Lanterna Rally

Author: Lewis Melville

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-05

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9781330773994

Excerpt from The Life and Letters of William Beckford of Fonthill It is strange that during the three-score years that have elapsed since the death of William Beckford only one attempt, and that, to quote Dr. Garnett, "a most intolerable piece of bookmaking," has been made to write his biography, for his character and achievements were just those that usually attract attention. He was, indeed, a many-sided man. As an author he gave proof of his humour in that elaborate, long-forgotten jest, the "Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters"; of his imagination in the famous story of "Vathek," and of his powers of observation and picturesque description in his books of travel: work that extorted the praise of Byron, Lockhart, and Benjamin Disraeli. He was the greatest English connoisseur of his day, collecting most kinds of works of art and vertu; his library was one of the most magnificent ever brought together in this country by a private individual; and, further, he was to a great extent architect of his pleasure-palace of Fonthill. The son of a millionaire who has his niche in the political history of England, he was brought up under the eye of Chatham and Camden; in his childhood was a playfellow of the younger Pitt; while yet a lad made acquaintance with Lord Thurlow, Voltaire, Madame de Stael, and a host of notabilities; and in later days was intimate with Nelson, Sir William Hamilton and his second too-famous wife Emma, Samuel Rogers, the Duke of Portland and Disraeli. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.