The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-03-09
Two of The Greatest !.
of English Novillsts
BY DIR. 7. B. KINGsBURY.
By DIR. T.. B. KINGSBUR1.

English Writers OF Hcllou piaeo "hs
With him or above him but the first,
Sir Walter Scott. He not only holds q
very high place among IA .yreateSt
English writer's. but he ranks VITA
the foremost in the world. George
William Curtis, who edited "Harpers
Weekly for 50 many, years, put WIN
such marked taste, skill, culture and
art. said of sThackerary's truly great
novel of Vanity Fair that it was
the best sermon ever preached upon
society is Vanity. that great mover.
for such it is. Another writer who Is
contains more brilliant wit, humOr
and satire than all the ever
written. Excessive, but delivered
With a good aim" The same writer
says of this. noble masterpiece OF the
great, great novelist that in it he
shows up the follies of their fellows,
exposes hypocracy and rewards true
merit bid also sigh at misfortune ana
smile at young o Y and mellow eye,ln
short. carries lis through mans check
cred life here below, and dlSm1SSeS us
with the ,nenediction at it's close He
was a many-sided. and AS a writer
OF varied and great accomplishments,
one OF the very greatest among the
best authors Of all the world in
all ages, and all countries. His writ
inSS show not only exceeding variety,
but most unique quality and consum-
mate mastery His versatility was
most marked and his limitations were
he produced masterpiece after master
piece. AS an essayist his
charm is irresistible. In uniVer-
sal knowledge Of life and versatility
he is compared with his great French
contemporary. Victor Hugo ] take
leave to say here that if Hugo ever
had any rival in the production Of one
"a IF lcI,I2 novel as To ltS N9nIfV-
~splendOr, interest and power it was in
Thackeray'S Henry Esmond." / have
never been able to determine what was
the .Sreatet novel in the worlds vast
literature, but I have thought that if
limited to but one it was HugO's own
greatest creation is his marvellous
Les MiserableS.' 1t seems to me
that Henry Esmond is Thacheray's
greatest production, and II so, he is
the one riNal..I would name Of the IL
lustrions Frenchman. Scott was a
greater creative genius thar either of
the Others. but he wrote a dozen or
more Of a very high. splendid grade,
but / doubt il any one of his master
pieces fully eaualed the two named
pieces fully eaualed the two
Henry ,Esnond." But ~Thackeray
wrote several novels h a outrank any
of Hugo's save only the tremendous
fiction in which his great genius
reached its highest ascent. Thackeray
left for the reading world wonder and
Henry Esmond." Barry Lyndon"
The Virginians.' and The Newcom-
ers.' Then there We're others that
thors solid fame. In addition to his
short stories, misceifanies, sketches of
various kinds. and numerous other
writings he wrote verse that has Pc
cular excellence. and sketches of
various kinds. IN truth .Thackeray
was prolific. irresistible and most YER
satile, and IL Is difficult to match him
In h writings Of any contemporary
men in any age.
That fine Scotch critic, Andrew
Lang, held that Thackeraye was
glorious and tina he was for ever
echolng in the heart and present in
The memory Let me draw upon
him for n striking remark And
you speak for yourself, and
speak in earnest how magical, how
rare, how lovely in our literature is
the beauty OF your sentences."4He was
indeed a marvellous, magical master
OF prose-. II Of the very best who
ever wrote English, Prof. Saintsbury,
a real critic holds that Henry Esmond
is the greatest book of it's own
spec'al kind ever Written" and de-
serbs 1t as the marvellous histori-
81 ~ oI GSUiOlU. II is g6nor2lt
estimate shrd emf shr shr s~hrdlwww
dennis, in Esmond. and in. The New
combs it appears as it does nowhere
else IN English, or in literature
mat Is to say hat in stvigor and !
FRESHNESS these works lead the 9th
ers. I mustellot fail to emphasize nv
pafuaiity- his Lecture. on the English
Humorists OF the Eighteenth .Centu-
~ in which he deals, so penitrating-
y, lucidly. charmingly with Swift.
Addison, Stee.e e. ~Hogarth and |
GoIdsmith. His. problem of Lectures |
on the -FOUR Georges is capital work
and take the reader TO q, very > xerv
inviting field. But I have written
more Of the great Englishman thai T
doing when. i sat down to |
the task having been eunWeIl for, davs.N
# l have succeeded i'm oering to nv