BULLETIN

OF THE

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

VOLUME 24

JANUARY 1920

NUMBER I

A

T some time, probably when Dr. Cogswell, first librarian of what John Hill Burton calls "the Astorian," was in Europe "with his princely endowment in his pocket," the Astor Library acquired a set of British Army Lists, beginning with the year 1755 and ending in 1842. The first of them has a title-page reading, in part, "A List of the General and Field-Officers, as they Rank in the Army. A List of the Officers in the Several Regiments of Horse, Dragoons, and Foot, &c, on the British and Irish Establishments: with the Dates of their Commissions, as they Rank in each Corps... The Whole to August 1755. London: Printed for J. Millan, opposite the Admiralty-Office. (Price Three Shillings.)" It is a book of 126 pages, and about 20 cm. in height.

By 1842 the title was somewhat less formidable: "A List of the Officers of the Army and Royal Marines, on Full, Retired, and Half-Pay: with an Index. 1842. By Authority: London: Printed by W. Clowes & Sons, etc." But the size of the volume had increased to 639 pages, and the height to 31 cm. The set is handsomely bound in red morocco (in the style shown in the plate opposite page 4) with the earlier and smaller volumes set in cases so as to produce a set of uniform height. These books had been the property of William IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and of one or another of his sons, the Earl of Munster, or Colonel Fitz Clarence, and bear the bookplates of one, or more, of these personages. The Royal bookplate is that of the King when he was Duke of Clarence.

At a much later date, in 1905, and through the James Owen Proudfit Fund, The New York Public Library acquired eighty volumes of the

British Naval List, to which the binder has given the title "Sea Officers." The earliest, 1715, is only a narrow pamphlet of about half a dozen leaves, printed on one side, without separate title-page, and giving only a list of ships. Bound with this is "A General List of the Lieutenants of His Majesty's Fleet..." for 1718-19. By 1817 this had become a plump little volume of 338 pages, called "...A List of the Flag-Officers of His Majesty's Fleet..." The bindings vary slightly; they are also red morocco, the backs ornamented with conventional designs like flowers or with anchors, or ships, as in the plate opposite page 5.

These also belonged to William IV, the Sailor King, and their especial interest lies in that fact. For in the long, idle hours of his service at sea, the young Prince had amused himself (or advanced himself in that glorious profession, as his Royal father would have put it) by annotating certain volumes of the set, which he seems to have had in his cabin. That he was faithfully endeavoring to become a good naval officer is borne out by the facts which are known about him, and although the Admiralty were too sage ever to entrust a fleet to his command, even when he bore the rank of Lord High Admiral of England, he is believed to have attained some proficiency as a sailor, and he certainly commanded both the "Pegasus" and the "Valiant." He won the praise and friendship of Nelson, although that great man's weakness for royalty may have added to the warmth of the praise. A number of the volumes have his autograph signature, "William Henry," on the titlepage, with his naval rank at that date, and sometimes the name of his ship. The one reproduced here has all three, as well as his erasures and annotations.

It was meritorious for the young Lieutenant of twenty years, on board the "Hebe," to have annotated and corrected the List for 1785 (see frontispiece), and if the comment opposite the name of His Grace the Duke of Bolton, Admiral of the White, looks suspiciously like the word "mad," it may be that the Prince, even as a Lieutenant, was in a position to know whereof he wrote. Looking through these volumes for a number of years, one discovers many of His Majesty's officers against whose names the young officer has written this word. It was by no means the only comment at his disposal. The Right Hon. George Lord Viscount Mount Edgcumbe, although ranking as an Admiral of the White, is tersely described as "damned miser." This is in the list for 1786. The same volume shows that he considered Hugh Pigot, Esq., an Admiral of the Blue, a "gentleman," Matthew Barton, Esq., Vice Admiral of

the White, as "blind" (a frequent comment) and that he refers to Commander James Mackenzie, perhaps affectionately, as "old Daddy."

More of the Prince's remarks are professional than personal: "Commands at Newfoundland," "has a yacht," "dismissed," "French War," "Spanish War," "Dutch War," and other similar phrases occur in great number throughout half a dozen volumes, and are much more frequent than "cheating," "beast," "old woman," or "cowardice." There are others, mysterious today, to anyone ignorant of sailors' slang of the eighteenth century; others, whose significance has no shade of doubt, the blunt language of the quarter-deck or the barracks; and at least one, which some discreet hand-his own, when he had succeeded to Majesty?, or one of the Fitz Clarence's?, has seen fit to cut out with a sharp penknife.

All are in keeping with the character of the man, who, when he became King, over forty years later, was known for his good-humor, but also for his seafaring manners. His was a bluff and hearty nature, and at the most solemn moment of his life, as he acceded to the Throne, and spoke of his Sovereign and brother, George IV, then lying dead, with as much feeling for that Monarch as anyone, not a trained actor, could put into his voice, instantly added in his usual easy-going gruffness, as he affixed his first signature as King to some papers of state: "This is a damned bad pen you have given me!"

The bookplates in the volumes are those of the Duke of Clarence, bearing his coronet, the motto of the Order of the Garter, and the cipher: "W. H." for William Henry. Other plates show that his books passed into the possession of some of his sons, of whom the beautiful. Mrs. Jordan was the mother. There are cards with the brief inscription: "Col. Fitz Clarence." And there are also plates, with the arms of the Earl of Munster and of Adolphus Fitz Clarence. The two latter bear the Royal arms, "debruised" by what novelists call "the bar sinister" and the herald knows as the baton sinister.

As Prince William Henry, the King stayed for some time in New York, with the British military and naval forces, then (1782) occupying the city, contrary to the wishes of General Washington and the American Army, which was encamped in New Jersey. The Prince had his quarters. in Hanover Square, and skated, according to tradition, on the Collect Pond. Colonel Ogden, of the First Jersey Regiment, formed an elaborate and well-matured plan to capture the Prince and his Admiral, and take them into Washington's camp. General Washington approved the plan,