 | The poetical writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck, with extracts from those of Joseph Rodman Drake |  |
THE DINNER-PARTY.
John R. Livingston.—A wealthy gentleman, who dispensed liberal hospitalities both at his city residence and at his country-seat on the Hudson. Among the notabilities whom he entertained at the latter place was the Prince of Saxe-Weimar, who visited the United States in 1825–'26. Mr. Livingston was a brother of the Chancellor, and at one time a member of the New-York Assembly.
The best I have tasted this season;
The wine and the wit sparkled bright,
'Twas a frolic of soul and of reason.
For the guests there was Cooper
The celebrated actor, and for a time manager of the Park Theatre. His daughter married a son of President Tyler, who gave him an appointment in the New-York Custom-House, which he held for several years.
Edmund Kean, who ranks among the greatest of modern actors, second only to Garrick and John Philip Kemble. He visited the United States in 1820 and again in 1825. His last appearance in public was at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in 1833, when he played Othello to the Iago of his son Charles, but, on repeating the words “Othello's occupation's gone,” he sank exhausted, and died soon after, in his forty-sixth year.
Bishop Hobart and Alderman Brasher,
Buchanan, that foe to the Queen,
And Sherred the painter and glazier.
But when we sat down it was colder;
The wine when we entered was new;
When we drank it, 'twas six hours older.
Mr. Kean, by-the-way, he's no dunce;
His plate was so often repeating,
I thought he'd a genius at once
Not only for acting but eating.
Talked much of his scheme of rebuilding
The theatre on a new plan,
With fantastical carving and gilding.
Of the people, so stupid the taste is,
I could fill the new playhouse in June
If I only could furnish new faces.”
Harry Cruger
Henry Cruger, a native of New York, was educated in England, where he became a successful merchant, and was, in 1774, elected to the British Parliament as the colleague of Edmund Burke. He returned to his native land on a visit in 1783, and seven years later became a permanent resident of this city. Upon the first senatorial election after his return, he was chosen to the State Senate. He died at his residence in Greenwich Street—then a fashionable locality—in 1827, in his eighty-eighth year.
That ci-devant jeune homme so famed
In Paris—but that's an old story.
And General Lewis,
Morgan Lewis held many honorable positions, among which were those of Chief-Justice of the State, Governor, and the command of the forces destined for the defence of New York, with the rank of Major-General. In 1835 he was elected President of the New-York Historical Society. He lived to the same age as Lord Brougham, of whom he was a great admirer.
With two vests, and a new fashioned eye-glass,
He looked like the young god of love
At distance beheld through a spy-glass.
And find that for once I have erred:
For Robert and Mat were the men,
Instead of Buchanan and Sherred.
Two Frenchmen, the best I have met,
At home in bad English and flummery,
Were there—just to make up the set,
Together with Master Montgomery.
With his pea-jacket on, but the ladies
Compelled him to leave it at home;
So he wore, as becoming his trade is,
And a sword, once of laurels the winner,
Ever ready, in case of alarm,
At carving a foe or a dinner.
'Twould have done your heart good to have seen him,
And Lewis so sweetly did swear,
You'd have thought that the devil was in him.
And Alderman Brasher began
A song, but he could not go through it.
When Johnny R--- asks me again
To a fête—by the Lord, I'll go to it!
| The poetical writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck, with extracts from those of Joseph Rodman Drake | |