The weekly Butte record., 1861-09-07
Writers and Takers.

not ntted, generally speaking, 10 shiDe III cou-
versation. Authors ought to be read, not
heerd and as for actors. they could not speak
tragedies in the drawing room, and their wit
was likely to be comedy and farce at second
hand" The biography of men of letters, in
great measure, confirms this opinion. Some
of the greatest names in English and French
literature, men who have filled books with an
eloquence and truth that defy oblivion, were
mere mutes before their fellow men. They
had golden ingots, which, in the privacy Of
home, they could convert into coin, bearing an
impress that would insure universal currency
but they could not, on the spur Of the moment,
produce the farthing current in the market
place Descartes, the famous mathematician
and philosopher, Lafontain, celebrated for his
witty fables and Buffon, the great naturalist,
were all singularly deficient in the powers of
conversation Marmonte the novelist, was
so dull in society, that a friend said of him,
after an interview !; " must go and read his
tales to recompense myself for the weariness
of hearing him.
AS TO Corneille, the greatest dramatist Of
France, he was completely lost in society-so
absent and embarrassed, that he wrote of him
self couplet importing that he was never in
telligible except through the mouth of anoth-
er. Wit on paper seems to be something wide
ly different from that play Of words in con-
7ersation, which, while it sparkles, dies for
Charles II, the wittiest monarch that ever sat
on the English throne, was so charmed with
the humor of ' Hudibras " that he caused
himself to be introduced, in the character of
private gentleman, to Butler, its author. But
the witty king found the author dull COM
panion, and was of opinion, with many others,
that so stupid fellow could never have written
so clever a book
Addison, whose classical elegance of style
has long been considered the best model for
young writers, was shy and absent IN society,
preserving, even before a single stranger a
stiff and dignifed silence. He was accustom-
ed to say there could be no real conversation
but between two persons-friends- that
it was then " thinking aloud" Steel, Swift,
Pope, and Congreve-men possessing literary
and conversational powers of the highes order
allowed him to have been delightful COM
panion among intimates; and Young writes
Of him that {, he was rather mute in society OH
some occasions, but when he began to be CON-
pany he was full of yivacity, and went on in q
noble strain of thought and language, so as to
chain the attention of every one to him."
Goldsmith, on the contrary, as described by
his contemporary writers, appeared in company
to have no spark of that genius which shono
forth so brightly in all his works. His ad-
dress was awkward, his manner uncouth, his
language unpolished he hesitated in speaking,
and was always UNHAPPY if the conversation did
not turn on himself DR.. johnson spoke of
him as an inspired idiot ; yet the greatest es-
sayest, though delivering oracles to those
around him in pompous phrases, which have
been happily described as spoken in the John
sonese lounge, was not entitled to be called
good converser
Nearer to our own time, we have many au-
thors whose faculty told twice. Sheridan
and Theoeore Hook were fellows of infinite
JEST they could rs ct table in roar, and
fill pages with pathos and wit of such quail
ity that it makes their survivors think we
could have spared better men," Burns was
famous for his colloquial powerr aud Gait is
said to have been as skilul as the story-tek
lers of the East in fixing the attention of his
auditors on his prolonged variations. Coler-
idge was in the habit Of pouring forth bril-
liant unbroken monologues of two or three
hours duration to listeners so enchanted that,
like Adam, whose ears were filled with the elo-
quence of an archangel, they forgot all
place, all seasons, and their change but this
was not conversation, and few might venture
to emulate that old man eloquent" with
hopes of equal success. Washington Irving,
in the account he has given Of his visit to Alb
botsford, says Of Sir Walter Scott, that bis
conversation was frank hearty, picturesque and
dramatic. He never talked for effect and dis
play, but from the flow of his spirits, the
stores of his memory, and the vigor of his
imagination. He was as good listener as a
talker; appreciated everything that others
said, however humble might be their rank and
pretensions, and was quick to testify his per-
ception of any point in their disdourse. No
ones concerns, no ones thoughts and opin-
ions, no ones tastes and pleasures, seemed to
be beneath him. He made himself SO thor
oughly the companion Of those with whom he
happened to be, that they forgot, for time,
bis vast superiority, and only recollected and
wondered, when all was over, that it was Scott
with whom they had been on such familiar
terms, in whose society they had felt so per-
| fectly at ease.
GENERAL ScoTT," writes Jasper"
Washington correspondent of the N. Y Times,
is almost unnamed by the defeat at Bull
Run, and told the President, on Monday, that