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Leader (1850-1860), 1st September 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 19

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      A Batch Of Books. The Reign Ofterror; Or...

      Viennewith what he calls " a flint" under his arm , weighing about two hundred pounds , and which he employs to break open the doors of the inhospitable inhabitants . At another time this spiritual friend hugs a sansculotte to death in " five or six seconds . " Anselme , his eyebrows contracted , his nostrils extended , and his upper lip raised , recovered from his immobility of position . By a gesture , slow , but indicative of terrible force , he clasped the body of the sans-culotte against his breast , then raising it in the air , ' he all at once opened his arms , and let him fall a motionless corpse upon the ground I As for myself , it appeared to me when he gave him that fatal hug , that I heard the sound of breaking bones . I cannot express the agitation I felt . " Come my dear friend , let us set out , " said Anselme to me in the most peaceable tone— " my nerves are now much better . " So much for the Reign of Terror . Now let us plunge into Mr . Willis ' s Rag-Bagand extract a few . of his least vulgar impertinences .

      , I used to know Thackeray in London . He was our correspondent ( the Home Journal ' ) , you recollect , six or seven years ago—then in the chrysalis of his present renown . He is more likely to be personally popular , I think , than any other contemporary English author would be , on this side of the water . He is a tall man , of large frame , and features roughly cast—the expression of his face rather " no-youdon't" and Great Britain-ous , but withal very fearless and very honest . He has ( or had ) no symptom of the dandy about him . Above twaddle , by the lift of his genius , and not having had either prosperity or personal beauty enough , in early life , to contract any permanent illusions , he is ( or was ) more blunt and peremptory in adflress and conversation than will be expected of a fashionable author . He is satirical on

      the surface , genial at heart . In taking a mutton chop with him occasionally , at the " Blue Posts , " in company with a publisher who was our mutual friend , I remember being struck with the degree to which the hot punch , in the silver tankard after dinner , softened his criticism of new books and brother authors . By knowing his intimates , I learned a circumstance which I will venture to record . His father was wealthy , and his family , of a patrician descent , had known only prosperous ease till adversity came to sting one of them into fame . The only remainder of the household in its ancient state , was an old and faithful serving-man , whom Thackeray , while earning his first difficult bread with his pen , continued to maintain in the old drab and gold family livery—half starving himself to do it . There was " blood and game" in this which gave a key to what he would always be true to .

      Here follows an " authentic" description of a visit paid to Jenny Lind by the proprietor of the " suburban residence" she occupied at Brompton : — The servant at the door showed his old master to the drawing-room , and the next minute " Miss Lind" came running in from the garden , with dress unhooked behind , hair not very smooth ( these particulars are second hand from the first narrator ) , and as cordial as the oldest friend he had in the world . She seized him by his two hands , crowded him down into a large arm-chair , insisted upon knowing why he had not been to see her during the long time she had been in his house , and finally seated herself on the floor at his feet , to talk over matters . Quite overcome with this last condescension , the deep-down chivalry of the honest Englishman was aroused , and , dropping on one knee , he declared that he could not sit in a chair while she sat on the floor . At this , the unceremonious Jenny jumped up , and , taking Mr . C . 'a two hands , drew him to a window-seat , and squeezed herself ( for he is a very fat man ) into the recess by his side—" and a very tight squeeze it was , " added the old gentleman in telling the story . Here she pulled from her pocket contract and receipts , and proceeded to business , which was soon settled ; and the landlord took his leave , delighted with Jenny Lind , but not quite sure that he had been in possession of his senses .

