2t'as.N«G?.,AtKiLii.'670 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



283 



One of these I find in Larpent's Private Journal 

 (Bentley). Under May 12, 1813, tbe Judge-Ad- 

 vocate writes from head-quarters, at Frenada : — 



" The diflSculties now increased. Lord Wellington and 



Colonel F of the Artillery do not agree. . . . F. is 



much of a gentleman. . . . but raises difficulties, which 

 I suspect Lord Wellington does not encourage, but ex- 

 pects things to be done, if possible." 



Well, F , the gentleman who raised diffi- 

 culties, was sent to England ; and Lord Welling- 

 ton, recognising the man he wanted, knocked 

 routine on the head, and placed the whole of the 

 English and Portuguese artillery under the com- 

 mand of a single captain. The profound astonish- 

 ment of the routinists, and the happy result which 

 could not be denied, may be considered worth 

 noting. In October, 1813, the journalist writes 

 from head-quarters. Vera : — 



" A man to thrive here must have his wits aboat him ; 

 and not see or feel difficulties, or start them, to go on 

 smoothly. People wonder at Lieut.-Col. Dickson, Portu- 

 guese service, and only (barring brevet rank) a captain 

 of artillery in our service, commanding, as he has done 

 now ever since Frenada, all the artillery of both nations, 

 English and Portuguese. He has four seniors out here 

 . . . who have submitted hitherto. . . . Some say the 

 old artillery officers have rather changed their sex, and 

 are somewhat of old women, — Lord Wellington seems to 

 favour the latter opinion a little. I conclude that he 

 finds it answer in practice. As an instance of this, it may 

 be stated that in the pursuit, after the battle of Vittoria, 

 in the bad roads, Lord Wellington saw a column of French 

 making a stand, as if to halt for the night. ' Now Dick- 

 son,' said he, ' if we had but some artillery up ! ' ' They 

 are close by, my Lord.' And in ten minutes, from a hill 

 on the right, Lieut.-Col. Rose's light division guns began 

 — bang! bang! bang! And away went the French, two 

 leagues further off. I fear, if there had been a General, 

 that we should have had instead of this a report of the bad 

 state of the roads, and the impossibility of moving guns. 

 In fact, this same brigade of guns, with their mounted 

 men, took the last French mortar near Pamplona." 



Larpent's interesting journal has many other 

 and similar traits of Dickson, who was, I believe, 

 originally an Indian officer, and who had taken 

 service with the Portuguese before he was placed 

 in supreme command of the artillery in the Penin- 

 sula. J. DOBAN. 



AHECDOTES OF THUKLOW. 



The two following anecdotes from domestic 

 sources are placed at the disposal of " N. & Q." 

 as a last resort to rescue them from that merited 

 oblivion the narrator well knows awaits them, but 

 for the high name with which they are associated. 



In the early childhood of the celebrated Edward 

 Thurlow, his parents maintained a friendly inter- 

 course with two families, the Younges and the 

 Leeches, who were connected in the closest ties 

 by marriage. 



At an evening gathering in the house of the 

 former, the young Edward was invited to share 



with them the social meal ; his age may be easily 

 inferred from the position he was destined to 

 occupy in the domestic circle. To enliven the 

 party, it was proposed to display the educational 

 progress of the future Chancellor, Edward was 

 therefore placed in the centre of the circle, and 

 then called upon to spell " aZZ." All were silent. 

 Every eye was turned upon him ; all were ready 

 with a due meed of applause ; but silence was 

 unbroken. At first it was believed he did not 

 hear the word, and it was kindly repeated ; but 

 in vain, a moody silence only followed. Again 

 and again the word was repeated, but with the 

 same results. Matters now grew serious : temp- 

 tations from the table were then resorted to, but 

 still in vain. Persuasions, promises, caresses, were 

 alike unavailing. All that gentle means could 

 suggest was done, but he remained immovable. 



Recourse to other and harsher means now be- 

 came inevitable, and violent hands were laid upon 

 the disobedient boy : he was led from the circle, 

 and pinned to the window curtain ; there for a 

 time the degraded urchin resolutely endured the 

 gaze of pity, anger, entreaty, sorrow, — but even 

 in his exile all was lost. In a brief space con- 

 versation resumed its wonted sway, and the delin- 

 quent was forgotten. Now the young hero had 

 boldly resisted bribery, tendered in every imagi- 

 nable form ; but now came neglect, and that to 

 him was intolerable. There was nothing to feed 

 his ire, or to fan his contumacious spirit ; but still 

 undaunted he sought for one inquiring glance, 

 but there was none. Galled by penal servitude, 

 he roused himself to a final effort, and startled the 

 party by exclaiming at the pitch of his voice : 

 •' What ! am I to stand here all night if I do not 

 say a-ll, all ? " All was in an instant commotion : 

 his fetters were knocked off — rhe was restored to 

 the circle. All (upon what evidence it is not 

 very clear) rated him a very good boy, and a 

 deluge of kisses and cakes rewarded at once his 

 tact and talent. 



The intimacy which subsisted between Edward 

 Thurlow and the Leech family has been already 

 noticed hy- Lord Campbell in his Lives of the 

 Lord Chancellors. The Leeches were left orphans 

 in early life, and placed under the charge of their 

 uncle Youngs, by whom they were educated for 

 the Church at Cambridge. One of the brothers 

 came to an untimely end ; and the other became, 

 through the patronage of the Lord Chancellor 

 Thurlow, a prebendary of Norwich Cathedral. 

 He was of a strange and singularly whimsical turn 

 of mind, and could only be restrained from con- 

 templated follies through practical pleasantries. 

 A necessary residence of three months in the year 

 in Norwich he conceived to be an extremely irk- 

 some obligation ; and he contrived to escape the 

 observation of those about him, and wrote to the 

 Lord Chancellor, requesting to be relieved from 



