«Собрание сочинений Уильяма Хэзлитта, том 6»

365. An early picture of H—’s. Haydon’s. The Magazine gives this in full.

366. Malone. Edmond Malone (1741–1812), the editor of Shakespeare.

Old Mr. M—. Given in the Magazine as Mudge. The Mudges of Plymouth were the family by whose means Northcote was introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Zachariah Mudge (1694–1769), divine, Sir Joshua described as the wisest man he had met in his life, and he painted his portrait three times. His ‘character’ was written by Dr. Johnson in the London Chronicle, June 2, 1769. He taught at a school kept by John Reynolds (grandfather of the painter), at Exeter, hence the acquaintance between the two families. He was a friend of Smeaton’s, the builder of the Eddystone lighthouse, and it was he who joined Smeaton in the lantern, upon its completion, in chanting the Old Hundredth. The first Mrs. Mudge was the lady who remonstrated with Dr. Johnson when he proceeded to his eighteenth cup of tea. ‘What, another!’ she said; and the Doctor replied: ‘Madam, you are rude,’ and proceeded to his twenty-fifth. John Mudge (1721–1793), physician, was the fourth and youngest son of the above.

I heard no more of the Life. Add the following from the Magazine, p. 85:—‘for it contained stories of Mudge having run away from the Academy where he was brought up, because Moll Faux, the housemaid, would not have him; of his sleeping in a sugar-cask all night at Wapping, finding a halfpenny in the street, with which he bought a loaf to prevent himself from starving, and returning home in the greatest distress, where he soon after left the dissenters to go over to the church, because the former would not give him some situation that he wanted.’ N— said, ‘Sir Joshua took no further notice, and I believe he burned my MS., for it was not to be found among his papers at his death, though Malone at my request had made every search for it. The truth is, they were mortified to find one whom they had been in the habit of crying up not only as a person of the highest capacity (which he was) but as a saint and the model of a Christian pastor, turn out little better than a vagabond and mountebank. It was besides an imputation on their own sagacity.’

366. Kneller. Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bart. (or Kniller), 1646–1723. He painted portraits of nearly every person of importance in his day.

It would do for anybody. Add the following from the Magazine:— ‘N— then showed me a print of him after Sir Joshua, which appeared to me a complete high-priest, bullying and insincere. His wife (the same Moll Faux, whom he afterwards married, and who continued a violent Dissenter to the last) used to say—“There he gets up into the pulpit, and prates away as if he knew all the secrets of heaven and earth, and all the time does not believe one word of it.” My father who knew him, said there was always to him a look of insincerity in his very high-flown orthodoxy, for once when Smeaton, the great engineer, was making a remark on some circumstance in the Old Testament, he cut him short by saying, “Oh! if you give up any part, the whole must follow!” He used also to say, in speaking of the arguments on natural religion, that in an infinity of chances everything was possible. If he had been at Rome, he would have got to be a Cardinal as sure as I am standing here. He had ambition and abilities enough for any thing. Yet it was like pride in a corner too. His wife would always put a brick behind the fire to keep it low, and would come in and boil the saucepan by his study-fire, just as when they had been in poverty and mean circumstances, and yet he never objected. He grew indolent at last, and spent his time in playing at cards with old ladies who were rich and pious. He hated writing sermons (though it was what he was chiefly admired for), and preached the same set over and over again, till the congregation nearly had them by heart. I said it was what he did not feel, and he therefore set about it reluctantly.’

367. Dunning, Gay, Lord Chancellor King. John Dunning, first Baron Ashburton (1731–1783), Solicitor-General in 1768, and one of the most powerful orators of his day.

John Gay (1685–1732), of Barnstaple, the poet.

Peter King (first Lord King, Baron of Ockham in Surrey) 1669–1734, lord chancellor 1725.

Pope’s Lord Lansdowne, ‘What Muse for Granville,’ etc. George Granville or Grenville (1667–1735), follower of Waller in English verse. He was created Lord Lansdowne in 1711. He was a descendant of Charles I’s general, Sir Richard Granville (1600–1658). See Pope’s Windsor Forest.

Foster, the celebrated preacher. James Foster (1697–1753) who was appointed in 1728 Sunday Evening Lecturer at the Old Jewry.

Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. Philip Yorke (1690–1764), first Earl of Hardwicke.

Let modest Foster. Pope’s Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue, lines 131–2. After the couplet the following passage may be inserted from the Magazine:—‘I had made,’ said N—, ‘a pretty picture of the worthies of the Devon, till — spoiled it by making me stick his ugly boy in it, and would not have it after all.’ ‘I asked if the family of the Mudges still continued; and he said they did, but were not equal to the two that he had mentioned, old Zachary Mudge, and Dr. Mudge his son, who was a physician. The last had been his father’s most intimate friend, and he remembered him perfectly well.’

368. Warburton ... Dr. Doddridge ... the Divine Legation of Moses. William Warburton (1698–1779). The Divine Legation of Moses (1738–40) was described by Gibbon as ‘a monument, already crumbling in the dust, of the vigour and weakness of the human mind.’ Philip Doddridge (1702–1751), eminent nonconformist divine and twentieth child of an oilman.

Female Seducers. One of the Fables for the Female Sex (1744) published by Edward Moore (1712–1757), the fabulist. This particular Fable was the work of Henry Brooke, author of The Fool of Quality.

369. Mr. Agar. Welbore Ellis Agar, referred to by Boswell (ed. G. B. Hill, III. 118 note), in a note to a letter to Johnson (July 9, 1777). In the Magazine the name is given as Ellis only.

An expression of Coleridge’s. The remark seems to have been made in a lecture delivered by Coleridge on Jan. 27, 1818, on the ‘General Character of the Gothic Mind in the Middle Ages.’ See ‘Mr. Green’s note taken at the delivery’ in Coleridge’s Literary Remains vol. I., p. 69, 1836.

370. The beautiful Mrs. G—. Mary Horneck, the ‘Jessamy Bride’ of Goldsmith, married to Colonel Gwyn. Her elder sister Goldsmith nicknamed ‘Little Comedy.’

Ninon de l’Enclos (1616–1706). A famous French beauty, who lives in her letters to St. Evremond. She had many lovers and read Montaigne at the age of ten.

371. The description of Cymon. ‘Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace.’

Mr. P—. Peter George Patmore (1786–1855), journalist, author and father of Coventry Patmore. See his My Friends and Acquaintances (1854).

372. As Swift said. ‘But principally I hate and detest that animal called man, although I heartily love John, Peter, Thomas, and so forth.’ Letter to Pope, Sept. 29, 1725.

The same complaint was made of the Academy in Barry’s time. James Barry was not able to agree with his brother Academicians and he was expelled in 1799.

373. Lord G.— ? Robert Grosvenor, second Earl Grosvenor and first Marquis of Westminster (1767–1845). He shocked the House of Commons in his first speech by quoting Greek and he added the Agar collection of pictures to the Gallery at Grosvenor House.

