Gents Mag 1809 p.1140
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introduction | ||
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list, 1st qtr 19th century | ||
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Gentleman's Magazine 1809 p.1140
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biography George Romney |
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Life of George
Romney
Review of New Publications 155. The Life of George Romney, Esq. By William Hayley, Esq. 4to. pp.416. 1809. Payne. THE thousands who have been delighted and interested in Mr. Hayley's Life of Cowper will know what to expect from this second specimen of his talents as a Biographer; and if, in the present instance, the subject does not afford matter of such general importance as in the former, we can venture to assert that Mr. Hayley's ingenuity more directly appears in rendering that a most elegant and engaging narrative, which others, with no more copious materials, would have left "stale, flat, and unprofitable." Mr. Hayley possesses, indeed, a particular felicity in commemorating the virtues of a departed friend: and if the remarks he has advanced in the early part of this work be attended to, the volume will be perused with those tender and indulgent feelings that are seldom excited in the writings of this kind. In the Preface he observes that its principal defect is, "that it says too much of himself, in proportion to what it says of others; so that parts of it might rather be intituled ANNALS OF FRIENDSHIP than the Life of an Artist." And this is, in truth, its proper title, and a title which cannot fail to recommend it to all who have known what it is to possess and to lose a friend of distinguished worth. In another observation, connected with this, we cordially join: "In advanced life there is no occupation more attractive than such affectionate study as enables a man to recall and delineate, in the truest point of view, the various endowments of persons worthy of everlasting remembrance, whom it has been his lot to know perfectly, to love, and to lose." As Biography has long formed an important branch of our Miscellany, we shall avail ourselves of this opportunity to enrich it with an abridged sketch of Mr. Hayley's more expanded, minute, and elegant labours. George, the third child of John and Anne Romney, was born Dec. 26, 1734, at Dalton in Furness, Lancashire, and was educated partly at a school in the village of Dendron, but chiefly at home. His father was a builder, merchant, and farmer; and George, at the age of twelve, discovered a passion for mechanicks and |
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 musick.
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gazetteer links
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-- "Dalton in Furness" -- Dalton-in-Furness | ||
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