Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1884 — OBITUARY. [ARTICLE]

OBITUARY.

Charles Reade. Charles Reade, the noted English novelist, who died recently in London, was born in 1814, the son of an English country gentleman, m as enviable a social position as can well be conceived. His boyhood was both robust and studious, the right preparation for a life of astonishing intellectual results. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. After graduation he read law, and gained a Vinerian fellowship at the University of Oxford in 1842. A year later he was called to the bar. While Mr. Reade’s chief distinction has been in the fields of fancy, his voice has been not infrequently heard on social and political questions. His noyels, moreover, some more particularly than others, have dealt with abuses and strongly suggested the necessity of reform. In “It Is Never Too Late to Mend,” for example, published in 1856, the atrocities of prison discipline, as then administered, weie dealt with in a most powerful manner. We may be pardoned for adding that purpose in a literary work outside of the artistic intention, while perhaps marring it as viewed from the standpoint of mere art, is not regarded with disfavor by readers in the English-speaking countries. This is particularly remarkable when a contrast is made between English and French writers on Set on. Charles Reade began his long list of successes as a novelist with “Peg Woffington,” published in 1853, a work which evinced the manly sympathy, independence, and liberal views of the author, while evidencing mastery in style, construction, and imaginative power. In the same year he produced “Christie Johnstone.” “It Is Never Too Late to Mend ” appeared in 1858; “ White Lies” the?next year afterward. Of his remaining works “Griffith Gaunt,” publiehod in 1868, is the most talked about; but “The Cloister and the Hearth,” produced in 1861, is regarded by the best judges as his ablest production. ' — Bfenry-W-Hyronr - Henry J. Byron, dramatist and actor, whose death was announced by cable a few days ago, was born in Manchester, and completed his education in London. He was one of the most skillful and prolific writers of burlesque extravaganzas. -His earliest effort in this line, “Fra Diavolo, ” produced at the Strand Theater in 1858, was speedily followed by several successful pieces, among which may be mentioned “The Ma:d and Magpie," “Aladdin, 1 ’ “Esmeralda,” “The Lady of Lyons,” “Grin Bushes,” and a comedy entitled “The Old Story.” He wrote "Babes in the Wood,” “111-Treated II Trovatore," “Mazeppa Travestie,” “Miss Elly O Connor," “Dundreary Married and Done For,” and original comedies, “War to the Knife’’ and “A Hundred Thousand Pounds.” Mr. Byron contributed extensively to periodical literature, was the first eaitor of Fun, and was the author of a three-volume novel, “Paid in Full,” originally published in the Temple Bar magazine. He made his first appearance in London as an actor at the Globe Theater in his own drama of “Not Such a Fool as He Looks,” Oct. 23, 1869. His latest pieces were “An American Lady,” a comedy in three acts, produced in March, 18«4; “Old Sailors,” a comedy brought out at the Strand later in the same year, and “Our Boys,” which was immediately popular on both sides of the Atlantic a few years ago.