Nollekens. Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823), who modelled busts of nearly all the ‘persons of importance’ in his day.

Giardini. Felice Giardini, a Piedmontese musician, who flourished in England in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Northcote seems to have been much impressed with Giardini’s statement. He repeated it to James Ward. See Conversations of James Northcote, R.A., with James Ward on Art and Artists (1901) p. 219.

Mr. P. H. Here and elsewhere, Mr. Prince Hoare.

374. Dance. See ante, note to p. 359,

375. W—. Probably West.

376. R—, the engraver. Samuel William Reynolds, mezzotint engraver (1773–1835).

Lord John Boringdon. See ante, note to p. 349. Lord Boringdon added many valuable pictures to the collection at his family seat, Saltram, near Plymouth.

Sir John Leicester’s. Sir John Fleming Leicester, First Lord de Tabley (1762–1827), art patron. He often allowed the public to see his fine collection of British pictures, in his house in Hill Street, Berkeley Square.

378. Life of Chaucer. Published 1803.

379. Mrs. Radcliffe’s Italian. ‘The Italian’ (1797) by Ann Radcliffe (1764–1823).

Wilson. Richard Wilson, landscape painter (1714–1782). He inherited a small estate in Wales from his brother and died there.

380. Barrett. George Barret (1728/32–1784) landscape painter and decorator of the great room at Norbury Park. His son George ‘the younger’ (1774–1842) was one of the first members of the Water Colour Society.

Pirated by an Irish bookseller. The copyright act was not extended to Ireland until the Union.

Conversation the Ninth appeared in the London Weekly Review (Richardson’s), under the heading ‘Real Conversations,’ March 14, 1829, from the beginning of the Conversation to ‘to obtain redress’ on p. 384. The names are disguised, Northcote as A; G as F.

H—. Haydon.

Admiral Blake. Robert Blake (1599–1657) one of the greatest of English Admirals and a supporter of the Commonwealth, hence the reference.

G—. Godwin and on the next page also.

381. Baretti. Giuseppe Marc Antonio Baretti, (1719–1789) Italian lexicographer and friend of Dr. Johnson.

383. Zara, Mahomet. Voltaire’s tragedy Zaïre (1733) was Englished by Hill in 1735 and his Mahomet (1738) by Miller in 1740.

384. ‘We pay,’ continued Northcote. This forms the beginning of ‘Real Conversations’ in the London Weekly Review, April 11, 1829. The names are disguised as before, Northcote under A. I—’s, on p. 385 is given in full, Irving’s. The failure of a great bookseller is, briefly, ‘Constable’s failure.’

Poor Goblet. Alexander Goblet, Nollekens’ carver.

Oh! ho, quoth Time to Thomas Hearne. Thomas Hearne (1678–1735), a dull but learned antiquarian, of whom Gibbon wrote: ‘His minute and obscure diligence, his voracious and undistinguishing appetite, and the coarse vulgarity of his taste and style, have exposed him to the ridicule of idle wits.’ See The Dunciad, III. 185.

385. Mr. Moore (brother of the general). Sir Graham Moore, admiral (1764–1843).

The Pilot. James Fenimore Cooper’s (1789–1851) novel was published in 1823.

I—. Washington Irving (1783–1859). His History of New York, Sketch Book, Bracebridge Hall and Tales of a Traveller, had appeared when this criticism was uttered. See also vol. IV. The Spirit of the Age, p. 367.

386. Mr. Alderman Wood. Sir Matthew Wood (1768–1843), M.P. for the City from 1817 till his death—notorious as the champion of Queen Caroline.

Suffered a sea-change, etc. The Tempest, Act I. Scene 2. [rich and strange].

He did not do so well. Add from the London Weekly Review—‘But the whole was so thoroughly Yankee in grain (even the hardness and dryness), that I was surprised to find the writer was the son of the celebrated Cooper of Manchester. The father was himself, however, of a very stern republican genius.’[99]

386. Horrors accumulating on horror’s head. Othello, Act III. Scene 3.

Brown’s Romances. Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810), said to be the first American who adopted literature as a profession. His novels (Wieland, Ormund, Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Huntly, Clara Howard and Janet Talbot) are full of imagination.

Zoffani. Johann Zauffely or Zoffany (1733–1810), portrait painter, especially of actors in character.

The Queen’s trial, and the scenes at Brandenburg House. Lord Liverpool’s bill of pains and penalties against the Queen was abandoned in 1820 much to the people’s delight. Brandenburg House, which was formerly on the banks of the Thames, where the Middlesex entrance to Hammersmith Bridge now is, was occupied by Queen Caroline, who died there in 1821.

387. Our maid’s aunt of Brentford. Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV. Scene 2.

Mr. R—, of Liverpool. The name is given in full in the London Weekly Review as Roscoe, but Mr. W. C. Hazlitt says it should be Railton.

His book was burnt by the common hangman. The grand jury of Middlesex ‘presented the book as a nuisance,’ July 1723.

388. Dignum the singer. Charles Dignum (1765?–1872). He was connected with Drury Lane nearly all his life.

B—. Sir William Beechey (1753–1839), portrait painter.

389. Dressed in a little brief authority. Measure for Measure, Act II. Scene 2.

390. Andrew Taffi. Andrea Tafi, a fourteenth century Florentine painter.

393. He that can endure. Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. Scene 3.

394. Conversation the Eleventh. This is the first of the ‘Real Conversations’ which appeared in the London Weekly Review, March 7, 1829. After the title occurs the following explanatory note:—‘The Conversations here presented to the reader are real not ‘Imaginary.’ How we became possessed of them, it is not necessary to disclose. Suffice it that they are set down almost exactly as they passed from the lips of the speakers; and that those speakers are living persons, sufficiently distinguished from the crowd by their name, talents, and acquirements, to render whatever they may have to say worthy attention, on whatever topic their talk may turn. We will only add, that the Conversations here reported were entirely unpremeditated, and consequently spoken without the remotest view to anything but their immediate effect on the person addressed.—Ed.’

Northcote is disguised as usual under A.

Kendall’s Letters on Ireland. ‘Letters to a friend on the State of Ireland,’ 1826. By Edward Augustus Kendall (? 1776–1842), founder in 1819 of The Literary Chronicle, which was afterwards incorporated with the Athenæum.

A thing no more difficile. Butler’s Hudibras, Part 1. Canto I. ll. 53 and 54.

395. Old Mr. Tolcher. Henry Tolcher, alderman of Plymouth and friend of Northcote’s father. Northcote left an unfinished portrait of him.

Canning’s assertion. In a debate in the House of Commons, on March 1st, 1826, on a Petition for the Abolition of Slavery in the Colonies (Hansard’s Parl. Deb. XIV. 973, et seq.).

396. Smites us on one cheek. S. Luke, vi. 29.

397. Conversation the Twelfth. No. IV. of ‘Real Conversations’ in the London Weekly Review, April 18, 1829. Northcote as usual is A.

