On the same day the Times announced a musical dis-
covery of first-rate importance. In 1836 Wagner, then a struggling Kapellmeister at Konigsberg, was moved to write an overture based on the melody of "Rule Britannia," which had impressed him as containing in its splendid opening phrase the whole spirit of the British race. The overture was despatched to the London Philharmonic Society in 1840, but was lost in the post, and disappeared wholly for fifty-four years until it was discovered by Mr. Gamble, of Leicester, in a pile of music which he had bought, a dozen years or more back, at the sale of the effects of Mr. E. W. Thomas, formerly conductor of the band of the Leicester Opera House, who died in reduced circumstances in 1892. The MS. is signed by Wagner, with the date and place of composition on the last page, and musical experts seem to entertain no doubt as to its authenticity. A correspondent has since written to the Times to state that the score of the overture is deposited in the archives of Bayreuth, and not intended for publicity, which raises an interesting question as to the rights of the Philharmonic Society, for which it was intended.
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