74 LIFE OF 



for what a painter's eye considers the beauty of landscape/' but 

 he had the strongest perception and enjoyment of the charms 

 of poetry. Pope,, Johnson, Gray, and Crabbe ranked first in 

 his estimation among the English poets ; and for the writings of 

 Byron, Rogers, Campbell, and Mrs. Hemans, he had a high 

 admiration. His memory was wonderfully retentive, and no one 

 who was much in his society could fail to remark the peculiar 

 readiness and aptitude of his quotations. Whether the subject 

 of conversation were grave or lively, he had always at command 

 some strikingly apposite illustration of ideas casually expressed ; 

 and the deep feeling of its beauties which characterised his 

 manner of reciting poetry, added much to the effect of the pas- 

 sages so happily selected ; and if encouraged to go on, he would 

 repeat page after page of all his favourite authors. 



The singular powers of memory he possessed were combined 

 with a very uncommon facility for retaining even the words in 

 which ideas were conveyed to his mind. On one occasion, at 

 the house of his friend, the late Sir Uvedale Price, a gentleman 

 present quoted a passage from Gibbon's Roman History ; Mr. 

 Knight expressed a doubt whether he had used the exact words of 

 Gibbon ; and in confirmation of his opinion repeated a page and 

 a half from the work, including the passage in question. On 

 the book itself being referred to, the accuracy of his quotation 

 was established. This was not a singular instance, for had it 

 been Hume, or Robertson, or almost any other standard work 

 of history or philosophy, that had been referred to, he would 

 probably have been equally master of any striking passage. 



At another time Dr. Cornewall, then Bishop of Hereford, 

 repeated to Mr. Knight an epitaph on Douglas, eighth Duke of 

 Hamilton, containing twenty-two lines, with the merit of which 

 he was much struck, and some discussion on its beauties fol- 

 lowed. When Mr. Knight came down to breakfast the next 

 morning, he had recalled the whole of the lines to his recollec- 

 tion, and on their being written down from his dictation, they 

 were found to be perfectly correct. 



To the end of his life this power of memory, which is usually 



