The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1886-03-04

Young SAYS OF Congreve that "he
was mute In society on some occasions,
but when he began to be company he
was full of vivacity, and went on in q
noble strain of thought and language
SO as to chain the attention Of every one
to him" Goldsmith, on the contrary.
appeared in company to have no spark
of the genius we find in his writings.
His address was awkward, his manner
uncouth, his language unpublished; he
hesitated in speaking and was always
unhappy If the conversation did not
turn upon himself Burns had great
conversational powers, and he was at
home with the wits and savents OF
Edinburgh. Washington Irving, him
self delightful talker, describing his
visit to Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford,
says: "His conversation was frank,
hearty, picturesque and dramatic. He
never talked for effect or display, but
from the flow of his spirits, the stores
of his imagination. He was as good a
listener as talker; appreciated every
thing that others said, however humble
might be their rank and pretensions,
and was quick to testify his perception
Of any point in their discourse. No
ones concerns. no ones thoughts and
opinions, no ones tastes and pleasures,
seemed beneath him He made himself
so thoroughly the companion of those
with whom he happened to be, that they
forgot for time his vast superiority,
and only recollected and wondered,
when all was over, that it was Scott
with whom they had been on such fa-
miliar terms, in whose society they had
felt so perfectly at ease.
Horne Tooke. after spending an even.
ing in the company of Curran and
Sheridan observed that Sheridan's
wit was ike steel highly polished and
sharpened for display and use, while
Curran's s was mine of virgin gold, in
cessantly crumbling away from its own
richness Charles Butler thus de-
scribed from personal intercourse the
conversation of Pitt, Burke and Fox.
The most intimate friends of Mr.. Fox
complained of his too frequent rumina-
ting silence. Mr.. Pitt talked, and his
talk was fascinating. Mr.. Burke's con-
versation was rambling, but splendid
and instructive beyond comparison. =
Great men sometimes indulge in fanci-
full and capricious ideas and grotesque
imagery which fools take literally. DR..
johnson. both in good and i'll huMor.
often indulged in this exaggerated talk.
So did even so calm a philosopher as
Adam Smith Burns was also prone to
it, and says of himself that though,
when he had q mind he was pretty
generally beloved, he could never get
the art of commanding respect and
attributed this to what Sterne calls that
understanding virtue of discretion. "
II am so apt, says Burns, Ito
lapsus hngue." Erasmus said of him
self: /" Sum natmru propensior ad iocos
guam fortdsse deceat." II am by nature
more inclined to pleasantly than is per-
haps becoming" In his intercourse
with Sir Thomas More and his family
he was most exhilerating companion,
but the quickness with which he saw
through affectation and parade made
him less agreeable to Princes. Leyden
confesses I'm conversation l often
verge so nearly on absurdity that l
know it is perfectly easy to miscon-
ceive me, as well as to misrepresent
me.' Cumberland. who talks thought
fully, has well said that Nonsense
talked by men of wit and understand
ing in the hour of relaxation, is of the
very essence of conyiviality, and treat
to those who have the sense to compre-
hend it; but it implies trust in the
company not always to be risked''
David Hume was noted for his play
fulness, sometimes almost childish, in
conversation.
Slow-minded men are not always the
dullest, nor those who are quickest the
most luminous. Nicolle said of scin-
tillant wit: He vanquishes me in the
drawing-room, but surrenders TO me at
discretion on the stairs. Readiness
is not an attribute of the greatest
thinkers. Thus a lively Frenchman
spoke of ''the silence of the celebrated
Franklin" Lord Mansfield did not
encourage conversation that cost him
pains to carry on. 1t was to him "a
kind of cushion to his understanding,
not an exercise of skill. He only liked
talk as relaxation. Lord Bolingbroke,
in letter to Pope, draws a delightful
picture of his talks with Swift and
others at Popes villa at Twickenham,
my thoughts, in what order soever
they flow, shall be communicated to
you just as they pass through my mind;
Just as they used to be when we con-
versed together on these or any other
subject; when we sauntered alone, or
as we have often done with good
Arbuthnot, and the jocose Dean of St.
Patrick, among the multiplied scenes
of your little garden. That theater is
large enough for my ambition"
Among more recent names Charles
Dickens, Thackeray and George Henry
Lewes occur to us as takers who never
failed to find delighted listeners. Ma
caulay and Sydney Smith were famous
for their conversation, and the latter's
allusion to the formers brilliant flash
es of silence is well known. In Brook
lyn and New York there are some men
whose table talk it is impossible not to
listen to with pleasure. Mr.. Beecher is
& II Al III