… quasi recens cognitis Liviae flagitiis ac non pridem etiam punitis, atroces sententiae dicebantur in effigies quoque ac memoriam eius … Tacitus, Ann. VI.2

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My Lords and Gentlemen1s Editor’s note: the quotation from Tacitus may be translated: “as if the offences of Livia were crimes but recently detected, not crimes actually punished long before, stern measures were advocated even against her statues and her memory”, It is with no small measure of regret that I feel compelled to put […]

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And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and. cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee. that one of thy members should perish, and not. Matthew 5.30

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My Lords and Gentlemen Before commencing my Treatise I will relate to you a matter which is causing me much puzzlement. Last Tuesday evening I enjoyed a fine dinner with Mr Tonson et al.. After we had taken our pipes, Mr Tonson shewed the company a painting of himself daubed by none other than Sir Godfrey […]

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Pleas’d with his Idol, he commends, admires,Adores; and last, the Thing ador’d, desires. Dryden, Pygmalion and His Statue

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As I was walking home yesterday afternoon after luncheon at Mr Lloyd’s Coffee House (which I vouchsafe has not been of the same quality since the death of Mr Lloyd), I chanced upon Mortdecai Benjamin outside the Synagogue at Bevis Marks. After I had told him of the day’s tittle tattle I fancied that old […]

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