Michael Woodhull

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Smith's Book for a Rainy Day — that storehouse of curious information — reminds us that Woodhull, the translator of Euripides (the first interpretation into English of the Greek tragedian), also lived in Berkeley Square. Smith's description of this celebrity is amusing:

"He was very thin, with a long nose and thick lips; of manners perfectly gentlemanly. The great singularity of his appearance arose, perhaps, from his closing his coat from the first button, immediately under his chin, to the last, nearly extending to the bottom of his deep-flap waistcoat pockets. He seldom spoke, nor would he exceed one sixpence beyond the sum which he had put down in his catalogue to give for the articles he intended to bid for, and though he frequently went away without purchasing a single lot, or even speaking to any one during the whole evening, he always took off his hat and bowed low to the company before he left the auction room."

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