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and blood , even when they are the flesh andjriood of a Shakapeare , cannot stand this ; so have at you , Ben , for William is roused ! It is Fuller ' s English man-of-war getting under way . There may be a lurch , or two as he leaves the harbour , but how swiftly and beautifully he floats at last out into the deep water , and once there , how he masters the element ! How he tacks and turns , and sails round and round his antagonist , and baffieB him , and bewilders him , and sends shot after shot into him faster than they can be counted Not that Ben takes it all quietly . On the contrary , lie brings all his mass to bear upon Ms nimble adversary , and tries to drown him at first with loudness , and throws emphasis and rage into his words , and hurls out learned
quotations and allusions in the midst of his masculine and witty retorts , and even follows his adversary as well as he can into the regions of the subtle , the hyperbolic , and the sublime . In vain ; for , according to his own testimony afterwards , the adversary he is engaged with is , besides all his other gifts and qualities , a man of unparalleled fluency . * ' I loved the man , " said Ben , " and do honour his memory on this side idolatry as much as any . He was , indeed , honest and of an open and free nature ; had an excellent phantasy , brave notions , and gentle expressions , wherein he flowed with that facility that sometimes it was necessary he should . be stopped : ' aufflaminandus erat , ' as Augustus said of Haterius . " We have not the slightest doubt of it ; only we suspect the stopping of him , when he was in one of his phrenzies , would not have been so easy . " We have exhausted our space , or we should gladly have made some quotations from a remarkable article on the Kabbala , in the Eclectic Review ; but let the curious reader by all means seek out the article itself , which will give him much information in a very accessible form .
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versation with his royal highness . On that occasion the Prince was very agreeable and familiar . Among other anecdotes -which he told us of Lord Tluirlow I remember these two . The first was : Thurlow once said to the Prince , " Sir your father will continue to be a popular king aa long as he continues to go to ' church every Sunday , and to be faithful to that ugly woman , your mother ; but you , sir , will never be popular . " The other was this : While his servants ' wore carrying Thurlow up-staxrs to his bed-room , just before his death , they happened to let his legs strike against the banisters , upon which he uttered the last ivords he ever spoke , —a frightful imprecation on " all their souls . "
Erskine said that the Prince of Wales was quite " a cosmogony man" ( a 31 uJiu < - to The Vicar of Wahefield ) , for he had only two classical quotations , —one from Homer and one from Virgil , which he never failed to sport when there was acy opportunity of introducing them . Latterly Erskine was very poor ; and no wonder , for he always contrived to sell out of the funds when they were very low , and to buy in when they were very high . "By heaven , " he would say , "I am a perfect kite , all paper ; the boys might fly me . " Yet , poor as he was , he still kept the best society : I have met him at the Duke of York ' s , &c . &c .
The following epigram may not have been printed before , but it circulates among the Erskine stories : — " The Frencli have taste in all they do , Which we are quite without ; For Nature , that to them gave gout , To us gave only gout . " Many are the stories respecting the power of man ' s eye on wild animals ; but we believe the effect is attributed to a wrong cause ; here are two : — Thomas Grenville told me this curious fact . When he was a young man , he
one day dined with Lord Spencer at Wimbledon . Among the company was George Pitt ( afterwards Lord Rivers ) , who declared that he could tame the most furious animal by looking at it steadily . Lord Spencer said , " Well , there is a mastiff in the court-yard here , which is the terror of the neighbourhood : will you try your powers on him ? " Pitt agreed to do so ; and the company descended into the court-yard . A servant heldthe mastiffby a chain . Pitt knelt down at a short distance from the animal , and stared hirn sternly in the face . They all shuddered . At a signal given , the mastiff was let loose , and rushed furl ously towards Pitt , —then suddenly checked his pace , seemed confounded , and , leaping over Pitt ' s head , ran away , and was not seen for many hours after . ¦
SAMUEL EOGERS'S TABLE TALK . HecpUedjonsoftfie Table Talk of Samuel Rogers . To which is added Porsoniana . Moxon , flAb the writer on Table Talk in the last Quarterly waited a few weeks , he might have added to his list one of the pleasantest of the anecdotical works th ^] s ^ Uject ; . .. emb ^ ces . r , ' ' 'S&muieV Rogers was not a brilliant talker , but his tting life , and the amazing wealth of his acquaintance - ^ -including princes and ^ pets , actors and artists , "warriors and statesmen , wits and leaders of fashioniurnished his conversation with inore anecdotes than perhaps any other man of his time could pretend to . The present volume is just what might have
been expected ; rich in anecdote , and personal glimpses , but by no means remarkable either for wit or wisdom in the passages which JEtogers himself furnishes . The editor has discharged his office with unusual skill . He might , indeed , have spared us several feeble entries , but we have reason to be grateful that he has not been more liberal in this respect . He has printed nothing which can affect the living * much that must interest every one , * and he has so arranged the scattered fragments under their several heads , that details which in themselves would be too trivial for record , become important as cumulative traits from which to form a picture . In one word , the hook is charming , and will furnish " Table Talk ^ for all England .