397. B——. Beechey.

M——’s, the landscape painter. Given as ‘Martin’s’ in the London Weekly Review. John Martin, landscape and historical painter (1789–1854), whom Lytton characterised as more original than Raphael and Michael Angelo. He had a lifelong struggle with the British Academy and was one of the founders of the Society of British Artists, at whose gallery he exhibited for many years.

398. X——. Almost certainly Haydon, who married in October, 1821, a beautiful widow, Mary Hymans (See p. 399).

Sir Peter Lely. 1617–1680, painter of the beauties of the Court of Charles II.

399. Brambletye-House. By Horace Smith (1779–1849): it was published in 1826.

400. Maria Cosway. Maria Hadfield, wife of Richard Cosway R.A. She also was an artist.

401. Mrs. G——. Gwyn, see note to p. 370.

‘Retaliation.’ Goldsmith’s poem (1774) wherein, amongst other ‘characters’ are the famous lines on Burke:—

‘Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,

And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.’

403. Grandi, the Italian colour-grinder. Sebastiano Grandi, who was imported from Italy to be Sir Joshua Reynolds’s colour-grinder. He is ‘Warwick’ in the ‘Death of Cardinal Beaufort.’

L——. Sir Thomas Lawrence, (1769–1830) portrait painter and President of the Royal Academy.

Some demon whisper’d. Pope’s ‘Epistle IV. to Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington,’ l. 16.

404. Raphael Smith. John Raphael Smith (1752–1812), painter and mezzotint engraver. His Life and Works by Julia Frankau have recently been published in two vols. by Messrs. Macmillan.

Signora Cecilia Davies (1750?–1836). After a brilliant career, especially abroad (she was the first Englishwoman to appear on the Italian stage), she died ignored, deserted and forgotten.

Madame Catalani. Angelica Catalani (1779–1849) retired from the stage in 1827.

Storace. Anne Selina Storace or Storache (1766–1817), a favourite singer and actress. Her brother Stephano Storace (1763–1796) was composer to Drury Lane Theatre.

405. Cried up in the top of the compass. Cf. Hamlet, III. 2. ‘You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass.’

Sheridan’s beautiful lines. ‘Verses to the Memory of Garrick, spoken as a Monody, at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.’ Dated March 25, 1779.

406. The Duchess of ——. Possibly Elizabeth Chudleigh, afterwards Countess of Bristol and soi-disant Duchess of Kingston. Reynolds told Northcote he had never seen so delicate a beauty.

The Three Tuns. A famous tavern in Guildhall Yard. See Webster’s A Cure for a Cuckold, Act IV. Scene 1.

The Judge (Lord Kenyon). Lloyd Kenyon, First Lord Kenyon (1732–1802) Master of the Rolls. It is said that no judge who presided so long in the King’s bench has been as seldom over-ruled.

407. Bitter bad judges. Gay’s Beggar’s Opera, Act I. Scene 1.

A poem with engravings of Dartmoor. Possibly Noel and Thomas Carrington’s ‘Dartmoor, a Descriptive Poem’ with notes by the late W. Burt, Esq., and twelve prints, 1826. [W. C. H.].

407. The Panorama of the North Pole. Possibly at Burford’s ‘Panorama,’ now the Catholic Church in Leicester Square. It was erected in 1793 and was originally Robert Barker’s (d. 1806). Views of famous places were printed on the inner surface of a hollow cylinder, the spectators occupying a central platform.

408. The Fables. Northcote’s (and Hazlitt’s) Fables were published in 1828. See the beginning of these notes, p. 504.

Like the enchanted money in the Arabian Nights. ‘The Story of the Barber’s Fourth Brother.’

Caleb Williams. William Godwin’s novel (1794).

410. Lavender. A Bow Street runner. See vol. VII. The Plain Speaker, p. 83.

411. So Johnson cried up Savage. See his Life of Richard Savage (1744).

412. Savage the architect. James Savage (1779–1852) architect of St. Luke’s Church, Chelsea (where he is buried) and many other churches.

As the showman says in Goldsmith’s comedy. She Stoops to Conquer, Act I.

413. The Seven Champions of Christendom, Guy of Warwick. ‘The Seven Champions’ by Richard Johnson (1573–1659?) published 1596–7; Guy of Warwick, the hero of many romantic adventures: see Drayton’s Polyolbion.

Richardson (Sheridan’s friend). William Richardson (1743–1814) author of ‘Essays on Some of Shakespeare’s Dramatic Characters’ (1774–1812). See vol. I. Characters of Shakespear’s Plays, p. 171.

Note, a paper ... in the Tatler. No 95, November 17, 1709.

414. Vanbrugh. Sir John Vanbrugh (c. 1666–1726) dramatist and architect. His comedy The Provoked Husband was left unfinished. He built Castle Howard in Yorkshire.

Richards (the scene painter). John Inigo Richards (born first half of eighteenth century, d. 1810). He was one of the original members of The Royal Academy. His reputation was greatest as scene painter at Covent Garden and especially in one of the scenes for The Maid of the Mill which Woollett engraved.

‘The City-Wives Confederacy.’ The Confederacy was first played at the Haymarket in 1705.

‘The Trip to Scarborough.’ Sheridan’s adaptation (acted 1777, printed 1786) of Vanbrugh’s Relapse.

Let loose the grey-hound. The Relapse, Act III., Scenes 3 and 4.

Lord Mansfield. William Murray Earl of Mansfield, (1704–1793) Lord Chief-Justice.

415. Mademoiselle Brocard. Suzanne Brocard (1798–1855) a popular French actress at the Odéon and at the Comédie Française.

A certain poet. Robert Southey, whose Curse of Kehama was published in 1810.

‘The Artist.’ A weekly periodical edited by Prince Hoare.

‘No Song no Supper.’ A farce of Prince Hoare’s with music by Storace. First acted at Drury Lane, April 16, 1790.

Madame Storace. See ante, p. 404 and note.

‘My grandmother.’ A musical farce by Prince Hoare and Storace produced at the Haymarket, Dec. 16, 1793.

417. O’Keefe. John O’Keeffe (1747–1833).

Bowkitt the dancing-master. In O’Keeffe’s Son-in-Law (1779). See under Edwin in The Dictionary of National Biography for a tale of his acting in the part.

Edwin. John Edwin the elder (1749–1790).

Lingo. In O’Keeffe’s comedy Agreeable Surprise.

417. Mrs. Wells. Mrs. Mary Wells, afterwards Mrs. Sumbel (fl. 1781–1812). She was the first actress of ‘Cowslip’ in O’Keeffe’s Agreeable Surprise, Sept. 3, 1781.

‘Peeping Tom of Coventry.’ A Comic Opera by John O’Keeffe, a success at the Haymarket, 1784.

B—. John Bannister.

‘Lenitive in the Prize.’ A musical farce by Prince Hoare, produced at the Haymarket, March 11, 1793.

Liston. John Liston (1776–1846).

418. Munden. Joseph Shepherd Munden (1758–1836). See Lamb’s Elia, ed. Ainger, p. 201, ‘On the Acting of Munden.’

Weston. Thomas Weston (1737–1776).

