The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-07-09
BLACKMORE, MACAULAY AND
OTHER WRITER'S.

Besant Dr. the two Eng-l
lish novelists recently dead. He was
not knighted as was Besant, but he was
a writer of far more power and orginal-
ity. 1t is a wonder that the death of
such a writer should have attracted 20
more consideration from the British
press and authors. He was q man of
more gifts than William Black who
has already received the testimonial Of
his friends and admirers in the SHAPED
of a lighthouse on the Scotch coast "tol
keep his memory bright" as Mr.. Eden
Philipotts has written. The author of
Lorna DOOne,' one of the two or
three very greatest British novels inl
q quarter u a century. THE Maid OF
Sker," Alice Lorraine" ''~ChristoweIl"I
and some others was not My q writerl
OF marked int crest and excellence, but
he was creative, original, full of Iifel
anG color and force. Why should not
sUCl a writer be honOred with othersi
of less gifts? He deserves well of his
cOuntryman, and he was even true tol
himself and his people, and as Gr..
PhilIpotts, the successful English novel
list, says of him in the Philadelphia
Literary Era. he was Of the pith and
marrow OF his native land-a great ar
fist, a great Englishman." Any one with
culture and taste enough to relish and
a. preciate his greatest novel (Which hel
did not hin his greatest however,
lorna Doom" Will never forget it's
power, its freshness, its most striking
o. 'ginality, its high and commanding
an its ~cleanness and healthfulness.
We must make q few excerpts from Mr..
P%hillpott's short study of hin
$50, doubtless, Blackmore would
have willed; fCr this generation, where
in men Of letters seek fame from the
daily newspaper and learn OF bagmen
and Cheap Jacks how to push their
wares. gan claim little kinship with
I:lackniore. His rare and manly mod
esty scorned our modern methods OF
20 sertisement. :
Biography he would have none, but
that is not a reason why no memorial
other than his works should be created
for him; and certain it is that the hosts
who have won joy from BlackmOre will
not be backward to record their graft
tude when an opportunity is offered OF
doing so. = He taught, as the artist
must, without intention, and his lesson
was merely how. a man may be modest
and self-reliant. OF late, no demand
has existed for these virtues. :
Observation-Disclosures conviction lay
at the root OF his philosophy and DOM
mated him at his tree-pruning, trout
fishing, and stOry-telling-he taught
fait:l, courage. honesty, n clean Hv-
ing. His heroes were men Of no finical
complexity; his heroineS were women
upon the noble, feminine and gracious
lines of S~hakespeare'S women. Clear
eyed. p~ure-spirited, and stately they
move through their loves and sorrows.
He set forth the beauty OF healthy
manhood and womanhood: and he was
hankfu that the canker he had seer
fasten upo ~teratur and art-tha'
passing g~lorificatiOn Of decay, disease
and degeneracy-had already begun to
dry up and heal before he died"
A noble. upright, simple hammered
masterful man was this writer who
loved the country n to dwell fa1
away from the madding crowds igno-
bile sway" He loved the fields and the
. fruits. the forests and its foliage, and
made that love a potent contributor tc
his admirable productions that are full
of humor and life and natural things.
A few words addition as to William
Hazlitt. The forthcoming edition of the
twelve big volume edition is to Include
the entire literary, political and dra-
matte essays, together with his art
criticism. his miscellaneous lectures
and prefaces, and his fugitive writings
now for the first time collected. Many
interesting portraits will be used in the
edition." 1t will interest to know
that the late very gifted Robert Louis
Stevenson, who like the great Sir Wal
ter Scott, was born in Edinburgh, was
a very decided lover Of Hazlitt's works
and at one time thought Of writing a
biography of him. The New York
Evening Post, the most literary and
scholarly of all American newspapers
recently said that lit is the period OF
rehabilitation of forgotten genius. Haz-
litt today is little more than a name
and more's the pity. An English pub
Usher with the courage to print hi:
complete works has been found, anc
this tardy act of piety is to be directed
by Mr.. Arnold Glover and Mr.. A. r
Waller, who will retrieve from thu
magazines Of the time many Of Hazlitt':
essays which have so far escaped thu
collector and editor" We note will
satisfaction thai the great Londor
Daily News has a very exalted idea o.
Hazlitt. To the uninitiated its word:
may appear e~xtravagant. but in fac
the essayist and critic was a consum'
mate master, although he was not as
mere hinker of the highest rank. Hi:
merits are OF a commanding and mos
engaging quality. The Daily News
says:
ct is, of course, as a literary critic
that we value him, and in that usefu
department of authorship he holds q
worthy place in the great succession OF
Dryden and Johnson, Coleridge, Lamb
and Matthew A~rnold-with the possible
addition of that shrewd and pregnant
thinker, Walter Bagehot-are the only