Year: 1861

ture of Gossip"


TWO KINDS OF GOSSIP.


The gossip which is now in favor Is always
the gossip of educated persons, who ore able to
generalize their knowledge by large expe-
rience, and is wide as the poles asnnder from
tho tattle of the Dame Quickleys. Here is the
original sort of gossip which has happily got
into bad odor-the talk of woman who, with
no power of thought, has a great faculty of re-
miniscence, and is peculiarly fitted to chronicle
small beer. II Is difficult to select examples of
the opposite kind, they are 80 abundant. 1 take
the first that occurs to me, story of Heideg-
ger, who is frequently mentioned in the cOrres-
pondeDce of Mrs. Delany as "the famous man
ager Of the opera, and the most ugly man that
ever was formed" As the most hdeous of the
human race, his portrait was many times engrav.
ed 1t was Ia great request; and Lord Chester
field backed him heavily against all the world.
In hopes of winning the wager, an old woman
was brought forward who was considered to be
still more ugly. The judges decreed that Hei.
degger was the handsomer of the two; and Ches-
terfeld was about to pay his bet, when sud-
den thought struck him. He demanded that
Heidegger should put on the old woman's bon.
net. The bonnet was put on, and the Swiss
Count appeared 30 frightful in it that Chester
field was at once declared the winner. That lit.
tie bit Of club gossip is as suggestive as it is
amusing.


GOSSIP OF THE OLD.


Gossip is most pleasant from the lpS of the
old. Their gossip is all from memory, and
contains little or nothing of that hateful tatte
which feeds upon surmise, and invents where
knowledge is denied Their evil passions, II
they had any, their envies and ealousies, and
hates, have died away; and they have a ri vht
to revivify the days Of their youth, and fight
their battles over again. Who would not have
hung upon the narratives Of two such delight
full companions as Mrs. Delany and DR.. Alex
ander Carlyle7 Both of them commenced
their autobiographies; but the former threw
aside the pen before she had gone through q
third part of her life. What stories she could
have told If she had gone on @
A very striking thing about old Carlyle is this
that in his old age he enjoyed not only the
poetry CT Scott and Southey, but was able to
appreciate Wordsworth. We all know how
difficult it is for one age to understand, much
less to enjoy, the poetry of succeeding age Il
How many of the old people whose taste had
been formed in the school of Pope and Addi-
son, were capable OF comprehending Words
worth7 When his ballads made their first an
pearanee, the critical world rose in arms against
him; and it was only with the young, fresh
minds that they made way. It is q remarka-
Die proof of Carlyle's liveliness and vigor, that,
trembling on the grave, he was able to relish |
The new order of poetry introduced by the Lake |
lchool That is one more evidence of the truth
which insisted upon at the commencement of
his paper, that excellence in gossip is only at
ainable by minds that have been highly culti-
7ated, and are capable of enjoying something
better than gossip.


THE GOSSIP OF scANDAL


have confined my remarks TO the intel.
ectual worth of gossip and the intellectual |
qualifications Of those who can alone excel in
he art have not said word about that
pecies OF 1t which Sheridan has gibbetted in
he most celebrated Of his plays-the gossip
Vhich is inspired by ill-nature and impertipent
and lives upon scandal. | pass il by.
artly because ill-nature is detestable, however
displayed, and it is useless to hammer out suoh
ruism; partly because the i'll mature and i'm
'ertinent curiosity which sometimes degrade
,ossip is more often an intellectual than moral
ault. There is shrewd saying of Dugald
stewart, that the want of beneyoIence which
Ee see in many people is not really the sign of
bad heart, but of feeble attention or dull
imagination, and that If those whom we call
eltsh only took time to think, and could exert
iittle iancy, go as 10 picture to themselves
he hidden sufferings of those who appeal to
heir pity, they would act more kindly than
hey generally do. The remark is capable of


much wider application, insomuch that we
ave lately seen Mr.. Buckle insisting on 1t that
he kindness and gentleness which we now see
n the civilized world, the regard for human
lie, the respect for a neighbours feelings, the
orror OF war, the tenderness for the very ami
nails, which are In strange contrast to the eel
shness and savagery of former times, are not
0 be attributed to the softening influences of
noral and religious truths, but to the intel
ectual enlightenment and mechanical discover.
es which belong to modern history. If this be
q exaggeration, there is still some truth in it,
nd l advance 1t only as an illustration of what
am urging-that the i'll nature and impertinent
uriosity which convert gossip into scandal,
lgnify an intellectual even more than a moral
efficiency, and are generally the offspring of
acancy, Ignorance and dullness.