Scrub. In The Beaux Stratagem (1707) by George Farquhar (1678–1707).

Dr. L. Foote and Bickerstaffe’s farce, Dr. Last in his chariot (1769).

Abel Drugger. In Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (1610).

Mr. Theodore Hook’s ‘Sayings and Doings.’ Theodore Hook’s (1788–1841) ‘Sayings and Doings’ fill nine volumes (1824–8).

Curll. Edmund Curll (1675–1747), the bookseller of whose biographies Arbuthnot said ‘They add a new terror to death.’ He was best known as a publisher of ‘curious’ literature and has his place in the Dunciad.

President Bradshaw. John Bradshaw (1602–1659), who presided over the ‘trial’ of Charles I. That post led to his being made President of the Council of State.

419. Dr. M—. Mudge.

Rosa de Tivoli. Philipp Peter Roos (1657–1705), called Rosa da Tivoli from his having established himself at Tivoli, ‘where he kept a kind of menagerie, for the purpose of drawing animals with the greater correctness.’ (Bryan.)

A whimsical production. Possibly Amory’s John Buncle; See vol. I. The Round Table, p. 51 et seq., and notes thereto.

‘Lazarillo de Tormes.’ The authorship of this romance (?1553) is generally attributed to Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1503–1575), the representative of Charles V. at the Council of Trent. An English edition appeared in 1576.

Cheats of Scapin. Otway’s version (1677) of Molière’s farce (1671).

Scarron. Paul Scarron (1610–1660), author of Le Roman Comique (1651–7), the ‘only begetter’ of the novels of Le Sage, Defoe and their successors, one of the brightest, bravest cripples who ever lived. His works were translated by T. Brown, Savage and others in 1700. The sentence reads as though Molière’s comedy were attributed to Scarron.

420. Conversation the Sixteenth. This Conversation to ‘his infirmity’ on p. 422, was published in The Atlas, April 19, 1829, as No. 1 of ‘Conversations as good as Real’ (following the ‘Real Conversations’ in Richardson’s London Weekly Review, No. IV. of which had appeared the day before). See note to p. 397. N is J and H is T throughout. The rest of the ‘Conversation’ appeared as No. 11 in the issue for April 26, 1829.

Ramsay. Allan Ramsay (1713–1784), portrait painter, son of the poet.

J—n. John Jackson, portrait painter, (1778–1831).

W—. ? Wilkie.

421. To make assurance doubly sure. Macbeth, Act IV. Scene 1.

421. Johnson had his Lexiphanes. A parody of his style, published 1767: ‘its author was one Campbell, a Scotch purser in the Navy.’

The L— poets. The Lake poets.

422. You’re not so far out. Add, from The Atlas, after this line:—‘K— wanted him to sit on the Sunday as he was hurried for time, and I proposed it to him with some hesitation—he answered, “Oh! yes; you ‘re not to suppose that I am such a Presbyterian as to refuse to sit for my picture on the sabbath-day, I’ll sit with the greatest pleasure—after divine service.” And so he came.’

A devoted enthusiast notwithstanding. Add, from The Atlas:—‘It is not his Toryism neither, that I object to, but his manner of defending it. Neither party has a right to use poisoned weapons, or to resort to under-hand means. If the Whigs or reformers were to deal in wholesale calumny and squalid abuse against their opponents, they would be scouted as blackguards; but the Court party think themselves screened from this imputation (Sir Walter, I am afraid, among the rest), and that they have a right to say and to do what they please, cum privilegio regis.

J. I can’t agree with you on that subject. Whenever politics are concerned, your passions run away with your understanding. I don’t believe Sir Walter had ever any thing to do with the Blackwood set.

T. Nor with the Sentinel?[100]

J. I never heard of that.

T. Never mind, then. There are two things,’ etc.

All Europe rings with them from side to side. Milton’s Sonnet to Cyriac Skinner, II. (i.e. ‘To the same.’)

423. His Grammar? William Cobbett’s (1762–1835), A Grammar of the English Language in a Series of Letters was published in 1818.

Peter Pindar. John Wolcot (1738–1819), physician, satirist and poet.

Bastards of their art. Cf.

‘Thought characters and words merely but art

And bastards of his foul adulterate heart.’

Shakespeare, ‘A Lover’s Complaint,’ ll. 174–5.

424. Not one, but all mankind’s epitome. Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel, Part I. l. 546.

When Rousseau stood. Les Confessions, Partie I. Livre iii. (ed. Garnier, pp. 81–2).

425. And looked round on them with their wolfish eyes. ‘The longings of the cannibal arise (Although they spoke not) in their wolfish eyes.’ Don Juan, Canto II. 72.

426. The last. The Fair Maid of Perth published as Chronicles of the Canongate (2nd Series) in 1828.

The cask of butter in the storm. Don Juan, Canto II. 46.

Mrs. Abington. Frances Abington (1737–1815), flower-seller, street singer, cookmaid and comedy-queen.

429. Lord Exmouth (Sir Edward Pellew). Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth (1757–1833), whose bombardment of Algiers in 1816 procured him his title.

The Colosseum. The Colosseum in Regent’s Park was erected in 1824–6, for a panorama of London from the top of St. Paul’s, which occupied 46,000 square feet of canvas. It was demolished in 1875. Rogers said the

building was ‘finer than anything among the remains of architectural art in Italy.’

429. Lackington. James Lackington (1746–1815), whose ‘Memoirs of the Forty-Five First (sic) Years’ of his life as a bookseller was published in 1791, ‘with a Triple Dedication; 1. To the Public; 2. To respectable; 3. To sordid, Booksellers.’ His premises in Moorfields, ‘The Temple of the Muses,’ were ‘so capacious that a mail-coach and four was easily driven round the counters when it was opened.’ Adam Black, the Edinburgh publisher, gained his early experience in the house of Lackington, Allen and Co.

E— the architect. ? James Elmes (1782–1862), architect, and contributor to art and antiquarian periodicals. He was a friend of Haydon’s.

430. Drelincourt on Death ... till Defoe put a ghost-story into it. Charles Drelincourt’s The Christian’s Defence against the Fears of Death, 1675, a popular work by a Calvinist minister. Defoe’s A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal....’ is often bound up with it, but as to its influence on the sale see G. A. Aitken’s Introduction to Defoe’s ‘Due Preparations for the Plague,’ etc., 1895.

W—l. Westall, and on the next page also.

Jack T—. John Taylor (1757–1832), proprietor of The Sun, a Tory paper, from 1813 to 1825. The editor (William Jerdan), he bought out in 1817.

Payne Knight. Richard Payne Knight (1750–1824), numismatist, miscellaneous writer, and art connoisseur. His collection of bronzes, now in the British Museum, to which he bequeathed it, obtained for him from Walpole the name of ‘Knight of the Brazen Milk-pot.’

