Wagner declared that the first eight notes of "Rule, Britannia" embodied the whole character of the British people, and as a tribute to the English nation he set himself the task of composing an Overture with Arne's music as the motif. The history of this interesting composition of Wagner's has never been accurately stated. The preliminary sketch of the music was made by Wagner in 1836, and is still preserved at Bayreuth. The composition was completed and performed in March, 1837, at Königsberg, and was again played at Riga, on each occasion under the direction of Wagner. He sent the score to the Philharmonic Society in London; but its receipt was not acknowledged. Therefore, when in 1839 he made his first visit to London, he wrote to the secretary of the Society with the result recorded in the Philharmonic Society's minute-book, under date "April 19, 1840. Present, Mr. Neate, in the Chair, Messrs. Potter, F. Cramer, Dance, Anderson, Calkin. Letter from Wagner. Resolved that the score of the Overture be returned, with an apology for having kept it so long, and explaining that written upon a theme which is here very commonplace, precludes the performance of it at the Philharmonic Concerts." Wagner resided in London at the "King's Arms" boarding-house, Great Compton Street, Soho, only eight days, and then went to Paris. Presumably his removal was not known to the Philharmonic secretary, who sent the letter and score to Wagner's London address; the proprietor of the hotel then forwarded it to Paris, but without defraying the carriage. Wagner in his autobiography wrote: "One morning, when we had been anxiously consulting as to the possibility of raising our first quarter's rent, a carrier appeared with a parcel addressed to me from London. I thought it was an intervention of Providence, and broke open the seal. At the same moment a receipt-book was thrust into my face for signature, in which I at once saw that I had to pay seven francs for carriage. I recognised, moreover, that the parcel contained my overture, 'Rule, Britannia,' returned to me from the London Philharmonic Society. In my fury I told the bearer that I would not take in the parcel, whereupon he remonstrated in the liveliest fashion, as I had already opened it. It was no use; I did not possess seven francs, and told him he should have presented the bill for the carriage before I had opened the parcel. So I made him return the only copy of my overture to Messrs. Lafitte & Galliard's firm, to do what they liked with it, and I never cared to inquire what became of that manuscript." Its recovery is a mystery; the conductor of the band of the Leicester Opera House, Mr. E. W. Thomas, a few years since disposed of his belongings, including a pile of manuscript music which was purchased by Mr. Cyrus Gamble, who, in May, 1904, looking through the collection, discovered the long-lost Wagner autograph, signed and dated "Richard Wagner 15 March 1837 Königsberg in Prussia."