Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/263

 10 s. XL MAR. is, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

215

vanished, and their productions have been less objectionable. For a proof of this, we appeal to the writings of an African girl, who made no contemptible appearance in this species of com- position .... Lest it should be doubted whether these Poems are gemiine, we shall transcribe the names of those who signed a certificate of their authenticity." Philadelphia ed., 1786, pp. 110-11, note.

In 1792 Gilbert Imlay, who had not then met Mary Wollstonecraft, said :

" ' Religion has produced a Phillis Whately ; but it could not produce a poet,' is another of Mr. Jefferson's dogmata. Phillis was brought from Africa to America, between seven and eight years of age, and without any assistance from a school education, and before she was fifteen years old wrote many of her poems. This information is attested by her then master, John Wheatly, dated Boston, November 14, 1772. I will transcribe part of her Poem on Imagination, and leave you to judge whether it is poetical or not. It will afford you an opportunity, if you have never met with it, of estimating her genius and Mr. Jefferson's judgment ; and I think, without any disparagement to him, that, by comparison, Phillis appears much the superior. Indeed, I should be glad to be informed what white person upon this continent has written more beautiful lines ! " ' Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America,' pp. 197-8.

In 1808 Count Henri Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, published his ' De la Litterature des Negres,' in which he said :

" En 1772 [a misprint for 1773], a- dix-neuf ans, Phillis Wheatley publia un petit volume de poesies qui renferme trente-neuf pieces ; elles ont eu plusieurs Editions en Angleterre et aux Etats-Unis ; et pour 6ter tout pretexte & la malveillance de dire quelle n'en 6toit que le prete-nom, 1'authenticite en fut constate'e a- la tete de ses ceuvres, par une declaration de son maitre, du gouverneur, du lieutenant-gouverneur, et de quinze autres personnes respectables de Boston, qui la connoissoient .... Jefferson, qui semble n'accorder qu'a regret des talens aux Negres, meme & Phillis Wheatley, pretend que les heros de ' La Dunciade ' sont des divinites comparativement a cette muse africaine. Si 1'on vouloit chicaner, on diroit qu'il une assertion il suffit d'opposer une assertion contraire ; on interjetteroit appel au jugement du public, qui s'est manifesto en accueillant d'une maniere distingu^e les poesies de Phillis Wheatley. Mais une refutation plus directe, c'est d'en extraire quelques morceaux qui donneront une idee de ses talens." Pp. 260-62.

Gregoire sent a copy of his book, together with a letter, to Jefferson ; the latter has apparently not been preserved, but on 25 Feb., 1809, Jefferson made what he later called " a very soft answer " (' Writings,' ed. Ford, ix. 246, 261).

MR. THORNTON thinks that Jefferson, " in saying that the compositions were his belief, which I fully share, that they are a
 * published under her name,' .... expresses

' literary fraud." While Jefferson's words j may bear this interpretation, they do not conclude that Jefferson who probably knew nothing about Phillis beyond the poems themselves merely wished to be cautious, as was, of course, perfectly proper. Nor is it the case that the question of authenticity rests wholly on the poems themselves. To the external evidence given in my previous reply much could be added ; but as it would be merely cumulative, it is hardly worth producing in this place, as MR. THORNTON is clearly not inclined to budge from his position. Phillis's career was probably without a parallel in one of her race in this country. She was treated as a member of her mistress's family, receiving all the advantages of such a member ; and while the result may be admitted to have been remarkable, it certainly was not impossible. If Jefferson goes to one ex- treme in thinking that the poems are " below the dignity of criticism," certainly Imlay and Gregoire go to the other extreme in rating them too high. In short, would it not have required more " genius " to pursue successfully for sixteen or more years a course of deception, without arousing the least suspicion on the part of those with whom she lived or who knew her, than to write the mediocre " compositions pub- lished under her name " ?
 * necessarily do so ; and it seems safer to

ALBERT MATTHEWS. Boston, U.S.

DICKENS'S "KNIFE-BOX" (10 S. xi. 8, 116). In the "Household Edition" of ' David Copperfield ' on p. 265 is an engrav- ing by Fred. Barnard depicting the inter- view between Miss Murdstone, Mr. Spenlow, and David. The first-named is duly " sup- ported by a background of sideboard," on which stand the two " extraordinary boxes ... .for sticking knives and forks in." I saw one of these boxes in use at my uncle's house in the early seventies.

JOHN T. PAGE.

Long Itchington, Warwickshire.

LORD MACAtTLAY AND WlIXIAM JOHN

THOMS (10 S. xi. 165). Is not Claudius Clear making a mistake ? It is unlikely that no peer should have consulted ' The Dunciad ' after hearing Macaulay. I think that a good many years ago Mr. Thorns, in some magazine, described meeting Macaulay, and speaking to him of some book the existence of which had been doubted. Macaulay gave such a brilliant discourse on the reasons why such a book could not have been written