Boswelliana: The Commonplace Book of James Boswell, with a Memoir and AnnotationsBoswell, James
History
Boswelliana: The Commonplace Book of James Boswell, with a Memoir and Annotations
Boswell, James
Boswell, James, 1740-1795
* * * * *
“Old Hutton[298] talked of men of phlegm and men of fancy. Said H.,
‘Men of phlegm punish the beef, the solid parts of dinner; men of
fancy, the dessert.’ ‘Sir,’ said I, ‘men of fancy would have nothing
to work upon were there not men of phlegm. Men of phlegm perform the
actions, compile the histories, discover the arts and sciences upon
which poetry is founded.’”
* * * * *
“Dr. Burney[299] said he hoped I was now come to plant myself in
London. ‘I’ll bring the watering pan,’ said he.”
* * * * *
“I told Lord Galloway,[300] April, 1785, that I called Lord Daer
Darius.[301] ‘What,’ said he, ‘do you think him the son of Cyrus?’
laughing at Lord Selkirk. I did not think he’d have said this, though a
distinguished law lord.”
* * * * *
“When Pitt the second made his first appearance in the House of Commons
in opposition to Fox, Gibbon[302] said, ‘There is a beautiful painted
pinnace just going to be run down by a black collier.’ He never was
more mistaken. Pitt has more forcible indignation in him than Fox.”
WILKES.
* * * * *
“As a playful instance of the proverb, I said, ‘Every man has his
price. Lord Shelburne[303] has his price [meaning Dr. Price],[304] whom
I love and call _Pretium affectionis_.’”
Monday, 18th April, 1785, at
DR. BROCKLESBY’S.[305]
* * * * *
“General Paoli said more good things than almost anybody, yet he talks
of them with contempt. I told him he had always _bon mots_ about him,
which he used like footballs—he threw them down and gave them a kick.”
24th April, 1785.
* * * * *
“April, 1785, at Mr. Osborne’s. Sir Joseph Banks told me he was sure he
had a soul. He felt it high within him, as a woman does a child.”
* * * * *
“25th April, 1785. Dining on guard with Colonel Lord Cathcart,[306]
Cataline was mentioned. ‘Who was he?’ said George[307] Hanger, ‘for
I know no ancient history.’ ‘I’ll tell you what he was,’ said Colonel
Tarleton. ‘_Alieni cupidus, sui profusus_.’ ‘Very fair!’ said Hanger.
In a little talking of fellows going carelessly to execution, Tarleton
said, ‘We’re told Sir Thomas More smiled all the way.’”
* * * * *
“Mrs. Heron[308] being at her parish church, the name of the minister
being Stot,[309] as it was a very bad day, and the wind and rain were
driving through the windows, a lady observed that it was like a _guarde
mange_. ‘I think so too, madam,’ said she; ‘but if that were the case I
should think it would be better to have a dead stot than a living one.’”
From herself.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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