New-York tribune., 1884-03-01
ABRAHAM HAYWOOD as 4 SI6hY-rE1LER

Perpg,G H. P-cler IN The London Ddity Nscs.
As he was the last of the really brilliant and IN
rGc0ufcnrs his is said in the face of the excellent
anecdotes told by Mr.. Grant Dutf aud the not less
graphic and amusing talk OF Mr. Hare. bnt heilhel
of these admirable takers has the peculiar method
of Mr.. HayW ard, which consists Iii cutting tle
story down to the bono as he himset described IT,
Nothing was more amusing than 10 hear nun chuil,
ciate his principles of telling an anecdote. lie did
not contesceud to point ont that no story Is good
which is not pertinent to the matter under discus
sion and thar therefore no anecdotc should Dc
dragged in by the ears. He despised such instruc-
tion as elementary, and only deigned TO tonch on
the higher artistic method. Oneoi his cardinal rules
was: Never explain. Never tell about the pace
or persons Always pre-suppose cultivated audi-
ence and do not insult them by letting mem tnlhk
you fancy yOu know more than they DO. lhose
who m S the point Of your story from Ignorance are
the inferior ones who do not matter. The best peo-
pie will understand" This, is the keynote OF the
doctrine of cutting it short" His brevlty was
almost teleGrapmc: On one occasion he showed 70
a very limited audience how a story which occupied
a page and half of book OF odds and ends could
have been told in a tiny paragraph. Ihe scene is
a mail coach. Male passenger secs Two young iadlts
seated opposite to him, one evidently III. AS tho
coach stops 10 change horses the other yOnng lady
aIehts. and the male passenger offers assistGnce
saying, fear your companion IS ILL., nope II Is
nothing serious. , =. :.
The young lady replies. q" serious ehongh' Ii II
the heart"
+" Not an aneursm. hope"
"No-o-o" sobs the young lady 1t Is a cornet oI
AZ Mr. HAYWARD said. there is the entire story,
thc essence OF which s the element of surprise. II
NAV be long hcmed indefinitely by talk about the Old
coaching times and tue now obsolete rank of cornot
of horse iiut all tins miscen-sc6ac was to INN
leather and pruncla the point Is the tdroQee reply
about the hoart. and to this he pared II down lie
did not lay claim to tho invention of this method
saving il was simply that of Hook and TallyTand
with whose generation and the latter hall OF the
nineteenth century Mr.. Hayward was the connect
ing link Author of the charming essay on The
Art of Dining" he was the last OF the dlncrs-out.'
For the last years of his life Mr.. Hayward was,
perhaps more generally known among the arlstoc-
Tscv of rank and intellect than any other man
about town Not to know that small stopping fig
ure with the long thin locks of gray hair colnbod
and distributed so as to make tho most OF thein
was to argue one syself unknown with q vengeance
Statesmen listened to his views; stately d0wageTs
sought often in vain. to engage his afternoon; ana
pretty women heard with delight the Sub-acid con-
fsmpfuous phrase in which he demolished the pre-
tensions of n rival or tore the mask from an mpos-
tor. Yetwth all his power of malicious rdlcule.
il could not be said of him as 1T was OF an eminent
humorist who was born after hm and died before
him He as delightful company, for III the course
of his whole life he never said good word OF any
body" Mr. Hayward, on the contrary, was most
generous III his appreciation OF merlt-when he
fonnd it, Living always in the forefront OF the
political ana intellectual movement OF his time, he
vas at seventy live less of a taUddtor tcmpofs .dcl
than many men of NIFTY