Part 3 — NOTES

421

MEMOIRS OF THOMAS HOLCROFT

The chief source of information respecting the life of Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809) is the Life here printed. A brief résumé of dates may not, however, be useless. He was born in London, December 10, 1745 (o.s.). After wandering with his father, who was in turn shoemaker, horse-dealer and pedlar, he was apprenticed at the age of thirteen as a stableboy at Newmarket. He returned to London when he was sixteen, and his next years were spent as shoemaker, school-master and strolling player. He turned dramatist, and his first piece, The Crisis, or Love and Famine, was acted on May 1, 1778, for a single performance. He turned author, and in 1780 his first novel, Alwyn, or the Gentleman Comedian, was published. These were followed by other novels and many plays, the best known of which is The Road to Ruin (Covent Garden, February 18, 1792). In 1783 he went abroad in the interests of journalism, and busied himself with sundry translations (e.g. Le Mariage de Figaro, by Beaumarchais, which was successful at Covent Garden, December 14, 1784, as The Follies of a Day). He did not escape the political troubles of his time, and, on October 7, 1794, he was sent to Newgate to await his trial for high-treason: he was discharged, however, without being tried, on December 1. The remaining years of his life were spent in unfortunate business speculations (chiefly picture-buying) and literary adventures in England and abroad: they were years of constant struggle against poverty and adverse fate. He died on March 23, 1809, and lies buried in Marylebone Parish Cemetery. He married four times.

There does not seem much reason for the abbreviation of the names of people mentioned in Holcroft’s ‘Memoirs,’ since they are rarely the subject of scandal. (See, however, with respect to the Diary, a letter from Wm. Godwin to Mrs. Holcroft, given in C. Kegan Paul’s ‘William Godwin,’ vol. ii. pp. 176–77, and Hazlitt’s remarks on p. 169 of the ‘Memoirs.’) Capitals were evidently used for the sake of shortness; in some cases it is easy to identify from the context the persons indicated; in others, less so, and, where possible, the identification is made in the Notes. In some few cases it has not been possible to state definitely the person meant.

In addition to the works mentioned in the text Holcroft seems also to have translated Count Stolberg’s ‘Travels through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Sicily’ (1796), ‘The Life of Baron Trenck’ (1792), Goethe’s ‘Hermann and Dorothea’ (1801), ‘Sacred Dramas’ by the Countess de Genlis (1786).

In a letter from Mary Lamb to Mrs. Hazlitt (Nov. 30, 1810, ‘Memoirs of Hazlitt,’ vol. i. p. 179), in speaking of Hazlitt’s ‘Memoirs of Holcroft,’ she calls the book the ‘Life Everlasting.’

PAGE

1.

Orange Court, Leicester Fields, known later as Orange Street, Leicester Square.

2.

History of Parismus and Parismenos. A romance of Bohemia (1598) by Emanuel Ford (fl. 1607). 422

Seven Champions of Christendom. By Richard Johnson (1573–1659?) Published 1596–97.

4.

Chapman’s Books, i.e. books sold by chapmen or pedlars.

6.

Note. Hugh Trevor. ‘The Adventures of Hugh Trevor,’ London, 1794–97, 6 vols. See p. 136.

10.

the feast of reason. Pope, Hor. Bk. II. Sat. 1.

18.

the great vulgar and the small. Cowley, Hor. Od. III. 1.

19.

spell and null. A game of ball. The ball (= nur) is released by a spring from a cup at the end of a piece of steel (= spell). The object is to strike it, when released, as far as possible.

bandy. A game similar to hockey.

prison-bars. A game of speed in running from goals or bases.

22.

Childers. 1715. He was one of the fleetest horses ever known, and was never beaten.

Careless. 1751. Was bred by John Borlace Warren of Stapleford, Notts. He seems to have been beaten in 1758 by Atlas at Huntingdon. In 1760 he beat the Duke of Devonshire’s Atlas at York, but previously, in 1759, he had suffered another defeat from Atlas at Newmarket.

24.

Mr Woodcock. Holcroft’s father could hardly have applied to a better person. John Woodcock was chosen by Mr Jenison Shafto in 1761 to ride a match for him on the following conditions: to ride a hundred miles a day on any one horse each day for twenty-nine successive days on any number of horses not exceeding twenty-nine. He began on Newmarket Heath, May 4, 1761, at one o’clock in the morning, and won the sum staked, two thousand guineas, for his master on the 1st of June, at six o’clock in the evening, having ridden on only fourteen horses. One day he rode a hundred and sixty miles owing to his first horse having tired when sixty miles only had been accomplished. See Whyte’s ‘History of the British Turf,’ vol. i. p. 513.

25.

Tim Bobbin’s Lancashire dialect. By John Collier (1708–1786). A popular humorous work in dialogue and dialect (1746).

35.

chuck-farthing. A game in which coins are thrown into a prepared hole.

bones, sinews, and thews. ‘Heart, sinews, and bones.’—‘Troilus and Cressida,’ v. 8.

42.

Death and the Lady. See Bell’s ‘Early Ballads and Ballads of the Peasantry’ (1877), p. 252.

Margaret’s Ghost. ‘William and Margaret’ (1724), by David Mallet (?1705–1765). See also Bell’s ‘Early Ballads,’ 1877, p. 120.

King Charles’s golden rules. Twelve pithy ‘Table Observations,’ probably of seventeenth century origin. See ‘Notes and Queries,’ March 7 and 14, 1863, Jan. 13, 1872. Cf. Goldsmith’s ‘The Deserted Village,’ l. 232.

43.

The Whole Duty of Man. 1659. Authorship unknown.

Horneck’s Crucified Jesus. 1686. Anthony Horneck (1641–1697).

The Life of Francis Spira. Possibly ‘A Relation of the fearful estate of Francis Spira after he turned apostate from the Protestant Religion to Popery.’ By N. Bacon, 1637 and many later editions.

56.

Mr Granville Sharpe. G. Sharp, the abolitionist (1735–1813).

one Macklin. Charles Macklin (?1697–1797). ‘Man of the World’ (1781). For particulars of further well-known actors referred to in the ‘Memoirs of Thomas Holcroft,’ see Notes to Hazlitt’s ‘A View of the English Stage,’ present edition.

59.

Mr Foote. Samuel Foote (1720–1777).

Pierre and Jaffier. In ‘Venice Preserved’ (1681–82), by Thomas Otway (1652–1685). 423

Lothario. In ‘The Fair Penitent’ (1703), by Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718).

as Nic. Bottom says. ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ 1, 2.

63.

Mossop. Henry Mossop (?1729–?1774) opened Smock Alley Theatre in 1760.

66.

Downing or Dunning. ? George Downing (d. 1780), who wrote the comedy, ‘Newmarket, or The Humours of the Turf’ (1763).

67.

lamb’s wool. A drink made of ale, nutmeg, sugar and roasted apples.

70.

Clementi. Muzio Clementi (1752–1832), the father of pianoforte music.

Note. the Spoiled Child. 1790. Ascribed to Isaac Bickerstaffe (d. 1812?).

Note. The Road to Ruin. See p. 121, and note thereto.

71.

Duke’s Place. Aldgate. A Jewish quarter since 1650.

72.

the part of Bardolph, and the two following quotations. ‘I King Henry IV.’ II. 4, and III. 1.

75.

Dr. Last in his Chariot. 1769. By Bickerstaffe.

76.

Weston. Thomas Weston (1737–1776).

Note. the Theatrical Recorder. A monthly publication, conducted by Holcroft for 2 vols. (1805–6).

Note. Jerry Sneak. In Foote’s ‘The Mayor of Garratt’ (1763).

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

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

Sharp. In David Garrick’s ‘The Lying Valet’ (1741).

77.

Note. Bartholomew Fair. A famous ground for shows and theatrical exhibitions. The fair was held at West Smithfield from 1133 to 1855, and centred round the festival of St. Bartholomew, Aug. 24.

Shuter. Edward Shuter (?1728–1776).

Mrs. Clive. Catherine Clive (1711–1785).

Kitty Pry. In Garrick’s ‘The Lying Valet.’

The reason has often been asked. Cf. a similar passage in ‘The Round Table,’

On Actors and Acting.

78.

Patie and Peggy. In ‘The Gentle Shepherd’ (1725), by Allan Ramsay (1686–1758).

Mrs. Inchbald. Elizabeth Inchbald (1753–1821), novelist, dramatist and actress.

the polygraphic art. See p. 103.

79.

