Anecdotes about Authors, and Artists
BY JOHN TIMBS.
London: DIPROSE & BATEMAN, SHEFFIELD STREET, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. LONDON: DIPROSE, BATEMAN AND CO., PRINTERS, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS.
ANECDOTES ABOUT BOOKS AND AUTHORS. Part I.
THIS collection of anecdotes, illustrative sketches, and memorabilia generally, relating to the ever fresh and interesting subject of Books 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.
CURIOUS FACTS AND CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES.
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.
John Timbs
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THE FINDING OF JOHN EVELYN’S MS. DIARY AT WOTTON.
FAMILIES OF LITERARY MEN.
THE BLUE-STOCKING CLUB.
DR. JOHNSON AND HANNAH MORE.
MISS MITFORD’S FAREWELL TO THREE MILE CROSS.
SMOLLETT’S “HUGH STRAP.”
COLLINS’S POEMS.
CAPTAIN MORRIS’S SONGS.
LITERARY DINNERS.
POPULARITY OF THE PICKWICK PAPERS.
SWIFT’S DISAPPOINTMENT
LEIGH HUNT AND THOMAS CARLYLE.
COWPER’S POEMS.
HEARNE’S LOVE OF ALE.
SHERIDAN’S WIT.
SMOLLETT’S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
MAGNA CHARTA RECOVERED.
FOX AND GIBBON.
DR. JOHNSON’S PRIDE.
LORD BYRON’S “CORSAIR.”
BOOKSELLERS IN LITTLE BRITAIN.
RECONCILING THE FATHERS.
DR. PARR AND SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH.
SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH’S HUMOUR.
WRITINGS OF LOPE DE VEGA.
POPULARITY OF LOPE DE VEGA.
SWIFT’S LOVES.
COLERIDGE’S “WATCHMAN.”
IRELAND’S SHAKSPEARE FORGERIES.
LORD BYRON’S VANITY.
LORD BYRON’S APOLOGY.
FINE FLOURISHES.
MATHEMATICAL SAILORS.
LEWIS’S “MONK.”
THOMSON’S RECITATIONS.
GOLDSMITH’S “SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER.”
SILENCE NOT ALWAYS WISDOM.
DR. CHALMERS IN LONDON.
ROMILLY AND BROUGHAM.
PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONISTS.
DEATH OF SIR CHARLES BELL.
CLASSIC PUN.
POETRY OF THE SEA.
“FELON LITERATURE.”
“THE LITERARY GENTLEMAN.
DEATH BED REVELATIONS.
STAMMERING WIT.
ORIGIN OF BOTTLED ALE.
BAD’S THE BEST.
LUDICROUS ESTIMATE OF MR. CANNING.
THE AUTHORSHIP OF “WAVERLEY.”
QUID PRO QUO.
HOPE’S “ANASTASIUS.”
SMART REPARTEE.
COLTON’S “LACON.”
BUNYAN’S COPY OF “THE BOOK OF MARTYRS.”
LITERARY LOCALITIES.
CREED OF LORD BOLINGBROKE.
BUNYAN’S PREACHING.
HONE’S “EVERY-DAY BOOK.”
BUNYAN’S ESCAPES.
DROLLERY SPONTANEOUS.
ORIGIN OF COWPER’S “JOHN GILPIN.”
HARD FATE OF AUTHORS.
JAMES SMITH, ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF “REJECTED ADDRESSES.”
CONTEMPORARY COPYRIGHTS.
MISS BURNEY’S “EVELINA.”
EPITAPH ON CHARLES LAMB.
“TOM CRINGLE’S LOG.”
CHANCES FOR THE DRAMA.
FULLER’S MEMORY.
LORD HERVEY’S WIT.
ANACREONTIC INVITATION, BY MOORE.
THE POETS IN A PUZZLE.
SALE OF MAGAZINES.
MRS. SOUTHEY.
DEVOTION TO SCIENCE.
DISADVANTAGEOUS CORRECTION.
PATRONAGE OF LITERATURE.
DR. JOHNSON’S WIGS.
SHERIDAN’S “PIZARRO.”
DR. JOHNSON IN LONDON.
REGALITY OF GENIUS.
FIELDING’S “TOM JONES.”
VOLTAIRE AND FERNEY.
CLEAN HANDS.
MODERATE FLATTERY.
EVERY-DAY LIFE OF JAMES SMITH.
FRENCH-ENGLISH JEU-DE-MOT.
RELICS OF IZAAK WALTON.
PRAISE OF ALE.
DANGEROUS FOOLS.
BULWER’S POMPEIAN DRAWING-ROOM.
STERNE’S SERMONS.
“TOM HILL.”
