The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-07-15

NOTES FROM PEW SECULAR KEcohps AND
COMPARATIVELY MODERN INSTANCES

Few komOWs
NOTES PROM FEW SECULAR REcokps AND
COMPARATIVELY MODERN INSTANCES.
From All the Year RonndJ
Edmund Kean was wont to say Oh MN
self that he could see sheer across o'. ,',
bury plain. and his career gave spec,a'
Significance 10 the expression. he nau TUE
sensitive temperament Indicated by DIS ny
perbohc saving, and in his earlier years nc
had. 10 a greater degree than most otnci
men of whose lives we have record, suneI-
ed from the sings and arrows OF ou'
rageous fortune. ,,r.,,
Nobler than any OF the rebukes directed
aeains. those who had wounded DIS ieei.
inps I'm the days of his poverty was that
which. when fame aud fortune were slni',
ing upon him, he administered to the Eari
of Essex. That nobleman, who was one Oh
his most ardent admirers, remonstratea
with him for being seen arm-in-arin WIFI
Inclcdop, the singer, telling him that u
would initiate against his being received
in aristocrat,c circles. Kean replied:
INV Lord, Mr.. Incledon was my friend IN
the strictest sense Of the word when had
scarcely another friend i'm the world; and
II I should now desert him in the decline
Of his popularity, or fall Of his fortune,
should little deserve the friendship OF any
man. and be quite unworthy the favorable
opinion your lordship has done me the
honor to entertain Of me-"
AS OF Edmund Bean so OF the brilliant
wit and orator, John Philpot Curran, it may
readily be believed that his delivery oil
rebuke was specially effective. Once when
engaged I'm case that was being tried be-
fore FjtzgibbOn, the Irish Chancellor, that
functionary had. drought on to the bench
with him a lay e Newfoundland dog. to
which he was ostentatiously attentive
while the advocate was addressing an
elaborate argument to him. At criti-
cal point Of the speech the Judge turn
ed quite away, and appeared to be
wholly engrossed with the dog. Curran
ceased to speak. $50 on, go on, Mr.. Cur
ram" exclaimed the Chancellor. "Oh,
beg YOUR PARDON" said Culrran, 81 was
under The impression that your lordshlps
were i'm consultation" But far more
scatbing rebuke was that with which Cur
ran "set down" Judge Robinson. The
last-named parsonage was the author OF a
number OF Ill-written but INSCRIPTIONS
and scurrious pamphlets in favor OF the
Government OF the day. AS he was not
known to have any other recommendation,
it was more than suspected that he had
been raised to the judicial bench solely in
reward for political hack-work. At a time
when Curran, though rising into notice,
was still poor and struggling man, he
was speaking in the court over which Rob-
inson presided. Touching upon some
opinion that had been put forward by the
Opposing counsel, he remarked that he had
Il al Il nIS
a single case that supported the conten-
ton of the other side.
..That may he, Mr.. Curran," sneered
Robinson, s'but suspect your law library
Is rather limited" For a moment Curran
eyed the purse-proud toady OF the political
powers that were. and then broke forth:
at is very true. my lord, that am poor,
and this circumstance has certainly rather
curtaiIed my library. My books are moi
numerous, but they are select, and hope
have been periIsed with proper DISPOSE
lions. | have prepared myself for this
high profession rather by the study OF
few good books than by the composition
of great many bad ones. i am not
ashamed OF my poverty, but | should he
ashamed OF my wealth il | could stoop TO
acquire il by seryility and corruption. Ii
rise not to rank, shall at least he hon
est. and should | ever cease to he so. many
an example shows me that an ill-acqulr1d
elevation, by making me more conspicll-
Gus, would only make me the more uni
versally and VIGOROUSLY contemplate"
Very neat and characteristic in the way
OF practical rebtlkes was that OF Talley-
rand to a faithful but too inquisitiye conf
dental servant whom he saw from the
window Of his apartment cO0lly reading
letter entrusted 10 him TO deliver. ON the
next dav a similar commission was con-
tidcd TO the servant, and to the second let
ter was added postscript cOuched in the
following terms: "Iou can send YER
bal answer by the bearer. He is perfectly
well acquainted with the whole affair, hav-
NJ taken the precautiOn to read this pre-
vious to its delivery"
Not bad in its way either was Lord Ches-
terfield's Observation-Disclosures rebuke OF
the craze for having far-reaching portrait
galleries OF ancestors. In his own gallery
he placed two old heads, inscribed respec-
lively Adam de Stanhope and Eve de STAN
hope.
OF the rebrkc indirect. one OF the finest
EXAMPLES Is that attributed TO Or. South.
Once, when preaching before Charles the
Second, he observed that the monarch and
several OF his attendants had fallen asleep.
Presently one OF the latter began 10 snorc;
whercupon the Bishop broke off his ser
mon and exclaimed Lord Lauderdale. |
am sorry to interrupt your repose, but let
mt cntrcat you not to snore so loud, lest
you awaken his Majesty"
Incisiye and dry, us becomes its nation
atty, was the rebuke OF the Scotch shep-
herd to Lord COckburn, OF Bonaly. That
nobleman was sitting on the hillside with
the shepherd, and observing the sheep re-
posing in the coolest situation, he said to
him: "JOhn, If | were a sheep | would lie
on the other side OF the hill" The shep-
herd answered: "Aye, my lord but il
We had been Il sheep ye would hae had mair
sense"
An Insane's Mans Deed.