The sun., 1884-10-12
SOME NEW BOoxa
Reeoi,ecs,on, or n Man or Letters.

Aeeoiiections OF Man Of Letters.
No more delightful compcnd Of rcmlns-
conces has boon given us for many years 10y
any professional man Of letters than tho Lit
eraru Recoisctions OF JAMES PAWN tfIarpsrsl.
1t ID far more strongly tinged with individuality
than tho lifo Of Bulwer now In course OF pub
lication. because only small part Of that book
10 autobiographical. and tho criticsms and
suggestions with which 1t IL intcrs persed are
more valuable than those submitted by Troll
loDs in his autobiography. for the creator OF
Mrs. s.Proudle was some what friG d and contract
cd In his literary sympathies. In this volume
Mr.. Payn talks AZ little about himself As pos
sible. and when his personal experiences secm
likely to profit or interest tho roader they arc
recounted In n charmingly unaffected way. lie
has accomplished tho feat. which TO SO many OF
his compeers hnA proved impractioablo. OF
steering middle course between brasen self
conceit upon tho one hand and mock humility
upon tho other. II all that relates to his own
professional achievements were extracted
from those reoollections they would scarcely
more than MI o chapter OF tho volume. and
vet the matter drawn from his own OBJ
servstion In pursuance Of his calling Is
so full OF instruction that they who
y engaged In . liks vocation will heartily
wish II were moro copious. But with a raro
those writcrs. and especially upon those nov
clists with whom ho has been brought In con-
tact in the course Of his career. and II Is char
ncteristic that he seldom speaks Of any ono
apropos OF whom he cannot utter words OF
kindness and admiration. Among the distin-
guished authors whom Mr.. Payn has known
and about whom no has much to tell Us that Is
new and striking. may be- mentioned Thack-
cray and Dickens Trollope and Charles Rsads.
De Quincey and Miss Martineau.
The author first saw Thackeray. 1t seems. at
tho house OF his tMr. Payn's) brother -in-inw.
There werc. we are told. dozen people or 30
at dinner. all unknown to Thackcray. but no
vas In good spirits. and made himself very
agreeable. 1T disappointed mo excessively
writes Mr.. Payn. when. Immediately after
dinner. he tThackerayD informed me that no
had a particular engagement. and was about
to wish good night to his host. but will you
not even smoke a cigar nrstT l In
quired. A cigar2 oh. they smoke hero.
do thoy? Well to tell you tho truth.
that was my engagement and he re-
nainod for many hours. There was continues
Mr.. Payn." m ancient gentleman at table.
who had greatly distinguished himself half "a
century ago at college. by whom the novelist
was much attracted. and especially whom no
told Thackeray that there wns nothing really
original In modern literature: everything. he
said. came indirectly tmore or less) from-I
think he said-Pindnr. but at all events Pin
dar did not write Vanity Fair."I said. Yee
sir answered tho old gentleman. he did. In
the highest and noblest sense Pindnr did write
it. This Wow OF affairs. which was quite now
to him. delighted Thackeray. who Was 30
pleased with his evening that he In
vited the whole company-fourtoen In
ALTO dine with him the next day.
mention tho circumstance not only rs being
humorous thing in itself. but as illustrative
Of certain boyish and impusivo strain that
there was in his nature" The author goes on
to chronicle that they got an excellent dinner.
Notwithstanding the shortness OF the notice.
and he adds-what TO many married ladies will
seem hardly credible-that not trace OF sur
prise or annoyance could bo detected In the
hostess's manner. In the sane chapter
Mr.. Payn observes that Trolope has
been hard on Thackeray because his
mode of composition did not chime In
with his own. and was. indeed. Numerically
opposite. Thackeray's habits wcre any
hing but methodical and he found the duties
Of oditorship especially irksomc. Communi.
cations from his contributors and especially
tho would be ones. annoyed and even distress
ed him to an almost incredible degree. re-
member his complaining Of one Of them with a
vigor and irritation which amused mo exceed
lngly. young fellow had sent him long
story. for which ho demanded particular at,en-
tion from tho greatest OF novelists.' upon the
ground that he had u sick sistor entirely de-
pendent on him for support. Thackerny
was touched by the appeal and wrote
his correspondent n long letter. enclosing
some pecuniary assistance but urging HIM
in candor and true kindness to at once turn
his mind to some other industry. The reply
which this letter called forth from the Young
gentleman was eouched in the most offensive
terms conceivable and ended by telling the
greatest Of noyeists' that although he had at
tanned by good luck tho top Of the tree. he
would one day find himself where he deserved
to beat the bottom oft" " For my part. snid
Thackeray upon Mr. PaYn's showing some
premonitory sym ptoms OF suffocatio 60 see
little to laugh at. What a stupid. ungratsful
beast the man must be. And II ever waste
another hnH hour again in writing to q crea-
ture OF THAT sort. call mo horse. or worse. -
After advertinc to the idle comparisons which
1t Is the fashion To draw between Thnckery and
Dickens and to the propensity OF some dis
cipIes of the formor to disparase the latter. Mr..
Payn commends to these gentry tho unstinted
homage paid to Dickens's genius by Thackeray
in his Box OF Christmas Books" While he Ia
on this subject Mr.. Payn cannot refrain from
saying word or two about the insolenca with
which certain criticasters assume to belttle the
talent of the author Of the Pickwick Papers'
and Dombey and Son" THE nine hundred
and ninety ninth abridger or any one else
who has distinguished himself in quite
another line OF literature. thinks himself
qualified to sit in judgment upon the gonius OF
Dickens. Only u fsw months ago | read crit
icism, as suppose he would call it. from per-
Of 10 hon, a