"A corner of the stage at Drury Lane slants diagonally from left to right, showing part of the orchestra and pit (right) with part of two stage-boxes on the extreme right. The stage manager, Raymond, stands addressing the clamorous audience, while on the left a young man with ass's ears sits on a donkey which flourishes its heels so that they strike the lowered stage-curtain. The donkey brays "Ih ho Ih ho Ih ho," its hind-quarter is branded 'My Pegasus Buz'. Its rider recites: "Nor ever here your smiles would be represt, "Knew you the rival flames that fires our breast, "Flame, Fire and Flame!--sad--woe Neddy! Ladies and Gentlemen, My Papa's Pegasus is so full of fire and spirit that very few are capable of mounting him. for my self I never spoke but once & that was-- Unce logos but if you will give me leave to get on with my Papas Monologue I am positive you will pronounce it the prettiest piece of poetry produced for the purpose." Raymond says: "Ladies and Gentlemen, it was never the intention of the Proprietors to introduce Assess [sic] on these boards but as you seem entertained with their braying if it [is] your wish, we will procure some trainers from the other House as we are really ignorant in the management of thes [sic] Animals." Greeted by derisive cheers from the audience, Dr. Busby, also with ass's ears, leans from the upper stage-box, saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, only hear My Son speak my Monologue written by myself the only one fit to be heard the committee are as ignorant of good Poetry a[s] I am of true criticism. I am a great writer reviews my sons works very clever indeed--writes my own life--well worth reading--my Life of Lucius Otrigger will astonish you now pray hear my Son speak my Monologue!--." A man behind him shouts: "Bravo! Go on! Go, on," and one in the crowded lower box applauds: "Bravo Apollo go on Go . . ." In the foreground a man in the pit shouts pointing to the ass: "Why don't you come down and get up behind don't you see he wants ballast." Six others address the son: "When you have done there--set those Epigrams to Music young Apollo!"; "Off Off Off Off"; "he will be off presently if Neddy kicks so!"; "Go on Go on"; "Speak out you should have brought your Voice with you"; "hear him hear him." The orchestra is empty of performers, but the music scores are headed 'The Judgement of Midas' [O'Keefe's play]. Three large papers lie on the stage inscribed respectively: [1] 'A Lord [Byron] and a Doctor once started for Fame Which for the best Poet should pass The Lord was cried up on account of his name The Doctor cried down for an Ass--' [2] 'Doctor Buz he assures us on Drury new Stage No Horses or Elephants, there should engage But pray Doctor Buz, how comes it to pass, That you your own self should produce there an Ass' [3] 'Old Buz against Quadrupeds, war did wage, And swore on Drury's board's such Mum'ry ne'er should pass But forcing his own Pegasus on Drurys stage The Critic Audience christen'd Buz an Ass.' Behind Raymond is the lower part of the verd-antique pillar which flanked the curtain, and on the right the large ornate lamp, of quasi-Egyptian design in which three hawk-headed monsters support an inverted tripod, the base of a ring of lamp-jets."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Poet in a pet : with a chip of the block, mounted on Papa's Pegasus
Description:
Title etched below image., Attributed to Charles Williams in the British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Text following title: vide opening of New Drury Lane Theatre., and Laid-in to a piece of later paper.
Publisher:
Pubd. Octr. 21, 1812, by S.W. Fores, 50 Piccadilly
Subject (Geographic):
England and London.
Subject (Name):
Raymond, James Grant, -1817, Busby, Thomas, 1754-1838, Busby, George Frederick, active 1812, Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824., and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (London, England),
Subject (Topic):
Theaters, Interiors, Theater curtains, Theater audiences, and Donkeys
20 ALS and 2 autograph manuscripts by Chandos Leigh, first Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh. Almost all of the letters were written during his travels on the Continent. Ten were written to his parents and sister in 1818-19 while he was on the grand tour. Letters from Switzerland and the Alps describe the scenery, particularly near Vevey and Lake Como, and refer to the writings of Rousseau, Byron, and Thomas Moore. Letters from Florence and Rome detail his responses to art and architecture, particularly the Venus de Medici, the sculpture of Canova and Thorvaldsen, and "the pride, pomp and circumstance" of Roman Catholic churches and ceremonies, which "must disgust the severe taste of the English traveller." Leigh also mentions Lord Byron, Lady Drury and Lord Beauchamp, the "set of regular English Dandies" and English ladies in Rome, the unattractiveness of Roman women, and his own purchase of a Salvator Rosa painting and Three letters to Sir Egerton Brydges, written during the Leigh family's stay in Switzerland in 1837, concern Leigh's poetry, his health, and a possible visit. His letters to his nephew Frederick Colvile contain news of his health and family; travel descriptions; and advice on Colvile's education. A March 1836 letter announces that the trustees of Rugby School have "unanimously decided in favour of Dr. Arnold;" a December 1837 letter comments that "Dr. Newman's book" (Lectures on Justification?) "contains much that is...to an ordinary man unintelligible." Other topics include the 1850 death of Sir Robert Peel and Leigh's own Liberal Party politics. The collection also contains autograph manuscripts of two poems by Leigh: "The First Days of Spring" and "Hymn for the Consecration of the Church on Westwood Heath."
