The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-02-03


Mr.. Thsckeray delivered lecture on Monday
night, in the Church Of the Messiah, Broadway for
the benefit Of the Society for the Employment and
Relief Of the Poor The edifce was filed wtha very
fashionable audience; and the charge for admission
having been dollar, very considerable sum must
have been produced by the lecture.
The subject Of the discourse was Humor and
Charity" and its drift TO trace the mutual rea-
tons existing between authors and the public. We
were sorry to notice the manifestation of spirit of
upenightened churlishness on the part of the CON-
mittee or directors Of the lecture who attempted to
throw impediments in the way Of the reporters Of
some Of the journals. Such spirit is peculiarly out
ofcharacter in this country, where the liberty Of the
press does alone exist, and should not be exhibited
to crafty the desires or minister to the vanity Of any
man.
After voluntary on the organ, the lecturer pro-
ceeded to read his discourse, preacing it with the
thought that the delivery Of lecture by him might
add to their funds He preferred new DISCOURSE
based On the course he had before delivered than to
repeat one of them. All the humorous writers he
had before discussed were advocates Of the
sacred cause Of charity; and as they were
now met for a charitable purpose, he fixed to
think that the men Of his profession had done
something beneficial to the poor and needy.
Are not people inclined TO be more charitable
after reading Addison and Pope and Steele, and
Hood and Dickens? He hoped to think so. Tar
tufe and Joseph Surface, who were always making
fine speeches, are fit objects Of satire; but yet their
sermons were good; the charity given by the hypo-
critic for show was still Of use to the poor But
he did not mean to insinuate that the men of his
profession were like Messrs Surface or Tartuffe. A
literary man was no better than another; but let
give him credit at least for the good he is the means
Of doing. We may view men Of genius, however,
thankfully and favorably, for the bounteousness of
which they are the source. Their love for humanity
is not spasm, but life and loving humor is the
gentle writer's everyday way Of looking at the
world. The writer's jokes and sentiments must not
be too frequent tires Of the page which sparkles
at every point; we don't like the sentiment which is
continually pumping tears out OF your eyes or his
own. When he saw Mr.. Lawrence Sterne getting up
tear over an asnine corpse, he would say to him,
away snvelling fool" II he did not love Swft-as
thank God he did not though he admired hint was
because he pacarded himself as the hater Of his race
and even wished to perpetuate his sentiment by a
line on his monument. In reading over his dark
pages he could find no trace Of love or nature. In
treating of the good humorsts have done, it is not of
misanthrope. OF Mr.. Congreve'sf contributions to
benevo!ence, he had not much to say; he was, in
deed, kind and good natured being so gay, popu-
lar, such grand seignior, you may conclude he
was kind to his dependents and charitable to the
poor. As much may be said Of those other gentle
men, Gay and Prior. OF Addis0ns contributions to
the charity OF the world, he had said before, and
would say again. that his benevOlence has shown
Everywhere gentleman is respected, and no
one teaches how to be gentleman as Joseph Ad-
Olson. He had heard in this country that the
young gentlemen Of this republic are very apt oc-
and their parents, before they had begun to
shave, and make their declaration of independence
before they are able to spell the word. Every one
may read Joseph Addison with delight and profit.
He had been reminded Of the gallantry Of Sir Roger
de Coverley and Of Don Quxotte de la Mancha, when
in the omnibus Of this city, woman enters,
whether in stuff or satin, and the rough laborer or
the Broadway dandy, rises to give her his seat.
Steele had contributed much to the charity Of the
world. He stepped of the buskn and came down to
common life. He had bow for every woman, o kiss
for every child, and hearty shake Of the hand for
every man, high or low. The comedy Of that time
fled before him, and the stage has been natural and
common life since. We love to read still Of love
and beauty. We hate hypocrisy and cowardice. We
are happy to defend childhood and female innocence.
There was lax Of morality in Fielding, but great
the charity of the world. As to Goldsmith, what
need is there for him ospeak Of him? On thisoccason
he claimed sympathy for the good these men have
done and for the charity they have bestowed on the
effect is still greater. He had seen bearded French
men shedding tears in singing the humorous ballads
Of Beranger, and brawny Scotchmen weep in singing
corked face and banjo moistened his own spectaces
the other day by wild negro melody, while he had
seen tragedy queens die by the dozens without ever
feeling any such damp on his spectacles. He noticed
the popularity of the novel written about the Court
Of London, by person who knew just as much about
the Court of London as he did of that of Pekin Its
popularity was owing-as he was told by the book
seller-to the fact that it ashes the vices of the
haristocracy:" He had been at couple of penny
theatres lately where the same parable was preached
He thought, however, that the popular writer's were
little too hard on the nobility but the latter had
joke. He referred to the popular writer's Of England
as Dickens, Douglass Jerrold, Punch, and the
author Of" Vanity Fair himself. One ofthe writer's
in the Times described the latter parsonage as a
nature. But yet though he did depict nature as he
found it, he did not think there was much nissan
thropy in him. To show there was some philanthro-
by in the author OF Vanity Fair" the lecturer
understood, by himself. He looked back at the
good which, OF late years. the humorous writer's of
England have done and, if they ranked the present
speaker among them, he was proud of the effect
which their writings must have produced. What
amount Of good has not the "SOng of the Shirt
effected! and the poem of the Bridge of Sighs'-
which he recited-is in itself act Of the greatest
philanthropy. He never saw the writer of it but
once, but he was proud to think that some words Of
appreciation of his had reached poor Thomas Hood
on his deathbed, and brought pleasure to him. He
paid tribute to the good effect of Dickens writ
ings. Was there ever better charity sermon
Carol" As for his love for children, he was
sure that the bump at the back of his head
must be OF an enormous size. All children should
love Dickens He knew two children who love him,
and Iead his books when they would not peruse the
dismal writings of their father. Nicholas Nickeby
had an immense effect. Every schoolmaster was de.
nounced Squies but boys backs smarted less after
boys meat was less tough, and their milk little less
sky blue. He might quarrel with Mr.. Dickens art,
but he admired him, and recognized in his life
mission from that divine bene6cence whose will is
to wipe the tears from all eyes. In conclusion the
lecturer returned thanks for the attention with which
listened FOR
worthy Of participating tonight in the work of
charity.
Lecture of Professor Silliman.
On Monday evening Professor Silliman delivered
lecture at the Mechanics Hall, Broadway, on "The
Influence of Science and the Arts on the Condition Of
Man, especially in our country"