431. I—g. Irving.

432. As Mr. Locke observed. An Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book IV. chap. XX.

Ramsay’s picture of the Queen, i.e. Queen Charlotte. The picture is in the National Portrait Gallery.

Shield ... Flitch of Bacon. Composed (1778) by Henry Bate, afterwards the Rev. Sir Henry Bate Dudley (1745–1824), with music by William Shield (1748–1829). Its success brought the latter the post of composer to Covent Garden Theatre.

Dignum. See ante, note to p. 388.

Come unto these yellow sands. The Tempest, Act I. Scene 2.

433. The rhyming echoes in Hudibras. Part I. Canto III. 199–220.

Slender’s Mum and Budget. Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V. Scene 2.

434. Boydell. See ante, p. 362 and note.

Farquhar’s comedy. The Recruiting Officer, 1706.

435. (After a pause.) From this paragraph to the end of the ‘Conversation’ appeared in The Atlas, June 28, 1829, as ‘A Discursive Dialogue on Arts and Artists.’

Somerset-House. The rooms of the Royal Academy of Arts were here from 1780–1838, under the vestibule on the right as you enter. The last of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Discourses was delivered here in the great room of the Academy.

436. Low Bartlemy-fair. Bartholomew Fair was held at West Smithfield, 1133–1855; it was a famous place for theatrical shows.

437. Lord Gwydir. Peter Burrell (d. 1820), created Lord Gwydyr in 1796. He married (1779) Lady Priscilla Barbara Elizabeth Bertie, daughter of the Duke of Ancaster. Wraxall (Historical and Posthumous Memoirs, ed. Wheatley, III. 352–4) refers to the ‘prosperous chain of events’ which happened to the Burrell family. Gwydyr House in Whitehall, the habitation of the Charity Commissioners, was named after him. See Wheatley and Cunningham’s London, Past and Present.

437. Mr. Peel. The great Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850) the best part of whose fine collection of pictures (including The Snake in the Grass) is now in the National Gallery.

Gainsborough. Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), one of the greatest of English landscape and portrait painters.

Watteau. Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), painter of idyllic landscapes.

438. An eminent counsellor. This appears in The Atlas as ‘Loughborough,’ Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Baron Loughborough (1733–1805), Lord Chancellor 1793–1801.

C—. Sir Augustus Wall Callcott, R.A., fashionable landscape and marine painter (1779–1844).

Marchant. Nathaniel Marchant (1739–1816), gem engraver and medallist. He was engraver of gems to the Prince Regent.

440. Virtue may choose. Pope, Epilogue to Satires, Dialogue I.

When Sir Joshua. From these words to ‘Sir Walter Scott frequently,’ on p. 443, appeared in The Atlas for August 16, 1829, as No. X. of ‘Conversations as good as Real: The Immodest in Works of Art.’

Guido. Guido Reni, of the school of Bologna (1575–1642). The ‘silvery’ nature of his colouring was a characteristic of the third period of his art.

441. Albano. Francesco Albani, also of the school of Bologna (1578–1660). He was a fellow student of Guido Reni’s, and the faces of his twelve children, who were gifted with great beauty, may be seen in his subjects.

J—, of Edinburgh. ? Jeffrey.

442. Sir W. W. Given in The Atlas as Lord C—. But in all probability Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1749–1789), 4th baronet, is meant, for whom Reynolds painted St. Cecilia and Dance Orpheus. See Leslie and Taylor’s Life of Reynolds, II. 74.

A remark of Coleridge’s. Hazlitt sat up all night at Tewkesbury, reading Paul and Virginia, when he was on his way to visit Coleridge. See ‘My First Acquaintance with Poets,’ where Coleridge’s remark is again quoted. No doubt he made it during Hazlitt’s visit.

443. C—. George Colman ‘the Elder’ (1732–1794).

444. Brother Van. See Swift’s verses on Vanbrugh’s house:—

‘Now, poets from all the quarters ran

To see the house of brother Van.’

Richards, the scene painter. See ante, p. 414, and note.

‘The Journey to London.’ The name by which Vanbrugh’s unfinished comedy, The Provoked Husband (1726), was first known. It was finished by Colley Cibber.

‘Lord Foppington.’ In Vanbrugh’s The Relapse (1696).

‘Devin du Village.’ Rousseau’s successful opera (1753), which contains the air now known as ‘Rousseau’s Dream.’

Beattie. James Beattie, poet and essayist (1735–1803). His Essay on Truth (1770), which was enormously popular, was an attack on Hume.

445. Cibber. Colley Cibber (1671–1757), actor, dramatist and Poet Laureate (from 1730).

The Margravine of Bareuth. An English translation of the amusing ‘Memoires de Frederique Sophie Wilhelmine de Prusse, Margrave de Bareith Soeur de Frédéric-le-Grand, écrits de sa Main’ appeared in 1812. The Duchess of Kendal is attributed to George II. in The Atlas. ‘Conversations as good as Real,’ No. IX., begins with this sentence in The Atlas for August 9, 1829. And the following passage after ‘new situation’ may be added:—‘A great person is said to mimic George II., and make sport of his bad English (though it can only be from hearsay); he used to call out when he was provoked at any thing—“God d—mn what I am, God d—mn what you be.” He laid great stress on the minutest trifles, and insisted on wearing his shirts in the order in which they were numbered, and flew into a violent passion if they brought him the wrong number. “Why am I to wear No. 16, when I have not had No. 15? Why am I to do nothing that I like? Am I king of England, or am I not? That is what I want to know.” And then he would fall to kicking his hat about the room to vent his anger, and rating any of the ministers that came in in his outlandish jargon. Once he was going to kick the Duke of Argyll, who laid his hand upon his sword, and withdrew in high dudgeon. Meeting Sir Robert Walpole on the staircase, he complained of what had happened, to which the other replied, “Oh! that’s nothing, he has treated me so a hundred times.” “Yes, but” (said the Scotch peer) “there is some difference between John, Duke of Argyll, and Robert Walpole.”’

447. Sir Edward Pellew. See ante, p. 429, and note.

448. The Life of Sir Joshua. Allan Cunningham’s ‘Lives of the most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects’ appeared in 1829–1833 in six vols. This is No. XII. of The Atlas ‘Conversations’ (August 20, 1829)

449. Old Mr. Tolcher. See ante, note to p. 395.

The famous Pulteney. William Pulteney, later Earl of Bath (1682–1764), Walpole’s bitterest antagonist in the House of Commons.

Mr. Lamb ... Hogarth. See the essay ‘On the Genius and Character of Hogarth’ in The Reflector, No. 3, 1811.

Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester. Josiah Tucker (1712–1799), the recipient of Butler’s remark that nations, as well as individuals, may go mad. He was a writer on Economics.

450. Sparing of his wine. Add, ‘But Sir Joshua was fond of the bottle himself; and no one that is so ever stints others.’

Dr. Johnson’s speech ... the Miss Cottrells. See Boswell’s Johnson 1752.

452. The newspaper critic. Conversation No. XII. in The Atlas had ended with ‘rational account of,’ four lines above, and No. XIII. began here, entitled ‘The St. Giles’ in Art,’ in the number for Sept. 13, 1829.

