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    Well ^ r-Fe ^ ys pit was of ten almost empty . Bufc , on his leturp to jjhjglanct , people were anad about seeing Mm ; and Sir George Beaumont and severed others used frequently to get admission into the pit before the doors , Tpere openedto the ^ public , by meaas of bribing the attendants , who bade them "be sure , asrsoonas the oroTfrd rushed in , to pretend to be iu a great heat , and to wipe their faces , as if 4 h . ej had Just been struggling for eniranee . " Jack Bannister told me , that one night he "was behind the scenes of the theatre whenGarrick "was playing Lear ; and that the tones in which Garrick uttered the wards . "Q fool , I shall . go mad ! " absolutely thrilled him .

    comparatively little of Thucydides , —that , when he read him , he was obliged to mark with a pencil , in almost every page , passages which he did not understand And it speaks for his modesty and wisdom—in this case synonymous- ! that He y as a great reader of translations , and never wrote a note on any passage of an ancient author without Erst carefully looking how it had been rendered bTf cl ™ different translators . . * It is amusing , though not surprising , to learn that Porson sent Thomas Tavlor ( the Platonist J several emendations of Plato ' s text for his translation but " Taylor from his ignorance of the Greek language was unable to use them " People who have puzzled over Taylor ' s translations may now understand whv they were puzzled . While oa this subject of translation it may be ' worth recording that Rogers once asked Porson how long it would take him to translate the Iliad literally correctly into English prose . The answer was . " at least ten years . " '

    Garrick used to pay an annual visit to Lord Spencer at Altliorp ; where , after tea , he generally entertained the company by reading scenes from Shakspeare . Thomas Grenville , vrixo met lim there , told me that * Garrick would steal anxious glances atlihe faces of his audience , to perceive what effect his reading produced ; that , one night , Garrick observed a lady listening to him very attentively , and yet nevermoving a muscle of her countenance ; and that , speaking of her next day , he said , " She seems a very worthy person : but I hope that—that—that she won't be . present at my reading to-night . "—Another evening at Althorp , when Garrick was about to exhibit some particular stage-effect on which they had been talking , ajroung gentleman got up and placed the candles upon the floor , that the light might be thrown on his face as from the lamps in the theatre . Garrick , displeased at his offieiousness , immediately sat down again . Of Mrs- Siddons we read : — -

    After she had . left the stage , Mrs . Siddons , from the want of excitement ; , was never happy . When I was sitting - with her of an afternoon , she would say , * " Oh , dear ! this is the time I used to be thinking of going to the theatre : first came the pleasure of dressing for my part ; and then the pleasure of acting it : but that is ail over now . " "When a grand public dinner was given to John Kemble on his a d mitting the Milage , Mrs . Siddons said to me , " "Well , perhaps in the next -world women will be tnore valued than -they are in this . " She alluded to the comparatively little ' -sensation which had been produced by her own retirement from the boards : and apubtlessshe was a far , far greater performer than John Kemble . HCombe recollected having seen Mrs . Siddons , when a -very young woman , standing "By the side of her father ' s stage , and knocking a pair of snuffers against a candlestick , toimitate the sound of a windmill , during the representation of some Harlemun-piece .

    'Of Byron we hear ofteii , hut nothing very new or remarkable , except the following reminiscence of lis Memoir : — J remember that it cohtained this anecdote : — -on his marriage-night , Byron suddenly started out of bis first sleep j a tapeiv which burned in the room , was casting a ruddy glare through the crimson curtains of the b ed ; and he could not i ^ p exclaiming , iu a voice so loud that he wakened Lady B "Good God I am 3 ui * % iahell f ' 'There is considerable humour in this reply of Lady Jersey ' s : — ¦ . At a great party given by Henry Hope in Cavendish-squareLady Jersey said

    , , she ^ hadsomethingparticular ; to tell me ; so , not to be interrupted , we wentintb ^ e gallery .. As we were walking along it , we met the Prince of Wales , who , '< m seeing Lady Jersey , stopped for a moment , and then , drawing himself up , inarched past her with a look of the utmost disdain . Lady Jersey returned the look tt >' the full ; and , as soon as the Prirce was gone , said to me -with a smile , " ^ Didn't I do % well ?"—I was taking a c" rive with Lady Jersey in her carriage , when I expressed ( with great sincerity ) my regret at being unmarried , saying ; ihat "If I had a wife , I shouldlave somebody to care about me . " " Pray , Mr . IBbgers , " said Lady J ., h 6 w could you Toe sure that your wife would not care rihoire about someipdi / else than about you' ?'

