Learning French
When Brummell was obliged by want of money, and debt, and all that, to
retire to France, he knew no French; and having obtained a grammar for
the purpose of study, his friend Scrope Davies was asked what progress
Brummell had made in French. He responded, that Brummell had been
stopped, like Buonaparte in Russia, by the Elements.
"I have put this pun into Beppo, (says Lord Byron), which is a fair
exchange and no robbery, for Scrope made his fortune at several dinners,
(as he owned himself,) by repeating occasionally, as his own, some of
the buffooneries with which I had encountered him in the morning."
* * * * *
More
-
Fuller's Memory
Marvellous anecdotes are related of Dr. Thomas Fuller's memory. Thus, it is stated that he undertook once, in passing to and from Temple Bar to the farthest conduit in Cheapside, to tell at his return every sign as they stood in order on both sides ... Gibbon's House At Lausanne
The house of Gibbon, in which he completed his "Decline and Fall," is in the lower part of the town of Lausanne, behind the church of St. Francis, and on the right of the road leading down to Ouchy. Both the house and the garden have been much chang... Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer
Goldsmith, during the first performance of this comedy, walked all the time in St. James' Park in great uneasiness. Finally, when he thought that it must be over, hastening to the theatre, hisses assailed his ears as he entered the green-room. Askin... Hard Fate Of Authors
Sir E. B. (now Lord) Lytton, in the memoir which he prefixed to the collected works of Laman Blanchard, draws the following affecting picture of that author's position, after he had parted from an engagement upon a popular newspaper:-- "For t... Haydn And The Ship Captain
When the immortal composer Haydn was on his visit to England, in 1794, his chamber-door was opened one morning by the captain of an East Indiaman, who said, "You are Mr. Haydn?" "Yes." "Can you make me a 'March,' to enliven my crew? You shall have t... Haydn's Diploma Piece At Oxford
During his stay in England, Haydn was honoured by the diploma of Doctor of Music from the University of Oxford--a distinction not obtained even by Handel, and it is said, only conferred on four persons during the four centuries preceding. It is cust... Hearne's Love Of Ale
Thomas Warton, in his Account of Oxford, relates that at the sign of Whittington and his Cat, the laborious antiquary, Thomas Hearne, "one evening suffered himself to be overtaken in liquor. But, it should be remembered, that this accident was more ... Hone's Every-day Book
This popular work was commenced by its author after he had renounced political satire for the more peaceful study of the antiquities of our country. The publication was issued in weekly sheets, and extended through two years, 1824 and 1825. It was v... Hoole The Translator Of Tasso The Ghost Puzzled
Hoole was born in a hackney-coach, which was conveying his mother to Drury-lane Theatre, to witness the performance of the tragedy of Timanthes, which had been written by her husband. Hoole died in 1839, at a very advanced age. In early life, he ran... Hope's Anastasius
Lord Byron, in a conversation with the Countess of Blessington, said that he wept bitterly over many pages of Anastasius, and for two reasons: first, that he had not written it; and secondly, that Hope had; for it was necessary to like a man excessi... Ireland's Shakspeare Forgeries
Mr. Samuel Ireland, originally a silk merchant in Spitalfields, was led by his taste for literary antiquities to abandon trade for those pursuits, and published several tours. One of them consisted of an excursion upon the river Avon, during which h... James Smith One Of The Authors Of Rejected Addresses
A writer in the Law Quarterly Magazine says:--To the best of our information, James's coup d'essai in literature was a hoax in the shape of a series of letters to the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, detailing some extraordinary antiquarian disco... Jerrold's Rebuke To A Rude Intruder
Douglas Jerrold and some friends were dining once at a tavern, and had a private room; but after dinner the landlord, on the plea that the house was partly under repair, requested permission that a stranger might take a chop in the apartment, at a s... Joe Miller At Court
Joe Miller, (Mottley,) was such a favourite at court, that Caroline, queen of George II., commanded a play to be performed for his benefit; the queen disposed of a great many tickets at one of her drawing-rooms, and most of them were paid for in gol... Johnson's Club-room
In a paper in the Edinburgh Review, we find this cabinet picture:--The club-room is before us, and the table, on which stands the omelet for Nugent, and the lemons for Johnson. There are assembled those heads which live for ever on the canvas of Rey... Killing No Murder
In a journey which Mademoiselle Scudery, the Sappho of the French, made along with her no less celebrated brother, a curious incident befell them at an inn at a great distance from Paris. Their conversation happened one evening to turn upon a romanc... Latest Of Dr Johnson's Contemporaries
