1793-1842
[Sidenote: William Maginn’s _Miscellanies_.]
“All were standing, all were listening to some one who sat in the
middle of a group. A low-seated man, short in stature, was uttering
pleasantries and scattering witticisms about him with the careless
glee of his country. His articulation was impeded by a stutter, yet
the sentences he stammered forth were brilliant repartees uttered
without sharpness, and edged rather with humour than with satire. His
countenance was rather agreeable than striking; its expression sweet
rather than bright; the gray hair, coming straight over his forehead,
gave a singular appearance to a face still bearing the attributes of
youth. He was thirty or thereabouts, but his thoughtful brow, his hair,
and the paleness of his complexion, gave him many of the attributes
of age. His conversation was careless and off-hand, and, but for the
impediment of speech, would have had the charm of a rich comedy.
His choice of words was such as I have rarely met with in any of my
contemporaries.”--1824.
[Sidenote: _Bentley’s Miscellany_, 1842.]
“I dined to-day at the Salopian with Dr. Maginn. He is a most
remarkable fellow. His flow of ideas is incredibly quick, and his
articulation so rapid, that it is difficult to follow him. He is
altogether a person of vast acuteness, celerity of apprehension, and
indefatigable activity both of body and mind. His is about my own
height; but I could allow him an inch round the chest. His forehead is
very finely developed, his organ of language and ideality large, and
his reasoning faculties excellent. His hair is quite gray, although he
does not look more than forty. I imagined he was much older looking,
and that he wore a wig. While conversing his eye is never a moment
at rest: in fact his whole body is in motion, and he keeps scrawling
grotesque figures upon the paper before him, and rubbing them out
again as fast as he draws them. He and Gifford are, as you know, joint
editors of the _Standard_.”
[Sidenote: _The Dublin University Magazine_, 1844.]
“Well does the writer of this notice recollect the feelings with which
he first wended to the residence of his late friend. He was then but
a mere boy, fresh from the university.... He went, and was shown
upstairs; the doctor was not at home, but was momentarily expected....
Suddenly, when his heart almost sank within him, a light step was heard
ascending the stairs--it could not be a man’s foot--no, it was too
delicate for that; it must, certainly, be the nursery-maid. The step
was arrested at the door, a brief interval, and Maginn entered. The
spell vanished like lightning, and the visitor took heart in a moment.
No formal-looking personage, in customary suit of solemn black, stood
before him, but a slight, boyish, careless figure, with a blue eye,
the mildest ever seen--hair, not exactly white, but of a sunned snow
colour--an easy, familiar smile--and a countenance that you would be
more inclined to laugh with than feel terror from. He bounded across
the room with a most unscholar-like eagerness, and warmly welcomed the
visitor, asking him a thousand questions, and putting him at ease with
himself in a moment. Then, taking his arm, both sallied forth into the
street, where, for a long time, the visitor was in doubt whether it
was Maginn to whom he was really talking as familiarly as if he were
his brother, or whether the whole was a dream. And such, indeed, was
the impression generally made on the minds of all strangers--but, as
in the present case, it was dispelled instantly the living original
appeared. Then was to be seen the kindness and gentleness of heart
which tinged every word and gesture with sweetness; the suavity and
mildness, so strongly the reverse of what was to be expected from the
most galling satirest of the day; the openness of soul and countenance,
that disarmed even the bitterest of his opponents; the utter absence
of anything like prejudice and bigotry from him the ablest and most
devoted champion of the Church and State. No pedantry in his language,
no stateliness of style, no forced metaphors, no inappropriate
anecdote, no overweening confidence--all easy, simple, agreeable, and
unzoned.”