New-York tribune., 1901-08-10
"LIFE AND LETTERS"
A PROTEST AGAINST THE PLAGUE OF
BIOGRAPHY

and Letters plague Long ago Tennyson spoke
his mind about II in verse, but poets Lie ana
Letters on that occasion supplied the stock or
the usual potage in two volumes Things have
grown worse and worse,
For now the dentist cannot die
And leave his forceps as of old;
But round him. ere he scarce be colo,
Begins the vast biography
the Life and Letters of Mr. Scraunch. In the
literary papers the holders of Scraunchs let
ters are asked to communicate with his daugh-
ter, widow niece or literary executor. Messrs'
Bungay. we read, will publish the Life ana Let
ters Of the deceased dentist-a useful man,
man 10 whom many OF us owed mucn, out s @ lIOr
a man of whom wish TO be reminded IN ouI
hours Of ease; not a man whom the world VIII
not readily let die. His genealogy tas cauet
OF the Molars Of Molarcombe) does NOT interest,"
us. his education nrivate) does not diner from
that OF many other practitioners; his adventures
either never occurred or are olscFeeuy "tIIeu
hy his widow: his religious opinions ne kept
carefully TO himself, and Mr.. - was ms favor 5,
ite novelist Though he had eNtTacleu uuCaI ~
and stopped even royal teeth Nhese' luo,
probably not exempt from cecayD, lhoush ne
was in the front rank OF his benefcent but eX-
cruciating profession, fail TO see What we want
with Mr. Scraunch's Life ana Letters. II ms
love letters were given and II ne cohuuCleu
several love affairs simultaneously theh theIe
might be passionate and instructive compohehts
in the two volumes. But here the wldo"' niece
or daughter steps in ana supIrtsSvs ule 49,. eI.,
tial and the intimate. With the real man, with
the actual Scraunch, we never became acqualHI-
ed I cannot say that l want 10 know more OF
him myself. Still. he. too. If uniilnchlnSlg eN-
amined, is, or was, un document huhalh We
have all of US got into scr2pes, ana these are
interesting and about these the authors OF I-lNs
and Letters never, or hardly ever. tel us any
thing. Yet our scrapes. when we got into them,
how we bore ourselves when in, how we got out
again, are necessary 70 be known II our inner inner
natures are 10 be known, and, II they
are not, why publish Lives ana LeIleEs'
A Derson lately remarked in ordinary so
ciety that he supposed nobody present ever
TO have come within the range Of the law.
But by Jove I did once he added, thoush now
he did not go on 70 confess. know what ina.
person had done, but. as TO giving MN away,
ike the Young American gentleman at the Wed
ding service, I never would be so mean ~
circumstances will never be revealed IN ms
Life and Letters Though they would 90 no harIh
TO him or anybody. and thus despite me num- l,
Der Of superfluous biographies the puoHc "'''
never know. .,s
life is never told and great deal Of what Is ut
terly commonplace IS usually narrated Inc So,
Facs currents of our existence greatly resemble
each other these in Lives and Letters are eN-
hibited in needless length. The inner verify per
petualIy escapes US, thanks TO the decent hault-
uaI reticence OF literary executors 4heF re-
licences ] esteem and commend. by al means -
not tear the heart before the crowd Ike the
heart Of Keats, or Of more recent victims W oL
hiogranbicol or editorial indsCretion- Every
human heart must exhibit a picture OF incal-
culabe interest, but how rarely ought the Ven 10
be withdrawn! In the case OF the usuaI DO
era aphers" Gas Mr.. Gladstone called them), the
error does not lie in Withholding intimate iaCtS'
but in unrolling endless lengths or fact wnlch
ere commonplace. The beginners In the nlouerh
manner OF biography, Boswell ana JoilIlsoIl
we're concerned with heroes about whom almost
nothing could be told that was not interesting
Moreover, next 10 nothing could be told that was
not ft and proper 10 be known But when the
biographer has merely the man Of moderate
note 10 deal with. then the profusion OF point
less letters and banal detail chokes the little In
the life that was worthy OF record.
As 10 letters an authority is found as MI
Saintsbury declares that the degeneration OF
the art OF letter writing is not mere phrase
Of my re
Saint sbury, many or any correspondent, ike
Scott or like Southey. like Lamb or like tltzger-
aid, like Nine de Sevigne or like Lady Mary
Probably few of US have such correspondents
for the many obvious reasons known 10 all men,
such the newspapers, which give the news,
and the absorption Of people who can write IN
writing for livelihood Yet good letter writer's
are not extinct, or were not extinct so recently
as in the lifetime Of Mr.. r. L. Stevenson and
Mr. T z. Brown, the poet OF the Isle Of Man
At this moment. I doubt not. many good let
ters are speeding on the wings Of the post let
ters from clever women, from clever men who
are not scribes by profession, even from clever
people who are engaged in literature, but can
not avoid being amusing and displaying an ap-
prOpriate style even in their private correspond
ence In the Francis letters lately published were
some epistles from young lady who wrote
nearly as we'll as Miss Austen. and humorously
described characters like Miss Hunters Lydia
and Kitty and Wickham In our time so clever
a girl IS apt 10 be busted I'm trying TO write
novels Of a 'problematic'' and sombre charac-
ter. But, despite the attraction of the novel
ing good letters, as Of old. and many charming
epistles must be going 10 and fro between
friends whom the ocean divides. am not read
ily TO be persuaded that the art of letter writing
is dead. But, alas, the everyday 7'biographer''
is not a good letter writer himself, nor has he
good letter writer's among his friends. The let
ters are, as a rule. only introduced TO tell the
story that does not clamor 10 be told. read and
TO illustrate the character that has no hign
claims on our interest.
The biography and its uncalled for length are
only the result Of the fond affection OF family
or friends. and of the inevitable luces Boswell
ana OF the actual biographer OF this mental
malady Boswell really had little: he did not
dream Of turning his great bear into a lap dog
and pOsteTtty has not found him guilty of writ
particularly. But he set the fashion and the
coat which was not too big for the great doctor
is now made for every minor artist cleric Judge
soldier, or man Of letters Interested in his
hero the hiographer finds all that he did or
wrote Of Interest hardly a note or letter escapes
the printer and the "biographer' is swamped in
himself on the other hand. Waltons Lives.
or men really eminent, are not faultless they
are occasionally involved, they are not of scien-
tifc accuracy, but they fun OF what is
essential. OF character affectionately studied
and analyzed they are written in a style orig
inal and Of permanent charm and they are ad-
mirably brief Wotton, Donne and the rest
smell sweet and blossom in these kind honest
loving records. This manner OF biography can
only be done by the friend who knew his man
whereas our modern Lives and Letters are too
commonly compiled by "A conscientious stranger
pouring his materials into a conventional mould
A book no bigger than Mr.. Leslie Stephens
Pope Tin the series of English Men Of let
ters) may be masterpiece, brief concise ac-
cessible. 10 endure while stout octavos are
forgotten, like their heroes The best remedy
is that OF Thackeray and Matthew Arnold: the
living man may prohibit the writing Of his
biography, IL he thinks OF IL in time. We know
enough OF an author who Is merely an author
from his books or from his letters. IL he himself
has deemed them worthy of publication. After
all that has been written about Burns and about
Horace. nothing has really been added 10 the
Galf lf-ra - a of hal
Moliere as well from his plays IL some scribe
of l61O-'SO had published two great volumes
Q1.arsa hfWra Tha