Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-02-21

stinct of appetite, traasgress any rule OF
good manners, he was banished from the
table, and degraded TO an ante-chamber,
where he picked his bone in modification ;
hisp place remaining empty until he had earn
ed his masters pardon.
There are some whose eccentricity takes
the form of hatred of society. OF this num-
ber was the Hon. Henry Cavend ndish, a man
of great learning and enormous fortune,
who earned the title of Woman hating
Cavendish," as he would never see a woman
| if he could avoid 1t. If female servant was
unlucky enough to show herself, she was in
stantly dismissed. He was compelled to en-
ploy a housekeeper, but all their communi-
cations were carried on by correspondence
I His ideas OF dining were restricted to legs of
. mutton only. On one occasion when his
housekeeper suggested that on leg OF NUT
| ton would not be sufficient for party in
vited, he met the difficulty by ordering two,
A number of eccentricities are displayed
by people in their burial bequests. A GER
tain DR.. Fidge, q physician of the old school,
| converted favorite boat into coffin, which
he kept under his bed for many years Ill
| readiness When death drew near, he begged
his nurse to pull his legs straight and place
| him as a dead man, rs it would save her
trouble afterwards, saying which be comtorta-
bly, departed. Job Orton, publican of the
Bell Inn. KiddermlBster. had his tombstone
with epitaph erected in the parish church.
His coffin was also built and ready for him
but until he was ready for it he used it as
wine bin. Major Peter Laballiere of Box
Hill, Dorking, selected spot for his burial,
which he directed should be without church
rites head downwards in order that, las
the world was in his opinion topsy-turvy, he
might come up right end up at last = But
certain Jack Fuller caps even the major, for
he left directions that he was to be buried In
a pyramidal mausoleum in Brightling church,
yard, Sussex T; giving as his reason for select
ing to be embalmed in q stone above ground,
his unwillingness to be eaten by his relatives
"A process he considered inevitable if buried
in the ordinary manner, for "the worms. he
declares. would eat me; the ducks would eat
the worms and my relatives would eat the
ducks
OF all eccentricities. those displayed by
misers are the most notable and repulsive.
To dwell upon them at any length is neither
pleasant nor interesting it is only where
parsimony and genius are allied that one
cares to examine the specimen. Let us
now take q brief survey of Nollekens. the
sculptor, in whom these opposites were met
Descending from misery ,stock. he did not
fall short of his ancestry in his love of
money, and it first became apparent in a
uituN lHOue VI llNiiP Wullc stuueul III
Rome. He married a woman even more
parsimonious than himself, and their house
keeping was pitiful. Hatred of light is an
observable trait with most misers ; and over
their Goals and candles the Nollekens we're
scrupulously economical /, the former, Nolle- |
kens counted witt. his own hands. The |
candles were never lighted at the commence
ment of the evening and if q knock were
heard at the door it was not answered until
repeated, in case the first should prove run |
away, and the candle be wasted A flat can
dlestick served them for ordinary purposes, |
and by carefully extingnshing them when |
company went. they mafe a pair of moulds |
last n whole year
Before his marriage Nollekens had an un- |
fortunate little servant called Bronze, whose |
appetite be so feared that he placed her on |
board-wages, and gave her only just enough |
money to furnish him with food each day,
which he took care to consume. Bronze
with rare patience for which We cannot ac-
count, continued to serve after her master
was married, and declared that never had
she seen a jack towel in their house, and
never had she washed with soap Mrs.
Nollekens never went TO any but a second
hand shop for their wearing apparel and
shoes, and their charity was of the same
secondhand nature, as when Mrs. Nollekens
directed the maid to give the ''bone with
little or no meat on it 10 two starving men
who applied for relief. If a present of a
leveret was sent them, they made it serve
two dinners for four people. The sculptor
grew more generous before death. his parsi-
monious partner having gone first, as though
be strove by sundry spasmodc gifts TO atone
for the avarice of a life. If these details are
as unsavory to some to ourselves, we only
Justify their narration on the ground stated.
10 hey SIT fnnn nd |
Existing IN genius.
Did time permit We should like to linger
over those notable eccentrics, Porsou, Horne
Iooke, Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot), and
others but We can only give characteristic
lnecdote or two. Porson, the cleverest and
most erratic of creatures, was the victim of
TO an extent that rendered him
orgetful at times to eat. ''Will you not
stay and dine Z" asked Rogers, the poet
Thank you, no /; | dined yesterday ~ he re-
Piled DR.. Parr asked him before a large
assembly what he thought about the intro
iuction of moral and physical evil into the
world. why. doctor" said Person, Il
hink We should have done very well with
1ut them And it makes us laugh to hear
III ignorant person, who was anxious to get |
nto conversation with him. ask if Captain
Cook was killed in his first voyage. II be-
ieve he was, answers Person though he
|
cred on a second !"
Tooke began life with Joke, telling every
one that he was the son OF a Turkey mer-
liant by which name lie defined his fathers
rade of poulterer. His ready wit was never
t loss, and 1t is to him We are indebted for
he well-known Joke. Now, young man."
aid an uncle TO him one day, giving him
,ood advice, 'as you are settled in town l
would advise you to take a wife. With all
ny heart, sir, replied Tooke whose wife
hall take:"
Peter Pindar boasted that he was the only
nan that ever outwitted publisher. Being
popular writer, his works brought him
.ood income, His publisher wishing to pur-
hase the copyright and print collected
ditlon, made him offer in cash. In or
ler, however, to drive good bargain, Pindar !
eigned to be in very bad health, declaring
lie could not live long and every time the
publisher came to see him lie acted the i'll {
aid to such perfection that he got hand {
Gme annuity, which, to the disgust of the !
he lived TO enjoy until the uncon- I
age of 81.
We leave Il number of our eccentric friends
nth regret. There was Curtis, whom we do I
ot care TO accompany in his search after the {
orrlble and his passion for convicts and ex- q
cutions. There was DIR. Fordyce, whose &C.
entricity in the matter of food is a study
e lived for years on one meal a day only, :
ut meal SO enormous that we wonder, az E
re read the Quantities, how he ever lived to I
epeat 1t daily for 20 years. We can only c
ow recommend those who have been inter l
sted so for. TO supply our deficiencies by I
olng to the source from whence we have {
athered the matter for this brief notice. |
'Otiers Magazine. O