's- peculiarities :
"I fear his goodness and kindness were not properly appreciated by us young ones, as he was sadly uncouth and slovenly in his appearance, and had a fatal habit of kissing us on his arrival, which we always tried to avoid. One day, hearing him come upstairs, my sister and I ran away as usual, and, peeping into the drawing-room, where we had left a bust we had been drawing from, heard him, after a low bow, entering with his usual politeness into a kind conversation with Diana. He went very often to visit my grandmother, Mrs. Wakefield, who lived at Hackney with her young sons, from whom poor Dyer patiently endured much teasing. I have heard of Gilbert's one day dressing in a woman's clothes, with a mask, and was introduced as a ' foreign lady,' to whom Mr. Dyer was asked to give his arm to the dining-room, which he did, after gazing with blank surprise at the strange fac& of * the lady.' It was only near the end of dinner that the trick was discovered by the whole party bursting into uncontrollable laughter."
Dyer's " aquatic incursion " on leaving Colebrook College to visit Mrs. Barbauld at Stoke Newington, as recorded by Elia, can never be effaced from our memories. There is, however, another account by Procter, wha arrived on the scene a little earlier than Lamb did. Two versions are given by him : one in his ' Memoir of Charles Lamb,' and the other in his ' Autobiographical Fragment and Biographical Notes,' edited by his friend Coventry Patmore. The one here tran- scribed is from the latter work, as it is more complete in details, and also less known than that in the ' Memoir.'
In his notes, under date 17 May, 1828, he writes :
" I happened to call at Lamb's the morning that Dyer fell into the New River. He had been taken out about a quarter of an hour when I arrived, and I saw a track of water from the river to the house, which was close by, like that left by a large New- foundland dog. I rang the bell. ' Is Mr. Lamb at home?'I inquired. ' No, sir,' answered the maid, 'but Mr. Dyer has just fallen into the water ; will you go up? My missis is in such a fright.' I pro- ceeded accordingly up stairs, and there found Dyer blanketed up to the throat ; his little stubby grey hair had been rubbed up till it looked like a quantity of little needles on his head. He was chattering away under the influence of a thunder- ing glass of brandy-and-water, while Miss Lamb-
