The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-10-05
The Humbug Lecture sy em.

OF all the humbugs practised upon the ere
dulity Of the American people the l. rure sys-
TEN is the greatest the most no CIV; for
every other, not even excepting the mock auc-
ton shop, gives more valu for the h re-
ceived The extent to which the peope are
bled by it, and to which itinerant lec.uiers,
literary societies and committees make money,
is astonishing. From one of tn Sc societies we
have received the following invitation, which
throws some light on the system, which we
will take leave to add a little more -
PRNcrros, N. j., Sept 10, 1859
JAMES GORDON BENNETT, ESQ.,,
EproR or NKw YORK HERAIp:-
DEAR SIR-The Literary Association Of this place having
determined to have course Of lectures from distinguished
during the present winter commencing LIST
ber write TO know whether could be fortunate
To your services for night We paid last
winter from $50 500 per night, and will pay the
this Should you conclude TO come wouid pay yon
500 An early will be thankfully received
- ? = j. H. ROBINSON.
Please address J. H Robinson. Princeton, N. j.
In reply to the foregoing, we have to say
that we will not and cannot accept the invita-
ton. 1t appears that 500 ia the highest sum
paid for the delivery of a lecture. The time
lost during the operation would be worth
$4,000 to u.s. This sort of business is not in
our line. We deliver our lectures in the HERALD
seven times week, and several of them togc-
Their, short and to the point, to ninety thousand
subscribers and half million Of readers, at the
small charge of two cents, giving more infor.
nation in each copy than is contained in a
thousand of the lectures, which cost to every
man who hears one of them fifty cents or at
least quarter of a dollar. But we have no
doubt that the Literary Association of Prince
ton" can be easily accommodated. The Tribune
publishes list Of lecturers names annually,
and every year the catalogue is growing long
er, and the inundation of trash rises higher
and spreads more widely over the country.
From the names on this list u. H. Robinson
can select enough of distinguished men, for
halfadozen courses of lectures. He will find
their prices ranging from 500 down to their
dinner, or pair of old brooches, which is
more than nine-tenths of them are worth. In
fact they are dear at any price.
The Astor Library is the principal manufac-
tory in which their compositions are elabo-
rated. They are sometimes stolen almost
bodily from Anticipated books, whose theories
or facts have been exploded; sometimes from
good and sound works, which the ignorant
lecturer not understanding, interlards with his
own lucubrations, and perverts the whole into
tumble of absurdity, in which sound prevails
over sense. There is nothing fresh, no infor-
mo tiop hrourht 1oun RI data for tboso r,o,,
are not posted in anything except in the art
and mystery of their own swindling system.
Their lectures abound in Interpretations and in
the grossest blunders, exemplifying the adage
that "a little learning is dangerous thing"
Sometimes these lectures are made up of scraps
and odds and ends from old reviews, magazines
and encyclopedias patchwork put clumsily
and unskilfully together, without consistency,
symmetry or unity of design.
Thus the literary chifonniers, without origi-
nal ideas, without brains, and without liberal
education, go to work at the Astor Library or
some other, and produce worthless lecture,
the copyright of which would not sell for $50.
Nogood newspaper would deem itworth S. Yet
this is delivered the first time for $50, perhaps
for 800, and the dose is repeated to other au-
diences on the same terms, till it has gone the
round of the Literary societies." An original
book with solid information or pleasant read
ing, worth a hundred such lectures might be
purchased for the price of admission, and
would be worth nearly what was paid for it
in twenty years after, whereas the lecturer
leaves nothing behind him worth preserving.
So incompetent are many of these Hterateurs
who thus make living by cheating simpletons
with their wares, like "Peter Funk who
passes off upon green countryman pinch
beck or galvanized watch for pure gold, that
they could not write decent article for first
class journal if it were to save their necks
from the gallows. What gives them security is
the fact that their compositions are not worth
reporting in the newspapers, for if once pub
lished they could not be repeated, and the lee
turer would have to commence de moro to get
up another essay, and this process would not
pay. Their publication, moreover, might pro-
woke some scathing criticisms, and this would
be ruinous in double sense The lecturers
are therefore continually at the mercy of the
newspapers, and they beg hard Of the reporters
not to publish them in full, but only to "giye
justa little notice ofthem''-a very unnecessary
request on their part, and which they would
never make if they only knew in what con-
tempt their performances are held both
by reporters and editors. The chief merit
of some of these affairs is in the delivery,
or in the elaboration of high-sounding verbiage,
which tickles the ear for the moment but
leaves not trace Of an idea or shadow Of
information on the mind. There is no connec-
ton, no arguments, no facts, nothing that can
be remembered.
The literary societies and committees
make good thing of these lectures on the
whole, though sometimes they are "done
brown" by failures Thev usn tba;r looo1 =,