Reminiscences of Michael Kelly

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

9-11

text excerpt

Wilkinson was certainly one of the most eccentric men I ever met with ; one of his whims was, to hide chocolate drops and other sweetmeats in different holes and corners of his house, his great pleasure consisting in finding them, as if by accident, some days after. When he had taken a few glasses of old Madeira, of which he was very fond, he would mix his conversation about theatricals and eatables together, in a manner at once ludicrous and incomprehensible. I was sitting with him one night, in high spirits, after supper, and we spoke of Barry, the actor : " Sir, "said he, " Barry, Sir, was as much superior to Garrick in Romeo, as York Minster is to a Methodist chapel, - not but I think, that if lobster sauce is not well made, a turbot isn't eatable, let it be ever so firm. - Then there's that Miss Reynolds ; why she, Sir, fancies herself a singer, but she is quite a squalini, Sir ! a nuisance, Sir ! going about my house the whole of the day, roaring out, "The Soldier tired of War's alarms," ah ! she has tired me, and alarmed the whole neighbourhood ; - not but when rabbits are young and tender, they are very nice eating. - There was Mrs. Barry, for example; Mrs. Barry was very fine and very majestic in Zenobia ; Barry, in the same play, was very good ; - not but that the wild rabbits are better than tame ones. - Though Mrs. Barry was so great in her day, yet Mrs. Siddons - stewed and smothered with onions, either of them are delicious. - Mrs. Pope was admirable in Queen Elizabeth-a man I had here, made a very good Oronooko ; - not but I would always advise you to have a calf's head dressed with the skin on, but you must always bespeak it of the butcher yourself ; though the last bespeak of Lord Scarborough did nothing for me, nothing at all ; the house was one of the worst of the whole season ; - with bacon and greens, - not twenty pounds altogether, with parsley and butter ;" and on he went talking, until he talked himself asleep, for which I did offer my thanks to Somnus, with all my soul ; yet when clear of these unaccountable reveries, he was an amusing companion.

excerpt from 'Reminiscences of Michael Kelly' pp. 9-11 (388 words)

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