LORD BEACONSFIELD AND THE INFLUENZA. [To TIM EDITOR OF THII
"SPECTATOR."] Stu,—Your correspondent Mr. Reginald Lucas, in his in- teresting letter in the Spectator of February 25th, demon- strates clearly that the "hardy annual" with which we are now too well acquainted was a matter of common knowledge in the early days of the Queen's reign. But apparently the malady would have had good grounds in 1837 for celebrating its own Diamond Jubilee, for its visitations must then have covered a period of at least sixty years. In "The Lame Lover" of Samuel Foote (1721-1777), Sir Luke Limp says : "Order Joe to run to Alderman Inkle's in Threadneedle Street : sorry can't wait upon him, but confined to bed two days with the new influenza." If interest in this question is commensurate with the prevalence of the malady, apologies for thus intruding upon your space will not be expected.—
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