ABOUT LITERARY PEOPLE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 769, 26 November 1886, Page 8

ABOUT LITERARY PEOPLE.

The late J. B. Lippincott was a genial and kindly man. He had travelled much m Europe and had known personally most of the famous authors who had lived during the last fifty years, with many of whom he had the closest business relations. Being veiy observant, he stored up during his long life many anecdotes concerning the various writers whom he had met, and was fond, when in a chatty mood, of talking about * « During one of my visits to London,’ said Mr Lippincott, leaning back in his chair one day, ‘ I called to see Thomas Carlyle, and was told that he could be found at the British Museum every day between 10 and 2 I went there and one of the attendants pointed out to me the place where he was sitting. I approached and found the philosopher behind a pile of ■ books about two feet high. He was rapidly turning over their contents and making notes with a blunt pencil. I waited until he raised his head from the table, and then handed him my card. He read it without saying a word, put his note-book in his pocket, seized me bv the wrist and led me from the readingroom, down the steps of the museum and around into Oxford-street, until we came to a small chop-house called the Thistle. Entering, Carlyle led me into a little back room and, summoning a waiter, called for whisky and cigars. I told him I did not drink whißky nor smoke, whereupon he expressed great Astonishment that an American should not indulge in the two chief products of his country. He said he was sorry he was too old to visit America, as he would like to see Niagara, and shake Emerson once more by the band : that he regarded the former as the grandest of God’s works on earth, and he looked upon the latter as his literary disciple. He talked for an hour and said that America would never have a litterateur of her own until the black, flag was drawn down from American publishing houses. ‘ I knew Dickens very well, having seen bim both in England and Philadelphia. His borne at Gad’s Hill was a delightful place, and Dickens as a host appeared at his very best, he was so jolly, genial, and spinted—by which I mean be had a delightful bow of animal spirits—and sometimes he was as full of fun as a big schoolboy. He •was a hard worker and great walker, thinkins nothing of a stretch of twelve miles. He devoted his morning to writing, and composed with great care, spending sometimes an hour over I page. He felt quite anxious about the reception he should receive upon his second visit to this country, remembering the royal way he had been entertained upon bis first yisitf and how ungenerously he had Shelton Mackenzie was a friend of Mr lippincott for nearly forty yeara. They use to have many a chat together over their wine. The Doctor’s memory was prodigious Tnd he was full of anecdotes of Charles Lamb, Campbell, Hood, Dickens, and other

