The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-10
Thackeray Wearing
Better Than Dickens.

Concerning the great Victorian novelists,
Thackeray and Dickens, 80 much Is daily
written that remark Is superfiuous. A mas
ter Of observation Of all that had rarely
been observed. q generous heart. an original
and abundant humorist. the greatest source
Of mirth in our century. Dickens appears
to wear less we'll than his rival. The unap-
preached merits of Thackeray's style must
preserve him in literature; his pathos IS
rare and enforced: his form Of humor Is as
permanent as that Of Fielding, and as sue
cessfully matched by his phrasing. Even
his verse. mirthful or melancholy. does not
fade. and has its wi place on the border
land of poetry. George Eliot's fame. too.
must revive the success of her earlier and
more humorous novels. before she became
too fond Of the Spencertan philosophy. and
took herself too seriously, a natural result
Of %adulatiou, Charlotte Bronte. in the same
way. has been. as 1t were, rediscovered
amidst q chorus Of fresh applauses and
with perhaps rather too curious investiga-
lions. In America, after Hawthorne, Doc
tor Div Wendell Holmes and Mrs. Beech
or Stowe were the novelists most generally
admired in England. when Thackeray and
Dickens were verging to their decline. 1t Is.
indeed. to be regretted that Doctor Holmes
did not write more fiction when in his
prime. His excellent and original "Elsie
Venner," and Guardian Angel" with their
AShAANS Va ASdA AAC soliA NhASAA
thread Of phantasy. half mystical, half sci
entific. border (as often in the Poet" and
"7E01ess01 as 1ho I91n&faot TaD3ef"> %
the ground Of ''psychical research" Doctor
Holmes was not merely. IN verse n prose,
an exquisite wit. but a man Of rare knowl-
edge. a man Of science; and a sturdy de-
fender Of purity Of the language. Mrs.
Beecher Stowe. on tho other hand. took the
world by storm with q vivid tract In the
form of fiction; q book now not easy to
criticise. but which can still move to laugh
ter and tears. 1t is my 'insular ignorance
which prevents me from approaching other
American fctions of that age. before the
days of writer's still happily living and work
ing. Mark Twain. Bret Harte. W. D. How
ellis. Henry James. Stephen Crane, and
scores of others, who being here to speak
for themselves. shall not be commented
upon in this place. With Mr.. Howells as a
critic, I have tried to break lances, while
ready to admit one of his main contentious,
that the art of Scott, T%hackeray, Dickens
and others Of our fathers would have prof
ited much by being a finer art, by condensa-
ton, by omission, by avoidance of the SUI
perfiuous. But that our modern fiction is a
greater art, that romance and storytelling,
and adventure are obsolete. or ought to be
obsolete, that I can never admit, while hu-
man nature Is human nature. Mankind will
never be content. in fiction, with tales of
the psychology Of the ordinary person.; or
binary as we are. We desire to be, like
Heracles, conversant with great
adventures. Mr.. Howells perhaps may think
a Greek snob when he maintains
Tragedy must find its theme in the
sorrows of the god-descended Kings. Are
not the griefs Of the poor. or of the middle
classes, as poignant? They are; but they do
involve such heights and deeps Of for
tune, rising or wrecking whole states. as
the woes 'of Thebes, or Atreus's line"
The fall of Prince Charles from an hour
even Of shadowy royalty. from the leader
ship Of an army. from the wondering ad-