New-York tribune., 1900-09-23
Gbe Nem'21ork grib11me.
ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT-
SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER %, 1900
RATED SUPPLEMENT.

Tho solcitude with which some people come
IN thp rescue of those innocent souls who are
in danger of taking the masters too seriously
is one of the things that strengthen our CON
idencc in mankind. Here, for example, is DR..
Robertson Nicoll, who has been taking holi-
day ana rereadng vanity Fair" He warmly
recognizes Thackerays fine qualities, we learn
from The Academy" and that is really charm
ing of him. but he cannot help sympathzlng
with Miss MulOch'S characterization OF the
novel as the most brilliant the most heart
less and the most hateful of modern hcuOnS.
As everybody knows, there is no clearer evil
dence of literary taste than sympathy with the
judgments Of Miss Muloch, that great writer
Dr. NicOH, however, has at heart the welfare
of those who having lived in ignorance of Miss
Mul0chs wise saw, might inadvertently sWal-
low Thackpray whole He is to be admired"
says our oracle, with discrimination" This
strikes the right note We want no bOneless
enthusiasm where Thackeray is concerned
''No one looked up to him more than Charlotte
BrontG did" continues DR., Nicoll "and yet she
knew his weakness as we'll as his strength"
There's an example for you. "The oftener one
reads Vanity Fair told, ''the more
one is able to read between the lines and
discern how terrible is the meaning in some
of its greatest passages" Gentle reader can
you not feel in advance the uffish thrill that
has hitherto escaped you? Are you not CRATE
full to DR.. Nicoll? We are, enormously.
Mr. Garrett Fisher writing in "Cornhill," OBJ
serves that although this is an age of anthol-
ogists no one seems to have hit upon the idea
of collecting the repasts given by our poets and
nOvelists into a new 'Almanach des Gour-
mandS.'" The observation occurs in IN essay
on ''Feasts in Fiction which disclOses Mr..
Fisher not only as the discOverer of Il new
field, but as obviously the predestined com
pier of the great work which he thinks ought
to be published. He has the cOuntenance of
Thackeray. from whom he cites the declara-
ton that next to eating good dinners, Il
healthy man with Il benevolent turn of mind
must like, | think, to read about them" The
great novelist is himself of course, Il mine of
riches for Mr. Fishers purpose, as Dickens is
also The specimens given in "COrnhill' are
drawn from divers old authors, but the writer
reaches infertile ground when he comes down
to the novelists of our own day. They have
indeed soul above dinners, ut least when
they putting their high erected thoughts
on paper They serve stupendous (and uneat-
able hanquetS, it is true, in tales of princCly
life; they are not above showing modern
fashionable hero Illuminating at the cub over
solitary meal, ana the roSterng blades of our
historical romanceS are youchsafed an occa
sional 'pasty," washed down with Il "Stoup"
of wine 1t is all very neat and clean, not to
say sublime. But we fancy most readers would
be only too glad of return to the literary
gourmandiZing of their forefatherS. Fielding
knew what, he was about when he set Amelia
to work on the cooking of fowl with egg
sauce and some mutton broth, for her hus-
of fiction feeds her lord gabble
Sir Walter Besant is of the opinion that
''pXDprimantal books such rs novels nv new