tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post4743781063060050618..comments2024-03-27T06:25:29.002-05:00Comments on Anecdotal Evidence: `Cunning in His Arrangement'Patrick Kurphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08436175583386298032noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-57140757347523436682012-09-03T11:13:53.458-05:002012-09-03T11:13:53.458-05:00One of my favourite blogs of all time. I'm alw...One of my favourite blogs of all time. I'm always excited about your posts. Please if you have the time, do make a facebook fan page as I can't think of any better way for this blog to reach more readers.<br /><br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br /><br />Dan KochDaniel Kochnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-66059810371373655102012-09-03T10:57:17.056-05:002012-09-03T10:57:17.056-05:00Anybody who loves Samuel Johnson knows what he sai...Anybody who loves Samuel Johnson knows what he said about Christopher Smart's madness, but it won't hurt to reveal once again Johnson's great compassion and understanding.<br /><br />In a conversation about Smart with Dr. Burne, Johnson firmly asserts that Smart should not have been placed in a madhouse,saying, "His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else."<br /><br />Knowing Johnson's slovenly habits, we have to smile when Johnson adds, "Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no great passion for it."Bruce Floydnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-42360952742249577402012-09-03T06:36:05.735-05:002012-09-03T06:36:05.735-05:00"half-remembered by ambitious readers."
..."half-remembered by ambitious readers."<br /><br />Bagehot has fared better than that, hasn't he, for his political and economic writings at least? The Oxford Classics series keeps his <i>The British Constitution</i> in print, and you can find that and his book on the banking system on line. Jacques Barzun has said good things about Bagehot in two or three of his books.<br /><br />"They represent a tradition of English belles-lettres quaint in its innocent dedication to the life of books." Well enough, if it is not supposed that the life of the belletrist is so dedicated. Birrell served as Chief Secretary for Ireland in Asquith's cabinet. Bagehot had an active enough life outside the library, as editor of The Economist for example. The few of his literary essays I have read hold my memory less than the rest of his work. Samuel Schoenbaum, in <i>Shakespeare's Lives</i> does notice an essay of Bagehot's.<br /><br />Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14819154529261482038noreply@blogger.com