Bates’s company. Joah Bates (1741–1799).

Mr Shield. William Shield, musical composer (1748–1829). He wrote the music for ‘The Flitch of Bacon,’ the success of which obtained for him the post of composer to Covent Garden Theatre; and he composed many popular songs.

Lowth’s Grammar. ‘A Short Introduction to English Grammar’ (1762), by Robert Lowth (1710–1787).

the character of Atticus. Pope’s ‘Epis. to Arbuthnot.’

Dance. ? William Dance (1755–1840), one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society.

Miss Harrop. Sarah Harrop (d. 1811). She married Joah Bates.

the commemoration of Handel. 1784.

Bundle, in the Waterman. 1774. By Charles Dibdin (1745–1814).

Ritson ... the Treatise on Animal Food. Joseph Ritson (1752–1803), the antiquarian. ‘An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food as a Moral Duty’ (1802).

80.

the poet Cunningham. John Cunningham (1729–1773), Irish poet and strolling actor.

Miss in her Teens. 1747. 424

81.

Bensley. Robert Bensley (?1738–?1817).

82.

there are in this very profession. Cf. a similar passage in ‘The Round Table,’

On Actors and Acting.

83.

I have oft be-dimm’d. I have be-dimm’d, etc.—‘The Tempest,’ Act v. 1.

The Crisis. May 1, 1778. Genest (‘Some Account of the English Stage,’ vol. vi. p. 12) says it was acted for the benefit of the Misses Hopkins. See p. 84.

Kind Impostor. ‘She Would and She Would Not, or the Kind Impostor’ (1702), by Colley Cibber (1671–1757).

Love in a Village. 1762. By Bickerstaffe.

Maid of the Mill. 1765. By Bickerstaffe.

School for Wives. 1773. By Hugh Kelly (1739–1777).

Faithless Lover. The Fashionable Lover (1772). By Richard Cumberland (1732–1811).

Brothers. 1769. By Cumberland.

West Indian. 1771. By Cumberland.

Lionel and Clarissa. 1768. By Bickerstaffe.

84.

Mr Greville. Richard Fulke Greville, author of ‘Maxims, Characters, and Reflections’ (1756), and grandfather of the diarists, Charles and Henry Greville. See ‘The Early Diary of Frances Burney’ (ed. Annie Raine Ellis, 2 vols., 1889), and Boswell’s Life (ed. G. B. Hill, iv. 304). Mrs. Greville (Frances Macartney) was Fanny Burney’s godmother. She and her daughter (Mrs., afterwards Lady, Crewe) were ‘the two greatest beauties in England.’ ‘Early Diary,’ etc., 1. p. 23.

the part of Mungo. In ‘The Padlock’ (1768), by Bickerstaffe.

Love for Love. 1695. By Congreve.

Mawworm. In ‘The Hypocrite’ (1768), a comedy by Bickerstaffe, based (through Cibber’s ‘Nonjuror’) on Molière’s ‘Tartuffe.’

85.

Who’s the Dupe? 1779. By Mrs. Hannah Cowley (1743–1809).

The Flitch of Bacon. 1778. Composed by Henry Bate, afterwards the Rev. Sir Henry Bate Dudley (1745–1824), with music by Shield. For Bate, see Boswell (ed. G. B. Hill), iv. 296.

the Camp. 1778. By Richard Tickell (1751–1793).

86.

the Shepherdess of the Alps. Covent Garden, Jan. 18, 1780.

Mr Arne. Michael Arne (1741?–1786).

87.

Mr King. Thomas King (1730–1805), actor and dramatist, was three-fourths owner of Sadlers Wells Theatre, 1771–78.

The Noble Peasant. Aug. 2, 1784.

Elegy on his Death. ‘On the death of S. Foote, Esq.,’ and ‘On Age’ (1777).

Bath Easton Vase. ‘Lady Miller’s collection of verses by fashionable people, which were put into her Vase at Batheaston Villa, near Bath, in competition for honorary prizes, being mentioned, he held them very cheap: “Boutsrimés (said he) is a mere conceit, and an old conceit now; I wonder how people were persuaded to write in that manner for this lady.”’—Boswell’s

Life of Johnson (ed. G. B. Hill, ii. 336).

88.

White-Conduit House. The tea-gardens formerly on the east side of Penton Street, Pentonville, a resort of Goldsmith’s.

Nan Catley. Ann Catley (1745–1789).

89.

Duplicity. Holcroft’s first comedy, Covent Garden, Oct. 13, 1781. See p. 100.

P——. James Perry (1756–1821) political writer and joint editor and proprietor (with James Gray) of ‘The Morning Chronicle,’ ‘the only constitutional paper,’ referred to on p. 94. 425

91.

Nicholson. William Nicholson (1753–1815), writer on chemistry.

95.

Mrs. Whitelocke. Mrs. Whitelocke (1761–1836) was a sister of Mrs. Siddons. Her husband was part proprietor of the Newcastle Theatre and of others in the North. She was an excellent tragédienne, though her fame has been eclipsed by that of her sister,

his friend N——. Nicholson.

98.

a pamphlet. A Plain ... Narrative of the late Riots in London ... Westminster, and ... Southwark ... with an Account of the Commitment of Lord G. Gordon to the Tower, etc.... By William Vincent of Gray’s Inn (1780).

99.

Loughborough. Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Baron Loughborough (1733–1805), Lord Chancellor (1793–1801).

100.

Mr Harris. Thomas Harris (d. 1820) was associated with Colman and others in the proprietorship and management of Covent Garden Theatre.

102.

King Arthur. Probably Dryden’s (1691).

Mr Linley. Thomas Linley (1732–1795) was associated with Sheridan in Drury Lane Theatre. He superintended the music. Sheridan married his daughter Elizabeth Ann.

Mr Wewitzer. Ralph Wewitzer (1748–1825).

103.

Mr Colman. George Colman (1732–1794) took over the Haymarket from Foote in 1776.

104.

the Sceptic. ‘Human Happiness, or the Sceptic,’ poem in six cantos (1783).

the Family Picture, or Domestic Dialogues on Amiable Subjects (1783), 2 vols.

Prematur nonum in annum. ‘nonumque prematur in annum.’ Hor. De Arte Poet., 388.

Note. Tales of the Castle, or Stories of Instruction and Delight, being Les Veillées du Chateau, written in French by Madame la Comtesse de Genlis (1784). Translated into English (1785). 5 vols. An eighth edition was published in 1806.

105.

Duchess of Devonshire. The celebrated Georgiana (1757–1806), who married in 1774 the 5th Duke of Devonshire.

106.

Mr John Rivington. See Hazlitt’s note on p. 108. The publisher’s (1720–1792) name was also John.

107.

Caroline of Litchfield. Translated from the French of J. I. P. de Bottens, Baroness de Montolieu.

The Amours of Peter the Long. ‘An Amourous Tale of the Chaste Loves of Peter the Long and the History of the Lover’s Well. Imitated from the original French’ (L. E. Billardson de Sauvigny, 1786).

Memoirs of De Tott. ‘Memoirs of the Baron de Tott on the Turks and Tartars. Translated from the French by an English Gentleman at Paris, under the immediate inspection of the Baron’ (1785). 2 vols.

Savary’s Travels in Egypt. Nicholas Savary’s Letters on Egypt, translated from the French (1786). 2 vols.

An Account of the Manners and Treatment of Animals, by D’Obsonville. Philosophic Essays on the manners of various foreign animals. By Foucher D’Obsonville (1784).

the Robinsons. George Robinson (1737–1801). His son and his brother joined and succeeded him in his business as a bookseller.

Mercier. Louis Sébastien Mercier (1740–1814), author of many dramas. His ‘The Year 2500’ (2440 in French) was published in 1772. He was a supporter of the Revolution. 426

Mr Bonneville. Nicholas de Bonneville, a poet of the Revolution (1760–1828) and a student of German literature. ‘Nouveau Théâtre Allemand’ (12 vols.), 1782–5.

109.

The Connoisseurs. Possibly a confusion for some other play of Colman’s. ‘The Connoisseur’ was a journal of the ‘Spectator’ type, conducted by G. Colman and Bonnell Thornton, Jan. 31, 1754, to Sept. 30, 1756.

Battle of Hexham. 1789. By George Colman the younger (1762–1836).

The Mountaineers. 1793. By Colman the younger.

The Venetian Outlaw. 1805. By Robert William Elliston (1774–1831), comedian and dramatist.

Note. The Man of Business. 1774. By Colman the elder.

