502 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>d S. VI. 155.. Dec. 18. '58. 



came at first agitated with hopes ; then enthusiastic and 

 regardless of restraint as the certainty opens upon them. 



" 2 o'clock afternoon. The news is fully con- 

 firmed. The representatives declare Ja patrie en danger ; 

 thev proclaim their own permanency, and that he is a trai- 

 tor'who shall attempt to disf-olve them. * * * A member 

 expresses his surprise that Buonaparte^^has not yet sent 

 his abdication. Stocks rise to 55f. 50c." 



Napoleon arrived at Paris at four o'clock on 

 Wednesday morning. He was received at the 

 palace of the Elysee- Bourbon by the Duke of 

 Vicenza, Caulaincourt, who told him that "the 

 news of his misfortunes had already transpired ; 

 that a great agitation prevailed in the public 

 mind ; and that the dispositions of the Deputies 

 appeared more hostile than ever." (Memoires de 

 Fleury de Chaboulon, torn. ii. p. 210.) 



Walter Scott remarks, in his Life of Napoleon : 



"It was a curious indication of public spirit in Paris, 

 that, upon the news of this appalling misfortune, the na- 

 tional funds rose immediately after the first shock of the 

 tidings was past ; so soon, that is, as men had time to 

 consider the probable consequence of the success of the 

 allies. It seemed as if public credit revived upon any in- 

 telligence, however disastrous otherwise, which promised 

 to abridge the reign of Buonaparte." 



In truth, the funds rose after the battle of 

 Waterloo in Paris, for the same reason that they 

 rose in London. The public saw that the entire de- 

 feat of Napoleon placed him in a position in which 

 he coidd neither fight nor negotiate, and which 

 therefore rendered the speedy reestablishment of 

 peace probable. Lucien made a great mistake in 

 selling out nearly 500,000^. on the Tuesday. On 

 Thursday the 22nd Napoleon declared bis politi- 

 cal life to be terminated, and proclaimed his son 

 Emperor of the French, under the title of Napo- 

 leon II. This declaration was issued at 3 p.m. ; 

 the 3 per cents, opened on that day at 59 with 

 great applause, and some cries of vive le roi. They 

 continued to rise on Thursday, notwithstanding 

 fears of popular disturbances in Paris. The shops 

 were shut in the evening, and the streets nearly 

 deserted. On the following Sunday, the 25th, the 

 town had resumed its ordinary tranquillity, and 

 even gaiety. L. 



How came it to pass that the news of the 

 battle was known in London some hours be- 

 fore the Duke of Wellington's despatch reached 

 the Cabinet? It happened to me that on the 

 first day of February, 1822, I heard this ques- 

 tion answered by the illustrious Duke himself. 

 He said that, from his respect for the royal fa- 

 mily of France, and considering the great in- 

 terest they had in it, he thought it proper that 

 the earliest intelligence of the event should be 

 communicated to Louis XVIII., who was then 

 residing at Ghent. As his aides-de-camp were all 

 either wounded or too much fatigued after the 

 battle, and Count Pozzo de Borgo being at hand, 

 he commissioned him to carry the welcome news, 



who, proceeding immediately to Ghent, delivered 

 his message to the King while he was at breakfast. 

 There was a crowd of people before the windows, 

 as was usual ; and a Jew who was there, looking in, 

 had his curiosity excited by observing kissing and 

 other signs of joy among the royal party. To 

 learn the cause of this he made his way into the 

 house, and having heard the important news, he 

 set out instantly for Ostend, and getting on board 

 a vessel ready to sail for England, he hastened to 

 London, where he first went to Change Alley and 

 transacted business ; which done, he immediately 

 carried the news to Lord Liverpool, some hours 

 before the arrival of Captain Percy with the de- 

 spatches. J. Mn. 



I remember perfectly well that the name of the 

 gentleman who brought the news of Waterloo 

 from Ghent was Cook. I was living near Can- 

 terbury ; heard the firing all day on Sunday. On 

 Tuesday evening was at a cricket- match, where 

 there was a mysterious feeling pervading the 

 whole company that a great battle had been 

 fought and won, something like the marvellous 

 and supernatural reception of the news of the 

 great Greek naval victory 'ere it bad well been 

 fought out. On Wednesday I knew all. L. B. L. 



[Since the publication in '• N. & Q." (p. 448.) of a 

 brief narrative of the arrival in London, and first reading, 

 of the Duke's Waterloo Despatch, we have been both 

 surprised and amused by a startling, but we suspect 

 jocose article in a weekly paper, the writer of which be- 

 gins bj' stating that the " notice " which appears in " N. 

 & Q." " is entirely wrong," and then goes on to confirm the 

 said " notice " Jn all its leading particulars. The writer 

 in question, however, makes one statement which, in the 

 interests of truth, we feel bound to contrast with that 

 which appeared in our pages : — 



Weekly Paper. 

 " The notice in ' N. & Q.' alleges that ministers were 

 invited to dine with Earl Bathurst on the 21st of June, 

 in total ignorance of events." 



Notes and Queries. 



" The Cabinet (as well as Mr. Rothschild) appear to 

 have received early information of a private kind that a 

 great victorj' had been gained on the 18th, and .... they 

 had the subsequent benefit of the somewhat fuller intel- 

 ligence which was known in the City at noon on the 

 21st." 



Nothing more need be said. We were willing to sup- 

 pose that our jocose castigator had not seen what we have 

 just cited from our columns, and wrote at hazard. But 

 our statement, as given above, is part and portion of that 

 very extract which so many of our respected contem- 

 poraries of the daily press have done us the honour of 

 republishing. — Ed. ] 



TTNDALE S FIBST OCTAVO TESTAMENT. 

 (2°* S. vi. 175.) 



Mr. OrroR justly complains of the carelessness 

 of Anderson {Annals of Eng. Bib,, vol. i. pp. 587, 



