PORTRAITS OF PUBLIC CHARACTERS.

THESE VOIIIIIIeS are in reality a receptacle for the persons whom this writer could not hitch into his previous publications, either because they did not fall under the class to which he had confined himself, or because they were then unknown to fame, or, lucky people ! had escaped the notice of Mr. GRANT. The men whom he now delighteth to honour are distributed into eleven divisions, cominencing with "Royal Personages," and ending with " Mis- cellaneous ;" Prince ALBERT and the Duke of CAMBRIDGE being the heroes of the first class, whilst Roma's. OwEN, Count YOE- SAY, Mr. CLOWES the printer, MACREADY, GEORGE CRUIKSHANE, SHERIDAN KNOWLES, and GEORGE ROBINS, figure in the last. The intermediate classes are of all kinds : a couple of' Peers, and five Commoners, with judicial and civil functionaries represented by the Recorder and Common Sergeant, Sir PETER LAURIE, and Mr. Under-Sheriff FRANCE. Mr. GRANT'S OM Bailey barristers contain CHARLES PHILLIPS, ADOLPH us, and CLARKSON ; his "reverend gentlemen " are HUGH .1PNEILE and Fox the Unitarian ; WEB- STER, Wit,r3s, and IIALLIDURTON, (the last promoted to a Judge- ship in Canada,) are his distinguished Americans ; his eminent publishers are MURRAY and Tlit“-; ; his philanthropists, CLAunsoN, Sir CHARLES FORBES, /117'. JOSEPH STURGE, and Mr. Wii.mAn ALLEN ; and his distinguished literary HMI, CAMPBELL, MoonE, and CARLYLE.

Where this penny-a-liner gets his multifarious information touch- ing the persons he introduces ilto his gallery of comicalitics, no doubt puzzles many simple country- veople ; nor is the mystery altogether clear to residents in town. Our own guess on the subject is, that

he derives his facts from hearsay-people, who occasionally indulge a propensity to waggery at his expense. We remember the unjust " obscurity " to which poor Gums, after his coadjutorship with

ERSKINE in the detbnce of Hoax"; TooKE, was doomed hy Mr. GRANT, AID1 the eloquent lamentations on Chance and Fortune. Some cruel wag lists been again hoaxing the gobemouche. Not. content with practising on the credulity of his trusting gossip, with a story that Tom MOORE WKS nicknamed " Anacreon' after Little's Poems,* "his firs/ work," he crams him with the following facts touching the history of the Melodies- "One of Mr. Moore's most popular and enduring works, is his 'Irish Melo- ajos '; which first appeared, accompanied with music, in 1821, in a sort of pe- riodical published by Mr. Power of the Strand, and only formed a portion of each number of that work. Those melodies' which proceeded from Mr. Moore's pen, acquired a much more sudden and extensive popularity than any of the other contributions to the periodical in which they appeared ; which led to their being republished in a separate form, with the accompaniment of music."

" The boy will be the death of me!" Is there any one with

a knowledge of letters or an ear for music who does not know that MOORE'S Melodies were first published many years before 1821? that they were written expressly to popularize the Irish airs amongst the fashionable world; MOORE undertaking the words, and Sir JOHN STEVENSON the symphonies and accompaniments ? What adds to the cruelty of hoaxing Mr. GRANT in this way, is the natural cautiousness of the man when authorities differ. See how guardedly he speaks when he feels he is not sure.

MR. DIACREADVS EARLY YEARS! OR, AS NEAR AS I CAN GUESS I CANNOT TELL.

I have not been able to ascertain whether his father intended him for any particular profession, or whether it was his wish that he should apply himself to the study of the histrionic art. But whatever his father's views in this re- spect may have been, Mr. Macready received an education which would have fitted him for any situation in life. I have been assured by those who know him intimately, that he received a university education ; others, however, as confidently assure me that such was not the fact ; but all concur in saying that his education was of a very superior character, and that be distinguished him- self in early life in the various branches of education which he studied.

How or under what circumstances Mr. Maeready chose the stage as a pro- fession, are points on which I have not been able to obtain information satis- factory to myself, and therefore I will not waste the time of my readers by mentioning any thing conjectural on the subject.

Save me from my friends !

" A. vile encomium doubly ridicules ;

There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools."

