The Table-Talk and Bon-Mots of Samuel Foote

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 Excerpt: ... Fox saw Murphy, he bid him attend Lord Bute the Sunday following at Kensington: you will then be told 'a single play cannot so well be dedicated to the Prince;' and in that case seize the opportunity, and beg leave to dedicate it to his Lordship. The poet did as he was directed. Lord Bute, after acknowledging the favour, accepted the dedication; and made him a present, from the Prince of Wales, of a bank-note of a hundred pounds. Murphy telling the above anecdote some time afterwards at Holland House, Lord Hillsborough asked him whether, in the course of the conversation he had with Lord Bute, his Lordship once asked him to sit down? No, said Murphy; now I recollect, he walked me up and down a long gallery during the whole time.-- I thought so, said Lord Hillsborough; now this is among the number of his Scotch vanities. Charles James Fox told Bogers (the bankerpoet) that Lord William Bentinck once invited Foote to meet him and some others at dinner in St James's Street; and that they were rather angry at Lord William for having done so, expecting that Foote would prove only a bore, and a check on their conversation. But said Fox, we soon found that we were mistaken: whatever we talked about--whether fox-hunting, the turf, or any other subject--Foote instantly took the lead and delighted us all. Dr. Paul Hiffernan was one of the mendicant authors who attended Foote's levee. He was by no means deficient in either classical learning or modern languages; but living so long out of England, he wanted a facility of style, as well as a good taste for English subjects. This kept him more at a distance with the booksellers than he wished: Foote, however, occasionally relieved and lau...