New-York tribune., 1880-10-03
A,BLIND MANS RECOLLECTIONS OF FAMOU'
AUTHORS.
From The Indianapolis Jou rnaI.

@I believe you were London publisher r. .
thick Of the trade. was the confidential clerk of
Chapman & Hall, when they became Dlekenss
publishers and nas aterT15d of set for myself
"Not very much. He seldom came to tho office
except to draw his money, and he usually over.
drew He inclined to dress rather loud, ana s IL
was natural enough that his head was turned Tor
a time by his extraordinary success. II Was
something more than forty yeals ago; it was IN
ls36-'37 and '3s that he was frequent visitor al
"aI9P" "a9 vas member of the celebrated Museum
Club he continued after short pause 1T was
Clnb. composed almost wholly of authors and pub
fishers. Inside of the Museum Club was another
the Zodiac Club-of which there we're always
fourteen members one for each of ten signs OF the
zodiac. and two each for the other two-Pisces and
Gemini. l belonged to this, alsc, ana Douglais
yeTTOd Ls GsGrEe
| John Leech, and Others. were members. .,, l..
| Each member WAS named after some sign IN IN
| the zodiac and there was fine OF one penny 1or
| addressing a man by any but his zodiacal name;
| douglas Jerrold, / remember, was Scorpio
Moriarty, an Irish writer. was Taurus ana Dr
author of standard works on skin diseasesD;was 3
| Cancer, | remember Joke of Leigh Hunts at
dinner day h tweS % Ets Tas P1oa hat ps
will YOU haveP My favoritc .part-you know
What it is, said Father PIout; Lewes was non non,
| him the Pope's eye-he's always trying to get the
Pope's oyep You know the Popes eye is The dell
cate little gland in the pigs thigh. Father arTut -
| Hunts suggestion, which was greeted with great
| laughter Father Prout was character, lie eoth.
cred poor Tom Moore sadly taxing one OF ms hnest
son os and translating it into Greek, and then pup
fishing them, side by side and charging Moore WIN
plagiarism" % MAN oIe;ch HINT w
| Cbeerfnl~always cheerful and hopeful, though
| he had al hard time of it. About 1910 he was
| fined $500 and imprisoned for two years fMoI M
Speaking of George, the Prince Regent. as fat
| Adonis OF fifty and there are not many men VINO
| could have borne the inhiction more serenely.
obtained the pension on cora tI1o iao ben he
q member of the Zodiac Club: He was the original
of Dickens's skimpole,' yon know ..o.,. mn.
before he wrote Bleak House he took the lead
in cries of unprecedented entertanmgnss 9oI IIr
Crn7kshank Mark Lemon, Lewes, and Others going
over the kingdom as COMPANY Of thn actors u
raise for the M aSSay certainly
| wonld not wish to harm offend Leigh Hunt. but
tho latters happy go-lucky disposition undoubtedly
| suggested the eytravagant shiftessness and sunny
| gable OF Skimpoe, Notwithstanding" ~
"What sort of looking man was Jerrold r.
sie was little man, about five feet high, long
| hair, prominent cheek bones, a keen eye, ana ms
| form q little bent and he looked UP at you with 2
| comical wag of his head. knew him very well
He was really knd-hearted and sympathetic. but
ne was so fond of fun and sarcastic III his method
that he sometimes induiged his wit at the expense
| of other peoples feelings. Not many got ahead OF
| him. His publishers, bradbury ~ Evans, VINO, ue
| Thought had treated him rather shabbily, gave
him couple of sucking pigs, which he took out
| to his suburban cottage and put in pen. lie
named them-one Bradbury and the other Evans
| couple of months after that his publishers came
| ont and dined with HIM. After dinner he took
them ont and showed them his pigs, and said: j
| have named them after you, gentlemen They are
! growing wonderfully, and believe if | keep them
| they Will grow the greatest hogs in Europe. and
do not forget the donOrsV
| "Jerrold's conversation ,sparkled with epigrams
and ! never knew man to laugh so heartily al
his own Jokes. II you heard Douglas Jerrod roar
ing with delight and holding his sides, you imme
| dately inferred that he had SAID something. His
| laugh was unaffected and very contagious. Like
| Iii literary men, he was never half paid. He told
me that for his great comedy of Blackeyed Susan
which sll holds possession of the stage, he received
| inst what Milton did for Paradise LOst-$25-anC
the publisher made 900 from II the first year
| For the sCaudle Lectures and other things IL
| Punch he was better paid"
ADO YOU remember any other good stories OF Jer
rold 7" asked. go -,
"One Thing happened In my presence" he said
4" which seemed to ,me very funny at the time, but
has appeared little rude ever since. AT the clul
he was Introduced by Albert Smith, l believe, ,tt
W. L. Leitch, editor OF The Queen. 'Leech, Leech,
said Jerrold, any relation to John LeechP 'N'
| relation, ,. explained the other; our names arr
! snAlled quite differently! 20, yes said Jerrold
with a nauc cnty twinkle, j remember you are TN
Gentleman who has tho Scotch peculiarly % hi
SameJ Leitchs introducer was horrffed. but
don't think they got any satisfaction.