The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-05-22
IGO TO SEE JOHN ESTEN COOKE.
By O. BusaISI wuFFIx, NJ. d.

A moment more and we are in the
parlor, before great fire Of logs, blaz-
ing and roaring merrily up the CHM
ney. There Is fire enough TO roast an
OK, but the night is cold and Cooke calls
for more wood. His command is quick
ly obeyed. Before we are fairly warm,
l am introduced to my friends sister
and nieces--the widowand daughters of
the poet, and receive kindly Virgin
ian welcome. Tea is soon served. AZ
ter it is over, the Novelist and myself
return to the parlor, ill our pipes with
"Lone jack" and then comes great
smoke and great talk. Cooke talks
fiuently and we'll. Books, war, horses,
men, sometimes politics-he talks well
pm all tresc subjects, but is particular
ly Interesting. to me at least, when he
is discussing the merits of his own COM
positions. lie is 5candith straightfor-
ward, outspoken in regard to all That he
has done or intends, to do. His aspira-
tions for the future are so daring that
what he has done. counts as nothing In
the balance against what he intends to
do. AS he sits in an easy attitude, dis
coursing of things to come, with his eyes
lighted lip and his mind aglow. let inc
draw i,im for You, o Reader., My pic
ture will not compare with Fishers ad-
mirable crayon head, which hangs a.
gainst the wall there, but it will Serve
as an outline. The cray on indeed was
taken years ago, when the original
was longhaired and full-bearded; when
his checks were fuller and the sober
work of war had not wrought its traces
OH his brow. Then he looked more like
an artist than an author. Now, with
his hair cut short and only a heavy
brown moustachc shading his upperlip;
his checks pale and thin, showing NEIL
tai labour, he looks neither the artist
nor the author, but rather the young
lawyer in full practice. Yet this gem
eral expression is bclied by closer in-
spection Of his features, and especially
by his eyes and mouth-the former
large, brown, soft and slumbrous in re-
pose; the latter shapely and refined,
save only an undue fulness of The low
er lip. The shrewd, cool optics; the
wide, thin mouth of the lawyer are
wanting-this nan could hardly succeed
at the bar, albeit his father was fa-
nous lawyer before him. He tried once,
but soon quilted in disgust.
His forehead is high, well-packcd, full
over the orbits and between the tenn
Piles, but not expanded lateraliy or an
teriorly-rather q square than round
forehead. His head is stSongly shaped,
broad behind the ears and high ever
them; not an unusually large head. He
Is combative and proud, if there be truth
in phrenolOgy; and l am inclined to
think there Is some truth in it, in spite
of Sir VIM. Hamilton S experiments on
the frontal sinus. His nose is straight,
rather large but not tllin--by no means
a weak or undecided feature. His chin
is masculine but not heavy, as was By
ron's. There is enough Of it, if we may
trust Lavater, to indicate determine
ton of character, but nothing of the
harsh, animal nature. AS to his tenn
permanent, would say that it was san.
guine-nervous, with some admixttire OF
the bilious. In person, he is above the
medium height, say feet 10 inches,
slender and without an ounce of super
fluous flesh; defective indeed i'm muscu-
lar development. as measured by mere
volume of brawn--the race horse build,
not the Conestoga. Formed for en,lur,
ancc, not for lifting or hauling. His
age is 36 or thereabouts, and he has
never been married.+
This is my Outline-pale indeed and
rough, with no attempt at the finish of
Darlcy or the force of RetzscIi--but ac-
curate so far as 1t goes. You, whoever
you are, who desire a terter picture.
take this my advice--wait few wears
and you will find said picture as the
frontispiece 10 Cookies Collected Works.
The likeness published somo years
ago, as one of a group of distinguished
American authors, is not good.
"VuAuS iaden" Is true Of the face of
the Novelist as of other faces, and no
otherwise. Once discover the character
of a man, you find it easily enough in
his countenance. The ensemble is un-
questionably that of man of decision
and of energy, yet there are lines which
tell Enthusiastically of love of ease -
Descended on the fathers side. from a
race of hard workers. he is capable,
when occasion demands, of emulating
Hazlitt, without the aid offIhzlitt's tea.
Six to eight hours a day of steady, ,grap-
id work IS his rule, and this strain, ex-
hausting as .it is, he will, maintain for
weeks, until the work before hHn what
ever it may be, Is finished. Under a
whip and spur OF this sort and with such
bottom, it is not to be wonderedlthat he
accOmplishes enormous results an in
credibly short time. His longest, most
finished and most successful novels have
been written in six weeks working
time He is no worker in mosaic, but
drives on under full head OF steam,
rarely tagging until the last line is
completed.
But there is another side to the shield
the maternal element succeeds the
paternal. On the mothers side, he
comes Of race fond of luxury and ease;
and when his work is done, he Ito use
again his own term) ''loungesT as Tong
and even more contentedly than Cole
ridge ever did. This is not she resJEIt