Nuts to crack; or Quips, quirks, anecdote and facete of Oxford and Cambridge ScholarsGooch, Richard
History
Nuts to crack; or Quips, quirks, anecdote and facete of Oxford and Cambridge Scholars
Gooch, Richard
University of Cambridge -- Anecdotes; University of Oxford -- Anecdotes
Are recorded of the famous Cantab and Etonian, the Rev. George
Harvest, B.D., who was one day walking in the Temple Gardens, London,
with the son of his patron, the great Speaker Onslow, when he picked
up a curious pebble, observing he would keep it for his friend, Lord
Bute. He and his companion were going to _The Beef-steak Club_, then
held in Ivy-lane. Mr. Onslow asked him what o'clock it was, upon which
he took out his watch, and observed they had but ten minutes good.
Another turn or two was proposed, but they had scarcely made half the
length of the walk, when he coolly put the pebble into his _fob_, and
threw his watch into the Thames. He was at another time in a boat with
the same gentleman, when he began to read a favourite Greek author
(for, like Porson, his coat pockets generally contained a moderate
library) with such emphasis and strange gesticulations, that
HIS WIG AND HAT FELL INTO THE WATER,
And he coolly stepped overboard to recover them, without once dreaming
that it was not _terra-firma_, and was _fished_ out with great
difficulty. He frequently wrote a letter to one person, forgot to
subscribe his name to it, and directed it to another. On one occasion
he provided himself with three sermons, having been appointed to
preach before the Archdeacon and Clergy of the district. Some wags got
them, and having intermixed the leaves, stitched them together in that
state, and put them into his sermon-case. He mounted the pulpit at the
usual time, took his text, but soon surprised his reverend audience by
taking leave of the thread of his discourse. He was, however, so
insensible to the dilemma in which he was placed, that he went
preaching on. At last the congregation became impatient, both from the
length and the nature of his sermon. First the archdeacon slipped out,
then the clergy, one by one, followed by the rest of the congregation;
but he never flagged, and would have finished
HIS TRIPLE, THRICE-CONFUSED DISCOURSE,
Had not the clerk reminded him that they were the sole occupants of
the lately-crowded church. He went down to Cambridge to vote for his
Eton contemporary,
THE CELEBRATED LORD SANDWICH,
When the latter was candidate for the dignity of High-steward of the
University, in opposition to PITT. His lordship invited him to dine
with some friends at the Rose Inn. "_Apropos_, my lord," exclaimed
Harvest, during the meal, "whence do you derive your nick-name of
_Jemmy Twitcher_?" "Why," said his lordship, "from some foolish
fellow." "No, no," said Harvest, "not from some, for every body calls
you so;" on which his lordship, knowing it to be the favourite dish of
his quondam friend, put a huge slice of plum-pudding upon his plate,
which effectually stopped his mouth. His lordship has the credit of
being the originator and first President of the Cambridge Oriental
Club. He was also
THE INVENTOR OF SANDWICHES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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