Brasenose.
_Peace Illumination, 1802._--Miss Martineau, in her _Introduction to the
History of the Peace_, p. 56., repeats the story told in a foot-note on
p. 181. of the _Annual Register_ for 1802, of M. Otto, the French
ambassador, being compelled to substitute the word "amity" for the word
"concord" suspended in coloured lamps, in consequence of the irritated
mob's determination to assault his house, unless the offensive word
"concord" were removed, the said mob reading it as though it were
spelled "conquered," and inferring thence that M. Otto intended to
insinuate that John Bull was _conquered_ by France. The story, moreover,
goes on to relate that the mob also insisted that the blazing initials
G.R. should be surmounted by an illuminated crown. This anecdote,
notwithstanding its embalmment in the _Annual Register_, has always
borne in my eyes an apocryphal air. It assumes that the mob was ignorant
and intellectual at the same moment; that whilst it was in a riotous
mood it was yet in a temper to be reasoned with, and able to comprehend
the reasons addressed to it. But one cannot help fancying that the
mental calibre which understood "concord" to mean "conquered," would
just as readily believe that "amity" meant "enmity," to say nought of
its remarkable patience in waiting to see the changes dictated by itself
carried out. This circumstance occurred, if at all, within the memory of
many subscribers to "NOTES AND QUERIES." Is there one amongst them whose
personal recollection will enable him to endorse the word _Truth_ upon
this curious story?