1 12 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 



Bell's Life in London, in which position he 

 continued to the period of his death ; and it 

 is but justice to add that, to his unceasing 

 energies through eight and twenty years, is 

 to be attributed the great and well-merited 

 success of that journal. Mr. Dowling used 

 to relate that he was present in the lobby of 

 the House of Commons when Bellingham 

 shot Mr. Percival in 1812 ; adding that he, 

 Mr. Dowling, was the first person who 

 seized the assassin, although the priority is 

 claimed by Mr. Jerdan, in his recently pub- 

 lished 'Autobiography,' who states that Mr. 

 Dowling was among the earliest of the crowd 

 who came up after the seizure. Mr. Dowling 

 added that he took the weapon from Belling- 

 ham ; that he had often sat by him in the 

 gallery of the House, and had at his request 

 pointed out various members. 



" When Queen Caroline was about to return 

 from the Continent, after the accession of her 

 husband, George IV., Mr. Dowling pro- 

 ceeded to France to record her progress for 

 the Observer; and the day before she arrived 

 in England, Mr. Dowling, at the request of 

 the Queen's principal attendants, agreed to 



