Memoirs of Richard Cumberland

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Parry and McMillan, 1856 - 397 pages

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Page 190 - I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the...
Page 5 - Visits to Remarkable Places : Old Halls, Battle-Fields, and Scenes illustrative of Striking Passages in English History and Poetry. By WILLIAM HOWITT. 2 vols. square crown 8vo. with Wood Engravings, 25s. The Rural Life of England.
Page 191 - ... which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it, and saw its merit ; told the landlady I should soon return, and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill '." My next meeting with Johnson was on Friday the 1st of July, when he and I and Dr.
Page 307 - Though secure of our hearts, yet confoundedly sick If they were not his own by finessing and trick: He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack, For he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.
Page 189 - Here Cumberland lies, having acted his parts, The Terence of England, the mender of hearts; A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.
Page 21 - It is the fashion to underrate Horace Walpole, firstly, because he was a nobleman, and secondly, because he was a gentleman; but, to say nothing of the composition of his incomparable " Letters," and of the "Castle of Otranto," he is the "Ultimus Romanorum," the author of the " Mysterious Mother," a tragedy of the highest order, and riot a puling love-play.
Page 187 - I had the honour to be deputed to that office. I planted him in an upper box, pretty nearly over the stage, in full view of the pit and galleries, and perfectly well situated to give the echo all its play through the hollows and recesses of the theatre.
Page 171 - There must, in the first place, be knowledge, there must be materials; in the second place, there must be a command of words; in the third place, there must be imagination, to place things in such views as they are not commonly seen in; and in the fourth place, there must be presence of mind, and a resolution that is not to be overcome by failures: this last is an essential requisite; for want of it many people do not excel in conversation. Now / want it: I throw up the game upon losing a trick.
Page 178 - ... and from vanity and an eager desire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he frequently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, or even without thought. His person was short, his countenance coarse and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar awkwardly affecting the easy gentleman. Those who were in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to so ridiculous an excess, that the instances of it are hardly credible.
Page 57 - Satan except, none higher sat, with grave Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd A pillar of state ; deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat, and public care ; And princely counsel in his face yet shone, Majestic...

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