1821.] Stepke/isiana.—No* III, 427 
you without a fee. Here—John, or 
Isaac, bring a glass of punch for Mr. 
-, unless lie like brandy and water 
better. Take that, Sir, and I’ll war¬ 
rant you’ll soon be well—you’re a peg 
too low r —you w T ant a little stimulus, 
and if one glass w r on’t do, call for a 
second.” 
There was a growling man, of the 
name of Dobson, who, when his asthma 
permitted, vented his spleen upon both 
sides; and a lover of absurd paradoxes, 
of the name of Heron, author of some 
works of merit, but so devoid of prin¬ 
ciple that, deserted by all, he would 
have died from w ant if Dr. Garthshore 
had not placed him as a patient in the 
empty Fever Institution. 
Robinson, the King of the Booksel¬ 
lers, was frequently of the party, as 
well as his brother John, a man of some 
talent; and Joseph Johnson, the 
friend of Priestley, and Paine, and 
Cowper, and Fuzeli. Phillips, then 
commencing his Magazine, was also on 
a keen look out for recruits, with his 
wnistcoat-pocket full of guineas, to slip 
his enlisting money into their hands.* 
Alexander Chalmers, the work¬ 
man of the Robinsons, and through 
their introduction editor of many large 
books, also enlivened the box by 
many sallies of w r it and humour, and in 
anecdotes, of which he had a plentiful 
store at command- He always took 
much pains to be distinguished from 
* The proprietor of this Miscellany, at 
the period of its commencement in the win¬ 
ter of 1795-6, lodged and boarded at the 
Chapter, and not only knew the characters 
referred to by Mr. S., but many others 
equally original , from the voracious glutton 
in politics, who waited for the wet papers 
in the morning twilight, to the comfortless 
bachelor, who sat till the fire was raked out 
at half-past twelve at night, all of whom 
took their successive stations, like figures 
in a magic lantern. In regard to the en¬ 
listing money to which Mr. S. alludes, it 
may be proper to state, that so many trum¬ 
pery periodical works, then, as now, were 
constantly obtruded on the public, that it 
was difficult to impress on men of talents, 
the possibility of establishing a work of 
permanent character like the Monthly Ma¬ 
gazine y and to secure reluctant aid, the 
Editor sometimes, in a parting shake by the 
hand, left five guineas in the palm of his 
desired assistant. So tangible an ar¬ 
gument in every case allayed scruples, 
and tended, among other circumstances, to 
raise this Miscellany to that pinnacle of ce¬ 
lebrity which it has ever since maintained. 
Editor. 
his name-sake George, who, he used to 
say, carried 44 the leaden mace ” and 
was much provoked whenever he hap¬ 
pened to be taken for his name-sake. 
Cahusac, a teacher of the classics ; 
M 4 Leod, a writer in the papers; the 
two Parrys of the Courier, then the 
organ of jacobinism ; and Capt. Skin¬ 
ner, a man of elegant manners, who 
personated our nation in the procession 
of Anacharis Clootz, at Paris, in 1793, 
were also in constant attendance. 
One Baker, once a Spitalfields ma¬ 
nufacturer, a great talker, and not less 
remarkable as gn eater, was constant ; 
but having shot himself at his lodgings 
in Kirby-street, it was discovered that 
for some years lie had had no other 
meal per day besides the supper 
which he took at the Chapter, where 
there being a choice of viands at the 
fixed price #f one shilling, this, w ith a 
pint of porter, constituted his subsist¬ 
ence, till his last resources failing, he 
put an end to himself. 
Lowndes, the celebrated electrician, 
was another of our set, and a facetious 
man. Buchan,Juii. a graduated son 
of the Doctor, generally came with 
Lowndes, and though somewhat dogma¬ 
tical,yet he added 4 to the variety and good 
intelligence of our discussions, which, 
from the mixture of company, was as va¬ 
rious as the contents of the newspapers. 
Dr. Busby, the musician, and a very 
ingenious man, often obtained a hear¬ 
ing, and was earnest in disputing with 
the torles. And Macfarlane, the au¬ 
thor of the History of George the Third, 
was always admired for the soundness 
of his views ; but this worthy man was 
killed by the pole of a coach, during a 
procession of Sir F. Burdett, from 
Brentford. 
Kelly, an Irish schoolmaster and 
gentlemanly man,kept up warm debates 
by his equivocating politics, and was 
often roughly handled by Hammond 
and others, though he bore his defeats 
w ith constant good humour. 
There w as a young man of the name 
of Wilson, who acquired the name of 
Long-bow Wilson, from the number of 
extraordinary secrets of the haut ton 
which he used to retail by the hour. 
He w as a good-tempered, and certainly 
very amusing person, w ho seemed likely 
to be an acquisition among the JVitten - 
agemot , but having run up a score ot 
thirty or forty pounds, he suddenly ab¬ 
sented himself. Miss Brun, the keeper 
of the house, begged of me, if I met 
with him, to tell him that she would 
give 
