Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-12
DEBIT AND CREDIT.
Pleasant Views On an Unpleasant Sub
iect-Some Famous Men as Debtors
The Two ssFriends"
or a Famous 4uther-A Great Come.
dams Experiences-Lifei in Debtors
Prison-DroIleries Of Debt.
Brooklyn Eagle

However unpleasant debts and duns may
be in real lite, it ia very certain that they
are the cause OF a great deal of merriment
when We hear illusions to them Oh the theat-
ricsl stage or read about them in literature.
| When the fashionable swell in modern
comedy alludes to his unpaid tailor's bill, I
! We smile. The pecuniary straits OF MIR.
Charles Surface" never fail TO make Us laugh, |
and the funny Ian in the old-Jime farces, |
pursued by bailitfs, is sure 10 make the most
! phlegmatic OF audiences fairly howl with de-
| light. In literature it is the same. OF all
the quaint and curious characters that
| Dickens described, probably the cheerful but
| thrifsless "Mr. Micawber" stands first in the
| affections OF the majority OF readers
GREAT MEN AS DEBTORS.
| In the biographies OF great men, the ac-
counts given of their pecuniary troubles are
| always interesting and often amusing. Take
| the biography OF Goldsmith, for instance, by
| Washington Irving; the pecuniary ups and
downs OF the author OF the Wear Of Wakefield,
| as described BY the genial American, almost
make the reader wish to pass through the
same vicissitudes. Old Mr.. Johnson's ac-
count of one of these episodes is familiar to
| many readers. He said that one morning he
| received q letter from poor Goldsmith
stating that he in great trouble. 81 sent
him guinea" said the gruf, but really kind
hearted old doctor, "and promised to come
| ulreCtlV. hneQ ne reached
whose landlady had arrested him for non
| payment of rent, the poet drinking from
bottle OF Madeira bought with the guinea
! the great man had sent him. Among other
| great writers who were arrested for debt may
! he mentioned the novelists Fielding, Collins,
Thomson, Bezoni and De Quincy.
MR.. DE QUISCEY's TWO FRIENDS"
Quite late one evening the residents OF a
house in Edinburgh, where Thomas De
| Quincy, author OF the Confessions q an
| Opium Eater was in the habit of spending an
evening now and then, were surprised at
receiving q call from their distinguished
friend. He was ushered into the library,
where he began to talk pleasantly on various
topics to the gentleman OF the house and his
sister, who, as it happened, had not retired.
| The lady soon imagined that the call must
have some other business than mere socia-
bility, and, excusing herself, left the distin-
guished writer alone with her brother. On
going into the hall she saw two men
standing near the library door. She
asked them if they were friends of
Mr. De Quincy. They answered that
they were. She invited them, nay, urged
them, to go into the parlor and there wait
until Mr.. De Quincy had got through his
business. They looked significantly at
each other, and with kind of what-do |
you-tak e- us-for look, politely, but firmly, de-
cliDed the Invitation. These two gentlemen
friends" were bailiffs,;an supposed that the |
lady was only endeavofing TO get them out |
of the way in order to give an opportunity |
to De Quincy to escape. The trouble was
finally settled by the gentlemen going out |
with the literary unfortunate and raising the |
amount demanded. As the man of genius |
shutfled along the deserted pavement by his |
deliverer's side he wound up the adventure |
by characteristic vituperation: "Unldead |
wretchesr' he said, as he parted with his |
grim companions; 81 tried them on every |
subject under heaven, but they did not seem |
TO have a thought in their minds uncon- |
nected with their base and brutal profession |
The opium-eater in the cold Edinburgh |
streets at midnight, trying to find subject |
of conversation with his captors on warrant |
for debt, is az quaint picture az could be |
found in literature.
A FAMOUS COMEDIANS EXPERIENCES.
