The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-19
LORD DEsART's DESERTS.
Tho Impudsnt Repetition Of Stale Jokes and
Second Hand Indecencies" BY Would
Be ChesterAeld-A Man Hasti-
Gates His Own Worda
IRON the Saturday Review, Dec. I'll

A series of articles which has been appearing In
one OF the monthly magazines, under the title OF
\ "The Chesterfield Letters OF 1878. by Lord c.
h" has attracted degree Of attention which
Is certainly due to It's literary merits Cynical
letters from father to q son, or from an uncle to
q nephew, in imitation or in caricature OF those
which Lord Chesterfield addressed to the slOvenly
BOBBY in whom he vainly hoped to proong his
social triumphs, have long formed hackneyed
subject for cheap satire The latest attempt to ex-
tract humor from this exhausted topic APP
pears to be chiefly remarkable for coarseness OF
language and ideas, and for the impudent repeti-
ton OF stale Jokes and second hand indecencles.
We cannot pretend to have read more than Few
pages Of 1t, but the rest seems 10 be In the same
strain. In the part happened to fall upon an
uncle Is endeavoring to persuade his nephew
against love-match, and here are some samples.
taken at random, of the delicate wit and spark
Ing epigram Of the modern Chesterfield. me
writer points out 'the vugarity OF all this business
and 1.-THE small probability OF your spouse
retaining your affection and continuing
TO you hers for many months after you are made
are alike in the dark and after the first Fortnight
you will be as much accustomed TO her as you are
TO the old cane-bottomed chair" Women" we
are told, ''are charming creaturs, no doubt; but
her charms, she would madden you as the Greeks
thought sweet perfume would madden cat"
On part @ an ta
enaRorea Of. bull Tl5ania 81 Bottom,
| Join company with one who will become in a
| lew months your mortal enemy for the felicity OF
| being able to law and brawl and maunder at one
| another during the term OF your existence" And
| so We are not concerned TO become the
least he wrote ike wit and gentlemen. Tue
| DISMAL rubbish which we have Just quoted will
show the general quality Of the modern letters fSs:
he snersiors 1 hit upon. the expedlent ,s q
Of real or apparent personalities. Various
characters are introduced under names or in con-
nectlon with circumstances which have led to the
| superstition that they are not fictitious but are
intended to be Iuentlied with real persons. 1t Is
easy to imagine the amount OF annoyance. and
| even pain, which may be caused IN this way. 1t
| gets whispered about that this character is meant
Tor such q person, and that character Tor such
another; and a malicious, or perhaps only an idle,
| ingenuity Is exercised in endeavorlng to attach
names to the different portraits. For this the
! he cannot escape responsibility II ne has men,
toned matters which naturally suggest a personal
This point has just been put to the test in the
case OF 'Tne Chesterfield Letters OF 1873" One or
the characters sketched in these letters Is Harry
Browne, the Honorable Harry Browne, alieutenant
| colonel in Her Majesty's Fourth or Chanticleer
Regiment Of Guards, and Member OF Parhament
| you," 1t is asked, 'resist his deep musical voice,
his slow, impressive manner of stating the most
evident trusm, his beautiful belief in himself, his
splendid contempt for all others, mis- graceful att-
tldes and his richest What does it matter il his
father did make his title and earn his pension
tations which we prefer not to repro
ieveied at Colonel Charles White VINO Is the son Of
peer, lieutenant colonel IN the Fusiiier Gnards
| and member for an Irish constituency, and whose
efforts at Parliamentary oratOry are perhaps chiefly
| characterized by artistic vocazation. Colonel
White accordingly determined TO investigate the
authorship OF the letter. and on Saturday last the
following remarkable letters appeared in the
TneS:-
sln-we have request that viii insert the fol
besar House, Kilkenny, 18Th OF December, 1873
H4s5 sAsss Ssss
LONDON, Dec. 10.
Il William Earl Of nesart .skn0wsdse hst am M5 Re-
have published IN the magazine known as London
deny emphsticslly upon my solemn oath that the
r e. y me%ea G ms s Snare' h'e
Idssy ihat h. hey in any way in the mind
the proofs Had it been SO freely admit that that article
able bac kguard, infamous and utterly unworthy of
hope that Colonel White win give the utmost pub
Lefty TO this statement DESARF"
1t viii be observed that this is not exactly
the style Of Chesterfed; and perhaps still less Is
1t the OF letter which, written by another and
presented with an imperative demand for sigma
signed by Chesterield. Lord Chesterfield was
cynic and loose man OF the world but he was not
the world usually feel bOunu to atone for their
1ailings.
lows:-lt was discovered that the Earl OF Desart
had some connection with the recent Chesterfield
letters and Colonel White Colonel Crauiurd
Desart House, Kilkenny, to inquire into the mat
ter. On the 18th December. Colonel Fraser waited
upon Lord Desart, while Colonel White and Lieu
tenant Colonel Barring remained outside. AS 1t
happened, 1t was found to be unnecessary
r an r esars % 40 to th
declaration which he was requested to sign or Tor
Colonel White to appear at all. From subsequent
letter by Colonel Fraser II appears that the decla-
ration which was published under LORD Desarts
name, and Ia which Lord Desart was made to say
that he desired Colonel White to give the utmost
publicity to it, was drawn up by Colonel White,
who instructed Colonel Fraser not to allow Lord
Desart to alter it in any material respects and that
Lord Desart had this declaration before him for an
hour, and finally consented to sign IT. In the
interval however L Lon Desart produced private
to be 'dated the day before our arrival, but"--lor
some reason-"n9t posted and this letter, oddly
This, however, was not accepted as a substitute
for the declaration. Lord Desart demurred to the
NIT that that article would have been'delamatory,
unwarranted unwarrantabie, backguard, tnla-
NOUS ana oo utterly uawor1s Oh not Gsas
and highly appropriate to- the circumstances
could not be omitted because Colonel White
will not allow it," He also said 'most impress
sively," 81 tell you, Lord Desart, upon my honor,
that II you DO sign this declaration, consider
that You will cause much unhsppiness to your
friendsn Upon which Lord Desart ''conse nted"-
TO use his own words-'to submit to what GER
tainly may have seemed to be dictation.o 1t does
not appear that Lord Desart expressed any desire
for personal interview with Colonel White.
Perhaps the declaration would have been still
more impressive II Lord Desart had only thought
OF adding the motto OF his coat OF arms-"VHtus
repuls9 nescia sordidG."
Lord Desart acknowledges that he is 'responsi.
ble for the chesterfield letters Of 1872 but in
q second letter to "Dear White" written after the
interview with Colonel Fraser, he says he did not
actually write the offensive article although he
sis, and must be, unfortunately, responsible for
it, Whether Lord Desart wrote 1t or inspired IL,
or simply ordered 1t from some person whose trade
1t is to write such things, does not of in the
least affect Lord Desarts responsibility for the
publication OF the article. He admits that he saw
the proofs and the question remains whether the
article can be considered culpaDle one. On
this point we may quote Lord Desart's own