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

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they are gifted with force of will that mer
its attention.
collection OF dead-and-gone eccentric:
now pass before us, recalling few living
ones that we knew of, whose collected vaga
rles, II published, may IN turn probably
amuse our grandchildren. First let us looE
at Beckford, name not much remembered
now, although it belonged to a man who was
a marvel in his day. Gifted with extraordi-
nary powers of mind and will, he did every
thing by turns, and nothing long. He wrote
book that created q sensation No great
marvel that, to people of our day, when the
difficulty is to find some one who has not
written book but Beckford wrote as no
other author. "Vathek" was written at one
sitting. 1t took him three days and two
nights of hard labor. during which time he
never undressed. We know of one instance
somewhat similar. A reigning lady novelist
| told US once that she was pledged to her
publisher TO send him three-volume novel
by certain date. Two days previous to the
expiration of her contract, her novel had
only reached the opening chapter of the
third volume. On the evening of the first
day she went to ball, danced all night, re-
turning home at the small hours of morn
ing, when, after taking of her ball dress,
and drinking some strong tea, she sat down
to finish her task. All that day she wrote
and on into the next night, never leaving her
desk until she had written fHiS when with
trembling hands she despatched her manu-
script in time to fulfil her engagement.
There are some natures that need the pres
sure of necessity or self-imposed necessity,
to goad them into action their resolution
once formed, no obstacle is suffered to come
between them and this fulfillment. Beckford
was one of these. He determined to build
house-the abbey ut Fonthill, where he re-
| sided for 20 years-and swore by his favorite
ST. Anthony that his Christmas dinner should
be cooked in the abbey kitchen. Christmas
approached, and the kitchen was in an IN
finished condition. Every exertion that
money could command was brought to the
task, and Christmas morning saw the kitchen
finished and the cooks installed. A splendid
repast was prepared, and the dinner actually
cooked, when 10 and behold, as the servants
were carrying in the dishes through the long
passages into the dining-room, loud noise
was heard, and the kitchen fell through with
a crash But what cared Beckford He
was rich he could afford to build his kitch-
| en- over again meantime he had humored
his whim and kept his vow to St. Anthony
and We may add. made good his title to
centricity, for which We applaud him, and
pass on to watch some others.
What sorry figure is this that comes next?
4 poor, neglected imbecile, living in squalid
lodgings at Calais. 1t is scarcely possible to
| recognize in this unhappy being the once
| gay and elegant Beau Brummel, the glass of
| fashion and mould of form to the men and
women of this generation, whom he ruled
| with the despotlsm of an autocrat. Yet this
is the poor Beau and no other. He is hold
| ing phantom reception. Having desired
| his attendant to arrange his apartment, set
| out the whlst-tables, and light the candles
alas only tallow-he is ready at O'Clock to
receive the guests which the servant, pre-
| vlously instructed, now announces. First
| comes the duchess of Devonshire. On hear
| ing her name the Beau leaves his chair, and
| with the courtliest bow, the only reminis-
cence Of his departed glory, he advances TO
the door and greets the phantom duchess
| with all the honor that he would have given
the beautiful Georgiana. He takes her hand
and leads her to a seat, saying as he does SO {:
''Ah, my dear duchess, how rejoiced l am to
see you SO very amiable of you to come at
this short notice. Pray bury yourself in |
this armchair. Do You know it was the |
gift to me of the duchess OF York, who was |
very kind friend of mine but poor thing, |
you know, she is no more,' At this point |
tears of idiocy would fall from his ewes, and |
he would sink into the armchair himself,
awaiting the arrival OF other guests, who,
being duly announced, were similarly greet
ed. With these ghosts of the past he would
spend the evenings until 10 O'clock when the
servant telling each guest that his or her car
riage was waiting would carry his poor old
master of 10 bed. We cannot wish him
good night without the payment of a sigh
for the pantomine he has acted and the les
son it conveys.
And now We conjure up u droll figure,
whose eccentricity borders on madness, the |
spendthrift squire of Halston, john Mytton.
