New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-13
DAILY TRIBUNE SUNDAY 49, lSS-TRLPLE SHEET

| than amiability. Think Of the controversy WIN
Salmasius! II would rather" says ChristopncI
North in one of the "Noctes, die upon pie VI
blazing magazines, like Sardanapalus on HIS
throne, than write one woru within one million "a
miles of the personalities of MltOn-the divine
Nilton-against SaImasius." As the writer OF
these, Voltaire compared Milton to " a wild beast
BufOon," mOuntebank, "pedant," r." rogue,
wretch" idiot" "slave," :" ass" " OeaSt'
"apOstatc" 4" devil these are titles with when
Milton belabOrs his adversary. What IL CarIy-e
had written of the Eucharist as Milton wrote: Ahe
table of communion, now become a table of separa-
ton. stands like an exalted platform upon the
brow of the quire. fortified with bulwark aud bar
rcado to keep off the prOfane touch of tine lalcs,
while the obscene and surfeited priest scruples not
to paw and malnmoc the S2cramental bread, as
Familiarity as his tavern biscuit" The reader may
smile and say: " Why Mr.. Carlyle himself might
have written tbis"-a conjecture which DO not
propose to gainsay Nor need multiply examples
This was the manner of the time All differences
of opinion showed their teeth then. and all the
gladators went into the circus without gloves
" More ibels" said Dryden, " have been written
against me than any man living" Scores of books
are tull of this horse play. There used 20 be uni
vcrsal give and take.
do not know what one of our modern makers of
should begin to beabor him as Dryden beabOred
Shadwell They cry ont now rs if they were 80
many Calibans undergoing the piDches OF ProSper0
il only we say that their poems" are but $685.
what would they do if McFlecknoe should be
written about them? Lot them possess their souls IN
peace The oian, race Of Sairlss IS extinct NOBODY
will now say OF most pitiful rhylner that ne Is
through all the realms of Nonsense absolute, nor
that he has been mature in dulness from his
tender years. AS | look over these satirical
masterpieces Of Dryden, | wonder why the men
who sprawl upon the rack of his slncwy lines old
not embrace with rapture the first opportunity Oh
hanging Observation-Disclosures Shadwell Buck
ingliam ami the rest! Dryden boosted That he
never called his enemy "iOOl, blOckhead Or
knayc" that he managed to set him forth as such
without using any of these opprobrous names"
But no was not always so nice, and most OF his
contemporaries were tar from being So
| suppose it is natural enough to think OF " The
Duncial" while reading Mr. Carycs Rcmlnls-
conccs" Pope printed in the Appendix to thus
wonderful poem, A Parallel of the Characters OF
Mr.. Pope and Mr.. Dryden. as drawn by certain OF
their contemporaries" or Pope himself Dennis
said The smooth numbers OF tie Dnnclad are all
that recommend il, nor has it any other merit. 1t
must be owned that he hath got notable knack Oh
rhyming and writing smooth verse; Then 1olio"s
list OF the names DeSlONcu upol ~ 10 W IA"
amable contemporaries. viz: An ape, an ass. a
frog. coward, knaye. a fool, Il thlng-a little
alb Get thing Pope Alexander" they used to call
him, with a reflection upon his religion. have
alluded to Tho Dunciad" because it would not be
absurd To- say that there Is touch of Carlyle IN
the concluding verses which have been so much
admlrcl-the Same sentiment OF hopeless despair,
tie same bitter protest against shams, ana some
thing, indeed, of Carlylc's manner:
she conas. she comes! the sable throne behold
or Nght primryal and OF Chaos old!
Before her, FanCv'5 ei.ded clouds decay,
Aud alt its varying rlinoows DE away
See skukiug Truth to her old cavern fed.
Mountains Of casuistry neapd DER her mead!
PHILOSOPHY, that leaned Oh Heaven before.
Surna5 10 her second cAIse, AM is no more
Religion. oIushiog, veils her sacred fires,
No o public TI me en- nor Pryat@ dares to shine;
\ human spark IS eti; nor, nor glimpse ,, dlylne
II! Thy dread empire, Chaos; Is restoTd'
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fau
Aud universal darkness buues all!
think the reader will agree with me that there
is here a remarkable coincidence; but do not in
sist upon it, quote the lines mainly to show that
this weak and welterng world had been detected
and exhibited before the printing Of "Tho Latter
Day Pamphlets aud that the chaotic catastrophe
In, been also threatened. And, rs an Illustration
of vigorous personality | may alude to the
character which Pope painted of his friend Add
SON. All that set! Sometimes l wonder whether
there was any real friendship i'll it, since such little
things led 10 suspicious. Tits, quarres, open rup-
lures verses like those about AtticuS. PrOSacally
stated what Pope says of Addison Is that he
full of literary jealousy and could bear, like
Turk no brother near the throne y; that lie
damned with faint praise" and without sneeIing
taught the rest to sneer'; that ho was tmor-
Ii. j..
obligug that he ne'er obliged" Much of this is,
as Macaulay observes, " not merely unjust, but rd
cuIous' There was, perhaps just truth enough in
it to make it false.
Most great men have had their personal preju-
diccs. and especially most great men of letters A
very strange collection might he made of the sharp
and sour things which johnson said of his cOntem-
poraries and of some who were famous when he
was i'm his cradle. Anything might be expected of
talllcr who pronounced DIR. Swift to be
shallow; aud Who made it a business to insult
his associates whenever he CHANGED to be out OF
temper or pleased to be unusually dictatorial.
What he said of Rousseau was" think him one OF
the worst of men; Il rascal who ought 10 DC hunted
out of society as be has been. would sooner sign
n sentence for his transportation than that of any
relon who has gone from the Old Bailey these
many wears Yes. should like to have him work
IA the plantations" Between VOltaire and Rousseau
mo Thought it difficult to settle tic proportion of
infamyr These specimens enough; and the
matter is too familiar to need further illustration.
Dr. Johnson would have thOught it beneath the
dignity of authorship to write as he talked; had no
thought otherwise, what he has loft us would be
infinitely moro amusing. The "reminiscences"
which all the English-speaking world is reading,
are written much as the author might have talked,
and evidently with no superne notions OF book
making propriety.
Again personality in literature is by no means
thing of the last age. In this very volume We find
Soutbey speaking Of Shelley and his life without