    "What a glimpse is this of Moore , and how it explains his journals ! . . JJIoore is a very worthy man , "but not a little iimprovidejafc . His excellent wife contrives to ms&ntain ih , e whole family on a guinea n- \ veek ; and he , when in iiondon , thinks , nothing of throwing away that sum weekly on hackney-coaches and gloves . 1 said to him , " You must have made ten thousand pounds by your miisical publications . " He replied , " More than that . " In short , he has received for his various works nearly thirty thousand pounds . When , owjLng to the state of his affairs , he found it necessary to retire for a while , I advised him to make Holyrood House his refuge : there he could have lived cheaply and comfortably , with permission to walk about unmolested every Sunday , when he might have dined with Walter Scott or Jeffrey . But he would go to Paris ; and there he spent about a thousand a-year . ^ Singularly enough we have but few of the numerous good things uttered by Sydney Smith ; here are two , both exquisite : — He said that -was so fond of contradiction , that he would throw up the Window in the middle of the night , and contradict the watchman ivho was calling the hour . °

    When his physician advised him to « take a walk upon an empty stomach , ' Smith asked , " Upon whose ? " '

    Of the Iron Duke there are a few anecdotes j this is worth quoting ;—• Of the Duke ' s perfect coolness on the most trying occasions , Colonel Gurwood gaVe me this instance , He waB once in great danger of being drowned at sea . It was bed-time , when the captain of the vessel came to him , and said , " It will soon my it > oote . "' y W <* ' ( msvvered th 0 Duke > " * l •* & not take off We bave'thus ran through the volume , quoting as many titbits as our XFSJT U X J 'r $ t ^ ere if " . more % " t tho xead ^ mtwtiek them in the Ijfe ™ * ' £ n ™ Z \ lec * f of ? ° 6 " arc added sornerecollections of Pprson ,, given by Dr . Maitby to the editor ; from these too we may steal a Porson was not more celebrated for his Greek than for Ms capacity in drinking . We suspect it was a disease— ' y in T JE ^ i ° ^ iT- tllat " ^ £ ould driulc ink rfttbei < tha » ™ t drink at all . " £ ? £ ' h ° Z ° < } * ^ yft ^ S' He was aitting with a gentleman , after dinner befllr / 11 mutual friend , a Templar , who ma then 111 and confined to 5 m 4 ntff »^ ? mto-tho room , sent thither by his master lor a bottle of SS ^ ^ ° n th ° 0 him QWke- " * drunk it an hour ago , " boM 0111

    fiSS ^ JlT ^ Wltty > bUt th ° ™ * * worthy of Sydney oonfeHsod . ta . wea ^ tho resent Bishop of Durham ( Maltby ) , that ho know

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    THE DANES AND THE SWEDES . The Danes and the Swedes : Being an > Account of a Visit to Denmark and a Journeu across the Peninsula of Sweden , By C . H . Scott , Author of " The Baltic , the Black Sea , and the Crimea . " Longman and Co . This volume is amusing , because it abounds in anecdotes of Danish and Swedish life ,, incidents of travel , antiquarian glimpses , pleasantl y tinted sketches of scenery , erf architecture , of islands and lakes , of bridal rites , still redolent of the old Scandinavian fancy ; and village interiors , shining and warm , and prim as toy cottages in Switzer valleys . It is interesting , because it treats of Northern politics , of the navigation of the Sound , of the relations of Denmark and Sweden mutually , and to the rest of Europe , of the armies and navies of the Baltic kingdoms , of their Court policy and popular tendencies attractiv

