Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/518

 424 NOTES AND QUERIES. f!2 S. X. JUNES, 1922. this point both by former pupils of Le Maitre and others. With regard to the inquiry actually held; this does not seem, from Miss Aiken's curt reference, to have been a very searching affair. It certainly lacked the evidence which has since been accumulated, and may well have been satisfied by the difference in spelling of the two names, or the fact that one was John Peter and the other Jean Paul, (iii.) It should be noticed that though the Re v.Turner quotes one eyewitness to prove that the Le Maitre of Warrington and the Le Maitre of Oxford were the same person, and another to prove that the Bristol book- seller was the revolutionary Marat, we have as yet only his own unsupported assertion that Le Maitre and the Bristol bookseller were identical. Later on we shall have to see how far this all-important link has been strengthened. Meanwhile, contemporaneous publications throw further light on the Oxford incident. The Gentleman's Magazine for Feb. 1, 1776, is first in the field with the following : The Museum at Oxford was robbed of a great quantity of valuable medals and coins by a Swiss hairdresser. Amongst others is a golden piece of the Emperor Otho, not to be matched in any of the cabinets of Europe. On Feb. 9, Lloyd's Evening Post, referring to the same occurrence, adds that : The thief posted to London to a friend in White Cross Street, where he continued all last Sunday (week). On Monday morning he sent his acquaint- ance out to sell medals, &c. The man having 75old 8 worth, the thief then set off for Gravesend to embark for the Continent. The Morning Post of the same date relates that : On Wednesday (week) last an express arrived at Sir John Fielding's office from Oxford with an account that on Sunday (week) last, one Le Maitre, a native of Switzerland, had broken into the Museum at Oxford. The description no sooner came to the office than Mr. Bond set an inquiry on foot, and soon discovered where the man had put up on his coming to town, and that he had disposed of four medals, all that can be recovered, as he immediately set off for France, where he must have arrived before any effectual pursuit. On Saturday, Feb. 10, Jackson's Oxford Journal, a weekly publication, states that : On Monday last it was discovered that the Ashmolean Museum in this University had been robbed of divers gold medals, chains, &c., to the amount of upwards of 100. The person that appears to have committed the robbery (who calls himself Le Maitre and lately settled here as a teacher of drawing for Tambour, &c., &c.), dis- posed of the medals and a Queen Anne's five- guinea piece before he left Oxford, and took post- I horses from hence towards London last Saturday j evening. Proper persons are in pursuit of the offender, and it is hoped he will not be able to escape justice. On Feb. 12, Edward Creswell, an under- graduate of Christchurch, Oxford, is shown to have written to a relative at Tunbridge Wells as follows : I shall now tell you a piece of news respecting a robbery which was committed here lately. About a week ago, a native of France, who calls himself Le Maitre and was formerly a teacher at Warring- ton Academy, being invited here by a gentleman of this college to teach the French language, came over here and met with great encouragement in the University, but happening to get acquainted with Mr. Milnes, a gentleman of Corpus Christi I College, who is the keeper of the Museum and ! several other natural curiosities, he prevailed on him ! of them. Accordingly they both went together, tained of his behaviour, under the pretence of getting rid of him, told him that he must now go out immediately. But the Frenchman excused himself by saying that he would retire into the other apartments, and whilst the strangers that were admitted were surveying the curiosities with more than ordinary attention, this artful villain retired from them and concealed himself under a dark staircase that led into the street, where he stayed till the company had gone out, after which he stole medals and coin to the amount of 200 and upwards, and got clear away with his j booty. It was somewhat observable that he was lurking near the Museum some time before this affair happened and very frequently desired to be admitted as soon as he got a view of the medals. I am sorry I have not time to tell you a few more particulars concerning this transaction, but I will defer it until I know more. ( N. & Q.,' 2 S. x. 214, Sept. 1 5, 1 860. The original of this letter is stated to be in the possession of the contributor, ap- parently Dr. S. F. Creswell, D.D., of Northreppe, a grandson of the writer ; see Globe, Feb. 28, 1890. A second letter, merely giving the result of the trial, was written by Mr. Creswell 13 months later.) On Feb. 17, The Oxford Journal states : Last night it was reported that Le Maitre, the person charged with robbing our Museum, had been seen on his way for Liverpool, in order to embark for Ireland, but this account differs widely from the intelligence hitherto obtained relative to that offender. On Feb. 19, Richard Hutchinson, a jeweller at Norwich, writes to the Museum authorities at Oxford as follows : The account from Sir John Fielding relative to the robbery from your Museum came down to the Mayor of this city, but yesterday, as soon as I heard of it, I gave an account of what coins and medals were in my possession which I had bought from Mara, the account of which was last night sent by the one day coach to Sir John Fielding, and suppose you'll have heard from him by the time you'll receive this. I should not have bought them from a stranger, but he came to my shop with a Mr.
 * by repeated importunities to let him have a view
 * and after Mons. Le Maitre had viewed a great
 * while, Mr. Milnes, from the suspicion he enter-