Our task will be to enrich our columns with choice morsels . We begin with an exquisite compliment paid by Burke to Reynolds when the painter gave his farewell lecture :- — Sir Joshua concluded the lecture by saying , with great emotion , " And I should desu-e that the last words which I should pronounce in this Academy and from this place might be the name of—Michael Angelo . " As he descended from the rostruxttj Burke went up to him , took his hand , and said , , ¦ « Tbie angel ended , and in Adam ' s ear So charming left his voice , that he a while Thought him still speaking , still stood fix'd to hear . " The following is not new , but is good enough to bear repetition : —
Doctor Fordyce sometimes drank a good deal at dinner . He was summoned one evening to see a lady patient , when he was , more than half-seas-over , and conscious that he was so . Feeling her pulse , and finding himself unable to count its heats , he muttered , " Drunk , by G-od ! " Next morning , recollecting the circurnstance , he was greatly vexed : and just as he was thinking what explanation of hw behaviour he should offer to the lady , a letter from her was put into his band . She too well knew , " said the letter , " that he had discovered the unfortunate condition m which she was when he last visited her ; and she entreated bun to keep the matter secret in consideration of the enclosed ( a hundred-Dound t > anlc-note ) . * This on Voltaire is creditable to Adam Smith : —
When a _ young man , I went to Edinburgh , carrying letters of introduction ( trona Dr . mppis , Dr . Price , & < s . ) to Adam Smith , BobertBon , and others . When 1 tost saw Smth . he was at breakfast , eating strawberries ; and he descanted on the superior flavour of those giown in Scotland . I found him very kind and comimuncative . He was ( what Robertson was not ) a man who had seen a Kreat deal oi the world . Once , in the course of conversation , I happened to remark of some writer , that "he was rather superficial , —a Voltaire . "— "Sir , " cried Smith atrikang the table with his hand , « there has been but one Voltaire !" Of Erskine we have some delightful mots : — * When Lord Erskine heard that somebody had died worth two hundred thou-8 w ? th ? ' * ' Obaer ™ > " Well > that ' s * very Pretty BUtt * t ° begin the next world
A friend of mine , said Erskine , « was suffering from acontinual wakefwlnesa and various methods were tried to send him to sleep , but in vain . At last his pnyeicians resorted to an experiment which succeeded perfeotly : they dressed fcini in a watchman s coat , put a lantern into his hand , placed him in a Bentrvbox , and—he was asleop in ten minutes . " ' ' iw £ ? ? Iefc T terS ? ?^ h l ! ' subscription" to anything , Erekine had a regular fotm of reply via . « Sir , I foel much honoured by your application to mo , and I * £ i- ° ? baonbe -r hero thowwter had to turn , over the leaf— " myself your verv puecuent servant , &o . J SS 8 Sr ^ T ^^ ^ T ? pl ? ' J lhoax 1 P ? ^ ° kk ° witZ , the Austrian Ig % P ° defeated the Jesuits , and in his will made them a bequest which SyS *? f i ! r raoutl > 3 water with expectation . After a devout preovS ^ S ^^ f ^* - the sooiefcy 82 , 000-here the leaf had to be turned Sb ? fS 2 iSii - ' ? i . ? weretUo words— " nails towards * new building . " BnSri * i e * peci < aiy the fir 8 t ** A la 8 t > « re admirable : - B
During one of my visits to Italy , while I was walking , a little before my carriage , on the road > not far from Vicenza , I perceived two huge dogs , nearly as . tall as myself , bounding towards me ( from out a gate-way , though there was no house in sight ) . I recollected what Pitt had done ; and trembling from head to foot , I yet had resolution enough to stand quite still and eye them with a fixed look . They gradually relaxed their speed from a gallop to a trot , came up to me , stopped for a moment , and then went back again . Such facts ought to be registered ; but , as before hinted , we doubt the explanation ; it is not the fixed look which confounds the animal , but the unusual attitude . Dogs are not accustomed to be attacked by men kneeling before them , or standing motionless . That puts them out . An Indian officer once informed us that he was with a sepoy in the jungle , when they espied
