Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-05-07

Two KINDS OF GOSSIP. ..
fhe gossip which is now 10 favor Is always
gossip OF educated persons, who are able
tnerRiiEe their knowledge by a large ex.
pence, and Is wide as the poes asunder
b the tattle OF the Dame Quicklys. Here
be only sort of gossip which has happily
into bsd odOr-the talk of a woman who,
ID DO pow CT ofthought, has grestfaculty
reniniscence, and is peculiarly fitted 60
foDicle small beer. II is difficult to select
smplts Of the opposite kind, they are SO
tbdabt. take the first that occurs to me,
3oIy Of Heidegger, who is frequently men.
bed ir the correspondence of Mrs. Delany
+ 'the famous manager of the opera, aud the
r Ei ugly man that ever was formed"
1e the most hideous Of the human race,
pUIiTSit was many times engraved; il
D in great request; and Lord Chesterfield
ke0 him heavily against the world. 10
pes OF winning the wager, an old woman
brought forward who was considered to
still more ugly. The judges decreed that
s1eeger was the bandsomer of the two,
ID CheseI field YVES about to pay his bet;
Zen sudden thought struck him. he
'nspded that Heidegger should put on
8 o.d wcman's bOnDet. The bonnet was
= on. ard the Swiss Count appeared so
shlful in it that Chesterfield was at once
eleed the winner That little bit of club
Esip is as suggestive as it is amusing.
The GOSSIP OF SCANDAL.
= bave confined my remarks to the intel
tual worth Of gossip and the intellectual
.ah6cations of those who can alone excel
I the art. | bave not said word about
II species of it which Sheridan has glib.
he'd in the most celebrated of bis plays
y gossip which is inspired by ill-nature and
tpeI tinent curiosity and lives upon scandal.
BASS it by, partly because ill-nature is de-
tabe, however displayed, and it is useless
hammer out such truism; partly because
ID i'll nature ard impertinent curiosity
bich sometimes degrade gossip is more
Zen an intellectual than moral fault.
heTe is shrewd saying of Dugal Stewards,
: Rt the want of beuevolence which we see
many people is not really the sign of a
/ d heart, but Of feeble attention or dull
tsRiDstion, and that If those whom we call
fish only took time to think, and could
4srt little fancy, so as to picture to them
ives the hidden sufferings of those who ap-
ar to their pity, they would act more
7ndly than they generally do.
The remark Is capable of a much wider sp-
lcation, insomuch that we have lately seen
u Buckle insisting on il that the kindness
b gentlenees which we now see in the civil
ID world, the regard for human life, the
spec, for neighbours feelings, the horror
. war, the Tenderness for the]very animals,
'hich are in strange contrast to the selfish
Hes and savagery of former times, are no. to
+ attributed to the softening Influences of
Soral and religious truths, but to the intel
Eetual enlightenment aud mechanical dis
yeIies which belong to modern history. II
Bis be en- exsggeration, there is still some
9th in it, and advance it only a, an illus
'Ation of what am urgiDg-thet the ill.
4tuie and impertinent curiosity which con-
ut gossip into scandal, signify an INTEL
.Dtuai even more than a moral deficiency,
a are generally the offspring Of vacancy,
Aofauce and dullness. ....
GOSSIP OF THE OLD.
Gossip is most pleasant from the lips of the
ID. Their gossip is all from memory, and
.Dtaius little or nothing of that hateful tat
B which feeds upon surmise, and invents
here knowledge is denied. Their evil
tksions, if they had any, their envies and
AlousiGs, and hates, have died away; and
tey have right to revivify the days of
teir youth, and fight their battles over
Rain. Who would not have hung upon the
Mis- Delany and DR., Alexander Carlyle 2
'oth of them commenced their autobiogra-
,hies, but the former threw aside the pen
AfoIe she had gone through third part of
Rr life What stories she could have told if
De had Coneon? A very striking
hing sbcut old Carlyle is this-that in his
b see be enjoyed not only the poetry of
0eott and Southey, but was able to appreci-
ae Wordsworth. .
We sll know how difficult it is for one
he to understand, much less to enjoy, the
eetry Of a succeeding age. How many of
De Old people whose taste had been formed
be schOo! of Pope and Addison, were capa-
e of ccmpre hending Words worth? When
|is ballads made their first appearance, the
ritieal world rose in arms against him; and
was only with the young, fresh minds
bat they made way. IL is a remarkable
Roof of Carlyle's liveliness and vigor, that,
temoling on the grave, he was able to relish
be new order Of poetry introduced by the
bake school. That is one more evidence Of
De truth which Insisted upon at the com.
hencement of this paper, that excellence in
|ossip is only attainable by minds that have
.een highly cultivated, and are capable of
II iOy inc somethinp better than oossin