The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1852-04-08
THOMAS MOORE,


The last quarter of the last century will evel
be a memorable period in the history of itera-
ture, marked it was b., the appearance, mot
( OF one great light merely, but by great galaxy
/ Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott Byron, Moore
Hunt, Shelly, Campbell Wilson, Lamb Southey,
Rogers, were all born within period Of eight
cen years; they have been going out in equally
rapid succession. Scarcely have we become fa-
milliar with the fact that Wordsworth no longer
lives, when the tidings reach US that the author
OF & Lalla Rookh," the wit, the gentleman, the
poet, the politician, the - bard of all circles the
idol of his own," has also gone the way of all
earth. There are but three left to follow him
Rogers, Hunt and Wilson.
The leading facts in the life of the departed
poet have already been spread before the world
in the columns of the daily press, and We need
not repeat them in ours. OF late years the
world has heard little of Moore, the decay of his
mental powers having anticipated the date of his
physical death. Let US, therefore, look behind
the curtain of his closing years, and see how
Thomas Moore appeared TO those who saw him
in his prime,
Twenty-Five years ago, Moore visited Sir Wal
time in his life. In Sir Walters journal We find
the following allusion to his VISIT
:. 1 saw Moore (for the first time, may say
this season. We had indeed met npublic twcn-
ty years ago. There is a manly frankness, with
perfect and good-breeding, about him which
is delightful. Not the least touch of the poet or
the pedant. lttle-very little man. Less, 1
think, than Lewis, and somewhat like him in
person; God knows, not in conversation, for
Matt, though clever fellow, was a bore of the
first description. Moreover, he looked always
like a school-boy. Now Moore has none of this
insignifcance. His countenance is plain, but
the expression so very animated, especially in
speaking or singing, that it is far more interes-
ting than the finest features could have render
ed it.
l was aware that Byron had often spoken,
both in private society and in his journal, of
Moore and myself, in the same BREATH and with
the same sort Of regard so I was curious to see
what there could be in common bet~ixt u.s.
Moore having lived so much in the gay world,
l in the country, and with people of business,
and sometimes with politicians; Moore scholar,
l none; he a musician and artist, without
/ knowledge of note he a democrat, / an aris-
tocrat-with many other points Of difference !;
besides his being an rishman, l Scotchman,
and both toerably national. Yet there is point
of resemblance, and strong one We are both
! good-humoured fellows, who rather seek to enjoy
what is going forward than to maintain dig
nifty as lions; and We have both seen the world
too widely and too well not to contemn in our
souls the imaginary consequence of literary peo-
| pie, who walk with their noses in the air, and
remind me always Of the fellow whom Johnson
met in the ale house, and who called himself
! the great Tiralmy-inUentor Of the foodgate iron
J for smoothing linen" He also enjoys the Not
[ pour rire, and so do I. 1t was pity that moth
ing save the total destruction of Byron's Me-
moirs would satisfy his executors. But their
was a reason-Premat Nor alta. 1t would be a
delightful addition to life, if T. NJ. had cottage
within two miles of one. We went to the thea
tre together, and the house being luckily good
one, received T. NJ. with rapture. l could have
hugged them, for it paid back the debt of the
kind reception met with in Ireland
In his g Pencillings by the way" n. P. Willis
Esq, Editor of the n. Y. Home Journal, thus
describes the bearing of Moore, at dinner par
ty, given by Lady Blessington, with singular fe-
Ecity. We copy passage or two
81 called on Moore, with letter of introduc-
ton, and met him at the door of his lodgings
1 knew him instantly from the pictures l had
seen of him, but was surprised at the diminu-
tiveaess of his person. He is much below the
middle size, and with his white hat and long
chocolate frock-cOat was far from prepossessing
in his appearance. With this material disadvan-
tage, however, his address is gentleman-like to
e very marked degree, and should think no
one could see Moore without conceiving strong
liking for him. AS Twas to meet him at dinner,
l did not detain him. In the moments eonver-
sation that passed. he inquired very particularly
after Washington Irving, expressing for him the
warmest friendship, and asked what Cooper was
doing
was at Lady Blessington's at eight Moore
had not arrived, but the other persons of the
party-a Russian count, who spoke all the Ian
guages of Europe as well as his own, Roman
banker, clever English nobleman, and the
" observed of all Observers" Count do Orsay,