The Project Gutenberg eBook ofBooks and AuthorsThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Books and AuthorsAuthor: AnonymousRelease date: November 2, 2009 [eBook #30396]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKS AND AUTHORS ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Books and AuthorsAuthor: AnonymousRelease date: November 2, 2009 [eBook #30396]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Title: Books and Authors
Author: Anonymous
Author: Anonymous
Release date: November 2, 2009 [eBook #30396]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOOKS AND AUTHORS ***
Finding the Manuscript Diary of John EvelynFinding the Manuscript Diary of John EvelynPage7.Click toENLARGE
Title page.Click toENLARGE
Ale, Bishop Still's Praise of83A Learned Young Lady149Alfieri's Hair153Authors, Hard Fate of59Authorship, Pains and Toils of125Bad's the Best—Canning's Criticism50"Beggar's Opera," Origin of the140Bell, Death of Sir Charles46Blue-Stocking Club, the10Boar's Head Tavern, East Cheap, Relics of115Boileau's, A Carouse at147Bolingbroke at Battersea112Bolingbroke, his Creed55Booksellers in Little Britain27Boswell as the "Bear-leader"118Boswell's "Life of Johnson"99"Boz" (Dickens), Origin of the Word99Bottled Ale, Accidental Origin of49Bulwer's Pompeian Drawing-room84Bunyan's Copy of the "Book of Martyrs"53Bunyan's Escapes57Bunyan's Preaching56Burney, Miss, her "Evelina"66Butler and Buckingham143Byron, Lord, his Graceful Apology39Byron's "Corsair"26Byron and "My Grandmother's Review"95Byron's Personal Vanity37Canning, A Ludicrous Estimate of50Chalmers'(Dr.) Industry103Chalmers' Preaching in London44Chances for the Drama68Chatterton's Profit and Loss Reckoning136Classical Pun, A47"Clean Hands," Lord Brougham's79Clever Statesmen, Swift on116Cobbett's Boyhood121Coleridge in the Dragoons120Coleridge as a Unitarian Preacher123Coleridge's "Watchman"32Collins' Insanity129Collins' Poor Opinion of his Poems13Colton the Author of "Lacon"52Conscience, A Composition with133Copyrights, Value of some65Cowley at Chertsey108Cowper's "John Gilpin"58Cowper's Poems, First Publication of21Criticism, Sensitiveness to142Curran's Imagination107Dangerous Fools84Day and his Model Wife109Death-bed Revelations49Dennis, Conceited Alarms of132Devotion to Science74Disadvantageous Correction, Lord North's75Drollery must be Spontaneous58Dryden Drubbed151"Edinburgh Review," Origin of the116Evelyn's Diary Discovered at Wotton7"Felon Literature"48Fielding's "Tom Jones"78Fine Flourishes, Brougham's Rebuke of39Flattery, Moderate80Fontenelle's Insensibility124Foote's Wooden Leg88Fox and Gibbon25French-English Jeu-de-mot81Fuller's Memory69Gibbon's House at Lausanne98Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer"43Haydn and the Ship Captain138Haydn's Diploma Piece at Oxford139Hearne's Love of Ale22Hervey, Lord, his wit69Hone's "Every-day Book"56Hoole, the Translator of Tasso36Hope's "Anastasius"51Ireland's Shakspearian Forgeries33Jerrold's Jokes, A String of130Jerrold's Rebuke to a Rude Intruder155Joe Miller at Court128Johnson and Hannah More11Johnson's Criticisms97Johnson's Latest Contemporaries105Johnson's Pretty Compliment to Mrs. Siddons109Johnson's Pride26Johnson's Residences and Resorts in London77Johnson's Wigs76Johnson and Lord Elibank118Johnson, Relics of, at Lichfield119"Junius," Rogers and152"Junius' Letters," Who Wrote?89Killing no Murder141Lamb, Cary's Epitaph on67Learning French, Brummell102Leigh Hunt and Thomas Carlyle19Lewis's "Monk"42Literary Coffee-houses in last Century93Literary Dinners17Literary