3-052-381 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"So he merely pencilled on the back, 'Can't you give it to some one else?'" 1880. 'The Earl [of Rackland]'s contempt for what are called "honours" would be cynical if it were not so unaffected and sincere. A Premier - who wanted his proxy, before proxies were abolished, and the votes of his trenchermen in the House of Commons - once offered him the [Order of the] Garter. My Lord got the Minister's letter while sitting over his dessert and cracking a filbert, for it was brought by a mounted messenger and marked "Immediate." So he merely pencilled on the back of the offer "Can't you give it to someone else," and asked Placebo to put it into another envelope and direct it. Then he took the filbert out of its shell and ate it without giving further thought to the subject'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.