Sir John Hawkins (1719–1789), writer on music and predecessor of Boswell in a life of Johnson.

Bright particular star. All’s Well that Ends Well, Act I. Scene 1.

Tyke. John Emery’s (1777–1822) greatest part, a character in Morton’s comedy, The School of Reform, or How to Rule a Husband (1805). See Hazlitt’s Dramatic Essays.

453. Dollalolla. Queen Dollalolla, wife of King Arthur, in Fielding’s Comic Opera, Tom Thumb.

Capella Bianca. Bianca Cappello, Grand-duchess of Tuscany, d. 1587; mistress and then wife of Francesco de Medici, both of whom are supposed to have been poisoned by his brother Ferdinand.

Morton. Thomas Morton (1764?–1838).

453. Such persons. Or, more specifically, ‘Mr. Lamb,’ as in The Atlas.

Fawcett. Joseph Fawcett (1768–1837).

Lewis. William Thomas Lewis (1748?–1811), the ‘gentleman’ comedian.

Lord and Lady Townly. In Colley Cibber’s version of Vanbrugh’s The Provoked Husband.

The History of a Foundling. The sub-title of Tom Jones.

454. T. M. Tom Moore.

Of defects we wish to balance. Add:—‘I have known a man turn Tory to prove he was not a bastard. Lord Nelson probably performed such prodigies because, as he passed along the quay to take command of his ship, the mob sneered at him, and said, “Is that poor wisen-faced thing going to fight the French?” Do you suppose,’ etc.

454. Lady Sarah Bunbury. Lady Sarah Lennox (1745–1826), daughter of the second Duke of Richmond, married, 1762, Thomas Charles (afterwards Sir Thomas Charles) Bunbury, from whom she was divorced in 1776. In 1782 she married George Napier (son of the fifth Lord Napier), by whom she became mother of Sir Charles James and Sir William Napier. George III. was in love with her in 1761. Her Correspondence has recently been published in two vols. by Mr. Murray.

Gilray. James Gillray (1757–1815).

Lord Macartney. George, Earl Macartney (1737–1806). He was the head of the first Embassy from England to China (1792–4).

Conversation the Twenty-first. This, to ‘briefs pour in’ on p. 459, is ‘Conversation XVII.’ in The Atlas for November 8, 1829.

456. Abraham Tucker (1705–1774). His Light of Nature Pursued Hazlitt abridged and prefaced. See vol. IV. p. 370 et seq.

Marquis of Stafford’s gallery. Stafford House, in St. James’s Park, and its private collection of paintings.

Which was the greatest man. The alternative to Sir Isaac Newton in The Atlas is ‘Jack Davies, the racquet-player.’

457. W—’s poetry. Wordsworth’s.

Holcroft. Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809), whose ‘Memoirs’ Hazlitt completed. See vol. II. of the present Edition.

458. Joseph Andrews. Fielding’s novel was published in 1742, not 1748.

—. Possibly Bewick.

459. The election of the new Pope. Pius VIII. was elected in 1829.

Monmouth-Street finery. Monmouth Street, St. Giles’s, was noted in the eighteenth century for its second-hand clothes’ shops. ‘On Lord Kelly, a remarkable, red-faced, drunken lord, coming into a room in a coat much embroidered but somewhat tarnished, Foote said he was an exact representation of Monmouth Street in flames.’ Prior’s Life of Malone.

460. What do you think of that portrait. This begins ‘Conversation XIII.’ in The Atlas for Oct. 25, 1829.

461. The mind has still a link ... the beloved object. For this sentence substitute from The Atlas:—‘It was she who sat and sang to me as I painted the portrait of her son that died.’ (See p. 391).

The Miss B—s. Mary Berry (1763–1852) and her sister Agnes, who lived together for nearly eighty-eight years. Horace Walpole described Mary as ‘an angel both inside and out’ and both as his ‘twin wives.’ Their names are given in full in The Atlas.

462. Conversation the Twenty-second. ‘The last’ in The Atlas for 15th November 1829, entitled ‘Mutual Confessions and Explanations.’

The Country Girl. Garrick’s comedy, based on Wycherley’s Country Wife, itself an adaptation of Molière’s L’École des Maris, and L’École des Femmes.

464. The milk of human kindness. Macbeth, Act I. Scene 5.

Shadwell. Thomas Shadwell (1642?–1692), dramatist and poet-laureate.

Dennis. John Dennis (1657–1734), Pope’s antagonistic critic. See his The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry (1701) and The Ground of Criticism in Poetry (1704).

465. Other things between heaven and earth. Hamlet, Act I. Scene 5.

Ugolino. The story of Ugolino, leader of the Guelfs in Pisa, and of his imprisonment in the ‘Tower of Famine’ will be found in Chaucer’s Monk’s Tale. See also Dante’s Inferno, XXXIII.

1. В «Вертере» есть отрывок, который содержит очень приятную иллюстрацию этой доктрины, и он таков.

«Примерно в лиге от города есть место под названием Вальхайм. Оно очень приятно расположено на склоне холма: с одной из тропинок, ведущих из деревни, открывается вид на всю округу; и там есть добрая старушка, которая продает вино, кофе и чай: но лучше всего этого — две липы перед церковью, которые раскинули свои ветви над небольшой лужайкой, окруженной сараями и коттеджами. Я видел мало мест, более уединенных и мирных. Я посылаю за стулом и столом к старушке, и там пью кофе и читаю Гомера. Случайно я обнаружил это место одним прекрасным днем: все было в полном безмолвии; все были в полях, за исключением маленького мальчика лет четырех, который сидел на земле и держал между коленями ребенка месяцев шести; он прижимал его к груди своими маленькими ручками, которые служили для него своего рода большим креслом, и, несмотря на живость, сверкавшую в его глазах, он сидел совершенно неподвижно. Совершенно восхищенный этой сценой, я сел на плуг напротив и получил большое удовольствие, рисуя эту маленькую картинку братской нежности. Я добавил кусочек изгороди, дверь сарая и несколько сломанных колес от телеги, без всякого порядка, просто так, как они лежали; и примерно через час я обнаружил, что сделал рисунок с большой выразительностью и очень правильным дизайном, не добавив ничего от себя. Это укрепило меня в решении, которое я принял раньше, — в будущем только копировать натуру. Природа неисчерпаема и одна формирует величайших мастеров. Что бы вы ни говорили о правилах, они искажают истинные черты и естественное выражение». Стр. 15.

2. В настоящее время она покрыта толстым слоем масла и лака (скоропортящееся средство английской школы), как конвертом из золотой кожи, так что едва видна.

3. Деловые люди, которые отвечают своим состоянием за последствия своих мнений и поэтому привыкли довольно точно определять основания, на которых они действуют, прежде чем решиться на событие, часто являются людьми с удивительно быстрыми и здравыми суждениями. Художники, подобным же образом, должны довольно хорошо знать, что они делают, прежде чем смогут подвергнуть результат своих наблюдений проверке наглядной демонстрацией.

