Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-12-06

| At 10 NGih0A haOAS
and reflects great credit on the nobl
conductor and his assistants. to all o
whom the passengers desire to return
their grateful thanks, nt arI
-@i.-s~b--
A BIT OF LITERARY HISTORY.
How Fennimore Cooper "DrOve q
Il COach.amd-Six" Through Lock
hart's "Se0tt."
A literary REVELATION is made by Levi:
Gaylord Clark in the December number
oftLippencotts Magazine. 1t appears
that Fennimore Coopers fierce attack
upon Lockhart's " Life of Scott pub
lished in Clark 5 Knickerbocker q quar-
ter Of century ago-was reprisal by
Cooper, for the abuse he had received
from Scott IL Lookharts Quarterly Re.
view. Mr.. Clark, says of Cooper: 81
had read in our city papers accounts OF
his pompous and nn-American bearing
abroad; OF His unpleasant airs; his sud-
den, contested usurpations of old accord
ed feudal privileges on 0tsego lake, near
his ancestral home; of his libel suits
against, out-spoken American editors
then in progress and q theme of general
public comment; and, more than all,
my business partner and myself had ae-
cidentally overheard him express an un-
favorable opinion of Washington Irving,
as not true Americanlin feeling, as
an established popular author by in
hueneed and directed public opinion,
both at home and abroad. ,.,
These things had made an unfovora-
BILE impression upon Mr. Clark, and he
stated the facts to Mr.. Wiley as his ex-
cuse for declining profered introduc-
ton to Cooper. But Mr., Wiley remarked.
Mr.. Cooper has asked for an introduc-
ton to you, with reference to a literary
matter Of much importance and this
important subject was the publication Of
CoopeFs attack in the pages of the
Knickerbocker.
When Cooper came to read the proof
sheets, he exposed the secret Of his hos
tility to Scott and Lockhart. We give
Mr. Clark's version Of Coopers reasons
for wreaking his revenge:
After q little desultory conversation, he
said [" Mr.. c., will you permit me to
ride in a coach-and-six through Lock
hart's Life of Sir Walter Scott in the
pages of the Knickerbocker2
Undoubtedly j replied, " but not
anonymously. You will allow your
name, of course, to be announced as the
author3'
"Thats what / especially wish, said
he; but even without that" he added
with q very expressive smile, think
there will be little difficulty in tracing
its paternity after il has once teea read. +"
And now let me here re-
cord what must always be regarded as
the true incentive-the moving why
of Mr.. Cooper's attack upon Lock
hart's YLife Of Scott Subsequent
personal research and Mr.. Cooper's ad-
missions ca this occasion left no room
for doubt.
Let me begin with Mr.. Cooper's provo
cations. His works and himself had
been treated with marked injustice on
more than one occasion in the pages OF
the Quarterly Review, a work originated
by Scott, and conducted by his son-in-
law, Lockhart. In three or four in
stances the reviewer had industriously
collected yhateyer he thought would
prick and sting him IS an. author and as
man, and especially as On American
Beulltuldu. ENbiJ uhc VI
these articles was marked by a slurring
disparagement of Mr.. COoper's merits as
a novelist, though he was then at the
acme Of his fame in Europe. ,r
The last straw that broke the camefs
back" wes undoubtedly the extract from
Seott's diary IN Paris, In which he spoke
Of visit from the American novelist
Cooper--a man with tho manners, or
rather lack Of manners, peculiar to his
countrymen." Now the quoting by
Lockhart of this entry, sfteF having so
numerically scolrged Cooper 10 q Re
view established by Scott and conducted
by himself was not only In bad taste.
but seemed to be dictated by feeling
little short of malice. Mr.. Cooper made
no allusion to it, however, in his article,
nor in any eonyersatiop in my presence.
in reading his proof Mr.. Cooper
paused 10 comment upon certain points |
which It contained. The first remark
which he made, as he qnF0lled and
spread out the pFoof-pages, was Sir
Walter Scott is precious subject to be
held up as moral example to American |
readersl The selfreviewer; the habitual
mystifer in matters touching his own in
tesests; the fatterer of dissolute princes
and yapid mobiles; the humble follower
OF wealth and poTeF-vhat Q model for
a seIfrespectiTig, conscientious Ameri-
cam" In the opening OF his article he
said: " ] think the truth should be tod. !
We are called upon to yenerate a name |
that, in a moral sense, owes its extraor-
binary exaltation to some OF the most |
barefaced violations Of the laws of rec |
titude that ever distinguished the charla-
tanism Of literaturel Speak no evil Of !
the dead is a good maxim, but Scott |
designated his biographer, furnished him |
materials, knew what sort Of a man be |
was and how he could be used. No one
can claim, in his behalf that be Is 10 be |
protected from just criticism in the grave. |
There is another reason TO be offered |
why, in this matter, Sir Walter Scott is
entitled to the benefit Of no other con-
than those Of abstract JUS
tce; and that's his diary. in this diary
We had sworn never TO erase single line
n " had once been written in it Yet
napy entries were made in it, rejecting
most nnjGstly upon others, when his
mind was not in a fit condition 10 write
IN a diary ct an. n. 4
Mr.. Cooper did not hesitate to say
lhat Scott at this ltims was occasionally
. fou;" and he alleged that no man could
nave written that terrible drunken scene
on shipboard in "The Surgeon Daugh,
Ter without having been an actor in it
and speaking from experience.
The Boston Times says that about
twentv-fve per cent. Of the legal voters
in certain wards Of that city are up for
he Common Council.
Chimneys should be looked after ee.