[160]. See Appendix, p. [265].
[161]. Gardner’s memory must here have been playing him false. The distance from Fairlight to Boulogne and the adjacent coast is fully 35 miles: the camp had been broken up in the previous September, and the soldiers that had formed it were far away, at Vienna or its neighbourhood; as Gardner, at the time, must have known.
[162]. We are so accustomed to talk of ‘Arry as a product of the late nineteenth century, railways and cheap return tickets, that it is neither uninteresting nor socially unimportant to note that he existed in 1806. Increase of population and excursion tickets have merely swelled his numbers.
[163]. There is some confusion here. Wadeson and Parr were both assistant masters when Sumner died suddenly in September, 1771. Wadeson was certainly not offered the succession, and his name does not seem to have been officially mentioned in connection with it. On the other hand, Parr’s claims were strongly urged, and the refusal of the Governors to appoint him caused a violent ‘meeting’ among the boys. It is a very strange story, told at length in Johnstone, Works of Samuel Parr, i. 55 seq.; Thornton, Harrow School and its Surroundings, Chap. viii.; Report on the MSS. of Lady Du Cane (Hist. MSS. Comm.), 229 seq.
[164]. At this time this was still the usual form of subscription from a superior, whether social—as a son of the king—or official, as the navy board (collectively)—to an inferior. Naval officers, at any rate, will scarcely need to be reminded of the story of the eccentric Sir John Phillimore (cf. D.N.B.) who signed a letter to the navy board in the same way; and on being censured for so doing, signed his reply ‘No longer your affectionate friend.’
The Navy Records Society, which has been established for the purpose of printing rare or unpublished works of naval interest, aims at rendering accessible the sources of our naval history, and at elucidating questions of naval archæology, construction, administration, organisation and social life.
The Society has already issued:—
In 1894: Vols. I. and II. State Papers relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Anno 1588. Edited by Professor J. K. Laughton. (30s.)
In 1895: Vol. III. Letters of Lord Hood, 1781–82. Edited by Mr. David Hannay. (None available.)