THE FRESCANTI
Sts,—Mr. Reynolds, in his article The Frescanti in the Spectator of March 4th, remarks that "Dryasdust in the person of Sir Harris Nicholas [sid" implied that such an event as Edward HI conferring the Order of the Garter on the Black Prince " never did occur at all, and is a positive absurdity " ; and refers to him slightingly as a pedant. Sir Harris Nicholas had, in point of fact, lately published his authoritative History of the British Orders of Knighthood, which included a "History of the Garter." Two copies of the whole work had been sent to Queen Victoria, and she had ordered thirteeii more to be "richly bound for presentation to Foreign Sovereigns " (I quote his widow's account). As a result of this, Prince Albert had him consulted about the frescoes under discussion, and was given the opinion of an enthusiastic and downright man who was not only an expert on his subject but also shared fully in the passionate romanticism of the Gothic revival. There is an infinite difference between the fuss of the self-conscious pedant over irrelevant detail and the scholar's overwhelming desire for truth in connection with a subject on which he has worked for years ; even sacrificing, in his passion for historical research, that financial security which might have been expected to be particularly important to the
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