New-York tribune., 1879-05-28
people, such as these poor refugees all belong
-
THOMAS MOORE.


should be tho favorites of lovers, and praises Of
Bacchus as delicate and as jovial as those of Anac-
reOn. In almost every department of lighter liter
aure il was to be his to win high and honorable
place From the beginning he was successful. ln-
deed of him as Of Plato it might be fanclfuly said,
that the bees sought honey upon his infant lips and
found it. lie learned to sing Of love from the
Greek anthOlogists. He welded his polished Eng
lish lines to tho wild tender strains OF old Irish
music. which nerved the souls of men and melted
the hearts Of women, and which were the fayOrites
equally OF peasant girls and OF peeresses He did
for his native land what Bnrns did for Scotland,
though hardly in the same manly and wholesome
way. His Irish melodies lacked the Attic
of the Ayrshire p'oughman-a natural charm
which never has been and never will be
equaled-and his was often an artificial passion,
sometimes coldly gttering and sometimes fever
shly sensual. When he was at his ienderest, those
who could not deny the consummate skill of his
verses were sometimes forced to doubt their SIN
cerity. Occasionally, indeed, a suggestion of deep
and earnest feeling was not wanting, and the heart
was touched well the ear; yet it was still inn
possible to escape n of over-careful cOnstruc-
ton, and the atmosphere of the poem was often
that of a conservatory rather than the air
of hilltop or of breezy PLAIN. Even OF
the Juvenile the fervor is frequently method
ical and the passion prepense. Considering the
number of the lyrical pieces which Moore wrote, 1t
is "a notable fact that only small proportion OF
them keep their popularity. Afew. however, which
II is hardly necessary to name, out OF one hundred
and twenty four which he wrote for Power. MAINTAIN
their place in the public memory, and viii probably
hold IT for an indefinite period while the music for
which they were produced has passed INTO the gem
oral stock of airs which promise to be
sung by our graudfatners and their sweethearts.
No estimate of Moore will be equitable which does
not take INTO account the fact that he was all his
life man of letters of comparatively moderate
means Like most of his class he could make money.
but cOuld not keep it; and but for the bounty OF
the Crown his last years would hardly have been
comfortable. He was always doing contract WORK
for the booksellers, and nobody ever did 1t more
faithfully. Ii was next to impossible for man of
his temDerament TO be hasty or careless, and
never was money better earned than the
$4,000 which the Longmans paid him for
Lalla Rookh. His biographies of Byron and OF
Sheridan are each a faithful history of literary
and political period. He could be elaborate ana
scholarly whenever he pleased; could write His
tory of Ireland in four volumes or throw OFF paper
upon the Fathers for The Edinburgh Rerie@ could
construct philosophical romance, or keep up
and at any time pass from grave and even elevated
satire 60 the celebration of beauty of wine.
Yet his was no superficial versatility. He
undertook no important work for which
he did not labOriously prepare himself.
Considering the time which he gave TO society
It is wonderful 10 find how much he also devoted to
study II is true that he had the knack of making
the most Of his acquisitions, but the actual me-
chanical work which he performed was very great;
and perhaps we are justified in holding him up as
an example, and rebuke TO those men who are
always pleading difficulty as an excuse for dong
nothing. and other duties as an apology
for disappointing the expectations or their
friends aud admirers 1t IS remarkable
that this writer. usually regarded as over
seusuous, and as the laureate of those pleasures
which are she antithess of toll, should have thus
exhibited the homeIy graces ofperslstent industry,
and that the petted visitor of Carlton House
should have riyaed IN persistent work the college
doctor or the hack Of Grub-st The truth is that IN
grain Thomas Moore 10 sybaute, and must
have had a vinlity of character quite inconsistent
with tine exquisite self-indulgence of which he so
swee !lv sounded the praises. Perhaps it was no5
altogether his fault that his way of life
was expensive, aud cost him more than it
was really worth. II lis lot had been
cast in other days than those of the silken
Regency, his first patron somewhat more princely
than the Prince his first literary success Of sober
character. he might have been as prudent as Pope
and gone down 70 poserty as a Doctor OF Laws, or
even as a Doctor of Divinity. Byron sneeringy
said " Tommy dearly loves a lord" but If he was
tuft-hunter, which is not exactly truc, he
was something more and better. If he
was petted and carcsSed; il noble ladies
were charmed by his singing, and begged
him to sing again; if he wasted much precious
time and strength in frivolous society. let it be re-
membered to his honor that at heart he was man
of thorough integrity, hated debt he hated bad
dinner or a impng hne, and gave years to the dis
charge of pecuniary obligations which were not
morally however legally, his own.
Fame is 50 much matter of accident that it is
not easy fix in advance the position of any writer
in tho days which are to come The history of
English literature. we may be reasonably certain,
win preserve tho name of Moore, unless Sheridan
aud Rogers and Byron are also to be forgotten.
Much that is written must necessarily pass into
oblivion; of the work of even great minds
only the greatest survives; but he who
catches the public heart by single simple
song may bo surer of immortality than the manu-
facturer of many bulky folio. 1t would be some
thing if the next age should only remember Mo
as we remember Sucking or Waller or Carew. but
the elaborate biography of the poet prepared by
Earl RUSSELL standard authority to which the
literary historian must resort, will perpetuato the
name OF the song-writer and satirist and scholar
aud prove that by his contemporaries, at least, ho
was admired and respected.
Wehope it will not shortly become necessary TO
organize force of Police Court officers specially TO