The times., 1899-04-16

/ ufccScu ~ d cOuTttST IidhluS special Teler-
! ence to a brilliant fete to be held. no doubt
one Of those that brought such depletion to
the French finances. Ultimately creating the
dissepsi0n. uprising and revolution which
brought on her untimely death.
There is a particularly fine letter signed
John Howard Payne, whom no one need
be told was the author of the immortal
! Homo. Sweet Home dated London, A
! Southampton Street. 1t is addressed 10
the subcommittee of the Theatre Royal
| Drury Lane. and refers to benefit OF
which the lonely American was to be the
recipient. The letter says in part:
In returning my thanks for the offer Of the
committee to rcccmpeIse by another benefit
at the former terms, beg leave to remind you
crnphaticaliy OF the pittanee of profit TO me from
| my previous night, when the attraction o.
Butus was in its fullest force. 1 would pres
| upon your equitable and liberal consideration
| whether YOU will not, undc- the very peculiar
| circumstances OF my case, allow me one clean
! benefit. Such decision, while il would dc
! honor to the committee, could mot, | conceive,
| be objected 10 by any OF these dependent upon
or interested in the theatre. / am much fattsred
/ by the expressions with which you are pleased
| to compliment my efforts in dramatic authorship.
The brilliant moral degenerate. Oscar
| Wilde writes The secret of life is in art. -
| Forbes Robertson. the distinguished Eng
/ lish actor, in answer to a request of Mr..
Mltier t0r MS opinion, writes.
II think there can be no question that
Pinero is the leading dramatist OF today.
We are very cid friends and played to-
I gether many years ago at the Lyceum
I Theatre in Irvings Shakespearean pro-
ductions. Irving produced his first piece.
1t was in one act, and called 'Daisy's Es-
! cape" | then predicted that he would take
| a high position as a dramatist."
Both Offenbach and Gounod, the great
composers are in this collection. There are
! numerous letters ascribed to Horace Gree
! ley. though it-has always been stated that
J Greeley's letters were written by trained
! cock roach, which crawled into his ink we'll
] and then under the guidance OF his great
| journalistic mind crawled over the New
| York Tribunes stationery.
Julian Hawthorne's autograph is in the
nature OF a letter of thanks combined with
an amusing reprimand for a case Of wine
that had been sent him by the manager of
I the paper on which he was employed to
Snake Harbor, where he was evidently
/ resting. Julian apparently encountered
after his consumption Of the wine more
| things than the central figure in the gor-
| geous melodrama Ten Nights in a Bar
Room" for his letter sheet is copiously H.
iCstrated with pen sketches of fat snakes,
coiled snakes, toads reclining in a wine
glass with feet skyward, broken glasses,
/
| ebriation. The page presents general
spirit of decentralization.
Mrs. Langtry, the Jersey Lily" and the
! consort of princes, in a delicate little note
! asks a member of the New York Press
Club in what appears plaintive tone. do
you miss me very much dear2'
When Dragonetti, the celebrated double
lass violin performer died, one of the pa
pers in recording his DEATH said: who is
Ira, OFT
| thyself unknown. He is the monarch of
the whole world of instrumental harmony.
His name is fame. Honor crowned him
as long as he lived; honor followed hin,
to the grave; honor will survive and inl-
mortalize him far within the temple OF
memory and beyond the tomb" This great
man in an autograph letter lives along
with other notables silently within the den
Of J. Barton Miller.
There are numbers of the celebrated
| Gladstone postal cards side by side with 4
letter written by Henry George almost on
the eve of his sad death. There is bright
CHEEKY witty letter of B. r. ShiIlaber.
known TO the reading world as Mrs Par
tington," who in her many talks of her
rascally son Ike, with her mothers faith,
asserted that she knew that her son never
drank at night, because he was SO thirsty
in the morning.
in a dainty letter of Tom Moore, 1.-The
sweet Irish singer" the privilege of intro
duclng him to Lewesdon Hill Rogers
wrote the Pleasures of Memory" While
this poem made his fame, later descrip-
tive poem. embodying incidents from a trip
in Italy is better known and enjoys the
distinction of having been illustrated and
printed at a cost of $4,000 OF the bankers
money. All who read will recall 1t by the
afNaer J- I1~.
saw of the lady in her earliest youth: ''She
sits inclining forward as if to speak. her
lips half open and her finger up as though
she said Beware
Dear old Billy Florence instructs in
scratchy ehirography the manager Of
Ford's Opera House in Washington as tc
the details OF performance. Frederick
Warde states in reply to query, II think
l may say that Virginius is my favorite
character" Mr.. Miller has his own opin-
! ion about Mr.. Warde's ability to act
Mrs. E. d. E. N. Southworth. whom Mr.
4 Miller considers is the leading exponent Of
American romantic literature introduces
NEARLY all the chapters of her novels with
:, a quotation from Martin F. Tupper In an
photographic quotation in this collection
: appears the following:
Come, blessed end Thro' the ages
When no more wickedness RACES,
Il
| Bat sin is burned down TO the cinders
The quotation is from one of Tupper's
dramas
Charlotte CusEman, apparently through.
out,.her. career, used fy-leayes and purple
ink for carrying on her correspondence
/ There 'is sample letter from her in rht
collection. Douglass Jerrold, who wrote
the 'Caudle Curtain Lectures and who
was a critic actor and dramatist of preai
prominence in the thirties. wrote letter
with what might have been match ends
An Unpublished Poem by Socthcy.
Next to a letter Of Dumas is an origina
poem by Robert Southey The poem is il
five verses, and is entitled Morning Mist
hIr. Miller has never been able to find thes,
verses among the published poems. The,
bear every evidence of being genuine. ant
in the handwriting of the poet. In an at.
tached note, bearing the date of April 10
1880, Is a memorandum of some unknowI
person reading an original poem of South
eys given me by Mr. Cotele" This poem
came to Mr.. Miller from a friend who Sc
cured ii from the collection of John Ell
liston. an old London collector of l.ote
The poem reads as follows:
Look William, how the morning n,ists
Have covered all the scene;
| Nor house nor hill eanst thou behold
Gray wood meadow green.
| The distant spires across the vale,
These morning vapours shroud.
Scarce the neighboring poplurs seen.
Pale Swallowed in the cloud.
But, see st thou, William, where the usts
Sweep DER the southern sky,
Tie dim efulgcnce Of the sun,