The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-20
[roarlss ooaarsroSD.so. OF rHr arpusLro.J

LONDON, June /, 1851.
The two men in England whom desired
to see and know personally above all others
were Thackeray, the novelist, and iRuskin,
/ the author of the Seven Lamps Of Architec-
| ture. They are both artists, and writers
art, and have published the finest asthetic
criticisms in the language; but it is as moralsts.
rather than artists, that they rise immensely
above all the popular writers in England of the
present day. There is that sincere love of
truth, rendered noble by learning, which distin-
gushcs great men Of all countries and all times,
| manifest in the productions of these authors that
cannot fail to place their names foremost among
| the famous men OF this century. They are very
unlike in their personal habits and appearance,
as they in every thing else, but their aesthetic
perceptions and veneration for truth. Ruskin has
| most genial nature; he is exceedingly frank and
| simple in bis address, and lives quietly,
rounded by works of art, on comfortable income.
in his own house. lie can afford to be honest and
take his own time in accomplishing his work.
His writings architectural subjects are the only
publications, sincc the days of vitruvius, that are
fit to be read. excepting those ofcourse. which are
purely technical in their teachings. In his Stones
of Venice he gives singular and characteristic
instancc Of the manner in which he investigates
subject, and shows how perfectly reliable he s in
regard to facts well principles. Finding, on his
second visit to Venice, that the authorities he con-
suited to the age of certain buildings tvari
with each other and that he could only be sure
of the periods Of their erection by personal examine
ton of their foundations, and making his deductions
from the style of construction, he underwent the
laborious drudgery of inspecting not only every
one of the old palaces and churches, but Of exam
lining every fragment and relic that could be dis
~ - olxx ~,rfl
his facts a mathematician, while his imagina-
ton CLOVIS with rare briliance in his style. do
not share in his idoatrous admiration Of Turner's
landscapes, discover much beauty in his own
paintings; but in his essays architectural sub
jects regard him rs the master mind OF the whole
world It would not be becoming in me to refer to
his social life, to attempt to give others the privi-
lege of sharing with me in pleasures which were
not intended for public exposure. Thackcray's
manner Of life, and the nature Of his writings, give
the public right to know him personally better
than the other. The author of Pcndenns lie, just
now, the most popular man in London; mean the
one whose society is most courted by the higher
classes, and whose writings are most read by the
intelligent of all classes and this has just been re-
maj kably verified by the crowds Of distinguished
people Of both sexes who have attended his first
two lectures on the English Humorsts of the eigh-
teenth century. II is remarkable fact, that
| while the Great Exhibition has absorbed pub
| lie attention in London that all places Of amuse-
ment, opera houses, theatres. concerts, pic
ture galleries, and panoramas have been ne
| elected, Mr.. Thackeray's lectures on purely
literary subjects have attracted crowded audiences
| The lectures are delivered weekly, in Wis's
Rooms, King street. in the afternoon, and the price
of admission is seven shillings and sxpence sterl-
| ing-nearly two dollars-for single ticket AT
the fret lecture on the Life and Writings Of Dcnn
Swift, the room was crowded, and among the au-
dience were Macaulay, Carlyle, and the leading
literary men of Great Britain besides some Of the
most dstine uished ladies OF the court and aristo-
cracy. was not aware, at the time, in what dis
| tngushed company was sitting; nor did ! care
much, for oil my thoughts were absorbed by the
| lecturer himself, whom had not before seen.
was glad to encounter him for the first time where
I could observe him closely without seeming to be
guilty Of impertnently gazing at him. Standing
| in the little crimson rostrum where he read his es-
say he certainly appeared to better advantage than
| any lion had before seen; and he more nearly
realized tho ideal of himself which his writings and
caricatures had created in my mind than any
other author had ever done. He looks about forty.
has large, fat face, clear, boyish complexion,
curly gray hair, an ndifferently shaped nose, but
a mouth which indicates the joicst and gentlest of
companions, as should suppose was the fact from
his published dinner speeches. His voice is ex-
| tremely sweet and flexible, and he adapts it's modu-
ations with equal effect to his pathetic and bumor
| Gus passages, and his lecture on Dean Swift
abounded in both. II has always seemed TO me
] that there is man, Of whom wo know any
| thing, who has been misunderstood and malign-
ed by the opinion Of the world as the author OF "a
Tale of Tub" Even Mr. Thackcray, who made
moro mastery analysis of his character than any
of the great satirist critics have done did not sat
isfy me in his exposition Of the Deans personal
qualities The man who could fascinate two
such women as Stella and vanesra could not be
the cruel, coarse, unsympathetc nature which the
world has thought him. Tho lecturer said, "who
would wish TO have been the companion of Swiit!'
But it appears that these two gentle creatures we're
30 entirely willing to be bis companions that, for his
sake they were willing to sacrifice all other COM
partnership. Scott in his life OF Swift, in alluding
| to the inscription ''only woman's hair" found
| among the Deans papers, regarded 1t as an evil
dencc of the unceipg coarscness OF his nature; but
Thackeray viewed it in very different light, and
drew so touching, delicate, and 30 pathetic
picture of the Deans nature, and Of the condition
! he must have been in when he wrote the WORDS,
that he fairly melted the hearts Of his audience, and
the ladies, who have the privilege of wiping their
eyes in public, used their pocket handkerchief in
that way, l observed, in a very feeling manner.
Humor and pathos closely allied, that doubt
the propriety of calling writer humorist who is
| never pathetic. l do not remember single pa
thctic passage in Swift's writings, excepting in
his private letters, where the pathos is not in
tended; and therefore l should not class hun
among the humorists, Mr.. Thackeray has
done. But, if he is not humorist, nc is the
first of EngliAh wits and, ms satirist, he stands
in lonely emincnce among his tribe. II mems
sufferngs entitlc them TO our compassion surely
Swift should be regarded with no other sentiment,
for among all the men who have conferred bcne-
fits upon the world, one ever extracted less de-
light from it than he.
l have been betrayed into longer depression
than intended, in noticing the lecture OF Mr..