National Republican., 1874-05-18
Aatiaual gepnblitar.
FAMOUS AUTHORS THAT ARE NOT


READ.
1t is far from my intention TO question the
absolute merits OF the principal works Of the
men whose names are canonized in modern 1T
erature. Those merits, unreservedly admit :,
are beyond question. But what I am anxious
to know is, admitting as we all do, that they
are transcendently superior TO the works Of
modern writer's, how 10 it they are not readl
Would any one having q reputation TO preserve
venture to rise In critical company and declare
bis preference for Thackeray over Fieldingi I
know would not, although Richardson, with
DR.. Johnson's approval, sneered at Fielding,
and said, 'if he had not known who the writer
of Tom Jones' was, he would have thought ft
was an 'ostler." Yot, writing here anony-
mously, I do not mind confessing that though
have read "Tom Jones', once, have read
"Yanity Fair" half Q dozen times It IL an
added perplexity for the honest inquirer 10 dis
cover that, Of the writer's whom he knows he
ought to revere, If not to read, some are spoken
of with disrespect In very high quarters.
If we believe Plato, Homer was not such .
great writer after all, and Of Plato himself Mr..
Lewes remarks that she Is tedious and difl-
cult writer, often quoted al second hand, but
very rarely read. Men of culture usually at
tack dialogue or two out of curiosity; but
their curiosity seldom inspires them to further
progress. Sophocles was seriously regarded
as lunatic by his own children, who ought to
have known something about him. Aristo-
phanes mercilessly chaf5ed Socrates while
Athenaus attempts TO prove that the great
teacher was himself nliterate. Virgil was de-
clared by Pliny TO have stolen such slight beau
ties as his poems may display. QuintIlian SAYS
Seneca was no great shakes; Cicero and Plu-
tarch are both down on Aristotle; Demosthenes
is pooh-poohed by Hermippus; and of Cicero
it has been written that he is 'icold in his ex-
temporaneous effusions, artificial in his exor-
diums, trifing in his strained raillery, and
tlresome in his digressions."
Coming down to the gods of our own house
hold, does 1t not make the hair stand on end to
find Tom Moore declaring that he found
Chaucer "unreadablef" Lord Lansdowne said
he was secretly of the same opinion, but did
not dare to speak of It. "a. K. H. B. writes,
81 would rather read Mr.. Helps than Milton"
"What will you say, writes Lord Chesterfield,
"when tell you that cannot possibly read
our countryman Milton through Keep the
secret for me, for, If It should be known,
should be abused by every tasteless pedant,
and every solid divine in Europe" Charles
Lamb says, 'Milton almost requires 3 solemn
service Of music to be played before you enter
upon him, !" which, not to put too fine point
on 1t, Is an inconyenient requirement In
fayorite author. Even Shakespeare has not
been spared. Ben Jonson, "rare Ben Jonson"-
rarest of all In the matter of readers-began It
with the repartee 10 oShakspeare's admirer, WHO
boasted that the great bard had never blotted
out single line he wrote. "Would that he had
blotted thousand P' said Ben; and Mr.. Sam
uel Rogers (whom everybody knows as the
author Of that charming, but never read, poem,
"The Pleasures of Memory" ,") was very fond of
repeating the joke, believing that Shakespeare
was greatly oVerrated man. swell, after
all, Tom" said Byron to Moore one day, "don't'
you think Shakespeare was something Of hum
bugp have quoted Yoltaire's scathing re-
mark about Dante. "Can you read Voltaire's
'HenriadeP /" asked Mr.. Senior of De Tocque-
vile. "No, nor can any one else," was the
prompt reply, Once at Abbotsford 1t was re-
marked, In Sir Walter Scott's presence, that
the speaker had never known any one who had
read the "Henrfade" through. 81 have read
It and live," replied Sir Walter, "but indeed in
my youth read everything" Mrs. Browning
humbly confesses that she could never read to
the s5s,,5e1 s1d Of Aksa:as PaasgE:: q tHs Ins
depreciation of this highly respected man,
and so was DR.. johnson. "Sir, l could
not read it through" be says, when Bos-
well refers to "the distinguished poem" al
see they have published q splendid edition
of Akenside's works, he proceeds: ''One bad
ode may be suffered, but number of them
together makes one sick" DR.. johnson had,
indeed, painfully reckless way of tweaking
the noses on the monumental figures in our
literary Walhalla, and l reflect with sorrow on
the fact that "London: poem," ''Rasselas,"
and ''The Rambler" are to day so little read,
though, l dare say, we all have them In our
libraries. OF the author of the famous "Elegy
in Country Churchyard," the doctor says,
briefly, but forcibly, 1--WE have had enough Of
Gray" Of Churchill he remarked, 81 called
the fellow blockhead at first, and call him
o blockhead STILL" OF Fielding, he also OBJ
served that he was q ''blockhead," and upon
Bozzy's venturing to express Establishment at
so strange an assertion" he was good enough
Yen. Po;fnd