Localities in London55Literary Men, the Families of9Locke's Rebuke to the Card-Playing Lords137Lope de Vega's Popularity29Lope de Vega's Voluminous Writings28Lovelace, The Last Days of134Mackintosh, Sir James, and Dr. Parr28Mackintosh's Humour28Magazine, the First117Magazines, the Sale of72Magna Charta recovered25Mathematical Sailors41Mermaid Club, The144Milton, Relics of113Mitford, Miss, her Farewell to Three-Mile Cross12Moore's Anacreontic Invitation70Moore's Epigram on Abbott130Morris, Captain, his Songs14Negroes at Home130O'Connell's Opinion of the Authorship of "Junius"92Patronage of Authors100Patronage of Literature in France75Payment in Kind135Physiognomy of the French Revolutionists45Poets in a Puzzle71Poetry of the Sea, Campbell on the47Pope, A Hard Hit at150Popularity of the Pickwick Papers18Porson's Memory146Quid pro Quo, Turner's51Reconciling the Fathers27Regality of Genius77Repartee, A Smart52Rival Remembrance—Gilford and Hazlitt88Romilly and Brougham45Sale, the Translator of the Koran133Shenstone, An Odd Present to156Sheridans, The Two141Sheridan's Careful Study of his Wit23Silence no sure Sign of Wisdom44Smith, James, one of the Authors of the"Rejected Addresses"60,80Smollett's Hard Fortunes154Smollett's History of England24Smollett's "Hugh Strap"13Snail Dinner, the106Southey's Wife73Stammering Witticism, Lamb's49Sterne's Sermons85Swift's Disappointed Life18Swift's Three Loves31Thomson's Indolence148Thomson's Recitation of his Poetry42"Times" Newspaper, Writing up the114"Tom Cringle's Log," Authorship of68Tom Hill85Trimmer, Mrs.117Tycho Brahe's Nose87Voltairean Relics at Ferney, Sale of79Waller, the Courtier-Poet156Walton, Izaak, Relics of82Washington Irving and Wilkie at the Alhambra111"Waverley," the Authorship of51Way to Win them, Walpole's96Wycherley's Wooing146
This collection of anecdotes, illustrative sketches, andmemorabiliagenerally, relating to the ever fresh and interesting subject ofBooks and Authors, is not presented as complete, nor even as containing all the choice material of its kind. The field from which one may gather is so wide and fertile, that any collection warranting such a claim would far exceed the compass of many volumes, much less of this little book. It has been sought to offer, in an acceptable and convenient form, some of the more remarkable or interesting literary facts or incidents with which one individual, in a somewhat extended reading, has been struck; some of the passages which he has admired; some of the anecdotes and jests that have amused him and may amuse others; some of the reminiscences that it has most pleased him to dwell upon. For no very great portion of the contents of this volume, is the claim to originality of subject-matter advanced. The collection, however, is submitted with some confidence that it may be found as interesting, as accurate, and as much guided by good taste, as it has been endeavoured to make it.
The MS. Diary, or "Kalendarium," of the celebrated John Evelyn lay among the family papers at Wotton, in Surrey, from the period of his death, in 1706, until their rare interest and value were discovered in the following singular manner.
The library at Wotton is rich in curious books, with notes in John Evelyn's handwriting, as well as papers on various subjects, and transcripts of letters by the philosopher, who appears never to have employed an amanuensis. The arrangement of these treasures was, many years since, entrusted to the late Mr. Upcott, of the London Institution, who made a complete catalogue of the collection.
