The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-11-04
From the Liverpool Times, October Is.


From the Liverpool Times, October Is.
MIR. Thackeray's Lectures.
The subiects Of Mr.. Thackeray's fifth lecture ON
Wednesday evening were Hogarth, Smollett, and
Fielding. The art Of Hogarth, he said, was quite
simple; he spoke popular parallels to interest sim
pie hearts-to inspire them with pleasure pity,
or warning and terror. Describing the eeries Of
pictures, ." Marriage la mode" the most import
ant and highly wrought Of the Hogarth comedies,
the lecturer said that the and method with
which their moral ground was laid was as remark
able as the wit and skill Of the observant and dcx
| ferrous painter; and, after dwelling upon THE
London Apprentices" he gave graphic sketch of
the changes which had taken place in many Of the
parts of London which Hogarth had introduced
into his pictures. Those pictures must be nvalu-
| able to the student Of history; for they gave
most complete and truthful view Of the manners
and fashions of the last century. Hognrth had left
US portrait of his own honest face, in which the
bright blue eyes shine out and give an idea of the
keen, brave look with which he regarded the world
No man WAS ever ess of hero. He was n joyia,
honest London citizen, stout and sturdy, ready
and MISUNDERSTANDING his laugh, his glass, his
friend, his roast beef of Old England--and having
proper contempt for French frogs and "moun-
seers," and wooden shoes in general, for foreign
hddlers and singers, and above all, for foreign
painters, whom he looked upon with the most tho
| rough contempt. Posterity had not confirmed
honest Hogarth's opinions about his talent for the
not as painter of Scriptural subjects, rival of
CorregiO. OF Smollett's associates, manners, and
life, the author of the admirable Humphrey
Clinker" had given an account in that most anus
ing of novels He described himself in his house
at helsea, surrounded by number of half fed and
very disreputable persons, whom his bounty fed
on Sunday; and showed in the most curious man.
ner his own strange wilfulness and benevolence,
kindness and imperiousness, ill and good humor,
as connected with all these people. There was
scarcely one Of them that he did not benefit; and
scarcely one that he did not knock down in the
course of his quarrels with them. Smolletts brain
" 81 drpd IT w Ia.
torian, Critic medical writer, poet, pamphleteer;
he fought endless literary battles, and welded for
years the cudgels of controversy. 1t was q hard
and savage fight in those days, and niggard pay.
His novels were recollections of his own adven
lures, his characters drawn from personages be
met with; strange companions and queer acquaint-
ances he must have had in the course of his career.
He did not invent much, but what he saw he
noted with wonderful accuracy, and described with
clearness. Fielding, also, had described, although
with greater hand, the characters and scenes
which he knew and saw. He had more than ordinary
opportunities for becoming acquainted with life;
his family and education first, bis fortunes and
misfor tunes afterwards brought him into contact
with every rank and condition of men. He was
himself the hero of his books; he was the wild Tom
Jones and the wild Captain Booth-less wild than
his predecessor, or at least heartily conscious of
demert and anxious to amend. His wit and man
ners made him friends everywhere; he lived in the
| society OF the great men Of his day, and wa
courted by peers and men of fashion; he got into
debt extensively, and often bore down upon his
friends for dinner or guinea. Then he began
to write theatrical pieces, which he often too
lazy to correct, and of which he never himself
| thought any thing. II was not SO that he prepared
his novels and laid the foundations of his future
fame and fortune. They buildings strong
and lofty, of admirable proportions, masterpieces
OF genius, and monuments of workmanlike skill.
His wit wonderfully wide and detectives it
flashed on rogue, and lghtencd up thief, like
policeman's lantern. He was one of the manifest
and kindliest Of human beings. He admired good
nd " mar n no Hiatt hnro
rancor, disdained all disloyal acts, did his public
duty uprighty, was fondy loved by his family, and
died at his work. As picture of manners Tom
Jones was exquisite; as q work of construction
quite wonder. Charles Lamb said that hearty
laugh from Tom cleared the air. 1t might be SO,
but it must be in very peculiar state of the atmo
sphere. He (the lecturer) could not say that he
thought Tom Jones a virtuous character; and
Fielding's evident liking and admiration for him
showed that the great humorsrs moral sense was
bluntcd by his life, and that here, in heart and
ethics, there was great error. Amelia, the lee
turer said, he considered to be the most beautiful
character ever presented in fiction; not even ex-
| cepting Desdemona, or any thing in Shakespeare.
After dwelling at some length upon the beauties OF
Fielding's novels, the lecturer concluded: "With
his noble spirit and unconquerable generosity,
| Fielding reminds one of those brave men OF whom
reads in stories of English shipwreck and dis
aser; of the officer on the African shore, who after
disease had destroyed the crew, and himself is
seized with fever, seizes the lead with death.
stricken hand, takes q sounding, carries the ship
out of the river, gets her off the dangerous coast,
and dies in the manly endeavor; of the wounded
captain who, when the vessel founders, never loses
heart. who eyes the danger steadily. and has
cheering word for all, till inevitable fate over.
wbelms him, and the gallant ship goes down.
Such brave and gentle heart, such an intrepid
and courageous spirit, love to recognise in the
manly English hero, Fielding" [Applausc.l
The sixth and last lecture of this delightful
course was given last evening, to audience more
numerous than any that have preceded it, The
characters Analysed were Sterne and Goldsmith,
than whom two more opposite characters it has
not been the lecturers tack to portray on any one
night. The hypocrisy of Sterne, the "humbug'
of his, sentiment, the low taste of the man and his
want of morality, whilst his sermons were run af.
ter by all the town, we're wildly depicted. In
Goldsmith, Mr.. Thackcray delighted in as man
after his own heart bis analysis of his character,
whilst it did not attempt to conceal his weakness
and was yet forgiving to his faults, was fitting
introduction to a very excellent rationale of the
light in which literary men are held by the public
of The present we'll of past days. Mr..
Thackeray does not think that, as a body, literary
men fare than their brethren of the bar, the
army, or the navy that the general feeling tends
to the just appreciation of talent though individual
may sometimes appear to the contrary.
The lecturer concluded amidst the rapturous ap-
plause of delighted audience.
KNowiNa Dos.-The sagacity Of the dog is