4. Знаменитый Шиллер обычно говорил, что находит великое счастье жизни, в конце концов, в выполнении какой-либо механической обязанности.

5. Богатая пастозность Тициана и Джорджоне сочетает в себе некоторые преимущества обоих этих стилей, счастье одного с тщательностью другого, и, возможно, ее следует предпочесть любому из них.

6. Леонардо да Винчи.

7. Тициан.

8. Микеланджело.

9. Корреджо.

10. Аннибале Карраччи.

11. Рубенс.

12. Рафаэль.

13. Если мы отнимем от настоящего момент, который только что прошел, и момент, который должен наступить, сколько от него останется, чтобы эта простая, практическая теория могла на нем покоиться? Их твердая основа смысла и реальности сведется к булавочной головке, волосяной линии, на которой нашим мастерам морального равновесия будет трудно удержаться, не упав ни в одну из сторон.

14. Трактат о Тысячелетнем царстве скучен; но кто когда-либо уставал читать басни о Золотом веке? Когда я однажды заметил, что хотел бы быть Клодом, один человек сказал: «они бы не хотели, ибо тогда к этому времени с ними было бы покончено». Как будто может иметь значение, когда мы живем (за исключением настоящей минуты), или как будто ценность человеческой жизни уменьшалась или увеличивалась с течением веков. В таком случае нам лучше было бы иметь свою жизнь еще впереди в какой-то будущий период и так откладывать наше существование век за веком до бесконечности.

15. Подобным же образом, хотя мы знаем, что событие должно было произойти на расстоянии, задолго до того, как мы сможем услышать результат, все же, пока мы остаемся в неведении о нем, мы раздражаем себя из-за него и страдаем от всех мук ожидания, как если бы оно еще должно было произойти; но как только наша неопределенность устраняется, наше раздражительное нетерпение исчезает, мы смиряемся с судьбой и примиряемся с тем, что произошло, как можем.

16. Сентиментальность имеет тот же источник, что и указанный здесь. Так, «Ranz des Vaches», который оказывает такое влияние на умы швейцарского крестьянства, когда слышится его хорошо известный звук, не просто напоминает им идею их страны, но ассоциирует с собой тысячу безымянных идей, бесчисленные штрихи личной привязанности, ранней надежды, романтических приключений и национальной гордости, все из которых устремляются (смешанными потоками), чтобы раздуть прилив нежных воспоминаний и заставить их томиться или умирать по дому. Какой прекрасный инструмент — человеческое сердце! Кто коснется его? Кто постигнет его? Кто «сыграет на нем от самой низкой ноты до вершины его диапазона»? Кто протянет руку к струнам и объяснит их своенравную музыку? Только сердце, когда его касается сочувствие, дрожит и откликается на их скрытый смысл!

17. Я здесь не говорю о фигуральном или причудливом упражнении воображения, которое состоит в поиске какого-либо поразительного объекта или образа для иллюстрации другого.

18. Сам мистер Вордсворт не должен говорить этого, и все же я не уверен, что он бы не сказал.

19. Единственное хорошее, что я когда-либо слышал об этой удивительной способности памяти этого человека, было следующее. Один джентльмен упоминал, что его отправили в Лондон из того места, где он жил, чтобы посмотреть, как играет Гаррик. Когда он вернулся в деревню, его спросили, что он думает об актере и пьесе. «О! — сказал он, — он не знал: он видел только маленького человечка, который расхаживал по сцене и повторял 7956 слов». Мы все посмеялись над этим, но человек в одном углу комнаты, держа руку у лба и казавшийся очень довольным, воскликнул: «Да, действительно! И скажите, пожалуйста, он оказался точен?» Это была сверхдолжная любознательность буквального факта. Подсчет Джедедайи Бакстона количества слов был достаточно праздным; но здесь был парень, который хотел, чтобы кто-то пересчитал их снова, чтобы увидеть, точен ли он.

‘The force of dulness could no farther go!’

20. Сэра Джошуа Рейнольдса спросили, сколько времени у него ушло на то, чтобы сделать определенную картину, на что он ответил: «Всю свою жизнь».

21. Покойный лорд Терлоу обычно говорил, что Коббетт — единственный писатель, заслуживающий звания политического мыслителя.

22. Мистер Коббетт говорит почти так же хорошо, как пишет. Единственный раз, когда я видел его, он показался мне очень приятным человеком — легким в общении, приветливым, ясно мыслящим, простым и мягким в манерах, рассудительным и невозмутимым в речи, хотя некоторые из его выражений были не очень сдержанными. Его фигура высокая и дородная. У него хорошее разумное лицо — довольно полное, с маленькими серыми глазами, твердым, квадратным лбом, румяным цветом лица, с седыми или пудреными волосами; и он был одет в алый суконный жилет с висящими клапанами карманов, как это было принято у джентльменов-фермеров в прошлом веке, или как мы видим это на картинах членов парламента в правление Георга I. Я, конечно, не стал думать о нем менее благоприятно после того, как увидел его.

23. Поэзия в кварто, как и метафизика в кварто, не всегда продается. Зайдя однажды в магазин в Патерностер-роу, чтобы посмотреть несколько строк из «Прогулки» мистера Вордсворта, чтобы разбавить ими прозу, я обратился к установленным властям и спросил, могу ли я посмотреть копию «Прогулки»? Ответ был: «В какое графство, сэр?»

24. Эти фантастические поэты похожи на глупого звонаря в Плимуте, о котором рассказывает Норткот. Он гордился своим звоном, и мальчики, которые подшучивали над его слабостью, заманивали его на колокольню и спрашивали: «Ну теперь, Джон, сколько хороших звонарей в Плимуте?» «Двое», — говорил он без всякого колебания. «Да, действительно! и кто они?» — «Ну, во-первых, это я сам, это один: и — и» — «Ну, а кто второй?» — «Ну, есть, есть — черт возьми, не могу вспомнить никого, кроме себя». Поговорим об одном мастере Ланселоте. История о звонарях: она подойдет для любого тщеславного, поверхностного, самодовольного эгоиста из них всех.

25. Знаменитый Питер Пиндар (доктор Уолкот) первым обнаружил и вывел в свет таланты покойного мистера Опи, художника. Он был бедным корнуоллским мальчиком и работал в полях, когда поэт отправился на его поиски. «Ну, мой мальчик, можешь ли ты пойти и принести мне свою самую лучшую картину?» Другой полетел как молния и вскоре вернулся с тем, что считал своим шедевром. Незнакомец посмотрел на нее, и молодой художник, подождав некоторое время, не дождавшись от него никакого мнения, наконец воскликнул с нетерпением: «Ну, что вы о ней думаете?» — «Думаю о ней?» — сказал Уолкот, — «почему я думаю, что тебе должно быть стыдно за нее — что ты, кто мог бы сделать так хорошо, не делаешь лучше!» Тот же ответ подошел бы и к последним работам этого художника, который был вдохновлен одним из своих самых ранних усилий.