One afternoon, as Lady Evelyn and a femalecompanion were seated in one of the fine old apartments of Wotton, making feather tippets, her ladyship pleasantly observed to Mr. Upcott, "You may think this feather-work a strange way of passing time: it is, however, my hobby; and I dare say you, too, Mr. Upcott, haveyour hobby." The librarian replied that his favourite pursuit was the collection of the autographs of eminent persons. Lady Evelyn remarked, that in all probability the MSS. of "Sylva" Evelyn would afford Mr. Upcott some amusement. His reply may be well imagined. The bell was rung, and a servant desired to bring the papers from a lumber-room of the old mansion; and from one of the baskets so produced was brought to light the manuscript Diary of John Evelyn—one of the most finished specimens of autobiography in the whole compass of English literature.
The publication of the Diary, with a selection of familiar letters, and private correspondence, was entrusted to Mr. William Bray, F.S.A.; and the last sheets of the MS., with a dedication to Lady Evelyn, were actually in the hands of the printer at the hour of her death. The work appeared in 1818; and a volume of Miscellaneous Papers, by Evelyn, was subsequently published, under Mr. Upcott's editorial superintendence.
Wotton House, though situate in the angle of two valleys, is actually on part of Leith Hill, the rise from thence being very gradual. Evelyn's "Diary" contains a pen-and-ink sketch of the mansion as it appeared in 1653.
AQuarterlyReviewer, in discussing an objection to the Copyright Bill of Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, which was taken by Sir Edward Sugden, gives some curious particulars of the progeny of literary men. "We are not," says the writer, "going to speculate about the causes of the fact; but a fact it is, that men distinguished for extraordinary intellectual power of any sort rarely leave more than a very brief line of progeny behind them. Men of genius have scarcely ever done so; men of imaginative genius, we might say, almost never. With the one exception of the noble Surrey, we cannot, at this moment, point out a representative in the male line, even so far down as the third generation, of any English poet; and we believe the case is the same in France. The blood of beings of that order can seldom be traced far down, even in the female line. With the exception of Surrey and Spenser, we are not aware of any great English author of at all remote date, from whose body any living person claims to be descended. There is no real English poet prior to the middle of the eighteenth century; and we believe no great author of any sort, except Clarendon and Shaftesbury, of whose blood we have any inheritance amongst us. Chaucer's only son died childless; Shakspeare's line expired in his daughter's only daughter. None of the other dramatists of that age left any progeny; nor Raleigh, nor Bacon, nor Cowley, nor Butler. The grand-daughter of Milton was the last of his blood. Newton, Locke, Pope,Swift, Arbuthnot, Hume, Gibbon, Cowper, Gray, Walpole, Cavendish (and we might greatly extend the list), never married. Neither Bolingbroke, nor Addison, nor Warburton, nor Johnson, nor Burke, transmitted their blood. One of the arguments against aperpetuityin literary property is, that it would be founding anothernoblesse. Neither jealous aristocracy nor envious Jacobinism need be under such alarm. When a human race has produced its 'bright, consummate flower' in this kind, it seems commonly to be near its end."
Towards the close of the last century, there met at Mrs. Montague's a literary assembly, called "The Blue-Stocking Club," in consequence of one of the most admired of the members, Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, always wearingblue stockings. The appellation soon became general as a name for pedantic or ridiculous literary ladies. Hannah More wrote a volume in verse, entitledThe Bas Bleu: or Conversation. It proceeds on the mistake of a foreigner, who, hearing of the Blue-Stocking Club, translated it literallyBas Bleu. Johnson styled this poem "a great performance." The following couplets have been quoted, and remembered, as terse and pointed:—
"In men this blunder still you find,All think their little set mankind.""Small habits well pursued betimes,May reach the dignity of crimes."
