The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 392, October 3, 1829

A COFFEE-ROOM CHARACTER

It was about the year 1805 that we were first ushered into the dining-house called the Cheshire Cheese, in Wine-office-court. It is known that Johnson once lodged in this court, and bought an enormous cudgel while there, to resist a threatened attack from Macpherson, the author, or editor, of Ossian's Poems. At the time we first knew the place (for its visiters and keepers are long since changed for the third or fourth time,) many came there who remembered Johnson and Goldsmith spending their evenings in the coffee-room; old half-pay officers, staid tradesmen of the neighbourhood, and the like, formed the principal portion of the company.

Few in this vast city know the alley in Fleet-street which leads to the sawdusted floor and shining tables; those tables of mahogany, parted by green-curtained seats, and bound with copper rims to turn the edge of the knife which might perchance assail them during a warm debate; John Bull having a propensity to commit such mutilations in the "torrent, tempest, and whirlwind" of argument. Thousands have never seen the homely clock that ticks over the chimney, nor the capacious, hospitable-looking fire-place under,³ both as they stood half a century ago, when Fleet-street was the emporium of literary talent, and every coffee-house was distinguished by some character of note who was regarded as the oracle of the company.

Among these was old Colonel L–e, in person short and thick-set. He often sacrificed copiously to the jolly god, in his box behind the door; he was a great smoker, and had numbered between seventy and eighty years. Early in the evening he was punctually at his post; he called, for his pipe and his "go of rack," according to his diurnal custom; and surveying first the persons at his own table, and then those in other parts of the room, he commonly sat a few minutes in silence, as if waiting the stimulating effect of the tobacco to wind up his conversational powers, or perhaps he was bringing out defined images from the dim reminiscences which floated in his sensorium. If a stranger were near, he commonly addressed him with an old soldier's freedom, on some familiar topic which little needed the formalities of a set introduction; but soon changed the subject, and commenced fighting "his battles o'er again." He talked much of Minden, and the campaigns of 1758 and 59. He boasted of having carried the colours of the 20th regiment, that bore the brunt of the day there, and mainly contributed to obtain a "glorious victory," as Southey, in his days of uncourtliness, called that of Blenheim. But though thus fond of showing "how fields were won," he was equally delighted with recounting his acquaintance with more peaceful subjects. He had known Johnson and Goldsmith, together with the list of worthies who honoured Fleet-street by making it their abode between thirty and forty years before, and were at that time visitants of the house. "At this very table," said he, speaking of that which is situated on the right-hand behind the door, "Johnson used always to sit when he came here, and Goldsmith also. I knew them well. Johnson overawed us all, and every one became silent when he spoke." The colonel observed of Goldsmith, "That no one would have thought much of him from his company, though he had a great name in the world."

The colonel also knew something of Churchill, described him as by no means prepossessing in person, and one of the last who could have been supposed capable of writing as he wrote. The colonel, in his old age, imagined he too had a taste for poetry, and boasted of Goldsmith's having asserted (perhaps jokingly) that he possessed a talent for writing verse. This idea working in his mind for years, had induced him to print, in his old age, what he called, to the best of my recollection, "A Continuation of the Deserted Village." He always brought a copy with him of an evening, and was fond of referring to it, and passing it round for the company to look at—a weakness pardonable in a garrulous old man. On revisiting the house, for old acquaintance sake, after an absence of some years from London, I missed him from his accustomed place, which I observed to be occupied by a stranger. On inquiry, I found that he was departed to where human vanity and human wisdom are upon a level, and where man is alike deaf to the voice of literary and military ambition.—New Monthly Magazine.

NOTES OF A READER

THE ANNUALS FOR 1830

We feel it a duty to the proprietors of these elegant works, as well as to our readers, to give the following annonces of the several volumes for 1830:—

The Keepsake is very forward. Among the contributors are Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and the author of "Anastasius." Sir Walter's contribution is a dramatic romance, in imitation of the German; and Lord Byron's are ten letters written by him between 1821, and the time of his lordship's death.

The Forget-Me-Not will contain a very gem—being the first known attempt at poetry, by Lord Byron, copied from the autograph of the noble poet, and certified by the lady to whom it was addressed—the object of his lordship's first, if not his only real attachment.

Mr. Ackermann has likewise announced a Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, so as to remember all growths.

The Literary Souvenir is in a state of great forwardness. Among the contributors are the authors of "Kuzzil-bash;" "Constantinople in 1828;" "The Sorrows of Rosalie;" and "Rouge et Noir." The pencils of Sir Thomas Lawrence, Howard, Collins, Chalon, Harlowe, and Martin, have furnished

The Amulet, among its illustrations will contain an engraving from Mulready's picture of an English Cottage; another from Wilkie's "Dorty Bairn;" and another from a drawing by Martin, engraved by Le Keux, for which he is said to have received one hundred and eighty guineas. Mr. Hall, the editor, has likewise been equally fortunate in an accession of literary talent.

The Juvenile Forget-Me-Not, under the superintendence of Mrs. S.C. Hall, also promises unusual attractions, both in picture and print.

