Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/233

 128. VIII. MARCH 5, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 187 Defects),' &c., and this lead to the publica- tion of his ' Chancery Reform : being a Supplement to the Court of Chancery,' which he undertook at the suggestion of Joseph Hulme, who requested Challinor to raeet him in London. The recommenda- tions contained therein met with the ap- proval of Lord Denham, Thomas Noon Talfourd, and others, and the author sent a copy to Charles Dickens who acknow- ledged the receipt as follows : "Mr. Charles Dickens presents his compliments -acknowledge the receipt of his pamphlet and obliging note." In the preface to ' Bleak House ' Dickens refers to Challinor' s pamphlet as follows : in these pages concerning the Court of Chancery is substantially true, and within the truth. The case of Grid ley is in no essential altered from one -of actual occurrence, and made public by a dis- interested person who was professionally acquainted with the whole monstrous wrong from beginning to end." Forster, in his Life of Dickens, refers to the pamphlet : "Dickens was encouraged and strengthened in his design of assailing Chancery abuses and delays by receiving, a few days after the appearance of his first number, a striking pamphlet on the subject containing details so opposite that he took from them, without change in any material point, the memorable case related in his fifteenth chapter. Anyone, who examines the tract, will see how exactly true is the reference to it made by Dickens in his preface," &c. On Thursday, Jan. 30, 1851, a public meeting, convened by the Chancery Reform Association, was held at the Hall of Com- merce, Threadneedle Street, for the purpose of hearing statements as to the abuses of the Court of Chancery. Challinor rose to move the first resolution. These are the main facts in the important incident that entitles William Challinor to remembrance, and which had such a marked effect on one of Dickens' s works. For elaboration of the particulars I must refer treaders to Challinor' s 'Lectures,' &c., men- tioned above. It only remains to mention that after all these years further light has 'been thrown on the story of Gridley, and the source from which Dickens took the inci- dents, by a writer in The Times Literary Supplement for Dec. 7, 1917, identifying the actual case in Staffordshire cited by 'Challinor who gave no names, and modify- ing somewhat the facts of the case. William Challinor' s death occurred on Mar. 21, 1896. RUSSELL MABKLAND. ENGLISH SLAVES IN BABBABY : TAVEBN SIGN, THE TURKEY SLAVE. I have a pam- phlet entitled : tic Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Eighty-Seven Unfortunate Englishmen, who were Shipwrecked on the Coast of Barbary, written by Peter Lebau, who formerly kept the Turkey Slave, in Brick-Lane, Spitalfields'; and Thomas Troughton, a Painter, who lately died in St. Luke's Workhouse ; being two of those Persons who were redeemed by the Bounty of King George the Second." Not dated, date on frontispiece 1807. The Inspector Privateer, Richard Veale, Commander, having sprung a leak, was run aground in Tangier Bay, Jan. 4, 1746. The officers and crew were taken by the Moors ; some escaped by the barge of H.B.M. ship Phoenix : the rest were en- slaved, although the Vice-Consul, Mr. Petti- crew, a merchant, intervened. On Jan. 27, 1749, the money was paid to ransom twenty -five, among whom was Peter Lebau, and the next day they were put on board His Majesty's ship the Crown, which landed them at Portsmouth, May 11. The re- maining twenty -seven were not redeemed until Dec. 8, 1750. They reached England Jan. 17. The freedom of the second batch would have been, at least, delayed had it not been for the arrival from Gibraltar of Commodore Keppel, with a squadron of menrof-war. The ransoms and presents cost England 4,399?. Is. At the end of the narrative is the following : "On their return home, Mr. Rich, of Covent Garden Theatre, gave them a benefit; so did the proprietors of Sadler's Wells ; where they appeared with their irons, which they worked in in Barbary .... Peter Lebau afterwards kept the Turkey Slave, in Brick-lane, Spitalfields, and died about twenty years ago. Thomas Troughton lately died a pauper in St. Luke's Workhouse." Presumably the Turkey Slave tavern was represented by the Turk and Slave, Brick Lane, Spitalfields, mentioned in Larwood and Hotten's 'History of Signboards,' 6th edn., p. 429. In Kelly's Post Office London Directory for 1914, *No. 308 Brick Lane is the Turk's Head, very possibly the successor of the Turkey Slave and the Turk and Slave. The truth of the story told by, or on behalf of, Lebau and Troughton is to some extent corroborated by references to " his Excellency, William Latton, Esq., the Am- bassador from his Britannick Majesty to the Emperor," otherwise "his Britannick Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Consul - General " (pp. 6 ? 11), also by the mention of
 * o Mr. Challinor, and begs with many thanks to
 * ' I may mention here that everything set forth
 * The English Slaves ; or, A Succinct and Authen-