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Leader (1850-1860), 1st January 1853, Edition Country of 3, Page 18

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      Life Of Thomas Moore. Memoirs, Journals,...

      with the assistance of his excellent wife , who carried on for him the detail of household , to struggle through all the petty annoyances attendant on nan means , to support his father , mother , and sister , besides his * own family , and at death he left no debt behind him . " Although Lord John has not attempted to draw a portrait of the minor to pass a final and exhaustive judgment on the poet , he has touch both points with a sympathetic pencil ; and in the first he has indicat certain essential features which will materially alter the image of T ( Moore as it exists in the public mind . It will now be seen that _Tc Moore , the writer of gay licentious poems , the ornament of the drawic room , and constant attendant upon Lords , was really a man of str moral conduct , of deep and lasting domestic affections , of simple taste and genuine feelings ; fond of " society" where he was flattered ai petted , but fonder of his own home where his heart had full satisfactic That very temperament which made him charming . in society , and socie charming to him , was the source also of his domestic happiness . " H sensibility to happy and affecting emotions was exquisite , " says Lo : John . " A return to his wife and children after separation affected hi deeply ; music enchanted him ; views of great scenes of nature made hi weep . " And thus the shallow pates who , noticing his tears amidenchan ing scenes , might have called him " a sickly sentimentalist , " or , seeii him in brilliant salons , mig ht have called him a "tufthunter , " and _"feart he was dissipated , " may learn in these volumes how , in natures of an worth , sensibility is sensibility to all emotions , frivolous and profound . Besides this , the reader will gain many other side lights from _thes agreeable volumes . Let us briefly state of what they consist—viz ., aPn face by Lord John , already noticed ; an autobiographical Memoir , i which Moore records his boyhood , and the leading events which varie the first nineteen years of his life ; the next twenty years may be gathere from his letters here printed in due order ; and the remainder will be tol in his Diary , of which the latter half of the second volume contains th first instalment .

      The volumes are crowded with sketches and anecdotes . Here is a bi of Thackeray : — " At a very early age I was sent to a school kept by man of the name of Malone . This wild , odd fellow , of whose cocked ha I have still a very clear remembrance , used to pass the greater part o his nights in drinking at public-houses , and was hardly ever able to mak his appearance in the school-room before noon . He _tvould then general ! whip the boys all _roxmdfor disturbing his slumbers . " Here is a " _loveh bit , " illustrative of the French : — " I mentioned Lord Holland ' s imitation of poor Murat , the King of Naples talking of Virgil , ' Ah Virgile , qu'il est beau ! C ' est mon idole ; que e ' est sublime ca , —Tityre tu patulai recubans , ' & c . Sec . Lord L . mentioned a translation o Goldsmith ' s ' Deserted Village' by a foreigner , whom I remember in London called the Commandeur de Tilly , and the line , ' As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away , ' was done , ' Coinme la mer _deatruit les travaux de la taupe . ' I told ar anecdote mentioned to me by Lord Moira , of a foreign teacher of either music or drawing at Lady Perth ' s in Scotland . As he was walking round the terrace with Lord M ., the latter said , ' Voilsi le Chateau de Macbeth . ' ' Maccabee , milor , ' said the artist . ' Je crois que c ' est Macbeth , ' modestly answered Lord M . ' Pardon , milor , nous le prononcons Maccabee sur le Continent : Juelas Maccabeus , _Empereur Romain ! ' Talked of the egotism of foreign writers . The Abbe de Pradt be . gins one of his books , ' Un seul homme a _sauve l'Europe ; c'est moi . ' The best of it is , he read this in a company where tho Duke of Wellington was ; and , on the Abbemaking a pause at the word ' l'Europe , ' all eyes were tnrned to the Duke ; but then came out , to their no small astonishment , ' C ' est moi ! ' " Here are two extracts for meditation : —