When Hannah More came to London in 1773, or 1774, she was domesticated with Garrick, and was received with favour by Johnson, Reynolds, and Burke. Her sister has thus described her first interview with Johnson:—
"We have paid another visit to Miss Reynolds; she had sent to engage Dr. Percy, ('Percy's Collection,' now you know him), quite a sprightly modern, instead of a rusty antique, as I expected: he was no sooner gone than the most amiable and obliging of women, Miss Reynolds, ordered the coach to take us to Dr. Johnson's very own house: yes, Abyssinian Johnson! Dictionary Johnson! Ramblers, Idlers, and Irene Johnson! Can you picture to yourselves the palpitation of our hearts as we approached his mansion? The conversation turned upon a new work of his just going to the press (the 'Tour to the Hebrides'), and his old friend Richardson. Mrs. Williams, the blind poet, who lives with him, was introduced to us. She is engaging in her manners, her conversation lively and entertaining. Miss Reynolds told the Doctor of all our rapturous exclamations on the road. He shook his scientific head at Hannah, and said she was 'a silly thing.' When our visit was ended, he called for his hat, as it rained, to attend us down a very long entry to our coach, and not Rasselas could have acquitted himself moreen cavalier. I forgot to mention, that not finding Johnson in his little parlour when we came in, Hannah seated herself in his great chairhoping to catch a little ray of his genius: when he heard it, he laughed heartily, and told her it was a chair on which he never sat. He said it reminded him of Boswell and himself when they stopped a night, as they imagined, where the weird sisters appeared to Macbeth. The idea so worked on their enthusiasm, that it quite deprived them of rest. However, they learned the next morning, to their mortification, that they had been deceived, and were quite in another part of the country."
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 street, gay and bright on this sunny, windy April morning, full of all implements of dirt and mire, men, women, children, cows, horses, wagons, carts, pigs, dogs, geese, and chickens—busy, merry, stirring little world, farewell! Farewell to the winding, up-hill road, with its clouds of dust, as horsemen and carriages ascend the gentle eminence, its borders of turf, and its primrosy hedges! Farewell to the breezy common, with its islands of cottages and cottage-gardens; its oaken avenues, populous with rooks; its clear waters fringed with gorse, where lambs are straying; its cricket-ground where children already linger, anticipating their summer revelry; its prettyboundary of field and woodland, and distant farms; and latest and best of its ornaments, the dear and pleasant mansion where dwelt the neighbours, the friends of friends; farewell to ye all! Ye will easily dispense with me, but what I shall do without you, I cannot imagine. Mine own dear village, farewell!"
In the year 1809 was interred, in the churchyard of St. Martin's-in-the Fields, the body of one Hew Hewson, who died at the age of 85. He was the original of Hugh Strap, in Smollett'sRoderick Random. Upwards of forty years he kept a hair-dresser's shop in St. Martin's parish; the walls were hung round with Latin quotations, and he would frequently point out to his customers and acquaintances the several scenes inRoderick Randompertaining to himself, which had their origin, not in Smollett's inventive fancy, but in truth and reality. The meeting in a barber's shop at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the subsequent mistake at the inn, their arrival together in London, and the assistance they experienced from Strap's friend, are all facts. The barber left behind an annotated copy ofRoderick Random, showing how far we are indebted to the genius of the author, and to what extent the incidents are founded in reality.
Mr. John Ragsdale, of Richmond, in Surrey, who was the intimate friend of Collins, states that some of his Odes were written while on a visit at his, Mr.Ragsdale's house. The poet, however, had such a poor opinion of his own productions, that after showing them to Mr. Ragsdale, he would snatch them from him, and throw them into the fire; and in this way, it is believed, many of Collins's finest pieces were destroyed. Such of his Odes as were published, on his own account in 1746, were not popular; and, disappointed at the slowness of the sale, the poet burnt the remaining copies with his own hands.
Alas! poor Morris—writes one—we knew him well. Who that has once read or heard his songs, can forget their rich and graceful imagery; the fertile fancy, the touching sentiment, and the "soul reviving" melody, which characterize every line of these delightful lyrics? Well do we remember, too, his "old buff waistcoat," his courteous manner, and his gentlemanly pleasantry, long after this Nestor of song had retired to enjoy the delights of rural life, despite the prayer of his racy verse: