Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-11-12
OWEN MEREDITH.
Something About the Author Of
ssLucille.ss


sensation. 1t was given to the world
at a time when the romantic fever was
al ITS height. and when English women
were signing for a native school of fic.
ton winch should follow the footsteps
OF George Sand aud Octave Feuillet. Al
what distance Lucille" followed them
has never been exactly determined.
There appeared in literary paper Of
the period a very circumstantial accusa-
tion that it was close version, In plot,
characters, and sometimes in language,
OF one of the earlier novels which the
author OF s'Consuello" had anonymously
published. The charge was not pressed
It was rumored that the new poet would
make a terrible slaughter of his tradu.
GERS alter the manner OF English Barde
and Scotch Reviewers" and he seems
to have published denial IN some OBJ.
scure publication But there the mat
ter dropped. 1t had little interest for
Owen Meredith's readers, who, for the
most part were very young. 1t had no
great interest for his critics, who dis
cerned in him an extraordinary facility
an almost Byronic flow OF dictiou, and
none OF the marks Of poetic greatness.
His lines went canteriDg ON their way
unchecked. Young officers and loung-
ers at the clubs still simpered over their
worldly wisdom. Maidens still glowed
with their. alcoholic ardor. No purpose
would have been served by awakening
controversy, and none but political an.
tagonists, who are notoriously the
meanest foes of all, would have now
disinterred the old accusation.
At that time 1t was known to few that
Owen Meredith WAS Robert Lytton.
Tilling th. soil of literature together, the
father and son drove their pivws in dit.
te rent fields. This was anything but a
misfortune to the son. He had some of
the humor, some OF the fancy, some of
the scholarship OF his father; but he had
none of the patience which presided at
the birth OF 1.-The Caxtons" and
"Riensi." Having patience, the elder
Lytton so imbued himself with the spir-
it OF the French stage that he became a
master in comedy. Having patience, he
made so thorough study Of antiquity
that scholars may sniff at, but can not
condemn, the romances which he con-
structed from the cairns and tumult OF
the past. Having patience, he 30 dis
posed of his not very extraordinary
gifts as to leave q considerable name
in literature. Having no patience, the
young Lytton has been unable to sus
tain the lame which s.Lucllle'' brought
him. As q diplomatist he occupied a
great many posts, and mastered a great
many languages. He also acquired the
highest art of which diplomacy is capable
-he learned to cook. In Paris this was not
a necessary accomplishment, for there
were a good many Kitchens in the neigh
borhood OF the Rue du Faubourg, St.
Honore, not surpassed by the Boule-
wards and Palais Royal. But IN Buch-
Arrest, IN Constantinople, and particularly
in Rome, many ministerial bout might
be won by we'll cooked partridge, and
many cabinet secret mig ght bo opened
with the Tokay.
Lord Beaconsfeld, who always prided
himself on his appreciation of youthful
merit, saw much to commend IN Robert
Lytton, and was not wholly blind to the
points of similarity in their careers.
Their literary affinities we're close. Both
aimed at warmth OF color, and oYershot
the mark. Both reveled in the words oil
the French epigrammist. Both prefer
red half truths to whole truths, and YER
bal felicities to purity of style. Owen
Meredith's "Fables in Song' might
have come from the muse, rhymed
and corrected. of Benjamin Disraeli.
There is the old Disraelian yearnine for
the infinite in the fable of '.The Blue
Hills Far Away" the song OF traveller
climbing mountains and crossing Wales
In quest of the ridge on the horizon.
There is the old Disraelian malice in the
fable OF the beasts who choose king,
and, having rejected the lion. the tiger,
and the nobler animals, are bldden by
the monkey to accept
A creature never known to run or royster,
You bid me choose your kiug. l choose the
oyster.
There are poets to whom such an
Office would be full OF attraction. In
spiration would come more easily beside
the Jumna and Ganges. Themes un-
touched by Eurasian bards would abound
In the ancient country on whose frontiers
Sa'adi lived. There are many respect
able servants of the crown still guarding
the remnants of their liver at