202 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 227. 



ledgment of the faithful services of his trusted de- 

 pendent, placed young Whitelocke at Lochee's Mili- 

 tary Academy, near Chelsea. There he remained till 

 1777, when, the Earl's friendly disposition remaining 

 in full force, and the youth's predilection for a military 

 career continuing unabated, an ensigncy was procured 

 him, through Lord Aylesbury's intervention, in the 

 14th regiment of Foot." — Risen from the Ranks, 

 p. 68. 



Through the influence of his brother-in-law, 

 General Brownrigge, Whitelocke's promotion was 

 rapid ; and in 1807 he was gazetted commander- 

 in-chief of an expedition destined for the recap- 

 ture of Buenos Ayres. His conduct during this 

 expedition became the subject of a court-martial ; 

 he was found guilty, sentenced to be cashiered, 

 and declared to be " totally unfit to serve his Ma- 

 jesty in any military capacity whatever." 



Judging from the evidence adduced, the con- 

 duct of the commander-in-chief was totally un- 

 worthy of the flag under which he served, and 

 highly calculated to arouse the indignation of the 

 men whom he commanded ; and for some consi- 

 derable time, whenever the soldiers met together 

 to take a friendly glass, the toast was, " Success 

 to grey hairs, but bad luck to White-locks ! " On 

 the whole, the Rev. E. Neale's account seems to 

 be quite impartial ; and most persons, after read- 

 ing the evidence of the general's extremely va- 

 cillating conduct, will be inclined to agree with 

 him in awarding this unfortunate officer the title 

 of the " Flincher- General at Buenos Ayres." 



James Sfence Harry. 



I have only just seen your correspondent's 

 Reply (Vol. ix., p. 87.) respecting General White- 

 locke. He is right in stating that the general re- 

 sided at Clifton : he might have added, as late as 

 1830 ; but he had previously, for a time, lived at 

 Butcombe Court, Somersetshire. 



There is an anecdote still rife in the neighbour- 

 hood, that when Whitelocke came down to see the 

 house before taking it, he put up at an inn, and 

 after dinner asked the landlord to take a glass of 

 wine with him. Upon announcing, however, who 

 he was, the landlord started up and declared he 

 would not drink another glass with him, throwing 

 down at the same time the price of the bottle, that 

 he might not be indebted to the general. 



Respecting the story of the flints, it is said that 

 he desired them to be taken out of the muskets, 

 wishing that the men should only use their bayo- 

 nets against the enemy. Ardelio. 



I remember well that soon after the unsuccess- 

 ful attack of General Whitelocke upon Buenos 

 Ayres, it was stated that the flints had been taken 

 out of the muskets of some of our regiments be- 

 cause they were quite raw troops, and the General 

 thought that they might, from want of knowledge 

 and use of fire-arms, do more mischief to them- 



selves than to the enemy, and that they had better 

 trust to the bayonet alone. The consequence was, 

 that when they entered the streets of the town, 

 they found no enemy in them to whom they could 

 apply the bayonet. The inhabitants and troops 

 were in the strong stone houses, and fired on and 

 killed our men with perfect impunity, as not a 

 shot could be fired in return : to surrender was 

 their only chance of life. A reference to a file of 

 newspapers of that date (which I am too lazy to 

 make myself) will show whether this was under- 

 stood at the time to be a fact or not. J. Ss. 



In the Autobiography of B. Haydon (I think 

 vol. i.), he mentions that as he was passing through 

 Somersetshire on his way from Plymouth to 

 London, he saw General Whitelocke. A reference 

 to the passage may interest G. L. S. 



W. Denton. 



The following charade was in vogue at the time 

 of Whitelocke's death : 



" My first is an emblem of purity ; 

 My second is that of security ; 

 My whole forms a name 

 Which, if yours were the same, 

 You would blush to hand down to posterity." 



J. Y. 



"man proposes, but god disposes." 

 (Vol. viii., p. 552. ; Vol. ix., p. 87.) 



1. If your correspondent H. P. will again ex- 

 amine my communication on this subject, he will 

 find that I have not overlooked the view which 

 attributes the De Imitatione to John Gerson, but 

 have expressly referred to it. 



2. If Gerson was the author, this will not prove 

 that in quoting the proverb in question, Piers 

 Ploughman quoted from the De Imitatione, as 

 H. P. supposes. The dates which I gave will 

 show this. The Vision was written about 

 a.d. 1362, whereas, according to Du Pin, John 

 Gerson was born December 14, 1363, took a pro- 

 minent part in the Council of Constance, 1414, 

 and died in 1429. Of the Latin writers of the 

 fifteenth century, Mosheim says : 



" At their head we may justly place John Gerson, 

 Chancellor of the University of Paris, the most illus- 

 trious ornament that this age can boast of, a man of 

 great influence and authority, whom the Council of 

 Constance looked upon as its oracle, the lovers of 

 liberty as their patron, and whose memory is yet pre- 

 cious to such among the French clergy as are at all 

 zealous for the maintenance of their privileges against 

 papal despotism." — Ecc. Hist, cent. xv. ch. ii. sec. 24. 



3. Gerson was not a Benedictine monk, but a 

 Parisian cure, and Canon of Notre Dame : 



" He was made curate (cure, parson or rector) of 

 St. John's, in Greve, on the 29th of March, 1408, and 