The Juvenile Keepsake, edited by Mr. T. Roscoe, is said to be completed.

Another Juvenile Annual, to be called the Zoological Keepsake, is announced, with a host of cuts to enliven the "birds, beasts, and fishes" of the smaller growth.

The Gem will re-appear as the Annual Gem, with thirteen embellishments, superintended by A. Cooper, R.A.

The Bijou promises well. The embellishments are of the first order, from pictures by Sir Thomas Lawrence, Stothard, Wilkie, and the lamented Bonington. Among the gems are a splendid portrait of the King, from the president's picture, in the possession of Sir William Knighton, Bart.; and a portrait of the beautiful Mrs. Arbuthnot.

The Winter's Wreath will bloom with more than its accustomed beauty. Among the contributors we notice, for the first time, the author of "Rank and Talent."

Religious Annuals are on the increase. One of the novelties of this class is "Emmanuel," to be edited by the author of "Clouds and Sunshine," of the excellence of which we have many grateful recollections. The Iris, to be edited by the Rev. Thomas Dale, is another novelty in this way.

The Musical Bijou has among its composers, Rossini, Bishop, Kalk-brenner, Rodwell, J. Barnet, and others. The lyrists and prose writers are Sir Walter Scott, T.H. Bayley, the Ettrick Shepherd, Messrs. Planche, Richard Ryan, &c.

One of the most splendid designs of the season is a "Landscape Annual, or the Tourist in Italy and Switzerland," from drawings by Prout; the literary department by T. Roscoe, Esq. and to contain the most attractive views which occur to the traveller on his route from Geneva to Rome. Some of the plates are described as extremely brilliant.

Two Transatlantic Annuals, the Atlantic Souvenir, published at Philadelphia, and the Token, published at Boston—may be expected in London.

The foregoing are all the announcements we have been able to collect. We miss two or three established favourites; but we hope to make their promises the subject of a future paragraph.

THE GOOSE

In England the goose is sacred to St. Michael; in Scotland, where dainties were not going every day,

 
"'Twas Christmas sent its savoury goose."
 

The Michaelmas goose is said to owe its origin to Queen Elizabeth's dining on one at the table of an English baronet on that day when she received tidings of the dispersion of the Spanish Armada, in commemoration of which she ordered the goose to make its appearance every Michaelmas. In some places, particularly Caithness, geese are cured and smoked, and are highly relishing. Smoked Solan geese are well known as contributing to the abundance of a Scottish breakfast, though too rank and fishy-flavoured for unpractised palates. The goose has made some figure in English history. The churlishness of the brave Richard Coeur de Lion, a sovereign distinguished for an insatiable appetite and vigorous digestion, in an affair of roast goose, was the true cause of his captivity in Germany. The king, disguised as a palmer, was returning to his own dominions, attended by Sir Fulk Doyley and Sir Thomas de Multon, "brothers in arms," and wearing the same privileged garb. They arrived in Almain, (Germany,) at the town of Carpentras, where,

 
"A goose they dight to their dinner.
In a tavern where they were.
King Richard the fire bet,
Thomas to him the spit set;
Fouk Doyley tempered the wood;
Dear a-bought they that good;"
 

for in came a Minstralle, or she-Minstrel, with offer of specimens of her art in return for a leg of the goose and a cup of the wine. Richard, who loved "rich meats," and cared little at this time for their usual accompaniment, "minstrelsy,"—

 
"—bade that she would go;
That turned him to mickle woe.
The Minstralle took in mind,
And said, ye are men unkind:
And if I may ye shall for-think
Ye gave me neither meat nor drink!"
 

The lady, who was English, recognised the king, and denounced him to the king of Germany, who ordered the pilgrims into his presence, insulted Richard, "said him shame," called him taylard, probably for his affection for goose, and finally ordered him to a dungeon. But Richard, a true knightly eater, who, besides roast goose, liked to indulge in

 
"Bread and wine,
Piment and clarry good and fine;
Cranes and swans, and venison;
Partridges, plovers, and heron,—
 

was neither dainty nor over-nice. At a pinch he could eat any thing, which on sundry emergencies stood him in great stead. Wax and nuts, and tallow and grease mixed, carried him through one campaign, when the enemy thought to have starved out the English army and its cormorant commander. The courage and strength of Richard were always redoubled after dinner. It was then his greatest feats were performed.—Romance of Coeur de Lion.

The livers of geese and poultry are esteemed a great delicacy by some gourmands; and on the continent great pains are taken to procure fat overgrown livers. The methods employed to produce this diseased state of the animals are as disgusting to rational taste as revolting to humanity. The geese are crammed with fat food, deprived of drink, kept in an intolerably hot atmosphere, and fastened by the feet (we have heard of nailing) to the shelves of the fattening cribs. The celebrated Strasburg pies, which are esteemed so great a delicacy that they are often sent as presents to distant places, are enriched with these diseased livers. It is a mistake that these pies are wholly made of this artificial animal substance.