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
