The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be perpetuated by quotation.
Quotation
Whenever we would prepare the mind by a forcible appeal, an opening quotation is a symphony preluding on the chords those tones we are about to harmonize.
Quotation
If the golden gate of preferment is not usually opened to men of real merit, persons of no worth have entered it in a most extraordinary manner.
Royal Promotions
To bend and prostrate oneself to express sentiments of respect, appears to be a natural motion
Modes of Salutation, and Amicable Ceremonies, Observed in Various Nations
The negroes are lovers of ludicrous actions, and hence all their ceremonies seem farcical.
Modes of Salutation, and Amicable Ceremonies, Observed in Various Nations
Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation.
Of Suppressors and Dilapidators of Manuscripts
Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.
Men of Genius Deficient in Conversation
There is such a thing as Literary Fashion, and prose and verse have been regulated by the same caprice that cuts our coats and cocks our hats.
Literary Fashions
Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.
Solitude
Originally published as An Essay on the Manners and Genius of the Literary Character
A work, however, should be judged by its design and its execution, and not by any preconceived notion of what it ought to be according to the critic, rather than the author.
Introduction
Isaac D'Israeli was a British writer, scholar and man of letters. He is best known for his essays, his associations with other men of letters, and for being the father of British
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Benjamin Disraeli.
Life and career
Isaac was born in
Enfield, MiddlesexEnfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...
, England, the only child of
Benjamin D'IsraeliBenjamin D'Israeli was an English merchant and financier, grandfather of the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield....
(1730–1816), a Jewish merchant who had emigrated from
CentoCento is a city and comune in the province of Ferrara, part of the region Emilia-Romagna . In Italian "cento" means 100.-History:The name Cento is a reference to the centuriation of the Po Valley...
in Italy in 1748, and his second wife, Sarah Syprut de Gabay Villa Real (1742/3–1825). He received much of his education in
Leiden. At the age of sixteen he began his literary career with some verses addressed to
Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
. He became a frequent guest at the table of the publisher
John MurrayJohn Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
and became one of the noted bibliophiles of the time.
On February 10, 1802, D'Israeli married Maria Basevi (1774/5–1847), who came from another London merchant family of Italian-Jewish extraction. The marriage was a happy one, producing five children: Sarah ("Sa"; 1802–1859); Benjamin ("Ben" or "Dizzy"; 1804–1881); Naphtali (b. 1807, died in infancy); Raphael ("Ralph"; 1809–1898); and Jacobus ("James" or "Jem"; 1813–1868). The children were named according to Jewish customs and the boys were all circumcised. Religiously however, Isaac D'Israeli was perhaps the first English Jew who took the modern attitude toward traditional Jewish ceremonies. In the midst of an eight-year dispute with the
Bevis Marks Synagogue----Bevis Marks Synagogue is located off Bevis Marks, in the City of London. The synagogue, affiliated to London's historic Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community, is the oldest synagogue in the United Kingdom still in use...
and on the advice of his friend, historian
Sharon TurnerSharon Turner was an English historian.-Life:Born in Pentonville, Turner was the eldest son of William and Ann Turner, Yorkshire natives who had settled in London upon marrying. He left school at fifteen to be articled to an attorney in the Temple...
, all his children were baptized into the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in 1817. He himself did not receive baptism however, and never indicated any desire to exchange Judaism for Christianity, but he did attend the inauguration ceremonies of the Reformed Synagogue at Berkeley Street, London.
He penned a handful of English adaptations of traditional tales from the Middle East, wrote a few historical biographies, and published a number of poems. His most popular work was a collection of essays entitled
Curiosities of Literature. The work contained a myriad of anecdotes about historical persons and events, unusual books, and the habits of book-collectors. The work was very popular and sold widely in the 19th century, going through many editions . It is still in print. His book
The Life and Reign of Charles I (1828) resulted in his being awarded the degree of D.C.L. from Oxford University.
In 1841 he became blind and, though he underwent an operation, his sight was not restored. He continued writing with his daughter as his
amanuensisAmanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
. In this way he produced
Amenities of Literature (1841) and completed the revision of his work on Charles I. He died of
influenzaInfluenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
at age 81, at his home,
Bradenham HouseBradenham is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is near Saunderton, off the main A4010 road between Princes Risborough and High Wycombe.- Village :...
, in
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, less than a year after the death of his wife in the spring of 1847.
Major works
- Curiosities of Literature (5 vols. [1791–1823]; 3 vols. [1824])
- A Dissertation on Anecdotes [1793]
- An Essay on the Literary Character [1795]
- Miscellanies; or, Literary Recreations [1796]
- Romances [1799]
- Amenities of Literature [1841]
- Calamities of Authors [1812-3]
- Quarrels of Authors [1814]
External links