ABSTRACT
in the chapter on The Dynasts we have noticed how Hardy's interest in Bonaparte resulted in his collecting a Napoleonic library. At 'The Knapp' in nearby Bradpole, near Bridport (fifteen miles from Dorchester), lived Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847–1916) with interests and habits that often paralleled Hardy's. Broadley, too, assembled a Napoleonic library, and by the time of the publication of The Dynasts this library had become large enough to justify cataloguing it. In 1905, under the title Collectanea Napoleonica, a catalogue of the Broadley collection was published in London by W. V. Daniell. This gained more than a local reputation for Mr. Broadley and he was invited to lecture on the subject of 'Napoleon's Threatened Invasion of England'—the theme of Hardy's novel The TrumpetMajor. A committee was formed in Dorchester to arrange for a public lecture there, and Broadley's appearance was eventually scheduled for February 8, 1908. Meanwhile, the publication of The Dynasts had proceeded and Broadley was asked by the editor of The Tatler in London to review Hardy's epic-drama. The review appeared in The Tatler for February 26, 1908.
