Note to self: I must locate Francis Burney’s Evelina
It was described as a “case history of public humiliation” on the C-18L list. I’ve not read anything by her, and she was described in the same sentence with Jane Austen so she might appeal to me. I like Jane, particularly for her sense of comedy, and Burney’s novel was mentioned in the context of rude comedy. Drat. It’s out of print, and abebooks is offline . . . oh well, another day. Another one that sounds interesting is Smollett’s Roderick Random.
Watching a weird program on PBS, I found out that Reuters was founded in the Victorian age, as a carrier-pigeon company that transmitted information between European stock exchanges. Learn something new every day. Ever hear of the Bonzo Dog Band? For something more contemporary, Ginger Geezer sounds like a rather funny biography.
Back to the 18th century, I found this snip funny as well:
On the late marriage of Mr. Cook to Miss Mutton.
Miss’s prudence in marrying should not be o’erlook’d, Since the Mutton was useless until it was Cook’d
The Spirit of the Public Journals for 1805 (London, 1806), p.67.
I love academic lists that aren’t stuffy!
