THE NOCTES AMBROSIANÆ;
With Portraits OF Wilson, Lockhart, Maginn, Hogg, and fac-similes.
EDITED, WITH MEMOIRS, NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATIONS,
BY DR. SHELTON MACKENZIE,
Editor of Sheil's "Sketches of the Irish Bar."
5 Vols., 12mo., cloth. Price $5.00.
The Noctes were commenced in 1822, and closed in 1835. Even in England, the lapse of years has obscured many circumstances which were well known thirty years ago.
Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, already favorably known as editor of Sheil's "Sketches of the Irish Bar," has undertaken the editorship of The Noctes Ambrosianæ, for which a familiar acquaintance, during the last twenty-five years, with the persons, events, and places therein noticed may be assumed to qualify him. He has been on terms of intimacy with most of the eminent political and literary characters treated of in the "Noctes," and his annotation of the text will include personal recollections of them.
Besides this, Dr. Mackenzie has written for this edition a "History of the Rise and Progress of Blackwood's Magazine," with original memoirs of the principal accredited authors of the "Noctes," viz:—Professor Wilson, The Ettrick Shepherd, J. G. Lockhart, and Dr. Maginn.
He will also give the celebrated "Chaldee Manuscript," published in 1817, instantly suppressed, and so scarce that the only copy which the editor has ever seen is that from which he makes the present reprint. There will also be given the three articles, entitled "Christopher in the Tent," (in August and September, 1819), never before printed, in any shape, in this country. The interlocutors in "The Tent," include the greater number of those afterwards introduced in the "Noctes."
The "Metricum Symphosium Ambrosianum,"—an addendum to No. III. of "The Noctes," (and which notices every living author of note, in the year 1822), will be incorporated in this edition. This has never before been reprinted here.
Nearly Ready, in Two Volumes.
THE ODOHERTY PAPERS,
FORMING THE FIRST PORTION OF THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS OF THE LATE DR. MAGINN.
WITH AN ORIGINAL MEMOIR AND COPIOUS NOTES, BY
DR. SHELTON MACKENZIE.
For more than a quarter of a century, the most remarkable magazine writer of his time, was the late William Maginn, LL.D., well-known as the Sir Morgan Odoherty of Blackwood's Magazine, and as the principal contributor, for many years, to Fraser's and other periodicals. The combined learning, wit, eloquence, eccentricity, and humor of Maginn, had obtained for him, long before his death, (in 1843), the title of The Modern Rabelais. His magazine articles possess extraordinary merit. He had the art of putting a vast quantity of animal spirits upon paper, but his graver articles—which contain sound and serious principles of criticism—are earnest and well-reasoned.
The collection now in hand will contain his Facetiæ (in a variety of languages), Translations, Travesties, and Original Poetry, also his prose Tales, which are eminently beautiful, the best of his critical articles, (including his celebrated Shakspeare Papers), and his Homeric Ballads. The periodicals in which he wrote have been ransacked, from "Blackwood" to "Punch," and the result will be a series of great interest.
Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, who has undertaken the editorship of these writings of his distinguished countryman, will spare neither labor nor attention in the work. The first volume will contain an original Memoir of Dr. Maginn, written by Dr Mackenzie and a characteristic Portrait, with fac-simile.
Published by J. S. REDFIELD,
110 & 112 Nassau-street, New York
PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION.
THE CONCLUDING VOLUMES OF
DR. MAGINN'S MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS,
CONTAINING
THE SHAKSPERE PAPERS—HOMERIC BALLADS—FRASERIAN PAPERS, ETC.
ANNOTATED BY
Dr. SHELTON MACKENZIE
EDITOR OF "SHEIL'S SKETCHES OF THE IRISH BAR"—"THE NOCTES AMBROSIANÆ," ETC.
Nearly ready, in Two Volumes,
THE LIFE
OF THE RIGHT HONORABLE
JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN,
MASTER OF THE ROLLS, IRELAND,
BY HIS SON.
Edited, with Notes, Illustrations, &c.
By SHELTON MACKENZIE, D.C.L.
