The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 02 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
General
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 02 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
forced loan of the bank of Vienna. Lord Thanet came in, and was
questioned concerning a prosecution which, it is said, government have
instituted against him and others, for an attempt to rescue O’Connor in
the Court at Maidstone. He answered he heard this prosecution was begun,
but had yet received no official notice of it. The coachman of Judge
Buller, he said, was knocked down in Court, and ready to swear he, the
Earl, was the assailant, though he sat with the counsel, and was never
out of the eye of the Judge. The company affirmed Buller’s faculties are
decayed, (he has had a paralytic stroke.) As a proof, he tells different
stories at different times concerning this riot. Another adduced by
Thanet is, that, in summing up the evidence, instead of saying the
second prisoner, to whom he was referring, he repeatedly said the second
witness, till Garrow at length got up in a pet, and called, “You mean
the second prisoner, my Lord.” M—— and Lady W——, with her boy, were at
Debrett’s, the only persons when I first went. She talking her usual
masculine rhodomontade concerning Fullarton’s abuse of the Queen, in his
speech on the regency business, which M—— searched for in Debrett’s
Parliamentary Register, but she could not point out the passage, or at
least find the language which she had imputed to him. M——, anxious I
should know he was so familiar with a lady of rank, three times repeated
her title. I kept my eye on the paper I was reading. Was this malice, or
a proper treatment of petty vanity? His being once in Parliament gave
him an introduction to various persons whose rank he affects to despise,
but whose notice he most spaniel-like courts. A part of his gossip is,
always carefully to tell what lord informed him of this, and what
baronet or lady made such and such a remark. He appears to live with
true Scotch economy, except that he is a great feeder and drinker. He
hunts for invitations to dinner. Drank tea with Geiseveiller. G——, F——,
and Gessner; F—— a man of very confined intellect; being a Bavarian, he
is so prejudiced as to imagine Bavaria superior to other countries in or
out of Germany. Three other persons called after tea, two of them
English continental traders: the third, a German from Frankfort, who has
executed contracts for government, and is come to England to solicit
payment, which, after three years petitioning and dunning, he is still
unable to obtain. So G—— tells me, who has it, I suppose, from himself.
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