The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-03-05

GEORGE sFEwFH.s PECULIAR PASSION
pom DEATH SCENES. 1--WE find the following
story going the rounds . One Of Sainte..
.Benves remarks just before his daathy
VIXEN rccent candidate for the Academy
called to see him: viii see him to-
morrow; let him come up. If Fam slive
I shall be glad TO see him. II nm dead
the pleasure will be all on bis side." Good,
but old; and old, too, before Sainte- Beuye
was born. The dying speech was made
by Henry Fox, first Lord Holland Of the
Fox family land father of the Fox, Charles
James, one Of the best men thattever lived
in the tide of time, uniting the courage and
feryor of man to the sweetness and tender
ness of woman), who died almost century
ago--July i, IT'D; and it was made Tor
the benefit Of George Selwyn. selWynn
was one. of those men who, while 1ney
have o strong relish for oil kinds OF SEN
suaI pleasures, and enjoy this life down 10
the very dregs, also haEea strange taste Tor
matters connected with death. He was
fond of attending executions, and when he
went to Paris to see Damiens tortured and
butcbered {because he had tried to kill that
immaculate creature Louis XIV, of Pare
aux Cerf's memory,) he was treated with
the most distinguished consideration BY
Monsieur de Paris the executioner, 81. lie
Bourreau,) or by one of his assistants, be-
cause the latter thought he fSelwyn) was
an English amateur-that is, an amete1r
hangman. He was in the crowd near
the scaffold, and seeking to get nearer
to the delightful spectacle, he was
repulsed by one of the executioners
but when he told him that he had
travelled all the way from London solely to
see the execution, the fellow opened way
for him, exclaiming, :: Faites place pour
Monsieur; c'est am Anglais, ct I'm ana
teur,"-i. e., SNAKE way for Monsieur
Tor Mister).; he is On Englishman and an
amateur" Another version of the story is
that French nobleman in the crowd,
noting Selwyn's interest in the business,
and seeing that he. was plainly dressed,
supposed him to he a hangman, Whereupon
dialogue ensued, in which selwyn said he
had not the honor Of being hangman, and
| was only an amateur. Scores of stories
are told illustrative of his fondness for
dead "subjects" and for executions. To
him might be applied Peter Bradley's de-
4
1.-The carrton crow hath dainty nav,
1 With savory plckings he crammeth his craw;
Kept meat from the glbbct 1t pleascth his whlm
l. 1t never can hang too long for him.
Some ladies once bantered him for his
ing of old Lord Loval, and his reply was
"Why, made amends by going to the un
dertaker's to see it sewed on again " Mr.
Jesse tells the story about Sclwyn ant
Lord Holland az follows "When he (Lor'
Holland) was dying, George Selwyn Gale,
ut Holland House, and left his card.
was carried to the dying statesman. Clan
cling at it for moment, he observed, wit
mournful pleasantly, If Mr.. Selwy
calls again, show him up; if l am alive,
shall be delighted to see him; and If l .a'
t dead, he would like to sce>me.'" The dyin
nobleman and Selwyn were very GOO
friends. In letter that Lord Hollan
wrote to Selwyn early in ITO, he sal
being very i'll, and knowing recovery to
impossible at sixty-two, The man enV
most is the late Lord Chamberlain, for !
is dead, and he died suddenly" The sto1
about these two notabilities of the last Gel
: tury, now Dalmed upon Sainte-Beuve aI
5 the would-be academician, probably is /
i old as the hills and valleys; but Mr.. Jes
puts the speech in Lord Hollands mou'
d {" George selwyn and his Contemporaries
+ vol. ill.,, p. SOY. From Lord Holland q
: words are good, because Of Selwyn's morb
taste but they are not very telling
, coming from Sainte- Beuve, who said t
: many good things himself to be made ste
the good things Of others.-Boston 7rac'