Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1857-03-28

he ever attempted to make grand sentence his chief
OBJECT had been to utter his thoughts in tne ewest pes
sDle words as simple and plain as language would al
ioH The only poetry he had attempted piece
entitled Lines to the Passaic" These verses were
written in an album for the amusement of party of
ades and gentlemen to the Falls which he had joined
ne SAID they ought to have been printed for In
us OPINION they were very poor, very poor stuff.
ne touched upon literary generally, and bit of
| criticism on Thackeray seemed to me full of meaning
ne hked him as a lecturer and man, and his books
were capital Of his novels he liked Pendennis most
anlty Fair full of talent but many passages hurt
ms feelings; Esmond he thought queer affair but
deeply interesting Thaekeray had quite great talents
as Dickens; but Dickens was genial and warm and
| that suited him.
On looking at picturesque group of children by the
road side, ne was reminded of Wilkie. He knew the
painter well Returning from Italy, Wilkie had heard
OF MS being in SPAIN and all the way to Madrid to
spend couple of months He spoke of the ar
list as an honest, blunt man, capital painter but in
Few OF his Spanish pictures had committed the Of
introducing Scotch accessories When in Madrid they
walked great deal together into all sorts of places
ana the painter constantly taking sketches "On
enc OCCASION said Mr. Irving when nv attention had
been attracted by gaudiy dressed group soldiers and
women turned to him and said There Wilkie there's
something very hne He looked attentively for mo-
ment, and, shaking his head hastily replied too cos
tumey, too costumey The fact was he delighted more
In the rich brown of old rags than he did in the bright
colors of new lace and new CLOTH
Speaking to Mr.. Irving Of headache with which [
was suffering. he remarked that thing which he had
never experienced Indeed he thought that had
ever lived so long life he had with fewer aches and
pains He mentioned the singular fact that for period
of twenty years. from 1922 1872 he had not been con-
scious of the least bodily suffering good dinner was
thing he had always enjoyed but he liked plain and
welcooked. In early life he was very fond of walking
but owing to cutaneous affection which upon him
when In SPAIN his ankles somewhat weakened and
he had since that time taken the NEST of his exercise on
horseback. This last remark made in reply to the
surprise which Mr. Gusts expressed seeing him skin
up flight of stairs three steps time and for which
ne apotogised by saying that hefrequeny forgot himself
While aludlng to his habits he remarked that quiet
sedentary life agreed with him. and that he often sat :.
his writing-tabe when at work. from four to six hours
without rising from his chair He also ayowed him
sell great lover of sleep When at home he always took
nap after dinner but somehow of late years he could
not sleep well at night; he frequently spent more than
half the night wakeful and at such times he was in the
habit of reading great deal He said that he really en-
We'd the man who could sleep soundly.
had short talk with Mr. Irving abouthe copyright
treaty which was drawn up by Messrs. Webster and
Champion, and is in the hands of Mr.. Everett He
did not believe it would be ratified by the Senate and
spoke in rather terms of the of intelligence
on purely literary matters of that distinguished body
and also of the conduct of certain publishers who are
doing all they can to prevent the ratification of the
treaty.
An incident related by Mr. Irving going to illustrate
the character of Andrew Jackson, was to this effect:
When Secretary of Legation at st. James 1891 he was
left by Mr McLane represent the country the capacity
of Charge aes for period of three months During that
time the coronation of William the Fourth took place. his
expenses were unusually heavy. When he home he
presented claim for 4lo0, which smaller than he
had expended The President said there provid
ing for such Claims but ordered that he should receive the
pay Charge the employed And he did receive
ia amounting than twice what had been pray
ed for
But enough Though not afraid to tire you with plea
SAINT "reminiscences of universally honored and be-
loved, yet my seshness and modesty prompt 10
portion Of my notes of Mr. Irvngs conversation
for my special qualification. few of his statements
bearing upon the ruth of history may give you
future occasion Yours, very truly,
CHARLES LANMAN.
PETER FORCE, Esq, Washington.