That institution was only
established in 1823, through the instrumentality of Croker, Lawrence,
Chantrey, Sir Humphry Davy, and their friends. Until then, Murray's
drawing-room was the main centre of literary intercourse in that quarter
of London. Men of distinction, from the Continent and America, presented
their letters of introduction to Mr. Murray, and were cordially and
hospitably entertained by him; meeting, in the course of their visits,
many distinguished and notable personages.
In these rooms, early in 1815, young George Ticknor, from Boston, in
America, then only twenty-three, met Moore, Campbell, D'Israeli,
Gifford, Humphry Davy, and others. He thus records his impressions of
Gifford:
"Among other persons, I brought letters to Gifford, the satirist, but
never saw him till yesterday. Never was I so mistaken in my
anticipations. Instead of a tall and handsome man, as I had supposed him
from his picture--a man of severe and bitter remarks in conversation,
such as I had good reason to believe him from his books, I found him a
short, deformed, and ugly little man, with a large head sunk between
his shoulders, and one of his eyes turned outward, but withal, one of
the best-natured, most open and well-bred gentlemen I have ever met.
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