He is tormented with hiccup, and tries the
novel cure of setting fire to himself in order
to irighten II away Applying a candle to
his garment being sparely clad at the time,
he is soon in flames. His life is only saved
by the active e1ertions of some people who
chance to be in the way at the time. He in
vites some friends once, and when the com
pany are assembled In the drawing-room. he
startles them all by riding into the room on a
bear The guests are panic-stricken one
mounts on n table, another on q chair they
all strive to make their escape from the un-
gracious animal, and its still more savage
master, who is enjoying the misery of his
guests with the laugh of n madman. Let US
too leave him.
Ladies have great field for the display Of
eccentricity in their mode OF costume. We
know of one lady who has never altered her
style of dress since she was Is The conse-
quence is that every 10 years or SO the fash
ions come round to her, and for brief period
she is a Ia mode Never having made any
concessions to the denominations Of crinoline
or false hair, she is at the present time more
orthodox than she appeared five years ago.
Every time has had its eccentricities in this
respect, and a certain Miss Banks, who died
in 1918, and in plain terms looked regular
ugly" SIZE wns lady Of good position.
being the sister of Sir Joseph Banks. Her
costume consisted of a Barcelona quilted
petticoat, which had a hole on each side, for
the convenience of rummaging two immense
pockets stuffed with books Of all sizes, which
did not add TO the symmetry of her already
large proportions. In this guise she went
about followed 10y footman carving q
cane, as tall as his mistress, or her luggage
when accompanying her on journey. She
was the originator of the words Hghttmi
IigLhUa and Sc7tb, which so many ladies
are fond of applying in the order of prece-
dence to their wearing apparel These words
Miss Banks invented to distinguish three
dresses she had made for herself at the same
time and all alike the first for best. the
second for occasional, and the third Tor daily1
wear
While on feminine eccentricities We must
record some that we have mat with in our own
day. So convinced is one elderly married
lady of the peculating propensities of all
lodging house menials, that after each meal
a curious scene takes place IN her room
Every article such her tea-caddy, sugar
basin, jam pot etc. which she has had ocea-
sion to use during the meal, is placed on the
table. on which stand gum-bottle, a brush,
and several long strips of paper. She then
proceeds to gum up her property. strip of
paper is gummed round the opening to the
tea -caddy the pot of preserves is similarly
secured. together with all else that is likely |
to attract that lawless fly. the lodging-hou
servant We know of another lady who for
years has lived with only the light of gas or ,
candle in her rooms. She imaglnes that air ,
and daylight are injurious to her sight, and
her rooms are little better than well-furnish- ,
ed tombs, into which no .chink OF light or
breath of heaven Is suffered to intrude ,
Lady Lewson of Clerkenwell objected to-
tally TO washing either her house or her per ,
son. She considered water to be the root of ,
all malady, IN the unnecessary way people ,
expose themselves to the chIlls caught by
frequent ablution. And as for health, was
she not q living instance that a morning tub ,
is all nonsense for she was llG years old ,
when she died. For the greater part Of her
life she never dipped her face iuto water.
using hogs lard instead, to soften her skin.
Although large and well furnished, her
house, like her person. was never washed and
but rarely swept
We remember amusing instance of ,
French respect for cold water, IN the speech
of French gentleman, married to an Eng
lish lady OF our acquaintance who used to
indulge IN a bath morning and evening a
custom SO astounding TO her husband that he
exclaimed in our hearing "She does not
use water she abuses it,"
Eccentricity often displays itself in an in-
ordinate affection for animals and a singular
manner of treating them. An instance of |
this was the late earl of Brdgewater, who |
now comes before us with his family of per-
forming dogs. lie lived in Paris during the
last century, where the circumstances we
narrate took place. He was miserable
looking little man, unable to walk without
the support of two lackeys. He had an i'm
mense fortune, which he spent in gratifying {
every caprice Was book lent him, 1t I
was regarded as the representation of its +
owner, and returned in the earl's landau, oc-
cupying the place Of honor and attended by 4
fur,r fnntrnDn in nnsily hunrv nrLn hanInl II | L