The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-14
RICHARD BENTLEY.

Old Richard Bentley was a man of wonderful energy. He speedily gather ed round him in the thirties and forties a remarkable band of men of letters and artists, and his dinenrs in the Red room at New Burlington street were made famous by the wits who attended them. Tom Moore in his diary, men, tons going to one of these "feasts of reason" in 1888. "The company all the very haut ton of the literature of the day ** Our host very courteous and modest, and the conversation rath- CT agreeable" Moore's fellow guests on this occasion numbered Dickens, Camp bell Harrison, Ainsworth, Samuel Low CT and Barham, the witty author of "lngoldsby Legends" Barham and Bentley had been school fellows at St. Pauls and it was the Minor Canon's kindly wish to assit his old friend with contributions to Bentley's Miscellany that really led him to write the Le- gends. His jest about the title is fa- miliar literary anecdote. The first idea was to call the new magazine, started in 1887 with Dickens as it's editor the Wits Miscellany The other title, how ever, seemed to be preferable, but when it was mentioned to Barham, Why" he asked with the license of an intimate, why go to the other ex- treme?" The original prospectus of the magazine, written out in Dickens flowing hand, may still be seen in New Burlington street. Boz described himself in this Git was while Pickwick' was still in the first flush of it's im- mense success) as ia gentleman with whom the public are on pretty familiar terms" and mentioned that he was go- ing to give his editorial duties as much of his time as was not "engrossed by the weighty affairs of his far-famed club" In the Miscellany appeared "Oliver Twist" and Dickens entered into an agreement to write for Bentley two other novels, one of which was to be "Barnaby Rudge" But just at this time Boz" took it into his head that he was not getting enough for his work In letters to Forster in 1889 he complained bitterly in his impetuous style of the injustice of men, and he ended by getting out of his contracts with Bentley and resigning the Miscel- lany to Harrison Ainsworth. It is pleasant to know that in after years the breach between the novelest and the publisher was completely healed
 Both "Oliver Twist and Ainsworths S Guy Hawkes." were illustrated for the | magazine by Cruikshanks. Full of | force and imagination as Cruikshanks s drawings were, they are no longer so | much to our taste as they were to that of our grandfathers. But no one who l read the stories for the first time with
 these wonderful illustrations can for
 get the vivid effect they produce or | the image which their grotestque power
 left on the mind. Leech was another
 frequent guest at the monthly Red | Room dinners, and the first meeting | between the older artist and the young
 man still hesitating between medicine
 and the draughtsman's pencil has been | thus described by George Bentley.
 The first meeting between Cruik-
 shank and Leech, was immediately af-
 ter Leechs coming over from Paris,
 took place in the drawing room of the 1 New Burlington street. Before Leech | arrived Cruikshank had been examin-
 ing some etchngs recently done by
 him, and scrutinized them keenly Don't see much in them, Bentley" | This reply disappointed the publisher
 but at the dinner which followed Cruikshank made himself very agreed
 ble to Leech, as he could when he 1 chose.--London Times