Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/89

. III. FEB. 4, '99.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

83

The Haighas and Hatters of the present ( ay have certainly been throwing themselves i ito Anglo-Saxon attitudes to an extra- ( rdinary extent. Hence one must be prepared for something, but surely not for ] listorical retrospects of this kind. Take the names included : Rouvray ("the Herrings") vas little more than a skirmish ; Malaga was lot a land fight at all ; Almanza was a com- plete defeat ; Madrid, whether 1706, 1710, or 1812, was no battle at all ; Toulouse was not, from a military point of view, a great victory ; Harfleur was not a great sea fight ; North Foreland was fought against the Dutch, not against the French ; Finisterre was a defeat in every sense ; Alexandria was not a sea fight. On the other hand, Bruges is an enigma ; Verneuil was a French defeat, second only to Agincourt ; Duquesne was not a great event ; and, with the exception of Beachy Head, none of the sea fights, except, perhaps, Minorca, can be called great.

From the Anglo-Saxon point of view, what can be thought of a writer who bills his country's victories on a flag, and, while calling little events big, omits such items as Tenchebray (1106), Brenneville (1119), Fair of Lincoln (1216), Auray (1364), Guinegate ("the Spurs," 1513), St. Quentin (1557), Gibraltar (1704 and 1782), Ore veld (1758), Wandewash (1760), Rodney's great victories at Havre (1759), in the West Indies (1762), and at St. Vincent (1780), Wellington's St. Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive, and the fierce battles in the Pyrenees (1813), not to men- tion many others, the list of which would be too long to quote ? It will' be unneces- sary after this to say that France is even worse off, particularly in the sea fights. The victories of De Grasse, for instance, are unmentioned, though it was the French fleet that forced the surrender at Yorktown. The failure of Caermarthen at Brest, and such fiascoes as that of Mathews at Toulon and of Keppel off Ushant, are ignored entirely. The land fights and the invasions of France give rise to humorous reflections. According to these results England subdued France more than once. We are, therefore, led to believe that her monarchs and generals withdrew, in a spirit of philanthropy rather rare in those black times. How did France recover herself after the Black Prince 1 Du Guesclin and the sweeping reverses of Eng- land are unmentioned. After Agincourt and Verneuil, too, we must have been very accom- modating. That we were thrown out of France by Orleans, Patay, Formigny, Castil- lon, by the Maid, and the " Roi de Bourges," "qui perdait gaiement son royaume," has

escaped notice. Earlier events, such as Taillebourg and Saintes (1242), fare no better. Calais and the Isle of Re are unmentioned. Brihuega and Villa Viciosa were even more complete defeats than Almanza. Fontenoy is credited to France, but Laufeldt, Hasten- bach, Klosterseven, and Bergen are gracefully passed over. So are Hondschoote, Dunkirk, and the disastrous campaign that followed. It is indeed unwritten history.

There may be something to be said for "flag-wagging," but at least it should be a true flag, and not a huge emblem pasted with " victories," some of them never won, others never even fought, pitted against a little tri- colour only just large enough to display the ignorance written on it.

GEOEGE MARSHALL.

Sefton Park, Liverpool.

LONDON EXHIBITIONS.

THE subject of exhibitions in London is of great interest, and, so far as I know, is one of the few subjects of which no reasonably com- prehensive history has been published. The subject peculiarly lends itself to "illustrating " ; indeed, it is from a " lot " of London illus- trations, sold at Puttick & Simpson's on 26 June, 1858, that the following list is taken. The list, of course, does not include any exhibitions of a date later than 1858 ; and it is not complete even up to that date for instance, Graham's Celestial Bed is not in- cluded, and probably many others which were popular in their day. The list strikes me as oeing quite worth reprinting in the pages of 4 N. & 0.' It is as follows :

^Egyptiana, Lyceum, 1802.

^Erial [sic] Ship, 1835.

Albion Hall, 1837-50.

Almack's.

Anatomical Models, 1736-1854,

Apiarian Museum.

Argyll Rooms, 1828-37.

Armoury, 1838.

Automata and Androides, 1775-1829.

Barlow's Panorama, 1841.

Bartlett's Diorama, 1851.

Batchelor's Panorama, 1856.

Bath's, 1802-39.

Battles, 1742-1854.

Bazaars, 1828-42.

Bologna's Mechanics, 1814.

Booth's, 1742.

Bree's Panorama, 1850.

Broughton's Amphitheatre.

Cald well's Rooms, 1852.

Campanari's Antiquities, 1837.

Carlisle House, 1772.

Catlin's American Indians, 1851.

Caverns.

Centrifugal Railway, 1842-8.

Chinese Collections, 1842-54.