LXVI. Jekyll-Pryme-Cumberland- &c. [March 6, 1836. PRYME mentioned to me this day that JEKYLL in 1806 wrote a series of humorous papers in the Morn. Chron. on LORD MELVILLE, sportively assuming that he was dead; he thinks that they are not in the Spirit of the Public Journals.] MR M. was well acquainted with PARR. He says that he is a great admirer of the Preface and Dedication to the WARBURTONIAN TRACTS, which he can almost repeat by heart. He once told PARR that he was going to dine with three great Tories, possibly Bishops, when PARR said, 'Tell to them that their insignificance protects them from my vengeance.' He desired MR M. to say to CUMBERLAND, the Dramatist, that his ignorance was only excelled by his impudence, and his impudence was only excelled by his malice. He accompanied Queen Caroline to the House of Lords, and when they entered, and the House rose to receive her, PARR made three bows, as if in acknowledgment of an honour done to himself. When he was once at BP PRETYMAN'S Palace at BUCKDEN, the BISHOP was throwing out some strong language against GODWIN, which PARR stopped by dexterously saying, He is my particular friend! BENNETT thought PARR the most eloquent man he ever heard. MR M. certainly understood from DR RAINE that PORSON had prepared an edition of the Hippolytus for the press, but it was not found on his death; MR M. has conversed with DR RAINE on the subject. He seemed to know who was suspected, and from his manner I should suspect that UPCOTT or SAVAGE was meant. PARR said of BURKE's second book on the FRENCH Revolution that it was the sediment of malice, as the first was the efflorescence of rage. MR M. thinks highly of BP WATSON for integrity and ability; he told him that he wished his fame to rest on his Speech in the House about......, and referring to the Sermon on the Revolution of 1688, he said that, though it might have obstructed his preferment, he thanked GOD that he had had the courage to deliver it. He [MR M.] condemned the son for suppressing passages, and DR HEBERDEN for destroying the MS. left by DR CONYERS MID. MR M. spoke with great approbation of BP HORSLEY'S speech on the appointment of SiR Jos. BANKS (who was considered as a mere herbalist,) to the Presidency of the Royal Society, and if I understood him rightly, it is inserted in MATY's Review. He considers the statement of HOPTON HAYNES about the theological opinions of SIR ISAAC NEWTON to be very important; MR HAYNES is an unimpeachable witness; THEOPH. LINDSEY published an edition: [perhaps it is the third.] When some remark was made about WARBURTON's promotion, as if he ought not to have been promoted, and he was told of it, he said that it was [or might have been] well for the Church that he had not continued in another profession. He thinks that it was DR BALGUY, who had his joke with WARBURTON about the phrase, Between you and me, my wife is with child. GIBBON alludes to it in his edition of the 6th Eneid. In the LONDON INSTITUTION there is a copy of the Critical Zeview with the names attached to each Article. LXVII. "THE KING OF CLUBS. This was a dinner-club, originating in a small party at SIR JAS MACKINTOSH'S. The original members were, ROGERS the POET, SHARP, SCARLETT, MR ROBT SMITH, and MR JOHN ALLEN. Additions were soon made of some of the most distinguished men of the day; amongst others were, Lords Lansdown, Holland, Brougham, Cowper, King and Selkirk, ― Messrs Romilly, Porson, Payne Knight, Horner, Bryan Edwards, Sidney Smith, Dumont, Jeffrey, Smithson, Tennant, Wisher, Alexander Baring Luttrell, Blake, Hallam, Ricardo, and Hoppner Mr Wyndham was to be balloted for on the Saturday succeeding his lamented death." The Globe, March 10, 1834. LXVIII. Dr White- &c. Some one said of Dr Jos. White that he was the greatest impostor since the days of Mahomet. Kett began with Bampton-Lectures and ended with a JestBook; Parr assisted him in the Lectures; he destroyed himself. Parr said of Mackintosh that, like the rest of his countrymen, he had a hard head, a close heart, and an open hand: [was this the right form ?] LXIX. Scudamore. LONDON, April 