111.

Parsons. Wm. Parsons (1736–1795).

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

The Choleric Fathers. Nov. 10, 1785.

113.

The Follies of a Day. Dec. 14, 1784. Published 1785.

Mr Bonner. Charles Bonnor (fl. 1777–1829?).

114.

M. Berquin. Arnauld Berquin (1749–1791), a writer for children.

115.

Seduction. March 12, Drury Lane.

Les Liaisons Dangereux. ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ (1782), a novel, by P. A. F. Ch. de Laclos (1741–1803).

the King of Prussia’s works. Posthumous works of Frederic II., King of Prussia (translated from the French) (1789), 13 vols.

Essays of Lavater. ‘Essays on Physiognomy; for the Promotion of the Knowledge and Love of Mankind’ (1793), 3 vols.

116.

the German Hotel. Nov. 11, 1790.

The School for Arrogance. Feb. 4, 1791, Covent Garden. ‘As Holcroft imagined that Harris was prejudiced against him, Marshall at first avowed himself as the author of the piece.’—Genest, vol. vii. p. 27. The play was founded on ‘Le Glorieux’ (1732) of Destouches (1680–1754).

121.

The Road to Ruin. Covent Garden, Feb. 18, 1792. See ‘Lectures on the English Comic Writers,’ viii. Some ‘Remarks’ signed ‘William Hazlitt’ are prefixed to French’s (late Lacy’s) Acting Edition of the play; see ‘Memoirs of Hazlitt,’ vol. ii. p. 272, for the probable source of these ‘Remarks.’ They will be found in the Notes to the volume of the present edition containing the bulk of Hazlitt’s dramatic criticism.

122.

Lewis. Wm. Thomas Lewis (1748?–1811).

Castle Rackrent. 1800. By Maria Edgeworth (1767–1849).

129.

‘A faultless monster, which the world ne’er saw.’ From the Essay on Poetry of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham (1648–1721).

quod sic mihi ostendis, incredulus odi. Hor. de Arte Poet., 188.

130.

ugly all over with affectation. Cf. ‘He is ugly all over with the affectation of the fine gentleman.’ Quoted by Steele from Wycherley, The Tatler, No. 38.

‘A reasoning, self-sufficient [self-sufficing] thing.’—Wordsworth. ‘A Poet’s Epitaph.’ Poems: Sentiment, etc., viii.

in so questionable a shape. ‘In such a questionable shape.’—Hamlet, I. 4.

133.

Mr Locke’s Essay. The Essay was published in 1690.

136.

the very head and front of his offending. Othello, I. 3.

139.

Mr Holcroft’s own ‘Narrative of Facts.’ ‘A Narrative of Facts relating to a Prosecution for High Treason, including the Address to the Jury which the Court refused to hear; with Letters to the Attorney-General ... and Vicary Gibbs, Esq., and the Defence the Author had prepared if he had been brought to trial’ (1795). 427

141.

the proclamation. ‘For preventing seditious meetings and writings.’

142.

Mr Reeves’s Association. John Reeves (1752–1829), founder of the Association for Preserving liberty and property against Levellers and Republicans. He himself was prosecuted by order of the House of Commons for a supposed libellous passage in ‘Thoughts on the English Government’ (1795), but acquitted.

142.

The late John Hunter. Anatomist and surgeon (1728–1793).

145.

Hickes’s Hall. Hicks Hall, formerly in St. John Street, Clerkenwell. It was built in 1612 by Sir Baptist Hicks as a sessions house, and abandoned in 1779. The milestones on the Great North Road were measured from here.

146.

Lord Chief Justice Eyre. Sir James Eyre (1734–1799), Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas.

Attorney-General. Sir John Scott, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Eldon, was Counsel for the prosecution.

147.

Erskine. Thomas Erskine (1750–1823), advocate and Lord Chancellor. He eloquently defended many prosecuted for political offences in 1793–4.

Gibbs. Vicary Gibbs (1751–1820), afterwards Sir Vicary Gibbs, otherwise ‘Vinegar Gibbs’ from his caustic manner, Attorney-General (1807–1812), and Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas (1814–1818). He was a shrewd and learned lawyer and had been complimented by the Attorney-General on his successful defence of Thomas Hardy and Horne Tooke.

Mr Munden. Joseph Shepherd Munden (1758–1832), comic actor. He was a favourite actor for the part of Dornton in ‘The Road to Ruin.’ See Lamb’s ‘Elia,’ ed. Ainger, p. 201, ‘On the Acting of Munden.’

149.

‘an acquitted felon.’ A phrase of Windham’s. William Windham (1750–1810) was a member of Pitt’s government, and heartily supported measures for the repression of ‘sedition.’

151.

Thomas Hardy (1752–1832), radical politician. He was brought to trial for high treason, Oct. 28, 1794, and found not guilty on Nov. 5.

the trial of Mr Tooke. John Horne Tooke (1736–1812) had been acquitted on Nov. 22, 1794.

Mr Kyd, etc. Stewart Kyd (d. 1811), political and legal writer. Jeremiah Joyce (1763–1816), miscellaneous writer. He was tutor to the sons of Lord Stanhope, at whose house, Chevening, Kent, May 4, 1794, he was arrested for treason. See Note to p. 222.

152.

Sharp. William Sharp (1749–1824), engraver, republican and enthusiast. See p. 226.

Mr Symmonds. H. D. Symmonds, of 20 Paternoster Row, publisher of Holcroft’s ‘Narrative of Facts’ and ‘Letter to Mr Windham.’

153.

Mr Thelwall’s lectures. John Thelwall (1764–1834), reformer, disseminated political views by means of lectures on Roman history. Later, he was a popular lecturer on elocution.

154.

Note. The Borough of Gatton. A ‘pocket-borough’ between Merstham and Reigate, Surrey.

156.

Letter to Mr Windham. ‘A Letter to the Right Hon. W. Windham on the intemperance and dangerous tendency of his public conduct’ (1795).

158.

Dundas. Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742–1811), a trusted friend of Pitt’s, and a member of his government. He practically ruled Scotland for thirty years. Cf. Cockburn’s ‘Life of Francis Jeffrey,’ pp. 74, et seq., and Sir H. Craik’s ‘A Century of Scottish History,’ vol. ii. p. 91.

159.

‘Love’s Frailties,’ or Precept against Practice. Feb. 5.

‘The Deserted Daughter.’ May 2. Owing to the political prejudice against Holcroft many of his plays appeared under assumed names or anonymously. 428

‘The Man of Ten Thousand.’ Jan. 23.

‘The Force of Ridicule.’ Dec. 6, 1796.

‘Knave or Not.’ Jan. 25.

‘He’s much to blame.’ Feb. 13, 1798. See p. 190.

160.

Bannister. John Bannister (1760–1836).

Miss Farren. Elizabeth Farren (1759?–1829), actress and, later, Countess of Derby.

162.

the tragedy of Cato. 1713. By Addison.

Miss Jordan. Dorothea Jordan (1762–1816).

o’erstepping the modesty of nature. Hamlet, III. 2.

163.

the Clavigo of Goethe. 1774.

‘The Inquisitor.’ June 23, 1798.

‘The Old Clothesman.’ 1799 (music by Thomas Attwood, 1765–1838). Genest (vol. vii. p. 434) speaks of its being acted a second time on April 3.

163.

Mr Godwin. Wm. Godwin (1756–1836). Mr Kegan Paul’s ‘William Godwin, His Friends and Contemporaries’ (1876) contains many of Holcroft’s letters, and much of interest to readers of the ‘Memoirs.’ It seems to have been at Godwin’s house, Holcroft and Coleridge also present, that Hazlitt first met Lamb. See ‘Memoirs of Hazlitt,’ vol. i. p. 126.

Political Justice. ‘Enquiry concerning Political Justice and its influence on Morals and Happiness’ (1793).

Griffiths. Ralph Griffiths (1720–1803), LL.D., founder, proprietor and publisher of ‘The Monthly Review.’

164.

the Review of Mr Malthus’s publication. The ‘Essay on the Principle of Population’ (Thomas Robert Malthus, 1766–1834) was published in 1798.

Colonel Harwood. ? Col. Harwood, nephew of William Tooke, Horne Tooke’s friend.

165.

the Fratres Poloni. Polonorum Fratrum Bibliotheca quos Unitarios vocant, etc., 1656, 5 vols. folio. See ‘Memoirs of Hazlitt,’ vol. i. p. 33.

the original picture of Sion House, painted by Wilson. ‘A view of Sion House from Richmond Gardens’ (1776), by Richard Wilson (1714–1782), one of the greatest of English landscape painters.

