The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-05-23
Persons Wonderful Memory.

Few men have had such a wonderful
memory as Richard Person, the emf
nent Greek scholar of the last century.
His power of recalling whatever he had
read astonished even his friends, but his
love of intoxicants led him to excuses
which eventually destroyed his extraor-
binary memory.
Being one day in the shop of Priest
ly, the bookseller, a gentleman came
in and asked for a particular edition
of Demosthenes. Priestly did not pos
sess it; and as the gentleman seemed
a good deal disappointed, Person in
CURED if he wanted to consult any par
ticular page.
The gentleman mentioned a quota
ton of which he was in search, when
Person opened the Aldine edition of
Demosthenes, and, after turning over a
few leaves, put his finger on the passage.
On another occasion he happened to
be in a stage-coach; presently there
entered into it a young graduate with two
ladies. This young gentleman endeav-
ored to make himself seem very learned;
presently quoting a Greek passage,
which he said was from Euripides.
The Greek scholar, who was doing
at the other end of the coach, awoke at
the familiar sounds, and drawing a copy
of Euripides from the folds of his cloak,
politely asked him to favor him with
the passage.
The student could not; and the la
dies began to litter. Reddening, the
youth said, that on second thoughts,
the passage, he wa sure, was in Soph-
ocles.
Person %thereupon produced a copy of
~Sophocles, and again asked him to fa-
vor him with the passage. The under
graduate again failed; the ladies Uttered
greatly.
"Catch mel" said he, .if I ever
quote Greek in q coach again"
Stung by the laughter of mis- fellow
passengers, he said, 81 recollect now,
sir; / perfectly recollect that the pas
sage is in Eschylus."
His inexorable tormentor, diving
again in the capacious folds of his
cloak. produced a copy of Eschylus,
and again asked him to favor him with
the passage.
The boiling point was now reached.
"Stop! st0pr shouted he to the coach
man. Let me out! There is a man
inside who has got the whole Bodleian
library in his pocket"
On another occasion, calling upon q
friend, Person found him reading Thu
cydides. Being asked, casually, the
meaning of some word. he Immediate
ly repeated the context. &
a. Def 49, - l----~ 49,
this passage l was reading" asked his
friend.
Because" replied Person, "the
word only occurs twice in Thucydides
-once on the right-hand page in the
edition which you are now using, and
once on the left. l observed ON which
side yon looked, and accordingly l
knew to which passage you referred. !
Once, when in the house of DIR. Bur-
ney, at Hammersmith, with some
friends, examining some old newspa-
pers which detailed the execution of
Charles l., he came across various par
ticulars thought by some of them to
have been overlooked by Rapin and
Hume; but Person instantly repeated a
long passage from Rapin, in which
these circumstances were all recOunted.
Upon one occasion he undertook to
learn, by heart, the entire contents of
the Morning Chronicle in a week; and
he used to say he could repeat Rod
erick Random" from beginning to end. |
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