The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-14 00:00:00

LITERARY.

(From the Anyo-American Times.)
THE AMERICAN LECTURE SYSTEM.
Tlnmas Wentworth Iligginson, of Newport,
Rhode Lland, has written a good article in Mac-
millan's Magazine for May, on the America❑ Lec-
ture System. The Lecture System is a product o

New England, but it has attained to its best orga•
nization and most characteristic form in the West

In the East it has to compete with other intellec-
tual attractions; nor does it there need the thorough

organization of lesB densely peopled districts where
the audiences are brought together from great
distances. An effort is being made by Mr. James

K. Medbery, Superintendent of the American Lite-
rary Bureau, to introduce the Western system into
the Eastern States, and during the past winter he
made engagements for thirty lectures in eight diffe-
rent States of the Union. The system originated in
Massachusetts with Horace Mann, some 40 years ago,

whence it spread through the New England States,and
obtained a favourable hold in the Western States,
but not much either in the city of New York or in
the middle States, while in. the Southern States it

gained no footing at first the work was done by
the' lawyers, physicians, attd elergyrn e a of The neigh-
bourhood, but as'lectm-ers became popular, and
more and more devoted to lecturing, it grew into

a profession. Fifteen dollars was then a large fee,
but it crept up to twenty-five and fifty. Now such
men as Henry Ward Beecher can command two

hundred, and prove prove to the associations engaging
them more profitable far than cheap local lecturers.
As a town grows up in the West a lecture commit-
tee is one of the earliest appointments. They select

the speakers, choose a secretary to invite them, a
treasurer to pay them, a president to introduce
them to the audience. A. winter course may vary
from a half. dozen to a score. These local com►xittees
are united into widely-extending organizations, such
as the Western Literary Societies, whose range
extends from Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, to
Laurence in Kansas, and whose agent Mr. G. L. Lor-
bert, of Dulonquc, lowa, last winter negotiated be-
tween
thirty-five lecturers and one hundred and
ten societies, arranging for each society a tolerably
regular course of lectures, and for each orator a
continuous series of engagements. In the fall he
issues his list of speakers, subjects, and prices,
leaving each society to select from the bill of face.
The lecturer has nothing to do with it except to
receive his printed circular with his dozen or hun-
dred engagements, and to proceed to the different
towns, many of which be may then Ittve heard of
for the first time. On arrival he is met by his
committee man, and the lecturer is coached along
through the proceedings in that locality by him.
All moves as smoothly as clock-work, unless some
railway breaks down or a snow storm interrupts the
programme, when that evening's business is thrown
off the list, for the lost engagement cannot be

picked up, and the lecturer has to hurry oa to
the next stage. The introduction of professional
lecturers has tended to change the old system
which ignored politics—now politics threaten to
banish all other subjects. Mr. Higginson
.says,
4‘ even party questions can by lecture be handled
down without the trammels of party. The popular
lecture is the antidote to the Caucus. On its free
platform the statesman speaks for himself alone and
commits nobody, he rises as if in committee of the
whole, and proceeds without reference to a pro-
spective division. Moreover, an outlet is thus
afforded to men who keep aloof from all party ties.
I have seen Wendell Phillips received with admi-
ration and delight by audiences of whom not one
in a hundred would admit the truth of his asser-
tions until twelve months after they were uttered."
But the evil is that the more sober topics are
banished—" the scholar recedes from sight, and
the impassioned orator takes his place. There is
no time for Longfellow to analyze " Dante," nor
for Lowell to explain Hamlet, while Sumner
thunders the terrors of the Lord against a delin-
quent President, or Anna Dickinson pleads for the
enfranchisement of one-half the human race. Agas-
siz is now the only popular " lecturer on science
who can be said to have a hearing; and Emerson
is the only prominent literary man who now keeps
the field. Holmes has almost ceased lecturing by
his own choice, since his great success as a maga-
zinist ; and George Curtis seems to have withdrawn
himself from all permanent literary work since win-
ning such easy fame on the platform." It furnishes
a good test, however, of public men who_ must thus
face the people, and it helps to train the speaker—
"it saves the philosopher from becoming a pedant,
the student froM being an intellectual voluptuary"
—placing all in broad healthy contrast with their
fellow-citizens. The finer points will, as a rule,
fail ; the cheaper effects tell ; the subtile and evanes-
cent, the profound, find no room ; but broad com-
mon sense, hearty sympathy, manly courage, will
be appreciated. " You have to do with people
who do not ask to be flattered, and will not
bear to be patronised ; who insist on hearing
something to interest them, and .are ready and
eager to be taught. The author goes on thus to
describe the leaders in this field :—Among the most
popular lecturers are Henry Ward Beecher, John
B. Gough, and Anna Dickenson. Gough was an
importation from the platform of the temperance
agitation, and at once found the new field equally
favourable and far more profitable. A sort of
evangelical comedian, he is the idol of many
worthy people who never saw good acting on
any other stage; and he is a favourite with
many others who can tolerate his contortions
for the sake of his drollery. Ile. does not offer
much to the intellect, true, but he often touches
the heart; and something is du, to a man who
makes laughter an ally of good morals. Miss
Dickenson deals rather in tears than in smiles. She
owed her first celebrity perhaps to the unwonted
combination of twenty years of womanhood with a
remarkably clear head for political questions. She
has good looks, perfect self-possession, an effective
voice, readiness of illustration, fidelity to principle,
and great magnetic power; and yet with all these she
seems to me a farless attractive speaker than her chief
prelecessor,Lucy Stone, who never called forth one-
half as much enthusiasm. Her present theme is
the enfranchisement of her sex. This she treats
under the piquant title of " Idiots and Women,"
borrowing the sarcastic juxtaposition from the
statute-books. Next in popularity comes Wendell
Phillips, and next to him probably George William
Curtis. Wendell Phillips has won public fa-
vour while always keeping in advance of public
opinion----the highest test of power. Recognised by
all as :the foremost of American orators, be has