166.

Gresset. Jean Baptiste Louis Gresset (1709–1777), French poet and dramatist.

167.

prison-bars. See note to p. 19.

169.

Mr and Mrs. Opie. John Opie (1761–1807), historical painter. One of his portraits of Holcroft forms the frontispiece to the present volume. His wife, Amelia, was a writer of ability.

Debrett’s. The shop of John Debrett (d. 1822), opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly, a Whig resort.

R. Ad——. Sir Robert Adair (1763–1855), the friend of Charles James Fox.

Lord Fitz——. William Wentworth, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam (1748–1833).

D—— P——. William Henry Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738–1809).

Professor Porson. Richard Porson (1759–1808), Greek scholar and critic.

Middleton’s preface. Conyers Middleton’s (1683–1750) ‘History of the Life of M. Tullius Cicero’ (1741). A book which enjoyed a great reputation, and which reached a fourth edition in 1750.

170.

the letters to Travis. ‘Letters to Mr Archdeacon Travis [George, 1741– 1797] in answer to his Defence of the three heavenly witnesses’ [1 John v. 7], published by Porson in ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine,’ 1788–89, and in a volume in 1790; described by Gibbon as ‘the most acute and accurate piece of criticism since the days of Bentley.’

the Minor. 1760. By Foote. 429

Pennant’s tour in Scotland. Thomas Pennant’s (1726–1798) ‘Tours in Scotland’ were published in 1771–75. ‘He’s a Whig, Sir; a sad dog ... but he’s the best traveller I ever read.’—Johnson. See Boswell’s Life (ed. G. B. Hill), iii. 274.

Carlisle. Sir Anthony Carlisle (1768–1840), comparative anatomist, who was associated in 1800 with Holcroft’s friend Nicholson in his electrical researches.

Mr Waldron. Francis Godolphin Waldron (1744–1818), writer and actor.

171.

Perry. See note to p. 89. Perry was sent to Newgate by the House of Lords, 22nd March 1798, for three months, and fined £50, for a ‘libel’ on that assembly.

Wakefield’s pamphlet. Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801), pamphleteer, scholar, and critic, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, in May 1799, for remarks in a pamphlet addressed to the Bishop of Llandaff. His publisher (Cuthell) and printer were also convicted. Erskine defended Cuthell, whose punishment was remitted. See also p. 202.

And Note. Mr Fawcett. Dissenting minister and poet (?1758–1804). Mrs. Siddons and the Kembles were often amongst his listeners. ‘The Art of War’ was published in 1795. See ‘Memoirs of Hazlitt,’ vol. i. pp. 75–79, for a collection of Hazlitt’s notices of Mr Fawcett. See also sundry references to him in ‘The Spirit of the Age.’ Godwin says: ‘The four principal oral instructors to whom I feel my mind indebted for improvement were Joseph Fawcet, Thomas Holcroft, George Dyson, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’ (Kegan Paul’s ‘Godwin,’ i. p. 17).

172.

Lord Townshend. George, 4th Viscount and 1st Marquis (1724–1807).

St. John. ? John St. John (1746–1793), dramatist and M.P.

Bower’s Life of Pope Alexander the Sixth. Probably Archibald Bower’s (1686–1766) ‘History of the Popes,’ the first volume of which was published in 1748, and the sixth and seventh just before his death.

173.

‘First Elements.’ ‘Elements of Natural History and Chemistry’ (1788) and Chaptal’s ‘Elements’ (1795), both translations or adaptations.

Fenwick’s publication. A pamphlet on behalf of the Rev. James O’Coigly. The ‘late trial’ would be that of Arthur (referred to on the next page) O’Connor (1763–1852) and Coigly at Maidstone for high treason. Coigly was found guilty on May 22, 1798, and executed on June 7. Although O’Connor was found Not Guilty, he was not liberated until 1803. See also Note to p. 186.

174.

Mr Stodart. Sir John Stoddart (1773–1856), whose only sister, Sarah, married W. Hazlitt.

Mrs. Revely. Maria Reveley (née James), a friend of Godwin’s. (See Kegan Paul’s ‘Godwin,’ vol. i. p. 81 et seq.).

Warren. Richard Warren (1731–1797), the head of the medical practice of his day. Mrs. Inchbald composed memorial verses on his death.

Sir George Baker (1722–1809).

175.

Reynold’s. For Reynold’s read Reynolds’s.

the following assertion of Johnson. See Life (ed. G. B. Hill), vol. ii. p. 198.

C——. Carlisle. See note to p. 170.

176.

Ireland’s Hogarth Illustrated. John Ireland’s (d. 1808) edition, in 3 vols., roy. 8vo, 1791–98.

Boyd and Benfield. Walter Boyd (1754?–1837), financier, and Paul Benfield (d. 1810), Indian trader. They were bankers, established in London in 1793 and ruined in 1799. See Lockhart’s ‘Scott,’ chap. lxxvi.

Law. John Law (1681–1729), financial projector and Parisian banker. 430

Purcel. Henry Purcell (1658?–1695).

as Boswell affirms. See Life (ed. G. B. Hill), ii. 342. The statement was made by Tom Davies. Dr. Burney says, in a note, that Corelli never was in England.

Corelli. Archangelo Corelli, Italian musician (1653–1713).

177.

Phillips. Sir Richard Phillips (1767–1840), author, bookseller, and publisher. He established the ‘Monthly Magazine’ in 1796, which was edited by John Aikin.

F. the Cambridge man. Flower. See Note to p. 190.

Pinkerton (Heron’s Letters). John Pinkerton (1758–1826), Scottish historian and antiquarian. His ‘Letters of Literature’ (Robert Heron, 1785) introduced him to Walpole. See De Quincey’s ‘Orthographic Mutineers.’ Works, ed. Masson, xi. pp. 443–44.

the wife of Petion. Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve (1756–1794) of the French Revolution. He was proscribed in 1793 and escaped, but he and his companions shot themselves.

George Dyer (1755–1841), miscellaneous writer. See Lamb’s ‘Amicus Redivivus.’ ‘Elia,’ ed. Ainger, p. 281.

178.

Don Carlos. Schiller (1787). Stoddart (see note to p. 174) published a translation of ‘Don Carlos’ with G. H. Noehden in 1798.

Pitt ... duel. Pitt fought a duel with Tierney, 27th May, 1798, on Putney Heath. Pitt had accused Tierney of wilful obstruction. Neither shot took effect.

Count Rumford’s experiments on heat. Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814), created Count von Rumford by the Elector of Bavaria for his services to that State. He founded the Royal Institution.

Dalrymple. Alexander Dalrymple (1737–1808), hydrographer to the Admiralty.

Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), naturalist and companion of Captain Cook in a voyage round the world.

C——, G——, O——. Probably Carlisle, Godwin, and Opie.

Laudohn. Gideon Ernest Laudohn (1716–1790). Because of the intrigues of his rivals he was not created Field-Marshal until 1778.

179.

Crebillon. Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1674–1762), dramatic poet.

180.

Garat. Dominique Joseph Comte Garat (1749–1833) of the French Revolution.

Sir William B——. Sir William Beechey (1753–1839).

his picture of the dying Cardinal. ‘The Death of Cardinal Beaufort.’ A drawing by Fuseli of the same subject had appeared at the Royal Academy in 1774.

a picture by Fuseli for Comus. Henry Fuseli (1741–1825). The picture would be one of his forty for the ‘Milton Gallery,’ opened May 20, 1799, in Pall Mall.

181.

Sir F. Bourgeois. Sir Peter Francis Bourgeois (1756–1811), landscape painter to George III. His collection was bequeathed to Dulwich College.

Mr P——. Mr Pinkerton. Is this the ‘tragedy’ spoken of by Sir Walter Scott? See Lockhart’s ‘Life,’ Letter to Miss Joanna Baillie, March 21, 1813.

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

Steevens. George Steevens (1736–1800), Shakespearian commentator.

the two Sheares’s. John (1766–1798), and Henry (1753–1798), of the ‘United Irishmen.’ They were executed for high treason. See Lady Wilde’s poem, ‘The Brothers.’ 431

182.

a philippic by Francis ... against Thurlow. Sir Philip Francis (1740–1818), reputed author of the ‘Letters of Junius,’ and Edward Thurlow (1731–1806), Lord Chancellor (1778–83 and 1784–92). The speech by Francis was delivered on July 16, 1784 (Parl. Hist. xxiv. pp. 1102–22).

