The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-30 00:00:00

ST. JAMES'S HALL.

The announcement that the noted Mr. Barone;
was about to deliver an address on "Money-making
last night had at least this recommendation about
it, that the lecturer, to everybody's knowledge, W 0
thoroughly " up" in his subject. That he has often
used "humbug" as an expedient fOr getting money
he has already confessed with terrific frankness,
but that in the art of money-making itself he has
proved himself a genuine proficient no one al
doubt for a moment.
Though Mr. Barnum's " address" flowed on frein
.
beginning to end without any interruption, sal:
what was occasioned by the noise of the crowdn
it may fairly be divided into two parts—°'
relating relating to money-making in general, the other
to that particular branch of the art which is aS99;
elated with the word " humbug." The first ner"
comprised a defence of that love of lucre which
so conspicuous in the present. generation, and also
contained a series of sage maxims on the relations
between income and expenditure, which were much
in the tone of Poor _Richards Almanack, but were
illustrated by a number of diverting stories.
But it was when lie came to the tieatise
"humbug" that the admiration of his hearers rose
to its greatest height. Had he satisfactorily
demonstrated that he was John Howard or Alfred
the Great, or any other immortal benefactor of his
race, he could not have been honoured with mere
encouraging cheers than when, with marvellous
effrontery, he declared that he himself was con'
sidered the greatest " humbug" in the whole world.
However, before he hadplaeed himself on this high
moral pedestal, he had so defined the word " hut-
bug" as to render it comparatively harmless. Til"
man who sells a bad article, or even a gou-
article at too high a price, is, according to the,.
Barnum lexicon, a mere " cheat," who has no right
to the ennobling title of "humbug." The "hum'
bug" proper is, in fact, an honest soul, who versa'
a good article at a fair price, but does
not scrupl°
to sound his own trumpet in order to bring custo•
mers together. In plain English, Mr Barnum
limits the word "humbug" to the significatiln,l,
which WO commonly denote by the word "Pula
Thus the Frenchman who clapped a helmet on 11
head to draw attention to the really
excellent
lead pencils which he sold in the street wo,
"humbug" of the most virtuous kind. So als.
was Mr. Barnum himself when he opened
really excellent museum to the public at a 1;1_
price, though he used ploughing elephants, do-
cile buffaloes, and manufactured mermaids as Cl 4,
pedients to obtain notoriety, and though
pictures outside the museum bore the least ris
t:
sible resemblance to the curiosities within. This
fine tissue of sophistry was illustrated by se°.
capital stories, of which Barnum himself was 01170
rally the hero, and which, though many of thee
must have been familiar to several of the audienej
were rendered infinitely amusing to all who bee'
them by the humour with which they were told7_,.
Whether a huge multitude applauding an orator
for a deliberate panegyric of " humbug' 4lnnY,
considered as a sign of the high moral state
nation is a point that we, will not here aisen
But we are bound to admit that Mr. Barnunl.,ll
one of the most entertaining lecturers that ever
addressed an audience on a theme universallyfeir
telligible. Whether people feel wiser and better
after listening to his sagemaxims andodd exarngi_le
may be doubted, but it is certain that a comforts.
",
sense of shrewdness comes over them when tl_'.
reflect on what they have beard during two he'''.
of hearty mer4i4lQut.