New-York daily tribune., 1856-02-28
PUBLIC MEETINGS.
Mr.. CURTIS ON DICKENS.

a MR.. CURTIS ON DICKENS.
II v third lecture of the course on English Fiction
,delivered last night in Clinton Hall, by Mr.. George
Nan Curtis. In spite of the snOw-storm the hall
.,owded to it,, utmost capacity and aisles and
snwere filed with extra seats.
E6nIIs began by saying that literature was the
/ skspn of what was called the spirit of the age,
4 4 dAsed iteef in every department of human ac-
ha Rst at the close Of the last century the French
\ s,sfen was in the books of Rousseau and Vol
xrb&re il was in the streets Of Paris. Literature
,sas the prophecy of history. This great demo-
4 cx assertion Of human rights crossed the Rhine
4 ,,a earlier than the Channel. The literature of
4 a.rsoy was not yet a hundred and fifty years old
4 ris spirit was purely democratic. The literature
| dhg,and had always been genial, but there was
wD genuine humanity about it. There were men
i hgland who sympathzed with the French
pvdntOp, but they had not the ear of the nation.
Johnson was the great literary Englishman of the
ser half Of the last century. Sir Walter Scott was
sreatest Of the authors Of England Immediately
seeding the French Revolution His genius
as simple and hearty; but in literature he
wbOthing but border baron. No man was kinder
IBIS dependents, but il was the kindness of cOnde-
n fact Of nature But it was the instructive asser-
Of The mind and heart that relations among men
z be founded upon character; the eternal objection
bll aristocraic organization that excellence was
4 |y hereditary; Cromwell was natural king, but.
lAard Cromwell was natural fool. However beau
the Relate Of feudal society in certain instances,
/ vas aways sad upon the whole; men were made
nk ana dizzy by power and prerogative. Aud after
every man felt his humanity, and no man wanted
"a Il L li.I oil hos
~, baron. Scott essentially romancer; he
~ Tie last MINSTREL he aimed at nothing but to
rse After the lords had ridden in at the death and
sussed politics at the board, after the ladies had
1g their falcons and thrown their embroidery aside,
snger took his place and told his tale And Scott, as
ssry man, deliberately accepted this part He hon
I'd things as they were without question: and when
sgge ". came to Edinburgh, begged to be al
wd to preserve the glass from which his sacred lips
n Quafied the royal toddy. He disclaimed every
ing in bis stories but positive immortality. He was
rnous merely that we should be no more liable to
tl the spoons after reading Ivanhoe than before.
isympathy was not with men, but with quaint char
rieh biz heart was with the past; he was the last
s1este of feudslsm. What neigbing of steeds, what
ssA Of trsppngs, what war-cries and charges, what
a#srug OF peSnons and heraldic homage, what love-
nbcts and serenades, what glitter end grace and tu-
aat Of acclaim stone and sounded through all his
sciss He made us all lords and ladies, and
- almost wished we had lived then When
Iasand wept over his death and the throne throne wa, was
sst vacant, there was no cry " The King
= dead long live the King for he had
~ accessor. The extent of his fame parayzed
I o,Aer ambition. The men who followed hun began
dedications to him and then wrote stories that had
ivsgue favor of Scott. English society was stag
nn. with snobbery. Circulating libraries dribbled
at 10 the public as novels diluti0ns Ofthe Court Cir
oln aud the Book of the Pesrage. The only men In
shose writings cleaned some sense OF the coming era
secontemnsd by the public and hooted at by reviews.
ne Of them, Leigh Hunt, was sent to jail tor saying
snshing diSrespectful about the first unkey in Eu.
pe. Shelley had lived his short life With an intel
n wonderfully acute, but betraying him into many
r0s Of judgment, with an organization 40 sensitive
"a be seemed to touch life with bare nerves he had
Ns heart that loved the world, and loved most
hers there was most wrong. Coeridge and Southey
Airelnquished their dream of q Susquehanna Para.
se. Moore tinklng his guitar under duehesses
nadows; Campbell singing sonorous odes at public
tAnsrs; Crabbe taking Dagueueotype pictures OF
'gner's Pictures; the night ngae Keats had pressed
as thorn TO bis heart and the sod was over him;
Eoriswortb disgusted that the French revolution did
" poduoe Millennium, lost hope ofthe race, and sat
IOWA in clammy disappointment to write sonnets In ia
w Of capital punishment. There seemed no prophet
nEngfsh literature. Byrons sadness might wei be
eplasned by his precedence of an era with which
could have nothing in common; Bulwer was dilut-
g Byron Disraei writing political novels James get
sas his two horsemen comfortably INTO the SADDLE 'or
hcAssd TuIpin Miss Edgeworh painting cabinet p'c-
'rss Of young lady; Mrs. Gore opening new styles
millinery, and Capt. MaTyatt making everybody
risck. But in and after 1927 articles appeared, ID
svsws aud magazines, displaying remarkable grasp
eipower Of critical analysis and hearty recognition
Tie humanity of literature. Soon an anonymous
. Of Schiller appeared. Dir. Curtis had seen an
kSy oopy of it, with this memorandum the fy-eef:
YKritten by - Carlisle, a schoomaster somewhere
Bds Of Scotland" Sartor Ressrtus followed, an indg
oaRt protest against the dettsnteism of the age,he
cY Of strong man fed upon husks. Criticism had
Lled upon Literature to mean something, and Ltera-
ge responded TO the call Iu the year 1895 areporter
81 TIE Morning Chronicle, then twenty-three years
Nd. Charles Dickens by name, agreed to wnte
'>inoAing adapted 10 drawings by Mr. Seymour, then
usng artist 10 be published in monthly Numbers,
ana be POsthumous Papers Of the Pickwick Cluo ap-
lsued. To know the date was like knowing a ainend
trhday. II in q January night man should come
NO our house and bring Summer with him, ana grasp
oar hand with hear,ness that sent the blood tnghng
20 NE tarthest nerves, and should then tell us stones
~ ~ me sparks went roaring up the chimney ana the
~ windows shook their sides "a If they woad burst,
our head and heart, should we not be glad that
Ia man had come in This was the way Walter Scott
Ssne N. But if while nc told his story the strong
art melted and out of our eyes IL we found our
s,es pleasantly convicted Of knavish meanness and
ashness, II we made to feel tha. society only
= aggregate Of individuals and the individual wa.
ssseforc responsibe for society il when we asked
an my brothers keeper 2" q sweet strong voice
,-Iwered firmly "you are" and at once persuaded u
oegin 70 take care Of him; and it, as we listened
- 4et Charity lD1uinO IA he nlaca NJ