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 piece of dandyism in eating, which
even Beau Brummell might have envied--"When asked at dinner whether he
would have some beef, he answered, 'Beef? oh, no! faugh! don't you know
I never eat beef, nor horse, nor any of those things?'"--The man that
said these things was the successful lover of the prettiest maid of
honour to the Princess of Wales--the person held up to everlasting
ridicule by Pope--the vice-chamberlain whose attractions engaged the
affections of the daughter of the Sovereign he served; and the peer
whose wit was such that it "charmed the charming Mary Montague."
* * * * *
More
-
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 ... Miss Mitford's Farewell To Three Mile Cross
When Miss Mitford left her rustic cottage at Three Mile Cross, and removed to Reading, (the Belford Regis of her novel), she penned the following beautiful picture of its homely joys-- "Farewell, then, my beloved village! the long, straggling stre... Moderate Flattery
Jasper Mayne says of Master Cartwright, the author of tolerable comedies and poems, printed in 1651:-- "Yes, thou to Nature hadst joined art and skill; In thee, Ben Jonson still held Shakspeare's quill." * * * * ... Moore's Epigram On Abbott
Mr. Speaker Abbott having spoken in slighting terms of some of Moore's poems, the poet wrote, in return, the following biting epigram: "They say he has no heart; but I deny it; He has a heart--and gets his speeches by it." * * ... Mrs Southey
And who was Mrs. Southey?--who but she who was so long known, and so great a favourite, as Caroline Bowles; transformed by the gallantry of the laureate, and the grace of the parson, into her matrimonial appellation. Southey, so long ago as the 21st... Negroes At Home
When Lord Byron was in Parliament, a petition setting forth, and calling for redress for, the wretched state of the Irish peasantry, was one evening presented to the House of Lords, and very coldly received. "Ah!" said Lord Byron, "what a misfortune... Origin Of Bottled Ale
Alexander Newell, Dean of St. Paul's, and Master of Westminster School, in the reign of Queen Mary, was an excellent angler. But Fuller says, while Newell was catching of fishes, Bishop Bonner was catching of Newell, and would certainly have sent hi... Origin Of Boz Dickens
A fellow passenger with Mr. Dickens in the Britannia steam-ship, across the Atlantic, inquired of the author the origin of his signature, "Boz." Mr. Dickens replied that he had a little brother who resembled so much the Moses in the Vicar of Wakefie... Origin Of Cowper's John Gilpin
It happened one afternoon, in those years when Cowper's accomplished friend, Lady Austen, made a part of his little evening circle, that she observed him sinking into increased dejection; it was her custom, on these occasions, to try all the resourc... Origin Of The Beggar's Opera
It was Swift that first suggested to Gay the idea of the Beggar's Opera, by remarking, what an odd, pretty sort of a thing a Newgate pastoral might make! "Gay," says Pope, "was inclined to try at such a thing for some time; but afterwards thought it... Origin Of The Edinburgh Review
The Edinburgh Review was first published in 1802. The plan was suggested by Sydney Smith, at a meeting of literati, in the fourth or fifth flat or story, in Buccleugh-place, Edinburgh, then the elevated lodging of Jeffrey. The motto humorously propo... Pains And Toils Of Authorship
The craft of authorship is by no means so easy of practice as is generally imagined by the thousands who aspire to its practice. Almost all our works, whether of knowledge or of fancy, have been the product of much intellectual exertion and study; o... Patronage Of Authors
In the reigns of William III., of Anne, and of George I., even such men as Congreve and Addison could scarcely have been able to live like gentlemen by the mere sale of their writings. But the deficiency of the natural demand for literature was, at ... Patronage Of Literature
When Victor Hugo was an aspirant for the honours of the French Academy, and called on M. Royer Collard to ask his vote, the sturdy veteran professed entire ignorance of his name. "I am the author of Notre Dame de Paris, Les Derniers Jours d'un Conda... Payment In Kind
The Empress Catherine of Russia having sent, as a present to Voltaire, a small ivory box made by her own hands, the poet induced his niece to instruct him in the art of knitting stockings; and he had actually half finished a pair, of white silk, whe...