Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

?

SUMMER, Summer, come again!
Dost thou dread a little rain?
Canst thou perish in a cloud?
Are the winds so fresh and loud,
Weaving mirth above thy pain?-
Lo! a gloomy sorrow flies
O'er the forehead of the skies,
And o'er ocean dark and deep,
Where the wild sea-natures sleep,-
Those great children of the billows,
Tumbling on their restless pillows!
Summer, Summer, art thou gone
Is the Autumn pale alone,
With her crown of faithless leaves,-
Like a widow queen, who grieves
O'er her bands of courtiers fled,
And her love and music dead?
Heed it never, Summer fair!
Thou no longer needest care
For the birth or death of flowers,
Nor lament the sullen hours;
Nor the heedless buds that perish
Howsoever thou dost cherish;
Nor the rose who will decay,
Though thou fondly sighest, "Stay!"
Kissing her perfumed lips,
While the broad Apollo dips
In the waves his burning hair.-
Mourn not, therefore, Summer fair!

If the jealous rose who died
Could have been thy deathless bride,

Or the lady lily pale

[VOL. 2. N.S.

Had not been so false and frail,—
If the trees their gold had never
Flung into the brawling river,
That its hoarse tongue might not say
When they with the winds did play,
Thou might'st then have had sad reason
To complain, sweet Summer season!
But they fled-the leaves, the flowers;
And the illuminated hours
First survived and then decay'd,
And in shrouding mists are laid!

Yet they all shall come again,
Summer sweet, and thou shalt reign
Like a God beneath the sky;
And the thousand worlds that lie
In their bluest homes shall shine,
When thou drinkest thy red wine;
And the soft west winds shall come,
Bearing all their courtier treasures,
When at evening thou dost roam,
Taking thy immortal pleasures
With some bud or lily young,
Which the sky shall then have flung
On a green bank or a dell
Of sun-coloured asphodel.

-Then shalt thou once more resume
Odour, strength, and all thy bloom
Of beauty, and regain thy powers
Over the time-enchanted hours!-

B. C.

TIME.

SLOW roll-swift fleet-the years. How heavily
The hours, leaden-paced, drag on the day's dull chain
From grey morn till the glowing western main
Receive the weary sun-god from the sky;
-And yet the seasons vanish. Infancy,

Childhood, and youth are melted, as the stain

Of breath, that dimming the bright air, again

Fades in the resolution of a sigh.

-Now manhood stays :-nay goes !-Nor wiser Hope

Leads justlier measured toils to issues meet:
Tasks of ripe strength,-births of the thoughtful head.
Now the tried spirit eyes the well-chosen scope

Toward which she onward strains untiring feet:
-And see!—that glance of lightning, Life,-has fred.

ATHENEUM VOL. 2. 2d series.

(Lond. Lit. Gaz.)

MEMOIRS, ANECDOTES, FACTS, AND OPINIONS,

COLLECTED AND PRESERVED BY LETITIA MATILDA

WE E are of the number of those who like the everlasting gossip of story-telling in books, because when tired we can lay them down; and this is more than can be done with a proser in the viva voce way. Yet fond as we are of these anas, we must hint to Miss Hawkins that she has in half a dozen of instances put our patience to the test.

Yet with sins of this kind upon their heads, there is much entertainment in these volumes. The recol

lections are indeed sometimes of persons who might have passed into oblivion without a record, and without any consequent regret; but many are of another description; and even the less interesting tend to elucidate and strengthen the general collection. Of Dr. Johnson there is much, and that not very favourable; and, in truth, it is one of the evils of the truth, which the author assures us guides her pen, that it does frequently hurt the memory of persons, who, if wronged, (we are sure not intentionally) may have none to rescue them from the posthumous representation.

We throw out these reflections, trite enough they are, not so much as aimed at the volumes under review, but as a caution; and shall proceed to make our extracts where the honey has no touch of the sting. In taking this course, our notice will be almost a cento of anecdotes, jests, &c.; but so much the better!—this is the age for literature of that sort!

"Sir Hans Sloane was the first English physician made a baronet. The rank was conferred on him by George the First, on his accession. "Experience shows that the preference of trifling to important excellence is common; but what will be said to a lady of some pretensions in society, and who has resided at Rome, who in a comparison of painting with sculpture declared the latter

HAWKINS.

was more agreeable to her, because it took a better polish.'

"In noticing the aptitude of the ignorant to seize on the minor parts of excellence, I must record the astuteness of a sailor, who, gazing on a ship, the name and head of which were the Queen, muttered that it was the king's concubine, and not the queen, for she had no wedding ring on her finger."

66

It is said, that a milliner of Bath, ing Quin, while buying a pair of was detaincaricaturing sensibility, gloves, with expressions of her ardent desire to see him make love. Quin, who seems to have been the Dr. Johnson of the stage, if we may judge from the character of his replies, anI always buy it ready made.' swered, 'Madam, I never make love;

"But he once met with his match

6

when visiting Lord Holmes, in that abode of rural wit, the Isle of Wight. Quin had lost his dog; meeting a poor man, he told him of his loss, concluding with, I hope you are honest here.' 'Yes,' replied the man, I believe so; but there is a stranger down at my Lord's, and mayhap he may know of your dog.'”

