New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-27
RECOLLEC1TONS OF A READER
BY CHARLES T. C0NGDON.
wv
PERSONALITIES IN LITERATURE.

| srop-cARtcATURE OF DRYDEN IN THE COMEDY
| oP 1.-THE REHEARsALr-oB CUMBERLAND IN
1.-THE CRITIC" THE ADVENTURES OF
Gr1NrA n-LADY vANEs MEMOIRS on " PEREZ
CRIME PICKLE "-LocKHART's YOUTHFUL INDis-
CRETIoN-" TEN THOUSAND A YEAR
ERAY AND DICKENS" ENDYMIoN"
| Personalities in literature usually make great
| contemporaneous noise, while the next age taxes
them calmly if curiousy. The truth is that they
are exceedingly common, and naturally So The
proper study of mankind" as Pope said, :" is man,
but Glib auoters of the maxim have often failed IN
| considering the meaning of this rs OF many Other
| OF his smooth eplgrammatic lines. ordinary
| painters dealing with the human, must nave tnei
lay-fgures and they have nothing moro; IL Is inc
| great artist who alone can ideaze and WHY the
| iointed and draperied doll before him. AS 1t Is
with the painter so it is with the poet and tne
novelist. Portrature has nothing OF the mechanical
| in It. The true writer of characters makes the
| noble nobler and the ignobe baser still. He both
| copies and creates
Shall we gossip little about real personages
embalmed sometimes, unfortunately Tor them-
| selves. In plays, in novels, In satiIes, and in
memoirs Of the delightful French soIti spoke the
other day of John de la Bruyere and of his admir-
| able characters OF which Regner did not fear TO
saw before the French Academy: Mature seemed to
take pleasure in revealing the secrecies OF man
| kind to him. In showing him the mysterious inside
Of human nature and In continually exposing those
things to his eyes which men labor to conceal with
| the utmost care from the knowledge OF the world
| With what force OF expression, what beautiful
| colors has he depleted them" Bruyere has way
of sticking pins into the most sensitive places as
delicately Isaac Walton put fly upon his HOOK
| Speaking of Baron, who was the greatest french
actor of his time he says Roscius treads the stage
Vao clio ho
tell pou too his legs are ,ceII made, he acts we'll
and reyy Iona paris" And then, in the next breath
tho willy Frenchman goes on to put Baron into bad
| company and to eulogize athletic person, Pre-
court Who Is there that rises high in dance
| or cuts O caper to compare with himT Or what
| think YOU OF Cobus the Tumbler, who turns him
self quite round in the air before he lights upon the
| ground ~ 1t must have required some courage 1or
| Bruyere to paint the portrait of NJ. DAublgny
brother of Madame de Mantenon but he did 1t with
| out any mercy. and sent the poor gentleman down
| TO onr time as blusterer coxcomb, and sufferer
| Of follies and vanities.
| But let us come down nearer little our own day.
| Everybody who knows anything about Sterne par
| ticularly remembers DR.. Slop. Ferrar says:
"Ihere are some pecularties in the principal char
| acters of rristram Shundy which render 1t prob
able that sterne copied them from real life"
| He adds that his inquiries at York threw no
light on the subject except what regards the per-
sOnage of Dr. Slop. lie, it turns out, was n real
| character one Dr. John Burton, OF York-a Jealous
Jacobite who in 17I5 committed to tho Castlo
| of York on suspicion OF high treason. Steine 5
uncle was concerned in the arrest and was severely
taken to task for this by DR.. Burton. In pamph-
let printed by him in Standardization. Tho laugh
ing author of Tristram Shandy made 1t q family
| quarrel and in tho opinion of tho grlnnlng ages
has rather got the better Of DR.. Slop 1t has been
| asserted that Ny Uncle Toby and tho WIDOW
! Wadman had real prototypes; but research has not
rendered this much more than conjecture, and we
hardly know anything about it certainly. IL has
been with Stcrne ms with Rabelas, whose books are
doubtless crowded with capital portraits OF forgot
| ton Offenders Somewhere tho great English
| humorist found real human beings very like Irlm
| and Yolck and Obadiah and Mrs. Bridget.
| II DRYDEN stands to-day ono OF the most laugh
inely Ribbeted Of all who have been dramatically
dealt WITH 1t must be remembered that nobody ever
| dealt harder blows than he did. Ind yet can
ney or read without pain the play OF The Rehearsal;
| his manners, ways. weaknesses and folbles are
so cruelty and remorselcssly exposed. This won
derful farce is usually given TO the Duke Of Buck
| inQham (viicrs). but undoubtedly he had help,
and notably that OF Dr. Sprat and Others; for more
than ono cunning hand went to the construction OF
| the dreadful lampoon of which Dryden bitterly
complained especially at the parodies Of his stilted
| trapio lines No writer however steelcd by nature
| or custom but shrinks from parody. We can UNI
| derstand why Voltaire sore and angry when he
| witnessed his marianne" parodled by LIE
| Mauria's HMenage" or bad Housekeeping"
Il Is hard to give any idea Of the tremendous satire
Of SThe Rehearsal" through the medium OF ex-
| tracts-t must bo read entire to be appreciated,
| Dryden's personal manner Is grossly carlcatured,
| but the strokes mastery. He says OF his
new play: "'Tis oil new wit; and, though say IL,
n better than my last; and you know well enough
how that took. In fine 1t shall read and write ana
act and plot, and. and show, oy. and pit box and
gallery egad with any play in Europe" All manner
of absurdites arc put into Drydens mouth, in this
character of Baycs; how before writing sonnets to
| Armida he diets upon slowed piunes; how he has
written CARLOAD OF plays which the players, in
| solent rascals, have turned back upon his hands
| how the vulgar never understand his soaring above
| tho common pitch. Meanwhile the rehearsal goes
on and poor Bayes hops about brimful OF selfprase
| and the most absurd commentary. But his friends
sneak away because they can no longer bear bis
| absurdities; and finally, during the momentary
absence Of tho poet, the players also abscond his
rage at this Is Of the most characteristic bits OF
the piece: " How are the players gone to dinner
lis mpossble the players gone to dinner! Egad,
if they are, I'll make em know what 1t IS to injure
n petson that does 'em the honor to write for 'em
and all that. company Of proud, conceited hui
morous, cross grained persons, and Gil that Egad
I'll make 'em the most contemplate. despicable
nconsiderable persons, and all that, In the whole
world, for this trick. Egac, I'll DO revenged on
,em; III sell this play TO the other houseW
Undoubtedly Sheridan's "Cntic" would never
have been written lut for The Rehearsal which
IL closely resembles in its structure and in Its cen
trail figure, Sir Fretful Plagiary. was meant fol
Cumberland, the dramatst. The wit is finer thar
that of the author OF "The Rehearsal" and the