DISCOVERY 



23 



attack, he is able, with satire, invective, irony, and 

 sheer fun at his command, to set before us a feast that 

 both attracts and disgusts. In him hterature is 

 expressed in the lowest possible terms, and Life and 

 Death sit subject to the spirit of mockery. To Wolcot 

 must be paid this tribute — that in his best burlesque 

 passages not a word is out of place. He was master of 

 his craft, and though a large quantity of inferior work 

 could be spared from his volumes, his best is in its own 

 way final. This man is not one of your small writers 

 who have only once or twice contrived to express 

 themselves notablv ; there is in him a careless ease 

 that claims companionship with the great. At times, 

 perhaps in the most unexpected places, there is present 

 in his verse a movement like a heavy ground swell, a 

 grand manner that recalls Dryden, the expression of 

 something pent up, the fervour that makes a style. 

 Often it is mated with words not in themselves express- 

 ing remarkable sentiment. The artist is greater than 

 the man. 



Wolcot stands confessed in his works, and does not 

 need a final apology. His five volumes of verse are 

 unique in our literature. Even as a mere guide-book 

 to the last quarter of the eighteenth century they are 

 worth more than the few pence demanded by book- 

 shops in the Charing Cross Road. He is also worthy 

 of study as a character, an exceptional human being. 

 Much is known about him. Much remains to be col- 

 lected. 



(Concluded) 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



There are numerous editions of Wolcot's works. The best 

 is in five volumes, with a short life, printed in 1812. None is 

 complete All his pieces were originally published in single 

 quarto pamphlets. The fullest life is that in Annual Obituary 

 and Biography, 1820. By far the best article is that in West 

 Country Stories, by W. H. Hamilton Rogers, 1895, entitled 

 "The Sweeter Side of Peter Pindar." Among other source 

 books too numerous to list there are : 



Polwhele's Traditions and Recollections (for the Truro period). 



Opie and his Works, by J. Jope Rogers. 1878. 



Opie and his Circle, by Ada Earland, 191 1. (Hutchinson 



& Co.) 

 Past Celebrities, by Cyrus Redding. 

 Records of My Life, by John Taylor, 1832. 

 " An Academy Critic of 100 Years Ago," Magazine of Art, 1883. 

 Public Characters. American Edition, 1803. 

 Crabbe Robinson's Diary sub. 181 1 (in MS. at Dr. Williams' 



Library, Gordon Square- — a vivid unfavourable personal 



sketch). 



All the above must be read with caution. References 

 abound in late eighteenth-century reminiscences. See also 

 Notes and Queries (2nd Series, vol. vii), early files Morning Post 

 newspaper, Blackwood's Magazine, July 1868. Much unpub- 

 lished material is e-xtant, particularlv a manuscript life, with 

 portraits and letters, contemporary, compiled by a Mr. Giddy. 

 This is drawn upon in the present article. It does not shed 

 much light on Wolcot's later life. There are manuscripts in 

 the public library, Auckland, New Zealand. 



Note. — There is an excellent portrait by Opie in the National 

 Portrait Gallery. Also a delightful miniature of Wolcot in 

 his old age, by Cosway, The author would be glad to hear 

 from anyone who has knowledge of manuscript, verses, or 

 letters, or specimens of Wolcot's painting. 



Reviews of Books 



Forensic Che»iistry. By A. Luc.^s, O.B.E., F.I.C. 

 (Edward Arnold & Co., i6s.) 



A forensic chemist is a solver of chemical problems 

 that arise in connection with the administration of justice. 

 He is a man who should combine the qualities of a first- 

 class analyst with those that go to the making of a success- 

 ful detective ; an expert who sits in the office of his 

 laboratory, waiting like Sherlock Holmes for the man in 

 difficulties to ascend the stair. 



The author of this work is the director of the Govern- 

 ment .\nalytical Laboratory in Cairo, and his book, as 

 far as the reviewer is aware, is the only one published on 

 this interesting application of chemistry to life. It should 

 appeal not only to students of chemistry, as more or less 

 light reading, but also to that large class in the community, 

 the authors and readers of detective stories. 



Forensic chemistry deals not only with purely chemical 

 questions like the nature and composition of any material 

 whose quality may give rise to legal proceedings, but also 

 with the examination of articles for the presence or 

 absence of particular substances such as poisons, or com- 

 pounds which may have originated an explosion or a fire. 

 It is concerned also with questions which are only partly 

 chemical, such as the examination of blood-stains, finger- 

 marks, documents whose authenticity is questioned, and 

 counterfeit coins. 



In each chapter Mr. Lucas gives a careful statement of 

 the problem, and in some, but not excessive, detail the 

 general line of attack upon it. He then quotes from his 

 large experience in Egypt several examples which illus- 

 trate and justify the methods employed. Finally, he 

 gives the references to books in which that particular 

 subject may be further pursued. 



In the chapter on bullets we have these illustrative 

 cases. A man, who was suspected of wounding another 

 by shooting, escaped conviction because the shot from a 

 cartridge discovered in his home was found by analysis 

 to differ from the shot extracted from the wounded man ; 

 the former contained a comparatively large amount of 

 tin, and the latter a trace of antimony, but no tin. In a 

 second case a night watchman shot at some unknown 

 persons suspected to be thieves, who succeeded, however, 

 in getting away. Next morning blood was found on the 

 ground, and later a man was arrested with a shot-wound 

 in his leg for which he was unable to account satisfactorily. 

 The analysis, however, proved that the composition of 

 the lead extracted from the wound differed from that 

 of the slugs in the watchman's cartridge. Both had anti- 

 mony as an impurity, but the amounts of these impurities 

 differed. The man was consequently released. 



In the chapter on clothing we have the following re- 

 markable story. A waistcoat was submitted to a chemical 

 expert with a request for information concerning its owoier, 

 who was found near the Suez Canal in suspicious circum- 

 stances during the war. The waistcoat appeared almost 

 new, but had a stain in the lining (probably due to per- 



