The record-union., 1899-05-26
IRISH HUMORISTS.
The Passing of DR.. Thomas
Medley.

DR.. Thomas Medley, the greatest of
Irish humorists and, we say it almost
with dread, the last of the species in
Dublin, died a few days ago. Failing
health had debarred him for two or
three years from joining in the society
which he loved, and which had recip-
rocated his love; SO that his death will
not leave that gap which a great social
force, suddenly stayed, is wont to make
in mems imagination We had become
accustomed to dinner parties without
him, and it was chiefly their compara-
tive dullness which made our older men
recall the days of Medley and Healy, of
William Lefanu and of Father Tom
Burke, when a dinner of men in Dub
lin was often far more brilliant than
any attempt of the kind in England,
even in London, where Irishmen
abound. But, like many other delicate
plants, Irish humor of DR.. Nedley's S
quality will not thrive beyond it's native
soil. The very presence of one strange
or one unsympathetic face at the table
would generally stay the flow of his
spirits, and his simple question, who
is that sitting down there?" was, to
those who knew him so well, a token
that little or nothing would be drawn
from him till the stranger reassured
him in person or obtained social pass
ports from others at the table. There
We're also Dublin men who often met
him, but never heard one word of his
humor.
In direct contrast to his intimate and
companion, Father Healy, Medley was
not wit, but humorist The quick
hashes for which the former was ia
nous were not frequent with him, ex-
cept, indeed, in the wonderful conflict
of both qualities which was often ex-
hibited when they occupied head and
foot at the same table. At those mo-
ments and in this encounter, at his own
or at Healy's table, his wit seemed as
great as his humor. But his distinct
I've quality, wherein he stood alone and
unapproached, was the telling of Irish
idylls" containing dialogues among the
poorer people; the singing of street bal
lads, mostly his own composition-in
fact, the reproduction of the speech and
the ways of thinking of the Irish peo-
pie He possessed not only the insight
OF a great comic poet, but the face of
consummate comic actor and a tenor
voice of such good quality as to render
MS songs as well musically as dramatic
ally charming. Hence no one ever tired
OF his dramatic sketches, however often
repeated No one even desired to hear
from him something new in preference
to the old favorites In fact, his stories
held the social stage in Dublin, like the
approved plays of our dramatic masters
subtle variations on various occasions.
the profound knowledge of and sym
pathy with Irish national psychology,
which made him the master of a very
rare and delightful art.
Like all profound humorists. he was
the most sympathetic and modest of
men, He never thrust his conversation
upon any cold or Indifferent audience.
1t was, indeed, with reference to him
that Sir Edgar Vincent once made a
valuable remark-valuable, that is to
say, to Englishmen-'There is no use
in asking a single Irishman to dine:
you must ask another to draw him
out.''
Such was the man in society, genial,
modest, never using his powers of satire
and mimicry for any unkind purpose,
hospitable to a fault, generous to the
poor, passing through the storms of
Irish politics without ever declaring a
strong opinion, and yet respected by
extreme men of every type They knew
we'll that he saw clearly, with his pro-
found knowledge of character. not only
through the impostures, but through
the self-impostures. of Irish politicians.
and probably they felt grateful for his
reticence. He might have lived a little
longer if he had entertained his friends
less frequently; but he, of all men. pre-
ferred quality to quantity of life,
though with rare and Christian patti
ence he tolerated the enforced seclusion
of his closing years. His literary tastes
We're for the drama. He was we'll
known to all the actors and operate
singers who visited Dublin in his time
Most of them cannot forget his hos
pitable table. There will probably be
found among his books many rare plays
and collections of street ballads; but of
his own art, nothing. 1t lives only in
the memories and the hearts of the
men, women and children who knew
him and loved him.-London Athen-
aeum.
An "Exteriorized Sensibility."