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
_27th._—T. North, Lord Thanet, &c. at Debrett’s. The ravages of the
yellow fever at Philadelphia and New York, detailed in to-day’s
Chronicle. Courtney says, he lately read in one of Dr. Franklin’s
letters, a passage where the doctor foretold epidemical diseases, if
draining and cleanliness were not more carefully practised.
_28th._—Called to settle with S——, reminded him that the preface I
wrote, and the proofs I read for him, while a prisoner with him in
Newgate, had I charged them, if charged at twelve guineas, would not
have been more than a third of the value of my time, yet I had charged
nothing, nor should, unless he contested a fair account. This induced
him immediately to allow the balance due on the sale of my books. Papers
at Debrett’s. On Thursday the 22nd, Fanny met the Miss Harts, drinking
tea with Miss Banks; they are the daughters of Horne Tooke. Horne Tooke
takes some pleasure in praising his daughters, which he sometimes does
by those equivocatory falsehoods, which are one of his principal
pleasures. Of the eldest, he says, “all the beer brewed in this house is
of that young lady’s brewing.” It would be equally true were he to say,
all the hogs killed in this house are of that young lady’s killing, for
they brew no beer. When a member of the Constitutional Society, I have
frequently heard him utter sentences, the first part of which would have
subjected him to death, by the law, but for the salvo that followed; and
the more violent they were, thus contrasted and equivocatory, the
greater was his delight.
_30th._—P—— to dinner. Manuscript letters of James I., Prince Henry, &c.
in the Museum. P—— had been reading them, says the character in which
they are written, is uncommonly beautiful; and that many of them
addressed to Prince Henry, were from projectors and improvers with which
that time abounded. Henry delighted in patronizing and encouraging them.
P—— of opinion that the high character given of Henry, was well
deserved.
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