Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/87

 us. m. FEB. 4, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

81

SIR CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE.

THERE have been many sad notes in dear old ' N. & Q.' since Thorns founded it in 1849, but none more sad than our note to-day of the death of the Right Hon. Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke.

Born on the 4th of September, 1843, at 76, Sloane Street, the house in which he died on Thursday, the 26th of January, he came from his earliest years under the influence of his grandfather, whom he much loved, and who lived close at hand in a bright cheerful house in Lower Grosvenor Place, with a view from the drawing-room windows of the gardens of Buckingham Palace. Of the pleasant memories of this he was speak- ing to me quite recently.

On the death of his wife Mr. Dilke went to live at Sloane Street, where his son built a library and rooms for him. It was the old man's delight to have his grandson with him among his books and get him to read to him choice selections from his twelve thousand volumes. It was in this way that Sir Charles acquired his large range of knowledge of literature, and his grandfather's influence gave the whole tone to his life in politics and social questions. Many of these topics found a place in The Athenceum, which condemned the employment of children in mines, giving illustrations of their emaciated condition, and favoured parks for the people, public libraries, and other advantages. To carry out the enlarged ideas of his grandfather was Di Ike's aim from his youth, and, as is well known, he worked to secure better conditions for the people to the last day of his life.

The affection with which his grandfather regarded The Athenceum Dilke inherited to the full, and his desire was that the same spirit of truth and independence should be maintained as when the paper was under Mr. Dilke' s control that it should be "faithful and just in its criticisms, the earnest seeker after truth, severe when the occasion required, but always more happy when helping to add a name to the roll of fame than when removing an unworthy one from it."

It was in 1872 that Sir Charles became proprietor of ' N. & Q.' on the retirement

of Thorns, who was succeeded by Doran as editor ; but it was not until soon after Knight became editor that Dilke joined " the happy few, the band of brothers." From that time he read ' N. & Q.' week by week, following closely every discussion in its columns ; and though he did not write such elaborate articles as those by his grandfather on Pope, Junius, and other subjects, his contributions over the signa- ture of D., as will be seen by the last two General Indexes and the earlier half-yearly indexes, were most various and suggestive. He frequently adopted other signatures, made up of the initials of the first words of the heading of the article. The question as to the National Flag greatly interested him, and he was delighted when the dis- cussion was finally settled by the official recognition of the Union Jack. It is curious that it should have been thought that he lacked a sense of humour. To those who knew him his hearty laugh was infectious, and, besides, how could a man have written that amusing brochure ' The Fall of Prince Florestan of Monaco' without an uproarious sense of fun ?

The review of ' Papers of a Critic ' which appeared in ' N. & Q.' on the 10th of July, 1875, was by his old friend Thorns.

No record of Dilke' s life would be complete without a reference to the second Lady Dilke. Sir Charles as a tribute to her pub- lished 'The Book of the Spiritual Life,' which she had written as complementary to her works * The Shrine of Death ' and ' The Shrine of Love.' This he preceded by a short memoir, and Knight in his review which appeared in ' N. & Q.' on the 3rd of June, 1905, said : ' : Admirably has the feat been accomplished, and though the chivalry and the devotion are everywhere apparent, the reticence of the utterance is not less manifest than its fidelity and truth. It is the record of 'a noble, industrious, and well -spent life, memorable in literature, art, and social progress, and as the final exposition of a spiritual, practical, and in a sense optimistic faith.'

JOHN COLLINS FRANCIS.