Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 1De Quincey, Thomas
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Memorials and Other Papers — Volume 1
De Quincey, Thomas
English essays
For instance, replies are usually introduced thus:
"_But him answering thus addressed the sovereign Agamemnon;_"
or; in sonorous Greek:
"Ton d' apameibomenos prosephé kreion Agamemnon;"
or, again, according to the circumstances:
"But him sternly surveying saluted the swift-footed Achilles;"
"Ton d'ar', upodra idon, prosephé podas okus Achilleus."
This being premised, and that every one of the audience, though
pretending to no Greek, yet, from his school-boy remembrances, was as
well acquainted with these _formulæ_ as with the scriptural formula
of _Verily, verily, I say unto you, &c._, Sheridan, without needing to
break its force by explanations, solemnly opened thus:
"Ton d' apameibomenos prosephé Sheridanios heros."_
Simply to have commenced his answer in Greek would have sufficiently met
the comic expectation then thrilling the house; but, when it happened
that this Greek (so suitable to the occasion) was also the one sole
morsel of Greek that everybody in that assembly understood, the effect,
as may be supposed, was overwhelming, and wrapt the whole house in what
might be called a fiery explosion of laughter. Meantime, as prizes in
the matrimonial lottery, and prizes in all senses, both young ladies
were soon carried off. Miss Smith, whose expectations I never happened
to hear estimated, married a great West India proprietor; and Miss
Watson, who (according to the popular report) would succeed to six
thousand a year on her twenty-first birthday, married Lord Carbery.
Miss Watson inherited also from her father something which would not
generally be rated very highly, namely, a chancery lawsuit, with the
East India Company for defendant. However, if the company is a potent
antagonist, thus far it is an eligible one, that, in the event of losing
the suit, the honorable company is solvent; and such an event, after
some nine or ten years' delay, did really befall the company. The
question at issue respected some docks which Colonel Watson had built
for the company in some Indian port. And in the end this lawsuit,
though so many years doubtful in its issue, proved very valuable to Miss
Watson; I have heard (but cannot vouch for it) not less valuable than
that large part of her property which had been paid over without demur
upon her twenty-first birth-day. Both young ladies married happily; but
in marriage they found their separation, and in that separation a shock
to their daily comfort which was never replaced to either. As to Miss
Smith's husband, I did not know him; but Lord Carbery was every way an
estimable man; in some things worthy of admiration; and his wife never
ceased to esteem and admire him. But she yearned for the society of her
early friend; and this being placed out of her reach by the accidents of
life, she fell early into a sort of disgust with her own advantages of
wealth and station, which, promising so much, were found able to perform
nothing at all in this first and last desire of her heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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