John Chapman

“ Whereupon the shopkeeper replied, 'Alas, good friend, should I have heeded dreams I might have proved myself as very a fool as thou hast; for 'tis not long since that I dreamt that at a place called Swaffam Market, in Norfolk, dwells one John Chapman, a pedlar, who hath a tree in his back yard, under which is buried a pot of money. ”

“ I made myself a chapman when very young, in great hopes of being rich when I became old but fortune was fickle and so was I; for I had not been a chapman above two days, until I began to consider the danger of deep ditches, midden dubs, biting dogs and bogles in barns, bangster wives and wiet sacks; And what comfort is it, to ly in a cows ouxter, the length of a cold winter night ”

“ Mr. Chapman possessed a robust constitution, and practised through life the most temperate habits; he was thus enabled to retain the full enjoyment of his faculties, and to continue employed upon various public works, in drainages, canals, and harbours, up till within a very short period of his decease, which occurred in 1832, in the eighty-third year of his age.—Life of Chapman. London, John Weale.
SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE, BART., F.R.S. Born in Middlesex, May 20, 1772. Died May 3, 1828. ”

“ Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne:
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien. ”

“ Ryght werchepfull sir, I recomand me on to yow. And as for the serteynte of the delyverance of Caster, John Chapman can tell yow how that we wer enforsyd therto, as wel as mysylf. As for John Chapman and his iij. 57 felaws, I have purveyd that they be payid ache of them xls., with the mony that they had of yow and Dawbeney; and that is inow for the seson that they have don yow servys. I pray yow geve them ther thank, for by my trowthe they have as well deservyd it as eny men that ever bare lyve; but as for mony, ye ned not to geve hem with owt ye wyll, for they be plesyd with ther wagys. ”

“ No, said I, you lousie dog, I'll sell you none, if there's any on the ground, seek them up and stap them in a beast's arse: but if ye were a man, I would burn you in the fire, tho' it be in your own house, but as you are a poor taylor and neither man nor boy, I'll do nothing but expose you for what you are. O dear honest chapman, cried his wife, ye maunna do that and I'se gie you cheese and bread. No, no, you thieves, I'm for nothing but vengeance; no bribes for such. So as I was lifting my pack, there was a pretty black cat which I spread my napkin over ”

“ I hearing the fear they were in, cried to them not to be frighted, for was not the devil, but a poor chapman, who could not get quarters the last night; a foul fa’ thy carcase, Sir, for our jock is through the midden dib, dirt and a’ thegither; he who went last came back again, the other ran into the house and told what he had seen. The goodman and his wife came running, he with the grape in his hand, and she with the Bible, the one crying out, Sandy, is’t true that the deil was in the barn? na, na, said she, it's but a chapman, but poor Jock has gotten a fright wi' him. ”

“ Wood describes Chapman as 'a person of most reverend aspect, religious and temperate, qualities rarely meeting in a poet.' From many references scattered throughout his works it may be gathered that the poet suffered from poverty and neglect. John Davies of Hereford, in the 'Scourge of Joy' (1611) , alludes to Chapman's straitened circumstances in a quaint copy of verses addressed 'To my highly vallued Mr. George Chapman, Father of our English Poets.' Oldys states that in later life Chapman was 'much resorted to by young persons of parts as a poetical chronicle ”

“ On the morning I went into the house, the goodman ordered me the pottage pot to lick, for, says he, it is an old property to chapman. Well, I had no sooner begun to it, than out came a great big mastiff dog from below the bed, and gripes me by the breast, then turns me over upon my back, and takes the pot himself: Ay, ay, said the goodman, I think your brother pot-licker and you cannot agree about your breakfast? ”

“ Gae awa', cried the lass, he, filthy body at he is, the last chapman that kist me had a horse-pack, but he'll hae naething in his but a wisp of strae, some old breeks, hair-skins, maukin-skins, ony thing that fills the bag, and bears bouk, and yet he would kiss and handle me, hech, I was made for a better fallow; ane of them came by ae day, and fell'd our Meg twa ell and a quarter o' linen to be her bridal sark, for he had nae mair, and when she made it, and pat it on, it widna hide her hech, hech, hech, he. ”

“ Witch here, or witeh there, said the wife, swearing by her saul, and that was nae banning, she said, they’ll be gude substantial meat;—a what say you chapman? Indeed, goodwife, said I, sowens are but saft meat at the best, but, if you make them thick enough, and put a good lump of butter in them, they’ll do very well for a supper. I trow sae lad, said she, ye ha’e some sense: so the old woman put on the pot with her sowens, and went to milk the cows, leaving me to steer ”

“ In December 1824 he married Mary, daughter of John Wallis, a Loughborough lace manufacturer. He soon became a prominent adherent in the town of the philosophical radicals, and a riot breaking out in Loughborough on the occasion of the Reform Bill, he courageously diverted an attack upon the rectory, though the rector was his strong opponent. In 1832 he visited France to investigate the condition of the lace-machine trade there, his own firm doing a large business, then contraband, with foreign houses. Chapman and others petitioned parliament to repeal the machine exportation laws ”

“ On the morning, the old matron got up first, and ordered up the house, then told me to rise now, for chapman and every body was up; then she asked me if I had an use of laughing in my sleep? Yes, said I, when I see any daft like thing, I can look and laugh at it, as well sleeping as waking: A good preserve us, said she, ye're an unco body, but ye need nae wait on our porrage time, I'se gie you cheese and bread in your pouch, which I willingly accepted, and away I came. ”

“ He rides a little bit, then turns baek in a rage, saying, I say, sir, your last words are waur than your first: he comes then to ride me down, but I struck his beast on the face, and in a short turn about, it fell, yet, or I could get my pack to the ground, he cut me on the head at the first stroke; I then getting clear of the pack, played it away for some time, till by blows on the face, I made him bleed at both mouth and nose; then he cried out. Chapman, we are baith daft, for we'll kill oursells and mak naething o't, we had better agree ”