182.

Sastres. To whom Johnson bequeathed five pounds, ‘to be laid out in books of piety for his own use’ (ed. G. B. Hill, iv. 403). Boswell had perhaps annoyed him by a passage (ed. G. B. Hill, iii. 21), in which, speaking of the widely different persons with whom Johnson associated, he joined Lord Thurlow’s name with that of ‘Mr Sastres, the Italian master.’

183.

Johnson complains in one of his letters. ‘The best night I have had these twenty years was at Fort Augustus.’ Letter to Boswell (Life, ed. G. B. Hill, iii. 369).

184.

the new edition of Pilkington. ‘The Gentleman’s and Connoisseur’s Dictionary of Painters’ (1770), by Matthew Pilkington (1700?–1784). A new edition, edited by Dr. Wolcot, appeared in 1799.

Malone. Edmund Malone (1741–1812), commentator on Shakespeare and the friend and editor of Boswell.

Read. Isaac Reed (1742–1807), critic and Shakespearian commentator.

Boswell likewise prates. See Life (ed. G. B. Hill, iv. 40–41).

Dr. Towers. Joseph Towers (1737–1799), political writer. See p. 202.

the late Dr. Kippis. Andrew Kippis (1725–1795), dissenting divine.

P——’s tragedy. See note to p. 181.

185.

Loutherbourg. Philip James Loutherbourg (1740–1812), landscape painter.

Gilleray. James Gillray (1757–1815), caricaturist.

Mr E——. Erskine.

186.

Lord Thanet. Sackville Tufton, 9th Earl of Thanet (1767–1825). A Whig sympathiser of Arthur O’Connor’s. He was tried April 25, 1799, for attempting to rescue O’Connor at Maidstone. See note to p. 173. He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, fined £1000, and ordered to find security for 7 years in £20,000.

Judge Buller. Sir Francis Buller (1746–1800). He presided at the trial of Arthur O’Connor.

Garrow. Sir William Garrow (1760–1840), successively Solicitor-General (1812–13) and Attorney-General (1813–17).

Fullarton. ? William Fullarton (1754–1808), Anglo-Indian Commander, and Member of Parliament.

188.

the respite of Bond. Oliver Bond (1760?–1798), Irish republican, was tried, July 1798, and sentenced to be hanged for high treason. He was respited by the Viceroy, the Marquis Cornwallis, on the entreaty of his fellow-prisoners, who, to spare him, agreed to turn informers. See p. 190.

Farmer’s library. Richard Farmer (1735–1797), Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and author of ‘An Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare’ (1767). The Catalogue ran to nearly 400 pages, concerning over 8000 books. The library had cost £500 to collect, and sold for over £2000. The comment in the ‘Annual Register’ is ‘such is the rage for musty literature.’

Dr. Gosset. Isaac Gosset the younger (1735?–1812), bibliographer. He was a well-known figure at London auction sales.

189.

B——. Sir William Beechey.

Desenfans. Noel Joseph Desenfans (1745–1807), picture-dealer.

Farrington. Joseph Farington (1747–1821), landscape painter.

Hodges. William Hodges (1744–1797), Royal Academician.

190.

the Cambridge paper. ‘The Cambridge Intelligencer,’ edited by Benjamin Flower (1755–1829). He was imprisoned for libel in due course. His 432paper was a rare example of a provincial paper, advocating religious liberty and condemning the French war.

191.

Lowe (mentioned by Kim in his life of Johnson). Mauritius Lowe (1746–1793), the painter. For Boswell’s version of the story referred to in the text, see Life (ed. G. B. Hill, IV. 201–2).

N——. Nicholson. His ‘Journal [see pp. 192, 212] of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts,’ etc., appeared in 1797–1802 and 1802–15.

192.

the voyage of Perouse. John Francis Galoup de la Perouse (b. 1741), French circumnavigator. He perished off the New Hebrides after March 1788. Translations of ‘A Voyage round the World 1785–88’ were published 1798 (8vo), and 1799 (4to).

194.

Wild Oats, or the Strolling Gentleman. 1791. By John O’Keeffe. In 1798 his Works were published by Subscription in 4 vols.

Mr Ramsey. James Ramsey, divine and philanthropist (1733–1789). His ‘An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies’ was published in 1784.

195.

Emery and Mrs. Mills. John Emery (1777–1822). See Hazlitt’s note on p. 70. Genest (vol. vii. p. 426) says Mrs. Mills from York made her second appearance on Oct. 10 (Covent Garden). She acted Sophia in ‘The Road to Ruin,’ and Little Pickle in ‘The Spoil’d Child.’

196.

Dr. Parr. Samuel Parr (1747–1825), ‘the Whig Johnson.’ His ‘Præfatio ad Bellendenum de Statu’ was published in 1787.

Macintosh. ? Sir James Mackintosh (1765–1832). He was associated with the Society for Constitutional Information.

Lovers’ Vows. 1798. By Mrs. Inchbald, adapted from Kotzebue.

197.

J. Aickin. James Aickin or Aikin (d. 1803), actor.

Cumberland sent his Tiberius [in Capreæ].

198.

Dr. A——? Dr. John Aikin (1747–1822), physician and editor of ‘The Monthly Magazine.’ He was the father of Mrs. Barbauld.

Palmer. Thomas Palmer. See Genest (vol. vii. p. 427).

Edelinck. Gerard Edelinck (1649–1707), engraver.

199.

Boaden. James Boaden (1762–1839), the biographer of Mrs. Inchbald.

Bosville. William Bosville (1745–1813), bon vivant and friend of Horne Tooke. See the latter’s ‘Diversions of Purley.’

Tobin. John Tobin (1770–1804), dramatic writer.

200.

Grenville. William Wyndham, Baron Grenville (1759–1834).

Cornwallis. Charles, 1st Marquis and 2nd Earl Cornwallis (1738–1805). Governor-General of India, and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

201.

School for Ingratitude. A comedy by Fisher (1798).

Mr Reynolds. Frederick Reynolds (1764–1841). ‘Cheap Living’ appeared in 1797, but ‘The School for Ingratitude’ had been submitted at Drury Lane and rejected before its publication in 1798. See Genest (vol. vii. p. 329).

Tierney. George Tierney (1761–1830), statesman and political writer, Whig and duellist (with Pitt). Probably the T—— referred to on p. 199.

Walpole’s Painters. Anecdotes of Painting in England (1762–1771). Issued from Strawberry Hill.

the Narrative, etc. See notes to pp. 139 and 156.

Fittler. James Fittler (1758–1835), engraver.

the Exiles. A translation or adaptation of Kotzebue’s (1761–1819) play. See p. 196.

Platonist Taylor. Thomas Taylor (1758–1835), lecturer on, and translator of, Plato. 433

202.

Tone. Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–1798), Irish revolutionist. He committed suicide in prison while under sentence of death.

Wakefield’s pamphlet. See note to p. 171.

Morland. George Morland (1763–1804), painter of country scenes and humble life.

203.

Dr. Franklin. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790).

Dr. Solander. Daniel Charles Solander (1736–1782). Swedish naturalist, and companion of Sir Joseph Banks and Captain Cook in a voyage round the world.

Bentley. Thomas Bentley (1731–1780), entered into partnership with Wedgwood, 1768.

Wedgewood. Josiah Wedgwood (1730–1795), the potter.

Sir Francis Burdett (1770–1844), radical politician.

204.

King’s ... speech. At the opening of Parliament, Nov. 20.

Brown, the Egyptian traveller. William George Browne (1768–1813), whose ‘Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria 1792–98’ appeared in 1800.

S——’s. Symmonds’s. See p. 205 and Note to p. 152.

205.

Ward, the pugilist. Ould Joe Ward, the father of the prize ring (b. 1751). See Pierce Egan’s ‘Boxiana,’ vol. i. p. 424, and vol. iii. p. 496.

Jew K——. John King. See a letter from Godwin to him, Jan. 24, 1796, concerning ‘the frequency of my visits’ (Kegan Paul’s ‘Godwin,’ 1. 155).

206.

the daughters of Horne Tooke. Mary and Charlotte Hart, his illegitimate daughters.

the Wheel of Fortune. 1795. By Cumberland.

208.

Canning’s fine speech. Tierney had moved a peace proposal on Dec. 11. Canning’s speech against the motion (which was negatived) occupies thirty-eight columns in the ‘Parliamentary History.’

209.

Northcote. James Northcote (1746–1831).

