Ugo Foscolo and Some Englishmen

“At some house where we were dining in London, I forget with whom, Ugo Foscolo, the poet, was one of the party. He was extremely excitable and irritable, and when some one spoke of a translation of Dante as being perfect, ‘Impossible’, shouted Foscolo, starting up in great excitement, at the same time tossing his cup full of coffee into the air, cup and all, regardless ' of the china and the ladies' dresses.” This is what Mary Somerville says of Foscolo in her Personal Recollections. All she can remember of one of the most fascinating conversationalists of his age is that he threw: his coffee-cup into the air when excited. But then, Foscolo, besides being a poet and a talker, was a foreigner, and such queer actions are typical of foreigners, and deserve to be recalled.