New-York tribune., 1880-01-17
THE LATE HEPWORTH DIXON.

ING AssERuON-THE PENN CONTROVERSY WITH
MACAUIAY
iFEoM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF TIE TRTBUNR.l
LONDON. Dec. 31.-Even TO those who liked him
not over much the news of Mr.. HeDworth Dixon's
sudden death comes unpeasantly. Hard at work
ou a book not worthy Of his real abilities, he was
struck by apoplezy on Saturday, never rallied, and
died the same morning Few men have worked
harder; few have been more steadily driven to
their daily task by the pressure Of constanS neces
sjy. HIS books all. nearly all, lad considerable
measure of success They in demand at tie clr-
culatlng libraries. went through several editions,
were praised and blamed 10y critical weeklies, and
yet never brought their author anything like
a competence. or gave him such start
as might have permitted him to write with
less bastc. There was, IN one sense
and not the best sense, journalistic quality about
al Of them. They were written for the day MT
Dixon had journalists knack of perceiving what
the public would want to read, and he set himself to
supply Tins want. HIS long editorshp Of The dhe-
n0am fTcm 1888 to 1869, had distinctly injurious
influence upon his larger work. He had been
writer before ne became editor. He had done all
sorts of ephemeral writing. and | fear an austere
critic would have to say that his books. even the
best of them, have never had more than an ephene-
raj life Each new one pushed the Old one ASIDE.
You cared no more for Mr. Hepworih Dixon's last
bool, but one than you did for day before yester-
dag's newspaper.
Probably his :" New Amcrca" was the worst thing
he ever did. 1t was also the most successful Forty
editions Of it, they say, were published within few
months-m many lanFua Gcs-hcgnnng with the
middlec,ass Macaulaycse,' in which ii was origin
ally written, and ranging through French and Ger
man. far away into Slayonic tongues. If il were
no so limsy a performance as " Free Russia or
" The SwtZers two fragrant examples of purely
commercial book making-t essentially more
dishonest book than either ASH isthe book by winch
he is most widely known in America, the uncoIn-
Portable reputation he bears with us Is not, per
haps altogether deserved. But. for that particu
lar work, no criticism ever made upon 1t by the
most patriotic and indignant American was too
Lard. il pleased NJ Dixon TO occupy himself IN
America in researches into exceptional phases OF Ie-
hgiaus. or Quasi-rehgicus life lie hunted uD every
sect every concrete fauaticism, every social expe-
Uimeut. every morbid development of emotional or
scusuous life. every community which sprung r"n
q sexual feeling. or sprung from desire to cX-
ciule sexual feeling. BE wrote an account
oi each. lie collected all these accounts into book.
and tha, boo, he labelled " New America bat
was his cr.Iue against tie United states. To tho
immense majority OF the people OF the United
States, the communities he described III hls
uuc'uou~ly sympathetic way We're as completely un-
known as ID the immense majority Of
Europeans. HIS book was book about
the warts and vcns and sores OF
American l.e But he gave ITO The great public Of
Europe as a portrait Of alat was most characcIis-
fc iD the United states. Whoever read 10 unGci-
.0od tnat these phenomena were not exceptional
and ummporiau, Lut typical and essential. ii was
libel in two voumcs. The injury 1T cd To America
iu Europe was Cor the time, very great II was no
al events as great as hi- abilities las reputation,
bis vogue could make It, II thcm injury wa, no' last
ipg. that was uo faul. of M Dixon Il rs not
necessary 10 say he had dishonest purpose ! dom
suppose he had. hi- purpose Aas TO "fl'ea book
winch would sell. What he wrote afterward showed,
moreover that this sort cf subject 5as one % which
he had a real interest. he liked poking INTO I'M
cleanuess and pryins among the more ignoblc paris
Of human nature. Spiritual wive, interested him,
II was once said, because they were not spiritual.
1t was tie PLY sioogical side of that subject which
attracted him. and his curiosity was Insatiable
one would rather not say these things so soon
after man is dead. In one sense II Is unchartaDc
10 say thcm uor would | refer TO them al al
were u not necessary 10 repeat in season and out OF
season the protest against his scandalou- treatment
Of our own country lie exploited America without
q thought possibly. Of the mischief he WAS dong.
We can afford u forgye him. but not 70 acqulescc
IN the ruthfunc,s of BIZ shameless csricatUrs upon
American society. The London papers have
urracAod sermons on Li5 death curousiy cuicgi,tc
ia tone considering the sort Of criticism the' be-
slowed on him daring hls life; dsconr@cs which
smack more OF the tombstone than q the pulpit.
TLcy enlarge upon his domestic virtues. hc was
KIND 10 lle lamIr anu good TO the poor. says one
writer All the honor that can come 10 him from
the practice of these private virtues be deserves.
I fo. - llcF T. % m
ND as pc of the man oi letters. One journal say,
be invented new career IN literature, that 80 hc
showed how ii was profitable for man ot parts II
1--we by his pen just az other mcn live
by their special capacity III other pursuits
in lifeD The notion that English Literature as
profession bogus with liepworth Dixon may seem
little startling. Dryden, then, did not live 10y his
pop. nor Goldsmith, nor Johnson, nor any Of their
predecessors, Dor is the eighteenth century full of
mon whose pen kcp TIE wolf from the ooor. l. is
mistake to suppose that Nh Carlyle once described
himself asa "wrtol of books" He bcganrfe a
millionaire. and no one of the brilliant band who
made the early part OF their century famous and no
ono Of living authors, not Tennyson, for example,
lor Browning nor Froudc well a. Carlyle, has
shown how it is possible for OF parts - live
By his pen Thackcray wrote without pay, and
Dickenss half milhOr came TO him out OF the sky.
IL WAS reserved for Tie Times to cOnsgn these men
70 obscurity in order that Mr. Dixon might
figure as the Agamemnon of literature. before
whom, consradicting the poet brave men
lived. Nor Is tins o careless remark. accidentally
dropped by hurried writer. The article appeored
three days after MS. Dxon's death and this thesis
is enlarged upou throughout Before his time d" the
pursuit of literature implied either leisure aud
of life or the pressure OF overmasterlng impulse"
Having now become profession, IT must be a base
profession. ave can hardly expect that even the
most eminent and successful of those who follow 1t
should possess or dea aim AT the high qualities which
alone can place a in the rank OF OF the worlds
great writer's" And much more to the same effect