New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-08
PUBLIC MEETINGS.
Mr.. CURTIS ON THACKERAY.


swsy from the doors from lack Of in the Hall
Tie lecturer was greeted with loud applause on en-
,srine the hall, and found bouquet awaiting hin at
the desk.
Mr. CURTIS began By saying that he had not men
tisusd man, well known nOvelists 10 his survey Of En-
eih fiction because his intention bad been to give the
,.pe,,I significance Of that literature. lie had not
th. refore ms ntoned Captain Manyatt-whose heroes
ware ma much Ike soamen a. the Ton Bovine Of the
tar. WAS Ike the actual English sailor-Or Lever,
whose Irshmen were true to nature a. Sam Sticks
Yankees and % trueror Mr.. Ai1sworth, whose popu-
lsrty was as enormous as his ingenuity in forms Of
rebe ry torture and murder An ingenious professor
IN Cambridge had calculated in cold blood from the
statistics ct railway accidents, that who trav-
eled FIVE thousand miles owed broken arm to keep
Tie statistics straight; another who had yentued ten
thousand liable for both his legs while some un-
frunates whose professions necessities coinpched
tbon 20 hive IN ears ike lecturers and Others were IN
ears for the whole bodY T. these teniDe sla,lsts
20 that you might any day find yoursef travenng ~
tie aide Of a man who, by the mot csref1l sclenthc
computation, ought 10 have had MS neck broken
wear or two before. The same calculation might Dc
made with Ainsworth's novels For every zen pages
th,re was nj least one thumb screwed; for every chap
ter State procession or black intrigue; ior every
book poison dagger dungeons ana rattlhS O aIihpT,
end for every volume the sssass oa'o OF execution OF
marriage Of a the characters not reserved 20 sGtisfy
H. RIGOROUS impsODments, racks weddings and seal
fols Of The heat volume Ainsworth was kInd OF
Inverted Bplwer; he fed the same kind u perverted
tast. ia the kitchen that Sir Edward graned IN the
tsrlor Ore other name be could not omit Mr.. c. L.
X James-wiO had grown - be an amlable literary
ID tuition We lad perfectly kindly feeling toward
Lin o. toward good old family horse. 10 cou.d not
be ssid that he bad not enriched EDSlr6 IJcrat0re
for be- had presented il with pair Of urtirng horses
which at any tine during the afternoons OF the last
four or five centuries might have been seen slowly
ascending d iil' aud stib seemed as far E0m the top
a. ever lie sbOuld have men' 0ned many more nov
ests had not bi. purpose been to characterize rather
tan 10 catalogue The English fiction Of our day. lie
came h. speak of Tbackerdy with some uepidatlon,
because BIZ know al the fans aud 10u0ces were against
him. Already be heard their indignant rustic. Already
he heard Blanche amODg them ask.ng If there c0Hd
be such being as Becky Sharpe and protesting that
She wished t. think better Of human nature. Ionder
in tie corner he the Reverend Charles HODeyman
citing by the soe Of the lovely widow Of the late
Csp:an GoOTge OsbOme, now the happy wife OF Ma
jon Dobbn and whispering 10 her IN the most pastoral
manner that TO draw character 50 replete with mix
a. d water Amelia was to libel the sex. Lady
bestrix Edmond also could longer countenance
sfOry-teler who habitualy nahgncd women, and VINO
iusinusted that ladies' OF birth and position lad
sometimes eye TO the spoons in their matrimonial
treaties Major Pendennis, too, who had read lew
LumbeIs OF tie NewcOmcs, thought it bad taste 10
speak so severely Of highly respectable family, and
trusted as he put in bis best teeth and slipped Bis
browbest wig and fitted the plumpest calves to tue
lack Of his legs thai the world was getting false
and fond OF shanIs in its old age. And 90 WHOM we
had called Thackeray a cold-blOodes anatomlst,
granting surgeon hourishing scaiPel q trsdaeer OF
women and n dealer in humorous gossip and low
morals and trivial details, had we qute disposed of
that sad sagacy, that tender humanity that tFGgical
ruhuhess, that exquisite wit, that quaint simplicity,
that genial wisdom, that charity aud huInOr! When
Lady Bessington fled to Paris, and Gore HOUSE with
all lie furniture ind pretty things was sod her French
valet wrote to her, after describing the scene and
toe who came to see, Mr.. Thackeray came also,
"and there tears In his eyes as be went away.
