Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/252

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NOTES AND QUERIES, p* s. v. MABCH 31, 1900.

Only Darter,' which many people will agre with him in thinking "a beautiful Suffoll Idyll" ('Letters,' ii. 252, 253); in November 1872, he reprinted a few copies of Byron' verses on * Rogers ' (ibid., ii. 144) ; and on 1! December, 1876, he wrote to Miss Thackeray asking her to approve of his printing three stanzas of her father's 'Ho, pretty Page, which he had adapted to an old Cambridg tune. Of a somewhat kindred nature were his " last Great Work," a calendar of Charles Lamb's life, in four pages (' Letters,' ii. 239 242, 247), which he drew up when nearly seventy years of age, as a kind of aide mfmoire in the perusal of the letters; anc the dictionary of the dramatis personce figuring in the 'Correspondence of Madame de Sevigne ' (ibid., ii. 217, 289). From a letter to Mrs. Kemble, p. 126, it would appear that this dictionary, which remained in manu- script, and is now in the possession of Dr. Aldis Wright, was begun in the spring of 1877.

The life of FitzGerald is written in his letters, and no memoir of such a man whether "dapper" in his own delightfu" style, or the perfunctory effusion of the official biographer, can be other than un- welcome to those who really understand his character. But many notices of him are in existence, the principal of which it may not be inopportune to enumerate. The charming little sketch by Dr. Aldis Wright, which appeared in the Athenaeum for 23 June, 1883, a few days after FitzGerald's death, has been followed by a fuller memoir in the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' and it is to these sources that we must look for authoritative information regarding his un- eventful career. Of a more episodic nature are Mr. F. H. Groome's silhouette in 'Two Suffolk Friends,' in which several letters are produced for the first time ; the present Lord Tennyson's ' Memoir ' of his father, in which, amongst other new letters, the characteristic 'Hints for Enoch Arden' will be found ; Mr. E. V. Lucas's ' Bernard Barton and his Friends,' which reproduces the greater part of FitzGerald's memoir of the poet ; and Mr. Gosse's luminous essay in 'Critical Kit-Kats.' Of slighter texture, so far as regards a connexion with FitzGerald, are the 'Personal Recollections of Sir Fre- derick Pollock,' the ' Life of Lord Hough ton,' the ' Memoirs of Percy Fitzgerald,' the ' Life of Archdeacon Allen,' Dr. Knapp's ' Life of George Borrow,' and Mr. Layard's book on Charles Keene ; and last, but by no means least, Mrs. Richmond Ritchie's graceful intro- ductions to the " Biographical Edition" of her

father's works. It is tempting to the bio- graphical mind to endeavour to collect and co-ordinate the vital statistics which are scattered through these various volumes, but the horror with which FitzGerald would have regarded such an attempt it requires no effort of imagination to depict, when we remember the terms in which he habitually spoke of the numerous efforts that were made to give honorific treatment to the genius of his friend Carlyle. W. F. PRIDE AUX.

"NO CLASS."

I HAVE long been on the look-out for an opportunity to satisfy my ambition by making a contribution to the learned notes anent Shakespeare. I like the noble rounded look of the name with all the letters possible, instead of Charles Knight's skimpy Shak- spere. At last I have found it, and that, too, without racking my brain to find out clerical blunders.

How many of the readers of ' N. & Q.' know the meaning of a person being of " no class " 1 Like " no great shakes," the term has no explanation in either of Dr. Brewer's books of reference. Dr. Murray in the ' New English Dictionary ' has plenty of explana- tions of people of a class and all classes, but

he ain't no class " has rather too much of slang about it, I presume, for the ' English Dictionary.' I believe persons of the lower orders who "ain't no class" might as well go and hang themselves as expect to be looked up to by their fellows. If, however, a coster

ies and the widow spends her last shilling n a grand funeral, she takes rank at once, and nobody would dare to say, " She ain't no class." If I am wrong in my interpretation ' the Court of Appeal will set me right," as a ate much respected Vice-Chancellor used to

These remarks are intended to usher in the bllowing tale taken from a Sunday paper, which probably one or two of the contributors ,o the 'Shakespeariana' in 'N. & Q.' may not )e in the habit of reading. The anecdote is old by Mr. G. R. Sims under a pseudonym,

z., "Dagonet":

" Wonderful stories, many of them true, were old of Giovanelli in his relations to dramatic art. )ne night at the theatre they gave ' Hamlet,' and he actor of the Prince of Denmark wore his stock- ng down. Giovanelli had invited some of his

oswell Road customers to the Barn. ' Come and

e my show,' he said. ' You '11 see how I 'm doing hings everything first class.' He brought his riends in, and suddenly, to his disgust, spotted his eading man with the untidy stocking. He leaned ut of the box and whispered, 'Your stocking's own.' The actor glared and took no notice. Then