The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-19

. tone Of religious reverence, and apparently in,
PRODUCED that Ne may learn BY what delicate Dis.
examinations ouF alteration Of rank should Be
regulated.
10 those who love to hug themselves in :
sense Of superiority by admeasuremcnt with the
most worthless Of their species, in their most
worthless aspects, the Kickleburys on the RAins
will afford An agreeable treat especially an the
purveyor Of the feasts offers his own moments
OF human weakness ~ modest entycc In this
banquet Of erring mortality. To our own per-
hAps unphilosophical taste--the aspirations to-
wards sentimental perfection of another popular
author are infinitely preferable to these sar-
donc dvings after the pearl of truth, whose
ustre is eclipsed in the display of the diseased
oyster Much, in the present instance, perhaps
all the disagreeable effect Of his subject, IL no
doubt attributable to the absence of Mr. Thack-
erays usual brIIiancy Of style. A few flashes,
however, occur, such as the description Of M.
Lenoir's gaming establishment with the mo-
nentous crisis to which it was subjected, and
the quaint and imaginative salies evoked by the
old town Of Rougetnoirbourg and its lawful
prince. These, with the illustrations, which IRE
spirited enough, redeem the book from an abso-
lutte BAN Mr.. Thackeray's pencil is more con-
genial than his pen. lie cannot draw his men
the effigies of his characters are pleasanter to
contemplate than the fayed anatomies Of the
letter-press.
There is the whole article And the reader
will see Gin the paragraph preceding that memoir
able one which winds up with the diseased
OYSTER that he must be a worthless creature for
daring to like the book, as he could only do so
from desire to hug himself in a sense of
superiority by admeasurement with the most
worthless of his fellow-creaturcsl
The reader ia worthless for liking book of
which the characters are worthless, except two
which are offered to his respectful admiration;
and of these two the author does not respect
one, but struggles not to laugh in his face |;
whilst he apparently speaks of another in a tone
of religious reverence, because the lady is a
countess, and because he Qhe author) is a sneak.
So reader, author, characters, are rOgues all.
Be there any honest men left, Hal? About
Printing house square, mayhap you may light on
an honest man, squeamish man, proper moral
man, man that shall talk you Latin by the half
column if you will but hear him.
And what style it is, that great mans! What
heighth of foine language entoirely! How he
can discourse you in English for all the world as
If twas Latin! For instance, suppose you and
l had to announce the important news that some
writers published what are called Christmas
books; that Christmas books are 30 called be-
cause they are published at Christmas; and that
the purpose of the authors is to try and amuse
people. Suppose, say, we had by the sheer
force of intellect, or by other means Of observ-
alton or information, discovered these great
truths, we should have announced them in 20
many words And there it is that the difference
lies between great writer and poor one and
we may see how an inferior man may fling a
chance away. How does my friend of the
Times put these propositions at has been GUS
tomsry," says he, "of late years for the purvey-
ors of amusing literature to put forth certain
opuscules, denominated Christmas books, with
the ostensible intention Of swelling the tide of
exhilaration, or other expansive emotions, Incl
dent upon the exodus of the old or the inaugu-
ration of the new year." That is something
like sentence; not word scarcely butts in
Latin, and the longest and handsomest out of the
whole dictionary. This proper economy-as
you see buck from Holywell street put every
pinchbeck pin, ring, and chain which he possess
es about his shirt, hands, and waistcoat, and
then go and cut a dash in the Park, or swagger
with his order to the theatre. 1t costs him no
more to wear all his ornaments about his distin.
gushed person than to leave them at home If
you can be swell at cheap rate, why not
And protest, for my part, had no idea what
was really about in writing and submitting my
little book for sale, until my friend the critic,
looking at the article, and examining with the
eyes Of connoisseur, pronounced that what
had fancled simply to be book, was in fact
ian opuscule, denominated so-and-so, and os-
tensibly intended to swell the tide of expan-
sive emotion incident upon the Inauguration
of the new year." can hardly believe as
much even now-so little do we know what we
really are after, until men of genius come and
interpret
And, besides the ostensible intention, the
reader will perceive that my judge has discover.
ed another latent motive, which | had Stocked
up in my own breast" The sly rogue! Gf We
may 80 speak of the COURT. There is no kce{
ing anything from him; and this truth, like the
rest, has come out, and is all over England by
this time o that all England, which has
bought the judges charge, would purchase the
prisoners plea in mitigation! 80 that any
muse should be set on a high stool" says the
bench, "to east up accounts and balance ledger
Yet so it is; and the popular author finds il
convenient TO fill up the declared deficit by the
emission of Christmas books kind Of assig-
mats that bear the stamp of their origin in the
vacuity Of the writer's exchequer." There is a
trope for you! You rascal, you wrote because
you wanted money! His lordship has found
out what you were nj, and that there is a deficit
in your TILL But he goes on to say that we
poor devils are to be ptied in our necessity, and
that these compositions are no more TO be taken
as examples of our merits than the verses which
the dutsman leaves at his lordship's door, +" as Q
provocative of the expected annual gratuity,'
are to be considered measuring his, the scav
enger's valuable services-nevertheles the au
thor's and the scavenger's " effusions may fairly
be classed for their intrinsic WORTH no less thar
their ultimate purport."
Heaven bless his lordship on the bench--Wha'
a gentlemanlike badinage he has, and what .
charming and playful wit always at hand What
sense he has for n simile, or what Mrs. Mala
prop calls an odorous comparison,and how grace
fully he conducts it to otis ultimate purport 7
A gentleman writing poor little book is 9
scavenger asking for Christmas box
As try this smallbeer which has called dowr
such deal of thunder, can't help thinking tina,
it is not Jove who has interfered (the case was
scarce worthy Of his divine vindictiveness) but
the Thunderer's man, Jupiter Jeames, taking his