The appointment of a clerk in the War Office, Mr.
Pigott, to the head of the Stationery Office, from which Mr. W. R. Greg has just retired in consequence of failing health, has broken through, apparently without any adequate cause, the tradition which reserved this post as a sort of prize for distinguished literary service. Mr. Pigott appears to be a man who has worked meritoriously in the War Office, and to have deserved pro- motion ; but even in the War Office he was by no means at the head of the list of those who might have looked for such recognition,—an eminent astronomer, for instance, who has done much for the cause of science, as well as for the work of the War Office, being amongst them. And as a literary man, Mr. Pigott is certainly not known. Mr. W. H. Smith, who had to defend his appointment yesterday week, in spite of the fact that he himself had recommended the appointment of some one technically trained for the work of the Stationery Office, intimated clearly enough that the responsibilitylay with the Prime Minister ; and Truth of this week states that Mr. Pigott is son of the Rector of Hughenden, and so explains his promotion. It is of course not in any way a case of scandal. But we should hardly have expected Lord Beaconsfield to be the first to impound one of the few remaining literary prizes, for the gratification of kindly perspire' feelings.
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