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,—