Actors, Justly or unjustly, have had the |
reput alton of running into debt. The ex-
periences of Charles Mathews, the famous |
English comedian and author OF some OF the |
most popular comedies and farces, are very |
interesting in this particular; some OF the |
most amusing of them have been embodied |
in his PLAYS But enacting the merry spend |
thrift on the stage, and struggling to pay |
ones debts in real life, are two very different |
things. How many times" says Mathews
in his autobiography, "have gone upon the |
q
face, the very part in Jest that l was playing
behind the scenes in earuestl and not sym
pathetic soul to pity me. On the contrary,
everyone seemed to believe that reyeled in
it, and every allusion l had to make to duns
and bailiffd was hailed by the audience
as the emanation of light heart
and the most unctuous enjoyment. Had
I been trsgedian, and walked on
with 4 melancholy air and serious
face, should have had credit for feel
ing my unfortunate position. Poor fellow!
see how down he tsp But the painfully sue
cessful effort of assuming gayety and Joy
ousness, difficult and CALLING as it was,
look at him; he doesn't care. He's in his
element! He likes itr" Once, when he had
just been discharged from prison, where he
had been incarcerated for debt, he jumped
on the train bound for London. gentle
man sitting opposite to him playfully OBJ
served: "That's where Charles Mathews is
confined" pointing at the same time to the
prison from which the comedian had just
obtained his discharge. Really said
sympathizing female; poor fellow" Poor
felloww said the gentleman, who waH one OF
the fat and jolly kind-"not at all poor tel
low He revels in it. Lord bless you, he
has been in every prison in England?' OF
course this was very far from being the truth,
but Mathews did not introduce himself.
!
arrest and incarceration in Lancaster Castle
is too lengthy to be reproduced in this article.
He was seized with the writ by "a smart,
cheerful man." just as he was on his way to
the theater and taken to the castle, the
severest prison in England, twenty miles
away. On going up the stone steps ne heard
uproarious choruses being sung, intermingled
with peals of laughter. A. the door OF the
room he saw a crowd of what he supposed to
be lunatics in white nightgowns and cotton
nightcaps, clinging TO the bars, shouting and
gesticulating. When he was ushered into e
the room a shout arose that made the vaulted
roof ring again. "a new bird! new bird"
was screamed from mouth to mouth. To his
utter dismay he was instantly recog-
nized, and coarse jokes respecting
"used up and the game of specula- {
ton" were banded about. According to /
his account the inmates were treated IN '
many respects about the same as convicts. t
But the prisoners did their own cooking and '
were allowed certain luxuries-beer, for in t
stance. Mathews wanted wine, and succeeded 8
in obtaining it in this way: Two gentlemen
dubbed with him and gave up their beer 7
Tor one day, so that bottle of wine might Q
be brought into the prison for the three, in t
lieu of beer. Mathews then gave them his f
two days 10 return, and go got the wine !
without their sharing it. i
Speaking Of Charles NatheWs's power of !
persu aston, some one has said that at one
time he was on the way to a debtors Jail, /
walking between q couple OF bailiffs, when
he talked 30 we'll to one of them as to induce I
.he officer to loan him e5. But this sounds =
very much like the incident in the second =
part of Shakespeare's Henry ", where ''Sir {
John Falstaff" induces Mrs. Quickly" not 7
,nly to withdraw her action against him for
iebt, but also persuades her TO lend him
more money.
A CHEERFUL VIEW. d
There was one comedian, Sam Foote, who Z
vas repeatedly arrested for debt, and who t.
ook cheerful enough view OF the matter. "
His doctor going to see him in Fleet prison, g
,egan to offer his sympathy, but Foote t
urued the whole into raillery. "Why, is
lot this better" said he, "than the govt, the Il
ever, tho smallpox and the thousand vari-
,us ills that flesh is heir to? This is a mere J
temporary confinement without pam and
Tot very uncongenial, let me tell you, to this /;
harp, biting weather; whereas the above 81
disorders would not only give pain and con- 81
inement for time, but perhaps ultimately L
prevent a man from ever going into the world g;
gain He continued laughing in this man. il
Ter, till the doctor heard something stir be-
ide him in the bed, on which he rose and O
No, no. said the other. "Sit down; G.
It's nothing but my foot" Your ii
oot!" replied the doctor; swell, want no q
pologies; 1 shsll call another time" Il Il
ell you again,' said his friend, IT'S nothing t.
,ut my foot; and to convince you OF its being Il
10 more, it shall speak to you directly" On n
his his poor wife put her head from under e
he bed-clothes; and, with much confusion
md embarrassment, apologized for her dis
ressed stu alton. Il
Foote'S mother was as careless about !
nsney matters az her son. In one of her =
temporary embarrassments she wrote the -
ollowing laconic epistle to Foote: :.
DEAR SAM in prison for debt: come and +
ssist your loving MOTHER