" Mr. Willis," says Mr. GRANT of a personal friend, " is remark- able for the quickness of his perceptions. He does not take nor require time to Mink when engaged in his literary avocations,"—a circumstance which might also be predicated of the panegyrist. " Count O'Orsay," he remarks in his encomium, " has the happy knack of putting every one into good humour : he can even elicit an occasional laugh front the luckless pigeon at play, while the latter is in the act of being plucked." And to illustrate the friendliness of SHERIDAN KNOWLES, he lucubrates thus— his philanthropy is universal: he would, if he could, do a personal service to every one he has ever met with. I believe it is a well-known fact, that no person ever yet solicited his good offices in vain, provided it was in his power to grant the favour asked. I know individuals who, on the strength of having barely exellanged words with him, have asked permission to allow them to use his name iii the way of recommending them as fit and proper persons for a particular vacant office ; and his answer, on such occasions, has always been, Oh, certainly, my dear fellow ; use my name by all means ; and I shall be de- lighted to hear that you have succeeded.' Nor is this all : if any persons ask a favour of this or a similar nature of him, he will give them a flaming recom- mendation, whdher he knows Mein or not."

Our author, though in the main good-natured, is occasionally severe, and, when critical, dispenses immortality and obscurity at his nod. Hear

GRANT ON CAMPBELL.

Mr. Campbell's literary reputation, as has before been hinted, may be said to rest entirely on his Pleas:11Am of Hope; his earliest production of any ex- tent, and written before he could be said to have fairly emerged from his boy- hood. ..111 his other works, in poetry and prose, Le. g. Gertrude of Wyoming and O'Connor's Chilel,] with the exception of' two or three very short poetic pieces, may indeed be said to Ise forgotten already. But if they have been Shuts speedily consigned th oblivion, or will be so in a very short period, his Pleasures of Hope will be as imperishable as the subject itself—a subject on which he has sung with such surpassing sweetness.

cAmoutELLANA.

Mr. Campbell is a great pedestrian. 1 do not mean by this that he is fond of walking great distances, or proceeding at a hurried pace. I merely mean, that he is, as they say in the House of Commons, very often " on his legs." Ile usually walks at a very slow pace, with hiscane under Isis left arm. 111 the twilight, during the last lbw months, he was frequently to be seen walking about in this Way opposite his apartments in Lincoln's Inn Fields, with his eyes fixed on the ground, as if wrapt up in some poetic reverie. Ile has of late evinced a decided partiality to a white hat. I have hardly ever seen bins in any other coat them a brown surtout. Another of his favourite articles of apparel is a buff waistcoat. In size, he scarcely readies the middle height : lie is well-made, slightly perhaps exceeding the average breadth ; he has a fine dark intelligent eye, and possesses a pleasing as well as intelligent c nan- tenance. He hues, considering his advanced age, a full round face, with a dark Complexion; Isis tinehead does not appear to be so amply developed as it really us, owing to his brown wig overlapping the upper portion of it.

TDE PARALLEL.

Mr. Thomas Moore, all will admit, is the most proper person to follow Mr. Thomas Campbell in a notice of some of the most eminent authors of the day. There is a untidier of curious coincidences in their history and circumstances. First of all, they are within a year or t wo of the same age, and both came be- fore the world as poets within two years of earls other ; Mr. Campbell having, as before-mentioned, brought omit his Pleasures of Hope in 1799, and Mr. Moore his Poems of the lido Thomas Little, Esq. in 1S01. Both started into celebrity at Isire, and both have maintained their distinguished reputation up to the present moment. Nor does the coincidence end here : both ars, authors of various prose works, but their reputation is principally based mum their poetical productions, and as poets only will they be known to posterity. Thomas is the Christian name of both ; hence they are often called " The two Toms," the alliteration being somewhat pleasant to the ear. But to pin sue the similarity, both resemble each other in personal appearance ; with this slight differeneo. tint Mr. Campbell may be an inch or thereabout higher than Mr. Moore, while Mr. Moore is a trifle broader than Mr. Campbell. Both are Liberals in their politics. I fear I. may extend the remark to their religion ids(); it mat fir in which there ought to be no Liberalism, in the sense in which the term is mists- * " It was the amatory nature of much of the contents of this volume, [Little,] that procured for Mr. Moore the title of the Modern Anacreon '; which, svben the name of the author was ascertained, gave place to that of Anacreon Moore.' "—Vol. 11. page 124. We need scarcely remind our readers thnt the Translation of ..-111aCre!)11 was Mr. Mooac's first publieation, or that the sobriquet of " A:nacreon " was not derived front " Poems by the late Thomas Little."

