The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-08-30
Charles Lever, Robust Novelist.

Charles Lever, Robust Novelist.
Of the birth of Charles Lever, friend
and contemporary of Thackeray and
himself one of the popular British nov
elists of the nineteenth century. Lever
was born in Dublin Aug. 81, 1906, and
but for a short side step in his early
twenties would have followed the usual
routine Of the literary crowd of his
time-that is, a mood Of rebellion and
bohemianism, followed by conserva-
tive prime and middle age A recent
reviewer Of the era Of Byron said that
the example Of the author of "Don
Juan led his young contemporaries
into fresh paths and that he was a
pioneer in producing literature with
life in it, During the boyhood of
Charles Lever, Byron was probably
the strongest literary figure in the pub
lie eye. About the time of Byron's
death, while championing the cause of
liberty in Greece, Lever entered Trim
ity college, Dublin, having been drilled
and coached by the independent SCHOOL
masters Of Ireland, who, whatever else
they were nggardly about, made ''free
with the BIRCH" and, as the old song
puts it,
If mind wouldn't mark
Would soon mark the back.
Having adopted medicine for a pro-
fession, the future writer of robust
novels stuck close to his lessons until
he got his degree at the age of twenty
one. He then took a whirl at the Ger
man universities, where beer drinking
and fencing formed the chief occupa-
ton of the students, ending his pill
grimage at Paris in less than two years
from the time of departure from Dub
lin. His ostensible purpose in the con-
tlnental cities was the completion of
his medical studies, but that quest can
not be accepted as an excuse for his
next adventure, a trip to the wilds of
Canada. In the Canadian wilderness
Lever did what many other eccentric
white personages have done in their
romantic youth-lived among the In
dams as the adopted son Of chief.
Lever was twenty-three years old at
the time of his desertion of civilization
for the nomadic life of the children of
the forest and for him it was a more
rebellious step than for Sam Houston,
the noted American white" Indian,
who some years before, and while he
was in his teens, lived in a Cherokee
WigWam and wore buckskin and
feathers as the adopted son Of a chief.
But, unlike Houston, Lever was soon
cured of this strange infatuation with
savagery. He returned to Dublin and
at once began the practice of medicine.
A couple Of years of the routine Of
city doctors life seem to have been
the limit for a young Irishman dow
cred with wonderful flow of animal
spirits, for DR.. Levers fancy again
turned to the freedom and the strenu-
BUSINESS of the open air. But now it
was only a mental depression. While
acting as medical superintendent of a
large district he began writing his
most famous novel and one that was
the precursor of a large number dis
tinguished by the same characteristics,
The Confessions Of Harry Lorrequer."
This work is remarkable for vivacity
and rollicking humor, fullness of Incl
dent, ever shifting scenes and happy
pictures Of Irish life and manners. In
this novel, as in most of those which
Followed it from the same pen, work
Ing secretly, by the way, under the
pseudonym Harry Lorrequer the in
cidentS and characters are connected
with the military profession and the
favorite type of hero is a young dragoon
or guardsman, filed with the salt of
fun, the zest Of life and the love of
adventure. Not q few Of the dare
devil exploits celebrated in them were
rounded upon the personal experiences
OF the author, who in his youth had
been noted for his daring spirit and
his skill at fencing, riding and break
ing horses. To this class belong the
schoolboys' fayorites, "Charles O'Mal-
ley, the Irish Dragoon;" "Tom Burke
Of Ours Con Cregan, the Irish Gil
Bias and a score of others read as
companions to Captain Marryat's sea
tales. In the days when the works of
Lever and Marryat were the rage
boys of the class which now play ball
or row boat read novels of the TO-
bust type. Perhaps nobody Of the
present younger generation knows
much about those works of Levers.
Which We're best known in his cwn
time.
Charles Lever earned fame and
money from his novels and during the
Nf !,