The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-29
GREAT OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Not All Noted Takers Were as For-
tunate as DR.. johnson.

San Francisco Bulletin.
Reading Boswclrs account or Samuei
Johnson's conversation. in wnlcn ne re
ports the good sayings of that nrign.
coterie who acknowledged Johnson ds
their chief-Burke, Goldsmith, gar y, a,
Langston, Beauclerk and the rest OF tne
Literary Club-one can not heip resret.mns 3
that there have not besn more Boswells
to report the familiar talk OF otner "a
nous groups of wits. Think o. the rlcn
gold of conversation that was poured OUT
and lost forever at the old MERMAID IN
London, where Shakespeare, Ben Jonson'
beaumont, Fletcher. Raleigh foregath-
ered--they who .,,,,,
The SPACIOUS times of great Elizabeth
With sounds that echo still.
Speaking on this very theme, tnat col
,ector of curious literary odds and ends.
William Matthew'S quotes beaumont
famous lines: .oon
Done at the Mermaid! hard "oros lna'
So nimble, and so full of subtle flame;
AS If that every one from whom 'heS
Had meant to put his whole wit in Jest,
And had resolved to nVe iooi tNso iee'
Cicero. too, should have had his Bos-
well, for tradition says he was a won,
derful talker in private conversation; anu
he was a first rate Wit. his Iree1it ~
earliest of stenographers. did collect a
great many of Ciceros jests, but tne
Liber Jocuiaris. unfortunately. mas peen
lost Matthews says that when Fompey'
asked Cicero-referring to Dolabella. VINO
had Joined Caesars partly here -
your son-in-law7' Cicero retorted, with
your father-in-law. ,o
Another fine talker. who snould nav
had his Boswell was Francis bacon;
Something of his ability may be gahnereo
from his little essays in which every
paragraph Is packed with ideas ana every
sentence Is an epigram. Ben Jonson saIa
of Bacon's conversation: His hearers
could not cough or look aside from MN
without loss. The fear Of every man that
heard him was lest he should make an
end" But why didn't Ben Jonson take
few notes of Bacon's talk?
well. who stuck closely to one nero, tney
have SO many memoirs and COLLECTIONS OF
letters that much has oeen presglVJIu
of the conversation of such men as Louis
XIV, Talleyrand and Voltaire. france
has been the home and center OF oriIlIane
conversation, and the man VINO reaus
French need never lack entertainment
Coming back to England why had NOT
Sidney Smith. most orliliaht Oh an VIZ VIZ,
a Boswell? Matthews relates that smith
never talked more than half minute
without pausing and giving others an op.
portunity to strike In. smith salo OF
Macaulay. who was long-wlndeo tnat
Macaulay listened to another man talking
with the thought in his mind II that
man hesitates an instant he is lost! 1
do not believe" Sidney Smith used 10
say, that Macaulay ever did near my
voice A. ,
Macaulay. whom Smith called "a book
in breeches," was, as Matthews remarks.
a monologist, not a converser ne TAXED
brilliantly but endlessly. In tnls ne was
very like Coleridge. one OF the mos, orll-
s..
seated by a roadside. suggested tram
of ideas to Coleridge. who was walking
with Theodore Hook. Coleridge talked
for three hours about the pair OF soldiers.
the end, that you did not see a regi-
ment, for in that case you would never
have stopped" Carlyle was haranguer
rather than a conversationalist; No Bos-
we'll could have reported the tax OIL elther
Macaulay, Coleridge or Carlyle.
Strangely enough. some OF the most
brilliant orators have been dull men IN
conversation. Matthews says that CndtLi
am. who could electrify the House o!
Lords by pronouncing the WORD sugar
was commonplace in private. Burke, on
the contrary, was SO dull in Parliament
that Canning called him the dinner bell,
but in private conversation ne was tnS
only man who Jonson feared. Roswell
he SAID: That fellow Burke calls tortn
all my powers. Were l to see him now II
would kill me-" Johnson also said OF
Burke that If you met him casually IN
III street for i've minutes. not knowing
who he was, you would part from him
saying This is an ex do9gd ia tn maa ar
ticIe has written briefly about The
Great Conversers, but there is room for
large book on that subject Tn egreaa'
conversers have been numerous enough,
hut the Roswells have been rev. What
we know Of the private talk of most great
conversers we get from their letters and
from OCCASIONAL anecdotes. For lack OF
such useful literary servants as Boswell
to scrape up the crumbs of table talk
most of the great conversation has been
lost forever. Conversation has ceased
Nowadays great men save their thoughts
for publication, for what they say over
| night is certain to be carried into news
paper office before morning. The ubiqui'
tous reporter is the Boswell of this day
and Mark Twain is the only living con-
| verser so rich in his ideas that ne does
not fear the reporter and stand silent IN
| hiS