, 1876-11-05
A Certain Distinguished Authors Per-
sonality with His Books.
An Authors Protest Against the
Portrait Theory.
Philip Gilbert Hamerston as a
Novelist.
Remarkable Character Painting.--0pen Studies
Equal to George Blot:

behind the London Saturday R<uieao, spoke In
this wise: 1T is very clever and very concelt"
ed paper. You would say it was written chiefly
by Henry Pelham and Vivian Grey. The men
who write for it may be neither young nor coz
.combical, nor have especially crammed for their
articles. But the articles do give this impress
sion. There is quite as much Of the air-fD,ye-
see-what-a-jolly-smart- -fellow-I-am?' as Of how
tr1e-this-isr- that is an air which is pres
emily very wearisome. 1t peryades good deal
OF our modern literature, and Turks in the
writing OF very good men. Charles Kingsley,
for instance, is infected with this spirit. His
style occasionally taps the reader On the shoul-
der and says to him, Say, You don't forget,
you know, how darned smart am.'"
This made great impression upon me at the
time Of reading, and have always remembered
It as very strong illustration Of the personal
effect which the writer makes upon the reader.
The other day, this was Drought to my mind
very clearly again by the effect which Hamer-
toms writings produce as personal
ity Of Hamerton. It Is precisely op-
posite to this Saturday Reoitso impression,
but it is equally strong in effect Said Il young
man the other evening to me: " l should like
idea OF very good fellow from his books" I
had just been reading the proof-sheets of
"Wenderholme,'' Ha1crton's newest book,
just out In this country, aud had been struck
with the same idea myself. As 'Wenderholme"
is novel or story, one gets the idea Of person
less strong than in "Thc intellectual Life, u
where it is very marked, but more di
rect. And in all this there is not
the least flavor Of egotism, nor the least inter-
more than Thackcray interfered with his char
acters when We feel his sympathy OF scorn or
approve over their vices or their virtues; aud
not so much as George Eliot projects her per-
sonality into such characters as
DoRoTI1EA AND DANIEL DERoSDA.
Mr.. Hamerton does not tap you on the
shoulder; 1t is only the ''smart" people who
do that, who are thinking Of their personality
all the time, and wish you to think Of it. Tie
smart people +otf;w toward ths1 whom GTe;. yea
further on expresses when he says Of the smart
Saturday Reviewer, "He is unquestionably
capital company; but all this TING you want to
kick him. You have no such feeling towards
Mr.. Hamerton. He stands in the background
or walks silently by your side while he intro
duccs you to people Of marked or original char
acters quite unlike the people you are accus-
toned to meet in novels; and you feel his sym
pathy for them in the quiet, humorous way that
suggests or presents their peculiarities. he is
to you, not in presenting himself. He Is making
an open study for you OF some very interesting
characters, and In this novel OF Wenderholme
this study is SO fine that you feel sometimes
that George Eliot herself had not done better.
They are some OF them, indeed, SO true to
nature that the readcr at once feels-provided
he or she has not read the preface-that they
must be portraits. But here is what Mr. Ha1ner-
ton says Of the matter himself in his American
preface, which did not read, by the way, until
after had read the novel, and was, therefore,
firmly convinced in my mind OF the portrait
! theory: .,
"On the first publication of Wcnderholme, u
| the author received number Of letters from
people who were quite convinced that they had
recognized the originals OF the characters. The
| friends and acquaintances of novelists always
! amuse themselves in this way; and 1t seldom
! happens, believe, that there Is anything like
| real portrait In a novel. .....
"A characteris suggested by some real person,
but when once the fictitious character exists In
| the brain OF the author, he forgcts the source
| Of the original suggestion, and simply reports
! what the imaginary parsonage says and told. 1t
| is narrated Of an eminent painter, famous for
| the sanity beauty Of his virgins, that
HIS ONLY MODEL FOR THEM WAS AN OLD MAN,
4 SERVANT,
and this is good illustration Of the manner in
which the imagination operates. Some OF my
correspondents made guesses which were very
wide Of the mark. One lady, whom had nev,
at all, recognized herself in Mrs. Prigfey, COZ
fessed her Sins, and promised amendment; an
illusion scarcely to be regretted, since it may
have been productive Of moral benefit. a whole
township fancied that it recognized Jacob Og-
don in & wealthy manufacturer, whose
face had not been present to me
when conceived the character. A correspond
ont recognized DR.. Bart1ly as the portrait Of q
surgeon in Lancashire, who was never once In
my minds eye during the composition OF the
Frenchman, quite ignorant off thSs Lancashire
dialect, and even of English. But Of all these
gucsscs, one OF the co1nmonest was that Philip
Stanburne represented the author himself,
probably because he was called Philip. There is
%s esg 5 *1as but h'HeSR Hope to Sa ns 0sss ss
supposed original OF Jacob Ogden
may preserve his sanity to the end OF bis earthly
pilgrimage, and that the author OF this volume
may not end his days in monastery" 10 all
ing and amusing: That is, to all authors Of
imaginative nternture, for not one but what has
suffered in precisely this manner from the ST.
perior wisdom Of. his readers I know one
writer Of imaginative verses and stories
SbG ta make Rss bis s0%s oes se b. g. the sef5y e
type, on account OF the extraordinary
delusions OF her readers upon the personality
involved, they insisting upon various occasions
that the writer was relating her oWn experience
Oh no other foundation than
THAT or BELONGING HERSELF TO TEE BLONDE
HArEEu ONES,
as Philip Gilbert Hamerton's readers insisted
that Philip Stanburne was himself because OF
the name Of Phillip merely; Another very
INTERESTING MssFs Sr paans On ss sapsnat
riiy OF some Of his characters In
connection with bis English critics, who make
some objections to the local truthfulnes OF bis
creations. The critic OF the Saturday 1:ev1e10'
ter to represent man in Col. Stanburnc's posi-
tion as gooi-nat,lred enough to talk famiiariy