The Life of Curran is identified with the latest years of Ireland's nationality. He was known, tried, and trusted as a true Patriot. During the Reign of Terror, in 1798, got up by the Government of that day in order to betray the Irish Parliament into a parchment Union with Great Britain—sinking the country from a Kingdom to a Province—Curran manifested an independence and fearlessness, as advocate for the accused, during the State Trials, which endeared him to the people from whose ranks he sprung. To use the words of Thomas Davis (who resembled him in many things) he was "a companion unrivalled in sympathy and wit; an orator, whose thoughts went forth like ministers of nature, with robes of light and swords in their hands; a patriot, who battled best when the flag was trampled down; and a genuine earnest man, breathing of his climate, his country, and his time."
He was the centre of the flashing wits, the renowned orators, the brilliant advocates, and the true patriots of Ireland's last days of independence. The Biography by his Son, rich as it is in personal details, is capable of great improvement by the addition of numerous facts, anecdotes, and traits of character, relating to Curran and his contemporaries, which have transpired since its publication in 1819. Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, who has long been preparing for this task, undertakes to enrich the present edition by collecting and introducing these desirable illustrations. The work, thus completed, will in truth be a record not only of Curran and his eminent associates, but of the stirring and troublous times in which they lived. It will thus combine Biography and History, with Anecdote, unusually copious and "racy of the soil."
Footnotes
[1]In Lockhart's Life of Scott, this renowned Song is attributed to "the poetical Dean of Cork" (Dr. Burrowes, who wrote "The Night before Larry was stretched"), but really was written by Milliken, a poetical lawyer of whom Maguire says (O'Doherty Papers, vol. ii., p. 181) that not even Christopher North himself—
"Be he tipsy or sober,
Was not more than his match, in wine, wisdom, or wit."
[2] There is a popular belief in Ireland that the sunbeams dance on the wall on Easter Sunday morning. In my youth I have often got up at early dawn to witness the phenomenon.
[3] This praise of the Irish pipes is by no means exaggerated. The last performer of any note, in Fermoy, was an apothecary, named O'Donnell, who certainly could make them discourse "most eloquent music." He died about fifteen years ago. It was almost impossible to listen with dry eyes and unmoved heart to the exquisite manner in which he played the Irish melodies--the real ones, I mean--not those which Tom Moore and Sir John Stevenson had "adopted" (and emasculated) for polite and fashionable piano-forte players and singers. There is now in New York a gentleman, named Charles Ferguson, whose performance on the Irish pipes may be said to equal--it could not surpass--that of O'Donnell.
[4] There really was a person named Carroll residing in Fermoy at the date of this story. He was of gigantic stature and strength, with the mildest temper ever possessed by mortal man. He was noted for his excellence in swimming and his remarkable skill as a diver. Whenever any person had been drowned in the Blackwater, (which runs through Fermoy,) Carroll was sent for, and never quitted the river until he had found the body. There is one part considered particularly dangerous, opposite Barnäan Well, in which a large projection, called the Nailer's Rock, shelves out into the water, making an under-current of such peculiar strength and danger, that even expert swimmers avoid it, from a fear of being drawn within the vortex. Many lives have been lost in this fatal eddy, into which Carroll was accustomed to dive, most fearlessly, in search of the bodies. It was calculated that Carroll had actually saved twenty-two persons from being drowned, and had recovered over fifty corpses from the river. When he died, which event happened at the commencement of the bathing season, a general sorrow fell upon all classes in the town of Fermoy, and for several weeks no one ventured into the river. It was as if their guardian and safeguard had departed. In my youth, passed on the banks of the Blackwater, there was a belief that whenever one person was drowned in that river, two others were sure to follow, in the same season.
[5] At that time, the two great whiskey-distillers in Cork were Thomas Walker and Thomas Wise,—respectively carrying on their business in the South and North suburbs of the city. Both are alluded to in Maginn's celebrated song, "Cork is the Aiden for you, love, and me." The verse runs thus:—
"Take the road to Glanmire, the road to Blackrock, or
The sweet Boreemannah, to charm your eyes;
If you doubt what is Wise, take a dram of Tom Walker,
And if you're a Walker, top off Tommy Wise."
[6] "The Sunburst," says Moore, "was the fanciful name given by the ancient Irish to the royal banner."
