Letters of Edward FitzGerald Volume I Part 31

{114c} The Library of Useless Knowledge, by Athanasius Gasker [E. W.

Clarke, son of E. D. Clarke, the Traveller], published in 1837.

{115a} Referring to the 1842 edition of Tennyson's Poems.

{115b} Spedding was at this time in America with Lord Ashburton.

{122} The Rev. T. R. Matthews, of Sidney Suss.e.x College, Cambridge: formerly Curate of Bolnhurst and Colmworth, Chaplain of the House of Industry, Bedford, and inc.u.mbent of Christ Church in that town. He died 4th Sept 1845, and his memory is still cherished by those who were brought under his influence. Dr. Brown, the biographer of Bunyan, informs me, 'There is a little Nonconformist community at Ravensden, about three miles from Bedford, first formed by his adherents, and they keep hung upon the wall behind the pulpit the trumpet Mr. Matthews used to blow on village greens and along the highways to gather his congregation.'

{123} William Browne.

{125} On Levett; quoted from memory.

{128} There were two Parsons who wrote accounts of Naseby--Mastin in 1792, and Locking in 1830.--_Note by E. F. G._

{134} Georg. I. 208-211.

{135} Referring to a pa.s.sage in the Garden of Cyrus, near the end: 'To keep our eyes open longer, were but to act our _Antipodes_. The Huntsmen are up in _America_, and they are already past their first sleep in _Persia_.'

{137} This was a series of notes, drawn up by Carlyle for FitzGerald's guidance, and afterwards incorporated almost verbatim in an Appendix to the Life of Cromwell.

{138} Spedding.

{139} FitzGerald's copy of the 1676 edition is now in my possession.

{142a} Where his brother Peter FitzGerald lived

{142b} See Letter to Barton of 2 Sept. 1841.

{146a} Elegy xi.

{146b} Mrs. Wilkinson, his sister.

{147} Practical Hints on Light and Shade in Painting, by John Burnet, 1826, pp. 25, 26.

{149} His housekeeper at Little Grange.

{152} Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 233.

{155} An old woman at Wherstead in whom FitzGerald took great interest.

She died early in March 1844, at the age of 84.

{157} The Rector of Boulge.

{159} His parrot.

{161} W. Cookson, M.D, of Lincoln died 12 April 1844.

{166} _Note by E. F. G._--Also, bottle-brown: in general all bottled things are not so fresh coloured as before they were put in. A gherkin loses considerably in freshness. The great triumph of a housekeeper is when her guests say, 'Why, are these _really_ bottled gooseberries! They look like fresh, etc.'

{174a} The MS. of this has been preserved.

{174b} To the Rev. Francis de Soyres.

{181} On the 26th of October, Carlyle wrote to FitzGerald:

'One day we had Alfred Tennyson here; an unforgettable day. He staid with us till late; forgot his stick: we dismissed him with Macpherson's Farewell. Macpherson (see Burns) was a Highland robber; he played that Tune, of his own composition, on his way to the gallows; asked, "If in all that crowd the Macpherson had any clansman?" holding up the fiddle that he might bequeath it to some one. "Any kinsman, any soul that wished him well?" Nothing answered, nothing durst answer. He crushed the fiddle under his foot, and sprang off. The Tune is rough as hemp, but strong as a lion. I never hear it without something of emotion,--poor Macpherson; tho' the Artist hates to play it. Alfred's dark face grew darker, and I saw his lip slightly quivering!'

{185} By James Montgomery: 'Friends' in his Miscellaneous Poems (Works, ii. 298, ed. 1836).

{189} Miss Cooke.

{190} Great aunt of W. B. Donne.

{196} At Keysoe Vicarage

{197} See letter to Allen, August 1842.

{198} At the Norwich Festival.

{201} James White, author of The Earl of Gowrie, etc.

{202} A Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo.

{203} See the Memoir of Bernard Barton by E. F. G. prefixed to the posthumous volume of selections from his Poems and Letters, p. xxvi.

{204a} Address to the members of the Norwich Athenaeum, October 17th, 1845.

{204b} Now Professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge.

{205a} Professor Cowell explains to me that this refers to a pa.s.sage of Ausonius in his poem on the Moselle. It occurs in the description of the bank scenery as reflected in the river (194, 5):

Tota natant crispis juga motibus et tremit absens Pampinus, et vitreis vindemia turget in undis.

FitzGerald used to admire the break in the line after _absens_.

{205b} A reminiscence of Sh.e.l.ley's Evening, as this was of a line in Wordsworth's Elegiac Stanzas suggested by a picture of Peele Castle in a storm.

{205c} The short _pasticcio_ of the battle referred to in the letter to Barton, 22 Sept. 1842.

{209} Trinity Church, Bedford.

{210a} On King's Parade.

{210b} Mrs. Perry.

{211a} F. B. Edgeworth died 12th Oct. 1846.

{211b} Euphranor.