The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-06-03

| to give you so much or my time Tor 50
much money but. mind you that's all
you'll get It's no pleasure for me and
YOU shall not presume upon our business
relations TO become familiar with me.
1t is to be feared that Dickens gave no
better return than this for the welcome
and hospitality bestowed upon him here
He proved to be man who could eat
your dinner and then go away to criti-
cize sneer at the meal he had eaten and
the host who gave 1t.
Came for Dollars.
Thackeray was a better gentleman. He
came to America frankly admitting 1t
was the dollars he was after. but he
would not abuse the people who paid
their money and offered him their best.
He was subject to limitations that Dick
ems knew nothing of: the author of 'Es-
mond" and Vanity Fair was gentle
man. Among other Englishmen who
came TO lecture here perhaps the best
known was John r. Cough. Those who
have not heard this eloquent orator of
temperance can form no idea of the i'm
pressions he made upon his hearers i'm
America. Since Mr.. Moody died the
two men have often been compared but
really they had very little In common.
They were as wide apart in their methods
of speaking in appearance-Moody,
stout. even fat. thick-voiced. unctuous;
Cough. slight gray-bearded, on the ros-
trum active as a squirrel. his eyes blaz-
ing as he spoke his voice-that wonderful
UNDERSTANDING up and down the whole
gamut of impassioned appeal.
Henry Vincent is an Englishman whom
most Americans have forgotten. He was
a Unitarian preacher Il think, but most
often he spoke here on secular topics.
He could reproduce before his hearers
all the COMFORTS of good English living
the snug inns, good beds and comfortable
tables presided over by CHEEKY. sonsy
landladies. His stout figure spoke elo-
quently of his own enjoyment of those
creature comforts, but 1t could not cover
or smother the ardent spirit that dwelt
therein. For Vincent had his full share
of the divine gift of eloquence. So had
Charles Bradlaugh though he was quite
another type OF man, Good Americans
used to go to hear Bradlaugh In much
the same spirit as carried them to Inger-
soils lectures Bradlaugh also was an
infidel He refused TO take the oath
In the house of commons and was carried
out of that assembly by force But this
difference was mended later and Brad
laugh sat for years. a useful as well as
an eloquent member.
Monane ID. Conway was an American
who went to England and became a subject
of the queen. He was, like Justin Nc
Carthy, politician and a man of letters.
He knew intimately all the great English
writer's of twenty-five or thirty years ago
and his lectures were interesting chiefly
because of the stories he could tell of
these great men. James T. Fields also
shone with the reflected Eight of the great
men he had known. He was a Boston pub
Usher of the old school. knowing intimately
the writers whose works he published. He
was as much at home in London "a in Bos-
ton and told delightful stories of Dickens.
Thackeray, Tennyson, Browning-every
English writer who thrived at the middle
of the century. Mrs. Fields had a fund
of "reminiscences also and sometimes APP
peared on the rostrum, but was never so
fortunate as to hear her.
Robert Collyer In his prime was che of
the most charming of lecturers. Chicago
ans of five-and-twenty years ago knew him
WELL for he was for many years pastor of
the Unitarian church. facing Washington
square. on the north side. He went from
here to New York, so that his Chicago
friends were spared the pain of watching
his decline, which was mental as well as
physical. Dr. collyer never entirely got
rid OF the Yorkshire brogue acquired In his
youth, where he was a blacksmth's lad in
the West Riding, the best county IN
England" But this was not defect.
Rather II gave an added charm TO the rich,
sonorous voice and a special quaintness to
the stories he loved TO tell, chiefly of his
youth ana OF the honest Auhis ne
had known when his heart was fresh. He
kept land perhaps still keeps) his anvil In
his study as memeuto of those days
Mention OF Collycr recalls Prof. Swing.
another Chicago preacher, who found time
to lecture five and twenty years ago. No
two men could have been more widely diff
ferent than these two, but II was not easy
to say which had the greater charm. Swing
was a scholar--a scbool-teacher, in fact
and never lived to purge his speech OF the
mannertsms Of the school room. They
were like Collyers Yorkshire brogue. But
neither this nor his awkward manner and
plain, ugly face could wholly repress the
charm he had for his hearers. Prot. Swing
was a real man OF letters and he proved II
on the rostrum. where he chose To speak
OF such subjects as Burns" The Novel"
The Progress OF Man From the Useful
to- the Beautiful" Those who have only
heard him preach can scarcely imagine hin
on the lecture rostrum--he was another
man.
Two Inherent Methods.