We did not chance to hear Dr. Lardner’s excellent and amusing lecture on
the “London _literati_,” etc., but the report of it in the “Republic”
has scraped the moss from one corner of our memory, and we may, perhaps,
aid in the true portraiture of one or two distinguished men by showing a
shade or two in which our observation of them differed from that of the
Doctor. We may remark here, that Dr. Lardner has been conversant with
all the wits and scholars of England for the last two or three lustrums,
and we would suggest to him that, with the freedom given him by
withdrawal from their sphere, he might give us a book of anecdotical
biography that would have a prosperous sale and be both instructive and
amusing. We shall not poach upon the doctor’s manor, by the way, if we
give our impression of _one_ of these literati—himself—as he appeared
to us, once in very distinguished company, in England. We were in a ball
in the height of the season, at Brighton. Somewhere about the later
hours, we chanced to be in attendance upon a noble lady, in company with
two celebrated men, Mr. Ricardo and Horace Smith (the author of
Brambletye House, and Rejected Addresses), Lady Stepney, authoress of
the “New Road to Ruin,” approached our charming centre of attraction
with a proposition to present to her the celebrated Dr. Lardner. “Yes,
my dear! I should like to know him of all things!” was the reply, and
the doctor was conjured forthwith into a magic circle. He bowed “with
spectacles on nose,” but no other extraneous mark of philosopher or
scholar. We shall not offend the doctor by stating that, on this
evening, he was a very different looking person from his present
practical exterior. With showy waistcoat, black tights, fancy stockings
and small patent-leather shoes, he appeared to us an elegant of very
bright water, smacking not at all, in manner no more than in dress, of
the smutch and toil of the laboratory. We looked at and listened to him,
we remember, with great interest and curiosity. He left us to dance a
quadrille, and finding ourself accidentally in the same set, we looked
at his ornamental and lover-like acquittal of himself with a kind of
wonder at what Minerva would say! This was just before the doctor left
England. We may add our expression of pleasure that the Protean facility
of our accomplished and learned friend has served him in this
country—making of him the best lecturer on all subjects, and the carver
out of prosperity under a wholly new meridian.