New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-23
4" JERROLD"

! Douglas Jerr0id was o celebrated man-hls son
Blanchard desires to believe that ne slso
good ote. He tres to eIoulpst the writings Of tho
cybc journalist from the charge Of bitterness sld to
remove from his fs and sayings the tuge of nissan
tbropy and uBkndness. So earnest is the love 9Th
which he shades the picture be draws Of bis fsher,
tend,ry soft sped is the light he throw, upon it, that
the readers interss; becomes detached from he sub
jet Of the work to Contemplate the sathor through
bis style until charmed with his smi ability believe
| in what he had such beautiful faith; embrace
each dffectonste pref adce for hi, sake aud close his
pleasant book with the conviction th.. the grestsst
work Of the father WA this good aud loving son.
Jsrrolds nj ID 10 toe mold that nature usss
when she wants 10 msks a great m,n. Enclosed in
| his poor, small, misshspen body It shook hin when
be thought. slight spinal oeforHity gave his fSure
crouch, ard a sensitive nature caused bis mind to
assume the attitude, for it looked out from his
deep-set eye ready for asprng not 10 anger bat
in the waDtorress Of strength impatient for exercise.
II was MUD cspsb'e Of great and good things; but
where are tbey7 We pass in review bis Writings bu:
Try in vain 10 fpd work upon which his great ieou
taon wit will survives there is Dot one tina, we
bind classic regard stand srd model OF
ito kind. His dramas have bequesthed no trsdronsry
character to the stage have created new fom bis
Contributions to the journals and magazines have been
crrou1ded in the Of ogitive literature to which
he has occasionally given color bat not shape. 50
great mind re 1utation justly accorded by bis
| cotemp0dr es should have left to literature come
| eststs: Rasselss a Vicar Of Wakefield, CULVER,
! Hudibins. LIS there Lot something for which toe
future can feel 81 .tefuil Cen not gather his Is
Gays into Spectator, collect his S.ying- like those
| of la oohsfOuosut into provefblal philosophy
| Tue most popular Of bis efforts have been B sex
| II. - - dia
Lectures. admirable and anus Dc of their kind but
few Delodrsmss and sma serial are not the legsces
which Jerrold living should have left to Jerroi dead.
Tree works do not make feature Of the literary agei
they DO Dot compose OF those sptaphs left over
the body of the time by its great ones.
Douglas Jsrrold lie signal instance Of the debtat-
ing snd degrading influence Of ne Sspsperdom upon
classic efor;. THIS influence has revOutiOnzed liter
ature and the press which the pantheon of great
uinds, is now occupied as market plscs for small
| thoughts. TIE newspaper man becomes hack
thinker and loose writer; he is stabbed in printing
flee ond brought out TO do so much thinking aud no
more. He is race bor5e bstween the shafts OF an
omnibus His life is no longer the poets lifs it has
no longer the varieties OF vcssitude the pleasures
| Of want his mind never feels the poet yesrning to
produce, for constant sweating keeps down its mental
vigor; il ahows mseger aud bodily poor for it is
MIXED every night and morning. lie knows that his
work ia meant 10 be read minute AM forgotten 10
a osy, so be writes by the hour and is paid by the
week brain is never ridden by craving stomsch
nor gosded by a reck ss passion Tns hopeless regu'
laty Of mind and body destroys all the spssmo1c &C
ton Of genius; that debtated IN style confined 10
the exercise of ell the muscles and nerves of thought
bis stall fa.Ded sou itself to loss OF freedom.
scope and enterprise.
fror ob.orr tn dr. rats
be had lesped from the lowest theater in London to
the highest when newspaper literature began to assert
ts great influence upon the progress Of reform, and
began to rock the cradle Of liberty. the press was
sensiby becoming power where previously 1t had
| OILY been an Influence. Literary men bsbeld with
| hope and pride this engine by means OF which they
| were destined to WELD scspter moro powerful than
that Of the Caesars but they did not see that YOU'D
involve a personal sacrifice of greatness, oil fams OF
Immortality: tia. the arsocr.cy Of minds must bs de-
stroyed, and thorough democracy established that
forbade one mind to be greater than another. Tns has
been the result.
The extension of education to the had called
into existence millions Of readers of An perception
and poor taste. Mingled with the educated classes
TINS accession brought down tue standard oil literary
Efforts to the level of the average mind OF tue nj"
reading public Jerrold was a philosopher and hu'-
band sh large family. This earnest creature loved
Of all things to walk besids the working man, and give
him a. much of bis mind as he could The newspaper
et sbled him to indulge the philosopher. Asshu'oand
with large family the Newspaper er abled him to earo
a weekly income thus supplying all his wants. lie
might have been a gTea. mamie was satisfied ~iIh
| beioo a hsppy one. Had Goldsmith and Swift lived
| in these tim es, the Vicar of Wakefield would have
| Sginoled mo a London TINES correspondence, and
| Gulnver's Travels would have been lot of 10 sqnbs
70 fz apd sparkle through year of weeks IN Pa"ea'
Jertola was not al i-nstured mar flr III nature 49,
for The mott part, animal propensity, ana Jeroid
had few propepstes, except for pipe, toddy' ana
few friends. If he said sharp thing, he only Wsnsd
it 20 prick but DO! to wound. oacs told him that ne
vas 60 acid that thought lie had been sucked on
lemon He laughed heartily at the conceit, ana re-
pied that the hit good, bot was not true re-
torted that was all The better on that 'coonht on
which he observed that my lat remark was "i'Isr
| tran nv first. No nsd lass sslousy OF his rlVa'
ess mesnness than Jer1old He was honest, klnd and
| even genial, when not put upon the shoslpg oil ms
great ouaity-wit. TDeo, truly, he became abstract
be wss the in ellectuA gymnsst ne beheld only the
arena Of wit where mind met mind, aod where feeling
Vas locker-op. He had feline temperament, fond
Of graceful gambos, forgetting, when he seiEed hiS
subject that under the velvet of his epgrAmmshc VII
| there CLAW.
This genius for epigrsm unsurpassed in any age or
| in spy language gave singular brilsncy to his
dramatic dialogue. 1t is as q dramsst that he Will be
,smenb-t,d and Of these works his best is the con-
| ,3v Time Works Wonders" He seems 10 have
prepared this play with osre, aud ia its wnlng
| bs has kent bis rampant wit within oouods The
| -A.-.o..xs soa.k ont of their natures, aud do not