      "DON JUAN . " "Went to breakfast with Rogers , whei is in thc very agonies of parturition : showed me the work ready printed anel in boards , but he is still making alterations .-tolel me that Lorel Byron ' s Don Juan is premounced by Iioblieiu . se and others as unlit for publication . * * * Talked [ with Murray J of Don Juan : but too true that it is not fit for publication : he seems , by living so long out of London , to have feirgotte'ii that standard of decorum in society to which every one must refer bis words at least , who hopes te > be either liste'iu ; el to or read by the worlel . It is all about himself anel Laely IJ ., anel raking up the whole transaction in a way the worlel woulel never bear . * * * Asked him [ Hobhouse ;] , hael J any chance of a g limpse at Don Juan ! anil then founel that Byron hael desired it mig ht be referred to my decision , the three persons whom he hael _biel Hobhouse consult as to the propriety e > f * publishing it being Hookham , Erero , Stewart Hose' , anel myself . Ere re , as the only one of * the thre ; e _; in town , had read it , anel pronounced decidedly against the ; publication . * * * Erere came in while 1 was af , Laely D . ' h : was proceeding lo talk te > him about our _je > int , umpireship on Byron ' s _peiemi , when he Btoppeel me ; by a look , anel we ; retired info the- next room to _spe'ak e ) ve ; r tbe subject . He said he ; eliel not , wish the opinion he ; hael pronounced to be ; known te ) any one _exe'ept IJ . hinise'lf , lest IJ . should suppose he was taking merit to himself among the righteous for having be'e ; n the means of preventing the ; p ublication of fhe ; poem . _Speike _; ofthe ; elisgust , if woulel _e-xetite ; , if published ; the attacks in it upon Lady IJ . ; ind said if . is strange ; , too , he ; shoulel think there ; was any connexion between latriofism and profligacy . If we ; hael a very Puritan court indeed , one ; can _unelertanel then profligacy being adeipted as a badge of opposifiein to it , but the ; _reverso _ii'ing the ; e ; ase ' , there is not , e ; ve'ii that , _e-xeaise feir connecting dissoluteness with _latriotism , whie-h , em fhe contrary , ought always to be ; attended by the sternest irtues . * * * Went to breakfast with _Heibheuise , in order to read Lord Byron ' s mem : a strange ; production , full of talent and singularity , as everything he writes niirit be- : some ; highly bi'uutiful passages , anel seime ; highly humorous _eine-s ; but as i whole , neit pubhshnble . Don Juan ' s mother is Lady Byron , anel not only her earning , but , _vnrieius other points about , her , _ridie-ule'el . He- talks of he ; r favourite _bess being dimity ( which is the ease' ) , dimity rhyming very comically with subiniity ; anel the conclusion of one ; stanza is , ' 1 hate' a dumpy woman , ' meaning liiiely IJ . again . This woulel elisgust , the ; public boyonel endurance ; . There is _hIho a lyHfcinnfiHcd _profligae-y running through it , which woulel not , be ; beiine . _lIobheuiHi ; iiih unelea-fakeai the ; delicate task of letting him know our joint , _eipinienis . The two bllowing line's are ; _weill rhyme-el , - ' Kelt , e > h yo . leirelH of Indie'M _inte'lle-e't mil , _Ceiine ., ( , ' ., 11 , truly , have ; they not lien-peck ' el you ull i " _> * Murray _writcn to mo that _lleibhouno has received another letter from Lord

      is Byron , peremptorily insisting on the publication of Don Juan . But they ha , v again remonstrated . " is SHERIDAN . " Had a good deal of conversation with Lord Holland in the evening abc Sheridan . Told me that one remarkable characteristic of S ., and which account j for many of his inconsistencies , was the high , ideal system he had formed of a _sc j of impracticable perfection in honour , virtue , & c , anything short of which _^ seemed to think not worth aiming at r and thus consoled himself for the extrei x laxity of his practice by the impossibility of satisfying or coming up to the _sublir theory he had formed . Hence the most romantic professions of honour and ind k pendence were coupled with conduct of the meanest and most swindling kine hence , too , prudery and morality were always on his lips , while his actions we _[ one series of debauchery and libertinism . A proof of this mixture was , after tl Prince became Regent , he offered to bring S . into parliament , and said , at tl same time , that he by no means meant to fetter him in his political conduct 1 , doing so ; but S . refused , because , as he told Lord Holland , ' he had no idea , _i risking the high independence of character which he had always sustained , by puttir it in the power of any man , by any possibility whatever , to dictate to him . ' Ye in the very same conversation in which he paraded all this fine flourish of bi g } mindedness , he told Lord H . of an intrigue he had set on foot for inducing tl Prince to lend him 4000 _Z . to purchase a borough . Erom his habit of _consitlerin money as nothing , he considered his oiving the Prince 4000 _/ . as no slavery whatever ' I shall then ( he said ) only owe him 4000 _/ . whieh will leave me as free as air * * * Sheridan was jealous of Mr . Fox , and showed it in ways that produced , a least , great coolness between them . He envied him particularly his being tnembe for "Westminster , and , in 1802 , had nearly persuaded him to retire from parliament in order that he might himself succeed to . that honour . But it was Burke chief ! that S . hated and envied . Being both Irishmen , both adventurers , they had ever possible incentive to envy . On Hastings' trial particularly it went to Sheridan ' heart to see Burke in the place set apart for privy councillors , and himself excluded * * * In speaking of Sheridan ' s eloquence , Lord H . said that the over-strainee notions he had of perfection were very favourable to his style of oratory in _giving it a certain elevation of tone and dignity of thought . Mr . Fox thought his West minster Hall speech , trumpery , and used to say it spoiled the style of Burke , _whe was delighted with it . Certainly in the report I have read of it , it seems most trashy bombast . At Holland House , where he was often latterly , Lady H . told mt he used to take a bottle of wine and a book up to bed with him always ; _theformet alone intended for use . In the morning he breakfasted in bed , and had a little rum or brandy with his tea or coffee ; made his appearance between one or two , and pretending important business , used to set out for town , but regularly stopped at the Adam and Eve public-house for a dram . There was indeed a long bill run up by him at the Adam and Eve , which Lord H . had to pay . I wonder are all these stories true ; the last is certainly but too probable . * * * One day at Sheridan ' s house , before poor Tom went abroad , the servant in passing threw down the platewarmer with a crash , which startled Tom's nerves-a good deal . Sheridan , after scolding most furiously the servant , who stood pale and frightened , at last exclaimed , ' and how many plates have you broke ?'— ' Oh ! not one , sir , ' answered the fellow , delighted to vindicate himself ; ' and you , damned fool ( said S . ) , have you made all that noise for nothing ? ' * * * Sheridan , the first time he met Tom , after the marriage of the latter , seriously angry with him ; tolel him he had made his will , and hael cut him off with a shilling . Tom said he was , indeed , very sorry , and immediately added , ' You don't happen to have the shilling about you now , sir , do you ? ' "

