In countries where commercial transactions were usually
very limited the great difficulty was to obtain coin for the payment
of wages, while in others there was the danger of the supply of labor
failing through the enticements of superabundant capital or the more
dazzling temptations of gold-digging. It is needless to mention the
usual accidents and impediments to which all such undertakings are
liable, and which the skill and ingenuity of the modern engineer never
fail to overcome; but it is certainly not a little remarkable, when
the multiplicity of Mr. Brassey's contracts is remembered, as well
as the early period from which they date, to find that they were
invariably completed within the specified time.
Personal Reminiscences of Barham, Harness and Hodder. (Bric-a-Brac
Series, edited by Richard Henry Stoddard.) New York: Scribner,
Armstrong & Co.
Why we should love so dearly a fresh anecdote of a literary celebrity,
a new quip by Talleyrand, a new stutter of Lamb's, a new impertinence
of Sheridan's, may be not hard to understand, but it is rather hard to
defend, any regard being paid to our dignity. The best stories about
that particular line of authors who have possessed _bonhomie_ and
become classic for it are long since told. What remains is the dregs.
Yet the other day we found ourselves smiling with real delight over
a new "bit" of Cowper. It was merely that his barber, being late with
the poet's wig, said, "Twill soon be here, it is upon the road;" and
that Cowper had smiled, with a "Very well, William," or a "Very fair,
Thomas.
Pages:
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319