, 1873-12-21

ItHplS MOAO ktlaH Luth !o tuit!ha t!llt Lao uEIi-
alton of Bucl, Il law would tend rathor to degrade
a',tl lower ovory Hpocica OF animal oxistonco
than TO Improve and elevate.
A FORGOTTEN WIT.
ny rnor. WILLIAM Mari1Ews, Or TIE UNIVERSITY
Or CHICAGO.
What IL moro uncertain tllan literary fa,no?
Tho history Of literature Shows that IL 1t III ono
oftio ,nost onvable OF human poHaosslo.B, 1t is Mt
tho sarno timo ono of tho most tlooting. Tl,oro
Ii scarooly anything ahout which ono can propll-
osy with 80 1lttlo certainty al concerning tho fu-
turo fatle of an author who Is now tho pot fa
voritc Of tho roading world. Fifty years ago
nYnoN
was tho poetic idol Of tho public; aud Nacau'ay
did not oxnggernto when lie Hnid that NIL tho
reatlern Ut yerso III EnglaHtl-nay, ia Europe
l1aHtonod to a't at tia fcot Nov, instead Of
having hta thousands Of wosBhpe ra, WHO drink
GIN cenAoloasly, md strive, III turnod-down COL
lars, to look Conrad-liko and misantrropic, ho
a hardly power III lttoraturc. Wto reads
Cfabbo now, or southey, or arooro2 Yet Crabbo
tho "rope In worated stockings" was 10 fa-
mous In his day aB to create d decided sensation
at tic liotol whore ho Btayol on visiting Lon-
don; Bo,thoy. who IL remembered to-day only
by fow pieces and passages which ho limsolf
pronounced clap-trap, beloved TINT hia ponder
ouB opicH would bo immorta! and Moore, whose
aongB were sung In Thousand tlrawing-roomB,
might well hive beloved that tlloy, at least,
would not be opllomoridm. Again, wlat reader
Of to-day has tosled through thca volumes Of
N1CuAnDsoN's
"pamola; or how many have ever heard tho
names of "Olariasa +" and " Sir Charles Grandi-
son." fot these were the novels which held
our roat-grandmotlorB Hpollbound which
were moro popular than arc tho talos Of Dick
ens or Miss Evans now. Rousseau hung ovor
their pages with rapture; anl Diderot do
clared tint, II forced to sell bis
books, lo would mover part with these, which
ho ranltod with tho productions Of Moses 1Io-
mor, Euripidcs, and Sophoclos. Who reads
Cleveland now, or "the great Churchill" or
Hayloy, or DR.. Darwin, or Boatte's prose or
poetry, or Fitzosboruea Letters, which reached
it's eighteenth edition, or Dair's Sorlnous. WHICH
sold In their day like Robortaon's Sermons untl
"Ecco Homo f" in ours? Those, and d thousand
otlor casoa that might be citod, ahow that tho
highest contemporary fame III
NO GUARANTEE OF 1MMonTAIlTT.
The suddonncss with which Iii author who has
been puffod into tue lottioat elevation is aome-
times hurled into the gulf Of forgetiulncss ro'
minds ono Of tho vicisatudes that befel A1ilton'a
Satan in his flight through claoa:
His aail-broad vans
He spreads for flight, and, In tho surgtng smoke
Uplitted spurna tho ground thores many League,
As in q cloudy chair, uscouding, ridea
Aaaae'0.s' All rn.wurcs
Finstering Ills pennons win, plumb down he drops
leu Thousand fathomS deep.
These reflections have been provoked by q
porusal of the writings Of Chanifort, Of which
new edition was published not long since in
Paris. Though a leading journalist in tic
French Revolution, he is now almost forgotten
| in Europe. wlilo few persons in America have
oven heard Of his namo.
SEBASTIAN nocH NICHOLAS cnAMroHr
was born in It'll, near Clornont, in Auvorgio
Flo WIS natural son, aud had tho quiciuoss oi
purtB which tho proyerb ascribes to such chil'
dscu. He neyor knew who his father was. His
mother, who was dan,e de coaapagnie, camo to
Paris to hide lcr shame, and thero found friends
aud protectors, through whose influence he
found Doursier's place at the College Of the
Grassins. Rathor q dull scholar at first. ho at
lust shone forth brilliantly and in Ills third year
this Jtius nulius, this "child Of misery, baptzed
in tears" carried off the five grand prizes Of the
University. These triumphs determined his
calling;
HE oHosE LETTERS.
At first lie tried to get employment from tho jour-
mails and booksellers, but failed, and would hayo
starved had not q young Abbe pald lin q louis q
week for Writing sermonB. He next becamo q
tutor; then secretary to rich citizen Of Liego,
whom ho followed across the Rhine; but they
.soou 9uarre1cd, and Chemfort returned to Paris,
saying that "The thing III the world for which
ho was least fitted WAS to bo o Gormau." An
Indifferent comedy, which had somo success,
mud tie winning Of prizo at tho Academy, ill
troducod him into society, wAero his good looks,
Ills aplo1nb. and his ready md brilliant
wit, soon made him fayor1te. Men
aud women Of rank now sought him mud
doatod ou him. That they did not for a
moment suspect tho Intensity Of malignity aud
the rugo for equality which sIumbered in bis
heart, ia not strange; for fur kconor observers
wero deceived than tho great ladies wlo thus
carcssed lin. When 4o was elected all Acatl-
cmician Rivarol said that he was " like q bit
Of uly-of- -the-valley in bouquet cf popplos."
Tho -tho-valloy oxhalcd strange aud doad-
ly poisonH with its perfume.
Gradually the guy and diasipated life which
Chnmfort lod told upon Ills health. 1lo lost tho
yigor and good looks which led tho Princess Of
Lra0u TO Say VI HILL 1lG 4qUAe olll3 nu AaUllet
but ho is Hercules;" but llis position WAS u.s.
al1rod. Places and pensions were
BroWEnED UPON u1M.
At BaregeH, four, ladies foil iu love witt,
him, among them Madame do Gramn,ont and
Nadame do ChoiBeul, Tin reality" ho says,
sfour friends, who each Of tl,om loved him with
all tLo strength Of four" aud "it taxed him to
the utmost to bo modest" Mario Autonotto,
i!attctod by some illusions TO herself in cue Of
llis tragedies, gayo him pension Of 1900 liyres.
Tho Prince of Conlo also otforol him the post
Of Secretaire tles Coshmaadenseass. IL spite Of
theso suGcesBoB. llowoyor, envy, ,nalico, aud un-
chayitabeuess continued to gnaw ut hs hcart.
His acrd sayings ubout those with whom he
lived burn, it lan boon we'll said, tho very papor
Oh which they arc writtcn His reply to lsul-
hioro, itsolf stinging enough, Ia among tLo mild
est of them. ~ have committed" said The wit
and historian, "bt,t one wiclsetlnoss III my ifo."
"Wlen will 1t ossil ?" asleed Chalnfort. Nosign-
iny his Bocretaryship III u lit Of spleen atd mis-