New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-09-05

lork hrovn adOn:s. and

nffrCTCI, Too, - ...,In
the mouth of the vault into when. IN ~. az hoe
bilty he must himself so soon descend lnh~ Hrn
unpleasant situation! He bore ~ an viii q ono
and unaffected cOnntenance. ms .si"sDD ~ 90
WAS fully contr9sted by the buTesque Duho v,
Newcastle. He fell into fit of crying the llonoH,
he came into the chapel and lung hIlnScIl Dd.h ~
a stall the Archbishop lowering over nun WIN
smelingbotle but III two mnures Ms Ln,t
got the better of his hypocrisy, and no ran apouc
the chapel with his glass to spy VINO was OF Tjs
not there spying with one hand, ana inoppins ne
eyes with the other. Then returned inc ieal ~, -,
catching cold aud the Dukc of Cumbrrlan' VINO
was sinking with heat. felt hlmscii weRheu ~ NJ
and turning round, found il was the Duke OF New
caste standing upon his tram, to AVOID The chill VI
the marble.
Cowpers letters are much less read than they de-
serve to be- They are distinguished by the same
SIMPLICITY aud truthfuness which mark his Doetlcal
style: and as in the of Gray, they often dis-
plav a brisk humor which we are not apt TO assoc
ciate with the anthOrs name. Among the specimens
in Mr. Scoones's collection there Is delightful
descr ption of visit from Mr. Grenvle. canyasSIne
for votes, when the candidate was refused adthi9-
sion at the front door and forced to enter oy inc
back way because the poets pet hare was out OF her
box Something entertaining might nave Deen
chosen from the correspondence of Madame DAr-
blov bnt the only letter admitted is neither inter-
estinr nor characteristic. OF the compositions OF
Mrs Elizabeth Montagu. fist of the bue-stocklngs,
we can only say that they are deplorahle AS we
reach our own century the abundance Of good let
tiers becomes overpOwering. William Goodwin,
Samuel Rogers, Robert Burns, Wordsworth. Scott,
Coleridge, SOuthey. Byron. Shelley. Landor' Meats
Hood. sydney smith. Charles Lamb Theodore
Hook Leigh Hunt; OF men distinguished IN other
walks than those of literature, Nelson, Wellington
and Palmerston Though the force and clearness OF
Wellingtons military letters would entitle them to
! nd Of wi M "A
Just ceased to write Macaulay. ThackeIay and
Dickens-these are ihe principal names in the last
sections of the book. If the work is
moro imperfect in the later than in the
earlier portions, the defects arc attrbut-
able in part no doubt, to the
vast surplus OF material. If we were asked which
of all tlc writers commemorated in the volume
touched our sympathies with surest hand most or
us would answer Thackeray. What precious book
would be a volume OF letters from the pen that
traced the following lines to William B. Reed, of Phil
dephia: " You see the pleasures the Undersigned
proposes to himself here In future yeara-a sight
OF the Alps, a holiday the Rhine, a ride IN the
Park, coiioquy with pleasant friends OF an even
ing If it death TO part with these delights land
pleasures they are and no mistake. sure the mind
can conceive others afterward and L know one
small philosopher who is quite ready to give up
these Pleasures; QUle COultHl ldIlcl pduS VI WV
of separation from dear friends hcreD to put his
hand into that of the summoning angel and say,
Lead on, messenger OF God our Father, to the
next place whittier the Divine Goodness calls u.s.
We must be blindfoded before we can pass,
know; but have no fear about what Is to come,
any more than my children need fear that the love
of their father should fail them" BY Jove, how
kind you all were to me How 1 like people, and
want to sec 'em again y But 1hackeray objected
to the publication of his correspondence, and only
a few stray letters have seen the light. With
Dickens the case is far otherwise So many hun
dreds of his epistles have been printed by his family
by Forster, by James f. Fields. by Mary Cowden
Clarke, aud the quality OF these productions is so
striking that the meagreness of Mr. Scoones's selec
ton is not easily accounted for. Dickens one
of the great letter-wrlters of the age. lie one
of the most remarkable masters OF epstolary compO-
stion in the whole range of English literature. His
reputation in this regard has been injured by the
two volumes recently published, in which we see so
much in bis character that is hard. much that is
coarse, much that is narrow and petty, an eyre
gious selfshness. au Unsuitable vanity mind that
could belttlc and wholly surrender itself to the am-
btion of theatrical display. But IN the future. when
the correspondence shall have been purged of It's
dross Dickens Will he recognized by his best letters
as at least the equal and in many ways the superior
OF Pope Of Wapole, OF any of the very foremost in
the line. There few better specimens of vivid
and entertaing description III the language than are
to be found some OF bis letters from Italy. swift
erland and France, and with the pictures of scenery
and lively stories of adventure there are sketches OF
ch aracter worthy to be remembered with similar
things in the novels. Tho brave courier"
on the road from Genoa to Paris, and
VI. Beaucourt the owner of the villa
in which the novelist passed two or three
summers near Bouogne. personages almost as
real and almost as dear to Us as sam Weller and
Tracy Tupman. In tho humorous narrative form
we can think of few pieces more charming than the
account Dickens once sent to n lady of RAINY days
froIic the Thames with his Charley and three
other boys. Mr.. scoones gives none Of DickeDs's
best letters winch even indicate the nature OF
his best work in this department. OF the four short
specimens which he inserts the most interesting is a
piece Of wild absurdty penned at the time of Queen
Victorla's marriage In 1910. Dickens amused him
self by feignlng to be madly in love with the Queen.
Mr.. Forster printed extracts from letters in this
vein written to Walter Savage Lander, and to Fors
ter himself. Mr.. scoones gives another which was
addressed to Mr. T. }. Thompson, the father of the
painter of THE Roll Cali" Mr.. Waklcy, men
Toned in the postscript, wss the coroner:
My Dear Thompson Maclisc and |
are Ia wing with love for the Queen, with hopeless
passion whose extcrt no tongue can tell, mind
Of man conceive On Tuesday sailed down to
Windsor, prowled about the Castle. saw the cor
ridor and their private rooms nay, the very bed
chamber (which know from having been there
twIce lighted NJ with such rutldy. homely. brill
ant glow beSpeakng much bliss aud happiness.
that your humble servant. lay down in the mud at
he top OF the Long Walk and refused all comfort
10 the mmcasurable aStOniShment of Il few stray
Cling passengers who had survived the drunkenness
IF the previous night. After perpetrating sundry
other cXtravaganccs. we returned home nj mid
ri glIt in 1t post-chaISe. and now We wear marriage
medals next our hearts aud go about with pockets
full of portraits. which weep over IN stcet |
Forster was with MS ut Windsor, and for the Joke
,ake) countcreits passion too BUI HE DOES Nor
LOVE HER.
Don't mention this unhappy attachment. | am
very wretched, and think of leaving home. |
l