New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-22
ALBERT BRISBANE.
HIS "REMINISCENCES OF FAMOUS MEN

bane. PIP. XII. 81. Arena Publishing Company
The name OF Albert Brisbane is sure to awaken
many memories in the minds OF the older reauers
of The Tribune those whose lives reach back 10
the days of Fourierism and phalansteries anu .he
essavs on the utility of association to the webeins
of humanity. In this volume those who are III
terested In the subject to which Mr. BRISBANE gave
most of his nfe will find 1t fully developed from the
inner point of view. But the general reader VIII
also find much here to please him. Mr.. Brisbane
was cosmopolitan in his tastes. and was laniiiar
with life in its most varied aspects HIS acquan',
ance with men of distinction. both In the Ola Nord
and the New. was wide. even In his youth. ana Ills
ability to sketch character in Few lines mas
enlivened many a page of this book Inc WORK
itself is not deliberate composition. Though the
author was so much public speaker that owen
declared him the finest orator In America ne was
indecisve as to his writing. and his autobiography
was ELECTED by his wife with urgent persuasion
and taken down by stenographer MIS- briSpane
remarks that the very knowledge or MS "olus
being written as they fell from his lips checked
the spontaneity observed in her HUSBAND 3 pupic
addresses and In his usual conversation. Ths
hesitancy In doing things when the way OF doifls
them could not be his own marked MS carry !ediS
as a student, and was the remote cause Oh MS
travels Born in 1909 at Batavia. ~ " on what
wos then the frontier of the United States, he
orev I'm to be in his teens an expert Win hotSe
ond c,,n but always without restraint. When the
necessity of an education was forced upon hihl' ne
FOUND study difficult 1t only when he hap
pened TO become a pupil Of John Manesca-the IN
yentor of a system for teaching languages-in New
York that he found it possible TO learn as he
wished I'm a hundred and twenty lessons, says
ne .T had acquired such a knowledge Of French
that was able carry on free conversation on
any ordinary subject. and to write letter win
ease and fuency" The sequel to this shows how
fixed Mr. Brsbanes mind was upon methods which
he found efficient. Meanwhile he had been for some
q in where began
German.
NV teacher was Mr.. Ollendorh. since widely
known as the author Of French grammar. told
TINS Which ma wished to follow that would
like him 10 make trial OF four lessons. aite s
which he STd ns1TdpS to- y Ur Ne
gan l writing in French the words l wanted, ana
directed him how to ask me questions which he re-
piled to- Thus began training Mr. Ollenuoi IN IL,
Thai he should want TO offer suggestions of his
own but as insisted no deviation from the pan
he accented my offer to suspend study for a few
days to consider what he should 90 Al me d,t sa
10 continue. 1 pursued German with Mr. Ollen.
dorff until had run through the 10 Lessons 6as
obtained very fair knowledge of the lang uag sa
teacher would often o9 ady%nce it is per
haps but fair for to mention here tnat IL was
those ID whSh nT 9rsn IN" is
copy-almost verbatn,-of my manuscript up 70 me
twentieth thirtieth lesson Wheh Ger yam '''''0
yatonS introduced.
And en- Ouendorfr was not an inventor, but only
q borrower after all. But 1t this success with
a novel method OF learning that awoke IN young
Brisbane the desire to travel. lie became an
adept in all the languages of Western Europe. WITH
such an equipment, with his American readiness OF
manner and with attire Of the latest faris'aii
fashion he was sure of a welcome wherever ne
went. He thus describes his own appearance In
Berlin:
was at that time probably the only American IN
Berlin as a student and traveller Of leisure. ana
young man With all the ofhand spontaney OF
the New World. dressed in the latest tashlon oI
IN sne this s Berlinese world remember the claret.
colored coat made from piece OF cotn wniGh y
pressly for a member of the royal family. ana the
dainty cambric shirt-bosom mysterously held To-
had been Informed. bore distinguishing
mark of aristocracy. Thus equipped. | was pre-.
way into the best Berlin society
In this way he became familiar with the various
capitals of Europe He found at Weimar per
sonage who had survived the age TO which his
achievements belonged.
II was the afternoon OF beautiful June day
that / called on Goethe. in company with some
English visitors desiring to present to him col
Ne were received by the wife of Goethes son.
an unpretentious young woman who c9nducte e,
soon made his appearance in loose garment OF
dark. rather coarse material reaching nsarS 10
him. position which he retained during the
whole time Of our visit, His appearance was i'm;
pressive. Though age had dimmed the eye ana
rendered the voice tremulous. the firm head was
s well poised and the finely st %ss eva
dent that the equilibrium of the intellect had TO
spirit trembed in its cerebral home ready at any
moment to take its flight He SPOKE sl9wyd iP be
most / retain of that interview was a remark ne
made on the tendency Of the human mind to ac-
%h1cA urhfC a n
the individual mind. This was but a short time
before Goethes death.
Brisbane heard the lectures and made the
quaintance of the eclectic philosopher Cousin. who
expressed great admiration for Edward Everett.
He dubbed a count in order to make Viennese
society agreeable to him. and became quite content
with the title. He describes himself as sitting by
the hour to listen to the conversation Of Bettina
Won Arnim, best known by her childish love for
the aged Goethe but In Mr.. Brisbanes estimate
q woman OF great genius. He supports his view
by saying that when premium was offered foi
the best model Of a statue of Goethe. she. with
very little preliminary exercise. worked out model
SO expressive In its simple dignity that 1t was ac'
cepted the finest reproduction of the great poet
At the house of a sister-in-law of Meyerbeer in
Berlin the young American first met Hegel. of
whom he says ironically:
His was the final word Of human wisdom. And
great Intellectual elaboration naturally st'siied
its author with profound interest during tnese cas-.
age: man OF full habit portly In figure and nearly
six feet in height. His face. though fairly rounded,
wore q singular pallor the flesh seemed bloodless
and lifeless There was no nervous vivacity In his
expression and the rim OF red around the eyed
showed the chronic Inflammation which comes or
long visual strain.
Hegel usually spent the evening at whist "seemed
quite absorbed and spoke but little. Mr. Brisbane
was dissatisfied with the philosophers views. but
he gives graphic picture OF the formalities In a
German university lecture-room in the year 1929.
He travelled with Mendelssohn. the composer, then
a youth Hike himself. in Italy, and witnessed the
conservation OF Gregory XVI In speaking OF
Mendelssohn he dwells on his nervous excitability.
On the other hand. what he noticed in Hene, whom
he met with the ST. Simonans on his return TO
Paris was the intensity of lis regard, which i'm
pressed one peculiarly II the eye alone, In which
beamed a soul on fire, constituted the man" liszt
also was In those DAYS ST. SImonian. and Nh