[7] The friend who has given me this information respecting Mrs. Cussen, says that when she lived in Limerick, not long ago, her means appeared ample. Her father, who had been a rich cattle-dealer, grazier and farmer, near ——, had probably left her in easy circumstances. He was a Mr. Fitzgibbon, and very little indebted to education. He sent his daughter to a first-rate boarding-school, and permitted her, when grown to womanhood, to invite her former preceptor and a few more "genteels" to an evening party—the first ever given in his house. The young lady was somewhat affected, and, to show her education, used big words. Her father, who heard her say to the servant "Biddy, when the company depart, be sure and extinguish the candles," inquired what was the meaning of the word "extinguish." It means to put out a thing, said she. In the course of the evening the pigs got upon the lawn, which was overlooked by the drawing-room window, and made a terrible noise. Old Fitzgibbon, determined to be genteel among his daughter's fine guests, went to the head of the stairs, and loudly called out, "Biddy, go at once and extinguish the pigs from the front of the house!"
[8] "The beautiful city called Cork."—Irish Song.
[9] Such an escape as this was actually made from the dock, during the Clonmel assizes, by the bold and notorious Buck English, who afterwards found his way into the first society in Cork city and county. Indeed, the actual life of this man was parallel in many of its leading points to that of "Paul Clifford," the hero of Bulwer's brilliant fiction. The term "Buck" was usually bestowed on any fashionable bravo, in Ireland, who wore dashing attire, and indulged in all sorts of extravagances of expenditure and excess. There was "Buck Sheehy" of Dublin, as well as our own, "Buck English" of Cork. Indeed, there were sufficient of the genus in Dublin to form the majority of the "Hell-fire Club," who once set fire to their club-room, and remained in it until the flames actually burned the hair from their heads and the clothes from their bodies. This was done to decide the punishments of a future state! Most of the "Bucks" were men of family, education, and wealth. Several peers were members of the community. At one time (the author of "Ireland sixty years ago," relates) there were three noblemen, brothers, so notorious for their outrages, that they acquired singular names, as indicative of their characters. The first was the terror of every one who met him in public places—the second was seldom out of prison—the third was lame, yet no whit disabled from his Buckish achievements. They were universally known by the names of "Hell-gate," "Newgate," and "Cripplegate." There were two brothers, one of whom had shot his friend, and the other stabbed his coachman. They were distinguished as "Kill-Kelly" and "Kill-coachy." This reminds one of the Irish traveller, who said he had been to Kill-many and was going to Kill-more.
[10] The saying in Ireland, when the locality of good-looking people is to be indicated, is—"Cork lads and Limerick lasses." In Lancashire, there is something like this in the familiar manner in which the natives speak of "Wigan chaps, Bolton fellows, Manchester men, and Liverpool gentlemen."
[11] Irish miles are longer than English, in the proportion of 11 to 14. A traveller complained to the chaise-driver of the narrowness of the way. "Oh, then," said the man, "why need you be angry with the roads? Sure, we make up in the length for the scanty measure we get in the width."
[12] Created Lord Fermoy in 1855.
[13] There are full grounds for this assertion. Classical learning has flourished in Kerry (under a hedge) from time immemorial. I recollect an illustrative anecdote. Two poor scholars who were travelling through Kerry, came to a farm-house, when faint with hunger, and foot-sore with walking; they went in, and modestly wanted "a drink of water," which was given them. On leaving the house, where they had expected something better than this scant hospitality, one of them exclaimed, "Ah, Pat, that's not the way that a farmer's wife would trate a poor scholar in our part of the world. 'Tis the good bowl of milk she'd give him, and not the piggin of cold water. She's a malus mulier." The other responded, "Say mala—it must be so to agree with the feminine mulier. Don't you know that malus mulier is bad Latin?" "Hold your tongue," was the answer: "whatever it is, it is only too good for a niggard like her."
[14] This refers more particularly to the year 1770.
[15] Grattan used to say that nothing ever was finer, in delivery and effect, than Chatham's appeal, on the American question, to the bishops, the judges, and the peers:—"You talk of driving the Americans: I might as well talk of driving them before me with this crutch."
