E. Oxford, 1842; J. Francis, 1842; J. Bean, 1842; W.Hamilton, 1849;
R.MacClean,1882. All attempted and failed at the same enterprise which
can never be acheived now. What was it?
Which humorist wrote about dogs called Muggs, Barge and a peke called
Darien?

Hello puzzle-ga

All the people mentioned in your question attempted to murder Queen
Victoria, as did Robert Pate in 1850 and Athur O’Connor in 1872.  The
prize must go to John Francis who made two attempts on two consecutive
days!  You can read more about them at
http://mypage.uniserve.ca/~canyon/attempts.html which is part of
Yvonne's Royalty Home Page by Yvonne Demoskoff.
Of course it is no longer possible to assassinate Queen Victoria,
because old age and illness claimed her on 22 January 1901 at the age
of 81.
“The last phase was mercifully short; and at 6.30pm on Tuesday, the
twenty second of January nineteen hundred and one, Queen Victoria, in
the words of the final bulletin, 'breathed her last, surrounded by her
children and grandchildren'.” From the BBC web site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/sceptred_isle/page/170.shtml?question=170


The humorist in question was James Thurber.
“In the book My Life and Hard Times, Muggs is the name of the "big,
burly, choleric" Airedale, otherwise known as "the dog that bit
people." “
from answers to a James Thurber quiz:
http://www.budgetweb.com/heather/thurber/Answers.htm
You can read the story of Barge by James Thurber on K9Quest  (scroll
about half way down the page)
http://business.vsnl.com/cyberquest/k9.htm#Barge

I’m afraid I’ve not been able to find a reference to Darien, or to a
peke or pekinese in connection with Thurber.  However, the web site of
Thurber House, where he lived with his parents, mentions that he had
numerous pet dogs http://www.thurberhouse.org/ThurberHouse.htm
And Thurber himself said: “Probably no one man should have as many
dogs in his life as I have had.”
http://www.delta-optimist.com/07400/op-3.htm

Therefore, despite being unable to find Darien, I’m confident in my
reply, because it would be unlikely to find another humorist with dogs
called Muggs and Barge – and Darien as well!

Search strategy on Google

Q1: Oxford, Francis, Bean, Hamilton, 1842

Q2: humorist, dogs, Muggs
“James Thurber” Barge
Thurber Darien
Thurber peke
Thurber pekinese

Thank you for your help.

I meant, of course, to say that I have not been able to find a
reference _on the Internet_ to James Thurber and a peke called Darien.