West. Benjamin West (1738–1820), painter.

212.

Dr. Beddoes. Thomas Beddoes (1760–1808). He was the father of Thomas Lovell Beddoes.

Wedgewood. Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805), the friend of Coleridge.

Parkinson, jun. ... Parkinson, sen. James Parkinson (1730?–1813) won Sir Ashton Lever’s Museum (1784) by lottery. Placed in a building erected for it at the Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge (later the home of the Surrey Institution), it was one of the sights of London. It was sold by auction in 1806. Joseph Parkinson, son of the above (1783–1855), was an architect, and designed the Library of the Leverian Museum.

Lillo’s Fatal Curiosity. 1736. By George Lillo (1693–1739).

213.

L——. Willoughby Lacy, Garrick’s partner at Drury Lane.

214.

Brueys. François Paul Brueys d’Aigaïlliers (1753–1798), the French admiral who commanded the fleet in the Egyptian expedition. He was killed at the battle of Aboukir.

Serres. Dominic Serres (1722–1793), of Gascon birth, was marine painter to the king; he was succeeded in that office by his son, John Thomas Serres (1759–1825).

215.

‘the Jew and the Doctor.’ 1798. By Thomas J. Dibdin (1771–1841).

216.

Le Bon. Joseph Le Bon (1765–1795); his acts against the opponents of the Revolution were very harsh, and they led to his being guillotined.

217.

Tierney’s motion. Tierney complained on the 27th against the ‘Times’ for misrepresenting speeches of members. The motion was withdrawn on the 31st after satisfactory assurances from the editor to Tierney. 434

Lord Holland. Henry Richard Vassall Fox, 3rd Lord Holland (1773–1840). He is referred to later as Lord H——.

N——’s ... academy. Nicholson opened a school in Soho, but it had only a brief career.

218.

His speech in the Lords. The third reading of the Bill for the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus came up in the Lords on Jan. 3. After it was carried Lord Holland entered a protest on the Journals.

219.

‘The Votary of Wealth.’ 1799. By Joseph George Holman (1764–1817), the original Harry Dornton in Holcroft’s ‘Road to Ruin.’

Belsham from Davenant. Probably William Belsham (1752–1827), a writer on the Whig side, and brother of the Unitarian divine. Davenant: Dr. Charles D. (1656–1714), political economist.

220.

as the lion, etc. ‘Troilus and Cressida,’ III. 3.

221.

Lord Camelford’s attempt. Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford (1775–1804), naval commander, tried to go to France to procure a set of French charts, using a French refugee’s letter of introduction to Barras, in which he was set forth as one ready to serve the French Government. The suspicions of the boatmen, however, were aroused, and he was handed over to the English Government officials. He was examined by the Privy Council, and, although set at liberty, the Admiralty disapproved of his action and relieved him of the command of his ship.

Girton. Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), water-colour painter, of whom Turner said, ‘Had Tom Girtin lived, I should have starved.’

Artois. Jacques d’Artois, Flemish painter of rural scenes (1613?–1678).

Barry, the painter. James Barry (1741–1806), painter of the large pictures ‘Human Culture’ for the Society of Arts.

222.

his verses on young statesmen. A political jeu d’esprit ‘On the Young Statesmen’ attributed to Dryden.

Paul Benfield. See note to p. 176.

C. Grey, M.P. (1764–1845), afterwards the 2nd Earl Grey.

Lord S——’s Address. Charles, 3rd Earl Stanhope (1753–1816), of revolutionary sympathies, issued an ‘address to the Nations of Great Britain and Ireland’ against the proposed Union.

‘the Sorcerer’ ... Veil Weber. An edition of The Sorcerer, a Tale, from the German of Veit Weber, was published in London in 1795.

Knight. Thomas Knight (d. 1820).

224.

S——, a painter. Probably John Smart (1741–1811), miniature painter, who was in India for some years between 1788 and 1797.

Dr. Drennan. William Drennan (1754–1820), M.D., Irish poet, and a leader of the United Irishmen.

225.

Metzu. Gabriel Metzu (1615–1658), Dutch painter.

226.

Incledon. Charles Incledon (1763–1826), vocalist.

Master Field. John Field (1782–1837). After his début as an infant prodigy (he had played at a public concert with Clementi in 1794 or–95) he went on a continental tour with Clementi, and finally settled down in Russia, where his music was much appreciated.

Brothers. Richard Brothers (1757–1824), fanatic, who set forth in 1793 as the nephew of the Almighty.

227.

R. A. R. Adair. See note to p. 169.

228.

Mr Drummond. Samuel Drummond (1765–1844), portrait and historical painter.

Cadell. Thomas Cadell the younger (1773–1836).

Brown’s travels. See note to p. 204. 435

Secret. 1799. By Edward Morris.

Feudal Times. 1799. By George Colman the younger.

230 Deaf and Dumb, or the Orphan protected, an historical drama taken from the French of J. N. Bouilly (under the name of Herbert Hill). 1801.

232.

Travels in France. Travels from Hamburg, through Westphalia, Holland, and the Netherlands, to Paris. 1804. 2 vols.

235.

The Escapes, or the Water-Carrier. Covent Garden, Oct. 14, 1801.

A Tale of Mystery. Covent Garden, Nov. 13, 1802.

The Lady of the Rock. Feb. 12, 1805, Drury Lane.

The Vindictive Man. A Comedy, 1806, Drury Lane.

236.

the Theatrical Recorder. See note to p. 76.

‘Tales in Verse.’ Critical, Satirical, and Humorous, 1806. 2 vols.

‘Brian Perdue.’ Memoirs of Bryan Perdue, 1805. 3 vols.?

242.

our worthy and liberal friend G. Godwin.

245.

snows. Brig-like vessels.

Pocock. Robert Pocock of Gravesend. His ‘Gravesend Water Companion, describing all the towns, churches, villages, parishes, and gentlemen’s seats, as seen from the River Thames, between London Bridge and Gravesend Town,’ was published in 1798.

traject. Passage.

246.

The potentate of the North ... Peter ... Paul. Probably the Czars Paul (1754–1801) and Peter the Great (1672–1725) are intended. Paul, an imperious and capricious Emperor, reigned 1796–1801.

251.

Culpepper. Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654), herbalist.

252.

Pontoppidan. Eric Pontoppidan (1698–1764), author of ‘The Natural History of Norway.’

255.

ancient Pistol. ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ and ‘Henry IV.’

267.

Mr Professor Dugald Stewart, philosopher and metaphysician (1753–1828).

268.

Les Veillées du Chateau. See note to p. 104.

Madame de Genlis. Stephanie Félicité du Crest de Saint-Aubin, Countess de Genlis (1746–1830), a voluminous writer.

270.

Theatre d’Education. ‘Théâtre à l’usage des jeunes personnes’ (1779–80). ‘Théâtre de Société’ (1781).

271.

Lord Kaimes’s Sketches of Man. Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696–1782). ‘Sketches of the History of Man’ (1774).

273.

Mrs. Colles. ? Mrs. Cole, Holcroft’s daughter, see p. 143, note.

278.

Note. The Pantisocrasy Scheme. The Utopian ‘all men are equal’ scheme, advocated by Southey, Coleridge, and Lovell (c. 1794).

279.

Mr Dermody. Thomas Dermody (1775–1802).

Robert Lovell (1770?–1796). The associate of Southey and Coleridge in their plan for an ideal life on the banks of the Susquehanna. The three friends married three sisters.

280.

Mergées. Mr W. C. Hazlitt writes that this name should be Merger.

281.

From Madame de Genlis. This letter would seem to be the one to which Holcroft replied. See p. 268.

LIBER AMORIS

The facts relating to the episode in Hazlitt’s life which is the subject of this book are referred to in the General Introduction to the present edition (see vol. i. 436pp. xviii, xix), but it may be useful to give here a brief summary of them, and to refer shortly to the few later books which throw further light upon the matter.

