The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-06-24
ON MODERN BIOGRAPHY.
DIR. HfDLy MAKES SOME STRIKING
OBsERydTIONS,
One of the Most Prominent Rejects He
Says is That Biographies Now Are Too
Numeious-Too often Written.

pear TO be an extraVagant statement,
but there Is In human nature a real cfaN-
ing to know now departed men nave
lved-what were their aims-how 1t fared
win them in the strug sic for existence
what the aggregate result may be after
all the additions and subtTactions are
made In the problem Of Moral Arithmetic.
Ihe biography of d living man, too
has It's interest. though this lis apt TO be
diminished by our remembering that
he has not yet completely solved tue
problem, and that there are stu oiher
additions and subtract.ons to be made
before "a correct result can be reached.
We are all mariners on one sea-sailing
an different banks, indeed. but still i'm
PEELED by substantially the same winds.
liable 20 the same storms. fearful oil
tho same breakers. and. 1t is but natural
that we should hail one another in pass
jnc. and ask. brother, where from?
How long out? Whittier bound? What
sort Of weather."
But really this passion Tor biographies
seems TO be running TO extremes In these
litter days: and as tho puoic VIII rcau
them. men will. Of course, he iound 10
write and TO print them. II may there
fore he well to glance AZ the general
character Of the biographies of the day.
with a view 10 noticing some OF me prom
N'A "
| department If )ur literauro.
TOO NUMEROUS.
One of he most striking Of these de-
fects has been already limited at-namely.
that these books are too numerous. Every
man has . life Of some sort, IT Is true.
but 1t does not follow that j, should
always be written. Nor H. II necessary
10 the DEVELOPMENT Of Christian charac-
ter that the life OF every good man should
be made into a book. printed. adVer-
tised. hawked and peddled throughout
the land.
4 man may. and many a man does
live an excellent Christian life. dlschalse
his duties with earnestncss ana huelty,
and vet leave behind him little material
for a valuable biography, even supposlhg
that some surviving person Is always 10
he found cara,Ie Of preparing such ma
terial. and moulding II into a N~aluanie
and useful form: and it will be admitted
by the most disputatious reader that TINS
latter supposition is an extremely Nloieh'
one.
This suggests our next objection, name
". that even when the deceased person
deserves q biography, and the materials
are at hand ii is frequently ana uhioi-
tunately the case that the wrong person
writes 1t. The writer j. usually s~elf-chosen
without a call or else he II urged 10
the task by the relatives and personal
friends of the deceased. and while these
circumstances may not. in themselves
constitute an insepcrablc objection 10
such an author. they are. in pracllee'
shown to have a very serious and ire
qucntly a damaging influence upon the
general execution Of the work.
II would he interesting 10 know just
how many lives of George Washington
have been published: and 1t would be
still more interesting 10 have the opinion
of some such critic as Carlyle, on the
question, (Which of them is worth any
thing?" incline to the opinion that
Washington deserved n biography; but
my opinion Of him must be greatly lower
cd before ! can agree that he deserved
any that have vet been published. Inc
reason Is that the wrong men have I'M
dertaken the task. " is not every man
that can do so simple a thing as make
a good fire. supposing the proper ma
terials AT hand, some sensible women
house-keepcrs. toO-never learn to make
good coffee. q still larger number per
haps. cannot make good bread; ana II
the reading public OF this age VIII ohiy
believe IL. there are I'm the world a great
many people who don't know how to
write a biography.
THE DIFFERENCE.
In fact. very peculiar powers are re-
Quired for the work. History Is not
biography, though biography is a species
Of history. 4 very successful historian
may be-prohabiy will he-but an indiifer-
cnt biographcr. The field Is much the
same. and the two departments frequent
" run into each other; nut the method
of cultivation being different. so also
are the peculiar powers requisite 10 sue
cess. The historians main business IS
with events and their philosophy; the
biographer's with an individual life and
it's philosophy. The historian looks at
men as the architects of events; the
biographer at events as the architects
of men. Thus. while the historian ana
the biographer are close together IN
some points. they are antipodes in others.
A life of johnson by David Hume would
probably nave been as worthless as a
history of England by James Boswell.
These considerations would indicate a
priori the difficult nature of the biogra-
piers task. Macaulay, with his vicious
fondness for paradox, would almost MAKE
us believe that the greatest biosrapo'
I'm the world was written by a drunken
fool: but. Just before his marriage. James
Boswell composed the following verses:
I'm the blithe days Of honeymoon,
Bv Kate's allurements smitten,
loved her late, l loved her soon,
And called her dearest Kitten.
But now my kittens grown a cat,
And cross like other wives;
Upon my soul. my honest Matt,
fear she has nine lives
The man VINO wrote those lines was
no fool. and | am afraid he was sober.
But. leaving the a priori argument let
rs look az the facts. How many biosra-
phies written i'm any age are now living!
Many productions in other lines have
dened time thus far. and bid fair to i've
for ages to come. Poems, o~rations, songs
sermons. letters. fables. novels, histories,
tragedies. comedies. scientific and philo-
sophical works, ~satires. essays-in short
almost all departments of literary efiort
are better represented by living, lasting
specimens. than is this of biography.
LITERARY GALNANIC BATTERY.
OF course it is not here meant that
there are now In print fewer so-called
Biographies han of the other works
lust mentioned. for We must be saoiy
aware that the press OF our day IS pour
ing them forth In an overwhelming flood.
But the question is. How much life Is
I'm them?' AS a general observation we
NAV venture 10 say hat the proper
answer may be suggested by an autopsy
upon the bodies OF the persons whose
olives these books profess 10 record,
since il is too often true that the literary
ealyanic battery. -ulgarly called pun,
is The only known appliance by which
any semblance of life can be got out OF
the hooks. In short. these books have
generally nothing in common with biog-
raphy. except the anne, Which of the
multitudinous lives" OF Sturgeon is