The Express.
London, England, 1851-06-27 00:00:00

MR. THACKEItAY'S LECTURES.

Mr. Thacker,.ly commenced his fifth lecture, yes-
terday, by remarking that the moral of most novels was the
same, and conveyed in pretty much the same way. Vice
ISM discomfited in the third volume, and there was an ordi-
nary course of distribution of rewards and punishments. Ile
alluded, then, in opening l:is lecture, to Swift's " Gulliver,"
which ladies, be said, could scarcely be espected to read,
even for the sake of its wonderful wit and satire ; and to
Fielding's " Jonathan Wild," in which the author, select-
ing a scoundrel as his subject, conduct,sl hint through his
career with grinning deference, saw bins finally hanged,
sad bid him good morning. These. were mentioned to snow
the remorselessness of the moralists of that time :—now they
appearosl to have no pity for scoundrels of au, and

, . • any species,
discharged the duty of lashing them with a relentless punc-
tuality. This exordium led up to the introduction of the
name of liogarth,_ _ _

Ilogarth'sr'art, Mr. Thackeray described as being, under
its moral aspect, of a good, simple character; it interested
simple hearts. The moral was usually the same 7. Tommy,
the naughty boy, meeting with a bad end. And llogarth
appeared to have no sympathy with any sort of rascals.
People went to see hangings iu those days, indeed, as a great
moral lesson—recommended to apprentices, and the young
generally. Ilogarth's pictures made all the people of the
past time live again fur us; we saw them all moving there;
we lived again in the movement of that time, in the crowds
of its hangings at Tyburn—now that Tyburnia—" the
most respectable district of the habitable globe!"
Having described at some length the subjects of Ifogarth's
chief pictures, and drawn a powerful contrast between his
time and ours, the lecturer came to his personal character,
which, he said, stood out clear before us like his blue eyes,
with their keen bright look, in his portrait. No man was
less of a hero. Ile was a sturdy, strong fellow, loving his
friend and his glass, and having a proper b)uryeois con-
tempt fur French frogs, French soldiers, foreigners gene-
rally—and foreign painters in particular! " Correggio," the
worthy man would cry, " look at the works of Bill llogarth!
Look at my altar-piece in the church of so-and-so." In fact
he seemed to think that the world was in a conspiracy to do
hint injustice in the matter of his powers as a historical
painter. This was a common sort of delusion. Liston
used to believe that nature meant him for a tragedian, and
" perhaps each of us," continued Mr. Thackeray, " thinks
he is something which he is not."
The lecturer next gradually approached the artist's con-
temoorary, Smollett, described as a man of decided hu-
mour, a manly, good character, preserving his tine qualities
of heart through a long struggle against ill fortune, and of
brain through a protracted course of laborious writing.
It was a hard light in those days. lie faced the world like
• one of those Scotch cadets his countrymen, whom Scott
loved to paint. A man of gentle birth and narrow means—
his crest an oak-tree, his arms a lion, well symbolised his
character and career. 'throughout his life he was empha-
tically a gentleman. His characters were doubtless drawn
from the people ho met in his travels. Mr. Thackeray
did not rank his invention high. He was a writer of keen,
bright insight into all that VAT= beforo him. 'towline was
as excellent a painting of character as Squire Western.
What novel reader did not remember " Lisraahago ?"
Perhaps " Humphrey Clinker" was, on the whole, the most
laughable of all stories. It was full of the author's genuine
humour.

k miffing s birth and employment brought him (said the
lecturer, passing on now to that writer) into familiar ac-
quaintance with every rank of mankind. In all probabi-
lity he was the very hero of his own book—a kind of Tom
Jones. When ho entered on London life, those who re-
membered the great old wits raid that young Harry Fielding
was, in spirits and wit, equal to any of them.
Due could fancy the gusto with which lie entered
into the pleasures of the town—revelling in them like
youths in that Homeric feast, a college breakfast. lie
made friends everywhere. Doubtless the effects of his life
soon began to tell; he took to borrowing money everywhere ,•
to be nowise particular where he could go for a dinner and
a guinea. His dramas were written carelessly, and an
amusing instance of his coolness was his leaving a part in
one of them, which he knew to be bad, for the audience to
" find out," and remarking with cool indolence, when the
inevitable hissing began, "Oh, they have found it out,
have they ?"
Mr. Thatkeray proceeded to say that he "could not make
a hero of him." But why not take the man as he was ?
Why not take his figure, not dressed or hidden, but such
as he really was? Beyond doubt, Fielding was sufficiently
impaired by idleness, wine and ease. But there was a real
love of truth in him : a true hatred of hypocrisy. Ile
laughed a hypocrite to scorn with the widest and wisest
wit. He had an eye which flashed on a scoundrel like a
policeman's lantern. He respected feminine tenderness,
and loved childish conscience. He might sometimes be a
man of low tastes, but never of low mind. lie dis-
dained cant ; was loved by his family ; and died at his
work.

Of has three heroes we should like, the lecturer thought,
Andrews, best; Booth, second•best ; and Mr. Henry Jones,
least. It was easy to undentand the mutual dislike of
Fielding and Richardson, and to believe it honest in
both. But Joseph Andrews, originally intended only to
ridicule Pamela, soon became a loveable character. (Here,
he quoted Gibbon's panegyric cn Fielding, which wo men-
Jim' for the sake of his admirable illustration on the subject
to be mentioned by a man like Gibbon was like having
your name written up inside St. Peter's—everybody. saw
it.") As a picture of manners Tom Jones was exquisite ;
as a work of construction, admirable. it was full of won-
derful turns of thought—this great comic epic. But as to
the hero, against any undue admiration of him, Mr.
Thackeray begged to protest.
This protest was delivered with considerable emphasis,
and it is matter for curious observation that Mr. Thackeray
should have spoken less charitably of Tom Jones, than both
Coleridge and Lamb have done. lie declared that Field-
ing's moral sense tad been impaired by his mode of life. It
might, he said, be a matter of long dispute whether Jones,
or Mita—Charles Surface or Joseph—were really the most
dangerous to society. Booth was a better being than Tom
Joan ; he owned that he was a scamp, and was pardoned
for the sake of his delightful Amelia—on which character
the lecturer here pronounced a warm and graceful eulogium.
And ri propos of her, he characteristically observed that
Booth was far from being the only man who had won by a
coup-de-main the heart of some kind girl, who was far too
good for hint. He concluded by eloquently alluding to
Fielding's melancholy death at Lisbon, and compared it to
the wreck of one of the good ships of our country.
The attendance was as brilliant as usual. The next lec-
ture, let us note, will be at three o'clock.

A DISTURBANCE HAS TAKEN PLACE IN THE
AGAPENIONIL, or "Abode of Love," near Bridgewater,
Samuel Starkey, having displeased the head, or, as ho calls
himself; " Lord " of the establishment, had the vial of
his wrath poured on his devoted head. He was degraded,
and, rumour says, put to work in the stables and as assist-
ant shoeblack—a pretty employment for a gentleman edu-
cated with a view of taking holy orders in the church of
England. A few days since, Sirs. Starkey returned from
London, and requested that the carriage and four belong-
ing to the establishment might be sent to meet her at the
station. This was not done, but a four-wheel was sent in-
stead, which so incensed the lad that returned by the
neat up-train to London. The d worshipper of the
mock " Lord " immediately leg the Abode of Love, and
like a decant husband, set off to join his spouse.—Both
CArowiek.