Another thick square book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr Gibbon!
William, Duke of Gloucester to Edward Gibbon (1737-94) |
Gibbon is an ugly, affected, disgusting fellow and poisons our literary club for me. I class him among infidel wasps and venomous insects.
James Boswell on Edward Gibbon |
Gibbon's style is detestable; but it is not the worst thing about him.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), British poet, on Edward Gibbon |
He not only overfilled with learning but stood in the slop
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) on Thomas Babington Macaulay |
I spent a horrid, horrid night. I dreamt I was chained to a rock and being talked to death by Harriet Martineau and Macaulay.
Revd Sydney Smith (1771-1845) on Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59), British historian, and Harriet Martineau (1802-76), British philanthropist and writer |
The great apostle of the Philistines.
Matthew Arnold (1822-88) on Thomas Babington Macaulay |
The same old sausage, fizzing and sputtering in its own grease.
Henry James (1843-1916) on Thomas Carlyle |
You know, when I am gone, you will be sorry you never heard me speak.
Sydney Smith to the notoriously garrulous Thomas Babington Macaulay, British historian |
