United States or Bulgaria ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Mark Pattison has described with caustic contempt the intellectual lethargy of the place, and the miserable quality of the lectures. Oxford was still de facto a close clerical corporation, and in most colleges 'clubbable men' rather than scholars were chosen for the fellowships.
Johnson called him 'clubbable, 'the best traveling companion in the world, 'one Scotchman who is cheerful, 'a man whom everybody likes, 'a man who I believe never left a house without leaving a wish for his return. His vivacity, his love of fun, his passion for good company and friendship, his sympathy, his amiability, which made him acceptable everywhere, have mingled throughout with his own handiwork, and cause it to radiate a kind of genial warmth.
Well, my advice is this. If he has a secret alliance with Spain, you should assume the Balkan attitude. 'Good gracious! What's that? 'We're talking politics, said Landi, across the table. 'Politics, and geography! Fancy, Meetchel, Mrs Ottley doesn't know anything about the Balkans! 'Ha, very good, said Mitchell. 'Capital. What a fellow you are! He gave his hearty, clubbable laugh.
He was a clubbable man, and he drew about him at the tavern a group of the most distinguished intellects of the time: Edmund Burke, the orator and statesman; Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the portrait painter, and David Garrick, the great actor, who had been a pupil in Johnson's school, near Lichfield. Johnson was the typical John Bull of the last century.
He fulfils Johnson's test of a good fellow: he is "a clubbable man." And even in the enjoyment of the external world it may be doubted whether he does not find as much mental stimulus as the deaf-and-dumb. He cannot see the sunset, but he hears the shout of the cuckoo, the song of the lark, "the hum of bees, and rustle of the bladed corn."
Maxley sat smoking complacently; and when his turn came to groan, he said drily: "I draad all mine a week afore. The club was wroth. "What, you went and made yourself safe and never gave any of us a chance? Was that neighbourly? was that clubbable?" To a hailstorm of similar reproaches, Maxley made but one reply, "'Twarn't my business to take care o' you."
When I think of the delight and benefit that I have derived from this association of clubbable men I feel moved to urge that similar groups be developed wherever even a very few will make the attempt. In 1879 I joined many of my friends and acquaintances in a remarkable entertainment on a large scale. It was held in the Mechanics' Pavilion and continued for many successive nights.
They were probably "clubbable" persons, friends with a common interest, each pursuing his own path with perfect freedom, a method which must have enhanced the harmony and efficiency of their meetings. The Club, or a branch of it, survived at Oxford the departure of Wilkins and most of the philosophers. To Robert Boyle was mainly due the continuance of the faithful remnant.
I went, and the God-speed party was a very pleasant one. But I liked best to have him, as I frequently had, all to myself. I suppose I am not, as Johnson said, a "clubbable" man.
You have all been considering what qualities are most necessary in family life and what qualities are most to be deprecated you have, in short, been considering Dr. Johnson's question as to what makes "a clubbable person." I will not take manifest faults like irritability or selfishness we all strive against those, but I would suggest turns of mind that are often not realized as faults:
Word Of The Day