Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 4.djvu/313

 9th 8. IV. Nov. 4, '99.] 371 NOTES AND QUERIES. record of intimacies and friendships unbroken by a single quarrel. Although the daily papers at the time, as well as The Athenaeum, gave obituary notices and the ' Dictionary of National Biography ' contains particulars of his life written by Mr. E. Irving Carlyle (how proud he would have been at the constant reference, made to ' N. & O.' in its pages!), I have felt that we should have some record to refer to in his own journal. Mr. William John Thorns was born on the 16th of November, 1803, so that he was the junior of his friend Mr. Dilke by fourteen years. He was the son of Nathaniel Thorns, who had been for many years a clerk in the Treasury. Mr. T. C. Noble, in 'N. & Q.'of the 17th of October, 1885, records that a curious error was made in the register of his baptism inSt. Margaret's Church.Westminster, December 15th, 1803, in which his name is given as simply " John Thorns, son of Nathaniel by Ruth Ann, [born] November 16." This was corrected in 1857 by a sworn affidavit before Mr. Arnold, the magistrate, and at the foot of the page was then written, "This should be William John Thorns, accord- ing to the declaration of Mary Ann Thorns annexed hereto Mercer Davies, curate, June 5, 1857." Mr. Thorns was for twenty years in the Secretary's Office at Chelsea Hospital, and in 1845, on account of the great railway pressure, additional clerks being re- quired for the service of the House of Lords. Mr. Thorns was appointed to a clerkship, and was for many years head of the Printed Paper Office, where, The Athenfeumsaya, his literary knowledge and research soon became known, and it was not long before he " had drawn to his room for unofficial purposes the great lawyers and politicians of the recent past, Lord Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst, and Lord Camp- bell ; the eminent historians Lord Macaulay and Earl Stanhope; and to these may be added the names of the Earl of Ellen borough, Lord Brougfeton but a complete list would include most of the distinguished names among the members of the Upper House." As early as 1838 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, in the work of which he took an active part, and did his best to prevent the election for membership of those who, with only a superficial know- ledge, soughtto add the distinction of F.S.A. to their names. In the same year he was appointed secre- tary of the Camden Society, which position he'held for thirty-five years. In 1863 Mr. Thorns was appointed Deputy Librarian of the House of Lords; this post, in consequence of old age, he resigned in 1882. Mr. Thoms's first work, 'Early Prose Romances,' was published in 1827-28, followed in 1834 by ' Lays and Legends of Various Nations,' issued in monthly parts at half-a- crown, Mr. Thorns choosing for his motto the words of Sir John Malcolm, " He who desires to be well acquainted with a people will not reject their popular stories or local superstitions." In 1838 he wrote ' The Book of the Court, giving the Origin, Duties, and Privileges of the Nobility and of the Officers of State.' And in 1845, to show that he was not always engaged on historic doubts, under the title of 'Gammer Gurton's Pleasant Stories' he published a delightful little Christmas book for children, beautifully illustrated, and printed by the Chiswick Press. The book is inscribed by Ambrose Merton, Gent, F.S.A., who, "in all hearty good will and affection, dedicates these world- renowned Stories to the Parents and Chil- dren of Merrie England." He also completed an edition of Stow s ' Survey of London ' and various other works, among these two volumes of 'Choice Notes from Notes and Queries: History and Folk-Lore,' 1858 and 1859, long since out of print. Thorns also published three notelets on Shakespeare, articles from Notes and Queries, and a book on ' The Longevity of Man, its Facts and its Fictions.' In my much valued copy the author has written " With the writer's best regards." The publisher of this was his friend and an old contributor, Mr. F. Nor- gate. In Notes and Queries, February 20th, 1875, appears a note by my father of ' A Cen- tenarian ' known to him, Mrs. Coxeter, of Newbury, born at Witney February 1st, 1775, who had just celebrated her Hundredth birthday. Her death is recorded in ' N. & Q.' of December 2nd in the following year, and Mr. Thorns acknowledges the claim to be " well authenticated." The two friends would now and then have some fun over this when Mr. Thorns would put on his inimitable smile and say, "Ah ! Mr. Francis, your friend must have been born in a Witney blanket." * Mr. Thorns in a letter addressed to Prof. Owen, entitled ' Exceptional Longevity,' published in 1879, tells the origin of his the Greenham Mills, and it was at these mills that the celebrated Throckmortou coat was made in one day, the sheep being shorn at five in the morning, the wool made into cloth, and the coat completed so as to be worn by Sir John Throckmorton the same evening. The coat, with a print illustrating the event, was shown in the Exhibition of 1851, Mr. Coxeter's son, whose friendship I still enjoy, presented a copy of this print to Mr. Gladstone, who was greatly interested in it.
 * Mrs. Coxeter's husband was the proprietor of