, 1861-03-07

[Frrotn the N. Y. Evening Post.l
The London Spectator has genial review Of
Rev James Pycroft's "Ways and Words of
Men Of Letters" new English book, which
is styled ia sort Of literary plum-pndding,
compounded by m expert caterer;;"'. the In.
mixed and toofbsome. Mr. Pycroft laments
that so many good things hare been hidden
D'Israell's "Curiosities of Literature and
proceeds to correct the omission. The follow
Ing Is an extract from his pages:
breyity Of Talleyrand's correspondence; for
once q lady wrote to him lu highhown terms
Of grief, Informing him Of the death Of her
husband, and expecting letter Of coincidence
in return but the only answer was:
"'Hclaa, Madame!
ss'Votre aaect:onne etc.
"sTAL1EYRASp.'
"In less than year the same lady wrote
that she had married again, to which the H.
comic reply was:
"'oh, oh, Madame!
'''Votre afectionne, etc.,.
"'TALLETnASD."
Equally laconIc, and mora kindly, were the
letters that passed between Garrick's widow
and Edmund Kean, after The old lady had seen
the 1atter's performance Of q part in which her
husband waa mntehless: !" My dear sir-You
fully, S Z. GAa1cR AHsl R.", My ' aeaT MADAM ss %
know it. Yours, very faithfully, EDMUND
KEAS." Speaking Of errors Of the press, Mr..
pyeset p!inte4 elates conversation he had with a
Really" said the printer, "gentlemen
should not place such unlimited confidence In
the eyesight Of our hard-worked and half
blinded reader Of proofs; for am ashamed to
say that we utterly ruined one poet through .
1udicroUs mispriut." " Indeed! and what
- 4k.o
intended to say.
"'see the pale martyr In sheet Of fre;'
instead OF which he made him say,
''"see the pale martyr e0ith his shirt on fire
OF course, the reviewers made the most OF a
blunder SO entertaining to their readers, and
the poor gentleman was never heard Of more
In the field Of literature"
Mr. Pycroft notices as one OF the most singu-
lar errors, whether it be clerical or typogapl-
ica1, the passage quoted By DR.. johnson in his
Dictionary as IN authority, under the verb ITO
(Judges =. 10)." The verse is: "Speak, ye
thai ride on white asses, &c that sit in judg-
ment, and walk BY the way"
In Justice to Mr, Pycrott it must be owned
that, if be sometimes Lays down erroneous doc
trine, he seldom fails to supply its antidotc.
Thus, after telling us that il we stop at every
line to pick and choose our expressions, our
style viii lose in tluency, will become stiff and
unnatural, he produces this splendid example
in direct contradiction to his own theory:
1.-The authorees of Jane Eyre" eays her bi-
ographer, "was remarkably fcllcitous in her
choice Of words. Still she posses cd no such
talent as could dispense with nice discrlmi-
nation in selecting words One set Of words
was the truthful mirror Of her thoughts; no
Others, however apparently identical in mean
ing, would do She aeould uait patiently sea7cA-
ing or The right tern. till it presented Itself to
her. This care" says her bographeT, snakes
her style present the finish Of mosaic. Each
component part, however small, has been
dropped into the right place, and she never
wrote down sentence until she clearly under
stood what she wanted to Eay, bad deliber-
ate1y chosen the words, and had arranged them
in the right order. Her manuscript might
show the elasure Of m entire sentence. but
rarely the alteration Of any Of the words.''
The best use, then, which Mr.. Pycroft's read
ers can make Of the advice he gives them, Is
belled "a very necessary caution" is to take
care aud disobey 1t With all their might On
the other hand, they cannot too strenuous1y
practise the golden rule he gives them soon
after Trust your paper less, and your mind
more'--a rule which he justif1es and explains.
Mr. AIorphy, the American chess-p1ayer, ~ho
won eight games at the same time, though
contending alindfold against the best players
| in Europe, is an astonishing example OF the
| degree to which the power Of mental eombi-
|
| have come under Mr.. Pycroft's notice, and
| with them knowledge Of the means by which
| the wonderful result wus obtained, Being
| struck with the acuteness and general intellf-
gence Of some twenty pupils belonging to one
| school, he ascertained that the master laid
| great stress on 1nenta. arithmetic rs a means
Of sharpening the faculties. There were few
| pupils il the school who were not quite equal
to the task Of mentally multiplying or dividing
by one figure number represented By ten fig
ures.. Some Of the clever pupils could do the
su1ne thing with fourteen or fifteen figures,
some even with row Of from twenty to twen.
ty-nye, and one Of them4 who was afterwards
the second Wrapgler Of his year, had operated
correctly upon row Of no less than thirty
five figures. All this marvellous facility had
been acquired by little daily practice contin.
ued during the years Of education, the exercise
beginning with two or three figures, and grad.
ually increasing in completely. It is quite
conceivable that, by means Of analogous exer
clses, any man Of average capacity might &C
quire power like that possessed by one whom
tne reviewer Of Lord Brougham's "Liyes O
Men of Letters" speaks Of rs one Of the TIVE
most graceful prose works on 3 large scale II
our own time, adding, that he had SO extraor
binary memory that he could finisha chapte,
during ride, and then set it down GO as hard
II to need revision. r..