ally understood. Both are, moreover, pleasant companions at table; the society of both is much sought after, or, at any rate used to be so, by the titled and the great ; both are in the receipt of the same amount [the same amount being 184/. and 3001.] of pension from Government, in consideration of their literary attainments and poetic triumphs ; both are wonderfully healthy, con- sidering their advanced age ; and if be not carrying the coincidence a little too far, the portraits of both—and large life-looking portraits they are—have long hung cheek by jowl on the walls of one of Mr. Colburn's most handsome rooms : and, what is more, their companionship in 13, Great Marlborough Street, is not disturbed by the presence of any other portrait whatever.

PECULIARITIES OF GEORGE CRUIESUANK.

The drollery or eccentricity of George Cruikshank is visible even in his autograph. When lie writes on the ordinary-sized letter-paper, it is often from three to four inches in length, and is altogether a comical piece of penmanship.

The "k " with which it ends is particularly so. It is so formed as to re- semble the profile of a man's countenance, the nose having a peculiar promi- nency assigned to it, In person, George Cruikshank is about the middle height, and proportionably made. I have already referred to the peculiar expression of his countenance. Its complexion is something between pale and clear ; and his hair, which is toler- ably ample, partakes of a lightish hue. His face is of the angular form, and his forehead has a prominently receding shape. He delights in a pair of hand- some whiskers, the lower extremities of which are sometimes hidden from the view by the collar of his shirt. He has somewhat of a dandified appearance. He used to be exceedingly partial to Hessian boots. Whether his taste still runs in the same direction, 1 cannot say. His age, if his looks be not deceptive, is somewhere between forty-three and forty-five.

GEORGE imoniNs's GESTURE AND MANNERS.

Mr. Robins's manlier has nothing extravagant about it. He dislikes the- atrical gesture ; he trusts to the effect of his ingenious remarks. The right hand is now and then called on to second, by a moderate motion, the praises he is heaping on the article to be disposed of. He moves his body slightly., and rewards the bidder by an approving look every time be receives a fresh. offer. To show how little reliance he places in bodily gesticulation when in the rostrum, he now and then, after he has fairly begun the sale, sits down in the arm-chair at his back. lii mostxases, one of his favourite exercises is to move both knees without lifting his feet from the floor, in the spirit of sheer play- fulness. Mr. George Robins is not the man to need in the discharge of his professional duties the foreign aid of extravagant gesture. Neither does he ever so exert his lungs as to assail the ciirs of his auditory by speaking in an unduly loud tone of voice. His elocution is of a subdued kind; and his manlier generally has, as will have been inferred from what I have before stated, much of the colloquial in it. His voice wauts softness and clearness of tone ; lie speaks with some rap:dity, which may be the cause of a very slight occasional stutter. His manner is easy and fascinating.

Nothing can show more strongly the mania at present for every thing personal, than the sort of currency which this individual's writings obtain. Feeble-minded and tivolous, ignorant of the commonest facts in literature and life, unacquainted with the merest proprieties of society, and literal to the meanest degree in his description of such external things as he can apprehend, he is yet readable by dealing with living subjects, about whom all of us feel a curiosity, and by never taking " time to think when en- gaged in his literary avocations." These qualities, however, are not the only ones he possesses, nor would any one by simply imitating his mariner attain his success. He has a certain kind of classifying power, by which things are presented orderly and clearly : when he does not satisfy curiosity by minute gossip, he often excites mirth by his unconscious funniness : nor must it be denied that he possesses in a very high degree the powers of penny-a-lining, and applies them more steadily, more methodically, and to higher objects, than his subordinate fellow-labourers in the accident and offence line.

Several of the portraits, we understand—perhaps all of them— have already appeared in some periodical. The fleet is of no parti- cular importance in itself, but we mention it in case a reader should contemplate a purchase of what he may have already perused.