Quote: Not, sir, from your dictionary (Gilbert Stewart to Samuel Johnson 182[9] [diary entry 1824])

Mon Oct 3 14:29:23 UTC 2011

At 10/3/2011 06:06 AM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > Garson's find will, I'm sure, be of more than a little interest to
> > Johnsonites, and I will pass it on.
>
>Thanks for your response, Joel. I agree with you that the article
>probably appeared earlier in the Salem Observer. In fact, there was
>another cite dated June 09, 1829 that contained a reprint of the story
>with the explicit title "From the Salem Observer". Here are the cite
>details:
>
>Date: June 09, 1829
>Paper: Eastern Argus
>Article: From the Salem Observer
>Page: 2
>Column: 2
>Location: Maine
>(GenealogyBank)

A definite attribution to the Salem Observer might reinforce a
Johnsonite's -- Or Gilbert Stuartite's -- confidence in their
supposition as to who wrote the diary.

>The Salem Observer is available in the GenealogyBank database, and so
>I was excited and then disappointed when all my searches failed to
>find the earlier article. In fact, the issue coverage in the relevant
>time period seemed remarkably sparse. NewsBank owns GenealogyBank and
>Readex: America's Historical Newspapers. The database content overlaps
>because the same digital scans are used sometimes I believe. The
>ReadEx website seems to say that the number of available issues in the
>database for the Salem Observer is very small:
>
>Salem Observer of Salem, MA has only 31 digitized issues between
>1823-12-20 and 1836-07-23.
>
>But I do not wish to dissuade someone from looking.

You've dissuaded me, since Harvard has only a microfilm, also 1823 to 1836!

Joel

>Garson
>(And thanks for fixing the year in the article title to the correct
>value of 1829.)
>
>On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 12:51 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Quote: Not, sir, from your dictionary (Gilbert Stewart to
> >              Samuel Johnson 182[9] [diary entry 1824])
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Garson's find will, I'm sure, be of more than a little interest to
> > Johnsonites, and I will pass it on.  (I had not specifically looked
> > for the earliest occurrence of the tale, since I was interested in
> > something written about it in 1914, and I only looked in Google Books.)
> >
> > Fred, does "not Sir from your dictionary" belong in the YBQ?
> >
> > I see that the Newport Mercury is also available in Early American
> > Newspapers (NKA - now known as - America's Historical Newspapers),
> > and can confirm Garson's extract from its scan.  The portion Garson
> > omitted explains Stuart's "irritation" -- Johnson had originally
> > directed a question to Stuart addressing him as "My little fellow"!
> >
> > One might hypothesize that the tale can be found a little earlier in
> > the Salem Observer (which I learn is in EAN Series 7), since the
> > Newport Mercury article begins with an attribution to "a friend of
> > the editor of the Salem Observer."  But my newspaper access is
> > limited from home.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 10/1/2011 08:48 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> >>Joel S. Berson asked about a citation to an anecdote involving the
> >>dictionary maker Samuel Johnson and the American painter Gilbert
> >>Stewart aka Gilbert Stuart. The partial information that Joel gave led
> >>to a citation in 1834. I have now located an interesting earlier
> >>citation in 1829. This newspaper article purports to reprint a diary
> >>entry dated October 11th, 1824. (Joel may already have this
> >>information.)
> >>
> >>Date: 1829 June 6
> >>Paper: Newport Mercury
> >>Article: Miscellany
> >>Page: 1
> >>Column: 3
> >>(GenealogyBank)
> >>
> >><Begin excerpt>
> >>Dr. Johnson and Gilbert Stewart, the American Painter.-A friend of the
> >>editor of the Salem Observer, who was intimately acquainted with the
> >>late celebrated painter, Gilbert Stewart, (formerly of this Town) has
> >>furnished him, from his diary, with the following interesting anecdote
> >>relative to Stewart's introduction to Dr. Samuel Johnson. It deserves
> >>a place among the memorabilia which Boswell has preserved of this
> >>great man :-
> >>
> >>"Oct. 11th, 1824. - I this day visited that eminent painter, Mr.
> >>Stewart, whose excellent portraits have conferred an honor on the
> >>country that gave him birth. In the course of conversation, I inquired
> >>of him if he had ever been, while in London, acquainted with Dr.
> >>Johnson! He replied that he had, and that their acquaitance commenced
> >>with something like a quarrel.
> >>
> >><Text omitted. Skipping closer to the punchline.>
> >>
> >>When I had finished speaking, the Doctor asked Mr. West how it
> >>happened that the Americans excelled the English in speaking their own
> >>language. Mr. West then asked the Doctor if it could be so? To which
> >>the Doctor replied, "You may find, Sir, that it is so from the
> >>conversation of this gentleman." The Doctor immediately turned to me,
> >>and asked from what source I had derived my knowledge of the English
> >>language? Not yet having got over my irritation, I replied, "Not Sir
> >>from your Dictionary," The Doctor now burst in so violent a fit of
> >>laughter, that he shook the whole room, and almost the house. Ever
> >>after this we were on the best terms."
> >><End excerpt>
> >>
> >>As always, please double-check this text against the scans (or
> the original).
> >>Garson
> >>
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> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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