Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-04-19
RECoLLECT1oNs OF FAMOUS MEN

RECOLLECTlONS OF FAMOUS MEN
A volume of the correspondence of Mr.
Henry Taylor is just out in England, and
the London Times says of it:
This volume from the correspondence of
gifted octogenarian comes as an agreea-
ble contrast to tie "reminiscences and
autobiographies with which we have
lately been overwhelmed. The two hun
dred letters, covering over sixty years of
well-Occupied life, are left to speak for
themselves. In March. 1885, Taylor had
been entertaining Wordsworth, and stud
wing him as an inmate of the household:
This old philosopher is one Of the most extraoY-
dinary human phenomena that one could lave in
the honse He has the simplicity and hepiessness
of child in regard to the little transactions of life
and whilst he is being directed and dealt with in
regard TO them, lie keeps tumbing out tie highest
aud deepest thoughts that t:ie mind of man can
reach. in stream Of discourse Which is 50 oddly
Broken by the little hit hes and Interruptions OF
common life that admire and laugh mt him by
surns. Everything that comes into his mind comes
out-HeakneSS OF strength. affections or vanities:
"a human being through and through we have il in
Ihe person of this ''Old man eloquent
He writes in 1851:
The Alfred TennysOnS have come ia live at Twick-
euiam, which is "A great gain 10 rs. He is a very
Interesting person, a singular compound Of manl-
hess and helpi,. .SneSS-InasIiy in his simplicity
aid should thlnk, III his understanding also
Except Wordsworth. for some ten years of
his life, shGld think he is the only really popular
poet since Byron. His intellect at large. though
good, i not. think great III proportion to THE i'm
asinative aud p0ctical elements OF it: and there
lore do not anticipate that h. viii take any such
worth: Int think that his poetry Viii he felt to b
admirable in its kind, and may well dISplace the
poetry Of sensibility and beauty which has gone
before 1t III the present age.
With regard to the Ode on the Death
Of - Tox-lo, Il LI,o,.
from the reviewers:
have read your ode, and believe that MANY
thousands at present, and that many hundreds of
thousands in future times VIII feel about it as do
or with a yet stronger and deeper feeling; and |
am sure that every one Will feel about it according
10 his capacity of feeling what is great and true
1t has greatness worthy of its theme and an alb
snlute simplicity AMI truth. with ali the poetic pas
sion of Your nature moving beneath.
Lord Tennyson'S note of thanks is as
cordial as it is curt:
Thanks thanks. | have just returned from
Reading and found your letter. In the all but uni
VerSai depreciation OF my ode by the press. the
prompt and hearty approval of it by a man AS true
as the Duke himself is d0uhly grateful.
Going on to Elinburg, he meets Wilson
and Jeffrey.
The first have always esteemed to be the most
gifted of the many men who have put tleir talents
into the rigtrough in these times, and his appear
9nce squares with my estimate OF hi.n-a jOyiai,
fair-aTed rlIfian, full Of fire and talent. big and
ana Tie tlIflr " I'D and animated
e. have seldom met with any person more
striking i'm his way. very excellent specimen of
The Captain of a Free Company in Literature.
AS for Jeffrey, who had said so uncere-
moniouSly of Wordsworth, this viii
never do" ne was found a contrast in
every respect to " christopher North"
Yesterday dine with my Lord jeffrey He was
neither agreeable nor otherwise but ran on cley-
erly enough in small WHY, affecting light D1c0-
c'G-Gaie tone, and succeeding far 10 exhibit
leyity without gaiety. One only wonders that he
cOull ever have been considerable enough to have
l'een a curse TO the literature Of his times.
IfinemDeIs that for twenty years he was enabled
10 keep the Sunshine from the cottage door Gf
small q u.au could cast so large shadow.
In 1887, when Carlyle had been induced
to try lecturing in London, we are told:
lie was nervous ir, The extreme He
wants all the arts and GexteTtios which might pro-
Jatiate a fashionable Lohdds, auditory, and he has
s,eer hitherto so much abrOa is. ais measurements
that two lectures ont of the six ay@ hardly brought
Lin TO tie borders Of his subject.
MAINE shows signs of growing uneasy
under the prohibition law and threatens
to discard it and take up high license as
the better method of governing the ii4,
nor traffic. Size Wouid be justified in
making the change Prohibition in the
parts of Maine where IL Was expected to
do the most good is farce. la Port
land there are IA places where liquor is
sold and in the whole State $500 bars
that openly disregard the law. In the
country districts, though, the prohibition
law is enforced to harsbuess. the sale or
gift of a glass of new cider or the StOr-
ing of cider for vinegar purposes being
as severely punished as if the culprit