      Although a Yankee of the purest water , Mr . Willis readily acknowledges the superiority of an English to an American gentleman , at least in physical appearance . A young Englishman taking a walk , in Broadway , with the son of an American , to whom he has brought a letter , is an every-day spectacle—yet a spectacle which would , in most cases , answer for a picture of a healthy man taking a walk with an invalid . The frame of one is fully developed , his chest is broad , his step firm , his look that of a man who could enjoy anything or defend himself from any intrusion upon his rights . The other is pale , flat and narrow-cheated , undersized , weaklimbed , and looks like a man who could neither eat with a healthy appetite nor hold

      his own with any moderate-sized man who should assail him . The average height of the wealthy young men of New York perceptibly dwindles with the number of the same family through whom the property has descended—a man who had a rich grandfather being smaller , usually , than one who had only a rich father . In England , as is well known , it is just the contrary ; the better descended a man is , the more care has been taken , commonly , of his boyish health and manly exercises , and the better developed his system and figure . English gentlemen are taller and healthier than English working men . American gentlemen are diminutive and feeble-looking in comparison with American mechanics and farmers . The difference between the two countries , as to the pleasure of leaving a fortune , is easily estimated , therefore , for it is the difference between a long and healthy gratitude and a short and diseased one .

      Tt should , perhaps , be mentioned that both the Rag-Bag and the Out-doors at Idlewild are merely reproductions of articles and letters contributed to the Home Journal , of which Mr . Willis was . part proprietor . The pervading tone throughout these two volumes is egotistical , self-satisfied , and coxcombical ; the latter is not even redeemed by the vulgar , but amusing , sprightliness that relieves , if it cannot excuse , the platitudes of the Rag-Bag . The fact of the republication however of these papers in a collected form suggests the natural inference that they are suited to the taste of the majority on the other side of the Atlantic . In which case we can only congratulate the British public on still possessing a purer taste in matters of literature ,

      notwithstanding the quantities of cheap trash hourly brought into circulation . That publisher would , indeed , deserve well of his country who should take the initiative in introducing a more healthy style of lijjht literature . We have had cheap novels and other works of fiction till our stomach revolts at the very name . What a delightful variety , then , it would be could we obtain a series of well-digested memoirs of notable personages , illustrated by characteristic anecdotes , and reflecting the true spirit of the times . The adventure would surely be a prosperous one , and we are surprised that a publisher of Mr . Routledge ' s enterprise should not sooner have conceived and enrried out this idea .

      But we have not yet noticed the two novels in green . And in speaking of them , it is difficult to reconcile sincerity with politeness . Besides , having actually read them from beginning to end , we ore unavoidably prejudiced against them . We would ,, therefore , merely recommend those who have not yet perused these six volumes to renounce the anticipated pleasure , and we can assure them that they will have no reason to regret that exercise of atlf-demal .

      September 1, 18&5-.J- The Leader. • 847

      September 1 , 18 & 5-. J- THE LEADER . 847

      Horace Greeley. The Life Of Horace Greel...

      HORACE GREELEY . The Life of Horace Greeley , Editor of the New York Tribune . By J . Parton . New York : Mason Brothers . No one acquainted with American newspaper literature needs to be be told what position the New York Tribune , holds under the able management of its founder and principal editor . To those who are not familiar with , its very original and independent mode of discussing the events and opinions of the day we should find considerable difficulty in giving an accurate notion of the class of papers represented b y the Tribune , for it certainly stands among the highest of the independent free-speakinw journals of America—a rather numerous section of the press of late years ' .

      Horace Greeley , who is now in his forty-fifth year—having been born in February , 1811—came of a good ancestral stock . By the father ' s side he was descended from one of those old Puritan families to whom . New England is so much indebted , while his mother gave him a portion of the Scotch ° lrish character , her grandfather having emigrated from Londonderry to New Hampshire more than a century ago . The little village of Ainherst , in the " old granite state , '' where his father owned a small farm , must have been a very old-fashioned place . Only think , for example , of the slow character of its journalism : " The village paper , which had 1500 subscribers when Horace Greeley was three years old , and learned to read from it , has 1500 subscribers , and no more , at this moment . It bears the same name it did

      then , is published by the same person , arid adheres to the same party . " We defy any one to match this case of Rip-van- Winkleism in the old country . But New England is full of such quaint old villages we are told , where a traveller at the present day may stumble upon more of seventeenth-century Puritanism in half an hour ' s walk than he would find in the old country in a lifetime . The influence of such a birthplace , and the education flowing from it upon a mind like $ hat of Horace Greeley , may be traced in many a column of the Tribune . In the midst of all his political and social controversies the reader can easily see that he still yearns after the " plain living and high thinking" of his early years , and laments the deteriorating influences of modern conventionalism on the present fast living age .