a tiger crouching and about to spring ; the sepoy instantly crouched likewise , and placing his two hands trumpetwise before his lips , shouted : in another instant the tiger was heard crash , crash , crash , leaping through the jungl * . The explanation seems to be that the tiger was alarmed by this unaccustomed mode of defence . Certain it is that in the East , where dogs in tioops rush out upon the traveller like so many wolves , the only safety is in seating oneself on the ground , and laying aside the stick or gun . The dogs form a circle round you , but will not attack you so long as you remain * thus motionless Curiously enough Homer has in the Odyssey noticed this very custom . When Ulysses returns home , and goes to his shepherds , the dogs all rush out upon him , barking furiously ; but" Ulysses craftily seated himself , and laid aside his staff . "
Oi / hev K £ K \ jjywrer iTreopa / xov avrag Qovocrtvc E £ e-ro KBpdoffvvy , crKtjvrrpov St ot eK 7 re < T £ xttpofr Now Ulysses could not have fixed them all with his eye . Apropos of Homer , an example of his accurate observation will be worth quoting from this volume : — Some traveller relates , that an Indian being asleep in his canoe , which vas fastened to the shore , a little above the Falls of Niagara , an English soldier wantonly cub the fastenings , and the canoo drifted iuto the current ;—that tho Indian , after vainly trying the use of his paddles , and perceiving that he was j ust approaching the Falls , covered his head , with his mat , lay down in the cauoo , and calmly resigned himself to has fate . So Homer following nature , tells us in the Odyssey that Ulysses , when his companions had opened the bng which contained the winds , covered his hoad with his mantle , and lay down in the vessel . Here is a glorious mot of Sydney Smith ' s : —
Miss Lydia White ( long since dead ) was a lady who delighted iu giving piirtitM to as many celebrated people as she could collect . The following instance of her l'eadinesa in reply was communicated to mo by nay friend the ltcv , W . Hnrucsi ) . " At one of Lydia White ' s small and most agreeable dinnera , in Park-strcofc , the company ( most of them , except the hostess , being Whigs ) wero clisoiisoiug in rather a querulous strain tho desperate prospects of their party . ' You / said Sydney Smith , * wo aro in ft most deplorable condition : wo must do something to help ourselves ; I think we had bettor sacrifice a Tory virgin . ' This wiw pointedly addressed to Lydia White , who , at onco catching and applying tho allusion to Iphigonia , answered , ' I beliovo there in nothing tho Whig- ? would not do to raise tlie wind . ' " Lydia ' s reply was smart , and must have made them laugh , but the flavour and humour of sacrificing a Tory virgin is of a much higher strain .
Charles Jamea Fox in his * hot youth ' : — Fox ( in his earlier days , I menu ) , Sheridan , Fitzpatrick , &c ., lot ! auch n MV > ¦ Lord Tankervillo assured me that he has played cards with Fitzpivtriolc nt Brooke ' s from ten o ' clock ett night till near six o ' clock tho next afionwuu , a muter standing by to toll thorn " whoso deal it was , " they beiug too » loopy to know . After losing largo euma at hazard , Fox would go homo—not to destroy liiuanolf , as hia friends sometimes foarod , but—to sit down quietly and road Grook . Ho onoo won about eight thousand pounds : and ono of hisbond-oroditorn , who soon hoard of his good hick , proBontod himself , and oalied for pnymont . "Ii » possiblo , sir , " ropliod Fox ; "I must first discharge my dobtB oi' honour . " 'l ' ^ bond-oroditor romonetratod . " Woll , sir , givo mo your bond . " It was dolivorod to Fox , who tore it in pioaea and threw them into tho Are . " Now , air , " « fti Fox , " my debt to you ia o . dobt of honour ; " and immodiatoly pnid him .
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160 THE LEADER . [ No . 308 , Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 160, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2128/page/16/
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