Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-02-02
Conversational Powers,

The late William HaZlitt, q man
gifted with great powers of observation
and expression, was of opinion that
actors and authors were not fitted,
generally speaking, to shine in con-
versatiOn. "Authors ought to be read,
and not heard;;n and as actors, they
could not speak tragedies in the draw
ing-rOOm, and their wit was likely to
be comedy and farce at a second hand.
The biography of men of letters, in
a great measure, confirms the opinion;
some of the greatest names in Eng
lish and French literature, men who
have filled books with an elOquenee
and truth that defy oblivion, were
mutes before their fellOw-men. They
had golden ingots, which, in the pri-
vacy 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 farthings current in the
market-place. Descartes, the famous
mathematician and philosopher; La
fOntaine, celebrated for his witty IA
bles; and Button, the great naturalist,
were all singularly deficient in the
powers of conversation. Harmontel, ,
the novelist, was so dull in society,
that his friend said of him, after an
interview; ''I must go and read his
tales, to reeOmpehse myself for the
WEAKNESS of hearing him"
As to COrneille, the great dramatist
of France, he was completely lost in
society-sO absent and embarrassed,
that he wrote of himselfa q witty coup
let, importing that he was never in
telligible but through the mouth of
another. Wit on paper seems to be
something widely different from that
play of words in conversation which,
while it sparkles, dies; for Charles IL,
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 a private gentleman, to
Butler, its author. The witty King
found the author a very dull eompan-
ion, and was of opinion, with many
others. that so stupid a fellow could
never have written so clever a book.
Addison, whose classic elegance OF
style has long been considered the best
model for young writers, was shy and
absent in society, preserving, even be-
fore single stranger, stiff and digni-
fled silence.
He was accustomed to say that there
could be no real conversation but be-
tween two persons, friends: and that
it was then thinking aloud. Steele,
Swift, Pope, and Congreve-men pos
sessing literary and conversational
powers of the highest order-allOwed
him to have been a delightful COM
paniOn among intimates; and Young
writes of him that ''he was rather
mute in society on some occasions, but
when he began to be company he was
full of vivacity, and went on in a no
BILE strain of thought and language
so as to chain the attention of every
one to him." Goldsmith, on the con-
trary, as described by his eotempOra-
~ writers, appeared in company to
have no spark of that genius which
shone forth so brightly in his works.
His address was awkward, his man.
ner uneouth, his language unpublished;
he hesitated in speaking, and was al
ways unhappy if the conversation did
not turn upon himself DR.. johnson
spoke of him as an inspired idiot yet
the great esSayist, though delivering
Oracles to those around him in POM
pous phrases which have been happi-
ly described as spoken in the Johnson
eSe tongue, was not entitled to be
called a good eonverser.
Nearer to our own time, we have
had many authors whose faculty told
twice. Sheridan and Theodore Hook
were fellows of infinite Jest /; they
could set 'table in a roar,n and fill
pages with pathos and wit of such a
quality that it makes their survivors
think 1--WE could have spared better
men,"
Burns was famous for his eolloquial
powers; and Gait is reported to have
been as skillful as the story tellers of
the East in fixing the attention of his
auditors on his prolonged variations.
COleFidge was In the habit of pour
ing forth brilliant, unbroken mOnolO-
CUES of two or three hours duration,
to listners so enhanted, that, like
Adam, whose ears were filled with the
of an archangel, they for
got all "places-all seasons and their
change :" but this was not all eonver-
sation, and few might venture to emu
late the 'old man eloquent" with
hopes of equal success.
Washington Irving, in the account
he has given of his visit to AbbOts-
ford, says of Sir Walter Scott that his
was frank, healthy, pic
.uresque, and dramatic. He never
.alked for effect or display, but from
he flow of his spirits, the stories of
MS memory, and the vigor of his
He was as good a list
ler as talker; appreciated everything
hat others said, however humble !
night be their rank and pretensiOns, |
md was quick to testify his percep-
ion of any point in their discourse.
No ones concerns, no ones thoughts |
md opinions, no ones tastes and 1
pleasures, seemed beneath him. He 4
made himself so thoroughly the COM
)anion of those with whom he hap
)ened to be, that they forgot, for a
ime, his vast superiority, and they I
My reeOllected and wondered, when /
was all over, that ii was Scott with
whom they had been on such familiar
erms, in whose society they had felt
o perfectly at ease.--lChambers'
'Ournal