St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-16
TALK.

from Belgium and lilies, from HaWarden, IN
timated the sentiment of Gladstone, at the
loss of his brilliant friend, Mr.. Abraham
| Hayward. The name will sound unfamiliar,
and many will ask who the gentleman was,
and why was there such a distinguished at
tendance at his funeral. The only answer Is
that he was the most gifted talker OF his
time, man who combined all the natural
aptitudes for such an accomplishment with
the rarest social adaptability, and
whose information was great
and varied, while his powre
narration and his felicity in telling anec-
essayist, and contributor to reviews he dis
played learning remarkable range OF read
ing, and a wealth of resources, with style OF
brilliant conciseness But his great prestige
was as the best talker in the best circles OF
"the world of London''
His pre-eminent Gift made him more than
welcome in great houses in town and coun-
try. 1t made him sought after, until his in
fuence was felt in clubs and drawing rooms,
and his position became one Of unquestioned
supremacy. In his speciality of bright, many
colored conversation, invested with every
charm that the most brilliant association
could confer, Abraham Hayward, without
having great advancing gifts of birth, or
pronounced benefits of education early in
life, became through his own persistent
training of a self-evident advantage, the first
man in London, the intimate personal friend
of Gladstone, and the autocrat at whose dictum
guests were forbidden, or stayed at Straw
berry Hill, the domain of Frances, Countess
Wuldegrave mighty power in high life.
There have been takers and takers in this
memorable English world where Hayward's
success and recognition were so supreme Tor
nearly three generations. Here was man
who openly secuted the idea of talk such as
Johnson loved, and Burke enjoyed, and Sir
| James Macintosh, and Coleridge held out for
talk, who looked upon Macaulay as unbara-
BILE, if not bore, and Carlyle as WELL and
who absolutely detested Benjamin D'Israeli
Beaconsfeld. 1t is to to be doubted if Sid
ney Smith could have passed muster with
him, because he had little relish for the hu
NOR, and the droll surprises of this brightest
of divines. Hayward was the representative
talker of period which had thrown off all
the old trammels of parliamentary speech
flying and relegated to the limbo of clap
trap efforts of the Warren Hastings sort,
using the semi-colloquial, yet fully sig
nifcant method of to-day, and while respect
ing that grandiloquent era, approving OF its
burial, as Senator Hoar did of Wendell Phil
lips funeral.
So, those doughty takers would scarcely
find an enthusiastic audience to-day and
they would scarcely have no pronounced wei
come in circles where cumberous converse
ton was as much out of place, and as much
matter of the past as armor. After all,
twas only the method that was changed with
years. Men as learned and wise and accom-
plished as the best of those Old-timers can
be pedantic and didactic, if you will, in
swift, sure touches which are as telegraphy.
Perhaps those buried worthless might fout
this brisk, compact diffusion of ideas and
arguments, and consider this brilliant speci
men of the 10Th century talker, Mr.. Abra-
ham Hayward, as no better than Alfred jim
gle, who had the merit of being associated
with the immortal Mr.. Pickwick if not with
Mr.. Gladstone. Aye, but while he cut away
all redundancy of expression, until twas
marvel of faultless conciseness, his treasury
of Information was aff1uent and its riches
were none the less valuable because dispens-
ed without the show which is generally half
the conviction of such superiority.
He knew and met on equal terms every
one of distinction in the intellectual,
social and political world both in London
and Paris. Yet he wasn't man of wealth
nor of pedigree. His social ascendency was
the result of his incompatible gift of perfect
conversation, on which he bestowed the
study of an artist.
1t is d fact for the curious explorer in
such ways, to mention that Mr.. Hayward
was of Hebrew blood and became as much
of an authority in Mayfair and Harley street,
as D'Israeli in his own sphere of high office,
with the eminent favor of the queen, empha-
sized by rank, and signalized by royal friend
ship.
Abraham Hayward then, in spite of his
writings in the Quarterly and Ednburg Re
vieacs and his admirable journalistic work in
the morning Chronicle and Times, his tran sla-
ton of Faust and his editorship of Mrs.
Thrale Piozzi's Letters, etc, will be chiefly held
in the memory of his time as its finest talk
er.
Good as it was and is, the man was better
than his work. Thackeray said about the
same thing of Georgia William Curtis.
After all you will say what is such fame
worth which at best can only be traditional
The reply is merely another question. What
is any fame worth? Mr.. Hayward's fame
was worth a good deal to him. He enjoyed
it to the fullest extent, and amply realized
on all the ambitions values that existence
held out to him. The other fame you would
say,-well, yes-but it isn't as a rule com
Portable, nor comforting. Here's a speci-
men. Camens, the great Portuguese poet
was of noble birth, but at the end of his life
his devoted servant used to beg bread at
night to support him.
He died in a hospital and the mouth and
day are unknown. A friar, Josefa Judia, saw
him die, and noted these words on a fiy-leaf
of a copy of the first issue of the "Lusiad -
elbow miserable thing to see so great a
genius so ill-rewardeG. / saw him die in a
hospital in Lisbon without possessing a
shroud to cover his remains, after having
borne arms VIGOROUSLY in India and having
sailed $500 leagues-a warning for those
who weary themselves by studying night and
day without profit, as spider who spins his
web to catch fies.''
Fame is all alike whether it's commemor-
ated in the violets and lilies of Gladstone or
the pathetic words of Friar Josefa
| But surely Hayward's yielded him better
return in that he fully enjoyed it.
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