Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-02-03
Literars Items.


sheets OF a work on Shakespeare, which bears
no title except : Shakespeare, BY :. II. = he
says that his conscious inferioritv viii not al
low him to place his name on the same page
with our great dramatist. 1t Is to be publish
ed by NJ Pagnerre and Messrs. Lacroix 4
Gle; they give him $4,000 cash for the
copyright Of the first edition He has with
drawn :" Les Chansons des Rues.et DIES Bots =
from the printers; it viii not appear before
next year.
DICKENS PERsuNAL APPEARANCE.-AL London
letter in regard to the funeral of TaAcKxRAY
has the following:
Charles Dickens was, of course. the OBJ
served of all observers, and he bore public
curiosity well, with those dark, handsome.
Yivacious eyes OF his, deeply lined face mo-
biity of feature, and scanty, grayish beard
worn IN the French fashion, with the checks
shaven, his thin, curling hair, rather large
ears, and splendidly -capacious head.
NAPoLEoN's LIFE OF CHsAR"-It is semi
officially announced from Paris that two vol
umes of this work are ready, but will not
Immediately appear since his majesty is going
to revise them, for the sixth or seventh time,
from documents furnished by learned cap
tain of the Genie corps
ABoCT THAcKEEAY-M Tow TAYLOR, in a
letter to the Manchester GuTdia1,, giving an
account Of THacKERAYs journal, SAYS:
Looking back over the experience of long
and intimate acquaiItanceship with the dead
l find that all has disappeared but the impress
sion OF one of the sweetest and kindliest
hearts, one of the robUstest, subtlest intellects
with which have been permitted to cOmEu-
cate believe this to be the impression Of
all who knew Thackeray well, and could Judge
him on fair data, and Of none more than some
he had been at teud with on causes due of
ten to their own inconsiderateness or want
of feeling, not untrequently to his own touch
mess in little matters, or his excessive sus-
ceptibility to opinion. Thinking of the in
ference which has often been drawn from
Thackeray's writings that he was Il man who
took cynical pleasure in laying bare baseness or
lIttlenesS, in showing respectabilitv how much
it may have III common with the blackguard-
ism 1t shrinks frOm-not because he loved re
spectability less, but because he loved black
guardism mOre-in revealing selfshness I'M
der all sorts of masks | am astonishcd how
the notion ever took root. Such differences
were contradicted by everything his friends
saw in Thackeray's life and manners. No
Gus or unseltsh actions, or was heartier or
louder in his recognition of them. Better
still, no life was ever made up of such actions
But his subtle ken pierced through the null
tiform DISCUSSES of selhshness and meanness,
and his truthful nature compelled him to bare
what he found underneath His hatred for
pretension and Pharsaism coucurred With
his large charity in leading him to point out
how the web of all lives is shot with lights
and darls. But there Was never any con
founding of black and white still less any
sinister sympathy with evil thoughts words
or doubts, or any preaching of the doctrine
either of despair or evil-worship. Perhaps
there never was a man who was more freely
resOrtcd to by the needy and the helpless of
his literary confraternity; and certainly there
was no man who ever recognized more fully
the claims of such brotherhood All who
knew him must remember almost cOmcaI
cases of the straits he was often put to find
word and pay fer unfortunate hhJa'cF.S who
had socght his aid how he groancd, and
swcated, and protested, bat always paid and
comfortcd- | can hardly command myself
yet to write of Thackeray's sweet and amiable
manners, as a companion, guest or host of
the plaYfulncss of his wit, the charm of his
manner, the gcntlcness of his voice, the
sweetness of his smile. There was much of
the child about him at such times, as there
was always something childlike in his calm.
candid face and soft, bright eyes. No man.
says the Times writer OF his obituary notice,
. was more cordially hated or more warmly
beloved | do not believe anybody cordially
hated Thackeray, though many disliked his
writings-all the snobs of course, and many
good and amiablc women who could not toler-
ate either his raillery his irony, his ina
bilty to see geese as swans. | believe that
every one with any susceptibility to the good
in character who ever came into personal con
tact with Thackcray loved him. It was inn
possible not 10 regret, sometimes, that he
should be so susceptible TO the chatc of small
annoyanccs from small men; but many great
men have shared this weakness with him
But the essential uobIeness and sweetness of
nature was so palpable and pleasant in the
whole way of his life, that these and other
Weaknesses soon disappeared IN their light /
have no doubt that his abandonment of the
editorship of the COruhW .Ntgu=iuc was tar
more due to the pain il cost him to destroy
hopes and shut the door against earnest,
often painful effort, than to any less crcdita-
bic considerations Indeed, he made so great
a pecuniary sacrifice in throwing up the helm
of the Coryt1tW, that we can hardly believe he
did so from any cause that did not lie very
deep indeed in the nature of the man. Know
ing him well, and having heard him discuss
the position and duties of an editor, | am
convinced he renowned it not because Of la
ziness, but of sOft-hcartedness. For there
was a great deal Of the woman, IS well as of
the child, in the composition of the man whom
some of his critics delighted to paint as
cynic, sneerer, and an unbelever in all
goodness and generosity.
A writer in the American Literary Ga-eHc
SAYS:
Thackeray, ike Dickens, possessed the fac
ulty, not very common among Englshnien, of
making an excellent speech at the briefest
notice. When he lectured there was a de-
gree of nsa,WaiSe hozte in his manner but
when he delivered an eXtempore speech in
public his manner and matter were alike ex-
cellent His voice, which seemed mutiIed nj
the lecture desk, pealed out with deep and
emphatic expression when he spoke the un-
premeditated speech. His addresses at the
annual dinners of the Royal Academy and the
Literary Fund in London were admirable IN
delivery a. in language.
In stature he was about the ordinary height,
and his large head well covered with hoary
locks, was placed upon neck massive as that
of OConnell himself. He would have been
handsome man but for an accident which
broke the upper portion of his nose His