Be it remembered that we do not vouch for the originality or novelty of these and the following specimens ; all we can say is, that while detecting some in Mathews-at-Home phraseology not genuine," we have taken those the most genuine, as far as our recollection serves. But to break the Joe Miller form of our Review a

66

little, we turn to the great Lexicographer, with whom Miss H. and her family were, as is well known, very

intimate. She writes

"I might have remarked in a fitter place, on the disposition which Johnson has sometimes shown, even in print, to make neat compliments; and very neat they often are, exhibit

ing a mind free from all jealous seizure on importance, and most candidly turning the light from himself to another. His Scotch tour abounds with these gems of equity; and he prefaces the Life of Young with one of his best specimens. In his colloquial intercourse they were studied, and therefore lost their effect: his head dipped lower; the semicircle in which it revolved was of greater extent; and his roar was deeper in its tone when he meant to be civil. His movement in reading, which he did with great rapidity, was humorously described after his death, by a lady, who said that his head swung seconds.'

"The usual initial sentences of his conversation led some to imagine that to resemble him was as easy as to mimic him, and that if they began with Why, Sir,' or 'I know no reason,' or 'If any man chooses to think," or If you mean to say,' they must of course talk Johnson.' That his style might be imitated is true, and that its strong features made it easier to lay hold on it than on a milder style, no one will dispute.

[ocr errors]

"He was adverse to departing from the common opinions and customs of the world, as conceiving them to have been founded in experience. He doubted whether there ever was a man who was not gratified by being told that he was liked by the women.

[ocr errors]

--

"I cannot, even at the distance of more than twenty-five years, read my father's narrative of this man's (Humphry Heely, distantly allied to Dr. J. by marriage) deplorable situation, without the painful feeling of sorrow for his hardships, and something little less than indignation at the barbarous apathy of Johnson, whose former assistance, however capriciously afforded, must have excited hope that he should not be forgotten at his death. The terms in which he sometimes used to relieve him deserve comment. When Heely endeavoured to explain his wretched state of poverty, Johnson would not always hear him: he replied harshly, You are poor, that's enough.' This avowal of indiscriminate feeling for all who could plead

want, was not very consoling to such a mind as that of his pensioner, who was, as well as himself, a man of a very meditative cast. It put him undeservedly below that worthless being whom he smothered with ostentatious munificence, and eventually ruined by it.

"All this indifference to the comfort of those whom he was to leave behind, convinces me, who can be actuated by no prejudice, that Johnson's charities were bribes to his mental and corporal disease; and that, beyond the lulling of his own desponding irritations, by the consciousness of fulfilling a duty, they had no purpose."

We

This is a hard construction, God knows; it may be a just one. are glad, however, to turn from it to our jeux d'esprit again, even though the first is a sad fudge. Green tea is the subject, and, we are gravely told

66

one instance of what it can do was afforded by the late Dr. Shaw, of the Museum, who, solely for the sake of experiment, practised drinking it till he had lost the use of one arm. This

I heard from himself, and he concluded the recital very gravely, by saying, And then, Madam, when I had carried the experiment thus far, I discontinued it, and recovered the use my arm.'

of

The following are more amusing. Count Senac (an eminent refugce) is the author of a "fact, that Augustus King of Poland, father of Count Saxe, could tear two packs of cards," (we presume, at one effort.) The next stories are from Mr. Langton:

"When the Irish King at Arms waited on the then Bishop of Killaloe to summon him to parliament, which was a ceremony requiring the formality of the heraldic attire, the bishop's servant, not knowing what to make of his appearance, and not clearly comprehending the title with which his memory was charged, introduced him, saying, "My Lord, here is the King of Trumps.

"When Goldsmith expressed an inclination to visit Aleppo, for the purpose of importing some of the mechanical inventions in use there, Dr

Johnson said, 'Goldsmith will go, and he will bring back a frame for grind ing knives, which he will think a convenience peculiar to Aleppo.' After he had published his 'Animated Nature,' Johnson said, 'You are not to infer from this compilation, Goldsmith's knowledge on the subject; if he knows that a cow has horns, it is as much as he does know.'

"Goldsmith happened once to stop at an inn on the road, in a parlour of which was a very good portrait, which he coveted, believing it a Vandyke; he therefore called in the mistress of the house, asked her if she set any value on that old-fashioned picture, and finding that she was wholly a stranger to its worth, he told her it bore a very great resemblance to his aunt Salisbury, and that if she would sell it cheap, he would buy it. A bargain was struck, a price infinitely below the value was paid. Goldsmith took the picture away with him, and had the satisfaction to find, that by this scandalous trick he had indeed procured a genuine and very saleable painting of Vandyke's.