Before the autumn of 1819 Hazlitt and his wife had ceased to live together, and in 1820 Hazlitt went to lodge in the house of a tailor named Walker, at No. 9 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, where, on August 16, he first saw the heroine of this book, Sarah Walker, the elder of his landlord’s two unmarried daughters. Some time in the same year (1820), or in the following year, Mrs. Hazlitt agreed, or rather, as we must assume (since she afterwards took the Oath of Calumny), decided to take proceedings for divorce under the Scottish law, for which purpose it was necessary for both parties to go to Scotland. Hazlitt accordingly started for Edinburgh early in 1822, and reached Scotland in February, after having been detained for a time at Stamford, where he began ‘a book of our conversations (I mean mine and the statue’s), which I call Liber Amoris.’ Mrs. Hazlitt did not arrive in Edinburgh till April 21, and the business of the divorce was not finally settled till July. Hazlitt spent the greater part of the time between March and July either in Edinburgh or at Renton Inn, Berwickshire, whence he addressed several of his letters to his friend, P. G. Patmore, and where he wrote some of the essays which subsequently appeared in vol. ii. of Table Talk. In May he delivered two lectures at Glasgow, one (May 6) on Milton and Shakespeare, the other (May 13) on Thomson and Burns. From Glasgow he seems to have gone for a short trip to the Highlands with his friend Sheridan Knowles, to whom he afterwards addressed the concluding letters of Liber Amoris. Towards the end of May he paid a hurried visit to London, returning to Scotland early in June. The book itself was published anonymously by John Hunt in 1823, the copyright being purchased from Hazlitt by C. H. Reynell for £100.

It is unnecessary to refer to the many merely critical comments on the book and its story, and it remains only to mention the works which may be regarded as additional and authoritative sources of information. P. G. Patmore devoted to the subject one chapter (vol. iii. pp. 171–188) of his lengthy recollections of Hazlitt in My Friends and Acquaintance (3 vols., 1854), and published extracts from some of the letters he had received from Hazlitt. Further extracts from the same correspondence and extracts from the journal kept by Mrs. Hazlitt in Scotland appeared in Mr W. C. Hazlitt’s Memoirs of William Hazlitt (2 vols., 1867). All these letters (with a few trifling exceptions) and the whole of Mrs. Hazlitt’s journal were printed from the original MSS. in Mr Le Gallienne’s edition of Liber Amoris, published in 1894 (see Bibliographical Note, ante, p. 284). This edition contains also a transcript of the original MS. of Liber Amoris (Part 1.) (believed to be in the handwriting of Patmore with additions written by Hazlitt), and (besides Mr Le Gallienne’s introduction) an unsigned essay by Mr W. C. Hazlitt, entitled ‘Hazlitt from another point of view.’ B. W. Procter (Barry Cornwall), who visited Hazlitt at Southampton Buildings, referred to the subject in his Recollections of Men of Letters (see Bryan Waller Procter, An Autobiographical Fragment, 1877, pp. 180–82). Finally, in Lamb and Hazlitt (1900), Mr W. C. Hazlitt published for the first time a MS. which contains Hazlitt’s comment on the experiences of Patmore (recorded in the form of a Diary), from March 4 to March 16, 1822, during which time he appears to have been (at Hazlitt’s request) a lodger at No. 9 Southampton Buildings. This MS. is entirely in Hazlitt’s handwriting.

PAGE

288.

‘with looks,’ etc. Il Penseroso, l. 38.

290.

‘But I will come again, my love,’ etc. Burns’s song, ‘O, my luve is like a red, red rose.’

‘Pensive nun,’ etc. Il Penseroso, l. 31. 437

294.

Mr M——. Sarah Walker’s elder sister had married a man called Roscoe, who is referred to in the Liber Amoris as ‘Mr M——.’

300.

‘What is this world,’ etc. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (The Knightes Tale, ll. 2777–79).

301.

‘So shalt thou find me,’ etc. Byron’s Sardanapalus, Act IV. Scene 1.

Rosetta. In Bickerstaffe’s Love in a Village, one of the most successful parts played by Catherine Stephens (1794–1882). See Hazlitt’s Dramatic Essays.

302.

Mr Macready. William Charles Macready (1793–1873) appears to have played Romeo at Covent Garden on Jan. 24, 1822.

303.

‘Oh! if I thought,’ etc. Troilus and Cressida, Act III. Scene 2.

304.

C. P——, Esq. Peter George Patmore (1786–1855), journalist, and author of Imitations of Celebrated Authors, etc. (1826), Chatsworth, or the Romance of a Week (1844), The Mirror of the Months (1826), and other works. His recollections of Hazlitt in My Friends and Acquaintance (3 vols., 1854) are interesting and even valuable if allowance is made for some exaggeration. He was the father of Coventry Patmore. See B. Champney’s, Memoirs and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore (1900), chap. ii.

Bees-Inn. Renton Inn, on the London Road, near Grant’s House in Berwickshire, forty-one miles from Edinburgh.

306.

‘Of such sweet breath composed.’ Hamlet, Act III. Scene 1.

‘Answer me that, Master Brook.’ ‘Think of that, Master Brook.’ Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III. Scene 5.

Letter III. From Edinburgh, March 30, 1822.

307.

Letter IV. From Edinburgh, April 21, 1822.

308.

‘To lip a chaste one,’ etc. ‘To lip a wanton in a secure couch, And to suppose her chaste.’ Othello, Act IV. Scene 1.

Strike my forehead against the stars. ‘Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseris, Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.’ Horace, Odes, I. 1. 35–36.

As Rousseau said. ‘Ce fut dans ce bosquet qu’assis avec elle sur un banc de gazon, sous un acacia tout chargé de fleurs, je trouvai, pour rendre les mouvements de mon cœur, un langage vraiment digne d’eux.’—Confessions, Liv. IX., p. 393 (édit. Garnier).

Letter V. From Edinburgh, April 7, 1822.

From Montrose. This is of course fiction, like Hazlitt’s statement in the advertisement that the author was a native of North Britain (see ante, p. 285).

309.

‘Treason domestic,’ etc. Macbeth, Act III. Scene 2.

311.

Letter VII. From Edinburgh, June 20–21, 1822.

‘And carved on every tree,’ etc. As You Like It, Act III. Scene 2.

312.

Letter VIII. From Renton Inn, June 9, 1822.

314.

Its mighty heart, etc. Cf. ‘And all that mighty heart was lying still’ in Wordsworth’s Sonnet ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge.’

The Prince of Critics, etc. Francis Jeffrey (1773–1850) had lived at Craigcrook (on the north-eastern slope of Corstorphine Hill, not on ‘the far-off Pentland Hills’) since 1815. Hazlitt had already contributed several 438articles to the Edinburgh Review, and had met Jeffrey during his visit to Scotland.

314.

As I read of Amy and her love. Kenilworth had been published in the preceding year (1821).

315.

Letter IX. From Edinburgh, July 3, 1822.

316.

‘Made my wedded wife yestreen.’ Burns’s Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn, st. 10.

Like Lady Bellaston. Tom Jones, Book XV. Chap. ix.

The old song. Hazlitt refers perhaps to Richard Hewitt’s ‘Roslin Castle,’ beginning ‘’Twas in that season of the year,’ published in Johnson’s The Scots Musical Museum (1787–1803), and praised by Burns.

317.

Letter X. From Renton Inn, June 18, 1822.

‘All below was not the fiend’s.’ King Lear, Act IV. Scene 6.

319.

Hysterica passio. Cf. King Lear, Act II. Scene 4.

Letter XI. From Edinburgh (?), June 25, 1822.

320.

‘She’s gone,’ etc. ‘She’s gone; I am abused, and my relief Must be to loathe her.’ Othello, Act III. Scene 3.

321.

Letter XII. This is merely a postscript to the former letter (XI.).

‘Love is not love,’ etc. Shakespeare’s Sonnets, No. CXVI.

325.

Letter XIII. July 8, 1822.

‘I have mistook,’ etc. ‘I do mistake my person all this while: Upon my life, she finds, although I cannot, Myself to be a marvellous proper man.’ Richard III, Act. I. Scene 2.

328.

Addressed to J. S. K——. Hazlitt’s friend, James Sheridan Knowles (1784–1862), the dramatist, who at this time lived at Glasgow. There is a reference to him in Hazlitt’s Spirit of the Age, at the end of the essay on Elia and Geoffrey Crayon.

Smollett’s monument. Erected by James Smollett, the novelist’s cousin, whom Johnson and Boswell visited on their way from the Highlands. The Latin inscription for the monument was partly the work of Johnson (Boswell’s Life, etc., ed. G. B. Hill, v. 366–68).

Logan’s beautiful verses to the cuckoo. Published originally by John Logan (1748–1788) in a volume entitled ‘Poems on Several Occasions, by Michael Bruce’ (1770). It appeared again in 1781, with a few alterations, in ‘Poems, by the Rev. Mr Logan, one of the ministers of Leith.’ Some difference of opinion still exists as to the authorship, which is claimed by some for Michael Bruce (1746–1767), a fellow-student of Logan’s at Edinburgh University. See Notes and Queries, 9th Ser., vii. 466; viii. 70, 148, 312, 388, 527.