In the autumn of 1831, died the Rev. Dr. Shaw, at Chesley, Somersetshire, at the age of eighty-three: he is said to have been the last surviving friend of Dr. Johnson. On the 16th of January, in the above year, died Mr. Richard Clark, chamberlain... Learning French
When Brummell was obliged by want of money, and debt, and all that, to retire to France, he knew no French; and having obtained a grammar for the purpose of study, his friend Scrope Davies was asked what progress Brummell had made in French. He resp... Leigh Hunt And Thomas Carlyle
The following characteristic story of these two "intellectual gladiators" is related in "A New Spirit of the Age." Leigh Hunt and Carlyle were once present among a small party of equally well known men. It chanced that the conversation rested wi... Lewis's Monk
This romance, on its first appearance, roused the attention of all the literary world of England, and even spread its writer's name to the continent. The author--"wonder-working Lewis," was a stripling under twenty when he wrote The Monk in the shor... Literary Coffee-houses In The Last Century
Three of the most celebrated resorts of the literati of the last century were Will's Coffee-house, No. 23, on the north side of Great Russell-street, Covent Garden, at the end of Bow-street. This was the favourite resort of Dryden, who had here his ... Literary Dinners
Incredible as it may appear, it is sometimes stated very confidently, that English authors and actors who give dinners, are treated with greater indulgence by certain critics than those who do not. But, it has never been said that any critical journ... Literary Localities
Leigh Hunt pleasantly says:--"I can no more pass through Westminster, without thinking of Milton; or the Borough, without thinking of Chaucer and Shakspeare; or Gray's Inn, without calling Bacon to mind; or Bloomsbury-square, without Steele and Aken... Locke's Rebuke Of The Card-playing Lords
Locke, the brilliant author of the Essay on the Human Understanding, was once introduced by Lord Shaftesbury to the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Halifax. But the three noblemen, instead of entering into conversation on literary subjects with the phil... Lord Byron And My Grandmother's Review
At the close of the first canto of Don Juan, its noble author, by way of propitiating the reader for the morality of his poem, says:-- "The public approbation I expect, And beg they'll take my word about the moral, Which I with their amuse... Lord Byron's Apology
No one knew how to apologize for an affront with better grace, or with more delicacy, than Lord Byron. In the first edition of the first canto of Childe Harold, the poet adverted in a note to two political tracts--one by Major Pasley, and the other ... Lord Byron's Corsair
The Earl of Dudley, in his Letters, (1814) says:--"To me Byron's Corsair appears the best of all his works. Rapidity of execution is no sort of apology for doing a thing ill, but when it is done well, the wonder is so much the greater. I am told he ... Lord Byron's Vanity
During the residence of Lord Byron at Venice, a clerk was sent from the office of Messrs. Vizard and Co., of Lincoln's Inn, to procure his lordship's signature to a legal instrument. On his arrival, the clerk sent a message to the noble poet, who ap... Lord Elibank And Dr Johnson
Lord Elibank made a happy retort on Dr. Johnson's definition of oats, as the food of horses in England, and men in Scotland. "Yes," said he, "and where else will you see such horses, and such men?"--Sir Walter Scott. * * * ... Lord Hervey's Wit
Horace Walpole records Lord Hervey's memorable saying about Lord Burlington's pretty villa at Chiswick, now the Duke of Devonshire's, that it was "too small to inhabit, and too large to hang to your watch;" and Lady Louisa Stuart has preserved a pie... Ludicrous Estimate Of Mr Canning
The Rev. Sydney Smith compares Mr. Canning in office to a fly in amber: "nobody cares about the fly: the only question is, how the devil did it get there?" "Nor do I," continues Smith, "attack him for the love of glory, but from the love of utility,... Magna Charta Recovered
The transcript of Magna Charta, now in the British Museum, was discovered by Sir Robert Cotton in the possession of his tailor, who was just about to cut the precious document out into "measures" for his customers. Sir Robert redeemed the valuable c... Mathematical Sailors
Nathaniel Bowditch, the translator of Laplace's Mecanique Celeste, displayed in very early life a taste for mathematical studies. In the year 1788, when he was only fifteen years old, he actually made an almanack for the year 1790, containing all th... Miss Burney's Evelina
The story of Evelina being printed when the authoress was but seventeen years old is proved to have been sheer invention, to trumpet the work into notoriety; since it has no more truth in it than a paid-for newspaper puff. The year of Miss Burney's ...