The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-06-13
KENELM CHILLlNGLY.
Chsracters and Scenes from Lord Lyt-
fOnss Last Nnr-nI

KENELM CHILLlNGLY.
Chsraeters and Scenes from Lord Lyt
toms Last Novel.
The latest sensation among novel
! readers is the posthumous romance O
Lord Lytton, Kenelm Chillinglv, whicl
is extravagantly praised by Englisl
critics, yet deserves a great deal o
praise. Its pictures of English life anC
character are remarkable, though as
novel it is rather dull. We give som,
passages from Harper's reprint. The
hero is an only son, and will make the
reader think, of course, of Cover
Meredith, the present Lord Lvtton
who was the authors only son. There
seems to have been studied effort OF
his fathers part to make Kenelm Chill.
lngly unlike Robert Bulwer-Lytton,
but he has put bits of family history
| into his novel. The last descendant OF
Sir Kenelm Digby, the famous scholar
| and gentleman of Charles the First's
time, married one of Lytton's family
and died at Knebworth, Lord Lytton's
house, $50 years ago, without chilchren.
and this incident is alluded to in the
name chosen for Sir Peter Chillinglv's
heir. As the family council, few
weeks after Kenelm was born, are ex-
amining the pedigree for a name, the
following conversation takes place :
SIR KENELM DIeBY.
" have i'll have it, ;" cried the par
| son. Here is a descent from Sir Ken
elm Digby and Venetia Stanley. Sir
Kenelm Digby No finer specimen of
muscular Christianity. He fought as
well as he wrote eccentric, it is true,
but always a gentleman. Call the boy
Kenelm!"
ga sweet name," said Miss Sybil (;
1T breathes of romance.
g Sir Kenelm Chillingly It sounds
well-imposing % said Miss Margaret
And" remarked Mr.. Mivers, :" it
has this advantage-that while it has
sufficient association with honorable
distinction to affect the mind of the
namesake and rouse his emulation. it is
not that of so stupendous a parsonage
as to defy rivalry. Sir Kenelm Digbv
was certainly an accomplished and gal
liant gentleman; but what with his silly
superstition about sympathetic powders.
ETC., any man nowadays might BE- clever
in comparison without being a prodigy.
Yes, let us decide on Kenelm. -
Sir Peter meditated. Certainly"
he said, after pause, Certainly, the
name of Kenelm carries with it verv
crotchety associations and I am afraid
that Sir Kenelm Digby did not make
prudent choice in marriage. The fair
Venetia was no better than she should
be; and l should wish my heir not to
be led away by beauty, but wed a wo-
man of respectable character and dec
orous conduct"
Miss Margaret-"A British matron,
of course.
Three Sisters Gn chorus)-"Of course
of course %
But" resumed Sir Peter, "T am
crOtchety myself, and crotchets are in
nocent things enough and as for mar.
rage, the baby can not marry to-mor-
row, so that we have ample time TO con-
s1der that matter. Kenelm Digby was
a man any family might be proud of:
and, as You say, Sister Margaret, Ken
elm Chlllngly does not sound amiss-
henelm Chilhngly it shall be I"
The baby was accordingly christened
henelm, after which ceremony its face
grew longer than before.
The MIR. Mivers, who figures in this
council, is so well described that his
portrait shall be given =
LONDON JOURNALIST.
Mr.. Chllllngly Mivers, another cadet
of the house, was also distinguished,
but IN different way. He was a bach
elor, now about the age of 80. He was
eminent for n supreme well-bred con-
tempt for every body and every thing.
He was the originator and chief pro-
prletor of public journal called the
Londoner, which had been lately set up
on that principle of contempt, and, we
need not say, was exceedingly popular
with those leading members of the com
munity who admire nobody and believe
In nothing. Mr.. Chillingly NIivers was
regarded by himself and by others as a
man who might have achieved the high
est success in any branch of literature,
If he had deigned to exhibit his talents
therein, But he did not so deign, and
therefore he had full right to imply
that, If he had written an epic, drama,
novel, history, metaphysical treat
Use, Milton, Shakespeare, Cervantes,
Hume, Berkeley, would have been no.
where. He held greatly to the dignity
of the anonymous and even in the
journal which he originated, nobody
could ever ascertain what he wrote
But, at all events, Mr. Chillingly Miv-
ers was what Mr.. Chillingly Gordon
was not-Tiz., very clever man, and
by no means an unpleasant one in gen
eral society. 1t was one of his maxims
that in youth, a man of the world
should appear older than he is; and in
middle age, and thence to his dying
day, younger. And he announced one
secret for attaining that art IN these
words: "Pegin your wig early, thus
you never become gray" Unlike most
philosophers, Mivers made his practice
conform to his precepts; and while in
the prime of youth inaugurated wig
in q fashion that defied the flight of
time, not early and hyacinthine, but
straight-haired and unassuming. He
looked five-and-thirty from the day he
put on that wig at the age of %. He
looked five-and-thirty now at the age
of 81.
g l mean, said he, "t to remain 35 all
my life. No better age to stick at.
People may choose to say l am more,
but | shall not own it. No one is bound
to criminate himself" j."
Mr.. Mivers had some other aphorisms
on this important subject. One was,
''Refuse to be i'll. Never tell people you
are i'll never own it to yourself Ill
ness is one of those things which a man
should resist on principle at the onset.
1t should never be allowed to get in the
thin end of the wedge. But take care
of your constitution, and, having ascer-
tainod the best habits for it, keep to
them like clock-work. +" Mr.. Mivers
would not have missed his constitution
al walk in the Park before breakfast, if,
by going in a cab to St Giles's, he
could have saved the city of London
from confagration.
Another aphorism of his was, IF
you want to keep young, live in me
tropolis; never stay above few weeks
at time IN the country. Take two men
of similar constitution at the age of %;
ct one live in London and enjoy a regu-
larlY sort of clnh-life: send the other