James Boswell and Hester Lynch Piozzi
Anecdotes of the Learned Pig / With Notes, Critical and Explanatory, and Illustrations from Bozzy, Piozzi &c. &c
ANECDOTES
OF THE
LEARNED PIG
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1
“He was not at all offended, when, comparing all our acquaintance to ſome animal or other, we pitched upon the elephant for his reſemblance, adding, that the proboſcis of that creature was like his mind moſt exactly, ſtrong to buffet even the tyger, and pliable to pick up even the pin.” – Piozzi, p. 205. – N.B. For elephant our author probably read
pig
.
THE great and learned Pig, of which it is our hap to ſpeak, was produced in a ſty belonging to an old Tory, bookſeller, in
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2
We have ſought for information concerning this fact, that the gentleman deſignated in the text was born in
Moorfields
, or that his father was a bookſeller there, which, however, we confeſs to have heard, but when or where we can by no means remember.
Moorfields
. At that time
Moorfields
was diſtinguiſhed by rails which
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3
Cloath ſpice, line trunks, or flutt’ring in a row,
Befringe the rails of
Bedlam
or Soho.
POPE’S IM. OF HORACE, Ep. I. B. 2.
fluttered with party writings and libels of every ſort; and it is remarkable that his mother, during her pregnancy, tore down from thoſe rails, and fairly devoured one whole volume of
Filmer
and all
Sacheverell
’s ſermons at a meal; after which ſhe was obſerved to grunt more and louder, and to lie longer in the ſun, and deeper in the mire, than it had before been her cuſtom to do. She was delivered of our Pig on the morning of the
tenth of June
. He was ſtrong and bony, but of an inelegant form, and betrayed a very uncommon roughneſs in his ſqueak; and it was ſoon after remarked by the neighbours, that his trottings after his mother were made in
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4
“When in company where he was not free, or when engaged earneſtly in converſation, he never gave way to ſuch habits, which proves that they were not involuntary.” I ſtill, however, think, that theſe geſtures were involuntary; for ſurely had not that been the caſe, he would have reſtrained them in the public ſtreets. – Boſwell’s Tour, p. 9.
zig-zags, and not in ſtraight lines as is uſual with other pigs. After his mother, however, he reſolutely trotted, and one morning, as ill fortune would have it, into a garden which had belonged to the great
Milton
, and was now in the poſſeſſion of one of his daughters. Here he fed voraciouſly upon
white roſes
, whilſt his lady mother was buſily employed in rooting up all the
red ones
. He was in this place ſeized by the owner, and ſo ſeverely whipped, that he thought no other than that ſhe was whipping him to death in preparation for a luxurious meal. Of this whipping he retained through life the higheſt reſentment, and bore ever after the moſt inveterate hatred of the whole
Miltonic line
. On the fifth of November following he was taken up, without any warrant, by the rabble, for the uſes of a
Whig feaſt
, and was very near being
roaſted
at the ſame fire with the
Pope
, the
Devil
, and the
Pretender
; but this being diſcovered to be ſomething
meaſly
, he was turned looſe to be cured, as they deridingly ſaid, by the
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5
The pretence of a miraculous power in the cure of the evil was the moſt extraordinary ſtrain of that King-craft of which James the Firſt ſo loudly boaſted. No manly man, under the circumſtances of the caſe, would have ſet up this pretence, or have expected any effect from it but that of public deriſion and contempt; but weak and credulous men take, perhaps, the beſt meaſure of human weakneſs and credulity, and ſo deep did this fraud ſtrike its roots, that, authenticated as it was by the clergy, and annually certified by the ſurgeons and phyſicians of the royal houſehold, it ſurvived the civil war, was reſtored with Charles the Second, extended beyond the revolution, and was only extinguiſhed by the act of ſettlement, which, taking the principles of the Britiſh government out of the clouds, placed them on the firm baſis of the earth. The pretenſions of Alexander were of a bolder and more rational ſort, and held to be ſo important, that his ſucceſſors, who had no kindred intereſt in the horns of Ammon, yet mingled them in their crowns and tiaras, till at laſt the Roman Titans tumbled from their ſeats one after another theſe fictitious gods. The moſt deceitful glimmer of divine claim ſeems to have had more influence on the mind of the perſon who ſeems to have been deſignated in the text, than the moſt ſolid principles of political right.
royal touch
. Of this event he retained the ſtrongeſt ſenſibility, and conſidered ever after his fellow ſufferers, the
Pope
and the
Pretender
, with great complacence, if not affection; but as to the other
party
, though expoſed to the ſame diſhonours, there was ſomething in his horns and his tail which he could never be brought to endure. The touch already mentioned, though profanely ſneered at by the
Whig rabble
, was ſoon afterwards in good earneſt applied; but ſo great an obliquity of head had by this time taken place, that it could never be perfectly reſtored. Upon this memorable occaſion there was placed about his neck a ribband of
true blue
, to which hung a ſilver coin, diſplaying royal lineaments of the
Stuart line
, making ſo ſtrong an impreſſion on his young fancy, that for that line he ever after retained the moſt
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6
“I mentioned Lord Hailes as a man of anecdote – He was not pleaſed with him for publiſhing only ſuch memorials as were unfavourable for the
Stuart
family.” – Boſwell’s Tour, p. 312.
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