literary celebrities of half a century ago. He was introduced to Lamb at the India House, where the author of ‘ Elia’ was one of the chief clerks. This was in 1825. Mackenzie’s brother was a junior clerk, and calling there one day he was taken in to see Lajmb as one of the celebrities of the place. Lamb was mounted upon a high stool, bending over a ledger, when the elder Mackenzie came in with his brother and said : Mr Lamb, have you any objection to being introduced to my brother V ‘ As the gf ntl ®‘ man is present,’ said Lamb, it would no be polite to decline to be introduced to him. Whereupon he descended from the chair, and after being introduced stood in his favorite position, with his back to the tire and his hands behind his back r * that time drew a salary of 3,500d01. In a year or two he was retired on a pension of 2,500d01. Mr Lippincott told me how he once entertained the Duke of Buckingham It happened in this way : VV hen Robert Chambers visited the United States some years since, I gave a dinner in his honor. The Duke of Buckingham happened to be stopping at the 'Continental Hotel at the time, and, hearing of the affair that was to come off, he signified to me his desire to be present at a genuine Philadelphia feed. Of course he was invited, and sat down, as he told me afterward, to the ‘ most elegant entertainment he had ever enjoyed, There were present at the dinner *he Governor_of Pennsylvania, the Mayor of Philadelphia, and the most distinguished men of the day to the number of 100. When I next visited England the Duke invited Mrs Lippincott and myself to Stowe, where my wife remained two weeks. Stowe is one of the most magnificent seats in Great Britain, the house 200 feet long, the grounds an earthly paradise, everything on a scale of royal splendor ; in fact, I doubt whether royalty itself has a more sumptuous domain than the nrincely Duke of Buckingham. I highly appreciated the honor of being invited to the Duke’s seat, where an English publisher’s horse would as soon be invited as himself.* Of ‘Ouida ’ Mr Lippincott said: ‘ Ouida is a mystery that no person has yet been able to solve. All that is really known of her is that she is the daughter of a Frenchman, aud her name is Lousie de la Rame. She was an obscure contributor to the London magazines, glad to earn a pound a paper for her stories ; when I came across Granville de Vigne,’ struck by its powerful delineation of character and the dash and brilliancy of its style, I published it under its original name ‘ Held m Bondage. The name was unfortunate. People thought it was a novel about slavery, of which they had a surfeit just then. Consequently the book failed to attract attention, and only 800 copies were sold, and that was more owing to our immense distributing facilities, than to any public interest in the novel, itself. When “ Strathmore ” was published in England I republished it here, still having faith in “Ouida” as a strong writer, although I did not know at that time whether the author was a man or woman. “ Strathmore was a success, and upon the strength of that I brought out a new edition of her first novel, under the better title of “Granville de Vi°ne ; or Held in Bondage,” using the second title to avoid deceiving people who had already bought the book uncler its original name. It made a great hit, and “ Ouida’s ” reputation was established, one says she is indebted to me for her success, and is grateful for it.’ ‘ Where does she live ?’ ‘ Two miles from Florence, in a lovely villa. Dogs are her pets, and the house is full of them ; wherever she goes she; is surrounded by her canine favorites. She says they are more faithful than the human race. Whenever one of them dies he or she is buried with more respect than is sometimes shown to men and women. ‘ Is “ Ouida ” pretty ? ‘ She is dashing looking rather than pretty. Her manners are fascinating, herconversation lively; her eyes bright and expressive. She is saucy and audacious in her remarks, and sometimes indulges in unladylike slang; but in spite of all this she is a great favorite among English and American residents at Florence, and they are all glad to accept invitations to her villa, for she entertains magnificently.’ ‘ My experience with English authors has been rather peculiar,’ Mr Lippincott went on. ‘ One day I was sitting in. this office when a stranger entered, and in a gruff voice, without mentioning his name, said: “ I want you to publish my views on America.” I asked him what he had seen in the country, what he knew of our people;, institutions, etc. He said he had seen New York, Boston, and Niagara Falls. In short, he had seen American society in hotel parlors, on steamboats and in railroad cars, and was* fully prepared to write up America in the most approved style of modern tourists. 1 asked him why he had honored our house by selecting it to pubiish his book. ‘ “I have been so awfully cheated by other publishers,” he said, “that I want to see whether you will treat me better.” ’ * All this time the visitor had not announced his name. At length I said : “ With whom have I the pleasure of convefS«\nf am Anthony Trollope,” he replied, with an overwhelming air. ‘Having survived this tremendous announcement I proceeded to talk business, and finally agreed to publish his proposed work. I divided the edition with the Harpers, each house putting its own name upon the copies it published. When Trollope heard this he thought it was some trick to cheat him, and denounced us both as pirates. , ~ ‘ My relations with Bulwer were both social and business ones. He was reserved at first, but when the ice was broken he became charming—from a thistle he changed to a warm tropical flower. He wrote ata desk which had a piece cut out in the middle large enough to get his slender body in so that he could reach the papers onevery part of his desk without getting up. Before beginning to write, and while thinking over his work, ha was in the habit of smoking, during which he would puff great volumes out of his mouth, and watch it as it ascended towards the glassy roof of his library. He said his inspiration came from watching the smoke rolling up. He laughed very hea.-tily

while telling this, and had the jolly air of a big schoolboy. It was in these moments that he offered a great contrast to himself as he appeared in mixed company under the constraint of non-congenial people. He dressed with fastidious elegance, perhaps a little dandified: He was excessively particular about his linen, and said the only perfume a man should use was soap and water. He was a delightful talker and a thorough linguist. He spoke Italian so well that when he was in Naples writing the ‘Last- Days of Pompeii,’ the Italians thought him one of their own countrymen. Bulwer was a finished courtier and an accomplished mau of letters, and the worthy wearer of the mantle of the brilliant Duke de Grammont. * How did you happen to publish Mrs Wister’s German translations ?’ ‘ One day a fashionably dressed lady came in here, and throwing down a roll of manuscript said : “ Mr Lippincott, I want lOOdol for that.” I took up the package, opened it and read the title, “ Old Mdlle’s Secret,” by E. Marlitt. After turning over the leaves and glancing at the matter, I told the. lady I would give lOOdol, and immediately signed a cheque for the amount. This was the first of Mrs Wister’s translations, or rather adaptations, from the- German. It was at my suggestion that she “ adapted " these novels instead of literally translating them. They thus read like original works. Mrs Wister now derives a handsome income from her literary work, and has made a national reputation.’ ‘ln your dealings with authors you must have had some singular experiences.’ ‘Yes ; here is one example out of a hundred: A South Carolina clergyman delivered a sermon which delighted his rural congregation. It was praised in the village newspaper. Whereupon the divine thought he would seek a larger audience for his eloquence, and wrote to me to publish his sermon in pamphlet form, and suggested 20,000 as the least possible number that should be printed, saying that he would undertake to sell 5000 himself The pamphlet was printed to the number of 1000 ; 100 copies were sent to the author, several hundred were disposed of through our numerous correspondents in the South, and that was the end of it.— N. Y. Tribune.