--_Finance Article, in Quarterly Review._
* * * * *
THE ANECDOTE GALLERY
DR. SOUTHEY.
BALLADS VERSUS BONNETS.
(_For the Mirror._)
A Mr. L------, a respectable straw-hat manufacturer, from the vicinity
of Bond-street, who had dabbled considerably in the fine arts, in the
way of sketches and outlines, taken at the different watering-places
which he visited, determined on making a tour to the Lakes, "in search
of the picturesque." Desirous of rendering his journey poetically
interesting, he solicited from a friend of his in town, who was
acquainted with Dr. Southey, a letter of introduction to the Laureate,
which was accorded. But the epistle, instead of describing Mr. L------
as an artist, merely designated him "an honest bonnet-maker," who had a
_penchant_ for lionizing, and who desired to be introduced to Dr.
Southey in "the way of business." With this vexatiously facetious and
laconic scrawl, poor Mr. L. made his way to the Lakes, and in due time
was ushered into the Parnassian presence of the author of "Thalaba." The
address of one of Southey's celebrity might well perplex a "man of
straw;" and it had somewhat of this effect on our tradesman-artist; who,
however, according to his own account of the affair, bustled through
pretty tolerably; adopting the _nonchalance_ of Geoffrey Crayon's uncle
on entering a superb drawing-room--looking around him with an air of
indifference, which seemed to say, "he had seen _finer things_ in his
time.
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