New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-08-07
Anglo-American Memories
LINK.
.E.7 JOURNALIST. MR FREDERICK Observation-Disclosures JOUR
NALlsT. n. GEORGE AUGUSTUS
tcopyright 1910. by George W, smalley)

iouraa ism. Each letter was formed;
the whole as legible as print. and with
many q quaint turn OF thought or of
phrase in the private letters which he
composed with care not less elaborate
than his articles. These last, however,
must have been prepared with classical
dictionary on one hand and a eyciopedia
on the other. They abounded in illusions
TO Greek gods and soddesses, and TO
the Assyrian Empire and to personages
OF the Middle Ages. But he was not
scholar. The paper for which he wrote
used 20 be defined as the organ Of the
small shopkeeper; and this fluent use of
names and events he never otherwise
heard OF is what the small snepkeeper
I delights in.
There is ar anecdote--I am not sure
whether I heard II or read it, nor where
/ l read it-of Sala's return from abroad
after g long absence, and a supper given
! him by Irving Sala, asked whether
there was anybody ne would like TO
! have invited, named Lord ResebeFy;
who came But when Sala made his
speech part of il proved TO be an inVec-
tive against Lord RosebeFy, a personal
and bitter attack. 1t was q most an
| happy moment; not less 50 because it
was evident Sala was not himself. Lord
ResebeF-y had 10 reply. There Is no man
more capable Of replying to d personal
attack with more deadly effect, and the
air grew very still with expectation.
But Lord Rosebery, rising with his glass
/ IN his hand. said in his quietest way
! that he need do no more than express the
pleasure with which they all welcomed
Mr. Saia once again in Engiand-'a
pleasure which we will al signify by
drinking his health
! 4 successful journalist must have
some knowledge Of many things Sala
/ had that He was, in his leisure mo-
ments. art critic to THE Daily TeIe-
graph" and was q conspicuous figure
/ on private view days OF the Royal
/ Academy. That august body used to
require the critics Of the daily papers
! 70 collect their impressions Of the years
/ art. SO far as II was represented at
Burlington House, in q single day, amid
the crush Of invited guests, numbering
! some thousands, who thronged the gal
/ leries from 10 in the morning to in
! the evening. Now. I believe, the critics
are allowed q day to themselves. Saia
shone amid this variegated private-pub-
/ lie. His rudy face, his splendid clothes,
/ his echoing voice, his manner Of author
/ ity, perhaps z, little aggressive, his habit
/ OF studying pictures AZ short range with
an eyeglass, and the freedom with which
he coufided his first impressions to any
who cared 20 hear. insured him atten-
/ ten. In the heyday of Sir John Millais's
fame. SaIa came To d halt before one Of
/ his large Scottish landscapes, surveyed
/ it for a moment and delivered his YER
/ dict:
/ Yes. that's the way they make EN-.
/ Penny plain, twopence colored."
But that was not what appeared on
the Monday morning in The Daily Tele-
graph" II would not have suited the
! columns in which the kindly instinct Of
( praise whether Of pictures, Of books or
( Of plays and players, was more often
evident than any other, and still is. Be
tween this powerful organ Of the power
/ full middle classes and its most popular
middle class contributor there was an
essential sympathy. The connection be-
tween them. profitable 10 both, lasted, I
+ believe, TIL Sala's death. Nor has any
/ body been found 10 replace him. or any
/ body who unites in his one person SO
many Of the gifts and qualities which
made Sala the idol Of the suburbs.
Among what he called the treasures
Of art with which he filled his house he
took an ingenious pride in his books and
their bindings The books were chiefly
remarkable for their bindings, and the
bindings We're very good examples OF
what bindings should not be, being in
part what the French call "mecaniques,
ana altogether overlooked and SNOWY.
They we're ''reliures de commerce" ap-
Dealing To the newly enriched patron of
The arts. vino thinks the quantity OF gid
ing more important than the design or
treatment. But SaIa handled these IN
happy volumes with d complacency and
. affection which We're pathetic. They
sometimes figured il his articles, to
which they gave a. air Of graceful re
gard for the delicacies OF life. If he
firmly believed that Grolier, the six
teerth century Maecenas: Nicomte
d'Aglisy. Ambassador to Rome under
Francis I and three other kings vas q
binder. or that the nineteen Deromes (or
De RomesD We're all one and the bind
inGs OF the nineteen-in-one all equally
precious. his belief became the belief of
Han-yeil and BriXton. and nobody was
much The -gCrSD. II "a. =.