“ His career, in so far as it is known, is not without a touch of romance, and it furnishes the key to a proper acquaintance with his works.
Graham, according to all accounts, was born in the village of Raploch, near Stirling, in or about the year 1724. If, as has been supposed, his History of John Cheap the Chapman is autobiographical, this is his own story of that important event—‘I, John Cheap by chance, at some certain time, doubtless against my will, was born at the Hottom, near Habertehoy Mill. ”

“ Na, na, said she, I’ll neither sell butter, bread nor milk, ’tis a’ little enough to sair my ain family; ye that’s chapman may drink water, ye dinna work sair. Ay, but goodwife, said I, I have been at Temple-bar, where I was sworn ne’er to drink water if I could get better. What do ye say, said she, about Temple-bar! a town just about twa three miles and a bittock frae this; a thief ane was to swear you there, an’ it wasna auld Willy Miller the cobbler the ill thief, a nither minister nor a magistrate ever was in it a’. O but, says the other lad, the Temple-bar he means by is at London. ”

“ To know during one's political life, and to possess the friendship of, two or three such men as Mr. Chapman, is more than sufficient recompence for the treachery, cowardice, and baseness of hundreds that one must as a matter of course become acquainted with. Here I first saw Johnson, the brush-maker; he had not the courage to accompany me upon the hustings, although he was one of the most officious to invite me to preside at the meeting. John Knight and Saxton were the men who attended me upon the hustings, and addressed the people, &c. ”

“ Ralph nodded a ready acquiescence, and Van sat evidently going over the situation in his mind. As he looked up in an undecided way, Ralph said:
"I don't see any great occasion for secrecy or reflection. You were sent to deliver a letter?"
"Yes, that's so."
"To my father. My father is dead. We open the letter, as we have a right to do. It satisfies us that the writer knows considerable that might vitally affect our interests. Very well, it seems to me that your duty is to take me, the representative of John Fairbanks, straight to the person who wrote that letter." ”

“ But I think you have scared everybody on the place about to death."
The spring power was turned on, and the windlasses drew the globe to within one hundred feet of the earth. Then the Doctor and Denison descended in the cage. They met a splendidly built, large man, dressed in a semi-arctic suit of woolens and furs. The two voyagers introduced themselves, explained their business, and they were received very cordially by this man, John Barton, the proprietor and owner of Constance House. He invited the whole company to descend and make themselves at home as long as they desired to remain. ”

“ The average educated man in America has about as much knowledge of what a political idea is as he has of the145 principles of counterpoint. Each is a thing used in politics or music which those fellows who practise politics or music manipulate somehow. Show him one and he will deny that it is politics at all. It must be corrupt or he will not recognize it. He has only seen dried figs. He has only thought dried thoughts. A live thought or a real idea is against the rules of his mind. ”

“ Being permitted to lie in the spence beside the goodman's bed, the good wife being very hard of hearing, she thought that every body was so, for when she went to bed, she cried out, A how hearie, isna yon a brave moderate chapman we hae here the night, he took just seven soup o' our sowens, and that fill'd him fu', a dear Andrew man, turn ye about, an' tak my cauld a-se in your warm lunchoch. ”

“ What is there in these figures that they leave us so awestruck, that they seem so like the sound of trumpets blowing from a spiritual world? The intelligence that could call them forth, the craft that could draw them, have long since perished. ”

“ There are frequent entries with regard to Chapman in Henslowe’s diary for the years 1598–1599, but his dramatic activity slackened during the following years, when his attention was chiefly occupied by his Homer. In 1604 he was imprisoned with John Marston for his share in Eastward Ho, in which offence was given to the Scottish party at court. Ben Jonson voluntarily joined the two, who were soon released. Chapman seems to have enjoyed favour at court, where he had a patron in Prince Henry, but in 1605 Jonson and he were for a short time in prison again for “a play.” ”

“ A number of the pupils turned in their seats to gaze at Stumpy, who looked painfully self-conscious.
“There’s something in the wind,” whispered Ned to Bart.
“I’m not going to take all the blame,” persisted John, ignoring the principal’s command to remain silent. “Fenn Mast—”
“I said that would do,” and Mr. McCloud spoke so decisively that John remained silent. “I know what you would say,” the professor went on. “I have looked into that matter thoroughly. No one is to blame but yourself, and your effort to shift the punishment to some other boy does not do you any good. ”

“ Sculptor, born at Norton in Derbyshire, England, and was apprenticed as a carver in Sheffield. Later he established himself as a modeller in clay in Dublin, then Edinburgh and finally in London. He executed chiefly sepulchral monuments and busts. In 1837 he was knighted.
John Gadsby Chapman (1808-1889) .
Born in Alexandria, Va., and went to Italy to study. He settled in New York and became a successful engraver and illustrator. In 1848 he returned to Italy and had his studio in Rome. ”

“ They are tumblers on a raft, floating down stream, surrounded by a whole Henley regatta, an armada of applauding multitudes, on barges, wherries, tugs, and ferry-boats and river-craft innumerable, whose holiday passengers shout their admiration to the performers on the raft, and egg on the favorites to superhuman effort. ”

“ Neither the poppy nor the play were exactly hewn out: they grew, they expanded and bloomed by a sort of inward power,—unconscious, transcendent. The fine arts blossom from the old stock,—from the poppy-seed of the world. ”

“ Such a hero as antiquity can show, towering, magnificent, made of cloud and thunder, made of lightning and glory, a god among fighting men, a Hector or Mars appearing from the bosom of the sky on the day of battle, bringing victory. ”