    , —^ e subjects now , although a gleam of peace has shot across the world . Mr . Scott , a practised traveller , visited the Scandinavian countries in 1850 , and penetrated by an irregular route from Kiel through Schleswig-Holstein , and the Danish isles into Jutland , and across the Peninsula to Sweden , visiting Copenhagen , Fredericia , Elsineur , Gottenburg , Stockholm , the summer camp of the Swedes , and the Court of King Oscar . He had already investigated , in a liberal spirit , the history of the entire region , and qualified hhnself to speculate on questions the solution of which involve the political destiny of the North . His narrative , therefore , though commonplace in style , and blemished by dashes of flippancy , deserves the attention of the General Reader , G . R . being now moved by events to " read up" Scandinavia . On his route from Altona , through Holstein , Mr . Scott remarked the

    prevalence of extraordinary industry among the population , and to the end of his journeys at Stockholm , saw evidences of the same prosperous enterprise . The poorest classes in the Danish and Swedish as well as the German provinces appeared healthy , contented ., ' and independent . In . their domestic ecenotny they displayed a fantastic taste , and in their conversation an appreciation of national rather than of personal liberty . In the cities and seaports the middle and the indolent orders preserve their old characteristics—a love of magnificence , quaint but discreet humour , and a determination to maintain , against all corners ^ theii * political franchises . Successive princes have encroached on these rights , but successive agitations have regained them . The Russian and German Powers press enormously on the Scandinavian Courts ; but the Governments know that the ancient constitutional

    machinery by which they rule is not yet obsolete . It lias survived the violence of centuries , and still controls the policy of the Baltic Kings . Mr-Scott assigns the political precedence to Sweden . Denmark is approaching the crisis of her precarious history . The Government , it is true , has projected fresh developments of her commercial system and an enlargement of her navy ; but it must be long before the Danish fleets can be what they were at the beginning of the century . From twenty-five to thirty linc-ofbattle-sljips then left her ports , with frigates in proportion . Now she has only five of the first-class and six of the second , though from the extent of her coasts she has a seafaring population capable of manning such a fleet as Dundas took last vear into the Danish and Swedish seas . The blow inflicted

    by England in 180 / has never been recovered , though , by the people , long forgiven . It half destroyed the influence of the kingdom ; it laid a heavy burden on its treasury ; it wounded , the national pride ; and is still spoken of with regret and emotion . But Mr . Scott declares the general sentiment is favourable to England . There exists , no doubt , a small Russian clique , influential through its activity , winch is engaged in promoting the Russian succession to Schleswig ; hut the prevailing opinion is , that the political and material interests of Great Britain and Denmark are inseparably identified . In the event of an alliance against Russia , their gunboats and smaller vessels , with the admirable pilotage they command , would have been of particular value ; while to them the adoption of a British policy would have constituted an act of protest against the menaces , not of Russia onlybut of the

    , German powers . It is to be remembered that during the Schleswig-IIolstein war , an Austrian army came uninvited into Denmark , and that Prussia recommenced her intrigues to gain possession of a port on . the Danish coast . Since that period , a reform , of the general constitution of the kingdom has united more completely the German arid Scandinavian provinces , though public liberty ia still confined by a system of oligarchical restriction . In Mv . Scott ' s opinion , universal suffrage might safely be established in Denmark . The Danish Government , empowered by the Treaty of Vienna to levy tolls on all vessels , except Bliipa of war and yachts , passing the Sound , is now involved ia a serious dispute with the tJnited States on tho subject of this

    anomalous impost . It is no doubt an ancient privilege under the sanction of a modern , congress ; but it has always been obnoxious to neighbouring States especially . First Hollund , and then Sweden protested . . ( Jrcut Britain does not appear to have proposed tho abolition of the tax , though it operates most injuriously on hot Baltic trade , and confers a species of protection on that of Russia . At the commencement of the century , thirty per cent , of vessels passingthe Sound wore British ; the average h now fourteen . To all objections Denmark replies , that besides instructing and maintaining pilots for the Baltic Sea , she keep lighthouses , buoys , and signals on that < Inngcrous coast ; and that aho enjoys the privilege aa a compensation for her losses during the great war . That ia to say , the dominating powers of tho Oonlinen

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    said that the £ € g THE LEAiEB , fN *> . 309 , Saturday .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 23, 1856, page 186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2129/page/18/