Note. The verses begin, ‘Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove.’ The stanza quoted by Hazlitt is the sixth.

329.

The Trossacs. Whatever the ‘blue ridges’ may have been which Hazlitt saw, they were certainly nowhere near the Trossachs.

‘Italiam, Italiam.’ Possibly from Filicaja’s Sonnet (LXXXVII.) to Italy, beginning ‘Italia, Italia, o tu cui feo la sorte,’ and translated by Byron in Childe Harold (Canto IV., St. 42).

330.

Heaved her name, etc. King Lear, Act IV. Scene 3. 439

How near am I, etc. Quoted, with omissions, from Middleton’s Women beware Women (Works, ed. Dyce, iv. 569–70).

331.

‘Quicquid agit,’ etc. ‘Illam quidquid agit, quoquo vestigia movit Componit furtim subsequiturque decor.’

From the first of the Sulpicia poems (not the work of Tibullus) in the fourth book of the Elegies.

334.

‘See with what a waving air,’ etc. B. W. Procter’s (Barry Cornwall’s) Mirandola (Act I. Scene 3).

335.

‘What conjurations,’ etc. Othello, Act I. Scene 3.

336.

‘Nature and Art.’ By Mrs. Inchbald, published in 1796.

337.

‘Ugly all over with hypocrisy.’ See ante, note to p. 130.

340.

At once he took, etc. ‘Then took his Muse at once and dipt her Full in the middle of the Scripture.’ Gay, ‘Verses to be placed under the Picture of Sir Richard Blackmore, England’s Arch-Poet, etc.’

341.

‘Drugged this posset.’ Macbeth, Act II. Scene 2.

342.

‘Bestow some of my tediousness upon you.’

‘Dogberry. But truly, for mine own part, if I were tedious as a king, I could find it in my heart to bestow it all of your worship.

Leonato. All thy tediousness on me, ah?’ Much Ado About Nothing, Act III. Scene 5.

343.

‘Of tears which sacred pity,’ etc. As You Like It, Act II. Scene 7.

347.

The False Florimel. The Faerie Queene, Book III. Canto viii.

The man in the Arabian Nights. See The History of Sidi Nouman.

350.

‘Turned all to favour and to prettiness.’ Hamlet, Act IV. Scene 5.

356.

Heroes, according to Rousseau. Cf. ‘Le brave ne fait ses preuves qu’aux jours de bataille: le vrai héros fait les siennes tous les jours; et ses vertus, pour se montrer quelquefois en pompe, n’en sont pas d’un usage moins fréquent sous un extérieur plus modeste.’ Discours sur la vertu la plus nécessaire aux héros.

CHARACTERISTICS

360.

The wish is often ‘father to the thought.’ Henry IV., Part II. Act IV. Scene 5.

364.

‘Some trick not worth an egg.’ Coriolanus, Act IV. Scene 4.

365.

‘Spy abuses.’ ‘It is my nature’s plague to spy into abuses.’ Othello, Act III. Scene 3.

Emery’s acting. John Emery (1777–1822). See Hazlitt’s Dramatic Essays, where he speaks of Emery in similar terms.

366.

‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’ Pope’s Essay on Criticism, l. 625.

367.

‘A jest’s prosperity,’ etc. Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act V. Scene 2.

‘Quite chop-fallen.’ Hamlet, Act V. Scene 1.

368.

Russell. Samuel Thomas Russell (1769?–1845), famous for his acting of Jerry Sneak in Foote’s Mayor of Garratt (1763), a part created by Thomas Weston (1737–1776). Edward Shuter (1728?–1776), whom Garrick described as the greatest comic genius he had ever seen. For Joseph 440Shepherd Munden (1758–1832), John Bannister (1760–1836), and John Liston (1776?–1846), see the volume containing Hazlitt’s Dramatic Criticisms.

368.

‘Men of no mark or likelihood.’ Henry IV., Part I. Act III. Scene 2.

369.

‘Bare to weather.’ Cymbeline, Act III. Scene 3.

‘Poison in jest.’ Hamlet, Act III. Scene 2.

370.

‘A soul supreme,’ etc. Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford, ll. 23–26.

‘Lay the flattering unction to their souls.’ Hamlet, Act III. Scene 4.

The author of ‘Waverley.’ Scott publicly acknowledged his authorship at a dinner on behalf of the Theatrical Fund on Feb. 23, 1827. See Lockhart (ix. 79–84).

371.

‘In conscience and tender heart.’ ‘Al was conscience and tendre heart.’—Chaucer,

Prologue, 150.

372.

Mandeville. Bernard Mandeville (1670?–1733), author of ‘The Fable of the Bees’ (1714).

377.

‘To snatch a grace,’ etc. Pope’s Essay on Criticism, l. 153.

378.

Video meliora, etc. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, 7, 21.

382.

‘Minute drops from off the eaves.’ Cf. ‘His tears run down his beard, like winter’s drops From eaves of reeds.’ Tempest, Act V. Scene 1.

383.

Lord Egmont. John Perceval (1711–1770), 2nd Earl of Egmont (in the peerage of Ireland). The passage quoted is from a speech delivered in the House of Commons, against the Bill for the Naturalisation of Jews, on May 22, 1753 (not 1750). See Parl. Hist., XIV., 1366–1430. Hazlitt included a part of the speech in his Eloquence of the British Senate (ii. 519–21), where the year is also wrongly given. In a note on the passage quoted in the text he says: ‘This passage discovers more real depth of thought than any thing else I have met with in the course of these debates. There may be observations of equal value in Burke, but there is no single observation in any part of his works more profound, original, acute, and comprehensive: it may indeed be said to contain the germ of all his political reasoning. (See his French Revolution, etc.) In this speech we find the first denunciation of the intrusion of abstract theorems and metaphysical generalities into the science of politics.’

391.

‘My wife! I have no wife.’ Othello, Act V. Scene 2.

Huckman. James Hackman (1752–1779) shot Martha Ray, mistress of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, on April 7, 1779, as she was leaving Covent Garden Theatre. According to his own story, he intended to kill neither Miss Ray nor Lord Sandwich, but himself. He had two pistols, a circumstance which led to a violent dispute between Dr. Johnson and Topham Beauclerk. See Boswell’s Life (ed. G. B. Hill, iii. 383–85). Boswell accompanied him to Tyburn. Sir Herbert Croft in 1780 published an account of the tragedy in a series of fictitious letters entitled Love and Madness. Johnson disapproved of this ‘mingling real facts with fiction’ (ibid. iv. 287).

392.

‘Where we must live,’ etc. Othello, Act IV. Scene 2.

‘Age cannot wither,’ etc. Antony and Cleopatra, Act II. Scene 2.

393.

Fontenelle said. ‘Si je tenais toutes les vérités dans ma main, je me donnerais bien de garde de l’ouvrir aux hommes.’

395.

A second divorced his wife, etc. Hazlitt here sums up the story of Liber Amoris. 441

398.

Mr Opie. John Opie (1761–1807).

400.

And vindicates, etc. Pope’s Essay on Man, Ep. 1. l. 16.

402.

Denner’s. Balthasar Denner, a mechanical German painter (1685–1749).

405.

‘Baited with the rabble’s curse.’ Macbeth, Act V. Scene 8.

‘Monstrum ingens, biforme.’ ‘Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.’ Aeneid, III. 658.

409.

‘Men’s judgments,’ etc. Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. Scene 13.

413.

The Pleasures of Hope. Thomas Campbell’s The Pleasures of Hope was published in 1799; The Pleasures of Memory, by Samuel Rogers, in 1792.

415.

The Blacks, etc. Joseph Black (1728–1799), Professor of Medicine and Chemistry in Edinburgh University; Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1799); Joseph Priestley (1733–1804); Charles Davenant (1656–1714), son of the poet; John De Witt (1625–1672); Jean Baptiste Say (1767–1832); David Ricardo (1772–1823), and his disciple John Ramsay M’Culloch (1789–1864); Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834), author of the famous

Essay on the Principle of Population, etc. (1798).

416.

Rochefoucault observes. Maxims, No. 261.

417.

The picture of ‘The Misers.’ Les deux Avares of Quentin Metzys or Massys (1466–1531). Hazlitt describes the picture in his Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in England (Pictures at Windsor Castle).

Printed by T. and A. Constable, (late) Printers to Her Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press