10 



AUTHORS. 



"Well, we shall soon see. Jolm,go 

 to Vine Street, and fetch the police.' ' 



In a few minutes two policemen 

 appeared ; one went close up to Mr. 

 Campbell, the other to myself. 

 The poet was now in such breath- 

 less indignation, that he could not 

 articulate a sentence. I told the 

 policemen the object he had in 

 asking change ; and that the shop- 

 man had most unwarrantably in- 

 sulted us. "This gentleman," I 

 added, by way of a climax, " is Mr. 

 Thomas Campbell, the distinguished 

 poet, a man who would not hurt a 

 fly, much less act with the dishonest 

 intention that person has insinu- 

 ated." The moment I uttered the 

 name, the policeman backed away 

 two or three paces, as if awe-struck, 

 and said, 



" Guidness, mon, is that Maister 

 Cammell, the Lord Eector o' Glas- 

 gow?" 



" Yes, my friend, he is, as this 

 card may convince you," handing it 

 to him ; " all this commotion has 

 "been caused by a mistake." 



By this time the mercer had 

 cooled down to a moderate tem- 

 perature, and in the end made 

 every reparation in his power, say- 

 ing he was very busy at the time, 

 and had he but known the gentle- 

 man, " he would have changed fifty 

 sovereigns for him." 



" My dear fellow," said the poet, 

 who had recovered his speech, 

 " I am not at all offended," and it 

 was really laughable to see them 

 shaking hands long and vigorously, 

 each with perfect sincerity and 

 mutual forgiveness. 



SARAH, DUCHESS-DOWAGER OF 

 MARLBOROUGH. 



This favourite duchess, who, like 

 the proud Duke of Espernon, lived 

 to brave the successors in a court 

 where she had domineered, wound 

 up her capricious life with an apo- 

 logy for her conduct. The piece, 

 though weakened by the prudence 



of those who were to correct it, 

 though maimed by her grace's own 

 corrections, and though great part 

 of it is rather the annals of a ward- 

 robe than ef a reign, yet it has still 

 curious anecdotes, and a few of those 

 sallies of wit, which fourscore years 

 of arrogance could not fail to pro- 

 duce in so fantastic an understand- 

 ing. (Walpole's E. & N. Authors.) 



LORD HERVEY AND POPE. 



Lord Hervey, having felt some 

 attacks of the epilepsy, entered upon 

 and persisted in a very strict regi- 

 men, and thus stopped the progress 

 and prevented the effects of that 

 dreadful disease. His daily food 

 was a small quantity of asses' milk 

 and a flour biscuit : once a-week he 

 indulged himself with eating an 

 apple : he used emetics daily. Mr. 

 Pope and he were once friends ; but 

 they quarrelled ; and persecuted 

 each other with virulent satire. 

 Pope, knowing the abstemious regi- 

 men which Lord Hervey observed, 

 was so ungenerous as to call him 

 "a mere cheese-curd of asses' milk." 

 Lord Hervey used paint to soften 

 his ghastly appearance. Mr. Pope 

 must have known this also, and 

 therefore it was unpardonable in 

 him to introduce it into his cele- 

 brated portrait. That satirist had 

 the art of laying hold on detached 

 circumstances, and of applying them 

 to his purpose, without much regard 

 for historical accuracy. Thus, to his 

 hemistic, "Endow a college or a 

 cat," he adds this note, that "a 

 Duchess of Richmond left annuities 

 to her cats." The lady, as to whom 

 he seems so uncertain, was La Bella 

 Stuart of the Comte de Grammont. 

 She left annuities to certain female 

 friends, with the burden of main- 

 taining some of her cats ; a delicate 

 way of providing for poor, and, pro- 

 bably, proud gentlewomen, without 

 making them feel that they owed 

 their livelihood to her mere libe- 

 rality. (Lord Hailes.) 



