The Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. YellowplushThackeray, William Makepeace
General
The Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Didactic fiction; England -- Fiction; Household employees -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Master and servant -- Fiction
You may guess that the Doctor, when he made this speach, was pretty far
gone. The fact is, that whether it was the coronation, or the goodness
of the wine (cappitle it is in our house, I can tell you), or the natral
propensaties of the gests assembled, which made them so igspecially
jolly, I don't know; but they had kep up the meating pretty late, and
our poar butler was quite tired with the perpechual baskits of clarrit
which he'd been called upon to bring up. So that about 11 o'clock, if I
were to say they were merry, I should use a mild term; if I wer to say
they were intawsicated, I should use a nigspresshn more near to the
truth, but less rispeckful in one of my situashn.
The cumpany reseaved this annountsmint with mute extonishment.
“Pray, Doctor Larnder,” says a spiteful genlmn, willing to keep up the
littery conversation, “what is the Cabinet Cyclopaedia?”
“It's the littherary wontherr of the wurrld,” says he; “and sure your
lordship must have seen it; the latther numbers ispicially--cheap as
durrt, bound in gleezed calico, six shillings a vollum. The illusthrious
neems of Walther Scott, Thomas Moore, Docther Southey, Sir James
Mackintosh, Docther Donovan, and meself, are to be found in the list of
conthributors. It's the Phaynix of Cyclopajies--a litherary Bacon.”
“A what?” says the genlmn nex to him.
“A Bacon, shining in the darkness of our age; fild wid the pure end
lambent flame of science, burning with the gorrgeous scintillations of
divine litherature--a monumintum, in fact, are perinnius, bound in pink
calico, six shillings a vollum.”
“This wigmawole,” said Mr. Bulwig (who seemed rather disgusted that his
friend should take up so much of the convassation), “this wigmawole
is all vewy well; but it's cuwious that you don't wemember, in
chawactewising the litewawy mewits of the vawious magazines, cwonicles,
weviews, and encyclopaedias, the existence of a cwitical weview and
litewary chwonicle, which, though the aewa of its appeawance is
dated only at a vewy few months pwevious to the pwesent pewiod, is,
nevertheless, so wemarkable for its intwinsic mewits as to be wead, not
in the metwopolis alone, but in the countwy--not in Fwance merely,
but in the west of Euwope--whewever our pure Wenglish is spoken, it
stwetches its peaceful sceptre--pewused in Amewica, fwom New York to
Ningawa--wepwinted in Canada, from Montweal to Towonto--and, as I am
gwatified to hear fwom my fwend the governor of Cape Coast Castle,
wegularly weceived in Afwica, and twanslated into the Mandingo
language by the missionawies and the bushwangers. I need not say,
gentlemen--sir--that is, Mr. Speaker--I mean, Sir John--that I allude
to the Litewary Chwonicle, of which I have the honor to be pwincipal
contwibutor.”
“Very true; my dear Mr. Bullwig,” says my master: “you and I being
Whigs, must of course stand by our own friends; and I will agree,
without a moment's hesitation, that the Literary what-d'ye-call'em is
the prince of periodicals.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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