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'Cbc Conservative.
PKN-l'ICTUHKS OF VARIOUS I'JEOPMS.
[ JitRtin McCnrthy'H charming roniiniiconcos of
( i lony iiml UHoful career nni'cdotoH of the
Duke of Wellington , Thackeray , Lowell ,
Longfullow , Holmes tiiul Beochor. ]
In two volumes of some eight hun
dred pages , entitled "Reminiscences , "
Justin McCarthy , M. P. , the great Irish
nationalist , author of "A History of
Our Own Times , " presents , with his
usual crisp humor and kindly spirit , his
recollections of almost all the famous
men and women of the Victorian era.
Among his intimate acquaintances ho
numbered all the great statesmen , poets ,
churchmen , artists , actors , and novel
ists of the last half century , and he has
succeeded admirably in bringing them
most vividly before the reader. The
scope of the work is so great that wo
shall make no attempt to cover it , but
simply quote a few of the most char
acteristic passages and amusing anec
dotes.
Mr. McCarthy begins his reminis
cences with the day in 1852 that he , as
a boy , carne to London , determined to
enter a literary career. One of his first
experiences in London was a visit to
the house of lords , where ho enjoyed the
privilege of hearing the Duke of Wel
lington , the hero of Waterloo , speak.
He writes :
"I heard him make n speech , and , al
though it was but a short speech and
not remarkable for eloquence , it aston
ished and impressed me more at the
time than the greatest oration the great
est parliamentary orator could have
done. The duke , as I gathered from
the speech of another peer a law lord ,
I think it was had already boon offer
ing to the house his opinion on the
measure under consideration , and the
noble and learned lord was now criti
cising his remarks. In the course of his
criticism the noble and learned person
age ventured on the observation that ho
feared 'the illustrious duke' had not
quite understood the measure now be
fore the house. This drew the illus
trious duke. The Duke of Wellington
sprang to his feet to reply , and ho
struck the table with indignant ges
ture. 'My lords , ' ho said , 'the noble
and learned lord has said that I don't
understand this bill. Well , my lords ,
all I can say is that I road the bill onoo ,
that I read it twice , that I read it three
times , and , if after that I don't under
stand the bill , why , then , my lords , all
I have to Bay is that I must be a damned
stupid fellow. ' Thou the duke ro
suined his seat , and that was the only
speech I over heard him deliver. "
In his chapter on "The Princes of Lit
erature , " he says of Dickens :
"I had many opportunities of meet
ing Dickens ; but I should say that my
acquaintance with him. was slight and
superficial. 1 used to feel very proud
when ho shook hands with mo , and re
membered my name , and asked mo how
I wns getting on , or some question of
that sort ; but I never could pretend to
have been ranked oven in the outermost
circle of his friends. I was not merely
n young man , but a totally obscure
young man , and had nothing whatever
to recommend me to Dickens' notice
except the fact that I belonged to
the staff of a daily newspaper. To say
the truth , Dickens rather frightened
me ; I felt uneasy when ho spoke to mo ,
and did not quite see what business I
had to bo speaking to such a man. His
manner was full of energy ; there was
something physically overpowering
about it , as it then seemed to mo ; the
very vehemence of his cheery good
humor rather bore one down. From the
first ho appeared to bo a man with whom
I could not venture to differ on any sub
ject. Then again , as was but natural ,
he was generally surrounded by a crowd
of young men who sincerely worshiped
him , and to whom , indeed , he seemed to
represent all literature. I know how
kind and friendly and encouraging he
was to many men as young as I was ,
and whoso very first efforts in literature
received his helping hand I know
many such young men , and they were
never tired of tolling mo how kind ho
was , and how gentle , how 'quick to en
courage and slow to disparage , ' if I may
adopt certain words which I think were
used by himself when speaking of an
other leader of literature. But I am
only putting down my impressions just
for what they are worth , as the phrase
goes , and , indeed , they are worth noth
ing at all except as impressions , and I
can only say that Dickens somehow or
other always made mo feel rather
afraid. "
Another great man , then not quite
recognized , who had the same effect
upon him was Thomas Carlylo. But
that was in quite a different way :
"Carlylo had a fashion of expressing
his opinions which was likely enough
to make any modest young beginner in
the literary craft think twice before ho
ventured on the expression of any views
of his own in the presence of such a
master. Perhaps I ought to explain
hero that when I spoke of the literary
triumvirate who then ruled over Eng
land , I was not forgetting the rule of
Thomas Carlylo. Such a forgetfulness
would bo impossible ; but I felt that his
was not by any moans a purely literary
force , but something quite different
something like that of a philosopher
with his school. To return , however , to
my immediate subject , I should say
that the dread I felt of Dickens was not
at all like the dread I felt of Oarlylo.
In the case of Oarlylo , I did not like to
run the risk of being snubbed ; in Dick
ons' case , I know there was no such
risk I know that ho was far too sweet
and kindly in nature to snub mo , but , . .
the very exuberance of his good humor ft-i
bore mo down and kept mo in my mod
est place. "
On the contrary , ho never felt the
same kind of awe or awkwardness in
the presence of Thackeray :
"One might have thought that Thack
eray's presence would have boon more
inspiring of awe to a young and thor
oughly obscure man. Thackeray was
much taller than Dickons. His form ,
indeed , approached to the gigantic in its
proportions. lie looked far older , al
though the two men wore much about
the same age. His immense head , his
broad forehead , and his prematurely
white hair gave him an appearance of
authority and oven of severity which
one might have thought would prove
intimidating to a stranger. Yet I at
least never felt it so. Ho seemed to mete
to bo less bolf-nfasertivo , loss conscious of
his superiority , than Dickens appeared
to bo. I never had the good fortune of
approaching to intimacy with Thack
eray. The chance that at one time
opened upon mo was reduced to nothing
by the fates , and its memory has loft an
indelible impression on my mind.
"I had met Thaclwray in a casual way
several times , but I never was a push
ing sort of person , and indeed I idolized
Thackeray and Dickens far too much to
think of pushing myself on either of
them. A literary controversy on some
question which has now lost all its im
portance sprang up in 1800 , and I wrote
something anonymously in The Morn
ing Star which had the good luck to
please the author of Vanity Fair.
Thackeray asked a friend of mine and
of his to find out who the writer was ,
and the friend had no difficulty in ac
complishing this task. For myself , I
was almost in a humor to think I had
lived long enough , since I had lived to
write anything which was worthy of
Thackeray's favorable notice. I may
say hero in passing that during my ex
perience in literature I have over and
over again boon struck with the readi
ness of really great authors to take ac
count of young beginners who sooin to
have any promise in them and to lend
them a kindly helping hand. "
One day ho received through the
friend just mentioned an invitation
from Thackeray to dine at his house in
an informal kind of way and meet two or
three other literary men :
"Need I pay that I accepted the invi
tation with pride and delight ? No
favor that any sovereign could bestow
upon mo , had any sovereign been in the
least likely to single me out for any
mark of favor , could have filled me
with such rapture as I received from
that token of Thackeray's good will. I , X. *
am afraid that for some days after I w
made myself rather a nuisance to my v
t
!
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