'[from an account by Dr Maxwell, an Irish london-based priest friend of Johnson] Speaking of Mr. Harte, Canon of Windsor, and writer of "The History of Gustavus Adolphus", he much commended him as a scholar, and a man of the must companionable talents he had ever known. He said, the defects in his history proceeded not from imbecility, but from foppery.
He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant; wonderfully so, considering how conversant the writers were with the best models of antiquity.
Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy", he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson Print: Book
'Mr. Eliot, with whom Dr. Walter Harte had travelled, talked to us of his "History of Gustavus Adolphus", which he said was a very good book in the German translation.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Mr Eliot Print: Book