Description:
Chandos Leigh (1791-1850) was educated at Harrow School, where he met Lord Byron, and Christ Church, Oxford, following which he made the grand tour with Philip Shuttleworth. A distant cousin of Jane Austen's, and a generous literary patron to Leigh Hunt and others, Leigh privately published over two dozen collections of his own poems and essays. He was created Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh in May, 1839. Leigh traveled several times to the Continent for his heath, but died of apoplexy in Bonn in September of 1850; he was succeeded by his eldest son, William Henry Leigh. and Accompanied by a container list.
Subject (Geographic):
Europe., Alps, Florence (Italy), Italy, Rome (Italy), and Switzerland
Subject (Name):
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824., Brydges, Egerton, Sir, 1762-1837., Canova, Antonio, 1757-1822., Colvile, Frederick Leigh, 1819-1886., Leigh, Chandos, 1791-1850., Leigh, Chandos, 1791-1850, Leigh, James Henry, 1765-1823., Leigh, Julia, d. 1871., Leigh, Julia Twisleton, d. 1843., Newman, John Henry, Saint, 1801-1890., Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778, Thorvaldsen, Bertel, 1770-1844., Catholic Church, and Rugby School.
Subject (Topic):
Books and reading, Death and burial, Influence, Customs and practices, Authors, English, Dandies, English literature, Grand tours (Education), Tourism, Travelers' writings, English, Description and travel, Social life and customs, and Religious life and customs
Head-and-shoulders portrait of English poet Lord Byron, in left profile and "Portrait of George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron, bust-length, directed very slightly to left, with head nearly in profile, looking down; wearing coat over waistcoat, fastened with two buttons, and high collar."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Plate from: The British Gallery of contemporary portraits. London : Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies ... by J. M'Creery ..., 1813-1822., and Bound in opposite page 684 (leaf numbered '125' in pencil) in volume 4 of an extra-illustrated copy of: Moore, T. Memoirs of the life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Publisher:
Published Jany. 30, 1816, by T. Cadell & W. Davies, Strand, London
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain.
Subject (Name):
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824, and Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824.
One pressed dried rose which had been worn by the English poet George Gordon Byron on his lapel when he toured the frigate U.S.S. Constitution, anchored off Leghorn (Livorno), Italy, on May 21, 1822. The rose was given as a memento to Catharine Potter Stith, who was on board the ship with her husband Townshend Stith; the following day Byron sent her a volume of Goethe's Faust accompanied by an autograph note. The faded red rose consists of the blossom only, minus stem and leaves. It was later surrounded by a piece of dark brown paper (8.5 x 26 cm) with a black ink border and inscription: "Moore's Life of Byron." Both were pressed between two sheets of glass and enclosed in a two-part wooden frame, painted black with a gilded liner and held together by means of mending plates and screws. A paper tag (9 x 3 cm) was tacked to the top of the frame and bears the inscription in ink: "Dr. E. Brandegee / Berlin / Connt." Dr. Elishama Brandegee (1814-1884, Yale 1833, 1838 MD) was the husband of Ann Florence Stith Brandegee (1821-1901) and son-in-law to Catharine Stith
Description:
George Gordon Byron, Baron Byron (1788-1824), English poet., Catharine V. Potter Stith was born in Philadelphia on December 16, 1795, the daughter of Richard Cheslyn Potter (1759-1828) and Catharine Miercken Potter (died 1831). She married Captain Townshend Stith of Petersburg, Virginia, in Philadelphia on September 22, 1818, and in June 1819 moved with him to Tunis where he served as U.S. Consul until his death at Gibraltar on November 2, 1823. Their first child, Bolling Buckner Africanus Stith, was born in Tunis in 1820 and died in Leghorn (Livorno) in 1822. In May 1824 Catharine Stith returned to the United States with her daughters Ann Florence Crokat (1821-1901) and Victorina (1824-1836), settling in Philadelphia where she opened a school for girls in 1826. She was the author of Thoughts on Female Education (Philadelphia: Clark & Raser, 1831), several musical compositions, and a short story published in Godey's. In 1834 she moved with her daughters to New Haven, Connecticut, where she worked as a music teacher. Catharine Stith died in New Haven on March 20, 1839., Title devised by cataloger., and Inscriptions in English.
Subject (Name):
Brandegee, Elishama, 1814-1884., Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824., Stith, Townshend, Mrs., 1795-1839., and Constitution (Frigate)
