Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-01-23

ter the fall 81 Sedan, in the New York
Herald. What fine talker says, in
his social hours to friend, Is very
different from what he writes. There
is sparkle in his words, flow in his
sentiments, a freedom in his manner,
hat can be photographed only by the
quick skill of the shorthand writer;
and once down they last like the
paintings of a great master. A fair
copy of Senator Nye's quaint sayings
and odd stories at one dinner party
would be a classic. The bright bon
mots of William NJ. Evarts, if they
could be recovered, would shine like
gems in the choicest magazine. A
night with Oliver Wendell Holmes
would supply gossip more delightful
to literature than anything he has
achieved in 1.-The Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table" Henry c. Carey, of
Philadelphia, much as he has written,
is never SO happy as when he relates
the incidents of other days at his "ves-
pers." My cherished and lamented
friend, William Prescott Smith, used
to set the cars in a roar with his match
less skill in satire and in story. Moth
ing is more eagerly read and re-read
than pleasant au Obiography, or dia-
ry, whether it be Pepy's, Benjamin
Franklin's, Boswell's, Coleridge's Con-
versations, Crabbe Robinson's, the rec
ollections of the actor Young, by his
son, or the Elder Matthews. And if
John Forster could have added a VOL
ume of Charles Dickens own expert
ences, as these fell from his lips, to the
two he has already published, his book
would be without rival in modern
biography. The difference between
autobiography and biography is thus
quantity drawn by the French author,
II. A. Taine, in nis late work ON 1.-The
History of English Literature"
son the day after the burial of a eel
ebrated man his friends and enemies
apply themselves to the work; his
school fellows relate in the newspapers
his boyish pranks; another recalls ex-
actly, and word for word, the conver-
sations he had with him a score OF
years ago. The lawyer who manages
the affairs of the deceased draws up a
list of the different offices, he has filled
his titles, dates, and figures and reveals
to the matter-of-fact readero how the
money left has been invested, and how
the fortune has been made; the grand
nephews and second cousins publish an
account of his acts of humanity, and
the catalogue of his domestic virtues.
If there is no literary genius in the
family they select an Oxford man, con-
lscientious, learned, who treats the
dead like a Greek author, a.nasses
endless documents, involves them in
endless comments, crowns the whole
with endless discussion, and comes ten
years later, some Christmas morning,
with his white tie and placid smile, to
present to the assembled family three
quartos of 500 pages, the easy style of
which would send a German from Ber-
lin to sleep. He is embraced by them
with tears in their eyes; they make
him sit down; he is the chief ornament
of the festivities; and his work is sent
to the Edinburgh ReUieeo. The latter
groans at the sight of the enormous
present, and tells of a young and in
trepid member of the staff to concoct
some kind of a biography from the ta-
BILE of contents. Another advantage of
posthumous biographies is that the
dead man is no longer there to reiute
either biographer or man oflearning." !"