The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1851-07-30
picture of the deans first acquaintance

ly picture OF tue uean nrSt acquaintance
with Vanessa, and said--quiie in tho strain
of the author of Vanity Fair "--that Siel
la had enjoyed one nice little bit of injustice;
that that young tddy--that other person had
been sacrificed to her. Ills description Of
the sad and cloudc1 later day Of the great
man was very powerful and affecting; and
he visited Swi(t's treatment of Stella very
severely. But he paid then, as he did through
out. abundant homage to the deans genius
of which be appeared 10 have a very high
Appreciation Daily Nc,cs.
coSGREvE AND ADDISON.
Tie heroes of the second lecture were
Congreve and Addison, not Pope and Gay,
as had been anticipated. For Congreve,
while he admitted the brilliancy Of his wit,
he evinced no great respect. lie character
lied him as the greatest literary "swell !"
that ever lived. With an air OF greatness,
Congrevo put on his best clothes, stalked a.
mong wits who all thronged to admire INN,
however eminent they might be, and ap-
preached fine ladies' with certainty Of con-
quest. The " | am the great Mr.. Cougreve.'
was the cOmplacent ejaculation which seem
ed to break through all he said and did. His
character as a man Of gallantry was illus
irated by citations from his poems, in which
he adulates or insults tho ladies whom he
immortalizes, and everywhere appears as the
irresistible seducer, surc TO be victorious to
the end. And who could resist that very
great Mr.. Congrevo, with his very fine coat,
squeezing hand. covered with diamonds,
through the ringets of dishevclled pcriwig?
OF tho moral principle of Congreves com
edies, Mr.. Thackeray spoke with disgust and
and he traced the worship oi
youth and rccklcssEess, and the disrespect Of
old age, which are such leading characters
ties in those brilliant works, through whole
series of dramatic cntegories, from the CON-
edy to the puppet show. The constant ten
dency, he humorously described, is recon-
mondation to " Eat and drink, and go to the
deuce, when your time comes, if deuce there
be :" and be confessed that he regarded these
witty banqucts without love as he would con-
template the ruins Of Salust's house at Pom
pci, with all its ghastly relics of fcslivity.
Tho foptish depreciation Of his own literary
productions with which Congreve met the
compliments of Vo,airc, Mr.. Thackeray
rather commended than otherwise, but not
for reason which would have pleased the
great man. He really did think his produc-
tions worthless, if weighed against one kind
ly line of Steele or Addison.
Joseph Addison is evidently Mr.. Thackc-
rays favorite, of all the "humorsts he
has yet brought before ,hepubc. Iii speak
ing of his merits his heart seemed to expand
and his language to assume gaycr tone than
while dwelling on the miseries of Swift or
the rigid brilliancy Of Congreve. If Swift
was the most wretched Of mankind, Addison
appeared to him as the most amiable. lie
admired the serene, calm character, who
could walk SO majes,ically among his fellow
creatures and viewing with love all below
him could raise his eyes with alteration to
the blue sky above. He admitted that Ad.
Olson was not profound, and that his writings
betray no appearance Of sulIcring-rhich
probably he never knew prior TO bis unlucky
marriagc-but at the same timo be expa.
tiatcd Oh the kindliness of his wisdom and
the genuine character of his piOty.
The foible Of drinking he did not attemp,
10 conceal, but observed that we should have
liked Addison less. had he been without it, a.
We should have liked Sir Roger de Coverle,
less without his vanities. Greatly he ad
mired the gentle spirit of Addison's sarcasm
as distinguished from the mercless onslaueh
of Swift, remarking that in his mild conr
only minor cases were tried. Nor wcr'
words of commentator the only means b,
which Mr.. Thackeray indicated his prcdilcc
ton for Addison. OF Swift he scarcely rca,
a line Congrevc lie illustrated, not by ex
tracts from the comedies ir which he live
for posterity, but by those minor poems which
though admired by his contemporaries, ar
now little regarded; but he read several ex
tracts from the Spectator, and also Addison
well-known hymn, as specimen of his dee
feeling of devotion.
Addison and Congreve were both pros
porous men in worldly point Of view, an
they were therefore introduced with a SUI
vey of that golden age, when an epithalami
um on some noble marriage, or an ode t
William ILL.,, was rewarded out of the pull
lie purse to an extent that made the poe
comfortable for life. Congreve's first iters
ry achievements earned for him, through tn
patronage OF Lord Halifax, places in tn
commission for licensing hackney coaches, i
the Custom-house, and in the Pipe.
" Alas p said Mir. Thackeray, there AZ
no Pipe.ollices now the puolic have smoke
all the pipes !'-7mes.
PoMrEIL-It seems that nobody has y,
put Nesuvius' pipe out, for & lctter'irom a
American gentleman in Naples says
"Vcsnvius is now calmly smoking, an
seems disposed TO repose himself from Ih
laligues Of his devastating aboIs of last yea