"Soon after Goldsmith had contracted with the booksellers for his History of England, for which he was to be paid five hundred guineas, he went to Cadell, and told him he was in the utmost distress for money, and in imminent danger of being arrested by his butcher or baker. Cadell immediately called a meeting of the proprietors, and prevailed on them to advance him the whole, or a considerable part of the sum which by the original agreement he was not entitled to till a twelvemonth after the publication of the work. On a day which Mr. Cadell had named for giving this needy author an answer, Goldsmith came, and received the money, under pretence of instantly satisfying his creditors. Cadell, to discover the truth of his pretext, watched whither he went, and after following him to Hyde-Park Corner, saw him get into a post-chaise, in which a woman of the town was waiting for him, and with whom, it afterwards appeared, he went to Bath to dissipate what he had thus fraudulently obtained. ·

[blocks in formation]

"The late King himself told Mr. Langton this anecdote. While North, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, was at Eton, he was one day caught in his room, making quince-marmalade, for which, as against all rule, the then master punished him, by obliging him to make Greek verses, including the recipe for the marmalade. No bad thought,' added his Majesty, but I

did not think had so much humour; for you know he is a stupid fellow."

"Whether I owe the following to Mr. Langton himself, or received it through the medium of one of the family, I do not recollect, but it is Mr. Langton's story.-A man was observed every Saturday, duly, and nearly at the same hour, to pass along a street in London, carrying an old An paper hat-box under his arm. inhabitant of the street, determined to find out what the box contained, came upon him abruptly, and contrived to run against the box, so as to make it discover its contents. Coals dropt out, and he said to the carrier of them, Heyday! do you fetch coals in a hat-box?' 'Yes,' said the man, 'I like to have them fresh and fresh.'

[ocr errors]

"This I presume was not intended as wit and humour, it was the apology of genteel poverty: but it was impossible to deny the praise of humour to a reply I heard given, a short time since, in a country town, to a little pert girl, who for the sake of calling out the oddity of an eccentric man, took pains to make him hear her, while he was employed amongst bottles in a wine-vault. Her natural home was a baker's shop just by. The weather being very warm, she called out, Isn't it very hot Mr. down there ?' 'Not half so hot as in your oven, Miss Roll-y Poll-y,' he replied.

6

"Specimens of local wit or peculiarity I must postpone.

"I confess myself indebted to one of the family for this admirable axiom of Mr. Langton, which he impressed on the minds of his children, 'The next best thing to knowing, is to be sensible that you do not know.'

"To Dr. Johnson himself I owe the following anecdotes respecting Mr. Langton's father, who, though I believe to be as little wanting in in tellect as in morals, exhibited on some occasions curious instances of that inability to comprehend common things, which seems rare only because observation is not accurate. Of his goodness it is a proof, that he never left his chamber in a morning, without adding to his devotions the repetition of that excellent summary of the duties of a Christian, which is contained in our Church Catechism. Of the defect I allude to, these facts are proofs. He had bestowed considerable pains on enlarging a piece of water on his estate, and was showing to some friends what he had achieved, when it was remarked to him, that the bank which confined the water, was in one place so low as not to be a security against its overflowing. He admitted that to the eye it might appear dangerous; but he said he had provided for such an accident, by having had the ground in that spot dug deeper to allow for it.

"The other anecdote respected a legacy of 1000l., equally divided between himself and a person to whom he was indebted 1007. He consented that this debt should be deducted from his moiety; but when the deduction was made, and he saw the person to whom he was indebted, with 2007. more than he had, he could not admit it just, that when the other legatee was to have only 1007. from him, he should yet be 2007. the richer. And when an attempt was made to demonstrate it by figures, he could acquiesce no farther than to say it might be true on paper, but it could not be so in practice.

"I ought to have found a better place for an anecdote, which I had from the late Countess of Waldegrave. Mr. Langton told her, of Burke, that in conversation he uttered this sentiment, How extraordinary it is, that I, and Lord Chatham, and Lord Holland, should each have a son so superior to ourselves!"

The sister of Sir W. Jones is drawn as a singular character:

"Miss Jones was of no very sightly appearance; and her negligence of dress could hardly be carried lower; she was said to have pursued a track of learning similar to that which distinguished her brother, but this I have no means of ascertaining; and she was one of a small number of persons, whose conversation seems to have been made purposely trifling, as if to veil their own superiority. There are some still living, who, even now, when society is so much more on an intellectual equality than formerly, practise this. It is a very bad plan of being agreeable, and really often calls in question the veracity of those who have endeavoured to give a favourable impression of others. Miss Jones would walk through London, and four miles out of it, with a Greek folio under her arm; but I remember hearing her, on the mention of the Merchant of Venice in a house of little literature, ask if there was not a pretty song in it about Jessica; and in a morning visit I have known her affect the French style of light conversation, till she was more wearying than any prosing repeater of cir

cumstantials.

"She had some paradoxes in her opinions, and was not withheld from she was arguing absurdly." argument even by the knowledge that

These quotations from the first volume, precisely in the author's own words, will show the character of her work, which is whimsical, personal, and curious;-occasionally objectionable, and generally pleasant.

« PreviousContinue »