162
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. m. MA*. 4, 1911.
This list of Englishmen as German authors
would not be complete without mention of
Houston Stewart Chamberlain, the author of
' Die Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahr-
hunderts ' and of a life of Wagner. There
is hardly an educated German who is un-
acquainted with Chamberlain's works.
H. G. WAHD.
Aachen.
THACKERAY'S NOSE.
THIS being the centenary of the great " M. A Titmarsh," no doubt many old tales will be raked up, memories of the gentle cynic whose satire was (nearly always) genial and full of good fun.
About a year after his death I>as journey- ing northwards from London on one of the main railways, and as I was to have several hours of it, I had provided myself with an interesting novel, then in its zenith of popularity ' Vanity Fair.' My only com- panions in a first-class compartment were two nice old ladies, sisters, and during some hours together we had become mutually friendly. The acquaintance began by one of the ladies noticing the title of the volume I was reading :
" You seem much engrossed with your book ; so were we when it came out first, for we knew the author well, and in his boyhood, when at Charterhouse, he often visited us in his vacations. He was a most charming boy, not only by nature, but also remarkably handsome, and, in those early days, noticeable by his beautiful aquiline features. We missed seeing him for a time, and then had him again for our visitor. But his features were so altered, we scarcely knew the handsome lad of former visits. We did not like to vex the boy, for his whole nature seemed changed, and we attributed it to mortification at the cruel injury to the main feature of his
"One day he told us how it had happened. Being one of the youngest pupils, he was chosen by one of the older lads, a rather proud aristocrat in his way, to act as his fag. Thackeray bore it as well as he could, but demurred to some more arbitrary command than usual, and flatly refused to obey. Whereupon the young ' aristocrat ' caught Thackeray up, held his head under his arm, and, with the heel of his boot used as a hammer, beat the beautiful aquiline nose quite flat with his face ; in fact, breaking and injuring its structure completely the excuse being ' You '11 clean my boots next time, sir.' "
The lad was completely cowed ; he had only been in the school a short time, and had no friends ; so he bore the punishment, but it seemed to change his nature, and the ladies said that the cynical, satirical spirit so remarkable in his writings of later years, they always attributed to this horrible treatment in his childhood.
Thackeray in later years made much fun
of his broken nose, comparing his to Michael
Angelo's, whose beauty had been spoilt by
Torrigiano's mallet ; but that was a more
dignified tool than the heel of a snob's boot.
JOHN WABD.
[The usual account says that Venables broke Thackeray's nose in fair fight.]
JOHN BOXALL.
BOXAI/L'S life in the ' D.N.B.' (like that in Mr. Gillow's ' Bibliographical Dictionary ' > does not seem to be quite accurate :
"He took orders, but abstained from
exercising the functions of his ministry during the reign of Edward VI."
As to this, it appears from Dr. Frere's- ' Marian Reaction,' p. 255, that he received all orders up to the priesthood in June, 1554,. in London.
" On Queen Mary's accession he was appointed her majesty's secretary of state, dean of Ely,, prebendary of Winchester, and warden of Win- chester College (1554)."
He did not become a Secretary of State before March, 1557, and was not sole Secretary of State before April, 1558 ; and he was never Dean of Ely, nor, so far as would appear, Prebendary of Winchester. Again, the ' D.N.B.' states that he was " appointed prebendary of York " in 1558. This also appears to be an error. He resigned the Wardenship of Winchester College in 1556, and the deanery of Norwich in 1558. These resignations are not recorded in the ' D.N.B.'
On Queen Elizabeth's accession Boxall wa deprived of all his offices, including (it would seem) nine ecclesiastical preferments, viz., the deanery of Peterborough (to which he was appointed in 1557), the deanery of Windsor (1557), a canonry at Windsor (1558), the prebend of Newington in St. Paul's Cathedra] (1558), the prebend of Grantham in Salisbury Cathedral (1558), the archdeaconry of Ely (1556), the first stall in Ely Cathedral (1554), the rectory of Hatfield, Hertford- shire (1554), and the prebend of Ilton in the diocese of Bath and Wells (the date of his appointment to which is unknown). Some of these preferments find no mention in the ' D.N.B.,' which also omits to record that he was committed to the custody of Archbishop Parker, 2 November, 1559 1 . Thence he was transferred a close prisoner to the Tower, 18 June, 1560. His imprison- ment there was relaxed 6 September, 1560, to the extent of his being allowed to meet three of the other prisoners at meals. It would seem that he fell ill, and was offered
