really think he knew them almost by heart, in the originals. He was also
very fond of Tacitus, Cicero, and Demosthenes, from all of whom, as well
as the other leading classics, but especially the two latter, he could
quote to a surprising extent, and with signal accuracy--a fact well
known to all his friends. Of this, indeed, Mr. Phillimore[10] has given
a striking instance, in his sketch of Mr. Smith in the "Law Magazine."
After observing that "his memory was, indeed, astonishing, and the feats
which he performed with it were incredible; that the writer had heard
him repeat, successively, scene after scene from a French
vaudeville,--the Record in an Action filling up the "&c.'s," and a
passage from a Greek orator, without the least apparent difficulty or
hesitation," Mr. Phillimore proceeds to say, that the passage in
question "was one of the finest in the Greek language, being in the
speech of Æschines, which the most celebrated effort of the genius of
Demosthenes was required to answer; when, after adjuring the Athenians
not to raise a trophy to their own loss and shame, nor awaken in the
minds of their confederates the recollection of their misfortunes, he
proceeds--'[Greek: all' epeidê tois sômasin ou paregenesthe, alla tais
ge dianoiais apoblepsat' autôn eis tas symphoras],' &c., down to the
words, '[Greek: episkêptontas mêdeni tropôi ton tês helladus aleitêrion
stephanoun],' the writer well remembering that Mr. Smith insisted
particularly on the extraordinary force and beauty of the word, '[Greek:
episkêptontas].'" I, also, have often heard him quote long passages from
the Greek dramatists, particularly from "Aristophanes," really
_impromptu_, and with as much facility and vivacity as if he had been
reading English. I have already intimated that he read many of the new
publications of the day. One of these was Mr. Macaulay's "Lays of
Ancient Rome," with which he was much amused, saying that "some of them
were very clever and spirited;" and, after reading them, he sate down
one evening and wrote a humorous parody on them, which he showed me,