New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-09-03
among other celebrities, Of Landor Tor whom MAC
milan had a warm admiration:

| If | had gone when was first asked should have
met him. From all the ares say anu .ey r nnTs
| there Is little chance Of his ever producing the
| @Solid and Orderly Work on History, OF which nc
| sncoks in the preface TO his Conversations lie is
s fui of arrange pcrversties and unrest. lie IN a
noble warm hear ted man but quite devoid OF any,
thing like philosophical or judicial calmness ana
seems to get more and more excltable rs his yea
| increase. Nothing delights him more than 70
poster his visitors or his host. or anyone he meets IN
company. with a. manner OF paradoXes. Inc tIuS
nniable and lovely nature of libarius or OF Nero
OF the great folly and cruelty OF Pitt ana FOX Oh
! an examination of the question which of the two
FOX Pitt was the greater fool always declulns
in favor of Fox-for he according to Landor' was
the greatest tool of his day. Pitt. he says was
fool enough but had little OF the rogue; some
| times he discourses on the grandeur anu ocau.S
| and harmony Of the modern Greek and Latln pr'Io
poems OF Oxford and Cambridge; showing lheii 10
be IN every way superior 70 all that me uieuhs ~
| the Romans ever wrote. Or perhaps he spends an
| hour In proving that MoncktOn Mines is the
greatest English poet. In these humors he praises
! what Others blame. and abuses Whatever IL VIII
| spokcn Of He Is very fond of the llares. jullus
| revised his Conversations" Francs Iiarc, tne
eldest of the family who Is now deau' wa a Uc y"
Landors chief friends. He dedicates his volume OF OF
poetry to Francis. julius thinks him the best OF
English prose writer's, and is only sorry that ne
gives way to such strange remers s anu Of JnIus
whom met at Maurice's told me that her brother
| julius brought Landoi and Augustus Schegei 10
| others: they were scarcely introduced when Lanuor
! commenced n most furious attack on Schlege
abusing HIM in the most extrayagant way LOT
having spoken favOraDly of the French IN DIS lec-
| lures on dramatic Literature" When dinner
came on the table. Lander would not SIT down win
the rest of the comPany but TOOK hs dnne ri, ne
the French and have only SAID in their favor what
honesty and truth required. but with all their
| faults. they at least polite they nave some
notion OF good breeding" Miss Hare was present
and LandoI wrote to her a short time alter IRON
Italy. lie said that the only man ne met at Bona.
who in the least degree Interested him, was hrndt
NOW Lander could not speak German ana Arndt
could neither speak French nor English; as ior tnat
pony or donkey dressed out with ribbons referring
to SChegeps orders which he wore AT dinner the
day Landor met HIM. he would not give thaler
for dozen such creatures: observation-disclosures
these strange perversltcs. he u.s. they say, most
agreeable man when he chooses. The iiares enjoy
his visits very much.
There Is little gossip about De Quincy and
Wordsworth and the ArchGeacon tells the follow
ing story OF Lamb:
lie spoke in the most atlectIonate manner OF
party of Iiterari once. De Quincy was there. l
darcsay you know that De q. is very little man.
Hare vas sitting next to Lamb; DE T. was on IT, ,ne
and said quite loud, so that the whole table
might hear him, Do You see that little man r
pointing to De g.: well. though he is so little he
has written thing about Macbeth better than
anything ! cou'd write ;-no-not better than any
thing could write, but could not write anything
better" immediately afterward he said TO Hare,
" | am very foolish fellow. For instance have
taken farcy 10 you. wish you would
you crab-perhaps lobster Hare says that two
glasses of vine made him quite llght-nOt tipsy,
but elevated-so that he stories about his drunk
enness, and the things he Bays oil himself are not
to be trusted.
Perhaps the glimrses Of personal character, the
disclosures OF unsefsh aims directing commercial
ventures in the spirit of what we may call the
sublimaton of trade the most interesting fea-
tues of Mr.. Hughes's interesting book. "Whoever
glances at these pages" the preface, cannot
fail | think, to admit that there was something in
this mans personal qualities and character apart
from his great business ability which takes him
out OF the ordinary category-a touch, IN fact, of
the rare quality which call herOism" "Few
men have left with me-" writes one who knew him
at CANT ridge the Rev. L. Thrne). more abiding
memory of distinct personality than he has. can
see him now with his thoughtful face and a certain
attractive gentle power, as ne stood and had few
words, with one now with another as they
came in. / do not know how 1T was that he and
first came in contact but very soon If CHANGED to
Look in, he used to come forward and have quiet
talk with me. generally, think, on some mental or
social question, rather than on books; or if on
books. discussing topics of life which were sug-
gested by them. He stands ont in my memory,
perhaps the most distinct personality of NY early
manhood-an embodiment of gentle, thoughtful
power which attracted me exceedingly and lives
with me still though do not recolcct with GER
tainty any of our conversations have no doubt,
indeed ] am sure, that his words were at the time
interesting; but | now feel that it was the man,
not That he sand, that took such hold on me, and it
is as ing presence, not as speaker OF words,
that he abides with lie still" In speaking of the
vigor of his faith. Mr.. Hughes refers to him
example Of the way in which" "a belief of the old
Pauline kind" may lay hold of a man of strong
character and active intellect and bear him up
Al. i
of this abound in his correspondence. Bat as a
specimen of his religious letters prefer to copy
the following curious epistle to Mr. Hughes which
if not a comprehensive exhibition of his character
is at least remarkable illustration of side of it
About Solomon you are all wrong. What on
earth should lead you TO call him subectiveT He
lives the most outward life He studies all kinds
of natural history and collects materials for Undue
ton He engages in building digs for water aids
commerce: Then his study of mankind is all of an
outward kind. just think OF the collection of
women lie made to put in hls museum why-hc was
man alter Goethes own heart kind Of antique |
Jewish Goethe, with the same many'sded objective
nature. OF course if You fancy that he had any |
thing to do with The Preacher" you will believe |
and talk any nonsense about Solomon. But Solo |
mon had as much and as little to do with the |
authorship of Eccesiastes" as yOu had. 1t was |
written by some bewdered Jew hundreds of years |
after SOlOmUn's time. whose head had got full of |
good for nothing but TO show how stupid and god
less Jew may become. when he lets 20 his hold OF |
the truths that he would have found in the Prov.
cribs of Solomon" Then again these Proverbs"
they werc collected by Solomon-that is most of
them-the supplements at the end explain them
selves Here again you see the naturalist showing
himself in Solomon he collects poverbs as he does
herbs. and trees, and birds, and beasts, and
from various countries They specimens of
Gods world which he loves to study. As for his
tolerance it is great mistake TO suppose that 1t
was Indifference lie hates evil and of all kinds
quite as much as David. lie thinks it intensely
stupid. He does not 90 into any buster about it,
he has the deepest conviction that it is suicidal, |
and cannot escape unpublished So he can work on
quietly in his own kngly province, and not put
himself out because fools will be fools and fall INTO