      Making due allowance for the exaggerations of memory among friends and relatives in the case of a man who has risen from the ranks to a high position , young Greeley was evidently a precocious boy . His mother appears to have been a somewhat remarkable woman . She was a great reader , and remembered all she read , " with a perpetual overflow of animal spirits , an exhaustless store of songs , ballads , and stories , and a boundless exuberant goodwill towards all living things . " With such an instructor , who can wonder at his rapid progress ? Horace learned to read before he had learned to talk ; at four years of age he had become devoutly fond of books , and at six he was deemed quite a prodigy by all the neighbouring folks . "He was never without a book . He woukf go reading to the collar and the

      ciderbarrel , reading to the garden , reading to the neighbours ; and pocketing his book only long enough to perform his errand , he would fall to reading again the instant his mind and his hands were at liberty . " He was only seven years old when his father , who seems to have been an easy , goodnatured man , fell into difficulties , and , after some rather hard privations , the family removed to a farm in Vermont , where Horace finished his schooling , but still went on devouring all the books and newspapers that fell in his way . From early childhood he had made up his mind that he would be a printer , and his wish was fulfilled in 1826 by his being bound apprentice to the proprietor of the Northern Spectator , in the village of East Poultney , Rutland county , Vermont .

      In a country like the United States , where the growing demand for labour absorbs four or five hundred thousand foreigners annually , in addition to the increase of its own population , one would hardly expect that any person , able and willing to work , would find much difficulty in obtaining employment . And yet , from the story of Horace Greeley's early struggles , after he had become a journeyman , it is evident that the condition of the skilled labourer is not much better in America than it is in England . Even after he arrived in New York he found it no easy task tOapbtain work . Once fairly settled , however , he soon began to make progress . Before he had been two years in that city he , in company with another journeyman

      printer , nearly as poor as himself , started the first New York penny newspaper , which lasted only three weeks ; the time for cheap newspapers not having yet arrived . Twelve months after its decease , the firm to which Mr . Greeley belonged , at that time worth three thousand dollars , established the New Yorker , one of the best newspapers ever published in America , to all who valued originality , earnestness , and thorough independence . To this journal Horace Greeley devoted himself with untiring energy for some four or five years , but all his efforts failed to render it successful , owing to vai'ious causes , which the biographer explains at length . An incident connected with the early days of the New Yorker thus introduces a notorious American journalist , whoso life , if honestly written , would form a striking contrast to that of Greeley : —

      One James Gordon Bennett , a person then woll known aa a smart writer for the press , came to Horace Groeley , and exhibiting a fifty-dollar bill and some other notes of smaller denomination as his cash capital , invited him . to join in setting up a now daily paper , tho New York Herald . Our hero declined the offer , but rocommend p d Jamoa Gordon to apply to another printer , naming one who ho thought would join in . such an enterprise . To him the editor of tho Jlerahl did apply , nnd with success . Tho Herald appeared soon after , undOT the joint proprietorship of Bennett and tho printer alluded to . Upon tho subsequent burning of tho Herald oflico tho pni-tnow separated , and tho Herald wus thenceforth conducted by Bennett alono . In 1841 Horace Greeley started tho New York Tribune , a email daily paper , price one cent , on a borrowed capital of one thousand dollars , > mc with a character and credit , according to his biographer , " C U " * " " "" 'i round 50 , 000 dollars . " From the very commencement its success apj £ aia to have been certain . For some weok 3 ho had to encounter th ™?* ; ™ ° \ a rival journal , but that only served to draw attention to t" 0 1 ' 1 '" 1 ' ™ ' " »" excite popular sympathy in his favour . Year ^ 'J ^ J ^^ ' fay has carried on the War against tho social and po ^ cal ^ ls ol the da > constantly making now enemies , but always contriving to make more

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 1, 1855, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01091855/page/19/