26. Если два человека играют друг против друга в любую игру, один из них обязательно проигрывает.

27. Написано в Уинтерслоу-Хат, 18–19 января 1821 года.

28. «Герцогиня Мальфи» Вебстера.

29. Шенстоун и Грей были двумя людьми, один из которых притворялся, что живет для себя, а другой действительно жил так. Грей прятался от публичного взора (он даже не хотел, чтобы его портрет был помещен перед его работами) в свои мысли и праздные раздумья; Шенстоун притворялся уединенным, чтобы его искал мир; один искал уединения, чтобы наслаждаться досугом и покоем, в то время как другой кокетничал с ним, просто чтобы быть прерванным назойливостью посетителей и лестью отсутствующих друзей.

30. «Плут. об изгнании». Он сравнивает тех, кто не может жить вне своей страны, с простыми людьми, которые воображали, что луна Афин — более прекрасная луна, чем луна Коринфа.

—Labentem cœlo quæ ducitis annum.

Virg. Georg.’

31. Когда Бонапарт покинул Палату депутатов, чтобы отправиться на свою последнюю роковую битву, он посоветовал им не обсуждать формы конституций, когда враг был у их ворот. Бенжамен Констан думал иначе. Он хотел сыграть в игру «колыбель для кошки» между республиканцами и роялистами и проиграл свой матч. Ему было все равно, лишь бы он помешал более эффективному человеку, чем он сам.

32. Полная пригодность для любой цели подразумевает средства. Где есть воля, там есть путь. Настоящая страсть, полная преданность любому объекту всегда преуспевает. Сильное сочувствие к тому, чего мы желаем и воображаем, реализует это, рассеивает все препятствия и устраняет все сомнения. Разочарованный любовник может жаловаться сколько угодно. Он сам был виноват. Он был слабоумным, бесхарактерным парнем. Его любовь могла быть такой великой, как он ее выставляет: но это не была его правящая страсть. Его страх, его гордость, его тщеславие были больше. Пусть чья-то душа будет пропитана этой страстью, пусть он не думает и не заботится ни о чем другом, пусть ничто не отвлекает, не охлаждает и не запугивает его, пусть идеальное чувство станет реальным и овладеет всеми его способностями, взглядами и манерами, пусть те же сладострастные надежды и желания управляют его действиями в присутствии его возлюбленной, которые преследуют его воображение в ее отсутствие, и я отвечу за его успех. Но я не отвечу за успех «чашки снятого молока» в таком случае. Я сам всегда мог попасть посмотреть прекрасную коллекцию картин. Дело в том, что я был нацелен на это. Ни угрюмость швейцаров, ни дерзость лакеев не могли меня остановить. У меня перед глазами был портрет Тициана, и ничто не могло сбить меня с моей решимости. Если бы он (как бы) не смотрел на меня все то время, пока я пробивал себе путь, я был бы раздражен или смущен и ушел бы. Но моя любовь к цели победила мои сомнения или отвращение к средствам. Я никогда не понимал шотландский характер, кроме как в этих случаях. Я не принимал «нет» в качестве ответа. Если бы я хотел получить место на государственной службе или писательскую должность в Индии, я мог бы получить ее благодаря той же настойчивости и на тех же условиях.

33. Бедная женщина в Плимуте, которой не нравилась формальность или которая не могла позволить себе расходы на завещание, решила оставить то немногое имущество, которое у нее было в виде одежды и домашней утвари, своим друзьям и родственникам устно, и до того, как Смерть остановила ее дыхание. Она раздала и завещала (по своему собственному усмотрению) свой стул и стол одному, свою кровать другому, старый плащ третьему, ночной колпак и юбку четвертому и так далее. Старые карги сидели, плача вокруг, и вскоре после этого унесли все, до чего могли дотянуться, и оставили свою благодетельницу на произвол судьбы. Не успели они уйти, как она неожиданно выздоровела и послала за своими вещами обратно; но ни одной из них она не смогла получить, и осталась без лохмотьев на спине или друга, чтобы посочувствовать ей.

34. Закон о первородстве берет свое начало в принципе, изложенном здесь, — желании увековечить какое-то одно осязаемое и заметное доказательство богатства и власти.

35. Он таков:

‘The Will of a Virtuoso,

«Я, Николас Гимкрэк, будучи в здравом уме, но в великой телесной слабости, настоящим моим последним завещанием оставляю свои мирские товары и движимое имущество следующим образом: —

Во-первых, моей дорогой жене,

One Box of Butterflies,

One Drawer of Shells,

A Female Skeleton,

A dried Cockatrice.

Пункт, моей дочери Элизабет,

My Receipt for preserving dead Caterpillars.

As also my preparations of Winter May-Dew, and Embrio Pickle.

Пункт, моей маленькой дочери Фанни,

Three Crocodiles’ Eggs.

And upon the Birth of her first Child, if she marries with her Mother’s Consent,

The Nest of a Humming-Bird.

Пункт, моему старшему брату, в знак признания земель, которые он передал моему сыну Чарльзу, я завещаю

My last Year’s Collection of Grasshoppers.

Пункт, его дочери Сюзанне, будучи его единственным ребенком, я завещаю мой

English Weeds pasted on Royal Paper,

With my large Folio of

Indian Cabbage.

Полностью обеспечив моего племянника Исаака, передав ему несколько лет назад

A Horned Scarabæus,

The Skin of a Rattle-Snake, and

The Mummy of an Egyptian King,

Я не делаю для него дальнейшего обеспечения в этом моем завещании.

Мой старший сын Джон, неуважительно отозвавшийся о своей маленькой сестре, которую я держу при себе в винном спирте, и во многих других случаях вевший себя непочтительно по отношению ко мне, лишается наследства и полностью отсекается от любой части этого моего личного имущества, получив одну ракушку.

Моему второму сыну Чарльзу я даю и завещаю все мои цветы, растения, минералы, мхи, ракушки, гальку, окаменелости, жуков, бабочек, гусениц, кузнечиков и паразитов, не указанных выше: а также всех моих монстров, как влажных, так и сухих, делая вышеупомянутого Чарльза полным и единственным исполнителем этого моего последнего завещания, он выплачивает или заставляет выплатить вышеупомянутые наследства в течение шести месяцев после моей кончины. И я настоящим отменяю все другие завещания, когда-либо составленные мной». — «Болтун», том IV, № 216.

36. Келлерман недавно завещал свое сердце похоронить на поле Вальми, где в 1792 году произошла первая великая битва, в которой союзники были отбиты.

37. Как осторожен сэр Джошуа, даже в скобках, чтобы намекнуть на обязательства этого великого гения перед другими, как будто он был бы ничем без них.

38. Если бы сэру Джошуа предложили обменять Луку Джордано из его коллекции на Клода Лоррена, он бы недолго колебался насчет предпочтения.

39. Написано в 1788 году.

40. Гейнсборо.