New-York tribune., 1901-11-30
AUSTIN DOB,SON.
ECHOES OF THE HONORS PAID HIM AT
THE WHITEFRIARS' DINNER.

significant of quite so much affectionate feeling
as was manifested by the members Of the
Whitefriars' Club and their guests the night
of November i. The guest of honor was Mr..
Austin Dobson. There large attendance,
and much speaking by Augustine Birrell and
others. The speakers and everybody else for
that matter, could but feel that a special
edge was given to the occasion by Mr.. Dobson's
recent retirement from his long period of ser
vice in the Board of Trade. Yet there was no
one present who did !. 1t feel that dinner 10
Mr.. Dobson needed no particular occasion. He
is among the best beloved of English authors
He has been praised for his historical and So
cial studies in the eighteenth century; he has
been praised for the exquisite craftsmanship
OF his verse. But he has been loved even more
for his own sake For this reason. and because
he is held in honor as much this side of the
Atlantic as on the other are glad to be able
TO present to our readers some souvenirs or the
dinner aforesaid The first is the speech IN
which Mr.. Edmund Gosse welcomed MS ola
friend and gave the toast of the evening Inc
choice of Mr.. Gosse for this duty was a feifci-
tous one inasmuch he has been Intimate not
only with Mr.. Dobson, but with the field IN
which the latter has achieved much, namely,
the literature of the last century. How well
Mr. Gosse rose to the occasion Will be obvious
from the following fragment of his speech:
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: am hiuci
fattered and greatly touched at being allowed
on this most interesting occasion. TO speak On
behalf of the toast of the evening L cailhol
pretend to ignorance of Mr. Austin Dobson as
man. nor to a judicial indifference TO what ne
has written There are some people who thlhk
that a critic should speak out OF a vacuum ana
discuss a living author as if he had never seen
him and knew nothing about him. thlhh tllis
pretenson absurd as it would be to say that
a knowledge that Pope had weak spine or that
Gibbons mouth was exactly in the mlddle OF MS
prpcludpd from expressing an OpIl!pii
a bout the Essay Man or THE Decline ana
Fall" At all events. cannot pretend 10 nave
given great start when L was presented TO
Mr. Dobson this evening, for l have had the
privilege of knowing him intimately for a good
deal more than quarter OF a century II -
not necessary proper TO say any more ABOUT
that except that SO far from preventing me
from forming opinion about his works. mold
that it has given me an unparalleled oppor-
tunity for defining such an opinion You know
the story of how Moliere tried all his comedleS
on an elderly charwoman before ne could De
sure that the public would be entertained by
them Well | believe there is scarcely q single
work in prose or verse that Mr.. Austin Dobson
has published since 1874 that have not had the
privilege of hearing before anybody else did, so
that really / have a confidence of going down
to posterity, when my own poor publications are
forgotten, as Austin Dobson's worthy old char
woman
But the toast this evening connects the name
OF your distinguished guest with the literature
Of the eighteenth century and L must confine
myself in speaking of Mr. Dohson TO the large
portion of his prose work which elucidates that
literature. / fancy that this is not an incon-
eenient occasion for defining what, in my Judg-
ment, his services in this direction are. 1t IS
customary for people to admit Mr.. Dobsons
claim 10 be considered as the leading living
thoritv on the literary life of that century. but
1 don't think that the basis of that claim has
ever been distinctly stated II Is connected. L
think with entirely new thing which he in
troduced into the study: If you VIII take an
essay of the leading writers of the eigh-
teenth century, by. let us say. Hazhtt or Leigh
Hunt. De Quincy, you viii find it what is
called an 'appreciatiOn'-a study in criticism
seen through the temperament of the author
A little later Macaulay-that admirable and
stimulating man. who gets so little justice done
him nowadays-attempted certain reference
to of information But the old plan
prevailed and in Thackeray you find the
same taking for granted of the facts and argu-
ing from general impressions which suffced
the old writers of the Hazlitt school The re-
suit is that if you take that beautiful BOOK
The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Cen
tury'' you are now annoyed to find that in every
single case whether il be Congreve or Fielding,
Steele or Sterne. your pleasure in the style and
the sentiment of the essayist is marred by the
circumstance that the facts are not what Thack-
cray took them to be.
l date the reaction against this so far as the
eighteenth century is concerned, to twenty years
ago. when Mr.. Dobson began to prepare for his
Life of Fielding He went to the original
sources of information, hunted up newspapers
ETC. turned to the actual documents whenever
it was possible, and, treating tradition with re-
spect as it should always be treated, neverthe-
less tested it all possible points by the touch
stone of recorded fact And with his Steele
garth-al his eighteenth century VignetteS
Mr.. Dobson hard put to 1t make
ella borate response; in fact his speech of thanks
was of the briefest. But short it was it had,
like everything of his. charm of its own. More
over, he did the one thing calculated most to
delight his hearers; he read them poem which
we reproduce below, with his few Introductory
words
pose to make a speech. L am housekeeping
man. without practice in oratory. and L have
never acquired the Indispensable art of thinking
on my legs. But l must be very dull of spirit
very dumb of heart if ! did not attempt to
thank you for the kind way in which my health
has been proposed and received. 1 do thank you
most heartily, most sincerely. Praise has this
disadvantage, that one has an uncomfortable
feeling that must live up to it-as if it were
blue china-and this is easier said than done.
don't think / shall be able to live up to the
praise you have given this evening A good
deal mas been said about literature. think that
the most delightful thing about the practice of
literature is the friends it makes for one. With
out literature L should never have been priv
ileged to meet your excellent chairman. never
have known Mr Gosse Mr.. Birrell, never have
been welcomed by you, gentlemen, In this par
ticuiarly friendly and hattering way But as
said. 1 am unsk.lled in making speech. espe-
cially in prose and feel that l must make my
pologies to you in humble Ballad of Silence:
Silence is golden" saith the saw,
And rightly is extolled.
For speech too Oft defleS the law.
BY waxing overbold;
But he think (of mortal mouid)
Most feels the need Of cheek.
The man who can no tale unfold
The Man who cannot speak
He listens with a kind of awe,
And hears around him rolled
The loud revsrberate gufaw
That greets the quicker souled;
He hears the jest. or new. or ola,
And speechess, eats his leek-