TYCHO BRAHE’S NOSE.
FOOTE’S WOODEN LEG.
RIVAL REMEMBRANCE.
WHO WROTE “JUNIUS’S LETTERS”?
LITERARY COFFEE-HOUSES IN THE LAST CENTURY.
LORD BYRON AND “MY GRANDMOTHER’S REVIEW.”
WALPOLE’S WAY TO WIN THEM.
DR. JOHNSON’S CRITICISMS.
GIBBON’S HOUSE, AT LAUSANNE.
ORIGIN OF “BOZ.” (DICKENS.)
BOSWELL’S “LIFE OF JOHNSON.”
PATRONAGE OF AUTHORS.
LEARNING FRENCH.
JOHNSON’S CLUB-ROOM.
DR. CHALMERS’S INDUSTRY.
A SNAIL DINNER.
CURRAN’S IMAGINATION.
COWLEY AT CHERTSEY.
A PRETTY COMPLIMENT.
THOMAS DAY, AND HIS MODEL WIFE.
WASHINGTON IRVING AND WILKIE, IN THE ALHAMBRA.
BOLINGBROKE AT BATTERSEA.
RELICS OF MILTON.
WRITING UP THE “TIMES” NEWSPAPER.
RELICS OF THE BOAR’S HEAD TAVERN, EASTCHEAP.
ORIGIN OF “THE EDINBURGH REVIEW.”
CLEVER STATESMEN.
THE FIRST MAGAZINE.
MRS. TRIMMER.
BOSWELL’S BEAR-LEADING.
LORD ELIBANK AND DR. JOHNSON
RELICS OF DR. JOHNSON AT LICHFIELD.
COLERIDGE A SOLDIER.
COBBETT’S BOYHOOD.
COLERIDGE AN UNITARIAN PREACHER.
FONTENELLE’S INSENSIBILITY.
PAINS AND TOILS OF AUTHORSHIP.
JOE MILLER AT COURT.
COLLINS’ INSANITY.
MOORE’S EPIGRAM ON ABBOTT.
NEGROES AT HOME.
A STRING OF JERROLD’S JOKES.
CONCEITED ALARMS OF DENNIS.
A COMPOSITION WITH CONSCIENCE.
SALE, THE TRANSLATOR OF THE KORAN.
THE LATTER DAYS OF LOVELACE.
PAYMENT IN KIND.
CHATTERTON’S PROFIT AND LOSS RECKONING.
LOCKE’S REBUKE OF THE CARD-PLAYING LORDS.
HAYDN AND THE SHIP CAPTAIN.
HAYDN’S DIPLOMA PIECE AT OXFORD.
ORIGIN OF THE BEGGAR’S OPERA.
THE TWO SHERIDANS.
KILLING NO MURDER.
SENSITIVENESS TO CRITICISM.
BUTLER AND BUCKINGHAM.
THE MERMAID CLUB.
PORSON’S MEMORY.
WYCHERLEY’S WOOING.
A CAROUSE AT BOILEAU’S.
THOMSON’S INDOLENCE.
A LEARNED YOUNG LADY.
A HARD HIT AT POPE.
DRYDEN DRUBBED.
ROGERS AND “JUNIUS.”
ALFIERI’S HAIR.
SMOLLETT’S HARD FORTUNES.
JERROLD’S REBUKE TO A RUDE INTRUDER.
AN ODD PRESENT TO SHENSTONE.
WALLER, THE COURTIER-POET.
NOTE.
TITIAN AND CHARLES V.
CHILDHOOD OF BENJAMIN WEST.
GUIDO’S TIME.
CHARACTER OF GAINSBOROUGH.
BENEFIT OF RIVALRY.
BACKHUYSEN.
GEORGE MORLAND.
DISINTERESTEDNESS OF ENGLISH PAINTERS.
THE DOUBLE CHIN.
SYMPATHY AND CALCULATION.
RUSKIN’S “MODERN PAINTERS.”
RUBENS’S “CHAPEAU DE PAILLE.”
A PROMPT REMEDY.
WILKIE’S SIMPLICITY.
THE GRAVE OF LAWRENCE.
“IT WILL NEVER DO.”
LOST CHANCE OF A NATIONAL GALLERY.
REYNOLDS’S PORTRAIT OF LORD HEATHFIELD.
THE ELGIN MARBLES
HENRY HOWARD, R.A.
ORIGINALS OF HOGARTH’S MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE.
HOMAGE TO ART.
“COLUMBUS AND THE EGG” ANTICIPATED.
THE RIVAL OF RAPHAEL.
TURNER’S MASTERPIECE.
INTENSE EFFECT.
REYNOLDS AND HAYDN.
