Foxy, one of my all time favourite quotes came from that book. Attributed by Niven, to I believe, a Hungarian director, of a cavalry charge scene.

To depict the carnage they had riderless horses, & at a stage of filming he gave the instruction "bring on the empty horses". Just tickles my fancy.

Hasbeen,
I believe that particular line became the title for his follow-up book of memoirs. "The Moon is a Balloon" is an absolute classic - I read it years ago, but it's probably time to go and dig it out again.

In 1774 James Hutton, the founder of modern geology, embarked on a solo expedition to collect rocks and other specimens from various parts of the British Isles. Here is an excerpt from a letter he wrote while staying at Bridgnorth.

'I have to ear green goose, but notwithstanding the weather would seem to favour spontaneous generation a slice of cucumber is all I have got in the vocable C, and that as you know is no provocative I have just muddled with brandy & water & so to bed.

In this context:

Green goose = Young maiden. Hutton is expressing his need "eat" a young girl

Spontaneous generation = erection

Slice of cucumber = married woman. Apparently this is all that was available in Bridgnorth.

Vocable of C = c u n t.

Is no provocative = did not arouse

In other words, he wanted to "eat" a young girl but all that was available was a married woman whose c u n t failed to arouse him. So he settled for brandy and water.

You can read about Hutton here:

http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/earth/p_hutton.html

Dear Hasbeen,

I remember laughing out loud at so many
things in that book - from Niven's first
sexual experience with Nessie, to the ball
in Malta where they squatted and left the
olives behind (as sheep droppings). Niven
certainly had charm, wit, and daredevilry.

Dear Poirot,

You're absolutely right, "Bring On the Empty
Horses," was a sequel to "The Moon's A Balloon."
And I certainly would recommend a re-read!

Dear Steven,

Thanks for another interesting quote and
explanation. Keep them coming...

I hope James Hutton wasn't sending that letter to his mother. He sounds like a perfect grub.

I went to find the letter and couldn't but did look at some others. I take it he might have been a bit at odds with polite society because in one he refers to people "shitten snowballs" (s'cuse the French) or words to that effect. It did give me a laugh. Thanks.

I hope it's ok to contribute excerpts as well. I like the writings of Charles Lamb (alias Elia). His essays are a wonderful window to his world. He was an old bachelor. Had one sister Charlotte who was also a writer. During an episode of illness she killed their mother. He looked after her. Anyway, pieces to recommend for now:

MODERN GALLANTRY (1823)
A DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG and
GRACE BEFORE MEAT.

http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jer6616/elia%281823%29.htm#GRACE%20BEFORE

When I have sate (a rarus hospes) at rich men's tables, with the savoury soup and messes steaming up the nostrils, and moistening the lips of the guests with desire and a distracted choice, I have felt the introduction of that ceremony to be unseasonable. With the ravenous orgasm upon you, it seems impertinent to interpose a religious sentiment. It is a confusion of purpose to mutter out praises from a mouth that waters. The heats of epicurism put out the gentle flame of devotion. The incense which rises round is pagan, and the

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belly-god intercepts it for his own. The very excess of the provision beyond the needs, takes away all sense of proportion between the end and means. The giver is veiled by his gifts. You are startled at the injustice of returning thanks -- for what? -- for having too much, while so many starve. It is to praise the Gods amiss.

I have observed this awkwardness felt, scarce consciously perhaps, by the good man who says the grace. I have seen it in clergymen and others -- a sort of shame -- a sense of the co-presence of circumstances which unhallow the blessing.

After a devotional tone put on for a few seconds, how rapidly the speaker will fall into his common voice, helping himself or his neighbour, as if to get rid of some uneasy sensation of hypocrisy. Not that the good man was a hypocrite, or was not most conscientious in the discharge of the duty; but he felt in his inmost mind the incompatibility of the scene and the viands before him with the exercise of a calm and rational gratitude.

I hear somebody exclaim, -- Would you have Christians sit down at table, like hogs to their troughs, without remembering the Giver? no -- I would have them sit down as Christians, remembering the Giver, and less like hogs. Or if their

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appetites must run riot, and they must pamper themselves with delicacies for which east and west are ransacked, I would have them postpone their benediction to a fitter season, when appetite is laid; when the still small voice can be heard, and the reason of the grace returns -- with temperate diet and restricted dishes. Gluttony and surfeiting are no proper occasions for thanksgiving.