      We will p ick out one more plum and then send tho reader to the pudding itself for the rest : " At dinner sat next to Lord Auckland . Talked of Bowles anel extemporo preachers : the broken metaphors to which they are subject . Mentioned that I remembered , when a boy , hearing Kirwan talk of the ' Glorious lamp of day ou its march ; ' and Conolly , a great Roman Catholic preacher , say , ' On the wings of Charity the torch of Faith was borne , and the ( Jospel preached from pole to pole . ' Leirel A . mentioned a figure of speech of Sir R . Wilson , at Southwark , ' As well might you hurl back the thunderbolt to its electric cradle . ' This led tei — - ' _s oratory : mentioned I hael hoard him on the trial of Guthrie , anel the ; ludicrous effect which his mixture of flowers with the matter-of-fact statement produceel ; something this way : 'It was then , gentlemen of the . Jury , when this _serpe-nt of seduction , stealing into the bowers of that earthly paradise , the lodgings of Mr . Guthrie , in Gloucester-street , when , embittering with his venom that heaven of happiness , where all above was sunshine , all below was Uowors , he received a card lo dine with the Connaught Par at the Porto-Peffo-Hotel , ' k . e . When I tolel Ourran of the ; superabundant _lloridness of this _spee'e-b , he saiel , ' My dear Tom , it will neve _; r elo feir a man to turn painter , merely upon the ; strength eif having a pot of colours by him , unless he knows how to lay them on . ' Lorel L . told a good story of his French servant , when Mansell , the Maste ; r eif Trinity , came to call upon him , announcing him as ' Maitre de _; s Ceremonies de la TriniteV "

      18 The Lea De R. [Saturday,

      18 THE LEA DE R . [ Saturday ,

      Kei'pel's Visit To The Indian Arch J Pkl...

      _KEI'PEL'S VISIT TO THE INDIAN ARCH J PKLAOO . A Fisit to the Indian Archipelago in 11 . M . Ship Mieaneler ; with portions of th Private Journals of Sir James Praoke . Hy Captain the ; _Jlein . Henry Iveppel , R . N . With Illustrations hy Oswald W . _Itrie ; rle ; y . In'J veils . lientleiy _^ Captain _Kkimmoi / h work consists of three elements—first , a plain , _itnvnrnished tale ; of his visit to the Indian Archipelago ; second , a warm anel elaborate defence of Hir . lumen JJroolu ; freim the ; accusations se > _porfinaoiously brought forward by Mr . JI tunc ; third , Home ; very interesting extracts of the ; Rajah ' s own private diary , descri p tive of his . strugg les to found e ; ivili / . e ; el government , among savages , anel of his own personal feelings during the ; struggle . It will be Hcen , therefore , that , fhe work is erne ; of political importance " as well as eif agreeable literature ; . In . composition il , is _unaUccfcd , and that is all . Captain . Keppel writes plainl y anel sensibly when describing his own experiences ; warmly , and like ; n , partisan , when defending bin friend . The ; volumes contain numerous passages of interest reflating to the strange ; people , strange ; scenes , and strange ; customs , as well as the animals that came under his observation . From them our extracts shall he made . TIIK TIOKKS AT HI NCA _I'OK K . " During our stay at Sincaporc , the boely eif a large tiger was brought in by _sonm Malaya ( a not unutmal occurrence ) , to enable them te > receive the reward g iven by

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011853/page/18/