Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-03-10

recalling Woodsworth' description
of that domestic treasure And she
was this. She was as able at the
needle as = the pen. The household
knew the excellence of her cookery
before they heard of that Of her
books.
SAMUEL ROGERS.
The poet-banker, around whose
hospitable board the first literary
men and women of two generations
were wont SO often to gather, is thus
described. He was:
Probably the last of that class who
VIII in England be called Me eae-
mas. His life was remarkable one
from the great age he attained dur
inga critical period of fcivilization;and
his function was a remarkable one
that of representing the bridge over
which literature has passed from the
old condition of patronage to the
one of independence. He heard "the
talk of the town" (recorded by DR..
Adams) on Johnson's letter To Lord
Chesterfield and he lived 10 see the
Improvement of the copyright law,
the removal of the taxes on knowI-
edge, and so vast an increase of the
reading public as has rendered the
function of patron of authorship OBJ
solete.
We have seen Moore die in decrep-
it old age yet did Moore, in his boy
hood twhen he was fourteen delight
in Rogers pleasures of Memory" T"
the poem being then SO common as
to have found its way into schools in
class books and collections. .
He heard the remarks on the "Vicar
of Wakefield" +" and read damp from
the press, ali the fiction that has ap-
peared since from the Burneys, the
Edgeworths, the Scots, the Dicken-
ses, and the ThackeraYs. AS for the
poetry, he was aghast at the rapidity
with which the SCOTS, the Byrons,
and Moore poured out their works /;
and even Campbell was too quick for
him-he, with all his leisure, and be-
ing always at it, produced to the
amount of two octave volumes in his
whole life.
His hold on life was very strong.
He who was an authority on the in
cidents of the Hastings trial, and
who was in FOX's room when he was
dying-he who saw George III, a
young man, and was growing into
manhood when Johnson went to the
after being run over by a cab of the
construction of the middle of the
nineteenth century. His poetry
could scarcely be said to live
SO long as himself, as it was
rather the Illustrations with which
it was graced than the verse itself
thai kept his volumes on sale and
within view.
HENRY HALLAA.
1t is pleasant to learn something
about the persUnal appearance and
characteristics of the calm and Judi
cal historian of the "MiddIe Ages"
and of the English Constitution, ho
died ten years ago. Mss Martlneau
says:
1.-The reader ofweighty mot heavy
works, impressed with the judicial
characters of the style both of
thought and expression, imagined
him solemn, pale student, and
might almost expect to see him in a
judges wig whereas, the stranger
would find him the most rapid talk
er in company, quick in his move
ments, genial in his feelings, earnest
in narrative, rather full of dissent
from what every body said, innocent
ly surprised when he found himself
agreeing with anybody, and pretty
sure to blurt out something awk-
ward before the day was dOne-but
never giving offence, because his
talk was always the fresh growth of
the topic, and it may be added, his
manners We're those OF Il thorough
bred gentleman. He was an admir-
abb subject for his friend Sidney
Smiths description. In a capital
sketch of a dinner party TO which
Sidney Smith went late, Hallam was
one of the figures: land there was
Hallam, with his mouth full of cab
bage and contradiction
DE QUINCEY.
We Will close our extracts with a
paragraph about one of the most re-
markaIele literary men nofthecentury,
De Quincy, the Opium Eater, "and
one of the most yariously learned
men of his time:
When his three daughters were
grown up, and his wife was dead, he
lived in a pleasant cottage at Lass
wade, near Edinburgh-wel known
by name to those who have never
seen its beauties, as the scene OF
Scott's early married life and first
great achievements in literature.
There while the familyfortunes were
expressly made contingent on his
abstinence from his drug, De Quin-
cey, did abstain, or observe modera-
ton. His flow of conversation was
then the delight of his acquaintance
and admiring strangers, who came
to hear the charmer, and to receive
the impression which could never be
lost, of the singular figure and coun-
tenance, and the finely modulated
voice which were nothing else in the
world. It was a strange thingto look
upon that fragile form, ard features
W hich might be those of dying
man, and to hear s6ch utterances as
his-noW the strangest comments on
insignificant incidents now pregant
remarks on great subjects and then
malignant gossip, virulent and base,
but delivered with an air and voice
of philosophical calmness and intel
lectual commentary such as caused
the disgust of the listener to be larg-
ly qualified with amusement and
surprise. One oood thing was,
that nobody's name or fame could
really be Injured by anything, De
Quincy could say. There was such
a grotsque air about the mode of his
evil speaking, and it was SO gratui-
tous and excessive, that the hearer
could not help regarding it as sort
of intellectual exercise, or an effort
in the speaker to observe, for once,
something outside of himself, rather
than as a token of actual feeling to-
wards the ostensible object.
An exchange, in an article upon
the propriety Of round dance y gives
the following, which is worth a
thought "a few wears since a