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NOTES AND QUERIES. t ii s. v. MAY 4, 1912.

first-hand reminiscences of facts and locali- ties are always valuable, but the greater ipart of his book is based upon the manuscripi ^records, such as the ' Liber Niger,' to whicl rhe had access. He has no doubt been a -boundless " source " of information to subsequent writers, many of whose works -are simply stereotyped repetitions of the output of their predecessors, but this, ] should hardly think, is Mr. Huck's meaning I am therefore of opinion that all works which purport to give a general history or description of the area under consideration should be included in a separate class, which as in Mr. Welch's system, should be headec ' General,' and should rank after ' Sources. It may also be added that some of the headings under ' Sources,' such as ' Popula- tion Returns ' and ' Statistics,' would seem .more properly to belong to Class II., ' His torical and Administrative.'

Certain Rules and Instructions have been

formulated for the guidance of workers,

which appear on the whole to be sound and

useful. The system of cards seems to be

decidedly the right thing. I think that

the number of pages, not only in the case

-of magazine articles, but also in that of

Jbooks, should be given, those belonging to

vthe introductory portion and the body of

ithe book being respectively indicated. A

student should know whether the work he

is reading is complete or not. With regard

tto illustrations, I am of opinion that complete

Ilists of those hors texte should be provided.

i Owing to the depredations of Grangerites,

a large number of topographical works are

deficient in this respect. In some cases, .such as that of Prickett's 'History of

Highgate,' the illustrations seem to have been issued separately after the publication -of the book. It is a rare thing to find a tperfect copy.

The insertion and classification of articles iin the transactions of learned societies and in periodicals is a tremendous gain, and I am glad to see that so much attention has .been devoted to this branch of the work. A great deal of valuable information not always of the copy-book order is embodied iin the pages of The City Press, The Daily Telegraph, and other papers, as well as in the ' Notes and Queries ' columns of The London Argus, The East London Advertiser, 'The St. Pancras Guardian, and several other .local papers. These sources of knowledge will probably not be left entirely unexplored. In conclusion, I must congratulate Mr. Huck and his colleagues on the fact that the work has been really taken in hand,

and that it has been organized on such satis- factory lines. I trust that the opinion which I hazarded in these columns that five years may be sufficient for the coronation of the work may be justified, for I should be greatly gratified if I could see the end of it it being remembered, however, that there is no finality in bibliography.

W. F. PRIDEAUX.

CHARLES DICKENS. FEBRUARY TTIT, 1812 JUNE OTH, 1870.

(See ante, pp. 81,;101, 121, 141, 161, 182, 203, 223, 243, 262, 284, 301, 323.)

AT Washington .Dickens was compelled to break his rule made on account of his state of health not t o accept invitations to dinner : he felt that he could not refuse his old friend Charles Sumner. Yet he stipulated that there should be no party, and the only others present were Mr. Secretary Stanton (War Minister) and Mr. Sumner's private secretary. On returning to his hotel Dickens spoke to Dolby of Stanton, whom he had never met before, and of his wonderful memory. Being started with a chapter from any of Dickens's books, he could repeat the whole of it, and, as the author confessed, " knew more about his works than he himself did." Stanton told Dickens that

" when he was Commander-in-Chief of the Northern forces, he never went to bed at night without first reading something from his books, a habit which engraved them on his memory."

Dickens's interview with the President took place on his birthday, the 7th of February. 1868. The anniversary was to liave been kept a secret, but the newspapers got wind of it, and Dickens wrote to Mamie :

" I couldn't help laughing at myself on my jirthday ; it was observed so much as though 1 ere a little boy. Flowers and garlands of the most exquisite kind, arranged in all manner of green baskets, bloomed over the room ; letters adiant with good wishes poured in ; a shirt pin,

handsome silver flask, a set of gold shirt studs, and a set of gold sleeve links, were on the dinner- >able."

In the afternoon Sumner, calling on him, found him apparently voiceless from the severe cold he still had, and covered with poultices. " Surely, Mr. Dolby," said

umner, "you are not going to allow Mr. Dickens to read to-night ? " To which Dolby replied, "It is not a question of my

allowing,' but a question of Mr. Dickens's leterminatipn to read if he is alive." His mmense will-power prevailed, and he had