SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17857, 1 September 1923, Page 13

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

A great critic. T , vmiTTES tor "THE rasss.") *"£, W . Jojnt, M-A-] 1 -ning decades of the ninetnry " nere distinguished not >*V ndid efflorescence of poehv a remarkable outburst, or essay writing. It was a f the "Spectator," "Tatler.' period, with a new spirit, new problems, and a new )if fien ' iif e . From the host of *>l created this revival two rfand out conspicuously, Lamb and William Hazlitt, and Carlyle appearing and destined to don,*to succeeding period. It is with *of that we are at present conin the light of the recent bio•t ,lki» bjMrP T H».v«. L has done his work with conindustry- He has corrected traditions, and brought, new joints, which havo i* soften somewhat the harsh f—t-ures .till !*SL the majority of readers. For I st j]] be confessed that our So »<* gl- awards him as they Lamb- He had nothing of N. cenial and innocuous humour. W ya by some mysterious transition, "Stand happy boyhood had soured iTsomwbat moody, morose, and "tyd manhood. But herein there *1 doubt that he was his own worst ■ He had undergone wrenches J&iDusionment in his life. SusLof the sincerity wen of hj» attachment to him throw him ' himself, and infused a dour, spirit into both his writing Asocial-demeanour. He espen--1 Burriage twice. The first endT" divorce by mutual arrangement; desertion of him by his 1 Besides these he had a romance, rffll romance; the issue was a cruel jansionment; and he poured out his m is the "Liber Amoris," where & curious wader may still gaze on it fritting Of a torn heart. And . fenm much else to account for Hulitt'E waywardness and bitterness, t H e W as bom in 1778, son cf a disi Kuting minister, who had dared to pnitoo With the revolting American 1 (olmiffl, em as the eon afterwards tatd to sympathise with Napoleon. VHteitill a boy at school, he laboured : jj My gpare moment over a philosop& tcri, which was afterwards pubjjy,' Thus early there came to him fe'fHMn and power for critical : were afterwards to furjjiiiolia a' foundation for his great--s^p!vThen. came the period Ate foiild be a painter. Picture giUtria'became his world; and in" the he laboured in a rapimi'tißiiKm'. He painted many living; his portrait of to»mnow- bang 3 » tho Aauail Portmt. Gallery m London. passed: Why? Either fluifflierii him became too strong, I i«f|tpd the painter; or he threw I despair .of ever laefi'tia perfection of Titian, which lailM/ik aspiration. Anyhow, the ftJljaMe in his hand a mightier imtiti'than the brush coul.d ever havo f tfijai implement which he wielded 'li intellectual force, richness, and rtrittjr of diction, and closeness and aJtleiy of argument. Magazines and pdals were multiplying, and we ill lim in most of them, > including tfe'"Kdinburgh." - He wrote on an i jpuse range of subjects,—men, periods of literature, drama, picfa, problems of human nature and daicter, reminiscences, sketches, poli- ' Ss,—all of which he enriched in his ' mindiyidual way. It all seemed to Btt. spontaneously. He wrote (obBrets tell us) as rapidly as the ordin--,cjMn writes a letter, and; he seldom fp»* correction. His head was rkapg with knowledge, ideas, argu- ■««, and' even turns of expression. 'htj phase of life and thought that f.wli him took shape under his hand, ,«Jsas developed with a fertility and ;«rote, which seemed to know no exwtion.

r dove-cots of magazine-literature ! Jau period, were liable to frequent ' "Wings; or, to vary the figure, there J# periodic washing# of soiled linen, s rtoh' times the amenities of conwere peculiar. Scurrility, .ntjeratire, and coarse personalities, i "••'lines took the place of argument •1 criticism. And, curiously 'X^ e leading .exponents of these : were those two eminently reT°ry organs, the "Quarterly" ? Bhcwood"; and that, too, at a ®**hen the latter was under the ■» control of two eminently respectPOTonages, John Gibson Lockhart John Wilson ("Cliristopher J.. In the controversies of the ..rgV natUbt: ~wua a frequent storm--2 He was an object of personal to the. champions of Tory to- literature and politics. L*"* intensely radical, with broad r®™ariaji sympathies; lie showed ; (^oani.veneration for Crown or kwr V 6 thought Napoleon was jj J or , j ance than the Bourbons; Md. dared to criticise tho exponents of the seifconventional Toryism Qjuji" 8 time, Wordsworth, juT*? 0 ,. an( i Southey. In tho WtnJ/ youthful enthusiasm he nrtk the shrine of WordsUiiij e "dß e j but it was the humanitarian '"ttrnirf Coleridge. Now they Wted \hile hi s own largeN® i? 1 i on 'y t a^ en a ;Wj yiv > the J bad bowedi in the tie nM® 0 ?*- • w hile he adored •W, *ja of freedom. And ***4 tKni> f IS S us t and antipathy StSrt finri ; l^ 1 " developments, we Plthusp. ( criticisms of them ®?®P a red to the brutal hail * which their chamfekT .Persecuted himself. NetitjuJ B ™itted he could not Wself doubted if he underl.|. - J doubt in which he by RS ds alone - To Wordsdandw§ifn\poetry he P ald " tes r erer paid to ?«r. 0m Jlis P en - E®' #f ht 4n d Wilson, a few sentZw^ rchln ß "'ony were alt firsTVbestow on them: »cee^ 0 he resolved on «f tig a< * retained Jef- ■ Edinburgh,'' as Us coun " a eep ve ' n ten " in Haz- = beinjr i, * te consists wheHiI e ' U i. en^y overlaid and ifiNt other- s P' te and in r^ y t Vj bid and dis " !Aj e ßaiksw«B " ltnse lf. De QuinCf With all® +v° U " d himself m snnci' that a d a rk K ' l^ i of the world. ®! e »!e of i ß ir?' er . gloom and a But many fn • lI D 7 admired hi Lamb says:— something tough in

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my Attachment to Hazlitt wh'ch these letter of Lamb's to bout f l. keep _ iponse to the latter's reproacl^of^ mg such compan} )j Hsvyiittj as unswerving adnnrauon for ' tho well as liis pamed latter's it , vas a man was loyal to the ia - Leigh Hunt. A .™J * t and mocking fatuation, in a.bull ant and essay, to hold Hunt s i Ve m peculiarities up to ndacule conclude with the ■ of jjazlittat from a personal imp ~ d volume forty-six. 3l«ry SheU of poems or tne \rrq liuiit: — icy f and she ,11° but "I ''Vu'viim I "i' l4 not bC when 1 satt mm, j<- . . snu i e I But for his voice andl shoulfl not liave ; n t o my eyes, smile brought the • ■ii, Iln i n atiiig the It was like a ligl.fning most melancho y ,j_ ' n jgi,t of tlie that assured you on a and desert . identity of a friend si spoken ed abode." And jet h j« & h words were—'l nave life"!