The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-15
T~HACKERAY, THE GREAT.

SCOTS or George Eliot's or Hardy's or
Meredith's of of any foremost Eng
lisn novelist, from Tobias Smollett
and Richardson and Henry Fielding
down to the present day. But great
as he is and superior as to style he
w2s sometimes careless. But so was
scott, and so nave been the masters
who had something to tell save mere
sensational scenes and gossip and
tx.addle and suggestive vice and I'M
morality. Some OF Thackeray's blum
ders were remarkable coming from
sach a master of English. In all Eng
fish literature there are few authors
in any field who are his equal as to
style-a style so fresh and
and tasteful and accurate with only
an occasional lapse, so easy, so charn-
ing. so admirable, SO racy and yet SO
unconventional. AS we nave salo'
Thackeray falls into carelessness and
IS thereby betrayed into inaccuracies OF
speech which are to be marked In an
author of such very gifts
and excellence. There are perhaps
more errors in English in his brilliant
:Teat mover VANITY fdu, AoA "A'
. his more elaborate writings.
n that mastery novel we find such
3ressions as Amelia had better.
-Ead best keep his opinions" had
best not examine" etc. Again he
writes Directly he found it," Ran to
her husbands room directly she heard
"But ne and Captain Porter took home
- Lo+oJ u-hn was atR ~ With
in twenty pages he repeats the same
idea. and almost with the same Ian
guage when he writes of people who
.like to press forward to the funeral,
or. when a parting is resolved upon,
h. stem it" The very interesting Ameri-
can story in part, 1.-The Virgin1ans con-
rains more evidences still of careless
writing. The use of had" for would"
occurs as in the examples given above.
Here we have had rather" were not
naturally of the best or most eloquent
a>kind of pastors" "or they would have
avn YOU the country when you got
D shooting suddenly out OF Two
a pair of eyes," twas different to that
u which had" He also repeats many
times that mo man ever does set down
his debts" OF course these and many
others are minor blemishes. They will
serve to warn less able, less accom-
plished writer's, and from him We may
learn how difficult it is to write one
article or story or ever a page of man
uscript with entire correctness when
even the greatest writers sometimes
''slip up or are betrayed into error be-
cause Of carelessness. and many from
downright ignorance of English unde-
filed" M~acaulay, DeQuincey and Lam
dor would have avoided such remarka-
BILE errors.
Thackeray wrote this: 1.-The knight
and baron quilted the table, felt in his
embroidered pockets, ETC." a is very
careless indeed. Homer, as the old saw
affirms, sometimes nodded it is true, but
when hat master was fully awake
what grand and inspiring strains flow
ed from that wondrous harp whose
strings he swept with such matchless
art, so deity, so imperiously. We AXE
no pleasure in trying to pick flaws in
Thackeray, a mighty artist, to us al
most Incompatible. In his chosen
field he has no rival. His productions
are stamped throughout with power
and originality, and he stands alone
in his particular line, although he has
had imitators but at a very long dis
lance. He is the great satirist and SER
monizer who has taken the novel as the
vehicle with which to probe and expose
society, to preach his wonderful les
corS of charity of mapliuaSS of Oo0d-
ness, OF true living. so full of profound
est wisdom, and SO lit up with the
bright sunshine of benevolen& and a
great human heartedness and sympa-
thy. lie was greatly Inexperienced
for a long time. being regarded as a
mere cynic and defamer. But in truth
he was a great benefactor and friend
OF humanity, overlooking with kind
ness, love, benevolence. We can have
no doubt as to the excellence Of that
mans taste who has a hearty and gen.
uine admiration for Thackeray-who is
found turning to his works constantly as
sources of inspiration and delight, as
among the choicest, the most charm
ing and most refreshing productions Of
the human mind. We are glad to shake
the hand of any man who has taste
culture and intelligence enough to
appreciate Thackeray, s. unrivaled in
his sphere: such a powerful delineator
Of humanity: laying bare the weak
nesses and sins and workings of the
human heart-tracing every outward
act to its hidden springs. Read Thack-
cray, but as we have before mentioned.
we have rarely known a genuine Thack-
erayian under forty years Of g The
more you read him as your years in
crease the more you will Owe him.
And now the critics are pegging
away at Tennyson as a plagiarist.
Shakespeare. Milton and Tennyson are