New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-03
AN ENGLISH JOURNALIST.
Mr.. HENRY w. LUCY-FIS NEW BOOK
FACES AND PLACES" - HIS
JOURNALISTIC LIFE.

editor and MesSrS. Henry ~ 60. are pnDllshefS
The name Mr. Lucy gives his new volume is
Faces and Places" ingling title, as the fashion
is Mr. Andrew Lang wrote his Essays in Little
for this Library, collected them, and " was In
tie same series that In u Canadian Canoe" saw the
light, the book by which young Mr.. Barry Pain
has made reputation; writer who has started out
on a line of his own choosing. And there are a
dozen others. Mr. Lucy is known 10 you as II. W.
L. and otherwise, and known in England to every
body who has any acquaintance with tie higher
journalism, and to many who have none. II you
look at the portrait Of bin prcfaced TO this volume
you will sec what an individuality he is. II Il
the age of electricity, and he is of The age; the
portrait gives you notion of a man from whom
sparks and streams of the electric fluid are flow
ing one of the most highly vitalized Of men, alert,
energetic, inreprcSible AND irresistible. There
is in his own line and for his own purposes no
better writer.
This little book of two hundred pages contains
examples of IA dozen different styles of handling
different subjects. The first paper is one of the best
/ don't know whether the fame of Fred Burnaby
ever reached America if not, you will like TO know
him now through Mr.. Lucy, whose opening sentence
is good example of the manner in which he makes
friends with his readers:
Il made the acquaintance of Colonel Fred
at an altitude of over thousand feet. commenced
a friendship that for years OF the pleasant
est parts of my life. and remains of its most
cherished memories"
Burnaby swept through the world like fresh
breeze, and there is something of the same move
ment and cxhilaration in Mr.. Lucy's pages. You
ride with him and Burnabv TO Khiva. shiverng
with the cold in spite of the shcepsllnS thought
fully provided for you, and Won feel the strain on
your own muscles the grand Guardsman puts
out his 17O-pound dumbbell, carries the two
ponies, one under each arm. downstairs at Windsor;
a feat, whereof the Queen came 10 know. Perhaps
the good American, sometimes prone 20 study
royalty-of course in order to learn what 20 avoid
will care more for the sketch of the Prince Of
Wales. His personality, observes Mr.. Lucy, de-
murely. real and fabulous, is rot unfamiliar on
the other side Of the Atlantic lie treats him as
a kind of phenomenon his surroundings. the
Difference shown Inn, the hom9oc rpid him.
1t is all very strange, but 50 is the rising OF
the sun and the sequence of he moon. We grow
accustomed TO everything. and take the Prince of
Wales, like tic solar system, as matter of
course"
Good radical as Mr. Lucy is, or, AT least. good
Gladstonian he does not think it necessary f.
prove lis devotion to democracy by taking harsh
views Of royalty. He ventures to express his
sincere admiration for the Prince and for the
way in which he fills post which this good
Gladstonian seriously pronounce, the NEST diff
cult in English public life. He turns on the
lmclisht At 4 critical moment.
Probably in the dead. unhappy night. when
the rain was on the roof and the Tranby Croft
scandal was or cvcrvbody'S tongue the Prince
of Wales lad some had quarters Of an hour. But,
whatever he fcl. or suffered. he made no sign u
-i+ti IN, -l,o cioir ta hon oh
whilst that famous trial was proceeding no one
not having prior knowledge of the fact would
have guessed that he had the slightest personal
interest in tie affair. There was danger Of his
even OVERRIDING the attitude of indifference. But
lie escaped it, and exactly as smiling. debonair
and cOurtly il he were in his box at the theatre
watching the development Of some quite other
dramatic performance. lie has all the courage
Of his race, and his long training has stcccd his
nerves"
The political impartiality of the Prince is
praised not less warmly: In all the gossip
daily poured forth about him there is never a hint
as TO whether lie prefers the politics Of Tory or
Liberal, the company of Lord Salisbury OF of Mr..
Gladstone No attitude is more difficult TO main
tain; to nobody can it he more difficult than TO
one whose life is spent in the company of others
to whom conversation is as the breath Of life and
to whom the subject which is TO many men and
some women the staple Of conversation is for
hidden. II is not TO be inferred that because the
Prince is impartial be is Indifferent Impartial
fly and Indifference are two things. II Is because
he has such strong opinions on public affairs that
the correctness of his attitude is remarkable.
The testimony to the Princes good-humor is not
less emphatic and the curious instance is cited
when that illustrious Irish patriot, the late Mr..
Biggar, "spied strangers in the House of Com
Div md
the other occupants of the Peers gallery-peers.
Ambassadors and the reSt-weTe, says Mr.. Lucy.
AL publicly and percmp,orilv expelled at The
raising Of the finger of an uneducated, obscure
Irishman, who when not concerned with the affairs
Of the Imperial Parliament, curing bacon at
Belfast. and selling IT at enhanced prices to the
Saxon in the Liverpool market" Thus in those
days was it thought the cause of Irish indie
pendencc might Ike promoted; that was the way
in which, in Mr.. Chauncey Depew's somewhat
highly colorcd phrase, ensaved Ireland was 10 be
made free.
From the Prince Of Wales TO Those About TO
Become Journalists would be thought in this
country long step, but Mr. Lucy takes it. and
addresses an Open Letter TO this interesting class
II is letter full Of goOl-sense as far as it goes
but il does not 90 far enough 10 satisfy those who
have long since become journalists. We want to
know all about the experience Of one Of the most
successful and brilliant Of the craft. Mr.. Lucy
leads US to the open door, which he holds ajar
Just so far as to show how he himself
entered in. OF the mysteries and enchantlncnts
within he says nothing The secret in his case
was as simple as secrets usually are. lie taught
himself shorthand mastered it. and then answered
every advertisement for reporter till be got an
engagement Were that all, he might have re-
manned, as so many others remain, a reporter TO
the end of his days. lie is too modest too dis
Greet to tell the rest, or to explain how and when
1t was discovered that he could not only write
shorthand, but write English; that lie Lad the
power of seeing things and of making his readers
see them; that he had originality, had wit and
humor and capacity for continual work which
never ceases 70 he fresh ne loses its flavor