Gle il perhaps the only person whom have seen
"reaIly affected Of your departure" Did they re-
member the author of PeEdennis and Madame de
klnao aud did they believe thatsthere were tears in
his eyes only because there TO be no dinner 10 his
mouth at the Gore HOuze2 Thackeray had long been
al author before his fame crossed the sea. He was
one OF the founders OF Punch, in which he bad written
n ere at deal, well as in FrG-erS Magazine and at
or time in The London Times. His acknowledged
works would make not less than twenty goOd-szed
volumes. But 1t was not until the publication OF
Vanity Fair in ls4s, that Thackeray rose to general
English aud American reputation. His works previous
10 II At tine might be called those Of his first manner.
They were studies which assisted him in the eiabOra-
ton Of HE larger works. and several OF the characters
now fanilary known 10 us figured in tho earlier
axe ehes. II Dickens was the exponent of the HUI
IaaLily of contemporary English fiction, This ikeTay
Ispresented it, Il atty. He was great novelist be-
cause he was great Tealist The tendency OF the
time was the restO alton of Art to its time bnsisa
fathful adhesion to Nature. In France it dethroned
cassoism In art a quarter OF a century ago, and IN
literature by Victor Hugo, whom it superseded by
Balzac and George Sand. In English literature
and art the same spirit was evident The Photo
graph and DGguerreOtype We're harmonious with
K. IL seemed II the eye suspected some trick
in color aud unnatural elegance in engraving,
and so turned ON the reuorseless sun TO tell tho
truth about things and people. ThackeTayA novels
were daguerTeOtypes OF life. His satire was The re-
l.ntoss satire tOf the dagueneotype spilled TO the
snObtery and iunkeyism of English society. Ho was
u vbiversity-msn, = clubman, man of the world.
hone Osh heart WA red nv thu Iuhu-
msui,y, the preteDse and mean subservence Of "the
worldN in which be lived, and 80 BIO stepped out cf
the club planted his batteries and rained upon the
enemy his squibs, parodies burlesques and rhymes
every form Of literature which could serve his ssna-
tory purpose Ills sstre blazed along the line OF
oiety and seized upon everything which the spirit OF
snobbery had tainted. The Book Of SnobS made all
tie clubs turn pale. The Paris Sketch.BOok and the
Journey ffcsn CernhIl to Cairo sung the tourists.
The Luck of Barry Lyndon and the tremendous sd
ventures of Major OGahagsn outraged the Irish
genius. X becca and Rowens The Great Hoggauy
Diamond Mems Wives, The Shabby GeaiCel story,
ms Perkins's Ball and the Contributions OF George
Fir Doodle TO Frazer and OF Don Pseihco TO PUHck
left no res TO the soul of the sn0b He pursued Bull
wer the great literary snob, with relentless fun he
burlesqued hi- novels his style, his sentiment and his
name And this tremendous battery of satire was 80
controlled by good sense and had such meaning when
it seemed mot unreasonable that il was not to DO dN
missed merely extTayagant. 1t not the glitter
Of relslase as IN HOraces satire the cold CLEAN
Of sarcasm as in Pope's Nor the fire Of ambition asi
OF disease as in Swis that lighted the world upon is
way. 1t was only manly AM humane satire which did
nat. And this he found Thackeray's TO be. He vas
dangerous and universal democrat. Or. Curtis Ind
heard the wonder expressed lately whether Thackeray
would dare repeat in London his lectures ca the
Georges. But long before he was famous he bad
given the same theory Of Tue -Four Georges IA some
inscriptions which be had proposed for then statues,
rs singing a. they were true. Mr.. Curtis ad not
suppose that Thackeray began writing with u pro-
found Consciousness that he was TO benefit the word