Some Private Views

It is a common thing to hear the remark expressed by much-tried mistresses that servants are not 'reasonable beings.' The observation may either have been provoked by the misbeh...

In old times, when folks were not so 'cultured,' starvation was thought more of. It is quite curious, indeed, to contrast the high-flying morality of the present day (when no on...

As a rule, anyone who can tell a good story can write one, so there really need be no mistake about his qualification; such a man will be careful not to be wearisome, and to kee...

While some men, as I have said, can never be taught whist, a few are born with a genius for the game, and move up 'from high to higher,' through all the grades of excellence, wi...

The reverence that used to belong to Death is now only paid to it in the case of immensely rich persons, whose wealth is spoken of with bated breath. 'He died, sir, worth two mi...

It may here be said that there are many English authors of old date, some of whose beauties are unintelligible except to those who are acquainted with the classics; and 'Tom Jon...

Biography is out of the question. Long before he has got through that account of the hero's great grandmother, from whom he inherited his talents, which is, it seems, indispensa...

As I idly flutter the yellow leaves of the advertisements of inns in 'Bradshaw,' they call up pictures in my mind quite undreamt of by the proprietors. I have been a sojourner i...

FROM 'THE NINETEENTH CENTURY' REVIEW. THE MIDWAY INN THE CRITIC ON THE HEARTH SHAM ADMIRATION IN LITERATURE THE PINCH OF POVERTY THE LITERARY CALLING AND ITS FUTURE STORY-TELLIN...

'DEAR DICK, 'You are really becoming ["Becoming?" he thinks _that_ becoming] quite a great man: we could hardly get your last book from Mudie's, though I suppose he takes very s...

The coolness with which everything is said and done in penny fiction is indeed most remarkable, and should greatly recommend it to that respectable class who have a horror of 's...

In the case of a man-servant, especially in London, no written character should ever be held sufficient. A personal interview with his late master or mistress is indispensable....

In some excellent articles on Modern Literature in _Blackwood's Magazine_ the other day, this subject was touched upon with respect to fiction, and might well have filled a grea...

Boys have rarely any special aptitude for anything practical beyond punching each others' heads, or (and these are the clever ones) for keeping their own heads unpunched. As a r...

It was held by wise men of old that adversity was the test of friendship, but as his Excellency the Minister of the United States has observed, _per_ Mr. Biglow, 'They did not k...