The International Weekly Miscellany, Volume I. No. 8 | Page 9

to sound the depth of
his character and know the treasures of excellence hidden beneath its
surface. Beside, he was dogged for years by certain malignant
scribblers, who took a pleasure in misrepresenting all his actions, and
holding him up in an absurd and disparaging point of view. In what

hostility originated I do not know, but it must have given much
annoyance to his sensitive mind, and may have affected his popularity.
I know not to what else to attribute a circumstance to which I was a
witness during my last visit to England. It was at an annual dinner of
the Literary Fund, at which Prince Albert presided, and where was
collected much of the prominent talent of the kingdom. In the course of
the evening Campbell rose to make a speech. I had not seen him for
years, and his appearance showed the effect of age and ill-health; _it
was evident, also, that his mind was obfuscated by the wine he had
been drinking_. He was confused and tedious in his remarks; still, there
was nothing but what one would have thought would have been
received with indulgence, if not deference, from a veteran of his fame
and standing; a living classic. On the contrary, to my surprise, I soon
observed signs of impatience in the company; the poet was repeatedly
interrupted by coughs and discordant sounds, and as often endeavored
to proceed; the noise at length became intolerable, and he was
absolutely clamored down, sinking into his chair overwhelmed and
disconcerted. I could not have thought such treatment possible to such a
person at such a meeting. Hallam, author of the Literary History of the
Middle Ages, who sat by me on this occasion, marked the mortification
of the poet, and it excited his generous sympathy. Being shortly
afterward on the floor to reply to a toast, he took occasion to advert to
the recent remarks of Campbell, and in so doing called up in review all
his eminent achievements in the world of letters, and drew such a
picture of his claims upon popular gratitude and popular admiration, as
to convict the assembly of the glaring impropriety they had been guilty
of--to soothe the wounded sensibility of the poet, and send him home to,
I trust, a quiet pillow.'
"Now, the very same facts are seen by different observers in a different
point of view. It so happened that we ourselves were present at this
dinner, which took place in 1842; and the painful circumstance alluded
to by Mr. Irving did not produce the effect on us, that it appears to have
produced on him. Without making a long story about a trifle, we can
call to mind no appearance of hostility or ill-will manifested on that
occasion; and on the contrary, recollect, in our immediate
neighborhood, a mournful sense of distress at the scene exhibited, and
sufficiently hinted in the few unpleasant words we have italicized. A

muster of Englishmen preferred coughing down their favorite bard, to
allowing him to mouth out maudlin twaddle, before the Prince, then
first formally introduced to the public, and before a meeting whereat
"was collected much of the prominent talent of the kingdom." Mr.
Irving, himself most deservedly a man of mark, looked on with much,
surprise. Looking on ourselves then, and writing now, as one of the
public, and as one of the many to whom Campbell's name and fame are
inexpressibly dear, we honestly think that of two evils the lesser was
chosen. We think Mr. Hallam's lecture must have been inaudible to the
greater part of the company."
* * * * *
The Archbishop of Lemburgh has prohibited his clergy from wearing
long hair like the peasants, and from smoking in public, "like
demagogues and sons of Baal."
* * * * *
The Persians have a saying, that "Ten measures of talk were sent down
upon the earth, and the women took nine."
* * * * *

AUTHORS AND BOOKS
* * * * *
No man is more enshrined in the heart of the French people than the
poet BERANGER. A few weeks since he went one evening with one of
his nephews to the _Clos des Lilas_, a garden in the students' quarter
devoted to dancing in the open air, intending to look for a few minutes
upon a scene he had not visited since his youth, and then withdraw. But
he found it impossible to remain unknown and unobserved. The
announcement of his presence ran through the garden in a moment, the
dances stopped, the music ceased, and the crowd thronged toward the
point where the still genial and lovely old man was standing. At once
there rose from all lips the cry of _Vive Beranger!_ which was quickly
followed