New-York tribune., 1901-07-14

over and over again he quotes her only To ritii-
cule her, his shafts Of malice playing about the
self-Satisfed lady with UnTeleniing sharpness
She was several kinds of a fool. doubt, but
her observations of society and some o. her
records Of travel are not Il little entertaining
Lady Hertford if not learned and accomplished
struggled hard to he so. and much affected lit
erary company. Dr. Johnson has told us With
what energy and success she pleaded With the
Queen for Savage, when ne was accused of
der She was that Lady HeTtfOTd 10 whom
Thomson dedicated MS Spring" celebrating her
as, like Nature. blooming and benevolent" The
lady played with the Muses. herself and
accustomed To invite some unhappy poet into
the country each SUMMER 10 listen % her verses
and assist her studies''-that is say, Tor
admire" Thomson was the person selected on
one occasion. bat the merry companionship Of
Lord HertIord and his friends turned out 10 he
much more engaging than the Iady's recitatiors.
and he never received another invitation.
The chapters on Richard Cumberland should
lead the reader back the mans own fascinat-
ing M eUoirs. new edition of which would
undoubtedly BE welcome No one could tell the
story Of his life more frankly than he has told
it himself. and, faulty. conceited jealous as h.
was W. cannot but like MIN heartily. 1t was
not too happy a life As a civil servant he
found government ungrateful and grudgiug; as
humiliation Of seeing his venture die with it's
second or third number; and while his novels
and his many comedies We're popular in their
time
This Terence of England the meuder of
hearts
spent most Of his late years in financial WORT.
His comment in old age on his service 10 lesiti-
mate comedy ends in a complaint which sounds
strangely like the protests OF to-day: Il have
survived all true national taste and lived to ser
buGoonery, Spectacle and puerility 50 efsectua,ly
triumph that now To be- F-pulseI from the stage
is t. he recommended to the closet. and To be
applauded by the theatre is little else than a
passport To the puppet show" The dra.aat.s,'s
sensiuveness 10 criticism led Garrick TO nick
name him The Man Without a Skin" and il
truth, no playwright ever more cordially
abused II is strong testimony 70 the mans
own loveableness that Goldsmith and Johnson
We're his firm friends. Boswell quotes the great
doctor saying on one occasion OF that
learned. ingenious and accomplished gentle
man; The want of company is an incon-
venierce hut Mr. Cumberland is a million"
James Lacknston. the shoemaker-boo kseuer
who born in l7iG and died in 1919 left an
autobiography which is of uncommon interest
as describing a rise in life rare in the England
of his time He the uneducated son OF a
drunken shoemaker, and after his conversion u
MethodtsIH developed a craze for books that
made him in his apprentice period. read by the
hsht OF the moon after going TO bed. lie con
fined himself To bread and tea that he might
have more money to buy books, and passed frc-a
the study of polemicl divines TO that of classical
philosophers He taught himself To write i'm
the intervals of shoemaking. and when. during
his early married life in London. he went forth
To buy a Christmas dinner he suent all the
money on a copy OF Youns's Might Thought~''
He had Wife auable enough To- accent the
alternative II NO dinner. hut her arciaui,i,y dI
not keep her alive and he married u Se.,-d c...
because she also was immcd-rlteIy f5uI .r
books. ana he was in rd9tures at th" thsuert
OF having a woman 10 read with and to read &,
me- He took little shop and I-can u s,lI
therein books as well as boots. Thr literary r.it
OF the business grew, and the proprietor often
pawned his clothes ana watch i'm order 20 b.iv
parcels of desirable books. He presently decii 7
10 try an urhcard-of experiment i'm hookselius
he stopped giving credit. sold only for rr4G,
money, and marked every one Of his Vpli;r,. -
down 10 the lowest possible price. The venture.
answered, and the bookseller became a rich man
"a man. moreover. who never lost his n;lssi,.
for reading. Nothing in the shape OF a b-,,,
came amiss To him. He was an eccentric soul
and Of vanity not wonderful in th, light cf
his success. He built enormous shop which
he called The Temple of the Muses. and Of
fereG - lpfraV the aNDeust oF St,.,,. 80 hi