[16] O'Connell's first public speech was against the Union. It was made on January 13, 1800, at a Catholic meeting in Dublin, in unequivocal condemnation of that measure. The resolutions that day adopted were drawn up by O'Connell, and assumed an antagonistic position.
[17] It was the late Dr. England, Catholic Bishop of Charleston, S. C., who then resided near Cork, who pointed out to O'Connell the conjoint sin and folly of duelling, and induced him to promise that he would never again appeal to arms. It was reported, at the time, that O'Connell had lingered in London, when Peel expected him at Calais, awaiting news of his wife's health (he had left her ill in Dublin), and that another public character had declined a challenge on the plea of his daughter's illness. The late Chief Justice Burke thus commemorated the double event:
"Two heroes of Erin, abhorrent of slaughter,
Improved on the Hebrew command;
One honored his wife, and the other his daughter,
That 'their days might be long on the land.'"
[18] This celebrated toast, the drinking or refusal of which, for many years, was the great test of (political) Protestantism in Ireland, was drank on the knee, and ran thus: "The glorious, pious, and immortal memory of the great and good King William, Prince of Orange, who saved us from Pope and Popery, brass money and wooden shoes. He that don't drink this toast, may the north wind blow him to the south, and a west wind blow him to the east; may he have a dark night, a lee shore, a rank storm, and a leaky vessel to carry him over the ferry to hell; may the devil jump down his throat with a red-hot harrow, that every pin may tear out his inside; may he be rammed, jammed, and damned into the great gun of Athlone, and fired off into the kitchen of hell, where the Pope is roasted on a spit, and basted with the fat of Charles James Fox, while the Devil stands by pelting him with Cardinals!"
[19] Mr. Grattan says, at an expense of £20,000—an amount which seems incredible, as there was only a brief shadow of opposition.
[20] O'Connell had high judicial authority for the use of bad language. Sir Archibald Macdonald (who was Chief Baron of the English Court of Exchequer, from 1793 to 1813) once told Mr. Fletcher Norton, afterwards Speaker of the House of Commons, that he was a "lazy, indolent, evasive, shuffling, plausible, artful, mean, confident, cowardly, poor, pitiful, sneaking, and abject creature."
[21] In 1802, O'Connell married his cousin, the daughter of Dr. O'Connell, of Tralee. By this lady he had four sons and three daughters. Two of the sons are now [1855] in Parliament. Maurice, the eldest, was a barrister, but never distinguished himself either as a lawyer or a politician. Morgan was for some time in the Austrian service, and distinguished himself as a gallant officer. His "affair of honour" with Lord Alvanley showed cool determination and honourable feeling. Mr. John O'Connell, who tried to take his father's place in Conciliation Hall, as Repeal Leader, has displayed little of the talent and tact which distinguished the Liberator. The youngest son, Daniel, is a very commonplace person. It is usually said, that the children of a great man rarely arrive at eminence, and the limited talents of O'Connell's sons keep up the proverb in full force, as far as he and they are concerned:
'Few men achieve the praise of their great sires,
But most their sires disgrace.'
[22] Afterwards Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench, whence, in 1852, he was raised to the Chancellorship of Ireland, which he retained during the nine months of the Derby Administration.
[23]I write of 1827. I know not what may be the practice now.
[24] "The wisdom's in the wig."—Old Song.
[25] It may be noticed that, in New York, the Registrar is called the Register—the name of the book being applied to the man who has the office of keeping it.
[26] Boyle died at Limerick, in 1833, of cholera.
[27] Mr. Love has "conveyed" this incident into his romance of "Rory O'More."
Transcriber's Notes:
Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained except in obvious cases of typographical error:
"...making a cave look as insignificant as a rabbit-([burrrow] -->) burrow."
"...but his feelings might thus be ([embod ed] -->) embodied in words:"
"...he was so very plausible in ([manmer] -->) manner,..."
"...when the Bard showed ([himslf] -->) himself in the north,..."
""...Marquis of ([Congynham] -->) Conyngham..."
"...more careful, more ([sudued] -->) subdued..."
[Footnotes] have been moved to end of document.
Points have been inserted in the [prices] at the end of book.