HAYDON’S FIRST SIGHT OF THE ELGIN MARBLES.
PAINTERS IN SOCIETY.
ANACHRONISMS IN PAINTING.
MOVING EARS.
RUSSELL, THE CRAYON PAINTER.
WILKIE’S MISTAKEN ANALOGY.
DEATH OF GAINSBOROUGH.
FANATICISM THE DESTROYER OF ART.
THE THORNHILL MIRACLE.
THE PICTURES AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
FOUNDATION OF THE HISTORICAL SCHOOL OF PAINTING IN ENGLAND.
THE CAT RAPHAEL.
SMALL CONVERSATION.
CHANGING HATS.
SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE’S BOYHOOD.
HARLOW’S TRIAL OF QUEEN KATHERINE.
DEATH OF CORREGGIO.
A LUCKY PURCHASE.
COPLEY’S “DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM”
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON’S CORREGGIO.
GIOTTO AND THE PIGS.
HOW WILKIE BECAME A PAINTER.
CIMABUE AND GIOTTO.
MICHAEL ANGELO IN BOYHOOD AND OLD AGE.
HOGARTH’S “MARCH TO FINCHLEY.”
STORY OF A MINIATURE.
SITTING FOR A HUSBAND.
ARTISTIC TEXT.
GENEROSITY OF CANOVA.
HOGARTH’S VANITY.
THE FOUNDLING HOSPITAL AND THE ROYAL ACADEMY.
M‘ARDELL’S PRINTS.
UNFORTUNATE ACCURACY.
IMMORTALITY OF PAINTING.
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S “PUCK.”
RAPHAEL’S CARTOON OF THE MURDER OF THE INNOCENTS.
JARVIS SPENCER.
A DRAPERY PAINTER.
“STRANGE” ADVENTURE.
ORIGIN OF THE BEEF-STEAK CLUB.
WILKIE’S EARLY LIFE.
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S DINNERS.
FINDING A PAINTER.
REYNOLDS’S AND LAWRENCE’S PORTRAITS.
ZOFFANI’S GRATITUDE.
PATRONAGE OF ART.
DANGEROUS RETORT.
THE VENETIAN SCHOOL.
REYNOLDS’S “NATIVITY.”
HOLLOWAY AND “THE CARTOONS.”
TITIAN’S PAINTING.
CATLIN’S PICTURES.
MARTIN’S “DELUGE.”
SIR JOSHUA’S GOODNATURE.
THOMAS SYDNEY COOPER “THE ENGLISH PAUL POTTER.”
VERRIO AND CHARLES II.
HOGARTH’S PICTURES AT VAUXHALL GARDENS.
RUBENS AND THE LION.
NARROW ESCAPE.
GAINSBOROUGH.
HAYDON AT SCHOOL.
RUBENS’S DAY.
DILIGENCE OF RUBENS.
HAYDON’S “JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON.”
VAN DE VELDE AND BACKHUYSEN.
A PAINTER’S HAIR-DRESSING.
A MIS-MATCHED PORTRAIT.
VAST PAINTED WINDOW.
CLAUDE’S “LIBRO DI VERITA.”
THE OLDEST PICTURE IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY.
EXPERIMENTAL COLOURING.
STOTHARD’S FRIEZE.
JOHN MARTIN ON GLASS PAINTING.
“SITTING FOR THE HAND.”
HAYDON AND FUSELI.
RICHARD WILSON.
THE BRIDGEWATER GALLERY.
THE LOST PORTRAIT OF PRINCE CHARLES, BY VELASQUEZ.
HAYDON’S “MOCK ELECTION.”
PORTRAITS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
A PAINTER OF THE DEAD.
COPLEY’S PORTRAITS.
“BONAPARTE REVIEWING THE CONSULAR GUARD.”
LAWRENCE’S PORTRAIT OF CURRAN.
OPIE AND NORTHCOTE.
ORIGIN OF KIT-KAT PICTURES.
COPLEY’S LARGE PICTURE.
SIR ROBERT KERR PORTER’S PANORAMA.
ZOFFANI AND GEORGE III.
THE TRUE FORNARINA.
HOGARTH AND BISHOP HOADLY.
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’S PALETTE.
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS’ BENEVOLENCE.
A TRIUMPH OF PAINTING.
MORLAND AT KENSAL-GREEN.
ORIGIN OF THE TAPESTRY IN THE OLD HOUSE OF LORDS.
MELANCHOLY OF PAINTERS.
THE CHANDOS PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE.
COSTUME OF REYNOLDS’S PORTRAITS.
SIGN PAINTERS IN THEIR PRIME.
A BRIBE REPENTED.
PRACTICAL JOKES OF SWARTZ.
AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO FRANKNESS.