23, 1836. MR PRYME dined with me in Covent-Garden, and I afterwards drank tea with him. He said that SCUDAMORE, Member for Hereford, came up to vote for the impeachment of LORD MELVILLE, at a time when he was exceedingly ill, and when he was strongly advised not to run the risk. He patriotically despised the advice; while he was in the House, he was urged to retire, but he said, 'No, I have only a few weeks to live, and what matters it, if I shorten my life two or three days by coming up to vote? I shall vote, if I die at my post.' He died a fortnight afterwards; but for him the votes would have been equal, and the question would have been lost by the casting vote of the Speaker. The inhabitants of Hereford immediately called a meeting, and, as the only thing in their power, determined to elect without trouble or expense in his place his son or nephew. It was ALLEY, the OLD BAILEY Counsel lately deceased, who wanted the money from SHERIDAN. PRYME was told the story by a friend, who had it from ALLEY himself. ALLEY waited on SHERIDAN and told him how essential it was for him to have this the only money which he could command to complete his law-studies, his prospects in life would be ruined without it. Sheridan promised to let him have it in a few weeks by a particular day. ALLEY's friends laughed at the notion, the day came, weeks elapsed, at length he waited on Sheridan, who received him with bitter reproaches for not having called for it: Sir, you have put me to the greatest possible inconvenience, I have been tempted by distress again and again to make use of it, I have resisted the temptation, had I used it, you would never have believed that I had set it apart for you; it is sealed up with your name, here it is; take it and be thankful. - LXX. Chinese imitations. "My Lords, there is a story about some Chinese manufactures rather in point: An English gentleman, wanting a dessert set, made after a peculiar pattern, sent over to China a specimen dish, ordering that it should be exactly copied for the whole service. It unfortunately happened that in the pattern dish, so sent over, the Chinese manufacturers discovered a crack: the consequence was, that the entire service sent over to the party ordering it, had a crack in each article carefully copied after the specimen-crack. So the noble and learned Lord said that, if this Bill were not marked in every part with the crack ́à la Chinoise,' it shall be called not according to pattern, and not be accepted at all.” LORD HOLLAND's Speech on the IRISH Municipal Bill, Morn. Chron., June 28, 1836. LXXI. The letter B. At Dr Farmer's table, when the gentlemen had each drank their toasts, the ladies, it was observed that all their names began with the letter B; on which Dr F. spoke (not wrote) the following. How strange it seems Dame Fortune should decree, That all our fav'rites should begin with B. Thus may we solve this paradox of ours: 30 Torrington-Square, Aug. 14. '36. LXXII. Scaliger. By MR CROWE, ZOOPHILOS. Mr Hunter mentioned a book, given by Mr Turner of Newcastle to the Philosophical and Literary Society of that place, in which Joseph Scaliger is concerned as the author of some verses. LXXIII. Dr Macginn. Oct. 6, 1836. DR MACGINN's last joke:-The other night, as Mr Newland informed me, Dr Macginn, who was very drunk, had catted, and was leaning against Temple-Bar, when some one asked him which was Wine office Court; his answer was, 'I do not know, but here is Wine off his stomach. LXXIV. Parr. Dr Parr's schoolfellow, Mr Rigge of Walthamstow, said that, when Parr was very young, he was so full of talk as to be noisy, and that Sir Wm Jones was not thought much of till he broke his leg, when he read a good deal. Dr Cooke speaking of Balloons, said Cœlum ipsum petimus stultitia. Why, if Salmasius was so sagacious and learned, was he beaten by Milton? Because, as Dr Parr said, he was a mere hireling, who had no heart in what he wrote. Basil Montagu went to St Alban's to write the life of Lord * I have seen these lines, with some slight variations, ascribed to Professor Porson. |